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NBA roundup: Spurs knock off Blazers for 8th straight win

NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio Spurs
Mar 16, 2019; San Antonio, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard CJ McCollum (3) drives for the basket between San Antonio Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) and DeMar DeRozan (right) during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

March 17, 2019

DeMar DeRozan’s 21 points led seven San Antonio players in double figures as the Spurs made all the big plays in the fourth quarter to beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 108-103 on Saturday for their eighth straight victory.

The sixth-place Spurs are a season-best 12 games over .500 and within a game and a half of Portland for fourth place in the Western Conference standings.

Rudy Gay and Derrick White added 13 points each for San Antonio, with LaMarcus Aldridge and Patty Mills scoring 12 points each. DeRozan and Aldridge had eight rebounds apiece, Gay had seven, and Jakob Poeltl blocked five shots.

Portland’s Damian Lillard led all scorers with 34 points, and Jusuf Nurkic added 24 points and 16 rebounds. CJ McCollum, who finished with 10 points, left in the third quarter with an apparent left knee injury during a drive to the basket.

Warriors 110, Thunder 88

Stephen Curry scored 33 points and Klay Thompson added 23 as Golden State scored 40 points in the first quarter in defeating host Oklahoma City.

DeMarcus Cousins added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Warriors, who also got eight rebounds and six assists from Draymond Green.

Paul George led Oklahoma City with 29 points but hit only 9 of 25 shots overall. Dennis Schroder added 15 points off the bench, and Russell Westbrook shot only 2 of 16 in finishing with seven points.

Nuggets 102, Pacers 100

Paul Millsap hit a running layup with seven seconds left as host Denver edged Indiana to stay a game behind Golden State for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Millsap finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Nikola Jokic scored 26 points before being ejected for arguing a foul call on a loose ball play. Jamal Murray and Will Barton scored 17 points each for Denver.

Thaddeus Young had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Darren Collison scored 17 points and Domantas Sabonis and Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 16 each for the Pacers.

Jazz 114, Nets 98

Rudy Gobert totaled 23 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots, and Utah took control by early in the second quarter to defeat Brooklyn in Salt Lake City.

Gobert recorded his 55th double-double. He shot 9 of 12 from the floor and had six more dunks, increasing his league-leading total to 249. Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 24 points and added six rebounds and four assists.

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 22 points off the bench, but the Nets dropped to 0-2 to start a season-high, seven-game road trip. D’Angelo Russell added 20 points but shot 8 of 25 for Brooklyn.

Celtics 129, Hawks 120

Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and Jaylen Brown added 23, with two key baskets in a fourth-quarter stretch, as host Boston held off Atlanta to win for the fifth time in its past six games.

Irving fell just short of his second straight triple-double with 11 rebounds and nine assists. Boston also got 19 points — four in the crucial fourth-quarter run — and 11 rebounds from Marcus Morris while Jayson Tatum had 18 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Smart scored 16 points.

Atlanta was led by Trae Young, who had 26 points, including 5-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers, and John Collins, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Wizards 135, Grizzlies 128

Bradley Beal led six players in double figures with 40 points — his second straight night reaching 40 — as host Washington defeated Memphis.

Jabari Parker had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Bobby Portis scored 18 points as Washington, 11th in the Eastern Conference, moved to within three games of eighth-place Miami.

Mike Conley had 28 points and 12 assists for Memphis. Jonas Valanciunas amassed 22 points, and Avery Bradley scored 21.

Mavericks 121, Cavaliers 116

Tim Hardaway Jr. led seven players in double figures with 22 points as host Dallas ran off to a big lead before holding on to beat Cleveland and end a seven-game losing streak.

Maxi Kleber finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Mavericks, and Jalen Brunson and Dwight Powell added 16 points apiece. Dirk Nowitzki contributed 14 points and six rebounds.

Rookie Collin Sexton scored a game-high 28 points, and Kevin Love and Cedi Osman added 22 apiece. Love also had 12 rebounds and four assists.

Suns 138, Pelicans 136 (OT)

Phoenix scored five points in the final 2.2 seconds of overtime, helped along when host New Orleans drew a technical foul for calling a timeout when it had none remaining. Devin Booker led the Suns with 40 points and 13 assists, and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 32 points.

The Pelicans lost their sixth straight despite getting a New Orleans-record fourth consecutive triple-double from Elfrid Payton. The former Suns point guard finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists, tying the assist mark he set one night earlier against Portland.

Three of his teammates had double-doubles. Julius Randle finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Anthony Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Cheick Diallo came off the bench to add 10 points and 10 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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1 suspect killed in New Hampshire SWAT standoff at Quality Inn, 2 remain barricaded

A suspect who fired at officers was reportedly killed during a standoff with police at a Quality Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire late Wednesday night.

The Manchester Police SWAT team confirmed in a Tweet early Thursday that multiple shots were fired and later said that chemical agents were deployed inside the hotel room to subdue the suspects. The standoff reportedly started around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

SHOOTOUT AT CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY NEAR LA LEAVES SWORD-WIELDING SUSPECT DEAD, 2 COPS WOUNDED

One of the suspects, identified as Stephen Marshall, 51, was killed during the standoff, but two others remain barricaded inside a hotel room, a reporter from WBZ Boston reported on Twitter. Officers are continuing to negotiate with the people inside the hotel.

In a Thursday morning news conference, Manchester Police Chief Carlo Capano praised his officers involved in the ongoing situation. "These officers have been doing an incredible job and I can't be more proud of them as the chief of police here,” he told reporters. "Manchester police officers were attacked and tonight and we can’t stand for that,” he added.

There have been no reported injuries to police or civilians at this time.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Source: Fox News National

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2nd death in Democratic megadonor Ed Buck's LA apartment ruled meth overdose, report says

The second man who died in the span of 18 months at the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a 64-year-old who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party candidates and is well known in LGBTQ political circles, died from a methamphetamine overdose, according to a report.

“Toxicology results are back and the cause of death is an overdose,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Investigator Quilmes Rodriguez told The Daily Beast on the death of 55-year-old Timothy Dean of West Hollywood, Calif. Rodriguez later said the drug was meth. Dean was pronounced dead at the apartment in January after police responded to a report of a person not breathing.

Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, told Fox News on Monday night: “This is a tragedy. ... Mr. Buck had nothing to do with his death.”

The bodies of Gemmel Moore, left, and Timothy Dean, right, were found at the apartment of Ed Buck, center, 18 months apart. (Facebook/AP, File)

The bodies of Gemmel Moore, left, and Timothy Dean, right, were found at the apartment of Ed Buck, center, 18 months apart. (Facebook/AP, File)

Amster said his client didn't know where Dean “got the meth, and he came over to the apartment intoxicated.”

Amster blamed the L.A. drug problem on the West Hollywood City Council, which he said would rather focus on headlines than fix the issues of its community: “The meth problem is the issue in West Hollywood. … Drugs are out of control in West Hollywood.”

However, close friends of Dean in January said they knew him as a sober, spiritual soul who didn’t abuse drugs and wanted to stay “as far away as possible” from the California political operative.

Fox News reported last month that Dean had warned his friends to steer clear of the well-connected donor and referred to him as a “f---ing devil” and “a horrible, horrible man.”

Activists and family members have been calling for Buck’s arrest, saying if Dean and the other man who died, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, had been white there would be more attention on the case.

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Moore died of a methamphetamine overdose in July 2017. He was found naked on a mattress in Buck’s living room, which was littered with drug paraphernalia.

Prosecutors didn’t file criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Huge fire breaks out in Greater Manchester: Sky News

A fire is seen burning on Saddleworth Moor near Diggle
A fire is seen burning on Saddleworth Moor near the town of Diggle, Britain, February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Super

February 27, 2019

(Reuters) – A large fire has broken out on Saddleworth Moor in the Greater Manchester region in England, Sky News reported http://bit.ly/2GOhKfv late on Tuesday.

Other details were not immediately available.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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US eases effects of sanctions on Iran’s elite guard force

The Trump administration on Wednesday granted important exemptions to new sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, watering down the effects of the measures while also eliminating an aspect that would have complicated U.S. foreign policy efforts.

Foreign governments and businesses that have dealings with the Revolutionary Guard and its affiliates will not be subject to a ban on U.S. travel under waivers outlined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in two notices published in the Federal Register.

That weakens the effect of the measures and will frustrate members of Congress backing tough measures against Iran who are already concerned that the Trump administration won't fully enforce sanctions on Iranian oil. But it lifts the threat that those who work with the U.S. in Iraq and Lebanon, where the Guard's subsidiaries are active, will face the full weight of American penalties.

The waivers leave intact sanctions that apply directly to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its proxies, the first agencies of a foreign government that have ever been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. The designation, which took effect April 15 , is part of a broader administration effort to increase pressure on Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking Wednesday in New York, said the administration is creating dangerous conditions with its campaign against Tehran. "Iranians are allergic to pressure," he said, adding that he believes the conflict can be resolved diplomatically.

Under U.S. immigration law, foreigners found to have provided designated foreign terrorist organizations with "material support" can be banned from the U.S.

When it was announced earlier this month, the designation raised fears that U.S. diplomats and troops might have to end contacts with officials in countries that have ties with Iran or elements of the Guard, a paramilitary organization formed in the wake of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to defend its clerically overseen government.

Lebanon, where Iran and the Guard are active in their support of the militant Hezbollah movement, and Iraq, where they back Shiite militias and have close ties to the government, are two such countries where the U.S. is heavily engaged on military and diplomatic fronts.

Pompeo said in the notices that he decided to waive the travel bans in U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.

In one notice, he said the sanctions "shall not apply to any ministry, department, agency, division, or other group or subgroup within any foreign government" unless that entity is covered by existing U.S. sanctions.

In the second notice, he said the sanctions won't apply "to any business, organization, or group, whether public or private, solely based on its provision of material support to any foreign government sub-entity that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization."

"At first glance, it looks like a wise carve-out," said Daniel Fried, a former sanctions coordinator for the State Department who is now with The Atlantic Council. "One of the rules of sanctions is that you need to account for unintended consequences and have wide licensing and waiver authority. Otherwise, if there are unintended consequences you find yourself unable to act."

The notices were published two days after the administration announced that it would not renew sanctions waivers for countries that import Iranian oil. Those waivers, which primarily affect five countries — China and India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey — expire on May 2. The announcement sparked a spike in world oil prices due to global supply concerns.

In the days since, however, concerns have been raised by Iran hawks that the administration may not impose sanctions on countries continuing their imports.

Under one scenario being considered by the administration, the countries could be allowed to place and pay for future orders of Iranian oil before May 2, essentially front-loading continued imports, according to officials, congressional aides and outside advisers familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The administration could then grant waivers from sanctions to transport and refine the oil under a 2012 law.

The State Department declined to comment on the possibility that Iranian oil imports might continue without sanctions.

President Donald Trump has said the goal is to cut Iranian oil exports to zero to choke off the estimated $50 billion a year it provided before sanctions were reinstated in November following the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

But officials in charge of Iran policy have not ruled out the possibility of allowing some importers additional time to wind down those purchases, drawing criticism from supporters of a "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at Tehran, which the U.S. says destabilizes the Middle East by supporting militant activity around the region.

"I think maximum pressure should mean maximum pressure," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Pompeo earlier this month at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing during which he implored the administration to adopt the strictest possible interpretation of the sanctions.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., concurred. "Going forward, the proper amount of oil exports from Iran is zero."

Outside opponents of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal also say exports must be eliminated for the maximum pressure campaign to succeed.

"There is no maximum pressure campaign without eliminating all Iranian oil exports. That must be the immediate objective," said Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a critic of the deal.

Source: Fox News National

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Israel says it uncovered militant network on Syria frontier

The Israeli military says it uncovered a militant network run by the Lebanese Hezbollah group inside Syria, along the frontier with Israel.

Wednesday's statement quotes Brig. Gen. Amit Fisher as warning the Lebanese militant group that Israel will "not allow any attempt by Hezbollah to entrench itself near the border."

It says Israeli forces "will act with all our might to force this terrorist organization out" — signaling possible new actions by the Israeli military inside Syria.

The statement says the network, which Hezbollah runs together with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, is stockpiling weapons, collecting intelligence and recruiting locals for attacks against Israel.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah operative Ali Musa Daqduq is the network's commander and also claims it operates independently of Syrian President Bashar Assad's authority.

Source: Fox News World

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Rouhani says Saudi Arabia, UAE owe their existence today to Iran: TV

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference on a visit to Baghdad
FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference with Iraqi President Barham Salih (not pictured) in Baghdad, Iraq, March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/File Photo

April 24, 2019

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates owed their existence to Iran because it had refused to help former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein invade the two countries, state TV reported.

“Had it not been for Iran’s rational decision back then not to cooperate with Saddam, there would have been no trace of these countries today,” Rouhani said. “They owe their existence today to Iran.”

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, which resulted in the seven-month-long Iraqi occupation of the country.

“Before invading Saudi neighbor Kuwait, Saddam had told Iran that Iraq and Iran will be sharing 800 kilometers (497 miles) in border in the Persian Gulf,” Rouhani said.

“This shows that Saddam was seeking to occupy Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Emirates, and Qatar in addition to Kuwait.”

Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are involved in proxy wars from Yemen to Syria.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer holds annual general meeting
Werner Baumann, CEO of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, attends the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

BONN (Reuters) – Bayer shareholders vented their anger over its stock price slump on Friday as litigation risks mount from the German drugmaker’s $63 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

Several large investors said they will not support aspirin investor Bayer’s management in a key vote scheduled for the end of its annual general meeting.

Bayer’s management, led by chief executive Werner Baumann, could see an embarrassing plunge in approval ratings, down from 97 percent at last year’s AGM, which was held shortly before the Monsanto takeover closed in June.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. Although it has no bearing on management’s liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

“Due to the continued negative development at Bayer, high legal risks and a massive share price slump, we refuse to ratify the management board and supervisory board’s actions during the business year,” Janne Werning, representing Germany’s Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder, said in prepared remarks.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) have been wiped off Bayer’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found the pesticide and drugs group liable because Monsanto had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar defeat last month and more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

Deutsche Bank’s asset managing arm DWS said shareholders should have been consulted before the takeover, which was agreed in 2016 and closed in June last year.

“You are pointing out that the lawsuits have not been lost yet. We and our customers, however, have already lost something – money and trust,” Nicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at DWS, said in prepared remarks for the AGM.

He said DWS would abstain from the shareholder vote of confidence in the executive and non-executive boards.

Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that Bayer’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions.

Asset management firm Deka, among Bayer’s largest German investors, has also said it would cast a no vote.

Baumann said Bayer’s true value was not reflected in the current share price.

“There’s no way to make this look good. The lawsuits and the first verdicts weigh heavily on our company and it’s a concern for many people,” he said, adding it was the right decision to buy Monsanto and that Bayer was vigorously defending itself.

This month, shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

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