MADRID (Reuters) - The Catalan parliament s speaker and five lawmakers will appear before Spain s Supreme Court in Madrid on Thursday to answer charges of rebellion and sedition for their roles in staging a banned referendum on Catalonia s independence last month. The court will decide whether to remand the speaker, Carme Forcadell, and the lawmakers while the investigation continues or release them under certain conditions. Eight former members of the Catalan government and the leaders of the two main pro-independence grassroots groups are already in custody, awaiting trial on sedition charges for their parts in the Oct. 1 vote, ruled illegal by Spanish courts. The deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, went into self-imposed exile in Belgium last week after Spain s central government responded to an independence declaration by firing his administration, dissolving the Catalan parliament and calling regional elections for December. Spain s High Court issued an arrest warrant last week on sedition and rebellion charges for Puigdemont and four former members of his cabinet who are also in Brussels. Forcadell and the lawmakers were summoned last week to the Supreme Court, which handles the cases of people who enjoy parliamentary immunity, but it gave them another week to prepare their defenses. The Catalan independence push has deeply divided Spain, dragging it into its worst political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago and fuelling anti-Spanish sentiment in Catalonia and nationalist tendencies elsewhere. Cracks, however, have appeared within the pro-independence coalition and within Puigdemont s own PdeCat party (Democratic Catalan Party). Catalan secessionist parties on Tuesday failed to agree on a united ticket to contest the December election, making it more difficult to rule the region after the vote and press ahead with their collective bid to split from Spain. The struggle has also divided Catalonia itself and caused deep resentment across the rest of Spain, although separatist sentiment persists in the Basque Country and some other areas. Puigdemont and his former vice president, Oriol Junqueras, are the two main leaders behind the secession bid, which last month led to a unilateral declaration of independence that Spain thwarted when it imposed direct rule.

Summary: स्पेन के सुप्रीम कोर्ट में पेश होंगे कैटलन संसद के स्पीकर


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The scientists, including several retired former officials from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in a letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington that drilling for oil and gas in the refuge would be “incompatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established,” protecting fish and wildlife populations and the environments in which they live.   Murkowski, a Republican, introduced legislation on Wednesday that would create an oil and gas exploration program on the refuge’s coastal plain, letting prospectors build any roads and other infrastructure they deemed necessary inside the refuge to carry out their operations. Half of the available drilling royalties would go to the state of Alaska and half to the federal government. The program’s administrator would be required to hold at least two lease sales within 10 years after the bill became law.  The scientists said drilling on the coastal plain would be particularly harmful because it contains a “unique compression” of habitats supporting animals like polar bears, grizzly bears, wolverines, representing “the greatest wildlife diversity of any protected area above the Arctic Circle.” In a Reuters interview, Cantwell praised the scientists for spelling out why drilling would be so harmful to the refuge and she would work to oppose the legislation.  “To try to legislate mandated drilling in a wildlife refuge is just not where America is,” she said.  Murkowski’s spokeswoman declined to comment and referred a comment request to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  The conflict over whether to allow drilling inside the refuge has deep roots. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the area on the Prudhoe Bay in Northern Alaska has up to 12 billion barrels of recoverable crude, and Republicans, who now control Congress and the White House, have long wanted to open a portion of the refuge called the 1002 area.  Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, called the 1002 portion a “non wilderness area” because the government put it aside decades ago for petroleum exploration. Last month, Democrats tried and failed to pass legislation blocking drilling there.

Summary: वैज्ञानिकों ने अमेरिकी सीनेटरों को पत्र में आर्कटिक तेल विस्तार की निंदा की


(Reuters) - Top Montana Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Tuesday warned neo-Nazis they would find “no safe haven” for a rally that could include guns planned for next month in a mountain town where white nationalists have threatened Jewish residents.  The lawmakers include both Democrats and U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke, recently picked by Republican President-elect Donald Trump to be interior secretary.  “We say to those few who seek to publicize anti-Semitic views that they shall find no safe haven here,” Zinke wrote in an open letter also signed by Democratic Montana Governor Steve Bullock, U.S. senators Republican Steve Daines and Democrat Jon Tester, and Republican Attorney General Tim Fox. Neo-Nazis plan to march in January in the mountain ski town of Whitefish in Montana’s remote and rugged northwestern reaches. The march is to support the mother of white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. Sherry Spencer is facing pressure from community members to sell a building she owns in Whitefish because of its ties to her son and disavow her son’s beliefs. The building has been the subject of protests in the community. As pressure mounted against the building, the neo-Nazi and white supremacist website “Daily Stormer” urged its readers in an article to “take action” against Jews in the Whitefish area.  In its article, the “Daily Stormer” called for an “old fashioned Troll Storm” against community members and published their names and phone numbers along with yellow Jewish stars superimposed over their photographs. It also said that because of gun laws in Montana, “we can easily march through the center of the town carrying high-powered rifles.” The website contains many anti-Semitic descriptions and images of Jews, but said it does not endorse violence.  Spencer is the president of the National Policy Institute, a think tank within the alt-right movement, which includes neo-Nazis and white supremacists. In a video posted online by the Atlantic Monthly magazine, some institute members could be seen hailing Trump’s election victory with Nazi-era salutes after Spencer addressed the group at its conference last month in Washington, D.C. Spencer has said on Twitter he might pursue Zinke’s House of Representatives seat if Zinke is confirmed as Trump’s interior secretary. Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial told Reuters in a phone interview last week that his department had assigned extra patrols to the homes and businesses of the residents identified in the article. However, Dial said there had been no reports of harassment or intimidation of the Jewish community that rose to the level of a crime. Dial also said Federal Bureau of Investigation officials told him they interviewed Spencer and that he denounced the “Daily Stormer” postings.     In a statement to Reuters, Spencer’s father said he and his wife “love our son, but do not agree with his polemics, societal desires or his extreme political leanings.” (This version of the story has been refiled to say, in the fifth paragraph, that the building has been the subject of multiple protests, not that there was a single protest in front of the building)

Summary: मोंटाना के सांसदों ने नव-नाज़ी रैली की योजना की निंदा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France wants to take action to tackle Iran s missile program and  destabilizing  behavior but believes scrapping the 2015 nuclear deal would help hardliners and be a step towards future war, France s defense minister said on Friday.  We need the JCPOA. Scrapping it would be a gift to Iran s hardiners, and a first step towards future wars,  Florence Parly said in a speech at a Washington think tank, referring to the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.  But we should also be very serious about the destabilizing ballistic and regional activities. We are working on it.  Parly is the first French minister to visit the United States since President Donald Trump s refusal to certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. She held talks with her American counterpart James Mattis and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. While Trump did not pull the United States out of the agreement, he gave the U.S. Congress 60 days to decide whether to re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the pact agreed between Iran and six world powers. That has alarmed its European allies, who fear the deal will slowly unravel.  The issue is now in Congress. France has no desire to be embroiled in U.S. domestic politics, but our position on the agreement is clear.

Summary: परमाणु समझौते को रद्द करना ईरान के कट्टरपंथियों के लिए उपहार होगाः फ्रांस के रक्षा मंत्री


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A man alleged to be behind the murder this year of a crime reporter in northern Mexico has been arrested by federal police, Chihuahua state Governor Javier Corral said in a statement on Monday. The suspect, identified as Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa, alias  El Larry , was detained in the neighboring border state of Sonora on Monday and was allegedly the  intellectual author  of the murder of journalist Miroslava Breach, the statement said. Breach was shot several times as she drove out of her garage on March 23. One of her children was with her in the car, but was not hurt. A man alleged to be the gunman in Breach s murder, Ramon Andres Zavala, was assassinated last week in Sonora, Corral s statement said.  Moreno Ochoa was scheduled to be brought before a judge later on Monday to begin proceedings against him, the statement said. Reuters was unable to locate Moreno Ochoa s lawyer. At least 16 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the last three years, and 43 since 1992, making Mexico one of the world s most dangerous countries for reporters, according to the Committee to Project Journalists.

Summary: मैक्सिकन पुलिस ने अपराध पत्रकार की हत्या के मामले में संदिग्ध को गिरफ्तार किया


(Reuters) - Ilka Eren, 25, came to the United States from Turkey with her parents more than 15 years ago and lives in the country without legal authorization.  While in college, she applied and qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era program that  President Donald Trump vowed to end during his 2016 presidential campaign. The program does not change an immigrant’s legal status but rather protects from deportation and gives the right to work to so-called “Dreamers,” young people brought to the United States as children and living in the country illegally. Nearly 800,000 immigrants have received DACA protection since the program’s launch in 2012. Eren’s DACA status opened the door to several internships, and eventually to a job in New York at Ovation Travel Group, which provides travel services to corporations, as executive assistant to the chief financial officer. “DACA literally changed my life,” she said. “I really don’t know where I would be without it.” Paul Metselaar, Ovation’s chief executive, doesn’t know where he’d be without Eren.  He said her job responsibilities have grown because of her abilities. He said she reminded him of his own grandparents, who immigrated to the United States to seek a better life. If Eren were to lose her work eligibility it would be a blow to his company, Metselaar said. But, he added, “it would be much more of a blow to her family, and to who we are as a country.” Trump is expected to announce a decision to end DACA on Tuesday, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation, but with a delay of up to six months to allow Congress to find a legislative solution. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to quickly repeal the program, but since taking office - even as he has stepped up immigration enforcement - he has at times taken a softer tone about DACA. “We love the Dreamers,” he told reporters on Friday. Immigration hardliners within the Republican Party have pressured the president to scrap the program. Nine Republican state attorneys general have said they will file a legal challenge to the program if the Trump administration does not end it by Tuesday. Many business leaders have urged the president to keep DACA protections in place, including the heads of tech giants Microsoft (MSFT.O) , Apple (AAPL.O)  and Facebook (FB.O). They have generally cited a potential hit to the economy if the program were to end, although there is scant government data on Dreamers as a distinct economic group. Still, with the U.S. economy at close to full employment, ending DACA would bring a net loss in productivity, said Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis who studies immigration.  Groups that support stricter immigration enforcement say that eliminating the program would bring benefits, too. “The end of DACA would result in much-welcomed job openings for American college graduates and other American workers who are either unemployed or underemployed and feel completely locked out of the workforce and blocked from achieving their American dream,” said Dave Ray, communications director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors reduced immigration.  In interviews with Reuters, DACA recipients and their employers emphasized another aspect of what it would mean to end the program: The holes such a move would leave in lives and workplaces.     Georgina Lepe, who runs a real estate law and probate practice from her office in Rancho Cucamonga, California, liked Karla Martinez so much she hired her twice.   She first met Martinez when she was busing tables at a Mexican restaurant owned by Lepe’s family and was impressed with her work ethic. When Martinez graduated from the University of Southern California in December 2015, Lepe hired her to help temporarily with marketing.  Martinez left after a few months to work elsewhere. Lepe later tracked her down and asked her to come back, this time as a full-time legal assistant. “Even when she was working at the restaurant, I knew she would be someone,” said Lepe, who is 30 and, like Martinez, from a Mexican family. “The difference between (us) is, my family was able to help me out financially to achieve my goals.”  Martinez, who came to the United States with her mother when she was four, helps pay the bills in the home she shares with her mother and two younger siblings. Now 24, she’s planning to apply to law school - if DACA doesn’t end and she can still afford to go back to school. “Obviously I think about it and it’s a little scary but I don’t let it take over me,” Martinez said. Lepe says if Martinez’s work permit is rescinded, “I would keep Karla until the very last second” and probably wouldn’t hire a replacement. “I don’t think anyone can compare,” she says. Chuck Rocha, the founder of Solidarity Strategies, employs DACA recipient Luis Alcauter at his Washington D.C.-based political consulting firm, which specializes in outreach to Latinos. Losing Alcauter “would be devastating,” Rocha said.  Alcauter, 27, came to the United States from Mexico when he was 13, and attended California State University, Fresno, where he developed an interest in politics, which led to his interning on Capitol Hill.  The internship was possible, he said, because of his DACA status.  “To be able to have the documents and be able to apply wherever you want, it really empowers you to think beyond the place you were,” Alcauter said. “It just empowers people to be able to find a job, to get a car, to buy a house, to move around, to contribute to their families.” Juan Ochoa, CEO of Miramar Group, an Illinois-based facilities management company that oversees 1,200 buildings nationwide, said his company will hire an attorney to try to keep DACA employee Jay Meza, 23, if the program ends. “I have a good job now,” said Meza, who came to the United States from Mexico with his parents and brother when he was 3 years old. “I actually am looking forward to buying my first house. I actually have a good car.” Ochoa said Meza started at Miramar doing data entry and analyzing spreadsheets and went on to help the company build a system allowing it to track its buildings and employees. “We have invested a lot of time and money in training Jay, and so it would be a significant loss to us,” he said. (This story corrects year that Martinez graduated to 2015 instead of 2016)

Summary: अप्रवासी 'सपने देखने वाले'-और उनके मालिक-ट्रम्प के फैसले का बेसब्री से इंतजार करते हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - France, Germany, Italy and Spain want digital multinationals like Amazon and Google to be taxed in Europe based on their revenues, rather than only profits as now, their finance ministers said in a joint letter. France is leading a push to clamp down on the taxation of such companies, but has found support from other countries also frustrated at the low tax they receive under current international rules.     Currently such companies are often taxed on profits booked by subsidiaries in low-tax countries like Ireland even though the revenue originated from other EU countries.  We should no longer accept that these companies do business in Europe while paying minimal amounts of tax to our treasuries,  the four ministers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters. The letter, signed by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, Wolfgang Schaeuble of Germany, Pier-Carlo Padoan of Italy and Luis de Guindos, was addressed to the EU s Estonian presidency with the bloc s executive Commission in copy. They urged the Commission to come up with a solution creating an  equalization tax  on turnover that would bring taxation to the level of corporate tax in the country where the revenue was earned.  The amounts raised would aim to reflect some of what these companies should be paying in terms of corporate tax,  the ministers said in the letter, first reported on by the Financial Times. Le Maire, Schaeuble, Padoan and de Guindos of Spain said they wanted to present the issue to other EU counterparts at a Sept. 15-16 meeting in Tallinn. The EU s current Estonian presidency has scheduled a discussion at the meeting about the concept of  permanent establishment , with the aim of making it possible to tax firms where they create value, not only where they have their tax residence. France has stepped up pressure for EU tax rules after facing legal setbacks trying to obtain payments for taxes on activities in the country. A French court ruled in July French court ruled that Google, now part of Alphabet Inc, was not liable to pay 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in back taxes because it had no  permanent establishment  in France and ran its operations there from Ireland.

Summary: फ्रांस, जर्मनी, इटली, स्पेन ने डिजिटल दिग्गजों के राजस्व पर कर लगाने की मांग की


(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia received last rites from a Catholic priest at the Texas ranch where he died, Elizabeth O’Hara, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of El Paso, said on Saturday. Rev. Mike Alcuino, who serves at a parish in Presidio County, Texas, administered last rites to the justice, O’Hara said.

Summary: जस्टिस स्कैलिया ने टेक्सास के खेत में कैथोलिक पादरी से अंतिम संस्कार प्राप्त किया


DUBLIN (Reuters) - President Donald Trump may begin his overhaul of the U.S. tax code as early as late spring, White House spokesman Sean Spicer has told Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper.  “We are going to have tax reform after we get healthcare completed... I think we are looking at late spring to summer,” Spicer told the newspaper in an interview during Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s visit to Washington late last week.  Trump has vowed to deliver major tax cuts to the middle-class and the business community this year but deepening Republican divisions over a House Republican healthcare bill which has spawned concern that action on tax reform may be delayed. In a survey released last week, only 16 percent of about 1,000 business, tax and financial executives polled by accounting and advisory firm KPMG said they expected to see tax reform in 2017.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस में कर सुधार वसंत के अंत में शुरू हो सकते हैंः स्पाइसर


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has banned two Muslim foreign preachers from entering the city-state because their views bred intolerance and were a risk to its social harmony, the government said on Monday. The decision to block Ismail Menk, identified by local media as a Zimbabwean and Haslin bin Baharim as a Malaysian, is the latest move by the Singaporean authorities to put a curb on individuals from spreading divisive views. Menk has preached Muslims are not allowed to greet people of other faiths on their religious festivals, Singapore s home affairs ministry said in a statement.  It accused Baharim of holding views that promote discord between Muslims and non-Muslims, whom he described as  deviant.   (Their views) are unacceptable in the context of Singapore s multi-racial and multi-religious society,  the ministry said.  Reuters was not in a position to reach out to the pair. Singapore is predominantly Chinese, many of whom follow Buddhism and Taoism but 14 percent of the population is Muslim and nearly 19 percent Christian.   Authorities in the city-state, an outpost of stability in a region where religious tension is not uncommon, are sensitive to public remarks they deem might adversely affect religious and social harmony. Over the past few years, Singapore increased its level of surveillance for Islamist radicalism as concern grew about the spread of Islamic State in the region. Menk and Baharim planned to conduct religious sessions on a ship departing from Singapore next month after their applications for short-term work passes to preach in Singapore were turned down, the government said.     They will not be allowed to get around the ban by preaching instead on cruise ships which operate to and from Singapore,  the home ministry said. Last month, authorities said they rejected applications for two foreign Christian preachers to speak in Singapore as they had made  denigrating and inflammatory comments of other religions.

Summary: सिंगापुर ने विभाजनकारी विचारों का हवाला देते हुए दो मुस्लिम प्रचारकों पर प्रतिबंध लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday called on Republicans to delay a vote on pending tax overhaul legislation until the new U.S. senator from Alabama, a Democrat, is seated. Schumer wants to slow down the legislation - which Republican leaders want to vote on before Christmas - so that Democrat Doug Jones, who won an upset victory in deeply conservative Alabama on Tuesday night, can cast a vote in the closely divided chamber. Schumer said that under Alabama law, Jones could not be sworn in until at least the end of December. But Republicans are expected to reject the Democratic leader’s plea for a delay in voting on the tax bill. Speaking to reporters, Schumer cast Alabama’s senate election results as a repudiation of the policies being pursued by President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress, including the tax legislation. “The Republican brand, even in deep red Alabama, is positively toxic,” he said. “The president keeps talking like he’s helping the middle class, but his policy after policy helps the wealthy and the powerful and hurts the middle class.” Schumer said Jones’ defeat of Republican candidate Roy Moore was in part a referendum on the Republican tax bill, especially in the suburbs, where he said voters were worried about the bill’s proposed elimination of the state and local tax deduction. Schumer said Republicans should abandon their effort and start over in cooperation with Democrats. “Pausing on this tax bill and going back to the drawing board is the right thing for Republicans to do,” he said.

Summary: शूमरः नए अलबामा सीनेटर के बैठने तक कर सुधार मतदान में देरी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped wealthy Republican donor and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the U.S. Education Department, a post she has accepted, according to media reports on Wednesday.  DeVos, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, met with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Saturday and discussed “the Common Core mission, and setting higher national standards and promoting the growth of school choice across the nation,” according to a Trump transition team statement.

Summary: शिक्षा सचिव के लिए ट्रम्प ने मिशिगन रिपब्लिकन डेवोस को चुनाः रिपोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will most likely vote on four gun control measures on Monday, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate said, after the weekend shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. Two of the proposals are sponsored by Democrats and two by Republicans, Senator John Cornyn of Texas said on Thursday. “I think it’s pretty definite,” he said of the Monday time frame.

Summary: सीनेट बंदूक नियंत्रण मतदान सोमवार को, एक प्रमुख रिपब्लिकन का कहना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Jeff Flake, one of the most prominent critics of President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday he was out of step with his party and would not seek re-election. “There may not be a place for a Republican like me in the current Republican climate or the current Republican Party,” Flake, whose term ends in 2018, told the Arizona Republic. Flake added that he would not run as an independent.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर और ट्रम्प के आलोचक ने कहा कि वे फिर से चुनाव नहीं लड़ेंगे


(Reuters) - Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, nominated to head the U.S. Department of Labor by President-elect Donald Trump, lays out a free-market formula for low regulation and taxes in his book, “Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It.” The nomination of Puzder, chief executive of Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain owner CKE Restaurants, drew criticism from labor advocates worried about his opposition to a higher minimum wage and government regulation of the workplace. The nomination requires U.S. Senate confirmation.  Following are some of the main points of the 2010 book, written with David Newton. * Puzder believes the U.S. economy has been suffocating under the weight of regulation, taxes and government policies that created so much uncertainty that businesses shelved plans for investment and adding to payrolls. “Private enterprise, unencumbered by excessive government intervention, will create jobs. Period!” “Government’s primary role should be to get out of the way and let individuals be enterprising, creative, innovative and hardworking. Government should remove barriers, constraints, and other hindrances that discourage individuals from pursuing innovative experience.” * Puzder argued for four specific proposals to increase job creation: Reduce taxes and simplify compliance; eliminate regulations that impede growth; cut and limit government spending; increase domestic oil production. * Puzder believes that stable regulation and taxes are key to private-sector investment, which he calls the “Certainty Factor.” “This provides risk reduction and positive incentives to execute private sector hiring plans in support of expansion, modernization, and other growth-related strategies.”  * Jobs and skills must change over time with innovation, he writes. “A new job is not a guaranteed position for life. Its longevity is tied indivisibly to the future performance of the enterprise.” * Puzder has said he opposes a minimum wage, although he does not touch on that in the book. In it, while acknowledging there have been bad actors on the business side, Puzder said that a “mutually beneficial relationship between employer and employee” is more prevalent in  U.S. history and the current economy.  “The reality is that the free enterprise system by its very nature encourages employers to value their employees and encourages employees to work to their maximum potential so that both enhance the value of their mutual endeavors.” * Puzder said unions had strangled industries with excessive and anti-competitive pay hikes. “Empowering unions can increase labor costs to the point of putting employers in or near bankruptcy. This is in the best interests of neither employees, employers nor our potential for economic growth.”  * Puzder said the results of New Deal programs introduced by President Franklin Roosevelt to stave off joblessness during the Depression in the 1930s were “very discouraging” and wrote that the Obama administration made similar mistakes.  “Large government, central planning, concessions to labor unions and stimulus programs that FDR believed would produce jobs instead hiked the unemployment rate.”  Increasing taxes on firms and individuals, then apportioning those tax dollars to government spending on programs that “hire” people for a limited-term project is not true job creation, he wrote.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी श्रम सचिव नामित की पुस्तक उनके नौकरी सृजन सिद्धांत को प्रस्तुत करती है


PARIS (Reuters) - The man suspected of carrying out Sunday s attack in the French city of Marseille, killing two people, had presented a Tunisian passport when last stopped by police in Lyon just two days earlier, said the Paris public prosecutor Francois Molins. Molins told a news conference that the suspect s details came up on criminal databases and that he went by seven different identities - none of which were on French anti-terrorist check lists. He added that one such identity named him as  Ahmed H , born in 1987 in Tunisia, and that French authorities were trying to identify the authenticity of the Tunisian passport and his real name. A soldier shot the suspect dead after he had stabbed two women to death at Marseille main train station on Sunday, in what officials described as a  likely terrorist act  Molins added that the suspect told police he lived in Lyon, was homeless, divorced and had problems with drug abuse.

Summary: मार्सिले हमले के संदिग्ध ने पुलिस को ट्यूनीशियाई पासपोर्ट दिखाया थाः अभियोजक


NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Large crowds turned out for Pride marches on Sunday in New York City and San Francisco, the two U.S. places most associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement, with the East Coast city bringing a more political flavor to the event sparked by events there almost 50 years ago. Participants included Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier who served seven years in prison for leaking classified data before former President Barack Obama granted her clemency.  “Honored to represent the ACLU at this years NYC Pride March,” Manning said on Twitter, posting a photo of her riding in a red convertible. “Started to lose my voice from screaming so much,” Manning, who was released from a military prison in May, added.  A group of marchers heading down New York’s Fifth Avenue carried photographs of U.S. President Donald Trump and his press secretary, Sean Spicer, as others waved banners bearing the word ‘RESIST’ and the rainbow flag of the Pride movement. In contrast, a smattering of anti-Trump signs in San Francisco was drowned out by a desire to let loose. “It’s too good a day to be upset about Trump,” said Richard Babb, 66, of San Francisco.  In New York, Brad Hoylman, a Democratic lawmaker in the New York State Senate, said lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were “under assault” by the Trump administration. “He already rolled back rights for transgender students, for example, and the list is on and on,” he said. “So we have a lot more work to do, that’s why we are here today.” As a candidate, Trump promised to protect gay people. But his move in February to revoke the Obama administration’s guidance letting transgender students choose which gender bathroom they use, and his executive order last month to promote religious liberty have been seen by some as discriminatory.  The New York march’s grand marshals this year include the American Civil Liberties Union, which was chosen for its history of litigation defending gay rights; Brooke Guinan, a transgender woman who works as a firefighter in the city; and Geng Le, a gay rights activist in China. “Pride this year is showing that we are here, we are queer, and we are not going to sit down for anything less than full rights, full equality,” said Austin Anderson, a 28-year-old advertising worker at the New York event.      The march route ends on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s West Village to commemorate the riots that broke out there in 1969 after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in an event seen as a turning point in the gay rights movement. New York’s first Pride march started close by a year later.  In San Francisco, revelers had to pass through one of dozens of metal security detectors to get into the main plaza. “Happy Pride everyone!” a security monitor yelled to the crowd, as people cheered and saluted. “Have fun today.” Two gay cousins attended the parade dressed in tutus and unicorn headbands.  “We see this as a party, not a political protest,” Qiaira McPeters, 18, said. Despite that, McPeters said that she feels things for gay people have been getting worse.  “Gay people are getting beat up all the time,” she said.  In Seattle, hundreds of people marched downtown in unusually hot weather, many in skimpy outfits and carrying pink balloons. A rainbow flag was hoisted to the top of the city’s iconic Space Needle.  Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, the first openly gay person to hold that job, joined the parade with his husband, Michael Shiosaki. “Today we celebrate our unity,” he said in a video posted on Twitter. The Seattle Police Department, which put rainbow-colored decals on their patrol cars, said a group of people blocked the parade route for about 30 minutes to hold a sit-in in honor of Charleena Lyles, the black mother slain by city police a week ago. There were no arrests, police said. [L1N1JG04T]

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क प्राइड मार्चर्स ने सैन फ्रांसिस्को पार्टियों के रूप में ट्रम्प को निशाना बनाया


ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakhstan is to change its official alphabet for the third time in less than 100 years in what is seen in part as symbolic move to underline its independence. President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered his office on Thursday to prepare for a switch to a Latin-based alphabet from a Cyrillic one, distancing itself, at least graphically, from Russia. The oil-rich former Soviet republic of 18 million has very close ties with Moscow, its main trading partner, but is also wary of Russia s ambitions to maintain its political influence throughout the region. Kazakh, a Turkic language, used to be written in Arabic script until the 1920s when the Soviet Union briefly introduced a Latin alphabet for it. This was later replaced by a Cyrillic one in 1940, based on the Russian alphabet. Part of the latest switch relates to modern technology. The currently used Cyrillic alphabet has 42 symbols, making it cumbersome to use with digital devices - a standard Kazakh keyboard utilizes almost all number keys in addition to letter and punctuation keys. The latest version of the proposed Latin alphabet works around that by using apostrophe signs to modify letters. The country s official name would thus be spelled as Qazaqstan Respy blikasy. According to a statement published by Nazarbayev s office, he has ordered his chief of staff to draft an executive order introducing the new alphabet. The switch will be gradual, it said. Alhough Kazakh has been the state language since Kazakhstan became independent in 1991, only 62 percent of the population said they were fluent in both written and spoken Kazakh during a the most recent national census in 2009. Russian is more widespread with 85 percent claiming fluency in the same census. Russian is recognized as an official language in Kazakhstan. Several other Turkic nations, including Turkey itself, ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have also switched to Latin alphabets.

Summary: अल्फाबेट सूप के रूप में कज़ाख नेता ने लैटिन अक्षरों पर स्विच करने का आदेश दिया


ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss police declared the U.S. consular office building in Zurich as safe, saying a  suspicious object  discovered on Monday morning that had prompted a brief evacuation of two buildings was found to be harmless. A street blockade was lifted and people were allowed to re-enter the buildings, Zurich municipal police said.

Summary: स्विस पुलिस ने अमेरिकी वाणिज्य दूतावास कार्यालय से लोगों को निकाला


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded outside the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday killing the driver, police said, and a witness said there were at least two bodies. The explosion happened around noon in the village of Markaz, just over 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, Police Major Nur Ali told Reuters, adding that police had not reached the scene which he called an area  inhabited by hardline Islamists . A witness in the village who gave his name as Ahmed told Reuters by telephone that he had seen two dead bodies.  The car was ruined and the dead bodies were cut in halves,  he said.  The number killed in twin bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu last weekend has risen to 358, the government said late on Friday.      It was the deadliest attack in the country s history. The Islamist insurgency al Shabaab was blamed for Saturday s blasts, which happened when a car bomb and a truck bomb headed for the airport detonated prematurely.

Summary: मोगादिशु के बाहरी इलाके में बम विस्फोट में कम से कम दो लोगों की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump is preparing to sign executive actions on his first day in the White House on Friday to take the opening steps to crack down on immigration, build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and roll back outgoing President Barack Obama’s policies.  Trump, a Republican elected on Nov. 8 to succeed Democrat Obama, arrived in Washington on a military plane with his family a day before he will be sworn in during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.  Aides said Trump would not wait to wield one of the most powerful tools of his office, the presidential pen, to sign several executive actions that can be implemented without the input of Congress.  “He is committed to not just Day 1, but Day 2, Day 3 of enacting an agenda of real change, and I think that you’re going to see that in the days and weeks to come,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday, telling reporters to expect activity on Friday, during the weekend and early next week.  MORE FROM REUTERS  * Trumponomics may be wrong medicine for U.S. economy today  * Graphic: The presidential touch on markets  * Politics Live: Latest on Trump's inauguration Trump plans on Saturday to visit the headquarters of the CIA in Langley, Virginia. He has harshly criticized the agency and its outgoing chief, first questioning the CIA’s conclusion that Russia was involved in cyber hacking during the U.S. election campaign, before later accepting the verdict. Trump also likened U.S. intelligence agencies to Nazi Germany.  Trump’s advisers vetted more than 200 potential executive orders for him to consider signing on healthcare, climate policy, immigration, energy and numerous other issues, but it was not clear how many orders he would initially approve, according to a member of the Trump transition team who was not authorized to talk to the press.  Signing off on orders puts Trump, who has presided over a sprawling business empire but has never before held public office, in a familiar place similar to the CEO role that made him famous, and will give him some early victories before he has to turn to the lumbering process of getting Congress to pass bills.  The strategy has been used by other presidents, including Obama, in their first few weeks in office.  “He wants to show he will take action and not be stifled by Washington gridlock,” said Princeton University presidential historian Julian Zelizer.  Trump is expected to impose a federal hiring freeze and take steps to delay a Labor Department rule due to take effect in April that would require brokers who give retirement advice to put their clients’ best interests first.  He also will give official notice he plans to withdraw from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, Spicer said. “I think you will see those happen very shortly,” Spicer said.  Obama, ending eight years as president, made frequent use of his executive powers during his second term in office, when the Republican-controlled Congress stymied his efforts to overhaul immigration and environmental laws. Many of those actions are now ripe targets for Trump to reverse.  Trump is expected to sign an executive order in his first few days to direct the building of a wall on the southern border with Mexico, and actions to limit the entry of asylum seekers from Latin America, among several immigration-related steps his advisers have recommended.  That includes rescinding Obama’s order that allowed more than 700,000 people brought into the United States illegally as children to stay in the country on a two-year authorization to work and attend college, according to several people close to the presidential transition team.  It is unlikely Trump’s order will result in an immediate roundup of these immigrants, sources told Reuters. Rather, he is expected to let the authorizations expire.  The issue could set up a confrontation with Obama, who told reporters on Wednesday he would weigh in if he felt the new administration was unfairly targeting those immigrants.  Advisers to Trump expect him to put restrictions on people entering the United States from certain countries until a system for “extreme vetting” for Islamist extremists can be set up.  During his presidential campaign, Trump proposed banning non-American Muslims from entering the United States, but his executive order regarding immigration is expected to be based on nationality rather than religion.  Another proposed executive order would require all Cabinet departments to disclose and pause current work being done in connection with Obama’s initiatives to curb carbon emissions to combat climate change.  Trump also is expected to extend prohibitions on future lobbying imposed on members of his transition team.  Washington was turned into a virtual fortress ahead of the inauguration, with police ready to step in to separate protesters from Trump supporters at any sign of unrest.  As Obama packed up to leave the White House, Trump and his family laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery and attended a concert at the Lincoln Memorial.  Trump spoke earlier to lawmakers and Cabinet nominees at a luncheon in a ballroom at his hotel, down the street from the White House, announcing during brief remarks that he would pick Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets of the National Football League, as U.S. ambassador to Britain.  “We have a lot of smart people. I tell you what, one thing we’ve learned, we have by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled,” Trump said.  Trump has selected all 21 members of his Cabinet, along with six other key positions requiring Senate confirmation. The Senate is expected on Friday to vote to confirm retired General James Mattis, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, and retired General John Kelly, his homeland security choice.  Senate Republicans had hoped to confirm as many as seven Cabinet members on Friday, but Democrats balked at the pace. Trump spokesman Spicer accused Senate Democrats of “stalling tactics.”  Also in place for Monday will be 536 “beachhead team members” at government agencies, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said, a small portion of the thousands of positions Obama’s appointees will vacate.  Trump has asked 50 Obama staffers in critical posts to stay on until replacements can be found, including Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Brett McGurk, envoy to the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State.  The list includes Adam Szubin, who has long served in an “acting” capacity in the Treasury Department’s top anti-terrorism job because his nomination has been held up by congressional Republicans since Obama named him to the job in April 2015.  The Supreme Court said U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will administer the oath of office on Friday, met with Trump on Thursday to discuss inauguration arrangements.

Summary: ट्रंप के पदभार संभालने की तैयारी के बीच कार्यकारी कार्रवाई की तैयारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Manafort, who served briefly as Donald Trump’s election campaign manager, and business associate Rick Gates are expected to make their first appearances on Thursday before the U.S. judge overseeing a criminal case brought by a special counsel investigating campaign ties to Russia. Manafort, 68, and Gates, 45, who also worked on the Republican’s campaign, pleaded not guilty before a magistrate judge on Monday to a 12-count indictment, ranging from conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. Also on Thursday, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page is scheduled to testify to the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee behind closed doors about his dealings with Russians. Page has repeatedly denied serving as an intermediary between Trump’s campaign and Russia, which had been under U.S. economic sanctions for several years at the time of last year’s election campaign. Monday’s charges were an opening salvo by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigators are probing allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to help Trump. The inquiry also will determine whether or not there was any coordination between Russians and associates of the Trump campaign. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied meddling and Trump has denied potential collusion between his associates and Russia, calling the investigations a witch hunt. George Papadopoulos, another former member of the Trump campaign’s small foreign policy team, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and will not face trial. A lawyer for Papadopoulos declined comment. Thursday’s hearing will be the first in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed by former president Barack Obama and has handled a series of high-profile cases over the past few years. The 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) hearing is expected to focus on setting bail conditions. Manafort and Gates are under house arrest, released on unsecured bonds of $10 million and $5 million, respectively. Manafort, a longtime lobbyist, political consultant and lawyer, and Gates should be given stiff bail terms because of their “history of deceptive and misleading conduct”, their “significant financial resources” and the “potentially significant sentences” they face, prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A conviction on conspiracy to launder money alone could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.  Prosecutors also said there was a risk of flight. Manafort holds three U.S. passports and frequently travels abroad. Asked about the information in the filing, Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said on Wednesday his client “looks forward to having these allegations tried before a judge and jury.” Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment ahead of the hearing. It is not clear whether Gates, who was represented by a court-appointed lawyer on Monday, has retained counsel. The charges did not state any direct connections to the Trump campaign or allegations of collusion. Downing said Manafort’s work for the Ukrainians ended in 2014, two years before he joined the Trump campaign in March 2016. Manafort served as campaign manager from June to August. In Tuesday’s court filing, prosecutors said Manafort and Gates had connections to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs.  Downing said earlier this week that there was no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.

Summary: रूस की जांच में आरोपों पर अमेरिकी अदालत पहुंचे ट्रम्प के दो पूर्व सहयोगी


ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court rejected on Tuesday an appeals court order to retry a lawmaker from the main opposition party, upholding his 25-year jail term, CNN Turk reported. Enis Berberoglu became a symbol for more than 50,000 people detained in the wake of a failed coup in July 2016. The chairman of his secular Republican People s Party (CHP) held a 425 km (265 mile) protest march from the capital Ankara to Istanbul when Berberoglu was convicted and sentenced in June for military espionage. The court had said Berberoglu gave an opposition newspaper a video purporting to show Turkey s intelligence agency trucking weapons into Syria. The penal court had been ordered to retry Berberoglu last month, but it refused the order saying the upper court s decision to overturn was against procedure and law. Berberoglu was the first CHP lawmaker to be jailed in a crackdown by President Tayyip Erdogan s government that has raised concerns among Turkey s Western allies and rights groups. More than 150,000 people, including teachers, academics and lawyers, have also been suspended from their jobs.

Summary: तुर्की की अदालत ने विपक्षी सांसद के लिए 25 साल की जेल की सजा बरकरार रखी


DAKAR (Reuters) - Suspected Christian militias killed an Egyptian U.N. peacekeeper and wounded three others in an attack in southern Central African Republic on Sunday, the United Nations said in a statement.  The attack, which the United Nations said was carried out by anti-balaka militants, occurred in Gambo, about 100 km (60 miles) from the town of Bangassou where more than 100 civilians and three Moroccan peacekeepers were killed in separate incidents in May and July.  Conflict has killed thousands in Central African Republic since Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from the Christian anti-balaka militia.  Violence spiked when former colonial power France ended its peacekeeping mission last year.  Since then, the United Nations  13,000-strong Central African Republic mission, known as MINUSCA, has struggled to restore order to a country where government control barely extends beyond the capital Bangui.  In total, 13 MINUSCA peacekeepers have been killed in the country this year alone.  Five militants were also killed during Sunday s clash, the United Nations said.

Summary: मध्य अफ्रीकी गणराज्य में उग्रवादियों ने मिस्र के संयुक्त राष्ट्र शांति सैनिक की हत्या कर दी


TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday the United States and Japan can both strengthen their economies as he began economic talks between the two countries.      “When President Trump agreed to this dialogue, he envisioned this as a mechanism for enhancing bilateral commercial relations between the Untied States and Japan, and achieving results in the near future,” Pence told Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso at the start of the talks. The White House hopes the talks in Tokyo will open doors in Japan for U.S.-made products and attract Japanese investment for infrastructure projects in the United States. Aso said the U.S.-Japan alliance involved both military and economic aspects. Aso said “friction” between the two countries was a thing of the past and they were entering a new era of cooperation.

Summary: जापान अमेरिका के साथ सहयोग का नया युग देख रहा हैः मंत्री


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michelle Obama will be ceding the title of first lady to Melania Trump next month, but she may hold for some time the other distinction she earned during her time in the White House: America’s best known advocate for healthy food.     The non-profit organization she helped create as first lady, Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), where she is honorary chair, will continue its work convincing food companies to improve nutrition content and labeling of products, the group said.     “Michelle Obama has been a tremendous leader in this space,” said Larry Soler, president and chief executive of the group. “That legacy is going to continue for a long time after this.” When President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress take over on Jan. 20, lawmakers are expected to take aim at what one of them has called “burdensome new rules” on food. School lunches and menu labeling standards are likely to be among the changes that may come under fire.  Trump, a self-professed fan of junk food, has not been explicit on what he plans to do with food policy, although he campaigned for the Nov. 8 election on a broad promise to undo regulations on business.  Nutrition advocates believe that, regardless of regulatory changes, private sector partnerships forged under Michelle Obama’s time at PHA are likely to endure.  The first lady helped launch PHA in 2010, in conjunction with her broader ‘Let’s Move!’ effort to tackle childhood obesity in the United States.     Since then, the organization has inked voluntary deals with scores of food companies, universities, hospitals and hotel chains aimed at improving nutritional content in food offerings.     Companies that have made such agreements, like the world’s No.1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc and convenience store chain Kwik Trip, say they expect to uphold the commitments they have made regardless of any policy changes in Washington.     “Our commitment to provide healthy food – specifically for young people – will not only continue but it will grow,” said a spokesman for Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip, which agreed with PHA this year to offer more fruit, vegetables and whole-grain foods at its stores at low cost.     PHA said its work will continue unabated after the Obamas leave the White House, and expects that consumer demand will continue to drive companies to participate. The first lady expects to continue her work on the issue, though it is unclear exactly what her role will be.    “I will always be here as a partner in this effort – always,” she said earlier this year.  Michelle Obama took her healthy eating agenda from the White House - where she built an organic vegetable garden - to the halls of Congress, where she lobbied lawmakers in the passage in 2010 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Republicans balked at renewing elements of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2015 and the House of Representatives introduced legislation that critics say would dial back access to the program.  Republican Representative Todd Rokita from Indiana this year introduced legislation to overhaul the school lunch program, in part to make sure that “the First Lady Michelle Obama-inspired nutrition standards are revised so that school food is more edible.” He has also said he plans to work toward reforms of “burdensome new rules” with the new president.          Also under threat may be another measure to usher in more detailed labeling requirements for menus at restaurants and grocery stores, which passed as part of the 2010 health overhaul known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. Trump has said he will repeal Obamacare.      “We have a sense of (Trump’s) personal eating habits, but not his view of food policy. But given his anti-regulatory, anti-science rhetoric, we’re on high alert,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.     A spokesman for Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment. Melania Trump, who last month pinpointed cyber-bullying as her cause as first lady, has not mentioned interest in the healthy eating issue.     Trump’s early choices in building his administration have also triggered some concerns among healthy food advocates.     He has nominated Representative Tom Price of Georgia to head the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the National Institutes of Health and works to develop dietary guidelines with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Price is an opponent of Obamacare and voted for a bill that would have banned state labeling of genetically-modified ingredients.     Trump has yet to select an agriculture secretary.     Regardless of legislative repeals, supporters of Michelle Obama’s efforts to get healthier food into mainstream America believe the impact of her work cannot be undone.     “There was very little positive industry action before she got there. Health and obesity issues weren’t on their agendas,” said Sam Kass, a chef and former executive director of ‘Let’s Move!’ who also served as President Barack Obama’s nutrition policy advisor.    “Now it is the top priority for every CEO.”

Summary: वाशिंगटन में खतरे में, प्रथम महिला की खाद्य विरासत कहीं और जीवित रह सकती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday released a government form dealing with contacts he has had with foreign nationals, including Russian government officials, but much of it was redacted. Form SF-86, required for government employees working in national security, indicated Sessions has had no immediate contact with any foreign government or its representatives in the past seven years. However, Sessions has said he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A large portion of the document was left blank. “As a United States Senator, the Attorney General met hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign dignitaries and their staff. In filling out the SF-86 form, the Attorney General’s staff consulted with those familiar with the process, as well as the FBI investigator handling the background check, and was instructed not to list meetings with foreign dignitaries and their staff connected with his Senate activities,” said Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior. Sessions released the form in response to a lawsuit filed by American Oversight, a group that advocates for government transparency and sued DOJ in April after the extent of Sessions’ contact with the Russian government was called into question.  Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said the form was evidence that Sessions lied to the FBI investigators overseeing his security clearance. “Jeff Sessions is our nation’s top law enforcement officer, and it is shocking one of his first acts after being named Attorney General was to lie to the FBI on an issue of national security,” Evers said.  Sessions recused himself from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the election after media reports revealed he held undisclosed meetings with Kislyak. Sessions admitted to having the interactions, but said they were held in his capacity as a U.S. senator, a position he occupied for 20 years before becoming attorney general.  Former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired in May, testified that his agency had information on Sessions that would lead them to believe his continued involvement in the federal probe would be “problematic.” It was later reported that Sessions had another undisclosed interaction with Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in April 2016. Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he had no recollection of the interaction.  Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the election.  Read the full document tmsnrt.rs/2ueV9Ct

Summary: सत्रों ने विदेशी संपर्कों का व्यापक रूप से संशोधित रिकॉर्ड जारी किया


(Reuters) - Financial markets have fretted about the fiscal situation in Washington, with deadlines looming in late September and early October to keep the U.S. government open and raise the debt ceiling. As Congress returned on Tuesday, aiding those affected by Hurricane Harvey and responding to President Donald Trump’s decision to scrap a program shielding immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation added to their already-packed agenda. Here is what you need to know about fiscal and other politically connected issues in play this month: The “debt ceiling” is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. government can borrow through bonds and other debt issued by the U.S. Treasury. It now stands at about $19.8 trillion, very close to the actual national debt.  Once the ceiling is hit, Congress must raise it. If it does not, the government cannot keep borrowing. This matters because the government spends more than it collects in taxes and Washington continually borrows money to cover its bills. Legislation to raise the debt limit will need to be adopted by early October at the very latest. The Treasury, however, has said that Congress must increase the debt ceiling by Sept. 29. Since March, the Treasury has been using “extraordinary measures” to stave off hitting the ceiling and likely could be stave off default a few more weeks by using such extraordinary measures, analysts have said.  If the debt ceiling is not raised and the government can no longer pay its bills, default would result, along with a likely downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. This has never happened before, but there have been some close calls. A standoff in August 2011 cost the country its top-notch bond rating from the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s and caused the most jarring two weeks in financial markets since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. Congress is supposed to pass annual spending bills around the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30 to fund most of the U.S. government, but disagreements often prevent this. When that happens, lawmakers usually pass a temporary bill extending current spending levels with no changes for a short period. It is expected this will happen again at the end of this month, likely extending current funding levels into December. Congress returned from its long summer recess having only about 12 working days to pass a spending measure, probably a short-term patch, known as a continuing resolution, to keep the government open. If even a short-term patch cannot be agreed upon in Congress, or if the president decides to veto either a long-term or short-term spending measure, the government would shut down. The last time the government shut down was in October 2013 for about two weeks. In the 1990s, 1980s and 1970s, there were 17 shutdowns. Shutdowns hurt federal workers, rattle markets and shake confidence in the United States abroad, but they have done little lasting economic damage. The two move on separate tracks but could get tangled together as some analysts have said that Congress may try to tackle both issues at the same time, perhaps in a single piece of legislation. Passing an initial tranche of federal aid, expected to be about $8 billion, for individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey now tops the congressional agenda.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that raising the debt ceiling, keeping the government open and passing an assistance package for Harvey victims were three “critically important things” that Congress needed to get done quickly.  There has been some speculation that Harvey aid could be tied to a short-term continuing resolution or a measure raising the debt ceiling, or that all three could be linked in some way. Separate from Harvey assistance is the National Flood Insurance Program, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which expires on Sept. 30.  The program provides insurance policies for homeowners that cover up to $350,000 in damages. Congressional disagreements over changes to the program, which operates in debt to the Treasury, have complicated plans to restructure the program in the past. It is not yet clear how Harvey, which will generate additional claims made to the cash-strapped program, will affect the timing and scope of its renewal. Trump on Tuesday scrapped an Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, that protects from deportation those who were brought illegally to the U.S. when they were children.  Trump has delayed implementation of his decision for six months, saying it would give Congress time to figure out a legislative fix that would affect almost 800,000 young people who participate in the program, known as Dreamers. It is not yet clear whether Congress will work to quickly pass a measure affecting the Dreamers or pursue a larger-scale overhaul of the immigration system. The chances that the Republican-led Congress will continue making a priority of repealing and replacing former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law are slim after previous efforts ended in defeat. But important Obamacare-related deadlines loom. The Trump administration has been making Obamacare payments to insurers that reduce out-of-pocket costs for lower-income Americans on a month-to-month basis and must decide before the end of September whether to make October’s payment. If it does not, Congress could step in to approve the payments with additional legislation. Related to but not a part of Obamacare is the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP, a federal insurance program for millions of lower-income children and pregnant women that requires congressional reauthorization by Sept. 30. CHIP reauthorization is not typically contentious as the program receives bipartisan support. But lobbyists and industry officials have said any healthcare-related legislation has become more complicated in the wake of the Obamacare repeal-and-replace failure. Trump kicked off the new legislative session’s tax reform effort on Tuesday by inviting key Republican leaders to the White House. An outline of the plan being developed could come as early as the week of Sept. 11. Senate Republicans want to use a special process known as budget reconciliation to pass tax reform, because then they would only have to find a simple majority of 51 senators to pass it instead of the 60 votes that typically required in the 100-seat Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats.  But to use this process, Republicans will first have to pass a 2018 budget resolution, which they so far have been unable to do.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी कांग्रेस का उद्देश्य ऋण सीमा से निपटना, तूफान सहायता, सरकार को धन देना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that many lawmakers hoped would send a message to President Donald Trump to keep a strong line against Russia hit a new snag in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, as Republicans proposed combining it with sanctions on North Korea. The Russia sanctions bill passed the Senate on June 15 by 98-2, but it has not come up for a vote in the House. The chamber’s Republican leaders initially said there was a technical problem with how the bill was written, but after the Senate altered the bill to fix it, the measure still did not move. On Friday, Republicans suggested reworking the legislation to add new sanctions on North Korea. The Russia sanctions measure passed by the Senate is part of a broader bill that also includes new sanctions on Iran. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he wanted the North Korea sanctions added to the bill. “It would be a very strong statement for all of America to get that sanction bill completed and done, and to the president’s desk,” the Republican lawmaker said in the House as it wrapped up its activity for the week.  Democrats rejected the suggestion as another tactic by Republicans supporting White House objections to the bill.  “This isn’t a serious proposal. It’s the latest delay tactic,” said Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The House passed a new package of sanctions on North Korea in May by 419-1, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican, said on Thursday his committee would be taking it up soon.  On Friday, Corker said he would be “more than glad” to consider adding North Korea to the legislation if the House chose to do so. Engel said there was no point in passing North Korea legislation again. The Trump administration objects to a provision in the Russia bill that sets up a process for Congress to approve any effort by the president to ease sanctions on Moscow. Seeking a greater influence in foreign policy, Congress has included provisions in a few recent major bills, starting with Corker’s 2015 legislation forcing congressional review of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Lawmakers and aides have been negotiating for weeks to try to craft a compromise that would allow the Russia-Iran bill to move forward. On Thursday, they said they thought it could advance soon but on Friday said the North Korea issue made that less likely. [L1N1K42BV]

Summary: रूढ़ रूस प्रतिबंध विधेयक ने अमेरिकी कांग्रेस में उत्तर कोरिया को झटका दिया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia was concerned that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian authorities could be aggravated further by U.S. President Donald Trump s plans to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.  However, we would not discuss the decisions which have not been taken yet,  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. Trump on Wednesday will deliver remarks about his decision on whether to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, White House Press Secretary Sarah Saders said on Tuesday.

Summary: क्रेमलिनः जेरूसलम में अमेरिकी दूतावास का स्थानांतरण इजरायल-फिलिस्तीनी संबंधों को और खराब कर सकता है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish embassy in Washington said on Sunday it suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all Turkish diplomatic facilities in the United States, after U.S. missions reduced visa services in Turkey. “Recent events have forced the Turkish government to reassess the commitment of government of the United States to the security of Turkish mission facilities and personnel,” the statement by the embassy in Washington said. The decision came hours after the U.S. mission to Turkey reduced visa services after one of its employees was detained last week, saying it needed to “reassess” Turkey’s commitment to the security of its personnel.

Summary: तुर्की ने अमेरिका में सभी राजनयिक सुविधाओं पर सभी गैर-आप्रवासी वीजा सेवाओं को निलंबित कर दिया है।


MADRID (Reuters) - Barely a quarter of Catalans want to continue with a plan to claim independence from Spain in the wake of Dec. 21 regional elections, according to a poll published in El Pais newspaper on Monday. An illegal Catalan independence referendum on Oct. 1 plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in decades. It eased after the  sacking of the secessionist Catalan authorities by the Madrid government elicited little resistance. But uncertainty could return if the pro-independence camp wins in the Dec. 21 vote. Just 24 percent of those polled by Metroscopia said they would like to continue with the independence process after the elections, whereas 71 percent said they would prefer politicians to find an agreement based on Catalonia staying part of Spain. Pro-independence parties may fail to retain an absolute majority of seats in the Catalan parliament in next month s election, the first part of the poll published on Sunday showed. However, the survey s margin of error at 2.4 percent and the fact support was evenly split between the two sides makes reading conclusions from polls difficult. The telephone poll surveyed 1,800 Catalans between Nov. 20 and Nov. 22.  Failure to capture a majority in the regional parliament would be a heavy blow for Catalan separatists who have billed the election as a plebiscite on Madrid s decision to impose direct rule on the region last month. The Oct. referendum produced a large majority in favor of independence, but turnout was only 43 percent because many who opposed the breakaway did not vote. Catalan separatist parties are forecast to win 46 percent of the vote, down slightly from 47.7 percent in a previous election in 2015. Unionist parties combined would account for another 46 percent of votes, up from less than 40 percent last time, according to the Metroscopia poll. Turnout for the election, which former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Saturday would be the most important in the region s history, is predicted to reach a record 80 percent.

Summary: बमुश्किल एक चौथाई कैटेलन स्पेन से अलग होना चाहते हैंः सर्वेक्षण


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial advisers and accountants are working overtime as many U.S. taxpayers scramble to pay the rest of their 2017 taxes before Jan. 1 when the proposed Republican tax overhaul would sharply cut the amount they can deduct on federal tax bills.  The tax legislation, which top U.S. Republicans said on Sunday they expected Congress to pass this week, caps the amount of state, local and property taxes individuals can deduct from their federal tax bills at $10,000. The average American who itemized his or her tax bill in 2015 claimed more than $27,000 in deductions. While taxpayers have until Jan. 15 to pay the final installment of their 2017 taxes, Tom Holly of the accounting firm PwC said he received dozens of calls over the weekend from concerned clients eager to pay sooner.  “It’s going to be a very busy holiday season for advisers,” said Holly, who heads the firm’s wealth and asset management division.  Lisa Featherngill, managing director of wealth planning at Wells Fargo’s Abbot Downing, said she was skipping a family trip to the Valero Alamo Bowl football game in Texas on Dec. 28 in order to work. Featherngill said wealthy clients and their accountants were not just trying to figure out if it makes sense to estimate and  pay the rest of their 2017 itemized taxes this year, but also working to see if they should itemize at all.  Some taxpayers, particularly those in high-tax states who have income above $100,000, may end up paying the alternative minimum tax, which limits the deductions a person can take against his or her federal income tax. “People really have to run the numbers because ... if they are subject to alternative minimum tax, some of those taxes wouldn’t be deductible anyway,” said Featherngill. Last week, according to media reports, state officials in New York received calls from residents asking to pay their 2018 state, local and property taxes before Jan. 1 in an effort to claim the higher amount of deductions before the Republican tax bill takes effect.  In response, the U.S. Treasury Department issued guidance over the weekend saying that any pre-payments for 2018 tax liabilities would not be deductible on federal tax bills. If passed, the tax bill would be the biggest U.S. tax rewrite since 1986. The legislation would cut the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent but offer a mixed bag for individuals, including middle-class workers, by roughly doubling a standard deduction that does not require itemization, but eliminating or scaling back other popular itemized deductions and exemptions.

Summary: अमेरिकी करदाता कर बिल से खतरे के तहत कटौती का दावा करने के लिए दौड़ते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a resolution that will allow U.S. states to restrict how federal funds for contraception and reproductive health are spent, a move cheered by anti-abortion campaigners. “This is a major pro-life victory,” said the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, adding that a regulation enacted under Democratic former President Barack Obama had forced states to fund Planned Parenthood, a national non-profit that provides contraception, health screenings, and abortions. Under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to repeal newly minted rules, both the House and Senate had passed a resolution killing Obama’s regulation that had protected federal grants for clinics in states wanting to block the funding. States such as Texas in recent years have kept the grants from going to clinics as part of the country’s longstanding fight over abortion. Broadly, many Republicans seek to restrict abortion or make it illegal while Democrats have fought to keep abortion legal. The resolution had narrowly passed the U.S. Congress, with Vice President Mike Pence called to the Senate on March 30 to break a tie vote in the chamber, where Republicans hold a slim majority. The federal government can never again create a “substantially similar” regulation under the review law. The grants, known as “Title X” funds, were already barred from going directly to abortion services but under the now-null regulation Planned Parenthood clinics were assured they could receive money even in the face of state objections.       “Allowing states to withhold Title X funding from family planning clinics won’t make anyone safer or healthier – it will instead place essential services out of reach,” said Diane Horvath-Cosper, a medical doctor and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, adding that for many people the clinics are the only place where they can receive affordable health services such as disease testing.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी राज्यों को परिवार नियोजन निधि को अवरुद्ध करने की अनुमति देने वाले प्रस्ताव पर हस्ताक्षर किए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers. Gregory Touhill’s job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber threats as federal chief information security officer, according to a statement. The administration of President Barack Obama has made bolstering federal cyber security a top priority in his last year in office. The issue has gained more attention because of high-profile breaches in recent years of government and private sector computers.  U.S. intelligence officials suspect Russia was responsible for breaches of Democratic political organizations and state election systems to exert influence on the Nov. 8 presidential election. Russia has dismissed the allegations as absurd. Obama announced the new position in February alongside a budget proposal to Congress asking for $19 billion for cyber security across the U.S. government. The job is a political appointment, meaning Obama’s successor can choose to replace Touhill after being sworn in next January. Touhill is currently a deputy assistant secretary for cyber security and communications at the Department of Homeland Security.  He will begin his new role later this month, a source familiar with the matter said. Touhill’s responsibilities will include creating and implementing policy for best security practices across federal agencies and conducting periodic audits to test for weaknesses, according to the announcement. Grant Schneider, who is the director of cyber security policy at the White House’s National Security Council, will be  acting deputy to Touhill, according to the announcement.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने वायु सेना के सेवानिवृत्त जनरल को पहला साइबर सुरक्षा प्रमुख नामित किया


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered the new army commander to recruit and organize 10 new infantry battalions to crush remnants of pro-Islamic State militants, days after they were defeated in a southern city. The military on Monday declared victory over the Maute group, which seized control in Marawi City on May 23, after killing the last 40 remaining militants, including a few foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 soldiers, died in the five-month conflict.  We were instructed to organize ten additional battalions,  new military chief Lieutenant-General Rey Leonardo Guerrero told reporters after Duterte installed him to head the 130,000-strong armed forces. One battalion comprises about 500 soldiers.  We really intend to put pressure and sustain effort to be able to finish all of them and complete the resolution of armed conflict in the country.  The Philippines has been waging protracted guerrilla warfare for nearly 50 years against Maoist rebels and Muslim separatists that has killed more than 160,000 people, displaced two million and stunted growth in resource-rich rural areas. Guerrero, who was promoted from army commander in Duterte s home region on the southern island of Mindanao, said the army had also been ordered by the president to try to defeat the 4,000-strong communist New People s Army. Duterte broke off negotiations with the Maoist rebels early this year due to continued attacks on mines, plantations, construction and other companies to raise funds, as well as attacks on isolated army and police outposts. The government is engaged in peace talks with Muslim separatists trying to carve out an autonomous region in the south, enlisting the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front to help fight a small group of rebels who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.  We already have timetables and targets and I intend to meet that,  Guerrero, who only has two months to serve before he retires, said.  The military has a multi-year program, it s not dependent on personalities, but its tasks are lined up regardless of who assumes the leadership.

Summary: फिलीपींस के दुतेर्ते ने आतंकवादियों को कुचलने के लिए सेना को 10 नई बटालियनों की भर्ती करने का आदेश दिया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran s military chief of staff visited a frontline position near the Syrian city of Aleppo, a military news outlet run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah reported on Friday, during a visit that has underlined Tehran s deep military role in Syria. General Mohammad Baqeri visited the position with a number of Iranian officers, according to the report, which was  accompanied by photos showing Baqeri looking at a map and peering through binoculars. Neighboring Israel has expressed deep concern over Iran s role in Syria, where Iranian fighters and Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah have played a major role fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Baqeri met Assad on Thursday during a visit to set out a joint military strategy, Syrian state media reported.  Baqeri has warned Israel against breaching Syrian airspace and territory and pledged to increase cooperation with Syria s military to fight both Israel and Sunni jihadist militants. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran is strengthening its foothold in Syria, warning that Israel would  do whatever it takes  to protect its security. Helped by Russian air power, Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah played a major part in the Syrian government campaign to recapture eastern districts of Aleppo city from Syrian rebels last year. Rural areas to the south and west of the city are still in insurgent hands.

Summary: ईरानी सैन्य प्रमुख ने अलेप्पो के पास अग्रिम मोर्चे का दौरा किया


PARIS (Reuters) - The right of lesbian couples and single women to have access to assisted reproduction was  a matter of social justice  and will likely be legislated next year, a French government minister said on Tuesday. The move would mark a significant extension of gay rights in France, where violent protests preceded the legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption by homosexual couples in 2013.    It was a campaign promise. It will be honored,  Marlene Schiappa, minister for gender equality, told BFM TV. She said a bill would likely pass through parliament in 2018.      Current legislation means that gay women with sufficient funds travel abroad for artificial insemination while other women without the financial means cannot. Schiappa said that was unjust. French law still restricts techniques such as artificial insemination using donated sperm to heterosexual couples. A national ethics committee said last June that it backed the idea of medically assisted procreation for female couples and single women. Macron, president since May, had set such a recommendation as a prerequisite to any legislative action.

Summary: फ्रांस की नजर 2018 में समलैंगिक महिलाओं के लिए सहायता प्राप्त प्रजनन को वैध बनाने पर है


(Reuters) - Florida residents were given six extra days to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election by a U.S. judge on Wednesday following the disruption triggered by powerful Hurricane Matthew in the state last week. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee extended the registration deadline to Oct. 18 after the Florida Democratic Party sued to seek more time. The original deadline to register had been Tuesday, before Walker ordered a one-day reprieve to allow for a hearing on Wednesday. Florida Democrats had argued that voters were forced to decide between their safety and their right to vote when Republican Governor Rick Scott ordered evacuations along a stretch of the state’s Atlantic coast as Matthew approached.  “No right is more precious than having a voice in our democracy,” Walker wrote in a three-page court ruling on the lawsuit. Florida is a battleground state in the Nov. 8 presidential election pitting Democrat Hillary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump, with opinion polls showing a close race there. It is the largest of the hotly contested states whose populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and thus play a decisive role. The powerful hurricane, which killed around 1,000 people in Haiti as it churned through the Caribbean, is blamed for at least 30 deaths in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. North Carolina now faces flooding from swollen rivers.   In its complaint, the Florida Democratic Party alleged that the state’s refusal to extend the voter registration deadline would have a “decidedly partisan effect,” noting that populations that lean Democratic, including minorities and younger voters, register in greater numbers just before the deadline.  It also noted that areas affected by Matthew have substantial populations of black and Latino voters who would be disproportionately likely to register to vote at the last minute. In past presidential years, up to 20 percent of all new registrations in Florida were filed during the week before the deadline, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which helped bring the lawsuit. “While we wish it had not taken a lawsuit to get the Scott administration to do the right thing, today’s ruling is a major victory for all Floridians and for the democratic process in the Sunshine State,” the state Democratic Party said in a statement. The judge earlier ruled that Florida law did not give Scott authority to extend voter registration and that he was not a proper party to the case. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, a Scott appointee also named in the lawsuit, was empowered to do so, Walker noted. “The State will follow the court’s decision and discuss with the Legislature possible amendments to current law,” Scott’s office said in a statement earlier in the week.  South Carolina extended its registration deadline due to Matthew from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11, while Georgia declined to do so.  North Carolina will not extend the regular deadline to register to vote, which ends on Friday, although allowances will be made for delayed mail delivery of registration forms, state officials said on Wednesday. However, those who miss the deadline can still register and vote on the same day during the statewide early voting period from Oct. 20 through Nov. 5.

Summary: न्यायाधीश ने फ्लोरिडा के मतदाताओं को तूफान के बाद पंजीकरण करने के लिए और समय दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Early optimism among business lobbyists and executives that Donald Trump’s election heralded better days has slowly given way to uncertainty as the president-elect fires off mixed and sometimes confusing messages on healthcare, taxes and trade. An initial euphoria in the business world fueled a powerful post-election stock rally. Some of that has frayed as questions arise over the nuts and bolts of Trump’s campaign promises, although many in the business community said they remained optimistic. Doubts deepened over the weekend as Trump declared he would replace President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare plan known as Obamacare with “insurance for everybody” - a goal far beyond Republican designs - and criticized a key component of a plan in Congress to overhaul corporate taxes. In a later interview, he appeared to adjust both stances, possibly adding to the confusion. “It is fair to say that since the election, there has been mounting uncertainty about exactly what the specific policies are likely to be with regard to tax reform and replacing Obamacare,” a financial industry official said. Expectations for faster growth, tax reform and a quick repeal of Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, have “given way to ‘We are not really sure what he means by that,’” the official said. A veteran Republican financial lobbyist said she was under constant pressure from clients to predict what the new administration was planning but had no reliable answers.  Trump appears to have thrown a wrench into Republican plans to repeal Obamacare with mixed signals on the details and timing of a replacement plan. Congressional Republicans have focused on limiting government involvement in the healthcare system and eliminating the law’s individual mandate that forces people to have insurance.  But Trump told the Washington Post he was almost done with a plan to replace Obamacare with “insurance for everybody,” while forcing drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices for Medicare and Medicaid. Trump’s recent attack on the border adjustment tax was another sign of his unpredictability, the financial lobbyist said. That measure would tax imports and exempt exports in an effort to encourage companies to keep jobs and production in the United States. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Trump called the proposal “too complicated.” “Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don’t love it,” Trump told the Journal. “Because usually it means we’re going to get adjusted into a bad deal. That’s what happens.” Chris Krueger, an analyst at the investment firm Cowen and Co, said Trump’s comments to the newspaper about the border adjustment proposal were “breathtaking.” “Trump is like a policy bull who seems to bring his own china shop with him to destroy it with every interview,” Krueger wrote in a research note.  In an interview with the news outlet Axios on Tuesday, Trump appeared to adjust both positions. He said the border adjustment idea was still “on the plate.” As for Obamacare, he said his comments were in response to proposals in which “people with no money aren’t covered,” which he said were unacceptable. Lobbyists said the Trump transition team’s lack of interest in their input was clear in the past two weeks as it summoned trade groups to daily “listening sessions” at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. The agriculture, financial,  transportation and tech industries were among the sectors that got a one-hour session, according to participants. In the sessions, Wall Street lobbyists were encouraged to talk fast: a giant television screen overhead counted down two minutes of allotted time. “It was a goat rodeo. We all got a couple minutes to speak. What can you really say in that time?” said another financial services lobbyist. “They wanted to check the box - ‘We’re listening to Wall Street.’ But who even knows where these transition people will be in a few days?”  Lobbyists also have been alarmed that the transition team has not included them in preparations for confirmation hearings for many nominated Cabinet officials, including potential Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “If you want someone to explain how Elizabeth Warren can hammer you 12 different ways, ask a lobbyist,” said the financial services lobbyist, referring to the Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts and frequent critic of Wall Street. Even Trump’s website sowed confusion about his intentions. A promise to dismantle the Dodd-Frank regulatory reforms was removed at the end of last year and has not been replaced. A Trump representative blamed a redesign, but bank lobbyists are not so sure - other content made it through the redesign. Some companies have been reassured by Trump’s Cabinet nominees, who are seen as more predictable and supportive of the business establishment than the impulsive president-elect. Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general, has deep differences on values with the technology sector but is seen as an important Trump counterweight because he is a “deliberate decision-maker not prone to big dramatic mood swings,” a source at one major Silicon Valley firm said. Many lobbyists and business officials said they remained optimistic and cautioned against reading too deeply into tweets or comments that Trump makes on policy.  “If Obama or Bush opined on a policy ... most of Washington assumed that raising that question was a well-vetted intentional decision to send a signal,” a senior U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said. Trump, by contrast, may simply be raising policy issues because he has questions on them, the chamber official said. The same financial industry official who acknowledged the uncertain climate also said he was still optimistic. “There were a lot of candidates who were interviewed. There were names floated out there and ... it was kind of a chaotic process,” the official said, referring to the process of picking candidates to fill Cabinet and other administration positions. “But overall, I think one can make the observation that in making the final selections, Trump has shown ... a very surprising even-handedness.”

Summary: ट्रम्प पर व्यापारिक उत्साह ने सावधानी, अनिश्चितता को रास्ता दिया


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has called for an investigation into “potentially fraudulent statements and misrepresentations” made by companies promoting investment in a property development involving the family company of White House advisor Jared Kushner. Citing a May 12 report by Reuters, Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, requested a review of claims made by Chinese migration agency Qiaowai and the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF) in the marketing of the One Journal Square project in Jersey City, New Jersey to potential investors in China.  Grassley flagged his concerns to the Department of Homeland Security and the Securities and Exchange Commission in a May 24 letter that was later posted on his website.  Jupiter, Florida-based USIF contracted with Beijing-based Qiaowai to market projects including One Journal Square to potential investors through the controversial EB-5 scheme. The program offers qualified foreign investors the chance at a green card in exchange for a $500,000 investment in a U.S. business.  Kushner Companies is also working with KABR Group, a private equity fund, on the One Journal Square project, according to marketing materials on Qiaowai’s website. The developers are seeking to raise $150 million, or 15.4 percent of the funding, from EB-5 investors. Because the SEC considers some EB-5 investments securities, companies and individuals that market these investments must comply with U.S. securities laws.  EB-5 schemes must also comply with immigration rules. Under United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) guidelines, EB-5 investors must put their capital at risk and the green card is not guaranteed. USCIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security. In an emailed response to a request for comment on Grassley’s letter, Stu Loeser, a spokesman for USIF, said: “Qiaowai and U.S. Immigration Fund are fully in compliance with all laws relating to the sale of securities to immigrant investors. These allegations are gross distortions and unsupported by the facts.”   Reuters previously revealed that Qiaowai’s promotional materials online and on social media, including for the One Journal Square project, sometimes referred to a green card guarantee or “safeguard” and the safety of capital invested in EB-5 projects. After Reuters contacted Qiaowai for comment, these phrases were deleted. Qiaowai has also dropped the phrase “government-supported” from its online promotion of the One Journal Square project. “It is a fundamental rule of the EB-5 program that an applicant’s investment must remain “at risk” up to the end of the alien’s conditional permanent resident status, and a “guaranteed” investment fails this basic EB-5 test; if Qiaowai is in fact guaranteeing the safety of the investment principal, all related EB-5 petitions should be rejected by USCIS,” wrote Grassley, who has long advocated for reform of the EB-5 program. Qiaowai’s assurances to investors that their green cards were guaranteed and their funds were safe appeared to violate U.S. securities laws, Grassley’s letter said. It also cited a report on the project’s promotion by the New York Times. Kushner Companies and the SEC declined to comment. Qiaowai, KABR Group and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend.  Chinese investors account for around 80 percent of the nearly 10,000 EB-5 visas issued annually.  Criticism of the program has centered on instances of fraud and the fact that most of the funds in a program originally intended to help impoverished areas have instead gone to wealthy urban districts. Despite these concerns, earlier this month, Congress extended the EB-5 program until September 30.     The Chinese road show for One Journal Square earlier this month also attracted criticism. Kushner Companies apologized for Nicole Kushner Meyer’s reference to her brother, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, during the road show.  The company stressed that he was only mentioned in order to make clear that he was not involved with the project. Kushner Companies representatives skipped some later road show events. Jared Kushner, whose White House portfolio includes relations with China, sold his stake in Kushner Companies to a family trust early this year.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटर ने कुशनर कॉस सौदे के प्रचार की जांच की मांग की