WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German automaker Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) will pay as much as $15.3 billion after admitting it cheated on U.S. diesel emissions tests for years, agreeing to buy back vehicles from consumers and provide funding that could benefit makers of cleaner technologies. The largest-ever automotive buyback offer in the United States came in a deal announced on Tuesday by the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and California state regulators. The proposed consent decree confirmed that VW will set aside $10.033 billion to cover buybacks or fixes for diesel cars and sport utility vehicles that used illegal software to defeat government emissions tests. VW admitted in September that it installed secret software that allowed U.S. vehicles to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution. VW still may face criminal charges and oversight by an independent monitor, a person briefed on the matter said. A criminal settlement could include measures to ensure VW would not engage in further cheating. Shares of VW rose as much as 5 percent on Tuesday, and closed up 1.7 percent at 107.85 euros. “We didn’t follow a multiyear, grind-it-out litigation strategy, which would have been counterproductive for Volkswagen,” said Robert Giuffra Jr., VW’s lead lawyer.  “We moved with lightning speed to settle with our federal and state regulators and the private plaintiffs.”    Under the Justice Department deal, VW will provide $2 billion over 10 years to fund programs directed by California and EPA to promote construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, development of zero-emission ride-sharing fleets and other efforts to boost sales of cars that do not burn petroleum. VW also agreed to put up $2.7 billion over three years to enable government and tribal agencies to replace old buses or to fund infrastructure to reduce diesel emissions. The settlement covers 475,000 2.0-liter diesel Jetta, Beetle, Audi A3, Golf, and Passat vehicles from the 2009-2015 model years. VW also announced a separate settlement with 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that will cost at least $600 million, bringing the total to as much as $15.3 billion. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates said a criminal investigation remained active. “We’re looking at multiple companies and multiple individuals,” she said. “By duping regulators, Volkswagen turned nearly half a million American drivers into unwitting accomplices in an unprecedented assault on our environment,” she added. The EPA is investigating other automakers for potential emissions problems. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the agency “will be releasing information as it becomes available.” VW still faces criminal investigations in Germany and other countries, and lawsuits from investors around the world. The company planned a multi-billion-euro investment program to introduce more than 30 fully electric cars by 2025. Owners have until late 2018 to decide whether to sell the vehicles back.  The deals would move VW close to the 16.2 billion euros ($18 billion) it has set aside to cover costs of the scandal. But spending on buybacks could be much less if regulators approve fixes and owners opt for repairs. Most owners will get $5,100 to $10,000 in compensation, including the pre-scandal value of the cars, documents filed on Tuesday said. The company expects to begin buying back vehicles in October, when a U.S. judge is expected to give final approval to the settlements, and is to start proposing fixes in November.  VW cannot resell or export vehicles it buys back unless the EPA approves a fix, the documents said. Volkswagen must repair or buy back 85 percent of the 475,000 vehicles by June 2019 or face penalties of $100 million for every percentage point below that figure. The agreement does not lift a ban on sales by VW of its U.S. 2016 diesel vehicles. Nor does it cover fees for lawyers of owners suing the company or address 80,000 larger polluting 3.0 liter Porsche, Audi and VW diesel cars.  VW could also face billions in additional costs if it is forced to buy back the 3.0 liter vehicles. VW will likely face significant yet-to-be determined fines under the U.S. Clean Air Act for emissions violations. The settlement does not resolve lawsuits filed last year by owners against German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH, which was accused of conspiring with Volkswagen to evade emissions standards.

Summary: वीडब्ल्यू डीजल वाहनों को वापस खरीदने, स्वच्छ वायु प्रयासों के लिए धन जुटाने के लिए सहमत


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel moved this week to bolster his sagging political fortunes, delivering within a few hours both a labor pact with the city’s teachers and a no-drama 2017 city budget devoid of any big tax hikes. On Tuesday morning, Emanuel unveiled a $9.8 billion city spending plan for fiscal 2017 that includes $3.7 billion for operations, relying on $82.3 million in revenue growth, savings from efficiencies and a few one-time measures. Since winning re-election last year, the Democratic mayor has been dealing with racially charged fallout from the 2014 police shooting of a black teenager and the pension-driven financial hardships facing the city and its school system. “It is a budget free of an immediate pension crisis, free of the black cloud of insolvency threatening the retirements of city employees and the financial future of Chicago,” Emanuel told the city council. Twelve hours earlier, he signed off on a four-year tentative contract deal with teachers in the country’s third-largest public school system to avert what would have been a third strike in four years. The pact, which still must be ratified by the Chicago Teachers Union, relies on a bigger injection of surplus revenue he controls from the city’s development districts. To be sure, the spate of good news for Emanuel does not mean the mayor is free of political trouble. In 2016, Emanuel reeled from the effects of street protests stemming from the death of unarmed, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, whom a white police officer shot 16 times. Emanuel’s administration kept a police video of the killing under wraps while he ran for re-election last year. More broadly, street violence in Chicago continues unabated, leaving the city with more murders this year than New York City and Los Angeles combined. The city budget Emanuel outlined accommodates the initial phase of a two-year plan to add 970 police positions to address the city’s sharp spike in violence. “Until we see the focus on crime in the city and the policing issue from the mayor in more ways than we saw this summer, which was not a lot of focus until it was absolutely necessary, that’s one of the biggest issues in the city,” said Alderman Scott Waguespack, an Emanuel critic and member of the city council’s progressive bloc. Financially, the city has faced a series of credit rating downgrades due to an unfunded pension liability that Moody’s Investors Service has said is the highest among U.S. municipalities it rates. That liability stood at $33.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2015 for Chicago’s four retirement systems.  The mayor last year pushed through a $543 million phased-in property tax increase for police and firefighter retirement systems. The city enacted a new tax on water and sewer usage last month to rescue its largest pension fund for municipal workers from insolvency. A Chicago-based government finance watchdog group welcomed Emanuel’s budget blueprint on Tuesday. “Generally, our initial reaction to the mayor’s plan is this is a good-news budget for the city of Chicago,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation. Emanuel’s top city council ally, Alderman Patrick O’Connor, said the mayor is making solid progress in digging Chicago out of its fiscal and social mess. But no one is saying it yet amounts to a platform for a possible third term in 2019, which the mayor has not yet ruled out. “There are ebbs and flows to popularity. There are ebbs and flows to crisis,” O’Connor said. “Who knows what the crisis of the day is going to be a year from now or two years from now?”

Summary: शिकागो के मेयर ने नए बजट, श्रम शांति के साथ वापसी की मांग की


ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that more candidates could be added to its list of potential nominees to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. “We are still in a position where the list is not closed at this point,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a briefing. “There are still people being considered for inclusion on the list of people that the president may consider for filling a Supreme Court vacancy.” The White House has not officially revealed its list of potential picks to replace Scalia. Earnest said he did not expect a nominee would be named before President Barack Obama meets with congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the matter. Scalia’s death left the court with four conservative and four liberal justices, meaning that Obama’s nominee could tip the balance of the court to the left for the first time in decades. Republicans, who control the Senate, have said the seat should remain vacant until Obama’s successor takes office next January so voters could have a say in the selection when they choose a new president in the Nov. 8 election. But Obama has vowed to press ahead with nominating a justice. Earnest said the White House would seek the help of former administration officials to coordinate outside activist groups in the fight over filling the vacancy. The New York Times first reported on Friday that the administration was recruiting former Obama adviser Stephanie Cutter and former White House director of legislative affairs Katie Beirne Fallon to help in its campaign. “We are going to draw on their contacts, and on the work they’re doing outside the administration to help us make the case, and organize the effort around the president’s constitutional responsibility to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court,” Earnest said.

Summary: अमेरिकी सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्याय उम्मीदवारों की सूची अभी भी खुली हैः व्हाइट हाउस


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil s new Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said on Tuesday she is committed to continuing the sprawling  Car Wash  corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of Brazilian politicians, including President Michel Temer. In her first news conference since taking office on Sept. 18, Dodge declined to comment on charges filed against Temer by her predecessor Rodrigo Janot, but she said she could not withdraw them.  Janot charged Temer with obstruction of justice and being a member of a criminal organization days before leaving office based on plea bargain testimony by the owners of meatpacker JBS SA. Janot had to revoke that plea deal after evidence emerged of crimes committed by the witnesses. Dodge, however, told reporters that the revoking of a plea deal did not erase the evidence provided. The lower house of Congress, which has the authority to decide whether a president should stand trial, began to discuss the new charges on Tuesday and is expected to block them as it did last month with an earlier graft charge brought against Temer for allegedly accepting bribes paid by JBS. Dodge said the Supreme Court must decide whether the Federal Police can also negotiate plea bargains with criminals, an authority currently limited to prosecutors who have opposed sharing the function with the police. Plea bargains have been instrumental for prosecutors in the uncovering of a massive network of bribes and political kickbacks in Brazil s largest corruption scandal.    I am sure that the Supreme Court will hand down a ruling that will turn this into an valuable tool,  she said.

Summary: ब्राजील के शीर्ष अभियोजक का कहना है कि वे 'कार वॉश' जांच के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Friday offered a tepid endorsement of the nation’s leading law enforcement agency, which has been under attack by President Donald Trump and other Republicans. Trump said earlier this month that the FBI’s reputation was in “tatters” after news came to light that an FBI agent on a team investigating links between Russia and Trump’s election campaign had exchanged anti-Trump text messages with an FBI lawyer.     Sessions on Friday defended the bureau, which is part of the Department of Justice that he leads, but it was not an enthusiastic endorsement. “I don’t share the view that the FBI is not functioning at a high level all over the country,” he told a news conference. Sessions’ comments came at a time when former FBI director Robert Mueller is leading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. A sampling of texts between agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page was released to Congress and the media earlier this week. The two referred to Trump as an “idiot,” but also took aim at other politicians, including Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, and independent Bernie Sanders, who had sought the Democratic nomination for president. Strzok was transferred off Mueller’s team, but the texts provided fresh fodder for some Republicans who have fiercely criticized Mueller in a move that Democrats say is an effort to discredit his Russia investigation. Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 election, and Trump has repeatedly said his campaign did not collude with Russia.         Sessions is the latest senior official to defend the FBI. His comments were much milder than those of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in recent testimony to Congress. Sessions said Trump does support the FBI and noted that Trump spoke earlier on Friday to a class of domestic and international law enforcement managers graduating from an FBI training program in Quantico, Virginia. However, the audience did not consist of FBI agents, and Trump’s speech was to local and state police officers. Sessions also ducked a question about whether he will appoint a second special counsel to investigate some of the bias allegations against Mueller’s team, as some Republicans have demanded.

Summary: अटॉर्नी जनरल सेशंस ने ट्रम्प हमले के बाद एफ. बी. आई. की प्रशंसा की


LONDON (Reuters) - British gamblers believe U.S. President Donald Trump is now more likely to leave office before the end of his first term than not, British bookmakers said on Wednesday, after a week of tumult at the White House. Betfair said that punters had bet more than 5,000 pounds ($6,470) on an early departure for Trump in the hours after it was reported he had asked his then-FBI Director James Comey to shut down an investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia. Concerns that businessman and former reality TV star Trump’s economic reforms could be slowed and he might even face the threat of impeachment has dented demand for the dollar. On UK betting markets, the odds on Trump failing to see out his four-year term dropped to 5/6 from evens on Betfair, implying a 55 percent chance that he will leave. Betfair was also offering odds of 12/5 percent that Trump would leave office this year, implying a 27 percent chance that he would depart. Betfair said that the odds for such an early departure had never been shorter. Fellow bookmaker Ladbrokes said its odds on the president leaving office via impeachment or resignation before the end of his first term had also shortened in the last week to 4/5 after a flurry of bets.  Spokeswoman Jessica Bridge added that Ladbrokes had taken close to 50,000 pounds on various wagers over Trump’s future, including whether he would be impeached and the year he might be replaced. “Barely a day goes by without a Trump scandal, but money talks, and punters are becoming increasingly convinced the president could be impeached sooner rather than later,” Bridge said. UK political betting markets have exploded in recent years, with millions wagered last year ahead of surprising results of Britain’s referendum on European Union membership and Trump’s election which was the most bet-upon political event ever.  Bookmakers also saw their biggest market for a French election earlier this year, buoyed by growing enthusiasm for political betting, an unpredictable result and a ban on betting on politics in France.

Summary: ब्रिटेन ने ट्रंप के जल्द बाहर निकलने की कोशिश कीः सट्टेबाज


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Harsh rhetoric about Muslims by Republican candidates in the U.S. presidential election campaign is undermining national security efforts, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Tuesday. Asked about comments by Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, Johnson told MSNBC in an interview that singling out a specific community hampers government efforts to build the connections needed to thwart possible attacks. “Inflammatory comments about patrolling and securing Muslim neighbors or barring Muslims from entering this country, having an immigration policy based on religion, is counterproductive to our homeland security and national security interests,” he said. Johnson’s remarks come in the wake of attacks last week in Belgium claimed by Islamic State militants that have stoked security fears across Europe and the West.  U.S. officials have said there is no immediate known threat to the United States and have vowed to work with European authorities following those attacks, which targeted the Brussels airport and a subway station and killed at least 35 people.    Heightened concern over security has rippled through the nomination race for the Nov. 8 presidential election.  Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, called for police to patrol American Muslim neighborhoods following the Brussels bombings. Billionaire businessman Trump has continued his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. The rhetoric has polarized the U.S. electorate and prompted criticism, particularly from Democrats, including President Barack Obama. Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is running a distant third in the Republican race for the nomination, on Tuesday blasted both of his rivals’ comments on security and said there should be more of a focus on intelligence-gathering and global cooperation, especially with help from Muslim communities. “It’s so absurd,” Kasich said at a campaign event. Johnson said officials have worked hard to connect with American Muslim communities to garner their assistance with U.S. national security efforts.”In this phase, it is critical that we build bridges to American-Muslim communities, not vilify them, not drive them into the shadows, and encourage them to work with us,” he said.   Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, has urged the United States and Europe to do more to defeat Islamic State and has slammed Cruz and Trump’s rhetoric toward Muslims. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, has also said he opposes surveillance of Muslim communities but backs stronger intelligence-sharing and monitoring of social media in the fight against Islamist militants.

Summary: मुसलमानों पर अभियान की बयानबाजी अमेरिकी सुरक्षा प्रयासों को नुकसान पहुंचाती हैः गृह सुरक्षा प्रमुख


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said she saw no reason to resign after the collapse of talks about a three-way coalition government, adding her conservative bloc would enter any new elections more unified than before. Merkel told German broadcaster ZDF she was ready to serve four more years as chancellor, and felt it was important to send a signal of stability for the country and Europe and the world. Asked about the possibility of another  grand coalition  with the Social Democrats, Merkel said she would wait to see the party s response after their talks with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday. But she said any demand for her to step down would not be a good way to start a new coalition. She said she was disappointed by the decision of the pro-business Free Democrats to pull out of the coalition talks, but did not expect the party to reverse course.

Summary: मर्केल को इस्तीफा देने का कोई कारण नजर नहीं आता; उन्होंने स्थिर सरकार बनाने पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday that American student Otto Warmbier had suffered no torture during his 17-month detention, a day after an Ohio coroner said he died from lack of oxygen and blood to the brain caused by an unknown injury. Sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to take from his hotel an item bearing a propaganda slogan, the University of Virginia student was held by North Korea from January 2016 until his release on June 15. Warmbier died days after arriving in the United States and his parents said that their son had been tortured while in North Korea. North Korea had provided medical care to Warmbier despite his  hostile acts  against the country, and claims of torture are groundless slander aimed at opposing the North, North Korea s foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run KCNA news agency.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया का कहना है कि अमेरिकी छात्र वार्मबियर को प्रताड़ित नहीं किया गया था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering a new order to replace his soon-to-expire travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries that would be tailored on a country-by-country basis to protect the United States from attacks, U.S. officials said on Friday. With the current ban on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen due to expire on Sunday, Trump was given recommendations by Elaine Duke, the acting homeland security secretary, but has not yet made a decision on the details of any new order, the officials told reporters. Miles Taylor, counselor to Duke, said she recommended to Trump “actions that are tough and that are tailored, including travel restrictions and enhanced screening for certain countries.” Taylor declined to say which or how many countries would be targeted, including the status of the six countries covered by the current ban. White House spokesman Raj Shah said that while “we can’t get into decision-making,” the next step will be a presidential proclamation setting out the new policy. He declined to say when that would come, including whether Trump would act before the existing ban expires. The American Civil Liberties Union, the rights group that mounted one of the legal challenges to the March order, expressed skepticism about Trump’s forthcoming action. “This looks to be the Trump administration’s third try to make good on an unconstitutional campaign promise to ban Muslims from the United States,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said. Trump’s six-nation travel ban was laid out in a March 6 executive order that was blocked by federal courts before being allowed to go into effect with some limits by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Under the recommendations Trump is weighing, there would be restrictions on U.S. entry that differ by nation, based on cooperation with American security mandates, the threat the United States believes each country presents and other variables, Taylor said. He did not specify the nature of the restrictions, but said that after being imposed they could be lifted “if conditions change.” The legal question of whether the existing ban discriminates against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as lower courts previously ruled, will be argued before the Supreme Court on Oct. 10. Officials declined to say how the proposed change in policy could affect the upcoming Supreme Court case.  The March travel ban and an earlier January one that targeted the same six countries as well as Iraq are some of the most controversial actions taken by Trump since assuming office in January. Critics have called the policy an unlawful “Muslim ban,” accusing the Republican president of discriminating against Muslims in violation of constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equal protection under the law, breaking existing U.S. immigration law, and stoking religious hatred. Trump, who has promised that “radical Islamic terrorism” will be “eradicated,” wrote on Twitter on Sept. 15: “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” The expiring ban blocked entry into the United States by people from the six countries for 90 days and locked out most aspiring refugees for 120 days to give Trump’s administration time to conduct a worldwide review of U.S. vetting procedures for foreign visitors. The existing refugee ban expires on Oct. 24. Taylor said American officials in July notified every foreign government of requirements for the minimum cooperation the United States needs to validate traveler identities to ensure they do not represent a national security threat. Those countries were given 50 days to respond. People from countries that did not meet the requirements may not be allowed to enter the United States or may face other travel restrictions, Taylor said. Most countries met those requirements or agreed to work toward meeting them, Taylor added. “At the end of the day, some countries were still unable or, worse yet, deliberately unwilling to comply with the new baseline that we laid out,” Taylor said. Trump, who promised as a candidate to impose “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” has said the soon-to-expire ban was needed to protect the United States from terrorism. “We need to know who is coming into our country,” Taylor said. “We should be able to validate their identities and we should be able to confirm that our foreign partners do not have information suggesting such individuals may represent a threat to the United States.” While Trump’s January and March orders were quickly blocked by federal courts, the expected new restrictions might be harder to challenge because they are the product of a worldwide review process examining vetting procedures of foreign countries, legal experts said.

Summary: ट्रम्प यात्रा प्रतिबंध को बदलने के लिए नए आदेश पर विचार कर रहे हैं, अभी तक कोई निर्णय नहीं


ROME (Reuters) - A Libyan coast guard vessel fired shots and boarded a humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, demanding that the migrants on board be handed over to them, a spokesman for the Mission Lifeline charity said.  The Libyan man said:  This is our territory,  said Axel Steier, a spokesman for the German-based charity that performed its first rescues on Tuesday.  After a while, they fired shots,  he said, probably into the air or sea. No one was wounded. Afterward two Libyans boarded the Lifeline ship to try to persuade them to hand over some 70 migrants they had just taken off a wooden boat in international waters.   We told them we don t return migrants to Libya. After a while, they gave up,  Steier said. The two men spent about 15 minutes on board, he said. A Libyan coast guard spokesman in Tripoli declined to comment, saying he was seeking information. Italy s coast guard, which coordinates rescues, did not respond to repeated telephone calls. It was the latest incident reported between the Libyan coast guard and humanitarian rescue ships operating off North Africa. Financed, trained and equipped by Italy, the Tripoli-based coastguard is intercepting a growing number of migrant boats. Last month, the Libyan coast guard ordered a Spanish rescue vessel to sail to Tripoli or risk being fired upon, though it later let it go. The worsening security situation has prompted several groups to halt rescue operations, and those who remain tend to patrol further from shore.     This year the Libyan coast guard had stopped 16,567 people before they were rescued and taken to Italy, according to the International Organization for Migration. But overall departures are down more than 20 percent and they dropped more than 80 percent in August after an armed group in Sabratha clamped down on smuggling. Italy is counting on the Libyan coast guard together with the Tripoli and municipal governments to put a halt to migrant arrivals from a country that has been torn by civil war and factional fighting since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.  The policy has been harshly criticized by humanitarian groups because of the dire conditions of Libya s detention centers and the inhumane treatment of migrants in general in Libya. Despite recent declines in departures, almost 1,000 migrants were rescued on Tuesday. Save the Children s Vos Hestia ship picked up some 750 people in six different rescues, a spokeswoman said, and the Lifeline had more than 200 on board. SOS Mediterranee s Aquarius ship picked up 20 Libyans on Monday.   There is no longer any work in Libya and you risk being attacked,  a 26-year-old Libyan rescued told members of the SOS crew.  It is impossible to live in Libya, it has become too dangerous.

Summary: बचाव जहाज का कहना है कि प्रवासियों की तलाश में लीबिया के तटरक्षक बल ने उस पर गोली चलाई और उसमें सवार हो गए


NIZHNY NOVGOROD/MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin confirmed Russia s worst kept political secret on Wednesday, saying he would run for re-election in March 2018 - a contest he seems sure to win comfortably and extend his grip on power into a third decade. Putin, 65, has been in power, either as president or prime minister, since 2000, longer than veteran Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and outstripped only by dictator Josef Stalin. If he wins what would be a fourth presidential term, he will be eligible to serve another six years until 2024, when he turns 72. Backed by state TV, Putin regularly enjoys approval ratings of around 80 percent, and his decision to run for re-election   which he announced at a car-making factory in the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod   was widely expected.     I will put forward my candidacy for the post of president of the Russian Federation,  Putin said, in answer to a question from a factory worker who told the Russian leader that  everyone without exception  in the hall supported him.  There s no better place or opportunity to make this announcement,  said Putin.  I m sure that everything will work out for us.  The workers then broke into a chant of  Russia!   Allies laud Putin as a father-of-the-nation figure who has restored national pride and expanded Moscow s global clout with interventions in Syria and Ukraine. Critics accuse him of overseeing a corrupt authoritarian system and of illegally annexing Ukraine s Crimea in 2014, a move that isolated Russia internationally. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is unlikely to be allowed to run against Putin due to what he says is a trumped up criminal conviction, said Putin was overstaying his welcome.  He wants to be in power for 21 years,  Navalny wrote on social media.  To my mind, that s too long. I suggest we don t agree.  Despite the Central Election Commission ruling him ineligible to stand, Navalny has organized mass protests and set up campaign headquarters across the country, hoping he can pressure the authorities into allowing him to stand.  The challenge for Putin though is not other candidates   nobody, including Navalny, looks capable of unseating him.  Instead, his toughest task will be to mobilize an electorate showing signs of apathy to ensure a high turnout which in the tightly-controlled limits of the Russian political system is seen as conferring legitimacy. Whilst next year s election in March is devoid of real suspense about who will win, what follows is more unpredictable as attention will turn to what happens after Putin s final term - under the current constitution - ends. There is no obvious successor. Many investors say the lack of a clear succession plan, and likely jockeying for position among Russian elites for dominance in the post-Putin era, is becoming the biggest political risk. Putin, once re-elected, will have to choose whether to leave Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister, or to appoint someone else. That decision will trigger a round of intrigue over the succession, as whoever holds the prime minister s post is often viewed as the president s heir apparent. In the meantime, perhaps the Kremlin s biggest task will be to make it look as if Putin faces real electoral competition. In a move critics suspect is a Kremlin ploy to split the liberal opposition vote while injecting a patina of interest, TV celebrity Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Putin s political mentor, is standing against him, offering voters unhappy with his rule someone to back. A political ing nue, Sobchak has scant chance of winning. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied her candidacy is a Kremlin ploy. Sobchak said on Wednesday that Putin would probably win  as always,  but that she still planned to run to represent people who wanted change.    Otherwise, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, 73, and nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, 71, - both political retreads - are likely to run.  They are broadly supportive of the Kremlin s policies and have repeatedly run for president, behavior critics say is a ruse to create the illusion of genuine political choice.      Putin draws much of his support from outside the two biggest cities   Moscow and St Petersburg   where many credit him with raising their living standards despite an economic crisis Russia is only now recovering from. State TV, where many Russians still get their news, affords Putin blanket and uncritical coverage while ignoring or denigrating his opponents.

Summary: रूस के पुतिन ने कोई आश्चर्य नहीं किया, कहा कि वह फिर से चुनाव लड़ेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is getting an office in the White House West Wing, stepping up her highly visible role in helping advise her father. A White House official on Monday confirmed reports that Trump’s 35-year-old daughter would be getting her own West Wing space, as well as access to classified information and a government-issued phone. She is not expected to have an official title and will not be paid a salary. Ivanka Trump will be joining her husband, Jared Kushner, who is a chief adviser to the president and is a regular presence at his father-in-law’s side. When Kushner’s job was announced earlier this year, aides said Ivanka would not take on a role in her father’s White House but would focus on settling her family in Washington.  Since then, she has been a frequent behind-the-scenes adviser. Last Friday, she sat next to visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel when Merkel visited the White House.

Summary: ट्रंप की बेटी इवांका को मिलेगा वेस्ट विंग का पद


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Draft legislation responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s refusal to certify the Iran nuclear deal would set tough new terms for the pact, including restoring sanctions if Iran tests a ballistic missile able to carry a warhead or bars nuclear inspectors from any sites. Critics of the legislation drafted by Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton, with support from the Trump administration, said it could put the United States in violation of the international agreement if it were enacted. The draft, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, was in the works on Oct. 13 when Trump announced he would not formally certify that Tehran was complying with the international nuclear pact, and called on Congress to write legislation to toughen it. Since then, Corker has met with Senate Democratic colleagues, at least some of whom would have to back the legislation for it to pass. They have insisted that Washington work with European allies who co-signed the deal before making any changes. Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, which also signed the nuclear accord - as did Russia and China - warned that Trump’s plan could cause a split with Washington and risked U.S. credibility abroad. Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters last week that the Trump administration must work closely with European allies as it develops its new Iran policy. The draft legislation, a proposed amendment to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act passed in 2015, broadens a required administration assessment on whether Iran is complying with the pact to add factors related to issues from trade to whether Iran is using commercial aircraft licensed by the United States for non-civil aviation purposes. As previously reported, it would instantly reimpose, or “snap back” sanctions lifted under the agreement if Iran were deemed capable of developing a nuclear weapon within a year. The Iran issue has been complicated by Trump’s recent attacks on Corker, in which he blamed him for the nuclear deal forged under former Democratic President Barack Obama. The pact, which world leaders have urged Trump not to derail, was opposed by every Republican in Congress including Corker.  Corker has lashed back at Trump by saying he has failed to grow into the job as president and blaming him for breaking down important international relationships. A spokeswoman for Corker did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the dispute with the president might affect the Iran legislation.

Summary: सीनेट ईरान कानून के मसौदे ने सौदे के लिए सख्त नई अमेरिकी शर्तें निर्धारित कीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is crafting a big new arms package for Taiwan that could include advanced rocket systems and anti-ship missiles to defend against China, U.S. officials said, a deal sure to anger Beijing. The package is expected to be significantly larger than one that was shelved at the end of the Obama administration, the officials told Reuters on the eve of a visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “The political desire is there to do a substantial sale,” one administration official said, adding that internal deliberations had begun on a deal “that’s much stronger, much more significant than the one that was not accepted by the Obama people.”     President Donald Trump’s administration is eager to proceed with the sales, but it is expected to take months and possibly into next year for the White House to overcome obstacles, including concern that Beijing’s sensitivities over Taiwan could make it harder to secure cooperation on priorities such as reining in North Korea, the official said. Completion of a package also could be held up by the slow pace at which the Trump administration is filling national security jobs, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because initial work toward new arms sales has not been made public. Discussions between Taiwan and the new administration already have begun, according to a person in Taipei familiar with the matter. The White House declined comment. Details of the administration’s approach to Taiwan emerged as Tillerson was due to visit China this weekend, where he will seek more Chinese support on North Korea and firm up a first meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expected next month.  In December, President Barack Obama’s administration put the brakes on a Taiwan deal under discussion. That package was worth $1 billion, Washington’s Free Beacon newspaper reported this week, citing unnamed officials, who also were quoted as saying the Trump administration was now preparing new sales. Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman under Obama, said the previous administration put a “relatively modest” arms package for Taiwan on hold, in part to let the new administration make the decision. The Trump administration source told Reuters that the new deals under consideration would likely top the $1 billion mark. The new administration plans to focus more than the previous one on enhancing Taiwan’s “asymmetric” capabilities, possibly with advanced multiple launch rocket systems, anti-ship missiles and other technologies that would enable Taiwan’s military to defend against a much larger Chinese force in the event of an attack, the U.S. official said. Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) is the top U.S. manufacturer of multiple launch rocket systems. Other foreign companies involved in the sector include Germany’s Diehl and Britain’s BAE Systems  (BAES.L). A $1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan that Obama announced in December 2015, to China’s dismay, included two Navy frigates in addition to anti-tank missiles and amphibious attack vehicles. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China.” But successive administrations have continued providing billions of dollars in arms as part of a congressionally mandated requirement to ensure the island can defend itself. Taiwan has already been a major point of contention between Trump and China, which considers the island a renegade province. As president-elect, Trump broke with protocol and accepted a congratulatory phone call from the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in December, angering China. He then suggested he might abandon Washington’s “one China” policy, which accepts the self-ruled island as part of China. Once in office, Trump reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the decades-old policy. The White House is mindful that tensions could flare again over new arms sales. But some Trump aides insist they are needed to make clear that the United States, Taiwan’s sole arms supplier, is committed to upgrading the island’s defenses.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रशासन ताइवान को बड़ी नई हथियारों की बिक्री कर रहा हैः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency on Tuesday as voters in California, the nation’s most populous state, head to the polls. In a statement, the California Democrat praised the former U.S. secretary of state and called on supporters of rival Bernie Sanders “to advance our shared fight.”

Summary: हाउस डेमोक्रेटिक नेता पेलोसी ने राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said on Tuesday he will vote for a crucial Puerto Rico debt restructuring bill, saying it was the best alternative for the financially battered territory. “I am going to vote for this bill,” Wyden told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “I certainly wish that there were amendments, but for me I am not going to let the adequate be the enemy of the barely sufficient.”

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक सीनेटर विडेन का कहना है कि वह प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण विधेयक के पक्ष में मतदान करेंगे


RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia should not forfeit its  sovereign  right to one day enrich uranium under its planned civilian nuclear program, especially as world powers have allowed Iran to do so, a senior Saudi royal told Reuters. Former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal s comments reinforced Riyadh s stance on what is likely to be a sensitive issue in talks between Saudi Arabia and the United States on an agreement to help the kingdom develop atomic energy. Riyadh aims to start talks with the United States within weeks on a civilian nuclear cooperation pact, which is essential if U.S. firms are to bid in a multi-billion-dollar tender next year for building Saudi Arabia s first two nuclear reactors. The reactors will be part of a wider program to produce electricity from atomic energy so that the kingdom can export more crude oil.  Riyadh says it wants nuclear technology only for peaceful uses but has left unclear whether it also wants to enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel, a process which can also be used in the production of atomic weapons. U.S. companies can usually transfer nuclear technology to another country only if the United States has signed an  agreement with that country ruling out domestic uranium enrichment and the preprocessing of spent nuclear fuel   steps that can have military uses.  It s a sovereign issue. If you look at the agreement between the P5+1 with Iran specifically it allows Iran to enrich, Prince Turki, who now holds no government office but remains influential, said in an interview on Tuesday in Riyadh. He was referring to the six countries   the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany   that reached a deal with Tehran in 2015, under which economic sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for the Islamic Republic curbing its nuclear energy program.   The world community that supports the nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran told Iran you can enrich although the NPT (global non-proliferation treaty) tells us all we can enrich,  Prince Turki, a senior royal family member and a former ambassador to Washington, said.  So the kingdom from that point of view will have the same right as the other members of the NPT, including Iran.   SELF-SUFFICIENCY   The dual technology has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns over the nuclear work of Iran, Saudi Arabia s regional rival. These worries helped lead to the 2015 deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to around the normal level needed for commercial power production. Atomic reactors need uranium enriched to around five percent purity but the same technology can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels.   Saudi Arabia plans to build 17.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of around 16 reactors. Riyadh has previously said it wants to tap its own uranium resources for  self-sufficiency  in producing nuclear fuel. Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Wednesday that said these large resources were being explored, were promising and that Saudi Arabia would like to localize the industry in the long-term.   Prince Turki said the only way to stop uranium enrichment would be by establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, a longstanding idea which has been backed by the U.N. s nuclear assembly.  This is not going to happen overnight. You have to set a time scale for negotiations to include regional discussions between the prospective members of the zone on issues not just of nuclear, but of achieving peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine,  he said.

Summary: सऊदी अरब को यूरेनियम संवर्धन के 'संप्रभु' अधिकार को नहीं छोड़ना चाहिएः वरिष्ठ राजकुमार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Friday said the U.S. Congress should obtain President Donald Trump’s tax records to examine possible conflicts of interest, although Republicans showed little interest in taking action. “This is a no-brainer, for crying out loud,” said Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell, a House Ways and Means Committee Democrat who asked the panel this month to request Trump’s federal tax returns from the U.S. Treasury. The Ways and Means Committee is one of three panels with the authority to subpoena tax returns. Defying decades of precedent, Trump has refused to release his tax returns. This has made it harder for watchdogs to determine how his actions as president may affect his sprawling business empire, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump is hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this weekend. Critics say disclosing tax returns would help settle concerns about possible conflicts of interest. While Democrats say tax committees in Congress should exercise their authority to request Trump’s federal tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, Republicans who control Congress have shown little interest in doing so. “I don’t think we can roll all over people just because they’re in a position of government,” said Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who chairs both the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation, the two other panels with the authority to request tax records. The three committees do not need permission from Congress as a whole to review tax records behind closed doors, according to tax experts and congressional aides. However, they face a higher barrier if they want to make that information public. “There has to be a legitimate purpose for that disclosure. It has to be in the public interest,” said George Yin, a former Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff who now teaches at the University of Virginia. Republicans have asked for an ethics review of one senior White House adviser’s promotion of Ivanka Trump’s products. Democrats say persistent concerns about Trump’s continued ownership of an international web of companies could eventually prompt lawmakers to take action. Pascrell said Trump’s tax returns will come up for debate as Congress moves to overhaul the U.S. tax code. “We certainly don’t want tax reform to benefit any particular group, including the president of the United States,” Pascrell told Reuters. “I ain’t going away.”

Summary: ट्रंप के टैक्स रिटर्न की जांच को लेकर कांग्रेस में फूट, कहा-'कोई बात नहीं' या 'कोई बात नहीं'


ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will examine whether a bill toughening sanctions on Russia is offering the “best deal” for the American people, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Monday. “He’s going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like,” Sanders told reporters during a briefing on Air Force One, when asked whether Trump would support the legislation.

Summary: रूस के खिलाफ सख्त प्रतिबंध विधेयक का अध्ययन करेंगे ट्रंपः व्हाइट हाउस


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned U.S.-Mexican border wall, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare law, despite tensions over timetables and priorities. Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade. “This Congress is going to be the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever,” Trump said in a speech to the lawmakers at a Philadelphia hotel. “Enough ‘all talk, no action.’ We have to deliver,” Trump added. But Trump did not hold an expected question-and-answer session with the lawmakers, and his speech veered into side issues such as predicting crowd size for an anti-abortion march in Washington, alleging American voting irregularities and touting winning Pennsylvania in the Nov. 8 election. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who initially hesitated in endorsing Trump last year and has criticized him on some issues, disputed the notion that congressional Republicans were not in synch with the New York businessman who was sworn in less than a week ago having never previously held public office. “We are on the same page with the White House,” Ryan said during a joint news conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “This is going to be an unconventional presidency,” Ryan added. “I think you know this by now. ... I think we’re going to see unconventional activities like tweets and things like that. I think that’s just something that we’re all going to have to get used to.” Trump pressed the lawmakers for action on repealing and replacing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, even as Republicans scramble to devise a replacement plan, and lowering taxes on “all American businesses” and the middle class. For weeks, Republicans talked about formulating an agenda for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. In recent days, the talk has turned into a 200-day agenda for passing major legislation before the lawmakers’ August recess. “It’s going to take more than simply 100 days,” Ryan said. Ryan said that it is “our goal is to get these laws done in 2017,” without guaranteeing that a replacement for Obamacare and a tax reform bill would be enacted by the end of December.  McConnell said lawmakers will take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for Trump’s planned wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for the wall to proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration, although the action has tested already frayed relations with Mexico. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the pace of legislative action may frustrate Trump. “President Trump comes from a different world,” McCarthy told reporters. “Out in the business community, he likes things done fast, and he’s going to continue to push them.” Thousands of anti-Trump protesters took to the streets in Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic bastion that is one of the cities that could be stripped of federal funds for protecting illegal immigrants under a Trump directive. Marchers carried signs including, “Fascist Pig,” “Protect My Health Care,” “Immigration Makes America Great,” “Planet Over Profit” and “Impeach Trump.” During his speech, Trump took time to explain his side of the story on Mexico’s president canceling a meeting next week because of Trump’s insistence that America’s southern neighbor eventually pay for the wall. Mexico has said it will not. Trump said a tax reform bill “will reduce our trade deficits, increase American exports and will generate revenue from Mexico that will pay for the wall, if we decide to go that route.” McConnell and Ryan did not say whether Congress would offset the wall’s cost by cutting other programs or simply add to huge budget deficits that Republicans have criticized for years. Ryan and McConnell also indicated congressional Republicans do not plan to modify U.S. law banning torture even as Trump considers bringing back a CIA program for holding terrorism suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons where interrogation techniques often condemned as torture were used. “I think the director of the CIA (Mike Pompeo) has made it clear he’s going to follow the law. And I believe virtually all of my members are comfortable with the state of the law on that issue now,” McConnell said. “Torture’s not legal,” Ryan said. “And we agree with it not being legal. In a highly unusual move for a visiting foreign leader, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will see Trump in Washington on Friday, addressed the retreat, calling herself a “fellow conservative who believes in the same principles that underpin the agenda of your party.” She was loudly applauded for praising Trump’s victory. “Because of what you have done together, because of that great victory you have won, America can be stronger, greater, and more confident in the years ahead,” May said.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने रिपब्लिकन सांसदों से कहाः पर्याप्त बातचीत। काम पूरा करने का समय आ गया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was in favor of a strong Europe, as France gears up for an election where European unity is a key issue and Britain negotiates its departure from the European Union. “Yes, a strong Europe is very, very important to me as president of the United States and it’s also ... important for the United States, we want to see it, we will help it be strong, and it’s very much to everybody’s advantage,” Trump said at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कहा कि अमेरिका के लिए मजबूत यूरोप महत्वपूर्ण है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If the U.S. Supreme Court endorses a key immigration initiative of President Barack Obama protecting more than 4 million illegal immigrants from deportation, his administration could face a surge of applicants and little time to process them before he leaves office in January 2017. Obama announced the action in November 2014 but it has never gone into effect, being put on hold by a federal judge in Texas in February 2015. The plan was designed to help illegal immigrant parents of children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. It would protect them from deportation and give them work authorization. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would decide whether Obama acted lawfully in creating the program by executive order, bypassing a gridlocked Congress. If Obama wins when the court rules by the end of June, his administration would have just seven months to implement the program. Obama’s victory could be short-lived because the next president, set to be elected in November, would have the final say on whether to keep the program in place. Democrats including presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton have embraced Obama’s plan. Republican presidential candidates including businessman Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have assailed it. Cruz said on Tuesday if elected he would rescind Obama’s order on the first day of his presidency. An earlier immigration program that gave similar relief to children of illegal immigrants who grew up in the United States showed that such policies take time to implement. Launched in June 2012, it took two months to put in place.  After that, there were almost 408,000 applications in the first six months of the program, according to government numbers. By January 2013, only 154,000 applications had been approved. More than 700,000 people have since benefited from the program. The government has been able to do nothing to prepare while Obama’s executive action has been on hold. In the injunction that halted the plan, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen specifically said the administration was barred from “implementing any and all aspects or phases” of the program. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said the federal government is complying with the injunction. Immigration advocates said they are preparing for a new effort to educate potential applicants about the program. They forecast much higher numbers than those who applied to the earlier 2012 program, largely because many more are eligible.     “There is no way the administration can process the projected volume of people that would be eligible,” said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The new program is likely to present additional bureaucratic problems, legal experts say, in part due to the larger pool of eligible people but also because of the specific nature of the applicants. Both programs require proof of continued residency in the United States.   For younger people, this is easier to prove as usually they can cite school records, immigration experts say. For older people, who often do not speak English, it can be harder to provide necessary documentation. Women who do not work could find it especially difficult. “It’s going to be a little bit more tricky for some applicants,” said Adonia Simpson, managing attorney for the Esperanza Center, an immigrant resource center run by Catholic Charities in Baltimore. In some cases, approval will be delayed while the government asks for additional evidence, she added. Criticism of Obama’s actions by Republican candidates could also deter some people from applying, Simpson said. In her group’s discussions with immigrants, “we make it very clear that this is an executive action that could be changed,” she said.

Summary: उच्च न्यायालय में जीतने पर भी ओबामा को आव्रजन बाधाओं का सामना करना पड़ता है


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The alleged mastermind of one of the worst massacres of migrants in Mexico s long drug war was detained on Tuesday in an operation led by federal police. Mexican security authorities said in a statement that the suspect whom they named only as Martiniano de Jesus  N  allegedly coordinated the massacre of 72 migrants in the town of San Fernando in northern Tamaulipas state in August 2010.  The 56-year-old suspect, also believed to be involved in more recent violent crimes, was detained at a hospital in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital of Tamaulipas, according to the statement. In one of the worst atrocities in Mexico s prolonged drug war, the 72 bodies were found in an empty building at a remote ranch some 90 miles (145 km)from the Texas border. The victims were mostly Central and South American migrant workers and appeared to have been blindfolded and bound before they were lined up against a wall and gunned down.

Summary: मेक्सिको में 2010 के प्रवासी नरसंहार का कथित सरगना गिरफ्तार


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Under growing pressure from Thailand s military government, and their own religious bodies, Buddhist monks have launched a fresh round of reforms in recent weeks to clean up temples and overhaul a religion stalked by scandal. Buddhism, Thailand s dominant religion, is followed by more than 90 percent of the population.  But its image has suffered over sex scandals involving monks and allegations of money laundering by a former abbot of Thailand s biggest temple. The scandals have prompted calls for tighter checks on the finances of thousands of temples across the country that are among Thailand s popular tourist attractions. Since September, senior monks have issued orders to enforce stronger discipline for Thailand s more than 300,000 monks and some 40,000 temples. The orders come at a sensitive time as Thailand prepares to cremate the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej next week and the formal coronation of his only son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, likely taking place at the end of the year. The written instructions, seen by Reuters, tell monks to stop asking for donations and temples to stop selling holy objects inside temple grounds. The instructions appear to be aimed at making temple finances more transparent and to counter criticism about the commercialization of religion in the Southeast Asian nation. Other orders instruct senior monks to tightly control  inappropriate use of social media  by monks to prevent   criticism from the public.   The orders were endorsed by the Sangha Supreme Council, the body that governs Buddhist monks in Thailand and performs a similar role to the Roman Catholic church s College of Cardinals.  These rules already existed for monks but their implementation may have been lax,  Phra Phrom Moli, a member of the Sangha Supreme Council told Reuters. Many Thais believe generous donations to temples can bring  good karma - the principle that good deeds will lead to a good future -  something temples and monks have exploited, groups lobbying for reform say.   Phra Phrom Moli welcomed the new orders.   We must examine ourselves, listen to the people and see what is and is not appropriate for the sake of the public s faith in the religion,  he said. One order given in September by a group of temples in Thailand s northeast region asked monks to police each other and report any behavior that might go against Buddhist teachings.  Please take care of any monks who are not practicing discipline,  the order read. The junta has been trying to reform Thai Buddhism since it came to power in a 2014 coup.   Last month, it reinstated a former senior police official, Pongporn Pramsaneh, as head of the National Buddhism Office, who soon afterward asked police to investigate temples where state funds were allegedly misappropriated. Reuters was unable to reach Pongporn for comment. Police say they are focusing on 35 temples and 29 individuals, including five abbots and a former Buddhism chief, who were allegedly involved in misappropriating funds. All five abbots have been formally charged for abusing state authority and colluding to do wrong, among other charges. The government allocated 5.32 billion baht($160.77 million)to support Buddhism last year, 4.67 billion baht of which was earmarked for temples and monks across the country.  Some analysts see the latest reform push as part of a power tussle between monks and the state ahead of the royal transition.  What the monkhood is doing is tightening control for the sake of their own legitimacy,  Somrit Luechai a Buddhism scholar Somrit Luechai told Reuters. Thai Buddhism also needs to make itself relevant again, he added.  By failing to adapt and find new ways to make people understand the teachings of the Buddha ... they are gradually loosing relevance for new generations of Thais,  Somrit said. Sulak Sivaraksa, a pre-eminent Buddhist scholar, agrees. For centuries, Buddhist temples were centers of education in Thailand but Sulak said theoretical teachings were no longer enough.  The education of monks needed modernization,  Sulak told Reuters.  The existing system is creating monks that do not fully understand the real world.    ($1 = 33.0900 baht)

Summary: थाईलैंड के बौद्ध भिक्षुओं ने शाही संक्रमण से पहले सुधारों का आदेश दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans, seeking to address the complaints of small businesses, are floating changes to their controversial proposal to eliminate business tax deductions for debt interest payments, business lobbyists said on Tuesday.  A top U.S. Republican on tax policy acknowledged that modifications are in the works, but did not provide details. The debt interest proposal, long seen by Republican policymakers as necessary to help drive economic growth, is backed by large companies with ready access to equity financing that they could substitute for debt if eliminating the interest deduction made issuing debt too costly. Debt-dependent small business owners, farmers and ranchers don’t have that luxury. As Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration slog ahead with a push to overhaul the U.S. tax code, a key task is figuring out how to resolve conflicting groups’ priorities, with business debt interest a clear example. The tax code has not been overhauled since 1986, partly because reconciling these conflicts can be so difficult. “We’ve asked businesses large and small to look at that, test drive it and give us back their feedback,” House of Representatives tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in remarks at an event in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday, without offering specifics about the modified proposal. His staff at the committee had no comment. Businesses lobbyists said the panel’s lawmakers have quietly agreed to focus on exemptions for small businesses, including farmers and ranchers, and an exemption for land. Lawmakers have also discussed a possible partial elimination of the interest deduction, with an exemption for existing debt, or eliminating the deduction only for businesses deemed to have an excessive amount of debt, according to lobbyists.    Brady is one of the “Big Six” negotiators from Congress and the Trump administration who are guiding the tax reform debate. At the Louisville event, he described rolling back the business interest deduction as a “trade-off” for another proposal to accelerate expensing, which would allow businesses to write off investments in plants and equipment more quickly. He said net interest deduction is one of a number of tax breaks that lawmakers are looking to eliminate to help pay for lower business tax rates. Republicans say tax cuts will help drive annual U.S. economic growth above the 3 percent mark.  Independent analysts say that eliminating the interest deduction would raise more than $1 trillion in federal revenues.  Republicans want to cut the corporate income tax rate to 20-25 percent from 35 percent. But they have been hard-pressed to pay for such a cut since jettisoning a border adjusted import tax that would have raised more than $1 trillion.

Summary: जैसे-जैसे कर पर बहस तेज होती जा रही है, रिपब्लिकन ने व्यावसायिक ब्याज योजना में बदलाव किया है


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama paid a nostalgic visit on Wednesday to the place that launched his political career and made a renewed call for better relations between Republicans and Democrats to create a more positive tone in U.S. politics. Obama won the White House in 2008 partially on a promise to overcome partisan divides in Washington. He has called his failure to do that, seven years after taking office, a regret. On the ninth anniversary of his 2007 announcement in Springfield that he was running for president, Obama addressed Illinois lawmakers at the state Capitol where he once worked as a state senator in what he described as a collegial, friendly atmosphere. “I was able to be part of that here, and yet I couldn’t translate it the way I wanted to in our politics in Washington,” he said. Obama said reducing the influence of money, making it easier to vote and ending the way voting districts were drawn politically would help solve the problem.  “We’ve got to build a better politics,” he said. “When I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I’m not impressed.” Congressional Republicans have said the Democratic president is often unwilling to work with them to pass legislation. “”The central premise of the Obama presidency was to unite the country, and that’s been an unquestionable failure,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan, said in a statement.  Obama has made clear he views Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s rhetoric as corrosive. Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, won the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday as the parties hold state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Obama. The chamber in which Obama addressed Illinois lawmakers also became a microcosm of the challenges he was hoping to address. Democrats stood and clapped when Obama said the country was better off since he became president. Republicans stayed seated. The situation was similar to what occurred at his annual State of the Union addresses in Washington.  Obama chided both sides, however, and said he believed Republicans shared some of his values even if they disagreed on how to enact them. He noted the importance of basic governance such as fixing roads and passing budgets, a reference to a crisis facing his home state.  Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has refused to sign a spending plan for Illinois’ 2016 fiscal year without winning Democratic concessions that would weaken collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions, impose term limits, freeze property taxes and make it harder for workers injured on the job to collect damages from their employers. Democrats, who control both of Illinois’ legislative chambers, have resisted his demands, setting up a stalemate that has left the state’s public universities and social-service programs starved for funding. Chicago State University, for example, last week declared a financial emergency, and furloughs have been imposed at other public universities. Obama’s trip was aimed both at solidifying his legacy in a familiar place and making good on a promise to spend his last year working toward healing partisan wounds. Shortly after arriving, he stopped at a restaurant he frequented as a state senator, then shook hands with onlookers outside the Old State Capitol, where Obama announced his bid for the White House exactly nine years ago.

Summary: इलिनोइस में घर वापसी पर ओबामा ने अमेरिकी राजनीति में सुधार का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that lawmakers would continue to press for new sanctions against Tehran “until the regime ends its violent, provocative behavior against the U.S. and our allies.” Ryan, whose Republican party opposed the landmark nuclear agreement the Obama administration and five other world powers reached with Tehran last year, said Iran’s latest reported missile test violated international law. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday, state television said, challenging a United Nations resolution and drawing the threat of a diplomatic response from the United States. U.S. and French officials had earlier said a missile test by Iran would violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to conduct “any activity” related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Several Republican lawmakers called for more U.S. sanctions in response, but there were no immediate plans to introduce new legislation. The House last month passed a measure that would have limited President Barack Obama’s ability to lift sanctions under the nuclear pact, but there are no plans for the Senate to take up the legislation, which Obama is expected to veto. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said his staff was working on an alternative that could win enough support to pass the Senate, but which would require Democratic support. “We’re having discussions right now and trying to see what type of legislation is passable,” he told Reuters.

Summary: रयान का कहना है कि अमेरिकी कांग्रेस ईरान के खिलाफ नए प्रतिबंधों के लिए दबाव बनाएगी


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Turkey s prime minister on Wednesday dubbed the killing of minority Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar by its security forces  genocide  and urged the international community to ensure their safety back home. Binali Yildirim met several Rohingyas in two refugee camps in Cox s Bazar in neighboring Bangladesh. Almost 870,000 Rohingya fled there, about 660,000 of whom arrived after Aug. 25, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive.  The Myanmar military has been trying to uproot Rohingya Muslim community from their homeland and for that they persecuted them, set fire to their homes, villages, raped and abused women and killed them,  Yildirim told reporters from Cox s Bazar, before flying back to Turkey.  It s one kind of a genocide,  he said.  The international community should also work together to ensure their safe and dignified return to their homeland,  Yildirim, who was accompanied by Bangladesh s Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, said. Surveys of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres have shown at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state in the month after violence flared up on Aug. 25, MSF said last week. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein has called the violence  a textbook example of ethnic cleansing  and said he would not be surprised if a court eventually ruled that genocide had taken place. Yildirim inaugurated a medical camp at Balukhali, sponsored by Turkey, and handed over two ambulances to Cox s Bazar district administration. He also distributed food to Rohingya refugees at Kutupalong makeshift camp. He urged the international community to enhance support for Rohingyas in Bangladesh and help find a political solution to this humanitarian crisis. U.N. investigators have heard Rohingya testimony of a  consistent, methodical pattern of killings, torture, rape and arson . The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare under international law, but has been used in contexts including Bosnia, Sudan and an Islamic State campaign against the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi s less than two-year old civilian government has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, though it has no control over the generals it has to share power with under Myanmar s transition after decades of military rule. Yildirim s trip follows Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan s visit in September to the Rohingya camp, when she said the crack down in Myanmar s Rakhine state was  tantamount to genocide  and a solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar alone.

Summary: तुर्की के प्रधानमंत्री ने म्यांमार में रोहिंग्याओं की हत्याओं को 'नरसंहार' बताया


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuela s Roman Catholic Church leaders said on Thursday they would tell Pope Francis of the  truly desperate  humanitarian crisis in their country at a meeting they hoped would throw a spotlight on problems caused by political deadlock. The Argentine pontiff is visiting Colombia and had asked bishops from neighboring Venezuela to meet with him and brief him on the situation. The short meeting took place after the pope s Mass on Thursday night. Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, the archbishop of Caracas, told reporters ahead of the meeting that his country was mired in  a truly desperate situation. There are people who eat garbage and there are people who die because there is no medicine.   We want to remind the pope of this again ... because the government is doing everything possible to establish a state system, totalitarian and Marxist,  Urosa said. On Wednesday, Francis told reporters he hoped Venezuela could find stability.  Venezuela has been convulsed by months of near-daily demonstrations against leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who critics say has plunged the oil-rich country into the worst economic crisis in its history and is turning it into a dictatorship. Maduro has said that he is the victim of an  armed insurrection  and an  economic war  by U.S.-backed opponents seeking to gain control of the OPEC member s oil reserves. World bodies and foreign governments have expressed concern about the shortage of food and medicine in Venezuela and called for political dialogue between Maduro and the opposition. Church leaders in Venezuela have made a series of highly critical speeches since late last year. The Vatican mediated in talks between the government and opposition in 2016 that ultimately broke down. Venezuela s crisis has also sparked an increase in border crossings to Colombia, which is struggling to supply social services for the migrants.   This meeting is a real gift that the pope is giving to all of the Venezuelan people through the bishops who are here,  said the archbishop of Merida, Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के बिशपों ने पोप को 'वास्तव में हताश' स्थिति के बारे में बताया


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - If you ever wondered how to say  fake news  in Latin, it s  nuntii fallaces  - and Pope Francis is writing a document on just that. Francis announced it himself in a tweet to his nearly 40 million followers on Friday, saying the theme of his message for the Roman Catholic Church s next World Day of Social Communications will be  The truth will set you free. Fake news and journalism for peace.  In Latin, one of the nine languages the pope uses to tweet, that would be  Veritas liberavit vos. Nuntii fallaces et diurniariorum opus ad pacem.  A Vatican statement said the issue was important enough for the pope to address because  fake news contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarisation of opinions.  A distortion of facts, it said, can have  repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour.  Francis said in an interview last year that media that focus on scandals and spread fake news to smear politicians risk becoming like people who have a morbid fascination with excrement. The Vatican statement said the leader of the 1.2 billion member Church wanted to offer  a reflection on the causes, the logic and the consequences of disinformation in the media, and helping to promote professional journalism, which always seeks the truth . The Church s next World Day of Social Communications will be celebrated on May 13. The pope s message will be released on January 24, feast of St Francis de Sales, the patron of journalists. (This version of the story corrected day of Day of Social Communications to May 13 from Jan. 24).

Summary: पोप फेक न्यूज पर दस्तावेज़ लिख रहे हैं-और यही सच है


KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan legislators voted late on Wednesday to amend the country s constitution to allow 73-year-old leader Yoweri Museveni to extend his rule, potentially guaranteeing him a life-time presidency.  A provision in the current constitution limits the age of a presidential candidate at 75 years, which would have made Museveni ineligible to stand at the next polls in 2021. At the end of Wednesday s day-long House debate, which capped a protracted and violence-marred process to remove that age limit, MPs voted 315-62 in favor of the amendment.   The bill passes,  said speaker Rebecca Kadaga after announcing tally results, prompting raucous celebrations from the mostly ruling party MPs who favored the bill.  Earlier in the day, two lawmakers were dragged away and detained when they tried to enter parliament, as the divisive debate proceeded in the chamber. Police had blocked some legislators from entering the building, and live television footage showed two of them being driven away in security vehicles. Both opposed the bill. The legislators blocked by police were attempting to enter parliament to serve court documents on House speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who was presiding over the debate. The document called on her to appear in court at 2:00 PM in respect of  the irregular suspension of our members of parliament,  independent lawmaker Wilfred Niwagaba told a local television station minutes before he was detained.  Six MPs - all opposed to removal of the age cap - were suspended from parliamentary proceedings on Monday for alleged disorderly conduct and refusing to heed the speaker s instructions. The bill to amend the constitution was introduced in parliament on October 4 by a Museveni loyalist, after two consecutive days of brawling in the debating chamber between those opposed and those in favor, supported by security personnel.  On the second day, security personnel who some MPs said were soldiers from an elite military unit entered the chamber and violently ejected at least 25 MPs that the speaker had suspended from proceedings for alleged misconduct.  Wednesday s vote was the second time Ugandan parliament has changed the constitution to allow Museveni extend his rule. In 2005, they voted to remove a limit of two five-year terms, which blocked him from standing again. The bill also extended the length of a term for MPs to seven years from the current five. The limit of two terms was also re-imposed for the president, although that only means Museveni would be limited to two more terms, starting with the 2021 election.  Are you not seeing what happened in Zimbabwe, do we want his excellency to end like Gaddafi of Libya,  opposition legislator, Gilbert Olanya, who opposed to the amendment, said in Wednesday s debate as he attempted to persuade colleagues to reject it. Several African leaders have amended laws designed to limit their tenure. Such moves have fueled violence in countries including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Initially hailed for restoring political order and fostering economic growth, Museveni has lately come under mounting pressure fueled by runaway corruption, and accusations he uses security forces to maintain his grip on power.  A combination of both military and police personnel were heavily deployed around parliament this week, which opposition MPs say was meant to intimidate members.

Summary: युगांडा की संसद ने मुसेवेनी को फिर से चुनाव लड़ने की अनुमति देने वाला कानून पारित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” to protect people fleeing violence there. “I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News broadcast on Wednesday. “I think that Europe has made a tremendous mistake by allowing these millions of people to go into Germany and various other countries,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कहा कि वह सीरिया में 'पूरी तरह से सुरक्षित क्षेत्र' बनाएँगे


HONOLULU (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump headed to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang s nuclear and missile tests. Trump, who is on a 12-day trip, is to speak to U.S. and Japanese forces at Yokota air base shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and looked to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security. Ballistic missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, have exacerbated the most critical international challenge of Trump s presidency. Aerial drills conducted over South Korea by two U.S. strategic bombers have raised tensions in recent days. In a display of golf diplomacy, Trump is to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders also played together in Florida earlier this year. Trump will also have a state call with the Imperial Family at Akasaka Palace during his visit. Abe and Trump will meet families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. Joined by his wife Melania on part of the trip, Trump s tour of Asia is the longest by an American president since George H.W. Bush in 1992. Besides Japan, he will visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Trump departed Hawaii for Japan aboard Air Force One shortly before 7:27 a.m. Hawaii time (1727 GMT). En route to Hawaii s Hickham Air Force Base, Trump s motorcade stopped briefly at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki.  It has been a tremendously successful project and he wanted to say hello and thank you to the employees for all their hard work,  White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.  Trump extended the trip by a day on Friday when he agreed to participate in a summit of East Asian nations in Manila. His trip got off to a colorful start in Hawaii. He was taken by boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial, where lies the World War Two ship that was sunk by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. The Trumps tossed white flower petals into the waters at the memorial in honor of those who died at Pearl Harbor.  Trump s trip is to be dominated by trade and how to muster more international pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.  We ll be talking about trade,  Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.  We ll be talking about obviously North Korea. We ll be enlisting the help of a lot of people and countries and we ll see what happens. But I think we re going to have a very successful trip. There is a lot of good will.  Trump has rattled some allies with his vow to  totally destroy  North Korea if it threatens the United States and his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a  rocket man  on a suicide mission. White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, briefing reporters on Friday, defended Trump s colorful language.  What s inflammatory is the North Korean regime and what they re doing to threaten the world,  McMaster said. Trump will seek a united front with the leaders of Japan and South Korea against North Korea before visiting Beijing to make the case to Chinese President Xi Jinping that he should do more to rein in Pyongyang. Trade will factor heavily during Trump s trip as he tries to persuade Asian allies to agree to trade policies more favorable to the United States. A centerpiece of the trip will be a visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, where he will deliver a speech in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is seen as offering a bulwark in response to expansionist Chinese policies.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया को ध्यान में रखते हुए जापान जा रहे हैं ट्रंप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the Trump administration is committed to the long-standing “One China” policy as it reviews U.S. policy toward China, but also intends to keep all of its commitments to Taiwan. “It is important as we engage with them that we are able to fulfill our commitments to Taiwan, which we have every intention of doing,” Tillerson told a congressional committee. “The question is, is the One China policy sustainable for the next 50 years? And those are the kind of discussions we’re having. They are extremely complex in many regards,” he said.

Summary: टिलरसनः अमेरिका 'एक चीन' नीति के लिए प्रतिबद्ध, ताइवान भी


(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled the final version of a long-awaited and controversial rule to extend overtime pay to 4.2 million U.S. workers, which marks one of the administration’s most significant moves to address stagnant wages.  The rule, which has drawn intense criticism from business groups and Republicans, doubles the maximum annual income a salaried worker can earn and still be automatically eligible for overtime pay from $23,660 to $47,476 and requires that threshold to be updated every three years. It takes effect Dec. 1. Officials said many workers will earn more money, an estimated total of $12 billion over the next decade, while others will work fewer hours for the same pay. “More than 4 million workers are either going to be paid more or get time back to raise their family, go to school … or retrain to get a better job,” Vice President Joe Biden said during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday. The rule will likely touch nearly every sector of the U.S. economy but is expected to have the greatest impact on nonprofit groups, retail companies, hotels and restaurants, which have many management workers whose salaries are below the new threshold. Business groups, which lobbied heavily against the changes, say companies will be forced to cut wages and hours and may slow hiring. The Obama administration and supporters of the new rule say the $23,660 threshold allowed companies to hold down labor costs by requiring workers with relatively low incomes to work well over 40 hours per week without additional pay. The rule will likely face legal challenges, including claims that the U.S. Labor Department flouted legal requirements for creating new regulations. Republicans in Congress have said they will move to block the rule, but they would need to overcome a veto from President Barack Obama.  The new threshold was lower than the $50,440 standard proposed by the Obama administration last year, but the last-minute change to lower it, which was widely expected, did little to appease critics.  Any federal standard above the $35,100 overtime threshold in New York, which has a high cost of living, will inhibit economic growth in more rural states in the South and Midwest, Tammy McCutchen, a Washington D.C. lawyer who works with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday before the final rule was announced. The threshold also disappointed proponents of the new rule, including Ross Eisenbrey of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who first pitched an overhaul to the White House in 2013. “It means a million fewer employees will be helped,” he said before the rule was released.

Summary: अमेरिका ने 42 लाख वेतनभोगी कर्मचारियों को ओवरटाइम वेतन दिया


HONG KONG (Reuters) - Former British banker Rurik Jutting, who was jailed for life in Hong Kong last year for the gruesome murders of two Indonesian women he tortured in his luxury apartment, is planning to appeal, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Jutting, a former Bank of America Employee who is in his early thirties, denied murdering Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, in 2014 on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to alcohol and drug abuse and sexual disorders.  He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a case that gripped world media due to graphic video footage seen by the jury and the brutality of the killings. The jury unanimously found Jutting guilty of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison in the former British colony.  Jutting s lawyer Michael Vidler said his appeal hearing would take place on December 12. He added that the appeal would focus on the  directions given by the deputy judge to the jury . Cambridge educated Jutting had showed no emotion when the verdict was read out in an open courtroom last November, packed with international and local journalists. It took the jury, made up of four women and five men, around six hours, including a lunch break, to reach its decision. In closing remarks, the judge had described Jutting as the  archetypal sexual predator  who represented an extreme danger to women, especially in the sex trade. He cautioned that the possibility of a repeat crime would have been very likely.

Summary: ब्रिटेन का बैंकर हांगकांग की दोहरी हत्याओं के मामले में दोषी ठहराए जाने के खिलाफ अपील करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and Congress lacked agreement on a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare on Tuesday amid signs of growing Republican division on the issue, as President Donald Trump prepared to address lawmakers about his 2017 agenda. Republicans, who control the White House and Congress, are in agreement in their opposition to former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law but the details are proving knotty. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said separately that an effort was under way to get both chambers and the White House to agree on a plan to eliminate and replace the Affordable Care Act.    “We’re not there yet,” McConnell told reporters, hours before Trump was due to address a joint session of Congress. “There’s a lot of discussion about how to craft that, what combination of legislation and regulation will get us to where we want to get,” he said. Meanwhile, Republican conservatives in the House signaled resistance to replacement draft legislation that would limit tax breaks on some employer-sponsored healthcare plans and offer tax credits based on age rather than income to help consumers buy insurance.  “It’s a new entitlement program,” said Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of a 40-member bloc of Republican lawmakers known as the House Freedom Caucus.  “It raises taxes on the middle class to give subsidies to others who could indeed be millionaires,” he added. “It also comes down to a plan that doesn’t reduce the cost of healthcare.” Ryan had promised legislation on Obamacare after lawmakers returned to Washington this week from a 10-day recess. On Tuesday, he told reporters that the White House, Senate and House were working on a single plan to repeal and replace the healthcare law. He insisted there were no rival plans. “At the end of the day, when we get everything done and right, we’re going to be unified on this,” Ryan said. Meadows said it would become clear within 48 hours whether the draft has enough support to pass the House. He said he supported a different bill introduced by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Paul said conservative lawmakers are concerned congressional leaders are discussing a plan that would include new entitlements that the government cannot afford. “We’re not just going along with whatever they try to shove down our throats,” Paul told CNN. “We’re going to be a big part of this. Conservatives will be listened to or there won’t be a repeal,” he said. The Paul-Sanford bill would expand the use of health savings accounts (HSAs) to pay for healthcare costs and offer tax credits to people who contribute to HSAs.  Another Freedom Caucus member, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, said he also favored the replacement bill put forward by Paul and Sanford. “We could bring back affordable health insurance,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के भाषण से पहले ओबामाकेयर पर रिपब्लिकन के बीच सहमति नहीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maryland lawmakers have passed a first-in-the-nation measure that lets the state attorney general sue generic drug makers that sharply raise prices in a move aimed at fighting what legislators call “price-gouging.” The bill overwhelmingly was approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature on Monday and hailed by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh as a way to check sharply higher prices for crucial generic drugs. The Maryland measure comes as concerns about rising U.S. drug costs have been building for years. For example the 2015 decision by Turing Pharmaceuticals to increase the cost of a life-saving, anti-infection drug by 5,000 percent sparked widespread outrage. The legislation takes aim at a generic drug market that makes up 88 percent of U.S. pharmaceutical sales and totaled $75 billion in 2015, according to Frosh’s office. “The market seems to bear it and so some of these manufacturers are charging as much as they possibly can,” Frosh said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, has not said whether he would sign the legislation. His representatives did not respond to requests for comment. The bill allows Maryland’s state authority on Medicaid, a federal healthcare program for the poor, to let the attorney general’s office know when it sees patients being charged an “unconscionable increase” for essential generic drugs. The attorney general could then seek an explanation from the manufacturer and sue to protect consumers, with a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation. A judge could order the company to reverse its price increase. Generics are pharmaceuticals that are equivalent to a brand-name drug. They usually are available after patent protections for the original maker run out. The bill did not touch on branded prescription drugs new to the market since their manufacturers have development and patent costs they are entitled to recoup, Frosh said.  Maryland is the first state to pass a measure to combat excessive price increases, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee have similar legislation pending, the conference said. The legislation would have a “chilling effect” on the generic market in Maryland, said Chester Davis Jr., president of the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic drug makers.  Use of generic drugs had saved Maryland $3.7 billion in 2015, he said. “To focus on the side of the ecosystem that is actually driving the savings and not the costs definitely seems counterintuitive to us,” he said.

Summary: मैरीलैंड के सांसदों ने दवाओं की कीमतों में वृद्धि से लड़ने के लिए विधेयक को मंजूरी दी