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Market ’paradigm shift’ may be under way, but more volatility likely: BIS

Financial markets have been remarkably resilient to rising bond yields and sudden shift in outlook following last month’s shock U. S. election result, but the sheer scale of uncertainties ahead means the adjustment will be ”bumpy” the BIS said on Sunday. While the resilience to recent market swings following the U. S. election and Brexit vote have been welcome, investors should be braced for further bouts of extreme volatilty and ”flash crash” episodes like the one that hit sterling in October, the Bank for International Settlements said. ”We do not quite fully understand the cause of such unusual price moves . .. but as long as such moves remain and do not threaten market functioning or the soundness of financial institutions, they are not a source of much concern: we may need to get used to them,” said Claudio Borio, Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the BIS. ”It is as if market participants, for once, had taken the lead in anticipating and charting the future, breaking free from their dependence on central banks’ every word and deed,” Borio said. This suggests investors may finally be learning to stand on their own two feet after years of relying on central bank stimulus, signaling a potential ”paradigm shift” for markets, he said. ”But the jury is still out, and caution is in order. And make no mistake: bond yields are still unusually low from a perspective,” Borio said. The BIS, often referred to as the ”central banks’ central bank” acts as a forum for the world’s major monetary authorities. Its commentaries on global markets and economics give an insight into policymakers’ thinking. Bond yields have risen sharply since the middle of the year. The benchmark U. S. Treasury yield has jumped 100 basis points since July’s low, with a growing number of investors saying the bull run in bonds is now over. That rise has come against the political shocks of Britain’s vote in late June to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s election victory last month. The surge of 20 basis points in U. S. bond yields the day after the election was the largest since the ”taper tantrum” market in 2013, and greater than all but 1 percent of moves in the last quarter century, the BIS said. Yet U. S. stocks are chalking up record highs, market volatility is anchored at historic lows and corporate spreads have remained relatively tight. Liquidity has been ”adequate” according to the BIS. This all points to investors anticipating stronger growth resulting from easier U. S. fiscal policy, lower taxes and looser regulation, particularly in the financial sector, the BIS said. Banks will generally benefit from higher rates and a steeper yield curve, and the recent surge in U. S. bank stocks is ”a telling sign of a brighter perceived outlook,” the BIS said. But higher yields and a stronger dollar also pose risks, especially to emerging markets, even though some EM equity and credit markets held up better than they did at the time of the taper tantrum in 2013. The starting point for emerging markets wasn’t so severe as investors had already withdrawn ”massive” amounts from EM funds between 2013 and 2015, while loans in recent years had generally been taken out over long maturities and at fixed rates. Still, nearly 10 percent of corporate debt in EM comes due next year, meaning firms must either pay back $120 billion or refinance it at a higher and rising cost, according to the BIS. Dollar funding costs and money market spreads rose sharply in the latest quarter as investors adjusted to new U. S. money market rules that took effect in October. dollar funding from money market funds shrank by some 70 percent. But unlike 2008 when widening spreads tightened financial conditions and torpedoed banks’ creditworthiness, this was a move that had ”limited” spillover effects on broader financial markets. Borrowers simply raised cash elsewhere, the BIS said. Meanwhile, the BIS also said that new data show that banks in China are the 10th largest lenders in the international banking market and banks in Russia the 23rd largest. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Toby Chopra) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

More than 100 killed in church collapse in Nigeria -journalist, resident

At least 100 people were killed by the collapse of a church in southeastern Nigeria, a resident and photojournalist who visited a morgue said on Sunday, but officials put the death toll at just 27. ”At Uyo teaching hospital where I am now I could see over a hundred corpses, many are heaped on top off each other on the floor,” said photojournalist Ini Samuel. ”Eye witnesses also said yesterday corpses were packed in four each bag.” Gary Ubong, a resident, said the church’s roof had collapsed on worshippers while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials. ”I saw more than 100 dead bodies brought out on loaders,” said Ubong, who said he had rushed to the scene after the accident. ”I also went to two hospitals and saw heaps of dead bodies difficult to count.” State police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said 27 had been killed and 30 injured when the Reigners Bible church in Akwa Ibom state capital Uyo collapsed during a service on Saturday. Etete Peters, Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo teaching hospital, said 21 bodies had been delivered to his clinic and two of the injured admitted for treatment had died. ”Victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis. We can’t really tell how many people have died so far,” he said. ”We do not have space as people are still being brought in.” State police commissioner Murtala Mani ”debunked speculations that as many as 60 or 120 worshipers died in the incident,” state news agency NAN said. The state emergency agency NEMA said in a statement that six people had been killed and 115 injured. Another Uyo resident, Akpan Eminem, said he had been told by hospital staff that 79 people had died in the accident. State governor Udom Emmanuel, who escaped unhurt from the church service, ordered the arrest of the building contractor, state news agency NAN said. Buildings collapses are frequent in the West African nation and often blamed by officials on lack of construction permits and the use of cheap materials amid widespread corruption. Critics say Nigerian authorities tend to understate the death toll at such accidents or suicide bombings by the Boko Haram jihadist group in the north of the country. Following a gas plant blast in southern Nigeria a year ago the presidency said ”tens of people” had been killed while witnesses counted more than 100 bodies. Police had then just confirmed eight dead. (Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Ulf Laessing, Tife Owolabi, Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh; Editing by Ros Russell) SYDNEY The United Nations cultural body UNESCO has voted to leave the Great Barrier Reef off its ”in danger” list despite recent widespread destruction of the World Heritage Site. MINNEAPOLIS Kole Calhoun homered and Cameron Maybin stole home on a delayed steal in support of rookie starter Parker Bridwell’s six scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Angels avoided a sweep with a win against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

Red means stop! Banking app cuts customer spending

Traffic lights don’t just work for drivers, some bank customers obey them on their smartphones too. A app using red, yellow and green messages to warn account holders when they are paying out more or less than usual has resulted in some users spending less, a potentially powerful new weapon in the battle for customers. Bank ( ) did not set out to change consumer habits when it offered its TD MySpend app in April. Canada’s bank just wanted to offer more information to customers who use their phones to check account balances. But its ease of use has caught on. Customers don’t have to make up a budget to start using the app and it sends notices immediately with each purchase showing them whether they are spending more or less each month in categories such as dining out, entertainment and travel. ”The nature encourages customers to change their behavior toward their financial goals,” Rizwan Khalfan, chief digital officer at TD Bank, told Reuters in his first interview about customers using the app. ”We were not expecting this.” About 750, 000, or 20 percent, of TD’s 3. 5 million mobile banking customers in Canada have downloaded the TD MySpend app since April, Khalfan said. Of those, 30 percent were using it at least twice a month and, on average, reducing their spending by 4 percent to 8 percent. Overall, that means about 6 percent of TD’s mobile banking customers have been using TD MySpend and spending less. Rizwan said the bank plans to put more marketing muscle behind the app as it learns how initial customers are using it. See how TD Bank in Canada pitches its app here ( ) It is too early to know, Rizwan said, whether TD MySpend could improve TD’s ability to hold onto deposits, a key consideration as interest rates rise and banks compete more aggressively for customers. Consumer deposits are a relatively stable source of funds for lending, which is more important in light of new global regulations. They tend to be cheaper than deposits from businesses, especially when interest rates rise. The success of new apps is also vital to bankers who fear technology companies will offer better tools to win customers and snag more of the fees and marketing information that come with handling payments. CYBER RISK? For decades, financial advisers, authors and software firms have come up with systems to help spendthrifts budget and save money, only to see the vast majority drop them like New Year gym memberships. Whether using separate envelopes of cash to limit spending by category, or installing programs on personal computers, the rule of thumb is that only about five to 10 percent of people are determined enough to stick with a plan, said Greg Midtbo, chief revenue officer at Moven, the financial technology company that developed and licensed MySpend to TD Bank. One big hurdle facing spending apps is their inability to safely and quickly pull together data from accounts at different institutions at the same time. TD MySpend combines spending from different deposit and credit card accounts only at TD Bank. Khalfan said the bank is considering how it might safely bring transaction details from accounts outside of TD into the app. Doing so would require contracts and technical agreements with rival banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co and others in the industry have complained that customers increase the risk of cyber theft when they give account passwords to outside firms. There are moves to collaborate on a solution. In October, the Center for Financial Services Innovation, which is funded by U. S. banks and foundations, issued principles for sharing account data. TAKE CONTROL The Moven app underlying TD MySpend was not immediately a success. Moven initially offered the app directly to consumers but too few people were willing to connect it to their accounts, so the company decided to provide the technology through banks instead. Since turning on TD MySpend in April, Moven started an app in September called CashNav for the New Zealand branch of Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp ( ). So far, 20 percent of Westpac New Zealand mobile banking customers have downloaded the app, a spokeswoman said, adding that about three quarters of those people said it is helping them control their spending. BBVA ( ) Spain’s bank and owner of consumer franchises in the Americas, picked up a similar app, and experience in the field, with its 2014 acquisition of financial technology startup Simple, which still markets itself directly to the public. BBVA’s Compass bank in the United States plans to introduce its own app to track spending next year, said Alex Carriles, its executive director of mobile and online banking. BBVA banks in other countries are on similar paths, said Jose Olalla, head of business development for BBVA Compass. The tools, Olalla said, build loyalty with customers. ”The sense of control is the benefit they are getting,” he said. PAYDAY EFFECT Despite the urge to spend, many people would be better off with more control over their discretionary spending. A survey by the U. S. Federal Reserve found 46 percent of adults said they could not cover a $400 emergency expense without selling something or borrowing money. While some of those do not make enough money to have emergency cash, even people with means have trouble keeping their spending on an even keel. The payday effect, in which people spend more after receiving a surge of money, occurs across income groups, according to an April 2016 study by scholars at the Columbia Business School and Copenhagen Business School. ”The swings weigh on people emotionally,” said Josh Reich, chief executive and of BBVA’s Simple. ”It shoots people’s confidence when one day they are feeling rich and two weeks later they are feeling poor.” Instead of showing people only the ups and downs of their balances, better to let them see their spending trends and they will temper impulse spending, Reich said. ”If you give people the tools to feel in control, they will take control.” (Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Bill Rigby) HELSINKI Telecoms network equipment maker Nokia and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Technology have signed a patent licensing agreement, the companies said on Wednesday. SAO PAULO Financial technology firms in Brazil are targeting lending to and companies to fill a gap in the credit market left by large lenders deterred by rising delinquencies and narrow margins.

Republican wins Senate runoff in Louisiana, giving party 52 seats

Republican John Neely Kennedy, a candidate for the U. S. Senate, won a runoff election in Louisiana on Saturday against Democrat Foster Campbell in a race that gives the Republicans a majority in the chamber. Campbell told his supporters in the state capital of Baton Rouge that he had called Kennedy to congratulate him on his victory. Kennedy, the state treasurer and the favorite going into the runoff, had slightly less than 61 percent of the vote with all 3, 904 precincts reporting, according to the state Secretary of State’s office. Turnout was relatively low. Kennedy, who said he will not move to Washington D. C. after a campaign spent railing against ”insiders,” told supporters ”I’d rather drink than be anywhere else tonight,” a reference to a widely reported campaign quote in which he said he ”would rather drink than support Obamacare.” Kennedy will fill the seat held by outgoing Republican Senator David Vitter, who is retiring. In conceding, Campbell vowed ”I’ll never stop fighting for working families, I’ll never stop working for what’s right.” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, congratulated Kennedy on his victory. ”I look forward to working with him to secure additional funding for flood relief, to make long term investments in our infrastructure and to bring Louisiana’s federal tax dollars home to help our people,” Edwards said in a statement. With Kennedy’s victory, the Republicans will have a majority in the U. S. Senate. Going into the general election on Nov. 8, Republicans had a majority. Kennedy had campaigned on the popularity in his state of Donald Trump, who easily won Louisiana. Trump flew to Baton Rouge for an rally on Kennedy’s behalf, and Vice Mike Pence earlier stumped for Kennedy as well. Kennedy, 65, was a Democrat until he switched party affiliation in the state in 2007. He had consistently polled well ahead of Campbell since placing first in the state’s primary, which included former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Celebrities including Patton Oswalt and John Leguizamo both actively supported Campbell’s losing bid. Under Louisiana law, all candidates are pitted against each other in the November general election. If no candidate claims a majority, the top two candidates move to a runoff. Also on Saturday, Republicans Mike Johnson, a state representative, and Clay Higgins prevailed in Congressional runoffs, replacing representatives who made unsuccessful bids for the Senate seat won by Kennedy. (Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Sam Holmes, Robert Birsel) NEW YORK Six in 10 American voters support the new ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States unless they can show they have a close relative here, according to opinion poll results released on Wednesday. LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a bilateral meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday, a British government official said on Wednesday.

Senate Republican leader backs investigation into Russian hacking

The Senate’s top Republican broke with Donald Trump on Monday over whether Russian hacking during the U. S. election merited closer scrutiny, a fissure between Trump and his party that appeared to grow as lawmakers pressed for a special investigation into the matter. The divide raised the possibility of enduring clashes between Trump and Republicans during his presidency over how to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader long viewed by many in the party as a calculating, untrustworthy foe but whom Trump has repeatedly praised for his leadership. ”The Russians are not our friends,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a news conference. Calls on Sunday by two leading Republican foreign policy voices, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, to investigate Russia’s hacking were buoyed on Monday by McConnell, who said Russia’s involvement needed further investigation. ”Any foreign breach of our cyber security measures is disturbing, and I strongly condemn any such efforts,” McConnell said. ”This simply cannot be a partisan issue.” McConnell said it ”defies belief” that Republicans would be reluctant to investigate Russian actions. McConnell’s remarks contrasted with those of Trump and his staff, who scoffed at reports that the CIA had concluded the hacks and leaks of Democratic emails were carried out with the goal of helping Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump said the conclusion was ”ridiculous.” Some lawmakers have called for a special committee to investigate the hacking, but McConnell did not back that idea, saying he has confidence in the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees. Cory Gardner, a Republican, said the Russian hacking reflected the need for a permanent committee dedicated to cyber security. It was not clear how the House of Representatives would respond to the hacking and calls for investigations. House committees have not announced plans for hearings, and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a statement criticizing Russia but blasting what he termed ”exploiting the work of our intelligence committee for partisan purposes.” Though congressional Republicans support a probe of Russia’s involvement in the election, they have shied away from agreeing with the CIA’s assessment that the hacks were deliberately carried out to undermine Clinton. ”It’s obvious that the Russians hacked into our campaigns,” McCain said Monday in an interview with Reuters. ”But there is no information that they were intending to affect the outcome of the election, and that’s why we need a congressional investigation.” ELECTORS WANT BRIEFING ON HACK Separately on Monday, one Republican and nine Democratic electors led by the daughter of the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, wrote to James Clapper, the U. S. Director of National Intelligence, requesting a briefing on the hacking reports before the Electoral College formally decides the election on Dec. 19. John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign, said in a statement that the campaign supported the electors’ letter, which raises ”very grave issues involving our national security.” Clapper’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the letter. Charles Schumer, who will be the Senate Democratic leader next year, said he welcomed McConnell’s support for ”a deep and thorough bipartisan investigation” with access to all relevant intelligence. Trump and his staff have repeatedly dismissed the reports as ”ridiculous,” blaming them on Democrats unhappy that Trump won. ”Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the card,” Trump said on Twitter on Monday. ”It would be called conspiracy theory!” A second tweet said, ”Unless you catch ’hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before election?” White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday pointed to a public statement from the intelligence community in early October that concluded the hacking had been authorized by ”Russia’s officials” and was aimed at sowing discord in the U. S. election. That statement stopped short of alleging that Russia wanted to help Trump. But Earnest suggested on Monday that may have been the intent. ”You didn’t need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyber activity,” Earnest said. ”The didn’t call it into question. He called on Russia to hack his opponent. He called on Russia to hack Secretary Clinton.” (Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis) NEW YORK Tesla Inc shares slid more than 7 percent on Wednesday, their biggest percentage decline in more than a year, on delivery numbers, yet the luxury electric carmaker’s stock price remained above analysts’ median target. NEW YORK In the world of financial technology, where startups are the focus of M&A chatter, a $10 billion combination of two processors whose roots date to the 1970s might seem unusual.

Senate fight looms after Trump taps Exxon CEO as top U.S. diplomat

Donald Trump named the head of Exxon Mobil Corp, Rex Tillerson, as his choice for U. S. secretary of state on Tuesday and won backing from some Republican foreign policy figures ahead of a possible Senate fight over the oilman’s ties to Russia. The Exxon chief executive potentially faces difficulties getting confirmed in the Senate. Some lawmakers worry about his links to Moscow and opposition to U. S. sanctions on Russia, which awarded him a friendship medal in 2013. But several Republican establishment figures, including former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condoleezza Rice, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates vouched for Tillerson, 64, who has spent more than 40 years at the oil company. Rice and Gates, who have worked for Exxon as consultants, both issued statements of support on Tuesday. Their backing could be crucial for Tillerson receiving the approval he needs in the Senate, where Republicans will have a slim majority when Trump takes office on Jan 20. ”The fact that Condi Rice, James Baker and Bob Gates are recommending Tillerson carries considerable weight,” said Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By choosing Tillerson, Trump adds another person to his Cabinet and circle of advisers who may favor a soft line toward Moscow, which is under U. S. sanctions for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and at the center of allegations that it launched cyber attacks to disrupt the U. S. presidential election. Republican foreign policy hawks in the Senate like John McCain and Lindsey Graham are likely to give Tillerson a rough time at a confirmation hearing in early January. ”It’s very well known that he has a very close relationship with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” said McCain, the Republican party’s 2008 nominee for president. Republicans will have a majority of just in the Senate, and only a few defections from their ranks would block Tillerson if every Democrat also opposed him. ’FIERCE ADVOCATE’ Trump, on a victory tour of states that backed him in the November election, told supporters in West Allis, Wisconsin, that Tillerson ”will be a fierce advocate for American interests around the world.” He called him ”a strong man, a tough man.” Trump upset U. S. allies during his campaign by calling for a better relationship with Russia and questioning the usefulness of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U. S. military bloc created after World War Two to counter the Soviet Union. Trump has also pledged to confront China on trade and territorial issues and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, angering many Islamic countries. Tillerson has foreign experience from years of cutting deals with foreign countries for his company, the world’s largest energy firm. In 2012, Tillerson signed a deal with Russian state oil giant Rosneft to jointly develop oil fields in western Siberia. He has been chief executive of Exxon Mobil since 2006 but like Trump he has never held public office. Tillerson said in a statement that he shared the ’s ”vision for restoring the credibility of the United States.” Exxon Mobil said its board would meet soon regarding its transition. Trump was also poised to add another figure with close ties to the oil industry to his Cabinet. A source close to the transition said Trump had chosen former Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose state is a leading oil producer, as his nominee for energy secretary, with an announcement expected soon. Perry met Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Monday, part of a series of meetings that included rapper Kanye West on Tuesday. Trump also has offered the position of interior secretary to Montana Representative Ryan Zinke, an SEAL commander who was an early Trump supporter, according to media reports. Trump appointed Stephen Miller, a top policy aide during the campaign, to be his senior adviser for policy. Miller had been an adviser to U. S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, whom Trump has nominated to be attorney general. In 2013, Putin bestowed a Russian state honor, the Order of Friendship, on Tillerson, citing his work ”strengthening cooperation in the energy sector.” There also has been controversy over alleged Russian interference in the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the CIA concluding that Moscow had intervened to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Tillerson’s ”cozy ties to Vladimir Putin and Russia would represent an untenable conflict at the State Department,” Representative Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump and Tillerson were ”pragmatic people” who could help America and Russia build a mutually beneficial relationship. A group of U. S. state attorneys general is investigating Exxon for allegedly misleading the public about climate change and some environmental groups are alarmed Exxon’s CEO could be America’s top diplomat. Exxon has said it has acknowledged the reality of climate change for years. Tillerson told a congressional hearing in 2010 he thought humanity contributed to climate change but the science was unclear about the size of the contribution. ”It is extremely complicated,” he told the hearing. After Trump’s election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement to combat climate change. There also are concerns among lawmakers about former U. N. Ambassador John Bolton, who an adviser to Trump’s transition team said was still under consideration for the deputy secretary of state role. Bolton has urged Washington to do more to counter China’s assertiveness in East Asia. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Patricia Zengerle and Phil Stewart in Washington and by Georgina Prodhan in Belgrade; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Trump attack on Lockheed Martin foreshadows war on defense industry

Donald Trump on Monday widened his attack on defense contractors, slamming Lockheed Martin Corp’s ( ) fighter jet program as too expensive as aides to the said he intends to keep pushing to cut the costs of military hardware. Trump’s latest Twitter broadside sent defense shares tumbling and fanned concerns that the incoming administration will reduce defense contractors’ profit margins and cut broader federal spending, threatening U. S. factory jobs even as Trump promises to boost manufacturing employment. ”The program and cost is out of control,” Trump said on Twitter, echoing campaign promises to cut waste in federal spending. ”Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.” Last week, Trump targeted Boeing Co ( ) with tweets for ”out of control” costs on new Air Force One planes, urging the federal government to ”Cancel order!” The new administration’s focus is likely to be ” and impact all of government as we look to come up with better deals,” Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller said. ”We’re going to look for opportunities to go back through and make sure that we’re not getting taken advantage of.” Trump’s tweet drew support from U. S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who has voiced support for the fighter jet in the past. While a president cannot cancel a program after funds have been allocated, it can purchase less. ”He can reduce the buy over time, next year, as we look at it again,” McCain told Reuters. But Trump’s remarks bristled others in Congress. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, home to engine maker Pratt & Whitney, said the program supports 2, 000 Pratt jobs and thousands more at suppliers. ”The suggestion that costs are out of control is just plain wrong,” he said. Trump should ”learn more about the facts” before discussing ”arbitrary cuts in the program,” he added. ”He’s the . What he says matters.” Lockheed shares fell 2. 5 percent after being down 5. 4 percent earlier. Shares of General Dynamics ( ) Northrop Grumman, BAE and Raytheon also fell, while United Technologies and Boeing shares were slightly higher. ’ACQUISITION MALPRACTICE’ The has been dogged by problems, with the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer once describing as ”acquisition malpractice” the decision to produce jets before completing development. That led to retrofits and helped escalate costs to an estimated $400 billion, prompting the to be described as the most expensive weapon system in history. The Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has continued to criticize it, but the jets are now in use by the U. S. Marine Corps and Air Force, and by six countries: Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet last week, according to a program spokesman. Australian and Japanese defense officials both said they have no plans to alter their commitments to the . ”We are very confident that the Joint Strike Fighter is the right jet for Australia, and for the United States and the rest of the world,” said Christopher Pyne, minister for Australia’s defense industry. Australia has ordered 72 while Japan has agreed to purchase 42 fighters to replace its aging fleet. ”We will have to watch Trump’s policies closely when he becomes president, but at this moment, we have no intention of changing direction,” Japan’s Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada said. Lockheed’s program leader, Jeff Babione, said Monday the company had invested millions to reduce the jet’s price by 60 percent from original estimates. ”We project it to be about $85 million in the 2019 or 2020 timeframe,” he told reporters in Israel. The Pentagon is now paying about $102 million each for the conventional takeoff according to sources familiar with the program. The savings reflect larger quantities and the ironing out of technical issues. As a practical matter, it was unlikely the U. S. would unwind such a large program involving contractors in nearly every U. S. state and eight partner nations, Baird Equity Research analyst Peter Arment wrote in a note Monday. ”But what is likely . .. is the message to the industry of potentially more on costs,” he said. ”This is potentially a new paradigm for the industry.” (Reporting by Alwyn Scott, Andrea Shalal, Patricia Zengerle, Matt Spetalnick, Jonathan Landay, Phil Stewart, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Colin Packham and Nobuhiro Inada; Editing by Bill Trott, Nick Zieminski and Lincoln Feast) SINGAPORE Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of U. S. interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier. WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday.

Exclusive: SWIFT confirms new cyber thefts, hacking tactics

Cyber attacks targeting the global bank transfer system have succeeded in stealing funds since February’s heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank as hackers have become more sophisticated in their tactics, according to a SWIFT official and a previously undisclosed letter the organization sent to banks worldwide. The messaging network in a Nov. 2 letter seen by Reuters warned banks of the escalating threat to their systems, according to the SWIFT letter. The attacks and new hacking tactics underscore the continuing vulnerability of the SWIFT messaging network, which handles trillions of dollars in fund transfers daily. ”The threat is very persistent, adaptive and sophisticated — and it is here to stay,” SWIFT said in the November letter to client banks, seen by Reuters. How hackers made off with millions: When hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh’s central bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York failed to spot warning signs and nearly let all the money go. Here’s an animated guide of how the heist worked. The disclosures provide fresh evidence that SWIFT remains at risk of attacks nearly a year after funds were stolen from a Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The unprecedented cyber theft prompted regulators around the globe to tighten bank security requirements, amidst a global investigation by the FBI, Bangladesh authorities and Interpol. Banks using the SWIFT network, which include both central banks and commercial banks, have been hit with a ”meaningful” number of attacks about a fifth of them resulting in stolen funds, since the Bangladesh heist, Stephen Gilderdale, head of SWIFT’s Customer Security Programme, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. SWIFT, a owned by its user banks, had previously disclosed hacks of three SWIFT users since February but said those did not lead to the loss of funds. SWIFT’s letter to customers warned that hackers have refined their methods for compromising local bank systems. One new tactic, the letter said, involved using software that allows technicians to access computers to provide technical support. ”We unfortunately continue to see cases in which some of our customers’ environments are being compromised” by thieves who then send fraudulent payment instructions through the SWIFT network the same kind of messages used to steal Bangladesh Bank funds, the letter said without elaborating further. On Monday, a top police investigator in Dhaka told Reuters that some Bangladesh central bank officials deliberately exposed its computer systems and enabled the theft. He declined to identify those officials by name or say how many there were. The comments by Mohammad Shah Alam, head of the Forensic Training Institute of the Bangladesh police’s criminal investigation department, are the first sign that investigators have got a firm lead in one of the world’s biggest cyber heists. Arrests are likely soon, he said. Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined to comment on Alam’s comments. A New York Fed spokeswoman also declined comment. INFORMATION SHARING SWIFT’s Gilderdale declined to provide further details about more recent attacks or to name victims or amounts stolen. Asked how many heists had been attempted, he said only that it was ”a meaningful number of cases. ” “In all of these cases attackers are suspected of trying to replicate the modus operandi of the Bangladesh attackers,” he added. The intrusions had been detected in a variety of ways, Gilderdale said. In some cases, clients’ antivirus software had identified malware. In others, a new feature on software SWIFT provides to clients alerted SWIFT directly of an attempted manipulation of a client’s system. In one case, a financial regulator had notified SWIFT of an attempted attack. Gilderdale said despite the new thefts, SWIFT believed the system was becoming more secure. ”In 80 percent of the cases that we are aware of and where we have completed investigations, a fraud has not actually ended up taking place,” he said. ”I personally am very pleased with the progress that we are making,” he added. Successful bank hackings were too rare to say whether an 80 percent success rate was good or bad, Ben Caudill, a cyber security consultant with Rhino Security Labs in Seattle, said. SWIFT said in its letter to clients that the cyber threats were evolving. ”There are likely to be multiple groups of cyber attackers attempting to compromise customer environments,” it said. ”There has been an evolution in the modus operandi, signifying that attackers are further adapting their methods,” it added. Gilderdale said it was impossible to say for sure whether the rate of attacks was increasing because previously SWIFT did not track or receive information from clients about incidents. SWIFT said that in all cases, the infiltrations involved customers’ SWIFT interfaces and that its own central communications network had not been compromised. The additional attacks SWIFT disclosed to Reuters do not include others that have already come to light since the Bangladesh Bank heist. Thieves stole $250, 000 from Bangladesh’s Sonali bank in 2013. More than $12 million was stolen from Ecuador’s Banco del Austro in 2015. Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank said in May that it foiled an attempt to steal money via SWIFT. (Editing by Brian Thevenot and Matthew Lewis) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Trump’s tough trade talk makes U.S. firms fear China retribution

U. S. Donald Trump’s challenges to China on trade and Taiwan are rattling American companies who have long benefited from stable relations between the two countries but now fear retaliation by Beijing if Trump were to act. Trump jarred Chinese officials on Sunday by saying the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its position that Taiwan is part of ”one China.” Beijing expressed ”serious concern” about Trump’s remarks. Four U. S. industry sources who follow China policy closely said they were unsettled by any suggestion of abandoning the ”one China” policy, which they said had served the business community well for several decades. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, stressed the importance of stability for businesses. They said Beijing could retaliate against U. S. companies that do business in China if Trump takes his tougher line too far. ”The Chinese are deeply concerned and we hear now from reliable sources in Beijing who suggest the Chinese government, the Communist Party, are developing lists of U. S. interests against which they could retaliate, commercial interests, and obviously one merely has to look at top U. S. exports to China to get a quick sense of whose heads may be on the chopping block,” said one China trade policy expert who interacts closely with U. S. business. The expert pointed out that more than 30 states have over $1 billion in exports to China and that there is over $500 billion in commercial engagements by U. S. companies in China. All of that would be at risk if China retaliated. ”That commercial engagement supports American jobs, many American jobs here in the United States,” the expert said. Another source said there had been ”quiet outreach” by the U. S. business community to Trump’s advisers but companies were wary of discussing their concerns about the China policy publicly for fear of becoming a target for the who has singled out companies such as Carrier and Boeing. From Detroit’s car makers to Silicon Valley’s technology champions, China is both a critical source of revenue and profits, and a vital link in global supply chains. More than four decades after President Richard Nixon upset the status quo of his time with a surprise visit to Beijing, what’s good for U. S. relations is good for General Motors and Starbucks and Apple and Stores Inc. China has hit U. S. goods with retaliatory tariffs in the past when disputes flared. China in 2011 slapped duties on U. S. large cars and sport utilities as part of a trade dispute. The stakes are higher now. More than of the 9. 96 million vehicles General Motors Co sold globally in 2015 were delivered to Chinese customers. Profits from Chinese operations, including joint ventures, accounted for about 20 percent of GM’s global net income of $9. 7 billion in 2015. Ford Motor Co’s China JVs represented about 16 percent of its global profit of $9. 4 billion in 2015. U. S. retail giant Wall Mart Stores Inc has 432 stores in China, while coffee chain Starbucks Corp has 2, 500 stores there and outgoing CEO Howard Schultz told investors China will one day be a bigger market for the firm than the United States. Aircraft maker Boeing Co plans to build a ”completion” factory in China for its 737 jets, anticipating the country will need 6, 800 new jetliners worth $1 trillion over the next 20 years. ”The United States and China are in a symbiotic relationship, we are wed to each other and do best when we grow together,” said Susan Aaronson, a professor at George Washington University who teaches corruption and good governance. The total value of U. S. trade with China was $599 billion in 2015, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, of which $116 billion was exports to China from U. S. producers, while U. S. companies imported $483 billion in goods from China. Alan Deardorff, professor of international economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, said that if U. S. trade tensions were to reach a boiling point, ”the pain would be widespread and deep” for U. S. businesses. Trump and his advisers have said the U. S. trade deficit reflects bad trade deals and currency manipulation by the Chinese government, which they said justifies a tougher response than in the past. George Washington University’s Aaronson said that while Taiwan is a sensitive topic, if Trump pushes ahead with trade tariffs that is far more likely to translate into retaliation against U. S. firms in China. ”China’s leaders need stability and Trump is totally disruptive,” Aaronson said. ”They will need to signal their strength in return.” (Reporting by Nick Carey in Chicago and Ginger Gibson in Washington; additional reporting by Paul Lienert and Bernie Woodall in Detroit, Meredith Davis and Tom Polansek in Chicago, Alwyn Scott in Seattle, Caren Bohan and David Brunnstrom in Washington; editing by Joseph White and Grant McCool) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Tech, bank shares slip after recent gains; health outperforms

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell on Monday after six sessions of gains, weighed by tech sector stocks, while a rally in energy shares petered out as crude oil gains withered. Bank shares fell ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for the year, set to begin Tuesday and expected to end on Wednesday with the year’s first interest rate increase. Traders cashed in gains in bank stocks ahead of the meeting, even if a rate hike, which on paper would benefit banks, is all but priced in. The chances that the U. S. central bank will not raise rates is ”close to zero, but it’s not zero,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. The S&P 500 financial sector . SPSY fell 0. 9 percent following five consecutive weeks of gains. The benchmark’s tech sector . SPLRCT fell 0. 5 percent after posting its largest weekly advance in a year last week. The healthcare sector was the biggest boost to both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials. Regeneron ( ) gained 3. 8 percent to $387. 10 after data on a competing drug combination from Novartis ( ) and Opthotech ( ) did not meet its main goal. Ophthotech shares tumbled 86. 4 percent. Regeneron was the largest percentage gainer on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39. 58 points, or 0. 2 percent, to 19, 796. 43, the S&P 500 lost 2. 57 points, or 0. 11 percent, to 2, 256. 96 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31. 96 points, or 0. 59 percent, to 5, 412. 54. The Dow posted the latest in a string of record closing highs. Energy stocks on the S&P 500 . SPNY rose as much as 2. 5 percent in early trading as crude oil prices soared around 6 percent to levels not seen in a year and a half. The sector ended up 0. 7 percent, with both WTI Clc1 and Brent crude LCOc1 barrels up less than 2 percent. The industrials . SPLRCI sector was down 0. 37 percent, dragged down by defense stocks. Lockheed Martin ( ) declined 2. 5 percent to $253. 11, bouncing back from a session low of $245. 50, after U. S. Donald Trump tweeted that the company’s program and costs were ”out of control.” Viacom ( ) fell 9. 4 percent to $34. 99. National Amusements withdrew its merger proposal for CBS ( ) and Viacom. National Amusements is controlled by Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone. Alexion Pharmaceuticals ( ) fell 12. 9 percent to $115. 08. The chief executive officer and chief financial officer resigned, a month after the drugmaker said it was investigating allegations related to sales practices of its flagship drug. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2. ratio favored decliners. About 7. 4 billion shares changed hands in U. S. exchanges, roughly in line with the average volume over the last 20 sessions. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SINGAPORE Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of U. S. interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier. WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday.

Chipotle founder Ells takes over as sole CEO at burrito chain

Ells, who has confirmed that the chain is in discussions with billionaire investor William Ackman about shaking up its board, told Reuters the Chipotle would ”soon” name ”a few” new directors. He declined to elaborate. Ells, 51, also said he would remain board chairman, even as Amalgamated Bank and CtW Investment Group urge fellow shareholders to name an independent chairman to replace Ells as leader of the board. ”That’s the plan right now,” Ells told Reuters. Shares in Chipotle added 3. 3 percent to close at $382. 48 on Monday. Chipotle’s shares traded above $750 before the chain was linked to a series of foodborne illnesses in late 2015. ”Given the ongoing challenges facing the company, the board felt strongly that it was best for Steve to resume leadership of the company going forward,” Neil Flanzraich, the company’s lead director, said in a statement. ”Having two CEOs did not serve Chipotle well once the food safety crisis hit, so this is only a modest step forward. Lots more needs to be done to refresh the board,” said Keith Mestrich, president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. ”It still doesn’t resolve the question of independent oversight,” said Derrick Wortes, director of equity strategies at CtW Investment Group. Ackman, who reported a nearly 10 percent stake in Chipotle in September, wants several board seats, sources have told Reuters. A spokesman for Ackman’s fund declined comment. Ells was Chipotle’s CEO from 1993 until 2009, when Moran was named . Moran, 50, was Chipotle’s chief operating officer prior to being named and continued overseeing restaurant operations following that promotion. Moran, a friend of Ells’ since their student days, also stepped down as a director on Monday. He will be an adviser to the company until 2017, when he will retire. ”Given Chipotle’s mostly and significant challenges of the last months, it would have been unusual if no top person at the company hadn’t undergone a transition such as this,” Instinet analyst Mark Kalinowski wrote in a client note. Chipotle’s sales have fallen for four straight quarters, dropping 21. 9 percent in the latest quarter, even as the company has issued millions of coupons for free and discounted meals. Ells and other executives said on a conference call that service speed has slowed since the company was linked to E. coli, salmonella and norovirus outbreaks last year. Staff turnover and complaints about running short of white rice or chicken are also up, they said. Ells told Reuters he would oversee a program aimed at improving and streamlining crew hiring, training and incentives with the end goal of improving the customer experience, the appearance of dining rooms and service speed. (Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Lisa Shumaker) WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday. One of the investors former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is accused of defrauding testified on Wednesday that Shkreli lied to him repeatedly, although he eventually made millions of dollars from the investment.

Venezuelans scramble to ditch largest bill ahead of surprise removal

Venezuelans hastily dumped the country’s bill, the largest denomination, on Monday after the government said it would be pulled from circulation as the nation suffers what is believed to be the world’s highest inflation. Socialist President Nicolas Maduro said the withdrawal of the bill worth just 2 U. S. cents on the black market was needed to reduce contraband of the banknotes on the border. The note will be removed in 72 hours as of Tuesday, state media said on Monday, with new, bills due on Thursday. Despite heavy printing of the bills 2. 3 billion this year alone out of 6. 1 billion in total they are in short supply. Moreover, Venezuela’s shaky telecoms network means card readers often collapse. Luis Volcanes, 36, had for six weeks withdrawn cash every day but on Monday ran around with a big brown envelope trying to deposit that same money, only to find cash machines at four banks in a row were not working. ”This seems crazy, like the government did this on a whim. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Volcanes said as people trickled in and out of a bank in Caracas, complaining none of the machines worked. One man unable to deposit money yelled, ”This is total chaos!” Adding to the aggravation, Monday was a bank holiday, meaning there were no tellers. Venezuelans have 10 days to exchange the notes at the central bank. While many business were not accepting bills, or warning they would only do so on Monday, poor people living day to day could not afford to reject cash. ”I’ll take everything you can give me to eat today,” said taxi driver Jose Manuel Henrique, 49, whose cash income goes entirely to feeding his two children. Still, Henrique, a former supporter of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, was annoyed. ”The government can’t get anything right. This wasn’t thought out.” PAIN WITH NO GAIN? Authorities on Thursday are due to start releasing six new notes and three new coins, the largest of which will be worth 20, 000 bolivars, less than $5 on the streets. Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader elected after Chavez’s death in 2013, said Colombian shoppers and organised criminals were buying up the bills to go on a spending spree in Venezuela, worsening shortages of basics such as flour and antibiotics. Venezuela is heaving under its third straight year of recession, pushing millions to skip meals and medical treatment. Many others are increasingly travelling to Colombia to find supplies. But shops across the border on Monday were displaying signs that they would not accept bills, bringing business to a halt and sending Venezuelans home . Later on Monday night, Maduro announced in a televised broadcast that he would close the porous border for 72 hours to stem what he said was contraband of notes. His government also says Machiavellian businessmen are hoarding goods and bloating prices to sabotage socialism. Interior Minister Nestor Reverol on Monday added that criminals were hoarding bills in places such as Switzerland and Ukraine as part of a financial attack on Venezuela. He showed photos of stacks of bolivar bills but presented no further evidence. Economists scoff at the official line, pointing instead at strict currency controls and price fixing that hurt imports and reduce incentives for production. They said Maduro’s measure will do nothing to improve product supply. The decision has been likened to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move on Nov. 8 to scrap large banknotes in a bid to flush out cash earned through crime, which led to long bank queues and is expected to take a toll on the economy. In Venezuela, there also were logistical concerns about how authorities would remove the more than 6 billion bills in circulation, nearly half of all coins and notes, and whether replacement bills were ready. But some Venezuelans about one in five of whom still support Maduro saw a ploy by the opposition to fan fear. ”This is a sensible decision but all change brings uncertainty,” said Carlos Paez, 54, a private security guard. At least one shop owner threw his hands up in frustration. Lucio Colombo, 47, who sells gifts and snacks in Caracas’ wealthy Chacao district, has asked clients to pay in cash for the last two weeks because his credit card reader no longer works. ”So how do I get paid now?” he asked. ”I was thinking of bringing my laptop so people can pay me by transfer or I could just go on holiday. They are forcing me to stop working.” (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Girish Gupta in Caracas; Additional reporting by Anggy Polanco in San Antonio, Venezuela and Andreina Aponte in Caracas; Editing by Bill Trott and Alan Crosby) Saudi Arabia has boosted its market share in Japan, the world’s top oil exporter’s biggest Asian market, by selling more light crude to the country as a way to offset revenue lost implementing OPEC’s production cuts. DUBAI Qatar Airways said on Thursday that passengers travelling to the United States can now carry their laptops and other large electronics on board, ending a three month ban on devices for the airline.

Syrian general says Aleppo offensive in final stages

The Syrian army and its allies are in the ”last moments before declaring victory” in Aleppo, a Syrian military source said, after rebel defenses collapsed on Monday, leaving insurgents in a tiny, heavily bombarded pocket of ground. A Reuters journalist in the zone said the bombardment of rebel areas of the city continued on Monday, and a civilian trapped there described the situation as resembling ”Doomsday”. ”The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They (rebels) don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” Lieutenant General Zaid head of the government’s Aleppo security committee, told reporters in the recaptured Sheikh Saeed district of the city. Rebels withdrew from all districts on the east side of the Aleppo river on Monday afternoon after losing Sheikh Saeed in the south of their pocket in overnight fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In districts, soldiers started to fire into the air in celebration, carving tracer bullets into Aleppo’s night sky, and car drivers honked their horns at what they believed was imminent victory, state television showed. The rebels’ rapidly diminishing enclave had halved in only a few hours and Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman described the battle for Aleppo as having reached its end. ”The situation is extremely difficult today,” said Zakaria Malahifji of the Fastaqim rebel group fighting in Aleppo. An official from Jabha Shamiya, a rebel faction that is also present in Aleppo, said the insurgents might make a new stand along the west bank of the river. ”It is expected there will be a new front line,” said the official, who is based in Turkey. The White Helmets civil defense organization and three other trapped aid groups made a desperate appeal for the international community to arrange safe passage for 100, 000 civilians across a (2. ) stretch of territory. ”If we stay, we fear for our lives. The women may be taken to camps, the men disappeared and anyone who is known to have supported civilians will face detention or execution,” they said in a statement time stamped 9 p. m. (1900 GMT). Activists and two residents inside the remaining rebel enclave said at least 79 civilians were summarily executed in the Fardous and Saliheen districts by militias. ”There are more than 100 corpses and others who could be still alive under the rubble whom no one is able to get to,” said civil defense chief Ammar al Selmo. U. N. Ban was alarmed by unverified reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children, Ban’s spokesman said. Jan Egeland, the U. N. humanitarian adviser on Syria, tweeted that Russia’s and Syria’s governments would be responsible for any such abuses. ”The Gov’ts of Syria & Russia are accountable for any and all atrocities that the victorious militias in Aleppo are now committing! ,” Egeland wrote. The rebels’ sudden retreat represented a ”big collapse in terrorist morale” a Syrian military source said. Syrian President Bashar backed by Russia, is now close to taking back full control of Aleppo, which was Syria’s most populous city before the war and would be his greatest prize so far after nearly six years of conflict. ”We are in the final moments before declaring the victory of the Arab Syrian army in the battle of East Aleppo. We could announce this any moment,” the military source told Reuters. The Russian Defence Ministry said that since the start of the Aleppo battle, more than 2, 200 rebels had surrendered and 100, 000 civilians had left areas of the city that were controlled by militants. ”People run from one shelling to another to escape death and just to save their souls. . .. It’s doomsday in Aleppo, yes doomsday in Aleppo,” said Abu Amer Iqab, a former government employee in the Sukkari district in the heart of the rebel enclave. State television footage from Saliheen, one of the districts that had just fallen to the army, showed mounds of rubble and buildings, with bodies still lying on the ground and a few bewildered civilians carrying children or suitcases. REBELS While Aleppo’s fall would deal a stunning blow to rebels trying to remove Assad from power, he would still be far from restoring control across Syria. Swathes of the country remain in rebel hands, and Islamic State retook Palmyra on Sunday. Tens of thousands of civilians remain in areas, hemmed in by front lines, pounded by air strikes and shelling, and without basic supplies, according to the Observatory, a monitoring group. In the Sheikh Saeed district, an elderly couple stood lamenting their fate. ”May every son return to his mother. I have suffered that loss. May other women not endure the same,” said the woman, her arms raised to the sky. ”I have lost my three children. Two died in battle and the third is kidnapped,” she added, as an army officer attempted to calm her. Rebel groups in Aleppo received a U. S. proposal on Sunday for a withdrawal of fighters and civilians from the city’s opposition areas, but Moscow said no agreement had been reached yet in talks in Geneva to end the crisis peacefully. The U. S. State Department said Russia had turned down the U. S. proposal for an immediate ceasefire and said it could not start for several days. The U. N. mediator for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met with U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other State Department officials on Monday, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said. ”During their discussions, Department officials stressed the U. S.’ unwavering commitment to a of violence, the safe departure of Aleppo for all who want to leave, delivery of critical humanitarian aid and future talks for a political solution to the crisis,” Toner said. FIGHTING The Syrian army is backed by Russian war planes and Lebanese and Iraqi Shi’ite militias supported by Iran. Its advances on Monday were aided by a militia of Palestinian refugees in Syria, the Liwa or Jerusalem Brigade, the general said. The mostly Sunni rebels include groups backed by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies as well as hardline jihadists who are not supported by the West. A correspondent for Syria’s official SANA news agency said the army had taken control of Sheikh Saeed, and more than 3, 500 people had left at dawn. A Syrian official told Reuters: ”We managed to take full control of the Sheikh Saeed district. This area is very important because it facilitates access to and allows us to secure a greater part of the road.” The road is the main entry point to the city from the south. Riad Hijab, Syria’s chief opposition coordinator, said the rebels’ defeat in Aleppo would not weaken the resolve of Assad’s opponents, or push them to water down the demand that he quit. ”If Assad and his allies think that a military advance in certain quarters of Aleppo will signify that we make concessions, then (I say) that will not happen,” he told reporters after meeting French President Francois Hollande. The loss of Palmyra, an ancient desert city whose recapture from Islamic State in March was heralded by Damascus and Moscow as vindicating Russia’s entry into the war, was an embarrassing setback to Assad. The Observatory reported that the jihadist group carried out eight executions of Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen in Palmyra on Monday while warplanes bombarded their positions around the city. Still, Islamic State made further advances around Palmyra, it and the Observatory said on Monday, including coming close to a military air base. Four other people, including two children, were shot dead while the jihadists cleared the city, the Observatory said. It said at least 34 people had died in air raids on an Islamic village north of Palmyra, and that local officials said poison gas had been used. Islamic State accused Russia of the attack. Both Russia and Syria’s military deny using chemical weapons. The Observatory said that four weeks into the army offensive in Aleppo, at least 415 civilians, including 47 children, had been killed in parts of the city. It added that 364 rebel fighters had been killed in the eastern sector. It said rebel shelling of west Aleppo had killed 130 civilians including 40 children. (Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo, Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry in Beirut, Suleiman in Amman, Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva, Yeganeh Torbati in Washington, Michelle Nichols in New York and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Brazil’s Temer, in battle for survival, plans economic stimulus

President Michel Temer, fighting for survival over corruption allegations against him and his government, is planning new measures to jump start Brazil’s stalled economy, improve his dismal approval ratings and stifle calls for his resignation. The stimulus measures, to be unveiled this week, include steps to relieve indebted consumers and also force credit card companies to pay businesses faster than the current 30 days, government sources said on Monday. Temer is gambling the measures will counter discontent over his failure to deliver on his promise to recover Latin America’s largest economy from a recession. Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles confirmed measures to revive the economy could be unveiled after a key public spending cap passes Congress. Dismissing tax breaks or fiscal stimulus resorted to by the previous government, he said the steps would raise productivity and make it easier to set up businesses. The Senate is expected to give final approval on Tuesday to the spending ceiling that is the centerpiece of the president’s plan to restore fiscal discipline. But fallout from more corruption allegations in the sweeping probe into kickbacks at oil company Petrobras could complicate passage of pension reforms needed to bring Brazil’s budget deficit under control. Six months after he took over from impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff, Temer’s political survival is threatened by accusations that he, members of his Cabinet and his party’s leaders received payments from engineering conglomerate Odebrecht. Odebrecht, the company prosecutors say benefited the most from the Petrobras scam, agreed to a leniency deal with federal prosecutors that requires 77 of its executives and employees to turn state’s witness and likely implicate over 200 politicians. In the first leaked testimony, one Odebrecht executive alleged that Temer requested 10 million reais ($3 million) for his PMDB party’s 2014 election campaign. Disapproval of Temer’s government rose to 51 percent from 31 percent in July, according to a Datafolha poll published on Sunday. More worrying for Temer, 63 percent of those polled said they would like to see him resign and a new president chosen in direct elections and not by a Congress discredited by scandals. Under Brazil’s constitution, if Temer were to resign after Dec. 31, Congress would elect his successor, an intolerable option, according to lawmaker Miro Teixeira of the leftist Rede party. ”In this tense national environment, the people would not accept a president imposed by Congress,” said Teixeira, who authored a legal amendment to allow a direct vote. To shore up his government, Temer hopes to strengthen his Cabinet by giving the centrist PSDB party a larger role. Several PSDB senators were involved in shaping the stimulus package. The PSDB is Brazil’s party and already holds three cabinet positions, and it could greatly help Temer get his unpopular austerity measures passed, including pension reforms that will mean Brazilians will need to work longer years before retiring. parties obstructed debate of the pension proposal for hours in a committee hearing on Monday. (Editing by Alan Crosby) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Green Party U.S. election recount bid comes to a close

A federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected Stein’s request for a recount and an examination of that state’s voting machines for evidence of hacking in the Nov. 8 election won by Trump. Meanwhile, Wisconsin election officials said on Monday they had completed their recount after finding that Trump’s margin of victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton had increased by 131 votes, bringing Trump’s total lead to 22, 748. ”The final Wisconsin vote is in and guess what we just picked up an additional 131 votes. The Dems and Green Party can now rest. Scam!” Trump said on Twitter. Stein, who finished fourth, challenged the results in those two states as well as Michigan, where the state’s top court on Friday denied Stein’s appeal to keep a recount going. All of those traditionally Democratic strongholds supported Trump over Clinton. Even if all three recounts had taken place, they were unlikely to change the outcome. Stein argued that the use in many Pennsylvania districts of electronic voting machines with no paper trail left the system vulnerable to hacking. In a opinion, U. S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia said it ”borders on the irrational” to suspect hacking occurred in Pennsylvania. He noted that the deadline to certify the state’s electoral votes is Tuesday, making it impossible to hold a recount in time. While there is no evidence of voting machine hacking, U. S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia targeted Clinton in a series of cyber attacks. Trump has questioned those reports. In response to Diamond’s ruling, Stein said in a statement that Pennsylvanians’ right to have their votes counted had been ”stripped from right under them.” Trump won Pennsylvania by more than 44, 000 votes and Michigan by more than 10, 000 votes, according to the latest figures. Despite winning the national popular vote by more than 2 percent, Clinton would have had to sweep those states to win the presidency under the U. S. Electoral College system, which assigns electoral votes rather than by overall national totals. (Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Hay and Lisa Shumaker) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

EU governments ready Brexit negotiating text: diplomats

European Union leaders will set out plans this week for negotiating Britain’s exit, diplomats said, after national officials met late on Monday to prepare an EU summit statement. After the 28 national leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May will leave and the other 27 will dine without her and agree principles on how negotiations with London will be run once May formally launches the process. Building on a first statement made by the 27 in the week after Britain’s June 23 Brexit referendum, they will clarify that Britain remains a full member until it leaves the EU but will also note that it will be excluded from various forums of the Union which will be involved in negotiating divorce terms. The statement will not go into the substance of terms that Britain might be given, including on the status of expatriates living on opposite sides of a new border, despite calls from Britain for the Union to offer them immediate assurances. The leaders will remind May that they want her to trigger the withdrawal process as soon as possible; she says she will do so by late March, although judicial wrangling in London could still delay that. And they will reiterate that they will not negotiate with her until May sets the clock ticking. EU officials say it will take the Union some six weeks to formally respond with a negotiating mandate for the executive European Commission a period that in itself may be affected by France’s presidential election in April and May. As is normal in EU diplomacy, the Commission in this instance led by its chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will handle the detailed talks. But unlike most international discussions by the Union, member states will be represented in much of the process by officials reporting back to the 27. This is a particular concern for smaller states, officials say, as they have less confidence than major powers like France, Germany and Italy in their ability to influence the Commission. Diplomats from the 27 stress they are united and determined not to let Britain benefit from dividing them to cut a better deal in Europe than it has had as an EU member. However, they also have different interests which London could try to exploit. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

WhatsApp, Skype face tighter constraints under new EU privacy rules - draft

Messaging services such as Microsoft’s ( ) Skype and Facebook’s ( ) WhatsApp face stricter rules on the way they handle customer data under new privacy laws due to be proposed by the European Union, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. The EU executive wants to extend some rules that now only apply to telecom operators to web companies offering calls and messages using the internet, known as ” ” (OTT) services, according to the draft. Web services will have to guarantee the confidentiality of communications and obtain users’ consent to process their location data, mirroring similar provisions included in a separate data protection law due to come into force in 2018. Online advertisers will also face strict rules on how they can target ads at web users based on their browsing history. Telecoms companies have long complained that groups such as Alphabet Inc’s Google, Microsoft and Facebook are more lightly regulated, even though they offer similar services. The phone companies have called for European Union rules specific to telecoms firms — known as the directive either to be repealed or extended to everyone. ”If Europe wants a Silicon Valley, it needs radical regulatory simplification. We won’t get new digital services unless we overhaul ” Lise Fuhr, director general of ETNO, the European telecoms operators association, said. The draft proposals would prohibit the automatic processing of people’s data without their consent. Advertisers say such automatic processing is low risk as it involves data that can not identify the user. Fines for breaking the new law will be steep at up to 4 percent of a company’s global turnover. A Commission spokeswoman declined to comment on the draft but said the aim of the review was to adapt the rules to the data protection regulation which will come into force in 2018 and simplify the provisions for cookies. Cookies are placed on web surfers’ computers and contain bits of information about the user, such as what other sites they have visited or where they are logging in from. They are widely used by companies to deliver targeted ads to users. Telecom companies, barred by current rules from using customer data to provide additional services and make more money, will be able to use customer data with their consent, according to the proposal. It would also remove the obligation on websites to ask visitors for permission to place cookies on their browsers via a banner if the user has already consented through the privacy settings of the web browser. ”If browsers are equipped with such functionality, websites that want to set cookies for behavioral advertising purposes may not need to put in place banners requesting their consent insofar as users may provide their consent by selecting the right settings in their browser,” the draft said. Many have questioned the effectiveness of such cookie banners which appear every time a user lands on a website because people tend to accept them without necessarily reading what that entails. ”While such banners serve to empower users, at the same time, they may cause irritation because users are forced to read the notices and click on the boxes, thus impairing internet browsing experience,” the draft said. The proposal is set to be unveiled in January and may still undergo changes. (Editing by David Clarke and Jane Merriman) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Exxon’s financial metrics mixed during Tillerson’s decade as CEO

As the for U. S. secretary of state, Exxon Mobil Corp ( ) Chief Executive Rex Tillerson would bring a global business savvy seldom seen in a Cabinet member, let alone the country’s top diplomat. While he may be a ” player” in Donald Trump’s words the financial metrics of his time as Exxon’s CEO reveal some less than stellar results compared with peers. Exxon’s shares are way up under his leadership, but lag behind competitors, oil CLc1 and gas output is down 14 percent and, while making deals abroad, analysts believe he missed out on some important growth opportunities at home. Exxon’s stock is up 59 percent since Tillerson took the helm in 2006, compared with 104 percent for rival Chevron Corp ( ) and a 78 percent jump in the S&P 500 . And while Exxon’s dividend has more than doubled during that period, it has grown less in value than Chevron’s. Exxon under Tillerson continued a strategy of his predecessors, signing deals in remote, regions including Russia, which Trump has touted as a sign of the executive’s global connections which would serve him well in the top U. S. diplomatic role. [nL5N1E72HT] While Tillerson has ties to Russia, he partly missed a key energy development back home in the United States by ceding growth potential in the shale oil industry to smaller, more nimble rivals, including Continental Resources Inc ( ). That has pushed down the company’s production of oil and natural gas about 14 percent since Tillerson took office. Exxon’s operating margin has also plunged, from 15. 1 percent when Tillerson assumed the CEO role to 2. 5 percent in the most recent quarter. The industry average is 6. 8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Those factors partly help explain why Exxon is now seen by Wall Street as a investment than Chevron, which has several large oil and gas projects coming online by the end of the decade, offering growth potential than Exxon. Exxon did not respond to a request for comment. DEAL One of his biggest deals the $41 billion buyout of XTO Energy in 2009 was called by Tillerson himself because it was done before natural gas prices NGc1 bottomed out. Those gas prices have still not returned to levels, keeping the deal from boosting Exxon’s growth prospects as expected. Exxon’s $2. 5 billion buyout of InterOil Corp IOC. N, a major Asian liquefied natural gas producer, is no longer a foregone conclusion due to legal opposition, threatening Exxon’s growth potential in that crucial region. [nL1N1D51P5] Of the 26 analysts covering Exxon’s stock, only seven advise buying it. By contrast, none of those 26 analysts advise selling Chevron shares and 17 advise buying Chevron stock. Oil analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, who encourage Exxon shareholders to sell, said in a note to clients on Monday that Tillerson’s experience could be a benefit to the incoming Trump administration. ”A global oil and gas executive should have a pretty good idea about how the world works,” TPH analysts said. Tillerson, who must step down as CEO after he turns 65 next March due to Exxon’s mandatory retirement rules, is likely to be replaced by the head of the company’s refining unit, a but more financially stable unit. [nL1N1432AO] Darren Woods, who has worked at Exxon for more than 20 years, has helped expand the refining business at a time when the company’s core exploration and production business has been rocked by low commodity prices. An appointment of Woods to the top Exxon job could signal the company’s board wants to continue to focus on cash generation in order to keep boosting shareholder payouts, rather than focus on pricey development projects, analysts have said. (Editing by Matthew Lewis) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Canada, cool on the F-35, says Lockheed jet still an option

Canada will still consider Lockheed Martin Inc’s ( ) in an open competition for fighter jets, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, despite domestic and foreign criticism about the program’s cost. Earlier on Monday, U. S. Donald Trump said the cost of Lockheed’s program was ”out of control.” A source familiar with the fighter jet replacement effort said Canadian officials found Trump’s remark interesting but were not drawing too many conclusions. ”Because the sends a tweet, is the price a couple of years from now of an really going to be dramatically different?” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Canada’s ruling Liberals won an election last year on a promise not to buy because the planes were too expensive. Trudeau told Parliament that the former Conservative government had ”clung to a plane that does not work and is far from being able to work.” But the Liberal government has since softened its position and said this year that all suppliers could bid to replace its aging fighter jet fleet. Still, Canada snubbed Lockheed last month when it unveiled plans to buy 18 Boeing Corp ( ) Super Hornets as a measure while it started the fighter jet competition over again. Officials said the contest could take five years. ”It’s an open and transparent competition we’re going to be engaged in and the various aircraft and aircraft producers will have an opportunity to make their best case,” Trudeau told a news conference when asked whether Canada might be more likely to opt for the if the costs fell. Pressed as to how vindicated he felt by Trump’s comments, Trudeau declined to answer directly. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, asked about the potential impact of the becoming cheaper, told reporters on Monday that ”we are going to be making sure that we get the right aircraft and making sure it’s the right price.” The previous Conservative government announced in 2010 it would buy 65 but reversed itself after an official probe savaged the way the decision had been made. Kim Richard Nossal, a Queen’s University political studies professor and author of a 2016 book on Canadian defense procurement, said it was likely Ottawa would still buy the in five years’ time because of concerns around future production of the Super Hornet. Lockheed Martin said it understood concerns about affordability, noting its goal was to reduce the price of the by 60 percent from original estimates. Canada is staying in the consortium that helped fund development of the . Lockheed Martin said in June it was studying whether to shift work on the plane away from Canadian firms amid uncertainty over Ottawa’s intentions. Canadian firms will account for development and production work on the program worth about US$1 billion by the end of 2016, the company said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren and Leah Schnurr; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Boeing 777 production rate cut reflects steep sales drop

Boeing Co ( ) said on Monday that it will cut production of its 777 jetliner to five a month in August 2017, a 40 percent reduction from the current rate of 8. 3 a month. The cut to one of Boeing’s cash cows comes as the company is spending to produce new models, and is expected to put more pressure on the company and its suppliers. But despite the lost revenue from making fewer jets, Boeing on Monday said it was increasing its dividend 30 percent and authorizing $14 billion in share repurchases, making good on promises to keep returning cash to shareholders, more than analysts expected. Boeing shares fell 1 percent after the market closed on Monday, but reversed and were up 1. 7 percent at $160. 22 in trading, after the dividend and buyback news. The 777 production cut will affect employment and have a ”modest impact” on Boeing’s 2016 results, but won’t alter its 2016 financial forecast, the company said. The results are affected because of Boeing’s accounting practices. The world’s biggest planemaker was already planning to reduce 777 production to seven a month in January in response to slowing global sales of big jetliners. It had prepared the ground for a further cut. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in October that Boeing may lower production further, but not to fewer than five planes a month. But slow sales of the 777 have left a gap in the assembly line as Boeing shifts from the current model to the 777X over the next few years. The 777X is due to enter service in 2020. Boeing must either find buyers for the empty production slots or cut production to avoid building ”white tails,” the industry term for planes that aren’t sold. ”It will be painful, particularly since the 777 is their most profitable aircraft, and there will be further cuts to come,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia. Boeing said on Sunday it had clinched an order with Iran for 30 777s, split evenly between the 777 and 777X. But that will not fill the gap. Boeing has booked 17 orders for 777s this year, down from 58 in 2015 and 283 in 2014. ”The market is glutted,” Aboulafia said. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday. One of the investors former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is accused of defrauding testified on Wednesday that Shkreli lied to him repeatedly, although he eventually made millions of dollars from the investment.

SEC Chair White defies Republican requests to stall rulemaking

U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White on Monday defied requests by Senate Republicans to delay adopting new rules on everything from derivatives to mutual funds until after Donald Trump takes office. In a letter to the Senate Banking Committee’s top two Republicans, Chairman Richard Shelby and Mike Crapo of Idaho, White stressed it was ”incumbent” on the SEC to ”exhibit a spirit of firm independence” in performing its regulatory duties ”without fear or favor.” White’s Dec. 12 letter, which was reviewed by Reuters, comes in response to a request last month by Shelby and Crapo for the SEC to cease adopting rules until after Trump had a chance to review the agency’s agenda. Republicans in Congress have been pressing agencies across the federal government to wind down their rulemaking activities. Trump has vowed to kill many regulations put on the books during the Obama administration, including the Wall Street reform law. White, an independent, is slated to step down from her post at the end of Democratic President Barack Obama’s term in January. The Senate failed to confirm Obama’s two nominees for vacant commissioner slots at the SEC before it recessed last week, which means that after White departs next month, the SEC will only be left with two commissioners one Democrat and one Republican. Even before she leaves, she could still fail to get the rules passed if she cannot get a quorum of commissioners to agree. Trump has yet to announce a nominee for SEC chair, but many of the people working on his financial regulatory transition team, such as former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, have been highly critical of many of the SEC’s rules and more broadly. In White’s letter on Monday, she provided Shelby and Crapo with a list of all the rules currently ready for a vote. Among the rules on the list are derivatives reforms mandated by such as capital and margin requirements for swap dealers, as well as a more controversial one that would limit how mutual funds and funds use derivatives to leverage returns. The letter did not say when the SEC might vote on the rules. The agency could do it during an open meeting or behind closed doors. An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment on the timing. ”I am not insensitive to the issues raised by your letter and have carefully considered what impact, if any, the election should have on the current work of the Commission,” White wrote. She added that she had confirmed that the SEC ”historically has proceeded with its work during comparable periods.” In support of her position, White included footnotes in her letter citing prior statements by Republican SEC Commissioner Mike Piwowar, who is poised to become acting chair in January, in which he voiced support for completing new derivatives rules. This is not the first time the SEC has faced criticism on efforts to complete rules before a change in leadership at the regulator. In 2005, a federal appeals court sided with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce in a dispute with the SEC over controversial rules requiring the majority of mutual fund board directors to be independent. The court sent the rule back to the SEC with a directive to consider its costs. Chairman William Donaldson promptly scheduled a meeting and the SEC it a day before his resignation, saying the rule would not be overly costly. The rule was subsequently overturned a second time, and the court chided the SEC for failing to follow proper rulemaking procedures. Even if White is successful in adopting final rules in the coming weeks, Congress may have a way to undo them when Trump takes office on Jan. 20. By law, Congress can vote to reverse regulations within 60 legislative days of them becoming final which could be easier to accomplish under a Congress and White House. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Phil Berlowitz and Jonathan Oatis) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Symphony looks to Asian expansion with CEO move, new investment

David Gurle, who is currently based in the company’s Palo Alto headquarters, will move to the Southeast Asian in the first quarter of next year, a Symphony spokeswoman said. Gurle’s relocation comes as Symphony is in talks to raise between $100 million to $150 million in funding from new and existing backers, according to people familiar with the deal. The company has held discussions with potential investors based in Asia for the new round, which would value it at just over $1 billion, one of the people said. The sources asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Symphony spokeswoman Samantha Singh declined to comment on the funding round, saying the messaging company was already . She said Gurle was moving to Singapore, ”to help spearhead” the company’s push into the region, but that Asia had always been a ”key market from day one.” The Asian market for messaging technology is dominated by Tencent Holdings Ltd’s popular Chinese WeChat app. Many Chinese traders already use WeChat as the preferred way to communicate and say moving over to another messaging platform would require convincing their investor clients to do the same. Using mobile messaging and social media apps for trading is not unlawful in China. The proliferation of WeChat users at banks has attracted the attention of Asian regulators, but they have historically tended to be less stringent than their U. S. counterparts. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission code of conduct does not prohibit the use of social messaging apps, but encourages the strict recording and time stamping of all communications and says the use of mobile phones for orders is ”strongly discouraged.” This has created an opportunity in Asia for Symphony, which touts the security of its messaging service, some of the people said. Prior to launching Symphony’s predecessor Perzo, Gurle spent several years in Singapore working for Thomson Reuters Corp, the parent company of Reuters. Symphony was created in 2014 when a consortium of 14 financial institutions led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc acquired Perzo, in a joint effort to change the way their traders communicate. The Symphony service is a rival to financial market messaging services offered by Bloomberg LP and Thomson Reuters. The system allows financial firms, corporate customers and individuals to put all their digital communications chats, texts, tweets and emails on one centralized platform, aimed at creating a flexible and secure messaging service. While traction for Symphony is not yet widespread across Wall Street trading floors, there are signs that may be changing. Money manager BlackRock Inc, also an investor, is moving its internal chat for employees to Symphony. Symphony has 116, 000 users, and expects the number to grow to 130, 000 before the end of the year, Singh said. The company’s Asia push comes about a year after it raised $100 million from investors including technology giant Alphabet Inc, banking groups UBS, Societe Generale and Natixis and European VC firm Lakestar. The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Symphony is looking at a new round of funding. (Reporting by Anna Irrera and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Tom Brown) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Commentary: The lessons of Aleppo’s long, pointless siege

In its 7, 000 Aleppo has been fought over by Babylonians, Greeks and Romans. The modern battle for the ancient Syrian city, however, may yet be as significant for the future of the Middle East as those fought by the kingdoms and empires of the past. The battle for Aleppo now seems to be reaching its . More than any other place, the city one of the oldest continually inhabited places in the world has been the epicenter of the Syria conflict. In time, Syria may be seen to define the early 21st century the way the Spanish Civil War did the 1930s a perfect storm of all the worst trends in global politics and conflict. If it is, then Aleppo will be its Guernica, the Spanish town in a savage precursor to the horrors of the coming World War Two. As long as it held out, Aleppo made a mockery of President Bashar al Assad’s ambition to once again be seen as ruler of everywhere important in Syria. Even now with Russian support, the Syrian government’s attempts to seize it back have been largely unsuccessful. And in diverting its forces to the most recent Aleppo assault, Damascus left Palmyra too lightly defended and vulnerable to Islamic State, which the ancient city on Sunday. Aleppo might always have been doomed. The victory of Donald Trump in the U. S. presidential election, however, appears to have settled the matter. Had Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton prevailed, those fighting to protect the last handful of rebel enclaves in the city might finally have seen Washington drawn into the fight, if only through enforcing a zone against Syrian and Russian aircraft. That might have been dangerous for the rest of the world. But it would have offered at least a limited salvation for those still fighting in Aleppo. Trump has signaled that he intends to take a very different approach, pledging to work with Moscow and European nations to remove the Syrian leader something Washington now seems much less likely to support. The battle is not quite over. The failure of Assad’s forces to take the sprawling city suggests they lack the combat power to do so. Russian and Syrian bombing may kill hundreds if not thousands of civilians, but the attacks will not in themselves bring victory to Damascus. Nonetheless, it increasingly looks as though that relative lack of military strength will not matter. The opposition now knows it cannot win. According to a Sunday U. S. and Russian officials have been brokering a deal to allow surviving rebel forces to escape the city. That isn’t just the Syrian regime and its backers showing mercy it is also them taking advantage of an offer that allows them to claim diplomatically a prize that might have required months or years to achieve through force of arms. The end of the siege will be in some ways a humanitarian blessing, whoever might win. If fighting is over, supplies and medical services will likely get through to a suffering population. Targeting hospitals and blocking aid shipments has been a key part of the . Once the city has been captured, restoring such services will likely be a part of reasserting authority. The darker side of the fighting’s end, however, is already also becoming clear, with of fighting age men “disappeared” or killed after surrender. If the Assad government regains control over the rebel city, it will likely use brutal measures to reduce any prospect of further insurrection — especially if it feels neither the United States nor other major powers will take any action. Any harsh response by Assad shouldn’t be surprising. What has and will happen in Aleppo is little different to that in thousands of other sieges throughout history. But as it appears to be ending, it’s worth examining why it took so long to reach this point. The West’s approach to Syria’s civil war giving support to rebel forces, but never enough to beat the government or its Russian allies has been an unmitigated failure. Perhaps the United States, the United Kingdom and others should share the guilt for the horror that has come with it. The Syria conflict has always had many moving pieces. Even now, formulating policy is complicated by the myriad rival interests Kurds, Arabs, the competing concerns of half a dozen nations. In the process, the wider political landscape of the Middle East has been redrawn. In the early days of the uprising, the Assad government was heavily reliant on Iran as its main ally, the opposition on rival Arab states. In the last two years, however, Russia has been calling the shots. If Aleppo is to fall shortly, then much of the credit if that is the right word must go to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has established a potential new role for itself, a source of military power for autocratic regimes the West might rather see gone. What we don’t know is whether that will be a sign of things to come. In Libya in 2011, the West looked at a similar situation the looming fall of Benghazi to forces of Muammar Gaddafi and launched itself into a military intervention that many policymakers now regret. In Aleppo, in contrast, Western governments never did more than dabble. In some ways, that was inevitable. After the disasters of Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the feeling in Washington and Europe was that there was little to gain and much to lose. With the migrant crisis, Europe in particular found itself paying a much higher price for the bloodshed in Syria than it ever anticipated but that in itself did not appear to justify any intervention. In Islamic State, the West was persuaded it had found an enemy it was necessary to fight in part because it was indissolubly linked to the fight for the future of Iraq, a battle in which the United States and its allies at least largely knew which side they were on. Syria and Aleppo in particular never had good options. As it might just have been best never to have encouraged the opposition at all. If the battle of Aleppo is seen as some kind of regional historic turning point, historians may well be arguing over it for generations. As it draws to a close, however, only one thing is truly apparent that a city that started the century as a relatively cosmopolitan metropolis and destination for Western tourists has been reduced to rubble. And that all the fighting and international handwringing may ultimately have made little difference to who actually runs Syria. The views expressed in this article are not those of Reuters News. Iraqi officials have declared that Islamic State’s caliphate is finished. On June 29, after months of urban warfare and U. S. air strikes, Iraqi forces say they are on the verge of expelling the militants from their last holdouts in Mosul. “Their fictitious state has fallen,” an Iraqi general told state TV after troops captured a symbolically important mosque in Mosul’s old city. In Syria, U. S. rebels are moving quickly through the eastern city of Raqqa, another capital of the Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon must face North Korea’s nuclear reality: Pyongyang’s bomb is here to stay. When the two presidents hold their first summit on Friday, they need to drop quixotic efforts to stop Kim Jong Un from building a nuclear arsenal and instead focus on preventing its use.

Redstones take media M&A to new channel

(Reuters Breakingviews) The Redstones do like to keep everyone on their toes. The family that controls media firms CBS and Viacom on Monday nixed their proposal for the companies to merge. The Murdochs’ bid for Sky and AT&T’s deal for Time Warner have ignited the industry’s animal spirits. That has raised the prospect that reuniting the two media firms would rob CBS of a better offer. It was only three months ago that National Amusements the investment vehicle for Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari suggested that CBS and Viacom should consider getting back together again after 10 years apart. Of the two, Viacom is on far shakier ground after the MTV operator stumbled with a series of buybacks and a creative dry spell. Conversely, broadcaster CBS has flourished under Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. It’s now, at $30 billion, worth twice as much as Viacom and trades at about 14 times next year’s estimated earnings, compared with around 10 times the next 12 month forecast for its erstwhile stable mate, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. Rejoining the two would be a land mine: CBS would risk angering shareholders if it offered too much of a premium for the lagging Viacom, while the latter’s investors would be upset if they didn’t get much more than its market value. There’s another wrinkle, too: industry merger activity has gone on a tear since the Redstones made their pitch in September. AT&T’s surprise $85 billion October offer for Time Warner came with a rich 36 percent premium. And on Friday Century Fox suggested paying more than the current share price for 61 percent it does not already own of European operator Sky. Now free to pursue their separate paths, the Redstones’ two companies are likely to look for other ways to scale up. CBS could attract rivals hoping to replicate AT&T’s plan of combining content with distribution. Verizon, the $209 billion telecom giant, would be one contender. Viacom, meanwhile, may fit with other cable networks, including those currently being assembled by Liberty Media’s John Malone. With so much in play, it’s no wonder the Redstones may be taking their own media M&A to a new channel. LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) Worldpay discovered on Wednesday that a couple of birds in the bush are sometimes worth a bit more than one in the hand. A day after Britain’s biggest payment processor said it had received approaches from both Vantiv and JPMorgan, the company plumped for the former’s offer of nearly $10 billion in a mix of cash and shares. That took the shine off the share price of both the buyer and its target. Perhaps because the deal only makes sense with some very charitable HONG KONG Tencent’s require some Hollywood stardust. The tech giant’s publishing arm may raise up to $800 million in a Hong Kong listing, according to IFR. Catering to bookworms isn’t very lucrative, even if more and more readers are paying for electronic literature. The real payoff will lie in turning stories into blockbuster films, video games and merchandise.

Data Dive: Lockheed falls victim to the Trump Tweet Factor

Trump Tweet Factor: A company’s stock move after it becomes the target of the ’s often bilious policy musings on Twitter. The pattern, so far, seems to repeat itself in a fairly consistent way: attacks on Twitter; investors jump ship to varying degrees; and then reasonable thought (or wishful thinking) returns and everything seems to revert to something like normal. Will follow the same pattern?. The defense and aerospace giant has been the biggest victim so far after Donald Trump questioned the costliness of its aircraft this morning: Lockheed’s TTF was 5 percent before it started a partial rebound as the company . Shares were down 3. 4 percent around midday. This is the largest TTF of the companies Trump has targeted so far in his tweets. Last week, Trump made a similar urging the government to cancel the order: The tweet gave Trump a day full of headlines and prompted Boeing’s CEO to call the but the TTF was fairly subdued. There was a stock decline of as much as 1. 1 percent, all of which was erased and then some in the days that followed. This morning shares reached their highest level since February 2015. Does the same work in the opposite direction? It’s hard to say. United Technologies, the parent company of Carrier, ended Nov. 23 at $108. 11 a share. The next day, Trump tweeted he was making progress on a deal to get and the stock rallied 1. 3 percent to $109. 08: Then, to retain 1, 000 workers after the market closed on Nov. 29. The following day, United Tech shares climbed to an intraday peak of $110 a share another 1 percent higher. But by end of the trading session, the price fell to $107. 72. By that time, it became clear that Carrier got $7 million in tax incentives to keep those jobs in the U. S. and was still moving 1, 100 jobs to Mexico anyway. Since then, shares have recovered those losses and are back at $110 this afternoon. The same day that the Carrier deal was announced, a number of reported that Rexnord, a maker of ball bearings in Indiana, was also moving to Mexico. That day, Rexnord shares fell 8. 5 percent. on Dec 2. The following day, shares fell 2. 4 percent. Shares have since recovered about 4 percent. The lesson here is however dramatic the TTF may be, the effect is relatively . SYDNEY The United Nations cultural body UNESCO has voted to leave the Great Barrier Reef off its ”in danger” list despite recent widespread destruction of the World Heritage Site. MINNEAPOLIS Kole Calhoun homered and Cameron Maybin stole home on a delayed steal in support of rookie starter Parker Bridwell’s six scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Angels avoided a sweep with a win against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

Dylann Roof made lists of South Carolina churches before attack: testimony

Investigators searching the car of South Carolina church shooting suspect Dylann Roof last year found handwritten lists of mostly black parishes around the state, including the one attacked, jurors at his death penalty trial learned on Monday. Roof, an avowed white supremacist, has confessed he targeted the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston because he knew black people would be gathered there. Nine people died in the June 2015 shooting at a Bible study meeting. The significance of the other churches to Roof, 22, was not explained at the federal trial in Charleston. State crime scene investigator Brittany Burke testified that the lists included other African Methodist Episcopal churches, a predominantly black Baptist church and a black Roman Catholic church in Charleston. Roof noted the addresses, phone numbers and hours for churches elsewhere in the state as well, Burke said. Jurors also heard excepts from Roof’s online manifesto, where he criticized minorities and Jews. Two months before the shooting, Roof purchased a pistol and stockpiled ammunition, a South Carolina gun store manager testified. Security video showed Roof shopping and filling out a background check form at Shooter’s Choice in West Columbia on April 11, 2015. He returned on April 16 to pick up the . Glock, which he is accused of using in the shooting, and to buy five magazines, each capable of holding 13 rounds, store manager Ronnie Thrailkill testified. Roof returned on April 27 for additional magazines. By law, Shooter’s Choice was allowed to sell the gun to Roof after three days if a background check had not come back. On June 29, 2015, 12 days after the massacre, the store received notification of Roof being ineligible to buy the weapon, Thrailkill said. Roof told police after an arrest at a mall in February 2015 that he used narcotics, an admission that should have led to the gun sale being blocked, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has said. ”How many times do you receive a denial of the sale of a gun after the gun has been used in a crime?” Assistant U. S. Attorney Jay Richardson asked on Monday. ”Never,” Thrailkill said. Roof’s lawyers have not disputed his guilt but hope to spare him from being executed on charges of hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion and firearms violations. Roof also faces a death sentence if found guilty of murder charges in state court. That trial is slated for next year. (Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) WASHINGTON The issuance of U. S. visas, passports and other travel documents should be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security from the State Department, a consulting company commissioned by U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has recommended in a report. Gene Conley, the only man to win both a baseball World Series and an NBA championship in basketball, died on Tuesday at the age of 86, the Boston Red Sox said in a statement.

Exclusive: Fox nears firm bid for Sky via scheme of arrangement - sources

Rupert Murdoch’s Century Fox ( ) aims to table a firm cash bid valuing British broadcaster Sky ( ) at 10. 75 pounds per share as early as Wednesday for the 61 percent of the company it does not already own, four people familiar with the matter said. The two companies have agreed to press ahead with a scheme of arrangement, two of the sources said on Monday. That is a agreement typically used in friendly takeovers in the UK which requires 75 percent approval from shareholders, against 90 percent through a straight takeover under UK rules. Were Fox to get the deal approved by 75 percent of Sky’s independent shareholders, the scheme structure would make it easier to get full approval and delist the company. Several small shareholders including Standard Life, Jupiter Asset Management and Royal London have already sought a higher price and questioned the initial green light given by Sky’s Independent Committee, and the sources said Sky could push for a sweetened bid once a firm offer is tabled. But they said Fox did not plan to increase its bid for the time being as it had already significantly improved a previous offer which was not made public. Murdoch is also expected to keep Sky’s chief executive Jeremy Darroch to run the business as he wants continuity for the company, two of the sources said. Murdoch’s Fox said on Friday it had struck a preliminary deal with Sky’s independent directors to buy the firm, five years after a phone hacking scandal at one of Murdoch’s British newspapers derailed a previous attempt. Matt Hancock, a junior minister in the department of media, said the government would follow the correct procedure after opposition politicians told parliament on Monday that the events of 2011 showed that any new deal had to be closely scrutinized. ”If a bid at this level is forthcoming, shareholders themselves will have the opportunity to accept a price which reflects a 40 percent premium or they can chose to continue to hold their stock,” said a Sky spokesperson reacting to Reuters’ report. Fox declined to comment. If successful, Murdoch’s second attempt to acquire the rest of Sky would give him full control of a network spanning 22 million households in Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy. Murdoch, who also owns the Sun and The Times newspapers through NewsCorp, which has now separated from Fox, has long seen a with Sky as a logical, strategic deal and is especially keen to get direct access to Sky’s customers, one of the sources said. SHAREHOLDER UNEASE Sky created the Independent Committee of directors to assess the deal in a move to ease shareholders’ concerns on governance given that James Murdoch is both the chairman of Sky and the chief executive of Fox. ”It would have been preferable to have an independent chairman,” said Piers Hillier, CIO at Royal London Asset Management. ”The creation of an independent committee of the board (excluding James Murdoch) to consider the bid addresses some of the conflicts of interest, however it doesn’t go far enough.” Fox had previously tried to expand in its home market but had to abandon a $80 billion deal to acquire Time Warner after the company rejected it. AT&T’s successful $85 billion bid for Time Warner in October was one of the triggers pushing Murdoch to grow by bidding for Sky, said one of the sources adding that the two companies started talks shortly after the U. S. election. Sky was down 33 percent so far this year before Fox’s offer emerged. It has now rebounded on the prospect of a deal but is still down 11 percent compared to January, according to Thomson Reuters data. ”In terms of valuation, the offer is at the low end, considering stock price levels at the end of last year as well as our internal intrinsic value,” said Kai Fachinger, senior portfolio manager at RobecoSAM, a minority Sky shareholder which recently increased its stake in the British company. ”Assuming some both on cost and revenue, we would expect the fair premium to be some percent higher at least.” However, the mean average of 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently price Sky at GBP 10. 31. ”We are broadly supportive of it (the deal)” said Jamie manager of several AXA funds which together have a small shareholding in Sky. ”Clearly the higher the share price the better, but I think . .. it was always likely given their significant stake already that they would be under perhaps less pressure to offer a bid.” A shareholder said he would likely vote for the deal. ”It would be nice to have a bit more but obviously Fox are holding all the cards we are being pragmatic on this one.” Sky’s spokesperson said the company held an investor day less than two months ago that gave investors a comprehensive insight in to the company and its growth plans. ”The market took a view and fully priced in these opportunities prior to the possible offer” the person said. Fachinger said he expected Murdoch to push through a deal ”whatever it costs” after his failed 2011 attempt. That attempt provoked uproar among some UK politicians, who said it would give the billionaire owner of The Sun and The Times newspapers too much control over the country’s media. It collapsed when Murdoch’s UK newspaper business was engulfed in a phone hacking scandal that intensified political opposition, resulted in a criminal trial and led to the closure of his News of the World tabloid. Hancock, the minister responsible for digital policy, told parliament on Monday that the government had not yet received a formal notification and that any transaction would be looked at on its merits, on a case by case basis. The Secretary of State for media would seek to decide within 10 days of notification whether the deal needs to be referred to the regulator for further scrutiny, he said. People familiar with the matter said Fox had seen the opportunity to try again after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June sent the pound down about 14 percent against the U. S. dollar and Sky’s share price tumbling. (Reporting by Sophie Sassard and Kate Holton in London; additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia, Carolyn Cohn and Simon Jessop; editing by Philippa Fletcher) SINGAPORE Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of U. S. interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier. WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday.

Out with old, in with new television shows at Golden Globes

FX’s ( ) limited series ”The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” which won big at the Emmys earlier this year, led all contenders with five nominations for its dramatization of the 1995 double murder trial of football star Simpson. In the best drama series field, the top Globes TV prize, there were four new contenders HBO’s ( ) series ”Westworld,” family drama ”This Is Us” from NBC CMSCA. O, lavish British royal series ”The Crown” and 1980s mystery ”Stranger Things,” both from Netflix’s ( ). ”This Is Us,” which also won nominations for supporting actresses Mandy Moore and Chrissy Metz, marked the first Golden Globes best drama series nomination for NBC in 10 years. ”What a morning. The last time my phone started ringing like that at 5:30 a. m. I think my grandfather had died. This continues to be the wildest, craziest, and most rewarding ride for all of us,” said Dan Fogelman, creator of ”This Is Us.” The clutch of new shows and actors meant there was no room for old Golden Globe favorites like Netflix’s ”Orange is The New Black,” ”House of Cards” and ”Narcos,” and Showtime’s ”Homeland” and ”The Affair.” ABC ( ) also got back into the game with modern family comedy ” ” landing nominations for best comedy series and actors Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. ABC also picked up two nods for drama series ”American Crime.” ”I’m 44 years old, third series in. This is a thrilling moment, and I couldn’t be prouder that it’s because of ’ ’,” Ross said in a statement. ” ” will compete against FX’s new hip hop comedy ”Atlanta,” as well as ”Mozart in the Jungle” and transgender comedy ”Transparent,” both from Amazon Studios ( ). Amazon, along with Netflix, Hulu and other digital platforms, have revolutionized television in the past five years with bold content, no advertiser pressure, and full seasons that are released in one go. On Monday, HBO led all networks with 14 nominations, including for its hit medieval fantasy series ”Game of Thrones,” White House comedy ”Veep,” and ”The Night Of.” FX got nine nominations, followed by ABC, Amazon, AMC ( ) and Netflix all with five. HBO’s costly new futuristic Western series ”Westworld” arrived in October to critical acclaim after much delay, and picked up three Golden Globe nominations. ”It’s been a long, incredible journey to this point, and we are thrilled to see this recognition,” said Jonathan Nolan. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler) MUMBAI Amiruddin Shah has been described as India’s ”Billy Elliot” a young lover of dance who rises from humble beginnings to great things on the ballet stage. LONDON The final film in the rebooted ”Planet of the Apes” series will hit cinemas next week, promising an conclusion to a trilogy that has garnered both critical acclaim and box office receipts.

Oil hits highest since mid-2015 on non-OPEC cut agreement

Oil rose to an high on Monday after OPEC and some of its rivals reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output to tackle global oversupply, though prices slipped late in the day. On Saturday, producers from outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Russia, agreed to reduce output by 558, 000 barrels per day, short of the target of 600, 000 bpd but still the largest contribution ever. That followed OPEC’s Nov. 30 deal to cut output by 1. 2 million bpd for six months from Jan. 1. Top exporter Saudi Arabia will cut around 486, 000 bpd to reduce the supply glut that has dogged markets for two years. Crude futures have rallied sharply, with U. S. oil futures gaining 23 percent since the middle of November as optimism that an agreement would be reached started to grow. There is some concern amongst analysts that the big move in crude is not sustainable, and that the market may have overshot given the expectation that various producers would not comply with the cuts they agreed upon. ”Right now the market is kind of feeding on itself,” said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. ”The market could push another $1 to $2 up to $55, and Brent could go to about $60, but at that point there are some concerns that are going to start to cap the rally.” On Monday, U. S. crude futures settled up $1. 33 at $52. 83 a barrel, a 2. 6 percent gain, though that was sharply off the day’s highs. Prices continued to fall following settlement, with crude up just 98 cents to $52. 48 at 3:22 p. m. ET. Brent crude futures settled up $1. 36 at $55. 69 per barrel, a 2. 5 percent rise, after hitting a session peak of $57. 89, highest since July 2015. ”Overnight we had a rally to the highs, but the market is going to try to analyse” the agreement going forward, said Andrew Lebow, managing partner at Commodity Research Group. For the deal to be effective, all parties must stick to their word. Higher prices also raise the chances of other producers boosting output, particularly U. S. shale operators, where rig counts have grown steadily in recent months. U. S. production remains about 1 million bpd below its peak of 9. 6 million reached in 2015, according to U. S. Energy Department data. Further, several of the countries are still increasing their production. Russia, for instance, does not expect to reach its target until April or May, and several other countries are expected to experience only natural declines, which will not necessarily affect the supply situation. (Additional reporting by Florence Tan, Keith Wallis and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Sumner Redstone and daughter pull CBS, Viacom merger plan

Media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari called off their failed effort to merge CBS Corp ( ) and Viacom Inc ( ) on Monday, sending shares of Viacom widely viewed as the weaker company down almost 8 percent. The collapse of the plan, which never got beyond initial talks, raises questions about the future of both companies just as scale becomes more important in a media industry set to be reshaped by AT&T’s ( ) deal to buy Time Warner Inc ( ). The end of negotiations was not a complete surprise. Les Moonves, the longtime chief executive of CBS, said last week talks were still stuck in the early stages, more than two months after the Redstones asked the boards of both companies to explore a . The two sides never entered talks on pricing and were far apart on Viacom’s value, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Shares of Viacom were down 7. 9 percent at $39. 10 in afternoon trading. CBS shares initially rose 1. 8 percent, touching a nearly year high, after CNBC cited a New York Post report that Verizon Communications Inc ( ) was interested in buying the company. Verizon declined to comment. In afternoon trading, CBS shares were down 0. 4 percent at $62. 12. STILL NEEDS FIXING National Amusements, the privately held movie company through which Shari Redstone and her father control 80 percent of the voting shares of CBS and Viacom, said in a letter they stopped pushing for a deal on the expectation of a turnaround at Viacom under new leadership. Viacom named Bob Bakish, head of its international business, acting chief executive officer at the end of October, and made that position permanent on Monday afternoon as it announced the end of merger explorations. Viacom, which owns Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, has been struggling to turn around declining ad revenue and ratings while CBS is home to shows such ”The Big Bang Theory” and ”Thursday Night Football.” Mario Gabelli, whose firm is the owner of voting shares of Viacom and CBS, said he was not disappointed with the failure of merger plans and that he still believes that ultimately the two might merge. “Viacom needs to be fixed,” he said. One sticking point in negotiations was that CBS’s Moonves wanted autonomy over the merged company. National Amusements was willing to compromise on this issue, but in the end decided to let Bakish retain control of Viacom, according to the sources, who wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Bakish already has started taking action after just a few weeks as acting CEO. Last month, the company announced it was buying Argentine broadcaster Television Federal SA from telecom carrier Telefonica SA for $345 million. He is also looking to improve relations with affiliates and is working on a plan to turn around MTV, a top priority for him, he told Reuters in November. Last week, he replaced Viacom’s head of distribution, Denise Denson, a longtime executive who worked closely with former CEO Philippe Dauman. A DECADE APART In September, National Amusements called on Viacom and CBS to consider recombining, 10 years after Viacom was spun off from CBS. Shari Redstone had been in favor of recombining the two under Moonves, sources have previously told Reuters. Industry speculation that the two might rejoin increased this year after the Redstones prevailed in a power struggle that resulted in Dauman’s departure. A Viacom spokesman confirmed it had received the letter from National Amusements, which was first reported by CNBC. A CBS spokesman declined to comment. National Amusement’s letter also said: ”CBS continues to perform exceptionally well under Les Moonves.” Relations between Moonves and Shari Redstone continue to be good, the source said. This week, the two plan to go to Boston for the premiere of the film ”Patriots Day,” produced by CBS Films. (Writing by Anna Driver; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bill Rigby) NEW YORK Tesla Inc shares slid more than 7 percent on Wednesday, their biggest percentage decline in more than a year, on delivery numbers, yet the luxury electric carmaker’s stock price remained above analysts’ median target. NEW YORK In the world of financial technology, where startups are the focus of M&A chatter, a $10 billion combination of two processors whose roots date to the 1970s might seem unusual.

Oil jumps to highest since mid-2015, Fed hike on horizon

Oil prices surged to an high on Monday after the world’s top crude producers agreed to the first joint output cut since 2001, sparking concerns about inflation, which pushed up U. S. Treasury yields to a more than peak. Yields also gained ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting that starts on Tuesday, where the U. S. central bank is expected to raise interest rates for the only the second time since the global financial crisis. The gain in oil prices followed the weekend agreement between OPEC and key states. U. S. crude futures rose $1. 33 to settle at $52. 83 a barrel, a 2. 6 percent gain, though that was sharply off the day’s highs. Brent crude futures rose $1. 36 to settle at $55. 69, a 2. 5 percent rise, after hitting a session peak of $57. 89, the highest since July 2015. There was particular surprise as Saudi Arabia, the world’s top producer, said it may cut its output even more than it had first suggested at an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting just over a week ago. Energy shares rose sharply in early U. S. trading, helping lift the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 to record intraday highs. But the S&P 500 ended lower along with the Nasdaq. Consumer discretionaries and tech were among sectors that weighed on the S&P 500. The OPEC news and surge in oil prices were ”good news for economic growth in the U. S. as well as Russia and others. But it will be to some extent tempered by a little bit of an impact on consumer spending,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York. ”There are so many reasons to believe inflation is going to be headed higher, and this just adds fuel to that fire,” which is why bond yields are up and the U. S. stock market is mixed, he said. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 39. 58 points, or 0. 2 percent, to 19, 796. 43, the S&P 500 lost 2. 57 points, or 0. 1 percent, to 2, 256. 96 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31. 96 points, or 0. 59 percent, to 5, 412. 54. MSCI’s world stock index was nearly flat, while Europe’s STOXX 600 ended down 0. 5 percent. Benchmark U. S. bond yields topped 2. 5 percent for the first time since October 2014, with analysts saying the OPEC agreement had boosted reflation expectations. ”We have the Fed decision coming up on Wednesday, and people are unsure whether they should buy the dip here,” said interest rate strategist Gennadiy Goldberg of TD Securities in New York. U. S. notes were down while the yield rose to 2. 478 percent from 2. 464 percent late on Friday. Earlier, the yield touched 2. 528 percent, its highest since Sept. 29, 2014. FED AHEAD In the currency markets, the dollar fell against most major currencies on concerns the Fed could suggest in an upcoming policy statement that the greenback’s gains had gone too far. At the same time, the gains in oil prices boosted currencies. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last down 0. 6 percent at 100. 980, easing from an earlier high of 101. 780. The Aussie was up 0. 4 percent against the dollar at $0. 7488, while the New Zealand dollar was up 0. 6 percent against the greenback at $0. 7181. Gold prices turned higher after falling to their lowest in more than 10 months as the U. S. dollar fell. Spot gold rose 0. 3 percent at $1, 161. 62 an ounce after tapping its lowest since Feb. 5 at $1, 151. 34 an ounce. (Additional reporting by Gertrude and Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Meredith Mazzilli and Andrew Hay) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Portugal’s Guterres sworn in as next U.N. secretary-general

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was sworn in on Monday as the ninth United Nations pledging to personally help broker peace in various conflicts and reform the old world body to become more effective. Guterres, 67, will replace Ban 72, of South Korea on Jan. 1. Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after two terms. Guterres was Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U. N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015. ”From the acute crises in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan and elsewhere, to disputes including the conflict, we need mediation, arbitration as well as creative diplomacy,” Guterres said. ”As part of my good offices I am ready to engage personally in conflict resolution where it brings added value,” he told the General Assembly. Guterres beat out 12 other candidates, seven of whom were women, amid a push for the first woman to be elected. He said on Monday he aimed to have gender parity among senior U. N. leadership within his five year term. Diplomats said Guterres is expected to shortly name Nigeria’s environment minister Amina Mohammed as his deputy . He is also planning to appoint a woman as his chief of staff before the end of the year, diplomats said. Before her appointment as environment minister a year ago, Mohammed was U. N. Ban ’s special adviser on development planning a role that culminated last year with the adoption by the General Assembly of sustainable development goals for the next 15 years. Guterres is the first former head of government to be elected to run the world body and that experience will be reflected in how he operates, diplomats said. ”He’s looking for a big reshuffle,” said a senior U. N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. ”He’s looking to create . .. a different feeling, with the much more part of a collective leadership of the U. N.” ”Having what he calls a cabinet, like when he was prime minister, his senior officials would come together every week and collectively they would have responsibility for the totality of the organization,” the diplomat said. Diplomats were now watching to see who Guterres appoints to senior U. N. positions amid speculation by diplomats and U. N. officials that China would like one of its nationals to head peacekeeping and that Russia is keen to have a senior role. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Franklin Paul and Phil Berlowitz) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Iraqi police say ready to join assault on east Mosul

Several thousand Iraqi federal police are ready to join the assault against Islamic State in east Mosul, a spokesman said on Monday, reinforcing troops who have faced weeks of fierce from the militants. The extra forces are being deployed as the grueling U. S. campaign to crush Islamic State in its Iraqi stronghold enters its ninth week. Elite army troops have retaken a quarter of the city, but their advance has been slow and punishing. The federal police units, around 4, 000 strong, have been moved to an area southeast of the city, near where an army tank division last week made the deepest incursion into Mosul so far, briefly seizing a hospital used as a base by the militants. The troops were forced to pull back from the Salam hospital, less than a mile (about 1 km) from the Tigris river which runs through the center of Mosul, when they were attacked by suicide car bombs, mortar volleys and machine gun fire. A spokesman for Iraq’s federal police commander, Raed Shakir Jawdat, said the police units were near Qaraqosh, about 15 km (10 miles) from the southeast edge of Mosul, and were ready to mobilize. However, he said they were waiting for advances elsewhere on the eastern front, where elite Counter Terrorism Services (CTS) have made steady progress, unlike last week’s dramatic push by the armored division towards the hospital. ”We are waiting for orders from the supreme commanders to start the offensive to defeat Daesh (Islamic State) and clear the eastern part (of Mosul),” he said. The CTS forces said on Sunday they had captured another district of east Mosul, neighborhood. Accounts from Mosul are difficult to confirm since authorities have increasingly restricted international media access to the battlefronts and areas retaken from Islamic State in and around the city. Prime Minister Haider tried to play down concerns over the slow pace of progress, saying the recapture of cities such as Ramadi and Baiji from Islamic State had taken four times longer than the Mosul campaign so far. Visiting commanders near Mosul on Monday, a day after a trip by U. S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Abadi also said the United States and other allies must continue to support Iraq’s battle against what he said was a global threat posed by the militants. Defeating Islamic State ”requires cooperation with all countries. .. and this is why we appeal to the new U. S. presidency to take this into consideration,” Abadi said. The prime minister, who spoke to Donald Trump last month, said the promised ”not just to continue American support but to increase it”. Carter told reporters on Sunday the battle for Mosul ”hasn’t been an easy fight (and) won’t be an easy fight” but said it was going to plan. He was speaking to reporters after meeting U. S. Steve Townsend, commander of the U. S. coalition supporting Iraqi forces in Mosul, who said that more than 2, 000 Islamic State fighters had been killed or badly wounded. POLICE DIVERTED The police and CTS troops are part of a Iraqi alliance which launched the campaign to retake Mosul on Oct. 17. It includes soldiers, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi’ite Popular Mobilisation forces. Defeating Islamic State in Mosul, the biggest city it controls in Iraq or Syria, would be a crushing blow to the caliphate it declared in large parts of both countries two years ago, and might see it revert to more covert militant operations in Iraq. Iraqi commanders say progress has been slowed by the fierce defence waged by the jihadists, who they say have used a network of tunnels under the eastern half of the city and exploited more than 1 million civilians as human shields. The fight in crowded residential areas has also restricted the use of heavy weapons and air strikes from the coalition. For weeks, commanders have talked about opening a new front in southwest Mosul to stretch Islamic State defences. But the despatch of the units to the southeast may delay that plan. The forces in Qaraqosh had been due to join other police units who have reached within 3 or 4 km (2 or 3 miles) of the airport on Mosul’s southwestern edge, and were expected to open the new front inside the city on the west bank of the Tigris. Nearly two months into the campaign, the United Nations says 91, 000 people have been registered as displaced from Mosul and nearby towns and villages. That figure excludes thousands more forced as human shields back into Mosul by retreating militants. Most people though have stayed put, and 1 million are likely to be still living in remaining Islamic areas of the city. With the militants largely sealed off, civilians are enduring increasingly conditions, with shortages of fuel, food and water as winter sets in. (Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Mark Trevelyan) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Google signs internet deal with Cuba’s telecommunications monopoly

Google signed an agreement with the Cuban government on Monday granting internet users on the island quicker access to its branded content. Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc, signed the deal with Mayra Arevich Marin, president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. It grants Cubans speedy access to the Google Global Cache network, which stores content from sites like Gmail and YouTube on servers located closer to end users. In a country where public internet access is limited to slow and expensive hot spots, it was not clear how the deal would actually impact service in the short term. “This deal allows ETECSA to use our technology to reduce latency by caching some of our most popular high bandwidth content like YouTube videos at a local level,” a Google statement said. ”This may improve reception of cached materials, but not for example email which depends on local bandwidth,” a local telecommunications technician said, requesting anonymity for fear of losing his job. Google and ETECSA were not immediately available for comment. President Barack Obama has made improved internet access a central part of his efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, first announced two years ago. However, Cuba to date has balked at allowing U. S. companies to participate in wiring the country, citing national security concerns. Whether because of a lack of investment or concerns about the flow of information in a Communist state that monopolizes the media, Cuba has lagged behind in internet usage. Only 5. 6 percent of Cuban homes had either intranet or internet access last year, according to a U. N. agency. The Google deal comes as officials in Havana and Washington are working to wrap up pending commercial accords before President Barack Obama leaves office next month. Donald Trump has threatened to scrap detente between the Cold War foes unless Cuba makes political and other concessions. Improved bilateral relations have been accomplished through executive orders circumventing trade embargo laws and can easily be reversed by Trump. The Obama administration has said it hopes increased commercial links between the two countries will make it difficult for future administrations to undo the recent warming in U. S. relations. (Corrects figure in 9th paragraph on homes connected to internet or Cuba intranet, to 5. 6 percent instead of 3. 4 percent.) (Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Tom Brown) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Trump taps Goldman Sachs executive Cohn for key economic post

U. S. Donald Trump on Monday said he would appoint Goldman Sachs Group Inc President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn to head the White House National Economic Council, a group that coordinates economic policy across agencies. ”As my top economic adviser, Gary Cohn is going to put his talents as a highly successful businessman to work for the American people,” Trump said in a statement. Cohn will follow former senior Goldman executives Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman, who ran the council in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, respectively. The council post, which helps to coordinate and develop the president’s economic agenda, can also be seen as a stepping stone to other government jobs. Rubin led the council before becoming Treasury Secretary. Cohn, 56, is just one of a number of former Goldman executives who are slated to join the Trump administration and advise on the economy, including Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and White House adviser Steve Bannon. ”We will miss Gary at Goldman Sachs, but I believe the American people and the are fortunate that he has chosen to serve his country,” Goldman Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement. Cohn had long been regarded as the likely successor to Blankfein, but that view has dimmed in the past several years as Blankfein, 62, showed no signs that he would step down in the near future. Cohn’s departure now raises fresh questions about who might succeed Blankfein in the long run, while potentially giving rise to a new group of leaders at the bank. Unlike other Wall Street firms that have had significant turnover in their upper ranks, Goldman’s leadership has remained remarkably stable over the years. Some Goldman executives have privately complained that this has created a bottleneck for the next generation of leaders. It is likely that Cohn’s role as Goldman’s president may be split, Reuters has previously reported. Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz and investment banking David Solomon are likely candidates, according to people familiar with the matter. Such a move could return Goldman to a operating officer structure. Cohn had previously served alongside Jon Winkelried in this arrangement, until Winkelried’s departure from the firm in 2009. Cohn is a former Goldman commodities trader from Ohio who joined the firm in 1990. He served in a variety of leadership roles in bond trading, becoming of Goldman’s broader securities division and then in 2006. (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann in Washington and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz) NEW YORK Six in 10 American voters support the new ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States unless they can show they have a close relative here, according to opinion poll results released on Wednesday. LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a bilateral meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday, a British government official said on Wednesday.

U.S. says ’one China’ policy should not be used as bargaining chip

The White House on Monday insisted that Washington’s “one China” policy should not be used as a “bargaining chip” with Beijing after Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to be bound by its position that Taiwan is part of China. Signaling further resistance Trump will face in Washington if he tries to overturn a principle that has underpinned more than four decades of U. S. relations, Republican U. S. Senator John McCain said he personally backed the “China policy” and no one should “leap to conclusions” that the would abandon it. “I do not respond to every comment by the because it may be reversed the next day,” McCain told Reuters when asked about Trump’s statement in an interview broadcast over the weekend. Trump set off a diplomatic firestorm when he told Fox News: “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade. ” This followed an earlier protest from China over the Republican ’s decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai on Dec. 2. The issue is highly sensitive for China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, and Beijing expressed ”serious concern” about Trump’s latest remarks. It called the ”one China” policy the basis for relations, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned against moves to damage China’s “core interests,” saying that “in the end, they are lifting a rock only to drop it on their feet.” Some U. S. analysts warn that Trump could provoke a military confrontation if he presses the Taiwan issue too far. Scott Kennedy, director of the Project on Chinese Business & Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington called Taiwan “the third rail of U. S. relations. ” ”DISRUPTIVE EFFECT” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States is committed to the “one China” principle and will not use the Taiwan issue to gain leverage in any dealings with Beijing. “The United States does not view Taiwan and our relationship with Taiwan as a bargaining chip,” he told a daily briefing, calling Taiwan a “close partner. ” ”And bargaining that away is not something that this administration believes is our best interest. “Disrupting this policy,” he said, “could have a disruptive effect on our ability to work with China in those areas where our interests do align. That reflects the high priority that China puts on the policy and on Taiwan. ” While saying the “one China” policy should remain intact, McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an outspoken critic of Democratic President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, said that “somebody should hold China responsible” for its behavior with regard to Taiwan, Hong Kong, island building in the South China Sea and “propping up” North Korea. After Trump’s phone conversation with Taiwan’s president, the Obama administration said senior White House aides had spoken with Chinese officials to insist that Washington’s “one China” policy remained unchanged. China’s official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary on Tuesday it was clear Trump did not understand the policy. ”The policy is the cornerstone for any country, including the United States, to engage with China diplomatically, and is simply : no exceptions,” Xinhua said. The State Department’s senior diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, was due to speak to China’s ambassador to Washington on Monday, the State Department said. Trump has tempered his strong criticisms of China and call to Taiwan’s president by announcing plans last week to nominate a friend of Beijing, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, as the next U. S. ambassador to China. However, he is also considering John Bolton, a former Bush administration official who has urged a tougher line on Beijing, for the No. 2 job at the U. S. State Department, according to a source familiar with the matter. Bolton has said the next U. S. president should take bolder steps to halt China’ military aggressiveness in the South and East China seas and consider a ”diplomatic ladder of escalation” that could lead to restoring full diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Jonathan Landay, Doina Chiacu, Eric Walsh, and Michael Martina; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Lincoln Feast) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

U.S. seeks to undercut Aetna CEO’s defense in merger fight

The U. S. Justice Department sought on Monday to knock down arguments by Aetna Inc’s ( ) chief executive that Medicare Advantage competes with government insurance programs, making Aetna’s proposed merger with Humana legal under antitrust law. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini testified on Friday and returned to the witness stand Monday morning. The Justice Department sued to stop the merger in July. Judge John Bates of the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia will likely allow the deal to go forward if he agrees with Aetna that traditional Medicare, managed by the government, competes with Medicare Advantage, run by insurers. He must also decide if Aetna competes with Humana on the public insurance exchanges established under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. The Justice Department’s Craig Conrath showed Bertolini documents prepared by Aetna which showed that the combined company would have 4. 4 million Medicare Advantage customers. An unidentified company would have the second largest pool of customers with the next largest companies sharing a much smaller number. There was no mention in the documents of customers whose healthcare costs are covered through enrollment in traditional Medicare plans. Conrath also showed Bertolini a July 1, 2015 email written in preparation for announcing the merger which showed executives knew there was antitrust risk. The email urged caution in word choice: ”We do not have ’market power,’ (or) ’pricing power. ’” The government argued that Aetna and Humana compete on public exchanges established under Obamacare in 17 counties, and that Aetna’s decision to pull out of those counties, along with others, was no defense against allegations the merger would violate antitrust law. Bertolini testified on Friday that the company pulled out of the exchanges because they lost money, and did not target the 17 counties where the two companies overlapped. ”I wasn’t aware there was 17 counties until my deposition,” he said. Deals that are problematic under antitrust law can sometimes pass muster if they show efficiencies. Bertolini testified on Monday that Aetna’s initial estimate was that the merger would create $1. 25 billion in efficiencies. He said that estimate had since been raised to $3 billion, because of combined technology systems, some potential layoffs and other strategies. He also said he had ”very high confidence that we will deliver on those numbers.” But Conrath noted that a 2013 merger with Coventry remained incomplete and some Coventry computer systems remained outside the Aetna network. He also said Aetna’s estimates of the cost of the transaction, beyond the purchase price, would eat a chunk of the efficiencies. Aetna estimated that the cost of implementing the deal at $1. 5 billion. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tom Brown) Biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp will buy a stake in BeiGene Ltd and help develop and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational treatment for tumor cancers, the companies said on Wednesday. BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen .

Mediaset fears takeover attempt as Vivendi targets 20 percent stake

(This version of the story corrects to add dropped ”former” from Berlusconi’s title in paragraph four) By John Irish and Agnieszka Flak Vivendi ( ) said on Monday it holds just over 3 percent of Mediaset ( ) and could raise that to as much as 20 percent in a move the Italian broadcaster’s top investor called a first step toward launching a hostile takeover bid for the company. The announcement only aggravates a feud between the French media giant, led by chairman and biggest shareholder Vincent Bollore, and the Italian broadcaster controlled by the family of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The two companies have been at loggerheads since July when Vivendi backed out of an agreement that would have given it control of Mediaset’s division Premium and handed the two firms 3. 5 percent stakes in each other. Buying into Mediaset is part of Bollore’s strategy to expand into southern Europe and transform the French company into an integrated European media powerhouse. ”Vivendi intends to carry on its purchase of shares in Mediaset, depending on market conditions, to become, if possible, the second industrial shareholder in Mediaset, which to begin with could represent 10 to 20 percent of Mediaset’s capital,” it added. Berlusconi’s investment holding Fininvest, which controls Mediaset via a 34. 7 percent stake, lashed out at Vivendi, accusing it of trying to depress the company’s share price to then launch a ”hostile takeover” at a discounted price. ”Vincent Bollore and Vivendi have shown what their true intentions towards Mediaset were from the very start,” it said. Fininvest added it does not intend to diminish its role as Mediaset’s main shareholder and would use all means to block what it considered a ”very serious deception” of market rules. Bolloré, a key shareholder of Italian investment bank Mediobanca, has built a reputation over the years as a corporate raider, resorting to different strategies to take control of businesses. Vivendi is already the top shareholder at phone group Telecom Italia ( ) with a stake of around 24 percent and some bankers have spoken of plans to combine the two Italian firms. All parties have repeatedly denied such speculation. Mediaset, which is already suing Vivendi for damages over the deal, echoed Fininvest’s comments, adding it had been unaware of Vivendi’s stake building until the statement. Vivendi said in October it was no longer keen on finding an amicable solution to the dispute following several accusations by Mediaset. ”Given that the strategic industrial partnership . .. goes beyond what’s at stake in this dispute, Vivendi announces that it has gone over the 3 percent threshold in Mediaset’s capital and now holds 3. 01 percent,” it said on Monday. (additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes in Milan, editing by David Clarke and Jonathan Oatis) Biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp will buy a stake in BeiGene Ltd and help develop and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational treatment for tumor cancers, the companies said on Wednesday. BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen .

Japan Display to raise stake in OLED display maker Joled: Nikkei

Japan Display Inc ( ) will pay more than $100 million to boost its stake in an organic diode (OLED) panel maker, the Nikkei business daily said a step that would improve its position in a key technology where it lags far behind rivals. Manufacturers of consumer and other electronics are increasingly looking to adopt OLED screens, which are generally thinner and more flexible than liquid crystal display (LCD) screens. South Korean display makers in particular are investing billions of dollars in production lines. Japan Display will raise its stake in Joled to more than 50 percent from 15 percent by the end of 2017 and will also receive 75 billion yen ($650 million) from a fund to expand its LCD and OLED businesses, the Nikkei said a report that sent its shares surging 5 percent. Japan Display and Joled declined to comment. Representatives for the fund, the Innovation Network Corp of Japan, which owns 75 percent of Japan Display, were not immediately available to comment. The company, which has been looking to invest in advanced screens for cars and gaming headsets as growth in the smartphone market slows, set up a pilot OLED production line in 2014 and plans to start mass production of OLED screens for smartphones by 2018. Japan Display’s finances have withered on fluctuating demand from Apple Inc ( ) prompting the company to request support from INCJ this year after a funding crunch saw it take out loans. But even with help, Japan Display is likely to be one of the smaller players in OLED. By comparison, LG Display Co Ltd ( ) said last year it would invest 10 trillion won ($8. 6 billion) in a new plant to make the panels. Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd ( ) that’s the largest maker of OLEDs for smartphones, is investing 4 trillion won by 2017 in an OLED production line. Domestic competitor Sharp Corp ( ) said in August it will spend $570 million on its OLED business. ($1 = 115. 0800 yen) ($1 = 1, 166. 0000 won) (Reporting by Thomas Wilson in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) Biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp will buy a stake in BeiGene Ltd and help develop and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational treatment for tumor cancers, the companies said on Wednesday. BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen .

U.S. Energy Department balks at Trump request for names on climate change

The U. S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it will not comply with a request from Donald Trump’s Energy Department transition team for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers. The Energy Department’s response could signal a rocky transition for the ’s energy team and potential friction between the new leadership and the staffers who remain in place. The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters last week contains 74 questions, including a request for a list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years. Energy Department spokesman Eben said Tuesday the department will not comply. ”Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of (the Energy Department) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people,” said. ”We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department,” he added. ”We will be forthcoming with all publicly available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.” He added that the request ”left many in our workforce unsettled.” Andrew Rosenberg, an official at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the Energy Department ”made the right choice in refusing this absurd and dangerous request. Federal agencies need the best available science to respond to the growing risk of climate change.” Reuters reported late Monday that former Texas Governor Rick Perry is expected to be named by Trump to run the Energy Department. The agency employs more than 90, 000 people working on nuclear weapons maintenance and research labs, nuclear energy, advanced renewable energy, batteries and climate science. The memo sought a list of all department employees or contractors who have attended any meetings on the social cost of carbon, a measurement that federal agencies use to weigh the costs and benefits of new energy and environmental regulations. It also asked for all publications written by employees at the department’s 17 national laboratories for the past three years. Trump transition officials declined to comment on the memo. ”This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list,” a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified because he feared a reprisal by the Trump transition team, had told Reuters. Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that the queries ”could have been an attempt to target civil servants,” including ”scientists and lawyers and other experts who are critical to the success of the federal government’s ability to make policy.” By design, their work transcends the term of any one president, Earnest said. Trump, a Republican, said during his election campaign that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by China to damage U. S. manufacturing. He said he would rip up last year’s landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by President Barack Obama. Since winning the Nov. 8 election, however, Trump has said he will keep an ”open mind” about the Paris deal. He also met with former Vice President Al Gore, a strong advocate for action on climate change. After that meeting, he picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. (Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Jonathan Oatis) BERLIN Draft conclusions to this week’s summit of the Group of 20 leading economies acknowledge the United States’ isolation in opposing the Paris climate accord but agree to G20 collaboration on reducing emissions through innovation, a G20 source said. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Trump picks former Texas Governor Perry as energy secretary

Donald Trump has chosen former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the U. S. Department of Energy, a source close to the said, putting him in charge of an agency he proposed eliminating during his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The choice of Perry adds to the list of advocates skeptical about climate change who Trump has picked for senior positions in his Cabinet, worrying environmentalists but cheering an industry eager for expansion. The selection of Perry, who also had been mentioned as a candidate for agriculture secretary, was disclosed on Monday night after Perry met the at Trump Tower in New York. The department is responsible for U. S. energy policy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Perry has advocated lighter regulation on the fossil fuel industry, and has called the science around climate change ”unsettled.” Perry’s proposal to get rid of the Energy Department caused what has become known as his ”oops” moment during a November 2011 Republican presidential candidate debate when he could not remember all of the three departments he wanted to eliminate. After mentioning the departments of Commerce and Education, he said, ”I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” A few minutes later in the debate Perry said with a laugh, ”By the way that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago.” Perry, who also briefly ran in the 2016 presidential race, would have to be confirmed by the Senate to head the Energy Department. Perry served as governor of Texas, a leading state, from 2000 when he succeeded President George W. Bush until 2015. In his unsuccessful presidential runs, he touted his record of job creation in the state. PAST CRITICISM Perry was a fierce critic of Trump last year before dropping out of the race, calling him ”a cancer on conservatism” who offered ”a toxic mix of demagoguery and and nonsense.” Trump also had harsh things to say about Perry during the campaign, even belittling his eyeglasses by saying, ”He put on glasses so people will think he’s smart.” Once Trump secured the nomination, Perry endorsed him as ”the people’s choice.” There were indications of a possible rocky handover for the Energy Department after Trump transition officials asked the agency for the names of employees who have worked on climate change issues. Department spokesman Eben said on Tuesday the department will not comply and that the request had ”left many in our workforce unsettled.” Perry’s selection is another indication that the incoming Trump administration may be friendly toward the fossil fuel industry. He is on the board of directors for Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota that has been stalled by protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and supporters. Trump on Tuesday named Rex Tillerson, chief executive of oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp, as his choice for secretary of state. Trump has settled on U. S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a skeptic and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, as interior secretary. Trump’s choice for the Environmental Protection Agency is Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, an ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to curb climate change who has sued the EPA to block in a bid to undo a key regulation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from power plants. An overwhelming majority of scientists believe that carbon dioxide emissions from burning oil, gas and coal is a significant contributor to global climate change, causing sea level rise, drought and more frequent violent storms. The Energy Department was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 after an embargo by nations led to shortages in the United States. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer said he hoped Perry’s nomination would be blocked. ”Trump no longer has to abolish departments. He can dismantle them from within,” Steyer said. ”It’s now up to the Senate to defend our health, our economy and our democracy by defeating this nomination.” (Writing by Bill Trott Editing by xxxx xxxxx) NEW YORK Six in 10 American voters support the new ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States unless they can show they have a close relative here, according to opinion poll results released on Wednesday. LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a bilateral meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday, a British government official said on Wednesday.

West Coast states to fight climate change even if Trump does not

The governors of the three U. S. West Coast states on Tuesday vowed to step up their efforts to fight climate change in the face of the incoming administration of Donald Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a hoax. Democratic governors Jerry Brown of California, Jay Inslee of Washington and Katherine Brown of Oregon made stark warnings that climate change was already harming the Pacific Ocean along which their states lie. ”Our waters are at mortal risk,” said Inslee, speaking via at a meeting of the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification, in advance of the winter meeting of the Western Governors Association in Coronado near San Diego. The three governors said they had joined the alliance, a group of U. S. states and countries including Chile and France dedicated to reducing rising acidity in the oceans, a phenomenon tied to climate change that threatens fish, coral reefs and other marine life. Jerry Brown also said that he had sent a letter to U. S. President Barack Obama, asking him to make permanent a recent on oil drilling off the coast of the most populous U. S. state. The actions marked the latest in a series of moves by Democrats, led by California, to position themselves to fight efforts by Trump to undo progressive policies on the environment, immigration, healthcare and other issues. The three coastal states are also among eight U. S. states and the District of Columbia to have recently legalized the recreational use of marijuana, actions that may also conflict with the agenda of the incoming Republican administration. A conservative populist who campaigned against illegal immigration, expressed skepticism of the science behind climate change and vowed to repeal Obama’s signature healthcare law, Trump has said he wants Cabinet members with similar beliefs. Earlier this month, the California governor nominated Xavier Becerra, a lawyer and longtime California congressman to be attorney general in a move widely viewed as preparation to defend state policies against a Trump Administration. On Tuesday, Jerry Brown said that despite whatever obstruction the incoming Trump Administration poses to efforts to combat climate change, California would do everything possible to prevent catastrophic global warming and ocean acidification. The oceans absorb 90 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, and supply much of the world’s food. ”Whatever problems we have today, they will pale to the stresses that we are going to have by rising sea levels, the threat of tropical diseases, and all manner of extreme weather events,” Jerry Brown said. (Writing by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Sandra Maler) BERLIN Draft conclusions to this week’s summit of the Group of 20 leading economies acknowledge the United States’ isolation in opposing the Paris climate accord but agree to G20 collaboration on reducing emissions through innovation, a G20 source said. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Battle of Aleppo ends after years of bloodshed with rebel withdrawal

Rebel resistance in the Syrian city of Aleppo ended on Tuesday after years of fighting and months of bitter siege and bombardment that culminated in a bloody retreat, as insurgents agreed to withdraw in a ceasefire. The battle of Aleppo, one of the worst of a civil war that has drawn in global and regional powers, has ended with victory for Syrian President Bashar and his military coalition of Russia, Iran and regional Shi’ite militias. For rebels, their expected departure with light weapons starting on Wednesday morning for regions west of the city is a crushing blow to their hopes of ousting Assad after revolting against him during the 2011 Arab uprisings. However, the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining major strongholds elsewhere in Syria, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing the ancient city of Palmyra this week. ”Over the last hour we have received information that the military activities in east Aleppo have stopped, it has stopped,” Russian U. N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a heated U. N. Security Council meeting. ”The Syrian government has established control over east Aleppo.” Rebel officials said fighting would end on Tuesday night and a source in the military alliance said the evacuation of fighters would begin at around dawn on Wednesday. A Reuters reporter in Aleppo said late on Tuesday that the booms of the bombardment could no longer be heard. Fighters and their families, along with civilians who have thrown in their lot with the rebels, will have until Wednesday evening to quit the city, a Turkish government source said. The ceasefire was negotiated by Turkey and Russia, without U. S. involvement. A commander with the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said that Aleppo was a moral victory for the insurgents. ”We were steadfast . .. but unfortunately nobody stood with us at all” the commander, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. ”UNCOMPROMISING VICTORY” The plight of civilians has caused global outrage in the wake of a sudden series of advances by the Syrian army and its allies across the rebel enclave over the past two weeks. ”We appear to be witnessing nothing less than . .. a total uncompromising military victory,” U. N. Ban told the U. N. Security Council on Tuesday. The rout of rebels from their territory in Aleppo sparked a mass flight of terrified civilians and insurgents in bitter weather, a crisis the United Nations said was a ”complete meltdown of humanity”. There were food and water shortages in rebel areas with all hospitals closed. The United Nations earlier on Tuesday voiced deep concern about reports it had received of Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters summarily shooting dead 82 people in recaptured east Aleppo districts. It accused them of ”slaughter”. ”The reports we had are of people being shot in the street trying to flee and shot in their homes,” said Rupert Colville, a U. N. spokesman. ”There could be many more.” ”They have gone from siege to slaughter,” British U. N. ambassador Matthew Rycroft said. ”Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica and now Aleppo,” said U. S. ambassador Samantha Power. The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured, and its main ally Russia said on Tuesday rebels had ”kept over 100, 000 people in east Aleppo as human shields”. An official with an Aleppo rebel group said the bulk of about 50, 000 people was expected to be evacuated. Fear stalked the city’s streets. Some survivors trudged in the rain past dead bodies to the west or the few districts still in rebel hands. Others stayed in their homes and awaited the Syrian army’s arrival. For all of them, fear of arrest, conscription or summary execution added to the daily terror of bombardment. ”People are saying the troops have lists of families of fighters and are asking them if they had sons with the terrorists. (They are) then either left or shot and left to die,” said Abu Malek in Seif one of the last districts. WASTELAND OF RUBBLE A Syrian military source said the evacuation of fighters would start at 5 a. m. (0300 GMT) on Wednesday. The source said fighters’ families would also leave, but did not mention other civilian evacuations. ”We’re going to watch this closely,” U. S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. ”Obviously if it is true and there has been a ceasefire arrangement reached that not only stops the bombing and the violence but allows people to safely leave Aleppo, we would welcome it.” Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed. The economic center with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverized during the war which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State. The U. N.’s Colville said the area had become ”a hellish corner” of less than a square kilometer. Its capture was imminent, he added. The Syrian army and its allies could declare victory at any moment, a Syrian military source had said earlier, predicting the final fall of the rebel enclave on Tuesday or Wednesday, after insurgent defenses collapsed on Monday. Terrible conditions were described by city residents. Abu Malek a resident in the rebel area, said dead bodies lay in the streets. ”There are many corpses in Fardous and Bustan with no one to bury them,” he said. ”Last night people slept in the streets and in buildings where every flat has several families crowded in,” he added. TIDE OF REFUGEES State television broadcast footage of a tide of hundreds of refugees walking along a ravaged street, wearing thick clothes against the rain and cold, many with hoods or hats pulled tight around their faces, and hauling sacks or bags of belongings. One man pushed a bicycle loaded with bags, another family pulled a cart on which sat an elderly woman. Another man carried on his back a small girl wearing a pink hat. At the same time, a correspondent from a television station spoke to camera from a part of Aleppo held by the government, standing in a tidy street with flowing traffic. In some recaptured areas, people were returning to their shattered homes. A woman in her sixties, who identified herself as Umm Ali, or ”Ali’s mother” said that she, her husband and her disabled daughter had no water. They were looking after the orphaned children of another daughter killed in the bombing, she said, and were reduced to putting pots and pans in the street to collect rainwater. In another building near district, which was taken by the army last week, a man was fixing the balcony of his house with his children. ”No matter the circumstances, our home is better than displacement,” he said. ”The crushing of Aleppo, the immeasurably terrifying toll on its people, the bloodshed, the wanton slaughter of men, women and children, the destruction — and we are nowhere near the end of this cruel conflict,” U. N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad said in a statement. (Reporting By Laila Bassam in Aleppo, Orhan Coskun in Ankara, Lisa Barrington, John Davison and Tom Perry in Beirut, Suleiman in Amman and Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Peter Millership) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Exclusive: Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking - sources

The overseers of the U. S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on Monday. While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) does not dispute the CIA’s analysis of Russian hacking operations, it has not endorsed their assessment because of a lack of conclusive evidence that Moscow intended to boost Trump over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, said the officials, who declined to be named. The position of the ODNI, which oversees the 17 U. S. intelligence community, could give Trump fresh ammunition to dispute the CIA assessment, which he rejected as ”ridiculous” in weekend remarks, and press his assertion that no evidence implicates Russia in the cyber attacks. Trump’s rejection of the CIA’s judgment marks the latest in a string of disputes over Russia’s international conduct that have erupted between the and the intelligence community he will soon command. An ODNI spokesman declined to comment on the issue. ”ODNI is not arguing that the agency (CIA) is wrong, only that they can’t prove intent,” said one of the three U. S. officials. ”Of course they can’t, absent agents in on the in Moscow.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose evidentiary standards require it to make cases that can stand up in court, declined to accept the CIA’s analysis a deductive assessment of the available intelligence for the same reason, the three officials said. The ODNI, headed by James Clapper, was established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the recommendation of the commission that investigated the attacks. The commission, which identified major intelligence failures, recommended the office’s creation to improve coordination among U. S. intelligence agencies. In October, the U. S. government formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against American political organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Democratic President Barack Obama has said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about consequences for the attacks. Reports of the assessment by the CIA, which has not publicly disclosed its findings, have prompted congressional leaders to call for an investigation. Obama last week ordered intelligence agencies to review the cyber attacks and foreign intervention in the presidential election and to deliver a report before he turns power over to Trump on Jan. 20. The CIA assessed after the election that the attacks on political organizations were aimed at swaying the vote for Trump because the targeting of Republican organizations diminished toward the end of the summer and focused on Democratic groups, a senior U. S. official told Reuters on Friday. Moreover, only materials filched from Democratic groups such as emails stolen from John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman were made public via WikiLeaks, the organization, and other outlets, U. S. officials said. ”THIN REED” The CIA conclusion was a ”judgment based on the fact that Russian entities hacked both Democrats and Republicans and only the Democratic information was leaked,” one of the three officials said on Monday. ”(It was) a thin reed upon which to base an analytical judgment,” the official added. Republican Senator John McCain said on Monday there was ”no information” that Russian hacking of American political organizations was aimed at swaying the outcome of the election. ”It’s obvious that the Russians hacked into our campaigns,” McCain said. ”But there is no information that they were intending to affect the outcome of our election and that’s why we need a congressional investigation,” he told Reuters. McCain questioned an assertion made on Sunday by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, tapped by Trump to be his White House chief of staff, that there were no hacks of computers belonging to Republican organizations. ”Actually, because Mr. Priebus said that doesn’t mean it’s true,” said McCain. ”We need a thorough investigation of it, whether both (Democratic and Republican organizations) were hacked into, what the Russian intentions were. We cannot draw a conclusion yet. That’s why we need a thorough investigation.” In an angry letter sent to ODNI chief Clapper on Monday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said he was “dismayed” that the top U. S. intelligence official had not informed the panel of the CIA’s analysis and the difference between its judgment and the FBI’s assessment. Noting that Clapper in November testified that intelligence agencies lacked strong evidence linking Russian cyber attacks to the WikiLeaks disclosures, Nunes asked that Clapper, together with CIA and FBI counterparts, brief the panel by Friday on the latest intelligence assessment of Russian hacking during the election campaign. (Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Jonathan Oatis) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Trump chooses congressman, former SEAL Zinke as interior secretary

Donald Trump has chosen Republican U. S. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander, as his interior secretary, a senior transition official said on Tuesday. Zinke, 55, will be nominated to head the Interior Department, which employs more than 70, 000 people across the United States and oversees more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Zinke’s choice was something of a surprise since some Republican officials wanted him to challenge Democratic U. S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana in the 2018 elections. Zinke emerged after Trump had toyed with the idea of nominating U. S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state for the position. He is a proponent of keeping public lands under federal ownership, putting him at odds with some in his Republican Party who are more favorable to privatization or placing them under the control of states. It remains unclear where Zinke would stand on opening up more federal lands to increased drilling and mining, something Trump promised he would do as president. Trump’s official energy platform calls for opening ”onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands, eliminate moratorium on coal leasing, and open shale energy deposits.” A Trump aide told Reuters last week that McMorris Rodgers had been picked for the post. She had met Trump at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, shortly after the began his Cabinet search. On Tuesday, a source close to the congresswoman said she had never been offered the job. ”It was an honor to be invited to spend time with the and I’m energized more than ever to continue leading in Congress as we think big, reimagine this government, and put people back at the center of it,” McMorris Rodgers said in a Facebook post. Zinke had been an early Trump supporter, backing the New York businessman for president in May. His nomination must now be confirmed by the Senate. ”Congressman Zinke is a strong advocate for American energy independence, and he supports an energy policy that includes renewables, fossil fuels and alternative energy,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said before a meeting on Monday between Zinke and Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Zinke, a member of the House of Representatives subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public land. But, unlike other candidates who were on the short list for the interior secretary job, Zinke opposes the transfer of public lands to the states, a position that echoes Trump’s. PUBLIC LANDS Trump has said he does not think public land should be turned over to the states and should be protected. ”I don’t like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do,” Trump said in an interview with Field & Stream magazine in January. Trump said putting states in control of public land would make it easier to sell it off for energy or commercial development. He thinks the federal government needs to focus on conservation. ”I mean, are they going to sell (states) if they get into a little bit of trouble? I don’t think it’s something that should be sold,” he said. ”We have to be great stewards of this land. This is magnificent land.” In July, Zinke resigned as a delegate to the Republican nominating convention because the party platform called for transferring public lands to the states. ”What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,” Zinke told the Billings Gazette. ”At this point, I think it’s better to show leadership.” Public land comprises more than 30 percent of Montana, according to the Montana Wilderness Association. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. The Wilderness Society, a leading conservation group, said it was concerned by Zinke’s support for logging, drilling and mining on public lands. The Interior Department also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and handles tribal policy. Under Obama, the department played a big role in efforts to curb the effects of climate change by limiting fossil fuel development in some areas. (Reporting by Eric Beech, Valerie Volcovici, Susan Cornwell and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter Cooney and Paul Tait) NEW YORK Six in 10 American voters support the new ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States unless they can show they have a close relative here, according to opinion poll results released on Wednesday. LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a bilateral meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday, a British government official said on Wednesday.

Wall St. adds to record rally, Dow approaches 20,000

All three major indexes established record highs. The Dow has climbed about 9 percent since the Nov. 8 election, with gains fueled by expectations that Donald Trump will reduce taxes and regulation and stimulate the economy. Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, with the technology index’s . SPLRCT climbing 1. 23 percent. The index had lost 0. 5 percent on Monday after posting its largest weekly advance in a year last week. ”What we’re seeing is the rally broaden out a little bit from beyond the Russell 2000 and the financial sector,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut. ”If you’re bullish, tech does look attractive here.” Apple ( ) added 1. 67 percent and provided the biggest support to the S&P and Nasdaq, while IBM ( ) rose 1. 69 percent, helping lift the Dow. Other tech giants Microsoft ( ) and Amazon ( ) were up 1. 30 percent and 1. 87 percent, respectively. Some investors see the on the Dow as a psychologically important signal of broad positive sentiment. The U. S. stock market’s sharp run has also been supported by positive economic data, including a strong labor market and S&P 500 companies’ results, which in the third quarter snapped a earnings recession. ”Investors are encouraged by expectations that Trump and a Congress will enact policies and we’re seeing modest inflation creep in while housing remains stable and wages continue to firm,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U. S. Bank Wealth Management. Investors are also keeping a close watch on the Federal Reserve’s meeting, starting Tuesday, with the central bank widely expected to lift interest rates for the only second time since the financial crisis. A hike of 25 basis points is priced in, but investors will be examining the Fed’s statement and economic forecasts for signs of the central bank’s thinking about how Trump’s election has affected the outlook for growth and inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0. 58 percent to end at 19, 911. 21 points and the S&P 500 gained 0. 65 percent to 2, 271. 72. The Nasdaq Composite added 0. 95 percent to 5, 463. 83. Following recent gains, some investors are concerned about valuations. The S&P 500 is trading near 17. 7 times forward earnings, above the median of 14. 7 times, according to StarMine data. ”Valuations are elevated at the moment and we know that the pace that equities are advancing at won’t be sustainable unless earnings continue to grow,” said Sandven. Inovalon Holdings ( ) fell as much as 37. 7 percent to a of $9. 52 after the healthcare data analytics company’s revenue forecast came in below expectations. About 7. 4 billion shares changed hands in U. S. exchanges, roughly in line with the average volume over the last 20 sessions. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1. ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 39 new highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 188 new highs and 41 new lows. (Additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch and Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Nick Zieminski) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Hertz to replace CEO, cut board size; Icahn backs moves

Hertz said CEO John Tague would retire on Jan. 2, a little over two years after he got the role with backing from Icahn, and be replaced by Kathryn Marinello, who sits on the boards of AB Volvo ( ) and General Motors Co ( ). ”Kathy has a history as a proven CEO and I believe she is the right person to lead Hertz as we move forward,” Icahn, who has a 35. 3 percent stake in Hertz, said in a statement issued by the company. Hertz also said its three longest serving directors, Linda Fayne Levinson, Carl Berquist and Michael Durham, would leave the board, effective Jan. 2. The company did not say why the trio had decided to step down. That would leave the company with seven directors, including three who were nominated by Icahn in September 2014 in return for not running a proxy contest. He had a roughly 9 percent stake in Hertz at the time and has been boosting his holding since. The billionaire investor disclosed he had doubled his stake in Hertz on Nov. 8, the same day the stock plunged nearly 23 percent after the company cut its profit forecast following a write down in the value of some of its cars. Hertz, facing stiff competition from the likes of Uber [UBER. UL] has been gradually reducing the size of its big fleet, which it operates under brands such as Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty. It has rental agreements with Uber and Lyft. Tague was named Hertz’s CEO in November 2014, fending off a challenge from Dollar Thrifty CEO Scott Thomson, who was backed by activist investor Jana Partners. Marinello has been a senior advisor of Ares Management LLC since March 2014 and was CEO of customer management services provider Stream Global Services Inc from 2010 to March 2014. She has worked for more than 10 years at General Electric Co ( ). Hertz’s shares were down about 1. 5 percent at $24. 75 in extended trading on Tuesday. They closed up 10. 6 percent in the regular session, but are still down more than 55 percent this year. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza) WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday. One of the investors former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is accused of defrauding testified on Wednesday that Shkreli lied to him repeatedly, although he eventually made millions of dollars from the investment.

Wells Fargo fails ’living will’ test, faces restrictions: U.S. regulators

U. S. officials on Tuesday limited Wells Fargo & Co’s ( ) ability to grow its business, punishing the bank for not having a sufficient plan to protect markets in the case of bankruptcy. The ruling crowns a dismal year for the San Francisco lender roiling from a scandal in which bank employees created as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization. Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf resigned in the wake of that controversy. Tuesday’s ruling means the bank may not establish international bank entities or acquire subsidiaries, regulators said. On Tuesday, regulators determined for a second time this year that the Wells Fargo ”living will” fell short. Wells Fargo is one of eight leading banks that must outline how they would be unwound in an orderly way in bankruptcy. Wells Fargo was one of five banks to fail an initial assessment in April. State Street Corp ( ) JPMorgan Chase & Co ( ) Bank of New York Mellon [BKNYK. UL] and Bank of America Corp ( ) passed on Tuesday. Wells Fargo may submit an amended living will by March 31. The restrictions may then be lifted if the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation allow. ”We believe we will be able to address the concerns raised today in the March 2017 revised submission,” the bank said in a statement. TOO BIG TO FAIL Living wills were conceived in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis when the downfall of several Wall Street banks sent shockwaves through global markets. U. S. taxpayers had to prop up banks that were deemed ”too big to fail” and Congress vowed that such a rescue would not happen again. Now that it has failed to satisfy regulators, Wells Fargo is on a regulatory path that could end with the bank being ordered to shrink in two years. The lender will have several chances to harden its business in the meantime and avoid such a measure. Regulators signaled that Wells Fargo’s securities and investment banking unit is an area of concern and they threatened to cap its size if Wells cannot right itself. That business has grown increasingly important at the bank, but still accounts for just a fraction of total revenues. (Reporting by Dan Freed in New York and Patrick Rucker in Washington. Editing by Alan Crosby and Lisa Shumaker) LONDON New Saba Capital Management, famed for its winning bet against the JPMorgan Chase trader known as the ’London Whale’ is closing its office in London’s Mayfair district, two sources close to the situation told Reuters. ROME Italian prosecutors have decided to take Morgan Stanley to court over allegations that the U. S. bank caused 2. 7 billion euros ($3. 1 billion) in losses to the state in relation to derivative transactions, a source familiar with the matter said.

U.S. bond yields, dollar gain, stocks fall after Fed rate hike

Yields on Treasuries hit their highest levels in more than five years on Wednesday while the dollar rose to its highest against the yen in 10 months after the U. S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates and signaled a faster pace of hikes in 2017. Wall Street stocks ended a volatile session with their biggest percentage decline since before the Nov. 8 U. S. presidential election, while gold prices hit a low. As expected, the Fed raised the target federal funds rate 25 basis points to between 0. 50 percent and 0. 75 percent. It was its first rate hike in a year and its second since the financial crisis. Central bank policymakers also shifted their outlook to one of slightly faster growth, with Donald Trump planning a simultaneous round of tax cuts and increased spending on infrastructure. The Fed now sees three rate hikes in 2017 instead of the two foreseen in September. ”It was largely as expected, but it’s pretty clear the market is taking it as a bit more aggressive or hawkish than it had thought,” said Ed Keon, portfolio manager and managing director at QMA, a manager wholly owned by Prudential Financial in Newark. Yields on Treasury notes rose to their highest level since August 2009, while yields hit their highest since May 2010 and yields rose to their highest since May 2011. U. S. Treasury notes were last down in price to yield 1. 238 percent, an increase of more than 8 basis points from its late Tuesday levels. The dollar rallied about 1. 3 percent against the yen to 116. 71 yen, its highest since Feb. 8, while the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a nearly high of 101. 960 and was last up 0. 8 percent at 101. 86. The dollar and bond yields were mostly trading lower before the Fed statement. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 118. 68 points, or 0. 6 percent, to 19, 792. 53, while the S&P 500 lost 18. 44 points, or 0. 81 percent, to 2, 253. 28, its biggest daily percentage drop since Oct. 11. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 27. 16 points, or 0. 5 percent, to 5, 436. 67. U. S. stocks traded both sides of unchanged just after the statement but began adding to losses during Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s subsequent news conference. With U. S. stocks, ”we’ve had a great run, so it’s tempting maybe to take a little bit off the table,” Keon said. Stocks have rallied since the election on bets of higher U. S. economic growth. The S&P utilities index, which tends to fall as bond yields rise, fell 2 percent and led losses in the S&P 500, along with the energy index, which fell 2. 1 percent. MSCI’s world stock index was down 0. 6 percent. The STOXX 600 share index ended down 0. 5 percent. ”All elements we’ve received so far from the Fed, including the policy statement, the forecasts, the dot plot, tilt hawkish. They imply that the Fed sees more room to run with interest rates higher given the Trump election,” said Frances Donald, senior economist at Manulife Asset Management in Boston. In contrast to the Fed, the European Central Bank only last week extended its campaign and moved to purchase more debt. GOLD, OIL LOWER Gold turned lower and tapped the lowest in more than 10 months following the Fed statement, while oil prices fell with the dollar’s gain. Spot gold was down 0. 3 percent at $1, 154. 62 an ounce. Brent crude futures settled at $53. 90 per barrel, down $1. 82, or 3. 27 percent. U. S. crude ended the session down $1. 94, or 3. 66 percent at $51. 04 per barrel. For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters: = =http: . apps. cp. extranet. thomsonreuters. ? pageId=livemarkets (Additional reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Tech employees vow not to help Trump surveil Muslims, deport immigrants

More than 200 employees of technology companies including Alphabet Inc’s ( ) Google, Twitter Inc ( ) and Salesforce pledged on Tuesday to not help U. S. Donald Trump’s administration build a data registry to track people based on their religion or assist in mass deportations. Drawing comparisons to the Holocaust and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the employees signed an open letter at neveragain. tech rebuking ideas floated by Trump during the campaign trail. The protest, which began with about 60 signatures but had more than tripled within hours of publication, comes a day before several technology company executives are due to meet with the developer in New York City. ”We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies,” reads the letter, signed by a mix of engineers, designers and business executives. It continues: ”We refuse to build a database of people based on their religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable.” The letter vows to not participate in creating databases of identifying information for the U. S. government on the basis of race, religion or national origin, to minimize the collection or retention of data that could facilitate such targeting and to oppose any misuse of data at their respective organizations considered illegal or unethical. Trump clashed with Silicon Valley on several issues during the campaign, including immigration, government surveillance and encryption, and his victory last month alarmed many companies who feared he might follow through on his pledges. [nL1N1DA3VL] Those concerns have not been assuaged in recent weeks, as Trump has said he intends to nominate individuals to senior posts in his administration who favor expanding surveillance programs. Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, Apple Inc ( ) CEO Tim Cook, Facebook Inc ( ) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Amazon. com Inc ( ) CEO Jeff Bezos and Oracle Corp ( ) CEO Safra Catz are among those expected to attend the summit with Trump’s transition team, according to two technology industry sources. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment regarding the open letter. (Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) SYDNEY The United Nations cultural body UNESCO has voted to leave the Great Barrier Reef off its ”in danger” list despite recent widespread destruction of the World Heritage Site. MINNEAPOLIS Kole Calhoun homered and Cameron Maybin stole home on a delayed steal in support of rookie starter Parker Bridwell’s six scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Angels avoided a sweep with a win against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

GM asks Supreme Court to reverse ignition switch claims ruling

The petition marked a effort by GM to block hundreds of customer lawsuits over faulty ignition switches, and other vehicles components, on grounds that they were barred by the automaker’s 2009 bankruptcy sale to a new corporate entity. In its petition, GM said the federal bankruptcy code permits a purchaser, in this case a newly formed company, to obtain a debtor’s rapidly deteriorating assets and be ”free and clear” of its liabilities. GM said that if the July 2016 ruling by the 2nd U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York was left standing, it would undermine a key component of its corporate rescue and make future such deals more difficult. ”In short, this case presents exceptionally important questions, and the Second Circuit’s answers were exceptionally wrong,” GM’s lawyers said in the petition. ”The Court should grant review.” The case related to an ignition switch that could slip out of place, causing engines to stall and cutting power to the brake, steering and air bag systems. The defect prompted GM to begin recalling 2. 6 million vehicles in 2014. GM has already paid roughly $2 billion in criminal and civil penalties and settlements in connection with the switch. The company previously acknowledged that some of its employees knew about the switch defect for years before a recall was initiated. The 2nd Circuit’s decision affected injury and death cases stemming from crashes, as well as claims from customers who say their vehicles lost value as a result of the ignition switch and recalls involving other parts. The panel at that time held that barring plaintiffs from suing GM over the faulty switch would violate their constitutional rights to due process, since they had not been notified of the defect prior to GM’s bankruptcy. The 2nd Circuit appeal stemmed from a 2015 decision from the judge who oversaw GM’s 2009 bankruptcy, which created ”New GM” to contain valuable assets while leaving behind most of its burdensome liabilities with ”Old GM.” U. S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber, now retired, ruled in 2015 that New GM was shielded from liability over Old GM’s actions, but he allowed some ”independent” claims based solely on New GM’s conduct to proceed. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen . NEW DELHI India is examining the use of private vehicles as shared taxis in an effort to reduce car ownership and curb growing traffic congestion in major cities, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Malaysian court to decide on Anwar Ibrahim’s last bid for freedom

Malaysia’s highest court is due to decide on Wednesday whether to uphold opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s conviction and a jail term for sodomy, or overturn it and set him free. Anwar, once a rising star in the ruling party, is the greatest threat to Prime Minister Najib Razak and his coalition, having led a opposition alliance to stunning electoral gains in 2013. Wednesday’s case is Anwar’s last legal avenue to challenge his 2014 conviction for sodomizing a former aide a charge that Anwar and his supporters say was a politically motivated attempt to end his political career. He has already spent more than 20 months in jail after the Federal Court rejected an appeal against the conviction in February last year. His lawyers asked for a review of the decision. ”We are hoping for a miracle,” said Saifuddin Nasution, the of Anwar’s People’s Justice Party. ”We are holding on to whatever little hope we have, but we still have to accept the fact that the judiciary is not fully independent in cases like this,” Saifuddin said. Security was stepped up around the court, as hundreds of demonstrators were expected to gather to show support for the Anwar. The conviction disqualifies Anwar from political office and from contesting the next election that must be held by 2018. A former ruling party deputy prime minister, Anwar’s legal troubles began soon after he fell out with then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the late 1990s, and was sacked. He then campaigned against corruption and nepotism and led a nationwide ”reformasi” or reform, protest movement. He was later jailed for the first time on charges of sodomy and graft. In a 2013 election, Anwar led an opposition alliance that posed the first genuine challenge to the coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. But the opposition fell apart after Anwar’s imprisonment, and the ruling coalition took advantage to coast to victory in several this year, despite pressure on Prime Minister Najib to resign over a graft scandal involving a state investment fund. In July, Anwar endorsed a political compact spearheaded by his old enemy Mahathir, as they joined hands to fight against Najib. [nL4N1A716M] Four opposition parties aligned with Anwar and Mahathir signed a pact on Tuesday to work out a common strategy against the ruling coalition in the next general election. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Praveen Menon and Robert Birsel) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

New Zealand’s populist Peters to rise in the gap left by Key

One big winner from New Zealand prime minister John Key’s surprise resignation is likely to be maverick politician Winston Peters, a popular protectionist who rails against foreign investment ”lunacy” and plans to obstruct the government’s stance. Peters and his New Zealand First party look set to again play kingmaker as the ruling National Party seeks a fourth term in government next year. Without the charismatic Key, who was replaced this week by his experienced but dull deputy Bill English, National will lose votes and likely be forced to find extra seats beyond its usual coalition partners to hold power in New Zealand’s mixed member proportional parliament, political analysts say. New Zealand First currently holds 12 seats in the 121 seat chamber and is confident of increasing its vote in an election expected around September. That will give Peters bargaining power to push a message similar to those that have found favor in parts of Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. A lawyer of Maori descent with a knowledge of obscure legislative debating rules who has been politically active since the 1970s, Peters is no Donald Trump. But his vocal opposition of Chinese migration and investment makes him an uncomfortable bedfellow for the center right National Party, which has embraced the Asian giant and is negotiating a free trade upgrade with the country’s largest trading partner. ”Other parties either have ignored the causes of public anxiety or have tried to milk the issue when they were a part of the problem in the first place,” Peters told Reuters in a phone interview. ”We’ve focused on things that ordinary people are concerned about.” Peters plans to spend the coming months rallying against many of the policies that National is spearheading, calling for a ban on foreign home buyers and restrictions on China’s investment access. This could make it harder for the National government to maintain or deepen its close relationship with China. Under Key’s watch New Zealand became the first developed country to join the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and New Zealand officials helped to usher in other Western countries to the bank, according to treasury officials. Trade between the two countries has grown to more than NZ$20 billion ($14. 4 billion) a year and Chinese President Xi Jinping this year described the relationship as ”unprecedented” in its depth. EASY ACCESS Peters has long held a very different take on China. In 2005, he blamed Asian immigration for ”imported criminal activity”. This year he described a Chinese company taking a majority ownership in a small New Zealand dairy processor as ”lunacy” while dairy giant Fonterra’s decision to send cows to China was ”economic treason.” His party has a policy to ban most foreign buyers in the red hot housing market, whose price growth is among the highest in the world, a move National has rejected. To be sure, Wellington’s ties to Beijing have developed over many years and under successive governments, including those Peters has been a part of. But with public anguish rising over housing affordability and New Zealand pushing for a free trade upgrade with China, Peters’ message is gaining more traction. Under the FTA upgrade, Beijing is pushing for better investment access into the Pacific nation something Peters vehemently opposes. ”There’s a dire warning to this country in a resource hungry world, where so many of our resources are coming under foreign control,” Peters said. ”Frankly the level of access (by China) to the New Zealand market has been a mess. Nearly all of the impediments have been stripped away a long time ago.” Representatives from the Chinese embassy in Wellington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Peters served as deputy prime minister as part of a government in 1996 and foreign minister under a Labour government in 2005 and has refused to say which party he would favor if called on to form a coalition next year. But with National expected to win the most votes of any party and Peters’ mistrust of the Green Party, observers think a deal with National is likely. English, the new prime minister, acknowledged the relationship with Peters had been ”challenging at times” but was not the immediate focus. ”The business of worrying about working with NZ First will arise after the election.” Don Brash, a former National Party leader who lost the 2005 election after failing to make a deal with Peters saw him in potentially powerful position come election time. ”If Mr Peters has let’s say 17 seats, which is absolutely possible, then he’s in a position to make quite strong demands,” said Brash. (Editing by Lincoln Feast) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Obama to press Trump to preserve Cuba detente: White House

President Barack Obama will make his case directly to Donald Trump not to derail the recent U. S. detente, the White House said on Tuesday, insisting that ”turning back the clock” would be damaging to American interests and the Cuban people. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the outgoing administration hopes to persuade the incoming Trump administration to preserve Obama’s policy of engagement despite the ’s threat to roll back the opening with the island. Just weeks before Trump takes office, Obama and his aides are seeking to further cement one of his top foreign policy legacy initiatives, a breakthrough between former Cold War foes announced two years ago. But since Obama eased travel and trade restrictions through executive actions, Trump would be able to reverse them on his own if he chooses to do so. ”Cuba has been and will be on the list of issues where President Obama will make his case that this is the right approach for American interests,” Rhodes told reporters on a teleconference, referring to transition talks between the two. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has vowed to ”terminate” Obama’s engagement with Cuba unless Havana gives the United States what he calls a ”better deal,” including allowing broader political freedoms on the island. The Cuban government so far has refrained from commenting on Trump’s statements. ”What we believe would be very damaging is any effort to turn off the opening,” Rhodes said, asserting it would hurt the Cuban people, U. S. business interests and Washington’s standing in Latin America. He said the administration has sought to make the policy ”irreversible,” and suggested that Trump, a should consider whether it makes sense to roll it back. Rhodes, who played a key role in negotiating the opening, said a reversal would boost Cuban ”hardliners” opposed to engagement as Havana heads into its own political transition. Cuban President Raul Castro has said he will step down in 2018. ”Do you really want to cancel travel plans for hundreds of thousands of Americans?” Rhodes asked. ”Do you want to tell businesses as diverse as our major airlines or Google or General Electric . .. that have been pursuing opportunities in Cuba that they have to terminate those activities?” Rhodes, who was also in Cuba for memorial services for late Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro this month, said Cuban officials were uncertain about Trump and would wait to see how he proceeded. The White House is planning a meeting with ”stakeholders” on Cuba policy this week, he said. The administration is pressing Cuba for further economic reforms, Rhodes said, and encouraging new deals with U. S. companies before Obama leaves office. Rhodes also said there was currently an ”incentive structure” for economic change following the death of Fidel Castro, a vocal critic of detente, but that no progress has been made on political reforms. U. S. critics of Cuba engagement have accused Obama of making too many concessions. But despite restoration of relations, the Congress has resisted lifting the broader U. S. economic embargo. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Ayesha Rascoe, Matt Spetalnick; editing by G Crosse) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Happiness still elusive in Russia, many ex-Soviet states 25 years after USSR: survey

A quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet Union, life satisfaction in Russia and other states remains stubbornly low, and enthusiasm for democracy and open market economics is wavering, a survey published on Tuesday showed. The study found that only 15 percent of Russians think their households have a better quality of life, compared with 30 percent in 2010 when respondents were last asked, and only 9 percent see their finances as better than four years ago. Just over half the respondents from former Soviet states also thought a return to a more authoritarian system would be a plus in some circumstances, the study by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank said. The EBRD, created 25 years ago to invest in former communist countries, questioned households across bloc for more than a decade for its ”Life in Transition” project, polling 51, 000 households in 34 countries from Estonia to Mongolia. They did find the ”happiness gap” with Western Europe had narrowed, thanks to improvements in central Asia, the Baltic states and central Europe but also because of less satisfaction in parts of Europe, including Germany and Italy. The findings resonated with increasing evidence this year, ranging from Britain’s vote to quit the European Union and Donald Trump’s U. S. election win, of dissatisfaction with some of the effects of globalization. EBRD chief economist Sergei Guriev said the study also showed countries could only successfully transition from command economies to more open market systems if that process is ”perceived by the public as being fair and of benefit to the majority”. ”If the public does not see the benefits of the reforms, they will ultimately not be successful,” he said. Guriev said one of the biggest factors in people’s lower life satisfaction was losing their jobs. Governments therefore needed to make sure workers learned new skills, he said. He also said the survey showed people’s appreciation of democracy and open market economics was wavering. ”Right now in most of our countries the majority doesn’t seem to prefer democracy over authoritarian rule, whereas in Germany 80 percent do,” Guriev told Reuters. ”That raises big, big questions. What has gone wrong and what should be done?” (Editing by Louise Ireland) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Gundlach: U.S. 10-year Treasury yield above 3 percent will harm stocks, housing

A U. S. Treasury note yield above 3 percent will harm the rally and housing market, said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, on Tuesday. ”I think above 3 percent is a problem,” Gundlach told Reuters. ”If the goes above 3 percent, you would also have to say unequivocally you have seen the end of the bond bull market.” On an investor webcast late Tuesday, Gundlach reiterated that U. S. Donald Trump’s administration will be ”bond unfriendly” and investors should brace for a 6 percent Treasury yield within four to five years. Gundlach, known on Wall Street as the ”Bond King,” went ”maximum negative” on Treasuries on July 6 when the yield on the benchmark Treasury note hit 1. 32 percent. Tuesday, the yield on the Treasury note closed around 2. 47 percent. Gundlach said it is reasonable to be nimble and do some purchasing of Treasuries. ”I think it is an okay buy right now,” he said. ”We hate the market less. We are a little bit less defensive,” Gundlach said. When bond prices are down, DoubleLine likes it more, he said. If the yield exceeds 3 percent next year, ”junk” bonds will drop into a ”black hole of illiquidity,” Gundlach said. Gundlach said the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is up 6. 5 percent since the election, could reverse their solid momentum at the latest by Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Gundlach said he thinks the dollar is going to soften in the weeks ahead as ”bullishness in the dollar is pretty entrenched.” (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; editing by Diane Craft, Bernard Orr and David Gregorio) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

U.S. urges Taiwan to increase defense spending given China threat

Defense spending in Taiwan has not kept pace with the threat posed by China and should be increased, a senior U. S. defense official said on Tuesday, days after U. S. Donald Trump touched off a storm by questioning American policy over the island. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Abraham Denmark said the Obama administration’s ”One China” policy remained unchanged, but he could not predict Trump’s intentions when he takes office on Jan. 20. Trump set off a diplomatic firestorm over the weekend when he questioned why the United States should be bound by the policy under which Washington recognizes Beijing rather than Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. This followed an earlier Chinese protest over Trump’s telephone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai on Dec. 2, the first involving a U. S. or president since 1979. Some U. S. analysts warn that Trump could provoke a military confrontation if he presses the Taiwan issue too far. Denmark told the Project 2049 Forum in Washington that the main focus of China’s military modernization program was to achieve reunification with Taiwan, by force if necessary. ”This makes it incumbent on Taiwan to prepare and invest in capabilities to deter aggression and mount an effective defense if deterrence fails,” he said. ”Defense resourcing is critical,” he said. ”Taiwan’s defense budget has not kept pace with the threat developments and should be increased.” The United States is the main political ally and sole arms supplier to diplomatically isolated Taiwan. Denmark said the administration had notified Congress of more than $14 billion of arms sales to Taiwan since 2010 but declined to say whether any further sales were possible before President Barack Obama leaves office. He said the United States was committed under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensuring it had the capability to defend Taiwan. But he stressed that any decision to do so was up to the resident and the primary responsibility remained with Taiwan itself. Taiwan has been working to develop its own defense equipment and last year allocated an initial budget for a submarine program, but technology transfer is critical to the success of such projects and it has yet to receive key foreign technological support. Trump adviser and China hawk Peter Navarro, who has produced books and multipart television documentaries warning of the dangers of China’s rise, has suggested stepped up engagement with Taiwan, including assistance with its submarine development program. The Obama administration notified Congress a year ago of a $1. 83 billion arms sale package for Taiwan, including two frigates, antitank missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment, drawing an angry response from China. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

IBM promises to hire Americans as tech executives set to meet Trump

”We have thousands of open positions at any given moment, and we intend to hire about 25, 000 professionals in the next four years in the United States,” Rometty wrote in a USA Today piece published on Tuesday afternoon. IBM spokesman Adam Pratt declined to say how that hiring might be offset by staff reductions or disclose how many people IBM employs in the United States. “We expect to end 2016 with our U. S. workforce about the same size as it was at the beginning of the year. By 2020, we expect it to be larger than it is today,” Pratt said. IBM had nearly 378, 000 employees at the end of 2015, according to the company’s annual report. While the firm does not break out staff numbers by country, a review of government filings suggests IBM’s U. S. workforce declined in each of the five years through 2015. In annual Department of Labor filings, IBM has reported that the active number of participants in its 401( k) pension plan fell to 84, 350 last year from 110, 876 in 2010. When asked why IBM planned to increase its U. S. workforce after those job cuts, company spokesman Ian Colley said in an email that Rometty had laid out the reasons in her USA Today piece. Her article did not acknowledge that IBM had cut its U. S. workforce, although it called on Congress to quickly update the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act that governs federal support for vocational education. ”We are hiring because the nature of work is evolving,” she said. ”As industries from manufacturing to agriculture are reshaped by data science and cloud computing, jobs are being created that demand new skills — which in turn requires new approaches to education, training and recruiting.” She said IBM intended to invest $1 billion in the training and development of U. S. employees over the next four years. Pratt declined to say if that represented an increase over spending in the prior four years. Rometty is one of more than a dozen U. S. executives serving on an advisory council that Trump has formed to consult him on job creation. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin in Boston; Editing by Andrew Hay and Peter Cooney) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

U.S. judge to review FBI’s Clinton emails search warrant

A U. S. judge on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to show him the search warrant application used to enable the FBI to access emails related to Hillary Clinton’s private server that were discovered shortly before the Nov. 8 presidential election. U. S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan ordered prosecutors by Thursday to turn over the application, which investigators obtained shortly after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress of newly discovered emails on Oct. 28, 11 days before the election won by her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Castel made the order as he considered whether any portion of the search warrant materials could be made public in response to a lawsuit filed by Randol Schoenberg, a Los lawyer who specializes in cases to recover artwork stolen by the Nazis, seeking to force the release of the documents. In court papers, Schoenberg said the public had a ”strong interest” in the disclosure of the search warrant materials, saying transparency was ”crucial” given the potential influence the probe had on the election’s outcome. The search warrant was obtained after Comey issued a letter to top U. S. lawmakers disclosing that emails potentially related to the Clinton server probe had been discovered in an ”unrelated case.” Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement roiled the campaign and drew new attention to a damaging issue for Clinton. Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, used the server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Comey in July had recommended to the Justice Department that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton over her handing of classified information in the emails. Only two days before the election, Comey disclosed that the newly reviewed emails did nothing to change his earlier recommendation after all. Clinton days after her loss blamed Comey’s letter, so close to the election, as a reason she lost to Trump. Sources close to the investigation have said the emails were discovered during an unrelated probe into former Democratic U. S. congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. In court, Castel said he would not be surprised if prosecutors, in submitting the materials to him, cited the presence of an ongoing probe in a case unrelated to Clinton as a reason to keep the search warrant application confidential. ”It could be potentially terribly unfair to a person who ultimately winds up not being charged,” Castel said, apparently referring to Weiner. Castel said it was possible information unrelated to the Clinton email probe could be redacted, and noted that in Clinton’s case, Comey later indicated in a subsequent letter that the server probe was closed. Castel invited prosecutors to propose redactions in case he decides to release the search warrant application. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Will Dunham) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

’Get us out of here’: desperate Aleppo residents fear arrest, death

As the siege of eastern Aleppo neared its end, some survivors trudged in the rain past dead bodies to the west or the few districts still in rebel hands. Others stayed in their homes and awaited the Syrian army’s arrival. For all of them, fear of arrest, conscription or summary execution had added to the daily terror of bombardment. ”People are saying the troops have lists of families of fighters and are asking them if they had sons with the terrorists. (They are) then either left or shot and left to die,” said Abu Malek in Seif one of the last neighborhoods. The United Nations said it had reports that Syrian government troops and their Iraqi militia allies had killed civilians in eastern Aleppo, including 82 people in four different neighborhoods in the last few days. Speaking from a small area still under rebel control, father of five Abu Ibrahim, said he knew of two families executed by the advancing militias that have formed the vanguard of the assault on Syria’s second city. The United Nations also said it was concerned about reports that hundreds of young men leaving territory had been detained. President Bashar ’s opponents have accused the government of mass arrests and forced conscription. The government has denied this and accused rebels of compelling men to fight in their ranks. On Sunday foreign journalists were invited to a ceremony where Syria’s army enlisted 220 men, including former rebels and others from areas captured by the government. ”You have been recalled to obligatory service,” Brigadier Habib Safia told the men in the military police headquarters in a Aleppo district. One of the men, Mohammed Hilal, in his 20s, said he and some comrades had escaped from the east along with more than 60 families and that he was ready to join the army. WIPED OFF THE WORLD Those still trapped in eastern Aleppo have been using social media to distribute messages they feared would be their last. ”This is a message from someone saying farewell and who could face death or arrest at any time,” a medic working in Aleppo wrote via the Whatsapp messaging service. ”Trapped from all sides, death comes from the sky in barrels . .. Remember what you had in Aleppo, that there was a city called Aleppo wiped off the map and from history by the world.” Abu Yousef, in his thirties, said he and his family fled bombardments, tanks and executions in his home neighborhood of Bustan . ”Thanks to god, we are still alive . .. the regime is constantly bombing us. My two children are injured, I am injured. The regime wants to kill us all. We are very afraid,” he said. ”You tell me ’may God protect you’. I don’t want God to protect us, we want a solution! We want a cessation of hostilities. We want someone to get us out of here. It’s enough. People are dying,” he said. The UN has called for international oversight for civilians and rebel fighters as the government takes over. ”The only way to alleviate the deep foreboding and suspicion that massive crimes may be under way both within Aleppo, and in relation to some of those who fled or were captured, whether fighters or civilians, is for there to be monitoring by external bodies, such as the UN,” UN human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville said. Children’s charity War Child said: ”What we are witnessing in Aleppo is a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions, bearing comparison to infamous disasters of the past such as Srebrenica and Guernica.” IT’S HELL East Aleppo’s civil defense rescue organization, which pulled many hundreds of dead and injured from rubble over years of the war, told Reuters rescue services had stopped. ”Our machinery and equipment is all broken. We have nothing left . .. We are working with our hands just to get people from under the rubble,” said Ibrahim Abu Laith, an official from the civil defense group also known as the White Helmets. The civil defense wrote on its Twitter account on Tuesday it could no longer keep track of the numbers of dead. ”There is no total number of casualties in besieged Aleppo today, all streets and destroyed buildings are full with dead bodies. It’s hell.” With hospitals bombed out of service, aid stocks exhausted and a brutal bombing campaign in recent weeks, people in east Aleppo are desperate. ”People, even those wanted (by the regime) have started to flee to the regime from the intensity of the shelling, hunger, cold and amount of injuries which are not treated, in addition to the corpses in the streets . .. Planes and artillery are hitting strongly places where civilians are gathering,” the medic said in his message. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein warned that what we are seeing now in Aleppo could happen to populations of other towns outside government control such as Douma, Raqqa and Idlib. ”The crushing of Aleppo, the immeasurably terrifying toll on its people, the bloodshed, the wanton slaughter of men, women and children, the destruction — and we are nowhere near the end of this cruel conflict,” Zeid said. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington, John Davison, Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut, Laila Bassam in Aleppo and Suleiman in Amman; Editing by Janet McBride) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Syria’s civil war to mar Obama legacy

The fall of the last areas in the Syrian city of Aleppo could seal the fate of the ”Obama Doctrine,” deepening the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in decades and staining U. S. President Barack Obama’s legacy. With the U. S. rebels facing defeat by government forces backed by Russia and Iran, Obama’s approach to the Syrian conflict will suffer a serious blow weeks before he hands power to Donald Trump on Jan. 20. The rebel loss would underscore the failure of U. S. efforts to stem the carnage from Syria’s nearly civil war, leading some critics to predict that Obama’s record will be tarnished just as President Bill Clinton’s was by his refusal to intervene to halt the 1994 Rwandan genocide. “There is no doubt he will be hammered in historical terms,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations. “The question will be why he didn’t do more. ” While the war is expected to grind on, Syrian President Bashar ’s victory in Aleppo would provide fresh fodder for Trump, who has argued the insurgency has collapsed, and the United States should revamp its fight against Islamic State by joining up with Russia, and by extension, Assad. Syria has been one of the main testing grounds for Obama’s doctrine of relying on local proxy fighters instead of U. S. military deployments, reflecting his reluctance to be drawn back into unpopular ground conflicts like the Iraq war. The approach has faltered in Syria, where on Tuesday the Syrian army said it could declare full control over eastern Aleppo by Wednesday. A deal was struck to allow the remaining rebel fighters to evacuate their last enclave there, Russian U. N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. ”Leading from behind leaves a vacuum that is filled by the Bashar Assads and Vladimir Putins of the world,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, referring to how an Obama aide described his strategy. ”I think history will judge that these are unintended results that are going to cause great challenges to the United States for years to come.” Obama has been criticized for refusing to provide sufficient arms and other support to moderate rebel groups to compel Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers to negotiate an end to his authoritarian rule. “Obama has pursued a policy of calculated dithering in Syria, just agonizing over the choices until they no longer existed,” said Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. The Democratic president has defended his policy as “judicious. ” His spokesman, Josh Earnest, said it was Obama’s “overriding responsibility” to protect the interests and safety of the American people first. A Republican, Trump has vowed a dramatic shift from Obama’s cautious strategy toward a more aggressive approach although exactly how he will proceed remains unclear. He will inherit an increasingly complicated conflict in Syria, and many analysts fear his lack of foreign policy experience could lead to dangerous miscalculations. If Trump follows through after Aleppo’s fall on his pledge to cooperate with Russia, Assad’s military patron, there is a risk that frustrated moderate rebels could gravitate toward militant factions that pose a potential threat to Western interests. As Assad himself turns from the wreckage of Aleppo to assert his authority over a fractured Syria, he will have to contend with the loss of swaths of his country for the time being and tough pockets of resistance still to crush. The war has taken some 400, 000 lives and made more than 11 million people homeless, driving many into neighboring countries or on a long perilous trek to Europe. COST OF INACTION The imminent fall of eastern Aleppo — and the sense of U. S. powerlessness as it unfolds — suggests that Obama likely will be judged by history as much for what he did not do as for what he did. He first called on Assad to leave power in 2011. But Obama never supplied moderate rebels with enough firepower to topple him or force him to the negotiating table. His failure to carry out threatened air strikes to enforce his 2012 “red line” over Assad’s use of banned chemical weapons dealt a heavy blow to U. S. standing, including by some of his staunchest regional allies. Obama also rejected recommendations, as recently as October, by members of his national security team for tougher action against Assad. Instead, he gave priority to striking Islamic State with a U. S. bombing campaign and local allies assisted by relatively small numbers of U. S. special forces. The strategy hewed to a prescription Obama laid out in a 2014 West Point speech in which he made clear he would intervene in foreign conflicts only when he believed U. S. interests were threatened. That led to the return of thousands of U. S. military personnel to Iraq to support Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State. But in Syria, despite providing billions of dollars in relief aid for refugees, Obama’s approach has failed to quell what some have called the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two. Obama recently told an interviewer that the grim situation in Syria “haunts me constantly” although he insisted there was not much he would have done differently. James Jeffrey, a former U. S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, said Obama’s approach had not only allowed Assad to attack the opposition with impunity but also opened the door to greater Russian and Iranian influence in the Middle East. But Paul Pillar, a former top U. S. intelligence analyst on the Middle East, said Obama was right to hold back in Syria because it was “no place to commit U. S. prestige and resources for regime change. ” Earnest said on Thursday that historians may “end up quibbling” about Obama’s Syria policy, when he was asked about a Syrian opposition leader who told the Wall Street Journal that “history will never forgive Obama for what he has done to the Syrian people. ” White House aides privately acknowledge that Syria — and other Arab countries in turmoil, such as Libya and Yemen — could leave a black mark on his legacy. But they hope his record will be buoyed in other areas, including the landmark Iran nuclear deal, diplomatic openings to Cuba and Myanmar, the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the prevention of a attack on U. S. soil on his watch. Still, reflecting deep unease in Washington over the bloodshed in Aleppo, Robert Ford, who resigned in 2014 as U. S. ambassador to Syria over policy disagreements, and is now at the Middle East Institute, said: “I’m personally sad that after we thought we had learned lessons in places like Sarajevo, Srebrenica and Rwanda, it’s in fact very clear that this administration doesn’t really care. ” (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Peter Cooney) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

ICYMI: In Russia, ’fake news’ is the norm

In the run up to America’s 2016 presidential election, fake news mills churned out stories about both candidates. On Dec. 4, 2016, a man walked into a Washington pizza place and fired an assault rifle. He was there to investigate a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff running a trafficking ring through the restaurant. It’s a rumor that fake news purveyors spread across social media. There have always been dubious news sources and conspiracy theories online, but they took on a more sinister cast in 2016. Donald Trump the press routinely in comments and statements from the campaign trail, so people turned to other sources for news and information. It’s a media landscape eerily like the one Russians have lived with for years. Last year, War College spoke with author and former Russian TV producer Peter Pomerantsev about the phenomenon he watched grow in his country. With fake news dominating the headlines in America in the wake of the Trump election, we couldn’t get that conversation out of our minds. For many in the West, watching Russian TV is like staring into a broken mirror. At first glance, networks such as RT seem like any other channel, but viewers who watch long enough are treated to a bevy of bizarre pundits and conspiratorial spin. That’s by design — and it seems as if that Eastern style has come West. Pomerantsev’s book Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible explores Putin’s postmodern dictatorship and how the Kremlin uses television to control the country. Saudi Arabia has boosted its market share in Japan, the world’s top oil exporter’s biggest Asian market, by selling more light crude to the country as a way to offset revenue lost implementing OPEC’s production cuts. DUBAI, July 6 Qatar Airways said on Thursday that passengers travelling to the United States can now carry their laptops and other large electronics on board, ending a three month ban on devices for the airline.

Meet Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company

Alphabet Inc’s ( ) Google car project recast itself as Waymo on Tuesday, an independent entity within the technology giant, as executives suggested the company is close to bringing its autonomous driving to the public. Although no deals were announced, the move signals a desire to finally monetize the company’s valuable research amid fierce competition from a score of rivals all vying to be the first to launch cars. Google’s program, now in its seventh year, has been at the forefront of technology, but is now challenged by companies from Uber Technologies Inc [UBER. UL] to Apple Inc ( ) and traditional car companies in the industry. ”It’s an indication of the maturity of our technology,” John Krafcik, Waymo’s chief executive, told reporters at a press conference in San Francisco. ”We can imagine our tech being used in all sorts of areas.” The move shows ”confidence that we are close to bringing this (technology) to a lot of people,” Krafcik said. ”We’ve sort of reached an inflection point.” That came in October 2015, when one of the company’s cars gave the first fully autonomous ride in Austin, Texas, to a blind man with no one else in the car. Normally during testing, an engineer sits in the passenger seat to monitor the technology. Until now, the program has been part of secretive research unit Google X. Waymo stands for ”A new way forward in mobility,” according to Krafcik. Waymo would reveal when the technology will be ”soon” he said. Krafcik reiterated that Waymo has no interest in producing cars, but rather in developing the technology to drive them. Possible applications would be in transportation, trucking, logistics, and personal use vehicles, he said. Fiat Chrysler ( ) Google’s first partner, teamed up with the tech company in May to work together to integrate Google’s system into 100 of the carmaker’s minivans. Google’s goal to perfect an autonomous vehicle that requires zero human intervention stands in contrast to that of some other automakers developing partial autonomy, which requires some driver supervision. Google’s cars have driven over 2 million miles and testing now focuses on the trickiest scenarios faced by cars on surface streets. Google has expanded its program over the past year, hiring more engineers while doubling its testing centers from two U. S. cities to four. Although there have been some significant departures over the past year Chief Technical Officer Chris Urmson left in August after leading the project from its inception some new hires have pointed to the program’s readiness to move past its experimental stage. In July, the project appointed its first general counsel and a month later it hired former Airbnb executive Shaun Stewart as director of the project, with a mandate to commercialize the company’s technology. (Reporting By Alexandria Sage; Editing by Bernard Orr) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Ohio governor vetoes ’heartbeat’ abortion ban, signs 20-week legislation

Republican Governor John Kasich signed a abortion ban into law on Tuesday but vetoed stricter legislation that would have forbidden the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks after conception. Kasich, an abortion opponent, said in a statement that the proposed legislation would be contrary to U. S. Supreme Court rulings on abortion, opening the state to potentially costly legal battles, and the veto was ”in the public interest.” ”I agree with Ohio Right to Life and other leading, advocates that SB 127 is the best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life,” Kasich said in a statement on the law, which lawmakers approved last week. Neither of the measures made exceptions for rape or incest, although both allow for abortions that would save the mother’s life. The U. S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide more than four decades ago, but states were allowed to permit restrictions once a fetus was viable. Some states, particularly those governed by Republicans such as Ohio, have sought to restrict abortion. More than 10 states have put abortion bans in place, but federal courts in Arizona and Idaho have ruled them unconstitutional. Under current law, Ohio prohibits abortion once a fetus is considered viable outside the womb, which is from 24 to 26 weeks of gestation. Lower courts have struck down stricter ”heartbeat” laws, like the one Kasich vetoed on Tuesday, in North Dakota and Arkansas. The Supreme Court refused to hear appeals on those rulings in January. Kasich’s decisions quickly drew criticism from both and abortion rights organizations. ”John Kasich is treating women’s health care like a game,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Ohio, said in a statement after the signing. ”He thinks that by vetoing one abortion ban Ohioans will not notice that he has signed another. The abortion ban callously disregards the unique circumstances that surround a woman’s pregnancy.” Meanwhile, group Faith2Action, called Kasich’s veto of the ban a ”betrayal of life,” and urged supporters to call lawmakers to try to persuade them to override Kasich’s veto. At least of the members of both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate would have to vote in favor of overriding the governor’s veto in order to overturn it. (Writing by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; editing by Dan Grebler and Jonathan Oatis) WASHINGTON The issuance of U. S. visas, passports and other travel documents should be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security from the State Department, a consulting company commissioned by U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has recommended in a report. One of the investors former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is accused of defrauding testified on Wednesday that Shkreli lied to him repeatedly, although he eventually made millions of dollars from the investment.

Iran to work on nuclear-powered vessels after U.S. ’violation’ of deal

Iran ordered its scientists on Tuesday to start developing systems for marine vessels in response to what it calls a U. S. violation of its landmark 2015 atomic deal with world powers. Nuclear experts said that President Hassan Rouhani’s move, if carried out, would probably require Iran to enrich uranium to a fissile purity above the maximum level set in the nuclear deal to allay fears of Tehran building an atomic bomb. Rouhani’s announcement marked Tehran’s first concrete reaction to a decision by the U. S. Congress last month to extend some sanctions on Tehran that would also make it easier to reimpose others lifted under the nuclear pact. The White House said it was aware of Iran’s order and noted that Rouhani had said any such work on the vessels would be done within the framework of Iran’s commitments. ”The announcement from the Iranians today does not run counter to the international agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing. U. S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was confident the International Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects Iran’s nuclear sites, would be able to analyze Iran’s compliance with the deal. ”There’s a lot we don’t know about it, what it means,” Kirby said, referring to Rouhani’s announcement, at a news briefing on Tuesday. A marine nuclear propulsion program is a ”massive undertaking for any nation” and would likely take decades to realize, he added. Rouhani described the technology as a ”nuclear propeller to be used in marine transportation,” but did not say whether that meant just ships or possibly also submarines. Iran said in 2012 that it was working on its first sub. ( ) Rouhani’s words could stoke tensions with Washington, already heightened by U. S. Donald Trump’s vow to scrap the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear fuel production activities in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Rouhani also ordered planning for production of fuel for marine vessels ”in line with the development of a peaceful nuclear program of Iran.” But under the nuclear settlement Iran reached with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, it is not allowed to enrich uranium above a 3. 67 percent purity for 15 years, a level unlikely to be enough to run such vessels. ”On the basis of international experience, were Iran to go ahead with such a (nuclear propulsion) project, it would have to increase its enrichment level,” said Mark Hibbs, nuclear expert and senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. CIVILIAN VERSUS MILITARY ENRICHMENT ”That’s the point, because Iran would be looking for a rationale to provocatively increase its enrichment level in the case that the deal with the powers comes unstuck.” He pointed out that countries with more advanced navies and nuclear programs have been working on propulsion reactors for decades. Such technology might need uranium enriched to around 20 percent purity. A Russian Foreign Ministry source told RIA news agency that a careful reading of Rouhani’s order showed he was talking only about developing units for marine vessels, but not uranium itself, so ”strictly speaking” this would not contravene the nuclear deal. But the source acknowledged that such vessels typically ran on uranium prohibited by the accord. Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said developing a reactor suited for nuclear vessel fuel would take at least a decade. ”(But) these are unfortunate developments. We are very concerned about the future of the (nuclear deal) under the Trump administration and any signs of erosion . .. must be taken very seriously and immediately addressed by the international community,” Lyman told Reuters. Rouhani accused the United States in a letter published by state news agency IRNA of not fully meeting its commitments under the nuclear deal. ”With regard to recent (U. S. congressional) legislation to extend the Iran Sanctions Act . .. I order the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to . .. plan the design and construction of a nuclear propeller to be used in marine transportation.” Members of the U. S. Congress have said the extension of the bill does not violate the nuclear deal that was struck last year to assuage Western fears that Iran was working to develop a nuclear bomb. The act, Congress added, only gave Washington the power to reimpose sanctions on Iran if it violated the pact. Washington says it has lifted all the sanctions it needs to under the July 2015 deal between major powers and Iran. Rouhani’s move followed recent remarks by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his hardline allies harshly criticizing the deal’s failure to yield any swift economic improvements in Iran. Khamenei said last month the U. S. Congress’s prolongation of some sanctions was a clear breach and the Islamic Republic would ”definitely react to it.” There was no immediate comment from the U. N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear program. (Additional reporting by Alexander Winning in Moscow, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Ayesha Rascoe, Timothy Gardner and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington; Editing by Andrew Hay and Richard Chang) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Stock, bond markets could see sharp declines: U.S. financial watchdog

Stock and bond markets may be riding for a fall as equity prices soar and interest rates stay low, a federal monitor of U. S. financial stability said on Tuesday, warning that such a tumble could inflict serious damage on banks, life insurers and other important parts of the economy. The Office of Financial Research found stock valuations, measured by comparing prices to earnings, have reached the same high level that they hit before ”the three largest equity market declines in the last century.” At the same time, commercial real estate prices have climbed while capitalization rates, which measure properties’ returns, are close to record lows, it found. A price shock in one of these markets could threaten financial stability by hurting funds and banks that have high leverage or rely on funding, the office added in its annual report on the leading risks to the financial system. In the report it said there were also risks posed by large and interconnected banks, Brexit, computer hacking, swaps clearinghouses, shadow banking and pressures on life insurance companies. Donald Trump’s election victory has fueled a stock rally, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting record highs on Tuesday, which could push valuations further upward. [. N] The office also found nonfinancial firms went deeper into debt this year to take advantage of low interest rates. A possible wave of defaults by those companies could hurt their lenders: banks, mutual funds, life insurers and pensions. Credit to corporations is growing faster than the U. S. gross domestic product and the ratio of their debt to earnings ”is historically high and rising,” it said. ”In the last three decades, corrections in corporate debt, equity prices, and commercial real estate prices have often coincided,” it said. ”Continued low interest rates likely have strengthened the links among these markets.” Low interest rates have given businesses incentives to borrow and pushed investors to pay more for assets such as equities and commercial real estate, it said. Investors are now vulnerable to ”to heavy losses from even moderate increases in interest rates.” The office was created in the 2010 Wall Street reform law to watch for warning signs of another financial meltdown on par with the crisis. It is housed in the Treasury Department, but its research supports the Financial Stability Oversight Council made up of the heads of all the financial regulators. While Trump and Republican lawmakers have pledged to roll back parts of the office’s research is expected to continue. Currently the government is in a court battle over FSOC’s designation of MetLife Inc ( ) as ”systemically important,” which can lead to requirements to hold more capital. In its report, OFR warned that low interest rates have pushed down insurers’ earnings and that the companies are vulnerable to stock market declines. Also, major insurers are connected to large banks and institutions, and there could be spillover effects if one failed, it said. OFR said that since the crisis the U. S. banks often considered ”too big to fail” have become more resilient. But it added the eight biggest banks ”remain large, complex, and interconnected enough to pose potential risks to the U. S. financial system.” The plans known as ”living wills” that banks develop for managing a possible failure are weak and demonstrate that a bankruptcy could still threaten stability, it added. Shadow banking, where companies that are not banks make loans, also poses a risk because lenders do not have government backstops and because there is limited data on the extent of its reach in the financial system, the report also said. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; editing by Linda Stern, David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Slack data management exposed BP to high safety risk: leaked report

BP’s ( ) refining operations are exposed to high safety risks that can lead to deadly accidents and pollution as a result of slack data management and a lack of investment, according to a leaked internal report from 2015. The report, by BP, IBM ( ) and industry consultancy WorleyParsons ( ) states that the British company’s refining and petrochemical business, known as downstream, is trailing rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell by up to seven years in managing information to reduce safety risks and financial losses. ”Inadequate management and use of engineering information has been a root cause or contributing factor” in 15 percent of 500 incidents reviewed in the report, which was provided by Greenpeace. BP has improved its safety record since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico where 11 people were killed and which led to the largest environmental disaster in U. S. history. BP had no fatalities among its employees in 2014 and 2015 compared with four in 2013 and one in each of the previous two years, according to company data. Among BP contractors, there were three fatalities in 2014 and one in 2015. In comments on the leaked report, BP said it was ”committed to safe, reliable and compliant operations. With that in mind, BP regularly conducts internal assessments in an effort to make improvements to its operations”. ”This particular report focused on potential enhancements to how BP manages engineering data. It is not an analysis of any operational incidents, and any suggestion that this report indicates BP is wavering from its safety commitment is wrong,” a company spokesman said. The most significant incident recorded by the authors occurred in January 2014 at the 413, 500 barrels per day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana refinery which cost BP $258 million in lost production. The incident at the gasoil hydrotreater unit, which removes sulphur from oil, was due to ”multiple deficiencies in engineering information management”. At the Hull petrochemical plant in northern England equipment that was not operated correctly led to losses of $35 million to $45 million. BP’s safety record came in to focus in 2005 when a blast at its Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 180 others. BP was fined $84. 6 million by the U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration between 2005 and 2012 for safety rules violations found at the refinery in investigations following the blast. The report said highly material safety risk and financial performance issues remained due to ”the lack of refining and direction, governance, coordination and investment”. The upstream segment, which produces oil and gas, has further work to do but is significantly ahead of downstream, the report said, reflecting the big focus BP has placed on safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Greenpeace UK’s senior climate adviser Charlie Kronick said in a statement that ”BP’s sloppy approach to a crucial aspect of safety hasn’t changed”. ”The same attitude that played a role in major accidents in the past is seemingly still reflected in the management of safety information across the oil giant’s operations from rig to refinery.” (Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Susan Pitchford) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Lights out for Credit Suisse’s ’Light Pool’ stock trading venue

Credit Suisse is the latest bank to shutter one of its private U. S. stock trading venues, as increasing regulatory scrutiny makes it harder to justify the costs of running such trading systems. Credit Suisse on Tuesday confirmed through a spokeswoman that it had shuttered its alternative trading system known as Light Pool on Nov. 18 after a strategic review of its algorithmic trading offerings. Credit Suisse also runs Crossfinder, the No. 2 U. S. alternative trading system and has no plans to close it, the spokeswoman said. Crossfinder is a ”dark pool,” where trading information is not displayed, while Light Pool was an electronic communications network that displays its available orders to its clients. The closing follows similar actions by Bloomberg LLC, Bank of America Corp ( ) Convergex Group LLC, Citigroup Inc ( ) and Wells Fargo ( ) within the past couple of years, records from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority show. In October, Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( ) hired exchange operator Nasdaq to host and run its dark pool. ( ) Regulatory oversight of alternative trading systems has intensified in recent years, leading to spate of enforcement actions and new rules. Credit Suisse and Barclays PLC ( ) agreed in January to pay more than $150 million combined to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General to settle allegations that they deceived investors in their dark pools and the Light Pool network. Dark pools allow investors to trade anonymously and only make data available after a trade, reducing the chance that others in the market will catch wind of a buyer’s or seller’s intentions and move the price against them. Critics say private trading venues add to the fragmentation of the market, increasing complexity and costs for participants. In November 2015, the SEC proposed rules requiring alternative trading systems to disclose significantly more information to clients about how they operate. (Editing by Steve Orlofsky) LONDON New Saba Capital Management, famed for its winning bet against the JPMorgan Chase trader known as the ’London Whale’ is closing its office in London’s Mayfair district, two sources close to the situation told Reuters. ROME Italian prosecutors have decided to take Morgan Stanley to court over allegations that the U. S. bank caused 2. 7 billion euros ($3. 1 billion) in losses to the state in relation to derivative transactions, a source familiar with the matter said.

U.S. to halt some arms sales to Saudi, citing civilian deaths in Yemen campaign

The United States has decided to limit military support to Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen because of concerns over widespread civilian casualties and will halt a planned arms sale to the kingdom, U. S. officials told Reuters. The United States will also revamp future training of the kingdom’s air force to focus on improving Saudi targeting practices, a persistent source of concern for Washington. The decision reflects deep frustration within President Barack Obama’s government over Saudi Arabia’s practices in Yemen’s war, which has killed more than 10, 000 people and sparked humanitarian crises, including chronic food shortages, in the poorest country in the Middle East. It could also further strain ties between Washington and Riyadh in the remaining days of Obama’s administration and put the question of . S. relations squarely before the incoming administration of Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20. Still, the decision was not the in support that Saudi Arabia’s biggest critics had hoped for and much of the U. S. military relationship will remain intact. For example, the United States will keep refueling coalition aircraft involved in the campaign, and it is not cutting off all arms sales to the kingdom. And, in a nod to Saudi Arabia’s security concerns, Washington will share more intelligence on the Saudi border with Yemen. The kingdom has been subject to attacks by the Houthi movement. A military coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in March 2015 and has launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis. Rights groups say coalition attacks on clinics, schools, markets and factories may amount to war crimes. Saudi Arabia has either denied the attacks or cited the presence of fighters in the targeted areas and has said it has tried to reduce civilian casualties. ”I think it’s a signal but too weak of a signal,” said William Hartung of the U. S. Center for International Policy, responding to the U. S. decision. ”As long as they’re going to refueling aircraft which is central to the bombing campaign, it’s hard to see that they’re using all the leverage they have,” said Hartung, who authored a report earlier this year on U. S. arms offers to Saudi Arabia during Obama’s tenure. An Obama administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said ”systemic, endemic” problems in Saudi Arabia’s targeting drove the U. S. decision to halt a future weapons sale involving munitions. ”We’ve decided not to move forward with some foreign military sales cases for munitions, PGMs ( munitions),” the official said. ”That’s obviously a direct reflection of the concerns that we have about Saudi strikes that have resulted in civilian casualties,” the official said. A second official confirmed the decision to suspend the sale of certain weaponry. The officials declined to offer details. But a specific case put on hold appeared to involve the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guidance systems manufactured by Raytheon Co that convert dumb bombs into munitions that can more accurately hit their targets. A Raytheon spokesman referred questions to the Pentagon and State Department. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing he was unaware of the Reuters report. There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials. REFUELING TO CONTINUE The White House launched a review of U. S. assistance for the coalition after planes struck mourners at a funeral in the capital, Sanaa, in October, killing 140 people, according to one U. N. estimate. The United Nations human rights office said in August that the coalition was responsible for roughly 60 percent of the 3, 800 civilians killed since March 2015. Human rights groups, which have criticized the United States for supporting the Saudi war effort by selling the kingdom arms and refueling coalition jets, said the move by Washington was not enough. ”This move falls far short of what is needed to end civilian bloodshed and alleviate suffering in Yemen,” said Amnesty International’s Samah Hadid in Beirut. The rights groups pointed to the continued refueling of coalition planes, which the Obama administration official said for now was ”not going to be touched.” Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California and a leading advocate in Congress for a suspension of U. S. cooperation with the coalition, said he was pleased the Obama administration had moved to cut off some arms sales, but he also felt the administration had not gone far enough. “It is completely bizarre that they are continuing to refuel Saudi jets that drop bombs on civilians in Yemen,” Lieu said. SMART VERSUS DUMB BOMBS The decision to suspend the arms sale to the Saudis marks a reversal for the administration. Officials have long argued that supplying ”smart weapons” helped in reducing civilian casualties. But that argument ultimately failed to convince the Obama administration during its review, which the first official said was still ongoing. ”It’s not a matter of how smart or dumb the bombs are, it’s that they’re not picking the right targets. The case in point . .. is the one on the funeral,” the official said. The airstrikes on the funeral took place after the coalition received incorrect information from Yemeni military figures that armed Houthi leaders were in the area, an investigative body set up by the coalition said in October. Earlier this year, the U. S. military reduced the number of U. S. military personnel coordinating with the coalition’s air campaign, slashing it to six people from a peak of 45 personnel. ”Their responsibilities are being adjusted and limited so that they are less enmeshed in some of the offensive operations in Yemen,” the official said. Reuters reported earlier on concerns by some U. S. officials that the United States could be implicated in possible Saudi violations of the laws of war. In May, Washington suspended sales to Riyadh of cluster munitions, which release dozens of bomblets and are considered particularly dangerous to civilians. Last week, the State Department announced plans to sell Saudi Arabia Chinook cargo helicopters and related equipment, training and support worth $3. 51 billion. U. S. officials said the weaponry would help Saudi defend its border, not conduct offensive operations in Yemen. (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Ross Colvin) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

U.S. proposes requiring vehicles to ’talk’ to each other to avoid crashes

The U. S. Transportation Department on Tuesday proposed requiring all new cars and trucks to be able to ”talk” to one another using wireless technology to potentially avoid tens of thousands of crashes annually. Regulators, which first announced plans to pursue requiring the technology in early 2014, are proposing to give automakers at least four years to comply from the time it is finalized and would require automakers to ensure all vehicles ”speak the same language through a standard technology.” The administration of Donald Trump will decide whether to finalize the proposal, which does not apply to larger vehicles like buses and tractor trailers. The U. S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that talking vehicles could eliminate or reduce the severity of up to 80 percent of crashes where alcohol is not a factor, especially crashes at intersections or while changing lanes. Last year, there were 6. 3 million U. S. vehicle crashes. In October, NHTSA said U. S. traffic deaths jumped 10. 4 percent in the first six months of 2016. The jump follows a spike in 2015, when road deaths rose 7. 2 percent to 35, 092, the highest increase since 1966. Talking cars and trucks would use dedicated short range communications to transmit data up to 300 meters, such as location, direction and speed, to nearby vehicles. That data would be updated and broadcast up to 10 times per second to nearby vehicles, which can identify risks and provide warnings to drivers to avoid imminent crashes. ”From a safety perspective, this is a no brainer,” said U. S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said vehicles would protect privacy by only exchanging safety information and would ensure hackers can’t intercept signals. The rule would not require vehicles currently on U. S. roads to be retrofitted with the technology. Foxx said owners couldn’t turn off the technology but could turn off warnings. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing General Motors Co ( ) Toyota Motor Corp ( ) Volkswagen AG ( ) and other major automakers, noted the system is already being tested. The group said it would study the proposal. Automakers are pushing to ensure that a portion of the spectrum reserved for connected vehicles is not used by other companies for other wireless device use. The U. S. Federal Communication Commission has begun testing potential sharing options. Separately, the Federal Highway Administration plans to issue guidance for communications, which will help planners allow vehicles to “talk” to roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights. (This version of the story corrects headline) (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Actelion talking to Sanofi after J&J exit

Switzerland’s Actelion Ltd ( ) is in talks with French drugmaker Sanofi ( ) about a deal, sources said on Wednesday, after U. S. healthcare group Johnson & Johnson ( ) abandoned efforts to buy the company. Two people familiar with the situation said discussions were advanced but a deal was not assured. Actelion’s shares ended 9 percent lower on investor concern that J&J’s exit underlined the challenges facing any bidder for Europe’s biggest biotech group. One option under consideration is for Sanofi to give shareholders a contingent value right (CVR) on top of cash. The CVR would pay out if certain Actelion drugs live up to commercial expectations. Sanofi, which also provided a tradable CVR when it bought U. S. rare diseases firm Genzyme for $20 billion in 2011, declined to comment. Sources said Roche was closely monitoring developments and might yet step in, if talks with Sanofi foundered. A Roche spokesman declined to comment. Sanofi was trumped in August by Pfizer’s ( ) $14 billion bid for U. S. cancer drug company Medivation and is still eager for deals to broaden its drug . However, analysts said Sanofi Chief Executive Olivier Brandicourt could ill afford to fail in a second bid. Actelion told J&J it was confident it could attract an offer significantly higher than the approximately 250 Swiss francs per share the U. S. company had offered, according to one person familiar with the matter. There were also disagreements about the proposed deal’s structure, the person added. Actelion shares had closed at 208. 50 Swiss francs on Tuesday, a 25 percent premium to their price before J&J’s bid became public two weeks and giving the company a market capitalization of 22. 5 billion Swiss francs ($22. 2 billion). ”I presume these parties are prepared to make offers that are more attractive than that which J&J was envisaging,” said Eleanor Taylor Jolidon, a fund manager at Union Bancaire Privee in Geneva, which is among Actelion’s top 40 investors. ”Otherwise, the board of directors would not have acted in the interests of the stakeholders by creating a situation in which J&J walked away.” CEO’S PIVOTAL ROLE The Swiss company, founded by its CEO Clozel in 1997, confirmed talks over a ”possible strategic transaction” but did not name the counterparty. A spokesman declined further comment but sources with knowledge of the matter identified Sanofi. Analysts have previously named Sanofi as a potential buyer for Actelion, whose portfolio of drugs against deadly pulmonary arterial hypertension elevated pressure in arteries connecting the heart and lungs would supplement Sanofi’s Genzyme unit. Even so, a competitive auction could drive up its price to unrealistic levels. ”Winning a bidding war when it comes to acquiring biopharmaceutical companies almost always equates to way ” wrote Tim Anderson, an Bernstein analyst. ”These are not bragging rights,” he said. ”If Actelion were to go out at around $30 billion, this equates to around 13 times sales and 30 times earnings before interest and taxes. These are high figures.” Clozel, who worked for Roche for 12 years before founding Actelion, and his wife, Chief Scientific Officer Martine Clozel, have built up a drug portfolio at Actelion to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. The Clozels aim to expand in drugs for multiple sclerosis and clostridium difficile, but regulatory approvals for those are years away. The company is also counting on its new pulmonary arterial hypertension treatments Opsumit and Uptravi, which combined are forecast to bring in nearly 4. 5 billion francs in annual sales by 2020. Clozel has rebuffed past pressure from some shareholders to do a deal, maintaining Actelion is better off staying independent. Five years ago, he successfully fended off an effort by activist hedge fund Elliott Management to put Actelion up for sale. (Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York, Sophie Sassard and Ben Hirschler in London, John Miller in Zurich and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Editing by Keith Weir and David Evans) Biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp will buy a stake in BeiGene Ltd and help develop and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational treatment for tumor cancers, the companies said on Wednesday. BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen .

Monsanto shareholders back Bayer deal, CEO hopeful of U.S. approval

Shareholders of U. S. seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto Co approved the company’s $66 billion acquisition by Bayer AG on Tuesday, a deal that still requires regulatory approval to close as expected in late 2017. Increased research and development spending by the combined companies and plans to develop a global seeds and biotechnology hub in St. Louis fuel hopes regulators will not block the deal, which was agreed upon in September, Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant said. ”I think those augur well for the deal,” he told Reuters in an interview. If the deal closes, it will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the farm supplies industry. Uncertainty about whether Donald Trump would stand in the way of large mergers after taking office in January has clouded the outlook of some deals. Trump vowed during his campaign to block AT&T Inc’s purchase of Time Warner Inc and look to break up Comcast Corp’s deal to buy NBC Universal, citing too much concentration of power. The president does not directly decide if a merger is illegal under antitrust law. That is done by the U. S. Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission, which divide up the work of assessing mergers. If one of the agencies decides to stop a deal, it must convince a judge to agree. Grant said he has not met with Trump or any of his transition team and did not elaborate on how the company was working to secure the deal. The acquisition came after a string of large mergers that have roiled the agribusiness sector in the last year or so, including ChemChina’s purchase of Swiss chemicals company Syngenta AG and a merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont. DuPont’s chief executive, Ed Breen, said last week the incoming Trump administration is not likely to have an impact on his company’s merger with Dow Chemical. Monsanto shares were up 0. 4 percent at $105. 00 on Tuesday afternoon, down from the $106. 76 closing price on Sept. 14 when the Bayer deal was announced and well below the $ acquisition price. (Editing by Matthew Lewis) Biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp will buy a stake in BeiGene Ltd and help develop and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational treatment for tumor cancers, the companies said on Wednesday. BRUSSELS French carmaker PSA Group secured unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday to acquire General Motors’ German unit Opel, a move which will help it better compete with market leader Volkswagen .

Fed lifts rates, sees faster pace of hikes in Trump’s first year

The U. S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and signaled a faster pace of increases in 2017 as central bankers adapted to the incoming Trump administration’s promises of tax cuts, spending and deregulation. The increase in the federal funds rate to a range of between 0. 50 percent and 0. 75 percent was widely expected. But the prospect of a brisker monetary tightening contributed to a selloff in U. S. Treasuries and stocks. In a news conference following the unanimous rate decision, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Donald Trump’s election had put the central bank under a ”cloud of uncertainty” and already prompted some policymakers to shift their view of what’s to come. ”All the (Federal Open Market Committee) participants recognize that there is considerable uncertainty about how economic policies may change and what effect they may have on the economy,” Yellen said. Though Trump’s inauguration is still a month away, she said ”some of the participants” had begun shifting their assumptions about fiscal policy. At least five of 17 Fed policymakers appeared to have boosted their interest rate outlook since September, according to the new ”dot plot” of rate projections. The Fed chief was peppered with questions about the refusing to comment on his penchant for tweeting about companies or to give advice on how any fiscal, tax or trade plan should be structured. ”I am not going to offer the incoming president advice about how to conduct himself,” Yellen said. Trump, critical of Yellen during the campaign and considered likely to replace her when her term ends in early 2018, had not by late afternoon issued any comment about the Fed’s rate decision, in line with his predecessors’ practice. Yields on Treasuries hit their highest levels in more than five years and U. S. stocks fell in choppy action. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. Gold hit its lowest level in more than 10 months and oil prices also declined. Partly as a result of the changes anticipated under Trump, the Fed sees three rate hikes in 2017 instead of the two foreseen as of September. Yellen called that a ”very modest adjustment” driven also by strong job gains and evidence of faster inflation. Wednesday’s rate increase should be ”understood as a reflection of the confidence we have in the progress the economy has made,” she said. TRUMP IMPACT Fresh economic forecasts, the first since Trump won the Nov. 8 election on promises of tax cuts and increased infrastructure spending, showed policymakers shifting their outlook to one of slightly faster growth, lower unemployment and inflation just under the Fed’s 2 percent target. The projected three rate increases next year would be followed by another three increases in both 2018 and 2019 before the rate levels off at a ”normal” 3. 0 percent. That is slightly higher than three months ago, a sign the Fed feels the economy is still gaining traction. Markets and the Fed appeared to be close on their rate outlooks, with Fed futures markets pricing in at least two and possibly three hikes in 2017. The Fed’s policy statement ”didn’t mention the fiscal stimulus but typically their aggressiveness does indicate that there’s a little more confidence that they can get away with three hikes next year,” said Aaron Kohli, interest rate strategist at BMO Capital Markets. The central bank continued to describe that pace as ”gradual,” keeping policy still slightly loose and supporting some further improvement in the job market. It sees unemployment falling to 4. 5 percent next year and remaining at that level, which is considered to be close to full employment. The economy is projected to grow 2. 1 percent in 2017, up from a previous forecast of 2. 0 percent. U. S. bond yields had already begun moving higher following Trump’s victory and as expectations of the Fed rate increase solidified. All 120 economists in a recent Reuters poll had expected a rate hike on Wednesday. In the weeks following the election, Fed policymakers have said Trump’s proposals could push the economy into a higher gear in the short run. Even though the details of the Republican businessman’s plans remain uncertain, Wednesday marked a rare case in which the Fed moved its interest rate outlook higher in the era after the financial crisis. Risks to the outlook remain ”roughly balanced” between factors that could slow or accelerate the economy beyond what the central bank anticipates, the Fed said, no change from its assessment last month. The rate increase was the first since last December and only the second since the crisis, when the Fed cut rates to near zero and deployed other tools such as massive bond purchases to stabilize the economy. (Reporting by Howard Schneider; Additional reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Jason Lange in Washington, Ann Saphir in San Francisco and Jonathan Spicer and Karen Brettell in New York; Editing by David Chance and Paul Simao) SINGAPORE Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of U. S. interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier. WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday.

Dovish tilt at Fed next year could meet hawkish Trump picks

Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are expected to add more hawks to the Federal Reserve’s ranks, which could offset a dovish tilt next year among policy voters and rattle a fragile Fed consensus to go slow on U. S. rate hikes. The central bank raised interest rates a notch on Wednesday and signaled that three more hikes were expected in 2017, in a partial nod to expectations Trump will cut taxes and boost spending. The U. S. will have two vacant Fed board seats to fill as soon as next month and, given his party’s desire for more aggressive rate hikes, he is expected to choose policy hawks. He will likely also nominate for Senate approval Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s successor in 2018, a choice that has already sparked speculation on names. ”I’d be looking for someone more hawkish than dovish, than what we’ve been seeing,” Bill Huizenga, the Republican congressman who chairs the House monetary policy and trade subcommittee, said in an interview. The Senate, not the House, confirms the president’s Fed nominees. While Fed doves generally prefer lower rates to stimulate economic growth and employment, hawks want them higher to avoid an inflation leading to recession. Wednesday’s decision was unanimous among the 10 central bankers with votes this year, including three regional Fed presidents, Loretta Mester, Eric Rosengren and Esther George, who each cast a hawkish dissent against the Fed’s decision in September to stand pat. They are among the four to rotate out of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next year, replaced by ardent dove Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and three voters who became Fed presidents in the last 18 months. This trio, Patrick Harker, Robert Kaplan and Neel Kashkari, have urged only gradual rate hikes in past speeches. Macroeconomic Advisers, a research firm that publishes a ”voting index,” estimated the FOMC will edge toward the dovish end of the scale at a 3. 8 reading next year, from 4. 2 now. ”Dissents in favor of a slower pace of hikes from some of the most dovish members are . .. a possibility,” it said in a note. Still, Trump will likely name more conservative governors next year and replace both Yellen, assuming she does not stay on as Fed governor when her term expires, and Vice Chair Stanley Fischer in 2018. Early speculation by former Fed officials, lawmakers, and outside economists suggest Trump could consider as Fed chair, among others: John Taylor, economics professor at Stanford University and a favorite of congressional Republicans; Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business; Marvin Goodfriend, economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former Richmond Fed official; and Kevin Warsh, a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a former Fed governor. (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Yahoo says one billion accounts exposed in newly discovered security breach

The number of affected accounts was double the number implicated in a 2014 breach that the internet company disclosed in September and blamed on hackers working on behalf of a government. News of that attack, which affected at least 500 million accounts, prompted Verizon Communication Inc to say in October that it might withdraw from an agreement to buy Yahoo’s core internet business for $4. 83 billion. Following the latest disclosure, Verizon said, ”we will review the impact of this new development before reaching any final conclusions.” A Yahoo spokesman told Reuters that the company has been in communication with Verizon during its investigation into the breach and that it is confident the incident will not affect the pending acquisition. Yahoo required all of its customers to reset their passwords a stronger measure than it took after the previous breach was discovered, when it only recommended a password reset. Yahoo also said Wednesday that it believes hackers responsible for the previous breach had also accessed the company’s proprietary code to learn how to forge ”cookies” that would allow hackers to access an account without a password. ”Yahoo badly screwed up,” said Bruce Schneier, a cryptologist and one of the world’s most respected security experts. ”They weren’t taking security seriously and that’s now very clear. I would have trouble trusting Yahoo going forward.” Yahoo was tentative in its description of new problems, saying the incident was ”likely” distinct from the one it reported in September and that stolen information ”may have included” names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. It said it had not yet identified the intrusion that led to the massive data theft and noted that data and bank account information were not stored in the system the company believes was affected. Yahoo said it discovered the breach while reviewing data provided to the company by law enforcement. FireEye Inc’s Mandiant unit and Aon Plc’s Stroz Friedberg are assisting in the investigation, the Yahoo spokesman told Reuters. The breach is the latest setback for Yahoo, an internet pioneer that has fallen on hard times in recent years after being eclipsed by younger, rivals including Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc. Hours before it announced the breach on Wednesday, executives with Google, Facebook and other large U. S. technology companies met with Donald Trump in New York. Reflecting its diminished stature, Yahoo was not invited to the summit, according to people familiar with the meeting. The Yahoo spokesman said Chief Executive Marissa Mayer was at the company’s Sunnyvale, California headquarters to assist in addressing the new breach. Yahoo shares were down 2. 4 percent to $39. 91 in extended trading. Verizon shares were little changed from their close at $51. 63. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston and Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington and Jessica Toonkel in New York; Editing by Savio D’Souza, Bernard Orr) BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said. MEXICO CITY Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil argued on Wednesday against rules brought in by an overhaul of the country’s telecommunications industry, saying in a statement they were unfair and had led to a loss of its business rights.

Wall St. slides after Fed raises rates; energy weighs

U. S. stocks fell the most in two months on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point and signaled hikes could come next year at a faster pace than some expected. Energy stocks weighed the most on the S&P 500 after a sharp drop in U. S. crude oil prices. The Fed’s decision to raise rates comes as Donald Trump, who will be sworn in next month, is seen cutting taxes and increasing spending on infrastructure. Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated the central bank was, at the margins, adapting to Trump, as some committee members began shifting fiscal policy assumptions to slightly faster growth and lower unemployment. Stocks sold off during Yellen’s press conference after the Fed statement. She walked back from recent comments that hinted the Fed could allow the economy to run hot for a certain time, meaning inflation could slightly overshoot and unemployment could remain low before the Fed felt the need to tighten policy faster. ”Yellen seemed to dampen expectations about her willingness to allow that to happen. If the Fed is seen less willing to let the economy run hot, markets are going to react,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Markets had all but priced in a rate increase by the Fed, but the faster pace of increases seen next year may give traders an excuse to the recent gains. Since the Nov. 8 U. S. presidential election, stocks have rallied on bets that Trump’s expected policies will stimulate the economy. However, some market participants are concerned that equities are pricing in a very favorable scenario, leaving them vulnerable. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 118. 68 points, or 0. 6 percent, to 19, 792. 53, the S&P 500 lost 18. 44 points, or 0. 81 percent, to 2, 253. 28 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 27. 16 points, or 0. 5 percent, to 5, 436. 67. U. S. crude prices fell nearly 4 percent, the most since on renewed concerns about an oil glut sparked by rising U. S. crude inventories in storage. The U. S. dollar strengthened across the board, its index hitting the highest level in nearly 14 years, further weighing on oil and other commodities priced in the U. S. currency. Exxon Mobil declined 2. 2 percent and was the largest drag on the S&P 500. About 8. 49 billion shares changed hands in U. S. exchanges, above the 7. 3 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 4. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2. ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 30 new highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 51 new lows. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Trump team disavows survey seeking names of climate workers

Donald Trump’s transition team on Wednesday disavowed a survey sent to the U. S. Department of Energy that requested the names of people working on climate change in the agency. ”The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said. ”The person who sent it has been properly counseled.” Spicer declined to comment further on the team’s protocols. The survey of 74 questions, which the Energy Department received last Tuesday, asked for the names of workers and contractors who had attended U. N. climate meetings. It also asked for the names of those who had attended meetings on the social cost of carbon, a metric that federal agencies use in formulating regulations on the energy business. The department had balked at the survey on Monday, saying it would not comply. A department spokesman said on Wednesday that the Trump team’s disavowal hopefully signals the return to a smooth transition at the agency. The survey had also asked for a list of all the professional society memberships of workers at the department’s 17 national laboratories and all of their recent publications. The White House weighed in on the survey this week. Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said the questionnaire ”could have been an attempt to target civil servants,” including career scientists and lawyers and other experts critical to the government’s ability to make policy. In addition, hours before the disavowal, Democratic U. S. Representatives Frank Pallone and Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Vice Mike Pence, the head of the transition, saying the team is entitled to select political appointees who share Trump’s climate views, but that any effort to marginalize civil servants on the basis of their scientific analysis would be an ”abuse of authority.” Trump, a Republican, has said that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by China. He said he would rip up last year’s landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by Democratic President Barack Obama. Since winning the election, however, Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, has said he will keep an ”open mind” about the Paris deal. He also met with former Vice President Al Gore and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, strong advocates for action on climate change. Trump has picked climate change skeptic Rick Perry to run the Energy Department. Perry, governor of Texas from December 2000 to January 2015, would replace nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz. (Additional reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Grant McCool and Jonathan Oatis) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

China installs weapons systems on artificial islands: U.S. think tank

China appears to have installed weapons, including and systems, on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, a U. S. think tank reported, citing new satellite imagery. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, come despite statements by the Chinese leadership that Beijing has no intention to militarize the islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries. China said on Thursday that, while its construction on islands and reefs in the South China Sea was mainly for civilian use, it was ”legitimate and normal” for it to take steps to defend its territory. AMTI said it had been tracking construction of hexagonal structures on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly Islands since June and July. China has already built military length airstrips on these islands. ”It now seems that these structures are an evolution of fortifications already constructed at China’s smaller facilities on Gaven, Hughes, Johnson, and Cuarteron reefs,” it said citing images taken in November. ”This model has gone through another evolution at (the) bases on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs.” Satellite images of Hughes and Gaven reefs showed what appeared to be guns and what were likely to be weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes, it said. Images from Fiery Cross Reef showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said. AMTI said covers had been installed on the towers at Fiery Cross, but the size of platforms on these and the covers suggested they concealed defense systems similar to those at the smaller reefs. ”These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” it said. ”Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these air bases.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing that he ”did not understand” the situation referred to in the report. ”The Nansha islands are China’s inherent territory. China’s building of facilities and necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own territory is completely normal,” he said, using China’s name for the Spratlys. ”If China’s building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?” he added, in an apparent reference to U. S. ”freedom of navigation” patrols in the waters. PHILIPPINES SAYS ”BIG CONCERN” The Philippines, one of several countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, said it was still verifying the report. ”But if true it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade,” said Defense Minister Delfin Lorenza during a visit to Singapore with President Rodrigo Duterte. ”It would mean that the Chinese are militarizing the area which is not good.” Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. AMTI director Greg Poling said AMTI had spent months trying to figure out what the purposes of the structures was. ”This is the first time that we’re confident in saying they are and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there,” he told Reuters. ”This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it’s only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict. ”They keep saying they are not militarizing, but they could deploy fighter jets and missiles tomorrow if they wanted to,” he said. ”Now they have all the infrastructure in place for these interlocking rings of defense and power projection. ”The report said the installations would likely back up a defensive umbrella provided by a future deployment of mobile missile (SAM) platforms like the system deployed to Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, farther to the north in the South China Sea. It forecast that such a deployment could happen ”at any time,” noting a recent Fox News report that components for SAM systems have been spotted at the southeastern Chinese port of Jieyang, possibly destined for the South China Sea. ”READY YOUR SLINGSHOT” South China Sea expert Ian Storey said he believed the move would help ready the facilities for the probable next step of China flying jet fighters and military transport planes to its new runways. “From the outset it’s been quite obvious that the artificial islands were designed to serve as military outposts in the South China Sea,” said Storey, of the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. “Even while tensions are at a relatively low ebb, I think we can expect to see military flights to the Spratlys in the coming months — including the first jet fighters,” Storey said. The United States has criticized what it called China’s militarization of its maritime outposts and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing. U. S. Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China’s assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama. The State Department said it would not comment on intelligence matters, but spokesman John Kirby added: ”We consistently call on China as well as other claimants to commit to peacefully managing and resolving disputes, to refrain from further land reclamation and construction of new facilities and the militarization of disputed features.” China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on its microblog on Thursday that it was ”legitimate and lawful” for it to place defensive military installations on islands where it said Beijing had ”indisputable sovereignty”. ”If someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?” it said. (Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Karen Lima, Greg Torode, My Pham, Manuel Mogato, Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Alistair Bell, Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

NZ to spend around $1.4 billion on rebuilding key transport links after quake

New Zealand’s government said on Thursday it would spend around NZ$2 billion ($1. 42 billion) rebuilding road and railway links to the tourist resort of Kaikoura, after the South Island’s main transport artery was wiped out in a deadly earthquake last month. Tour operators and hotels in Kaikoura have said they are struggling to survive as blocked roads keep visitors from using the town of 2, 000 as a base for trips to watch whales, dolphins and seals. The government plans to pass rules to speed up road repair, but it will still take 12 months to get limited access along the coastal road, transport minister Simon Bridges said in an emailed statement. He added that the government was committed to getting the region ”back on its feet”. Kaikoura is at the forefront of fallout from the Nov. 14 quake, which New Zealand’s central bank has initially estimated will cost the NZ$250 billion economy up to NZ$8 billion. Alternative emergency routes have been set up to provide residents access to and from the town. The government also said on Thursday that it would provide NZ$5 million to repair Kaikoura’s harbor so fishing and whale watching vessels could access the land more easily. The seabed had risen up to 2 meters during the quake, meaning tourist boats could only reach the shore for two hours a day during high tide and fishing vessels were completely cut off. The government has also been forced to slash its budget surplus estimate by more than a third to NZ$473 million due to costs related to the quake. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Joseph Radford) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Shippers, online retailers seek way around rising delivery costs

In an unassuming building in the Chicago suburb of Addison, United Parcel Service Inc ( ) engineers design custom boxes for retailers as part of a joint effort to tackle a vexing issue: the high cost of delivering packages. Online retail sales are expected to reach $392. 5 billion this year, according to research firm eMarketer, but with U. S. consumers now demanding free shipping on most packages, shippers and retailers are facing a squeeze. Shippers’ margins are falling or stagnating, despite steady price increases, because homes are roughly three times as expensive to deliver to as business addresses. And retailers cannot pass along the cost, because they must offer free shipping in order to compete. The shared solution: design new, packages that can help improve package density on delivery trucks. This cuts costs for retailers and raises margins for shippers. Up to 60 percent of requests handled by UPS’s package laboratory are for smaller packages to cut shipping rates, the company told Reuters. ”In most cases we are able to get retailers a better rate,” says Quint Marini, who runs the lab. The average rate reduction is around 20 percent, he said. Main rival FedEx Corp ( ) has a similar facility in Memphis. The UPS lab puts new packaging through rigorous tests, piling weights on boxes, then simulating the jolts of a delivery truck traversing a bumpy road. On a recent morning, the load was too much for a box containing a furniture shipment, spilling weights over the floor as it collapsed. ”If the box can’t hold the weights, we’ll have to fail this one,” said Jonathon McWherter, a UPS engineer conducting the test. RATES UP, MARGINS NOT The stakes are growing. shipments accounted for 46 percent of UPS’s total volume last year, up from 36 percent in 2009. UPS expects the share to hit 51 percent by 2019. To counter rising costs, UPS and FedEx have raised package rates by between 4. 9 percent and 5. 9 percent annually since 2009. They also have levied surcharges on retailers for residential addresses and rural deliveries. Rates for a (2. ) box traveling up to 1, 400 miles (2250 km) by UPS Ground or FedEx Home Delivery have nearly doubled since 2006, to $14. 18, according to SJ Consulting Group. Despite the increases, profit margins at UPS and FedEx’s U. S. domestic business have stagnated or declined in recent years, in part because they have invested billions of dollars to handle rising volumes. (See a graphic of UPS and FedEx’s rates and margins here ) UPS and FedEx have sought new ways to cut costs, such as dropping batches of packages at urban retailers, where customers can retrieve them. Now they are focusing more on packaging, charging a fee for design services while also levying what they call ’dimensional weight’ surcharges for boxes that take up too much room in relation their weight. Retailers are hemmed in by their need to match Amazon. com Inc ( ). The world’s largest online retailer offers free shipping to customers who pay a $99 annual fee to join its Amazon Prime program — a revenue stream most retailers have not been able to replicate. ”Amazon has forced everybody into free shipping,” said John Haber, head of logistics consultancy Spend Management Experts. Amine Khechfe, of Endicia, which provides shipping services to companies, said retailers are squeezed. ”They’ve got the pressures of free shipping, which isn’t really free, and their costs are going up,” he said. ’CONSUMERS DON’T CARE WHAT IT COSTS’ Many retailers have responded by procuring ’ ’ packaging machines, which shipping boxes. Hanko Kiessner, CEO of Packsize International, which makes such machines and the software that drives them, estimates 16 percent of U. S. retailers are using machines, and predicts a majority will do so within three years. Packaging ”is now front and center and a glaring opportunity for improvement,” Kiessner said. Packsize also collaborates on projects with UPS. Office supply retailer Staples Inc ( ) said it has cut the weight of corrugated cardboard it uses in packaging by 65 percent, but declined to detail the cost savings. Car accessory and electronics retailer Crutchfield Corp has saved several million dollars with packaging since August 2014, chief fulfillment officer Chris Groseclose said. Companies like Monster Moto have worked with the UPS lab. The maker has cut shipping costs up to 50 percent on bikes that sell for between $249 to $749, said CEO Alex Keechle. ”That was a real expense to us, and because of free shipping, we had to eat it,” he said. SJ Consulting founder Satish Jindel said retailers need to seek cost savings while also finding ways to pass on costs, such as minimum orders or membership fees. ”Any retailer who wants to be an player and thinks consumers will have to recognize that shipping costs money and they need to pay for it, will be out of business,” Jindel said. ”The consumer doesn’t care what it costs.” (Reporting By Nick Carey and Nandita Bose; Editing by Bill Rigby) HONG KONG Chinese Ofo said on Thursday it has raised more than $700 million in its latest funding round that was led by Alibaba Group and two others, in the largest such in the business that has drawn keen investor interest. BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said.

South Korea’s powerful business lobby group dealt big blow by Park scandal

Long the voice of the conglomerates that form the engine of South Korea’s economy, the Federation of Korean Industries could become another casualty of the scandal that is poised to cost President Park her job, as key members flee. The FKI, whose board is made up of the chiefs of the country’s conglomerates, or chaebol, has been the nexus for close ties between government and big business. It formed the two foundations, Mir and backing Park initiatives that are central to the current political crisis. Prosecutors have charged Park’s friend Choi with colluding with the president into pressuring conglomerates such as the Samsung Group to pay funds to the foundations. Last week, Jay Y. Lee, scion of the Samsung Group, the FKI’s largest member, said it will leave the group, prompting others including the LG Group, SK Group and banks including the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Bank of Korea (KEXIM) to follow suit, raising questions over whether the group can survive in its current form. ”We’re leaving because abandoning the FKI won’t change anything for us,” an IBK official said, declining to be identified because the matter is sensitive. An FKI official declined to comment on its future plans. It has said it will devise plans for reform by the end of February. In recent years, some members complain, the FKI was being used by the government to pressure businesses and not the other way around, fueling resentment. Hiring paid lobbyists is illegal in South Korea. ”The FKI’s role was to be a voice for companies as Samsung or LG can’t speak for all conglomerates,” said another source whose company is also preparing to leave the FKI. ”The members are leaving because they feel the FKI was being used by the government to demand concessions from businesses.” FKI Vice Chairman Lee told a parliamentary hearing last week that the presidential Blue House had played an unusually pushy role in managing the two foundations. ”It was difficult to turn down the Blue House’s orders and requests,” he said. ”What was different about the Mir and foundations from other foundations the FKI established was the fact that the Blue House became involved in detail.” POWER THROUGH GENERATIONS The FKI has more than 600 members, mostly large businesses, including companies. As of the end of 2014, it reported 360 billion won ($305 million) in assets and 349 billion won in liabilities. Its funding mainly comes from member dues. The FKI was founded in 1961, just after Park seized power in a coup that led to 18 years of his rule until he was assassinated in 1979. Park was the father of the current President Park, who was impeached last week by parliament, a decision that will now be upheld or rejected by a constitutional court in a process that could take up to 180 days. Jay Y. Lee’s grandfather, Samsung founder Lee was FKI’s first chairman. In those early days of the country’s industrialization, the FKI was a voice to funnel corporate opinions to the military government. FKI has over the years become entangled in various scandals involving the chaebol and government, sowing public disdain for the group, although none of its employees have ever been convicted of wrongdoing. FKI’s power ebbed in the early 2000s as liberal presidents Kim and Roh focused on chaebol reform, but the group regained some traction during the presidency of Lee and then under Park, both conservatives. In a survey conducted early this month, the newspaper Naeil and a polling firm found 68. 7 percent of 1, 000 respondents said the FKI should disband, although that would require approval of 75 percent of its members. Lee a senior member of parliament from the opposition Democratic Party, has drafted a resolution calling for the FKI to disband without seeking a vote from members. That resolution has widespread backing in her party. GOOD RIDDANCE? Samsung Group declined to say how it would communicate with the government after it leaves FKI. ”I don’t think we’re at the stage of talking about that yet,” a Samsung spokeswoman said. The chaebol have plenty of ways to get the government’s ear without help from the FKI. From modest roots, South Korean conglomerates now play a dominant role in the economy and have been critical in making the country the world’s exporter. ”FKI was once a community where businesses could go,” the IBK official said. ”Now it’s meaningless and we have plenty of communication channels with the government even without it.” In the absence of FKI, the broader Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with some 160, 000 members, will play a bigger role, says Yang economics professor at Catholic University, while companies will step up bilateral meetings to communicate with officials. ”The end result will no doubt be positive,” Yang said, by removing a forum that had concentrated the power of the chaebol, although he warned it could engender the sort of secretive meetings that came in for criticism during the current scandal. Samsung’s Lee told parliament that he had met with Park alone in July 2015 and again last February in previously undisclosed meetings at a house near the Blue House, where they discussed issues including an ongoing government project and investment in South Korea. The location raised eyebrows as it conjured up memories of the ”safe houses” that were created around the Blue House in the 1970s and used by the country’s military leaders as private places for entertainment and meetings, including some with business leaders. (Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Tony Munroe and Martin Howell) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Abe, Putin agree to revive Japan-Russia security talks, discuss Syria

Japan and Russia agreed at a summit on Thursday to revive security talks and start discussing economic cooperation on disputed islands at the core of a row that has kept them from signing a peace treaty formally ending World War Two. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin also talked about Syria, with Abe conveying to Putin his concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation and Putin offering to work with other countries to settle the Syrian problem, a Japanese government spokesman said. Russia faces Western criticism over the destruction of eastern Aleppo in Syria, where Russia is backing Syrian President Bashar ’s forces. ”On Syria, Prime Minister Abe expressed strong concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, and stressed the importance of returning to the halt of hostile conduct and implementing humanitarian aid,” Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami told reporters after the two leaders met for about three hours at a hot spring resort in southwest Japan. ”President Putin stated he is supporting President Assad who is an elected leader. He also said he is ready to talk to countries in the region and the United States to work toward the resolution,” Nogami said. Abe and Putin are seeking progress in a summit on their dispute over the four windswept isles in the western Pacific controlled by Russia but also claimed by Japan. They will meet again in Tokyo on Friday. ”We were able to hold the summit in a very good atmosphere,” Abe told reporters after the meeting. ”I think we were able to have frank and deep discussions about free travel by former island residents, economic activities on the four islands under a special system of both countries, and the peace treaty issue.” The islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles, were seized by Soviet forces in the final days of World War Two and their 17, 000 Japanese residents were forced to flee. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Putin had offered to resume security talks between their foreign and defence ministers, suspended after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, triggering Western sanctions. Abe reacted positively, Lavrov said. Kremlin economic aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides would issue a statement about possible joint economic activity on the disputed islands on Friday, adding such activity would be based on Russian legislation. Nogami, however, reiterated Japan’s policy that any joint economic activity on the islands should not infringe on Tokyo’s legal stance, underscoring a potential source of discord. The two sides are also likely to clinch agreements on economic cooperation in areas from medical technology to energy. But both have sought to dampen expectations of a breakthrough in the feud over the islands off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. ’RUSSIAN WORRIES’ Abe has pledged to resolve the territorial dispute, in hopes of leaving a diplomatic legacy that eluded his foreign minister father, and of building better ties with Russia to counter a rising China. But a deal to end the dispute carries risks for Putin, who does not want to tarnish his image at home of a staunch defender of Russian sovereignty. The isles have strategic value for Russia, ensuring naval access to the western Pacific. Putin also told Abe of Russia’s concerns about the U. S. presence in Asia, which Russia thinks is disproportionate to the North Korea nuclear and missile threat, Lavrov said. ”We thought that our Japan colleagues started to understand Russian worries in this regard better,” he said. Japan has long insisted that its sovereignty over all four of the disputed islands be confirmed before a peace treaty is signed. But there have been signs it has been rethinking its stance, perhaps by reviving a formula called ” ” based partly on a 1956 joint declaration in which the Soviet Union agreed it would hand over the two smaller islands after a peace treaty was signed. Over the decades, the two sides have at times floated the idea of joint economic activity on the islands, but how to do that without undercutting either side’s claim to sovereignty has never been resolved. (Writing by Linda Sieg; Additional reporting by Minami Funakoshi, Ami Miyazaki and Nobuhiro Kubo, Elaine Lies in Tokyo; Editing by Robert Birsel and Janet Lawrence) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Factbox: The islands keeping Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Japan on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aimed at improving ties, but both sides have scaled back expectations of major progress toward a peace treaty formally ending World War Two. Blocking the treaty is a territorial row involving four islands off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido that were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two. Following are some key facts about the islands. HISTORY The islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, are called Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islets in Japanese. They are known in Russian as Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai. The islands were home to about 17, 000 Japanese people, who fished, bred horses and mined gold, among other occupations, before they were seized by the Soviet Union after it declared war on Japan in the closing days of World War Two. The inhabitants were forced to flee. The current population is 12, 346, according to the Russian government. GEOGRAPHY, RESOURCES The disputed islands form the southern end of the Kurile Island chain that stretches for 1, 250 km (780 miles) from the southern tip of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninshula to Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, dividing the Sea of Okhotsk to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Their total land area is almost 5, 000 square km (2, 000 square miles) according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry a little smaller than the U. S. state of Delaware and less than half the size of Lebanon. On clear days, Kunashiri is visible from Hokkaido. Most inhabitants depend on fishing for their livelihoods and Japan would gain rich fishing grounds if it regained full control of the islands, partly through extending its exclusive economic zone. The islands are close to and regions of Russia, and may themselves harbor rich mineral deposits, a tempting possibility for Japan. But upgrading the island infrastructure to match that of the rest of Japan would be expensive. They have strategic value for Russia as a sea lane to the Western Pacific for their navy. RUSSIAN MILITARY PRESENCE In 2011, as many as 3, 500 Russian troops belonging to the 18th Machine Division were deployed on the islands, said a top official in the Russian General Staff, quoted by Russian news agency Interfax. The unit is reinforced with artillery, systems, rocket artillery and seven dozen tanks, the Russian Defense Ministry broadcaster Zvezda said. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March Russia would study the possibility of building a naval base in the islands, prompting protests from Japan. In November, Russian media reported that Bastion and Bal missile systems were in operation on the islands. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called that development ”regrettable”. (Addition reporting by Denis Dyomkin; Editing by Robert Birsel and Christian Schmollinger) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

U.S. may target weapons seized by Islamic State in Palmyra

The head of U. S. forces fighting Islamic State said on Wednesday the United States may target weapons seized by the group when it captured the Syrian city of Palmyra, adding the equipment posed a danger to the U. S. coalition in the region. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told a Pentagon video briefing that the weapons seized by Islamic State likely included armored vehicles, guns and possibly air defense equipment or other heavy weaponry. He hoped Russia or Syria would quickly retake Palmyra and neutralize the threat, but cautioned the United States would stand ready to strike if needed, including if the looted weapons started moving out of the city. ”Basically anything they seized poses a threat to the coalition but we can manage those threats and we will,” Townsend said. ”I anticipate that we’ll have opportunities to strike that equipment and kill the ISIL that’s operating it soon.” Still, he cautioned that Russia or Syria would have a far better sense of who was on the ground and would be in a better position to react quickly. ”We can’t tell one side from the other. So we can’t tell if the truck and the armored vehicle is being operated by a regime trooper, a Russian trooper or ISIL fighter,” he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. Islamic State recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday despite dozens of Russian air strikes to push back the militants, exposing the limitations of the Russian backing that has turned the tide of the conflict in Syrian President Bashar ’s favor. The focus of Syria’s overstretched army on defeating insurgents in their last urban stronghold of Aleppo may have diverted resources needed to defend the city, where Moscow in recent months beefed up its defenses. Palmyra, with its city and spectacular ruins, had been recaptured from the militants last March, in what was hailed as a major victory for the government and the biggest reversal for Islamic State in Syria since Russia’s intervention. ’FLEETING VICTORY’ ”(They) took their eye off the ball there, the enemy sensed weakness and struck and gained a victory that I think will probably be fleeting,” Townsend said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that if it were true the militants seized an missile system, the threat from Islamic State ”is worse because of the failed strategy of the Syrians and the Russians.” By taking full control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition and dealt a crushing blow to rebel hopes of ousting Assad after revolting against him during the 2011 Arab uprisings. Rebels have been supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but the support they have enjoyed has fallen far short of the direct military backing given to Assad by Russia and Iran. Townsend said he expected rebels who lost Aleppo would take their fight elsewhere in Syria but that it was unlikely to significantly affect the U. S. effort against Islamic State including a bid to capture the group’s stronghold of Raqqa, Syria. ”Our estimate is they’ll probably go somewhere else that is more important to them, and I won’t care to comment on where we think that might be,” he said. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and David Alexander; Editing by Peter Cooney) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

House Republicans accelerate efforts on tax reform bill

Republicans in the U. S. House of Representatives are accelerating efforts to craft a sweeping tax reform bill for 2017 and looking at ways to smooth the transition to a new tax system for some businesses, the House Republican tax chief said on Wednesday. Republicans on the House tax committee met in a special recess session to work on a reform bill based on an election campaign blueprint that would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent and end taxation of foreign profits for U. S. multinational corporations. Representative Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means panel that is expected to unveil legislation early next year, said his committee is consulting with Donald Trump’s transition team and Republicans in the Senate. ”We’re meeting here to take the broad outlines of our blueprint, begin filling in the specific provisions (and) identifying a path forward,” Brady told reporters after Wednesday’s session. The panel, which oversees tax policy in the House, will hold a second session on Thursday to discuss provisions of the U. S. healthcare law popularly known as Obamacare, which Republicans have promised to repeal. The meetings were initially scheduled for January but were moved forward to be ready for Trump’s arrival in the White House. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Brady and House Speaker Paul Ryan see tax reform as a way to promote economic growth and create jobs. One of the most dramatic changes under consideration is a border adjustability provision that would exempt U. S. exports from corporate income tax but would tax imports. Advocates say the reform parallels Trump’s call for import tariffs and could help the foster manufacturing jobs for Americans, who are among his most ardent supporters. Border adjustability has strong support among exporters. But it has also raised concerns within industries that rely heavily on imports, including retailing and oil refining. Brady said on Wednesday that his committee is sensitive to the way tax reform could affect different businesses. ”We’re looking at a number of transition rules that in effect accelerate the growth aspects of all of our tax reform proposals but also acknowledge (that) these are major changes,” the Texas Republican said. ”We’re proposing bold changes. We know that. All of them affect different businesses differently. So we’re listening very closely to how we can make sure we smooth that out.” (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Chinese billionaire’s EV startups map ambitious plans

Three startups funded by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting will display vehicles at the giant CES 2017 trade show in Las Vegas next month, and two former executives told Reuters that one of the companies plans to roll out a dozen models through 2026. The three companies still have not detailed how they plan to fund their efforts to challenge Tesla Motors Inc in the luxury electric vehicle market. One of the three, Faraday Future, has said it will unveil a prototype of its first production vehicle but did not provide details. The two former executives, who declined to speak on the record, described the vehicle to Reuters and gave other details of the company’s ambitious strategy. Faraday has said its first vehicle is slated for production in early 2018. The former executives said the company uses the internal designation Project 91 for the vehicle. They described it as a large, luxury flagship sedan designed to sell for $ $200, 000 more than the most expensive Tesla. They said a second model, designated Project 81 and due about a year later, is a crossover slotted in size and price between the Tesla Model S and Model X. Faraday plans a third, less expensive model to debut around 2020. A Faraday spokesperson declined to comment on those details. Faraday started building a $1 billion assembly plant outside Las Vegas, but stopped work in November. According to a Nevada state official, the company missed several payments to the building contractor. On Wednesday, another of the companies, Lucid Motors, unveiled a prototype of the Lucid Air, a $100, 000 luxury sedan it hopes to begin building in Arizona in late 2018. Lucid, formerly named Atieva, plans to follow the launch of the Air with a pair of luxury crossovers in company executives told Reuters in June. Lucid executive Peter Rawlinson on Wednesday said the company plans to seek additional funding from investors in early 2017. He said LeEco is a minority investor in Lucid, but has no other connection. In November, Jia said the third electric vehicle company he is backing, LeEco, faced a shortage of cash and was suffering from expanding too fast, in too many directions. Weeks later, LeEco’s parent, Leshi Holdings, said it had secured commitments in China for $600 million to support LeEco. Jia’s plan to build three factories one for each brand is expected to cost at least $3. 5 billion, according to estimates from each company. Design and engineering could boost startup costs by another $1 billion or more, according to sources familiar with Jia’s strategy. LeEco, whose U. S. headquarters is in San Jose, earlier this year announced plans to build its own $1. 8 billion factory in Hangzhou, China. It plans to show a concept called LeSEE Pro at CES. (Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit and Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio) HONG KONG Chinese Ofo said on Thursday it has raised more than $700 million in its latest funding round that was led by Alibaba Group and two others, in the largest such in the business that has drawn keen investor interest. BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said.

Buses evacuate thousands of exhausted Aleppo residents in ceasefire deal

Thousands of people were evacuated on Thursday from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo, the first to leave under a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar . A first convoy of ambulances and buses with nearly 1, 000 people aboard drove out of the devastated area of Aleppo, which was besieged and bombarded for months by Syrian government forces, a Reuters reporter on the scene said. Syrian state television reported later that two further convoys of 15 buses each had also left east Aleppo. The second had reached the area of an insurgent said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said late on Thursday that some 3, 000 civilians and more than 40 wounded people, including children, had already been evacuated. ICRC official Robert Mardini told Reuters there were no clear plans yet for how to ship out rebel fighters, who will be allowed under the ceasefire to leave for other areas outside government control. Women cried out in celebration as the first buses passed through a area, and some waved the Syrian flag. Assad said in a video statement the taking of Aleppo his biggest prize in more than five years of civil war was a historic moment. An elderly woman, who had gathered with others in a government area to watch the convoy removing the rebels, raised her hands to the sky, saying: ”God save us from this crisis, and from the (militants). They brought us only destruction.” Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in the rebel zone, said most people were happy to be leaving safely. But he said: ”Some of them are angry they are leaving their city. I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way.” Earlier, ambulances trying to evacuate people came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who injured three people, a rescue service spokesman said. ”Thousands of people are in need of evacuation, but the first and most urgent thing is wounded, sick and children, including orphans,” said Jan Egeland, the U. N. humanitarian adviser for Syria. Staffan de Mistura, the U. N. special envoy for Syria, said about 50, 000 people remained in Aleppo, of whom about 10, 000 would be evacuated to nearby Idlib province and the rest would move to city districts. Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed. The economic center with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverized during the war that has killed more than 300, 000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State. ’PLACE THEM ALL IN IDLIB’ The United States was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in an pocket of territory, culminating in this week’s ceasefire. U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the Syrian government was carrying out ”nothing short of a massacre” in Aleppo. U. N. aid chief Stephen O’Brien will brief the Security Council on Friday on the Aleppo evacuation. The Syrian White Helmets civil defense group and other rights organizations accused Russia of committing or being complicit in war crimes in Syria, saying Russian air strikes in the Aleppo region had killed 1, 207 civilians, including 380 children. In a letter submitted to the U. N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria and seen by Reuters on Thursday, the groups listed 304 alleged attacks carried out in the Aleppo area primarily between July and December and said there was a ”high likelihood” of Russia responsibility. The Russian U. N. mission was not immediately available to comment on the allegations. Russia has said it stopped air strikes in Aleppo in . In Aleppo’s area, columns of black smoke could be seen as residents hoping to depart burned personal belongings they do not want to leave for government forces to loot. A senior Russian general, Viktor Poznikhir, said the Syrian army had almost finished its operations in Aleppo. But the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining their rural stronghold of Idlib province southwest of Aleppo, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing Palmyra this week. Rebels and their families would be taken toward Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria that is outside government control, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Idlib province, mostly controlled by hardline Islamist groups, is not a popular destination for fighters and civilians from east Aleppo, where nationalist rebel groups predominated. A senior European diplomat said last week the fighters had a choice between surviving for a few weeks in Idlib or dying in Aleppo. ”For the Russians it’s simple. Place them all in Idlib and then they have all their rotten eggs in one basket.” Idlib is already a target for Syrian and Russian air strikes but it is unclear if the government will push for a ground assault or simply seek to contain rebels there for now. The International Rescue Committee said: ”Escaping Aleppo doesn’t mean escaping the war . .. After witnessing the ferocity of attacks on civilians in Aleppo, we are very concerned that the sieges and barrel bombs will follow the thousands who arrive in Idlib.” SHI’ITE VILLAGES The evacuation deal was expected to include the safe passage of wounded from the Shi’ite villages of Foua and Kefraya near Idlib that are besieged by rebels. A convoy set off to evacuate the villages on Thursday, Syrian state media said. Efforts to evacuate eastern Aleppo began earlier in the week with a truce brokered by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey, which has backed the opposition. That agreement broke down following renewed fighting on Wednesday and the evacuation did not take place then as planned. A rebel official said a new truce came into effect early on Thursday. Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo. Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari one of a handful of districts still held by rebels and brought half of the neighborhood under their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. The Russian Defence Ministry said before the report of the government forces’ advance in Sukkari that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2. 5 square km (1 square mile). The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire. By taking control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition, aided by Russia’s air force and an array of Shi’ite militias from across the region. Rebels have been backed by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but that support has fallen far short of the direct military assistance given to Assad by Russia and Iran. Russia’s decision to deploy its air force to Syria more than a year ago turned the war in Assad’s favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year. (Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo and Tom Perry, John Davison and Lisa Barrington in Beirut, Michelle Martin in Berlin, John Irish in Paris, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Angus McDowall in Beirut and Giles Elgood in London; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Peter Cooney) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

Dollar, bond yields advance on Fed rate outlook

The dollar hit a high and bond yields rose broadly on Thursday, extending gains from a day earlier when the Federal Reserve hiked U. S. interest rates and signaled increases would follow at a faster pace next year. U. S stocks bounced back from their biggest daily percentage decline in about two months, led by gains in bank shares, while gold hit its lowest since early February. The Fed’s rate rise of 25 basis points to 0. . 75 percent was well flagged but investors were spooked when the ”dot plots” of members’ projections showed a median of three hikes next year, up from two previously. Fed fund futures slid to imply an almost 50 percent chance that the Fed would raise rates three times in 2017, with two hikes fully priced in already. The central bank’s decision to raise rates comes as U. S. Donald Trump, who will be sworn in next month, is expected to cut taxes and boost spending on infrastructure. ”The dollar is reacting very strongly and (bond prices) have continued to struggle and also gold. the combination of those three tell you that interest rates are likely to continue their trajectory higher,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. ”The thought is that earnings will be better and the economy is strong enough to be able to withstand higher interest rates, and that is why we’re not seeing a decline in stocks,” he said. ”That being said, the stronger dollar and higher interest rates will at some point filter through to earnings. It’s just a matter of when and how.” The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was last up 1. 3 percent after rising to 103. 56, a high. Bank shares helped lift stock indexes, on the prospect of a boost to their profits. The Dow Jones industrial average again neared the 20, 000 mark. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 68. 42 points, or 0. 35 percent, to 19, 860. 95, the S&P 500 gained 8. 78 points, or 0. 389654 percent, to 2, 262. 06 and the Nasdaq Composite added 18. 44 points, or 0. 34 percent, to 5, 455. 11. European shares, which ended up 1 percent, also rose with bank stocks, while MSCI’s world stock index was down 0. 6 percent. Bond markets saw yields on U. S. debt surge to highs. The belly of the U. S. yield curve also climbed to peaks, with notes rising to their strongest level in years and notes hitting almost highs. Yields on U. S. notes touched more than peaks. Benchmark U. S. Treasury note prices were down in price to yield 2. 594 percent. EMERGING PRESSURE Emerging market stocks fell 1. 6 percent. The Fed’s anticipated policy path, and expectations that Trump will get economic growth motoring, are keeping emerging markets on edge as capital gets sucked from more fragile, economies toward assets. The allure of higher U. S. yields raises risks for emerging markets as funds look to take advantage of rising U. S. rates rather than put their money in traditionally riskier economies. Mexico’s central bank aggressively hiked its benchmark interest rate in a bid to cool quickening inflation after the peso fell to record lows after the U. S. election. Mexico’s markets have been battered hardest by Trump’s threats to tear up trade deals. Among commodities, gold extended losses from the previous session, while U. S. crude oil ended down slightly as the dollar rallied. U. S. crude slipped 14 cents to settle at $50. 90 per barrel. Spot gold hit a low of $1, 126. 48 an ounce. For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters: = =http: . apps. cp. extranet. thomsonreuters. ? pageId=livemarkets (Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London, Wayne Cole in Sydney and Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Nick Zieminski and James Dalgleish) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Nintendo in risky mobile games push with paid Super Mario launch on iPhones

Nintendo Co will make a big push into mobile gaming on Thursday with the launch of the popular Super Mario Bros franchise on the iPhone, a risky bet because users will need to pay upfront, at a time when the gaming market is getting crowded. A lot is riding for the Japanese company on Super Mario Run, which is being released in 151 countries and regions on Thursday U. S. Pacific Time for Apple Inc’s iPhone. And, unlike Pokemon GO, Super Mario Run is the first game for mobile developed by Nintendo, under a partnership with mobile gaming firm DeNA Co, which means it will enjoy the lion’s share of its success or bear the brunt of failure. While investors are hoping Super Mario Run will be a hit for Nintendo, its decision to charge $9. 99 for full access to the game may limit revenues and put its fate at the mercy of loyal Nintendo fans. Unlike Super Mario Run’s upfront charge, global blockbuster titles such as Candy Crush Saga and Angry Birds typically only charge items and powerups without specific ceilings. ”It is an interesting decision,” Andrew Chanin, CEO of PureFunds, a New provider of thematic funds, said of Nintendo’s pricing plan. ”Players will know what they’re getting themselves into when they download the game.” The Mario game is free to download but the section is limited to stages. Players control Mario through a series of obstacle courses while collecting coins along the way. At higher levels, players can compete with other players’ scores and create their own ”kingdom”. ”That makes reviews by the hard core fans of the Super Mario series. .. important, as they will be behind the general opinion on the game that should take shape fairly soon after its release,” Takao Suzuki, a Daiwa Securities analyst, said in a note this week. App analytics firm SensorTower forecasts worldwide gross revenue of over $71 million for Super Mario Run in its first month, just half of the $143 million that Pokemon GO garnered. Nintendo has said the game will also be launched on Android but has not said when. It declined to comment for this article. Pokemon GO, which has been downloaded over 600 million times since July, is based on Nintendo’s famous monster characters and was developed jointly by Google spinoff Niantic Co and Nintendo affiliate Pokemon Company. NO FAT PROFITS Super Mario Run’s launch also comes when lower barriers to market entry have resulted in hundreds of thousands of games being available on mobile app stores, making it harder for game developers to enjoy fat profits. And in some key markets such as Japan, there already are signs of saturation. Even though games research firm Newzoo predicts the mobile gaming segment worldwide will grow to $52. 5 billion in 2019 from $36. 9 billion in 2016, many analysts forecast flat market growth for Japan. ”Some mobile games developers have emerged as clear winners and it’s increasingly difficult for others to squeeze into the top ranks,” said Tomoaki Kawasaki, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities. But he noted that Nintendo’s high profile characters could be exceptions due to their strong public appeal. ”Nintendo’s entry into mobile gaming is a huge threat to existing players.” Proving the power of popular characters, Sony Corp, which like Nintendo has been a late adopter of mobile gaming, has scored major success in Japan by transferring its popular animation content to mobile, pushing one title Order above Pokemon GO in app revenue rankings. The electronics company’s gaming unit also said last week that it would release as many as six mobile games in the next business year. Kenji Ono, a gaming journalist in Tokyo, said he wants to buy and try out Super Mario Run, but was skeptical about how successful it will be. ”I think it will be a success, but not to the extent that Pokemon GO was,” Ono said. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Additional reporting by Daiki Iga; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) HONG KONG Chinese Ofo said on Thursday it has raised more than $700 million in its latest funding round that was led by Alibaba Group and two others, in the largest such in the business that has drawn keen investor interest. BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said.

EU strikes preliminary deal on mobile broadband boost

The agreement foresees the coordinated rollout of the 700 MHz band for wireless broadband by 2020, which will facilitate the takeup of 5G, the mobile technology that is expected to support driverless cars, remote healthcare and billions of everyday objects connected to the internet. ”The coordinated release of the 700 MHz band is major leap forward on the (European) Union’s path to 5G,” Guenther Oettinger, European Commissioner for the digital economy, said in a statement. Wednesday night’s agreement will need to be formally endorsed by member states and lawmakers before becoming law. The 700 MHz band ( MHz) currently widely used for digital television signals and wireless microphones, can penetrate buildings and walls easily and cover larger geographic areas with less infrastructure than frequencies in higher bands. Member states can delay the assignment of the spectrum by up to two years if they have legitimate reasons, such as unresolved coordination issues with neighboring countries or if they need more time to reallocate the spectrum from broadcasting services. ”The timely release of spectrum bands is essential to completing 4G and launching 5G. Any delay would slow down mobile broadband deployment,” said Francesco Versace, director of regulation at ETNO, the association of European telecom operators. Broadcasting services would keep priority in the band ( MHz) until at least 2030. Only France and Germany have allowed the use of this spectrum for mobile services, while Britain, Denmark, Finland and Sweden plan to do the same in the coming years. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) HONG KONG Chinese Ofo said on Thursday it has raised more than $700 million in its latest funding round that was led by Alibaba Group and two others, in the largest such in the business that has drawn keen investor interest. BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said.

Kabul security gates in storage as Afghan officials trade accusations

A set of giant security gates financed by China and intended to protect Kabul from large bombs and drug smuggling lie stored in a warehouse more than five months after they arrived, while Afghan authorities bicker over who should install them. Intended for the four main entry points into Kabul, they have been delayed by infighting between departments and by a land dispute, underlining the difficulty of getting things done in a country where conflict and corruption have slowed progress. The gates, each weighing around 30 tonnes, are to reinforce the ”Ring of Steel” that surrounds Kabul, a city of five million people already protected by blast walls, armed checkpoints and surveillance cameras. Although there are many entrances to the city, security officials believe channeling large vehicles through the gates could help reduce the risk of big truck and car bombs that have previously wrought devastation in Kabul. The gates are to be equipped with control rooms and surveillance scanners to enhance inspections of vehicles. Civilian deaths are rising across the country as Afghan Taliban insurgents fight to topple the government and drive out foreign troops, while an offshoot of Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several attacks in the last year. Not all are carried out by car or truck bombs, but in September a car bomb went off outside a central Kabul security office during rush hour, killing dozens of people. ”It shows that the ministry’s different departments are sadly incapable of setting them (the new gates) up, and Kabul police is delaying them for no reason,” said a senior Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. ”These gates are made with the latest technology, and delaying their installation is a big injustice to the residents of Kabul,” the official added. He said the Interior Ministry’s Support and Procurement Office, which had agreed to pay for and organize the installation of the gates, had tried to subcontract the work, but the bids were too high. Now responsibility has been transferred to a similar body run by Kabul police, who, in turn, rejects accusations that they have been dragging their feet. ”We understand it is our department that is responsible for the gates, but the government has to purchase the land first and then we need a budget for it from donors,” said Salem Almas, deputy chief of Kabul police. $13 MILLION DEAL Sorting out exactly who is responsible for what in Kabul has proved a challenge. The chief of police comes under the authority of the Interior Ministry, but officials there have said he prefers to report to the National Security Council, a body that answers directly to President Ashraf Ghani. The fact that Afghan power is shared between Ghani and a chief executive and former political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, can add to the confusion of reporting lines and decision making. Almas said the police chief understood and respected his reporting line to the interior ministry. A spokesman for the presidential palace declined to comment and referred questions to the interior ministry. Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the interior ministry, said the feasibility study of the planned sites and training of personnel had been completed. ”The Ministry of Interior is on track to install the new security gates for Kabul, as it is one of its (most) important projects,” Sediqqi said, adding that the gates will be installed within three to four months. According to documents seen by Reuters, the security gates were part of a $13 million deal signed between China and Afghanistan in September, 2012, called an Agreement of Economic and Technical Cooperation. China, which fears an Islamist insurgency may by stoked by fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan, has taken a keen interest in the Afghan conflict, but major investment plans in the mining sector have been held back by deteriorating security. The documents show that the security gates built by Chinese firm NUCTECH Co Ltd, in addition to 400 items of associated equipment including scanners and jammers, arrived in Kabul via neighboring Uzbekistan in eight shipping containers on July 2. Twelve Chinese engineers worked for two months to assemble the parts for the security gates. Two Chinese engineers are still in Kabul, waiting for installation work to begin. The company did not respond to questions. ”We are not familiar with the situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters at a regular briefing last week. (Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in BEIJING; Editing by Mike ) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

Aleppo evacuation plan back on track to end years of fighting

An evacuation of districts of Aleppo is back on track and expected to begin within hours, officials on both sides of the war said late on Wednesday, a retreat that would mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar and end years of fighting. An initial deal that would have seen thousands of civilians and opposition fighters granted safe passage out of the city stalled on Wednesday and the planned exodus failed to materialize. Iran, one of Assad’s main backers, had imposed new conditions, saying it wanted the simultaneous evacuation of wounded from two villages besieged by rebels, according to rebel and U. N. sources. But Abdul Salam Abdul Razak, a military spokesman for the Nour al Zinki rebel group, said late on Wednesday that a new agreement had been reached which included those villages in Idlib province. ”Within the coming hours its implementation will begin,” he told Reuters. An official in the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said implementation would begin around 6 a. m. (0400 GMT) on Thursday. An official in the military alliance confirmed the truce deal was on, and said about 15, 000 people would be evacuated from the majority Shi’ite villages, Foua and Kefraya, in return for the evacuation from Aleppo of ”militants and their families and whoever wants to leave among civilians”. He said those leaving Aleppo would head for Idlib province to the west of the city. The Jabha Shamiya official however denied that 15, 000 people would leave the two villages and said only the wounded would be evacuated. It was not immediately clear how the deal had been reached. The original ceasefire was brokered by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and opposition backer Turkey on Tuesday. But the planned evacuation of areas did not happen and instead shelling and gunfire erupted in the city on Wednesday, with Turkey accusing government forces of breaking the truce. Syrian state television said rebel shelling killed six people. The U. N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, said the bombardment by Syrian government forces and their allies ”most likely constitutes war crimes”. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call earlier in the day to make a joint effort to start the process, Turkish presidential sources said. Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo. Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari one of just a handful of districts still held by rebels and brought half of the neighborhood under their control, the Observatory said. Rebels saying they launched an attack against government forces using suicide car bombs. The Russian defense ministry said before the report of the government forces’ advance in Sukkari that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2. 5 square km (1 square mile). RAPID ADVANCES At dawn on Wednesday nobody had left under the initial evacuation plan, according to a Reuters witness waiting at the departure point, where 20 buses stood with engines running but showed no sign of moving into rebel districts. People in eastern Aleppo had packed their bags and burned personal belongings, fearing looting by the Syrian army and its militia allies. Officials in the military alliance backing Assad could not be reached immediately for comment on why the evacuation had stalled. U. N. war crimes investigators said the Syrian government bore the main responsibility for preventing any attacks and reprisals in eastern Aleppo and that it must hold to account any troops or allied forces committing violations. In what appeared to be a separate development from the planned evacuation, the Russian defense ministry said 6, 000 civilians and 366 fighters had left districts over the past 24 hours. A total of 15, 000 people, including 4, 000 rebel fighters, wanted to leave Aleppo, according to a media unit run by the Syrian government’s ally Hezbollah. The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire. By taking full control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition, aided by Russia’s air force and an array of Shi’ite militias from across the region. Rebels have been supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but the support they have enjoyed has fallen far short of the direct military backing given to Assad by Russia and Iran. Russia’s decision to deploy its air force to Syria 18 months ago turned the war in Assad’s favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year. The government and its allies have focused the bulk of their firepower on fighting rebels in western Syria rather than Islamic State, which this week managed to take back the ancient city of Palmyra, once again illustrating the challenge Assad faces reestablishing control over all Syria. FEAR STALKS STREETS As the battle for Aleppo unfolded, global concern has risen over the plight of the 250, 000 civilians who were thought to remain in its eastern sector before the sudden army advance began at the end of November. The rout of rebels in Aleppo sparked a mass flight of terrified civilians and insurgents in bitter weather, a crisis the United Nations said was a ”complete meltdown of humanity”. There were food and water shortages in rebel areas, with all hospitals closed. On Tuesday, the United Nations voiced deep concern about reports it had received of Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters summarily shooting dead 82 people in recaptured east Aleppo districts. It accused them of ”slaughter”. The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured, and Russia said on Tuesday rebels had ”kept over 100, 000 people in east Aleppo as human shields”. Fear stalked the city’s streets. Some survivors trudged in the rain past dead bodies to the west or the few districts still in rebel hands. Others stayed in their homes and awaited the Syrian army’s arrival. (Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo and Tom Perry, John Davison and Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Writing by Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Giles Elgood and Pravin Char) UNITED NATIONS The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska. WARSAW U. S. President Donald Trump meets eastern NATO allies in Warsaw on Thursday amid expectations he will reaffirm Washington’s commitment to counter threats from Russia after unnerving them in May by failing to endorse the principle of collective defense.

China may penalize U.S. automaker over price-fixing; GM, Ford shares off

The warning from a senior Chinese state planning official, conveyed through the official China Daily newspaper on Wednesday, came days after U. S. Donald Trump questioned the longstanding U. S. policy of acknowledging that Taiwan is part of ”one China.” Chinese officials had been investigating the pricing practices of automakers prior to Trump’s comments, sources said. Trump’s rhetorical challenges to policy toward China have rattled U. S. corporations. Relying on stable U. S. relations for more than 40 years, the companies have ramped up sales in China and developed complex supply chains that feed parts to their U. S. operations. Jason Miller, a spokesman for the transition team, said on Wednesday that members of the team were aware of the China Daily report but that it would be premature to comment. He said he expected Trump to discuss the matter with billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who has been tapped to be commerce secretary, when the two meet on Wednesday. “The has made very clear that he’s going to get out there and fight for American companies and American jobs, and that’s something he has not been shy about doing so far and it’s not something that we’re going to be shy about going forward,” Miller said. While Chinese officials did not directly link the warning about a possible penalty of a U. S. automaker to Trump’s comments, the Chinese government has used regulatory sanctions against foreign corporations during previous episodes of diplomatic discord. GM ( ) shares slumped 2. 2 percent, while Ford ( ) was down nearly 1 percent as the wider Dow Jones industrial average slipped. In a statement on Wednesday, GM did not say directly whether it was under investigation by Chinese authorities. ”GM fully respects local laws and regulations wherever we operate,” the company said. ”We do not comment on media speculation.” A spokesman for Ford’s operations said the company was ”unaware of the issue.” The China Daily quoted Zhang Handong, director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) price supervision bureau, as saying investigators had found that a U. S. auto company had instructed distributors to fix prices starting in 2014. The China Daily article did not give further details and the NDRC did not respond to requests for comment. There are many ways that China could retaliate against the United States, including leveraging its holdings of $1. 19 trillion of U. S. treasuries in September. In an editorial, the China Daily urged Trump to recognize the importance of close economic ties between China and the United States. ”For the American economy to be great again . .. the U. S. needs to cement its economic relations with China, rather than destroy them.” China, the world’s largest vehicle market, is crucial to GM. Chinese consumers bought more than of the 9. 96 million vehicles GM sold globally in 2015. Profits from Chinese operations, including joint ventures, accounted for about 20 percent of GM’s global net income of $9. 7 billion in 2015. Ford’s China joint ventures represented about 16 percent of its global pretax profit of $9. 4 billion in 2015. ”This action is just a hint as to how much power China wields,” said Michael Dunne, president of Dunne Automotive and a veteran of the Chinese auto industry. ”A small fine of several million dollars is likely. The message is, ’If you want to play, we can play. ’” While Zhang’s comments to the China Daily appeared just days after Trump’s remarks, people familiar with the situation said Chinese officials have been cracking down on what they have called monopolistic behavior by foreign automakers and dealers for several years. If the NDRC levies a new penalty it would be the second this month and the seventh issued to automakers since the commission began investigations in 2011, the China Daily said. Targeted firms have included Audi AG ( ) Daimler AG’s ( ) and Toyota Motor Corp ( ) and one of Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s ( ) joint ventures. ”I don’t think the NDRC had only made a decision two weeks ago or a week ago. This is a plan for them,” a source at a industry association said. Analysts said on Wednesday that a separate Chinese action would undercut confidence in the Chinese auto market outlook. Separately, China will extend a tax cut on vehicles to 2017, two sources told Reuters, a move that could prevent a predicted steep in sales. (Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing, Bernie Woodall in Detroit and Emily Stephenson in Washington) NEW YORK Tesla Inc shares slid more than 7 percent on Wednesday, their biggest percentage decline in more than a year, on delivery numbers, yet the luxury electric carmaker’s stock price remained above analysts’ median target. STOCKHOLM All Volvo car models launched after 2019 will be electric or hybrids, the company said on Wednesday, making it the first major traditional automaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine.

U.S. ready to confront Beijing on South China Sea: admiral

The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U. S. Pacific fleet said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals. China claims most of the South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. The United States has called on China to respect the findings of the arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which invalidated its vast territorial claims in the strategic waterway. But Beijing continues to act in an ”aggressive” manner, to which the United States stands ready to respond, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U. S. Pacific Command, said in a speech in Sydney. ”We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea,” he said. ”We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must.” The comments threaten to stoke tensions between the United States and China, already heightened by Donald Trump’s decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2 that prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing. Asked about Harris’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the situation in the South China Sea was currently stable, thanks to the hard work of China and others in the region. ”We hope the United States can abide by its promises on not taking sides on the sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea, respect the efforts of countries in the region to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea region and do more to promote peace and stability there,” he told a daily news briefing. The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3, 200 acres (1, 300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment. In response, the United States has conducted a series of operations in the South China Sea, the latest of which came in October. The patrols have angered Beijing, with a senior Chinese official in July warning the practice may end in ”disaster”. Harris said it was a decision for the Australian government whether the U. S. ally should undertake its own operations, but said the United States would continue with the practice. ”The U. S. fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation,” said Harris. ”This is an enduring principle and one of the reasons our forces stand ready to fight tonight.” (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong) U. S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay for 7. 7 billion pounds ($10 billion) on Wednesday in a move expected to trigger further deals. MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Too big to fail: China maps out its Trump strategy

When Donald Trump becomes U. S. president next month, one issue above all others could force his new administration to work closely with China and underscore why he and Beijing need each other North Korea. A nuclear armed North Korea, developing missiles that could hit the U. S. west coast, is clearly bad news for Washington but also Pyongyang’s ally Beijing, which fears one day those missiles could be aimed at them. ”There is enormous space for the two countries to cooperate on North Korea. The two must cooperate here. If they don’t, then there will be no resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue,” said Ruan Zongze, a former Chinese diplomat now with the China Institute of International Studies, a affiliated with the Foreign Ministry. ”It’s no good the United States saying China has to do more. Both have common interests they need to pursue, and both can do more,” he added. North Korea is a tricky proposition even at the best of times for China, and simply easing up on U. N. sanctions as a way to express displeasure at Trump’s foreign policies could backfire badly for China, said one Asian diplomat. ”They can’t really do that without causing themselves problems,” the diplomat added, pointing to China’s desire to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. TAIWAN TENSION From North Korea to Iran to a closely entwined business relationship worth $598 billion in 2015, the two countries have broad common interests, and China expects Trump to understand that. While China was angered by Trump’s call this month with Taiwan President Tsai and then casting doubt over the future of the ”one China” policy under which the U. S. recognizes Taiwan as being part of China, it was also quite restrained, said a senior Western diplomat ”China’s game now is to influence him and not antagonize him,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. China believes the two countries need each other, and as Trump is a businessman he understands that, the People’s Daily’s wrote last month. ”The importance of the . S. relationship goes without saying, and can be said to be too big to fail,” the communist party mouthpiece wrote in a commentary. China also expects a transactional relationship with the Trump, especially on trade, even if for Beijing Taiwan is completely off limits for negotiation. ”Trump is a businessman. He wants a deal,” a source with ties to the Chinese leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity. ”He wants the biggest benefit at the smallest cost.” On the campaign trail, Trump threatened punitive tariffs on China, and has recently repeated his criticism of Chinese trade policy, dovetailing with his Taiwan comments. ”This is provocation, but war is unlikely,” a second Chinese source with leadership ties said of Trump’s Taiwan moves. ”The Chinese side will not easily yield,” the source said. ”We expect tensions.” TRADE INTERESTS Wang Huiyao, head of the Centre for China and Globalisation and a government adviser, said China should invite the United States to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. ”He will pursue U. S. interests and to do so he cannot ignore the huge benefits that come from . S. trade relations,” Wang said. The Asian diplomat said some Chinese officials had expressed ”euphoria” at Trump’s election, believing it marked the end of U. S. dominance in the world and represented China’s chance to seized the initiative. But Trump’s unexpected move to put the Taiwan issue center stage in relations with China had put an end to that. ”They’re not as happy now,” he said. To be sure, there are voices in China seeing opportunity in a Trump presidency. Huo Jianguo, former head a trade policy body under China’s Commerce Ministry, said Trump is likely to reduce the United States’ engagement with the world, presenting an opening for China. ”Under Obama, . S. relations had already deteriorated to their worst possible level. Trump will not continue to ratchet up what were clearly ideological attempts to suppress China,” Huo said. ”China should not seek to immediately take the lead in global governance. They should first lead RCEP to become successful, then from here China’s global influence can take root,” Huo said, referring to a Southeast free trade deal China has championed. Even the Global Times, an influential and normally stridently nationalistic tabloid, has sought to temper expectations on how China could use a Trump presidency to its advantage. ”China still cannot match the U. S. in terms of comprehensive strength,” it said in an editorial. ”It has no ability to lead the world in an overall way, plus, neither the world nor China is psychologically ready for it. It’s beyond imagination to think that China could replace the U. S. to lead the world.” (Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Lincoln Feast) QAMISHLI, The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Wednesday that Turkish military deployments near areas of northwestern Syria amounted to a ”declaration of war” which could trigger clashes within days. CARACAS government supporters burst into Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, witnesses said, attacking and besieging lawmakers in the latest of violence during a political crisis.

U.S. retail sales, industrial output data point to slowing growth

U. S. retail sales barely rose in November and industrial production recorded its biggest drop in eight months, suggesting some loss of momentum in economic growth in the fourth quarter. The weak retail sales and industrial output readings reported on Wednesday, however, were unlikely to deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates later in the day, against the backdrop of steadily rising inflation and a tightening labor market. The rate hike expectations were reinforced by other data showing producer prices notching their largest increase in five months in November amid a jump in the cost of services. The moderation in retail sales came after two straight months of strong gains. With incomes rising and household wealth at record highs, the in retail sales is likely to be temporary. ”Consumer spending remains the main engine of growth for the economy,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U. S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York. ”Solid employment growth and accelerating wage gains will continue to support household spending, a dynamic that should allow the Fed to raise rates today and encourage them to signal a couple of rate hikes next year.” Retail sales edged up 0. 1 percent last month as households cut back on motor vehicle purchases after rising 0. 6 percent in October, the Commerce Department said. Sales were up 3. 8 percent from a year ago. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales also nudged up 0. 1 percent last month after gaining 0. 6 percent in October. These core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists had forecast overall retail sales increasing 0. 3 percent and core sales also gaining 0. 3 percent last month. In another report, the Fed said industrial production fell 0. 4 percent last month, pulled down by a 4. 4 percent drop in utilities output as temperatures cut demand for heating. The drop in industrial production was the largest since March. Manufacturing production slipped 0. 1 percent, held back by a 2. 3 percent drop in motor vehicle output. Excluding autos, manufacturing output rose 0. 2 percent. Mining production surged 1. 1 percent amid rising oil and gas well drilling as the drag from last year’s collapse in oil prices fades. Nevertheless, the soft retail sales and industrial production, together with a another report from the Commerce Department showing business inventories recording their biggest drop in 11 months in October, implied the economy was slowing in the fourth quarter after growing at a brisk 3. 2 percent annualized rate in the period. The Atlanta Fed trimmed its GDP growth estimate by of a percentage to a 2. 4 percent rate after the data. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies on expectations that the Fed would take a cautious stance on future rate hikes. Prices for U. S. government bonds rose, while stocks on Wall Street were trading lower. The U. S. central bank hiked its overnight benchmark interest rate last December for the first time in nearly a decade. INFLATION PERKING UP A third report from the Labor Department showed its producer price index for final demand increased 0. 4 percent last month, the largest gain since June, after being unchanged in October. In the 12 months through November, the PPI rose 1. 3 percent, the biggest gain in two years. The PPI rose 0. 8 percent in the 12 months through October. A 0. 5 percent increase in the cost of services accounted for more than 80 percent of the rise in the final demand PPI last month. The increase, which followed a 0. 3 percent decline in October, was the largest since January. With producer prices pushing higher, overall inflation is expected to steadily move toward the Fed’s 2 percent target. ”The prospects of strengthening demand point to upward inflation pressures in 2017,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last month’s weak retail sales figures came despite consumer confidence rising to cycle highs, leaving some economists to expect that the numbers would revised higher when the government releases December’s report in January. Sales at clothing stores were flat last month. Department stores like Macy’s ( ) and Kohl’s ( ) are facing intense competition from online retailers such as Amazon ( ) which have snatched a large chunk of the market share. But online retail sales rose marginally last month. There were solid gains in sales at furniture, food and beverage, as well as building material stores. Americans also spent more at restaurants and bars last month. ”We are a bit skeptical of this morning’s numbers,” said Michelle Girard, chief economist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut. ”Given anecdotal evidence and the rise in consumer confidence, we suspect the November figures could get revised higher or will be followed by a much improved performance.” (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Chizu Nomiyama) SINGAPORE Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of U. S. interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier. WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday.

Ex-CIA chief says Trump risks blame for an attack if he skips briefings

Former CIA director Leon Panetta said on Wednesday that Donald Trump risked being blamed after any potential attack on the United States if he refused to receive more regular intelligence briefings. U. S. officials told Reuters that Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week far fewer than most of his recent predecessors but that his deputy Mike Pence gets briefings around six days a week. Panetta, a former Democratic Congressman who served as CIA director and defense secretary in President Barack Obama’s first term, told the Arab Strategy Forum, a conference sponsored by the government of Dubai, that Trump’s aversion ”can’t last.” ”I’ve seen presidents who have asked questions about whether that intelligence is verifiable, what are the sources for that intelligence, but I have never seen a president who said, ’I don’t want that stuff,’” Panetta said. ”If we endure another attack and the intelligence officials had indications or information regarding that attack and the president did not want to listen to that, for whatever reason, the responsibility for that attack would fall on the president.” In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump said he found the intelligence briefings repetitive and that he already understood potential threats. ”You know, I’m a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same things in the same words every single day for the next eight years,” Trump said. Panetta said Trump should heed the view of U. S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the presidential election through cyberattacks. ”When it comes to Russian interference in our last campaign, 17 intelligence agencies agree that Russia is involved in that effort. I think the President would do well to say we ought to find out what Russia’s role was, we ought to investigate it and ensure that it never happens again.” The CIA reportedly believes Russian hacking was aimed at boosting Trump’s candidacy an assessment not shared by the FBI, which along with other U. S. agencies has concluded that Russian cyberattacks sought generally to undermine the election. Trump called the CIA assessment ”ridiculous” and Russia has denied meddling in the election. (Reporting by Noah Browning, editing by Sami Aboudi and Mark Trevelyan) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Trump’s Washington hotel a conflict of interest: Democratic lawmakers

U. S. Donald Trump must divest his luxury Washington hotel in a building leased from the federal government because the arrangement violates rules, congressional Democrats said on Wednesday. The General Services Administration, which manages property owned by the federal government, including the Old Post Office housing the Trump International Hotel, has said the lease would violate federal rules once the Republican businessman is sworn in on Jan. 20, according to a letter to the agency from lawmakers. The letter referred to a Dec. 8 briefing to congressional staffers by a GSA official whom the letter did not name. ”The Deputy Commissioner made clear that Mr. Trump must divest himself not only of managerial control, but of all ownership interest as well,” Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland and three other Democrats said in the letter, which was made public on Wednesday. The hotel is a few blocks from the White House and has become a rallying point for protesters since it opened in September. It is among businesses that could create unprecedented conflicts of interest for Trump, a New York real estate developer and former reality TV star. Trump’s company has not responded to the GSA’s concerns about the potential conflict, the Democratic lawmakers said. They asked the agency for documents about the lease, profit and expense projections and legal memos about the conflict of interest. The hotel lease includes a standard GSA provision barring members of Congress or other elected federal officials such as the president from having any part of it. Trump has said he will draw up documents that will remove him from business operations. He had planned a Thursday news conference to disclose details, but put that announcement off until next month. Trump will address the hotel issue in January, spokesman Jason Miller told reporters. In response to the Democrats’ letter, the GSA said in a statement it could not speak definitively about divestment until Trump’s financial arrangements were completed and he had become president. The agency added, ”To do so now would be premature.” Later on Wednesday, Cummings said Democrats still stood ”100 percent behind” the letter, saying GSA informed their staff of the lease issue. Federal law does not prohibit the president’s involvement in private business while in office, even though lawmakers and executive branch officials are subject to rules. But most presidents in recent decades have placed their personal assets in blind trusts so they do not know how their decisions influence their personal fortunes. Trump has said he plans to avoid the conflict issue by transferring control of his businesses to his oldest three children. But the U. S. Office of Government Ethics said in a letter to Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware on Monday that such a transfer would not qualify legally as a blind trust nor eliminate conflicts of interest. (Reporting by Ian Simpson and Emily Stephenson; editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis) MEXICO CITY A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. NEW YORK The U. S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program.

Trump meets Silicon Valley elite after mutual mistrust in campaign

Donald Trump and some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful executives met at his Manhattan tower on Wednesday, a summit convened to smooth over frictions after both sides made no secret of their disdain for each other during the election campaign. The meeting focused chiefly on economic issues, including job creation, lowering taxes and trade dynamics with China, while largely skirting the many disagreements the tech industry has with Trump on matters ranging from immigration to digital privacy, according to a Trump transition team statement. Trump proposed reconvening with the tech leaders as often as every quarter, the statement said. Three of Trump’s adult children, Donald Jr. Eric and Ivanka, sat at the head of a large rectangular table as the meeting began in a conference room on the 25th floor of Trump Tower. Their attendance may fuel further concern about potential conflicts of interests for Trump, who has said he would hand over control of his business empire to his children while he occupies the White House. Vice Mike Pence was also there. Guests sat in front of paper name plates and bottles of water sporting the Trump brand logo. The meeting between tech luminaries, including Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, Facebook Inc’s Sheryl Sandberg and Tesla Motors Inc’s Elon Musk, took place as Trump has alarmed some U. S. corporations with his rhetoric challenging policy toward China, a main market for Silicon Valley. A senior Chinese state planning official told the China Daily newspaper Wednesday that Beijing could slap a penalty on a U. S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, a warning delivered days after Trump questioned acknowledging Taiwan as part of ”one China.” The official did not identify the automaker. ”There’s nobody like the people in this room, and anything we can do to help this go along we’re going to do that for you,” Trump told the executives in the presence of reporters. ”You call my people, you call me, it doesn’t make any difference. We have no formal chain of command.” Trump added: ”We’re going to make fair trade deals. We’re going to make it a lot easier for you to trade across borders.” Other participants included Alphabet Inc’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Amazon. com’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Corp’s Satya Nadella, and Ginni Rometty from IBM. Twitter was not invited to the meeting because it was too small, a transition spokesman told Reuters. Cook and Musk joined Trump for separate meetings after the other technology executives leave, according to a spokesman for Trump’s transition team. Bezos said in a statement the meeting was ”very productive” and that he ”shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing .” ’SOME HESITATION’ Trump clashed with Silicon Valley on several issues during the election campaign, including immigration, government surveillance and encryption, and his surprise victory last month alarmed many companies that feared he might follow through on his pledges. He has said that many tech companies are overvalued by investors. ”You look at some of these tech stocks that are so, so weak as a concept and a company and they’re selling for so much money,” he told Reuters in an interview in May. Those concerns have not been assuaged in recent weeks as Trump has threatened to upset trade relationships with China and appoint officials who favor expanded surveillance programs. ”For some of the companies, there was some hesitation about whether to attend” because of sharp political and personal differences with Trump, one tech industry source said. More than 700 employees of technology companies pledged in an open letter on Tuesday to refuse to help Trump’s administration build a data registry to track people based on their religion or assist in mass deportations. Silicon Valley enjoyed a warm rapport with President Barack Obama and heavily supported Democrat Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign. Alphabet’s Schmidt was photographed on election night at Clinton headquarters wearing a staff badge, and Musk said in interviews before the election that Trump’s character reflected poorly on the United States. Despite those tensions, Trump named Musk to a business advisory council that will give input to Trump after he takes office on Jan. 20. The CEOs of Airbnb and Uber were invited but did not attend Wednesday’s gathering. Uber’s Travis Kalanick, traveling in India all week according to a person familiar with his plans, was also appointed to the council. From the employees of the 10 largest Fortune 500 tech companies, Trump raised just $179, 400 from 982 campaign donors who contributed more than $200. Clinton raised $4. 4 million from the employees of the same companies, with more than 20, 400 donations, a Reuters review of contribution data found. Trump publicly bashed the industry during the campaign. He urged his supporters to boycott Apple products over the company’s refusal to help the FBI unlock an iPhone associated with last year’s San Bernardino, California, shootings, threatened antitrust action against Amazon and demanded that tech companies build their products in the United States. Trump has also been an opponent of the Obama administration’s ”net neutrality” rules barring internet service providers from obstructing or slowing consumer access to web content. Two advisers to his Federal Communications Commission transition team are opponents of the rules, as are the two Republicans on the FCC. Last week, the two Republicans on the panel urged a quick reversal of many Obama policies and one, Commissioner Ajit Pai, said he believed that net neutrality’s ”days are numbered.” (Additional reporting by David Shepardson, Andy Sullivan, Grant Smith, Heather Somerville, Steve Holland, Jim Finkle and Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Alistair Bell and Grant McCool) NEW YORK John McAfee, the creator of eponymous antivirus computer software, has settled a lawsuit against Intel Corp over his right to use his name on other projects after the chipmaker bought his former company. YORK A startup has joined up with Mastercard Inc to launch a payment card that allows users to retroactively choose a different credit or debit card for a purchase they have already made, in what they called ”financial time travel”.

Tillerson to hand over reins to Exxon’s president Woods

Tillerson, 64, will retire at the end of the year and Woods, 51, will take over effective Jan. 1, Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said. Woods, who was named president and elected to the board in January 2015, was widely expected to become the top executive after Tillerson’s retirement next year, when he turns 65, the mandatory retirement age for the company. Tillerson’s nomination as secretary of state speeds up his retirement timeline due to ”the significant requirements associated with the confirmation process,” Exxon said in a statement. Woods joined Exxon in 1992 and has held various senior positions at the company. Unlike Tillerson, who rose through the ranks in exploration and production, Woods’ background is in the company’s chemicals and refining businesses. He was elected as president of Exxon Mobil Refining & Supply in 2012. The appointment of a veteran to run the company is not likely to shake up Exxon’s strategy which has always emphasized planning. The appointment also provides continuity at a time when oil companies are emerging from a year rout in oil prices that saw profits and capital spending slashed. ”Broadly speaking, Exxon’s strategy is pretty well locked in,” said Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst with Raymond James & Associates in Houston. ”It would have been locked in no matter who was CEO.” Some of the biggest challenges Woods will face is coping with low crude prices, and geopolitics, including U. S. sanctions against Russia, where Exxon has a joint venture with state oil firm Rosneft, said Fadel Gheit, Managing Director and Senior Energy Strategist with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ”Just because Darren Woods came from refining and chemicals doesn’t mean that he’s not familiar with the rest of the company’s business,” said Gheit. Trump formally named Tillerson on Tuesday as his nominee to serve as secretary of state. He could face a rocky confirmation process, given concerns among both Democrats and Republicans about his ties to Russia. With Tillerson’s retirement, Exxon’s board will have 12 directors. Tillerson earned about $24. 3 million in 2016. He has a net worth of $150 million, plus a $70 million pension plan. Exxon’s shares were down about 1. 7 percent at $91, in line with the broader energy sector, which fell due to lower crude oil prices. (Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bengaluru and Liz Hampton in Houston; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Alistair Bell) WASHINGTON Federal Reserve policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate rises, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting on June released on Wednesday. One of the investors former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is accused of defrauding testified on Wednesday that Shkreli lied to him repeatedly, although he eventually made millions of dollars from the investment.