Trump denies any conflict of interest

WASHINGTON, Nov 23: Billioire US President-elect Dold Trump has said he is not obliged to cut ties to his business empire when he takes office on 20 January.

A Democratic setor is tabling a resolution calling on him to liquidate his assets to prove he does not intend to profit from the office of president. There is no legal requirement to liquidate assets but past US presidents have set aside their business dealings.

Trump also disowned far right activists who hailed his election win. “Alt-right” activists could be seen making zi salutes at a conference in Washington DC over the weekend, where a speaker enjoined them to “Hail Trump”.

Trump, who has flown to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, is still assembling his White House team. One of America’s top generals, David Petraeus, has told the BBC he would be willing to serve under him. (Agencies)

‘Russia takes counter measures to protect against TO expansion’

Moscow, Nov 23: Russia is taking all necessary measures to protect against the aggressive expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (TO), the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called TO “an aggressive bloc” at a briefing here, saying that its expansion towards the Russian borders has prompted Moscow to “take all necessary countermeasures.”

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary produced by US film director Oliver Stone that it is the “worrisome decision-making” in TO’s eastward expansion that makes Russia to take countermeasures, Xinhua reported. Relations between Russia and the West have been souring since the Ukraine crisis in 2014. Earlier this month, TO announced the deployment of 300,000 troops in eastern Europe, which can be put on “high alert” in response to increasing tensions between Russia and Baltic states. (IANS)