BJD MLA arrested for forcing engineer to do sit-ups
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police on Monday arrested newly elected BJD MLA Saroj Kumar Meher for allegedly forcing a junior engineer from a tribal community to do sit-ups in public.
The incident came to light in the beginning of the month when a purported video went viral showing the MLA asking the PWD engineer to do sit-ups in public.
The incident took place in Patnagarh assembly segment on June 5.
After statewide furore, Bolangir Collector Arindam Dakua had ordered an enquiry by the sub-collector to verify the allegations.
The enquiry report stated that due to sub-standard road construction work, the Patnagarh MLA "punished" Jayakanta Sabar in public and also asked the engineer-in-charge to slap him.
Meher was booked under different sections of the IPC based on the FIR filed by the engineer's wife. Earlier in the day, the police picked up the MLA from a hotel in Nuapada and brought him to Bolangir for questioning.
Meher will be produced at the court of the Additional District Judge, Bolangir, police said. The MLA had apologised for his action, contending that he was compelled to ask the engineer to do sit-ups to assuage public anger.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
