WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans lawmakers on Thursday pressed ahead in trying to strip down U.S. regulations, with the House of Representatives passing a bill that requires Congressional approval of major rulemakings that could affect areas ranging from the environment to education. The House voted 237 to 187 on legislation known as the “REINS Act” that is intended to keep agencies from pumping out new rules.  “Excessive regulation means higher prices, lower wages, fewer jobs, less economic growth and a less competitive America,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said before the vote, echoing the anti-regulation sentiment popular in his party. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to roll back regulation, saying it would boost economic growth. The Judiciary Committee’s senior Democrat, John Conyers, called the REINS Act “gumming-the-works legislation” that imposes unworkable deadlines and prescribes convoluted procedures in order to “end rulemaking as we know it.” “Without question, it was the lack of regulatory controls that facilitated rampant predatory lending, which nearly destroyed our nation’s economy,” Conyers said, referring to the 2007-09 financial crisis and recession. “It led to millions of home foreclosures and devastated neighborhoods across America. In fact, it nearly caused a global economic meltdown.”   On Wednesday, the House passed a bill giving Congress the power to kill dozens of new rules at once. On Thursday Republican Senator Ron Johnson introduced an identical companion bill in the Senate. The legislation would allow lawmakers to bundle a variety of rules finalized since May together for a single vote of disapproval. Under a law known as the Congressional Review Act, Congress currently can only vote to void rules one-by-one. That could take days, given the high number of recently enacted rules that rankle Republicans on energy, the environment, transportation, finance, education and communications. Disapproval votes require simple majorities to pass. Senate Democrats, however, are poised to block Johnson’s bill and most other anti-regulation legislation. Many in the party believe regulations benefit and protect individuals. While Republicans control Congress, and in a couple of weeks will take over the White House, Democrats can cripple their efforts through Senate filibusters and possibly start a protracted fight over regulations. “This legislation would make the process much quicker, but I’m committed to working as long as we need to in order to take advantage of the Congressional Review Act,” Johnson said. “We ought to work 24-7 if necessary to bring regulatory relief to American consumers and businesses.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन अमेरिकी विनियमन पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए कार्य करते हैं; डेमोक्रेट लड़ाई के लिए तैयार हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission vote on Thursday to roll back net neutrality rules could galvanize young voters, a move Democrats hope will send millennials to the polls in greater numbers and bolster their chances in next year’s elections. Democrats are hoping to paint the repeal of the rules by the FCC, which is now chaired by President Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai, as evidence Republicans are uninterested in young people and consumer concerns at large. “The American public is angry,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat. She added that the actions of the Republican majority have “awoken a sleeping giant.”  Attitudes toward “net neutrality,” or rules that prevent internet providers from limiting customers’ access to certain websites or slowing download speeds for specific content, are largely split along party lines in Congress. The heated debate has turned into the kind of election issue that Democrats think will help them. Studies show young people disproportionately use the internet compared with older Americans and polls have shown they feel passionately about fair and open internet access. Democrats believe the issue may resonate with younger voters who may not be politically active on other issues like taxes or foreign policy. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, said on Twitter “young people need to take the lead on net neutrality. It’s possible for Millennial political leadership to make a real difference here.”      The scrapping of the Obama administration’s rules is likely to set up a court battle and could redraw the digital landscape, with internet service providers possibly revising how Americans view online content. The providers could use new authority to limit or slow some websites or offer “fast lanes” for certain content. Republicans on the FCC have sought to reassure young people that their ability to access the internet will not change after the rules take effect. People who favor the move argue that after users realize that little or nothing has changed in their internet access, it will not resonate as a political issue.   Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist, said polls have found young people are favoring Democrats in the most recent elections and that the net neutrality issue could be used to gather support in the 2018 midterm congressional elections. He said while older voters tend to care about Medicare, polls are finding that younger voters are motivated by net neutrality. “Net neutrality is the latest data point for voters that the administration is more interested in doing what big companies want them to do, than what people think is in their interest,” Ferguson said. “That’s a narrative that is politically toxic for Republicans.”  In November 2018, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be up for grabs, as will 34 seats in the Senate. Democrats hope to gain control of one or both chambers by capitalizing on the unpopularity of Trump. Republicans currently control both chambers as well as the White House. To regain power, Democrats will need a strong showing of support among young voters, who traditionally have not shown up in large numbers for elections held in years when there is no presidential contest.  Liberal groups are using net neutrality as an issue to criticize Republican incumbents.  Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state, echoed that sentiment, telling Reuters on Thursday that net neutrality will have “huge political legs ... This is something that everyone across the country understands - the importance of the internet.” The group End Citizens United announced last week a $35 million advertising campaign targeting 20 Republican House members for their stances on issues that relate to business, including net neutrality. Democrats facing difficult election battles next year are already weighing in strongly in favor of net neutrality rules. Senator Bill Nelson likely will face a difficult battle in Florida and sent a letter earlier in the week opposing the change in net neutrality rules. Several Democratic candidates are sending campaign fundraising appeals citing net neutrality. The changes could also become issues in a number of House races across the country, where Democrats will need to win more than 25 seats to control the chamber. Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also publicly opposed the rule changes, a sign that she wanted to be sure to stake a Democratic position on the issue.

Summary: नेट निरपेक्षता निरसन ने डेमोक्रेट को सहस्राब्दियों तक पहुँचने का नया रास्ता दिया


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Opposition has grown among Americans to a Republican tax plan before the U.S. Congress, with 49 percent of people who were aware of the measure saying they opposed it, up from 41 percent in October, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Congressional Republicans are trying to rush their tax legislation to a vote on the Senate floor before the end of the week. President Donald Trump strongly backs the bill and wants to sign it into law before the end of the year. In addition to the 49 percent who said they opposed the Republican tax bill, 29 percent said they supported it and 22 percent said they “don’t know,” according to the Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll of 1,257 adults conducted from Thursday to Monday. When asked “who stands to benefit most” from the plan, more than half of all American adults surveyed selected either the wealthy or large U.S. corporations. Fourteen percent chose “all Americans,” 6 percent picked the middle class and 2 percent chose lower-income Americans. The tax bill being crafted in the Senate would slash the corporate tax rate, eliminate some taxes paid only by rich Americans and offer a mixed bag or temporary tax cuts for other individuals and families.  As congressional discussion on the bill has unfolded, public opposition to it has risen, on average, following Trump’s unveiling of a nine-page “framework” on Sept. 27 that started the debate in earnest, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed. On Oct. 24, for example, among adults who said they had heard of the “tax reform plan recently proposed by congressional Republicans,” 41 percent said they opposed it, while 31 percent said they “don’t know” and just 28 percent said they supported it. Trump and his fellow Republicans are determined to make a tax code overhaul their first major legislative win since taking control of the White House and Congress in January. The House of Representatives on Nov. 16 approved its own tax bill. The Senate is expected to decide on Wednesday whether to begin debating its proposal, as the measure moves toward a decisive floor vote later this week. The two chambers would need to reconcile differences between their plans before legislation could be sent to the White House for Trump’s signature. In the Nov. 23-27 poll, 59 percent of Republicans supported the tax bill, 26 percent said they did not know and 15 percent opposed it. Among Democrats, 82 percent opposed it, 11 percent said they did not know and 8 percent supported it. The online poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

Summary: लगभग आधे अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन कर विधेयक का विरोध करते हैंः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has declined for now to give the House Oversight Committee documents it had requested regarding communications between former FBI chief James Comey and President Donald Trump, the head of the panel said on Thursday. The FBI said it was still evaluating the request, which had a committee-set deadline of Wednesday, in light of the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the possibility of collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials seeking to influence the 2016 election, according to a letter released by committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz. In a responding letter, Chaffetz said he still wanted any related documents that would be outside the scope of the special counsel’s investigation, and a list of documents found to be within the scope of the probe, by June 8. “I am seeking to better understand Comey’s communications with the White House and Attorney General in such a way that does not implicate the Special Counsel’s work,” Chaffetz said in the letter. Chaffetz made his initial request for documents after a New York Times report that Comey had written in a memo that Trump asked him to halt an FBI investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian officials.   Chaffetz’s panel is one of several in Congress investigating alleged efforts by Russia to tip the election to Trump, and the possibility that Trump associates had coordinated with Moscow. Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee made it easier on Wednesday for that panel to obtain documents for its investigation. Its chairman, Republican Richard Burr, told reporters that members had agreed unanimously to allow him and Mark Warner, its top Democrat, to issue subpoenas as they see fit, without a vote by the committee. The controversy has engulfed Trump’s administration since he fired Comey on May 10. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations and Trump denies any collusion.     The FBI letter’s to Chaffetz on Thursday noted the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller last week as special counsel to investigate the issue. “In light of this development and other considerations, we are undertaking appropriate consultation to ensure all relevant interests implicated by your request are properly evaluated,” the letter said.

Summary: हाउस पैनल के अध्यक्ष का कहना है कि एफ. बी. आई. ने अभी के लिए कोमी से जुड़े दस्तावेजों के अनुरोध को पूरा करने से इनकार कर दिया है


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - A dam in Puerto Rico weakened by heavy rains from Hurricane Maria was in danger of failing on Sunday, posing a flood threat to thousands of homes downstream as the storm-battered U.S. island territory struggled through a fifth day with virtually no electricity. Some 70,000 people who inhabit a river valley below the Guajataca Dam in the northwestern corner of the island have been under evacuation orders since Friday afternoon, when authorities first warned that the earthen structure was in danger of imminent collapse. The fear of a potentially catastrophic dam break added to the pandemonium facing disaster relief authorities in the aftermath of Maria, which has claimed at least 29 lives across the Caribbean, according to officials and media reports.  Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello personally urged residents of the area to heed evacuation orders after surveying damage to the dam on Saturday, telling reporters that a fissure in the structure  has become a significant rupture.  The dam, which stands about 120 feet (37 meters) tall, was built in 1929 and supplies the surrounding region with hydropower, drinking water and irrigation supplies. The National Weather Service in San Juan, the island s capital, extended a flash flood watch for communities along the rain-swollen Guajataca River below the dam through midday Sunday. If the dam were to fail, flooding would be life-threatening, the Weather Service warned.  Stay away or be swept away,  it said. Maria, the second major hurricane to savage the Caribbean this month and the most powerful to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, carved a path of destruction through the island after plowing ashore early on Wednesday.  Arriving as a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, with top winds of up to 155 mph (249.5 kph), Maria ripped roofs from buildings, turned roads into gushing debris-strewn rivers and knocked out power across the entire island, home to 3.4 million people.  We lost our house, it was completely flooded,  said  resident Carmen Gloria Lamb, a resident near the rain-swollen Guajataca.  We lost everything; cars, clothes, everything.  Puerto Rico officials have officially confirmed 10 storm-related fatalities on the island, and the hurricane was blamed for at least 19 other deaths across the Caribbean, the bulk of them on the devastated island nation of Dominica. Severe flooding, structural damage to homes and the loss of all electricity, except from backup generators, were three of the most pressing problems facing Puerto Ricans, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state is home to many of Puerto Rican descent, said during a tour of the island.  It s a terrible immediate situation that requires assistance from the federal government, not just financial assistance,  he said on CNN on Saturday. Even the island s medical facilities have been left in precarious shape, with many hospitals flooded, strewn with rubble and running critically low on diesel fuel needed to keep generators operating. Evacuation to the U.S. mainland is the only option for some patients. Signs of the strain on Puerto Ricans were evident throughout San Juan, the capital. Drivers had to wait up to seven hours at the few filling stations open on Saturday, according to news reports. Water rationing also began on Saturday. Signs posted throughout San Juan s Old Town informed residents that service would return for two hours until further notice.  Telephone service also was unreliable, with many of the island s cell towers damaged or destroyed. On Sunday morning, the governor told reporters that officials would continue to clear roads and bridges blocked by the storm and that he would be joining a supply delivery mission to Caguas, a small city in the mountains south of San Juan.  The storm caused an estimated $45 billion of damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.  Maria, which was hundreds of miles (km) east of Florida over the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm and was expected to weaken further as it moves north in the Atlantic off the East Coast over the next two days. Maria hit Puerto Rico about two weeks after Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. The two storms followed Hurricane Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.

Summary: कमजोर बांध तूफान के बाद प्यूर्टो रिको के लिए नवीनतम खतरे के रूप में उभर रहा है


LONDON (Reuters) - Net migration to Britain fell by the largest amount on record in the 12 months after the Brexit vote, with more than three-quarters of the drop due to more EU citizens leaving and fewer arriving, official data showed on Thursday. Net migration tumbled by 106,000 to 230,000 people in the 12 months to June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Some 82,000 of the decline was due to EU citizens, cutting net migration from the bloc to its lowest level since June 2013. The total fall in net migration was the largest since people moving to Britain started to outnumber those leaving in the 1980s. The ONS said Brexit was likely to be one of the factors driving the fall. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, a promise first made by the government in 2010 and designed to reassure Britons worried about the impact immigration had on public services. Net migration into Britain has exceeded 100,000 in every year since 1998, as workers from abroad were attracted by a relatively strong currency, a vibrant economy and easy hiring rules. Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King s College London, linked the latest fall to Britain s economic slowdown since the Brexit vote and the weakening of the pound - which means foreign workers earn less in Britain when converted to their own national currencies.  It cannot be good news that the UK is a less attractive place to live and work, and that we will be poorer as a result,  said Portes, who has previously argued that Brexit is likely to hurt Britain s economy. He predicted that net migration to Britain was likely to fall further to 150,000 over the next few years. Business groups reacted to the latest figures with disappointment.  The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said the fall in net migration was an alarm bell for Britain s economy, with many employers struggling to find skilled workers.  But Steven Woolfe, an independent British lawmaker in the European Parliament who campaigned for Brexit, said long-term migration remained high.  This number again highlights the greater need for Britain to have a brand new immigration system, starting on Brexit day one,  he said on Twitter. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Larger numbers of foreign workers have helped Britain s economy to expand. The Bank of England has said almost all of its growth in the last decade stems from an increase in workers. Britain s retail, hospitality, manufacturing and agriculture sectors are particularly reliant on staff from abroad. The BoE has said a fall in migrant workers coming to Britain is likely to contribute to a new, slower  speed limit  for the economy, meaning it would be more prone to inflation. Opinion polls have shown immigration topping the list of concerns among people who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, in which 52 percent backed leaving the EU. The ONS said the scale of the drop in net migration in the most recent data partly reflected a strong run-up in migration last year, which pushed it to a record high in June 2016.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट मतदान के बाद एक साल में ब्रिटेन में शुद्ध प्रवास में रिकॉर्ड गिरावट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday that U.S. forces had moved a person who is under 18 years old to Iraq from Syria and two U.S. officials said she was a pregnant American teenager.  U.S. forces recently relocated a minor from Syria safely to Iraq,  the Pentagon said in a statement.  The U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said she was in the hands of State Department officials in Iraq and would travel back to the United States, although they did not say when. While not identifying her by name, one official said she was the same person interviewed by CBS News earlier this month near Raqqa, the Syrian city that Islamic State once called its capital. U.S.-backed militias declared victory in Raqqa earlier this month. In that interview, she said she was 15 and had been brought to Syria by her father, an Islamic State supporter. The teenager had told CBS that she was from Kansas. Last month, the Pentagon said a U.S. citizen fighting for Islamic State in Syria surrendered to U.S.-backed militias and was handed over to U.S. forces.

Summary: गर्भवती अमेरिकी किशोरी सीरिया से इराक चली गईः अधिकारी


OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Republican state lawmakers in Oklahoma have introduced a resolution urging the state’s congressional delegation to start an effort to impeach President Barack Obama over a White House recommendation that schools accommodate transgender students. The Obama administration told U.S. public schools last week that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice. The recommendation upset Republicans and raised the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority. The Oklahoma resolution, introduced on Thursday night, calls on the state’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against Obama, the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. secretary of education and others over the policy. A vote has not yet been scheduled on the resolution. Legal experts told local media the impeachment call is on shaky ground since the recommendation offered non-binding guidance and did not have the force of law. Lawmakers in the socially conservative state took up another measure on Friday that would allow students to claim a religious right to have separate but equal bathrooms and changing facilities to segregate them from transgender students. That bill, introduced on Thursday night and referred to a Senate committee on Friday, could force schools into costly construction, which would be difficult for them to complete after lawmakers significantly cut education funding to plug a $1.3 billion state budget shortfall.  State Representative John Bennett, a Republican, said in a statement the White House policy was “biblically wrong,” and a violation of state sovereignty. The Oklahoma bill would allow for segregation at school restrooms, athletic changing facilities and showers if a request is made to accommodate religious beliefs.   It also allows the attorney general to file lawsuits to implement the changes.  Impeachment advocates say Obama overstepped his constitutional authority. Troy Stevenson, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, an LGBT advocacy group said the measure promoted fear-mongering and was out of place “In a time when our state is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, our lawmakers should be focused on righting the ship rather than stigmatizing transgender youth,” he said in a statement.  The measure was introduced just hours after state lawmakers approved a bill that would make abortions a felony punishable by up to three years in prison for doctors who perform them.  Governor Mary Fallin, an anti-abortion Republican, vetoed the bill because it would not withstand a criminal constitutional legal challenge, her office said.

Summary: ओक्लाहोमा स्टेट हाउस में कुछ लोगों ने बाथरूम नियम पर ओबामा के खिलाफ महाभियोग का आग्रह किया


BRASILIA (Reuters) - The centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, or PSDB, elected four-time Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin as its leader on Saturday, making him its most likely presidential nominee in next year s elections.     Alckmin threw the party s weight behind a social security overhaul that is currently before Congress and would cut generous pensions for public-sector employees.  Pension reform is necessary so that we do not have two classes of Brazilian citizens,  he told the convention, which  elected him by a 470-3 vote. Alckmin said former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a likely rival in the 2018 race, had led Brazil into its worst recession and biggest corruption scandal.  Lula wants to return to the scene of the crime,  he told cheering supporters.  Be sure, we will defeat him at the polls.  Alckmin was picked to unite a divided party, with both supporters and opponents of Brazil s unpopular President Michel Temer. He plans to complete the PSDB s withdrawal from the governing coalition. But Alckmin made it clear the PSDB would back Temer s pension proposal, which investors consider crucial for closing a huge budget deficit that cost Latin America s largest economy its investment-grade credit rating. With elections less than a year away, PSDB lawmakers want to distance themselves from Temer. Half of its 46 congressmen did not back him when the lower house voted in August to block corruption charges against him. Alckmin must overcome the party s own brush with Brazil s ongoing political corruption scandal. He succeeds Senator Aecio Neves, the party s defeated 2014 presidential candidate who is under investigation for allegedly asking jailed Joesley Batista, owner of meatpacker JBS SA for 2 million reais ($607,500) in illegal funding. Neves was booed and quickly left the convention after casting his vote. The PSDB s disengagement from the Temer administration was almost completed on Friday with the resignation of Antonio Imbassahy, the president s minister of political affairs. Alckmin, 65, was governor of Brazil s richest and most populous state from 2001-2006 and again from 2011 to now. He ran for president in 2006 but lost to Lula, who is still Brazil s most popular politician despite a corruption conviction that could bar him from running or even land him in prison. Former Brazilian President and PSDB founder Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who won two elections against Lula, said it was better to defeat him at the polls than to put him in jail.

Summary: ब्राजील के पीएसडीबी ने 2018 की दौड़ में नेतृत्व करने के लिए साओ पाउलो के गवर्नर अल्कमिन को चुना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department, Rep. Ryan Zinke of coal producing Montana, as the White House takes steps to boost fossil fuel output from federal lands.  The Senate voted 68 to 31, with several Democrats joining Republicans in support of Zinke, an hunter and angler, who supported energy development as a one-term congressman.

Summary: सीनेट ने आंतरिक सचिव के रूप में ज़िंके के चुनाव की पुष्टि की


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Reuters) - Atlantic City’s mayor has called a state plan to cede control of the fiscally distressed gambling hub a “fascist dictatorship,” a sharp reversal of his previous position on the proposed takeover. Details of the proposed legislation, released last week, would deny residents their civil rights by stripping municipal powers from locally elected officials, Mayor Don Guardian said on Monday, echoing previous concerns from community activists. “The final piece of legislation that the state presented to us was far from a partnership,” Guardian said, addressing hundreds of residents and city workers at an outdoor news conference next to City Hall. “It was much worse. It was absolutely a fascist dictatorship.” The plan calls for the state to appoint an official who would have the power to make unilateral decisions about canceling collective bargaining agreements, selling city-owned assets, entering contracts, terminating employees and vetoing city council minutes, Guardian said. The mayor’s comments marked a fiery change of tone from just one month ago, when Guardian stood next to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and state Senate President Steve Sweeney in support of the intervention. However, that was before the bills had taken shape. City officials previously threatened to file for a municipal bankruptcy. But such a move would likely not be approved by the state, which already oversees the city’s budget. Nevertheless, officials raised the subject again on Monday, saying they might petition the state for a bankruptcy declaration if they cannot negotiate a settlement with the Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa.  Atlantic City owes the Borgata, its most profitable casino, at least $160 million of property tax appeals. The city missed a recent deadline to pay a $62.5 million portion of that, prompting the Borgata to skip its $7.5 million tax payment for the first quarter of 2016.  The parties are in 45-day court-ordered negotiations, Guardian said, but if there is no settlement the city could try to seek out bankruptcy. Atlantic City is on track to run out of money within two months. The latest legislative package would also include a less divisive bill that allows casinos to make fixed payments in lieu of taxes. That bill is aimed at stabilizing the city’s property tax base, which has shrunk dramatically because of gambling competition from neighboring states. Four of the city’s 12 casinos that shut in 2014 remain closed.

Summary: अटलांटिक सिटी के मेयर ने एन. जे. अधिग्रहण योजना को 'फासीवादी तानाशाही' बताया


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday China has firmly opposed and prevented Taiwan s independence over the past five years. Xi made the comments in a speech at the beginning of a Communist Party congress. China considers self-ruled Taiwan to be a wayward province, to be brought under Beijing s control by force if necessary.

Summary: शी का कहना है कि चीन ने पिछले पांच वर्षों में ताइवान की स्वतंत्रता को रोका है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two California housing advocacy groups have alleged that a bank formerly controlled by Steven Mnuchin, a top candidate to be President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, engaged in discriminatory practices against black and Latino communities.  In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the groups are seeking an investigation of claims that OneWest Bank violated the Fair Housing Act through “redlining” practices such as failing to locate bank branches in black and Latino communities and extending very few or no mortgage loans to borrowers of color. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Hollywood film financier who is under consideration for the Treasury post, was not mentioned in the complaint, submitted on Wednesday by the California Reinvestment Coalition and Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California. But their allegations against a bank that was Southern California’s largest during Mnuchin’s ownership could fuel attacks from Senate Democrats if he is nominated to lead the Treasury, which is charged with safeguarding and regulating the U.S. financial system.  Mnuchin could not immediately be reached for comment through his office at Dune Capital Management, the New York-based hedge fund that he leads. Earlier on Thursday, he was seen entering Trump Tower in New York, where Trump’s transition team is meeting.  The submission is the latest in the two housing groups’ long-running campaign against OneWest, which also included complaining about its foreclosure practices and opposing its sale by a Mnuchin-led investor group to CIT Group Inc for $3.4 billion last year. The complaint to HUD alleges that OneWest originated just two mortgages to African American customers in the bank’s assessment area. It also maintained and marketed bank-owned homes in predominantly white neighborhoods better than in neighborhoods of color. CIT said in a statement: “CIT is committed to fair lending and works hard to meet the credit needs of all communities and neighborhoods we serve.” Kevin Stein, deputy director of the California Reinvestment Coalition, insisted that the housing groups had long planned to file the complaint this week and the timing was not influenced by Mnuchin’s emergence as a candidate for Treasury. Mnuchin in 2009 led a group that acquired assets of failed mortgage lender IndyMac Bank for $1.55 billion from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a deal that included a loss-sharing agreement on failed mortgages.  Rebranded as OneWest, it subsequently grew to have 73 branches and $23 billion in assets at the time the CIT deal was announced in 2014.

Summary: ट्रम्प ट्रेजरी उम्मीदवार के बैंक पर भेदभाव का आरोप


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told a congressional panel on Tuesday that he does not support the privatization of Medicare and defended his ethics record. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Finance, one of two committees that oversee the health department, Representative Tom Price said his position was consistent with that of Trump, who has stated he does not want to cut the federal health program for the elderly. Price, a Georgia orthopedic surgeon, previously supported privatization of Medicare. But he told lawmakers his role as health secretary would be very different from his role as a congressman and that his job would be to execute the wishes of Congress. “I would just convey to the Medicare population of this nation, they don’t have reason to be concerned,” he said. “We look forward to assisting them in getting the care and coverage that they need.” Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the committee, questioned Price about his stock trading while a lawmaker, including in health industry stocks that could be affected directly by legislation. “It is hard to see this as anything but a conflict of interest and an abuse of position,” Wyden said. Price defended the stock holdings, saying “everything that I did was ethical, above board, legal and transparent.”  Separately, Republican lawmakers began dismantling former President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Two House of Representatives committees held hearings on Tuesday. Others will follow with the goal of putting in place  “thoughtful, step-by-step reforms that offer Americans more choices, greater access, and higher-quality care at lower costs,” the chairman of the Ways and Means committee, Kevin Brady, said in remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Price sidestepped questions about the impact of an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office targeting Obamacare but said he is committed to carrying out “the law of the land.” Democrats also grilled Price on his plans for the Medicaid health program covering poor Americans. A senior Trump adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said in an interview on NBC’s “Sunday Today” show that Trump’s plan to replace Obamacare will include fixed payments from the government to the states to care for Medicaid patients. These payments, known as block grants, contrast with the current system in which states share the actual cost of Medicaid enrollees with the federal government. Conway said converting to a block grant system would ensure that people in charge of administering the program are “those who are closest to the people” who need care. Price has long advocated block grants for Medicaid but declined on Tuesday to overtly re-state his position, saying only that he would work to make sure “people have better healthcare, not less healthcare.” Tuesday’s hearing followed a similar hearing last week by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which also oversees the health department. Only the finance committee members will vote on the nomination.

Summary: ट्रम्प के स्वास्थ्य उम्मीदवार का कहना है कि वह मेडिकेयर के निजीकरण का समर्थन नहीं करते हैं


BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts police do not have the authority to detain illegal immigrants solely to buy time for federal law enforcement officials to take them into custody, the state’s top court ruled on Monday. The decision amounts to a rejection of requests by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for courts and law enforcement agencies to hold illegal immigrants, who are facing civil deportation orders, in custody for up to 48 hours after their cases are resolved. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that doing so amounts to a fresh arrest of the person that is not authorized by state law, in the first such ruling to apply to an entire state, according to Massachusetts’ attorney general. “Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody,” the court wrote in its decision. The case focused on Sreynuon Lunn from Cambodia. Federal officials said he entered the United States as a refugee in 1985 and was ordered deported to Cambodia in 2008 after a series of criminal convictions. Cambodia declined to accept him and he was released. Lunn was arrested in Boston last year on an unarmed robbery charge and ordered released in February after prosecutors failed to present a case. Federal ICE officials took him into custody while he remained in his holding cell, an event that made his case moot. The court agreed to hear the case on the premise that the issue would come up again. The U.S. Justice Department had argued that the 48-hour detainer requests reflected basic practices of cooperation between various law enforcement agencies. Attorneys for Lunn and the state had largely agreed that Massachusetts lacked the authority. “This decision allows local law enforcement to focus their resources on keeping people safe,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a top priority of his administration. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts praised the decision.    “At a time when the Trump administration is pushing aggressive and discriminatory immigration enforcement policies, Massachusetts is leading nationwide efforts by limiting how state and local law enforcement assist,” the group’s executive director, Carol Rose, said in a statement. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summary: मैसाचुसेट्स अप्रवासियों को नहीं रख सकता है इसलिए अमेरिका उन्हें हिरासत में ले सकता हैः राज्य शीर्ष अदालत


(Reuters) - Former Los Angeles Mayor and former California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday publicly launched his campaign to become the next governor of the country’s most populous state. With a new campaign website, the Democrat said his main focuses if elected would be investing in schools, repairing infrastructure around the state and shoring up an ailing middle class. He said his campaign would stand in direct contrast to that of President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican who campaigned heavily on building a wall between the United States and Mexico and deporting undocumented immigrants. Trump won the presidency in a surprise upset against Democrat Hillary Clinton earlier this week. “We are a state that builds bridges, not walls. We are inclusive. We celebrate our diversity. And we welcome newcomers,” Villaraigosa said in a statement on his campaign website. “We know the answer to fear is hope. The answer to division is unity.” Villaraigosa, who was Los Angeles mayor from 2005 to 2013 and served as speaker of the California Assembly from 1998 to 2000, is perhaps the state’s highest-profile Latino leader.  Villaraigosa in June said he had formed a political action committee and started raising money to help fight Trump’s presidential campaign in key states with large Latino immigrant populations. California’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said in early 2015 that he would also run for the state’s top political position. The two are currently the leading entrants in the race to fill the seat of the popular Governor Jerry Brown, who will be 81 when his term ends.

Summary: लॉस एंजिल्स के पूर्व मेयर विलाराइगोसा ने कैलिफोर्निया के गवर्नर की दौड़ में प्रवेश किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, refused to respond to one line of questioning from members of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and could face a subpoena to return and answer them, the panel’s top Democrat said. “Hopefully, he will cooperate in the future. If not, it will be necessary to subpoena him to bring him back to answer those important questions,” Representative Adam Schiff told reporters after Stone completed a three-hour meeting with committee members.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगी स्टोन को हाउस इंटेलिजेंस सम्मन का सामना करना पड़ सकता हैः सांसद


SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A battle between Brazilian private college operator Estacio Participacoes SA and the country s professors arrived in the courts on Thursday, as unions and students protested against the company s recent move to fire over 1,000 teachers. On Wednesday, newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported that the company was planning to fire 1,200 of its 10,000 professors in December, as many are being paid above-market rates. In response, the CSB, a Brazilian umbrella union, filed a motion in a court in capital Brasilia on Thursday demanding that the layoffs be halted. That motion was quashed by a judge. Estacio declined to comment on the judicial proceedings, but emphasized that Brazilian law requires that it make any staffing cuts within a limited period of the calendar year.  It s important to remember that Brazilian legislation requires that potential layoffs of professors occur only within a very restricted window,  the company said in a statement.  Augusta Raeffray, a lawyer for the CSB, said by telephone that mass layoffs must be negotiated with union, which she said Estacio did not do. She added that the company had already filed paperwork for 230 layoffs in the city of Sao Paulo, almost 100 in Ribeirao Preto and 50 in Belo Horizonte. In Rio de Janeiro, where 33 of 93 Estacio units are located, the citywide teachers  union is planning a Friday protest and students are planning a Monday demonstration, union head Joao Paulo Camara Chaves said in a telephone conversation. The body was also considering a teachers strike during the beginning of lessons next year, he added. The layoffs and subsequent protests at Estacio have raised wider questions about the treatment of academic professionals in Brazil, where professors say salaries and contracts have become more precarious both in the private and public sector, especially as the state tightens its belt.  Some state universities are paying professors  salaries in installments. Other private universities are using an intermittent or hourly pay schedule,  said Jacob Paiva, director of Brazil s nationwide professors union, by phone.  Shares in Estacio fell 2 percent on Thursday to 30.71 reais  ($9.33), their biggest intraday loss in over a week. ($1 = 3.29 reais)

Summary: ब्राजील में एस्टासियो की छंटनी के बाद प्रोफेसरों ने अदालतों में हड़ताल की धमकी दी


YANGON/SITTWE (Reuters) - Buddhists in Myanmar on Wednesday blocked aid workers from visiting a camp for displaced Muslims in the central part of Rakhine State, where the United Nations fears the spread of violence that has already displaced hundreds of thousands. More than 600,000 of Myanmar s largely stateless Rohingya minority have crossed to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 attacks by Rohingya militants sparked a military crackdown beset by allegations of killings, rape and arson by security forces. The U.N. has called the army operation  ethnic cleansing . Myanmar has denied the majority of allegations and said it will accept the return of those who can prove they are residents.  A regional administrator and an activist told Reuters a group of about 10 Myanmar nationals working for U.S.- and Britain- based charity Relief International (R.I.) was forced to turn back when residents of the mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community staged a protest in the town of Myebon. Reuters reported this month that activists among the town s Buddhist majority had stepped up efforts to segregate Buddhists and Muslims, instructing Rakhines not to trade with Muslims, for fear of militancy. Deliveries of food aid to Myebon s Muslims have been delayed and only allowed in after inspections by Buddhist community representatives.  The R.I. group were trying to go to the camp and the locals blocked the way,  said Tin Shwe, the town s administrator, adding that the aid workers returned to their office after Wednesday s incident. Samir Maleh, country director for Relief International in Myanmar, declined to comment on the incident. Leaders of the Rakhine Buddhist community have long bristled at international agencies and NGOs whom they accuse of favoring the Rohingya with their support. Aid workers and U.N. staff have told Reuters they fear enforced segregation may trigger further displacement in Rakhine, either through fresh violence or as Muslims flee on boats to Malaysia and Thailand, fuelling a new stage of crisis in the Bay of Bengal. Wednesday s incident was the latest example of the numerous obstacles that humanitarian organizations face in Rakhine State, said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the United Nations  Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).    Of course we respect that any group should be able to exercise their rights of freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, but the simple fact here is that life-saving aid is being blocked from reaching vulnerable people who desperately need it, including children and the elderly.  About 3,000 Muslims - including Rohingya and those accepted as Myanmar citizens - have been confined to a camp for displaced people in Myebon since communal violence swept Rakhine in 2012. Photos posted on social media site Facebook on Wednesday showed about two dozen women sitting down to block a small street, with a smaller group of men standing behind. Khin Thein, a leader of a regional branch of the Arakan Women s Network, said her group joined the protest after authorities told the community the NGO would provide education about gender-based violence, hygiene and sanitation to Muslims.  They have food, they have shelter to live,  she told Reuters.  We can t accept these kinds of excess things for them. We will not allow them to pass through our township. We already protested several times in the past. We have suspicions about them. We don t trust foreigners, international people.

Summary: म्यांमार के रखाइन में, तनाव के बीच सहायता कर्मियों को मुस्लिम शिविर में प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया गया


LISBON (Reuters) - A women s rights group has called a rally to protest against a Portuguese court ruling that upheld a light sentence for a woman s attackers on the grounds they may have been driven to it by her adultery, an offence punishable with death in the Bible.  Judges Neto de Moura and Maria Luisa Arantes rejected the prosecutors  appeal to toughen the suspended sentence and fine, saying the  depressive state  of the two defendants - the woman s former husband and her former lover - was a mitigating factor.     We read in the Bible that an adulteress should be punished with death,  the judges in the Porto Court of Appeal wrote. They also referenced the  symbolic sentences  given to men who murdered adulterous wives in the late 19th century in Portugal.  These references are merely intended to stress that the society has always strongly condemned adultery by a woman and therefore sees the violence by a betrayed, humiliated man with some understanding,  they wrote in their Oct. 11 verdict. The UMAR Women s Union for Alternative and Response called the verdict in Portugal s second-largest city  revolting  and said it perpetuated  the ideology of victim-blaming .   Evoking the Bible does not combine with the rule of law in our country and discredits the judicial norms,  UMAR said in a statement. In the 2015 attack, one of the men assaulted and held the victim while the other attacked her with a nail-spiked club. Her injuries were not life-threatening. Both were convicted and sentenced to pay large fines in addition to suspended time in prison of about a year each. UMAR and the feminist movement Por Todas Nos (For all of Us Women) called a protest rally in downtown Lisbon for Friday. Protests were also called in Porto under the slogan  Male chauvinism is not justice, but crime . Ultra-orthodox patriarchy - one of the cornerstones of the fascist dictatorship of Antonio Salazar up until the 1974 revolution - still survives in parts of Portugal.

Summary: पोर्टो अदालत के इस बात से सहमत होने के बाद विरोध प्रदर्शन का आह्वान किया गया कि महिला का व्यभिचार हमले का कारण था


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said it will retaliate tit-for-tat over a new Canadian law that will impose sanctions on officials from Russia and other nations considered guilty of human rights violations. The bill, expected to be approved by Canada s parliament later on Wednesday, was inspired by the case of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who died in 2009 after a year in a Russian jail. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Wednesday that  any anti-Russian actions by the Canadian authorities will not be left without an adequate response.  Canada already has cool ties with Russia. It has repeatedly condemned Moscow over Russia s 2014 annexation of Crimea and has imposed sanctions against Russia along with other Western nations.  We warn again that in case the pressure of the sanctions put on us increases ... we will widen likewise the list of Canadian officials banned from entering Russia,  Zakharova said, according to Interfax.  To a large extent, it (the bill) simply copies the odious American  Magnitsky Act  and is set to further undermine Russian-Canadian relations.  The United States adopted a law in 2012 freezing any U.S. assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors said to have been involved in the detention of Magnitsky. In retaliation, Moscow barred Americans from adopting Russian children. The Canadian parliament s lower house approved adoption of the  Law on Victims of Corrupt Foreign Governments  on Monday and submitted the bill to the Senate for approval. The law, which was proposed by an opposition legislator and is backed by the government, will come into force once it is signed by Canada s governor-general. The Russian embassy in Canada, in a statement posted on its Twitter page, blamed the Magnitsky bill on  failed policies, pressed by Russophobic elements .

Summary: रूस ने कनाडा के मैग्निट्स्की बिल का विरोध किया, जवाबी कार्रवाई के लिए तैयार


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the violence against Myanamar s Rohingya Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine state could spread to central Rakhine, where 250,000 more people were at risk of displacement.  Guterres told the U.N. Security Council during its first public meeting on Myanmar in eight years, that the violence had spiraled into the  world s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.   We have received bone-chilling accounts from those who fled - mainly women, children and the elderly,  he said.  These testimonials point to excessive violence and serious violations of human rights, including indiscriminate firing of weapons, the use of landmines against civilians and sexual violence.  More than 500,000 Rohingya Muslim have fled to Bangladesh in the past month since insurgents attacked security posts near the border, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing. Sweden, the United States, Britain, France, Egypt, Senegal, and Kazakhstan requested Thursday s council meeting.  Guterres demanded immediate humanitarian aid access to areas affected by the violence and expressed concern  by the current climate of antagonism towards the United Nations  and aid groups.   The failure to address this systematic violence could result in a spill-over into central Rakhine, where an additional 250,000 Muslims could potentially face displacement,  Guterres said.   The crisis has generated multiple implications for neighboring States and the larger region, including the risk of inter-communal strife. We should not be surprised if decades of discrimination and double standards in treatment of the Rohingya create openings for radicalization,  he said.

Summary: म्यांमार में हिंसा फैल सकती है, और अधिक रोहिंग्या विस्थापित हो सकते हैंः संयुक्त राष्ट्र प्रमुख


FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Salomea Genin, an 85-year-old Jewish Berliner who fled the Nazis as a child, says she would flee Germany a second time if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ever took power. Genin, who holds dual German and Australian nationality, was shocked by comments this month by a top AfD candidate in Sunday s federal election, Alexander Gauland, that Germans should take pride in what their soldiers achieved in two world wars.   I was speechless,  said Genin, who lost 29 family members during the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed six million Jews.  I never thought that I would again face a movement in Germany with the sort of ideas that are coming out of the AfD.  It is unlikely that Genin, who returned to then-East Germany in 1951 after growing up in Australia, will have to pack her suitcases again any time soon. Although opinion polls suggest the anti-immigrant AfD could become the third biggest party in the lower house Bundestag after the election, other parties have vowed to shun it in negotiations to form a new coalition government.  The AfD, which would be the first postwar far-right party to enter parliament, denies being racist. Germany, home today to an estimated 200,000 Jews, has built a reputation in recent decades as a tolerant, safe place for Jews to live, but official data show anti-Semitic crimes  reported to the police rising 4 percent to 681 in the first eight months of 2017 against the same period last year. The real number is probably much higher.     Nearly 93 percent of reported anti-Semitic crimes were linked to far-right extremism, despite predictions that a large growth in the Muslim population since Europe s 2015 migrant crisis could fuel attacks or discrimination against Jews.  Police statistics and new private reporting sites report a growing number of anti-Semitic crimes. In addition, we have the impression that anti-Semitic sentiments are being expressed without reservation on social media,  said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Schuster s group has urged political parties and non-governmental organizations to work together to combat right-wing extremism. It has also backed calls for the German government to appoint a special commissioner for anti-Semitism. Chancellor Angela Merkel s cabinet on Wednesday adopted a broader definition of anti-Semitism backed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and promised a  resolute and consistent battle against every form of anti-Semitism .  But it did not announce a special commissioner or adopt four other recommendations made by an independent council of experts. Volker Beck, a member of the pro-environment Greens party, accused the government of complacency.  We can t work magic, but doing nothing is just negligent. When the word  Jew  is used as a schoolyard taunt, something has to happen. We should be alarmed,  Beck told Reuters. German schools have long taught about the Holocaust, but rights groups say the rise of the AfD and other far-right parties has lowered the barrier for anti-Semitic comments and other hate speech. Miriam Marhoefer, a 37-year-old Jewish social worker from Mannheim, drew a parallel with France, which some Jews now regard as unsafe following increased attacks on them there.  My biggest fear is that (Germany) will become like France, where Jews are once again emigrating,  said Marhoefer.  Marhoefer is taking part in a two-year-long course run by a branch of a century-old Jewish welfare league that helps people to combat anti-Semitism in their communities. Such programs are particularly important for people outside cities with large Jewish communities, said Anna Sodki, 45, a Jewish economist from Bergisch-Gladbach, near Cologne.  For a long time, we felt safe,  she said.  But now, I don t wear my Star of David out anymore. You never know who you re going to be sitting next to on the train.  The Central Council is also training about 40 Jewish youths aged 15 to 20 to visit German classrooms to challenge stereotypes and combat ignorance. Dimitri Bilyarchyk, a 20-year-old student who took the training, said the word  Jew  was often used as a slur and that young people in his native Bavaria often referred to their last sip of beer as the  Judenschluck  or  Jewish sip .  It s only words. But many things start with words, and I think language is really important in this context,  he said.  The official AfD program says  we stand with the Jews . To which I say, and I think I speak for all Jews in Germany, please stand somewhere else,  Bilyarchyk added.  When you incite hatred against one group of people ... be they Jews or Muslims or gay people, it s not long before they switch from Muslims to us.

Summary: आप्रवासी विरोधी ए. एफ. डी. ने जर्मन यहूदियों के लिए चेतावनी जारी की क्योंकि चुनाव नजदीक हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will name the first woman to head a U.S. combatant command, selecting Air Force General Lori Robinson as the next head of the military’s Northern Command, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday. The position, which is subject to Senate confirmation, is one of the most senior in the U.S. military and would make Robinson - who now leads U.S. air forces in the Pacific - the top general overseeing activities in North America. “General Robinson, it just so happens, would also be the first ever female combatant commander,” Carter said, disclosing Obama’s plans to nominate her. “That shows yet another thing - which is that we have, coming along now, a lot of female officers who are exceptionally strong. And Lori certainly fits into that category,” Carter said at an event hosted by Politico. Carter also announced Army General Vincent Brooks, the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, would be nominated to become the next commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea.

Summary: अमेरिकी जनरल लोरी रॉबिन्सन लड़ाकू कमान का नेतृत्व करने वाली पहली महिला बनीं


(Reuters) - Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is buying commercial time on a TV station in West Palm Beach, Florida, taking on opponents in a paid media battle that the Republican front-runner has largely avoided so far. The March 15 nominating contest in Florida, a winner-take-all vote, is seen as one of the last chances to slow Trump’s momentum after a string of victories on Super Tuesday. One SuperPAC allied with rival presidential candidate Marco Rubio has already shelled out millions in the state.  The race has become a fight between Trump and anti-Trump interests, which should drive new demand for ads, said Mark Egan, chief client officer of Maxus Americas, a media agency owned by GroupM. “The big war really starts now,” he said.The billionaire candidate to date has relied heavily on free air time and Twitter, largely ignoring television. On Thursday he began purchasing commercial slots for the first time on West Palm Beach station WPTV, said Lloyd Bucher, vice president and general manager of the station, an NBC affiliate. He declined to discuss the amount.  SuperPACs that oppose Trump are gearing up in the state. Conservative Solutions, a SuperPAC allied with Rubio, has aired or distributed $4.8 million worth of ads and direct mail in Florida that explicitly opposes Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data from Friday through Tuesday. That is the most spent by a candidate-allied SuperPAC against Trump in a single state so far. TV stations in states with upcoming primaries are fielding more inquiries from outside groups opposing Trump, said Steve Lanzano, president and CEO of TVB, a trade body for television broadcasters.  “You are seeing a lot more SuperPACs coming out of the woodwork,” he said. Election years typically provide windfalls for local TV stations as candidates blanket airwaves. Ad spending in the weeks leading up to the South Carolina primary was four times the level of 2012, Lanzano said.  Some media investors and analysts are concerned Trump may continue to rely mostly on free media exposure, which would hurt the revenues expected for local stations. Lanzano believes the Trump campaign will start buying more time to fight back against the attacks coming his way. “I think he is going to spend a lot of money on advertising ultimately,” Lanzano said. “He is going to get bombarded.”  (Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Jessica Toonkel in Hollywood, Florida, and Grant Smith in Washington; Editing by G Crosse, Peter Henderson and Andrew Hay) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: ट्रम्प, ट्रम्प विरोधी ताकतों ने फ्लोरिडा में विज्ञापन लड़ाई शुरू की


AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels pinned down in a strategic area where the Israeli and Lebanese borders meet with Syria were handed an ultimatum by the Syrian army and its Iranian-backed militia allies to either surrender or face certain military defeat, rebels said on Tuesday. The Syrian army backed by local militias financed and equipped by Iran alongside Druze fighters from the area have been escalating a fierce assault against Sunni rebels in an enclave in the foothills of Mount Hermon, close to both the Israeli and Lebanese borders.  They were given 72 hours to surrender with fighters to go to Idlib or those who want to stay have to reach a settlement,  said Ibrahim al-Jebawi, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) official familiar with the situation on the ground. Another rebel official who asked not to be named said they were told either to  surrender or a military solution.  The rebels have now been left encircled in Beit Jin, their main stronghold after losing strategic hills and farms around it this week after over two months of near daily shelling and aerial strikes. Iran-backed Lebanon s Hezbollah s media unit said insurgents had agreed to negotiate surrender terms and said negotiations had already begun over their evacuation in the next few days to rebel-held Idlib. The Syrian army has used similar tactics of pushing opponents to rebel areas further from the Syrian capital after a twin tactic of siege and months of strikes on residential areas. There were also more than 8,000 civilians who have been trapped in the remaining enclaves with their plight worsening, according to rebel spokesman Sohaib Alraheel. Israel, which Syria accuses of helping the rebels, is alarmed at the growing Iranian military influence in the Golan Heights and has stepped up its strikes against pro-Iranian targets inside Syria. Israel has been lobbying both big powers to deny Iran, Lebanon s Hezbollah and other Shi ite militias any permanent bases in Syria, and to keep them away from the Golan, as they gain ground while helping Damascus beat back Sunni-led rebels. Early this month there was an Israeli strike on a base near Kiswah, south of Damascus, that was widely believed to be an Iranian military compound, a Western intelligence source said. Hezbollah s bastion in southern Lebanon is only a few kms from the rebel enclave, and securing a supply line from its stronghold into Syria s Quneitra province was a major strategic gain, rebels and defense analysts say.  Now Hezbollah will have a bigger foothold on the Syrian side of the Golan and it is desperate to link this area with southern Lebanon,  al-Jebawi added. Israel had warned Hezbollah against trying to open a front in the Golan Heights and was believed to be behind the killing a prominent commander in an air strike in 2015 whom the group later admitted had overseen a local Hezbollah presence in the area.  This is an effort by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah to expand the lines of engagement with Israel. The question is will Israel allow that?  said Fayez al Dweiri, a retired Jordanian general who follows Syria closely.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना और ईरानी प्रॉक्सी ने इजरायल सीमा के पास विद्रोहियों के आत्मसमर्पण की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump asked him to drop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of a probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. In written testimony released the day before he appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey said Trump told him at a meeting in the White House in February: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” The testimony puts more pressure on Trump, a Republican, whose presidency has been overshadowed by allegations that Moscow helped him win last year’s election. Some legal experts said Comey’s testimony could strengthen any impeachment case built on obstruction of justice, but U.S. markets shrugged off the news from the testimony for lack of any major disclosures. To build a criminal obstruction of justice case, federal law requires prosecutors to show that a person acted with “corrupt” intent. It does not matter whether the person succeeds in impeding an investigation. While a sitting president is very unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Comey said he had told Trump on three occasions he was not being investigated, confirming an earlier account from the president. Trump, who spent part of Wednesday in Ohio talking about the need to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, ignored reporters’ shouted questions about Comey. On returning to the Oval Office, Trump went into a meeting with top advisers, including chief of staff Reince Priebus. Later, his outside counsel released a statement saying Trump felt “completely and totally vindicated” by Comey’s account. “The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the president was not under investigation in any Russian probe,” Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s attorney, said in a statement. Several congressional committees, as well as the FBI and a special counsel, are investigating whether Russia tried to tilt last November’s election in Trump’s favor, using means such as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats. Trump and the Kremlin have separately denied any collusion. Trump abruptly fired Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe, on May 9. Comey painted a vivid picture for senators of awkward encounters with Trump in seven pages of testimony. Comey described a private dinner in the Green Room of the White House on Jan. 26, where Trump asked him whether he wanted to stay on as FBI director, telling him: “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” “I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence,” Comey said in his testimony, explaining he became concerned that Trump was trying to create “some sort of patronage relationship.” On Feb. 14, after an Oval Office briefing on counterterrorism, Trump asked Comey to stay behind, dismissing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who lingered, and waving off Priebus, who peeked through the door. “When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the president began by saying, ‘I want to talk about Mike Flynn,’” Comey said in his testimony. Trump had fired Flynn the previous day in a controversy over contacts between the retired general and the Russian ambassador to the United States. The FBI has been investigating Flynn as it looks into allegations of links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Comey quoted Trump as telling him: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” On March 30, Trump phoned Comey and asked what “we could do to lift the cloud” of the FBI’s Russia investigation. “He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia,” said Comey, who had briefed Trump on “salacious material” that had arisen in a counter-intelligence investigation. Michael Cohen, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement that the uncorroborated dossier of compromising material that Russian operatives allegedly collected on Trump has been “debunked.”  “Comey’s statement released today needs to be carefully scrutinized as his testimony claims the president was concerned about the dossier,” said Cohen. Cohen, along with Flynn, has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee, which is also conducting a Russia probe. Some legal experts said Comey’s written statement could be used to show that Trump engaged in obstruction of justice. “It shows the president was doing everything he could to shut down the Flynn investigation,” said Andrew Wright, a professor of criminal law at Savannah Law School.  Bruce Green, a professor of law at Fordham University School of Law, said it would be difficult, however, to show that Trump intended to obstruct justice. Trump could say he was merely vouching for Flynn’s character and voicing concerns about how the probe was interfering with his ability to function effectively as president, Green said. Democrats jumped on the testimony, expressing concern that Trump had inappropriately meddled with the probe. “It’s certainly very possible that this is evidence, in combination with other actions by the president, that could amount to obstruction. It’s certainly an effort to interfere in the investigation,” the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff, told CNN. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, asked about Trump’s request for loyalty from Comey, said it was “very, very critical” that FBI directors remain “independent.” But Republican Senator Richard Burr, who heads the Senate intelligence panel, said he did not take issue with Trump’s request. “I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for loyalty from anybody in an administration,” Burr said.

Summary: एफबीआई के पूर्व प्रमुख कोमी ने अमेरिकी सीनेटरों से कहा कि ट्रंप ने उन पर रूस की जांच के लिए दबाव डाला था


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy approach was “phenomenally close” to that of President Vladimir Putin, giving Russia hope that tattered U.S.-Russia relations could gradually be improved. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking in New York, said he saw incredible similarities between the two men’s foreign policy ideas, and this meant there was a solid basis to start a meaningful dialogue between Moscow and Washington.          Peskov, in the United States for a chess tournament, said he was struck by how similar parts of Trump’s victory speech were to a speech Putin gave in southern Russia last month.  Both men said they would put their own country’s national interests first, but that they would be ready to develop ties with other nations, depending on how ready other countries were to deepen relations themselves. “They (Putin and Trump) set out the same main foreign policy principles and that is incredible,” Peskov said in comments broadcast by Russian state TV’s Channel One on Thursday evening. “It is phenomenal how close they are to one another when it comes to their conceptual approach to foreign policy. And that is probably a good basis for our moderate optimism that they will at least be able to start a dialogue to start to clear out the Augean stables in our bilateral relations.”  With Moscow and Washington now at odds over Syria, Ukraine and NATO, Peskov cautioned that it would take a long time before relations could return to a high level, however, because of how far they had been allowed to deteriorate. “An atmosphere of mutual trust takes years to achieve,” he said. “It’s not possible to just declare that there is an atmosphere of mutual trust, especially after such serious damage was done in the last few years to our relations.” Peskov told the TASS news agency separately that Putin was ready to be flexible when it came to mending ties which he wanted to improve, but that there was a limit to his flexibility and that he would need to see some U.S. reciprocity. Peskov spoke after one of Russia’s most senior diplomats told the Interfax news agency earlier on Thursday that the Russian government had been in touch with members of Trump’s political team during the U.S. election campaign and knew most of his entourage.

Summary: ट्रम्प की विदेश नीति लगभग पुतिन के समान हैः क्रेमलिन


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s attacks on a federal judge of Mexican heritage have ignited hundreds of postings on social media about an advocacy group for Latinos that some Trump supporters are calling a terrorist organization. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an Indiana native whose parents are Mexican immigrants, is making unfair rulings against him as the presiding judge in a class-action lawsuit over Trump University because of his plans to crack down on illegal immigration, including a promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. As evidence of what they say is Curiel’s bias, Trump and some of his supporters have pointed to the judge’s membership in La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a local group for Hispanic lawyers that is affiliated with the Hispanic National Bar Association. Some Trump supporters have incorrectly linked La Raza Lawyers to the National Council of La Raza, a 50-year-old civil rights group that has been strongly critical of Trump’s proposals on immigration, as well as his idea to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.  The NCLR’s non-profit designation bars it from engaging in political campaigns, and the group’s website describes it as a “nonpartisan voice for Latinos.”  A conservative blog, GotNews.com, first noted Curiel’s membership in the lawyer’s group, which it identified simply as “La Raza,” on May 31. A day later, another conservative website, The Daily Caller, made a link to the NCLR. After the NCLR was first named, Trump fans on Twitter began attacking it. “Judge #TrumpHater #GonzaloCuriel is a member of the #TERRORIST group #LaRazza #BANLaRazza #GonzaloCuriel #RESIGN,” wrote a user @WillysBaldSpot, whose profile describes her as a Trump supporter.  “I would never have known the “La Raza” organization existed without Trump’s controversial comments. #genius,” wrote @asamjulian, another self-proclaimed Trump fan. Trump on Sunday repeated his attack on Curiel in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “He’s a member of a club or society very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he’s got bias,” Trump said in the interview.  “This judge has treated me very unfairly. He’s treated me in a hostile manner, and there’s something going on,” he added. The words “La Raza” translate from Spanish to mean “the race,” which Trump fans cite as proof the NCLR is a group of people who hate anyone who isn’t Hispanic.  Lisa Navarrete, an NCLR spokeswoman, rejected that interpretation, saying that “thousands” of groups had names that included “La Raza” as a “nod to our common heritage.” The attacks on the advocacy group are the latest signs of the increasing racial tension in the 2016 presidential race. Critics have said Trump’s calls to deport undocumented immigrants and ban Muslims amount to racism. His supporters say he’s defending the country from terrorism and violence.  Some supporters of the New York businessman have blamed the NCLR for the violent clashes between anti-Trump protesters and Trump fans at a San Jose, California, rally last week. “Thank you La Raza for putting California into play for Trump,” wrote another supporter, @magnifier661. “Your violent fascism turned off the voting class #MAGA (a hashtag meaning Make America Great Again).”  The NCLR has been criticized in the past for its leaders’ statements on immigration - the group supports a path to citizenship for people who entered the United States illegally - but Navarrete said it has never before attracted the ire of a presidential candidate.  Over the past week, she said, she and other NCLR officials have been calling journalists and pundits they believe are mischaracterizing the group.  “We’ve been doing a lot of correcting the media and making sure they’re not repeating what supporters of Mr. Trump are saying,” she said. “We’re sitting around arguing the minutiae of banking regulation, not running around in hoods.’” Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Summary: कौन सा 'ला रज़ा'? ट्रम्प की टिप्पणियों से समूह की भूमिका पर भ्रम पैदा होता है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that possible supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine by the United States will not promote stability in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his pages in social media that the U.S. Senate had approved supplies of  lethal weapons of defensive character to our country .  It said the bill approved by U.S. lawmakers envisaged a total of $500 million in U.S. support of Ukraine s defense and security.  This is Poroshenko s statement, we have not heard any statements by the American side regarding this,  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.

Summary: क्रेमलिनः यूक्रेन को अमेरिकी घातक हथियारों की आपूर्ति स्थिरता को बढ़ावा नहीं देगी


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Donald Trump accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of a legacy of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness” as U.S. secretary of state and vowed to be tough on crime and illegal immigrants in a speech on Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. Trump’s 75-minute speech was designed to set the tone for the general election campaign against Clinton, an answer to Republicans who say the best way he can unify the divided party is to detail why the Democrat should not be elected on Nov. 8. As the crowd chanted: “Lock her up” for her handling of U.S. foreign policy, Trump waved them off and said: “Let’s defeat her in November.” Thousands of supporters who were gathered in the convention hall roared their approval.  When it was over, Trump was joined on stage by family members as balloons cascaded from above and confetti blew around the arena. A CNN snap poll of viewers of the speech said 57 percent had a “very positive reaction” to the address and 18 percent a somewhat positive reaction, while 24 percent said it had a negative effect. Social media sentiment toward Trump based on tweets that mentioned his name was slightly more negative than positive shortly after his speech.  The acceptance speech by Trump, 70, closed out a four-day convention that underscored his struggle to heal fissures in the Republican Party over his anti-illegal-immigrant rhetoric and concerns about his temperament. The event was boycotted by many big-name establishment Republicans, such as 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and members of the Bush family that gave the party its last two presidents. Trump presented a bleak view of America under siege from illegal immigrants, threatened by Islamic State militants, hindered by crumbling infrastructure and weakened by unfair trade deals and race-related violence. Accusing illegal immigrants of taking jobs from American citizens and committing crimes, Trump vowed to build a “great border wall” against the border-crossers. “We will stop it,” Trump said. Trump took positions in conflict with traditional Republican policies. He said he would avoid multinational trade deals but instead pursue agreements with individual countries. He would renegotiate the NAFTA trade accord linking the United States, Canada and Mexico. He would penalize companies that outsource jobs and then export their foreign-made products back into the United States. “We will never sign bad trade deals,” Trump thundered. “America first!” The New York businessman, who has never held elected office, filled his speech with some of the bravado he used to win the Republican nomination over 16 rivals, punctuating his rhetorical points by waving an index finger. “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves,” Trump said. “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” In his speech, Trump portrayed himself as a fresh alternative to traditional politicians, willing to consider new approaches to vexing problems and help working-class people who may feel abandoned. Laying out his case against Clinton, he denounced nation-building policies that were actually put in place to some extent by George W. Bush, without mentioning by name the Republican president who launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Trump said policies pursued by Clinton in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria had made a bad situation worse. He blamed her for the rise of Islamic State militants and blasted her willingness to accept thousands of Syrian refugees. “After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,” Trump said. Clinton senior adviser John Podesta dismissed the speech as painting “a dark picture of an America in decline” and called it a reminder that Trump “is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be president of the United States.” John Weaver, a senior adviser to Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich, a former presidential rival to Trump, said in a tweet that Trump had delivered the “saddest, darkest, most depressing acceptance speech in modern history.”  Trump needed a strong performance on Thursday night to improve his chances of getting a boost in opinion polls as Democrats prepare for their own, more scripted convention next week in Philadelphia. In a contest that pits two politicians viewed as unfavorable by large segments of the American people, Trump also accused Clinton, 68, of being the puppet of big business, elite media and major donors who want to preserve the current political system. “That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change. My message is that things have to change – and they have to change right now,” Trump said. Trump said he would speedily address the violence that has dominated headlines, such as the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers earlier this month. He vowed to defeat “the barbarians of ISIS,” the acronym for Islamic State. “I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored,” Trump said. The next president takes office on Jan. 20. The prevailing narrative at the Cleveland convention has not been about Trump’s positions, but dominated instead by the failure of he party’s various factions to unite behind Trump. A series of distractions at the convention largely thwarted a bid by the Trump campaign to show him as a caring father and magnanimous business leader who would bring greater prosperity and safety to the United States.  But in the end, many of these points were made when Ivanka Trump, Trump’s daughter, introduced her father. “I have seen him fight for his family. I have seen him fight for his employees. I have seen him fight for his company and now I am seeing him fight for our country,” she said. Trump’s text of his speech, released by his campaign,  included extensive footnotes to show where the material originated. That was perhaps in reaction to the speech given on Monday night by Trump’s wife Melania, who was accused of plagiarism when she repeated lines from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama, Obama’s wife. A staff writer for the Trump Organization later took responsibility for the misstep.

Summary: ट्रंप ने रिपब्लिकन पार्टी का नामांकन स्वीकार किया, 'अमेरिका पहले' रखने का संकल्प लिया


PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for reform of the European Union on Tuesday, detailing a desire for a major overhaul of the single currency bloc and ideas on deeper defense and immigration cooperation. Macron was setting out his ideas before German Chancellor Angela Merkel begins the task of building a coalition government after she suffered a sharp fall in support in Sunday s election, which may hamper her ability to help him deliver reform.   Below are highlights from his speech:  A more fragile Europe is today exposed to waves of globalization.   The only path that assures our future is the rebuilding of a Europe that is sovereign, united and democratic.    At the beginning of the next decade, Europe must have a joint intervention force, a common defense budget and a joint doctrine for action.   We must provide Europe with a joint civil protection force.   It is only with Europe that we can efficiently protect our borders and welcome those who need protection in a dignified manner, and at the same time send back those who are not eligible for asylum.   We must create a European asylum office, which accelerates and harmonizes our procedures.        Says he wants  the gradual creation of a European border police  to assure the better protection of Europe s borders.      We can no longer see Africa as a threat but as a partner.   Development aid must be increased.     We need a tax on carbon at the borders of Europe. This is indispensable.   Studies show that a carbon price below 25-30 euros per tonne is not efficient.  Macron says Europe needs  an agency for disruptive innovation ... let us finance research in new areas such as Artificial Intelligence.   We cannot accept that there are European firms that are taxed and internationals one that are not.   Says he wants EU heads of states to take up the issue of  a tax on value where it is created, which will enable us to review our tax systems profoundly, to tax without complacency those companies that set up outside Europe for the sole purpose of escaping tax.   A durable economic power can only be built around a single currency. It is from this economic and monetary union that we can create an integrated Europe.   The fundamental issue is not a mechanism which will magically solve all our problems ... it is not about mutualizing our past debts or solving the financial problems of one country or another. What is at stake is to reduce unemployment which affects one in five European youths.  Macron says Europe needs its own budget to  finance joint investments and assure stability when confronted by economic shocks ... A budget can only go hand in hand with strong political leadership led by a common minister and a strong parliamentary supervision at the European level.    Macron says wants to define  a common corporate tax band ; Europe needs to define a minimum wage that reflects the economic reality of each country.       We need a Europe that is simpler, more transparent and less bureaucratic.   Simple, efficient, protective, the single market should become a space for convergence rather than competition.  In the context of a wider Europe:  We cannot continue with a (European) Commission of 30 members, as if each country must have its own members. It has no sense and does not reflect the European project. A Commission of 15 members should be our target.  FRANCO-GERMAN AXIS To Germany:  Why not set ourselves the objective that by 2024 we integrate totally our markets by applying the same rules to our companies, from corporate law to bankruptcy regulation.  On Merkel:  We share the same European ambitions and I know her commitment to Europe. I m proposing to Germany a new partnership We will not agree on everything, not immediately, but we will discuss everything.    This Europe which has allowed us to turn our backs on war needs to be ambitious once again.

Summary: मुख्य आकर्षणः यूरोपीय संघ पर फ्रांसीसी राष्ट्रपति मैक्रों का भाषण


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A bid by U.S. President Donald Trump to deport non-Mexican illegal migrants to Mexico that has enraged Mexicans will top the agenda when officials from both countries meet on Thursday amid a deepening rift between the two nations. The U.S. government on Tuesday said it would seek to deport many illegal immigrants to Mexico if they entered the United States from there, regardless of their nationality, prompting a fiery response from Mexican officials. Calling the measure “unilateral” and “unprecedented,” Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said new immigration guidelines would top the agenda of meetings in Mexico City with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. The stakes are high for the United States, since Mexico has warned that a breakdown in relations could affect its extensive cooperation on the fight against narcotics and on stemming the flow of Central American migrants that reach the U.S. border  Talking points from a senior official show Mexicans plan to seek more information on Trump’s executive orders at the summit. Officials plan to say, “We are worried about the consequences that these can have for Mexican nationals,” in the United States, the notes show. As part of its response, Videgaray said Mexico’s foreign ministry would get involved in legal cases in the United States where it considered the rights of Mexicans had been violated. “The Mexican government will take all the measures legally possible to defend the human rights of Mexicans abroad, especially in the United States,” Videgaray said.  The visit, which will include meetings with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, as well as military, finance and interior officials, is supposed to focus on border security, law enforcement and trade, according to the state department.   But hopes for a thawing in relations are low, after a series of botched meetings last month deepened tensions between the historic allies.  “The relationship... is at such a historic low that it would be wishful thinking to assume that new concrete agenda items to advance [it] will come at this point,” Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Economic Growth Initiative said.  Pena Nieto abruptly canceled a planned January summit with Trump after the real estate mogul suggested the Mexican leader should not come if he refused to pay for a border wall.  And Trump signed his first executive orders to punish sanctuary cities and build the wall, which could cost around $21.6 billion, the first time Videgaray traveled to Washington to negotiate with counterparts last month. Trump has also threatened to rip up a key trade deal between the United States and Mexico if he cannot renegotiate it to favor American interests.  The Tuesday guidance also calls for the hiring of 15,000 more immigration agents, while subjecting immigrants who cannot show they have been in the country for more than two years to “expedited removal.”  In the past the United States has struggled to fill vacancies thanks to rigorous vetting requirements.

Summary: निर्वासन विवाद ने गुस्से में मेक्सिको के साथ ट्रम्प के राजदूतों की बातचीत को प्रभावित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ethics committee of the U.S. House of Representatives said on Tuesday it would continue to investigate possible conflicts of interest by Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat and liberal firebrand running for the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Marco Rubio.      The possible conflicts of interest relate to Grayson’s roles as both a hedge fund manager and a member of Congress. The committee in a statement said the matter needed further review; it gave no time frame for completion. Grayson has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement Tuesday, his campaign called the ethics probe a “political witch hunt.” The extension means the issue will still hover over a race that is seen as key to Democrats’ bid to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans in November’s elections. The primary is in August. The New York Times reported in February that emails and the fund’s marketing documents showed Grayson had promoted his international travels, some with congressional delegations, to solicit business for the fund, in possible violation of House ethics rules.  “The larger picture here is that the Washington political establishment has decided who their favored candidate is, and it’s not Rep. Grayson,” the statement from Grayson’s campaign said. Top Democrats have tried to get Grayson to drop out of the Florida Senate race because of the questions about the hedge fund, throwing their support to Democratic opponent Representative Patrick Murphy. President Barack Obama has endorsed Murphy, and Vice President Joe Biden has campaigned with Murphy. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said earlier this year that Grayson’s actions had disgraced Congress and that he should leave the Senate race immediately.  But Grayson has been endorsed by some grassroots liberal groups who appreciate his outspokenness. One of his more famous lines, delivered during the Obamacare debate in 2009, was that the Republican health-care plan for America amounted to “don’t get sick,” and if you do, “die quickly.” The New York Times reported that Grayson had created the hedge fund in 2011 after losing a race for re-election to Congress, and kept it open after he was re-elected in 2012. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange, the fund had been called the Grayson Fund, but Grayson changed the name to Sibylline Fund LP. The Times reported the fund had closed branches previously located in the Cayman Islands. Rubio, who recently ended a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, leaves the Senate after this year after just one term. Republicans seeking the seat include Representatives Ron DeSantis and David Jolly.

Summary: हाउस एथिक्स कमेटी ने फ्लोरिडा के ग्रेसन की जांच जारी रखी


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on Monday of declaring war against it because of aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah, a dramatic escalation of a crisis threatening to destabilize the tiny Arab country. Lebanon has been thrust to the center of regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran since the Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on Saturday, blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech.    Saudi Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan said the Lebanese government would  be dealt with as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia  because of what he described as aggression by Hezbollah. Faulting the Hariri-led administration for failing to take action against Hezbollah during a year in office, Sabhan said  there are those who will stop (Hezbollah) and make it return to the caves of South Lebanon , the heartland of the Shi ite community. In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, he added:  Lebanese must all know these risks and work to fix matters before they reach the point of no return.  He did not spell out what action Saudi Arabia might take against Lebanon, a country with a weak and heavily indebted state that is still rebuilding from its 1975-90 civil war and where one-in-four people is a Syrian refugee. There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese government.  Hezbollah is both a military and a political organization that is represented in the Lebanese parliament and in the Hariri-led coalition government formed last year. Its powerful guerrilla army is widely seen as stronger than the Lebanese army, and has played a major role in the war in neighboring Syria, another theater of Saudi-Iranian rivalry where Hezbollah has fought in support of the government. Lebanese authorities said on Monday the country s financial institutions could cope with Hariri s resignation and the stability of the Lebanese pound was not at risk. But the cash price of Lebanon s U.S. dollar-denominated bonds fell, with longer-dated maturities suffering hefty losses as investors took a dim view of the medium- to longer-term outlook for Lebanon. Hariri cited a plot to assassinate him during his unexpected resignation speech broadcast from Saudi Arabia which caught even his aides off guard. He also slammed Hezbollah and Iran, accusing them of sowing strife in the Arab world. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he will not comment on Hariri s speech, calling it a  Saudi statement  and saying Riyadh had forced Hariri to resign. The sudden nature of Hariri s resignation generated speculation in Lebanon that his family s Saudi construction business had been caught up in an anti-corruption purge and he had been coerced into resigning.  Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said it was  nonsense  to suggest Hariri had been coerced into quitting in a CNN interview on Monday. Hariri had quit because Hezbollah had been  calling the shots  in the government, he said. Hariri, a Saudi citizen, was free to leave the country at any time, he said. Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a senior member of Hariri s political party, said he was under the impression Hariri would return to Beirut within days.  A meeting between Saudi King Salman and Hariri in Riyadh on Monday proved  rumors  wrong, he said - an apparent reference to speculation that Hariri was detained or forced to quit.    Earlier on Monday, President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, appealed for national unity. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, another political ally of Hezbollah, said in a televised statement after meeting Aoun it was too early to talk about forming a new government. The crisis could re-aggravate tensions between Sunni and Shi ite Muslims and afflict Lebanese government with paralysis once again. All of the sides have called for calm and there has been no sign of unrest since Hariri s resignation. The Hariri-led government took office last year in a political deal that made Aoun president. The deal ended years of deadlock, and last month it produced Lebanon s first budget since 2005. Hariri flew to Saudi Arabia on Friday after meeting in Beirut the top adviser to Iran s Supreme Leader, who described the coalition as  a victory  and  great success  afterwards.

Summary: सऊदी अरब का कहना है कि लेबनान ने युद्ध की घोषणा कर दी है, जिससे संकट गहराता जा रहा है