The Latest: London mayor wants softer Brexit, market access


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DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The latest on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (all times local):

12:30 a.m.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is arguing for keeping Britain's access to Europe's single market and urging European business leaders to help.

He pushes against British Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for a so-called "hard Brexit," saying that "we must secure privileged access to the single market" to keep London's jobs and global status.

Khan says that when Britain leaves the European Union, banks and other financial businesses could leave London not for other European capitals — but for Asia or New York instead.

In his words, "This would be bad news for Europe as well as Britain."

Khan made the comments Wednesday to European executives and officials on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. According to remarks released by his office, Khan urged them to make the case to their governments "that Brexit must work ... in our shared economic interest."

He also warned that Britain's vote last year to leave the EU — which he opposed — was the sign of social divisions threatening countries across Europe.

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8:50 p.m.

While the U.S. investigates possible Russian hacking of its election, cybersecurity experts warn both countries are vulnerable to cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

Even for industry leaders like Eugene Kaspersky- whose Moscow company's software detects some 300,000 cyberattacks daily - figuring out who's behind them "is very tricky."

Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Labs anti-virus systems, told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Davos that electrical grids, transportation networks and other critical infrastructure will become a bigger target for hackers.

Another likely target: upcoming elections in France, the Netherlands and Germany, according to Stuart McClure, CEO of California cybersecurity firm Cylance.

McClure says Europeans "are just as vulnerable as the U.S., if not worse."

Kaspersky and McClure are in big demand at Davos this year, the U.S. elections alerted companies and governments to how vulnerable their systems are.

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8:45 p.m.

It's barely above zero degrees Fahrenheit and the bulk of the day's discussions at the World Economic Forum are done.

What to do? Hockey of course.

A group of business people from several countries hit the ice outside the forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Coaching them were Mike Keenan, the last coach to lead the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup back in 1994, and Doug Brown, who won two successive Stanley Cups in the late 1990s with the Detroit Red Wings.

Also there - Rustam Minnikhanov, president of the Russian republic of Tatarstan.

Scotty Macpherson, who organized the annual match along with philanthropist John McCall MacBain, said it's a chance to have "some fun, get people together, talk about things that are non-political ... the United Nations of hockey diplomacy."

For the record, the team dressed in red - Canada - drew 10-10 with the team dressed in white - Canada.

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5:45 p.m.

Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, says carmakers will likely increase capacity in the U.S. in the years to come.

Speaking to The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, Ghosn said Trump's policy was clear: "It's America first and jobs in the United States."

Ghosn said he hoped this would be expanded upon in the coming days with clear policies and that carmakers will "act in consequence."

If the U.S. car market, as the world's second-largest, continues to grow, then Ghosn expects "more and more capacity."

Ahead of his inauguration as president this Friday, Trump has demanded the auto industry build more cars in the U.S. Ford, Hyundai, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have all recently announced large investments in their U.S. operations and the creation of jobs.

Ghosn said: "You can expect more to happen in the future."

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5:40 p.m.

Colombia's president says a breakthrough may be imminent toward peace talks between the government and the country's second-largest rebel group, after a long-awaited peace deal with the larger FARC.

Jose Manuel Santos told a crowd of business and political leaders Wednesday that "before you go to bed today you will probably receive from Ecuador some extremely important news" on the efforts to start talks with the ELN, or National Liberation Army. He didn't elaborate.

Representatives from the government and ELN, who have been trying to start negotiations for more than three years, are in Ecuador trying to settle on conditions. Santos wants the ELN to first free a former congressman it has held captive for six months.

The government and the much larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC, signed a historic deal last year that ended 50 years of conflict and earned Santos a Nobel Peace Prize.

Santos, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said economic opportunities opened by the peace deal are "enormous," saying the "conflict was like a handbrake" on Colombia's development.

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1:20 p.m.

Iran's foreign minister says U.S. President-elect Donald Trump "will be surprised" if he tries to renegotiate the hard-won nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration and other world powers with the Islamic Republic.

Mohammad Javad Zarif told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he's taking a "wait and see" attitude about the Trump administration and "The jury is still... the jury is not even yet convened."

Pressed by The Associated Press afterward on Wednesday, Zarif said it "won't be the end of the world if he (Trump) tries to walk away from the deal."

"He wants to surprise people, so he will be surprised," if he does, Zarif said with a smile, without elaborating.

Zarif also criticized the Obama administration, saying it "did not implement their side of the bargain in a full and complete way" - notably about unspecified difficulties faced by Iranian banks.

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11:55 a.m.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, says that dealing with inequalities will have to be a central element of leaders' response to the concerns of populist movements.

Conceding that there is "no silver bullet response," Lagarde said on a panel at the World Economic Forum that it's time for "courageous" leaders to reconnect with the people.

She said that excessive inequality is "counterproductive" to sustainable growth, but that reversing globalization through more protectionism would be the wrong course. Redistributing wealth will be a central part of any strategy to deal with the inequalities, as will a deep analysis of how new technologies affect jobs.

Lagarde urged leaders not to "be resigned to taking the situation as it is."

Earlier this week, the anti-poverty campaigning group Oxfam said eight men own as much wealth as half the global population.

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11:45 a.m.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has issued a "call to action" to Europe and the United States to defend the "liberal" world order, decrying a growing impulse in the West toward isolation and to "build walls" - a veiled criticism of plans of incoming President Donald Trump.

In his final major speech in his post, Biden said the greatest threat to the order - "I'll not mince words" - was principally Russia. He accused Moscow of seeking to "whittle away at the edges of the European project" that has brought decades of peace.

Biden acknowledged Wednesday to hundreds of people at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he'll hold his post for only another 48 hours, and quipped: "Then I can start to say what I think."

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11:30 a.m.

Lawrence Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary, has warned that Donald Trump's threats to firms using Mexico as a manufacturing base will be counterproductive and could lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

Summers told a panel at the World Economic Forum that the president-elect's "rhetoric and announced policies" over Mexico have led to a big fall in the value of the Mexican peso against the dollar.

That, he said, is a "dagger at Ohio," as it will make it even more attractive for firms to move to Mexico.

The lesson of history, he added, is that "classic populism is invariably counterproductive for those in whose name it is offered as a policy regime."

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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