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Syrian army announces victory in Aleppo in boost for Assad

The Syrian army said it had retaken complete control of Aleppo on Thursday after the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the battered city, handing President Bashar his biggest victory of the nearly war. The military said it had brought ”the return of safety and security to the city of Aleppo” ending four years of rebel resistance in the northern Syrian city. ”This victory constitutes an important turning point,” an army statement said. The recapture of Aleppo is Assad’s most important gain so far in a war that has claimed 300, 000 lives. But the fighting is not over with large parts of the country still controlled by insurgent and Islamist groups. Assad said retaking Aleppo was a victory shared with his Russian and Iranian allies. Russia’s air force conducted hundreds of raids that pulverized parts of Aleppo. militias, led by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, poured thousands of fighters into the city. In the western part of the city, controlled by the government throughout the war, there was celebratory gunfire, fireworks and street parties on Thursday night, witnesses said. Crowds sang, danced and waved flags and pictures of Assad, chanting slogans praising the army and the president. The last group of rebels and their families holed up in a small eastern enclave of Aleppo were evacuated under a deal that gave the army and its allies full control of the city, Syrian state television said. At least 34, 000 people, both civilians and fighters, have been evacuated from east Aleppo in a operation hampered by severe winter weather, according to the United Nations, which estimates that thousands more remain behind. ”The process for evacuation was traumatic, with crowding, and vulnerable people waiting for hours and exposed to temperatures,” U. N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. Remaining civilians must be allowed to leave safely if they choose to do so, he said. The last evacuees left a tiny pocket that was all that remained of a rebel sector that once covered nearly half the city before being besieged in the summer and hit by intense air strikes that reduced much of it to rubble. As the months of bombardment wore on, rescue and health services collapsed and casualties mounted. FINAL PHASE The final phase of the evacuation ended when a convoy carrying nearly 150 people, including fighters and members of their families, departed toward areas outside the city, state television said. State media showed a convoy crossing from the Ramousah highway junction in south Aleppo to in the countryside just southwest of the city. ”A short while ago, the last group from Aleppo arrived in the western countryside,” said a spokesman for the Ahrar rebel group. In parallel, two buses carrying people from the villages of and Kefraya, besieged by rebels in Idlib province, arrived in Aleppo. A total of 900 people were transferred from the villages to parts of Aleppo during the evacuation process, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war. Government forces had insisted the two villages must be included in the deal to bring people out of Aleppo. Under a deal brokered by Turkey and Russia, convoys of buses and cars have shuttled thousands of civilians and fighters out of Aleppo’s last pocket toward opposition areas outside the city since late last week. ”It’s done. The evacuation process has ended and the last bus has come out,” said Ahmad a medical aid worker heading a team evacuating patients from Aleppo. The U. S. State Department said it did not dispute the Syrian army’s statement that it had taken control of all of Aleppo. But State Department spokesman John Kirby added, ”They are also responsible for the devastation and the havoc, and the starvation and atrocities they caused in the taking of Aleppo.” The United States has been absent from negotiations that culminated in a ceasefire deal in Aleppo and watched from the sidelines as Assad and his allies, including Russia, mounted an assault against the rebels in east Aleppo. ’THE NEXT ALEPPO’ The arrival of thousands of refugees from Aleppo in Idlib aroused fears that the city in northwestern Syria could be next. Assad has said the war is far from over and his armed forces would march on other rebel areas. ”Many of them have gone to Idlib, which could be in theory the next Aleppo,” U. N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said in Geneva. He said a cessation of hostilities across Syria was vital if another battle like the bloody struggle for Aleppo was to be avoided. In comments after meeting a senior Iranian delegation, Assad said his battlefield successes were a ”basic step on the road to ending terrorism in the whole of Syria and creating the right circumstances for a solution to end the war”. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian air strikes in Syria had killed 35, 000 rebel fighters and halted a chain of revolutions in the Middle East. (Reporting by Suleiman in Amman, Peter Hobson in Moscow, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michelle Nichols in New York, Lesley Wroughton in Washington and Ellen Francis in Beirut, writing by Peter Millership and Giles Elgood) 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.

Australia makes arrests over ’imminent threat’ of Christmas Day attacks

Australian police said on Friday they had foiled a plot to attack prominent sites in the city of Melbourne with a series of bombs on Christmas Day that authorities described as ”an imminent terrorist event” inspired by Islamic State. Police laid terrorism charges against three men, with a fourth in detention who could face charges, after authorities conducted overnight raids on homes in the suburbs of Australia’s city. The three have been charged with planning a terrorist attack and have been remanded to appear in court on April 28, the Australian Federal Police said in a statement. Six men and a woman, all Australian citizens in their 20s, were arrested during the security operation, Kastelholm, conducted by about 400 police and members of the domestic spy agency. ”This is a significant disruption of what we would describe as an imminent terrorist event in Melbourne,” Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colin told reporters in Sydney. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters the planned attack was an ”Islamist terrorist plot” and ”one of the most substantial terrorist plots that have been disrupted over the last several years”. The plot targeted locations in Melbourne, including Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and St Paul’s Cathedral ”possibly on Christmas Day” acting Victorian police commissioner Graham Ash ton said. It was inspired by the Islamic State militant group and the suspects had been under close surveillance for two weeks, he said. One of the suspected planners in custody was an Australian and the others were all of Lebanese descent, Ashton told reporters. He said the threat had been ”removed . .. in its entirety” however security in Melbourne was boosted on Friday. Extra police would be on patrol on Christmas Day and at an annual Boxing Day cricket test, which attracts tens of thousands of fans every year, in Melbourne. Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freer told reporters that services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would go ahead ”unaffected by these things”. Two of those arrested, including the woman, were released without charge, police said earlier. Police in Australia are able to hold terror suspects without charge for four hours but they can also apply to a court to detain them without charge for as long as two weeks. Few details were released about what evidence police collected during the raids in suburbs in Melbourne’s northwest but Ashton said the attacks would likely have involved explosives and either guns or knives. Australia, a staunch U. S. ally which sent troops to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been on heightened alert for attacks by radicals since 2014. Authorities have said they have thwarted a number of plots, particularly involving radicalize teenagers, in recent years. There have also been several ”lone wolf” assaults, including a 2014 cafe siege in Sydney in which two hostages and a gunman were killed, and the killing of a police accountant in 2015. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook; additional reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Paul Tait) 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.

Volkswagen reaches deal with 80,000 U.S. 3.0-liter vehicle owners

A federal judge said on Thursday that Volkswagen AG ( ) has reached an agreement in principle to provide ”substantial compensation” to the owners of about 80, 000 3. polluting diesel vehicles, a key hurdle to resolve the German automaker’s emissions scandal. U. S. District Judge Charles Breyer did not disclose the amount of owner compensation, which is not included in a $1 billion settlement announced earlier this week between VW and U. S. regulators. Half of the compensation will be paid at the time Breyer gives final approval of the settlement. Some fixes for the 3. 0 liters may not approved until 2018, Breyer said. Earlier this week, Volkswagen reached the $1 billion settlement with U. S. regulators, offering to buy back about 20, 000 of the vehicles, fix the remaining 60, 000 and pay $225 million into an environmental trust fund to offset the vehicles’ excess emissions. The settlement covered luxury VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles with 3. engines. With the agreement, Volkswagen would spend as much as $17. 5 billion in the United States to resolve claims from owners as well as federal and state regulators over polluting diesel vehicles in addition to compensation for the 3. owners. Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the automaker was pleased with the agreement in principle, but said details will remain confidential for now. Breyer said the final agreement must be filed with the court by Jan. 31, and he expects to hold a Feb. 14 hearing to approve the deal. The U. S. Federal Trade Commission is also expected to back the deal, Breyer said. Volkswagen, the world’s No. 2 automaker, could still spend billions of dollars more to resolve a U. S. Justice Department criminal investigation and federal and state environmental claims and come under oversight by a federal monitor. It is possible a deal could be reached before the end of the Obama administration, said sources briefed on the matter. Breyer in October approved VW’s earlier settlement worth about $15 billion with regulators and the U. S. owners of 475, 000 polluting diesel vehicles with smaller 2. engines, including an offer to buy back all of the cars. VW lawyer Robert Giuffra said Thursday the automaker has offered buybacks to nearly 200, 000 customers and 104, 000 have accepted the offer at a value of nearly $2 billion. VW had agreed to pay $5, 100 to $10, 000 in compensation to each of the U. S. 2. owners. If the new settlement follows the pattern, it could add $400 million to $800 million to the 3. settlement. But funds from a separate settlement with German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG. UL] are expected to defray VW’s compensation costs. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) 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.

Dollar little changed in light, pre-Christmas trade

The dollar held steady on Friday in a tight trading range, as traders moved to the sidelines ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend, leaving the greenback about half a percent below a peak set earlier this week. The dollar will likely resume its recent rally when the new year begins. It has gained 5 percent against a basket of currencies since Donald Trump’s U. S. presidential victory on Nov. 8. ”No one wants to take additional risk between now and the end of the year. They don’t want to jeopardize those gains,” said Stan Shipley, strategist at Evercore ISI in New York. Traders brushed off upbeat data on U. S. new home sales and consumer sentiment, which reinforced views that the world’s biggest economy is expanding at a steady clip. Bets that Trump’s economic policies would promote faster U. S. growth and inflation have fed appetite for the dollar, stocks and corporate bonds, while stoking selling in traditional safe havens the yen, gold and U. S. Treasuries. The Federal Reserve’s hint that it might raise U. S. interest rates at a faster pace in 2017, along with the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan’s maintaining their policy stance, has also bolstered the dollar in recent days. The dollar index . DXY was marginally softer at 103. 04 after trading in a 0. 34 point range, and not far from the peak of 103. 65 reached on Tuesday. The euro was steady after the Italian government approved a rescue package for Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( ) after the world’s oldest bank failed to raise needed capital from investors. Worries about the European bank sector also diminished after Credit Suisse ( ) and Deutsche Bank DBNKGn. DE agreed to settle with the U. S. Department of Justice over claims they misled investors when selling securities. [nL5N1EI1PL] The euro was up 0. 1 percent at $1. 0446 holding above a nearly low of $1. 0350 set earlier in the week. With Japan markets closed for a holiday, the yen edged up 0. 1 percent against the euro EURJPY= at 122. 45 yen and up 0. 2 percent versus the dollar at 117. 26 yen. ”For the yen, there’s a bit of consolidation after its recent weakening,” said Paul Christopher, head global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. The yen recovered somewhat after hitting a low against the dollar this week, helped by lower U. S. yields and bids stemming from the attacks in Ankara and Berlin, analysts said. The benchmark U. S. Treasury yield US10YT=RR was down 1 basis point from Thursday, at 2. 543 percent. (Additional reporting by Patrick Graham in London; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Leslie Adler) 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.

Moon rising? South Korea presidential hopeful quietly takes stage

As hundreds of thousands of South Koreans poured into the streets every weekend for two months to call for President Park to resign, the opposition’s leading contender to replace her appeared reluctant to seize the moment. That is changing as Moon a human rights lawyer who lost the 2012 election to Park by more than a million votes, has in recent days taken a higher public profile as he seeks to lead the liberal Democratic Party into the next election and end eight years of conservative rule. Like many on the left, he calls for sweeping reform of the chaebol the big conglomerates that dominate the economy and have been at the heart of the current political crisis calling them a ”source of unfairness” in South Korea. He promises to move the presidential office into a government building and turn the Blue House, where Park remains while a court decides her fate after she was impeached by parliament, into a public museum. He has also said that, if elected, he would visit rival North Korea before making a trip to South Korea’s main ally, the United States. Just two summits have been held since the Korean war that divided the peninsula. ”The people who are angry in Korea want regime change, and the most realistic option and most probable person to do that is Moon ” Yang a close aide to Moon, told Reuters. Moon had led opinion polls in recent weeks, although a survey released on Thursday by Realmeter showed he had fallen just behind United Nations Ban by 23. 1 percent to 22. 2 percent. Ban has yet to declare his candidacy or party affiliation, but has been expected to join a conservative grouping. Moon’s popularity among liberals stems from his time as chief of staff to South Korea’s last liberal president, Roh a figure revered by the left for his experimental and politics that sought chaebol reform. ”Moon is a symbol of that experiment,” said Yang. But Roh, derided by conservatives for his pursuit of engagement with North Korea that they say failed to change Pyongyang’s behavior, could also be Moon’s undoing, especially among South Korea’s elderly. The majority of people aged over 60, most of whom are conservative, have turned out to vote in the last three presidential elections, according to National Election Commission data. In 2012, 85. 9 percent of voted. By contrast, the voting group is people in their 20s or 30s, many of whom took to the streets for the first time during recent protests in Seoul. At the last election their turnout levels were below 65 percent. That was high, by recent standards, for the demographic, but Moon will need to convince an even bigger share of them to turn out and vote for him in the upcoming election, which is no sure thing. ”He has a tendency to make ambiguous comments and be of crossing lines,” said Moon a student activist at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. ”He wasn’t in the frontlines at the early stages of the protests.” The Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold parliament’s Dec. 9 motion to impeach Park, which could take up to 180 days and, if successful, trigger an election two months later. SWEET POTATO Moon’s parents fled North Korea during the Korean War and resettled in Busan, at the south of the peninsula, where Moon grew up in a shanty town. He was jailed in 1975 for protesting against the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee, President Park’s father, whose rule lasted 18 years. After leaving mandatory military service, where he served in the special forces, Moon became a lawyer. As leader of the opposition last year, Moon adopted a more centrist stance to win over skeptics. But just 8 percent of those polled at the time said they thought Moon’s party was best on economic issues, compared with 44 percent for the ruling Saenuri Party. ”To win undecided voters, Moon needs to address security, diplomacy and unification, where many are distrustful of him,” said Lee a politics professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. Moon came under fire earlier this year for revelations in a former foreign minister’s memoir that he had backed a motion to abstain from a United Nations vote against North Korea’s human rights record. While Moon leads the race to represent his party in the election, new stars have risen. One is Lee the mayor of Seongnam, just south of Seoul, who has gone from rank outsider to third place in polls, riding the crisis with populist speeches. By contrast, Moon’s caution and deliberate speaking style has earned him the nickname ”sweet potato” slow to cook, slow to eat, and a little difficult to swallow. Lee, meanwhile, has been dubbed ”soda” for his refreshing new take on politics. In a recent radio interview, Moon said the Seongnam mayor was indeed like soda refreshing but, unlike his own nickname, lacking substance. (Additional reporting by Yun Hwan Chae; Editing by Tony Munroe 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.

Limited room for China to tighten policy as debt fear grows

China’s leadership is signaling growth will slow slightly in 2017, policy advisers say, as it struggles to strike a balance between supporting the economy with loose credit conditions and preventing a destabilizing in debt. That means the interest rate easing cycle that began in November 2014 and saw six cuts by October 2015 is probably over, they say, particularly as investors are drawn to higher U. S. interest rates and move money out of emerging markets including China. China’s economic growth is likely to be around 6. 5 percent next year, several sources said, the minimum needed until 2020 to meet goals of doubling GDP and per capita income from 2010 levels. This year’s target is growth of 6. 5 to 7 percent. The challenge is how to tighten credit to contain debt, speculative investment and outflows without triggering defaults and company failures, said the sources, who are involved in internal policy discussions and offer advice to policymakers but are not part of the final process. ”Policy cannot be too loose, but the room for policy tightening is not big. They need to support growth while pushing for deleveraging and preventing bubbles. This is a difficult balance,” said one of the sources. When top leaders met last week for their annual Central Economic Work Conference, the key pledges for 2017 were not about growth but dealing with asset bubbles and financial risks. And the characterization of monetary policy as ”prudent and neutral” a change from ”prudent” which had been used since 2011 through both tightening and easing cycles, could be significant. ”Policy could tilt towards slight tightening under the premise of ’prudent and neutral’ but conditions for raising interest rates are not ripe,” one source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) which has been guiding money market rates steadily higher, is unlikely to raise benchmark interest rates before consumer inflation reaches 3 percent, even though rising U. S. rates will narrow China’s yield differential, the advisers said. Consumer inflation quickened to an annual 2. 3 percent in November and producer prices jumped 3. 3 percent from a year earlier, easing deflation concerns after prices had fallen for five years. The yuan has fallen to lows this year and is not far from weakening through 7 per dollar, even as authorities have run down reserves by around $280 billion so far in 2016 to support the currency. It is expected to remain under pressure next year, given the outlook for interest rate increases by the U. S. Federal Reserve. That means the PBOC will remain reluctant to cut bank reserve requirement ratios (RRR) given that such a move could exacerbate pressures on the yuan, they said. And with monetary options limited, the advisers said leaders may look to running a fiscal deficit of 3 percent or higher to support the economy, similar to this year’s target. The economy is on track to grow around 6. 7 percent this year, the slowest in 26 years. The economic growth target for 2017 won’t be announced until early March next year, when they hold the annual parliament meeting. MODEST TIGHTENING Authorities could also tighten existing capital controls to limit outflows, the sources said, though draconian moves are unlikely because China still wants to push yuan internationalization. In recent months authorities have taken measures such as clamping down on illegal money transfers and increasing scrutiny on some outbound investment to try to stem outflows. The PBOC and the State Council Information Office, the government’s information arm, did not return requests for comment. Two big political events next year Donald Trump becoming U. S. President in January and China’s 19th Party Congress in the autumn mean there will be a premium on economic stability, the advisers said. In line with that, they think the government may set a growth target for broad money supply near 12 percent. That is a touch lower than this year’s 13 percent but still well above the economy’s growth rate, a sign that growth will not fall sharply. But it also means there are limits to how hard policymakers will act to tackle the debt problems. Corporate debt levels and property prices have soared this year due to rapid lending growth. China’s domestic product ratio was 250 percent at the end of 2015, according to the IMF, and with 11. 6 trillion yuan ($1. 67 trillion) in loans issued so far this year and on course to beat last year’s record 11. 72 trillion, the rate looks set to rise again in 2016. Outstanding loans, which excludes items including bonds and government borrowing, rose from 135 percent of GDP in 2014 to 145 percent last year, and looks set to surpass 150 percent of GDP in 2016, according to Reuters calculations, despite a key goal for the year being to reduce leverage. Jia Xiaojun, senior analyst at Industrial Securities, expects policymakers to start the year with an eye on controlling risks, but may need to loosen later in the year. ”(The government) won’t tighten things up too much, otherwise the economy could take a big hit from financial stress, which I don’t think they want,” Jia said. (Reporting by Kevin Yao and Elias Glenn; Editing by John Mair and Will Waterman) 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.

Monte dei Paschi says capital increase failed

Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( ) said on Thursday its plan to raise on the market 5 billion euros ($5. 2 billion) in capital by the end of the year had failed, paving the way for a state bailout of Italy’s bank. Political sources said new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is ready to call a cabinet meeting within hours to approve a decree authorizing the bank’s third bailout since 2009. Parliament on Wednesday had allowed the Rome government to borrow up to an extra 20 billion euros to prop up failing banks, starting with the Tuscan lender that for years has been at the forefront of Italy’s banking woes. ”The capital increase . .. was not successful,” the bank said after it managed to raise just 2 billion euros in capital from a conversion offer. Junior bondholders who had tendered their debt in the swap will receive it back. No fees will be paid to advisers JPMorgan ( ) and Mediobanca ( ) as well as other banks that unsuccessfully sought to place new shares in Monte dei Paschi and worked on a now collapsed bad loan sale. A share offer that ended on Thursday met with no demand partly due to rising political risks in Italy after a Dec. 4 referendum unseated the reformist government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. An Italian daily said the bailout plan could take two to three months, starting with a government guarantee of Monte dei Paschi’s own borrowings to ensure it does not run out of cash. The bank has been bleeding deposits heavily and on Wednesday it said its liquidity could run out after four months. Only days earlier it had estimated it would last for 11 months. Its failure would shake the foundations of Italy’s banking industry, the euro zone’s fourth largest and home to a third of the bloc’s bad debts. But also a state bailout carries risks due to EU rules that require private investors to suffer losses before taxpayer funds can be tapped, a politically explosive issue given 40, 000 retail investors hold bonds in Monte dei Paschi. The world’s oldest bank, worth just 440 million euros after losing 90 percent of its market value this year, has been laid low by acquisitions and mismanagement. It is saddled with the largest proportion of bad debts among Italian lenders compared to its capital. After burning through 8 billion euros of capital raised in it needed more money to cover losses from a planned 27 billion euro bad loan sale demanded by the European Central Bank. The plan engineered by JPMorgan hinged on a 1 billion euro investment by Qatar’s investment authority. Confirming an earlier Reuters report, the bank said late on Wednesday it had failed to secure an anchor investor and this had discouraged other potential buyers. For the state to step in, Monte dei Paschi needs to force at least some of its creditors to convert their bonds into equity. Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has said the impact on retail savers would be ”absolutely minimized or inexistent.” Ordinary Italians have already suffered billions of euros of losses due to a string of bank crises after a harsh recession weakened the country’s lenders exposing the damages wrecked by crony lending and inefficient management. Other banks also need to strengthen their balance sheets, including Banca Popolare Di Vicenza, Veneto Banca and Banca Carige. If the government uses all the 20 billion euros it is authorized to spend on the banking sector, it will worsen the country’s already difficult debt position. Italy’s debt stands at some 133 percent of gross domestic product second only to Greece in the euro zone. A further 20 billion euro of debt will push the ratio above 134 percent. ($1 = 0. 9544 euros) (Writing by Mark Bendeich and Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir and Alexandra Hudson) 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.

U.S. sues Barclays, ex-executives for mortgage securities fraud

The U. S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Barclays Plc ( ) and two former executives on civil charges of fraud in the sale of securities during the to the financial crisis. The lawsuit was filed after Barclays resisted a penalty the U. S. government had sought in settlement negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said. The person would not disclose the government’s demand. Major U. S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co ( ) and Bank of America Corp ( ) have paid tens of millions of dollars to settle similar claims over misconduct in the sale and pooling of mortgage securities, which helped to cause the financial crisis. Barclays was among a handful of European banks still under investigation by the Justice Department, according to company disclosures. Deutsche Bank ( ) and Credit Suisse ( ) are also in settlement talks, sources have said. Barclays is accused of deceiving investors about the quality of loans underlying tens of billions of dollars of securities between 2005 and 2007, according to the lawsuit filed in U. S. District Court in Brooklyn. Loans had been made to borrowers with no ability to repay and were based on inflated home appraisals, the complaint said. According to the lawsuit, more than half the underlying loans in $31 billion worth of mortgage loans pooled into 36 deals defaulted. ”With this filing, we are sending a clear message that the Department of Justice will not tolerate the defrauding of investors and the American people,” U. S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. In a separate statement, Barclays said the claims in the lawsuit are ”disconnected from the facts” and that it has an obligation to defend against ”unreasonable allegations and demands.” A Justice Department spokesman would not comment on negotiations or the penalty sought during talks. The lawsuit does not include a penalty amount. A Barclays spokesman would not comment on negotiations beyond the statement. The bank’s U. S. shares ( ) ended down 1. 8 percent at $11. 07 in regular trading on Thursday. LOOKING AHEAD Barclays has set aside $3. 1 billion to generally cover litigation and penalties, but has not made a specific provision for the mortgage probe. A settlement in excess of $1. 5 billion would lead to increased provisions and could impact the bank’s core capital ratio, JPMorgan analysts have said. In addition to Barclays and its affiliated companies, the complaint targets two former executives: John T. Carroll and Paul Menefee, both former managing directors at Barclays Capital units. Carroll, Barclays’ head subprime trader in the to the housing crisis, and Menefee, the banker in charge of due diligence on the subprime deals, were central to the alleged scheme, the complaint said, and stand accused of intentionally making false representations. When asked about 40 loans already delinquent before a deal closed, for instance, Carroll told Menefee to ”just leave them in,” according to the lawsuit, and Menefee did. Menefee, who blamed the delinquent loans on fraud, then falsely represented to investors and credit ratings agencies that the deal did not contain such delinquent loans, the complaint said. Barry Berke, a lawyer for Menefee, 47, of Austin, Texas, called the complaint a ”misguided attempt” to blame his client and others for losses that resulted from the collapse of the U. S. housing market. A lawyer for Carroll, 49, of Port Washington, New York, did not return a call for comment. The complaint alleges violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) based on mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud as well as other misconduct. The statute allows for civil penalties up to the amount of Barclays’ gain, or the amount of losses suffered by others. The actions against the banks over mortgage securities stem from a 2012 initiative by U. S. President Barack Obama to pursue the misconduct that helped lead to the financial crisis. The Trump administration, which takes over on Jan. 20, will oversee any ongoing matters. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld, additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York and Lawrence White in London; editing by Cynthia Osterman and G Crosse) 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.

Icahn says EPA, bank regulations hamper U.S. economy: CNBC

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn targeted environmental and banking regulations on Thursday as big drags on U. S. corporate investment and said revamping them would be a top priority in his role as adviser to Donald Trump. Icahn, tapped by Trump on Wednesday as a special adviser for regulatory reform, also said in an interview on CNBC he was surprised at criticism that his vast business dealings would pose conflicts of interest with his advisory role. ”I honestly am sort of surprised that so much is being made of my being named to that,” Icahn said in the interview, in which he also voiced concern about U. S. stock market levels. He said he owns companies in every sector and has no specific duties outlined in his role for Trump. ”What I’m going to be doing is basically talk to Donald as I’ve talked before,” said Icahn, an early supporter of Trump’s presidential bid. Saying his business acumen qualified him for such a role in the new administration, Icahn rejected concern that his investments could pose conflicts of interest as ”almost a crazy issue.” Icahn refused to speculate on candidates he would recommend to lead the U. S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, but said the SEC chair should be able to hold U. S. corporate executives and their boards of directors accountable. He said overregulation has strangled corporate investment in the United States and that corporations see themselves as being ”at war” with the federal government. ”I do think it’s extremely important for this country that this absurd regulatory environment is toned down somewhat,” he told CNBC. ”I’m not against regulations at all. In fact I sort of believe that you need a rule of law. But it’s become literally absurd in many areas.” Immediate areas he would advise Trump to target would be banking regulations and Environmental Protection Agency regulations, specifically those on what he called ”obligated refineries.” ”Obligated parties” are refiners without operations dedicated to selling blended fuels to consumers. These ”merchant refiners” are required to blend biofuels like ethanol with gasoline or other petroleum products, or else meet those obligations by purchasing paper ”credits” called Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) in an opaque market. Icahn owns a major stake in one such refiner, CVR Energy Inc ( ) and its stock surged more than 10 percent on Thursday after Icahn’s appointment as a Trump adviser. Icahn in August called on the EPA to change the market for renewable fuel credits to favor smaller refiners like CVR, a position the Trump campaign later endorsed. In the CNBC interview, he dismissed suggestions that his ownership of companies that could benefit from the advice he offers Trump officials on revamping regulations is a conflict of interest. Icahn’s appointment also contributed to a continuing drop in biofuels credit prices on Thursday as well as shares of the companies that produce them. The credits for 2017 compliance for biodiesel fuel fell by around 7 percent while ethanol compliance credits for 2016 slid by as much as 10 percent from levels before Icahn’s position with the Trump team was announced on Wednesday. Shares of ethanol producers Pacific Ethanol Inc ( ) and Green Plains ( ) also slid, falling 3. 9 percent and 1. 4 percent, respectively. The New York investor also said he was surprised by how the stock market has run ahead so fast since Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory and was ”very wary” because of uncertainties. The benchmark S&P 500 has rallied more than 5 percent since the election, while some key sectors have surged far more. Bank stocks . SPXBK and shares for instance, are up 25 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in that period. Icahn said he was now more hedged against a stock market pullback than he was just a couple of weeks ago. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Dan Burns; Editing by Andrew Hay and James Dalgleish) 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.

Bathroom law battles loom in more states after North Carolina controversy

The storm over legislation seen as targeting transgender people is set to intensify in 2017 with several U. S. states proposing measures similar to a bathroom restriction statute in North Carolina that has prompted protests, lawsuits and economic boycotts. Four states have legislation limiting transgender bathroom rights that will be on the agenda when lawmakers convene next year, and Republican leaders in other states have said more such bills will be filed soon. North Carolina legislators, in a special session on Wednesday, had widely been expected to repeal their law, which requires people to use the bathroom of their birth gender, but the effort fell apart. Bathroom legislation has become a wedge issue for Republicans, pitting the party’s branch against social conservatives who have rallied around the measures and see them as protecting values, political scientists have said. ”A Republican may want to avoid it altogether,” Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston, said of the issue. ”They may know that it can bad for the state but they also know that voting against it can be bad for their political career.” A Republican worried about a primary election, where social conservative voters can be a decisive factor, might favor such legislation. A Republican in a general election, where moderates play a bigger role, knows the negative economic ramifications are too great to ignore, he said. Democrats have mostly been united in opposition to the legislation, which opponents see as discriminatory against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The four states where bathroom access bills have been filed are Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks legislation at the state level. BATHROOM BILL PRIORITY In Texas, the most populous state, Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Christian conservative who guides the legislative agenda in the state Senate, has said a bathroom bill will be a priority. ”Legislation like this is essential to protect the safety and privacy of women and girls and is simple common sense and common decency,” Patrick said in a statement on Thursday. In March, North Carolina’s law made it the first state to bar transgender people from using public restrooms that match their gender identity and put it at forefront in the U. S. battleground over LGBT rights. Fallout from the law hit the state’s economy and rankled its politics. In the nine months since it passed, the law has been blamed by opponents for hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses and the relocation of conventions and major sports events. While the total financial impact is unknown, some estimates suggest the state has lost more than $600 million due to the legislation, Forbes reported last month. Republican Governor Pat McCrory narrowly lost a bid in November, with many viewing the vote as a referendum on the law. A special legislative session called by McCrory to implement what appeared be a deal to repeal the law ended abruptly on Wednesday with the state Senate voting against abolishing the measure. Democratic Senator Jeff Jackson said Republicans had reneged on a deal to bring the repeal to a floor vote with no strings attached. North Carolina’s bathroom law has hurt the state’s efforts to sell itself as a progressive beacon in the U. S. South, said Karl Campbell, a historian at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Since the early 1990s, the state has spent heavily on schools and infrastructure and sought investment from business, he said. Now, its biggest city, Charlotte, is a U. S. banking hub and the state hosts many multinational companies. ”This has been a jolt and it’s beyond culture wars,” Campbell said. ”It has to do with the state’s image of itself. There really is a deep divide now.” (Reporting and writing by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by David Ingram in New York and Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Editing by Bill Trott) 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.

Commentary: Don’t fear the robots; they won’t kill jobs

the latest in the Star Wars franchise, has had mixed reviews but features one undisputed star: a gangly robot with . Movies of the distant future always tap into current anxieties — and the latest alarm is that the robots are coming. Droids may not conquer the world, but they will take over its work — as well as . Could these filmmakers know something we don’t? Previous scares, such as when reported on “ ” in the early 1960s, were just that. But many technology gurus insist that this time is different as artificial intelligence (AI) comes of age. Amazon has recently made its first commercial to a customer near Cambridge, England. It is also trying out a grocery store in Seattle that does away with the . Several American states now permit the operation and testing of “ . ” These applications of technology reflect extraordinary advances in AI. Cloud robotics liberate machines from a existence as they share data with one another. Machine intelligence is burgeoning as allows computers to form associations and to predict appropriate responses by processing huge volumes of data. As a result robots are poised to march off the assembly lines where they perform narrowly defined repetitive tasks and into the wider world of work. Innovations such as driverless vehicles and drones could displace swaths of jobs in transport and delivery. Administrative and support roles in offices are also up for grabs. A report from accountancy firm Deloitte in 2015 depicted multiple robots as “ — a processing center but without the human resources. ” As much as 47 percent of American employment is at high risk of being automated over the next 10 to 20 years, reckoned Oxford University’s in 2013. They subsequently worked out that 35 percent of British jobs were . Based on their figures, Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, has that up to 15 million British jobs could be automated — close to half the current total. But the new jobs panic is exaggerated and misplaced. For one thing, political and social caution may block some of the potential uses, such as cars. For another, many jobs will continue to require a blend of skills, flexibility and judgement that is difficult to automate. David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argues that such employment requires that cannot readily be codified. A study by researchers at the Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim, published this year by the OECD, disputed the gloomy prognostications of Frey and Osborne. It argued that their estimates overstated potential job losses by assuming that whole occupations would be displaced rather than specific tasks within them. That mattered because apparently highly vulnerable occupations such as bookkeeping and accountancy generally involve crucial social interactions. By examining tasks rather than occupations, the Mannheim research team found that only 9 percent of American jobs and 10 percent of British ones were especially . Most important, it is much easier to project the jobs that may be lost than to imagine the ones that will be created. In the 20th century agricultural employment dropped from 40 percent to 2 percent of the American workforce. Farsighted experts in 1900 might have predicted a collapse in farming jobs. But as Autor pointed out it would have been far harder to envisage the vast variety of new jobs such as radiologists and yoga instructors which kept employment more than rising in pace with the population. Two decades ago the dotcom boom was under way, but who even then could have foreseen the explosion in social media? Today’s tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and trendy parts of Berlin and London are full of young people such as designing smartphone apps that have only just sprung into existence. Beyond jobs that are the direct offspring of new technologies there are a host of ones that are indirectly generated through higher productivity. A more efficient food industry lets households spend less of their income on home cooking and more on eating out, creating jobs in restaurants. More generally, consumers can splash out more on a wide range of discretionary purchases, creating jobs for personal trainers and tour guides. Could the new jobs that will be created lag behind those that are destroyed? This seems unlikely. The progress in artificial intelligence is the latest stage in a much longer revolution in information technology, stretching back to mainframe computers after World War Two, spreading to personal computers in the 1980s and the internet in the 1990s. Yet throughout these successive waves of disruption employment has carried on rising. The real cause for concern is not about the number of jobs but their quality. Automation looks set to continue whittling away routine jobs while expanding those requiring both high and low skills. The only realistic answer to this increasing polarization is to redouble efforts to foster lifelong learning and to upgrade skills and expertise. The latest predictions of a world without workers will prove to be as wildly off the mark as previous ones. writer formulated his famous three laws of robots to ensure they would not run amok. A fourth one is needed: robots won’t kill work. They will indeed destroy many existing jobs, but humans will create new ones to replace them. 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.

Trump campaign star Conway named as his presidential counselor

Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster who was widely credited with bringing a more disciplined approach to Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign, will become White House counselor when he takes office next month. In her new post, Conway will play a key advisory role, helping to manage Trump’s messaging and legislative priorities, the transition team said in a statement on Thursday. It praised Conway, 49, as the first woman campaign manager to guide a winning U. S. presidential campaign. Trump also tapped three loyalists to lead his communications team. The Republican National Committee’s Sean Spicer will be press secretary, while Hope Hicks, Jason Miller and Dan Scavino will round out the communications team. Both before the Nov. 8 election and after, Conway, as a senior adviser on the transition team, has been a frequent presence on U. S. television news programs, often called upon to defend or explain Trump’s thinking. Conway ”played a crucial role in my victory,” Trump said in the transition team statement. ”She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message.” Trump, a New York businessman, takes office on Jan. 20. Conway, interviewed by ABC’s ”Good Morning America” shortly after the announcement, was asked when Trump would hold his first news conference. She avoided directly answering the question. Trump has held several rallies since winning the election but has not taken formal questions from reporters. He canceled a Dec. 15 news conference to discuss how he would handle his vast business interests once in the White House and said he would reschedule that for January. Conway told ABC that Trump was focusing on forming his Cabinet. ”He’s been very busy doing that,” she said. Because of her prominent role in the campaign and transition team, there had been considerable speculation over what post Conway, a veteran political strategist, might occupy in Trump’s administration. Conway, who has four children, said she did not immediately accept a position offered to her early on in the transition period because she had to weigh her family obligations. ”I would say that I don’t play golf and I don’t have a mistress so, I have a lot of time that a lot of these other men don’t,” Conway told Fox Business Network. ”I see people on the weekend spending an awful lot of time on their golf games and that’s their right, but the kids will be with me, we live in the same house, and they come first.” (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Frances Kerry) 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.

Where’s the Reddi-wip? ConAgra lowers product profile during shortage

the U. S. whipped cream, is going into hiding for the holidays. ConAgra Brands ( ) maker of is scaling back on promotions and merchandising as the nation faces a shortage of whipped cream, Chief Executive Sean Connolly said in an interview on Thursday. The short supply is due to an August explosion at an Airgas Inc facility in Florida that killed one worker and disrupted the supply of nitrous oxide, the gas used to propel whipped cream from containers and keep it airy and light. ”What we have to do when we have supply constraints like this is back off some of those merchandising activities,” Connolly said. ”You don’t want to have an ad in the grocery store flyer and then not have product on display.” ConAgra, contrary to its usual preference, also wants retailers to place whatever supplies of they have in parts of grocery stores. ”There are refrigerators that are really in places. You don’t want to put them there,” Connolly said. If occupied prime store space, that could push demand to ”exceed supply and then you’ll have and that’s not an efficient use of the customer’s shelf,” he added. The disruption in nitrous oxide supplies comes at a bad time for makers of whipped cream because sales typically rise during the holidays as consumers use it to top hot chocolate, pies and cakes. Connolly declined to say how much ConAgra may lose in sales because of the shortage. On Thursday, the company reported profits for the quarter ended Nov. 27. ”We continue to try to make sure we get every bit of nitrous that we can get our hands on,” Connolly said. Aaron ”Bunny” Lapin, an inventor from St. Louis, created in 1948, and milkmen initially delivered it door to door, according to the company’s website. In 2016, the U. S. market for products such as whipped cream was expected to reach $505. 3 million, up from $407. 2 million in 2011, according to market research firm Euromonitor International. ConAgra has previously said that a full supply of should be available by February. ”We’re not losing sleep over it,” Connolly said of the shortage. ”It too shall pass.” (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Dan Grebler) 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.

Snowden still has contacts with Russian intelligence: U.S. House report

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden ”has had and continues to have contact” with Russian intelligence services, according to a newly declassified U. S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report released on Thursday. The Pentagon found 13 undisclosed ”high risk” security issues caused by Snowden’s release to media outlets of tens of thousands of the U. S. eavesdropping agency’s most sensitive documents, the report said. If China or Russia obtained access to information on eight of the 13 issues, ”American troops will be at greater risk in any future conflict,” said the report, which contained a table outlining the ”issues” but like large portions of the document, was blacked out. Snowden criticized the report on Twitter, saying it was ”rifled with obvious falsehoods” and presented no evidence that his disclosures were made ”with harmful intent, foreign influence, or harm. Wow.” Snowden lives in Moscow under an asylum deal made after his leaks of classified information in 2013 triggered an international furor over the reach of U. S. spy operations. His defenders see him as a whistleblower who exposed the extend of U. S. government surveillance of citizens. In a largely redacted section entitled ”Foreign Influence,” the House report said that ”since Snowden’s arrival in Moscow, he has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services.” The report was completed in September. It called Snowden’s leaks ”the largest and most damaging public release” of materials in U. S. intelligence history. The report was released at a tense time in Washington over U. S. government charges of Russia hacking of the U. S. presidential election. The report also contained criticism of the U. S. intelligence community’s responses to Snowden’s disclosures, saying it failed to thoroughly review all of the documents he released or to implement sufficient safeguards against future unauthorized leakers. ”The committee remains concerned that more than three years after the start of the unauthorized disclosures, NSA, and the IC (Intelligence Community) as a whole, have not done enough to minimize the risk of another massive unauthorized disclosure,” the report said. It noted that the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s defense and security committee said in June that Snowden, who worked for the CIA before being hired by an NSA contractor, ”did share intelligence” with the Russian government. While the report says Snowden removed more than 1. 5 million documents,” other sources who have examined materials he turned over to media outlets say that the total is between 200, 000 and 300, 000 documents. The report challenged Snowden’s assertion that he reached a “breaking point” and decided to access and disclose the NSA materials, including documents on the agency’s collection of millions of ordinary Americans’ communications data, after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2013 that such a collection was taking place. (Additional reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Alistair Bell) 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.

Retailers weigh on Wall Street, Dow 20,000 slips away

The decline pulled the Dow Jones industrial average further away from the 20, 000 mark after it nearly breached that level this week for the first time. Retail stocks fell after CNN reported Trump’s transition team is considering a tariff of as much as 10 percent on imports. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index . SPLRCD lost 1. 01 percent, its biggest decline since October. Home Depot ( ) fell 1. 02 percent and Stores ( ) lost 2. 32 percent, both weighing more than any other stocks on the Dow. Following a sharp rally since the Nov. 8 U. S. election, the Dow is up about 14 percent for the year and the S&P 500 is 11 higher on bets that the economy will benefit from Trump’s plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending. Some investors believe that recent gains may have made stocks too expensive, and that Congress may water down or prevent major infrastructure spending or tax cuts proposed by Trump. ”There are issues hanging over the market,” said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at Newbridge Securities in New York. ”You need to digest these gains, and once he becomes president, we’ll see what is actually going to get passed.” Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, tapped by Trump on Wednesday as a special adviser for regulatory issues, said in an interview on CNBC he was concerned about the stock market in the short term following its recent surge. A report earlier showed that the U. S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, notching its best performance in two years. Gross domestic product increased at a 3. 5 percent annual rate instead of the previously reported 3. 2 percent pace, the Commerce Department said. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than of U. S. economic activity, rose 0. 2 percent in November, below the estimated 0. 3 percent gain. The Dow finished 0. 12 percent lower at 19, 918. 88 and the S&P 500 lost 0. 19 percent to end at 2, 260. 96. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0. 44 percent to 5, 447. 42. Apple ( ) fell 0. 66 percent after Nokia ( ) said it had sued the iPhone maker for patent infringement. The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. ConAgra ( ) rose 3. 39 percent after the packaged foods maker’s quarterly profit beat estimates. Red Hat ( ) slumped 13. 89 percent after the Linux software distributor’s quarterly revenue missed estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1. ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 11 new highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 100 new highs and 43 new lows. With many investors already away for the holidays, volume was very low. About 5. 5 billion shares changed hands in U. S. exchanges, well below the 7. 3 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. (Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli 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.

Goldman names former DuPont CEO Kullman to board of directors

Kullman, who retired from the chemical company in 2015, becomes an independent director of the Wall Street firm effectively immediately. Her appointment expands the Goldman board to 14 directors, 11 of whom are independent. Kullman had served as DuPont’s CEO since 2009, where she derailed an attempt by billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management to land board seats. Goldman Sachs’s activism defense team had advised DuPont, the maker of Kevlar and Teflon, in its fight against Trian. The defeat was a watershed moment for activism, illustrating that companies can successfully fend off large investors pushing for change. In recent years, many corporate boards have chosen to settle with activists rather than engage in lengthy and expensive battles. Kullman joined DuPont in 1988 and served in a variety of roles including president and executive vice president. She also sits on the boards of Dell Technologies, Amgen Inc ( ) and United Technologies Corporation ( ). (Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish and Cynthia Osterman) 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. consumer spending slows; business investment perking up

U. S. consumer spending increased modestly in November as household income failed to rise for the first time in nine months, suggesting the economy slowed in the fourth quarter after growing briskly in the prior period. The economy, however, remains on solid footing as other data on Thursday showed new orders for capital goods rising last month amid demand for machinery, indicating that some of the drag on business spending was fading. And while the number of Americans applying for unemployment aid hit a high last week, it remained below a level that is associated with labor market strength. The slowdown in growth is likely to be temporary given the strong economic foundation that could be bolstered by Donald Trump’s plan to slash taxes and boost infrastructure spending. ”The fourth quarter is coming in soft. The economy is going to end the year on a disappointing note, but we should see growth accelerate in the first half of 2017,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Commerce Department said consumer spending, which accounts for more than of U. S. economic activity, rose 0. 2 percent after increasing 0. 4 percent in October. When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending edged up 0. 1 percent last month after a similar gain in October. The moderation in consumer spending is, however, likely to be a blip. The labor market is near full employment, house prices are rising and the stock market has rallied close to record highs. In addition, consumer confidence is at the highest level since July 2007. In another report on Thursday, the Commerce Department said the economy grew at a 3. 5 percent clip in the third quarter instead of the previously reported 3. 2 percent pace. That was the strongest growth rate since the third quarter of 2014 and followed the second quarter’s anemic 1. 4 percent pace. The upward revision reflected stronger growth in consumer spending, business investment in structures and intellectual property products than previously estimated, underscoring the economy’s solid fundamentals, which contributed to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates last week. The U. S. central bank lifted its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0. 50 percent to 0. 75 percent, also encouraged by a sturdy labor market. The Fed anticipates three rate hikes in 2017. The Atlanta Fed is forecasting GDP rising at a 2. 5 percent rate in the fourth quarter. The dollar was flat against a basket of currencies as traders took profits from a recent rally that had hoisted the greenback to a high. Prices for U. S. government bonds and stocks on Wall Street were trading lower in late trade. INFLATION RETREATS While slower consumer spending last month held back inflation, economists said that was unlikely to worry Fed officials as they expected the tightening labor market and the incoming Trump administration’s fiscal policy proposals to drive up price pressures. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy, was unchanged after edging up 0. 1 percent in October. That lowered the increase in the core PCE price index to 1. 6 percent. The core PCE index increased 1. 8 percent in October, which was the biggest gain since July 2014. The core PCE is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure and is running below its 2 percent target. ”We think that the trend will keep firming over time, in part because we expect the labor market to continue to tighten,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. Personal income was flat last month as wages and salaries fell 0. 1 percent. Income increased 0. 5 percent in October. With consumer spending outpacing incomes, savings fell to their lowest level since May 2015. While consumer spending might be cooling, business investment is perking up after a prolonged slump. In a third report, the Commerce Department said capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, increased 0. 9 percent after gaining 0. 2 percent in October. A collapse in oil prices last year, together with a surge in the dollar, weighed on business spending on equipment, which has contracted for four consecutive quarters. Oil prices now are hovering above $50 per barrel, leading to gas and oil well drilling rising over the last several months. Trump’s perceived policies, which also include removing some regulations, are expected to boost investment next year. But renewed dollar strength in the wake of the business mogul’s Nov. 8 election victory could limit gains. ”Some businesses may have delayed investments as they awaited the outcome of the presidential election. These factors argue for a pickup in business investment,” said Andrew Hollenhorst, an economist at Citigroup in New York. ”On the other hand, some businesses may now delay investments as they wait for further clarity regarding tax policy.” A fourth report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 21, 000 to a seasonally adjusted 275, 000 for the week ended Dec. 17, the highest since June. Despite the increase, it was the 94th straight week that claims were below 300, 000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci) 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.

’Regtech’ startups see more business in Trump era

President elect Donald Trump is and tape. But what if your business is red tape? Companies whose technology helps banks and investors cope with the welter of post financial crisis regulations and avoid increasingly hefty fines a sector known as ”regtech” are sanguine about Trump’s pledge to dismantle some of those reforms. Their equanimity is based on a belief that if regulations are replaced rather than scrapped and the overall system of rules becomes more fragmented, financial firms will need their systems to navigate the new landscape. ”Change is itself a driver of regtech adoption,” said David Buxton, the chief executive of compliance startup Arachnys. ”Volatility creates opportunity for relatively nimble regtech firms.” Founded in London in 2010, Arachnys helps financial services firms carry out laundering and other compliance checks by automating the analysis of more than 16, 000 public and private sources of data. It’s one of a growing cohort of mostly private companies that use new digital technologies, such as cloud computing and big data processing, to help financial institutions comply with regulation ranging from rules on trading conduct to procedures. Despite the results of the U. S. election and expectations that the new administration will take a softer stance on the enforcement of financial rules, Arachnys is moving forward with U. S. expansion plans and renting out bigger office space in midtown Manhattan. ”The top 10 deals that my sales team are currently focused on, not one single one has voiced any concerns about ’wait and see’ in the regulatory environment,” Buxton, who is currently based in New York, said. Regtech companies such as Arachnys have become the new darlings of the private investment world as financial firms are expected to accelerate their spending on compliance technology to $72 billion by 2019 from $50. 1 billion in 2015, according to research firm Celent. For a graphic, click: Venture capitalists have invested $2. 3 billion in regtech globally since 2012, according to data provider CB Insights. Funding volume is expected to drop 2 percent this year to $576 million compared to 2015, but activity is expected to grow 15 percent to 90 deals, according to CB Insights. [For a graphic on some of the biggest deals this year ] LOTS OF ASSISTANCE NEEDED Trump has said he wants to dismantle the Act, a massive piece of reform legislation passed by the Obama administration in 2010 in response to the financial crisis, though he has not detailed how he would fulfill that pledge. Members of the incoming administration have pinpointed the law’s Volcker rule, which bans banks from making speculative bets with funds, as one that needs changing and a rule protecting retirement savers, set to be rolled out in April, as one that should be torn up. ”If the landscape changes yet again, even if the direction of travel is towards lighter regulation, banks will still need lots of assistance understanding the new regimes and updating their systems and processes accordingly,” said Angus McLean, a partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons. And financial firms will always want to cut costs, regardless of who is in the White House. The use of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data processing to automate many of banks’ most labor intensive compliance functions — from listening to hours of phone call recordings to spot misconduct to going through hundreds of spreadsheets to calculate an institutions exposure to risk — is still a big draw. ”Using next generation technology to uncover, structure, analyze and action customer data to reduce risks for the business is an imperative that will flourish regardless of government,” said Lex Sokolin, the global director of fintech strategy at research house Autonomous Research. To be sure, if incoming rules are scrapped without new regulations introduced to replace them, then regtech firms whose business is based around them could see customer orders and their own funding dry up. For example, companies that sell software exclusively focused on helping a bulge bracket bank keep track of risk and trading metrics that would trigger the Volcker rule. ”Any uncertainty around deadlines or indeed outright implementation can only serve to confuse the end user and hence have a slowing impact on adoption,” said Mark Beeston, a managing partner at fintech venture capital firm Illuminate Financial Management. Others note that not all regtech might be safe. Pascal Bouvier, a venture partner at Santander Innoventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Spanish banking group Santander, believes that scrutiny on lenders could weaken if the new administration decides to rein in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, of which the Republicans have been fierce critics. ”If there is less scrutiny on lending practices, then lenders have less incentive to adopt regtech solution that help them be compliant,” Bouvier said. FINANCIAL FRAGMENTATION If Trump succeeds in rolling back financial legislation or eases up on its enforcement, it will accelerate a trend towards regulatory fragmentation globally. Within the European Union, some Eastern European countries and smaller states are opposed to international agreements on bank rulebooks. Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, meanwhile, has thrown into questions global banks’ future ability to base themselves in London, the region’s financial capital. These regtech companies should be able to benefit from competing regimes, offering tailored products to deal with them. ”While the global institutions will govern themselves by the most restrictive rules to limit exposure to those most restrictive rules, there will be efforts to explore regulatory arbitrage within investment strategies that once again will need to be informed by regtech offerings,” said Terry Roche, head of fintech research at Tabb Group. More demand for regtech products is also coming from regulators and policy makers, who are also on the hunt for more efficient ways to carry out their functions. Certain financial ground rules, including stamping out insider trading and stopping money laundering, are here to stay. Companies focused on those activities, such as trade surveillance software provider Behavox, see no impediment to future growth. ”We are still progressing with our expansion to the USA and in fact I am moving to USA permanently as we see more opportunities and a larger market in the USA,” said Erkin Adylov, Behavox’s chief executive. For a graphic on the Top 5 regtech deals of 2016, click: (Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Edward Tobin) 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.

Lithuania said found Russian spyware on its government computers

The Baltic state of Lithuania, on the frontline of growing tensions between the West and Russia, says the Kremlin is responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers over the last two years. The head of cyber security told Reuters three cases of Russian spyware on its government computers had been discovered since 2015, and there had been 20 attempts to infect them this year. ”The spyware we found was operating for at least half a year before it was detected — similar to how it was in the USA,” Rimtautas Cerniauskas, head of the Lithuanian Cyber Security Centre said. When presented with the allegations, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters they were ”laughable” and unsubstantiated. ”Did it (the spyware) have ’Made in Russia’ written on it?” quipped Peskov. ”We absolutely refute this nonsense.” He said Russia itself was targeted in cyber attacks ”round the clock,” but said it would be stupid to accuse foreign governments. Fears of Russian cyber attacks have come to the fore since the U. S. election campaign when hacking of Democratic Party emails led to allegations from U. S. intelligence that Moscow was involved. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, all ruled by Moscow in communist times, have been alarmed by Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. In what Baltic officials say was a call, Estonia was hit by cyber attacks on extensive private and government Internet sites in 2007. State websites were brought to a crawl and an online banking site was closed. Lithuanian intelligence services, in their annual report, say cyber attacks have moved from being mainly targeted at financial crimes to more political spying on state institutions. Russian spyware was transferring all documents it could find, as well as all passwords entered on websites such as GMail or Facebook, to an internet address commonly used by Russian spy agencies, Cerniaukas said. ”This only confirms that attempts are made to infiltrate our political sphere,” said Cerniaukas. PREPARATIONS Germany’s domestic intelligence agency reported earlier this month a striking increase in Russian targeted cyber attacks against political parties and propaganda and disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing German society. The domestic intelligence chief said Russia may seek to interfere in its national elections next year. Although no Russian cyber meddling was detected in the run up or during the Lithuanian general election in October, Cerniauskas said his country needs to understand it is vulnerable to such meddling. ”Russians are really quite good in this area. They have been using information warfare since the old times. Cyberspace is part of that, only more frowned upon by law than simple propaganda” he said. ”They have capacity, they have the attitude, they are interested, and they will get to it — so we need to prepare for it and we need to apply countermeasures.” Lithuanian officials targeted by the Russian spyware held ranking positions at the government, but their computers contained a stream of drafts for government decisions of its positions on various matters, said Cerniauskas. The head of the Lithuanian agency Darius Jauniskis said Russia tried to sow chaos in Lithuania by orchestrating a cyber attack in 2012 against the Lithuanian central bank and its top online news website. ”It is all part of psychological warfare,” he told Reuters earlier this month. (Additional reporting by Peter Hobson in Moscow; Editing by Alistair Osborn) 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.

Trump taps RNC’s Spicer for White House spokesman

The Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer will serve as U. S. Donald Trump’s press secretary in the White House when he takes office next month, Trump announced on Thursday. To round out his communications team, the appointed loyalists from his upstart presidential campaign. Hope Hicks, Trump’s sole spokeswoman when he began what was considered a longshot candidacy in June 2015, will be director of strategic communications. Jason Miller was appointed director of communications and Dan Scavino was named director of social media. Spicer, 45, served as RNC spokesman during Trump’s presidential campaign, alongside party chairman Reince Priebus, who stood by Trump amid furious opposition from establishment Republicans and was rewarded with the chief of staff position. Acerbic and professional, Spicer, a Navy Reserve commander, has been openly critical of media coverage of Republican candidates and the but insists the future U. S. leader has a high regard for press freedom. ”We understand and respect the role that the press plays in a democracy. It is healthy, it’s important. But it’s a street,” Spicer told Politico recently, before bashing the news outlet for what he said was exclusively negative coverage. Spicer, who has been a spokesman for the Trump transition team, has a long background in public affairs. He led a turnaround in the RNC’s public affairs operation after taking over as communications director in 2011. He beefed up social media operations, built an TV production team and created a rapid response effort to reply to attacks. Spicer worked in President George W. Bush’s administration as the assistant U. S. Trade Representative for media and public affairs. Before that, he was communications director for the Republican Conference in the U. S. House of Representatives. Spicer has tried to reassure news organizations that Trump will not try to ban them from covering him, as the sometimes sought to do during the election campaign. But Spicer and other Trump aides have indicated the new president would shake up the status quo in White House dealings with the media, including the need for daily televised news briefings and the practice of assigned seating in the briefing room. ”I think we have to look at everything,” Spicer told Fox News when asked about the briefings. ”And so I don’t know that it needs to be daily. I don’t know that they all need to be on camera.” (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler) 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.

Democrats lean on drug pricing as Obamacare repeal looms

Democrats are showing little interest in cooperating with the Republicans who control Congress on legislation to dismantle the Obamacare health insurance law but some are signaling a willingness to collaborate on action to curb rising drug prices. Republican U. S. Donald Trump pledged two weeks ago to bring down drug prices, addressing an issue that could appeal to voters in both parties. He did not say how he would accomplish this although he previously suggested he was open to allowing importation of cheaper medicines from overseas. Nineteen Senate Democrats this week urged Trump to push the issue with Republican lawmakers, many of whom have resisted government action to rein in medication costs. Persistently rising drug prices have imposed a heavy burden on consumers. Many Americans cannot afford their medicines or face increasing on prescription drugs. The 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, enabled about 20 million Americans who previously had no medical insurance to get coverage. It is considered outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement and an important accomplishment for his party. Republicans, who will control both the White House and in 2017, condemn it as a government overreach. Trump and congressional Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said senators will start the repeal process shortly after Jan. 1. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. A House of Representatives leadership aide told reporters drug pricing was one of several areas Republicans would use to reach out to Democrats to solicit their involvement in Obamacare replacement legislation, along with the Medicaid insurance program for the poor, and children’s healthcare. ”We are going to try and find where the other side wants to engage,” the aide said. Democrats may be difficult to persuade. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said proposals might have been part of a bipartisan healthcare reform package to address Obamacare issues, if Republicans were not insisting on repeal first, placing the two parties in opposite camps. ”My vision before the election was that we would have some form of reform package, and now that’s murky because of this effort to repeal,” Klobuchar said in a telephone interview. PROCEDURAL HURDLES Republican lawmakers have angered Democrats with their plan to use arcane congressional budget procedures to repeal Obamacare as quickly as possible, without having to secure any Democratic votes. This approach would thwart procedural hurdles Democrats could pursue under normal circumstances. Republicans including Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a member of his party’s Senate leadership, have said they want Democrats to work with them to replace Obamacare once it is repealed. They will almost certainly need them. In the Senate, Republicans need a of 60 to clear procedural hurdles and pass replacement legislation. With 52 Republican senators, they would need to attract at least eight Democrats. ”If they genuinely wanted to work with us on fixing the Affordable Care Act, we would have that conversation before they repealed,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said of the Republicans. Americans can obtain health insurance from private insurers through the Affordable Care Act by buying it on state or federally run exchanges. In 2016, costs on the individual insurance market rose. Insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc and Aetna Inc pulled out for 2017, saying they were losing too much money. More insurers may drop out for 2018, making insurance plans more expensive. Lawmakers in both parties expressed outrage after Mylan NV raised the price of a pair of the generic drugmaker’s lifesaving EpiPen allergy treatments to more than $600 this year from $100 in 2008. Klobuchar has worked with Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley on issues, introducing legislation that would help put an end to drug companies paying generic drugmakers to delay marketing competing medications. She was among the Democrats who sent Trump the letter on drug costs. They suggested five areas of cooperation: allowing the Medicare insurance program for the elderly to negotiate prescription prices, increasing transparency, stopping abusive pricing, encouraging incentives for innovation, and supporting generic competition for branded drugs. In addition, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri this week released a report detailing abuses at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Turing Pharmaceuticals. Health policy expert Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute think tank said Democrats may refuse to work on Obamacare replacement legislation for some time, especially if Republicans delay the repeal’s effective date by up to three years. ”Democrats can just say, we don’t have to do it now,” Antos said. Stuart Butler of the Brookings Institution think tank said it will get harder for Democrats to stay on the sidelines after a repeal because hospitals, insurers and Americans who may lose their coverage will press for action. ”I think they (Democrats) will get as much political capital out of not engaging as they can, and then I think their own constituents will start to push them,” Butler said. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington and Caroline Humer 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.

Exclusive: U.S. regulator poised to approve Abbott purchase of St Jude - sources

U. S. antitrust enforcers are poised to approve health care company Abbott Laboratories’ ( ) purchase of medical device maker St. Jude Medical Inc STJ. N, two sources knowledgeable about the deal said on Thursday. Approval from the U. S. Federal Trade Commission could come as soon as this week or next, said the sources, who spoke anonymously to protect business relationships. European antitrust enforcers approved the deal in November on the condition that the companies divest two devices used in cardiovascular treatments. It was not immediately known what conditions the FTC would require but Abbott said in October the companies would sell some of their medical devices to Terumo Corp ( ) for about $1. 12 billion as a step toward completing the deal. Abbott has said the $25 billion deal will help it compete better with larger rivals Medtronic Plc ( ) and Boston Scientific Corp ( ) as hospitals look to cut the number of suppliers. St. Jude has been under pressure after Muddy Waters and research firm MedSec Holdings alleged in August that its heart devices were riddled with defects that make them vulnerable to cyber hacks. St. Jude has denied the allegations and sued both firms. In October, St. Jude said it had notified doctors to stop implants of one of its cardiac pacemakers, the Nanostim leadless cardiac pacemaker, citing reports of problems with electronic data reporting caused by a battery malfunction that could put patients at risk. There have been no reports of patient injuries associated with the malfunction, St. Jude said. Abbott has been divesting businesses to focus on its cardiovascular devices and diagnostics business, selling its medical optics division to Johnson & Johnson ( ) for $4. 3 billion earlier this year. It spun off its pharma business as AbbVie Inc ( ) in 2013. Abbott is trying to pull out of a second deal, a $5. 8 billion dollar acquisition of diagnostic test maker Alere Inc ( ) after Alere failed to file financial statements and disclosed probes into billing and foreign sales practices. The two companies are suing each other. (Additional reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) 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 .

CBOE’s longtime chairman Brodsky to step down after Bats deal

CBOE Holdings Inc ( ) Chairman Bill Brodsky will step down after two decades leading the board when the exchange operator closes a planned $3. 2 billion deal for Bats Global Markets Inc BATS. Z, CBOE said on Thursday. Chief Executive Ed Tilly will replace him as chairman. Brodsky’s departure marks the end of an era for CBOE, which he transformed from a exchange into a company best known as the home of Wall Street’s favorite fear index, known as the VIX. A company spokeswoman said Brodsky, 72, had not made plans to have any formal role with the company once he quits the board. He was CBOE’s chairman and chief executive from 1997 to 2013 and remained chairman after Tilly, 53, took over as CEO in 2013. ”We owe Bill an incredible debt of gratitude,” Tilly said in a statement, noting that Brodsky had served as CBOE’s chairman for nearly half of the company’s history. CBOE became dominant in the options industry under Brodsky as he fought off rivals to its exclusive options on benchmarks such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and to the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX the gauge of investor anxiety. In 2010, Brodsky, a former Chicago Mercantile Exchange boss, oversaw CBOE’s initial public offering. After quitting the board, he will join an investment firm run by his son, according to CBOE. Two other longtime CBOE directors, Susan Phillips and R. Eden Martin, are also stepping down to make room for three incoming directors from Bats’ board. CBOE has said it expects its Bats acquisition to close in the first half of next year. (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Andrew Hay) 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 .

Trump’s nuclear remarks test bid to improve Russia ties

U. S. Donald Trump upped the stakes on Friday in a exchange with President Vladimir Putin over nuclear weapons that tested the Republican’s promises to improve relations with Russia. Offering a glimpse of how he might conduct diplomacy after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump reportedly welcomed a nuclear arms race with Russia and China and boasted that the United States would win it. MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said Trump told her in an phone call: ”Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” The television station did not play his comments on air. It was the second brusque comment about atomic weapons in two days from the New York businessman that alarmed nuclear experts worried about fueling global tension. The broadsides from Trump’s resort in Florida appeared to be aimed mostly at Putin even though the two men have vowed to patch up relations between their countries once the Republican enters the White House. Trump tweeted unexpectedly on Thursday that, ”The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” but gave no further details. That comment appeared to be a response to Putin who said earlier on Thursday that Russia needed to ”strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces.” Russia and the United States are at odds over Syria’s civil war and Ukraine but Cold nuclear tensions have greatly eased in recent years. Moscow and Washington signed the New START nuclear treaty in 2010 which reduced strategic weapons and delivery systems. PUTIN CAUTIOUS Putin, accused by the Obama administration of overseeing a wave of cyber attacks against U. S. political organizations during the presidential campaign, said on Friday he had no interest in competing with the U. S. nuclear weapon program. ”If anyone is unleashing an arms race it’s not us . .. We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can’t afford,” he said at a news conference. The Russian president said he was surprised by State Department comments that the U. S. military is the most powerful in the world. ”Nobody is arguing with that,” Putin said. He said he did not regard the United States as a potential aggressor and said he saw nothing new or remarkable about Trump’s own statement about wanting to expand U. S. nuclear capabilities. The United States is in the midst of a $1 trillion, modernization of its aging nuclear arsenal and replacement of its ballistic missile submarines, bombers and missiles. It is a price tag that most experts say the United States can ill afford. Russia, also bound by New START limits, is carrying out its own costly modernization program but is not expanding its warhead stockpile. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the ’s nuclear comments were meant to send a general message of strength to countries like Russia and China rather than indicate the United States planned to build up its nuclear capabilities. ”He is going to do what it takes to protect this country and if another country or countries want to threaten our safety and sovereignty, he is going to do what it takes,” Spicer said onCNN. PUTIN’S ’VERY NICE LETTER’ Trump was elected president unexpectedly last month partly on a platform of building up the U. S. military but he also pledged to cut taxes and control federal spending. His nuclear comments suggest that improving relations with Moscow might not be easy. Trump on Friday released what he said was ”a very nice letter” from Putin dated Dec. 15 in which the Russian leader sought bilateral cooperation and a ”new level” of relations. In an accompanying statement, Trump said he hoped both countries could ”live up to these thoughts” rather than ”have to travel an alternative path.” The Obama administration has accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U. S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. Information from those hacks was leaked online, causing political problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory. ”The current administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are trying to blame all their failures on external factors,” he said at his Friday news conference. ”(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name. They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.” Trump expressed his agreement with Putin’s view of the Democrats. ”So true!” Trump tweeted Friday evening. Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that only Moscow had believed in his victory. ”Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,” Putin said, adding with a smile. ”Except for you and me.” (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Jonathan Landay and Roberta Rampton in Washington and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Mary Milliken) 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.

Exclusive: FBI probes FDIC hack linked to China’s military - sources

The FBI is investigating how hackers infiltrated computers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for several years beginning in 2010 in a breach senior FDIC officials believe was sponsored by China’s military, people with knowledge of the matter said. The security breach, in which hackers gained access to dozens of computers including the workstation for former FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, has also been the target of a probe by a congressional committee. The FDIC is one of three federal agencies that regulate commercial banks in the United States. It oversees confidential plans for how big banks would handle bankruptcy and has access to records on millions of individual American deposits. Last month, the banking regulator allowed congressional staff to view internal communications between senior FDIC officials related to the hacking, two people who took part in the review said. In the exchanges, the officials referred to the attacks as having been carried out by Chinese hackers, they said. The staff was not allowed to keep copies of the exchanges, which did not explain why the FDIC officials believe the Chinese military was behind the breach. Reuters was not able to review those records, and could not determine how long the FBI probe has been open, though it was described as still active. A third person with knowledge of the matter confirmed the FBI had opened a probe. FDIC spokeswoman Barbara Hagenbaugh declined to comment on the previously unreported FBI investigation, or the hack’s suspected sponsorship by the Chinese military, but said the regulator took ”immediate steps” to root out the hackers when it became aware of the security breach. After FDIC staff discovered the hack in 2010, it persisted into the next year and possibly later, with staff working at least through 2012 to verify the hackers were expunged, according to a 2013 internal probe conducted by the FDIC’s inspector general, an internal watchdog. CYBER DEALS The intrusion is part of series of cybersecurity lapses at the FDIC in recent years that continued even after the hack suspected to be linked to Beijing. This year, the FDIC has reported to Congress at least seven cybersecurity incidents it considered to be major which occurred in 2015 or 2016. An annual report by the regulator said there were 159 incidents of unauthorized computer access during fiscal year 2015, according to a redacted copy obtained by Reuters under a Freedom of Information Act request. Rather than major breaches by hackers, however, these incidents included security lapses such as employees copying sensitive data to thumb drives and leaving the agency. Twenty of the incidents were confirmed data breaches, according to an FDIC document provided to Reuters by the U. S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology. That represents a higher number than was previously reported by the regulator under reporting guidelines for major incidents. Throughout the lapses, the FDIC has said it is stiffening information security standards, including a ban on thumb drives and more coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to prevent hacks. ”We are continuing to take steps to enhance our cybersecurity program,” Hagenbaugh said. An audit by the FDIC’s inspector general in November found the FDIC was failing to do ”vulnerability scanning” in an important part of its network, a standard technique used to detect hackers. The audit stated the FDIC was working to address the shortfall. The FBI declined to comment on its investigation. When asked about China’s possible role in the 2010 hack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: ”If you have no definitive proof, then it is very hard for you to judge where the attacks really come from.” Washington has accused Beijing of hacking government offices before, including the theft of background check records from the Office of Personnel Management. It was not clear whether the FBI probe of the FDIC hack would result in any action against China or whether the issue would be taken up by Donald Trump, who has vowed to confront China on trade issues. The Obama administration has struggled to develop a clear strategy for responding to cyber attacks, due to the difficulty of identifying hackers and fears of escalation. That challenge was thrown into relief by hacks during the U. S. presidential election which the CIA and FBI concluded were carried out by Russia to help Trump win. Russia denied the accusation. The White House had no comment on the FDIC hack. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment. Last year, U. S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached an agreement to avoid economic cyber espionage on one another. ”ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREAT” A July report by the House Science Committee said hackers suspected to be linked to China’s government gained deep access to FDIC computers starting in 2010. The probe at that point was unaware the hack was tied to China’s military. The committee, chaired by Texas Republican Lamar Smith, has continued to press the FDIC. Republican lawmakers accused FDIC employees of covering up the hack to protect the job of Chairman Martin Gruenberg, who was nominated for his post in 2011. An FDIC inspector general review last month found no evidence Gruenberg’s pending confirmation influenced handling of the breach. In September, FDIC officials told the committee it could not share some documents because the FBI was investigating the breaches, two committee aides told Reuters. FDIC staff realized in October 2010 that sophisticated intruders lurked within the agency’s network, according to the FDIC inspector general’s 2013 probe. Staff at the regulator learned the computer of the FDIC’s Bair, was breached by what they called an ”advanced persistent threat.” Top FDIC officials were not briefed on the matter until August 2011, a month after Bair left the agency, according to the 2013 investigation. Bair declined to comment when reached by Reuters this week. Reuters was unable to determine when the hackers were expunged from the FDIC network. The regulator hired Mandiant, a firm specialized in probing Chinese military hackers, to investigate, executing a contract in January 2013. Mandiant was purchased in 2014 by FireEye, which declined to comment. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; editing by Edward Tobin) 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.

Berlin truck attack suspect shot dead by police in Italy

Italian police shot dead the man believed responsible for this week’s Berlin Christmas market truck attack, killing him after he pulled a gun on them during a routine check in the early hours of Friday. The suspect Tunisian Anis Amri traveled to Italy from Germany via France, taking advantage of Europe’s Schengen pact to cross the continent undetected. As anger grew over the fact that Amri had escaped expulsion twice in 18 months thanks to bureaucratic loopholes, euroskeptic parties called for the reintroduction of border controls, while Germany said deportations had to be made easier. Amri is suspected of ploughing a truck through a festive Berlin market on Monday, killing 12 people. In a video released on Friday after his death, he is seen pledging his allegiance to militant group Islamic State leader Abu Bakr . ”I call on my Muslim brothers everywhere. .. Those in Europe, kill the crusader pigs, each person to their own ability,” he says in the video posted on Islamic State’s Amaq news agency. Amri had arrived in Milan’s main railway station from France at 1. 00 a. m. (2000 EDT) and then traveled to the working class suburb of Sesto San Giovanni, where two young policemen approached him because he looked suspicious idling on a street. Milan police chief Antonio De Iesu told a news conference his men had no idea that they might be dealing with Amri. ”They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they would have been much more cautious,” De Iesu said. ”We had no intelligence that he could be in Milan.” He failed to produce any identification so the police requested he empty his pockets and his small backpack. He pulled a loaded gun from his bag and shot at one of the men, lightly wounding him in the shoulder. Amri then hid behind a nearby car but the other police officer managed to shoot him once or twice, killing him on the spot, De Iesu said. Amri was identified by his fingerprints. ITALIAN JAIL De Iesu said that besides the gun, the suspect had been carrying a small pocket knife. He also had a few hundred euros on him but no cell phone and very few other belongings. Amri once spent four years in jail in Italy and police were trying to work out if he knew someone in Sesto, which is home to a sizeable Muslim community. ”He could have carried out other attacks. He was a loose cannon,” De Iesu said. Islamic State had previously claimed responsibility for the Berlin killings and on Friday it acknowledged the death of the man it referred to as ”the executor of the Berlin attacks.” Leading euroskeptics were quick to blame the Schengen open borders pact for allowing the suspect to travel so easily. ”This escapade in at least two or three countries is symptomatic of the total security catastrophe that is the Schengen agreement,” said Marine Le Pen, who leads France’s National Front party and is running for president. Beppe Grillo, the founder of the Movement, Italy’s main opposition party, said Schengen was allowing militants to cross Europe with impunity and had to be . He also said all illegal migrants had to be expelled from the country. Chancellor Angela Merkel, under increasing pressure inside Germany to take a much tougher line on immigration after opening the country’s borders to waves of refugees in 2015, said the Berlin attack raised many questions and promised measures would be taken to improve security. Amri originally come to Europe in 2011, reaching the Italian island of Lampedusa by boat. He told authorities he was a minor, though documents now indicate he was not, and he was transferred to Catania, Sicily, where he was enrolled in school. Just months later he was arrested by police after he attempted to set fire to the school, a senior police source said. He was later convicted of vandalism, threats, and theft. He spent almost four years in Italian prisons before being ordered out of the country after Tunisia refused to accept him back in 2015 because he had no identification papers linking him to the north African country. He moved to Germany and applied for asylum there, but this was rejected after he was identified by security agencies as a potential threat. Once again he could not be deported because of a lack of I. D. Merkel said on Friday she had told Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi during a phone conversation that her government wanted to speed up deportation of failed asylum seekers. The attack, which echoed one in Nice in July that killed more than 80 people, has put Europe on high alert over the Christmas period. Early on Friday, German special forces arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on a shopping mall in the western city of Oberhausen. The men two brothers from Kosovo, aged 28 and 31 were arrested in the city of Duisburg on information from security sources, police said. A police spokesman said there was no link with the Amri case. (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, Victoria Bryan and Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Anneli Palmen in Duesseldorf, Emilio Parodi, Elvira Pollina and Ilaria Polleschi in Milan, Antonella Cinelli and Gavin Jones in Rome, Mohamed El Sherif in Cairo; Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by John Stonestreet) 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: Chinese education giant helps its students game the SAT

When the new SAT was given for the first time in March, the owner of the test took unprecedented steps to stop “bad actors” from collecting and circulating material from the college entrance exam. But in the months since, China’s largest private education company has been subverting efforts to prevent cheating, Reuters found. The company, New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc, has regularly provided items from the tests to clients shortly after the exams are administered. Because material from past SATs is typically reused on later exams, the items New Oriental is distributing could provide with an unfair advantage. New Oriental has put some of the exam items on its Chinese website. On Dec. 6, for instance, the company posted a reading passage that had been used on a version of the SAT administered in the United States three days earlier. New Oriental also has been posting information about recent questions on the TOEFL, the exam widely used by colleges to assess foreign applicants. TOEFL questions are also sometimes recycled. New Oriental also gave students access to a March version of the SAT that was administered in the United States, two students from Beijing told Reuters. One of the students showed Reuters 36 pages from that test. In addition, the news agency viewed a copy of a full version of the SAT given in Asia last month. Most pages of the document were emblazoned with the words “Beijing New Oriental School,” a major tutoring operation run by New Oriental. A person who identified himself as a teacher at the school posted 15 pages of that exam on Chinese social media. In response to the Reuters findings, New Oriental issued a statement condemning “illegal and illegitimate business practices, whether committed by competitors or by any of our current or past employees . .. We are reviewing what has been raised and will take disciplinary actions against anyone who violated our policies and procedures. ” The Reuters findings cast new doubt on the ability of America’s standardized testing giants to contain cheating in Asia, where security breaches pose an increasing threat to the integrity of U. S. college admissions. Hundreds of thousands of students from China and other Asian nations are now enrolled at American campuses. The SAT’s owner, the New College Board, has blamed the cheating epidemic on an industry of nameless “bad actors” operating beyond the arm of the law. New Oriental, however, is one of the companies in China. A CHINESE CELEBRITY Hundreds of thousands of students enroll in New Oriental’s classes. It has a stock market capitalization of $6. 6 billion and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New Oriental’s founder and executive chairman, Michael Minhong Yu, is a business celebrity in China. Yu’s company is also a business partner of Educational Testing Service, or ETS the New Jersey that both owns the TOEFL and provides security for the SAT. A popular 2013 feature film, “American Dreams in China,” tells the story of how a businessman, loosely modeled on Yu, launches a company after failing to obtain a visa to study in the United States. It includes a dramatic scene in which the hero confronts attorneys for “Educational Exam Services,” an American company that had sued the Chinese firm “New Dream” for copyright infringement. Although the companies in the film are fictional, that scene is based on fact: New Oriental was caught misusing TOEFL materials more than a decade ago. In 2004, the Beijing Higher People’s Court found that New Oriental had violated the copyright of ETS, the test’s owner, by distributing content from the TOEFL without permission. The court ordered the Chinese company to pay damages. The fresh signs that New Oriental is misusing SAT and TOEFL material are a blow to ETS. After the copyright case, ETS and New Oriental formed a partnership that made the Beijing company the official provider of TOEFL online practice tests in China. ETS touted the deal at the time as a way to expand access to the practice material in China. ETS is also a key partner of the College Board. It earns about $300 million in revenue a year from the College Board to provide security for the SAT and administer the test. ETS thus finds itself in an awkward position: It failed to stop its Chinese partner from compromising both ETS’s own test and the signature exam of the College Board, ETS’s biggest client. Zach Goldberg, a College Board spokesman, said his organization has begun investigating whether New Oriental is misusing SAT material. ETS spokesman Tom Ewing said his company “has a process in place to identify and address copyright infringement worldwide. For confidentiality and proprietary reasons we do not discuss specific instances of alleged copyright infringement. ” He declined to discuss the ETS partnership with the Chinese company. The findings also spell further trouble for New Oriental. Its shares plunged 14 percent, erasing more than $1 billion of its market value, after Reuters reported Dec. 2 that former and current New Oriental employees said the company had helped write college application essays and teacher recommendations for clients. ( ) BIG TUTORING BUSINESS The accusations raised in that report are being investigated by the American International Recruitment Council, which certifies agencies that recruit foreign students on behalf of U. S. colleges. New Oriental has contracts with a number of American universities that pay the company when it refers Chinese students who enroll. In response to the Dec. 2 article, New Oriental said it did not condone application fraud. It also downplayed the importance of the business unit at the center of the story: It noted that the division that helps students apply to college accounted for only 8 percent of New Oriental’s total net revenue of $1. 5 billion in the fiscal year ended May 31. In contrast, the New Oriental unit that’s providing the SAT and TOEFL materials — the and English language business — represented 84 percent of the company’s revenue, according to its most recent annual report. Joseph Simone, a China intellectual property rights specialist in Hong Kong, said if standardized test owners “are able to generate clear evidence of willful infringement” of copyright, they could file criminal complaints against New Oriental. ETS and the College Board would not comment on their plans. A Reuters analysis of a New Oriental website, toefl. xdf. cn, found that the company has posted detailed descriptions of TOEFL material, including four tests given this month. The day after the exam was given on Dec. 10, for example, New Oriental posted a question that the company said had appeared on the section of the TOEFL: “If you can have a job at the university, what position would you choose? A lab assistant, a campus tour guide, or a library assistant? Please give specific reasons. ” Reuters interviewed a student who took the TOEFL on Dec. 10 in Xi’an, a city in northwest China, and confirmed a question like that was on the exam. “I chose library assistant!” she said, laughing. A second student who took the TOEFL elsewhere that day confirmed her test included a writing prompt posted by New Oriental about the best age to travel abroad. NEW ORIENTAL’S WEBSITE New Oriental has also been circulating SAT material for years, an analysis of its website, sat. xdf. cn, shows. Reuters found more than a dozen instances in which New Oriental posted SAT essay prompts or reading passages from exams that had been administered in the U. S. and Asia between 2012 and this month. Those exam materials were not released for practice by the College Board, which means some of the items potentially could be reused on tests. For instance, New Oriental posted a reading passage about the U. S. Family and Medical Leave Act. The passage came from a version of the SAT that was given on Dec. 3, Reuters determined. How New Oriental got the material is unclear, although the post says that it was “reviewed and compiled” by its educational research team. “We require our teachers to take tests periodically to sharpen their test taking skills, keep their knowledge up to date and be adequately prepared to effectively teach students,” the company said in its statement to Reuters. “We believe this practice is fully consistent with industry practice elsewhere, including that of established private educational service providers in the U. S. ” When the College Board first offered a redesigned SAT in March, the organization banned tutors and other from taking the exam that day. They were not supposed to take the SAT in December, either. Goldberg, the College Board spokesman, said those who take the exam “agree not to share test content. While challenging to enforce, it is important that test takers abide by this policy for test security reasons and for the protection of our intellectual property. ” Goldberg said that when the organization learns that materials are being misused, it takes “appropriate measures. ” Any pressure on New Oriental to change its business methods could put the company in a bind. It has become a powerhouse in China by promising an unrivaled ability to help students get into the college of their dreams. “It’s created a culture so that everybody thinks, if I want to apply for American schools, I have to take tests,” said Perry Gao, a researcher at Harvard Graduate School of Education who was once a New Oriental client. “And if I have to take tests, then I have to go to New Oriental. ” (Additional reporting by Himanshu Ojha in London and the Reuters Shanghai newsroom. Edited by Blake Morrison and Michael Williams) 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.

Peabody Energy reorganization plan lacks mine cleanup coverage details

Peabody Energy Corp BTUUQ. PK failed to explain how it will cover future mine cleanup costs in a reorganization plan filed late Thursday, triggering concerns over the company’s use of ” .” Under a federal program called ”” large miners like Peabody have been allowed to extract coal without setting aside cash or collateral to ensure mined land is returned to its natural setting, as required by law. The practice came under scrutiny following bankruptcy filings by some of the largest U. S. coal miners because, without collateral set aside for mine reclamation, taxpayers are potentially exposed to billions of dollars in cleanup costs. Environmental groups have been following the bankruptcy to see whether Peabody, the world’s largest coal producer, replaces roughly $1 billion of with other guarantees, as rival Arch Coal Inc ( ) did in its October bankruptcy reorganization. In Thursday’s plan to eliminate over $5 billion of debt to emerge from Chapter 11, Peabody said it will address its ” reclamation obligations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations,” without providing details. While a leading U. S. coal regulator has started to toughen rules for guaranteeing mine cleanups, the future of that process under a Trump administration is unclear. Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said the reorganization plan dodged the issue of potentially shifting the risk for Peabody’s environmental cleanup costs onto the public. ”Peabody should be required to live up to its mine reclamation responsibilities and assure that it will not saddle taxpayers with these costs,” Learner said. Learner said his organization would fight Peabody’s reorganization plan. Peabody hold in Wyoming, New Mexico, Indiana and Illinois, which has expressed concerns about the practice. The company announced a temporary financing deal with the states in July to cover a portion of the risk that it will walk away from mine cleanup obligations while in bankruptcy. Peabody spokesman Vic Svec said the company continues to fund its reclamation obligations and was in talks with states as well as surety bonding firms over cleanup coverage. ”Now that we have defined a capital structure through our plan of reorganization, we can firm up components of surety bonding,” Svec said. In a revised business plan on Friday, Peabody raised its target for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring (EBITDAR) to $4 billion between 2016 and 2021 from $3. 1 billion projected in August, citing a temporary rise in coal prices. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) 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.

Wall St. rises, Dow racks up seventh straight weekly gain

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which briefly came within striking distance of the historic 20, 000 level earlier this week, recorded its seventh straight weekly gain. Following a rally since the Nov. 8 U. S. election, the Dow is up about 14 percent for the year and the S&P 500 is 11 percent higher on bets that the economy will benefit from Trump’s plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending. Additional gains will depend on how quickly and successfully Trump can deliver on his promises and whether he meets resistance from a U. S. Congress reluctant to widen the budget deficit, many investors believe. ”It’s going to get tough to get over that 20, 000 mark. We can do it, but it’s going to take a catalyst to move investors,” said Jeff Kravetz, a regional investment director of the Private Client Reserve at U. S. Bank. U. S. markets are shut for the Christmas holiday on Monday. After spending much of the day with a marginal loss, the Dow ended Friday 0. 07 percent higher on the day, at 19, 933. 81 points. The S&P 500 gained 0. 13 percent to 2, 263. 79. The Nasdaq Composite added 0. 28 percent to 5, 462. 69. For the week, the Dow rose 0. 5 percent, the S&P 500 added 0. 2 percent, and the Nasdaq climbed 0. 5 percent. The health index . SPXHC rose 0. 78 percent on Friday, boosted by a 2. 6 percent gain in Allergan ( ). The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index . SPLRCD slipped 0. 24 percent, weighed by a 0. 75 percent dip in Amazon. com ( ). Economic data showed new home sales rose to their highest level in four months in November, increasing 5. 2 percent to 592, 000 last month. Fred’s ( ) rose 4. 2 percent after Alden Global Capital reported a stake of 24. 8 percent in the discount store operator. Weight Watchers International ( ) jumped 8. 75 percent, surging for a second day after television celebrity and major shareholder Oprah Winfrey said in a new ad for the company that she lost 40 pounds. Cintas ( ) fell 3. 1 percent after the uniforms supplier cut the lower end of its revenue forecast. Synergy Pharmaceuticals ( ) jumped 21. 7 percent after the drug developer said data showed its experimental treatment for irritable bowel syndrome treatment met the main goal of a clinical trial. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2. ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted nine new highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 34 new lows. With many investors away for the holidays, volume was extremely low. About 4. 0 billion shares changed hands in U. S. exchanges, compared with 7. 4 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. (Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Leslie Adler) 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.

Obama signs defense spending bill, criticizes Guantanamo policy

U. S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law an annual defense policy bill, but in a lengthy statement he raised objections to parts of it, including policies blocking him from closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama pledged in his 2008 presidential campaign to close the military prison, but his efforts have been blocked by mostly Republican opposition in Congress. The Democratic president has instead reduced the population there by transferring prisoners to other countries. The administration recently told Congress it would move up to 18 more prisoners of the 59 remaining at Guantanamo before Obama leaves office next month. ”During my administration, we have responsibly transferred over 175 detainees from Guantanamo,” Obama said in the statement on Friday. ”Our efforts to transfer additional detainees will continue until the last day I am in office.” Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, said during the campaign that he would keep the Guantanamo Bay facility open and vowed to ”load it up with some bad dudes.” The $618. 7 billion defense spending bill passed by the Congress this month was a compromise version that dropped controversial language requiring women to register for the draft. But it kept some initiatives Obama had opposed. The legislation boosts military spending when there has been no similar increase in funding, and it bars closures of military bases even though top Pentagon officials say they have too much capacity. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said on Friday the legislation would give U. S. troops a pay raise and praised the Guantanamo language. ”This ensures that, right up until his last hour in office, President Obama will not be able to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States,” Ryan said in a statement. Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush opened the facility to hold terrorism suspects rounded up overseas following the Sept. 11 attacks. Under Bush, the prison came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. Obama has maintained for years that he considers ”onerous restrictions” on his ability to transfer prisoners a violation of the U. S. Constitution’s separation of powers between Congress and the executive branch. But he gave no indication he would try to override those restrictions. Reflecting the growing migration of espionage and warfare into cyberspace, Obama also said on Friday that he favors splitting the U. S. Cyber Command, which conducts offensive operations, from the National Security Agency and making it independent, similar to the military’s European and Pacific Commands. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson, additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Mary Milliken) 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.

Caesars unit resolves lender dispute, eyes bankruptcy exit

Caesars Entertainment Corp’s ( ) bankrupt operating unit resolved a dispute with its lenders on Friday, paving the way for a consensual plan to push the casino group out of its $18 billion Chapter 11. In filings with the U. S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, bank lenders said they had reached an agreement over their recovery terms and were withdrawing a threat to abandon a plan to end Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc’s bankruptcy. The lenders, which include Blackstone Group LP’s ( ) GSO Capital Partners, had set a Dec. 24 deadline for reaching a deal, without which the unit’s restructuring plan would have fallen apart. Shares of Caesars Entertainment closed up 9. 8 percent to $7. 85 on Friday. The company, formed through the 2008 buyout of Harrah’s, has warned that it would have to seek Chapter 11 protection itself without a timely organization of its operating unit. With the lenders’ renewed support, the Caesars unit will head into a January trial to confirm its bankruptcy exit with the support of over 90 percent of creditors eligible to vote on its reorganization plan. The only major objector is the U. S. Trustee, a bankruptcy watchdog that opposes legal protections granted under the plan to Caesars and its private equity sponsors, Apollo Global Management LLC ( ) and TPG Capital Management LP [TPG. UL]. Caesars Entertainment agreed to pitch in $5 billion to the unit’s reorganization in exchange for releases from creditors’ claims that it looted the unit of choice assets such as the Linq Hotel & Casino complex in Las Vegas prior to its bankruptcy. Caesars has denied the allegations. In a separate filing, Caesars said Gary Loveman would no longer be employed by the company as of Dec. 31, but would continue to serve as chairman of the board. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Richard Chang and Leslie Adler) 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.

Deutsche Bank agrees to $7.2 billion mortgage settlement with U.S.

Deutsche Bank ( ) has agreed to a $7. 2 billion settlement with the U. S. Department of Justice over its sale and pooling of toxic mortgage securities in the to the 2008 financial crisis. The agreement in principle, announced by Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters early Friday morning, offers some relief to the German lender, whose stock was hit hard in September after it acknowledged the Justice Department had been seeking nearly twice as much. It also highlights the Justice Department’s recent efforts to hold European banks accountable for shoddy securities that contributed to the U. S. housing market collapse. The department sued Barclays PLC ( ) on Thursday over similar claims, after having reached $46 billion in settlements with U. S. banks over the last three years. Deutsche Bank does not plan a capital increase to cover the settlement, a person close to the bank said. The lender expects the agreement to be finalized in early 2017, before Donald Trump takes office, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Deutsche does expect to record a pretax charge of about $1. 17 billion in its fourth quarter because of the civil monetary penalty, according to its press release. As part of the agreement, Deutsche Bank would pay a civil monetary penalty of $3. 1 billion and provide $4. 1 billion in consumer relief, such as loan forgiveness. The bank cautioned that there is ”no assurance” the two sides will agree on the final documents. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Settling the case would mean Deutsche Bank has shaken off one legal headache. Three major probes remain. Deutsche faces investigations into the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates, suspicious equities trades in Russia, as well as alleged violations of U. S. sanctions on Iran and other countries. Since 2012, Deutsche Bank has already paid more than 12 billion euros for litigation, including a deal with U. S. giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Deutsche Bank’s ”troubling practices” were widespread, including when trader Greg Lippmann told colleagues that many home loans the bank was packaging into securities were ”crap” and ”pigs,” according to a 2011 U. S. Senate subcommittee report. Lippmann has declined to comment on the report. There has been fear among investors, companies and regulators that the penalties are too much for Deutsche Bank to withstand. Its shares plunged to a record low of 9. 90 euros in September, after the bank confirmed the Justice Department was demanding $14 billion. The stock has recovered substantially, but is down from the beginning of 2016. OTHER BANKS The Justice Department is still pursuing mortgage allegations against other lenders in addition to Barclays. Credit Suisse Group AG ( ) is in negotiations and has resisted a demand by the agency that it pay between $5 billion and $7 billion over its sale of mortgage securities, sources have said. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC ( ) Wells Fargo & Co ( ) UBS Group AG ( ) and HSBC ( ) are also under investigation, according to company disclosures. U. S. banks have paid tens of billions of dollars over the past three years to settle with U. S. authorities over misleading investors about the quality of mortgages underlying securities. In 2013, JPMorgan Chase & Co ( ) agreed to pay $13 billion. The following year, Bank of America Corp ( ) agreed to pay $16. 65 billion, while Citigroup ( ) cut a deal for $7 billion. In February this year, Morgan Stanley ( ) agreed to pay $2. 6 billion, and in April, Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( ) negotiated a $5 billion deal. Deutsche is not the first bank to announce a settlement amount before both sides have agreed on the final documentation. Morgan Stanley disclosed its agreement a year before it was finalized and formally announced. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Additional reporting by Anya George Tharakan and Parikshit Mishra; Writing by Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Sandra Maler and Christopher Cushing) 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. hits Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank with toxic debt penalties

Credit Suisse ( ) and Deutsche Bank ( ) have been hit with a combined penalty of more than $12 billion over the sale of U. S. toxic debt, further hampering two of Europe’s leading investment banks as they struggle with weak earnings. The penalties stem from an initiative launched by U. S. President Barack Obama to pursue banks for selling debt without warning of the risks, a practice that led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Credit Suisse agreed to pay more than $5. 2 billion in a deal with U. S. authorities and the penalty is likely to push it to a second consecutive annual loss. The payment, to settle claims it misled investors when selling securities in the to the 2008 financial crisis, is split into two parts. It will first pay $2. 48 billion and later provide $2. 8 billion over five years to offset the impact on consumers, the bank said. That news came after Deutsche Bank ( ) agreed to a total $7. 2 billion settlement for its pooling and sale of toxic mortgage securities, the settlement also divided in a similar manner. The German bank had previously said that the U. S. Department of Justice was seeking twice that figure. ”I think the fines are reasonable and represent a positive for the system,” said Alberto Gallo, head of global macro strategies at hedge fund Algebris Investments. The penalties put the two European banks at a further disadvantage to larger U. S. rivals, many of whom have already absorbed their own fines for such wrongdoing and have strong capital cushions. U. S. banks earlier paid $46 billion in such penalties. DEUTSCHE SHARES RISE Investors, who had feared an even bigger penalty for Deutsche, were relieved and its shares gained more than 2 percent. They have risen more than 80 percent since hitting a record low at the end of September on fears the bank would need to raise cash from investors. ”It’s no great coup but the settlement reduces the uncertainty,” said Ingo Speich, of Union Investment, a Deutsche bank shareholder, adding that he did not expect the bank to sell more shares to bolster its capital. Credit Suisse, who people familiar with the matter earlier told Reuters had fought to soften its settlement, saw its shares slip by more than 1 percent. The final deal is in line with the $5 billion to $7 billion the Justice Department had asked Credit Suisse to pay earlier in negotiations, as reported by Reuters on Monday. Credit Suisse still faces state lawsuits filed by New York and New Jersey over toxic mortgage securities. The states are still pursuing their cases, Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and Lisa Coryell, a spokeswoman for New Jersey’s attorney general, told Reuters on Friday in separate emails. Banks typically have settled state cases over mortgage securities at the same time as federal claims, and it appears it would be especially true for the New York case. Schneiderman is of the joint working group that Obama created in 2012 to hold banks accountable for the misconduct at the heart of the financial crisis. When the New York lawsuit was filed, it was billed as an enforcement action that came out of the task force. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the state lawsuits. For the Justice Department matter, the bank said it would take a charge of approximately $2 billion in addition to its existing reserves against these matters in the final three months of 2016. Analysts at regional bank ZKB said that the charge would depress the bank’s leverage ratio from 3. 4 percent to 3. 1 percent. The U. S. authorities meanwhile sued Barclays ( ) on Thursday over similar claims. Barclays said on Friday that it rejected the complaint, would ”vigorously defend” the case and sought its dismissal ”at the earliest opportunity”. (Additional reporting by Maiya Keidan, Arno Schuetze, Karen Freifeld, Kathrin Jones and Simon Jessop; Writing by John O’Donnell; Editing by Adrian Croft and Keith Weir) LISBON The sale of Portugal’s Novo Banco to U. S. private equity firm Lone Star should be concluded by November following a 500 million euro ($566 million) debt swap that will be launched soon, deputy finance minister said on Wednesday. FRANKFURT Deutsche Bank Chief Executive John Cryan has no plans to step down from running Germany’s biggest lender, he told German weekly Die Zeit in an interview.

Aleppo sees shelling, air strikes again as Assad urges peace talks

Syrian rebels shelled Aleppo and air strikes resumed around the city on Friday as Syrian President Bashar and his allies said the insurgents’ withdrawal from the city could pave the way toward a political solution for the country. A day after the last rebels left their remaining pocket of territory in the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a war monitor based in Britain said about 10 shells fell in its southwestern district. The Observatory said six people, including two children, were killed. State television said at least three people died. Insurgents seeking to oust Assad have shelled government controlled areas of Aleppo throughout the conflict, which began in 2011. The destruction in those parts of the city has been far less than in eastern districts rebels held until this month. Air strikes resumed in areas of the countryside near Aleppo on Friday for the first time since the end of the evacuation operation. Strikes hit to the west, and south of the city, areas which had not been hit for at least a week. The Observatory had no information on casualties yet. After months of bombardment and a final few weeks of intense air strikes and Syrian army advances on the besieged, part of Aleppo, a local ceasefire was reached on Dec. 15 which allowed thousand of civilians and then fighters to leave. The last left the city late on Thursday for countryside immediately to the west. The International Committee of the Red Cross said about 35, 000 people, mostly civilians, had departed. Many of those who left are living as refugees in the areas to the west and south of Aleppo, including in Idlib province where bulldozers were used to clear heavy snowfall on Friday morning, the opposition Orient television showed. On Friday, the army and its allies, including Lebanese group Hezbollah, searched districts abandoned by the rebels, to clear them of mines and other dangers, the Observatory reported. State television showed empty streets lined with apartment blocks smashed by air strikes in the district. DAMASCUS WATER CUT In the capital Damascus, the water authority has been forced to cut supplies coming into the Syrian capital for a few days and use reserves instead after rebels polluted the water with diesel, it said on Friday. The spring which supplies Damascus with water is in the Wadi Barada valley northwest of the capital in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border. The government controls much of the surrounding territory and on Friday carried out aerial attacks and shelled the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A military news outlet run by Hezbollah said the rebels in the valley had refused to leave the area and the Syrian Arab Army began an offensive against them on Friday morning. Through a series of settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition around the capital. PEACE TALKS? During the long struggle to Aleppo, Assad’s forces were supported by heavy Russian air strikes, militias and fighters from Shi’ite Hezbollah. On Friday, Assad thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for having been Syria’s main partner in the battle, and said the city’s fall had opened the door to a political process. Putin said Russia, Iran, Turkey and Assad had agreed the Kazakh capital of Astana should be the venue for new peace negotiations, and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the defeat of the rebels in the city could pave the way to a political solution. Turkey backs rebels fighting Assad and Islamic State. United peace talks in Geneva broke down earlier this year as violence escalated, particularly around Aleppo. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut and Suleiman in Amman; editing by John Stonestreet and David Clarke) 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.

Data Dive: Your sad, workaholic life

While our retirement accounts are running on fumes and there is one area where Americans excel at saving: their vacation days. More than half of all Americans plan to leave some of their paid vacation time on the table this year, . Among those workaholics, the median amount left over is seven days. Only 15 percent leave just days unused, while 17 percent leave more than 21 days. All that time is not just going in some mythological bank. Only 35 percent told Bankrate that they were forgoing vacation this year to save up vacation days for the following year. Many companies have been clamping down on that anyway, doing away with the ability to save vacation days because . Almost a quarter of respondents said they weren’t taking days off because they had too much work to do, with those over age 50 under the most pressure to keep working. There were 4 percent who said they’d be afraid they’d lose their jobs if they took time off. Some were just working because they couldn’t afford to go anywhere on vacation. Overall, workers would rather have the cash. The survey found that 56 percent would opt for one week of pay over a week of vacation. The trend line will probably not be getting any better over time, as millennials are much more prone to being workaholics than their older counterparts in Generation X, according the Bankrate survey. Among those workers over 35, 53 percent take their full allotment of vacation days for the year, while only 44 percent of millennials do. ”They felt they had something to prove, to dispel negative stereotypes that they are lazy,” said Sarah Berger, a personal finance expert for Bankrate. In fact, Berger said that these younger workers are actually perpetually tethered to their offices, through mobile devices. One of her friends got back from vacation and complained that he had spent the whole time on his phone, connected to his office team through the giving new meaning to the term ”slacking” on the beach. * ”A tree burst through the wall into the room” (Recasts with casualties, details about damage, plant closures, paragraphs 11, ) 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.

U.S. Justice Dept. orders whistleblower to testify in Wells Fargo probe

U. S. prosecutors in San Francisco have asked Wells Fargo banker Yesenia Guitron, who lost a private lawsuit against the lender, to testify before a grand jury in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to a subpoena dated Dec. 12, which was seen by Reuters. A Wells Fargo spokesman declined to comment. Guitron is among at least five Wells Fargo employees who sued the bank or filed complaints with regulators alleging that they were fired after reporting the opening of customer accounts without their permission, according to a Reuters review of lawsuits and complaints to the U. S. Labor Department. The suits and complaints, filed between 2010 and 2014, raise questions about how early Wells Fargo knew about such allegations and how it handled them. San Wells Fargo reached a settlement with U. S. regulators and the Los Angeles city attorney in September. The Justice Department subpoena directs Guitron to bring all documents related to her employment at Wells, including any related to sales practices, discipline ”or other form of retaliation taken against you by Wells Fargo or Wells Fargo employees.” Guitron and her lawyer were not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for the U. S. attorney for the Northern District of California, which issued the subpoena, declined comment. The bank has acknowledged opening as many as 2 million accounts without customer permission, and it fired 5, 300 employees for the behavior. Former staffers have publicly described a culture where they were pushed into hitting unrealistic sales targets and opened the sham accounts to do so. Wells Fargo chief executive John Stumpf resigned in October after intense questioning before Congress. Beyond the Justice Department probe, Wells Fargo is facing others from various lawmakers and regulators, including a criminal probe by the California attorney general’s office. Guitron and another personal banker, Judi Klosek, filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as a joint federal lawsuit in 2010, claiming Wells Fargo retaliated against them for blowing the whistle on similar conduct. Guitron alleged that managers responded by falsifying a paper trail that purported to document her poor performance, forbidding her from taking family medical leave and firing her improperly. A federal judge ultimately dismissed all of Guitron’s claims, saying Wells Fargo was justified in firing her because she failed to meet sales quotas and refused to meet with management. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Writing by Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Leslie Adler) 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.

Trump, taking a break from White House prep, tees off with Tiger Woods

U. S. Donald Trump on Friday took a break from preparing to take office to engage in a pastime beloved by presidents since Dwight Eisenhower: playing 18 holes of golf. Trump, who made waves around the world this week with comments on nuclear arms and Middle East peace, was joined at a golf course he owns by Tiger Woods, a former world champion who is trying to make a comeback after chronic back problems and surgeries. Two other players joined Trump and Woods at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach Florida. The names of the other two in Trump’s foursome were not provided. There was no word on the score, but the Republican businessman from New York is no duffer. Golf Digest magazine expects he will be the Oval Office golfer when he takes office on Jan. 20, with a ”low handicap.” A passion for the sport is one thing that Trump, who owns golf courses around the world, shares with Democratic President Barack Obama. Obama golfed most Saturdays during his eight years in office, most often with friends and aides on the modest but secure Joint Base Andrews course near Washington. He has occasionally played with other leaders, politicians and celebrities on prestigious courses including, in 2013, Tiger Woods and has tried to pack in as many rounds as he can during vacation. Since arriving in Hawaii a week ago, Obama has spent three days golfing, tipping his hat at the press during a photo op on the 18th hole at Kapolei Golf Club on Wednesday. As of late October, Obama had played 320 rounds of golf in office, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, the unofficial statistician of the White House. Trump has slammed Obama for spending so much time on the greens, telling a rally in Michigan last year that Obama ”played more golf last year than Tiger Woods.” Trump has said he likes to use golf for business, and has been critical of Obama for using his tee times for relaxation rather than . ”The beauty of golf is that you develop relationships, and you can make deals on a golf course,” Trump said in a September 2015 Golf Digest interview. ”You get to know people, you get to know them better on a golf course than anywhere else,” he said. Woods is designing a golf course in Dubai at the Trump World Golf Club, which is being developed by DAMAC Properties. The night before the match, Woods tweeted a shirtless seasonal photograph of himself, a post that went viral, with 30, 000 likes and 22, 000 retweets. But there would be no photo op at the game. News media traveling with the were kept off the grounds. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson in Honololu; Writing by Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) LIMA She died in her twenties some 1, 700 years ago, and is believed to have ruled over a desert valley in ancient Peru where her elaborately tattooed body was buried with weapons and gold objects. LONDON Move over dolls, the sex robots are here.

Actress Carrie Fisher suffers medical emergency on London-to-L.A. flight

Hollywood actress and writer Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the ”Star Wars” movies, suffered a cardiac episode on Friday during a flight from London to Los Angeles, where she was rushed to a hospital after landing. Fisher, 60, was described by her younger brother, Todd Fisher, as being in critical condition, and he said she remained under medical treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a Los Angeles hospital several hours after becoming ill. ”It’s not fair to say ’stable.’ I am not saying she is fine, or not fine,” he told Reuters by telephone in response to reports about her condition. ”She is in the ICU.” He said he was driving and en route to pick up their mother, the veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds. Todd Fisher offered no details about his sister’s condition or the circumstances of how she was stricken. He said the information had came from his sister’s assistant. The Los Angeles Times cited one unnamed source as saying the actress had been ”in a lot of distress on the flight,” which landed at Los Angeles International Airport shortly after noon (2000 GMT). According to the celebrity news website TMZ. com, Fisher suffered a ”massive heart attack” 15 minutes before landing, and an emergency medical technician who was aboard was ushered to the cabin to provide aid. The city Fire Department confirmed that its emergency personnel met an arriving flight at the airport to treat a patient in ”cardiac arrest,” but declined to identify the individual, citing medical confidentiality laws. Two passengers who said they were aboard the flight and sitting near Fisher posted messages on Twitter reporting that she had fallen ill. YouTube performer Anna Akana tweeted that Fisher had ”stopped breathing,” and comedian Brad Cage, who said he and Akana were sitting in front of the actress, tweeted separately that Fisher was taken off the plane by paramedics. United Airlines issued a statement saying that Flight 935 from London to Los Angeles was met on the ground by medical personnel after the crew reported that a passenger was ”unresponsive.” The airline also declined to name the passenger. Fisher, who was in England shooting the third season of the British television comedy ”Catastrophe,” made her debut as a teenager in the 1975 comedy ”Shampoo.” But her big break came in 1977 as the intrepid Princess Leia, her hair twisted into braided side buns, in the first of several ”Star Wars” movies. She made headlines in November with the disclosure that she carried on a love affair with her ”Star Wars” actor Harrison Ford, who played the swashbuckling pilot Han Solo, during the making of the film in 1976. Fisher revealed the secret to People magazine while promoting her new memoir, ”The Princess Diarist,” just before it went on sale. She reprised her Princess Leia role in two sequels and returned last year in Disney’s reboot of the franchise, ”The Force Awakens,” appearing as the more matronly General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance movement fighting the evil First Order. In response to the news, actor Mark Hamill, who starred opposite Fisher as Jedi knight Luke Skywalker in the first three films, tweeted: ”as if 2016 couldn’t get any worse . .. sending all our love to @carriefisher”. Fisher, the daughter of Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, who died in 2010, made her show business debut at the age of 12 in her mother’s Las Vegas nightclub act. But her adult career was dogged by substance abuse and mental health issues. She entered a drug treatment center in the to battle addiction to cocaine and later wrote the bestselling novel, ”Postcards From the Edge,” based on her experience. The book was adapted into a 1990 movie starring Meryl Streep. Fisher also acknowledged being briefly hospitalized in 2013 due to bipolar disorder. (Additional reporting by Gina Cherulus and Dan Trotta in New York and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by G Crosse and Jonathan Oatis) 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.

U.S. housing, consumer confidence data bolster economic outlook

New U. S. home sales rose more than expected in November and consumer sentiment hovered near a high this month, strengthening the view that the economy will gain further momentum next year. Donald Trump’s plan to cut taxes and increase infrastructure spending is expected to boost economic growth, though it already has sparked a surge in mortgage rates that could hurt the housing market in the long term. ”Home buyers are confident in their futures and this means the outlook is likely to be brighter next year than we thought,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. The Commerce Department on Friday said new home sales increased 5. 2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592, 000 units last month. That was the second highest pace since 2007. Economists had forecast home sales, which account for about 9. 5 percent of overall home sales, rising 2. 1 percent to a rate last month. Sales rose 16. 5 percent from a year ago, boosted by a 43. 8 percent jump in the Midwest to a high. Sales surged 7. 7 percent in the West, their highest level since January 2008, but fell 3. 1 percent in the South. They were unchanged in the Northeast. Separately, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index edged up to a reading of 98. 2 from 98 earlier this month. That was the highest reading since January 2004. The University of Michigan said a record 18 percent of respondents ”spontaneously mentioned the expected favorable impact of Trump’s policies on the economy.” Consumers anticipated that a stronger economy would create more jobs, with the share expecting higher income rising to a high. ”Greater income growth prospects for consumers serves as a good leading indicator of real spending activity,” said Michael Brown, an economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. U. S. financial markets were little moved by the upbeat data in light trading. The U. S. dollar . DXY was steady against a basket of currencies, while prices of U. S. Treasuries rose. Stocks on Wall Street were little changed. RISING MORTGAGE RATES While Trump’s envisaged policies have boosted confidence among households and businesses, his agenda to increase spending is expected to stoke inflation. Mortgage rates have risen rapidly since the business mogul’s Nov. 8 election victory. The interest rate on a fixed mortgage has increased more than 70 basis points to an average of 4. 30 percent, the highest level since April 2014, according to data from mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates are likely to rise further after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight interest rate last week by 25 basis points to a range of 0. 50 percent to 0. 75 percent. The U. S. central bank forecast three rate hikes for next year. Higher mortgage rates in the near term could boost home sales by luring in buyers who fear further increases in borrowing costs. A report on Wednesday showed sales of previously owned homes rose to near a high in November. ”We have yet to see any clear signs in the housing data reported to date that higher rates have depressed activity,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. ”That said, we think that at some point higher rates will weigh at least somewhat on the housing market.” Higher borrowing costs come at a time when house price increases are outstripping wage gains, which could make purchases unaffordable for many buyers. Despite the rise in sales last month, the inventory of new homes on the market increased 1. 6 percent to 250, 000 units, the highest level since September 2009. Still, the supply of new houses for sale remains about half of what it was at the peak of the housing market boom. The inventory rise, if sustained, could slow the pace of house price increases. At November’s sales pace it would take 5. 1 months to clear the supply of houses on the market, down from 5. 2 months in October. A supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao) 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.

How Deutsche’s big bet on Wall Street turned toxic

Deutsche Bank’s pursuit of success on Wall Street has come at a high price, a $7 billion plus penalty illustrating the extent of its decline since 2008 when its then chief executive claimed it was one of the ”strongest banks in the world”. Expanding from its roots in Germany dating back to 1870, Deutsche ( ) transformed itself into a major player on Wall Street over the past two decades, often taking extravagant bets to do so. But it is now set to cut back its activities in the world’s biggest economy after a penalty for the sale of toxic mortgage securities that contributed to the biggest economic crash in a generation. ”The strategic options open to Deutsche Bank in the U. S. A. are clearly restricted because the profitability of the business will be weakened,” said Ingo Speich, a fund manager at Union Investment, a shareholder in Deutsche. German regulators also want Deutsche, the country’s largest bank which employs around 100, 000 people around the world, to rein itself in. ”Size in itself is no sign of success,” said one senior official in Germany, where the mood among regulators has hardened towards the bank. ”They now want to curtail their ambitions.” Last year, the bank’s U. S. arm, where roughly one in ten of its staff are based, racked up a loss of 2. 8 billion euros ($2. 9 billion) almost half the total loss made by the group. That was a swing from a profit of more than 1 billion euros in the previous year. Much of the damage was done by a writedown on the value of Bankers Trust, while tighter regulation has made it more expensive to trade. EXPANSION PHASE The $7. 2 billion penalty for the sale of toxic mortgage securities closes a sobering chapter in the bank’s international drive, launched in 1989 by the then chief executive, Hilmar Kopper, when he bought lender Morgan Grenfell in London. Kopper is remembered for his public description of a Deutsche mark sum as ”peanuts” opening a divide between an increasingly bank and the prevailing frugal culture among ordinary Germans. A decade later, Deutsche bought Bankers Trust, paying $10 billion for the American bank and an estimated severance of $100 million to its chief executive. Management even discussed a takeover of Lehman Brothers, which later collapsed at the lowest point in the global financial crisis in 2008. This strategy of buying to expand in shares and bonds was expanded to add outsized bets on toxic derivatives and the lender’s total assets swelled to more than 2 trillion euros in 2007. One former senior Deutsche executive, who asked not to be named and who was instrumental in building the bank’s U. S. business, said he had preferred using leverage to sell more structured debt and derivatives to buying a Wall Street rival. ”Buying a U. S. firm is like climbing Everest without oxygen. It is risky, and the achievement is substantial, but is it really worth it?” the former executive said, asking not to be named. ”You may find that the view from the summit is quite cloudy.” Yet this alternative route proved perilous. WORLD’S STRONGEST As the bank placed large trades at the end of 2011, its leverage ratio, which divides the value of assets by equity, reached around 21 measured by U. S. accounting standards. As a rule of thumb, the higher this leverage, the steeper the risks. JPMorgan ( ) a much larger bank, had a lower ratio of around 17. There was another important difference between Deutsche and its U. S. rivals. They had been able to improve their capital with a compulsory $700 billion ”Troubled Assets Relief Programme” (Tarp). Rivals JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley ( ) Goldman Sachs ( ) and Bank of America ( ) all took the money. At that time, in October 2008, Deutsche Bank’s then Chief Executive Josef Ackermann described the bank as one of the ”strongest and best capitalized banks in the world,” privately saying he would have been ”ashamed” if it needed state help. However, analysts and regulators have since bemoaned Deutsche’s thin capital cushion. NEW MOOD Encouraged by its apparent success in the early years of the crisis, the bank’s management focused on structured finance and securitization, credit and equity derivatives, distressed debt and leveraged lending. But the mood in the United States had changed towards banks that juiced profits with large punts. In September 2016, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo demanded a new capital buffer from investment banks, and, crucially for Deutsche, that it be held locally in the United States. ”Financial regulation should be progressively more stringent for firms of greater importance,” Tarullo said at the time. Other problems were also brewing. Deutsche had been singled out in a 2011 U. S. Senate committee report that said one of its traders had called reparcelled mortgage debt ”crap” or ”pigs”. That trader, Greg Lippmann, who the committee said in its investigation had also described such securities as a ”Ponzi scheme” took a $5 billion short position on behalf of the bank, betting that mortgage related securities would fall in value. That inspired ’The Big Short’ film, where actor Ryan Gosling played a character inspired by Lippmann. Lippmann has declined to answer questions from Reuters on the subject. The U. S. market no longer has pride of place for the bank, which has begun to lay more emphasis again on its German roots. People with knowledge of the bank’s strategy have recently said it is looking to cut its loan securitization business, starting with repackaged U. S. mortgages. A final decision about this core business is set to come early next year, the people said, with a rolling back of the repackaging and resale of U. S. mortgages also expected as Chief Executive John Cryan seeks to move the business ahead. (Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze; Writing By John O’Donnell; Editing by Keith Weir) 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.

Icahn regulatory role gives activist investors strong Washington voice

U. S. chief executives, already wrestling with a steady flow of activist investors in their board rooms, face a newly challenging landscape now that the loudest voice of the bunch will have the ear of the next president and his securities’ rule makers. The advisory role granted to billionaire investor Carl Icahn by Donald Trump is a potential blow to CEOs and board directors who hoped the new Securities and Exchange Commission would favor corporate management teams over shareholder proposals that they deem too friendly to shareholders. Icahn’s appointment, announced on Wednesday, spans all regulatory matters. That includes vetting SEC candidates, a significant boost to shareholder activists who want commissioners to keep corporate governance initiatives on the front burner. While Icahn has spent four decades antagonizing CEOs and boards, the extent of his Washington influence and where he will lean on shareholder issues remains to be seen. Still, it is clear that holding the feet of executives and directors to the fire of activists is high on his list of priorities. ”We don’t hold our managements or boards accountable enough,” he said Thursday in a CNBC interview following his appointment. Icahn’s strong support of the ”universal” proxy card, a major initiative that activists feared would die in a Trump administration, may help it survive its current SEC review. In a contested shareholder vote on board membership, universal proxy cards allow investors to pick and choose among all nominees, rather than just being able to vote for an entire slate. But Icahn has thrown cold water on other governance proposals and has yet to voice an opinion on another key initiative: the SEC’s adoption of a rule requiring public companies to disclose the ratio of the compensation of their CEOs to the median employee compensation. ”The question I have is, Which Carl Icahn do we see in this role? Icahn the activist, or Icahn the businessman, advocating for the business community?” said Keith Gottfried, a Washington D. C. partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, who specializes in activist defense. ”We will probably see more of the latter.” Icahn’s support of universal proxy cards pits him against the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobbying arm, and Republican SEC commissioner Michael Piwowar, who believes the rule favors shareholder activists at the expense of other investors. SEC Chair Mary Jo White outlined the rules in October, but she has said she will leave her post at the end of the Obama administration. With the SEC accepting comments through Jan. 9, that leaves only a small window for her to act before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, a prospect most see as slim. ”With Icahn playing a role in selecting commissioners, it’s very possible universal proxy cards will remain on the agenda,” said Bruce Goldfarb, CEO of Okapi Partners, a proxy advisory firm that represents activists and companies. Icahn may also have influence over the pay ratio rule, which was adopted by securities regulators in 2015 and set to begin next year. Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce have fought the rule, which is seen as being too favorable to shareholder activists who focus on keeping executive pay in check. Icahn has not indicated his view. ACTIVIST AGENDA Shareholder activists have launched 670 campaigns against U. S. companies since 2015 and have placed 213 directors on boards of companies with a market value of $500 million or more, data from Lazard show. Icahn, known for inviting CEOs he’s targeting to his home and offering them a martini, has placed nine directors on boards this year alone. Icahn’s new role is “probably going to be mildly bad news” for most CEOs, said Michael Levin, an activist investor and director on the board of Comarco Inc. Levin said he does not expect Icahn to have much interest in changes related to social or environmental activism by shareholders. Once seen as a sideshow, the proposals have often drawn traction since the financial crisis. Measures calling on companies to report on sustainability averaged around 30 percent support from shareholders this year for instance, according to the Sustainable Investments Institute. But critics have pushed back at the ballot questions, often seeing them as nonbinding distractions or unrelated to core business issues and best left for managers to decide. Paul Atkins, a transition adviser and a former SEC commissioner who is one of two leading choices to head the SEC, which regulates how questions can be put on company ballots, has been a steady critic of the trend. In a 2008 speech he referred to ”the abusive use of the shareholder proposal process by some institutional investors.” Another SEC front runner, Debra Wong Yang, is a partner at law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which is frequently tapped by companies to fend off unwanted shareholder proposals. Although Icahn himself has filed shareholder proposals, such as one calling for Apple Inc ( ) to up its stock buybacks, he has voiced skepticism of proposals aiming for what he regards as minor governance changes, which he said in a 2013 interview, do not “move the needle much. ” (Editing by Dan Burns and Leslie Adler) 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.

Global stocks steady, U.S. dollar near 14-year peak on low volumes

Key stock indexes around the world were little changed on Friday, as were the U. S. dollar and U. S. Treasury yields, in low volume trading ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend. The U. S. dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies . DXY, lingering about half a percent below a peak set earlier this week. The dollar index has gained 5. 0 percent since Donald Trump’s U. S. presidential victory on Nov. 8, but was little changed for the week.[ ] U. S. Treasury prices were slightly firmer as investors made minimal moves in a session. [ ] Bonds showed little reaction to data showing that new U. S. home sales rose 5. 2 percent on an annual basis in November to the second highest pace since 2007, while consumer sentiment hovered near a high this month. ”No one wants to take additional risk between now and the end of the year. They don’t want to jeopardize those gains,” said Stan Shipley, strategist at Evercore ISI in New York. Trading volumes have been muted this week, which is also the last full week of trading this year. U. S. markets will be shut on Monday for the of Christmas Day which falls on a Sunday this year. U. S. equity indexes were mixed and remained near their Thursday closing levels, with the three major indexes on track to post weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which came close to the 20, 000 mark earlier this week, looked set to record its seventh straight weekly gain. ”It’s going to get tough to get over that 20, 000 mark. We can do it, but it’s going to take a catalyst to move investors,” said Jeff Kravetz, a regional investment director of the Private Client Reserve at U. S. Bank. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14. 8 points, or 0. 07 percent, to 19, 933. 68, the S&P 500 gained 2. 74 points, or 0. 121187 percent, to 2, 263. 7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15. 27 points, or 0. 28 percent, to 5, 462. 69. European stocks were mixed, with banks edging higher after both Deutche Bank ( ) and Credit Suisse ( ) settled investigations into U. S. mortgage securities sales. A bailout for Italy’s oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi, was also approved as Italy’s government looked to end a protracted banking crisis that has gummed up the economy. European shares closed little changed with an index of Italian lenders . FTIT8300 up 0. 64 percent. While Monte dei Paschi shares were suspended from trading, Italian government bond yields rose, with yields moving to 1. 83 percent IT10YT=TWEB. MSCI’s broadest index of shares outside Japan. MIAPJ0000PUS, which touched a low on Thursday, fell 0. 46 percent, to post a weekly drop of 1. 7 percent in a second consecutive week of declines. Japan’s Nikkei closed for a holiday on Friday, wasup 0. 1 percent for the week. The index has posted seven straightweeks of gains, its longest winning streak since early 2013, boosted by the yen’s weakness in the face of a surging dollar. Gold edged higher as the U. S. dollar retreated from its highs, tempting some buyers to take advantage of a near low in prices after six straight weeks of decline. Crude oil futures were little moved but U. S. oil prices closed at a high just over $53 a barrel. (Additional reporting by Vikram Subhedar and Alex Lawler in London; Editing by Clive McKeef) 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.

Stocks could suffer as Trump trade policy takes shape

The stocks rally on the heels of the election of Donald Trump as U. S. president was built on expectations of reduced regulations, big tax cuts and a large fiscal stimulus. Now signs are emerging from the Trump camp that harsher trade policies that could jeopardize the honeymoon are likely in the offing, and investors would be well advised to give those prospects more weight when gauging how much further an already pricey market has to run. By naming China hawk Peter Navarro as head of a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the incoming administration is signaling Trump’s campaign promises to revisit trade deals and even impose a tax on all imports are very much alive. Among the policies favored by Navarro and Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, who has the ’s ear on a range of economic issues, is a border adjustment tax that is also included in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s ”Better Way” blueprint. If implemented, economists at Deutsche Bank estimate the tax could send inflation far above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target and drive a 15 percent surge in the dollar. Analysts calculate that, all else being equal, a 5 percent increase in the dollar translates into about a 3 percent negative earnings revision for the S&P 500 and a drag on gross domestic product growth. The dollar index . DXY has already gained more than 5 percent since the U. S. election. Harsher trade policies may not cause a full economic slowdown, ”but I’d expect a localized recession in manufacturing and smaller gains in factory employment as well,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. He said the border tax could trigger retaliation, pouring uncertainty into the market. ”Even if the drafters of the legislation have pure intentions, other countries could use this as a pretext for propping up or subsidizing their own favorite industries.” TOP ECONOMY RISK Stocks have rallied broadly since Nov. 8, with the S&P 500 advancing by 5. 7 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging nearly 9 percent to brush up against the 20, 000 mark. Some sectors, such as banks . SPXBK, have shot up nearly 25 percent in the run. U. S. equities have gotten substantially pricier from a valuation vantage as well. The forward ratio on the S&P 500 has risen by a full point since Election Day, from 16. 6 to 17. 6, Thomson Reuters data shows. That makes stocks about 17 percent more expensive, relative to their earnings potential, than their average multiple of around 15. Small caps have gotten pricier still. The forward multiple on the Russell 2000 has risen to 26 from 22 on Nov. 8, up 18 percent, while the index price has climbed 14 percent. S&P 500 earnings are expected to rise 12. 5 percent next year, according to Thomson Reuters Proprietary Research estimates. Anything that impedes companies from achieving that target, such as a bump from a trade spat or further dollar appreciation in anticipation of new trade barriers, would undermine equity valuations. In the latest Reuters poll of U. S. primary dealers, economists at Wall Street’s top banks cited Trump’s evolving trade policies over other factors, such as fiscal policy, a strong dollar and higher interest rates, as the greatest risk to the economic outlook. The idea of a tax on imports ”should alarm people,” according to Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut. ”If we do have a trade war that’s going to be a major negative” for stocks, he said, adding that the upward momentum in equities, alongside the lack of participation due to the upcoming holidays, have so far prevented a repricing but ”we could cap the rally here, that could very well happen.” O’Rourke said technology, a sector that represents the globalization trade, would be among the hardest hit by taxing imports. Deutsche Bank’s auto sector equities analyst estimated the border tax could slam other industries that rely on global supply chains, with the cost of a new car, for instance, jumping by as much as 10 percent. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Dan Burns and 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.

Malta hijack ends peacefully as Gaddafi loyalists surrender

Hijackers armed with what were probably replica weapons forced an airliner to land in Malta on Friday before freeing all their hostages unharmed and surrendering, having declared loyalty to Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi. Television pictures showed two men being led from the aircraft in handcuffs. The prime minister of the tiny Mediterranean island, Joseph Muscat, tweeted: ”Hijackers surrendered, searched and taken in custody”. The Airbus A320 had been on an internal flight in Libya on Friday morning when it was diverted to Malta, 500 km (300 miles) north of the Libyan coast, after a man told the crew he had a hand grenade. Muscat said the grenade and two pistols the hijackers were also carrying appeared to be replicas, according to an initial forensic examination. A Libyan television channel reported it had spoken by phone with a hijacker who described himself as head of a party. Gaddafi was killed in an uprising in 2011, and Libya has been racked by factional violence since. With troops positioned a few hundred meters (yards) away, buses were driven onto the tarmac at Malta International Airport to carry away 109 passengers, as well as some of the crew. Television footage showed no signs of struggle or alarm. After the passengers had left the plane, a man briefly appeared at the top of the steps with a plain green flag resembling that of Gaddafi’s state. Libya’s Channel TV station said one hijacker, who gave his name as Moussa Shaha, had said by phone he was the head of or The New . is the name that Gaddafi gave to September, the month he staged a coup in 1969, and the word came to signify his coming to power. In a tweet, the TV station later quoted the hijacker as saying: ”We took this measure to declare and promote our new party.” STANDOFF ON TARMAC Lawmaker Hadi told Reuters that Abdusalem Mrabit, a fellow member of Libya’s House of Representatives on the plane, had told him the two hijackers were in their and were from the Tebu ethnic group in southern Libya. After the standoff ended peacefully, Muscat told a news conference there had been talks between Maltese authorities and the Libyan hijackers. The men had asked for two Maltese negotiators to board the aircraft, but this was rejected. ”We were not willing to negotiate until there was a surrender,” he said, adding that the hijackers had not requested asylum. A senior Libyan security official told Reuters the first news of the hijack came in a call from the pilot to the control tower at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport. ”Then they lost communication with him,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ”The pilot tried very hard to have them land at the correct destination but they refused.” The aircraft, operated by Afriqiyah Airways, had been flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli, a trip that would usually take a little over two hours. The last major hijacking on Malta was in 1985, when Palestinians took over an Egyptair plane. Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft and dozens of people were killed. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli, Ayman in Benghazi, Aidan Lewis in Tunis and Robin Pomeroy and Alison Williams in London; writing by Andrew Roche and John Stonestreet; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) 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.

U.S. forces embedding more to help Iraqis retake Mosul: commander

U. S. forces assisting Iraqi troops to retake Mosul from Islamic State are embedding more extensively, a senior commander said on Friday, a move that could accelerate a two campaign which has slackened after quick initial advances. More than 5, 000 American service members are currently deployed in Iraq as part of an international coalition that is advising local forces in a bid to recapture the third of the country the jihadists seized in 2014 when Iraq’s army and police dropped their weapons and fled. Coalition advisors were initially concentrated at a headquarters in Baghdad but have fanned out over the past two years to multiple locations to stay near advancing troops. Now, as Iraqi forces controlling around a quarter of Mosul Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq proceed deeper into the northern city and encounter fierce that render progress slow and punishing, U. S. troops are stepping up their involvement. ”We are deepening our integration with them,” said U. S. Army Colonel Brett G. Sylvia. ”We are now pushing that into more of the Iraqi formations pushing forward, some formations that we haven’t partnered with in the past where we are now partnering with them.” During a rare interview at the U. S. section of a base for Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga forces in Makhmour, 75 km (47 miles) southeast of Mosul, the combat brigade commander would not be drawn on whether his troops were operating inside Mosul proper. But Sylvia, who commands the Task Force Strike, told Reuters the level of integration resembles that of small special operations teams embedding with larger indigenous forces to help build capacity. ”We have always had opportunities to work but we have never been embedded to this degree,” he said. ”That was always a smaller niche mission. Well, this is our mission now and it is big and we are embedded inside their formations.” Sylvia called the changes ”a natural progression” of the U. S. mission, which is much narrower than the U. S. occupation that followed the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein when up to 170, 000 troops were deployed. The coalition, which includes European and Arab allies, has also launched thousands of air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and neighbor Syria, and trained tens of thousands of Iraqi forces since 2014. Separately, U. S. commandos have launched raids against senior Islamic State leaders. A top U. S. general told Reuters this week that Iraqi forces in Mosul had entered a planned operational refit, the first significant pause of the campaign which was launched on Oct. 17. But Sylvia said he believes the operation is approaching a ”tipping point” in the eastern side of the city where Iraqi forces have advanced through around two dozen neighborhoods since penetrating almost eight weeks ago. ”When that momentum has the appearance of irreversibility then I think that we’ll see a much more rapid seizure and clearance that occurs on the east side . .. we’re not (there yet)” he said. Mosul, an ancient city where up to 1. 5 million people are thought to still be living, is divided roughly in half by the Tigris River. The western section has markets and narrow alleyways dating back more than two millennia which will likely complicate advances. ”They are different environments as you look at these areas,” said Sylvia. ”It’s like saying Manhattan and Brooklyn are the same area. Clearly there’s a different composition to them as you look at the two areas and that’s the way this is as well.” (This version of the story was refiled to remove reference to the coalition’s ground forces in paragraph 7) (Reporting By Stephen Kalin; Editing by Richard Balmforth) 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.

Amazon starts flexing muscle in new space: air cargo

A cargo plane emblazoned with ”Prime Air” descended from an empty sky at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Tuesday, ninety minutes from the bustle of New York City, loaded with crates of goods during the peak holiday shopping season. It’s one of 40 jets leased by Amazon. com Inc for a new cargo service to meet delivery demand from the retail giant’s customers. Exclusive payload data reviewed by Reuters and interviews with airport officials around the country show that Prime Air planes are flying nearly full, but with lightweight loads, taking away valued business from FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc. Expanding into transportation, from trucks to planes, is one of Amazon’s most important endeavors as it strives to lure new customers with fast shipping while keeping costs under control. The world’s largest online retailer is sending more packages, more often, and later in the day to serve its estimated 35 million to more than 50 million U. S. members of Amazon Prime, a service that promises shipping for $99 per year. Bulky boxes with goods once purchased in stores, like toilet paper, are a revenue driver at UPS and FedEx. That’s in part because they now are charging customers increasingly by boxes’ volume rather than weight. Shipping its own big, light packages is helping Amazon dodge those rising fees. To date, Amazon has only said it leased the planes to speed up shipping and to backstop cargo partners during the holiday season. FedEx and UPS have delivered items late for Christmas in recent years. ”Our own delivery efforts are needed to supplement that capacity rather than replace it,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman told Reuters. She declined to comment on eluding cargo airline fees. Amazon’s planes fly to at least 10 airports across the United States, supplying its warehouses nearby. Officials at four airports said Amazon’s flights are operating near capacity but landing with weight meaning it is placing shipments inside the jets. Amazon aircraft on a monthly basis handled only between 37 percent and 52 percent of their maximum loads by weight, according to an analysis of cargo, capacity and landing data from the four airports, with supplementary information from tracking website FlightAware. com. By contrast, FedEx and UPS were at 53 percent and 56 percent capacity, respectively, according to U. S. Transportation Department data for the year ended September 2016, excluding weight carried for free. ”You’re dealing with cargo that’s big in dimensions, but in pure weight it’s light,” said an airport ramp manager in California. Airports in Tampa and Charlotte reported similar payload data for the carriers contracted by Amazon, but they did not specify whether the flights were full by volume or whether they were operated on Amazon’s behalf. A seventh airport outside Chicago said the planes were not full, though daily flights only started in October 2016, and Amazon likely is learning the market, transport experts said. The remaining airports did not comment. FedEx declined to comment. Steve Gaut, vice president of public relations at UPS, declined to comment on Amazon’s airline but said customers commonly handle parts of their logistics . Reuters could not determine the extent to which, if any, Prime Air had an effect on the bottom lines of FedEx or UPS to date. Reuters could also not determine how much Amazon has spent on aircraft leases so far, key to whether the fleet has cut its costs overall. The payload figures Reuters reviewed do not include November or December, when contractor ABX Air, a unit of Air Transport Services Group Inc, paused flights for Amazon after a pilot strike. FLYING LATER Flight data shows another way that Amazon is departing from cargo companies’ road map in an attempt of its top goal: rapid delivery. Using FlightAware. com and similar websites, Reuters tracked the schedules of Amazon contractors and verified with airports which flights were on behalf of the retailer. Many of the company’s eastbound flights leave the states of Washington and California unusually late at night: its flight from Stockton to Wilmington, Ohio departs close to 2:00 AM Pacific Time (10:00 GMT) for instance. FedEx instead schedules most eastbound service no later than 9:00 PM (5:00 GMT) to ensure arrival at its Memphis, Tennessee hub in time for sorting packages overnight. The difference is that cargo airlines stop at airport hubs so they can fill up planes easily with boxes from many origins. Amazon does this much less. But flying without a stopover is faster, helping Amazon cut shipping times from Prime’s standard, to a day or even hours. Scheduling later departures has an advantage, too. ”Most people have a tendency to order packages when they’re home” from work, said Brian Clancy, managing director of advisory firm Logistics Capital & Strategy LLC. Amazon is ”waiting for the orders.” Amazon also saves time by flying to remote locations like Lehigh Valley, which are near cities and its warehouses but have little traffic. Expectations are for Amazon to stretch well beyond Lehigh Valley and the existing airports Prime Air serves. ”We’re just seeing the beginning of this,” said Marc Wulfraat, president of logistics consultancy MWPVL International Inc. ”We could see Toronto. We could see Denver. ”They’re going to need a lot more planes,” he said. (Editing by Peter Henderson and Edward Tobin) 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.

Ericsson, Cisco to target corporate, public sector clients in 2017

Global telecoms equipment gear maker Ericsson ( ) plans to expand its partnership with Cisco Systems Inc ( ) by serving new corporate clients and the public sector in 2017, its North American chief told Reuters in an interview. Rima Qureshi says Ericsson and Cisco remain on track to achieve an extra $1 billion each in revenues by 2018 through a partnership which was announced late in 2015. Qureshi says Ericsson’s Cisco partnership, which generated over 60 deals in the first year, has been mainly focused on telecom operators. Next year, the firms plan to target enterprises and public sector as well. ”The two of us together definitely are looking much closer into how we can work on the enterprise (segment),” said Qureshi. ”We are investigating what we can do together within Industry & Society, IoT (Internet of Things) smart cities and we’re going to target specific public sector segments, specifically for example transportation, utilities . .. And then of course we’re looking at other segments such as security,” she added. Qureshi says Ericsson’s forecast to generate up to 25 percent of revenue from business outside of telecom operators by 2020. (Editing by Mia Shanley) 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.

Indonesia, Philippine groups acquire Chevron’s $3 billion geothermal assets

Philippine property to banking conglomerate Ayala Corp ( ) said on Friday two groups of companies in which its energy unit has stakes will acquire Chevron’s ( ) geothermal assets in Indonesia and the Philippines, earlier valued at $3 billion. Ayala, owned by one of the Philippines’ richest clans, is looking to expand its power generation business and is aiming to boost capacity to up to 2, 000 megawatts by 2020, double a previous plan. It would be its first investment in Indonesia’s power sector. AC Energy Holdings Inc, as part of the Indonesian and Philippine groups of companies, has signed share sale and purchase agreements with the Chevron group composed of Chevron Global Energy Inc, Union Oil Company of California and their affiliates, Ayala said in a statement. Ayala did not disclose the acquisition price but Reuters reported earlier the assets at stake were valued at about $3 billion. Chevron is selling assets, cutting jobs globally and slashing capital spending to save cash in a bid to preserve its dividend amid weak oil prices. In Indonesia, Chevron operates the Darajat and Salak geothermal fields in West Java, with a combined capacity of 235 MW equivalent of steam and 402 MW of electricity. In the Philippines, Chevron owns 40 percent of the Philippine Geothermal Production Company Inc, which operates the Tiwi and MakBan geothermal field in Southern Luzon and supplies steam to power plants with a combined capacity of around 700 MW. AC Energy has a 19. 8 percent stake in the Indonesian consortium that also includes Star Energy Group Holdings Pte Ltd, Star Energy Geothermal Pte Ltd, and Electricity Generating Public Company Ltd ( ). The Philippine consortium consists of AC Energy and Star Energy Group Holdings Pte Ltd. Two other Philippine companies, Energy Development Corp ( ) and Aboitiz Power Corp ( ) were in Chevron’s shortlist of potential buyers, along with Japanese firms including Marubeni Corp ( ) local media reported last month. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) 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 .

China fines GM venture $29 million for monopolistic pricing: state TV

China will fine U. S. automaker General Motors Co’s ( ) joint venture 201 million yuan ($29 million) for monopolistic pricing, state television reported on Friday, ending speculation after an official warned of penalties against a U. S. carmaker. Shanghai’s pricing regulator said it would fine GM’s venture with China’s largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp Ltd ( ) for setting minimum prices on certain Cadillac, Chevy and Buick models, according to China Central Television. ”GM fully respects local laws and regulations wherever we operate,” the U. S. automaker said in an emailed statement. ”We will provide full support to our joint venture in China to ensure that all responsive and appropriate actions are taken with respect to this matter.” SAIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The fine follows comments by U. S. Donald Trump questioning the ”One China” policy and his naming of Peter Navarro, a hardliner on trade with China, as a trade adviser, although there is no evidence that the penalty is a form of retaliation. An official at the National Development Reform Commission on Dec. 14 told China Daily that the commission would fine a U. S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, sending GM and Ford Motor Co ( ) shares skidding. Auto industry sources have told Reuters the investigation was already underway before Trump’s recent comments, although it has raised fears that China could be seizing on the case to send a shot across the bow of the incoming U. S. administration. The penalty is the latest against automakers after the commission began investigations in 2011, with Audi AG ( ) Daimler AG’s ( ) Toyota Motor Corp ( ) and one of Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s ( ) joint ventures previously being targeted. (Reporting by Jake Spring and Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Mark Potter) 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.

Under scrutiny, Trump decides to dissolve his foundation

Trump gave no timeline for winding down the foundation, but said in a statement that he wanted ”to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President.” He directed his counsel to take the necessary steps for the dissolution. With less than four weeks to his Jan. 20 inauguration, the New York real estate magnate is under increasing pressure to reduce potential conflicts of interest ranging from his vast global business operations to his family’s philanthropic work. This week, Trump said his son Eric would stop raising money for his own foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family. The said it was a ”ridiculous shame” that his son’s foundation would stop raising money. Before Trump’s surprising election victory on Nov. 8, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in October directed the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop taking donations, saying the foundation violated state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with a state office. Schneiderman’s order followed a series of reports in The Washington Post that suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said on Saturday that Trump cannot shutter the foundation while the investigation is ongoing. ”The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said. She would not comment on expected timing for completing the investigation. Trump said he was ”very proud” of the money raised by the foundation and said it had operated at ”essentially no cost for decades.” ”But because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world,” he added in his statement, ”I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest.” The Trump Foundation, which was established in 1988, runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates to other nonprofit groups such as the Police Athletic League for youths. FAMILY FACED CRITICISM Scrutiny of the Trump family’s philanthropic activities heightened in recent weeks following reports of access to the family for potential donors. Eric Trump faced criticism for an online auction sponsored by his foundation, which raises money to help terminally ill children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, offering the highest bidder a chance to have coffee with his sister Ivanka. After the announcement that Eric would not be allowed to raise money for his foundation, Trump tweeted: ”He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!” Trump’s critics, however, remembered how the had attacked his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over their family foundation. In August, Trump urged the Justice Department to investigate the Clinton Foundation, which he called a ” ” operation that rewarded big donors with favors from the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state. Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. also came under fire this week for their role in a charity event that offered a private reception with their father in exchange for a $1 million donation. The brothers were listed on a draft invitation as honorary of the fundraiser for conservation charities, dubbed ”Opening Day,” set to be held in Washington the day after the Jan. 20 inauguration. On Tuesday, the Trump transition team said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not involved with the fundraiser and a subsequent invitation dropped references to donors meeting with any members of the Trump family. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Melissa Fares; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Leslie Adler) 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.

Exclusive: Trump team seeks names of officials working to counter violent extremism

U. S. Donald Trump’s transition team has asked two Cabinet departments for the names of government officials working on programs to counter violent extremism, according to a document seen by Reuters and U. S. officials. The requests to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security involve a set of programs that seek to prevent violence by extremists of any stripe, including recruitment by militant Islamist groups within the United States and abroad. Reuters could not determine why the Trump team asked for these names. The Trump team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump has frequently criticized President Barack Obama for not doing enough to battle Islamic militants and for his refusal to use the term ”radical Islam” to describe Islamic State and other militant groups. Some career officials said they feared the incoming administration may be looking to undo the work that the Obama administration has done on countering violent extremism. ”They’re picking a few issues to ask for people’s names,” said one government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, reflecting wider fears that those who worked on such issues could be marginalized by the new administration. Earlier this month, Trump representatives had asked the U. S. Energy Department for the names of staffers who worked on climate change policy. The White House expressed concern that it may have been an attempt to target civil servants, including scientists and lawyers. The Energy Department balked at providing names and a Trump spokesman disavowed the request. The State Department declined to comment on specific requests from the Trump transition team. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. In a Dec. 9 email seen by Reuters, Trump representatives at the State Department sought a list of positions in the counterterrorism bureau’s office of countering violent extremism. ”Please indicate names of people serving in those roles and status (political or career),” the email said, referring to political appointees and career civil servants. Three U. S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a similar request had been made to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In that case, the Trump transition team asked for the names of members of an interagency task force on countering violent extremism that the Obama administration established in January, the officials said. According to a Jan. 8 DHS statement, the task force falls under the leadership of DHS and the Department of Justice, and includes officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Counterterrorism Center and other government agencies. Several of Trump’s top national security advisers have cast the fight against Islamic militants as an existential conflict between civilizations, according to a review of their writings and public remarks. Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for White House national security adviser, said in a post on Twitter earlier this year, ”Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL.” Some counterterrorism experts say that such rhetoric can be used by militant groups to recruit, and will alienate Muslim communities whose help is needed to prevent violence. A U. S. official said their guess was that the Trump team will likely rebrand Obama’s generic fight against violent extremism into a specific battle against Islamic radicalization State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that the department would be cautious about providing names of employees associated with specific issues, but left open the possibility of providing names on an organizational basis. It was unclear whether the State Department shared the names of the officials in the office on countering violent extremism or whether Homeland Security officials provided names. ”Without getting into the specifics of information either requested by the transition team or provided by the Department, I can tell you that . .. I know of no requests that have been denied,” a senior State Department official said. (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and) 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.

French-Swiss aid worker kidnapped in Malian city of Gao

A aid worker has been kidnapped in the city of Gao in northern Mali, and French and Malian authorities are working together to rescue her, the French foreign ministry said on Sunday. Sophie Petronin, who runs a organization that helps children suffering from malnutrition, was kidnapped on Saturday afternoon, but, so far, no one has made a claim of responsibility, Malian Commandant Baba Cissé said. Mali has been beset by attacks from resurgent Islamist groups, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) this year, especially in the north. Gao seized by Islamist militants in 2012 before French forces drove them out a year later is considered the most secure town in northern Mali with multiple U. N. French and Malian army checkpoints along main roads. ”In liaison with the Malian authorities, they (French authorities) are fully mobilized to seek and release, as soon as possible, our compatriot,” the French foreign ministry said. A local radio station in Gao said the aid worker was affiliated with Aide Gao and was snatched by a group of men who drove off with her in a Toyota pickup truck. Aide Gao was not available for comment. Last month, despite the relatively heavy security in Gao, the offices of the U. N. peacekeeping mission located next to the city’s airport terminal were razed by a explosion. Mali’s government signed a peace deal last year with secular armed groups, but Islamist militants pledging allegiance to both and Islamic State have fought on and launched dozens of attacks on Western targets in recent months. The peace agreement has been broken many times, adding to difficulties faced by U. N. forces trying to stabilize the former French colony. (Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako and Marine Pennetier and Maya Nikolaeva in Paris; Writing by Edward McAllister; 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.

Pope says Christmas ’hostage’ to materialism, God in shadows

Pope Francis said on Saturday that Christmas had been ”taken hostage” by dazzling materialism that puts God in the shadows and blinds many to the needs of the hungry, the migrants and the war weary. Francis, leading the world’s 1. 2 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas for the fourth time since his election in 2013, said in his Christmas Eve homily that a world often obsessed with gifts, feasting and needed more humility. ”If we want to celebrate Christmas authentically, we need to contemplate this sign: the fragile simplicity of a small newborn, the meekness of where he lies, the tender affection of the swaddling clothes. God is there,” the Pope said at St. Peter’s Basilica. At the solemn but joyous service, attended by some 10, 000 people as well as dozens of cardinals and bishops, Pope Francis said the many in the wealthy world had to be reminded that the message of Christmas was humility, simplicity and mystery. ”Jesus was born rejected by some and regarded by many others with indifference,” he said. ”Today also the same indifference can exist, when Christmas becomes a feast where the protagonists are ourselves, rather than Jesus; when the lights of commerce cast the light of God into the shadows; when we are concerned for gifts, but cold toward those who are marginalized.” He then added in unscripted remarks: ”This worldliness has taken Christmas hostage. It needs to be freed.” Security was heightened for the Christmas weekend in Italy and at the Vatican after Italian police killed the man believed to be responsible for the Berlin market truck attack while other European cities kept forces on high alert. St. Peter’s Square was cleared out six hours before the mass started at the basilica so that security procedures could be put in place for those entering the church later. Francis, who has made defense of the poor a trademark of his papacy, said the infant Jesus should remind everyone of those suffering today, particularly children. ”Let us also allow ourselves to be challenged by the children of today’s world, who are not lying in a cot caressed with the affection of a mother and father, but rather suffer the squalid mangers that devour dignity: hiding underground to escape bombardment, on the pavements of a large city, at the bottom of a boat with immigrants,” he said. Outside the basilica, thousands of people who could not get into the largest church in Christendom watched on large screens in the chilly night. ”Let us allow ourselves to be challenged by the children who are not allowed to be born, by those who cry because no one satiates their hunger, by those who do have not toys in their hands, but rather weapons,” he said. On Christmas Day, Francis will deliver his ”Urbi et Orbi” (”To the City and to the World”) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. (Reporting by Philip Pullella, editing by G Crosse) 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.

Iraqis celebrate first Christmas near Mosul after Islamic State pushed out

Several hundred Iraqi Christians flocked on Saturday to a northern town recently retaken from Islamic State, celebrating Christmas for the first time since 2013, their joy tainted with sadness over the desecration of their church. Once home to thousands of Assyrian Christians, Bartella emptied in August 2014 when it fell to Islamic State’s blitz across large parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. Iraqi forces took it back in the first few days of the U. S. offensive that started in October. Women holding candles ululated as they went into the town’s Mar Shimoni church, expressing their joy at returning to the place where many of them said they had been baptized. ”This is the best day of my life. Sometimes I thought it would never come,” said Shurook Tawfiq, a housewife displaced to the nearby Kurdish city of Erbil. The church was badly damaged during Islamic State’s time in control of the town, with crosses taken down, statues of saints defaced and the chancel burnt. A new cross has been affixed on top of the chapel, while a decorated plastic Christmas tree now stands near the massive gate. Soldiers stood guard nearby and others were posted on rooftops. A peal of festive bells rang out over the town, which is still largely empty, with many houses reduced to rubble by the fighting that raged two months ago. ”It is a mix of sadness and happiness,” Bishop Mussa Shemani told Reuters before celebrating the Christmas Eve Mass. ”We are sad to see what has been done to our holiest places by our own countrymen, but at the same time we are happy to celebrate the first Mass after two years.” The region of Nineveh is one of the most ancient settlements of Christianity, going back nearly 2, 000 years. At Mar Shimoni, the congregation sang and prayed in Syriac, a language close to the one spoken by Jesus. ”It’s the church where I was baptized, where I was educated, where I was taught the faith,” said Bahnam Shamanny, the editor of Bartelli a monthly local newspaper. Islamic State targeted all Muslim groups living under its rule and inflicted harsh punishment on Sunnis who would not abide by its extreme interpretation of Islam. The region’s Christians were given an ultimatum: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die by the sword. Most of them fled to the autonomous Kurdish region, across the Zab river to the east. It will be some time before people can return and start repairing their houses as the town lacks services and the whole area remains a war zone. ”The whole town would have come to the church if they had the means,” said Shamanny. Those who attended the Mass came in a special convoy of buses from Erbil. The front line in the battle has moved to Mosul, Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq, 13 kilometers (8 miles) to the west. There, militants are dug in among civilians, fighting off the advance of elite Iraqi units with suicide car bombs, mortars and snipers. More than one million people are estimated to live in areas of the city that remain under militant control, complicating the war plans of the Iraqi army and the U. S. coalition providing air and ground support. ”This is a dark cloud over Iraq,” Bishop Shemani told the assembly in his Christmas Eve sermon in Bartella. ”But we will stay here in our land no matter what happens. God is with us.” (Editing by Catherine Evans) 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. WASHINGTON U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday it was important for U. S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to have a ”good exchange” over how they see the nature of the bilateral relationship.

Chibok girl recalls ’miracle’ release by Boko Haram as reunited with family

YOLA, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) When Boko Haram militants decided to release some of the 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped years ago in northeast Nigeria, Asabe Goni did not dare to dream that she would be among the girls allowed to go home. During their time in captivity the girls were encouraged to convert to Islam and to marry their kidnappers, with some whipped for not doing so, but Goni said otherwise they were treated well and fed well until supplies recently ran short. Hungry and ill, the did not even have the energy to stand up in October when the Islamist militants said that any girls who wanted to be released should line up. She just sat and watched as other girls scrambled to get into line. ”I was surprised when they announced that my name was on the list,” Goni told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the first interview by one of the 21 freed girls to international media. ”It was a miracle,” she said, while expressing regret that she had to leave behind her cousin who was also abducted. A group of 21 girls was released two months ago after Switzerland and the International Red Cross brokered a deal with the Boko Haram. They have been held since in a secret location in the capital Abuja for debriefing by the Nigerian government. But the girls have been taken back to the Chibok area in Borno state to spend Christmas with their families, returning home for the first time since being seized from their school in April 2014, an act that sparked global outrage. ”I was very happy when they said I should go home,” Goni said in an interview in her family’s home in the northern city of Yola, surrounded by her father, stepmother, five siblings and several neighbors. The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014 hit international headlines and prompted global figures, including U. S. First Lady Michelle Obama and a list of celebrities, to support a campaign #BringBackOurGirls. But none of the girls were sighted again until May this year when one of the students, Amina Ali, was found in a forest with a baby and a man claiming to be her husband. Her discovery prompted hopes that the girls were alive and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to ensure the release of the remaining girls in captivity. ”GIVEN UP HOPE” Recalling the abduction, Goni said the girls, which included her younger cousin Margaret with whom she had lived since she was a child, trekked for three days through Sambisa forest, Boko Haram’s vast woodland stronghold, before they arrived at a camp. ”I was in great pain,” she said. ”Many of us didn’t stop crying until about three months after we were kidnapped.” While the girls were not forced to convert to Islam, the militants told them that they would all be sent home if they did so, said Goni. Neither were they forced to marry, she added. ”But the way they talked to us about it, you would be afraid not to,” she said, recalling how the girls were sometimes flogged with a whip. ”That is why some were convinced to marry.” Goni said the girls were otherwise treated well by the militants. They were given material to sew clothes and fed three times a day until recently when food became scarce. The girls told state officials they were not abused or raped by the militants, and all tested negative for sexually transmitted diseases, according to a confidential report based on a debriefing prepared for Buhari and seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in November. When Goni was released, she did not have time to say goodbye to Margaret, whom she calls her sister, or the other girls. ”Some of the other girls left behind started crying,” she said. ”But the Boko Haram men consoled them, telling them that their turn to go home would come one day.” Nigerian authorities say they are involved in negotiations aimed at securing the release of more of the girls, while the army has captured a key Boko Haram camp in Sambisa forest, Buhari said earlier today. Far away from negotiations and army operations, Goni chatted with her siblings and helped her mother prepare breakfast as she spoke of her excitement of going to church on Christmas Day. ”I never knew that I would return (home),” Goni said. ”I had given up hope of ever going home.” (Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Writing by Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news. trust. org) 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.

Platinum Partners arrests are scant consolation for alleged victims

When six executives of Platinum Partners, including founder Mark Nordlicht, were arrested on Monday on federal charges of running a more than $1 billion hedge fund fraud, people who had long alleged they were harmed by the New firm felt some vindication. But the possibility that each defendant might face prison terms has done little to soothe their continued anger over losses that may never be recouped. One such person is energy entrepreneur John Hoffman. In the charges, the U. S. Department of Justice and the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged what Hoffman had long believed that Platinum, with the help of a seventh man also arrested, Jeffrey Shulse, had illegally profited from the failure of Hoffman’s company, Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC. Hoffman said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that he did not expect to recover anything and that his involvement with Platinum had cost him the company he founded and at least $500, 000 in legal fees. He also described health problems and difficulty fundraising for a new energy venture. Hoffman expressed anger that thousands of Gulf families were stiffed: mostly the small businesses that were never paid for work on Black Elk’s oil and gas drilling platforms before it went bankrupt amid lower oil prices and Platinum’s alleged corporate cash grab. All six Platinum executives pleaded not guilty and an attorney for Shulse told Reuters he plans to do the same. A spokesman for Platinum declined to comment for this article, and the firm has not offered any public comment. A person familiar with Platinum’s thinking told Reuters in April that the firm always acted within the limits of the law despite its aggressive investment approach. Launched in 2003, Platinum was known as a hedge fund manager that backed struggling companies and employed esoteric investment strategies such as litigation finance and consumer loans. (Reuters Special Report: ) The government charges on Monday included allegations of assets and misleading clients on the health of the firm. The government demanded that the hedge fund return money that was allegedly illegally taken from clients and Black Elk bondholders, and pay related penalties. That appears to complicate an already messy stew of competing claims for a relatively small pot of assets, which include funds already in supervised liquidation and bankruptcy. Others seeking money from Platinum include approximately 600 clients whose money was frozen, and creditors and shareholders of its or struggling portfolio companies, according to a variety of lawsuits against Platinum Marc Powers, an attorney for a Platinum fund investor with BakerHostetler in New York, said it was too early to speculate on how much would be recovered from Platinum, including its hedge funds, executives, and allegedly improperly favored firm clients. But he added that it was unlikely his client and others would be made whole based on the number of claims and the facts of the case. ”It clearly doesn’t look good for any of the victims,” Powers said. INVESTORS AND CREDITORS Robert McIver, a small business owner in Glasgow, Scotland, said he invested nearly $2 million with Platinum starting in 2013 after he searched on Google for hedge funds. ”From looking at the numbers, Platinum was doing great. There was no reason to suspect anything,” McIver said in a phone interview on Wednesday along with his attorney, Powers. McIver gave Platinum money from his company, Aerial Services Scotland Ltd, and a significant part of his and his wife’s savings. ”We had a plan to retire in about five years. That’s all ruined now,” he said. At least one person owed money by Platinum for a fund investment said he expected to recover a small portion of his assets. The person estimated that there would be several hundred million dollars left of the reported $1. 3 billion following the liquidation process, based on plans such as Communications Holdings’s proposed $117. 5 million purchase of assets from bankrupt explosives detection equipment maker Implant Sciences Corp, a Platinum holding. ”The funds still have material value,” said the person, who requested anonymity because he did not want to be associated with Platinum. Houma, Shamrock Energy Solutions LLC was one of about 285 creditors to put in claims for $1. 2 billion when Black Elk went bankrupt. ”Obviously we are excited with the fact that justice will finally prevail,” Rene Breaux, Shamrock’s chief financial officer, said by telephone on Wednesday. ”But we are very sad in the fact that we are going to have to eat about a $1 million because we got taken advantage of.” A lawyer for Shamrock, Scott Scofield, said he would be ”stunned” if unsecured Black Elk creditors like his client got more than 20 percent of their money back. YEARS OF ALLEGATIONS For California Bay Area energy entrepreneur Michael Petras, Monday’s arrests brought some sense of vindication. Petras has warned regulators about Platinum for years after the collapse of the business he launched with Gary Mole, Franklin Power Company. Mole went on to found Glacial Energy Holdings, which became a Platinum holding. Petras has long contended that Mole destroyed Franklin to create Glacial and then conspired with Platinum to cheat him out of the millions of dollars he was owed. Reuters could not verify his claim. Platinum declined to comment and Mole did not respond to a request for comment. Starting in 2012, Petras made a detailed series of briefings and complaints about alleged wrongdoing, especially tax evasion, by Glacial and Platinum, with the New York Attorney General, the Internal Revenue Service, the SEC, the Department of Justice and various state public utility commissions, Petras said. In September 2015, Mole was arrested and charged with tax evasion by the New York Attorney General. Mole pleaded not guilty. The government’s charges this week included some of what Petras told them about Platinum’s involvement with Black Elk. Petras said by phone on Wednesday that his obsessive work on Platinum had taken a personal and financial toll, but he expressed pride at having done ”a public service.” ”The only disappointment I have is it took so long and the only regret I have is that the value I was entitled to I will never likely recover,” he said. (Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Frances Kerry) 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.

Nigeria’s Buhari says army has captured key Boko Haram camp

Nigeria’s army has captured a key Boko Haram camp, the Islamist militant group’s last enclave in the vast Sambisa forest that was its stronghold, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday. Boko Haram has killed 15, 000 people and displaced more than two million during a insurgency to create an Islamic state governed by a strict interpretation of sharia law in the northeast of Africa’s most populous nation. The group controlled an area about the size of Belgium in early 2015 but has been pushed out of most of that territory over the last year by Nigeria’s army and troops from neighboring countries, shifting to a base in the Sambisa, a former colonial game reserve. ”I was told by the Chief of Army Staff that the camp fell at about 1:35 pm on Friday, December 23, and that the terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide,” Buhari said in a statement. Reuters was unable to independently verify whether the base in Nigeria’s Borno state, known as Camp Zero, had been taken by the army. Buhari said the capture of Camp Zero marked the ”final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa forest”. Army spokesman Sani Usman said the military was ”happy and proud of the accomplished task” without giving further details. Nigeria’s military has been conducting an offensive in the forest during the last few weeks. Officials said in recent days that insurgents were fleeing into surrounding areas, warning residents to be vigilant. Despite having been pushed back to the Sambisa forest, Boko Haram still stages suicide bombings in northeasteran areas and in neighboring Niger and Cameroon. Ryan Cummings, director of risk management company Signal Risk, said it was unlikely that the entire insurgency was being coordinated from the Sambisa. ”Boko Haram may have both logistical and operational bases both within and outside of Nigeria’s borders,” he said. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) last year but signs of a rift emerged in August after IS announced a new leader, Abu Musab . Boko Haram’s hitherto leader Abubakar Shekau later appeared to contradict the appointment in a video message. Analysts say Shekau’s faction is based in the Sambisa while ’s group operates in the Lake Chad area. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Catherine Evans and Helen Popper) 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.

Europe on Christmas high alert after truck attack in Berlin

Security was heightened for the Christmas weekend in Italy and at the Vatican on Saturday after Italian police killed the man believed to be responsible for the Berlin market truck attack while other European cities kept forces on high alert. In France, Britain and Germany, which have all been targets of Islamist militant attacks, police increased their presence at tourist spots in major cities and other densely populated areas. Anis Amri, a Tunisian suspected of carrying out the truck attack which killed 12 people, was shot dead in a town near Milan early on Friday after he pulled a gun on police during a routine check. He had traveled undetected to Italy from Germany via France, taking advantage of Europe’s Schengen pact. As investigators sought to determine if Amri had accomplices in Italy, and associates were being arrested in his home country of Tunisia, national security officials in Italy beefed up security at sensitive spots. Rome authorities banned vans or trucks from entering the city center and police wearing masks and wielding machine guns set up roadblocks on routes leading to famous tourist sites or areas where crowds traditionally gather. At the Vatican, where Pope Francis was due to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s basilica on Saturday evening, police cars and military jeeps stood about every 100 meters (yards) along streets leading to the Vatican. Security was also stepped up in central Milan and other Italian cities, particularly near major churches where the faithful were attending Christmas services. In France, where Islamist militants killed 130 people in shooting and bomb attacks in Paris in November 2015, authorities said more than 91, 000 policemen and soldiers would be deployed, with additional security measures being enforced at churches. Emergency rule has been in place since the Paris attacks, and French soldiers patrol the capital’s streets. Police have been given wider search and arrest powers to target suspects considered a threat to security. In Germany, federal police reinforced armed patrols at airports and rail stations, officials said. They have also reintroduced spot checks on people coming into Germany along a (19 miles) corridor inside the international frontiers. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said the danger of an attack in Germany remains high despite the death of the suspected attacker. More than 100 investigators would be working through the holidays searching for any accomplices or support network for Amri. ”The level of threat remains high,” he told reporters late on Friday. Britain is on its threat level, meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. Police there have increased security at a number of popular tourist attractions, including around Queen Elizabeth’s London residence, Buckingham Palace. Armed officers patrol major shopping centers, Christmas markets and places of worship. RECONSTRUCTING MOVEMENTS After reconstructing Amri’s movements since he drove a truck through a festive market in Berlin on Monday, police are investigating whether he was seeking shelter from comrades in Italy or was en route to another country. The town near Milan where Amri was killed, Sesto San Giovanni, is home to a sizeable Muslim community and is a departure point for buses to southern Italy, eastern Europe and the Balkans. In a video released on Friday after his death, he is seen pledging his allegiance to militant group Islamic State leader Abu Bakr . Tunisian security forces on Saturday arrested three suspected militants, including Amri’s nephew, who had been in touch with Amri by social media messaging. Spain’s interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said its intelligence services were investigating a possible connection via Internet between Amri and a Spanish resident on Dec. 19. Amri originally came to Europe in 2011, landing with other migrants on the island of Lampedusa, and spent four years in an Italian jail for trying to set a school on fire in Sicily. German authorities have complained they were unaware of Amri’s criminal past. ”Convicted criminals from all countries need to be listed in a European database so that we know when and where they are when they cross our borders or ask for asylum,” Germany’s de Maiziere told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Italians have been moved by the story of Fabrizia di Lorenzo, who survived two heart operations only to be killed in the truck attack in Berlin, where she was living. (Additional reporting by Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Sonya Dowsett in Madrid, Maya Nikolaeva in Paris, Guy Faulconbridge in London; Writing by Richard Balmforth) 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.

Commentary: Don’t write democracy off just yet

This past year has been one where the limits and failings of democracy became more visible than at any time since World War Two enshrined the view that representative government was best. After that vast and hideous conflict, democracies defeated the tyrannies of Germany, Italy and Japan ironically, a victory made certain by the unrivalled human sacrifices of the largest tyranny of all, the Soviet Union. The winners, led by a rich and United States, shaped the world. The institutions created by the allies chief among them the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have their origins in debates among the Allies during the war; they were designed to bring stability, replace war with argument, ensure development aid for the impoverished. In 1948, Washington put some $ (c. $120bn in 2016 values) into the reconstruction of a ruined Europe. Called the after the then U. S. Secretary of State George Marshall, the aid was designed to underpin democratic government and the then powerful forces of communism. In these years, the victors were confident in their political systems, seeing them as drawing strength from the active engagement of the citizens in elections, in political parties and in open debate. Now, the forward march of democracy has been halted; in some cases, reversed. Those in the West have been used to seeing elections for representatives to parliaments, chosen by parties, as the natural concomitant to free societies. Yet that freedom is highly regulated, and inevitably creates a political elite. The voices of the people are mediated through many filters, often opaque to most. Those countries relying routinely on plebiscites for policy decisions are few as in Switzerland, where the results of referenda do confirm an aversion to immigration, even where that is posed as economically advantageous. In this past year, referenda in two large European states that have little tradition of holding them, the United Kingdom and Italy, have spurned political choices recommended by the two governments. In the UK, the vote was about European Union membership; in Italy it was on constitutional change. Both outcomes prompted the resignations of prime ministers: and in London. Both had parliament as their supreme legislatures in Italy since the last world war, in the UK for centuries. Referenda are now the favored media of the populist parties everywhere, since they believe they can ride and guide the tigers of popular revolt. They are the voice of the people, are they not? There is a cogent defense of representative systems as providing continuity, experience and wisdom, but it’s a hard case to make without exciting mockery at a time of mainline political unpopularity. Mainstream political parties have regularly made attempts to widen the participation of citizens in politics, usually after protests and controversies. But they rarely bring in large numbers over more than a few meetings, since, as “most citizens have neither the time, nor the background, nor the inclination to grapple with complex public policy issues; expanding participation has simply paved the way for groups of activists to gain more power. ” The largest experiment in terms of numbers of states involved in creating new democratic structures has been the European Union, developed steadily since the 1950s. In the past decade, it has stalled as the member governments, pushed by their electorates as well as euroskeptic parties, have demanded a return of not so much to their own parliaments as to the national “people. ” As Marine Le Pen of France’s increasingly powerful National Front has argued, The EU was presented by its creators and many of its politicians as a new step in democratic governance, a voluntary fusion of nation states into a federal entity so that it could rival China, Russia and the United States, and carry more clout with the global corporations and finance houses. But the EU especially by attempting to use the financial mechanism of the euro for political ends. Countries like Greece and Italy had habitually devalued their currencies to retain a competitive edge; they now cannot without leaving the euro. But then they would be faced with huge debts denominated in euros while their own currencies the drachma and the lire were heavily devalued. They cannot succeed by staying in, nor by getting out. Meanwhile, authoritarianism is making a comeback. That Russian was among Time’s people of the year was due to recognition of his successes, violent as they have been, in Ukraine, in Syria and in Russia itself, where polls show he still has . His fellow autocratic presidents include Xi Jinping of China, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, of Egypt and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines with, in a lower key, Jaroslaw Kaczinski, head of the governing party in Poland and Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary. There are three ways out of this democracy dilemma for those who wish to retain the strengths of mainstream politics. First, and least attractive, but most likely, is that the different populist surges will fail. U. S. President Donald Trump will be unable to govern coherently. Brexit will bring long damage to the UK economy. Italy will fail to find a government capable of the painful reforms it needs. Some, at least among those attracted to quick fixes, will get the point. Second, the populists will — as the True Finns have done in Finland — losing their edge and popularity while gaining respectability. And finally, mainstream politics will find a new impetus. New leaders will emerge who can both explain the need for politics and produce results. That last is the hardest of all, requiring patience, tolerance of failure and an appetite for explanation and education. The referenda have shown the power of a popular rejection of “them. ” To succeed, all three of the above scenarios will likely play a part in clawing away from a politics which insists on radical change right now. But it will be a rocky road: we are already on it, and with one bound cannot be free. 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.

Santa Claus on track to deliver gifts despite storm: U.S. military

A powerful Christmas Eve snowstorm descending on much of North America will not slow Santa Claus as he delivers presents to good girls and boys, U. S. military officials who track his annual flight said on Saturday. ”Santa is an excellent pilot and since he lives on the North Pole he knows how to navigate through adverse weather conditions,” said John Cornelio, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The National Weather Service has issued winter storm and blizzard warnings and watches for the western United States all the way up to states. It warned of treacherous travel conditions for those not aboard airborne sleighs. For 61 years, the defense command has tracked Santa, also known as Kris Kringle, St. Nicholas or Father Christmas, as he and his sleigh laden with presents traverses the globe. The tradition began in 1955 when a Colorado Springs newspaper misprinted the phone number of a local department store for kids to call and speak to Santa. The call instead went to what was then called the Continental Air Defense Command, and the commander assured the kids who called that Santa was aware of their Christmas wish lists and that all systems were go. Three years later, the command began the tradition of offering the public updates on Santa’s yuletide trek. Children and their parents can follow his global journey by logging on to www. noradsanta. org for satellite tracking of Santa, and through various social media apps. In addition, the website features ”Santa Cams” that stream videos of Santa as he hits various geographic points. Children can also call a phone number listed on the NORAD website for updates on his whereabouts, or email questions to teams of Santa’s helpers who are in constant contact with him and air traffic controllers. NORAD’s Cornelio, a retired U. S. Army lieutenant colonel, said that as St. Nick enters North American airspace, he slows down to greet U. S. and Canadian fighter jet pilots who are scrambled to escort his sleigh. Cornelio cautioned, however, that while Santa is committed to bring gifts to children, there are certain conditions that must be met. ”Not only do kids have to be good boys and girls, but they also have to be in bed before he can bring presents,” he said. (Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Dan Grebler) 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.

Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt dies aged 68

Rick Parfitt, the guitarist of British rock group Status Quo, died in hospital on Saturday in Spain aged 68 after suffering from a severe infection. ”He will be sorely missed by his family, friends, fellow band members, management, crew and his dedicated legion of fans from throughout the world, gained through 50 years of monumental success with Status Quo,” his family and Status Quo Manager Simon Porter said in a joint statement. ”He died in hospital in Marbella, Spain as a result of a severe infection, having been admitted to hospital on Thursday evening following complications to a shoulder injury incurred by a previous fall,” his family said. Parfitt is survived by his wife Lyndsay, their twins Tommy and Lily and Rick’s adult children Rick Jnr and Harry. ”I cannot describe the sadness I feel right now. To many he was a rockstar, to me he was simply ’Dad’ and I loved him hugely. RIP Pappa Parf,” Rick Jnr said on Twitter. Born in Woking, in Surrey, England, on 12 October 1948, Parfitt learned the guitar at 11 and met future Status Quo partner Francis Rossi at Butlins holiday camp when they were teenagers in the 1960s. The meeting would herald one of the most successful British rock bands of the 20th Century, with hits such as ”Rockin’ All Over The World” and ”Whatever You Want”. Thrashing long blond hair while playing a white Telecaster guitar, Parfitt, in the words of Queen guitarist Brian May, ”joyfully rocked our world”. Beside the fame, wealth and women of a top rock career, Parfitt battled drugs and alcohol which took a toll on his health. He had quadruple heart bypass in 1997 but while recovering he continued to smoke in hospital. He was a self confessed drug addict for many years, though he later kicked the habit. ”I haven’t smoked a joint for 27 years and I haven’t done any cocaine for 10 years. I just do normal stuff the kids keep me busy and I go shopping with the missus,” he told reporters in 2014. Parfitt pulled out of the band’s tour on medical advice. In a music career spanning more than 50 years, Parfitt appealed to millions with the Quo’s brand of rock, particularly with hits such as ”Whatever You Want” which he . ”Turn around, give me a shout, I take it all, You squeeze me dry, And now today, You couldn’t even say goodbye,” the lyrics read. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Richard Balmforth) 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.

South Koreans protest for ninth straight weekend for Park to step down

A large crowd of South Koreans took to the streets of central Seoul on Saturday for the ninth weekend in a row to demand the immediate resignation of President Park who has been impeached by parliament over a corruption scandal. About 200 young people dressed as Santa Claus gave out gifts to some of around 200, 000 people taking part in the rally, many of whom brought their children. Like previous rallies, the event was held in a festive mood, with music and speeches from a stage set up in a large square a few blocks from the presidential Blue House. ”It’ll be a Merry Christmas if Park steps down!” the crowd chanted. Park Chans, a office worker in a Santa costume, said the aim was to see the end of Park’s presidency and bring in a new year for the country with those accused of corruption being held responsible. ”I hope that in the new year, this country will be a better to place to live for the youth,” he said. Park’s impeachment, for violating her constitutional duty as leader, is being reviewed by the Constitutional Court which has up to 180 days from the Dec. 9 impeachment to decide whether to uphold it or reinstate Park. Earlier on Saturday, a special prosecutor probing the scandal summoned a friend of Park at the center of the crisis, Choi for questioning on charges including bribery and embezzlement, according to an official. Choi and former presidential aides were charged in November with abuse of power and fraud, but Park has immunity from prosecution as long as she is in office even though her powers are suspended. The special prosecutor, with a large team of investigators, has taken over the investigation from government prosecutors and is likely to probe the role of Park and others who have yet to be indicted in the case. ”The charges in the indictment (against Choi) are but a very small part of the 14 points under investigation by the special prosecutor,” said Lee a spokesman for the team. Choi will be questioned on charges of bribery and transferring embezzled assets abroad, Lee told a briefing. Choi, wearing a grey prison uniform and a surgical mask, was brought in to the special prosecutor’s office from a jail where she is in detention, pushed by a throng of correctional officers through a media scrum. She did not answer journalists’ questions about the charges. At a court hearing on Monday, Choi denied all charges against her, including fraud and abuse of power. The special prosecutor has up to 100 days to investigate allegations that Park colluded with Choi and her aides to pressure big conglomerates to contribute 77 billion won ($64 million) to foundations set up to back her policy initiatives. Park has denied wrongdoing but apologized for carelessness in her ties with Choi. ($1 = 1, 200) (Additional reporting by Park; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Nick Macfie and Adrian Croft) 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.

Netanyahu seeks to rally Israelis around him in anti-Obama assault

Benjamin Netanyahu has been unrelenting in his criticism of the Obama administration over what he condemned as its ”shameful” decision not to veto a U. N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli . But with the clock ticking down on Barack Obama’s presidency, a possibly more amenable Republican Donald Trump due to succeed him on Jan. 20 and a $38 billion U. S. military aid package to Israel a done deal, it’s all a calculated risk for the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu, after what critics are calling a stinging defeat on the international stage, is already maneuvering to mine feelings among many Israelis that their country and its policies toward the Palestinians are overly criticized in a world where deadlier conflicts rage. He has tried to rally Israelis around him by portraying the resolution as a challenge to Israel’s claimed sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. That was hammered home with an unscheduled Hanukkah holiday visit to the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, which is located in Jerusalem’s Old City in the eastern sector captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war. That all of Jerusalem is their country’s capital is a consensus view among Israelis, including those who otherwise have doubts about the wisdom of Netanyahu’s support for settlements on the West Bank. Palestinians claim eastern Jerusalem as their capital, and Washington has in the past accepted an international view that the city’s status must be determined at future peace talks. Trump has promised to reverse decades of U. S. policy by moving the U. S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. ”I did not plan to be here this evening but in light of the U. N. resolution I thought that there was no better place to light the second Hanukkah candle than the Western Wall,” Netanyahu said during the event. ”I ask those same countries that wish us a Happy Hanukkah how they could vote for a U. N. resolution which says that this place, in which we are now celebrating Hanukkah, is occupied territory?” Some 570, 000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as part of a future state. At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu brushed aside a White House denial and again accused the Obama administration of colluding with the Palestinians in the U. N. move against the settlements, which are considered illegal by most countries and described as illegitimate by Washington. Disputing this, Israel cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as security concerns. Also on Sunday, an Israeli official said Netanyahu had ordered that until Trump takes office, cabinet ministers refrain from traveling to or meeting officials of countries that voted in favor of the U. N. resolution. Speaking on MSNBC on Monday, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, accused the Obama administration of orchestrating Friday’s U. N. vote behind the scenes, despite U. S. denials. The diplomatic drama unfolded over the Christmas holiday, with twists and turns unusual even for the serpentine path followed by Netanyahu’s relationship with a Democratic president who opposes settlement building. On Thursday, Netanyahu successfully lobbied Egypt, which proposed the draft resolution, to withdraw it enlisting the help of Trump to persuade Cairo to drop the bid. But the Israeli leader was ultimately outmaneuvered at the United Nations, where New Zealand, Venezuela, Senegal and Malaysia, resubmitted the proposal a day later. It passed with an abstention from the United States, withholding Washington’s traditional use of its veto to protect Israel at the world body in what was widely seen as a parting shot by Obama against Netanyahu and his settlement policy. ACCELERATED CONSTRUCTION A U. S. official said key to Washington’s decision was concern that Israel would continue to accelerate settlement construction in occupied territory and put a solution of the conflict with the Palestinians at risk. The resolution adopted on Friday at the U. N. changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians and likely will be all but ignored by the incoming Trump administration. However, Israeli officials fear it could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums. ”The Obama administration made a shameful, underhanded move,” Netanyahu said after the vote. It was some of the sharpest criticism he has voiced against Obama, who got off on the wrong foot with Israelis when he skipped their country during a Middle East visit after first taking office in 2009. In a further display of anger, Netanyahu summoned the U. S. ambassador to meet him during a day of reprimands delivered at the Foreign Ministry to envoys of the 10 countries with embassies in Israel among the 14 that backed the resolution. Netanyahu, who is vying with the ultranationalist Jewish Home Party in his governing coalition for voters, also took aim at what has become a favorite target an Israeli media he has been painting as and unpatriotic. ”Leftist political parties and TV commentators have been rubbing their hands in glee over the decision at the United Nations, almost like the Palestinian Authority and Hamas,” Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page. But more trouble for the Israeli leader could be ahead at a planned conference on Middle East peace due to convene in Paris on Jan. 15, five days before Obama hands over to Trump. ”(Netanyahu) fears there is a U. S. move brewing before January 20th, possibly a declarative step at the French peace convention,” said an Israeli official who attended an Israeli security cabinet session on Sunday. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; editing by Peter Graff) 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.

Chinese carrier enters South China Sea amid renewed tension

A group of Chinese warships led by the country’s sole aircraft carrier entered the top half of the South China Sea on Monday after passing south of Taiwan, the island’s Defence Ministry said of what China has termed a routine exercise. The move comes amid renewed tension over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, ineligible for relations, following U. S. Donald Trump’s telephone call with the island’s president that upset Beijing. The Liaoning aircraft carrier has taken part in previous exercises, including some in the South China Sea, but China is years away from perfecting carrier operations similar to those the United States has practised for decades. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the carrier, accompanied by five vessels, passed southeast of the Pratas Islands, which are controlled by Taiwan, heading southwest. The carrier group earlier passed 90 nautical miles south of Taiwan’s southernmost point via the Bashi Channel, between Taiwan and the Philippines. ”Staying vigilant and flexible has always been the normal method of maintaining airspace security,” said ministry spokesman Chen declining to say whether Taiwan fighter jets were scrambled or if submarines had been deployed. Chen said the ministry was continuing to ”monitor and grasp the situation.” Senior Taiwan opposition Nationalist lawmaker Johnny Chiang said the Liaoning exercise was China’s signal to the United States that it has broken through the ”first island chain,” an area that includes Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan. The U. S. State Department on Monday said its position has not changed since July, when it said it was continuing to monitor China’s military modernization and that it expects nations conducting defence exercises to comply with the law. Representatives for the Pentagon declined to comment. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said the incoming team had no comment on China’s move. Trump takes office on Jan. 20 but has already has drawn headlines over a series of statements on China and Taiwan. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said people should not read too much into what the carrier was up to, as its movements were within the law. ”Our Liaoning should enjoy in accordance with the law freedom of navigation and overflight as set by international law, and we hope all sides can respect this right of China’s,” she told a daily news briefing. Influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times said the exercise showed how the carrier was improving its combat capabilities and that it should now sail even further afield. ”The Chinese fleet will cruise to the Eastern Pacific sooner or later. When China’s aircraft carrier fleet appears in offshore areas of the U. S. one day, it will trigger intense thinking about maritime rules,” the newspaper said in an editorial. China has been angered recently by U. S. naval patrols near islands that China claims in the South China Sea. This month, a Chinese navy ship seized a U. S. underwater drone in the South China Sea. China later returned it. Japan said late on Sunday it had spotted six Chinese naval vessels including the Liaoning travelling through the passage between Miyako and Okinawa and into the Pacific. Japan’s top government spokesman said on Monday the voyage showed China’s expanding military capability and Japan was closely monitoring it. China’s air force conducted drills this month above the East and South China Seas that rattled Japan and Taiwan. China said those exercises were also routine. Last December, the defence ministry confirmed China was building a second aircraft carrier but its launch date is unclear. The aircraft carrier programme is a state secret. Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years, the Pentagon said in a report last year. China claims most of the South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. (Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takanaka in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Susan Heavey in Washington, and Melissa Fares in Palm Beach, Florida; Editing by Nick Macfie, Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler) 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.

Exclusive: Fresh advance in east Mosul to begin within days - U.S. commander

Iraqi forces will resume their push against Islamic State inside Mosul in the coming days, a U. S. battlefield commander said, in a new phase of the operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line in the city. The battle for Mosul, involving 100, 000 Iraqi troops, members of the Kurdish security forces and Shi’ite militiamen, is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U. S. invasion of 2003. The upcoming phase appears likely to give American troops their biggest combat role since they fulfilled President Barack Obama’s pledge to withdraw from Iraq in 2011. Elite Iraqi soldiers have retaken a quarter of Mosul, the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq, but their advance has been slow and punishing. They entered a planned ”operational refit” this month, the first significant pause of the campaign. A heavily armoured unit of several thousand federal police was redeployed from the southern outskirts two weeks ago to reinforce the eastern front after army units advised by the Americans suffered heavy losses in an Islamic State . U. S. advisers, part of an international coalition that has conducted thousands of air strikes and trained tens of thousands of Iraqi ground troops, will work directly with those forces and an elite Interior Ministry strike force. ”Right now we’re staging really for the next phase of the attack as we start the penetration into the interior of east Mosul,” Lieutenant Colonel Stuart James, commander of a combat arms battalion assisting Iraqi security forces on the southeastern front, said in a Reuters interview late on Sunday. ”So right now, positioning forces and positioning men and equipment into the interior of east Mosul. .. it’s going to happen in the next several days.” That will put U. S. troops inside of Mosul proper and at greater risk, though James said the danger level was still characterized as ”moderate”. Three U. S. servicemen have been killed in northern Iraq in the past 15 months. James, speaking from an austere outpost east of Mosul where several hundred U. S. troops are stationed, said the pace of the upcoming phase on the eastern side would depend on resistance from Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. ”If we achieve great success on the first day and we gain momentum, then it may go very quickly. If Daesh fights very hard the first day and we run into a roadblock and we have to go back and go OK that was not the correct point of penetration, it may take longer,” he said. INTEGRATION Further integration with the Iraqi troops to what commanders described as an unprecedented level for conventional U. S. forces will help synchronize surveillance, air support and force movement, according to James. ”It increases our situational understanding. The man on the ground knows what’s going on best,” he said. ”It’s just better when they’re on the ground talking to each other and saying, ’Hey, have you looked at that area over there? That’s decisive terrain. Have you thought about putting forces there? ’” Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State anywhere across its once vast territorial holdings in Iraq and neighboring Syria, has been held by the group since its fighters drove the U. S. army out in June 2014. Its fall would probably end Islamic State’s ambition to rule over millions of people in a caliphate, but the fighters could still mount a traditional insurgency in Iraq, and plot or inspire attacks on the West. A city where up to 1. 5 million people of a population of around 2 million are still thought to be living, Mosul is divided roughly in half by the Tigris River. The western section, which Iraqi forces have yet to penetrate, has markets and ancient narrow alleyways which will complicate future advances. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider had said he would win Mosul back by the end of this year, a deadline now certain to be missed. His commanders say their advance was held up by the need to protect civilians, fewer of whom fled than initially expected. Inclement weather has repeatedly delayed ground advances which rely heavily on aerial surveillance and air strikes. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin; editing by Peter Graff) 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.

Dollar gains against yen on U.S. data, Fed expectations

The U. S. dollar rose against the yen on Tuesday on U. S. housing data and expectations for a hawkish Federal Reserve, but remained below a recent high in thin holiday trading. The S&P CoreLogic composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 0. 6 percent in October from a revised 0. 5 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. This outpaced expectations of economists polled by Reuters for a 0. 5 percent increase. The data helped underscore expectations that the Fed would raise interest rates at a faster pace next year, a view that gained traction after the Fed on Dec. 14 projected three rate hikes next year, up from the two foreseen in September. The data also sent U. S. Treasury yields higher. Trading was thin as markets in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong were closed for holidays. ”The prospect of Fed tightening next year is keeping bonds under pressure, yields up and the dollar bid, and obviously the data is helping that,” said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York. The dollar extended its gains to a fresh session high against the yen of 117. 60 yen putting it up about 0. 4 percent against the Japanese currency on the day, in the wake of data showing U. S. consumer confidence hit its highest in more than 15 years in December. The dollar remained below a high of 118. 66 yen touched Dec. 15 and a high against a basket of major currencies touched Dec. 20. The dollar index . DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was last up just 0. 06 percent at 103. 070, below the peak of 103. 650. Analysts said the dollar’s uptrend looked intact, even as 120 yen and parity with the euro remained out of reach for the greenback on Tuesday. ”The dollar has been and is likely to continue to be supported by expectations that a new administration in Washington is going to be inflationary and thus, force the Fed to raise U. S. borrowing costs at a faster pace in 2017,” Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington, in a research note. Sterling was last down 0. 34 percent against the dollar at $1. 2255, with analysts attributing the drop to concerns over next year’s Brexit negotiations. The euro was last mostly flat against the greenback at $1. 0457. (Reporting by Sam Forgione; additional reporting by Patrick Graham in London; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) 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.

Venezuela leader’s foes say no more talks without concessions

Venezuela’s opposition on Monday ruled out returning to talks with President Nicolas Maduro’s government unless it makes major concessions amid a crushing economic crisis and bitter political standoff. The opposition Democratic Unity coalition blames Maduro for the OPEC nation’s shrinking and dysfunctional economy and wants to bring forward the next presidential vote, due in late 2018. However Maduro, 54, the ”son” of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, accuses the opposition of seeking a coup and sabotaging the economy to undermine him. A Papal envoy, South American bloc Unasur and former heads of government from Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic brought the feuding sides together at the end of October. But the opposition walked out earlier this month, saying officials were reneging on accords to allow humanitarian aid, reform the national election board, free jailed activists and restore the National Assembly’s powers. ”If these demands . .. have not been satisfied by Jan. 13, obviously there will be no conditions to dialogue,” said coalition head Jesus Torrealba, referring to the next potential date for talks mooted by mediators. ”They are mocking the Venezuelan people and the international community,” he told reporters. Maduro, whose popularity has hit its lowest level of under 20 percent, according to pollster Datanalisis, said his team would be ready for Jan. 13 talks come what may. ”I want to affirm to Pope Francis . .. my commitment to dialogue, peace and the word of God,” he told a radio show. ”If not talking means Torrealba is going to take up arms and call for an intervention in Venezuela, he will never achieve it.” Opposition leaders say the coalition needs a in the New Year after the dialogue stalled momentum from large street protests and a symbolic trial of Maduro in the Assembly. The president has threatened that the legislature may not exist much longer. The Supreme Court has ruled it is in ”contempt” of the law. Hardline opposition leaders are pushing for a civil disobedience campaign, but moderates believe that could lead to more violence and play into the government’s hands by allowing Maduro to depict them as irresponsible troublemakers. Opposition protests in 2014 led to 43 deaths and marches this year have resulted in clashes with security forces. Venezuela’s 30 million people have had an austere Christmas, with many unable to afford traditional meals, presents and holidays at the beach. Inflation in Venezuela is the world’s highest and many products are scarce. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Dan Grebler and Paul Tait) 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.

Japan consumer prices slump in November, look for 2017 rebound

Japan’s core consumer prices marked the ninth straight month of annual declines and household spending slumped in November, data showed on Tuesday, suggesting that the economy still lacks enough momentum to inflation toward the central bank’s ambitious 2 percent target. Core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, fell at the fastest pace in nearly four years, highlighting the challenges face in eradicating Japan’s sticky deflationary mindset. But analysts expect inflation to accelerate next year reflecting a recent rebound in oil costs and yen declines that push up import prices, easing pressure on the Bank of Japan to top up an already massive stimulus program. ”It’s clear trend inflation was weak until December because prices were falling for many items,” said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Life Research Institute. ”But inflation will turn positive and may accelerate to around 1 percent in summer or autumn next year. That’s bad news for consumers but good news for the BOJ as it tries to achieve its price target.” The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food prices, slipped 0. 4 percent in November from a year earlier, government data showed, compared with a median market forecast for a 0. 3 percent fall. Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, fell 0. 6 percent in December from a year earlier, as weak clothing sales forced retailers to cut prices. It was the biggest annual drop since February 2013, when prices fell by the same margin, and exceeded the 0. 4 percent drop projected by analysts in a Reuters poll. SPENDING STILL WEAK Japan posted a third straight quarter of annual expansion in and analysts expect growth to pick up in coming quarters, thanks to a recent in exports and factory output driven by improvements in emerging economies. The BOJ offered an upbeat view of the economy at its rate review last week, while the government raised its assessment of the economy for the first time in nearly two years. hope that prospects of a sustained recovery will prompt companies to boost wages and household spending a particularly soft spot in Japan’s economy, the world’s . Separate data showed the ratio rose to 1. 41 from 1. 40 in the previous month, matching a median market forecast and reaching the highest level since July 1991. But household spending fell 1. 5 percent in November from a year earlier to decline for the ninth straight month, suggesting that slow wage growth was keeping consumers from shopping. A in inflation may prove to be if the rising cost of living hurts consumption, some analysts say. The BOJ has repeatedly pushed back the timing for achieving its inflation target with more than three years of aggressive money printing having failed to spur public expectations that prices will rise ahead. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Eric Meijer) 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.

Japan’s Abe pays respects at Hawaii memorials on eve of Pearl Harbor trip

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday stopped at several memorials in Hawaii, one day before he visits the site of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor during a trip intended to show a strong alliance between his country and the United States. Abe made no public remarks and stood in silence before a wreath of flowers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, a memorial to those who died while serving in the U. S. Armed Forces. Abe, joined by two of his Cabinet members, bowed his head before wreaths of white flowers and greenery laid at the feet of stone monuments at Makiki Cemetery in Honolulu dedicated to Japanese who settled in Hawaii in the 1800s. The crowning event of the trip comes Tuesday, when Abe and U. S. President Barack Obama will visit Pearl Harbor, the site of the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the United States into World War Two. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, is spending his winter vacation there. Abe does not plan to apologize for the 1941 attack but to console the souls of those who died in the war, his aides said this month. Japan hopes to present a strong alliance with the United States amid concerns about China’s expanding military capability. Japan was monitoring a group of Chinese warships that entered the top half of the South China Sea earlier on Monday. ”I am very much looking forward to sending out a strong message on the value of reconciliation, as well as our sincere prayer for the souls of the war dead,” Abe, speaking through an interpreter, said at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. Abe has called U. S. relations an ”alliance of hope” and said the devastation of war should not be repeated. In China, where the government has repeatedly urged Japan to show greater repentance for World War Two and Japan’s invasion of China, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it was ”wishful thinking” for Abe if he hoped to use the visit to ”settle the accounts” for the war. ”No matter the posture, no matter what show is put on, only sincere reflection can realize the key to reconciliation,” Hua told reporters. Japanese leaders hope to send a message of unity as well to Donald Trump, who triggered concerns before his Nov. 8 election by opposing the U. S. Partnership trade pact and threatening to force allied countries to pay more to host U. S. forces. Abe has tightened ties with Washington during his four years in office, stretching the limits of Japan’s pacifist constitution and boosting defense spending. Amid wind and rain on Monday, Abe presented a wreath at the armed forces memorial located at Honolulu’s Punchbowl Crater. After a moment of silence, he signed a guestbook and then stopped at the grave of former U. S. Senator Daniel Inouye, who fought in World War II in Europe and whose parents were Japanese. He died in 2012. Abe’s visit will come seven months after Obama became the first serving U. S. president to visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where the United States dropped an atomic bomb in the closing days of the war in 1945. At least three Japanese premiers have visited Pearl Harbor, but the Japanese government says Abe will be the first to pray for the dead with a U. S. president at the memorial built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson, additional reporting by Hugh Gentry, and by Linda Sieg in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Nick Macfie) 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 Egyptian law establishes media regulator picked by president

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah will pick a chairman and members of a new media council under a law passed on Monday, giving the body the power to fine or suspend publications and broadcasters and give or revoke licences for foreign media. The law, approved by parliament and signed into law by Sisi, creates the Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media whose chairman will be picked by Sisi and whose remaining members will be appointed by him based on nominations from various bodies including the judiciary and parliament. Human rights organisations and the New Committee to Protect Journalists have repeatedly criticised media freedoms in Egypt, which jailed the second most journalists of any country in the world in 2015, according to the CPJ. The new council is tasked with suing media organisations that violate its regulations, creating a list of penalties, fining media organisations that break licence terms, and can revoke or suspend the right to publish or broadcast. It will also ensure fair competition between media groups as well as their independence and neutrality, adherence to journalistic ethics, and will make sure they do not compromise national security, the Official Gazette in which the law was published said. Yehia Qalash, chief of the press syndicate, told Reuters that the law and the council were mostly concerned with administrative affairs and did not compromise media freedoms. Parliament was still debating other media legislation, he said. A second media law will cover sentencing, freedom of information, confidentiality of sourcing and the relationship between journalism and national security, lawmakers and press syndicate members said. The press syndicate had lobbied for a single media law encompassing all issues but parliament decided on two separate laws. On Sunday, the Interior Ministry said it had arrested an Al Jazeera news producer, accusing him of ”provoking sedition” on behalf of the broadcaster that it considers a mouthpiece of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested in December 2013 and sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation. One was eventually deported and the two others freed in 2015. Police raided the Egypt’s press syndicate offices in Cairo in May and arrested two journalists critical of the government. Thousands of Egyptian journalists protested the move. A court in November found the syndicate leadership, including Qalash, guilty of harbouring criminals and sentenced them to two years in prison in relation to the incident. Qalash has appealed in is out of detention on bail. The government says it respects media freedom and all jailed journalists are facing criminal charges unrelated to their work. (The story corrects in paragraph 2 the regulator’s name to Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media, not Supreme Council for the Press and Media) (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.

How JPMorgan could not save Italy’s problem bank

On the morning of July 29, former Italian Industry Minister Corrado Passera was traveling in a train toward the medieval city of Siena, racing to meet the directors of the world’s oldest bank to present them with a rescue plan. Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy’s lender, was destined to be wound down within months unless it could raise billions of euros and pull itself out of a swamp of bad loans that threatened to swallow up its five centuries of banking. Passera’s recapitalization plan was supported by Swiss investment bank UBS Monte dei Paschi’s adviser but the former minister was running out of time. The Tuscan lender had already changed advisory horses turning away from UBS and Citi, and instead engaging JPMorgan to engineer a survival strategy, according to bankers close to the matter. Its board was meeting that day at its HQ in a fortress to decide whether to formally commit to the Wall Street player’s plan, they said. Veteran banker Passera felt he would at least have a chance to make his case. He didn’t. As the train reached Florence, about 70 km from Siena, his phone rang. Monte dei Paschi’s chairman told him the board would not hear him, according to a source familiar with the events. The bank had instead pinned its fate on JPMorgan’s plan to clear out 28 billion euros ($29 billion) in bad debts and raise 5 billion euros in equity one that ended in failure in the early hours of Friday when the Tuscan lender said it could not find enough investors and asked the government to bail it out. For the plan’s skeptics, the failure to rescue the bank privately was testament to a misplaced belief in government circles that Italy could find a solution to its banking problem child without the need for a politically unpopular state bailout. Passera’s proposal never made public had involved a 2. capital increase reserved for private equity funds and a share sale to existing Monte dei Paschi investors, according to the source familiar with events. Bankers say that was unlikely to have met with any more success than JPMorgan’s, given the lack of investor appetite for Monte dei Paschi and the wider banking sector. Italian banks are creaking under the weight of 360 billion euros of bad loans a third of the euro zone’s total following the financial crisis. But the fact the bank laid its entire trust in JPMorgan, and a plan that European regulators in Brussels and Frankfurt said from the outset was destined for failure, nevertheless underscores the government’s mismanagement of a problem that continues to cast a shadow over the country and its economy. Unlike Spain, Rome refused an bailout for its banks when European rules for doing so were more lenient, and for too long failed to take decisive action to deal with its lenders’ bad loans. Monte dei Paschi, which had already received state aid twice before, has become a symbol of the government’s inefficiency in tackling the problems of its banking industry. RENZI LUNCH Three weeks before Passera’s wasted train journey, the idea of a privately funded bailout of Monte dei Paschi was born over lunch in Rome between JPMorgan’s global chief, Jamie Dimon, and then Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, according to banking and political sources. Renzi thought he had finally found the man who would fix one of his biggest political headaches, despite the fact that JPMorgan’s plan would involve raising 10 times the market value of Monte dei Paschi, a feat virtually unheard of in Europe. Renzi, who hails from the bank’s home region of Tuscany, wanted to avoid a state rescue at all costs, because new European rules would require investors to bear losses in the event of a funded bailout. The bank’s bondholders include tens of thousands of Italians, many of them part of his political power base. A spokesman for Renzi did not respond to requests for comment. JPMorgan in turn hoped to break into big Italian a sphere where this year it lagged behind U. S. rival Goldman Sachs with its investment banking fees more than halving since 2014, according to Thomson Reuters data. If the plan succeeded, JPMorgan and its Mediobanca, alongside 10 other investment banks and banking fund Atlante, stood to share in fees worth 558 million euros, roughly equal to Monte dei Paschi’s market capitalization, publicly available documents show. By winning over the board of the Tuscan bank, JPMorgan and Mediobanca elbowed out rivals UBS and Citi, all battling to earn a jackpot of fees in a sector that could need 40 billion euros in capital over the next few years. Monte dei Paschi said on Thursday the banks involved in the failed rescue plan would receive no fees. ALARM BELLS Alarm bells began ringing loudly over the feasibility of the plan in early September, when Monte dei Paschi abruptly announced its chief executive, Fabrizio Viola, was quitting. Viola had received a phone call from Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan who told him he needed to go, according to a source close to the matter. Speaking about the episode on TV in October, Padoan said that given the Treasury was the bank’s top shareholder following a previous bailout in 2013, it had to have a relationship with its top management. ”With Viola, we assessed together what was best for the bank,” he said. After sounding out hundreds of investors during the summer, JPMorgan and other banks involved in the deal believed that a change of management was necessary to pull off the plan, because under Viola the bank had burned through 8 billion euros of new capital, according to sources close to the consortium of banks. Monte dei Paschi replaced him with Marco Morelli, head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Italy, who rushed through a new business plan. He then launched an international roadshow, meeting 280 investors in Europe, the United States and Asia to seek their backing. The response was muted. One official at a hedge fund who took part in a meeting held at JPMorgan’s New York offices described the atmosphere as antagonistic and said the audience was confused by the complexity of the plan. Desperate to find investors and meet regulatory demands, the bank’s board held marathon meetings that often dragged on late into the night as they adjusted their plans and prospectuses, with pizzas and crates of mineral water being brought in. It was not uncommon for statements to come out in the early hours of the morning. Morelli only managed to grab three hours sleep a night, according to an aide. The death knell for JPMorgan’s rescue sounded on Dec. 4 when Italians effectively cast a vote of no confidence in Renzi, rejecting his constitutional reforms in a referendum. He quit, setting the stage for months of political instability and scaring off potential investors in Monte dei Paschi. The government crisis effectively sunk the bank’s final hope: a investment by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund never materialized. Sources close to the consortium of investment banks said they worked very hard to salvage the deal, but the referendum was the final nail in the coffin. (Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, Silvia Ognibene in Siena, Maiya Keidan and Ritvik Carvalho in London; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Pravin Char) 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.

Singer George Michael of Wham! fame dies at 53

British singer George Michael, who became one of the pop idols of the 1980s with Wham! and then forged a career as a successful solo artist with sometimes sexually provocative lyrics, died at his home in England on Sunday. He was 53. In the “Wham! was one of the most successful pop duos ever, ahead even of Simon & Garfunkel, with singles like “”Wake Me Up Before You ” “”Careless Whisper” ”“Last Christmas” and ”“The Edge of Heaven”. ”It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” his publicist said in a statement. ”The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage,” the statement said. British police said Michael’s death was ”unexplained but not suspicious.” Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou June 25, 1963 in London to Greek Cypriot immigrant parents in a flat above a north London laundrette, Michael once played music on the London underground train system before finding fame with Wham!. With a school friend, Andrew Ridgeley, he formed Wham! in 1981, a partnership that would produce some of the most memorable pop songs and favorites of the 1980s. ”I am in deep shock,” said Elton John. ”I have lost a beloved friend the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans. @GeorgeMichael #RIP.” ’I WANT YOUR SEX’ The duo had their first hit with their second release ”“Young Guns (Go For It)” (1982) before their debut release “”Wham Rap” became a hit the following year. The 1984 album ”Make It Big” was a huge success in the United States. ”“No way could I have done it without Andrew,” Michael once said. ”I can’t think of anybody who would have been so perfect in allowing something which started out as a very naive, joint ambition, to become what was still a huge double act but what was really. ..mine.” But Michael was keen to reach beyond Wham! ’s teenage audience and to experiment with other genres. Wham! announced their split in 1986. A pilot solo single “”I Want Your Sex” was banned by daytime radio stations but was one of his biggest hits. ”I want your sex, I want you, I want your sex,” he sang. ”So why don’t you just let me go, I’d really like to try, Oh I’d really love to know, When you tell me you’re gonna regret it, Then I tell you that I love you but you still say no!” In the space of the next five years, Michael had six U. S. Number One hit singles including ”“Faith” ”“Father Figure” ”“One More Try” ”“Praying For Time” and a duet with Aretha Franklin ”“I Knew You Were Waiting For Me”. Questions about his sexuality were raised when he was arrested in 1998 for ”engaging in a lewd act” in a public restroom of the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California. ”I feel stupid and reckless and weak for letting my sexuality be exposed that way,” Michael told CNN at the time. ”But I do not feel shame [about my sexuality] neither do I think I should.” ”I can try to fathom why I did what I did,” he continued, ”but at the end of the day, I have to admit that maybe part of the kick was that I might get found out,” he told CNN. Though he had relationships with women and once told family members that he was bisexual, Michael, then 34, said he was gay. ”Rest with the glittering stars, George Michael,” said Star Trek actor and LGBT rights activist George Takei. ”You’ve found your Freedom, your Faith. It was your Last Christmas, and we shall miss you.” While Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in power, Michael voted for Britain’s opposition Labour Party but criticized Tony Blair’s support for George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. ”Sad to hear that George Michael has died,” said current Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. ”He was an exceptional artist and a strong supporter of LGBT and workers’ rights.” Michael’s death comes at the end of a year that has seen the passing of several music superstars, including David Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen. Rick Parfitt, the guitarist of British rock group Status Quo, died on Saturday at 68. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Mike Davidson; Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alan Crosby and Mary Milliken) MONTREUX, Switzerland Usher and The Roots, and Trombone Shorty gave shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Wednesday night, bringing American funk, and R&B to the famed stage. PARIS Karl Lagerfeld presented Chanel’s haute couture collection under a version of the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday.

Tributes flow for soulful British pop idol George Michael, dead at 53

Madonna, Elton John and Paul McCartney paid tribute on Monday to British pop idol George Michael, who has died age 53 after a career of soulful ballads and dance songs that provided a soundtrack to much of the 1980s and 1990s. Michael burst to stardom with “Wham! one of the most successful pop duos ever, with singles like “”Wake Me Up Before You ” and “”Careless Whisper” before reinventing himself as a solo artist with sexually daring lyrics and albums like ”Faith” and ”Listen Without Prejudice”. He passed away peacefully over Christmas, according to a statement from his publicist. British police said his death was ”unexplained but not suspicious”. His manager, Michael Lippman, said the singer had died of heart failure, according to the BBC. ”Heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog (nickname). Me, his loved ones, his friends, the world of music, the world at large. 4ever loved,” said former Wham! partner and school friend Andrew Ridgeley on Twitter. ”Cleft with grief.” ”Farewell My Friend. Another Great Artist leaves us,” Madonna tweeted. ”George Michael’s sweet soul music will live on even after his sudden death,” said McCartney. ”Having worked with him on a number of occasions his great talent always shone through and his sense of humour made the experience even more pleasurable.” Michael was highly regarded by fellow musicians as a singer and songwriter in addition to pop phenomenon and was a 2017 nominee for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, but he was troubled for years by substance abuse and a topsy turvy private life. With flowing blond hair and handsome smile, Michael won legions of fans as a teenage in the early 1980s before going solo with ”Faith” in 1987, among the more than 100 million albums he sold with Wham! and under his own name. While still in Wham! Michael became the first Western pop act to perform in communist China, in 1985. He was publicly outed as a homosexual when he was arrested in 1998 for ”engaging in a lewd act” in a public restroom in Beverly Hills, California. But he parlayed that tabloid tale into a successful revamp of his career with the hit single ”Outside,” accompanied by a video featuring LA police officers which showcased his sense of humour. On Monday, fans laid flowers and candles at his homes in London and Oxfordshire. ”I have grown up with him he was a songbook to the good times, the bad times. And he’s brought me here today just to say thank you, George, for the music,” said Kavita, a fan outside his home in London’s affluent Highgate district. Michael’s friend and fellow musician Elton John, with whom he collaborated, said: ”I have lost a beloved friend the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans.” Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in London to a Greek Cypriot family in a flat above a north London launderette. He played music on the London underground train system before finding global fame with Wham!. Michael’s death comes at the end of a year that has seen the passing of several popular music giants, including David Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen. Rick Parfitt, the guitarist of British rock group Status Quo, died on Saturday at 68. (Writing by Elisabeth O’Leary; editing by Mark Heinrich) 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.

Obama says serving as commander in chief a privilege in Christmas Hawaii base visit

President Barack Obama said on Sunday it had been the ”privilege of my life” to serve as U. S. commander in chief and promised his continued gratitude and commitment to service members and their families during a Christmas Day visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. ”Although this will be my last time addressing you as president, I want you to know that as a citizen, my gratitude will remain, and our commitment to standing by you every step of the way, that won’t stop,” Obama told several hundred people gathered in a mess hall decorated with Christmas trees and wreaths. Obama said greeting service members and their families, some of whom held up cell phones for photos as he spoke, was one of his favorite traditions. He said that the day before, he called people deployed overseas, telling them Americans back at home understood they were fighting for freedom. Obama, standing beside first lady Michelle Obama on a small platform, said when he leaves office in January, he will not be a stranger to those stationed in Hawaii, where he was born and still often spends vacations. ”We look forward to seeing you for many years to come, because I understand that I still have a little bit of rank as ” Obama said to laughs. ”So I still get to use the gym on base and, of course, the golf course.” (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Nick Macfie) 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.

Russia hunts for crashed jet’s black boxes, says no signs of foul play

Russia expanded its search on Monday for the remains of a military plane that crashed into the Black Sea, killing all 92 on board, and said pilot error or a technical fault but not terrorism were likely to have caused the tragedy. The plane, a Russian Defence Ministry was carrying dozens of Red Army Choir singers and dancers to Syria to entertain Russian troops in the to the New Year. Nine Russian journalists were also on board as well as military servicemen and Elizaveta Glinka, a prominent member of President Vladimir Putin’s advisory human rights council. Divers and submersibles seeking the jet’s flight recorders scoured a stretch of water roughly 1 mile (1. 6 km) from the southern Russian resort of Sochi. Four small pieces of fuselage were recovered at a depth of 27 metres (89 ft) the RIA news agency said, but strong currents and deep water were complicating the search. Igor Konashenkov, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said 11 bodies had been recovered. The ministry denied a RIA report that some of the dead passengers had been wearing life jackets. He said the sea and air search operation, already involving around 3, 500 people, was being expanded. Putin designated Monday a nationwide day of mourning and flags flew at and TV stations removed entertainment shows from their schedules. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev led a minute of silence at a government meeting, and mourners laid flowers at Sochi airport, from where the plane took off. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said military investigators were considering all theories, but that the version it may have been ”a terrorist act” was ”nowhere near the top of the list”. FOUR THEORIES The FSB security service said it had not so far found any evidence pointing to foul play and was investigating four possible causes, the Interfax news agency reported. Those were that a foreign object had fallen into an engine, that the fuel had been poor quality causing engine failure, pilot error, or a technical fault. Mourners left flowers in front of the Moscow headquarters of the Russian Army’s Alexandrov song and dance troupe, more than 60 of whom were killed in the crash. A handwritten note outside the office of Glinka, the late humanitarian worker on board, read: ”We want V. V. Putin to ban the .” The Defence Ministry says the downed jet, a plane built in 1983, had last been serviced in September and undergone more major repairs in December 2014. The last big crash was in 2010 when a Polish jet carrying Lech Kaczynski and much of Poland’s political elite went down in western Russia killing everyone on board. Russian authorities have said they have no plans to withdraw the from service for the time being. Defence Ministry spokesman Konashenkov said 45 ships, five helicopters, drones, and more than 100 divers were involved in the wider search, and soldiers were scouring the Black Sea coastline as well. He said ten bodies and 86 body fragments from the crash had been flown to Moscow so that experts could try to identify them. (Additional reporting by Polina Devitt and Andrey Ostroukh; editing by John Stonestreet) 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.

Deja vu for U.S. troops celebrating Christmas in Iraq again

This is the third Christmas that Staff Sergeant Magdiel Asencio is spending in Iraq. For Sergeant First Class Noel Alvarado, it is number four. And so it is with many U. S. troops stationed less than a hour’s drive from the front line with Islamic State. Few thought they would be back nearly 14 years after the U. S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, sparking an al insurgency and throwing the country into a sectarian civil war. Yet here they are, albeit with a fraction of the numbers and a much narrower mission. The roughly 5, 200 U. S. troops presently stationed in Iraq are part of an international coalition helping local forces retake the third of their country seized by Islamic State more than years ago. Their current target is Mosul, the jihadists’ last major stronghold in the country. Iraqi forces control around a quarter of the city, but fierce have rendered progress slow and punishing. Asencio served in Mosul during the initial invasion, first to provide artillery support and then as infantry. ”It was more of a wild wild west then. We didn’t know if something was going to go down and when they needed you to call for fires,” he said, standing beside a field artillery unit that hits Islamic State targets inside Mosul nearly every day. ”It’s a little more calm this time around. We still shoot, we know we’re here in support of the Iraqi army. There’s still enemy out there but we’re not as into actual direct combat as we were back then.” Many battalion commanders previously served multiple tours in Iraq, often punctuated by combat in Afghanistan. There are even some soldiers in their first tour here whose fathers missed Christmases with them a decade ago to be in Iraq. ”I thought back in 2011 when we closed it all out, it was going to be finalised then,” said Alvarado, referring to the withdrawal of U. S. troops that year. ”But being back here is totally different. I’ve seen (the Iraqi army) pick themselves up a lot. They have a better standard now.” The Iraqi military and police dropped their weapons and fled in 2014 in the face of Islamic State’s assault, despite far superior numbers and billions of dollars in U. S. training and equipment. The coalition has retrained tens of thousands of local troops in the past two years and provides advice on military strategy and planning, as well as artillery support and air strikes that are indispensable to the war against Islamic State. ”Anything we can do to assist them in their operation forward with us not actually squeezing the trigger,” said Lieutenant Colonel Stuart James. ”So we’ll move forward with them, but we’re not the ones that make contact.” A top commander told Reuters that U. S. forces were embedding more extensively with Iraqi troops in order to accelerate the Mosul campaign, which started on Oct. 17. SPARTAN LIVING Coalition advisors were initially concentrated at a headquarters in Baghdad but have fanned out over the past two years to spartan outposts like this one about 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of Mosul to stay near advancing troops. ”Merry Christmas from the most forward TAA at the tip of the spear,” James said, using a military acronym for the compound. The austere outpost nestled in an ancient Christian region has few permanent structures, since the troops plan to move on when the Iraqi forces they are advising advance. Heavy rain turned much of the grounds into thick mud on Sunday as soldiers huddled inside two dining tents for a special holiday meal where a plastic Christmas tree and a Santa Claus figurine flanked one entrance. Outside, a soldier in a Santa hat did at a makeshift gym. This is a far cry from the luxurious facilities at the sprawling compound the U. S. military once maintained inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone and other big bases that have since been handed over to the Iraqis. Yet Alvarado is not too torn up about spending another Christmas away from home. ”As long as my troops are OK and my family back home they’re OK and we’re supporting that, then I’m fine with it,” he said. (Editing by Ed Osmond) 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.

Blindsided by SUV boom, Hyundai Motor trims costs, perks

Headed for a fourth straight annual profit decline, Hyundai Motor ( ) is trimming its cost fat; scaling back on business class flights and annual family home trips for overseas employees, executives told Reuters. The South Korean automaker has been hit by its exposure to weak emerging markets, and a product that features more sedans than sport utility vehicles, just as SUVs have become more popular across many global markets. The which also includes cutting back on printing and fluorescent light bulbs aims to buy Hyundai time to prepare new models and a design revamp. ”We’re trying to address a mismatch between the market trend and our product ” said one Hyundai insider, referring to a need for more SUV models. ”That’s a longer term plan. For now we’re trying to save every penny,” he said, declining to be identified because the plans are not public. Since October, Hyundai Motor Group executives have taken a 10 percent pay cut, the first such move in seven years. The number of executives at Hyundai Motor alone has risen by 44 percent in five years, to 293 last year. The group has also downgraded hotel rooms for executive travel, and is encouraging video conferencing as a cheaper alternative to travel, insiders said. ”We’re in emergency management mode,” said another insider, who didn’t want to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. In a response to Reuters for this article, Hyundai Motor said it is ”making various efforts” with shrinking global demand and growing business uncertainty, but did not elaborate. Other costs, such as supplier parts and labor at the automaker, are tougher to pare back, said Ko analyst at Hi Investment & Securities, noting Hyundai needs also to spend more on research and development in and other new technologies. While Hyundai remains its costs as a proportion of revenue have risen for five straight years, to 81 percent so far this year, regulatory filings show. ”Cutting expenses are stopgap measures, and won’t do much to improve its bottom line,” Ko said, calling them more ”symbolic”. SALES DECLINE Hyundai grew quickly after the global financial crisis, with brisk sales of its Sonata and Elantra sedans. It was the only major automaker to increase sales in the United States in 2009. But it has struggled to maintain that momentum as rivals’ sales of SUVs have boomed and emerging market economies have weakened. Hyundai Motor shares have fallen 40 percent in the past three years, the worst performer among global automakers. The automaker’s top U. S. executive has resigned, and the South Korea sales chief and China head have been replaced. Sales of Hyundai cars, and those of its affiliate Kia Motors ( ) could drop to 8 million this year, a first decline since Hyundai bought its smaller domestic rival in 1998, said Ko, the analyst. For next year, Executive Vice President and research head Park expects sales to pick up again. ”It was a difficult year this year. Things will get better,” he told reporters on Thursday, citing recovery in markets such as Brazil and Russia. Another Hyundai source said the group has trimmed its preliminary 2017 sales target to 8. 2 million vehicles, from 8. 35 million forecast in . MORE SUVS While it looks to manage its staff budget, Hyundai is beefing up its SUV offerings, freshening up its Sonata sedan, and redirecting exports from markets such as the Middle East to the United States. In the United States, SUVs accounted for 28 percent of Hyundai’s sales in up from 23 percent a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp, but less than half the industry average. At its plant in Montgomery, Alabama, Hyundai has replaced some Sonata production with its popular Santa Fe SUV. Next year, Hyundai will look to plug a gap in its SUV offerings for developed markets by making a model under the project name ”OS” in South Korea for sale at home, in the United States and Europe, people inside the company said. Hyundai makes SUVs locally in China, India and Russia. ”We need that small SUV in the U. S, much sooner than later,” Scott Fink, one of Hyundai’s biggest U. S. dealers, told Reuters. In sedans, Hyundai is pushing sales of bigger, models like the Azera, or Grandeur, and its Genesis luxury line. Its smaller sedans, including the Elantra and Sonata, have lost ground to rivals like Honda Motor’s ( ) Civic, which one Hyundai executive said has ”wowing design”. Hyundai is working on a next generation of cars with ”a different flair” to hit the market from 2019, Luc Donckerwolke, senior vice president for design, told Reuters on the sidelines of a recent event. The biggest holder of Hyundai Motor preferred shares, the Skagen fund, expects the automaker to get back on track over the next couple of years, with new SUVs, recovering emerging market currencies and better plant utilization. Knut Harald Nilsson, the fund’s lead portfolio manager, reckons Hyundai’s margins should recover to above 7 percent over that period, from 6 percent earlier this year, but are unlikely to return to the 10 percent levels of a few years ago ”anytime soon”. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; editing by Tony Munroe and Ian Geoghegan) 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.

Beijing buyers club? China’s cancer patients gamble on gray market

When her father’s lung cancer worsened, Yin Min, a financial broker from Shanghai, faced a choice: pay nearly $3, 000 a month for an approved drug or pay a fraction of the price for a generic drug not approved for use in China. Yin, like many families in China, turned to the increasingly popular, unregulated market of online pharmacies, agents and peer groups for drugs. She bought a generic version of Iressa, not approved for use in China, directly from a manufacturer in India. ”With this sort of misfortune, it’s hard to put into words the financial pressure you feel,” Yin told Reuters. Of 30 cancer patients interviewed by Reuters over the past year, two thirds took routes similar to Yin’s, pushed by China’s high drug prices and a lack of access to newer drugs. The patients were aged between 32 and 81, had varying income levels and suffered from a variety of cancers. There is no official data on how many cancer patients in China turn to unregulated channels, but research indicates an increase globally in the use of gray and counterfeit markets. Liu Xuemei, a carcinoma patient from Beijing, said she went through a pharmacy agent to get a cheaper alternative to the approved Zadaxin, while Zhao Xiaohua, who has lung cancer, said he found a cheaper treatment through a patients group recommended by his doctor. Patients Reuters spoke to said doctors often turn a blind eye to them accessing drugs through the gray market, and some actively help them do this. Medicines bought through unofficial channels are not necessarily harmful, and some of the Indian generics available online are approved for use in other markets. But they can include drugs that are ineffective or fake. The reason patients in China turn to these unregulated channels are largely financial. Low average salaries, a chasm between urban and rural wealth, and creaking state reimbursement schemes mean serious disease is among the leading causes of poverty, creating a major social burden and rising debt. In Yin’s case, the generic drug she bought was 13 times less expensive than the branded Tarceva. But Chinese also turn to unofficial channels because of bottlenecks in China’s drug approvals, which pharmaceutical executives say can mean drugs lag markets like the United States by years. China requires all new drugs to be tested and approved in the country, but has a shortage of specialists for this work. The national drug reimbursement list, the main catalog of medicines covered by state health insurance, is being updated for the first time since 2009. That means even if a drug has been approved, patients can often only access it if they pay for it themselves. China’s health ministry did not respond to Reuters’ questions about patients turning to unregulated channels to buy medicines, or the lack of access to new drugs. The high cost of drugs is not confined to China, and there has been a jump globally in ’buyers clubs’ — informal patient groups sourcing drugs via the grey market to help those with HIV and hepatitis access drugs at more affordable prices. LIMITED OPTIONS China last year had four million new cancer cases, according to official data, and the nation’s personal healthcare bill is set to soar almost fourfold to 12. 7 trillion yuan ($1. 84 trillion) by 2025, according to Boston Consulting Group. For many Chinese, being left outside the health system at a time of need is in sharp contrast to the ’iron rice bowl’ concept of state benefits and guarantees for life. ”If we can’t buy the drug in China or we can’t afford to buy it, then what other options do we have?” asked Duan Guangping, a banker in Chongqing, whose mother got lung cancer in 2011. He bought a drug for her from Bangladesh. China has sought to increase insurance coverage for serious diseases, and encourage drug makers to lower their prices to gain better market access. It has also tried to speed up the regulatory approval process by thinning out the waiting list, forcing manufacturers to withdraw new drugs where trial data isn’t strong enough. But change has been slow. ”A lot of new oncology drugs were approved in the U. S. and UK, but in China there’s a year delay,” said Li Tiantian, a former doctor and founder of medical platform DXY. com. ”A lot of patients with cancer cannot wait.” The overall survival rate for cancer in China is just over 30 percent, less than half the level in the United States, according to Deutsche Bank. LEGAL RISK Turning to unofficial channels can also carry a legal risk. Leukemia patient Lu Yong, a prominent member of a local ’buyers club’ was arrested last year and charged with selling unapproved drugs and credit card fraud. He was later released after a public outcry. In 2004, after buying a generic version of Iressa from India, Lu helped set up an online group for leukemia patients, who wanted the same drugs he was getting at a fraction of the price of the approved drug in China. The generic started at around 3, 000 yuan ($435) and the price slowly dropped over the years, Lu said to a long way below the price of the approved drug from AstraZeneca. ”There was no other option, so we took this path even though what we were doing was against the law,” Lu told Reuters before his arrest. Lu declined to comment to Reuters after his release, but in his earlier interview he said he never profited from the transactions and only helped other patients to make the complicated overseas payments. ”It’s because of problems with China’s public health insurance system that so many seriously ill patients aren’t able to survive,” he said then. (Reporting by Adam Jourdan and SHANGHAI newsroom; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) (Reuters Health) After surgery, people who get cosmetic procedures to remove excess tissue may have a better quality of life than those who don’t get this additional work done, a recent study suggests. LONDON tourism involving patients who travel to developing countries for treatment with unproven and potentially risky therapies should be more tightly regulated, international health experts said on Wednesday.

Cafeteria manager jailed for insulting Turkey’s Erdogan, lawyer says

Turkish authorities have arrested the cafeteria manager of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for insulting the president after he said he would not serve tea to Tayyip Erdogan, one of the manager’s lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Senol Buran, who runs the cafeteria at the Istanbul office of Cumhuriyet, was taken into custody after police raided his home late on Saturday, lawyer Ozgur Urfa said. The newspaper is among the few still critical of the government. Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey. Lawyers for Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, have filed more than 1, 800 cases against people including cartoonists, a former Miss Turkey winner and schoolchildren on accusations of insulting him. Following a failed coup in July, Erdogan said he would drop the outstanding suits, in a gesture of national unity. Buran is jailed pending trial and the court date, if any, has not yet been announced. The Justice Ministry would need to approve the launch of a court case. Buran was detained after a police officer providing security for the newspaper said he heard him use a derogatory term to describe Erdogan and say he would refuse to serve the president tea if he ever visited the cafeteria, his lawyer said. According to court documents obtained by Reuters, Buran has denied using an insulting term, while confirming that he had said he would refuse to serve the president tea. He also said he had a dispute with the police officer two years ago. The judge at an Istanbul court on Sunday ordered Buran’s arrest pending trial, citing ”strong suspicion of crime committed” and saying the suspect might otherwise put pressure on witnesses, the documents showed. The Cumhuriyet has confirmed that Buran was arrested. Ten Cumhuriyet staff including its top editor and senior executives were jailed in November pending trial on suspicion of crimes on behalf of Kurdish militants and U. S. cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of instigating the failed July 15 coup. The newspaper’s previous editor, Can Dundar, was jailed last year for publishing state secrets involving Turkey’s support for Syrian rebels. He was later released and is now overseas. Since the July coup, more than 110, 000 people have been sacked or suspended and 40, 000 jailed pending trial. Western allies and rights groups say they fear Erdogan is using the coup attempt to crush dissent. Turkish authorities last week froze assets of 54 journalists who have been under investigation and some already jailed over suspected links to what Ankara calls the ”Gulenist Terror Organisation” according to Hurriyet newspaper. Gulen has said the charges against him are false and has condemned the coup. (Editing by David Dolan and Ruth Pitchford) 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.

Toshiba flags hit of ’billions of dollars’ on U.S. nuclear acquisition

The Japanese group said cost overruns at U. S. power projects handled by the CB&I Stone & Webster Inc business it acquired last December from Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV (CB&I) would be much greater than initially expected, potentially requiring a huge writedown. Toshiba’s announcement came as its Westinghouse Electric Company subsidiary is engaged in a legal and accounting row with CB&I, which has argued in court that it expected a relatively small payment from Westinghouse of only $161 million when the deal closed on the understanding that the latter was taking on a challenged business. Toshiba’s latest writedown would be another slap in the face for a sprawling conglomerate hoping to recover from a $1. accounting scandal, as well as a writedown of more than $2 billion for its nuclear business in the last financial year. ”This will come as an additional shock to Toshiba’s institutional investors that may further undermine confidence in company management, as well as significantly weakening its international nuclear credentials,” said Tom O’Sullivan, founder of energy consultancy Mathyos Japan. O’Sullivan noted the acquisition in December 2015 coincided with the finalizing of a record fine by Japanese regulators for accounting irregularities at Toshiba, indicating that corporate governance controls were extremely weak. Toshiba Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa, who only took the helm in June after his predecessor embarked on a series of restructuring steps to clean up Toshiba’s books, said the conglomerate would look at some kind of strategy to boost capital. ”We would have needed to boost our capital base anyway because our shareholders’ equity ratio is low,” he told a news conference. As of Toshiba had shareholders’ equity of 363 billion yen, or just 7. 5 percent of assets, which could fall close to zero if the company is forced to log significant losses. Asked if Toshiba’s liabilities would exceed its assets, Chief Financial Officer Masayoshi Hirata said the company had not yet completed its estimation of the charge. It would finalize that by he said, adding that the conglomerate would explain the situation to its main banks and seek their support. Toshiba’s main lenders are Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Toshiba has positioned its nuclear and semiconductors businesses as key pillars of growth while seeking to scale down less profitable consumer electronics units such as personal computers and TVs. But Toshiba could revise the positioning of its nuclear business if need be, said Tsunakawa, who has been credited with having shaped a medical equipment unit into a major earnings driver. The unit was sold to Canon Inc this year. Tsunakawa added that asset sales or a potential listing of its flash memory chips division were options that could be considered. DEAL OF DISCORD The deal between CB&I and Toshiba’s Westinghouse division has been fraught with disagreement since at least July. Clashing over who should shoulder potential liabilities related to cost overruns and over calculations for net working capital for the unit, CB&I sued Toshiba’s Westinghouse division after Westinghouse said it was owed more than $2 billion. Delaware’s Chancery Court earlier this month dismissed the CB&I lawsuit, which accused Westinghouse of making claims in bad faith by seeking to use an arbitration process on net working capital of the nuclear construction business to eliminate liabilities it should have inherited by closing the deal. CB&I has since launched a legal appeal that is pending. A Westinghouse spokeswoman reiterated on Tuesday that the company expected the issue to be decided by an independent auditor pursuant to the terms of the deal with CB&I. ”Both the (CB&I legal) appeal and the independent auditor process are expected to be determined in 2017. CB&I will continue to defend its position vigorously in both processes,” a CB&I spokeswoman said. CB&I received no upfront payment for the sale of the nuclear construction business, but stood to receive earnouts based on the progress of the completion of two U. S. projects by Stone & Webster: a nuclear power plant in Georgia for Southern Co and two reactors in South Carolina for SCANA Corp. CB&I and Westinghouse were consortium partners building those reactors prior to their deal for Stone & Webster, which was meant to resolve disagreements over each contractor’s responsibilities over the projects. As of Sept. 30, CB&I had incurred an goodwill impairment charge in 2016, as a result of the sale of its nuclear operations to Westinghouse, of $904 million. In 2015, it incurred another $1. 1 billion impairment charge. Shares in Toshiba, which remains on the Tokyo bourse’s watch list due to concerns about internal controls, finished 12 percent lower, giving it a market value of around $14. 2 billion. CB&I shares were flat in afternoon trading in New York on Tuesday at $34. 19. Prior to Tuesday, Toshiba had forecast a net profit of about 145 billion yen this financial year, a turnaround from a loss of 460 billion yen, thanks to strong demand for flash memory chips from Chinese smartphone makers. Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, said the focus may soon shift to whether Toshiba will divest some of its businesses if the latest loss wipes out its shareholders’ equity. ”There will be a lot of companies that want to buy Toshiba’s businesses,” Ishino said. ”It is possible that its NAND flash memory business would attract various buyout offers as there are few players in the market,” he said. (Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick, Ayai Tomisawa, Yoshiyuki Osada and Chris Gallagher in Tokyo, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, and Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru) 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 .

Carrie Fisher, ’Star Wars’ Princess Leia, dies at 60

Carrie Fisher, who rose to fame as Princess Leia in the ”Star Wars” films and later endured drug addiction before going on to tell her story as a author, died on Tuesday aged 60, her family said. Fisher, a mental health advocate who spoke about her own struggles with bipolar disorder and cocaine addiction, had suffered a heart attack on Friday as she flew into Los Angeles. The daughter of actor Debbie Reynolds and the late singer Eddie Fisher had been returning from England where she was shooting the third season of the British sitcom ”Catastrophe.” ”Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter,” Reynolds said on Facebook. ”I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.” Fisher’s friend and former Star Wars’ Mark Hamill, who played Leia’s brother Luke Skywalker, said in a tweet: ”No words. #Devastated” Fisher was met by paramedics and rushed to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after suffering the heart attack during the flight on Friday. She made headlines last month when she disclosed that she had a love affair with her ”Star Wars” Harrison Ford 40 years ago. Fisher revealed the secret to People magazine while promoting her new memoir, ”The Princess Diarist,” just before it went on sale. The book is based on Fisher’s diaries from her time working on the first ”Star Wars” movie. Harrison said in a statement Fisher was funny, emotionally fearless and . ”She lived her life, bravely. ..We will all miss her.” Fisher said the affair started and ended in 1976 during production on the blockbuster adventure in which she first appeared as the intrepid Princess Leia. Ford played the maverick space pilot Han Solo. ”It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend,” Fisher told People. She was 19 and Ford was 33 at the time. ”How could you ask such a shining specimen of a man to be satisfied with the likes of me? I was so inexperienced, but I trusted something about him. He was kind,” she wrote of Ford in the memoir, the latest of several books Fisher authored. Fisher reprised the role in two ”Star Wars” sequels. She gained sex symbol status in 1983’s ”Return of the Jedi” when her Leia character wore a metallic gold bikini while enslaved by the diabolical Jabba the Hutt. She returned last year in Disney’s ( ) reboot of the ”Star Wars” franchise, ”The Force Awakens,” appearing as the more matronly General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance movement fighting the evil First Order. Filming was completed in July on Fisher’s next appearance as Leia in ”Star Wars: Episode VIII,” which is set to reach theaters in December 2017. Fisher’s Princess Leia makes a surprise appearance at the end of ”Rogue One,” the latest blockbuster, which opened this month, in the ”Star Wars” series. Shortly after news of her death was made public, her dog Gary, who has his own Twitter account, said goodbye: ”Saddest tweets to tweet. Mommy is gone. I love you @carrieffisher.” She is survived by her mother, Reynolds, her daughter, Billie Lourd, and her brother Todd Fisher. EARLY SHOWBIZ START Fisher also played a memorable supporting role in the 1989 hit film ”When Harry Met Sally,” as a friend of Meg Ryan’s character who falls for and marries the best pal of Billy Crystal’s character. More recently, Fisher played the American on ”Catastrophe.” Born in Beverly Hills, Carrie Fisher got her showbiz start at age 12 in her mother’s Las Vegas nightclub act. She made her film debut as a teenager in the 1975 comedy ”Shampoo,” two years before her ”Star Wars” breakthrough. But her life was also at times mired in drug abuse, mental illness and tumultuous romances with other entertainment figures, all of which she laid bare in her books, interviews and a stage show titled ”Wishful Drinking.” She was once engaged to comic actor Dan Aykroyd, later married, then divorced, Paul Simon, and had a daughter out of wedlock with Hollywood talent agent Brian Lourd. After undergoing treatment in the for cocaine addition, she wrote the bestselling novel, ”Postcards from the Edge,” about a actress forced to move back in with her mother. She later adapted the book into a film that starred Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. She told Reuters in a 2011 interview that tabloid exposure of her private life could be trying. ”’Carrie Fisher’s tragic life.’ That was one that hurt,” she said, quoting a headline. ”’Hey, how about Carrie Fisher? She used to be so hot. Now she looks like Elton John.’ That hurt.” She also acknowledged being briefly hospitalized in 2013 due to a bout with bipolar disorder. However, Fisher told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview published last month she was happier than she had ever been. ”I’ve been through a lot, and I could go through more, but I hope I don’t have to,” she said. ”But if I did, I’d be able to do it. I’m not going to enjoy dying but there’s not much prep for that.” Summing up the showbiz legacy she expected to leave behind in her 2011 memoir ”Shockaholic,” Fisher wrote in style: ”What you’ll have of me after I journey to that great Death Star in the sky is an extremely accomplished daughter, a few books, and a picture of a girl wearing some kind of metal bikini lounging on a giant drooling squid, behind a newscaster informing you of the passing of Princess Leia after a long battle with her head.” (Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Daniel Wallis and Jill Serjeant in New York; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Diane Craft) MONTREUX, Switzerland Usher and The Roots, and Trombone Shorty gave shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Wednesday night, bringing American funk, and R&B to the famed stage. PARIS Karl Lagerfeld presented Chanel’s haute couture collection under a version of the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday.

Holiday weekend provides no respite from Chicago’s violence

Chicago’s holiday weekend was marred by bouts of gunfire and a dozen killings, continuing a yearlong surge in violence in the third largest U. S. city that has pushed the number of murders to a nearly high. Police blamed gang conflicts for much of the violence. From Dec. 23 through Dec. 26, there were 44 shooting incidents in the city of 2. 7 million and 12 people were killed, according to the Chicago Police Department. The number of murders in Chicago stands at 754 for the year. The murder rate is the highest since 1997, when 761 people were killed. ”These were deliberate and planned shootings by one gang against another,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at news conference on Monday. ”They were targeted knowing fully well that individuals would be at the homes of family and friends celebrating the holiday.” of those fatally wounded during the weekend had gang affiliation, criminal history and were by technology used by the police department to recognize people who might be involved in gun violence, Johnson said. Johnson, who was appointed as the city’s top police officer in March, has railed this year against the light sentences handed down to repeat gun offenders, saying they have emboldened shooters who do not fear the repercussions. At an event for business and civic leaders earlier this month, Johnson said gang members believe the judicial system in Cook County, which includes Chicago, is a joke. Johnson also has spoken out against what he has described as a national narrative that portrays police officers in a negative manner. His own department, which is under a federal civil rights investigation, is working to rebuild trust in the city after a string of incidents that lead to his predecessor being ousted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. (Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin; Editing by Bill Trott) 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.

Abbott gets U.S. antitrust approval to buy St. Jude Medical

Healthcare company Abbott Laboratories ( ) has won U. S. antitrust approval for its proposed $25 billion acquisition of medical device maker St. Jude Medical Inc STJ. N, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Abbott agreed to divest two medical devices used in cardiovascular procedures to resolve FTC concerns the acquisition would stifle competition, the commission said in a statement. ”We continue to work to obtain final regulatory approvals and anticipate closing before the end of the year or shortly thereafter,” Abbott spokeswoman Elissa Maurer said in an email. The company will sell St. Jude’s vascular closure device and Abbott’s steerable sheath to Terumo Corp ( ). In October, Abbott said the companies would sell some of their medical device businesses to Terumo for about $1. 12 billion as a step toward completing the deal. Vascular closure devices are used to seal small holes made in an artery to prevent bleeding following a coronary angiogram, a special to see if coronary arteries are blocked or narrowed. Steerable sheaths are used to help place catheters into the heart. European antitrust enforcers agreed to the deal in November provided the companies divest the two devices. Representatives for Abbott and St. Jude were not immediately available for comment. Abbott has said the deal will help it compete against larger rivals Medtronic Plc ( ) and Boston Scientific Corp ( ) as hospitals look to cut the number of their suppliers. St. Jude has been under pressure after Muddy Waters and research firm MedSec Holdings said in August that its heart devices were riddled with defects that make them vulnerable to cyber hacks. St. Jude has denied the allegations and sued both firms. In October, St. Jude said it had told doctors to stop implants of its Nanostim leadless cardiac pacemaker, citing reports of problems with electronic data reporting caused by a battery malfunction that could put patients at risk. There have been no reports that any patient injuries resulted from the malfunction, St. Jude has said. Abbott has been divesting businesses to focus on its cardiovascular devices and diagnostics business, selling its medical optics division to Johnson & Johnson ( ) for $4. 3 billion earlier this year. It spun off its pharmaceuticals business as AbbVie Inc ( ) in 2013. Abbott is trying to pull out of a second deal, the $5. 8 billion acquisition of diagnostic test maker Alere Inc ( ) which had failed to file financial statements and disclosed probes into billing and foreign sales practices. The two companies are suing each other. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Toni Clarke; Editing by Leslie Adler, Alan Crosby and David Gregorio) 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 firms ramp up output, signs economy brightening

Japan’s factory output rose in November and manufacturers expect to ramp up production in coming months, data showed on Wednesday, underscoring the central bank’s view that a in global demand will underpin a steady economic recovery. Retail sales also increased in November and inventory fell for three straight months, suggesting a broader improvement in the economy, with a recent rebound in exports also seen supporting growth. The figures reinforce the dominant market view that the Bank of Japan will hold off on expanding monetary stimulus in coming months. ”While domestic demand still lacks strength, a in exports is driving up production,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. ”Output will likely continue recovering moderately ahead.” Industrial output rose 1. 5 percent in November from the previous month, preliminary data released by the trade ministry showed, roughly matching a median market forecast for a 1. 6 percent increase. It followed a 0. 6 percent gain in September and a flat reading in October. Manufacturers surveyed by the ministry expect output to increase 2. 0 percent in December and rise 2. 2 percent in January, a sign they are becoming more optimistic on the outlook for overseas demand. ”Industrial output is picking up,” the ministry said, raising its assessment from last month when it said production was showing signs of a moderate . Japan’s economy recorded a third straight quarter of annual expansion in albeit at a modest pace as slow wage growth weighed on household spending. But exports and factory output have recently shown signs of life on a recovery in global demand, offering some hope for policymakers struggling to pull the economy out of stagnation. Separate data released by the government showed retail sales rose 1. 7 percent in November from a year earlier, far exceeding a median market forecast for a 0. 6 percent gain. The BOJ offered an upbeat view of the economy at its rate review last week, while the government raised its assessment of the economy for the first time in nearly two years in December. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Richard Pullin and Simon ) 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.

On Pearl Harbor visit, Abe pledges Japan will never wage war again

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a symbolic visit to Pearl Harbor with President Barack Obama on Tuesday, commemorating the victims of Japan’s World War Two attack and promising that his country would never wage war again. The visit, just weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes office, was meant to highlight the strength of the U. S. alliance amid concerns that Trump could forge a more complicated relationship with Tokyo. ”I offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives here, as well as to the spirits of all the brave men and women whose lives were taken by a war that commenced in this very place,” Abe said. ”We must never repeat the horrors of war again. This is the solemn vow we, the people of Japan, have taken.” Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor with torpedo planes, bombers and fighter planes on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, pounding the U. S. fleet moored there in the hope of destroying U. S. power in the Pacific. Abe did not apologize for the attack, a step that would have irked his conservative supporters, many of whom say U. S. economic sanctions forced Japan to open hostilities. ”This visit to Pearl Harbor was to console the souls of the war dead, not to apologize,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference in Tokyo, adding the trip had showed that the allies would contribute to world peace and prosperity. Obama, who earlier this year became the first incumbent U. S. president to visit Hiroshima, where the United States dropped an atomic bomb in 1945, called Abe’s visit a ”historic gesture” that was ”a reminder that even the deepest wounds of war can give way to friendship and a lasting peace.” Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, although three others including his grandfather had made quiet stops in Pearl Harbor in the 1950s. The two leaders stood solemnly in front of a wall inscribed with the names of those who died in the 1941 attack and took part in a brief ceremony, followed by a moment of silence. ”In Remembrance, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan” was written on one wreath and ”In Remembrance, Barack Obama, President of the United States” on the other. They then threw flower petals into the water. After their remarks, both leaders greeted and Abe embraced U. S. veterans who survived the Pearl Harbor attack. In China, which has repeatedly urged Japan to show greater repentance for World War Two and Japan’s invasion of China, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said real reflection was needed, not show. ”Reconciliation between inflictor and victim must and can only be established on the basis of sincere and deep reflection by the inflictor,” Hua told a daily news briefing. DISPLAY OF ALLIANCE STRENGTH Japan hopes to present a strong alliance with the United States amid concerns about China’s expanding military capability. During a meeting ahead of the Pearl Harbor visit, Abe and Obama agreed to closely monitor moves by China’s aircraft carrier, recently spotted on a routine drill in the Western Pacific for the first time, and to strengthen the U. S. alliance, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. The leaders’ was also meant to reinforce the U. S. partnership ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of Trump, whose opposition to the Partnership trade pact and campaign threat to force allied countries to pay more to host U. S. forces raised concerns among allies such as Japan. Obama has sought to provide a smooth transition for Trump, but he made his opposition to the Republican’s policies, including his proposal to ban Muslims temporarily from entering the United States, clear during the 2016 campaign. ”It is here that we remember that even when hatred burns hottest, even when the tug of tribalism is at its most primal, we must resist the urge to turn inward,” Obama said at Pearl Harbor. ”We must resist the urge to demonize those who are different.” Abe met with Trump in New York in November and called him a ”trustworthy leader.” Obama called for a world without nuclear arms during his visit to Hiroshima. Trump last week called for the United States to ”greatly strengthen and expand” its nuclear capability and reportedly welcomed an international arms race. Some Abe critics noted the Japanese leader’s visit, and the reconciliation with the United States that it symbolized, underscored the stark contrast in its relationship with China and South Korea, where the bitter wartime legacy still plagues ties with Tokyo. Abe’s cabinet minister for reconstruction of regions, Masahiro Imamura, paid his respects later in the day (Wednesday, Tokyo time) at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism, Kyodo news agency said. Abe angered Beijing and Seoul and upset Washington with his own visit to the shrine three years ago this month. ”A symbolic gesture of contrition to your closest ally is easy,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University’s Japan campus in Tokyo. ”If he (Abe) really is sincere about reconciliation diplomacy and overcoming lingering enmities he needs to visit similar symbolic sights (in China and Korea) . .. and make similar remarks of remorse that are more specific about Japan’s responsibility.” (Reporting by Jeff Mason in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Linda Sieg and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell, Lisa Shumaker and Nick Macfie) 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.

Russia says Syrian government and opposition in talks

Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday said the Syrian government was consulting with the opposition ahead of possible peace talks, while a opposition group said it knew nothing of the negotiations but supported a ceasefire. In an interview with Interfax news agency, Sergei Lavrov did not say where the consultations were taking place or which opposition groups were taking part. Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a peace deal after holding talks in Moscow where they adopted a declaration setting out the principles any agreement should adhere to. Arrangements for the talks, which would not include the United States and be distinct from separate intermittent U. N. negotiations, remain hazy, but Moscow has said they would take place in Kazakhstan, a close ally. ”During the recent meeting in Moscow with my colleagues from Iran and Turkey we approved a joint declaration in which we confirmed our readiness to guarantee a future agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition,” Lavrov told the Interfax news agency in an interview. ”Negotiations about that are going on,” he said. Interfax said he was referring to talks between the opposition and the Syrian government. George Sabra, a member of the High Negotiations Committee, a body grouping armed and political opponents of President Bashar said it had no knowledge of the consultations. The HNC includes armed groups fighting Assad under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. It took part in a failed bid to launch peace talks earlier this year. The HNC was established in Saudi Arabia with Riyadh’s backing in December 2015. The HNC’s general coordinator Riad Hijab in a statement urged rebel groups to cooperate with ”sincere regional efforts” to reach a ceasefire but said it had not been invited to any conference. Hijab said measures were needed to create an atmosphere for political transition talks which should be held in Geneva and sponsored by the United Nations. ”We support the shifts in positions of some international powers and the positive, sincere efforts that could represent a starting point for realizing the Syrian people’s aspirations,” Hijab said in a written statement distributed to the media. The HNC said it wants to see a truce that covers all of Syria, in line with previous U. N. resolutions which forbid the use of banned weapons such as barrel bombs and chemical agents. The resolutions call for all sieges to be lifted, humanitarian aid access and a halt in air strikes and forced displacement. NO DATE FIXED FOR TALKS Russia’s foreign ministry later said Lavrov had discussed a peace plan for Syria with U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone call on Tuesday, without elaborating. Lavrov also told Kerry that a U. S. decision to ease some restrictions on arming Syrian rebels could lead to more casualties, it said. Earlier Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the easing of the restrictions could directly threaten Russian forces in Syria. President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia, Iran and Turkey and Assad have agreed that Astana, the Kazakh capital, should be the venue for new Syrian peace talks. Russian officials say preparations for the talks are under way, but that invitations to participants have not been sent out and the exact timing has yet to be decided. The officials, who have spoken of as a possible date, said it is too early to talk about contacts with the HNC. Lavrov spoke to Mevlut Cavusoglu, his Turkish counterpart, by telephone on Tuesday. The two men agreed to push for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and to prepare for the Astana talks, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The RIA news agency cited an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that representatives from the Russian and Turkish militaries were holding consultations with the Syrian opposition in Ankara about how a possible nationwide ceasefire might work. Separately on Tuesday Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had evidence that U. S. coalition forces in Syria were giving support to ”terrorist groups” including Islamic State and the Kurdish militant groups YPG and PYD. The U. S. State Department called the accusations ”ludicrous.” Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan told Russia’s RT TV station in an interview that Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to take part in the Syrian peace process, the RIA news agency reported. It cited him as saying he thought Riyadh’s insistence that Assad should step down meant it had no place at any talks. He also said that Assad should have the right to stand in the next presidential election if he wanted to, RIA said. (Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova and Peter Hobson in Moscow and Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry in Beirut; Editing by Alison Williams, Gareth Jones and Lisa Shumaker) 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.

Russia calls U.S. move to better arm Syrian rebels a ’hostile act’

Russia said on Tuesday that a U. S. decision to ease restrictions on arming Syrian rebels had opened the way for deliveries of missiles, a move it said would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria. Moscow last year launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria to help President Bashar and his forces retake territory lost to rebels, some of whom are supported by the United States. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the policy change easing restrictions on weapons supplies had been set out in a new U. S. defense spending bill and that Moscow regarded the step as a hostile act. U. S. President Barack Obama, who has been sharply critical of Russia’s intervention in Syria, signed the annual defense policy bill into law last week. State Department spokesman Mark Toner dismissed the Russian charges, saying the administration remains opposed to providing portable missiles, or MANPADS, to Syrian opposition groups. ”Our position on MANPADS has not changed. We have a very deep concern about that kind of weaponry getting into Syria,” Toner said, referring to fears that portable missiles could end up in the hands of Islamist militants and be used against civilian airliners. The National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by Obama on Dec. 23, appears designed to assuage the administration’s misgivings but imposes a new layer of congressional oversight on any presidential decision to provide them. A provision bars the U. S. Defense Department from spending funds on MANPADS for Syrian rebel groups until the secretaries of state and defense submit a report to congressional committees explaining the decision to do so. The report would have to include which groups would receive the weapons, intelligence analyses on the groups and the kinds and numbers of MANPADS to be supplied. Moscow cast the bill as lifting restrictions on the provision of such weapons to Syrian rebels. ”Washington has placed its bets on supplying military aid to forces who don’t differ than much from blood thirsty head choppers. Now, the possibility of supplying them with weapons, including mobile complexes, has been written into this new bill,” Zakharova said in a statement. ”In the administration of B. Obama they must understand that any weapons handed over will quickly end up in the hands of jihadists,” she added, saying that perhaps that was what the White House was counting on happening. The U. S. decision was a direct threat to the Russian air force, to other Russian military personnel, and to Russia’s embassy in Damascus, said Zakharova. ”We therefore view the step as a hostile act.” Zakharova accused the Obama administration of trying to ”put a mine” under the incoming administration of Donald Trump by attempting to get it to continue what she called Washington’s ” line.” The Obama administration has in recent weeks expanded the list of Russians affected by U. S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine. Trump, during his election campaign, said he was keen to try to improve relations with Moscow and spoke positively about President Vladimir Putin’s leadership skills. A exchange between Trump and Putin over nuclear weapons last week tested the Republican’s promises to improve relations with Russia however. The Obama administration and U. S. intelligence officials have accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U. S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. ”The current occupants of the White House imagined that they could pressure Russia,” said Zakharova. ”Let’s hope that those who replace them will be wiser.” (Additional reporting by Peter Hobson in Moscow and Tom Perry in Beirut and Jonathan Landay and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Alan Crosby) 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.

Cuba says economy shrank this year in tandem with Venezuela crisis

Cuba’s economy shrank 0. 9 percent this year in tandem with the crisis in key trading partner Venezuela, President Raul Castro told the National Assembly on Tuesday in a speech, predicting a slightly brighter outlook for 2017. The figure suggests sharp economic contraction in the second half after the government slashed imports, investment and fuel in response to lower exports and a drop in cheap oil deliveries from Venezuela. It had reported 1 percent growth for the first half. ”Restrictions in cash and in the provision of fuel worsened in the second half,” Castro said, according to excerpts published by official media outlet Cubadebate. ”Financial tensions and challenges that might intensify again in certain circumstances will persist, but we hope that gross domestic product (GDP) will grow moderately, by around 2 percent (in 2017).” Cuba’s centrally planned economy has struggled for decades with the U. S. economic embargo and mismanagement at home. reforms and, more recently, a detente with the United States that has boosted remittances and the tourism sector, helped the economy grow on average at close to 3 percent each year between 2011 and 2015. Still, the long slump in global fuel prices is hurting many of Cuba’s top trading partners such as Angola, Venezuela and Brazil, and revenue from the sale of professional services to those countries has dropped. Key ally Venezuela has slashed its provision of cheap oil and the drop in global commodities prices is punishing Cuban exports of nickel, refined oil products and sugar. Some experts fear that future growth from thawing relations with the United States may also be at risk since Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the U. S. presidential election. Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has vowed to ”terminate” President Barack Obama’s engagement with Cuba unless Havana gives the United States what he calls a ”better deal.” According to published excerpts of his speech, Castro did not comment on the future of . S. relations, except to recall the negative impact of the embargo. The president, who has promised economic reforms, did say foreign investment is one area that could improve. Since approving a law to bolster foreign investment more than two years ago, Cuba has approved just $1. 3 billion worth of projects. It aims to take in $2 billion annually, making investment an important growth driver. Castro said it was necessary to ”overcome the obsolete mentality, full of prejudices toward foreign investment.” ”We are not going toward capitalism, but we cannot be afraid of, or put obstacles in the way of, that which we can do within our laws,” he said, adding that investment in the energy sector was key. A fiscal boost to production and investment should help fuel growth next year, according to the assembly’s Economic Commission. The fiscal deficit will rise to 12 percent of GDP. ”If the expansive fiscal policy is well deployed, it could help manage the crisis,” said central bank official Pavel Vidal, now a professor at Universidad Javeriana Cali in Colombia. ”Otherwise it could have disastrous consequences for the country’s monetary and financial stability,” he said. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Marc Frank; Editing by David Gregorio and 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.

Wall St. edges up in low volume, boosted by tech shares

U. S. stocks rose slightly on Tuesday, supported by upbeat consumer and housing data, with gains in technology shares lifting the Nasdaq Composite to a record close. At just over four billion shares traded, it was one of the sessions of 2016. Volume across markets is expected to continue to be weak through the end of the year. Tuesday data showed American consumers’ confidence shot to its highest in more than 15 years in December as they saw more strength ahead in business conditions, stock prices and the job market, while house prices continued their steady recovery in October. U. S. equities have been riding a election rally, feeding on optimism that Donald Trump’s plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending could bolster the economy. With the market priced for positive outcomes in various scenarios, some see the rally as an opportunity to gains. ”There is too much hope and prayer coming from the new administration. Factually, the data is fine — it is not that different than it was six months ago,” said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in New York. ”We’ve got a mild U. S. consumer that is doing OK, profits have somewhat bounced a little bit, but we are certainly not getting an earnings liftoff here.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11. 23 points, or 0. 06 percent, to 19, 945. 04, the S&P 500 gained 5. 09 points, or 0. 22 percent, to 2, 268. 88 and the Nasdaq Composite added 24. 75 points, or 0. 45 percent, to 5, 487. 44. About 4. 13 billion shares changed hands on U. S. exchanges, below the 7. 27 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. Volume this week last year averaged 5 billion stocks daily. The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 was Nvidia Corp ( ) which rose 6. 9 percent and boosted the chipmakers. Amazon ( ) rose 1. 4 percent to $771. 40. The online retailer said it shipped over 1 billion items to Prime members during the holiday season. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1. ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1. ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 23 new highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 174 new highs and 25 new lows. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and 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.

Kerry to lay out vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace

U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry will lay out his vision for ending the conflict in a speech on Wednesday, days after the United States cleared the way for a U. N. resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements. The speech, less than a month before President Barack Obama leaves office, is expected to be the administration’s last word on a dispute that Kerry had hoped to resolve during his four years as America’s top diplomat. It could also be seen in Israel as another parting shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had an especially acrimonious relationship with Obama since they both took office in 2009. The United States on Friday broke with a longstanding approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and abstained on a United Nations Security Council resolution that passed with 14 countries in favor and none against. Kerry will discuss the abstention when he speaks at the State Department at 11 a. m. ET (1600 GMT) a senior State Department official told reporters. ”We believe that with the solution in peril, it is important to share the deeper understanding we have developed of both sides’ bottom lines during intensive consultations in recent years,” the official said. The speech will also address what the official called ”misleading” accusations by Israeli officials that the Obama administration drafted and forced the resolution to a vote. Undeterred by the U. N. resolution, Israel’s Jerusalem municipality is due to consider on Wednesday requests for construction permits for hundreds of new homes for Israelis in areas captured in 1967 and annexed to the city. ’SHAMEFUL’ DECISION, ISRAEL SAYS Israeli officials described the abstention as a ”shameful” decision. Donald Trump, who urged the White House to veto the resolution, chided the world body as ”just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday said the United States hoped the U. N. vote would serve as a ” call” that settlements are a detriment to a solution. Israel for decades has pursued a policy of building Jewish settlements on territory it captured in a 1967 war with its Arab neighbors, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most countries view the settlements as an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees, citing a biblical, historical and political connection to the land, as well as security interests. Washington considers the settlement activity illegitimate. Since learning last week of Kerry’s planned speech, Israeli officials have been concerned he might use the address to lay out parameters for a Middle East peace deal. Netanyahu’s aides are confident the Trump administration will likely ignore any Obama principles and pay no heed to the U. N. resolution, but they fear Kerry’s remarks will put Israel on the defensive and prompt other countries to apply pressure. Kerry previously failed to bring about a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in talks that froze in 2014. U. S. officials left little doubt they put much of the blame on Netanyahu’s stance on settlements. Some 570, 000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem among more than 2. 6 million Palestinians. (Writing by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Howard Goller) 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.

Israel pressing ahead with settlements after U.N. vote

The Jerusalem municipality is due to act on Wednesday on requests to construct hundreds of new homes for Israelis in areas that Israel captured in 1967 and annexed to the city, drawing fresh criticism from the United States that settlement activity puts Middle East at risk. Israel is still fuming over the resolution approved last Friday by the United Nations Security Council that demands an end to settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. U. S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he was aware of press reports about plans for more settlement building. ”We would hope that the U. N. Security Council resolution would serve as a call, a call to action, an attempt to alert both sides, but certainly Israel, that its actions with regards to settlement activity are a detriment to moving forward with a solution,” Toner told a news briefing. Israel described as ”shameful” the decision by the United States to abstain in the vote rather than wield its veto. The Obama administration is a strong opponent of the settlements. U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to make remarks on Wednesday regarding Middle East peace and discuss steps needed to resolve the conflict. An agenda published by Jerusalem City Hall listed applications for at least 390 new homes whose approval looks certain to intensify international and Palestinian opposition to the Israeli . The Municipal Planning and Construction panel usually meets on Wednesdays; the permit requests were filed before the Security Council resolution. Settler leaders and their supporters have been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step up construction in East Jerusalem, accusing him of having slowed the pace last year because of international pressure. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that 1, 506 housing units for Israelis have already been approved in East Jerusalem this year, compared with 395 in 2015. The Jerusalem municipality said in a statement on Tuesday it would ”continue to develop the capital according to zoning and building codes, without prejudice, for the benefit of all residents.” Israel considers all of Jerusalem its united capital, a stance not supported by the international community. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Some 570, 000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in settlements that most countries consider to be illegal and the United States terms illegitimate. Israel disputes that, citing historical, political and Biblical links to the areas, as well as security concerns. The new U. N. resolution changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians and will probably be all but ignored by the incoming U. S. administration of Donald Trump. However, Israeli officials fear it could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums. A U. S. official said after Friday’s vote that Washington’s decision to abstain was prompted mainly by concern that Israel would continue to accelerate settlement construction and put at risk a solution of the conflict with the Palestinians. The U. S. peace talks have been stalled since 2014. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones and Leslie Adler) 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.

Japan Inc could claim edge in overseas deals as China faces restraints

Japan Inc may become a more important force in dealmaking next year as its companies seek to buy growth prospects elsewhere in the world and as Beijing’s crackdown on capital outflows prevents some Chinese companies from making foreign acquisitions, bankers and lawyers said. Facing tepid prospects at home after decades of stagnation amid a shrinking population, Japanese companies had spent $93 billion overseas this year, up to Dec. 19, little changed from a record $96 billion in all of 2015, but up from just $51 billion in 2013, Thomson Reuters data shows. Chinese companies have spent $217 billion so far in 2016. With Japanese companies hoarding a record $3. 2 trillion in cash, according to government data, outbound acquisitions are expected to maintain a fast pace next year, the bank and law firm sources said. And while the recent weakening of the yen against the dollar will make American acquisitions more expensive in yen terms, it does mean that Japanese companies will tend to be earning more of the Japanese currency from overseas assets. Among recent deals, Asahi Group Holdings ( ) this month beat rivals, including China Resources ( ) to buy InBev’s ( ) eastern European beer brands for 7. 3 billion euros ($7. 6 billion). China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange is vetting transfers abroad worth $5 million or more, and in particular is increasing scrutiny of major outbound deals to curb capital outflows that are hurting the value of the yuan, sources have told Reuters. ”Japanese buyers have a low cost of capital, strong cash balances and a strong appetite to diversify out of their home market,” said Mayooran Elalingam, Deutsche Bank’s head of M&A in Hong Kong. ”At the same time, they do not have the regulatory or political constraints of a Chinese purchaser.” BREWERS LOOKING FOR DEALS Japan’s insurers are likely to step up their aggressive hunt for overseas businesses, the bankers said. For example, Meiji Yasuda, Japan’s private sector insurer by assets, is attracted to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s ( ) life insurance and wealth businesses, said a source close to the unlisted company. Japanese beverage makers could buy abroad, an M&A banker at a European investment bank told Reuters, citing Suntory Holdings Ltd [SUNTH. UL] and Kirin Group Holdings Ltd ( ). Kirin and Asahi Group Holdings ( ) are among investors who have expressed an interest in buying stakes in Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp, or Sabeco, Vietnam’s biggest brewer, and its smaller rival Habeco. Kirin declined to comment. Suntory said it was not considering any specific deals and was instead focused on integrating its 2014 purchase of Beam, the maker of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey among other alcoholic drinks. An Asahi spokesman said it was ”looking with interest” at Sabeco and Habeco. Sabeco declined to comment and Habeco did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The rivalry may also play out in the natural resources sector next year, said Alexis Papasolomontos, an M&A partner at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. The sector is traditionally favored by China but of growing interest to Japan. Japanese buyers spent $9 billion in the energy and materials sectors this year, up from $5 billion last year, Thomson Reuters data shows. China, focused on acquiring energy and food assets, splurged a record $87 billion in that sector this year versus $16 billion last year. Still, Japan’s record with overseas acquisitions has been spotty. Toshiba Corp 6502. T] said on Tuesday it was considering booking a goodwill impairment loss of several hundreds of billion yen on a U. S. nuclear power acquisition made by its Westinghouse division, sending its stock plunging. Japan’s Nomura Holdings Inc ( ) which acquired Lehman Brothers’ Asian and European operations following the collapse of the U. S. investment bank, announced a painful restructuring earlier this year after losing some $3 billion overseas in six years. Century Tokyo Leasing was among the companies that lost out to a unit of China’s HNA Group in a battle to buy a CIT plane leasing unit, according to people familiar with the matter. In manufacturing, the sale of General Electric Co’s ( ) appliance unit generated interest from Japanese buyers but they didn’t compete seriously against a subsidiary of Qingdao Haier which won the auction, one of the people told Reuters. ”We expect to continue to see a lot of activities in every sector,” said Yoshihiko Yano, head of Japan M&A at Goldman Sachs. ”Given the decreasing population and aging society, outbound M&A for growth outside Japan is inevitable for Japanese companies.” TRUMP EFFECT Japanese companies have been drawn to the U. S. market because its economic growth has been generally higher than Japan’s, and as the American population rises. U. S. Donald Trump’s pledges to cut business taxes, spend on infrastructure and slash business regulation means the appeal of the U. S. market is likely to increase. ”America’s appeal won’t change for Japanese firms,” said Shinsuke Tsunoda, global head of M&A at Nomura Securities Co. Underscoring Japan Inc’s faith in the U. S. under Trump, SoftBank Group Corp ( ) head Masayoshi Son this month met Trump and pledged to invest $50 billion in U. S. startup companies. Japanese companies may also gain an edge over their Chinese rivals because of Trump’s rhetoric, lawyers said. U. S. relations are likely to go through a period of increased tensions, at least during the early months of his presidency, after Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports into the U. S. and label China a currency manipulator. (Reporting by Thomas Wilson and Saeed Azhar; Additional reporting by Emi Emoto in Tokyo, Sumeet Chatterjee in Hong Kong, Mai Nguyen in Hanoi and Gaurav Dogra in Bangalore; Editing by Martin Howell) 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 .

Ex-Argentine leader Fernandez indicted, tied to nuns and guns scandal

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was indicted on Tuesday on charges she ran a corruption scheme with a public works secretary who was arrested in June while trying to stash millions of dollars in a convent. A federal judge accused them and other officials of the Fernandez administration of crimes ”including the deliberate seizure of funds principally meant for public road works.” Corruption charges have long swirled around Fernandez and her husband and predecessor, the late Nestor Kirchner. She denies wrongdoing and accuses Argentina’s current leader, Mauricio Macri, of using the courts to persecute her. The country was riveted in June when Fernandez’s former public works secretary, Jose Lopez, was arrested while tossing bags stuffed with millions of dollars over the walls of a Catholic convent on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. A Lopez started hurling the money into the Our Lady of Fatima convent when the elderly nuns inside were slow to answer the door in the early morning hours of June 14, according to a neighbor who witnessed what happened and called 911. A surveillance video shows the nuns finally welcoming Lopez and accepting the cash while paying little attention to the automatic rifle he had placed by the convent door. Lopez and his direct boss, former Planning Minister Julio De Vido, were indicted along with Fernandez on Tuesday. The alleged skimming of road projects took place in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, where Fernandez lives. The ruling said the offenses took place until Dec. 9, 2015, Fernandez’s last day as president after eight years in office. No arrest warrant has been issued for Fernandez, and Lopez is already in jail on money laundering charges. In May Fernandez was indicted for ”unfaithful administration to the detriment of public administration.” During her administration, according to the charges, the central bank took positions in the futures market just before a widely expected devaluation of the peso currency. Fernandez, head of the leftist faction of the Peronism party umbrella, is revered by millions of Argentines for her generous welfare programs. She is reviled by others, who accuse her of wrecking Argentina’s economy, Latin America’s third biggest, with profligate state spending and trade and currency controls. (Additional reporting by Maximiliano Rizzi; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) 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.

South Korea pension fund chief detained by special prosecutor

South Korean prosecutors put the chairman of the world’s pension fund under emergency arrest on Wednesday in a widening scandal that has led to parliament voting to impeach President Park . The special prosecutor’s office did not provide further details on the arrest of National Pension Service (NPS) Chairman Moon . Officers on Monday raided his home on suspicion of abuse of power. The special prosecutor has been looking into whether Moon pressured the pension fund to support the $8 billion merger last year of two Samsung Group [SAGR. UL] affiliates while he was head of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which runs the NPS. Investigators are also examining whether Samsung’s support for a business and foundations backed by the president’s friend, Choi who is at the center of the scandal, may have been connected to NPS support for the merger, a prosecution official told Reuters last week. Moon said on Tuesday, as he arrived at the prosecutor’s office, he would cooperate and did not comment when asked if he pressured the NPS to vote for the merger. On Dec. 9, the NPS dismissed as ”groundless” a media report that Moon had coerced the NPS to support the merger. The NPS had 545 trillion won ($451. 35 billion) under management at the end of September and was a major shareholder in Samsung Group affiliates Cheil Industries Inc and Samsung C&T Corp when they merged last year. Some investors criticized the for strengthening the founding family’s control of Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest ”chaebol” or conglomerate, at the expense of other shareholders. The NPS voted in favor of the merger without calling in an external committee that sometimes advises it on difficult votes. A spokeswoman for the NPS said on Wednesday it was ”watching the situation” and declined to comment further. TV footage showed Moon arriving in a detention center van at the office of the special prosecutor, escorted by guards and wearing a prison uniform. He declined to answer reporters’ questions. PROTESTS AND RAIDS Park, 64, whose father ruled the country for 18 years after seizing power in a 1961 coup, is accused of colluding with her friend, Choi, who has been indicted and is in custody, to pressure big businesses to make contributions to foundations backing presidential initiatives. Park has denied wrongdoing but apologized for carelessness in her ties with Choi, a friend for four decades, who has also denied wrongdoing. Choi is in detention pending trial. Parliament voted to impeach Park over the scandal on Dec. 9, a decision that must be upheld or overturned by the Constitutional Court within 180 days. In the meantime, she has been stripped of her powers, which have been assumed by the prime minister, although she remains in the presidential Blue House. Big street protests have been held every Saturday for the last nine weeks to demand that she step down immediately. Another rally is expected this weekend. At a parliamentary hearing this month, Samsung Group scion Jay Y. Lee denied allegations from lawmakers that Samsung lobbied to get the NPS to vote in favor of the merger, or that it made contributions seeking something in return. A Samsung Group spokeswoman declined further comment on Wednesday. Investigators raided NPS offices last week and in November. Under South Korean law, a suspect can be held under emergency arrest without a warrant for up to 48 hours. If the Constitutional Court affirms Park’s impeachment, she would be the country’s first democratically elected leader to be ousted from office, and would lose immunity from prosecution. Her early departure from office would trigger a presidential election, to be held in 60 days. (Reporting by Park; Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Yun Hwan Chae and Christine Kim; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by 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.

Trump taps ex-Bush official Bossert to counter domestic threats

U. S. Donald Trump on Tuesday selected former Bush administration official Thomas Bossert as a counterterrorism adviser who will focus heavily on cyber threats. As assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, Bossert will concentrate on domestic security issues and help craft the administration’s cyber security policies, the transition team said. ”We must work toward cyber doctrine that reflects the wisdom of free markets, private competition and the important but limited role of government in establishing and enforcing the rule of law . .. and the fundamental principles of liberty,” Bossert said in a statement. Cyber security has been a hot button issue in recent weeks as Trump, a Republican, has lashed out against assertions that Russia directed hacks of U. S. Democratic Party emails to influence the U. S. presidential election. U. S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the hacks. In a departure from the current administration, Bossert will report directly to Trump and will have his own staff that is not under the National Security Council, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said. The structure is similar to the approach of Republican President George W. Bush, who set up a Homeland Security Council in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington. Bossert served as deputy homeland security adviser under Bush. Democratic President Barack Obama merged the Homeland Security Council staff with the National Security Council staff. Peter Feaver, a professor at Duke University who served on the National Security Council during the second Bush administration, said that making Bossert report to the president was not a large change. ”You could not call this a radical departure. This is the kind of evolutionary change that always happens with administrations,” Feaver said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Ginger Gibson, writing by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Doina Chiacu 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.

Stun guns and male crew: Korean Air to get tough on unruly passengers

Korean Air Lines said it will allow crew members to ”readily use stun guns” to manage violent passengers, and hire more male flight attendants, after coming in for criticism from U. S. singer Richard Marx over its handling of a recent incident. The new crew guidelines, announced on Tuesday following the Dec. 20 incident, will also include more staff training, use of the latest device to tie up a violent passenger, and the banning of passengers with a history of unruly behavior. Men account for about of Korean Air flight attendants, and the carrier said it will try to have at least one male on duty in the cabin for each flight. ”While U. S. carriers have taken stern action on violent behavior following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 (2001) Asian carriers including us have not imposed tough standards because of Asian culture,” Korean Air President Chi told a news conference. ”We will use the latest incident to put safety foremost and strengthen our safety standards,” he said. In South Korea, the number of unlawful acts committed aboard airplanes has more than tripled over the past five years, according to government data. South Korean police on Tuesday sought an arrest warrant for the passenger involved in the latest incident, identified by his surname Lim, on charges including inflicting injury to the crew and a passenger on the Vietnam to South Korea flight. An airline spokesman said the man had consumed two and a half shots of whiskey during the flight. The incident came to light when Marx said on Facebook and Twitter that he helped subdue ”a psycho passenger attacking crew members and other passengers,” accusing crew members of being ” ” and ” ” to handle the ”chaotic and dangerous event”. Marx’s wife Daisy Fuentes, a TV host and model who was with the singer during the flight from Hanoi to Incheon near Seoul, said on Instagram that crew members ”didn’t know how to use the taser & they didn’t know how to secure the rope around him (he got loose from their rope restraints 3 times).” Video of the incident posted on YouTube showed a young man in a business class seat spitting and swearing at crew members trying to restrain him with a rope. Lim, in his early 30s, appeared on Monday for questioning by police, wearing a mask, glasses and a hat. He apologized for his behavior but said he could not remember what had happened, according to video shown by broadcaster SBS. Korean Air said it sent a letter to Marx’s management agency for helping control Lim. Korean Air was involved in a case of bad passenger behavior in late 2014 when the daughter of its chairman, who was an executive with the carrier, forced a flight crew chief off the plane at New York’s JFK Airport because she was unhappy about the way she was served macadamia nuts. The ”nut rage” incident provoked widespread ridicule and resulted in the executive, Heather Cho, serving nearly five months in jail. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Michael Perry and Tony Munroe) 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. mutual fund trustees feel the heat of investor lawsuits

Before New York’s famed 21 Club steakhouse drew attention in November for hosting Donald Trump, the wealthy U. S. it quietly fed other public representatives: trustees of AXA SA ( ) investment funds. The trustees board members tasked with overseeing AXA funds had events there and at other ritzy spots, legal records show. A 2011 holiday party at a Del Frisco’s restaurant cost $25, 775, a $1, 000 average for each of roughly 25 people present. ”The wine was very good,” a trustee recalled of one meal. The trustees’ dining experiences emerged in a federal case decided in August. Investors including a teacher and a retired police officer accused the firm of collecting excessive fees, a charge the firm denied. U. S. District Judge Peter Sheridan sided with AXA in his decision, but he wrote the suit had prompted a ”more scrupulous and rigorous” review of board expenses. One result was to reimburse investors for some of the meal costs. In courts across the land, investors are subjecting mutual fund boards to greater scrutiny. Trustees, often paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, are under pressure to prove they have stood up for shareholders in an industry that has $16 trillion under management. The lawsuits accuse fund boards of missteps such as failing to scrutinize fees or pass along to investors economies of scale as their funds grow with rising markets. The claims illuminate the long obscure role of fund trustees, sometimes known as directors. Despite their compensation and influence, at many fund families these individuals rarely appear before investors and face few official qualification requirements. Many are current or retired executives, attorneys or academics, much the same as at large publicly traded companies. Defendants include large fund managers like BlackRock Inc ( ) and Pacific Investment Management Co, or Pimco. The fund managers deny wrongdoing. An AXA spokesman declined to comment. FEES A SENSITIVE TOPIC In theory, mutual fund trustees can demand lower fees on the funds or fire the managers who choose the funds’ investments. But firings, which investors could see as disruptive, hardly ever happen. A common concern is that the boards are more focused on following technical rules than looking out for shareholder interests, said Stephen Davis, a senior fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance. Fees are a sensitive topic for many actively managed mutual funds, which are losing billions of dollars in assets to cheaper funds. Even a small reduction in fees can make a big difference for investors who include many U. S. workers whose savings are in 401( k) retirement plans. A 2015 Morningstar study showed that while industry assets increased by 143 percent over a period, fund fees charged to clients fell only 27 percent while industry fee revenue rose 78 percent, showing companies benefiting from the gains more than their investors. LAWSUITS AGAINST BLACKROCK, PIMCO In one suit, in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, plaintiffs accuse BlackRock units of benefiting too much as assets of its Global Allocation Fund ( ) more than doubled to about $58 billion at Oct. 31, 2013, from about $23 billion at Oct. 31, 2007. U. S. District Judge Freda Wolfson last year denied a BlackRock motion to dismiss, writing that plaintiffs at least had raised enough doubts about fund trustees that there remained ”sufficient allegations that allow for an inference of by the Boards.” BlackRock defended its boards of trustees. A BlackRock spokesman wrote via email that Global Allocation is priced competitively, adding, ”The suit is without merit and we intend to vigorously defend against the action.” A judge has asked both sides for reports on the discovery process by Jan. 19. A suit in federal court in Seattle compares Pimco’s $78 billion Total Return fund ( ) with the $2. 3 billion Harbor Bond Fund, ( ) a similar fund Pimco subadvises. The plaintiff cited how Pimco charged holders of Class A shares of Total Return 0. 85 percent of fund assets, while investors were charged just 0. 53 percent of fund assets to own a comparable Harbor Bond Fund share class. The plaintiff claimed Pimco trustees ”have been subverted by defendants and no longer serve in their ’watchdog’ role” and cited the trustees’ generous pay. Pimco argues its board follows a rigorous process and called the comparison to Harbor Bond Fund inapt because its funds can require it to perform additional work and assume additional risks. Last year U. S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez denied a Pimco motion to dismiss the case, currently awaiting trial. A Pimco spokeswoman declined to comment. Some complaints against directors have been knocked down. In a case against Hartford Funds in Camden, New Jersey, U. S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb likened claims that Hartford’s fund board allowed excessive fees to ”armchair quarterbacking and captious .” Closing arguments in the case are set for January. But elsewhere even unsuccessful actions have brought board critiques. In Los Angeles, U. S. District Judge Gary Feess in 2009 dismissed a challenge to fees at American Funds but wrote the board’s oversight process ”seems less a true negotiation and more an elaborate exercise in checking off boxes and papering the file.” An American Funds spokesman said the company in response provided trustees more information about its approach to compensation. Directors were unavailable to comment, he said. For a graphic on fund board compensation, click (Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Howard Goller) 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.

Data dive: Corporate holiday parties: Booze, yes; sex, no

Big money but that doesn’t mean workers across the U. S. are heading off to swank clubs with scotch and dancing girls dressed like glowing angels. A shows a slightly more balanced approach. Some 80 percent of companies sponsor holiday parties, spending an average of about $75 per person. About 90 percent of those parties serve alcohol, but 66 percent impose some sort of limits. Why would curbing the drinks be necessary? Well, because for 25 percent of workers, booze+holiday party=sex. That correlates with previous studies of the effects of holiday parties on morale. For example, a showed that 75 percent of respondents thought office holiday parties built better friendships. But only 18 percent thought the shindigs promoted better productivity. While 94 percent in the BizBash study said they would be disappointed if the office holiday party was cancelled, Rick Bell, the managing editor who compiled the Workforce. com report, thought more people would be naysayers. “I think that you’ll hear people say, ‘I’d rather have the money than whatever they are spending on the party,’” he said. Bell himself is bullish on holiday parties. Workforce. com just held its annual event for employees, which was a outing for a staff of about 35. They participated in a workshop in Chicago with the Second City comedy troupe, then they had dinner and drinks capped off by watching a live Second City performance. “It was a long day, but ultimately, everyone came away from it thinking it was really good,” he said. “Sure, you can throw a big party in a swanky hotel or you can do something a little different. I always look forward to these kinds of events, more so than a potluck. ” 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.

U.S. accuses Chinese citizens of hacking law firms, insider trading

Three Chinese citizens have been criminally charged in the United States with trading on confidential corporate information obtained by hacking into networks and servers of law firms working on mergers, U. S. prosecutors said on Tuesday. Iat Hong of Macau, Bo Zheng of Changsha, China, and Chin Hung of Macau were charged in an indictment filed in Manhattan federal court with conspiracy, insider trading, wire fraud and computer intrusion. Prosecutors said the men made more than $4 million by placing trades in at least five company stocks based on inside information from unnamed law firms, including about deals involving Intel Corp and Pitney Bowes Inc. The men listed themselves in brokerage records as working at information technology companies, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a related civil lawsuit. Hong, 26, was arrested on Sunday in Hong Kong, while Hung, 50, and Zheng, 30, are not in custody, prosecutors said. Defense lawyers could not be immediately identified. The case is the latest U. S. insider trading prosecution to involve hacking, and follows warnings by U. S. officials that law firms could become prime targets for hackers. ”This case of cyber meets securities fraud should serve as a call for law firms around the world: you are and will be targets of cyber hacking, because you have information valuable to criminals,” U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said. Prosecutors said that beginning in April 2014, the trio obtained inside information by hacking two U. S. law firms and targeting the email accounts of law firm partners working on mergers and acquisitions. Prosecutors did not identify the two law firms, or five others they said the defendants targeted. But one matched the description of New Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, which represented Pitney Bowes in its 2015 acquisition of Borderfree Inc, one of the mergers in question. The indictment said that by using a law firm employee’s credentials, the defendants installed malware on the firm’s servers to access emails from lawyers, including a partner responsible for the Pitney deal. Cravath declined to comment. In March, Cravath confirmed discovering a ”limited breach” of its systems in 2015. Prosecutors also accused the defendants of trading on information stolen from a law firm representing Intel on the chipmaker’s acquisition of Altera Inc in 2015. Intel’s merger counsel on the deal was New Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. The law firm declined to comment. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was aware of the reports about the case but knew nothing about it. The case is U. S. v. Hong et al, U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. . (Reporting by Nate Raymond; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Richard Chang) 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.

Commentary: The three tactics that took Trump from outsider to insider

What does Donald Trump have in common with animal rights activists? At face value nothing, of course. Yet both have mainstreamed positions that were until recently seen as marginal. Trump ran as the ultimate outlier politician; now he and his “ ” allies are normalizing positions and beliefs that until recently were seen as beyond the pale. And they are doing so quickly. Today, the process of a movement or a person going from outsider to insider, which once took years or even decades, happens in a matter of months. The U. S. wasn’t the only candidate to transition from outsider to insider in the 2016 election. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders won 23 contests in the primary, despite being a Socialist calling for “a revolution. ” The Vermont senator became a national political sensation in a matter of months, after having been a relatively obscure representative for decades prior. Why are political outsiders moving to the center more powerfully and more speedily than they have in the past? What forces have allowed Trump and his “outsider” elements to gain such a huge following? In my book I explored how outsiders from all walks of life animal rights activists, transgender people, and many others have changed what is considered normal in America and shaped it to fit them. This process may now be very fast, as short as a few seasons. Outlying styles, political stances or aims, religious beliefs or behaviors may be swiftly normalized: Progressive social developments like marriage or transgender people in the military are happening with less resistance. My research in the late naughts showed me three key ways that outsiders were moving to the mainstream. The first was through the rapid metabolism of social media and “outsider” publishing, a mixture of improved technology and the collapse of traditional media. Nothing shows this mechanism better than Trump’s victory, which relied on outlying news sites like Breitbart News, whose former executive chair, Steve Bannon, is now Trump’s special adviser. (Glenn Beck to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.) Trump’s success also depended on sites like the marginal Liberty Writers News, which use exaggerated and often misleading headlines to lure readers. And fake news stories got many than real political coverage on legacy media sites in the last months of the election, as they capitalized on the deep rage that some Americans felt toward “insiders,” from politicians to public intellectuals. These outsider sites are now connected intimately to the most powerful people and office in the land. The second way outsiders move their edge to the center is through coining distinctive phrases or words to describe themselves. This practice normalizes unusual ways of thinking, identities or tastes. Animal rights activists now may call cattle “ animals” to get carnivores to see factory farming differently. Some autistic activists say they are “neurodivergent” rather than autistic to emphasize they have different brain wiring, not a disorder or defect. In the worst possible way, the sobriquet fits the same bill: it uses a novel expression that is catchy and also a good cover for the extremity that lurks within. Doesn’t sound better than, say, white supremacy? In other words, marginal advocates of all stripes now deploy sophisticated to subtly, even deviously, change people’s attitude toward their cause. The final way that outsiders move into the mainstream quickly is by getting “insiders” to appropriate an outlying idea, culture or identity, ones that were once considered unacceptable or shocking. Today, outsiders are even more urbane than they once were. They “ . ” Marginal movements may sell themselves more actively than they would in the past, pitching themselves rather than just sitting back and waiting for history to absorb or their viewpoint. They peddle their weirdness. The heavy sales pitch clearly worked for Trump, who sold his alternative status hard. In one Gallup poll, Republican voters said they supported Trump first and foremost because, in the words of the survey, Trump was an “outsider. ” To be sure, the idea of the outsider has been crucial to American identity from the pioneers onward, and the line between American outsiders and insiders has often been porous. Part of that history consists of Americans deviating from a colonial power’s established religions or traditions. Eventually, however, groups ranging from the Puritans to the settlers of the West to the abolitionists became either the dominant power or were embraced by the establishment. And outsiders also haven’t always been benign. On each side of the political divide, mavericks have created havoc in this country, from the upstate New York “ ” of the 19 century where religious revivals and Pentecostal movements of the took place, to extremists who torment or kill abortion providers. The outsiders are only a slice of the story. Often, outsiders had less radical dreams, like giving women the right to vote. One thing that the violent and extremist outsiders and the moderate and just outliers had in common was how long their causes took to have a broader effect. Change usually took decades, sometimes centuries. No longer. After the election, I wondered how the new allure of outsiders and their speedy mainstreaming could help Democratic candidates. How might the rise of the outsider aid the Bernie Sanders of the near future like Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren or law professor and activist Zephyr Teachout in gaining more national recognition? Who is to say improbable things can’t happen on the Democrat side, now that the seemingly impossible has happened in the form of Trump? Right now it’s Trump and the who are speeding into the heart of America. But there are other outliers still out there. They are waiting to change things for the better, as quickly as possible. 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.