Political news

• Clinton, other Democrats rally around silenced U.S. Senator Warren

  08-02-2017 23:59
  By Doina Chiacu and Julia Edwards Ainsley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton and other Democrats on Wednesday flocked to support U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren for voicing criticism of President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general even after being silenced by Republicans on the Senate floor. Republican senators voted on Tuesday evening to end Warren's reading of a letter written 30 years ago by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow that criticised Senator Jeff Sessions, the nominee to lead t
  
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• Goldman hedge fund folding London operations, shifting staff to U.S. - sources

  08-02-2017 23:53
  By Maiya Keidan and Olivia Oran NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP), which opened in 2008 with one of the biggest launches in hedge fund history, is folding its London operations into the United States and shifting staff members to New York, four sources told Reuters. About eight staff members who made up the London team were recently told to move to the Battery Park City headquarters of Goldman Sach Group Inc in lower Manhattan or find a new job internally, the
  
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• Stunning goals give Leicester extra-time win over Derby

  08-02-2017 23:52
  Leicester City scored two stunning goals in extra time through Wilfred Ndidi and Demarai Gray to reach the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win over second tier Derby County in a replay on Wednesday. The victory came as a minor relief for champions Leicester who are one point above the Premier League relegation zone after failing to win a league game this year. Ndidi, a January signing from Racing Genk, put Leicester 2-1 ahead with a bullet finish and Gray slalomed through the Derby defence to rubb
  
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• Soccer-Stunning goals give Leicester extra-time win over Derby

  08-02-2017 23:48
  Leicester City scored two stunning goals in extra time through Wilfred Ndidi and Demarai Gray to reach the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win over second tier Derby County in a replay on Wednesday. The victory came as a minor relief for champions Leicester who are one point above the Premier League relegation zone after failing to win a league game this year. Ndidi, a January signing from Racing Genk, put Leicester 2-1 ahead with a bullet finish and Gray slalomed through the Derby defence to rubb
  
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• Education boss gets first assignment _ mend fences with foes

  08-02-2017 23:42
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — On her first day on the job, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plunged into her initial assignment: mending fences with her opponents following a bruising confirmation battle. Parents across the country looked for clues as to whether she will fulfill their hopes or reinforce their fears.
  
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• Pentagon: Airstrikes in Syria killed 11 al-Qaida operatives

  08-02-2017 23:38
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says two U.S. airstrikes in Syria killed 11 al-Qaida operatives, including one with ties to Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaida leaders.
  
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• Puzder says he'd quit as CEO if confirmed as labor secretary

  08-02-2017 23:36
  President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of labor has proposed avoiding conflicts of interest by resigning as CEO of his fast food empire, selling off hundreds of holdings and recusing himself from ...
  
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• Part of Paris metro disrupted by electrical fault, smoke - police

  08-02-2017 23:36
  Part of Paris' metro underground train service was disrupted on Wednesday night because of an electrical fault that caused smoke at one of the stations, police in the French capital said. A police spokesman said the incident was due to a technical fault. Two people suffered slight injuries from smoke inhalation, police said.
  
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• Legal battle over travel ban pits Trump's powers against his own words

  08-02-2017 23:35
  By Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court is weighing arguments for and against President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban, but its decision this week may not yet answer the underlying legal questions being raised in the fast-moving case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is expected to rule only on the narrow question of whether a lower court's emergency halt to an executive order by Trump was justified. Trump signed the order on Jan. 27 barring citizen
  
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• The Latest: SC Sen. Scott defends Sessions nomination

  08-02-2017 23:34
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominations (all times local):
  
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• The Latest: Gorsuch disheartened by Trump attacks on judges

  08-02-2017 23:33
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• 4 Voters sue, claiming NC ballot protests libeled them

  08-02-2017 23:31
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Four North Carolina voters sued a political activist for libel Wednesday, claiming he falsely accused them of voting illegally last November because they were felons or had voted in other states.
  
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• A look at the job of education secretary

  08-02-2017 23:28
  As Betsy DeVos begins her job as Education Secretary, some of her opponents fear she will radically upend the entire American school system, while her supporters hope she will quickly push through what they see as much-needed reforms. Here is a look at what the Education Secretary can and cannot do.
  
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• Trump is 2nd president to tout unfinished Intel factory

  08-02-2017 23:26
  
  President Donald Trump on Wednesday held up Intel's plan to invest more than $7 billion in an Arizona factory as a win for his economic agenda, but it's also a reminder that not all corporate commitments ...
  
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• Rancorous Senate 'silencing' gives Warren a national boost

  08-02-2017 23:26
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The turbulent national debate over race, gender and free speech consumed the normally staid Senate on Wednesday after the GOP majority voted to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren, abruptly elevating her celebrity status at a moment when liberals are hungry for a leader to take on Donald Trump.
  
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• Deputy speaker orders MPs to stop whistling during Brexit vote

  08-02-2017 23:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scottish National Party MPs were told off by the deputy speaker for whistling the EU anthem "Ode to joy" as MPs voted on Brexit legislation.
  
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• Intel uses White House Oval Office for splash on Arizona factory

  08-02-2017 23:24
  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Intel Corp chose the White House Oval Office as its backdrop to announce a $7 billion investment in a previously shelved Arizona factory, which it said would create 3,000 jobs when it is up and running. Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich told reporters about the investment while standing behind President Donald Trump. Trump told reporters Krzanich called him a few weeks ago to say he wanted to meet to make a big announcement.
  
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• House Democrats ratchet up fighting words against Trump

  08-02-2017 23:21
  BALTIMORE (AP) — House Democratic leaders on Wednesday abandoned earlier assertions that they would look for some areas of compromise with President Donald Trump and insisted they will fight him at every turn.
  
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• U.S. forces killed 11 al Qaeda operatives in two air strikes in Syria - Pentagon

  08-02-2017 23:19
  U.S. forces killed 11 al Qaeda operatives in two air strikes near Idlib, Syria, this month, including a member with links to the late Osama bin Laden and other top leaders of the group, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. It said a Feb. 4 strike killed Abu Hani al-Masri, who it said oversaw the creation and operation of many al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, where he "recruited, indoctrinated, trained and equipped thousands of terrorists." Al-Masri had ties to bin Laden
  
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• Netanyahu orders reprimand of Belgian ambassador

  08-02-2017 23:14
  Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday ordered the reprimanding of the Belgian Ambassador over a meeting between Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel with representatives of two Israeli rights groups. Israeli Channel Ten reported that Michel had met with representatives of Israeli human rights group B'tselem and Israeli advocacy group Breaking the Silence during his visit to the region. Both organisations have become popular targets for right wing politicians who accuse them of damaging
  
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• U.S. commander expects recapture soon of Islamic State strongholds

  08-02-2017 23:10
  By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top American commander in Iraq believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture Islamic State's two major strongholds - the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq - within the next six months, his spokesman said on Wednesday. The spokesman, Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, confirmed reported remarks by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend.
  
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• Fighting travel ban is gamble for Democratic officials in Trump states

  08-02-2017 23:08
  By Lawrence Hurley and Dan Levine WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Three of the 19 Democratic state attorneys general who joined Washington state's legal challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban are making a politically tricky manoeuvre: they are from states that went for Trump in the November election. "When someone says to me you're doing this in a state that Trump won," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro told Reuters, his response is: "Trump is doing this in a state t
  
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• A model to mend Europe’s nationalist cracks?

  08-02-2017 23:05
  Europe’s struggle against ethnic nationalism – the trigger for too many wars – has long relied on expanding people’s identity beyond bloodlines or the land of one’s birth. The struggle has lately intensified, reflected in Britain’s decision to exit the European Union (driven by English nationalism) and the rise of nationalist parties from Italy to Poland. Europe, in other words, could use an example of two peoples who, while sharply divided by ethnicity, are t
  
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• Diane Abbott on backing Brexit bill

  08-02-2017 23:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott says why she voted in favour of the government's Brexit bill.
  
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• Trump blasts retailer Nordstrom, raising new concern on business ties

  08-02-2017 23:01
  By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Twitter attack on Nordstrom Inc on Wednesday for dropping his daughter Ivanka's clothing line raised concerns about the use of his White House platform for his family's businesses. In response to the Twitter comment Trump posted criticizing Nordstrom, which has said its move was based on the sales performance of the Ivanka Trump products, White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterised the company's action as a "direct attack" o
  
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• U.S. debt, gold, gain favour as investors seek safety

  08-02-2017 22:56
  By Hilary Russ NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels in weeks on Wednesday in a flight to safety that also helped lift gold to a three-month peak amid political risks in Europe and worries over U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. Political concerns, including a strong showing by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in France's presidential race, sent a wave of overseas buyers to Treasuries, which offer a sizeable yield premium over government bonds from countries
  
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• Exclusive: Goldman hedge fund folding London operations, shifting staff to U.S. - sources

  08-02-2017 22:54
  By Maiya Keidan and Olivia Oran NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP), which opened in 2008 with one of the biggest launches in hedge fund history, is folding its London operations into the United States and shifting staff members to New York, four sources told Reuters. About eight staff members who made up the London team were recently told to move to the Battery Park City headquarters of Goldman Sach Group Inc in lower Manhattan or find a new job internally, the
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: Leaked texts reveal Surrey 'sweetheart deal' on tax

  08-02-2017 22:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour's leader reads out a text message exchange about Surrey's council tax rise during PMQs.
  
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• Canada says very worried by Israel's move to legalise settlements

  08-02-2017 22:44
  Canada is very concerned by Israel's move to legalise thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which took power in late 2015, is more prepared to criticise Israel than the former Conservative administration, which adopted a resolutely pro-Israel policy. Israel's Parliament on Monday approved a law retroactively legalizing homes built on privately owned P
  
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• US-funded news channel in Russian offers Kremlin alternative

  08-02-2017 22:33
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. government-funded news outlets are launching a global Russian-language TV network aimed at providing an alternative to slick, Kremlin-controlled media that critics say spread propaganda and misinformation.
  
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• Q&A: Will court compound travel ban whiplash or calm it?

  08-02-2017 22:32
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump's travel ban and a judge's stunning decision to temporarily block it a week later have left the nation with whiplash, shifting attention from protests at airports nationwide to Trump questioning the judge's legitimacy on social media.
  
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• Church Investors Group says will closely track executive pay awards

  08-02-2017 22:29
  (Reuters) - A group representing institutional investors from the Church has written to British public companies telling them it will watch closely this year to check that pay rises to top executives are not excessive. The Church Investors Group (CIG), which has 59 members with combined investments of 17 billion pounds ($21.30 billion), said it had written to all the companies in the FTSE 350 index, outlining its stance on executive pay, gender diversity and climate change, and telling them abou
  
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• U.S. senators want say on any Trump Russia sanctions action

  08-02-2017 22:19
  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. senators called on Wednesday for the right to review any move the White House might make to ease sanctions on Russia, amid mounting concern in Congress - and among U.S. allies - that President Donald Trump will be too conciliatory towards Moscow. The lawmakers, led by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Ben Cardin, introduced "The Russia Sanctions Relief Act of 2017," modelled on a 2015 bill that let Congress review the Iran nucl
  
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• Commons gives green light to Brexit process

  08-02-2017 22:14
  MPs vote overwhelmingly to approve triggering of Article 50
  
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• Brazil judge suspends nomination of Temer ally as minister

  08-02-2017 22:14
  A Brazilian federal judge suspended the nomination of a close ally of President Michel Temer to a ministry-level position, according to the court's website on Wednesday. The promotion of Wellington Moreira Franco, who has reportedly been named in the country's massive corruption investigation, sparked controversy because it shields him from investigation from any court other than the Supreme Court. Moreira Franco has denied there was a political motivation behind his promotion.
  
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• Lagarde says IMF 'ruthless truth tellers' on Greece's economy

  08-02-2017 22:06
  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund tried to be "ruthless truth tellers" in its assessment that Greece needs to pursue further reforms to its pension and tax systems, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in Washington on transparency, Lagarde said that the fund would not back down from its views on Greece's economic prospects despite protests from the Greek government that they were too pessimistic. It
  
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• Trump says courts too political; no travel ban ruling on Wednesday

  08-02-2017 22:02
  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump fumed on Wednesday over what he called too much politics in the U.S. judiciary, while a federal appeals court kept him and the rest of the country waiting for its ruling on a temporary suspension of his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard arguments on Tuesday on the Trump administration's challenge to a lower court ruling putting the temp
  
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• Brexit Vote: 52 Labour MPs Who Voted Against Quitting EU

  08-02-2017 21:53
  
  Brexit took a major step forward tonight in the House of Commons as MPs voted overwhelmingly to kickstart the process to leave the European Union.
  MPs voted in favour of the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill in the Commons at third reading by 494 to 122, a government majority of 372. Among those were 52 Labour MPs who rebelled against Jeremy Corbyn and refused to back Brexit.
  The list included 13 members of the Labour leader’s shadow frontbench, including three party whips, and Clive L
  
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• Trump administration weighs health insurance 'stabilization'

  08-02-2017 21:32
  
  Worried about the nearly 20 million people who buy their own health insurance policies, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are weighing how to stabilize a wobbly market, government ...
  
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• MPs approve triggering of Article 50

  08-02-2017 21:31
  
  MPs have given Theresa May permission to trigger the UK's exit from the EU – on another night of Labour resignations. At its third reading, the final Commons stage, the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill passed by 494 votes to 122 - a majority of 372. Earlier, Clive Lewis resigned from the shadow cabinet in order to defy Jeremy Corbyn, who ordered MPs to back the bill, in the vote.
  
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• DeVos seeks to mend fences after bruising confirmation

  08-02-2017 21:31
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is trying to mend fences with educators, parents and activists across the country following a bruising confirmation battle.
  
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• U.S. judge says Trump order could impact HSBC executive's UK trip

  08-02-2017 21:29
  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday signalled that President Donald Trump's stance on immigration may justify rejecting a HSBC Holdings Plc executive's request to return to England while awaiting a U.S. trial on fraud charges. Mark Johnson, a British citizen who at the time of his arrest in July was HSBC's global head of foreign exchange cash trading, had been allowed to return to England from December to January, and sought permission to travel there ag
  
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• Citing Trump, 3rd nonprofit rejects funds to fight extremism

  08-02-2017 21:27
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that another nonprofit organization is rejecting federal grant money to fight against violent extremism under President Donald Trump's administration.
  
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• Parliament gives PM May power to trigger Brexit

  08-02-2017 21:26
  Prime Minister Theresa May won approval from parliament's lower chamber on Wednesday to trigger Britain's exit from the European Union, defeating attempts by pro-EU lawmakers to attach extra conditions to her plan to start divorce talks by March 31. In the lower house, 494 to 122 lawmakers voted in favour of a law giving May the right to start the formal Brexit process, ending days of intense debate which have tested May's slim parliamentary majority. The bill must now be approved by the upper c
  
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• Brexit Bill: MPs Vote In Favour Of Quitting EU By 494 To 122

  08-02-2017 21:22
  
  Brexit took a major step forward tonight in the House of Commons as MPs voted overwhelmingly to kickstart the process to leave the European Union.
  MPs voted in favour of the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill in the Commons at third reading by 494 to 122, a government majority of 372.
  When passed after it goes through the House of Lords, the legislation will give Theresa May the authority to trigger Article 50 and begin the Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
  Labour MPs, the majority of whom ca
  
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• VW mulls steps against Piech over diesel claims against board

  08-02-2017 21:19
  By Ilona Wissenbach and Edward Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen said it was weighing steps against ex-Chairman Ferdinand Piech after media reports said he had informed key supervisory board members about potential diesel cheating six months before the scandal became public. While the allegations about whether Piech had informed the company's top directors as early as March 2015 could not immediately be verified, Volkswagen's strong rejection of the claims shows a deepening rift with the o
  
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• 1902 fistfight gave rise to arcane rule that silenced Warren

  08-02-2017 21:14
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A fistfight on the Senate floor involving two Southern "gentlemen" gave rise to Rule 19, the arcane Senate directive that Republicans used more than a century later to silence Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. GOP lawmakers rebuked Warren Tuesday night for speaking against colleague and Attorney General-nominee Jeff Sessions.
  
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• GOP elevates Warren's standing by ordering her silenced

  08-02-2017 21:10
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The turbulent national debate over race, gender and free speech consumed the normally staid Senate on Wednesday after the GOP majority voted to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren, abruptly elevating her celebrity status at a moment when liberals are hungry for a leader to take on Donald Trump.
  
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• Voters sue, claiming NC ballot protests libeled them

  08-02-2017 21:07
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Four North Carolina voters are suing a political activist they say falsely claimed they voted illegally last November because they were felons or voted in other states.
  
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• Ex-VW director says could sue Piech over diesel claims

  08-02-2017 21:07
  Berthold Huber, who served on Volkswagen's supervisory board executive committee until November 2015, said he was not informed by then-Chairman Ferdinand Piech about VW's diesel emissions cheating in the United States. "I can swear in any court in the world that Piech did not talk to me about the matter, neither in person nor in a group of people. Bild am Sonntag said Piech had raised the issue with then-Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn and members of the supervisory board executive committee i
  
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