The companies include tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. They filed the brief on Sunday with a federal appeals court in California.

These firms are protesting the executive order that temporarily prevents entry of people from 7 mostly Muslim nations into the United States.

The brief says the travel ban "inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth."

It adds that the order "disrupts ongoing business operations" and "threatens companies' ability to attract talent, business, and investment to the United States."

Immigrants from Asia and other parts of the world have long supported the IT industry in places like Silicon Valley in California and the Seattle area in Washington.

Until now, CEOs of individual firms have spoken out against the executive order, including Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai. The legal brief shows the concerns spread across the whole industry.

Higher gold prices boosted producers’ shares for the seventh consecutive day — the longest winning streak since August 2014.
April Comex gold was last up $9.70 an ounce at $1,230.50, as investors — led by hedge funds —continue to flock to the yellow metal looking for safe-haven assets. Last week, gold prices rose more than 2% to score their biggest weekly percentage advance since June, according to data from Dow Jones.

The price jump has benefitted producers of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca gold miners index, which includes nearly 50 names such as Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), up 1.6% on Monday. In the last seven day, the index has gained more than 8.5%.

Gold bears are betting that a US President Donald Trump administration will lead to strong US economic expansion, higher interest rates and a stronger dollar. Higher interest rates (after adjusting for inflation) boosts the value of the dollar and makes gold less attractive as an investment because the metal is not yield-producing and investors have to rely on price appreciation for returns.

Global uncertainties push gold, producers to fresh highs
But that narrative has begun to unwind as Trump's swift action on US trade deals began to hurt the dollar and worries about the broader geo-political impact of a Trump administration, a hard Brexit and key elections in Europe mount.

His first week in office has already shaken the markets with news of the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Trump’s renewed promise to build a wall on the Mexican border as soon as possible, and his attempts to ban more than 218 million people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, which was blocked Friday by a federal judge.

Under the deal, Coal & Allied Industries Ltd, which operates two mines in Australia, will be sold to Yancoal Australia, which is majority controlled by Yanzhou Coal Mining, one of China's largest mining groups by market capitalization.

The deal is expected to be completed before October, according to Yanzhou Coal Chairman Li Xiyong.

After completion, Yancoal Australia will be Australia's largest pure-play coal producer.

The two coal mines have an annual output of 35 million metric tons, which is mainly exported to Japan and South Korea.

The flagship company of Samsung Group filed its intention to withdraw with the Federation of Korean Industries, or FKI, on Monday. The lobby consists of about 600 companies.

The federation came under fire over allegations that its senior officials lobbied Samsung to pay money to 2 foundations linked to President Park Geun-hye's close friend Choi Soon-sil.

After Samsung's announcement, FKI officials said they have nothing to say about any decision by a member company.

Firms of the conglomerate LG Group have already withdrawn from the federation.

South Korean media say Samsung Group alone accounted for one-fourth of the total membership fees.

Observers say the chance that the federation will survive is slim, as other affiliates of Samsung Group are expected to follow suit.

According to him, "almost $4 billion worth of Russian products have been produced as part of the so-called import substitution.”

That means, previously imported cheese, sausages, and other products have been replaced by domestic ones, Gromyko told reporters on Monday.

Moscow banned imports of agricultural produce, food and raw materials from some Western countries in 2014. The move was in response to EU and US sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis.

The sides have repeatedly broadened and extended the restrictive measures since then despite warnings to Western governments that their economies are suffering. Some policymakers and businesses say the measures have proven to be politically ineffective and economically harmful for both Russia and Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said the country's reciprocal action in the form of an embargo on certain Western food products were good for Russia’s economy and should last "as long as possible."

He explained the ban was also in the consumers’ interest, with high-quality domestic products at lower prices becoming more available.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said it is necessary to develop agriculture and industry so that it will be competitive with the West.

According to Medvedev, the measures were introduced to stimulate domestic production, and many Russian companies have been asking the government to keep them.

"We have imposed the embargo not to annoy our Western partners but mainly to develop our economy. Russian businesses asked us not to cancel it because of the opportunities they have,” said Medvedev.

“Everybody is concerned about trade wars. If trade stops, war starts,” he said in Melbourne, where the e-commerce giant Alibaba opened its Australia and New Zealand headquarters.

“But worry doesn't solve the problem. The only thing you can do is get involved and actively prove that trade helps people to communicate,” said Alibaba’s CEO, as quoted by Business Insider Australia.

The globalized economy is more than just transactions of money and goods, according to Ma.

“We have to actively prove that trade helps people to communicate. And we should have fair trade, transparent trade, inclusive trade,” he said.

“Trade is about a trade of values. Trade of culture,” said the billionaire, stressing that he felt a personal responsibility to fly more than a hundred thousand kilometers in the past month to promote global commerce.

Jack Ma spoke with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday about creating ‘a regional e-hub’ a trade zone allowing freer online business with less border bureaucracy to deal with.

“If Australia, New Zealand and other countries can create a free trade zone in the form of an e-hub for small businesses, they can work like the big companies – with 24 hours clearance, better tariffs, and quicker inspections. That could help a lot of small businesses,” he said.

While meeting US President Donald Trump last month, Ma announced Alibaba would help to create a million jobs in the US.

Trump has taken a protectionist stance, sharply criticizing all the attempts to involve his country in new trade agreements.

The US President’s first executive order withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal among eleven Pacific Rim countries, which include Australia and New Zealand.

The total energy consumption of Mongolia was 6.9 billion kW/hour as of 2015, 21 percent of which is imported from China and Russia at a high price.

Electricity tariff is legislated to be 15-18 cents from solar energy and 9.5 cents from wind power in Mongolia. Mongolia has made agreement with countries such as Chile and United Arab Emirates to buy 1 kW/hour solar energy-based electricity for less than 3 cents, which is equal to half the cost of energy production from coal.

Currently, there are three renewable energy sources-based plants operational in the Mongolian energy system, including ‘Salkhit’ wind plant , ‘Dorgon’ and ‘Taishir’ hydropower plants. These plants produce approximately 210 million kW/hour electricity and supply to the energy network and their supply price should be lowered, say corresponding officials.

The license enables JPMorgan to underwrite debt financing instruments issued by non-financial entities, including commercial papers, medium-term notes and other instruments approved by regulators, it said.

The license was granted by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), which oversees the Chinese interbank bond market, said a statement issued by JPMorgan.

China is the third largest bond market in the world with 43.7 trillion yuan ($6.37 trillion) outstanding at the end of 2016 with the interbank bond market accounting for over 90 percent, according to China Central Depository & Clearing Co.

In September last year, JPMorgan was granted a business license to operate a fully owned fund management business in China, allowing it to set up an office in Shanghai free-trade zone.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Vyas Mohan)

The project is aiming to distribute constant reliable electricity service of higher quality in the rural area to meet the increasing demand of electricity. The preparatory work is being made to support sustainable energy by reducing system losses and improving economic efficiency of power supply companies, such as “Baganuur-Southeastern Region Electricity Distribution Network” SOE, “National Power Transimission Grid” SOE and the “Western Energy System” SOE JSCs.

The following actions are planned within the project:

Upgrading and expansion of “Baganuur-Southeastern Region Electricity Distribution Network” SOE.
Upgrading and expansion of “Erdenet-Bulgan Electricity Distribution Network” SOE.
Expansion of “National Power Transmission Grid” SOE’s distribution facilities in Baganuur and Khangai.
Establishment of 10 MW solar photovoltaic power plant for “Western Energy System” SOE.