MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia s leader pledged to press ahead with his independence bid if Spain moves to suspend the region s autonomy, a regional government source said on Wednesday, hours before a deadline over keeping the euro zone s fourth-largest economy united. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given Catalan president Carles Puigdemont until 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday to renounce a secession bid which has rocked markets and rattled the euro, or face direct rule from Madrid. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence last week and promptly suspended it to ask for talks with Madrid. The source said he would now lift that suspension if Rajoy exercised so-called Article 155 of the Constitution to take back power.  The president said (at) his party s meeting that he will lift the suspension of the independence declaration if the government executes Article 155,  the source said. That article, which has never been used during Spain s four decades of democracy, allows central government to take over any of its 17 autonomous communities if they break the law, which Madrid says Catalonia has done by holding a referendum on independence and pushing for a break-up. Even though it is not clear what direct rule will look like, the prospect has raised fears that social unrest could add to the turbulence, on the heels of an exodus of hundreds of Catalan firms and cuts to economic growth forecasts.  In the latest grim prediction, Spain s independent budget watchdog warned this week that continued uncertainty could wipe as much as 12 billion euros off potential economic growth next year, cutting forecasts by between 0.4 and 1.2 percentage points. Catalonia accounts for 20 percent of Spain s GDP. If Rajoy triggers the article on Thursday, it will take between three and five days for the government in the wealthy region to be effectively stripped of its powers.   If autonomy is suspended we will have to move in a hurry,  the source said.  Disappointed that last week s declaration was merely symbolic, pro-independence parties in Puigdemont s ruling coalition are now pushing for a formal vote in the Catalan parliament. Earlier on Wednesday, Rajoy urged Puigdemont to  act sensibly  and scrap the bid or risk direct rule, a move which would need only a vote in Spain s upper house, where Rajoy s People s Party holds an absolute majority. The premier repeated a call for clarity on the matter.  It s not that difficult to reply to the question: Has Catalonia declared independence? Because if it has, the government is obliged to act in one way, and if it has not, we can talk here,  Rajoy said in parliament.    A central government source later said Madrid viewed a formal independence declaration as  unacceptable blackmail . Since an Oct. 1 independence referendum which Madrid branded illegal, some 700 companies have moved their head offices from Catalonia, according to Spain s companies registry. Despite a violent crackdown by Spanish police to thwart the vote, Catalan officials say 43 percent of voters still managed to cast ballots in the referendum with 90 percent in favor of breaking away.  Banco Sabadell, Spain s fifth-biggest bank, is considering moving its top management to Madrid. Tourism, a vital part of the Catalan economy centred on its seaside capital Barcelona, has also taken a hit, with activity falling 15 percent so far this month, industry association Exceltur said on Tuesday. The region s tourism industry could make 1.8 billion euros ($2.12 billion) less than usual in the fourth quarter  if the volatility and confrontation get worse in the coming months , Exceltur said in a statement. Authoritative Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia reported that Madrid plans to appoint its own delegates to run regional government departments. Puigdemont would remain nominally in his role but stripped of all powers. Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said last week that it was not clear what measures the government would take if direct rule were imposed, but said the government would work on it.  La Vanguardia said Puigdemont, a 54-year-old former journalist, was mulling declaring independence and calling so-called constituent elections for the newly declared republic. But Catalan foreign affairs chief Raul Romeva told a news conference in Brussels:  Elections are not on the table now.  Tempers have flared since the jailing on Monday of two separatist leaders, pending an investigation for alleged sedition.  Tens of thousands of protesters gathered along Barcelona s Diagonal Avenue on Tuesday to call for their release, whistling and shouting  freedom  and  out with the occupying forces .

Summary: अगर मैड्रिड ने स्वायत्तता को निलंबित कर दिया तो कैटेलोनिया स्वतंत्रता के साथ आगे बढ़ेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - (This February 9 story has been refiled to correct paragraph 19 to show HSN Inc has dropped Trump Home products, but still sells Trump presidential memorabilia; it did not sell Ivanka Trump products.) A congressional committee said on Thursday it was seeking a review into whether senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway had violated ethics rules by using her position to promote product lines of President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a day after he attacked a retailer for dropping them. Federal ethics rules prohibit executive branch employees from using their positions to endorse products or for the private gain of friends. The law does not apply to the president.    “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff ... I’m going to go get some myself today,” Conway told Fox News in an interview from the White House. “I’m going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody.” Republican Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight committee, said late on Thursday in a statement he had agreed to a request by a member of the panel to ask the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to review Conway’s comments and recommend disciplinary action against her if warranted. Chaffetz and Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee, said in their letter to the ethics office: “Conway’s statements appear to violate federal ethics regulations, which prohibit actions that imply a government endorsement of the ‘personal activities’ of another person.”  “In this case, there is an additional challenge, which is that the president, as the ultimate disciplinary authority for White House employees, has an inherent conflict of interest since Conway’s statements relate to his daughter’s private business,” they said. The OGE did not respond to requests for comment.        Asked at a press briefing on Thursday if Conway had crossed an ethical line, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, “She has been counseled on that subject, and that’s it.” Conway, asked in an interview on Fox News on Thursday evening how she had been counseled, replied: “I’m not going to comment on that.”       She said she was aware of the letter from Chaffetz and Cummings and that it was being reviewed internally. “I’m just really happy that I spent an awful lot of time with the president of the United States this afternoon and that he supports me 100 percent,” she added. The non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Public Citizen have both filed complaints with the OGE and the White House Counsel’s Office. “It’s a violation of the rule,” Norman Eisen, who served as an ethics adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama, told MSNBC. “It’s a serious matter.” On Wednesday, President Trump attacked department store chain Nordstrom Inc for dropping his daughter’s products, drawing intense criticism for using a White House twitter platform to intervene in a commercial matter involving his family’s business ties.  Nordstrom said it dropped the brand for its poor performance. Online sales of Ivanka Trump branded products fell 26 percent in January 2017 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to retail analytics firm Slice Intelligence which shared its findings with Reuters. The company analyzed data from email receipts of over 4 million U.S. online shoppers. The data also showed sales of the Ivanka Trump brand declined in the second half of 2016 at all online retailers including Amazon.com Inc, which sells most of the brand’s merchandise. In-store sales of the Ivanka Trump brand was not available.  Ivanka Trump had said she would step away from her company when her father took office in the White House.  Retailers that have dropped Ivanka Trump products include Neiman Marcus [NMRCUS.UL]. HSN Inc has stopped selling Trump Home products, but still sells Trump presidential memorabilia. An ongoing campaign called #GrabYourWallet encourages shoppers to boycott products with ties to President Trump and his family. Supporters have launched an alternative social media campaign called #BuyIvanka. President Trump has pledged to ensure that products sold in America are actually manufactured on U.S. soil, but a New York Times report in December found that many of Ivanka Trump branded products were made in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Ivanka Trump’s company declined to comment where her goods were manufactured.

Summary: ट्रंप के सलाहकार ने इवांका ट्रंप के उत्पादों की नैतिकता समीक्षा की मांग की


(Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton on Wednesday proposed a temporary freeze on some student debt and the cutting of college tuition entirely for some families, focusing on an issue important to supporters of her rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton’s latest proposal includes a three-month moratorium for federal student loan payments and a new measure to eliminate in-state college tuition for families whose income does not exceed $125,000, according to a release from her campaign. The proposal builds on her earlier plan for easing student debt loads for higher education. Clinton, the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic Party nominee, is looking to win over supporters of Sanders, the Vermont senator who was her main opponent for the nomination as he consistently sought to push the party left. The presumptive Republican nominee, businessman Donald Trump, also has courted Sanders’ voters, trying to use his outsider appeal to bring them over to his campaign. On Wednesday, Clinton proposed using executive action to offer a three-month moratorium on student loan payments to all federal loan borrowers to offer help for borrowers to consolidate loans and find other methods to reduce their payments.  She previously has released proposals to increase access to tuition grants, push for income-based repayments, and - like Sanders - to allow graduates to refinance student loans at lower interest rates. Sanders praised the new Clinton measures on Wednesday, saying in a statement that he wanted “to take this opportunity to applaud Secretary Clinton.”

Summary: क्लिंटन ने कुछ कॉलेज ऋण को फ्रीज करने, ट्यूशन में कटौती करने की योजना की पेशकश की


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will need a new economic strategy geared toward Asia should the new U.S. administration start a trade war with China, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Friday, warning against protectionism hours after President Donald Trump was sworn in. “I think we have to prepare for a rough ride,” Gabriel said in an interview with the public broadcaster ZDF, in the first official German reaction to Trump’s inauguration. He added that Trump’s election was the result of “a bad radicalization”. The leader of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), coalition partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives, dismissed suggestions that Trump may not pursue some controversial promises, such as imposing high tariffs on cars imported from Mexico. “He means it extremely seriously,” said Gabriel. “What we heard today were high nationalistic tones.” He added that all that was missing from Trump’s speech was comparing parliament to a “Quasselbude” or “talking shop,” a term used by Hitler before he took power to discredit the parliamentary democracy of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. Gabriel said the European Union and Germany must stand together “to defend our interests” and to prevent such nationalistic fervor from gripping the continent. Germany will hold a general election in September in which the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to enter the national parliament for the first time. Trump has criticized Merkel’s decision in 2015 to throw open Germany’s borders to asylum seekers fleeing wars and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere and has said he believes other countries will leave the EU after Britain. Merkel, who had a close relationship with former U.S. president Barack Obama, responded to his comments in a newspaper interview earlier this month by saying that Europe’s destiny was in its own hands. German government sources told Reuters this week that Merkel was working to set a date this spring for a meeting with Trump.  The United States is Germany’s biggest trading partner and Trump has warned that his administration will impose a border tax of 35 percent on cars that German carmaker BMW plans to build at a new plant in Mexico and export to the U.S. There are fears that a protectionist trade policy by Trump could harm the global economy. A trade war with China would be particularly harmful for Germany, a leading exporting nation that gets nearly half its gross domestic product from exports. “Should the United States start a trade war with China and all of Asia then we as Europeans and Germans are fair partners,” Gabriel said. “Europe and Germany need a strategy geared toward Asia and China and we have new opportunities.” He added: “We should neither be submissive nor have fear.”

Summary: जर्मनी को ट्रंप के नेतृत्व में मुश्किल दौर से निपटने के लिए तैयार रहना चाहिएः उपकुलपति


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration signed its final plan for renewable fuel use in the United States last week, leaving an oil industry reeling from the most aggressive biofuel targets yet as President-elect Donald Trump takes over. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, signed into law by President George W. Bush, is one of the country’s most controversial energy policies. It requires energy firms to blend ethanol and biodiesel into gasoline and diesel.      The policy was designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports and boost rural economies that provide the crops for biofuels. It has pitted two of Trump’s support bases against each other: Big Oil and Big Corn. The farming sector has lobbied hard for the maximum biofuel volumes laid out in the law to be blended into gasoline motor fuels, while the oil industry argues that the program creates additional costs. Balancing oil and farm interests is likely to prove a challenge for Trump, who has promised to curtail regulations on the oil industry but is already being reminded by biofuels advocates of the importance of the program to the American Midwest, where he received strong support from voters on Nov. 8.     Oil groups are renewing their calls to change or repeal the program following Wednesday’s announcement, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set record mandates for renewable fuels - for the first time hitting levels targeted by Congress nearly a decade ago.. The EPA plan is “completely detached from market realities and confirms once again that Congress must take immediate action to remedy this broken program,” said Chet Thompson, President of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, in a statement. It is unclear what Trump’s plans for the program will be and his transition team did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Both camps are expecting an administration receptive to their demands, though both have expressed concern and uncertainty over Trump’s plans for the program, according to experts, industry and political sources.   The installation of climate change skeptic Myron Ebell as head of the transition at the EPA bolstered oil industry confidence Trump will swing their way. In September, Trump appeared to briefly echo the views of his supporter, billionaire Carl Icahn, who expressed concern about the program. Icahn, who owns a stake in an oil refiner, renewed those criticisms last week, saying the ethanol credit market generated by the program is susceptible to manipulation and harming independent refiners. PRO-ETHANOL CAMPAIGNING The president-elect campaigned on a pro-ethanol platform when he visited America’s farm states and biofuels advocates expect he will keep the RFS strong, maintaining annual targets at the minimum set forth by Congress. “Mr. Trump will not turn his back on the American heartland, we believe in him,” said Annette Sweeney, a former state representative from Iowa who was a member of the Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his candidacy. “To a certain extent, we are on higher ground. You always want to be on higher ground,” said Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, referring to the increase. “We’ll be able to demonstrate the marketplace can absorb 15 billion gallons of ethanol. We can put this all behind us. As we look to 2018... there’s no reason to go back,” he said. The renewables industries have already started to emphasize their place among American-made fuels, something experts expect will appeal to Trump. “There are a lot of good things to be said about second-generation fuels, even from the new administration’s perspective,” said Harvard University professor and former Obama administration advisor James Stock. “All the new administration needs to do is embrace the original ... vision of the RFS,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प को दुविधा का सामना करना पड़ रहा है क्योंकि अमेरिकी तेल रिकॉर्ड जैव ईंधन लक्ष्यों से पीछे हट रहा है


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress elects a new party leader to succeed President Jacob Zuma at a conference starting on Saturday. The winner will be favorite to become president of the country after a 2019 national election. Below are the main ANC leadership hopefuls. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa are the two front runners. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA The former minister and chairwoman of the African Union Commission has served in the cabinets of every South African president in the post-apartheid era. Dlamini-Zuma was married to President Zuma for over a decade and has four children with him. She is backed by the ANC s influential women s and youth leagues, as well as by Zuma and provincial party leaders close to him. For a profile of Dlamini-Zuma, see. The deputy president and former trade union leader is one of South Africa s richest people. Ramaphosa played an important role in the negotiations to end apartheid and in the drafting of South Africa s progressive 1996 constitution. He is supported by a diverse group of labor unions, communists and ANC members disillusioned with Zuma. For a profile of Ramaphosa, see. The ANC s treasurer general is one of the ruling party s  top six  senior leaders. A medical doctor by training, Mkhize also served as a party boss in the KwaZulu-Natal province, from where Zuma and Dlamini-Zuma hail. Some analysts see Mkhize as a compromise candidate for ANC leader who could reconcile the opposing factions supporting Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa.  For a Reuters interview with Mkhize, see:. The human settlements minister is the daughter of anti-apartheid activist Walter Sisulu, a close friend of Nelson Mandela. Sisulu says Ramaphosa approached her to be his running mate but she turned down the offer. The minister in the presidency has also held senior cabinet positions including public enterprises minister. He served in underground structures of the ANC during white minority rule and was imprisoned on Robben Island, where the apartheid government kept political prisoners. The former premier of the Mpumalanga province has also worked as the ANC s treasurer general. Phosa has demanded that nominations for ANC leader in Mpumalanga be re-run, as he says he has proof that party members were told how to vote. Mpumalanga s current premier is a Zuma loyalist, David Mabuza, who is viewed by some as a kingmaker in the ANC race. The speaker of South Africa s lower house of parliament also briefly served as deputy president. She has said she has held talks with other leadership hopefuls to discuss the possibility of working together.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः दक्षिण अफ्रीका की एएनसी नेतृत्व की दौड़ में प्रमुख खिलाड़ी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress’ watchdog office has agreed to investigate President Donald Trump’s commission on voter fraud after three Democratic senators raised concerns the panel’s work may diminish the public’s confidence in the democratic process. The Government Accountability Office said in a letter dated  on Wednesday that it had accepted a request from Democratic  Senators Amy Klobuchar, Michael Bennet and Cory Booker to investigate the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Trump established the panel in May after charging, without evidence, that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the November 2016 election. Most state election officials and election law experts say that U.S. voter fraud is rare. Democrats and voting rights groups have criticized the panel, arguing it could be a vehicle for changes that would make it harder for lawful voters to cast ballots. A number of state governments have declined to hand over information about their voters to the White House. In a letter last week to the GAO requesting the probe, the three senators said the commission, which is headed by Vice President Mike Pence, had not responded to congressional requests for information about its activities. They said the panel’s lack of transparency could “unnecessarily diminish confidence in our democratic process.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the GAO’s decision to open an investigation.  The commission’s vice chair, Kris Kobach, the Republican secretary of state for Kansas and an advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification, asked states in June to turn over voter information. The data requested by Kobach included names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories. More than 20 states refused outright and others said they needed to study whether they could provide the data.

Summary: ट्रम्प मतदाता धोखाधड़ी समिति की जांच करेगी कांग्रेस की निगरानी संस्था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican bill to dismantle Obamacare has been pulled by U.S. House Republican leadership and will not be voted on as planned on Friday afternoon, a House Republican leadership aide said.

Summary: स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक वापस ले लिया गया हैः सदन के रिपब्लिकन नेतृत्व के सहयोगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he had spoken with Myanmar s Aung San Suu Kyi and that she said she was working to get aid to the Rohingya Muslim areas in the Southeast Asian nation that were affected by violence. Suu Kyi  agreed with the need for immediate and improved access of humanitarian assistance to the region, particularly by the International Red Cross, and she conveyed that she is working toward that end,  McConnell said on the Senate floor. McConnell, whose Republicans control majorities in both houses of Congress, repeated earlier criticism of a resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate urging Suu Kyi to do more for Myanmar s ethnic minority Rohingya population, and lessening the chance that any such measure could pass. McConnell has had close ties to Suu Kyi for years. He said Suu Kyi, a Nobel prize laureate and de facto head of the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, told him when they spoke on Wednesday that violations of human rights would need to be addressed. Attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts last month triggered an army operation that has killed more than 400 people, destroyed over 6,800 houses and sent nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. Suu Kyi has been a target of criticism from fellow Nobel laureates and religious leaders across the world for failing to condemn human rights abuses against the Rohingya during the military s fierce response to Rohingya militant attacks. The United Nations appealed Thursday for massive help for the nearly 400,000 who fled to Bangladesh, amid concern the number could keep rising unless Myanmar ends what critics denounce as  ethnic cleansing.  McConnell said Suu Kyi s position in the government was  exceedingly difficult  and that as a civilian, she had virtually no authority over the military. He warned that weakening her could interfere with the country s transition from decades of military rule. McConnell said he expected a briefing soon from Suu Kyi s office and that she was  trying very hard to improve conditions  for the Rohingya.  Burma s path to representative government is not at all certain and is certainly not over. And attacking the single political leader who has worked to further democracy within Burma is likely to hinder the objective over the long run,  McConnell concluded.

Summary: म्यांमार की सू की रोहिंग्याओं की सहायता के लिए काम कर रही हैंः मैककॉनेल


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday she would prefer that President Donald Trump not criticize judges and the media but that U.S. democratic institutions can withstand such comments. Speaking in an interview, Rice also described Trump as having a somewhat “transactional” view of foreign relations but she broadly endorsed his approach of seeking to enlist China’s help to get North Korea to rein in its nuclear program. Asked about Trump lashing out at judges when rulings go against him and describing the media as “the enemy of the people,” Rice replied: “It’s language that I would prefer not to hear. “But I don’t think that you can erode the scaffolding of democracy in the United States,” she added during a tour to promote her book “Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom.”  Rice, national security adviser and secretary of state under Republican former President George W. Bush, is now a professor at Stanford University. She described U.S. institutions as “very strong” and said Trump “may have even found himself a bit surprised by how constraining that scaffolding really is.” Courts have blocked parts of two Trump executive orders that sought to temporarily ban entry to the United States for people from six Muslim-majority countries. In a 30-minute interview, Rice said the United States needed to find a way to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election but without engaging in ‘tit-for-tat’ retaliation by meddling in Russian elections. She suggested prosecuting anyone in the United States who took part in what intelligence agencies believe was a deliberate effort to sway the presidential election in Trump’s favor, and to consider putting sanctions, such as visa bans, on people who did so from abroad. Rice, who has interspersed periods in public service with  academic posts, suggested Trump, a New York real estate magnate, may see foreign policy more in terms of striking deals than finding common interests. Before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, Trump suggested China might get better trade deals with the United States if it put more pressure on North Korea to restrain its nuclear and missile programs. “The president still has a kind of transactional view of international politics but, in fact, interests are more enduring than transactions,” Rice said. However, Rice endorsed Trump’s policy of trying to enlist Chinese help against North Korea, which is believed to have conducted five nuclear tests since 2006 and to be developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike the U.S. mainland. China, the North’s main trading partner and the closest thing it has to an ally, has historically been unwilling to tighten the economic screws on Pyongyang for fear of triggering a collapse and sending millions of refugees across the border. Rice said the U.S. task was to convince the Chinese that they had to choose between doing “really hard things to bring this regime into line or we will have to do harsh things.” The former secretary of state also said North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong Un, is far less predictable than his father, Kim Jong Il, and may not be fully rational. “Kim Jong Un is far more reckless than his father ... I wonder if he is not a little unhinged,” she said. “I wonder if the Chinese aren’t beginning to reconsider their view that ... a stable North Korean regime, even if it is nuclear-armed, is better than an unstable one.”

Summary: राइस ने न्यायाधीशों, मीडिया की आलोचना के लिए ट्रम्प की निंदा की


BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday China has made its best efforts to resolve issues on the Korean peninsula, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing next week when he is expected to press China to do more on North Korea. Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said the North Korean nuclear issue would be an important topic up for discussion at the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump. China firmly opposes conflict on the Korean peninsula and believes using force is not the correct way to resolve the issue, Zheng told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. China and the United States have a shared interest in peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Zheng said.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि उसने ट्रम्प की यात्रा से पहले उत्तर कोरिया पर सबसे अच्छा प्रयास किया है


WASHINGTON/LONG BEACH, California (Reuters) - If Hillary Clinton ends up losing California to Bernie Sanders, it will be because of voters like Nallely Perez. Perez personifies what a Clinton supporter was supposed to look like: a 24-year-old Latina who grew up idolizing the former first lady as a groundbreaking woman in politics. But when she votes in California’s Democratic presidential nominating contest on Tuesday, Perez will be supporting Sanders.   “Everything that I would stand for, he has said it,” said Perez, a student at California State University, Long Beach, who said she likes Sanders’ promises of tuition-free college and universal healthcare. “We found our voice in him.”  California is the final big contest in the long, bitter fight for the Democratic nomination. Opinion polls show the Democratic race there tightening in recent weeks. Where Clinton, a former secretary of state, once held a big lead over Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, the two now are nearly tied.  A University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times poll released on Friday showed Sanders with a one-percentage-point lead over Clinton in the state, 44 to 43 percent, a swing from March when Clinton held a nine-point edge.  On the Republican side, Donald Trump has earned the nomination for the Nov. 8 election, and Clinton is close to capturing the number of delegates she needs to head the Democratic ticket. Her campaign expects that a win in New Jersey earlier on Tuesday will secure the nomination.  But a loss in a populous Democratic stronghold like California could lend credence to Trump’s claim that she is a weakened candidate.  “Clinton would like to go to the nominating convention with the wind at her back and tamp down the perception that she doesn’t excite Democrats,” said Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist in Washington. A Sanders victory will not clear the way to his nomination unless it triggers a defection by scores of superdelegates - party office-holders and officials - from Clinton’s camp, an unlikely outcome.  Sanders has vowed to use California as a springboard to the party convention in Philadelphia in July. A win, especially a big one, would validate the self-described democratic socialist’s decision to stay in the race to the end and give him leverage to influence Clinton’s policies and cabinet picks. “The game he is playing is to be able to draw as many concessions as he can out of the party and the Clinton campaign,” Mollineau said. The area around Long Beach, part of the 47th congressional district in California, has emerged as a key battleground. Sanders campaigned there a week ago; Clinton was in the area on Friday and may return again before Tuesday’s vote. The district’s congressman, Representative Alan Lowenthal, remains one of the few uncommitted Democratic members of the House of Representatives to either Clinton or Sanders. His district once leaned Republican, but is becoming increasingly liberal thanks to an influx of Latino and Asian-American voters who comprise the majority of  residents.  The large minority population might be expected to translate into an advantage for Clinton, who has consistently shown strength with such groups. But a Reuters reporter who toured the area observed an abundance of Sanders supporters.  In the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach, Sanders  volunteers Gordon Winiemko and Jon Fellman manned a table on the sidewalk outside a coffeehouse.  They had a long discussion with Shawn Coleman, a 24-year-old film student, who told them he preferred Sanders to Clinton because “I think I’m a little bit more for what Bernie has in mind for the future, I think he’s right, and Hillary doesn’t really seem on it.”  Lia Roldan, a 42-year-old set decorator in the film industry who lives in Long Beach, said she was voting for Sanders because “he has a lot of experience in standing up for causes that benefit the working class.” Roldan said she would reluctantly support Clinton in a contest against Trump. “I’ll vote for her only because I don’t want a Republican to win, but I don’t really feel in my heart that I would vote for her otherwise,” she said.  Stopping Trump was on the minds of those who said they would vote for Clinton on Tuesday. “I love Bernie,” said Sami Reed, 42, the CEO of a corporate wellness business, interviewed in a thrift shop, “but I’ll probably vote for Hillary just because I don’t want Trump to win.”  A second-term congressman, Lowenthal told Reuters he has come under a “tremendous amount of grief and pressure from Sanders people” to support him, but he would not say for whom he would vote. At California events, Clinton has been careful to focus her criticism on Trump, not Sanders, while talking up her national security experience. She will almost certainly need the support of passionate Sanders’ backers to defeat the outspoken Trump in November.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया या बस्ट? क्लिंटन को महत्वपूर्ण मतदान में स्वर्ण पदक जीतने की उम्मीद है


YANGON (Reuters) - A spokesman for Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday he had been informed that the police had almost completed their investigation of two Reuters journalists arrested over a week ago, after which a court case against them would begin. Zaw Htay said the two reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, would then have access to a lawyer and be able to meet members of their families.  It will not be long. The investigation is almost done,  he said by telephone. The spokesman said the Ministry of Home Affairs and police told him on Tuesday that the two men were being detained in Yangon, were  in good condition  and had not been subjected to  illegal questioning.   A number of governments and human rights and journalist groups have criticized Myanmar s authorities for holding the pair incommunicado since their arrest, with no access to a lawyer, colleagues and family members. Asked if the police were respecting their human rights, Zaw Htay replied,  Yes, yes, I have told them not to do those things.   I told them to act according to the law. They guaranteed that they will act only according to the law,  said Zaw Htay, who was not more specific. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, have been in detention since Dec. 12. There have been no details on where they were being held as authorities proceeded with an investigation into whether they had violated the country s colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The act carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants.  The United States and the United Nations have described the campaign as ethnic cleansing of the stateless Rohingya people. The Myanmar military has said its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities in Rakhine.  The two journalists were arrested on Dec. 12 after they were invited to dine with police officers on the outskirts of Myanmar s largest city, Yangon.  The Ministry of Information said last week that they had  illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media . A number of major governments and political leaders, including the United States, Canada and Britain, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have called for the journalists  release. Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that the detentions appeared to be  aimed at stopping independent reporting of the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya.   Their secret, incommunicado detention lays bare government efforts to silence media reporting on critical issues,  Brad Adams, the group s Asia director, said in a statement. Separately, the U.N. independent investigator into human rights in Myanmar said on Wednesday she had been told by the government that it would not cooperate with her or grant her access to the country for the rest of her tenure. Yanghee Lee, U.N. special rapporteur, said she had been due to visit in January to assess human rights, including allegations of abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine state.  This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country,  she said in a statement. Myanmar government and foreign ministry spokesmen were not immediately available for comment on the criticism from Human Rights Watch and on Lee s status. In Washington, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for the immediate release of the Reuters journalists.  This is outrageous,  said Senator Ben Cardin, who has introduced with 14 other lawmakers legislation that seeks  through targeted sanctions and visa restrictions to hold senior Myanmar military officials accountable for human rights abuses.\  It just brings back the memory of the horrible practices with the repressive military rule.  The Myanmar Press Council, some of whose members are government-appointed, told a news conference in Yangon that it would like to mediate in the case of the Reuters journalists. Thiha Saw, the council s secretary, told Reuters that the arrests were not aimed at muzzling the media.  I don t agree that this is to silence the voices of the journalists attempting to cover the Rakhine issue independently ... We don t want to generalize things,  he said. Critics have characterized the arrests as an attack on press freedom in the former Burma and, although this is not a view widely held in Myanmar, about one-third of the roughly 100 journalists at the news conference were dressed in black as a protest against the detention of the Reuters reporters.  Myanmar has seen rapid growth in independent media since censorship imposed under the former junta was lifted in 2012. Rights groups were hopeful there would be further gains in press freedoms after Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi came to power last year amid a transition from full military rule that had propelled her from political prisoner to elected leader. However, advocacy groups say that freedom of speech has eroded since she took office, with many arrests of journalists, restrictions on reporting in Rakhine state and heavy use of state-run media to control the narrative.  If the government continues to ratchet up the pressure on the independent press, media freedom in Aung San Suu Kyi s Burma will look a lot more like the media repression during the military junta,  Human Rights Watch s Adams said. Myo Nyunt, deputy director for Myanmar s Ministry of Information, told Reuters on Saturday that the case against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had nothing to do with press freedom, and said journalists have  freedom to write and speak.

Summary: म्यांमार का कहना है कि रॉयटर्स के दो पत्रकारों की जांच लगभग समाप्त हो गई है, अदालती मामला आगे बढ़ेगा


PLYMOUTH, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came to the small town of Plymouth in the New Hampshire mountains on Sunday and promised to lower prescription drug prices, improve education and help heroin addicts get treatment.  It was a day after he told a Republican debate audience that he did not want to leave poor people “dying in the streets,” and won praise by some pundits for delivering a restrained performance in which he largely avoided skewering his rivals.  It is not as if Trump, notorious for his inflammatory, demolition-derby style, has suddenly gone soft. At the same event in Plymouth, he reaffirmed his support for reviving the waterboarding of terrorism suspects and, if necessary, doing “much worse.” He mocked “poor Jeb Bush” and talked about the “stupid people” running the government.  But the past week has revealed a mellower Trump who seems less interested in slashing and burning his way to his party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 election and more willing to view his competitors with equanimity. His campaign has been working to moderate his image, showing another side of the boastful billionaire businessman whose candidacy has alarmed the Republican establishment and been marked by calls for the deportation of illegal immigrants and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States.  The effort began in earnest in Iowa, when Trump brought in an evangelical leader as a character witness, used his children as surrogates and stood on stage with his wife, Melania, who has been rarely seen on the campaign trail. He told Reuters in Iowa he was nervous about the result of the caucuses, where he ended up second to Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, in the first of the state-by-state nominating contests. Ahead of New Hampshire’s pivotal primary on Tuesday in which Trump leads in opinion polls, he has shared painful personal stories, stopped at diners to shake hands with patrons, and tried sending the message that despite his massive wealth and brash manner, he is a regular Joe.   Trump even admitted on CNN on Sunday that Saturday’s debate was “a lot of pressure.”  “He’s much more of an ordinary guy than (voters) would ever expect,” Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., said at a campaign stop in Tipton, New Hampshire. “He’s a down-to-earth guy.”  New Hampshire voters have rewarded candidates for emotional directness before. In 1992, they gave Democrat Bill Clinton’s flagging campaign new life when he went on television with his wife, Hillary, amid denied having an extramarital affair. Sixteen years later, they handed Hillary Clinton a much-needed win after she broke down at an event and cried. The blunt-spoken Republican John McCain won the state’s primary twice, in 2000 and 2008.  Despite leading in polls in several early voting states, Trump could use some image enhancement. National polls almost uniformly show that more than 50 percent of Americans view him unfavorably.  During his last weekend in Iowa, Trump abandoned his usual campaign format in which he stands a podium and addresses the crowd in favor of a sit-down with Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the late evangelical activist, in which Trump answered his questions with little bombast. Falwell vouched for Trump’s generosity, telling of a couple who helped Trump after his limousine broke down in rural New York and how he in turn paid off their mortgage.  At those events, Trump made a show of presenting a giant fake check, sweepstakes-style, to groups that aid disabled veterans.  “I watch all these candidates,” he said of his rivals. “I’m nicer than all of them.” In New Hampshire, Trump has opened up about the loss of his older brother to alcoholism in 1981.  “My brother Fred was a great guy. I mean, he had everything,” Trump said. “The most handsome guy. And then he got hooked — and there was nothing, there was nothing we could do about it.”  Trump picked up that thread on Sunday in Plymouth, saying:  “We’re going to take the people who are badly addicted. We’re going to work to make them better.” Trump’s motorcade stopped earlier at a diner in Manchester, where he greeted star-struck patrons, drank hot chocolate and ordered eggs and bacon.  During his appearance in Plymouth, he barely mentioned his competitors and did not mention building a wall along the border with Mexico until someone in the crowd shouted it out. He also resisted taking aim at Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator from Florida, whose faltering performance at Saturday’s debate seemed tailor-made for the back of Trump’s hand. Instead, Trump told the audience: “I love you folks. You’re amazing people. “On Tuesday, go out and vote,” he said, adding with a grin: “If you’re not going to vote for me, do not vote.”   (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney) 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: न्यू हैम्पशायर प्राइमरी से पहले, ट्रम्प अभियान ने नरम पक्ष दिखाया


(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court is set to rule on Monday on whether to uphold President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban, a court official from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said.  The court is reviewing a March ruling by a Hawaii-based federal judge that blocked parts of Trump’s order that aimed to temporarily halt the entry of people from six Muslim-majority nations and refugees.

Summary: ट्रम्प के संशोधित यात्रा प्रतिबंध पर अमेरिकी अपील अदालत का फैसला आसन्न


HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, standing next to President Donald Trump at a rally on Thursday night, announced that he was changing political parties, ditching the Democrats and joining Trump’s Republicans. “I can’t help you anymore being a Democrat governor,” Justice told the crowd. “So tomorrow I will be changing my registration to Republican,” he said to loud cheers. Justice, a billionaire businessman with interests in coal and agriculture, won election in November as a Democrat in his first attempt at political office. Until 2015, he had been a registered Republican. Trump, who won West Virginia by 42 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton, campaigned on a promise to bring back coal jobs, an important industry in the state. Justice said his late mother would have told him about switching parties: “Jimmy, it’s about damn time you came to your senses.” Justice told the crowd he had met with Trump twice at the White House in the past several weeks to present ideas on coal and manufacturing.    “He’s got a backbone. He’s got real ideas. He cares about America. He cares about us in West Virginia,” Justice said of Trump, a fellow billionaire businessman. Trump, who earlier in the day promised a “very big announcement” at the rally, welcomed Justice into the party’s ranks.  “Having big Jim as a Republican is such an honor,” Trump said of the 6-foot-7-inch governor. With Justice changing his affiliation, there are now 34 Republican governors, 15 Democrats and one independent. Republicans will now control both the legislature and the governorship in 26 of the 50 states. Republicans control both houses of the West Virginia legislature.

Summary: ट्रम्प की रैली में, वेस्ट वर्जीनिया के गवर्नर ने पार्टियों को बदल दिया


LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson will travel to Iran on Saturday to lobby counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif for the release of jailed Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The trip will be only the third by a British foreign minister to Iran in the last 14 years, and takes place against a complex backdrop of historical, regional and bilateral tensions. Johnson has vowed to leave  no stone unturned  in Britain s efforts to free Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, who was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges.  The Foreign Secretary will urge the Iranians to release dual nationals where there are humanitarian grounds to do so,  a foreign office spokesman said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is not the only dual national being held in Iran, but has become the most high profile after Johnson said she had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016, in remarks critics said could have prompted Iran to extend her sentence.  The Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been on holiday and had not been teaching journalism in Iran. Johnson has since apologized for his comments. There were calls for his resignation - something which threatened to destabilize Prime Minister Theresa May s minority government at a crucial point in Britain s Brexit negotiations. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been told she will appear in court on Dec. 10, her husband Richard has said. The visit will be sandwiched between meetings in Oman and the United Arab Emirates as Johnson - a key proponent of Britain s exit from the European Union - takes advantage of a gap in a domestic parliamentary calendar dominated by Brexit. Johnson was a surprise choice for Britain s top diplomat when he was appointed by May in 2016. He has a record of political gaffes and use of florid and sometimes undiplomatic language.  The visit will test his ability to navigate a political landscape littered with potential pitfalls. Iran s 1979 Islamic Revolution turned it into a pariah state for most of the West and many Middle Eastern neighbors. International sanctions have only recently been lifted as part of a multilateral nuclear deal to curb Iran s disputed uranium enrichment program. That deal is under threat after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to decertify Iran s compliance with the terms of the agreement.  Britain has voiced its continued support for the nuclear deal but is one of a number of Western powers voicing concerns about Tehran s  destabilizing  influence in the region.  This visit comes at a crucial time for the Gulf region and provides an opportunity to discuss a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen, the future of the Iran nuclear deal and the current volatility in the Middle East,  the spokesman said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के विदेश मंत्री ईरान का दौरा करेंगे, जेल में बंद सहायता कर्मी के लिए करेंगे पैरवी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s victory has been a shock for America’s major partners around the world. But perhaps nowhere has the blow been more painful than in Germany, a country that under Angela Merkel has come to see itself as a bastion of openness and tolerance. On virtually every issue of importance to the German chancellor, from confronting Russian aggression and promoting free trade, to combating climate change and tackling the tide of refugees fleeing Syria, Trump seems likely to turn Washington from an ally into an adversary. He invoked the German chancellor’s name to insult his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton during the U.S. campaign, calling her “America’s Merkel”. And he described her decision last year to open German borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants as “insane”. So although Trump’s election is being seen as a rejection of the political establishment and liberal democratic values in general, it represents a very personal blow to Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader. It heaps more responsibility on her at a time when she is nearing an announcement on whether she will run for a record-tying fourth term as chancellor next autumn. Despite the toll that 11 years of non-stop crisis fighting has taken on her, Merkel’s aides say that Trump’s victory and Britain’s decision in June to leave the European Union have, if anything, reinforced her determination to continue. “Given the challenges we face, in Europe and beyond, she can’t simply walk off into the sunset. That would look very bad. She has a sense of responsibility,” said an adviser. Germans have been falling out of love with the United States since George W. Bush invaded Iraq more than a dozen years ago. But the election of Barack Obama in 2008 was seen here as proof of America’s capacity to correct its “mistakes”. Obama was hailed as the heir to John F. Kennedy, who came to a divided Berlin in 1963, two years after construction of the Berlin Wall began, and reassured Germans with the word “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Obama, who developed a close relationship with Merkel in his eight years in office, will make what promises to be a bittersweet farewell visit to Berlin this week. Trump’s win heralds a hard break in a relationship that grew extremely close during the Cold War, before wobbling when Germany refused to go along with Bush’s Iraq war and was derided by his Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as “old Europe”. Last week, Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung published a cartoon of a beaming Trump opening his jacket to reveal the message “Ich bin kein Berliner” (I am not a Berliner) plastered across his chest. This won’t stop Merkel, a restrained politician who prefers small steps to giant leaps, from trying to work with the brash Trump, who rode to victory on the dreamy promise to “Make America Great Again”. She is a pragmatist who has maintained dialogue with strongmen like Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan through crises in Germany’s relationship with Russia and Turkey. But Merkel’s statement on Wednesday, in the aftermath of Trump’s election, was telling. In it, she set conditions for cooperation with Trump, a provocative message from a close ally to the democratically elected leader of the United States. “Germany and America are connected by values of democracy, freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views,” she said. “I offer the next President of the United States close cooperation on the basis of these values.” Merkel’s cabinet colleagues have been far more outspoken. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has denounced Trump as a “preacher of hate”. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has called him the pioneer of an international “authoritarian and chauvinist” movement. The German press has not pulled punches either. The cover of Der Spiegel magazine this weekend showed the head of a grimacing Trump hurtling toward earth like a giant flaming asteroid, above the title “The End of the World (as we know it)”. One of Merkel’s biggest foreign policy successes as chancellor was rallying the European Union’s disparate 28 member states behind sanctions against Russia in response to its intervention in eastern Ukraine. If Trump follows through on his promise to forge a closer relationship with Putin, the transatlantic and European front against Russia would crumble, leaving her Putin policy in tatters. Merkel was also the driving force in Europe behind the ambitious trade deal between the EU and United States, known as TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). That agreement, still in the negotiation phase, seems sure to die under Trump, whose protectionist promises, should they become reality, would hit few countries harder than Germany, whose economic strength depends heavily on the openness of the global trading system. “Nowhere would a move toward renationalization be more dangerous,” former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer wrote this week. Germany, he predicted, would pay “the highest economic and political price” if the wave of populism led to a further weakening, or even a collapse, of the EU. Trump’s presidency will challenge Germany on a number of other fronts, from climate and fiscal policy to defense spending and financial regulation. Trump has promised to do what Merkel and her veteran Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble have resisted for years: take advantage of an ultra-low interest rate environment to invest vast amounts of public money in modernizing infrastructure. It was ironic that in the same week Trump was elected, Germany was finalizing a 2017 budget that is a model of fiscal restraint. How long Schaeuble will be able to stick to his cherished “Schwarze Null”, or balanced budget, with Trump demanding that Europe shoulder more responsibility for its own defense, is unclear. But one thing does seem clear: in Trump, Germany faces its biggest test since the fall of the Berlin Wall. “To suggest that Germany has suddenly become the new leader of the western world is not only absurd but dangerous - because it raises expectations that simply can’t ever be met,” a senior German official said.

Summary: जर्मनी की राष्ट्रपति मर्केल के लिए एक नई चुनौती पेश कर रहे हैं ट्रंप


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, will celebrate Christmas as usual, its mayor said, denying the festivities would be curtailed in protest at the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. On Wednesday, a city spokesman said there would be some cuts to the celebrations to protest against President Donald Trump s decision on Jerusalem that angered Palestinians as well as U.S. allies in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Mayor Ali Salam told Reuters on Saturday that three singers who had been due to perform would not appear. He gave no reason for their absence, but said that the celebrations would proceed as normal.  I don t know why people thought that there would be cuts to the celebrations. Everything, except for three singers who will not be coming, will be held as normal. We have already welcomed 60,000 people to the city today,  Salam said. Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel with a population of 76,000 Muslims and Christians, is one of the Holy Land s focal points of Christmas festivities which begin officially on Saturday evening. Nazareth s imposing Basilica of the Annunciation is built on a site that many Christian faithful believe was the childhood home of Jesus  mother, Mary.

Summary: नाज़रेथ क्रिसमस समारोह सामान्य रूप से आयोजित किया जाएगाः महापौर


DUBAI (Reuters) - Officials in Ali Abdullah Saleh s General People s Congress party (GPC) confirmed to Reuters that the former Yemeni president and party leader has been killed outside Sanaa, in what sources in the Houthi group said was an RPG and gun attack. The GPC officials said Saleh was killed south of the capital Sanaa along with the assistant secretary-general of the GPC, Yasser al-Awadi.  Sources in the Houthi group said fighters stopped his armored vehicle with an RPG rocket and then shot him dead.

Summary: सालेह आर. पी. जी. में मारे गए, उनकी कार पर बंदूक से हमला, हौथियों ने कहा; पार्टी ने मौत की पुष्टि की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Funding to battle the Zika virus failed to advance in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, as Democrats blocked a Republican proposal that they said would short-change the challenge posed by the mosquito-borne virus as well as other health priorities. The proposal to provide $1.1 billion in funding, which has already passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, got 52 votes, well short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate to clear a procedural hurdle. It was unclear when Congress would revisit the issue.

Summary: सीनेट में जीका से निपटने के लिए फंडिंग आगे बढ़ने में विफल


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Groups of wealthy Republicans unhappy with Donald Trump have been privately courting prominent peers to join them in backing Democrat Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential bid, several people involved in the effort told Reuters. They say they are seeking money and endorsements from other Republicans disillusioned by Trump, their party’s candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Some have received encouragement from Clinton and members of her campaign staff.  “I made the decision that I wouldn’t be able to look at my grandkids if I voted for Trump,” said Dan Webb, a former federal prosecutor and a self-described “Republican for decades” working to win over prominent Republican business people in Chicago. Trump, a New York developer making his first run at public office, has made traditional Republican donors uneasy with inflammatory statements about women, Mexicans, Muslims and war veterans, among others.  Big-name Wall Street donors can make a difference for Clinton. They could inject big money into a campaign. They might influence moderate Republicans to switch sides. Their support of Clinton challenges Trump’s assertion that his business successes make him a better candidate for president. With the political conventions barely over, the Republican effort to fundraise for Clinton is at an early stage. Some of the groups have yet to receive contributions because they must still file paperwork under campaign finance rules. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks declined to comment for this story. Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said business leaders are supporting Clinton because of her economic plan and because Trump “cannot be trusted to lead our economy.” Groups formed to support Clinton include Republicans for Her 2016, run by Republican lobbyist Craig Snyder; a grassroots organization called R4C16, led by John Stubbs and Ricardo Reyes,  officials in former President George W. Bush’s administration; and the Republican Women for Hillary group co-led by Jennifer Pierotti Lim, an official at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The first two groups are acting independently of Clinton’s own effort. The third is acting in concert with her campaign. “We wanted to go out there and be the voice for Republicans who were feeling wary about Trump and weird about publicly endorsing Hillary,” said Pierotti Lim, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention at the Clinton team’s invitation. Webb, a partner at law firm Winston & Strawn, said he began his outreach after being approached by billionaire investor J.B. Pritzker and longtime Clinton associate Lanny Davis. Pritzker and Davis could not be reached for comment. On Wednesday, billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman said he would work to get Clinton elected because of comments by Trump he found “shockingly unacceptable.” Although Klarman, who is the president and chief executive of The Baupost Group, is a registered independent, a review of filings shows his political giving has largely benefited Republicans over the years, including some of Trump’s rivals in the state-by-state nominating contests this year. Jim Cicconi, a former Reagan and George H.W. White House staff member and lifelong Republican, said he went public with his decision to support Clinton “to encourage others in my situation to do the same thing.” “I feel like I need to do something more than quietly pulling the lever,” he said. “I’m willing to assist the campaign in any way that they want me to help.”  Spearheading in part the Clinton effort to woo Republicans on Wall Street is Democratic strategist Leslie Dach, a former Walmart executive and aide to Bill Clinton, sources close to the Clinton campaign said.  People familiar with the Clinton drive say the Democratic nominee herself has spoken to Republican business leaders, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who endorsed Clinton on Tuesday. Clinton deputies courted former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ahead of a rousing speech he gave at last month’s Democratic National Convention that urged Wall Street to support her. Whether Bloomberg, a self-made billionaire media mogul and an erstwhile Republican, will play a role in courting other Republican business leaders has yet to be determined, a source close to the discussions said. While some major donors are hesitant to back Trump, the candidate over the last month has pulled in millions of dollars in small-money donations to boost total contributions to more than $80 million for Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party, nearly matching Clinton’s $90 million haul during the same period.

Summary: ट्रम्प पर थप्पड़ मारते हुए, कुछ धनी रिपब्लिकन ने क्लिंटन के लिए प्रचार किया


(Reuters) - The South Dakota House of Representatives failed on Thursday to override a veto by Governor Dennis Daugaard of a bill that would have made the state the first in the United States to dictate what bathrooms transgender students can use in public schools.  By a vote of 36-29, supporters of the bill did not muster the two-thirds vote required in both chambers to override the veto. The Republican-controlled House had approved the bill beyond that threshold in January.     The proposed law would have required transgender pupils to use restrooms and locker rooms in public schools that correspond to their gender at birth.  Supporters, including conservative Christian groups such as Family Heritage Alliance Action, said the bill would enhance the privacy of all students. But civil rights groups said the measure would expose schools to legal challenges over access to restrooms and that it violated Title IX, a federal rule regarding discrimination in public schools. “Fairness and equality have prevailed over this unconscionable legislative assault on transgender children,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, reacting to the vote on Thursday. The bill would have required schools to provide “reasonable” accommodations for transgender students. Those accommodations include a single-occupancy restroom, a unisex restroom or the supervised use of a restroom, locker room or shower room designated for use by faculty. In vetoing the bill on Tuesday, Daugaard, a Republican, said it would invite conflict and litigation, diverting resources from education. In December, a suburban Chicago school district reached an accord with the U.S. government over locker room access for a transgender student after the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found the district discriminated against the student in violation of Title IX.  Daugaard’s veto came about a month after a U.S. appeals court heard arguments over whether a high school in Virginia should be ordered to allow a transgender male student to use the boys’ bathroom. Last week, local lawmakers in Charlotte, North Carolina, voted to allow transgender people to use public bathrooms matching their gender identity. Republican State House of Representatives Speaker Tim Moore said he would consider legislation to block the measure.

Summary: साउथ डकोटा हाउस ट्रांसजेंडर बाथरूम बिल के वीटो को ओवरराइड करने में विफल रहा


ZURICH (Reuters) - Neutral Switzerland is in touch with Spain and Catalonia about resolving a row over the region s moves towards independence but conditions for promoting talks are not yet ripe, the foreign ministry in Bern said on Friday.  Facilitation can only be provided if both parties request it. Switzerland is in contact with both parties, but the conditions for facilitation are not in place at this stage,  a spokesman said by email in response to a query. He described the situation in Catalonia as an internal Spanish political matter and said Switzerland respected the sovereignty of Spain.

Summary: स्पेन-कैटेलोनिया वार्ता में भूमिका के लिए परिस्थितियाँ पके नहीं हैंः स्विस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi King Salman on Wednesday and the two leaders agreed Salman will visit the White House early next year, the White House said in a statement. In the phone call, Trump and Salman also  discussed ways to continue advancing shared priorities, including enhancing security and prosperity in the Middle East,  the statement said.

Summary: सऊदी शाह सलमान अगले साल की शुरुआत में व्हाइट हाउस का दौरा करेंगेः व्हाइट हाउस


LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said on Friday he did not want Catalonia to become independent as it would encourage other regions to do the same and make governing the EU too complicated.  If we allow Catalonia   and it is none of our business   to separate, others will do the same. I do not want that,  Jean Claude Juncker said in a speech at Luxembourg University. He said he was  very worried  about separatist tendencies in Europe and had encouraged Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to ensure the situation was brought under control.  Referring to Catalan calls for EU mediation, he said the Commission could not mediate if only one side asked it to do so. The EU has said it has confidence in Rajoy to resolve what it sees as an internal issue.

Summary: जंकर का कहना है कि वह कैटलन की स्वतंत्रता नहीं चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee announced their opposition on Monday to a revised Republican healthcare bill, delivering a serious blow to the legislation. “We must now start fresh with an open legislative process to develop innovative solutions that provide greater personal choice, protections for pre-existing conditions, increased access and lower overall costs for Kansans,” Moran said in a statement.

Summary: दो रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर संशोधित स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक के विरोध में शामिल हुए


BOSTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The hedge fund investment firm founded by Anthony Scaramucci said it will sell a majority of itself to RON Transatlantic EG and an arm of Chinese aviation and tourism conglomerate HNA Group, four days after Scaramucci took a position in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. SkyBridge Capital announced the deal on Tuesday. Terms of the sale, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017, were not disclosed. For HNA Group, which announced about $20 billion of deals in 2016 alone, the stake purchase through its financial arm HNA Capital represents the latest move into financial asset management. Last week, HNA said it would spend $460 million to purchase New Zealand asset finance firm UDC.  “Our investment in SkyBridge is an important step in HNA Capital’s strategy to build a global asset management business,” Guang Yang, CEO for HNA Capital U.S., said in a statement.  The deal comes as HNA Group is rapidly expanding in the United States, where authorities have stepped up scrutiny of Chinese state-backed deals.  HNA Group, best known as the owner of Hainan Airlines Co, announced in October that it will fork out $6.5 billion to purchase a 26 percent stake in hotel chain Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. HNA’s Avolon Holdings also agreed that month to buy CIT Group’s aircraft leasing assets worth $10 billion. The $12 billion SkyBridge’s investment management team, lead by Ray Nolte, will continue to run the company, offering clients access to hedge funds such as Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, Michael Vranos’ Ellington Management Group and Steven Tananbaum’s GoldenTree Asset Management LP. Scaramucci, who founded SkyBridge in 2005 and joined forces with Nolte five years later when he bought Citigroup Alternative Investments Hedge Fund Management Group, will no longer be affiliated with the firm or its well-known industry conference, the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference. Known on Wall Street as the “Mooch”, Scaramucci announced on Friday that he would be joining the White House staff as an adviser and public liaison to government agencies and businesses. Word spread among bankers in mid-December that he had put the company up for sale as he was setting his sights on a position in Washington. HNA Capital (U.S.), a unit of HNA Capital, and RON Transatlantic already owned a minority stake in SkyBridge. Between the two, the new majority owners are involved in beer brewing, tourism, logistics and financial services.  “Now, together with the world-class resources and networks of HNA and Transatlantic, we feel the ‘sky’ is the limit for how far we can take SkyBridge,” George Hornig, Chief Executive of RON Transatlantic Financial Holdings, said in the statement.     The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, called SALT, grew into one of the industry’s biggest hedge fund conferences as Scaramucci got former U.S. presidents, generals and money managers, along with thousands of others to join him for days of lectures and sunning by the pool in Las Vegas. The conference will be spun off as a standalone entity, the company said.

Summary: स्कारामुची का स्काईब्रिज खुद को बेचता है, निवेश दल बना रहेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday that Russia s bombing of U.S-backed fighters in Syria was being discussed at the highest levels and while a communication link between the two countries had worked to avoid such incidents, the strike over the weekend was a departure.  When you look at the fact that this is a change, you can imagine this is at the highest levels,  Mattis told reporters. Russia s Defense Ministry on Sunday rejected the allegations, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans.

Summary: आईडी1 बलों पर रूसी बमबारी पर 'उच्चतम स्तर' पर चर्चा की जा रही हैः मैटिस


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma expressed hope on Wednesday that there would not be unconstitutional changes of government in Zimbabwe after the military seized power in Harare. Zuma also called for the Zimbabwean government and army to resolve their differences amicably and said the Southern African Development Community, on whose behalf Zuma was speaking, was ready to help resolve the impasse in Zimbabwe.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के जुमा का कहना है कि जिम्बाब्वे के अधिग्रहण से असंवैधानिक सरकार नहीं बननी चाहिए


ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Saturday that his meeting with Bernie Sanders, contesting the Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Presidency, was not meddling in politics and that anyone who thought otherwise should “look for a psychiatrist”. Sanders and the pope met briefly on Saturday morning at the Vatican guest house where Francis lives and where Sanders and his wife spent the night after he addressed a Vatican conference on social justice. “When I came down, I greeted him, I shook his hand and nothing more. This is called good manners and it is not getting involved in politics,” the pope told reporters in answer to a question aboard the plane returning from the Greek island of Lesbos, where he visited a refugee camp. [L5N17J063]. “If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist,” he said, laughing. In an interview with ABC News after the meeting, Sanders called the pope “a beautiful man”, adding “I am not a Catholic, but there is a radiance that comes from him.” “I just conveyed to him my admiration for the extraordinary work he is doing raising some of the most important issues facing our planet and the billions of people on the planet and injecting the need for morality in the global economy,” Sanders, a Brooklyn-born son of Polish Jewish immigrants, told ABC. The Democratic hopeful from Vermont has campaigned on a promise to rein in corporate power and level the economic playing field for working and lower-income Americans who he says have been left behind, a message echoing that of the pope. The meeting came just days before Tuesday’s Democratic party primary in New York, where polls say he is trailing Hillary Clinton. After he won seven of the last eight state contests, a loss in Sanders’ home state would give front-runner Clinton a boost toward the party’s presidential nomination. Sanders has said the trip was not a pitch for the Catholic vote but a testament to his admiration for the pontiff.

Summary: पोप ने कहा कि बर्नी सैंडर्स के साथ उनकी मुलाकात को राजनीतिक रूप में देखना पागलपन है


BERLIN (Reuters) - Weakened by the worst result for her party since 1949 and facing a more fractious political landscape at home, Germany s Angela Merkel could be forced to rein in plans to re-shape Europe together with France s Emmanuel Macron.  Merkel s conservatives garnered more support than any other party in the German election on Sunday, projections showed, ensuring that she will return for a fourth term as chancellor.  But her party appeared on track for its poorest performance since the first German election after World War Two and its only path to power may be through an unwieldy, untested three-way coalition with the ecologist Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP), fierce critics of Macron s ideas for Europe. Over the next four years, Merkel will also have to cope with a more confrontational opposition force in the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a eurosceptic, anti-immigration party that rode a wave of public anger after her decision to open Germany s borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants in 2015. The AfD was on track to win over 13 percent, above what polls had predicted. They will become the first far-right party to enter the German parliament since the 1950s. This will be a new world for Merkel, who has grown accustomed to cozy coalitions and toothless Bundestag opposition  during her 12 years in power.   In my mind, reform of the euro zone is the single most important foreign policy issue that the new government has in front of it,  said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, who runs the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund. But he predicted a so-called  Jamaica  coalition between Merkel s conservatives, the FDP and the Greens - whose combined party colors of black, yellow and green are like those the Jamaican national flag - would struggle to deliver.  Whereas the Greens said on Sunday night that a  stronger Europe  was a priority for the party, the FDP is averse to further steps to integrate policies at European level.  It would be the party of no, the party of yes and an incrementalist chancellor. Those are not ideal conditions for a Franco-German grand bargain,  he said. Macron ran for the French presidency on a pledge to  relaunch  Europe, in tandem with Germany, after years of economic and financial crisis and the new shock dealt by Britain s vote last year to leave the bloc. He is due to flesh out his ideas in a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris on Tuesday. Macron has called for a finance minister and budget for the single currency bloc, ideas that Merkel has tentatively supported even though scepticism in her own party runs high. But with the FDP as a partner and the AfD pushing back loudly in parliament, the prospect of selling deeper European integration to her new coalition and the wider public looks far more challenging. In its election program, the FDP called for a phasing out of Europe s ESM bailout fund and changes to EU treaties that would allow countries to leave the euro zone. Its young leader Christian Lindner openly called for Greece to return to the drachma during the campaign.  On Europe, the FDP is not so far from the AfD on some issues. If all of their ideas were implemented we would be plunged back into a euro zone crisis,  Franziska Brantner, a Greens lawmaker, told Reuters. The FDP would not be the only difficult ally in Merkel s coalition. The AfD s strong performance could push her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU)   already a thorn in her side during the refugee crisis   further to the right ahead of an election next year in its home state. Winning back voters who fled to the AfD could become one of the main priorities for Merkel s conservative bloc over the coming four years. That would mean tougher stances on migration and on Europe. Even before the election, officials close to Merkel were playing down the urgency of a reform of the euro zone, describing efforts to secure Europe s borders and agree a fair distribution of refugees across the bloc as higher priorities.  A second refugee crisis would be more devastating to Europe than a second euro zone crisis,  a senior German official told Reuters last month. These officials point to the strengthening of the European economy and suggest that Macron was elected despite rather than because of his grand plans for the euro zone. A Bertelsmann Foundation survey last year showed just 41 percent of French believe Europe needs more political and economic integration, 10 points below the EU average. The survey also showed that Germans and French are the most skeptical toward Macron s ideas for a European finance minister and dedicated euro zone budget. Only 31 percent of French and 39 percent of Germans thought a euro zone budget should be used to support economically weaker states, as Macron suggests.

Summary: जर्मन वोट यूरोप पर मर्केल-मैक्रॉन समझौते को बर्बाद कर सकता है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut lawmakers narrowly approved a new labor contract with public employees on Monday that is expected to save the state at least $1.2 billion - largely through pension concessions - and could clear the way for lawmakers to agree on a past due budget. The total savings are combined over five years, from fiscal 2017 through 2021, according to a report from the legislature’s office of fiscal analysis on Monday. The house approved the deal last week. On Monday evening Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, a Democrat who acts as president of the Connecticut Senate, broke a tie so the measure could pass 19 to 18. The state missed its July 1 deadline to pass a biennial budget for the current and next fiscal year, leading Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, to take over state spending and slash costs.  The labor pact is “a key piece toward adopting a budget for our state,” Malloy said in a statement after the vote. “I am urging legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle to work with our administration on finding a solution on this as possible so that the most vulnerable populations do not suffer long-term consequences.” Pension and healthcare provisions were also extended until 2027 in the deal, which Malloy said would ultimately save $24 billion over 20 years. Labor costs have been one sticking point in budget talks as lawmakers differed with each other and Malloy over how to close a $5.1 billion shortfall over two years. Through the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), which covers about 42,000 members in 15 different unions, public employees ratified the deal on July 17. They negotiated with Malloy, who said the agreement would shave $1.6 billion off of the current deficit. This fiscal year alone contains the biggest savings of any other year at $371.8 million, the legislative analysis said. The largest concessions come from changes to public pensions and retiree healthcare. Employees will contribute more towards their pensions, and annual cost of living adjustments will be tied to the consumer price index. Wages will also be frozen for the three years ending fiscal 2019 but will be raised 3.5 percent in each of the following two years.  Republican critics said that concessions did not go far enough, that taxes would have to rise to pay for it and that the deal squandered an opportunity for a broader restructuring of public pensions and benefits.

Summary: कनेक्टिकट के सांसदों ने पेंशन रियायतों के साथ श्रम समझौते को मंजूरी दी


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump posted a two-point lead over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, the first time he has been ahead since early May.  Trump’s gains came as he accepted his party’s nomination to the Nov. 8 ballot at the four-day Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, and as Clinton’s nomination in Philadelphia this week was marred by party divisions and the resignation of a top party official.  MORE FROM REUTERS:  Musk sees 'modest' capital raise for Tesla's next strategic turn Clinton makes history with Democratic nomination for president Breakingviews: Hillary Clinton’s one percent dilemma gets more awkward The July 22-26 poll found that 39 percent of likely voters supported Trump, 37 percent supported Clinton and 24 percent would vote for neither. The poll had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points, meaning that the two candidates should be considered about even in support.  Clinton held a three-point lead on Friday, which was also within the credibility interval.  Clinton has solidly led Trump in the poll throughout most of the 2016 presidential race. The only times that Trump has matched her level of support were when the Republican Party appeared to be roughly aligned with his campaign.  In early May, Trump briefly pulled even with Clinton after his remaining rivals for the party nomination dropped out of the running. He held a 0.3 percentage point lead over Clinton on May 9, the last time he was nominally ahead.  Trump fell back in the poll as he feuded with party bosses over comments he made about Hispanics, Muslims and immigrants, but he rebounded this month as his candidacy took the national spotlight at the Cleveland convention.  The Democratic party is hoping for a similar boost during its convention this week in Philadelphia, but the confab had a rough start: the Wikileaks website released emails on Friday that enraged many voters who had supported Clinton’s rival for the nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, showing that party officials had looked for ways to undermine his candidacy.  The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced her resignation afterward.  On Monday, some speakers at the Democratic convention were booed by Sanders supporters, and hundreds of protesters took to the streets to protest Clinton’s candidacy.  Presidential candidates usually get a boost in popularity following their party conventions.  In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney jumped by 5 percentage points to pull about even with President Barack Obama after the Republican convention. After the Democrats held their convention, Obama then rose by a few percentage points and again pulled ahead.  The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English with about 962 likely voters.

Summary: अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ में क्लिंटन से आगे हैं ट्रम्पः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


BERKELEY, Calif./LANSING, Mich. (Reuters) - Supporters of Donald Trump clashed with counter-protesters at a rally in the famously left-leaning city of Berkeley, California, on a day of mostly peaceful gatherings in support of the U.S. president across the country.  At a park in Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco, protesters from both sides struck one another over the head with wooden sticks and Trump supporters fired pepper spray as police in riot gear stood at a distance.  Some in the pro-Trump crowd, holding American flags, faced off against black-clad opponents. An elderly Trump supporter was struck in the head and kicked on the ground.  Organizers of the so-called Spirit of America rallies in at least 28 the country’s 50 states had said they expected smaller turn-outs than the huge crowds of anti-Trump protesters that clogged the streets of Washington and other cities the day after the Republican’s inauguration on Jan. 20.  MORE FROM REUTERS   * White House asks for Obama investigation  * ReutersTV: Energy pros face a future that doesn’t need them  * Slideshow: Brutal street battle for Mosul “There are a lot of angry groups protesting and we thought it was important to show our support,” said Peter Boykin, president of Gays for Trump, who helped organize Saturday’s rally in Washington.  In many towns and cities, the rallies did not draw more than a few hundred people. At some, supporters of the president were at risk of being outnumbered by small groups of anti-Trump protesters who gathered to shout against the rallies.  In Berkeley, the total crowd of both supporters and detractors numbered 200 to 300 people, police spokesman Byron White said. Three people were injured in the clash, including one who had teeth knocked out, and police made five arrests.  One Trump supporter who took part in the violence came equipped with a baton, a gas mask and a shield emblazoned with the American flag.  White said police did break up fights between the two sides.  “We’ve made a number of arrests, it’s one of those things where we monitor the situation and take action as necessary,” he said.  The violence comes a month after mask-wearing protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, shut down a planned speech by a provocative far-right commentator by lighting fires and smashing windows.  On Saturday, smaller skirmishes broke out in other parts of the country.  In Minnesota, 400 Trump supporters packed the state capitol rotunda in St. Paul and were met by a smaller group of counter-demonstrators, according to the Star Tribune. Scuffles erupted and six counter-protesters were arrested, the newspaper reported.  In Nashville, Tennessee, Trump supporters and counter-protesters cursed at each other and occasionally made physical contact, but state troopers broke up the fighting, according to the city’s public radio station.  Most rallies appeared to take place without any disruption or violence, like one outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.  “How can anyone be disappointed with bringing back jobs? And he promised he would secure our borders, and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” said Meshawn Maddock, one of the organizers of the rally which drew about 200 people.  Brandon Blanchard, 24, among a small group of anti-Trump protesters, said he had come in support of immigrants, Muslims and transgender people, groups that have been negatively targeted by Trump’s rhetoric and policies.  “I feel that every American that voted for Trump has been deceived,” Blanchard said.  More than 200 supporters of the president rallied in downtown San Diego.  “After this, I think people will take the hint,” said former U.S. Marine David Moore, 42, a participant in the rally. “It’s okay to voice support for the president and the country.”  In Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump is staying this weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the president’s motorcade stopped and Trump stepped outside his car to wave at a crowd of dozens of supporters. A smaller group of protesters stood across the street.  In New York, about 200 people demonstrated their support for the president in front of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan. In Washington, about 150 people marched from the Washington Monument to Lafayette Square in front of the White House to show their support for the president.

Summary: ट्रम्प समर्थक रैलियों के दिन, कैलिफोर्निया मार्च हिंसक हो गया


TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will increase future defense spending by two percent each year, President Tsai Ing-wen said during a visit to Hawaii where the United States expressed concern over a possible military imbalance in the Taiwan Straits, Taiwan media reported. In the event that Taiwan purchases arms from a foreign military, the island s defense spending could increase as much as three percent each year, and could possibly increase further using a special budget if  significant purchase cases  are made, Tsai said in remarks carried by official media on Monday.  Tsai made the comments in response to U.S. concerns about a possible military imbalance in the Taiwan Strait expressed by Ambassador James Moriarty during a meeting. Tsai did not elaborate on when the increased defense spending would start.    Tsai s comments were reflected by National Security Council deputy secretary-general Tsai Ming-yen, who recounted to official media the conversation between Tsai and Moriarty, who is chairman of the U.S. Mission in Taiwan, about expanding Taiwan s national defense policy.  Moriarty had expressed concern about China s double-digit growth in defense investments in the last few years, and that Taiwan would need to address a possible military imbalance over the Taiwan Strait, deputy secretary-general Tsai recounted.    President Tsai in turn replied Taiwan would develop a comprehensive plan in accordance with strategic needs, short-term needs, and long-term plans, to create defense forces on the island that would have  reliable combat effectiveness . Tsai visited Hawaii at the weekend on her way to three of Taiwan s diplomatic allies in the Pacific, despite China, which considers Taiwan a wayward province, calling on the United States to stop the trip. Her trip comes about a week before U.S. President Donald Trump visits Asia. China has increased pressure on Taiwan since Tsai took office last year, suspecting she wants to push for formal independence. China has conducted more military drills around Taiwan and peeled away its few remaining diplomatic allies. Tsai described Taiwan-U.S. relations as being  unprecedentedly friendly  in comments released by Taiwan s presidential office on Monday.  We are happy to see U.S. promises of peace and stability for the Asia-Pacific region, and from meetings with the United States understand the necessity to increase investment in defense,  it quoted her as saying. The United States and Taiwan have not had formal diplomatic relations since Washington established ties with Beijing in 1979, but the United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Taiwan is well armed with mostly U.S.-made weapons but has been pushing for sales of more advanced equipment, such as fighter jets, to deal with what Taipei sees as a growing threat from China and its own rapidly modernizing armed forces. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. It regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States and has been upset by U.S. moves to expand military exchanges with Taiwan and continued U.S. arms sales to the island. Tsai s stopover in Hawaii included a tour of a Pearl Harbor memorial, a banquet with the overseas Taiwan community, and joint speeches with Moriarty, the chairman of the U.S. Mission in Taiwan, also known as the American Institute in Taiwan.  It was her second U.S. visit this year. In January, Tsai stopped in Houston and San Francisco on her way to and from Latin America.  Tsai moves on to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands from Monday during a week-long trip and will stop over in the U.S. territory of Guam on her way back to Taiwan.

Summary: ताइवान रक्षा खर्च बढ़ाएगा, अमेरिका संभावित सैन्य असंतुलन पर चिंतित हैः आधिकारिक मीडिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Tuesday asked the U.S. Treasury secretary to review the process a government council uses to label non-bank institutions “too big to fail,” saying the additional capital requirements and regulations are too onerous. The current designation process “lacks transparency and accountability, insufficiently tracks data, and does not have a consistent methodology for determinations,” wrote 10 Republican senators to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who chairs the Financial Stability Oversight Council.  The council “has created substantial new regulatory costs while putting taxpayers on the hook for any future bailout to these firms,” said the letter, signed by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, who chairs the Senate’s banking committee.  Treasury did not immediately comment on the letter. The Financial Stability Oversight Council was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, which former Democratic President Barack Obama signed in 2010 to prevent a repeat of the 2007-09 financial crisis. Republicans consider the designations of non-banks one of the most egregious extensions of federal power included in the law. Only two insurers, American International Group Inc and Prudential Financial Inc currently have the label, which triggers tougher oversight and requires them to hold more capital in case they come into crisis. A judge last year struck down the designation of MetLife Inc, and the government under Obama appealed the ruling. Until the appeal is decided, MetLife is not considered systemically important. While an overhaul of Dodd-Frank is progressing in the House of Representatives, reform efforts are moving slowly in the Senate. Representative Ann Wagner, a Republican from Missouri, on Tuesday said the Republican plan, called the CHOICE Act, would make the council more accountable. As chair of the council, Mnuchin may be able to make changes faster than lawmakers. He has said he would like to review the council’s work and Republican President Donald Trump has said he wants to cut a lot out of Dodd-Frank. A spokeswoman for Cotton said there were moves Mnuchin, appointed by Trump, could make without legislation, such as dropping the MetLife appeal, releasing FSOC’s criteria for labeling non-banks as systemically important, or providing steps that designated companies can follow to have the label lifted.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर 'विफल होने के लिए बहुत बड़ी' प्रक्रिया की समीक्षा चाहते हैं


GENEVA (Reuters) - Veteran prosecutor Carla del Ponte signed off from the United Nations Syria investigation on Monday by criticizing the U.N. Security Council and telling Syria s ambassador his government had used chemical weapons. The former Swiss attorney general, who went on to prosecute war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, said in August she was resigning from the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria because of a lack of political backing. Bidding farewell to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which set up the Commission of Inquiry six years ago, Del Ponte said she had quit out of frustration.  We could not obtain from the international community and the Security Council a resolution putting in place a tribunal, an ad hoc tribunal for all the crimes that are committed in Syria,  she said.  Seven years of crime in Syria and total impunity. That is not acceptable.  Del Ponte told a Swiss newspaper last month enough evidence existed to convict President Bashar al-Assad of war crimes. Her departure leaves only two remaining commissioners of the inquiry, Karen Koning AbuZayd and the chairman, Paulo Pinheiro, who said that eventually, a great many people would have to answer  as to why they did not act sooner to stop the carnage .   The deadlock at the Security Council on Syria is reprehensible and, at times, bewildering,  he told the Human Rights Council.  Leaving the council, del Ponte told Syria s ambassador that she had been right to quickly reach the conclusion that Assad s government had used chemical weapons during an attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April.   It was me, mister ambassador,  she said.  I said that in my opinion and based on the elements we already had, the Syrian government was responsible. Today we have the confirmation after an official commission s inquiry. So now, we ask for justice, we ask justice for those victims.

Summary: सीरिया के जांचकर्ता डेल पोंटे ने एक स्टिंग के साथ हस्ताक्षर किए