NEW YORK: New York on Tuesday renamed a Manhattan street corner after Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor, Nobel peace laureate and humanitarian who died last year. The southwest corner of 84th Street and Central Park West on the Upper West Side was permanently renamed "Elie Wiesel Way" at a ceremony attended by city officials under the baking heat of an early summer heatwave. Wiesel, who was considered "the world's leading spokesman on the Holocaust," is remembered for his life's work in keeping alive the memory of the genocide of six million Jews during World War II. "His indelible faith in humanity is an everlasting example of courage and tolerance. His words serve as a beacon of hope against fear and oppression in uncertain times," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

NEW YORK: Ken, the all-American, muscular male with luxuriant hair, is getting a makeover. Barbie's iconic boyfriend is breaking out 15 new looks, including man bun, cornrow sand freckles. Times are changing and doll manufacturer Mattel is playing catch-up as it also battles to boost declining sales. Ken's makeover was unveiled 18months after Barbie, the stereotypical blue-eyed blonde bombshell, was given three new body types-tall, petite and curvy. Mattel's Next Gen Ken will come in three body types-"broad", "slim" and "original," seven skin tones, eight hair colors and nine hairstyles, 56years after the first Ken doll hit themarket.

LONDON: Harry Potter turns 20 Monday when muggle readers in gowns and glasses from Indonesia to Uruguay will celebrate the birth of a global publishing phenomenon in 1997. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (later renamed "Sorcerer's Stone" for the US market) introduced the boy wizard and a magical cast of supporting characters. Penniless single mother J. K. Rowling finally succeeded after a series of rebuffs from publishers, and the book became the first instalment of a seven-novel series that has sold 450 million copies worldwide and spawned eight blockbuster films. The Potter universe now encompasses theme parks in the United States and Japan and a permanent exhibition at London's Warner Bros Studios Far beyond Britain and English-language markets, the saga wove itself into the world's literary DNA.

БИЗНЕС И ФИНАНСЫ

Студенты переводят информацию на русский язык, обращая внимание на точность прецизионной информации. Упражнение рекомендуется для выполнения студентами, которые прослушали базовый курс делового английского языка.

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NEW YORK: Technology shares suffered another bout of weakness Thursday, leading the broader market lower amid unease over rising US interest rates and uncertainty about President Donald Trump's agenda. Analysts said lackluster data on US homebuilder sentiment and industrial production dented confidence in light of the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to raise the benchmark lending rate for the third time in six months, and signal an additional hike later this year. Trump's travails also weighed on the market following reports the US president is being investigated personally for obstruction of justice. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 percent to close the day 21,359.90. The broad-based S&P 500 dipped

0.2percent to end at 2,432.46, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 6,165.50. In London, the FTSE 100 closed down 0.7 percent at 7,419.36 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.5 percent at 5,216.88. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 was down 0.9 percent at 12,691.81. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index fell

0.3per cent 19,831.82 and South Korea's Kospisank 0.5 per cent to 2,361.65. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1.2 per cent to 25,565.34, but Shanghai's Composite index rose 0.1 per cent lower to 3,132.49.

MOSCOW: Russia's central bank on Friday decreased its key interest rate to 9 percent from 9.25 per cent in line with its policy to gently invigorate the country's economy. "The Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate to 9.00 percent per annum," the bank said in a statement. The cut follows a half-point decrease in late April. The board "notes that inflation is close to the target, inflation expectations keep declining, and economic activity is recovering," the bank said, adding that it will continue "moderately tough" monetary policy to keep inflation in line.

SINGAPORE: Two budget carriers under the Singapore Airlines (SIA) umbrella will merge into a single brand from next month, it was announced on Thursday, as the company consolidates to fend off growing competition. From July 25, Scoot and Tigerair will operate under the Scoot brand and will use a single website, check-in counter and flight designator code, their holding company Budget Aviation Holdings (BAH) said in statement. Scoot, a medium-to-long-haul carrier, and Tigerair, which operates short-to-medium haul routes, were brought under the BAH umbrella in May 2016 but continued to operate separately. The two airlines currently offer a combined network of 60 destinations in 17 countries, with a fleet

of 35planes as of March.

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BERLIN: Germany on Friday lashed out at Washington over new sanctions against Russia that target the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe. The new penalties, approved by the US Senate on Thursday, include a paragraph that threatens to penalize European companies that push ahead with energy export programs with Russia. Those include the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would pump Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany. "It is strange that in the sanctioning of Russia's behavior, with regards to the US elections for instance, that the European economy should become a target of American sanctions. That must not happen," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a little of the secrecy Thursday around his grandchildren and mockingly offered ex-FBI chief James Comey asylum during his annual televised chat with the Russian people. But the Kremlin strongman appeared rattled when facing tougher questioning from journalists at the end of the four-hour phone-in event, angrily accusing a BBC reporter of supporting jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Putin also refused to be drawn on whether he will stand for a fourth term in 2018. During the television show aimed at a domestic audience, Putin insisted the latest US sanctions over alleged election meddling are efforts to "contain Russia". The US Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve further sanctions against Russia on Wednesday. "The United States is not our enemy," Putin said, but he complained of Russia facing sanctions "throughout all of our history" from global partners who fear a "serious competitor". He also jokingly suggested offering political asylum to fired FBI director James Comey – who had been overseeing the bureau's Russia investigation – likening him to fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who has asylum in Russia.

STRASBOURG: The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday blasted as discriminatory Russian legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality, saying it fueled homophobia and prejudice. The ruling was welcomed by gay activists in Russia who had lodged the case, but Moscow said it would appeal. The legislation had made "promoting non-traditional sexual relationships "among minors an offence punishable by a fine. It was also an offence to say that gay relationships were equal to heterosexual ones. The Strasbourg-based court said the Russian laws "reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia," which was "incompatible with the values of a democratic society" .Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, prejudice is common and human rights activists allege widespread abuse. Three gay activists – Nikolay Bayev, Aleksey Kiselev and Nikolay Alex-

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eyev – had staged protests outside a school, a children's library and a government building holding banners that said homosexuality was not a perversion.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday imposed a fresh round of trade sanctions on Russia and Ukrainian separatists, toughening the stance just as President Donald Trump was hosting his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko.

The new sanctions also followed moves by lawmakers last week to impose new Russia sanctions and prevent the White House from unilaterally easing sanctions on Moscow over alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections. The Treasury Department said Tuesday the strengthened sanctions targeted individuals and organizations connected to the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine and would remain in place until Russia met obligations under peace accords of 2014 and 2015. The move freezes any US-based assets of the individuals and entities, and effectively blocks them from using much of the global banking system.

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