Rakesh Tikait detained by Aligarh Police on way to Greater Noida for farmers' protest
Aligarh (UP), Dec 4: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait was detained by the Aligarh Police on Wednesday while on his way to Greater Noida to participate in a meeting of farmer leaders, a police official said.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union's influential spokesperson and his associates were taken to the Tappal police station in a bus after they were stopped from proceeding on the Yamuna Expressway.
When contacted, an official spokesman of the Aligarh Police confirmed that Tikait had been "detained" but "not arrested".
Tikait told reporters that the police were preventing farmers from going to Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar by forcing them to stay in their respective houses.
"How long will you detain us? If you keep us locked, then with whom will you talk?" he said.
He warned that if this approach of the authorities continued, the agitation of the farmers would intensify.
The BKU had on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting at the Kisan Bhawan in Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar under the leadership of its chief Naresh Tikait and resolved to extend support to the farmers in Noida and Greater Noida who are agitating over the issue of land compensation and other demands.
The BKU had called on its workers and members from western Uttar Pradesh districts to gather at the Zero Point in Greater Noida on Wednesday, according to the union's youth wing president Anuj Singh.
Meanwhile, hundreds of protestors from villages gathered at the Zero Point in Greater Noida on Wednesday. The villagers have been protesting against the administration and local authorities demanding compensation and other benefits in lieu of their land acquired by the state government in the past.
The Gautam Buddh Nagar police had on Tuesday arrested over a hundred protestors during the agitation. The women and the elderly people who were among those held were released later in the day, police Commissioner Laxmi Singh said.
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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.
