(Reuters) - A federal court judge in California on Monday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump to deny some federal grants to so-called sanctuary cities, undermining the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The judge, who blocked the order provisionally in April, issued a permanent injunction in the suit brought by the city and county of San Francisco and Santa Clara County, which said the order was unconstitutional. “The Counties have demonstrated that the Executive Order has caused and will cause them constitutional injuries by violating the separation of powers doctrine and depriving them of their Tenth and Fifth Amendment rights,” U.S. District Judge William Orrick for the Northern District of California wrote in his order.  Trump issued the order in January, shortly after he was inaugurated, slashing funding to jurisdictions that refuse to comply with a statute that requires local governments to share information with U.S. immigration authorities. As part of that policy, the Justice Department has sought to punish cities and other local jurisdictions that have joined a growing “sanctuary” movement aimed at shielding illegal immigrants from stepped-up deportation efforts. “The district court exceeded its authority today when it barred the president from instructing his cabinet members to enforce existing law,” Department of Justice spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement. “The Justice Department will vindicate the president’s lawful authority to direct the executive branch.” The department has already appealed the judge’s prior ruling from April. The Trump administration contends local authorities endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants arrested for crimes. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing “sanctuary” movement. Supporters of the sanctuary policy argue enlisting police cooperation in rounding up immigrants for removal undermines communities’ trust in local police, particularly among Latinos. The Justice Department is concerned about localities’ compliance with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain people up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release time so that immigration officials can pick them up. Some cities say they will only honor such requests when  accompanied by criminal warrants, and that compliance is voluntary and not required under the statute. Chicago also sued the federal government in August over the threats of funding cuts by the Justice Department. A federal judge sided with the city in September and issued a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. government from denying the public-safety grants.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया में अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने अभयारण्य शहरों पर ट्रम्प के आदेश को अवरुद्ध कर दिया


DUBLIN (Reuters) - The deal propping up the Irish government will be dead if opposition party Fianna Fail submits a motion of no confidence in the deputy prime minister before a 1100 deadline, Employment minister Regina Doherty said on Friday.  It had been unclear whether the ruling party considered submitting the motion sufficient to violate the terms of the three-year deal, which Prime Minister Leo Varadkar s minority government depends on to rule, or whether it would consider the deal broken only when a vote on the motion was taken.

Summary: आयरलैंड के प्रधानमंत्री की पार्टी का कहना है कि अगर विपक्ष विश्वास प्रस्ताव प्रस्तुत करता है तो सरकारी सौदा समाप्त हो गया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senators Susan Collins and Shelley Moore Capito said on Tuesday they will not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement healthcare plan. The senators spoke out shortly after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans planned to vote on a straight repeal of President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act after efforts to overhaul the law collapsed on Monday.  “My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians,” Capito said in a statement. Collins made her comments to reporters at the Capitol.

Summary: दो रिपब्लिकन सीनेटरों ने ओबामाकेयर को सीधे निरस्त करने के लिए 'नहीं' कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers in the House Armed Services Committee began debating an annual defense policy bill on Wednesday that would shift $18 billion in Pentagon war-funding to other military needs. The proposed legislation would use the $18 billion to halt cuts to the size of the military and boost training and maintenance in an effort to improve U.S. military readiness. The funding shift would leave $35.7 billion to pay for U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The House panel said that was enough to last through April 2017, giving the next president time to evaluate the security situation and make a supplemental budget request to Congress. Representative Madeleine Bordallo, a Democrat from Guam, said she was “concerned that the short-sighted budget gimmick ... may leave our troops short of funding required in the near future.” But Representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the committee, said that while “some people may call it a gimmick,” the Democratic majority in 2008 had done something very similar. The U.S. military has warned repeatedly in recent years that ongoing efforts to trim nearly $1 trillion from projected defense budgets over a decade have forced it to postpone training, maintenance and upkeep. The measure, the National Defense Authorization Act, sets U.S. defense policy and authorizes, but does not appropriate, funding for the Pentagon. Lawmakers in the House panel expected to vote on the final version early on Thursday, after which it will go to the full House of Representatives. The draft bill unveiled by Thornberry this week would authorize $610.5 billion in defense spending for the 2017 fiscal year beginning in October. That total is in line with the defense spending plan proposed by Obama earlier this year. The proposal calls for an active duty Army of 480,000 troops, which is 20,000 more than proposed in the president’s budget request. It also seeks significant reforms in the organization of the Defense Department, including expanding the term and the advisory role of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. During debates on the legislation, lawmakers approved an amendment that calls for a senior U.S. defense official to be placed in charge of developing directed energy weapons. The U.S. military hopes directed-energy weapons will provide it with an asymmetric advantage over potential rivals, for example enabling it to counter million-dollar missiles with a weapon that fires projectiles costing only $25,000.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने रक्षा नीति विधेयक में धन जुटाने के हथकंडे पर बहस की


CAIRO (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanese prime minister on Nov. 4, left Cairo for Lebanon on Tuesday after a brief meeting with Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian airport sources said on Tuesday. Hariri announced his resignation during a visit to Saudi Arabia but has yet to return home. He has said he will clarify his position once he returns to Lebanon. His surprise resignation has triggered a political crisis in Lebanon, which finds itself in the midst of a bitter regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Summary: लेबनान का हरीरी काहिरा से लेबनान के लिए रवाना हुआः मिस्र हवाई अड्डे के सूत्र


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she had no doubts that the European Union and Britain could achieve a good result on Brexit after Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to leaders to move the talks forward.  I have absolutely no doubts that if we are all focused    and the speech in Florence was a contribution   that we can get a good result,  Merkel told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.  From my side there are no indications at all that we won t succeed,  she said.

Summary: मर्केल को कोई संदेह नहीं है कि ब्रिटेन, यूरोपीय संघ ब्रेक्सिट के अच्छे परिणाम हासिल करेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir and Qatar s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani discussed the situation in Syria and problems in the Middle East by phone on Monday, the Kremlin said. The two men noted successes in the fight against  terrorist groups  in Syria and prospects for a political solution to the crisis there, the Kremlin said.

Summary: रूस के पुतिन और कतर के अमीर ने फोन पर सीरिया पर चर्चा कीः क्रेमलिन


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - Minority voters in North Carolina will have a harder time casting a ballot this presidential election year if a judge allows a law requiring photo identification at the polls to take effect, challengers of the law said in federal court on Monday. But a lawyer representing the state said only a small number of people may not have the necessary forms of identification and exceptions will be allowed under an amended version of the measure. “It’s a policy question,” lawyer Thomas Farr said. “The evidence here does not rise anywhere close to showing a discriminatory intent.” The trial in Winston-Salem is one of several closely watched voting rights battles that will play out across the country as Democrats and Republicans fight for the White House in November.  Democrats argue voter ID laws passed by Republican-led state legislatures target voters who typically support the Democratic party. Proponents of the measures say they are intended to prevent voter fraud. The case in North Carolina tests a key piece of broad voting restrictions passed soon after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that states with a history of discrimination no longer needed federal approval for voting law changes affecting minorities. The U.S. Justice Department and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People argue North Carolina’s revised voting protocol disproportionately burdens African-Americans and Hispanics, who are more likely than whites to lack the acceptable forms of identification. The law “threatens to deter, confuse and disenfranchise voters,” said Michael Glick, a lawyer representing the NAACP. “It sets out to solve a problem that never existed.” Last summer, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder heard arguments about the state’s decision to shorten its early voting period, end same-day registration, eliminate pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds and stop provisional ballots cast outside the correct precinct from being counted. He has not issued a decision. The voter ID requirement is getting a separate vetting after lawmakers amended it in 2015 ahead of the initial trial. Now voters who cite a “reasonable impediment” to being able to obtain acceptable identification will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. South Carolina is the only other state with a reasonable impediment provision, Farr said. Challengers said the law remains discriminatory and could give election workers too much discretion. It is unknown if Schroeder will rule before the state’s presidential primaries in March.

Summary: उत्तरी कैरोलिना का मतदाता पहचान पत्र कानून परीक्षण पर चला जाता है


BARCELONA (Reuters) - A strike called across Catalonia by pro-independence activists to protest the jailing of sacked regional politicians shut down roads early on Wednesday, causing huge tailbacks into Barcelona while some public transport ran minimum services.Catalan pro-independence union CSC called the strike which was supported by civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, whose leaders were imprisoned last month on sedition charges. Scores of people stood across dozens of major highways in the region waving placards and chanting  freedom for political prisoners  while minor scuffles were reported on social media as police attempted to move protesters, TV and video images showed. One crowd of activists also forced their way into the train station in the city of Girona and protested on the tracks, causing delays, images on social media showed.  However, despite transport delays, shops and businesses in the region largely appeared to be functioning as normal. The leaders the ANC and Omnium and eight former members of the Catalan government are in prison awaiting trial after staging a referendum on secession that Spanish courts deemed illegal and then declaring independence. The independence drive has tipped Spain in to its worst political crisis in decades, widening political and cultural divisions and prompting thousands of companies to relocate out of the region.  The government, which assumed control of Catalonia after a unilateral independence declaration, has called an election for Dec. 21.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया विरोध हड़ताल ने क्षेत्र में सड़कों को बंद कर दिया


(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz pledged on Tuesday to boost the size of the U.S. armed forces and invest in new airplanes and ships, as he seeks to push back in military-focused South Carolina against rivals’ criticism of his defense record. Cruz, speaking at a decommissioned aircraft carrier in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, said that if he won the White House he would establish a total active-duty force of 1.4 million people, prioritize constructing new ballistic missile submarines and invest in anti-missile systems. “If you think it’s too expensive to defend this nation, try not defending it,” the U.S. senator from Texas said in a speech unveiling his proposal. Republicans seeking the party nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election are emphasizing defense issues in South Carolina. The state, home to a number of military bases and retired veterans, holds its Republican primary on Saturday.  Cruz has taken heat from rivals for voting for bills limiting defense spending and for pushing to revamp domestic surveillance programs. He has also argued for scaled-back military involvement overseas, saying the United States should protect its interests but not engage in “nation-building.” Cruz’s Republican opponents have touted their own plans to boost the size of the U.S. military. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has called for the Army to be staffed at 490,000 people, compared to Cruz’s proposal Tuesday of 525,000 soldiers.  (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Frances Kerry) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार क्रूज़ ने सैन्य वृद्धि का प्रस्ताव रखा


(Reuters) - Alabama Governor Robert Bentley will face a legislative effort seeking his impeachment, a state lawmaker said on Tuesday, announcing the start of formal proceedings amid escalating political fallout over his relationship with a former advisor. Bentley, a two-term Republican governor, has apologized for making inappropriate remarks to the married ex-staffer, while denying allegations of a physical affair. Since he acknowledged the accusations two weeks ago, he has been dogged by questions about their relationship and potentially inappropriate use of state resources. State representative Ed Henry, also a Republican, held a news conference on Tuesday to discuss impeachment proceedings, acknowledging uncertainty about exactly how they would unfold. “We are looking at this governor that has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama,” he said, calling on Bentley to step down. “We’ve never done this before. We’ve never tried to impeach a governor,” added Henry, who spoke alongside several state representatives who support impeachment. He drafted articles of impeachment that accuse Bentley of corruption, incompetence, immoral behavior, and neglecting his duties as governor. In response, Bentley issued a statement calling the effort a distraction from pending issues before the state legislature. “There are no grounds for impeachment, and I will vigorously defend myself and my administration from this political attack,” said Bentley, a medical doctor who easily won re-election to a second term in November 2014.  The senior advisor in question, Rebekah Mason, resigned last week. She said she intended to focus on her husband and children and did not address the alleged affair. Funding for her salary was among the issues questioned in the impeachment documents. Discussions about their relationship have dominated Alabama politics since March 23 when Bentley was publicly accused of having an affair by Spencer Collier, the former head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, just after he was fired by the governor. Audio recordings have emerged that depict Bentley making suggestive comments to Mason, according to state media reports.  Bentley’s wife filed for divorce in August 2015 after 50 years of marriage, citing unspecified problems.

Summary: अलबामा के राज्यपाल को राज्य विधानमंडल में महाभियोग का सामना करना पड़ेगा


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Billionaire Carlos Slim said on Friday that Mexico should not fear Donald Trump, seeing opportunities for his country in the U.S. president’s economic policies, and praising Mexicans for uniting behind their government in talks with the northern neighbor. In a rare news conference, the telecommunications and construction mogul called Trump a negotiator, “not Terminator” and said his repeated attacks on Mexico had united the country, giving President Enrique Pena Nieto “strength” in trade and border security talks. “This is the most surprising example of national unity that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in my life,” said Slim, who turns 77 on Saturday. He compared Mexicans’ response to that when a devastating earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985. “We have to back the president of Mexico so he defends our national interests.” Slim spoke to reporters after Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a planned Washington summit with Trump following a tweet by the American that he should stay away unless Mexico agreed to pay for a border wall. Aiming to cool tensions, the two presidents spoke for an hour by phone on Friday, and the battered peso currency strengthened. Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican products have ravaged the peso and spread worries about the economy, which is heavily dependent on the U.S. market.  However, Slim, who spoke out against his fellow billionaire during the U.S. election campaign but had dinner with him after the Nov. 8 victory at the polls, said Trump’s policies aimed at growing the U.S. economy would boost Mexico’s growth as well as provide jobs for Mexican laborers living north of the border.     “The circumstances in the United States are very favorable for Mexico,” Slim said, adding that he has not had any communication with Trump’s team since the December dinner. “It wasn’t a romance,” he joked about the meeting. Referring repeatedly to Trump’s books and other writings, Slim argued that people should not be surprised at Trump’s actions because it is all in his book “Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America,” which Slim said he had not finished reading. “He’s a great negotiator,” Slim said. He said businesses should not be too worried if Trump’s policies led to the collapse of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) underpinning Mexico’s economy, saying the country could fall back on World Trade Organization tariffs. He said Mexican workers in the United States would benefit from Trump’s planned infrastructure push, but warned that U.S. protectionism and other policies could hurt American consumers.  “Among these changes is a return to the past, what a dear friend called ‘regressive utopias’,” he said, calling on the United States to focus on advanced manufacturing. Asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Slim said the best barrier to illegal immigration would be investment that created opportunities and jobs in Mexico. Before the highly-anticipated news conference, speculation had been growing about whether Slim might try to run for president in 2018, but he poured cold water on that talk. “I think I can do more on the business side,” he said. Slim’s largest companies do not have much obvious exposure to any border tax Trump might impose on Mexican imports. His high-profile holding in the New York Times Co, made him a target during the U.S. campaign, when Trump accused him of using the newspaper to try to help Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. Slim’s shares have limited voting rights. Slim on Friday said he had been selling New York Times stock, but his son-in-law later said this was not correct. At the conference he was flanked by two of his sons, Carlos and Marco Antonio, and his son-in-law, Arturo Elias, with other family members watching. Most of the Slim family’s wealth comes from Latin America-focused telecoms giant America Movil. America Movil does have a substantial U.S. business called TracFone which sells prepaid phone plans to customers and rents the networks of big operators. His next largest companies are retail and industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso and Mexico-focused bank Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Summary: टाइकून स्लिम का कहना है कि ट्रम्प 'टर्मिनेटर' नहीं, मेक्सिको के लिए अवसर देखते हैं


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The California Senate on Thursday passed a sweeping package of gun control bills that would require background checks for ammunition purchasers, ban possession of high-capacity magazines and establish a firearms violence research center. The bills, whose passage through the Assembly are far from assured, are at the heart of a political duel between Senate leader Kevin de Leon and Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, who are proposing competing plans in advance of key election campaigns. “Gun violence has reached epidemic proportions across our nation,” de Leon, who represents Los Angeles, said as he introduced the bills on the Senate floor on Thursday. “We cannot stand by while our communities suffer from this horrific violence.” The package of eight bills would ban the possession of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds, make stealing a gun a felony, limit the lending of guns among family members, and close a loophole in the state’s assault weapons ban. It is uncertain whether the bills will pass the Assembly, where Republicans and conservative Democrats have blocked some of the same measures in the past, or be signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who has vetoed some gun control measures. The Senate bills were fast-tracked through the legislature this week, even as state officials are counting signatures and preparing to place on the November ballot a referendum by Newsom that would accomplish many of the same goals. The competing measures are a sore point between the two powerful politicians that could spill into the November election campaign as well as the race to replace Brown in 2018. De Leon, who said Thursday that Newsom based his ballot initiative on de Leon’s own proposals, has asked the lieutenant governor to agree to withdraw his ballot measure should the Senate bills pass. But Newsom, who is running for governor, has refused. His campaign strategist, Dan Newman, said Thursday that the initiative was more comprehensive than the legislative package and should go before voters in the fall. Newsom is expected to make the gun control initiative a centerpiece of his campaign to replace Brown in 2018, along with a proposed referendum to legalize recreational use of marijuana. De Leon has not endorsed Newsom. He is close to possible Newsom rivals in the governor’s race, including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया की सीनेट ने बंदूक नियंत्रण पैकेज को मंजूरी दी


BRUSSELS/DUBLIN (Reuters) - British negotiators were locked in last-minute talks with their European Union and Irish counterparts on Monday, trying to put together a Brexit deal that Prime Minister Theresa May might agree over lunch in Brussels. London has broadly agreed to many of the EU s divorce terms, including paying out something like 50 billion euros. But the issues of the rights of expatriate citizens and the UK-EU border on the island of Ireland remain fraught, diplomats said.  Brussels officials and diplomats sounded increasingly confident of a deal over the weekend, but they caution that much will depend on the outcome of May s talks over lunch.  I have a good feeling but I am not prejudging the outcome,  one senior Brussels diplomat said. May hopes that her talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, due to start at 1:15 p.m. (1215 GMT), can persuade her 27 fellow EU leaders that  sufficient progress  has been made on divorce terms for them to agree next week to open talks on their future trade relationship. They will hold a summit on Friday, Dec. 15 [nL8N1O30C4], chaired by European Council President Donald Tusk, with whom May has scheduled a meeting at 4 p.m., after her lunch with Juncker. Dublin, backed by the rest of the EU, is seeking strong assurances that London will commit to keeping business regulations in Northern Ireland the same as in the EU, to avoid a  hard border  that could disrupt peace on the island.  Hopefully, we ll find a way forward today,  Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss the issue before May s talks. Coveney said the talks are in a  sensitive place , with the British and Irish governments discussing possible texts of an agreement. Britain is seeking to keep its options open, having rejected a commitment to leave Northern Ireland in a customs union with the EU or to keep the whole United Kingdom in one. May depends in parliament on a pro-British party in Northern Ireland that rejects any deal which would divide the province from the British mainland. But Ireland and the EU say maintaining a customs union is the best way to avoid  regulatory divergence . Juncker and Barnier will meet the European Parliament s Brexit team at 11 a.m. to brief them on progress. The legislature, which must approve any withdrawal treaty if a disruptive Brexit is to be avoided in March 2019, has demanded that EU courts have the final say in guaranteeing rights for 3 million EU citizens in Britain. Britain insists that it will no longer accept the supervision of the European Court of Justice. Nadine Dorries, a member of Britain s ruling Conservative Party who supports Brexit, said May should tell EU officials time is running out to move talks on to the next phase. The EU has had  enough time now to decide whether or not they are going to discuss trade with us, they need to get on with it and if they don t get on with it, the closer we get to walking away with no deal , she said. May portrays Monday s meeting as part of preparations for an EU summit on Dec. 15 - though the EU says no negotiations will be conducted at the summit itself, so Monday is the last chance for her to make offers. A British spokesman said:  With plenty of discussions still to go, Monday will be an important staging post on the road to the crucial December Council.  Since Britain s referendum on leaving the EU in 2016, high-profile opponents of Brexit have suggested Britain could change its mind and avoid what they say will be a disaster for its economy. Half of Britons support a second vote on whether to leave the EU, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday.    With the clock ticking down to the March 2019 exit date, May is under pressure to start talks on its future trade ties by the end of the year to remove the cloud of uncertainty for  companies that do business in the EU. More than 30 pro-Brexit supporters, including members of parliament and former Conservative ministers, have signed a letter calling on May to walk away from talks unless key conditions are met. They include an end to free movement of people from the EU into Britain and for the European Court of Justice to have no further role in British legal matters after March 2019.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता के अंतिम क्षणों में ब्रसेल्स के लिए रवाना हो सकते हैं


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade deal being negotiated by the United States and the European Union, had essentially failed. “The negotiations with the USA have de facto failed because we Europeans did not want to subject ourselves to American demands,” he said, according to a written transcript from German broadcaster ZDF of an interview due to be broadcast on Sunday. “Things are not moving on that front,” said Gabriel, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor. The U.S. and the EU have been negotiating the TTIP for three years and both sides had sought to conclude talks in 2016 but they have differences over various issues, including agriculture.

Summary: जर्मनी के अर्थव्यवस्था मंत्रीः U.S.-EU मुक्त व्यापार वार्ता विफल रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that new sanctions imposed against Venezuela were aimed at hobbling the regime of President Nicolas Maduro by restricting the country s access to U.S. debt and equity markets.  We urge those within the regime, including those who have been sanctioned, to distance themselves from the violence and the dictatorship,  Mnuchin told reporters at the White House. He said the sanctions were not aimed at  changing leadership  in Venezuela.  White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said at the same news conference that United States had no plans to take military action in Venezuela, but that President Donald Trump intended to take advantage of  a broad range of ... integrated options  in the future.

Summary: नए प्रतिबंधों का उद्देश्य वेनेजुएला की अमेरिकी ऋण बाजार तक पहुंच को प्रतिबंधित करना है


NEW YORK/SAN JUAN (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury counselor Antonio Weiss said on Thursday that without a proper restructuring regime, Puerto Rico will default and litigation will intensify, as he pushed Congress to act with legislation to help the island fix its crisis. Weiss, speaking to the House Natural Resources Committee in a hearing about the island’s fiscal crisis, outlined the scale of the problems the U.S. territory faces. “As the cascading defaults and litigation unfold, there is real risk of another lost decade, this one more damaging than the last,” Weiss said. A legislative solution for Puerto Rico, battling with $70 billion debt, may be edging closer. Legislation to find a fix for the island is expected to be drawn up following two Congressional hearings on Thursday - one in front of the House Natural Resources Committee at which Weiss was the sole witness. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he wants the Republican-led House to develop a response to Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis during the first quarter of 2016, and Republicans plan to bring a bill addressing the crisis to the House floor by the end of March. Puerto Rico wants access to a bankruptcy-like mechanism to reduce debt - a view backed by President Barack Obama’s administration and some Congressional Democrats. But majority Republicans have not supported efforts to extend bankruptcy protection to the island, a strategy which could be detrimental to some creditors, and are keen to put Puerto Rico under strict fiscal oversight.  Weiss, in questioning, said that Treasury’s restructuring proposal was not envisioning the Chapter 9 bankruptcy law U.S. states can access for their public agencies, but legislation “customized to the unique conditions that face Puerto Rico.”  Weiss said his team will have to work to convince island leaders of the need for an oversight board for the island. “I think the legislature doesn’t fully understand what this oversight authority would consist of,” he said.  Puerto Rico, with a 45 percent poverty rate, has been in recession for nearly a decade and is losing population to the mainland. It is suffering from a huge debt buildup and has already defaulted on some borrowings.  “There is fear of the future,” said Weiss. “Puerto Ricans are leaving and are joining us on the mainland where they find access to jobs, a future for their children, better healthcare.”  Weiss said that a failure to protect pension payments would “irreparably harm retirees” and add greater stress to Puerto Rico’s economy.  “We are deeply concerned about the pensions in Puerto Rico,” he said.  The Treasury late last year envisioned giving Puerto Rico’s pensioners stronger legal protection than holders of its constitutionally backed bonds if it went bankrupt, according to a draft of a proposed plan seen by Reuters. A separate hearing before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services focused on the impact to investors in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said without a broad restructuring framework to include more of the debt than a Chapter 9 framework would envision, the issue would not be solved and “we will be back here again.”  Legislation for Puerto Rico could potentially be written as a stand-alone law, which carries the risk of having little momentum to approve it, or attached to a bill related to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a congressional source previously said.  An FAA authorization bill which authorizes funding for the agency could come up for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as next month.        However, a legislative solution may be hard to achieve given the differing views and acrimonious relationship between Republicans, which control Congress, and Democrats.  Tom McClintock, a Republican of California, said instead of increasing regulation, Puerto Rico needs less red tape, less tax burden and could be turned into a “Hong Kong of the Caribbean.”     However, Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho said he appreciated that Weiss was “trying to find a solution.” “We don’t agree on every one of your solutions but I can tell that the administration is acting in good faith in finding a solution to the problem,” Labrador said.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको को बड़े पैमाने पर चूक से बचने के लिए पुनर्गठन की आवश्यकता हैः ट्रेजरी


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON (Reuters) - Two blasts rocked an area on the Myanmar side of the border with Bangladesh on Monday, accompanied by the sound of gunfire and thick black smoke, as violence that has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh showed no sign of easing. Bangladeshi border guards said a woman lost a leg from a blast about 50 meters inside Myanmar and was carried into Bangladesh to get treatment. Reuters reporters heard explosions and saw black smoke rising near a Myanmar village. The latest violence in Myanmar s northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast - on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in no man s land on the border - filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10 centimeters (3.94 inches) in diameter partially buried in the mud. He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground. Bangladeshi border guards said they believed the injured woman stepped on an anti-personnel mine, although that was not confirmed. Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the blasts which occurred around 2:25 p.m.  Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were landmines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army. The spokesman for Myanmar s national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Zaw Htay, said that a clarification was needed to determine  where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those land mines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?   There are so many questions. I would like to say that it is not solid news-writing if you write based on someone talking nonsense on the side of the road,  said Zaw Htay. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has come under increasing diplomatic pressure from countries with large Muslim populations such as Turkey and Pakistan to protect Rohingya civilians. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against  terrorists  responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October. On Monday, Reuters reporters saw fires and heard gunshots before the explosions near the Myanmar village of Taung Pyo Let Way.  Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force Rohingya out with a campaign of arson and killings. The number of those crossing the border into Bangladesh - 87,000 - surpassed the number who escaped Myanmar after a series of much smaller insurgent attacks last October that set off a military operation. That operation has led to accusations of serious human rights abuses. The newest estimate, based on calculations by U.N. workers in the Bangladeshi border district of Cox s Bazar, takes to about 174,000 the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October. The new arrivals have strained aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.  We are trying to build houses here, but there isn t enough space,  said Mohammed Hussein, 25, who was still looking for a place to stay after fleeing Myanmar four days ago.  No non-government organizations came here. We have no food. Some women gave birth on the roadside. Sick children have no treatment.   Hundreds of Rohingya milled beside the road while others slung tarpaulins over bamboo frames to make shelters against the monsoon rain. Among new arrivals, about 16,000 are school-age children and more than 5,000 are under the age of five who need vaccine coverage, aid workers said over the weekend.  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who said on Friday that violence against Myanmar s Muslims amounted to genocide, last week called Bangladesh s President Abdul Hamid to offer help in sheltering the Rohingya, Dhaka said. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Suu Kyi and other officials in Myanmar on Monday, to urge a halt to the violence. Suu Kyi s office said Marsudi expressed the Indonesian government s  support of the activities of the Myanmar government for the stability, peace and development of Rakhine state . They also discussed humanitarian aid and the two countries would collaborate for the development of the state, Suu Kyi s office said without giving further details.   There were more anti-Myanmar protests in Jakarta on Monday.  Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, called on Suu Kyi to condemn the  shameful  treatment of the Rohingya, saying  the world is waiting  for her to speak out. In addition to tens of thousands of Rohingya, more than 11,700  ethnic residents  had been evacuated from northern Rakhine state, the Myanmar government has said, referring to non-Muslims. The army said on Sunday Rohingya insurgents had set fire to monasteries, images of Buddha as well as schools and houses in the north of Rakhine state. It posted images of destroyed Buddha statues.

Summary: रोहिंग्याओं के पलायन के बीच बांग्लादेश सीमा के पास म्यांमार क्षेत्र में विस्फोट


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte voiced rare praise for the United States on Thursday, calling it an important security ally, and dismissing historic grievances and his slew of past tirades against Washington as  water under the bridge . Duterte s anti-American outbursts have become notorious and baffling for one of Washington s closest Asian allies since the nation gained independence from the United States in 1946. He was speaking on the 116th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles in the American-Philippines war on the central island of Samar, where 39 Filipino civilians were killed in retaliation for the deaths of 48 soldiers killed by rebels. Last year, at his first international summit in Laos, the maverick leader stunned regional leaders when he showed them pictures of that massacre. Then U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a bilateral meeting there with Duterte, who had called him a  son of a bitch  days earlier for expressing concern about his bloody war on drugs. On Thursday, Duterte said he had been advised to tone down his anti-American rhetoric and had positive words for the U.S. military, with which he has repeatedly threatened to sever ties, besides accusing it of supplying ineffective combat hardware and of making the Philippines a potential target for war.  This is all water under the bridge, I was under advice by the Department of Foreign Affairs, that I would temper my language and avoid cursing, which I am prone to do if I get emotional,  Duterte said in a speech.  I would not say they were our saviours, but they are our allies and they helped us. Even today, they provide crucial equipment to our soldiers in Marawi to fight the terrorists,  he said, referring to a city where Islamic State loyalists have been holed up for four months. Duterte was speaking in Balangiga, a town burned down in 1901 by U.S. soldiers, who seized two church bells as war trophies. Duterte has demanded the return of the bells and the two countries are now discussing the terms. Since Donald Trump replaced Obama as president, Duterte s attacks on the United States have decreased, though he vowed never to go there and last week passed up the opportunity to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Duterte sprang a surprise last month with a warm reception for visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, describing himself as a  humble friend  of the United States.  Some commentators have attributed his softer tone to the Trump administration refraining from criticism of Duterte s signature war on drugs. Duterte s foreign minister Alan Peter Cayetano, who met Tillerson in Washington on Wednesday, said the Philippines was open to receiving foreign observers to examine its human rights record and war on drugs, which has killed thousands.  We made it clear that we have nothing to hide and are ready to work with experts or observers as long as they are independent and fair,  Cayetano said in a statement.

Summary: फिलीपींस के नेता ने अमेरिकी 'सहयोगियों' की प्रशंसा के साथ अपनी धुन बदली


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s internet regulator had said it will purge the  evil influence  of its former top official who the ruling Communist Party has put under investigation for suspected corruption. The official, Lu Wei, was suspected of serious discipline breaches, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced on Tuesday.  Lu, a colorful and often brash official by Chinese standards, was at the height of his power seen as emblematic of China s increasingly pervasive internet controls. The Communist Party referred to him as the  first tiger  taken down after a congress in October, when President Xi Jinping pledged that his anti-graft campaign would continue to target both  tigers  and  flies , a reference to elite officials and ordinary bureaucrats. Lu s former agency, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), held a meeting on Wednesday in which it called its former chief  a typical two-faced person  who had  seriously polluted  its political environment.  Lu Wei cannot represent CAC s image. He precisely undermined CAC s image,  the agency said in statement published late on Wednesday. The CAC would  draw profound lessons  from Lu s breaches and  thoroughly purge Lu s evil influence , it said. The CCDI said in a separate commentary on its website on Thursday that the investigation of Lu was a potent sign that the party would not let up on its fight against wayward officials.  One must not think that no one will ask today about yesterday s crimes,  the CCDI said. It was  nonsense  to think the party would  let bygones be bygones , it said. Xi has waged war against deep-rooted corruption since taking office five years ago, punishing hundreds of thousands of officials. Lu worked his way up though China s official Xinhua news agency before becoming head of propaganda in Beijing and then moving to internet work in 2013. He later became a deputy propaganda minister. But his downfall, foreshadowed by his June 2016 replacement as head of the internet regulator and the loss of his other posts, is unlikely to signal a reversal of internet control policies, which have been tightened under his successor, Xu Lin. The government has blocked sites it thinks could challenge party rule or threaten stability, including sites such as Facebook and Google s main search engine and Gmail service.

Summary: चीन के इंटरनेट नियामक ने अपने पूर्व प्रमुख की निंदा की जो अब जांच के दायरे में हैं


WASHINGTON/LYNCHBURG, Va. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will move quickly to nominate a new FBI director, after he sparked a political firestorm by firing the man investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign. Trump told reporters he might even be able to make his decision on who should succeed James Comey to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation before he leaves on his first foreign trip on Friday. “Even that is possible,” Trump said, speaking on Air Force One before departing for Lynchburg, Virginia, where he delivered a commencement address. “I think the process is going to go quickly,” he said, adding that the candidates under consideration were mostly well known. “They’ve been vetted over their lifetime essentially. But very well known, highly respected, really talented people. And that’s what we want for the FBI.” Critics have assailed Trump for abruptly dismissing Comey, who was leading the agency’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.. Russia denies the claims and the White House says there was no collusion. Trump made the remarks to reporters prior to speaking to about 50,000 people at Liberty University in Lynchburg, where he did not mention Comey or the controversy his dismissal on Tuesday caused. It was Trump’s first public event outside the White House since Comey’s ouster. A White House official had said 11 people were under consideration - including acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Republican Senator John Cornyn, New York Appeals Court Judge Michael Garcia and former Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher - to replace Comey as FBI chief. Two new names, however, emerged on Saturday: FBI special agent Adam Lee and U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson. A source familiar with the process said Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, had interviewed Hudson, Lee and five others on Saturday. The FBI Agents Association, which claims more than 13,000 active and retired agents as its members, on Saturday endorsed another candidate: former Representative Mike Rogers, who had also worked as an FBI agent. At Liberty, the nation’s largest Christian college, Trump peppered his remarks with the kind of anti-establishment rhetoric that fueled his maverick presidential campaign, telling graduates to challenge “entrenched interests.” He thanked the crowd for their support and repeatedly invoked his own unlikely election victory.  “Relish the opportunity to be an outsider,” Trump said. “The more that a broken system tells you that you’re wrong, the more certain you should be that you must keep pushing ahead.” He also had strong words that seemed aimed at his critics. “No one has ever achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics standing on the sidelines explaining why it can’t be done,” Trump said. “Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic, because they’re people that can’t get the job done.”  Liberty’s president, Jerry Falwell, Jr., was a key early supporter of Trump during his campaign and helped rally support among religious conservatives.  Trump, who has been preparing for his first foreign trip - one that will take him to the Middle East and Europe - also will deliver the commencement address to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, on Wednesday.

Summary: ट्रंप ने एफ. बी. आई. के नए निदेशक की नियुक्ति के लिए जल्द कदम उठाने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday her campaign has been in contact with the campaign of rival Bernie Sanders about unifying the Democratic Party. Unifying the party will be a central challenge once Democrats choose their nominee, with Clinton heavily favored to win the nomination but facing a protracted battle with Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont In an interview on CNN, Clinton said the contacts are likely to intensify after next week’s California primary. “I will certainly do everything I can to unify the Democratic Party. Our campaigns have been reaching out to one another. We will continue to do that,” she said. She said both she and Sanders “are going to do everything we can” to prevent Republican candidate Donald Trump from winning the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Summary: क्लिंटन का कहना है कि उनका अभियान डेमोक्रेट्स को एकजुट करने के बारे में सैंडर्स खेमे से बात कर रहा है


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer had minor surgery on Wednesday for a narrowing of his urethra and the operation was successful, his office said. It was the second time the 77-year-old president had surgery on his urinary tract in two months. In October, he was operated on to reduce an enlarged prostate that had caused a urinary obstruction. Temer canceled his scheduled meetings on Wednesday and flew to S o Paulo for tests that were followed by surgery at the city s S rio-Liban s Hospital. In November, Temer underwent an angioplasty procedure to implant stents in three coronary arteries after his doctors found what they said was a bigger obstruction in one of the arteries. Wednesday s tests came at a crucial moment in Temer s presidency, as he scrambles to secure votes to pass a pension overhaul bill to help bring Brazil s huge budget deficit under control.

Summary: ब्राजील के टेमर की मूत्र पथ की सर्जरी हुई


PARIS (Reuters) - Britain is becoming subservient to a United States that will be extremely difficult to cooperate with judging by President Donald Trump’s “serious and worrying” first acts, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will hold talks with Trump later on Friday, wants a renewal of the “special relationship” between London and Washington at a time her conservative government redraws its relationship with Europe.  “Britain lived in an equilibrium with Europe,” Macron told France Culture radio. “But now it is becoming a vassal state, meaning it is becoming the junior partner of the United State.”  French opinion polls show Macron, a former investment banker running as an independent in this spring’s presidential election, closing in on the two frontrunners, conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Speaking about Trump, May joked on Thursday that “opposites attract” as she signaled a shift in foreign policy that will bring her position more in line with that of Trump.  Macron said Trump’s early policy moves suggested the United States might become a destabilizing force on the world stage.  “What’s happening today with Trump’s first statements and choices is extremely serious and worrying,” Macron said. “It’s firstly a choice that it will be an America that provokes... an America that destabilizes things that have been built for decades.” Macron has previously said he was sure Trump would maintain close ties with the European Union, but on Friday he appeared to concede this may no longer be the case.  “It signifies that the U.S. will no longer be in a position to co-organize globalization and be the world’s policeman with the European Union,” the former economy minister said. “The unpredictable choices, the outbursts and the inward-looking United States of Trump no longer guarantees Europe’s security.”

Summary: फ्रांस के राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार मैक्रों ने कहा, ब्रिटेन अमेरिका का जागीरदार राज्य बनता जा रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab said on Tuesday it is considering making changes to its subsidiary that sells products to the U.S. government, at a time when the company is facing allegations that it may be vulnerable to Russian influence. The U.S. Senate is voting this week on a defense policy spending bill that includes language that would ban Kaspersky Lab products from being used by U.S. government agencies.       “Given that U.S. government sales have not been a significant part of the company’s activity in North America, Kaspersky Lab is exploring opportunities to better optimize the Washington D.C. office responsible for threat intelligence offerings to U.S. government entities,” a Kaspersky spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.  She added that the company was planning to open new offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto in 2018.  “Despite geopolitical turbulence we remain committed to  (North) American customers,” company founder and chief executive Eugene Kaspersky said Tuesday on Twitter. The company declined to give more details as to what changes it was making. Kaspersky has repeatedly denied that it has ties to any government and said it would not help any government with cyber espionage. It said there is no evidence for accusations by U.S. officials and lawmakers that its antivirus software may be used to provide espionage services to the Kremlin. However, the company has not been able to shake off the allegations. Last week, Best Buy Co , the No.1 U.S. electronics retailer, said it was pulling Kaspersky Lab’s cyber security products from its shelves and website. Citing two unidentified sources, The Bell, a Russian-language news outlet, said on Tuesday that Kaspersky Lab was considering closing its offices in Arlington, Virginia, a Washington suburb. Those offices, home to the Kaspersky Lab subsidiary KGSS that is dedicated to the U.S. federal market, were empty when a Reuters reporter visited them in July. A Kaspersky spokeswoman at the time said most of the staff, which number less than 10, often work from home. Kaspersky Lab was founded in 1997 and now counts over 400 million global customers. It has tried largely in vain to become a vendor to the U.S. government, one of the world’s biggest buyers of cyber tools. Longstanding suspicions about the company grew in the United States when U.S.-Russia relations deteriorated following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and later when U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election using cyber means.

Summary: जांच के दायरे में, कैस्परस्की लैब अमेरिकी सहायक कंपनी में बदलाव पर विचार कर रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since mid-2016, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has carried around a  postcard  that he has said shows how easy it will be for Americans to file their taxes once Republicans are finished their tax overhaul. And as recently as Thursday President Donald Trump touted Americans being able to  file their taxes on a single, little beautiful sheet of paper.      With lawmakers finalizing the biggest tax reform in 30 years and the president ready to sign it into law before the end of the year, the moment should be near when Ryan s postcard stops being a rhetorical prop and becomes a reality. Right?  It s kind of crazy to say you can file on a postcard when, first, no one is going to put their Social Security number on a postcard. And second, you already have a giant postcard in the form of the 1040EZ,  Mark Mazur, a director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said, citing a 14-line Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form. Representatives from the $11 billion U.S. tax preparation industry said that the legislation so far seemed unlikely to render their services unnecessary.  I don t think you re going to have millions of people filing their taxes on a cell phone,  said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc [JAKHT.UL].  I think the demise of the tax business is a bit premature.  The IRS would not discuss changes that might come from the proposed tax overhaul. However, the IRS estimates that, despite its efforts to make filing taxes easier, 90 percent of Americans use tax preparation services such as Jackson Hewitt, H&R Block Inc and Liberty Tax Inc or tax software such as TurboTax from Intuit Inc.     If Congress enacts the Republican plan into law, it would not affect 2017 tax-year returns filed in 2018. But in 2019,  millions of middle-class Americans would no longer gain from a wide range of deductions, credits and other tax breaks. A key driver of this, according to independent analyses, would be a proposed doubling of the standard deduction and a curtailment of the deduction for state and local tax payments. In combination, these two changes would mean that about 29 million people would no longer benefit from itemizing. So they would stop writing off their charitable donations, mortgage interest and state and local tax payments, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank. Itemized deductions for medical expenses, investment interest, unreimbursed employee expenses and tax preparation fees could also be dropped by many.  Personal exemptions for individual taxpayers, which now take up a lot of space on tax forms, would also be eliminated.  Such changes would mean simpler taxes and possibly allow a number of taxpayers to use shorter forms. The IRS expects 24 million people in 2018 to file the longest and most widely used IRS form today, the Form 1040, which is 79 lines long. About 4.6 million people will use the 14-line 1040EZ. Wealthy Americans likely would still itemize under the Republican plan. Owning businesses, homes and other factors could also lead to taxes being more complicated than what filers could describe on a postcard.  Even though we re talking about simplification for a large number of taxpayers, there s still many taxpayers who will have complicated tax situations and we ll be there to help them as well,  said David Williams, chief tax officer for TurboTax. (Adds first name, title in 4th paragraph)

Summary: रिपब्लिकन योजना से पोस्टकार्ड आकार के कर रिटर्न की उम्मीद न करेंः विशेषज्ञ


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. president-elect Donald Trump offered to help solve Pakistan’s problems and praised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a  “terrific guy” in the first call between the two men, the Pakistani leader’s office said. Historical allies in the region, Islamabad and Washington have seen relations sour in recent years over U.S. accusations that Pakistan shelters Islamist militants, a charge denied by the South Asian nation. Sharif’s office said late on Wednesday the Pakistani premier called Trump to congratulate him on his victory and issued a read out of the call. Trump’s team confirmed the two men talked and issued a brief statement. “President Trump said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif you have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way,” said the statement issued by Sharif’s office. “I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honor and I will personally do it.” The prime minister’s office did not elaborate on the kind of problems Trump offered to solve. The statement also did not clarify why exactly Trump was impressed with Sharif. Pakistan’s sputtering economy has rebounded since Sharif was elected in 2013 and security has vastly improved amid greater efforts by the army to tackle militants such as the Pakistani Taliban. But security remains a problem as Islamist groups continue to stage mass attacks and Islamic State radicals have sought to gain a foothold inside Pakistan, claiming responsibility for several high-profile attacks. The economy is also facing acute challenges, including energy shortages. Trump’s office said the two leaders had a “productive conversation about how the United States and Pakistan will have a strong working relationship in the future”.  “President-elect Trump also noted that he is looking forward to a lasting and strong personal relationship with Prime Minister Sharif,” the statement added. Detailing the conversation, Sharif’s office added that Trump told the Pakistani premier to feel free to call him any time before he assumes office on January 20.  “As I am talking to you Prime Minister, I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long,” the statement added, paraphrasing Trump’s comments. Sharif’s office often releases read outs of his conversations with foreign heads of state but they are seldom so full of praise for the Pakistani premier, especially during calls with Western leaders. Sharif invited Trump to visit Pakistan, according to the statement, and the incoming U.S. leader agreed. “Mr Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people. Please convey to the  Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people,” said the statement. Few details are known about Trump’s planned policy for South Asia but the warm words between the leaders suggests ties could be reset under Trump’s presidency and will ease concerns in Islamabad that Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric in the run up to the poll will not lead to unfriendly policies towards Pakistan. At one point Trump proposed banning Muslims from the entering the United States, remarks that alarmed the predominantly Muslim nation of 190 million people. Islamabad has also been concerned about warmer ties between the United States and India, fearful that Washington is pivoting towards New Delhi at a time of heightened tensions between the nuclear armed neighbors who have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947. Trump also has business ties in India, which has stoked concerns in Pakistan that under his presidency the United States may accelerate its shift towards New Delhi. Pakistan continues to receive aid as well as military funding and training from the United States, but the U.S. Congress has recently held back some help due to frustrations about Pakistan’s unwillingness to act against elements of the Afghan Taliban. Relations hit new lows in May when a U.S. drone killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the leader of the Afghan Taliban movement, on Pakistani territory.

Summary: ट्रंप ने पाकिस्तान की मदद करने की पेशकश की, पीएम शरीफ को बताया 'शानदार व्यक्ति': इस्लामाबाद


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday said the United States would not accept any preconditions for diplomatic talks with North Korea, saying the Trump administration and the international community would continue to pressure Pyongyang   We are not going to accept preconditions,  Tillerson told reporters after earlier remarks at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Pyongyang s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के साथ वार्ता के लिए कोई पूर्व शर्त नहींः टिलरसन


LONDON (Reuters) - Princess Charlotte, the daughter of Britain s Prince William and wife Kate, is to start at a nursery school near the family home in west London early next year, her father s office said on Monday. The two-year-old, fourth-in-line to the British throne behind her father, whose official title is Duke of Cambridge, her elder brother George and grandfather Prince Charles, will attend the Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington.  We are delighted that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen the Willcocks Nursery School for Princess Charlotte,  the school said in a statement.  We look forward to welcoming Charlotte to our nursery in January.   On its website the school, rated as  outstanding  by government inspectors, describes itself as traditional, saying it  strives to maintain its ethos for high standards, excellence and good manners . Fees are 3,050 pounds ($4,072) per term for mornings and 1,800 pounds for afternoons. Unlike previous senior royals, Prince William attended nursery school as a child.  His son George made the step up from nursery to primary school in September when he began at Thomas s Battersea, a private school in southwest London which is also close to the family s Kensington Palace home. As well as announcing news of Charlotte s new school, William and Kate released a new portrait photograph of their family which adorns their Christmas cards this year. Kate is pregnant with the couple s third child with the new royal baby due in April. ($1 = 0.7490 pounds)

Summary: ब्रिटेन के राजकुमार विलियम की बेटी शार्लट अगले साल नर्सरी शुरू करेंगी


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. recognition that Jerusalem is Israel s capital would be important for Israel even if it delayed moving its embassy there, Israel s minister for public security, Gilad Erdan said on Wednesday.  This declaration is very important for us, but we only see it as a reflection of what is happening on the ground in reality, no game-changer,  Erdan told reporters in Brussels.    In reality, nothing is going to change.   We don t think this is an excuse for a new wave of violence and we won t be afraid of this,  he continued. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. embassy to the ancient city.

Summary: जेरूसलम को अमेरिका की राजधानी के रूप में मान्यता इजरायल के लिए महत्वपूर्णः मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump denied on Friday that he had told then-FBI chief James Comey he hoped Comey could let go an  investigation into a former national security adviser, adding he was willing to give his version of events under oath. “I didn’t say that,” Trump told reporters when asked about Comey’s account relating to the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey, fired by Trump last month as FBI head, gave the account in sworn testimony to a Senate panel on Thursday. Asked if he would be willing to give his version of events under oath, Trump replied: “100 percent.”

Summary: शपथ लेकर कोमी को जवाब देने के लिए '100 प्रतिशत' तैयारः ट्रम्प


GAZA (Reuters) - A Palestinian militant group said on Friday that five of its members had been killed earlier this week when Israel blew up a cross-border tunnel being dug by militants from the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll in the strike to 12.  Neither side seemed eager to seek escalation after the tunnel was blown up on Monday by Israel, which pointed out that its action was carried out on its own side of the border. The Islamic Jihad group said it was denied access to the collapsed tunnel and was unable to recover the bodies of its five members. Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the dominant Islamist group in Gaza that had said earlier it lost two people in the tunnel collapse, have sworn to retaliate. Hamas accused Israel of trying to undermine a reconciliation agreement it reached with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, last month. Israel has been constructing a sensor-equipped underground wall along the 60-km (36-mile) Gaza border, aiming to complete the $1.1 billion project by mid-2019. During the last Gaza war, in 2014, Hamas fighters used dozens of tunnels to blindside Israel s superior forces and threaten civilian communities near the frontier, a counterpoint to the Iron Dome anti-missile system that largely protected the country s heartland from militant rocket barrages. Israel and the United States have called for Hamas to be disarmed as part of the pact between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, so Israeli peace efforts with Abbas, which collapsed in 2014, could proceed. Hamas has rejected the demand.

Summary: इस सप्ताह गाजा सुरंग पर हमले में मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर 12 हुई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he was willing to work with Republican Speaker Paul Ryan on reforms to address poverty, such as expanding the earned income tax cut (EITC). “I’d welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids,” Obama said, according to prepared remarks for his State of the Union address.

Summary: ओबामा ने गरीबी पर रिपब्लिकन स्पीकर के साथ काम करने की इच्छा जताई


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call on Tuesday to try to meet in July and work together to try to strengthen a shaky ceasefire in Syria, the Kremlin said in a statement. The Kremlin, which called the talks between Putin and Trump business-like and constructive, said the two leaders had emphasized coordinating their actions to fight international terrorism. On North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin called for restraint and that the two leaders had agreed to work together to make  diplomatic progress there too. Both men also spoke in favor of organizing a face-to-face meeting around the time of the G20 summit in Hamburg in July, according to the Kremlin statement.

Summary: पुतिन और ट्रंप सीरिया पर मिलकर काम करने पर सहमत, बैठक की व्यवस्था कीः क्रेमलिन


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - An Italian woman who ordered the murder of her boyfriend through a website and paid a hitman in bitcoin digital currency was sentenced on Friday to six years in a Danish jail. The 58-year-old woman ordered the murder - which was never carried out - in March, transferring 4.1 bitcoin, then worth around $4,000, to the hitman s virtual wallet, the court found. Bitcoin can be transferred electronically between users without an intermediary such as a bank, making it potentially attractive for buying illegal goods or services. The woman, who has lived in Denmark for 30 years, will be expelled after serving her sentence, the court said. The intended murder victim was present at the court hearing north of Copenhagen on Friday and spoke with the woman after the verdict, the Danish public broadcaster said.

Summary: बिटक्वाइन में ऑनलाइन हत्या का आदेश देने के आरोप में इटली की महिला को डेनमार्क में जेल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday that President Donald Trump is playing a constructive role in new health care legislation and helping bridge differences among congressional Republicans. “This president is getting deeply involved,” Ryan said at a news briefing. “He is helping bridge gaps in our conference. He is a constructive force to help us get to a resolution so that we get consensus on how to repeal and replace Obamacare.”

Summary: रयान का कहना है कि स्वास्थ्य सेवा पर ट्रम्प रचनात्मक भूमिका निभा रहे हैं


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has upset fellow members of Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservative bloc by proposing that Germany introduce Muslim public holidays. Germany is home to around 4.5 million Muslims, many of whom have a Turkish background. Many of the more than a million migrants who have arrived in the country from the Middle East and elsewhere over the last two years are also Muslims. Speaking on the campaign trail ahead of an election in the northern state of Lower Saxony due on Sunday, de Maiziere - a member of Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) - said he was open to certain regions of Germany having Muslim public holidays. He pointed out that All Saints  Day was only a public holiday in Germany s Catholic regions and added:  In places where there are many Muslims, why can t we think about introducing a Muslim public holiday?  In a speech posted in an audio clip on local news website regionalwolfsburg.de he also said Germany s public holidays were generally Christian, and should remain that way. His proposal prompted a backlash from fellow conservatives, who are due to start tricky three-way coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens next week. The conservatives won a September election but suffered their worst result since 1949 as they lost support to the far-right. Senior CDU member Wolfgang Bosbach told the newspaper Bild that everyone in Germany could celebrate whatever religious festivals they wanted but added:  Whether the state should also protect non-Christian holidays with legal regulation in future is a different issue entirely.  Alexander Dobrindt, a senior figure in the Christian Social Union (CSU) - the Bavarian sister party of Merkel s CDU - told the same newspaper that Germany s Christian heritage was non-negotiable, adding:  We won t consider introducing Muslim public holidays in Germany.  A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said de Maiziere remained of the view that Germany s public holidays were of a Christian nature  and don t have any other roots . The constitution sets out that Germany s individual states decide on religious public holidays so the federal interior minister has no influence on whether there should be Muslim public holidays, the spokeswoman added. She said the northern city states of Hamburg and Bremen had signed agreements with some Muslim organizations so that Muslim pupils could have such time off school and workers could take holidays for festivals important to Islam, adding that some other states did the same.

Summary: जर्मन मंत्री ने मुस्लिम छुट्टियों को लेकर साथी रूढ़िवादियों को परेशान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit China this week for talks that will include the crisis over North Korea s nuclear and missile programs and trade, the State Department said on Tuesday. Tillerson s trip, from Sept. 28 to 30, will also lay the groundwork for President Donald Trump s visit to China in November, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Tillerson s visit comes at a time of high tension between the United States and North Korea, China s neighbor and ally, which is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. President Donald Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that any U.S. military option against North Korea would be  devastating  for Pyongyang, but said the use of force was not Washington s first option. China has urged a return to dialogue. Nauert called China s steps to implement tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its recent missile and nuclear tests  significant.   We have a good relationship with China,  she told a regular news briefing, adding that this was evidenced by what would be Tillerson s second visit to China in nine months in office.   China has taken enormous steps in the right direction. There is always more that countries can do, but at this point we want to thank China for the steps it has taken in the right direction.  In Beijing on Wednesday, asked for details of Tillerson s visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing only that he would meet China s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. While backing U.N. sanctions, China, North Korea s main trading partner, opposes unilateral U.S. steps and has been worried Washington might move to freeze its banks out of the global financial system unless they cut ties to Pyongyang. On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against 26 more individuals as part of its non-proliferation designations for North Korea, as well as nine North Korean banks, including some with ties to China. Tillerson s visit to Beijing follows one by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who said on Monday China needed to guarantee fair and reciprocal treatment for U.S. firms, as he tried to strike an upbeat tone amid bilateral trade tension. China-U.S. ties have been strained by Trump s criticism of China s trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more on  North Korea. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump met for the first time at Trump s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April. Trump has since played up his personal relationship with Xi, even while criticizing China over North Korea and trade. In August, Trump authorized an inquiry into China s alleged theft of intellectual property - his first direct trade measure against Beijing, a move China called  irresponsible.

Summary: टिलरसन उत्तर कोरिया संकट, चीन में व्यापार पर करेंगे चर्चा


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has previously criticized U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, congratulated him on his victory on Wednesday and said he looked forward to continuing the partnership between the two nations.   “I believe passionately in the importance of the UK - US relationship and am confident we can take it forward together,” Johnson, who was formerly mayor of London, said on his Twitter feed. Last year, Johnson said that he feared going to New York because of “the real risk of meeting Donald Trump” after the billionaire said parts of London were now so radicalised they could no longer be policed by officers, who feared for their lives.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने कहा कि वह ट्रम्प के साथ साझेदारी जारी रखने के लिए उत्सुक हैं


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Nason, a General Electric executive and former Treasury Department official, is the front runner to become the Federal Reserve’s top Wall Street regulator under President-elect Donald Trump, sources familiar with the screening said on Thursday. Nason leads GE’s Energy Financial Services division, which funds worldwide energy development, mostly from thermal and renewable sources. In 2008, Nason was a deputy to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as U.S. regulators tried to stabilize Wall Street and prevent an economic meltdown after the housing market collapsed. Trump will have a chance to nominate the Fed’s vice chair for supervision - a role conceived in the wake of the financial collapse to watchdog Wall Street. If Nason is tapped for the role, he would be the most senior rule-writer for Wall Street with a large say in how leading banks are supervised day to day. In recent weeks, other names have been floated as vice chair candidates who can boast support from Wall Street. Representative French Hill, an Arkansas Republican and former banker, has been favored by some in the banking industry while some Washington lobbyists have favored Paul Atkins, a former commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While no final decision has been made on who should fill the job, Nason has Paulson’s backing and has become the front runner in recent weeks, the sources said. In the last several weeks, Nason has met with Trump’s senior economic advisers Gary Cohn and Steve Mnuchin, according to one source familiar with the meetings. A Trump spokesperson declined to comment. Trump has named Cohn as head of the White House National Economic Council and nominated Mnuchin as Treasury secretary. Both Cohn and Mnuchin held senior roles at Goldman Sachs, and they have heard directly from Paulson, the company’s former chief executive, that Nason is a solid pick, according to another source familiar with the screening. Nason did not immediately respond to a call for comment. A spokesman for Paulson declined to comment. In Paulson’s memoir, “On the Brink,” the former cabinet secretary singles Nason out for praise during the financial crisis.

Summary: पूर्व ट्रेजरी अधिकारी नैसन को फेड की भूमिका के लिए जांचा जा रहा हैः सूत्र


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Approximately two hundred men held in a remote Australian-run detention center will be moved to a new facility within weeks, the country s immigration minister said. Peter Dutton, Australia s immigration minister, said those men who have their refugee applications denied, ruling them ineligible for resettlement to the United States, and who are from countries such as Iran which precludes forced deportations, will be transferred to a new detention facility within Papua New Guinea (PNG) after Oct. 31.  Those people, who total about 200, who have been found not to be refugees are to be moved into an alternative place of detention away from the regional processing center,  Dutton told Australia s parliament. Dutton s comments mark the first insight into how Australia plans to manage the end of its policy of detaining asylum seekers in PNG, where 800 men are held, many of whom for four years. Canberra s hardline immigration policy requires asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia to be sent for processing at camps on PNG s Manus Island and on Nauru. They are told they will never be settled in Australia. Question marks remain, however, about the fate of the remaining men on Manus as a refugee swap deal with the United States stalls. Former U.S. President Barack Obama late last year agreed to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in Australian immigration centers in PNG and Nauru. In exchange, Australia agreed to take Central American refugees. Australia had hoped the men would have been resettled by Oct. 31 but with the swap deal stalling under President Trump after the U.S. hit it annual intake cap, Canberra is left seeking a solution. Australia s security contract with Spanish company Ferrovial SA will expire on Oct. 31, forcing the closure of the camp that has been subject to violence from locals.  PNG officials have sought to transfer the men to a transit center nearby but nearly all, citing fears of violence, have refused despite threats that it may rule them out of U.S. resettlement.  We are not willing to move from the center unless we are leaving for a country that is safe,  said one, who declined to be identified because of the fear it would jeopardize his application for U.S. resettlement.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया 200 शरण चाहने वालों को नए पी. एन. जी. हिरासत केंद्र में स्थानांतरित करेगा


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s vice president said on Wednesday that he hopes Nicolas Maduro will be re-elected as president in 2018, the clearest indication yet that the unpopular leftist will run for another term despite a debilitating economic crisis.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के उपराष्ट्रपति ने अभी तक स्पष्ट संकेत दिया है कि मादुरो 2018 में चुनाव लड़ेंगे


STOCKHOLM/BEIJING (Reuters) - A Swedish bookseller detained in China after publishing books on the personal lives of President Xi Jinping and other Communist Party leaders has been released, Chinese authorities said on Tuesday. The whereabouts of Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swede, could not be confirmed, however, and he has yet to contact his family.   Gui was abducted in Thailand while on holiday in 2015, one of five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing that year and later appeared in mainland Chinese custody. The four others have returned to Hong Kong. Chinese authorities say Gui was involved in a traffic accident in 2003, although that is questioned by his family.  According to what we understand, because Gui Minhai has served his sentence for the crime of causing traffic accident casualties, he was released on Oct. 17,  the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had been informed by its Chinese counterpart of Gui s release and that it was working to confirm the information.  However, Gui s family questioned if he really was free. His daughter said he had made no contact with her or any other relatives.   Today it has been a week since October 17 and I still do not know where my father is,  Angela Gui said in a statement.  I am deeply concerned for his wellbeing.      The report of Gui s release coincides with the end of China s 19th Communist Party congress which has further consolidated President Xi Jinping s power. Lam Wing-kee, one of the other four booksellers, told Reuters he did not know Gui s whereabouts.   Lam said he feared the government of Xi would further erode the  one country, two systems  formula that is supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a large degree of autonomy under Chinese rule.   He (Xi) will continue to tighten things (for Hong Kong). There will be no loosening,  he said. Earlier this year, Gui won a prize for free speech and press freedom awarded by Swedish media organization Publicistklubben.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि उसने स्वीडिश पुस्तक विक्रेता को रिहा कर दिया है, उसका ठिकाना अभी भी अज्ञात है


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump remains committed and optimistic about achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace, his son-in-law and senior adviser told the sides on Thursday during his first visit to the region since last month’s surge of violence.  But there was little to suggest any breakthrough or significant progress toward ending a decades-old conflict is imminent as Kushner met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians were still seeking a pledge of support from the Trump administration for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel - the foundation of U.S. Middle East policy for the past two decades. The last round of peace talks between the two sides collapsed in 2014. For his part, Netanyahu faces pressure from right-wing coalition partners not to give ground on Jewish settlement building in occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a independent state. The settlement issue contributed to the breakdown of negotiations three years ago. “We have things to talk about - how to advance peace, stability and security in our region, prosperity too. And I think that all of them are within our reach,” Netanyahu, welcoming Kushner to his Tel Aviv office, said in a video clip released by the U.S. Embassy. Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation,  arrived in Israel with U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Wednesday after meeting Arab leaders in the Gulf, Egypt and Jordan.     “The president is very committed to achieving a solution here that will be able to bring prosperity and peace to all people in this area,” Kushner, who was tasked by Trump to help broker a peace deal, said in his response to Netanyahu. Meeting Abbas later in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Kushner said Trump sought “peaceful relations between the countries in the whole region” and was “very optimistic and hopeful for a better future for all Palestinian people and Israeli people”, according to a statement from Abbas’s office.   Trump has described peace between Israelis and Palestinians as “the ultimate deal” - and added a new wrinkle last February by saying he was not fixed on two states co-existing side by side as a solution to their dispute. Kushner last traveled to Israel and the Palestnian territories in June. A month later, he was involved in telephone diplomacy to stem Palestinian and Jordanian unrest over Israel’s handling of a contested Jerusalem holy site. Four Palestinians, three Israelis and two Jordanians were killed during the crisis.  Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said Kushner’s visit could prove significant, particularly because of the envoy’s consultations with regional allies this week: “This may create a new chance to reach a settlement based on the two-state solution and the Arab initiative and stop the current deterioration of the peace process.” Abu Rdainah was referring to a 2002 Arab League initiative that offers Israel diplomatic recognition from Arab countries in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and a full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in a 1967 war. Netanyahu has expressed tentative support for parts of the blueprint, but there are many caveats on the Israeli side, including how to resolve the complex Palestinian refugee issue. The statement from Abbas’s office quoted the Palestinian president as telling Kushner: “We know things are difficult and complicated but nothing is impossible when efforts are sincere.”

Summary: कुशनर ने ट्रम्प के मध्य पूर्व शांति आशावाद पर जोर दिया लेकिन विवरण बहुत कम है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fighting charity fraud could become more difficult under a Republican bill in Congress to prohibit the U.S. Internal Revenue Service from collecting the names of top donors to charities and other nonprofit groups, critics warned on Tuesday. Meant to protect the privacy of wealthy individuals who make anonymous, or “dark money” donations to politically active nonprofit groups, the bill would eliminate a decades-old IRS donor-identity disclosure requirement for a range of tax-exempt groups that includes hospitals, universities, community and sports organizations. Backers of the legislation say donor lists have sometimes been disclosed to the public even though the names and addresses are supposed to be private.   In a related development, the IRS itself plans to propose new regulations eliminating donor-reporting requirements for most tax-exempt organizations, according to a document posted on a White House Office of Management and Budget website. It is unclear which groups would still be subject to disclosure under the regulations, which are expected in December.  But either move would deprive resource-strapped state law enforcement authorities of ready information used to look into wrongdoing by charities, state officials told Reuters. “It’s important forensic data to us state regulators. It’s evidence we can consider using in an investigation to determine whether a charity’s board has breached its fiduciary duty,” said Hugh Jones, deputy state attorney general for Hawaii. The Republican measure was approved by a tax committee in April and awaits a House of Representatives vote. If approved it would go next to the Senate, where its outlook was unclear.  With “dark money” and other forms of cash pouring into U.S. politics, the 2016 presidential contest is expected to cost $5 billion, double that of 2012. Campaign committees and political action committees raise most of that cash, but dark money, or spending whose sources are not disclosed, could exceed $500 million this year, up from only $6 million in 2004. Known as 501(c)s for the tax law section that covers them, these groups, under current law, must disclose donor information on a confidential basis to the IRS on Schedule B of tax Form 990. But they do not have to identify their donors publicly, which makes the groups attractive to wealthy, publicity-shy individuals with a political agenda to pursue. Representative Pete Roskam, an Illinois Republican steering the bill, said his measure is needed to protect 501(c) donors from having their identities leaked by the IRS. Such leaks could expose them to intimidation by political adversaries and infringe on their free-speech rights, he said. “The IRS is ill-equipped to deal with sensitive data, and there’s a great deal of vulnerability,” Roskam told Reuters. “Confidentiality breached chills First Amendment rights.”  IRS officials declined to comment. Although Roskam’s bill is geared to address the concerns of political donors, critics say it will have another impact. State authorities investigating charity fraud sometimes ask nonprofit groups for their Schedule B forms, which can help investigators spot conflicts of interest and suspicious movements of money and in-kind donations between charities.  “We would otherwise not have a clue that there was any relationship between charity A and charity B or charity C and D and E and F,” said Karl Emerson, former director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations. Experts said charity scams affect at least 1 percent of annual U.S. giving, or about $3.6 billion a year. Backers of the Roskam bill say Schedule B is not widely used in fraud inquiries. “I don’t know of one case where a fraud was proven by the IRS having had the Schedule B,” said David Bossie, president of the conservative group Citizens United. Bossie’s organization won a landmark 2010 Supreme Court case that opened the way to unlimited spending on political campaigns by individuals, corporations, unions and other groups.   Backers of the Roskam bill include Citizens United and billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, who donate to a number of politically active nonprofit groups. The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Foundation and other groups argue that government-mandated disclosure of Schedule B information to state authorities is unconstitutional. The groups have filed lawsuits to stop Democratic attorneys general in California and New York from obtaining Schedule Bs as a part of state-level nonprofit registration procedures. In its lawsuit against California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Americans for Prosperity said more than 1,400 Schedule Bs showed up on a public state website, court documents said. The Roskam bill would preserve some disclosure by requiring nonprofits to continue to report contributions from board members, officers and top salaried employees.

Summary: अमेरिकी 'काले धन' को ढंकने के लिए बिल को चैरिटी धोखाधड़ी की लड़ाई के लिए हानिकारक माना जाता है


PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday warned U.S. governors against “politically tempting shortcuts” as the two countries and Mexico prepare to renegotiate the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). U.S. President Donald Trump has described the 1994 pact as “the worst trade deal ever” and vowed to change it to the advantage of the United States in talks due to begin later this summer. Trump’s stance on the accord has led Trudeau’s government to reach out aggressively to U.S. leaders, including one-on-one meetings on Friday with Vice President Mike Pence and the governors of Kentucky, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and Iowa. The meetings are intended to emphasize the importance of the two countries’ trading relationship. “Sometimes getting it right means refusing to take the politically tempting shortcuts,” Trudeau told a meeting of the U.S. National Governors Association in Providence, Rhode Island. “More trade barriers, more local-content provisions, more preferential access for homegrown players in government procurement, for example, does not help working families over the long term, or even the mid-term. Such policies kill growth.” He warned that protectionist postures run the risk of becoming “a cycle of tit-for-tat, a race to the bottom, where all sides lose.” Pence, who also spoke to the Governors Association, alluded only briefly to the NAFTA talks in his remarks, which focused on this week’s healthcare reform bill proposed by Senate Republicans. “We will modernize NAFTA for the 21st century so it is a win-win-win for all our trade partners in North America,” Pence, the former governor of Indiana, told the group. “We are looking forward to bringing NAFTA into the future in a way that will equally benefit both our countries.” In a nod to the concerns about competition with foreign labor that influenced Trump’s populist trade stance, Trudeau said that state and national governments needed to do more to ensure that the benefits of trade were felt by a wider slice of the population. “We think right upfront about how to make sure that benefits that will come from trade inevitably accrue to more of the population,” he said. Trudeau also told reporters on Friday that Trump told him that he did not expect to subject Canadian steel and aluminum to face tariffs on national security grounds. “I am optimistic that this important trade, which leads to millions of good jobs on both sides of the border, will continue,” Trudeau said.

Summary: कनाडा के ट्रूडो ने नाफ्टा पुनः वार्ता में 'लुभावना शॉर्टकट' के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was optimistic that a dispute over how to distribute asylum seekers in the EU would soon be resolved after a court ruled on Wednesday that member states must take in a share of refugees who reach Europe. Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (F.A.S.) newspaper two weeks before a national election in which she is expected to win a fourth term, Merkel said she welcomed the court s decision. Separately, the newspaper also reported that in negotiations between member states about redistribution, a compromise was starting to emerge which would link accepting refugees to payments that would come from the EU.  The vast majority of EU states had not filed a complaint about redistribution and do not take the view that they never want to take in a refugee so I think there s an opportunity to achieve a distribution of refugees that shows solidarity in the not too distant future,  Merkel said in the F.A.S. interview.  In its ruling, the EU s highest court dismissed complaints by Slovakia and Hungary over the mandatory quotas introduced in 2015 to relocate asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. Immigration has been a key issue during campaigning for Germany s Sept. 24 election. In the interview, Merkel said it was important to show solidarity in dealing with the migration crisis because otherwise there would be no solidarity on other issues in the EU and  that would be bitter for the cohesion of Europe .  The newspaper reported that in negotiations between member states about redistribution, a compromise was starting to emerge which would link accepting refugees to payments that would come from the EU. Citing sources involved in the negotiations, F.A.S. said EU member states had developed ideas such as solving the dispute by creating an incentive system in which the EU would give countries 60,000 euros for each refugee they take in. If an EU member state undercuts its quota by more than half, the 60,000 euros per person should be withdrawn, it said. As the distribution mechanism would be for a maximum of 200,000 refugees per year, it would cost up to 12 billion euros, the newspaper said. It would also be possible to put border guards or national asylum officers in overburdened states so they take in fewer migrants, the newspaper said. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere had told a Saturday newspaper that social benefits for asylum seekers in Germany were  quite high  and needed be harmonized across Europe.

Summary: मर्केल आशावादी हैं कि शरणार्थी वितरण पर यूरोपीय संघ का विवाद जल्द ही समाप्त हो जाएगा


ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday the U.S. National Security Advisor’s (NSA) comments on the recent ballistic missile test were “repetitive, baseless and provocative”, state TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying. “Instead of thanking Iran for its continued fight against terrorism, the American government is practically helping the terrorists by claims about Iran that are baseless, repetitive and provocative,” Ghasemi said. U.S. president Donald Trump’s senior security aide Michael Flynn condemned Wednesday’s missile test, calling it a “provocative” breach of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Summary: ईरान ने मिसाइल परीक्षण पर अमेरिकी टिप्पणी को 'दोहराए जाने वाला, आधारहीन और उत्तेजक' बताया