Friday, August 31, 2018

Nafta: US-Canada trade talks going down to wire

Talks between the US and Canada about amending the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) are heading into their final day with no deal in sight.

US President Donald Trump set a Friday deadline for Canada to sign a new agreement with the US and Mexico.

He has threatened to leave Canada on the sidelines since announcing a breakthrough with Mexico on Monday.

However, he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have both said they are hopeful a deal is close.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is holding talks in Washington with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland aimed at reaching a new deal.

Following four separate meetings on Thursday, which continued late into the night, Ms Freeland told reporters that a deal could not be reached, adding that talks would resume on Friday.

Issues that have led to discord between the neighbouring countries include Canada's dairy trade rules, dispute-handling mechanisms and patent protections for medicines.

Mr Trump has threatened to levy tariffs on car parts exported from Canada to the US if a deal is not reached.

Why the rush?

The White House wants to notify Congress on Friday that it intends to enter into a new trade agreement, to provide the necessary 90 days' notice that would allow the new Nafta deal to be signed by 1 December, the day Mexico's new left-wing president takes office.

"We are replacing Nafta with a beautiful, brand new US-Mexico trade deal," Mr Trump told supporters in Evansville, Indiana, on Thursday night.

Turning to Canada, he said: "I think it is going to happen and we really have developed a really good relationship. But they have to treat us fairly. They haven't treated us fairly."

Media captionTrade expert says US-China trade war is maybe "not that bad"

Rajshahi University Admission Circular 2018-19

Rajshahi University Admission Circular 2018-19 has recently been published on their official website ru.ac.bd. According to the Admission Circular, the admission process will be started on September 10, 2018, and the Admission test will be held from 22 to 29 October 2018

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Ru admission circular

Rajshahi University Admission Test 2018-19

Rajshahi University Admission 2018-19 test will be held on October 22 and it will continue until October 29, 2018. It will run for seven days. The Main Admission process starts from September. Students can’t apply the second time for Rajshahi University.

RU Admission Test Notice

Application Starts : 10th September 2018
Application Last Date: 24th September 2018 at 12.00am
Admission Test Date: 22nd & 29 October 2018

According to the latest news from Rajshahi University, This year Rajshahi university has canceled the MCQ System exam from the session 2018-19. Instead of MCQ based exam, the written exam will be taken.

shorif hasan

E-currency exchangers rating

Cambodia charges foreigners with making porn after fake orgy

They were arrested on Thursday after images emerged of people appearing to imitate sex acts at a party in a villa in Siem Reap in the north-west.

If convicted, they could face up to a year in prison.

Also among those arrested are citizens of Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Norway, reports say.

Warning: You might find a picture lower down this page offensive

However several people in the pictures from the party do not appear among those held, reports say.

Britain's Foreign Office said it was providing assistance to the UK detainees.

Police said the private villa was a stop on an organised pub crawl, the Press Association reports.

Images posted on an expat-run website showed several clothed couples on the floor of the villa, apparently acting out sexual positions.

One member of the group told PA from prison that about 30 police officers had entered the villa in a "confusing" raid.

"They raided, rounded us up, there was about 80 to 100 people at this party, some of them were tourists."

The mother of one member of the group told PA the detainees had had to sign papers written in Khmer "not knowing what they" were.

Siem Reap is popular with tourists because it is close to the famous ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, Cambodia's biggest tourist site.

Its nightlife scene has rapidly grown over the past few years as it has become more accessible to backpackers and budget travellers.

This has sometimes placed tourists at odds with Cambodia's socially conservative culture.

Duong Thavry, chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department in Siem Reap, told AFP news agency the group had been arrested "because they committed activities that are against our culture"

Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar stole the show, and most of the awards, at the 2018 Grammys

Mars provided the night's big upset, taking the album of the year trophy that most critics assumed would go to Lamar's rap tour de force, Damn.

In the end, voters found Mars's crowd-pleasing R&B more palatable, while Lamar dominated the rap categories.

Alessia Cara won best new artist - making her the only female artist to win a major prize.

Stars like Lady Gaga, Kesha, Lorde and SZA were overlooked, with only 17 awards (out of a total of 86) going to women or female-fronted bands.

The imbalance was particularly incongruous on a night that highlighted the #TimesUp and #MeToo campaigns.

Most performers arrived for the show wearing a white rose to symbolise their support for the movements, which tackle sexual harassment and inequality.

Pop star Kesha also gave a powerful, stirring performance of her single Praying, which addresses her own experience of surviving abuse.

She was backed by an all-star choir, including Cyndi Lauper and Camila Cabello, who were dressed in white to reflect the white rose campaign.

"We come in peace but we mean business," said R&B star Janelle Monae, introducing the performance.

"To those who would dare try to silence us, we offer two words: Time's Up.

"We say Time's Up for pay inequality, discrimination or harassment of any kind, and the abuse of power."

"Let's work together, women and men, as a united music industry committed to creating more safe work environments, equal pay, and access for all women."

Grammys 2018

Album of the year: Bruno Mars - 24K Magic

Record of the year: Bruno Mars - 24K Magic

Song of the year: Bruno Mars - That's What I Like

Best new artist: Alessia Cara

Best pop album: Ed Sheeran - ÷ (Divide)

Best rock album: The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Best R&B album: Bruno Mars - 24k Magic

Best rap album: Kendrick Lamar - Damn

More winners and nominees

Mars left with six trophies in all, including the three biggest prizes: Album of the year, song of the year and record of the year.

Speaking onstage, he paid tribute to his fellow nominees, saying: "You guys are the reason why I'm in the studio pulling my hair out".

He also told the story of how, as a 15-year-old in Hawaii, he performed in a show called The Magic of Polynesia, singing songs by R&B writers Babyface, Jam & Lewis and Teddy Riley.

"I'll be honest, I was incredible at 15," he laughed, before explaining how he'd wanted to recapture the sounds of those 80s and 90s hits on his latest album.

"Those songs were written with nothing but joy... and that's all I wanted to bring with this album. Hopefully I could feel that again and see everybody dancing and everybody moving."

As well as the star's own prizes, his recording engineers won a further award for their work on the album.

Merkel says EU is 'ready to start Brexit negotiations

Angela Merkel has said she sees no obstacles in the way of beginning Brexit talks as scheduled after Theresa May failed to win a majority in Thursday's UK election.

The German chancellor said she believed Britain would stick to the timetable, adding the European Union was "ready".

Mrs Merkel added she hoped Britain would remain a good partner following the talks, due to begin on 19 June.
It is her first comment since Mrs May's Conservative party lost 13 seats.
The loss left the Conservatives eight MPs short of a majority in parliament, plunging negotiations into uncertainty. Mrs May called the snap election in order to secure a clear mandate for her vision of Brexit.
A spokesman for Mrs Merkel had previously refused to be drawn on the issue out of "politeness and respect" while the process of forming a new UK government was under way.
Mrs May says she will form a government with the Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland, which won 10 seats.

Mrs Merkel, who is meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss trade, told reporters gathered in Mexico City on Friday: "I assume that Britain, from what I heard from the prime minister today, wants to stick to its negotiating plan.
"We want to negotiate quickly, we want to stick to the time plan, and so at this point I don't think there is anything to suggest these negotiations cannot start as was agreed."
Mrs Merkel, the EU's most powerful politician, went on to say she hoped the UK would remain a good partner.
"Britain is part of Europe, even if it will no longer be part of the European Union."
However, she added the EU countries would be "asserting the interests of the 27 member states that will make up the European Union in future" during negotiations

Meanwhile, Michael Fuchs, senior economic adviser to the German chancellor, told the BBC the result meant it was time for Mrs May "to face realities" and soften her approach.
"Her wish and will was not really too much accepted by the British people," he said. "I have the feeling, because otherwise they would have given her a better vote.
"Maybe, this is a chance that we can come up to a more reasonable Brexit negotiations because in the last time (recently) I really had the feeling that everything was just being very tough and it doesn't make sense to be tough.
"We want to have a fair deal with Britain and we want to have a fair final Brexit negotiations."

European media see bleak future for May

Other EU leaders have expressed concerns the failure to win a majority may make negotiations even more difficult.
Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who is president of the Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, had caustic words for Mrs May

Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated," he tweeted.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, said he wanted discussions to proceed without delay, while Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, said "negotiations should start when UK is ready".
European Council President Donald Tusk alluded to the March 2019 deadline for Brexit talks.
"We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a 'no deal' as result of 'no negotiations'," he wrote.
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Trump: I would speak under oath on Comey

US President Donald Trump says he is "100%" willing to speak under oath about his conversations with ex-FBI chief James Comey.

Speaking at the White House, he denied having asked for Mr Comey's loyalty or for an inquiry into a former White House aide to be dropped.
"James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things he said just weren't true," Mr Trump said.
Meanwhile, a congressional panel asked for any tapes of their conversations.

Mr Comey says Mr Trump fired him because of his Russia inquiry.
The former FBI chief was investigating an alleged Kremlin plot to sway last year's US election in favour of Mr Trump, and whether there was any collusion with the president or his campaign staff.
On Thursday, Mr Comey testified to one of several congressional committees that is also looking into the Russia claims.
He said the president had pressured him to drop a probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whom Mr Trump fired for misleading the White House over contacts with Moscow's ambassador.

Under oath, the former FBI director also told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the president had asked him during a one-to-one dinner at the White House to pledge loyalty.
Nearly 20 million US television viewers tuned in to the explosive testimony

At a press conference on Friday afternoon in the Rose Garden with the visiting president of Romania, Mr Trump rejected Mr Comey's claims.
He said the former FBI director's testimony showed there was "no collusion, no obstruction". Mr Comey told senators he had assured the president he himself was not under scrutiny over Russia.
The US president was asked by a journalist if he would be willing to give his version of events under oath.
"One hundred per cent," Mr Trump said.

"I hardly know the man [Mr Comey]," he said. "I'm not going to say, 'I want you to pledge allegiance.'
"Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? I mean, think of it

I hardly know the man. It doesn't make sense."
When asked about whether he had recordings of his conversations with Mr Comey, which he has previously hinted, the president said he would address it at a later date.
"I'll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future," he said on Friday. "I'll tell you about it over a short period of time. I'm not hinting at anything."
Shortly after the press conference, leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said they had asked the White House whether there were any such tapes.
The House panel requested that if the recordings exist they be submitted by 23 June.
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the White House last month about such audio.

Days after he fired Mr Comey on 9 May, Mr Trump tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Friday he felt "complete vindication" after the hearing.
Mr Comey also told senators that he had leaked details of his memos about his conversations with Mr Trump to a friend, who passed them on to a reporter.
After the testimony, Mr Trump's lawyer accused the former FBI chief of having divulged "privileged communications".

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Us-news-48

Friday, August 31, 2018

Nafta: US-Canada trade talks going down to wire

Why the rush?

What about other trade agreements?

Any other trade issues?