(Reuters) - Penguin Random House has landed a deal to publish two forthcoming books by former U.S. President Barack Obama and the former first lady, Michelle Obama, with one volume to be written by each, the publishing company said on Tuesday. Terms of the agreement, in which Penguin Random House acquired worldwide publication rights for the two books, were not disclosed. But in keeping with their past practice, the Obamas plan to donate a “significant portion of their author proceeds to charity,” including the Obama Foundation, the publisher said in a statement. The deal followed a heated auction for global rights to the two books with bidding that reached more than $60 million, a record sum for U.S. presidential memoirs, the Financial Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the sales process. By comparison, fellow Democrat and former President Bill Clinton earned $15 million for rights to his 2004 memoir “My Life” after he left office, while Obama’s immediate predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, reaped some $10 million from his book “Decision Points,” according to the Financial Times. Those books were published by Penguin Random House division Knopf and by Crown, respectively.  Penguin Random House also published Obama’s three previous books — “Dreams of My Father,” “The Audacity of Hope,” “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters.”   The company did not disclose the subject matter of the two forthcoming books, or a time frame for them to be published, but they will presumably cover Obama’s time in the White House as the first African-American U.S. president. Among other publishers that bid on Obama deal were HarperCollins, a unit of News Corp, and Simon & Schuster, owned by CBS Corp, the Financial Times said.

Summary: पेंगुइन रैंडम हाउस ने ओबामा के साथ पुस्तक सौदा किया


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wants more than 70 percent of North American content in vehicles built in the United States, Canada and Mexico under a renegotiated NAFTA trade deal, the head of Canada s largest private sector union said on Friday. Jerry Dias, national president of Unifor, told reporters he suggested in a recent meeting with Ross that the level be raised to 70 percent from the current 62.5 percent, and that the U.S. commerce secretary suggested a  more aggressive  level. Ross has long advocated strengthening the rules of origin for the auto industry as a way to bring back automotive production from Asia and other non-NAFTA countries. Negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement are in their second round this weekend in Mexico City, where rules of origin are expected to be discussed. U.S. negotiators, however, may not reveal specific rules of origin targets until later rounds, according to auto industry lobbyists.  In fairness to Wilbur, he was more aggressive than I was,  Dias said of Ross  desired North American content level. Dias said he thought that a 70 percent rule would be a step in the right direction for an industry whose jobs have migrated from the United States and Canada to Mexico, and would help shift production of some automotive electronics and other parts from Asia and Europe back to North America. A spokesman for Ross in Washington could not immediately be reached for comment. Dias said tougher NAFTA rules of origin would only be a small part of restoring manufacturing jobs, and that far stronger labor standards were needed to boost wages in Mexico that are far below those in the United States and Canada. He said he agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump s threat to terminate NAFTA if it cannot be improved enough.  NAFTA has been a disaster for workers in Canada, Mexico and the United States. So when he threatens to walk away from it, that s OK. So now we need to reconfigure how we fix things,  he said. At the same time, Dias said that Trump was  not an ally  of unions, describing him as  batshit crazy.

Summary: अमेरिकी वाणिज्य सचिव चाहते हैं कि नाफ्टा ऑटो सामग्री 70 प्रतिशत से अधिक होः संघ प्रमुख


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s leftist government prepared to release some 80 jailed anti-government activists on Saturday, and threatened to expel envoys from Canada and Brazil after criticism over rights.  Delcy Rodriguez, head of the pro-government Constituent Assembly, told reporters the legislative superbody was recommending the detainees be given alternative punishments such as community service and compensation for victims. Thirteen activists were later paraded in front of state TV cameras during a meeting with Rodriguez, a hardline ally of President Nicolas Maduro. They looked stony-faced as they sat listening to her admonishments in the formal surroundings of Venezuela s colonial-era foreign ministry. Rights groups and foes of Maduro say authorities are unfairly holding 268 political prisoners for protesting against  dictatorship.  Maduro, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, says all jailed activists are there on legitimate charges of violence and subversion.   Let it be understood that the events promoted by the extremist Venezuelan opposition, which caused Venezuelans  deaths, must not be repeated,  Rodriguez said. Some 170 people died in violence around two bouts of anti-Maduro street protests in 2014 and earlier this year.   The assembly president told the detainees at the meeting they would return to their detention centers for medical tests then be freed to spend Christmas with loved ones.  The releases, albeit with alternative sentences, could inject life into stuttering political talks between the government and opposition due to resume in the Dominican Republic in early January. Western nations and Latin American neighbors have been increasingly critical of Maduro this year, accusing him of stamping on democracy and human rights. The government says foreign nations are trying to encourage a right-wing coup. Rodriguez said the Constituent Assembly - which various foreign countries refuse to accept - was also recommending Brazil s ambassador Ruy Pereira and Canada s charge d affaires Craig Kowalik both be declared  persona non grata.  The Canadian government, which has imposed sanctions on Maduro s administration, said it would not be cowed into easing pressure on  the anti-democratic Maduro regime  in Venezuela.  Canadians will not stand by silently as the Government of Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic and human rights, and denies them access to basic humanitarian needs,  said Global Affairs Canada, the government department that manages its foreign and trade relations. Brazil s foreign ministry also responded sternly.  If confirmed, the Venezuelan government s decision to declare Brazil s ambassador persona non grata shows once more the authoritarian stance of Nicolas Maduro s administration and its lack of willingness to engage in any dialogue,  it said, promising reciprocal measures. U.S. President Donald Trump s administration has been especially critical of Maduro, also imposing sanctions on him and other senior Venezuelan officials this year. Under new stewardship with the arrival of charge d affaires Todd Robinson last week, Washington s embassy in Caracas called on Saturday for the freedom of all jailed activists.  We urge Maduro s regime to respect human rights,  it tweeted.  Free them during this holiday time.

Summary: वेनेजुएला जेल में बंद कुछ कार्यकर्ताओं को रिहा कर रहा है, राजनयिकों को निष्कासित कर सकता है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - A hardline Sunni Muslim cleric was sentenced to death in Lebanon on Thursday for inciting attacks on the army, as his supporters protested outside the court. Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, who refused to recognize the hearing, was convicted for his part in clashes that erupted amid heightened sectarian tensions in 2013, exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria. Assir rose to prominence supporting the mostly Sunni insurgents in Syria and condemning the backers of the Syrian government, including Lebanon s Shi ite Muslim Hezbollah group. Lebanese soldiers raided a mosque complex belonging to Assir in June 2013, after skirmishes between his supporters and opponents in the southern Mediterranean port city of Sidon. The army said at least 18 soldiers died in fighting with Assir's supporters, which raised fears at the time of sectarian violence spreading in Lebanon. (reut.rs/2xBmdx6) Assir went into hiding and was arrested two years later at Beirut airport, trying to get out with a false passport. He rejected his court-appointed lawyer during the trial, which has been delayed several times. Dozens of his supporters protested outside the court in Beirut and in Sidon on Thursday. The court also convicted more than 30 others, some in absentia, for their part in the violence, imposing sentences ranging from six months in prison to death. Lebanese singer-turned-militant Fadel Shaker was sentenced in absentia to 15 years. Lebanon has not carried out an execution for at least 10 years.

Summary: लेबनान ने सेना पर हमलों के लिए इस्लामी मौलवी को मौत की सजा सुनाई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama selected Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a centrist judge meant to win over recalcitrant Senate Republicans whose leaders wasted no time in spurning the Democratic president. A bruising political fight is brewing over the nomination, which also promises to figure in the already contentious campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. The Republican-led Senate’s leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Obama nominee. Garland, 63, was picked to replace long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. A Chicagoan like Obama, he serves as chief judge of the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is a former prosecutor who in the past has won praise from both Republicans and Democrats. Wasting no time in pressing its case for Senate confirmation, the administration is dispatching Garland to Capitol Hill on Thursday to huddle with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Judiciary Committee Democrat and then with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Such meetings are aimed at shoring up Senate support for the nominee and generating media coverage. The lifetime appointment to the high court requires Senate confirmation. Obama’s announcement prompted a flood of reaction from private groups that will work to advance or kill the nomination. The UAW, representing automobile, aerospace and some agricultural workers, call Garland “a distinguished, moderate judge with more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history.” National Rifle Association Executive Director Chris Cox said, “A basic analysis of Merrick Garland’s judicial record shows that he does not respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.”   Republicans, hoping a candidate from their party wins the presidential election, are demanding that Obama leave the seat vacant and let his successor, to be sworn in next January, make the selection. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is leading among Republicans for the nomination. Obama’s former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is the front-runner for the Democrats. Obama said Republican senators should give Garland a fair hearing. He said that failing to do so “will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair.” Such a move, he said, would also undermine the reputation of the Supreme Court and faith in the American justice system. “Our democracy will ultimately suffer as well,” Obama added, as he introduced Garland at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Scalia’s death left the nine-member Supreme Court evenly split with four liberals and four conservative justices. Obama’s nominee could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades, which could affect rulings on contentious issues including abortion, gun rights, the death penalty and political spending. Obama said the Supreme Court was supposed to be above politics and it should remain so. Obama said that with politics in the United States so polarized, “this is precisely the time when we should play it straight, and treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care it deserves.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky swiftly reiterated that the Senate will not consider the nomination by the president. A McConnell spokesman said the senator had spoken by phone with Garland and would not hold a “perfunctory meeting” with him.  John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican, added, “This person will not be confirmed, so there’s no reason going through some motions and pretending like it will happen, because it’s not going to happen.” Some cracks began appearing in McConnell’s strategy of completely shutting out the nominee. A handful of Republican senators including Susan Collins of Maine, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Rob Portman of Ohio said they would be willing to meet with Garland. Collins said the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold confirmation hearings. Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch, whose past support of Garland was cited by Obama, said the pick does not change his view “at this point” that no Obama nominee should be considered.  Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is in a tough re-election battle, said, “Should Merrick Garland be nominated again by the next president, I would be happy to carefully consider his nomination.” Garland is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Republican Richard Nixon in 1971 nominated Lewis Powell, who was 64. Presidents tend to pick nominees younger than that so they can serve for decades and extend a president’s legacy. Obama may reason that the choice of an older nominee might also entice Senate Republicans into considering his selection. Garland would become the fourth Jewish member of the nine-member court. There are five Roman Catholics on the court. Obama considered but passed over Garland when he made two prior Supreme Court appointments.  With solid Republican support, the Senate voted in 1997 to confirm Garland to his present job in a bipartisan 76-23 vote after he was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. Garland is widely viewed as a moderate. He is a former prosecutor who served in the Justice Department under Clinton. He oversaw the prosecution in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case including securing the death penalty for the lead defendant, anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh. In his current post, he is known for narrow, centrist opinions and rhetoric that is measured rather than inflammatory even when in dissent. Standing in between Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during the Rose Garden ceremony, an emotional Garland referred to the Oklahoma City bombing case, saying, “Once again, I saw the importance of assuring victims and families that the justice system could work.” Obama said he fulfilled his constitutional duty by naming a nominee and said it was time for the Senate to do its job.  “Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a senator,” Obama said. Obama, in office since 2009, has already named two justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor, who at 55 became the first Hispanic justice in 2009, and Elena Kagan, who was 50 when she became the fourth woman ever to serve on the court in 2010. Democrats praised his latest choice. “If Merrick Garland can’t get bipartisan support no one can,” Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said. Hillary Clinton called Garland “a brilliant legal mind,” urging the Senate to move ahead with the confirmation process. Trump said it was critical for Republicans to take back the White House to avoid Democrats shaping the Supreme Court for decades to come.

Summary: ओबामा ने उच्च न्यायालय के मध्यमार्गी उम्मीदवार को चुना; रिपब्लिकन अडिग


(Reuters) - Icelanders voted in favor of a left-leaning four-party coalition in parliamentary elections, a final vote count showed Sunday, although it remained unclear who would get a mandate to form the next government. The left-leaning coalition of the Left-Green Movement, the Social Democrats, the Progressive Party and the Pirate Party won 32 seats in the 63-member parliament, the narrowest possible majority, polls published by state broadcaster RUV showed. The Independence Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, remained the biggest party with 25 percent of the votes but suffered a setback.  It was clear that the vote meant the ousting of his center-right government after a scandal involving the prime minister s father. President Gudni Johannesson has yet to hand the mandate to the party that will be tasked with forming the next government. The president normally gives the mandate to the head of the biggest party.

Summary: आइसलैंड के मतदाताओं ने संसद में मध्य-वामपंथी विपक्ष को संकीर्ण जीत दिलाई


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s President Emmerson Mnangagwa told members of his ruling ZANU-PF party on Friday they would have to start fixing the economy if they wanted a chance of winning next year s vote. Mnangagwa spoke at a party congress that drew a line under the rule of ousted veteran leader Robert Mugabe by formally expelling his wife Grace and her allies from the organization and by endorsing Mnangagwa as party chief and candidate.  We will only win at the ballot box if we can show signs that we are reviving our economy and at the same time we will only be able to make economic gains if we can secure re-election,  he said. Zimbabwe s economy collapsed in the latter half of Mugabe s rule, especially after violent and chaotic seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms.     The southern African nation could hold elections as early as March, Mnangagwa said this week, which would be just five months after the de facto military coup which ended Mugabe s 37-year reign.  Democracy bids that as a political party, ZANU-PF must always compete for office through pitting itself against opposition parties in elections which must be credible, free, fair and transparent,  Mnangagwa, 75, told the congress in downtown Harare. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said late last month that financial support for the new government to stabilize its currency system and help it clear World Bank and African Development Bank arrears depended on  democratic progress . In a sign of the military further consolidating its political power, Mnangagwa made three generals members of the party s Russian-styled executive Politburo, the supreme decision-making organ of ZANU-PF. Major General Engelbert Rugeje was appointed political commissar, a job focused on revamping party structures and preparing for elections. Mnangagwa said he would name two deputies in a few days. Defence Forces Commander General Constantino Chiwenga is a strong contender for one of the vice presidency slots as a reward for spearheading the de facto coup that ended Mugabe s rule. Mnangagwa, whose sacking as vice-president set off the chain of events that led to Mugabe s removal, said the ZANU-PF congress should define a new trajectory - which he did not spell out - and put behind it the victimization of members seen in the past.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी को वोट जीतने के लिए अर्थव्यवस्था को ठीक करना होगाः राष्ट्रपति


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a heated moment during his unconventional and combative news conference on Thursday, President Donald Trump’s command of the facts was openly challenged by a reporter who asked, “Why should Americans trust you?” The issue was the margin of victory in the U.S. Electoral College, which Trump asserted early in the news conference was the “biggest” since fellow Republican Ronald Reagan, who was elected in 1980 and 1984.  Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a 304-227 tally of state-by-state electors, who represent votes cast in the election. Seven electors voted for someone else. “We got 306 because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen before so that’s the way it goes,” the president said.   Twitter exploded with fact-checking of Trump’s statement. Although proportionally he had 306 electoral votes on the night of the Nov. 8 election, two of those electors defected when they cast official ballots on Dec. 19.   A quick check by a reporter at the news conference showed President Barack Obama, a Democrat, amassed more electoral votes in 2008 (365) and 2012 (332). In 1988, President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, drew 426 electoral votes.  Few observers, however, were expecting a White House reporter to confront Trump about it in real time, while sitting in the East Room. Within minutes the reporter, Peter Alexander of NBC News, stood and corrected Trump, noting Obama’s and Bush’s tallies and asking whether Americans could trust the president to state the facts.  “Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they’ve received of being fake when you’re providing information that’s not accurate?” the TV correspondent asked. Trump seemed to blame his staff. “I was given that information,” he replied. “Actually, I’ve seen that information around.” Trump then called on another reporter. On the 2016 campaign trail and since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has made criticizing the media a centerpiece of his communications strategy. Trump turned the tables later in the news conference, complaining again about coverage of his young administration. “I want to see an honest press,” Trump said. “The public doesn’t believe you people anymore.”

Summary: ट्रंप ने पूछा, 'अमेरिकियों को आप पर भरोसा क्यों करना चाहिए?


SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil s lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia said on Monday he will try to pass a fiscally crucial pension reform bill this year in the chamber, but he told reporters he would only put the measure to the vote if it has enough support. The bill needs a three-fifths super majority of 308 votes to pass and poll by Arko Advice consultancy found the government is 46 votes short and time is running out. A government plan to hold a vote next week will likely get put off until Dec 13, with days to spare before the Congressional recess begins on Dec 22.

Summary: ब्राजील की स्पीकर माया का कहना है कि इस साल पेंशन सुधार को पारित करने के लिए काम किया जा रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Thursday for new sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program, part of an effort to clamp down on Tehran without immediately moving to undermine an international nuclear agreement. The vote was 423 to two for the “Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act.” Among other things, it calls on the U.S. president to report to Congress on the Iranian and international supply chain for Iran’s ballistic missile program and to impose sanctions on Iranian government or foreign entities that support it. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 13 he would not certify Iran is complying with an international agreement on its nuclear program, and threatened that he might ultimately terminate the accord. Trump’s action opened a 60-day window for Congress to act to reimpose sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program that were lifted under the agreement, but there has been no move to do so in the House or Senate. Aides said that, for now, House lawmakers are focusing on clamping down on Iran in other ways such as the Hezbollah and missile-related sanctions. U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who sponsored the ballistic missile bill, has said the international nuclear deal should be strictly enforced by Washington working with its allies. “The United States must respond to the full range of threats and, with this bill.... that is what we are doing today,” he said. The House passed three other Iran-related measures on Wednesday, including new sanctions on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia and a resolution urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. [L2N1N02UY] To become law, the measure would have to pass the U.S. Senate and be signed into law by Trump.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन ने ईरान पर बैलिस्टिक मिसाइल प्रतिबंधों को पारित किया


DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to take help from the U.N. refugee agency to safely repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled violence in Myanmar, Bangladesh said on Saturday. More than 600,000 Rohingya sought sanctuary in Bangladesh after the military in mostly Buddhist Myanmar launched a brutal counter-insurgency operation in their villages across the northern parts of Rakhine State following attacks by Rohingya militants on an army base and police posts on Aug. 25. Faced with a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, the two governments signed a pact on Thursday agreeing that the return of the Rohingya to Myanmar should start within two months. Uncertainty over whether the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would have a role had prompted rights groups to insist that outside monitors were needed to safeguard the Rohingya s return. Addressing a news conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali gave assurances that the UNHCR would play some part.  Both countries agreed to take help from the UNHCR in the Rohingya repatriation process,  Ali said.  Myanmar will take its assistance as per their requirement.  The diplomatic breakthrough came just ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Myanmar and Bangladesh from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2 that is aimed at promoting  reconciliation, forgiveness and peace . While the violence in Rakhine has mostly ceased, Rohingya have continued to stream out of Myanmar, saying they have largely lost access to sources of livelihood such as their farms, fisheries and markets.  Thousands of Rohingya, most of them old people, women and children, remain stranded on beaches near the border, waiting for a boat to take them to Bangladesh. Ali said a joint working group, to be formed within three weeks, will fix the final terms to start the repatriation process.  After leaving the refugee camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya who opt to be voluntarily repatriated will be moved to camps in Myanmar, the minister said.  Most houses were burnt down. Where they will live after going back? So, it is not possible to physically return to their homes,  Ali said. Myanmar officials have said returnees will be moved to camps only temporarily while so-called  model villages  are constructed near their former homes. Win Myat Aye, the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement who heads a Myanmar government panel on rehabilitation in Rakhine, said India and China had offered to provide  modular houses  for returnees. The U.N. and the United States have described the Myanmar military s actions as  ethnic cleansing , and rights groups have accused the security forces of committing atrocities, including mass rape, arson and killings. The United States also warned it could impose sanctions on individuals responsible for alleged abuses. Led by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar is in the early stages of a transition to democracy after decades of military rule. But civilian government is less than two years old, and still shares power with the generals, who retain autonomy over matters of defense, security and borders. The commander of Myanmar s armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has denied that soldiers committed any atrocities. On Friday he met China s President Xi Jinping in Beijing having been told earlier in the week by a top Chinese general that China wanted stronger ties with Myanmar s military. Under the deal struck with Bangladesh, Myanmar agreed to take measures to see that the returnees will not be settled in temporary places for a long time.  Myanmar plans to issue them an identity card on their return, although most Rohingya have so far rejected a scheme to give them  national verification cards . While the agreement says Bangladesh would seek the U.N. refugee agency s assistance on the process, Myanmar - which has largely blocked aid agencies from working in northern Rakhine since August - only agreed  that the services of the UNHCR could be drawn upon as needed and at the appropriate time . Win Myat Aye told Reuters on Saturday that Myanmar would discuss  technical assistance  with the UNHCR, but had not reached a formal agreement with the agency. There were already hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the latest exodus, and the Bangladesh minister said they could also be considered for the repatriation, under the terms of the agreement. The agreement, however, says they will be  considered separately on the conclusion of the present agreement.  Some independent estimates suggest there are still a few hundred thousand Rohingya remaining in Rakhine.

Summary: बांग्लादेश ने रोहिंग्याओं की वापसी में सहायता के लिए म्यांमार के साथ सहमति जताई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans unveiled a tax plan on Thursday that differed from the House of Representatives’ version on several key fronts, including how they treat the corporate tax rate, the tax deduction for state and local taxes, and the estate tax. Complicating a Republican push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s, senators said that, like the House, they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, but in 2019, not right away. The House was set to vote on its measure next week after its tax-writing Ways and Means Committee approved the legislation on Thursday along party lines, with Democrats united in opposition. The Senate’s timetable was less clear, with a formal bill yet to be drafted in that chamber, where Republicans have a much smaller majority and a narrower path to winning approval for any legislation, let alone one as contentious as a tax package.  As President Donald Trump toured Asia, Republicans reiterated their goal of enacting final legislation by the end of the year. If that happens, it would be Trump’s first major legislative accomplishment since he took office in January. Stocks, which have rallied this year on hopes for business tax cuts, declined as details of the two plans emerged. Investors worried about divergence between the House and Senate and the Senate’s proposed corporate tax rate cut delay. In a broad sense, the House and Senate plans matched up in calling for deep tax cuts for high-earners and businesses and for a dramatic reshaping of how the United States taxes multinational corporations, big winners if the plans become law. Democrats, largely ignored in the closed-door drafting of both bills, have condemned them as giveaways to the rich and businesses that will do little for ordinary Americans. White House economic adviser Gary Cohn handed them ammunition in comments in a CNBC interview, saying: “The most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.” The White House issued statements that praised the Ways and Means Committee and the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee and expressed confidence that further progress would be made. ELECTION WAKE-UP Victories by Democrats in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere on Tuesday increased the urgency for Republicans, who control both the White House and Congress, to make good on their campaign promises on taxes.  “We’re going to get this over the finish line,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said, adding the House would not just approve whatever the Senate passes and that a House-Senate conference committee would be needed to reconcile differences. One big disagreement between the two chambers concerns a  deduction now available to Americans for state and local taxes (SALT), a keen concern for taxpayers in high-tax, typically Democratic-leaning states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Senate plan would entirely repeal the SALT deduction. The House bill would repeal it only for state and local income and sales tax, but preserve it for property tax up to $10,000. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York said repealing the SALT deduction and other parts of the Republican proposals would hurt middle- and upper-middle-class Americans. “Passing this plan won’t help Republicans climb out of the hole they are in ... This bill could be your political doom,” he said on the floor of the Senate, where Republicans will need to be especially united given their slim 52-48 majority. Another point of friction is the estate tax on inheritances. The Senate would leave it on the books, but increase exemptions so fewer people pay. The House would increase exemptions, but repeal the tax over a six-year period. The Senate calls for keeping the existing seven tax brackets and cutting the top tax rate for the highest-earning taxpayers to 38.5 percent from 39.6 percent. The House wants to reduce the number of brackets, but leave the 39.6 percent top rate alone. The Senate would close a loophole that allows private-equity fund managers and other wealthy Wall Street financiers to pay the capital gains tax rate on “carried interest” income, instead of the higher wage rate. The House plan leaves the tax break in place, but further restricts who can claim it. In another divide that will need bridging, both chambers call for slapping a mandatory tax on $2.6 trillion in foreign profits being held offshore by U.S. multinationals. The Senate wants that tax to be 12 percent for cash and liquid assets, and 5 percent for non-liquid assets. The House amended its bill on Thursday, going to 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively.     Tweaks to both bills were expected to continue in days ahead as lobbyists descend on Capitol Hill seeking favors. Both the House and Senate measures would add $1.5 trillion over 10 years to the budget deficit and national debt, a problem that not long ago would have drawn Republican criticism. “It turns out that deficit hawks are extinct in the Republican Party,” California’s Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, said in a statement. In the Senate’s case, the $1.5 trillion figure is the most by which the legislation is permitted to add to the deficit in order to allow Republicans to use a procedural maneuver known as reconciliation and pass the bill with a simple majority. Estimates released on Thursday evening by Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation had the Senate proposal falling within that upper limit, although the bill has yet to be codified into legislative language.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन कर योजनाओं में द्वंद्व कांग्रेस में आगे बढ़ा


MUNICH (Reuters) - Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer has invited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to visit the southern German state, possibly as soon as February for the Munich Security Conference, a source familiar with the invitation said. Seehofer, who heads the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), extended the invitation in a letter of congratulations to Trump after his victory, said the source. The Feb. 17-19 conference, a forum for debate about international security, often draws senior officials from around the world. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. It was not immediately clear when a sitting U.S. president last participated in the event, and the security conference organizers could not immediately be reached for comment. Seehofer’s CSU and Merkel’s CDU, which form a bloc in the German parliament, have been at odds over Merkel’s migrant policy, which saw nearly 900,000 people enter Germany last year, an issue likely to play a major role in elections in September. During the U.S. election campaign Trump called Merkel’s refugee policy a “disaster” that had boosted crime rates. Statistics compiled by the German Interior Ministry showed the number of crimes reported in 2015 - excluding visa and other immigration violations - remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at 5.9 million. Seehofer told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Thursday that his party would only participate in a coalition government in 2017 that agreed to its demand for an upper limit on migration. Merkel, who on Sunday announced her decision to run for a fourth term, has rejected setting an upper limit for migration.

Summary: जर्मनी के सीहोफर ने ट्रम्प को बवेरिया आने का न्योता दियाः सूत्र


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday  people should be abiding by the rule of law and uphold the Spanish constitution , clearly siding with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the central government s standoff with Catalonia.  I have spoken to Mariano Rajoy this morning as I did earlier this week and made clear that the United Kingdom s position is very clear,  May told reporters after two days of talks between EU leaders in Brussels.   We believe that people should be abiding by the rule of law and uphold the Spanish constitution,  May said in Brussels, were EU leaders showed little political support for Catalonia.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया गतिरोध में मैड्रिड का पक्ष ले सकते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States wants a meeting soon aimed at reviving a four-way dialogue between itself, Japan, India and Australia to deepen security cooperation and coordinate alternatives for regional infrastructure financing to that offered by China, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The so-called  Quad  to discuss and cooperate on security emerged briefly as an initiative a decade ago - much to the annoyance of China, which saw as an attempt by regional democracies to contain its advances. In an interview with Japan s Nikkei newspaper on Wednesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono proposed reviving the forum, which he said he had discussed with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Manila in August. According to the Nikkei, the purpose would be to secure a peaceful maritime zone from Asia to Africa. It said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would officially propose the dialogue partnership to U.S. President Donald Trump on Nov. 6, when the U.S. leader visits Japan as part of an Asian tour that will also take him to China. Alice Wells, Washington s acting assistant secretary of state for South Asia, told reporters after accompanying Tillerson on a visit to India that Washington was  looking at a working level quadrilateral meeting in the near term.   The quadrilateral the Japanese foreign minister discussed would be building on a very productive trilateral we have with India and Japan,  she said. Wells said the idea was to bring together countries that share the same values  to reinforce those values in the global architecture.   As we explore ways to deepen and try to inculcate some of the values - freedom of navigation, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, transparency, obviously Australia would be a natural partner in that effort.  Wells rejected the idea the forum would be aimed at containing China, which has alarmed Asia-Pacific countries through its pursuit of territory in the South China Sea and has launched major initiatives to develop regional infrastructure.  She said it would seek to coordinate alternatives for nations seeking investment in infrastructure and economic development,  that don t include predatory financing or unsustainable debt.   It s hard to see a meeting of diplomats from four countries as a plan to contain China,  she said.  It s a natural progression and convergence of interests between democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region.  Tillerson said before visiting India that Washington saw room to invite others, including Australia, to join U.S.-India-Japan security cooperation and to create alternatives to Chinese financing that was saddling countries with  enormous  debts and failing to create jobs.

Summary: अमेरिका एशिया-प्रशांत 'क्वाड' सुरक्षा मंच को पुनर्जीवित करने के लिए जल्द ही बैठक चाहता है


BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts will plug any holes in the budget of the state chapter of Planned Parenthood if the U.S. Congress moves to block the use of Medicaid funds for treatment at the women’s health care organization, Governor Charlie Baker said on Friday. The move by the Republican governor of a Democratic-leaning state is intended in part to signal the gap between his positions and those of the Republican-controlled Congress, many of whose members oppose Planned Parenthood because the organization provides abortions. U.S. laws already prohibit federal money from being used for abortion, but currently allow the Medicaid low-income health program to cover other services, such as screening and treatment for cancers and sexually transmitted diseases. “Governor Baker is a strong supporter of women’s health and believes the commonwealth has a responsibility to ensure access to the important health care services offered by Planned Parenthood in all corners of our state,” Baker spokeswoman Lizzy Guyton said in a statement. “The administration is prepared to fund these services should the federal government pursue changes that would block care for women and families here in Massachusetts.” Currently about $2 million of the group’s $21.5 million budget in the state comes from reimbursements for services to Medicaid patients. Those funds cover treatments for some 10,000 patients a year, about a third of its total, the group said. “At a time when extreme politicians in Congress want to block millions of people from accessing essential preventive care at Planned Parenthood health centers, it is reassuring to see Governor Baker put the health and wellbeing of our communities ahead of politics,” said Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, chief executive of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. As the governor of a liberal-leaning state that was the first in the nation to legalize gay marriage more than a decade ago, many of Baker’s positions on social issues are to the left of national Republicans. He last year signed a law protecting the rights of transgender people and also supports abortion rights. The willingness to step in to fill a budget gap is a pronounced move for a former healthcare executive who has made reining in the state’s budget a key goal of his administration.

Summary: यदि कांग्रेस नियोजित पितृत्व निधि को अवरुद्ध करती है तो मैसाचुसेट्स अंतर को दूर करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans scrambled on Tuesday to ensure support for a budget resolution vital to President Donald Trump’s drive to overhaul the U.S. tax code, as one Republican fiscal hawk announced he might vote against the measure.  As the Senate opened debate on a fiscal year 2018 budget, Senator Rand Paul objected to spending levels that he said would exceed agreed caps by $43 billion, and called for spending reforms for so-called entitlement programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs. “I will not vote for the budget unless it keeps within the spending caps,” the Republican senator told reporters. In a conversation with Trump earlier on Tuesday, Paul said he told the Republican president: “I’m all in. I want to be supportive. I’m a ‘yes’ vote. But we have to obey our own rules.” Senate Republican aides denied that the budget resolution exceeds federal spending caps set by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Paul said the excess spending was for overseas military operations, which aides said are not subject to caps.    The budget resolution already had a narrow path to passage in the Senate, where Democrats oppose the measures and Republicans have only a 52-48 majority. A “no” vote from Paul appeared to put the budget a single vote from failure, threatening to upend Trump’s drive for tax reform.  Another fiscal hawk, Senator Ted Cruz, has refused to disclose whether he would support the measure.   However, the Republican odds of passing a budget resolution improved unexpectedly when Senator Thad Cochran returned to the Senate despite an illness and said in a statement that he looked forward to “taking part in the debate on the budget and tax cuts.” A day earlier, Cochran’s office had said he would not be available this week. With Cochran in the Senate, Republicans can pass the measure even if they lose two votes.  The budget resolution is essential to Trump’s tax reform strategy because it would unlock a legislative tool known as reconciliation, which would allow Senate Republicans to pass a tax bill with a simple majority. Without it, a partisan tax bill would need 60 votes in the 100-member Senate and would almost certainly fail. The Republican effort had gained momentum on Monday when two other potential Senate Republican “no” votes - Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - indicated they were leaning toward “yes.” Senator John McCain also said he would support the budget resolution.  After failing to overturn Obamacare earlier this year, Republicans fear they will face a backlash from constituents in next year’s congressional midterm elections if they are unable to pass legislation to cut taxes for businesses and individuals. Trump and top Republicans have proposed a plan to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years as part of a reform package that they say will boost economic growth and provide more jobs and higher wages.  Democrats, who criticize the Republican plan as a giveaway to the wealthy, will likely propose numerous amendments to the budget plan to prevent tax cuts for the rich and require legislation that would not expand the federal deficit.   “We’re talking about a major political party now working night and day on behalf of the top 0.1 percent,” Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told Reuters on Tuesday. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives must agree on a budget resolution. The House has already approved a different version, so House and Senate Republicans would need to hammer out a unified version and pass it before reconciliation could take effect.

Summary: सीनेट में ट्रम्प की कर योजना को झटका लगा क्योंकि रैंड पॉल ने 'नहीं' वोट का वजन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same political research firm that prepared a dossier on Trump campaign ties to Russia had unrelated information on Clinton Foundation donors that a Russian lawyer obtained and offered to President Donald Trump’s eldest son last year, three sources familiar with the matter said. The White House and Republican lawmakers have attacked the firm, Fusion GPS, over the dossier compiled by a former British spy that is central to investigations in Congress and by a special counsel into conclusions by U.S. spy agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election and wanted to help Trump win. The sources told Reuters that the negative information that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya wanted to give to Republican Trump’s campaign at a June 2016 meeting in New York had been dug up by Fusion GPS in an unrelated investigation. Trump’s congressional supporters have suggested that because Fusion also conducted research for lawyers representing a Russian firm in the unrelated matter, the dossier was part of a Russian campaign to help Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump backers call the 35-page report a “dodgy dossier” financed by Clinton supporters. Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of meddling in the U.S. election and Trump denies any collusion between his campaign and Moscow officials.       In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Veselnitskaya said she went to the Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, and top campaign adviser Paul Manafort to show them proof of tax evasion by major Democratic donors. She said Donald Jr. asked her for written evidence that illegal funds went to Clinton’s campaign, Bloomberg reported.  Emails made public earlier this year by Trump Jr. showed that a publicist for the son of one of his father’s Russian business contacts helped introduce Veselnitskaya and advised him that she and her associates had “sensitive” information that could damage Clinton. “I love it,” Trump Jr. responded, according to the emails.  In December, 2014, the sources said, Veselnitskaya, who then was involved in litigation pitting her Russian client against British-American financier William Browder, received a legal research memo reporting that the Ziff Brothers, two New York financiers allied with Browder, had made a large contribution to a Clinton charity. The memo had been prepared by Fusion, which had been hired to conduct legal research on Browder by Baker and Hostetler law firm. The firm represented Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, who was engaged in disputes with Browder and U.S. prosecutors. Glenn Simpson, one of Fusion GPS’ founders, met with Veselnitskaya about that litigation before and after her meeting with Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort, according to a source familiar with the matter.  However, a source familiar with 10 hours of testimony Simpson gave the Senate Judiciary committee in August said he told investigators he did not know of Veselnitskaya’s Trump Tower meeting until reports of it appeared in the media. Representatives of the Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment. Representatives for Trump Jr. and Kushner could not immediately be reached for comment and neither could a U.S.-based lawyer for Veselnitskaya.  Two sources said the Fusion GPS work for Baker and Hostetler that produced the information Veselnitskaya offered Trump Jr. and his associates was unrelated to the firm’s work for Perkins Coie, a law firm that represented the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign.  Perkins Coie has acknowledged that it paid $1.02 million to Fusion for research related to Donald Trump and his campaign.

Summary: ट्रम्प, क्लिंटन दोनों ने डोजियर फर्म के काम के टुकड़े की पेशकश कीः सूत्र


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Eberhard van der Laan, Amsterdam s popular mayor, has died of lung cancer, the city said on Friday.  Van der Laan informed city residents of his illness in January, saying the prognosis left  little reason for optimism . When he retreated from public life three weeks ago, thousands gathered in front of his canal-side house to applaud for several minutes in a display of support. Van der Laan, 62, was known as an effective, pragmatic and sometimes combative mayor with a sense of humor.  When an  Occupy  tent camp arose in front of the stock market in October 2011, Van der Laan was a frequent visitor, engaging protesters in discussion. He allowed the tents to remain until a court ordered them cleared months later. One of his most remarkable moments on an international stage was in 2013 when Van der Laan said he was too busy to meet Vladimir Putin during the Russian president s visit to Amsterdam, and ordered a rainbow flag flown from city hall in protest at Russian policies against homosexuals.  The former lawyer served briefly as housing minister and shortly after becoming mayor in 2010 enforced a law banning squatting, sparking minor riots and banishing a long Amsterdam tradition to the fringes. Van der Laan is survived by his wife and five children from two marriages.

Summary: एम्स्टर्डम के मेयर वान डेर लान, जिन्होंने एक बार पुतिन को नजरअंदाज किया था, का कैंसर से निधन हो गया।


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia risks being saddled with U.S. sanctions for decades, curbing economic growth and preventing it from regaining its status as a leading economic power, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin said in an interview. Alexei Kudrin told Reuters that the current proposed tightening of sanctions in Washington should not have any serious impact. But he called for a major structural reform program after the 2018 presidential election. He said that was the only way for Russia to return to growth of more than 2 percent a year. Putin has not yet said whether he will run for re-election next year, but is widely expected to do so and to win what would be a fourth term as president. Putin has tasked Kudrin, who has known Putin since they worked together in the St Petersburg Mayor’s Office in the 1990s, with devising a strategy to lift Russian economic growth after 2018. Whereas Putin oversaw several years of growth in excess of 5 percent in his early presidential terms, the Russian economy suffered two years of contraction in 2015 and 2016 and is forecast to grow by a little over 1 percent this year. In May GDP rose by 3.1 percent year on year, but that pace is not expected to last. The slowdown has put Putin under pressure. U.S. lawmakers earlier this week voted to impose new sanctions on Russia — on top of earlier penalties over its role in the Ukraine conflict — and Kudrin said the mood in Washington meant it would be difficult for U.S. President Donald Trump to ease sanctions in future. “In its current form the tightening of sanctions under discussion wouldn’t seriously affect the Russian economy, there aren’t serious changes with the version that exists. But the hope that sanctions would be canceled in the coming years has now faded,” Kudrin said. “We are likely to end up with the story with the old Jackson-Vanik amendment — even when all the conditions had already changed, they couldn’t cancel it,” he said. Jackson-Vanik, a 1974 provision to a U.S. federal law that punished former Communist bloc countries for restricting human rights, was only repealed in 2012 under previous U.S. President Barack Obama. It was a major sticking point in relations between Moscow and Washington. Trump was widely perceived to be the Kremlin’s favored candidate in last year’s U.S. presidential race, and his White House victory raised hopes in Moscow that sanctions could be relaxed as early as this year. But Trump’s administration has since become bogged down in investigations into possible ties between his campaign and Russia. Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia, which flatly denies allegations it meddled in the U.S. vote. Kudrin, who served as finance minister from 2000 to 2011, won praise from foreign investors for building up Russia’s formidable fiscal buffers during an era of high oil prices. He  was one of relatively few liberal voices among top officials. He now heads the Centre for Strategic Research, an analytical group founded on Putin’s initiative to draft policy ideas. Kudrin said Western sanctions in their current configuration were knocking off around 0.5 percent from Russian gross domestic product, down from 1 percent in the year after they were introduced in 2014. Russia had a “window of opportunity” after the 2018 election in which to enact meaningful reforms to counteract the effects of sanctions, he said. But for now a populist camp around Putin appeared to have the upper hand over those calling for reform. “To what extent the president will use that [window], we don’t know,” Kudrin said. “After previous elections that window for reforms wasn’t used.” Among the reforms Kudrin is calling for are greater public control over law enforcement officials, raising the retirement age, reducing government stakes in large companies, and improving revenue collection from the shadow economy. He said he thought the state should sell government stakes in Russian oil companies in stages over the next six to 10 years, and that it could sell a portion of its majority holding in the country’s largest bank Sberbank in the same time period. With such reforms, Kudrin said Russia could increase its economic growth rate to 3-4 percent in five to six years, even with sanctions staying in place. Without reforms, Russia will not notice the damage from sanctions before it is too late, he said. “In the next six to seven years we could not notice the decline in the areas of productivity and technological development. In the end we will see it, because others will grow faster, but by then it will be difficult to change something.”

Summary: अमेरिकी प्रतिबंधों के तहत रूस को दशकों के निम्न विकास का खतराः पुतिन सलाहकार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said a meeting between Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump on healthcare was helpful and he expressed optimism the Senate would eventually pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. “I think the meeting was very helpful,” McConnell said as he left the meeting at the White House. “I think everyone around the table is interested in getting to yes ... because we know the status quo is simply unacceptable, unsustainable and no action is just not an option.” “I had hoped ... that we could have gotten to the floor this week, but we’re not quite there,” he added. “But I think we’ve got a really good chance of getting there. It will just take a little bit longer.”

Summary: शीर्ष सीनेट रिपब्लिकन ने ट्रम्प की बैठक के बाद स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पर आशावाद व्यक्त किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programs.  We ve been clear that now is not the time to talk,  White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, reiterating a tweet from President Donald Trump at the weekend that was seen as undercutting Tillerson.  The only conversations that have taken place were that ... would be on bringing back Americans who have been detained,  Sanders said.  Beyond that, there will be no conversations with North Korea at this time.  Tillerson said on Saturday during a trip to China that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue. Trump, who has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks, later dismissed any prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time.  I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,  Trump wrote on Twitter, using his sarcastic nickname for Kim.  Save your energy, Rex, we ll do what has to be done!  Trump wrote. It was not the first time the White House and State Department have seemed at odds on policy issues, but when asked if Trump still had confidence in Tillerson as secretary of state, Sanders said:  He does.  A senior administration official said Tillerson misspoke.  I think it was just him misspeaking. He was just acknowledging the fact that we do have channels and we might have reason to talk if North Korea s behavior changes sometime down the road,  the official said. Tillerson said in Beijing that the United States had multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang and that it was probing North Korea to see if it was interested in dialogue. The top U.S. diplomat expressed hope for reducing tensions with North Korea, which is fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.  We are probing, so stay tuned,  Tillerson told a small group of reporters.  We ask:  Would you like to talk?  He said the United States had  a couple of, three, channels, open to Pyongyang.  Another U.S. official said Tillerson may have overstated the status of U.S. lines of communication with North Korea for the benefit of his Chinese hosts, who have been pushing the Trump administration to do more to lure Pyongyang to the negotiating table. Trump has vowed to halt North Korea s nuclear ambitions and tensions have escalated in recent months, with Pyongyang conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3. It has also threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. The fate of Americans held in North Korea is also a bone of contention. The Trump administration has demanded North Korea release three U.S. citizens it has detained: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song. The Trump White House and State Department have taken to divergent stances on other foreign policy issues. When a dispute over Qatar erupted this year, Trump strongly backed Gulf Arab leaders who accuse Qatar of supporting Iran as well as Islamist militants. Trump accused Qatar of being a  high-level  funder of terrorism even as the Pentagon and Tillerson cautioned against the military, commercial and humanitarian effects of a boycott imposed by Arab states. Months into the dispute, Trump adopted a position more in line with that of the State Department.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने परमाणु मुद्दे पर उत्तर कोरिया के साथ बातचीत को फिर से खारिज किया


(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by an Alabama black-voter outreach group with close ties to the state’s Democratic Party of a lower court’s ruling that upheld a state ban on cash transfers between political action committees. The Alabama Democratic Conference had asked the justices to review a September 2016 decision by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with the state and found that the law did not violate the organization’s rights to free expression and free association under the U.S. Constitution.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत ने अलबामा अभियान वित्त प्रतिबंधों को संरक्षित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who scored a major victory in a series of Super Tuesday nominating contests, has been criticized by some in his party for being vague on policy specifics and heavy on rhetoric. Here is a closer look at what Trump has said he would do on trade, taxes, the economy, immigration, healthcare and defense should he become the nominee and win the Nov. 8 election. The policies are drawn from a review of his website, stump speeches, debates and town halls, and televised interviews. Trump has complained that China, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and India are “ripping us off” by devaluing their currencies and keeping out some U.S. exports. He would not sign the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. He would designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties on its exports. He also wants to pursue a World Trade Organization case on Chinese government programs that subsidize exporters. Trump has said he would put activist investor Carl Icahn in charge of negotiating a better trade relationship with China. Icahn has said he is happy to advise Trump, but would not seek a formal position if Trump were elected. Trump has said he would slap 35 percent tariffs on air conditioners made by United Technologies Corp’s Carrier in Mexico after the company decided to move production there from Indiana, and on Ford Motor Corp vehicles made in Mexico that are sold in the United States. Trump has pledged to cut and simplify taxes. Individuals making less than $25,000 per year and married filers earning less than $50,000 would not pay income tax. There would be three other brackets, down from seven currently, with a top marginal income tax rate of 25 percent, and a top rate for long-term capital gains and dividends of 20 percent. Charitable giving and mortgage interest deductions would remain unchanged. Other deductions would be trimmed in the highest tax brackets. He would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, the estate tax, and the carried interest tax break that allows investment fund managers to treat income as capital gains. The corporate tax rate would be cut to 15 percent, down from the current level of 35 percent. He would phase in a “reasonable cap” on deductions for business interest expenses and would cut other corporate loopholes. Trump would impose a one-time 10 percent “deemed repatriation” tax on deferred corporate overseas profits and would end deferral of income from foreign subsidiaries. The Tax Foundation, an independent policy research group, has said Trump’s plan would cost more than $10 trillion over the next decade. His campaign has said the plan is fully paid for. Trump has pledged to get rid of the $19 trillion deficit by boosting jobs, and cutting government waste, but he has not released a formal policy paper on how he would do this. He has said he would not cut the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for senior citizens and low income Americans, nor Social Security retirement benefits. He would cut the Education Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump has promised to build a high wall at the southern border to keep out illegal immigrants that he has said would cost $10 billion to $12 billion. Mexico would pay for the wall or face consequences, his campaign said. Trump would “impound” remittance payments to Mexico from undocumented workers, and increase visa and border crossing fees for Mexican workers. Applying tariffs on Mexican goods and cutting foreign aid are also “options,” his campaign has said on his website. He would deport the 11 million undocumented people living in America and end “birthright citizenship” for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. He has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and would not allow refugees from Syria. Trump would triple the number of border agents and require all businesses to use the E-Verify database to ensure employees are in the country legally. He would withhold federal funding from “sanctuary cities” that decline to help the federal government deport illegal immigrants. Trump’s campaign has also said he would “pause” new green cards and require employers to hire American workers first. Trump has said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and replace it with a system of health savings accounts. He would still require insurers to provide coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions, a key feature of Obamacare. He would move to allow insurance companies to sell plans across state lines to spur competition. Trump has said he could save the government $300 billion by negotiating better prices with drug companies. Trump has promised to “knock out” Islamic State quickly and said he is open to working with Russia to do so. He has said he would “bomb the oil” that helps finance the insurgent group and stop the “back channels of banking” used by the group. He has vowed to bring back the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning and has been banned as torture under U.S. law. He said he also supports other, unspecified techniques “a hell of a lot worse” than waterboarding. He would “take out” the family members of Islamic State militants and would like to shut down “areas” of the Internet to try to stop the group from recruiting members. He wants to build a “safe zone” for Syrian refugees in Syria. But Gulf states would have to pay for it. He has said the United States should first deal with Islamic State before addressing President Bashar al-Assad’s future, saying “We have to do one thing at a time.” He has questioned whether the United States should back opposition groups in Syria, saying “we have no idea who they are.” Trump has said he would increase the size and power of the U.S. military to make it “so strong, so powerful that nobody’s going to mess with us.” He says too much money is wasted buying equipment the military does not want. He wants Japan, Germany, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to bear more of the cost of military aid provided by the United States. “We can no longer defend all of these countries,” he said, citing the deficit. Trump would boost the U.S. military presence in the East and South China seas to “discourage Chinese adventurism,” according to his website.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः एक विशाल दीवार बनाओ, शिक्षा विभाग को काट दो। राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प क्या करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday called on the Department of Justice’s inspector general to probe any possible political interference in its investigation of contacts between President Donald Trump’s associates and Russia. In a letter to the department’s inspector, Schumer urged an “immediate investigation into whether there has been any political interference with an ongoing ...(DOJ) investigation related to President Trump’s campaign, transition, and administration’s contacts with the Russian Federation and attempts of Russia to interfere with the 2016 United States election.”

Summary: शीर्ष सीनेट डेमोक्रेट ने न्याय विभाग के प्रहरी से संभावित हस्तक्षेप की जांच करने का आग्रह किया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock warned on Wednesday that if a Saudi-led military coalition did not allow humanitarian aid access to Yemen then it would cause  the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims.  The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthi movement in neighboring Yemen said on Monday it had closed all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The move, which follows the interception of a missile fired toward the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday, is likely to worsen a humanitarian crisis in Yemen that according to the United Nations has pushed some seven million people to the brink of famine and left nearly 900,000 infected with cholera. Lowcock, who visited Yemen late last month, briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors at the request of Sweden.   I have told the council that unless those measures are lifted ... there will be a famine in Yemen,  he told reporters.  It will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims.  He said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir earlier on Wednesday and called for an immediate resumption of humanitarian access. Lowcock said the U.N. s World Food Programme was feeding seven million people a month in Yemen.  What we need is a winding down of the blockade ... so that we can save the lives of those people,  he said.  The U.N. Security Council expressed concern about the humanitarian situation, Italian U.N. Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, council president for November, said after Lowcock s briefing.   The members of the Security Council emphasized ... the importance of keeping all Yemen s ports and airports functioning, including Hodeidah port, as a critical lifeline for humanitarian support and other essential supplies,  Cardi said. The United Nations and international aid organizations have long criticized the coalition for blocking aid access, especially to north Yemen, which is held by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.  Humanitarian access through the ports was inadequate even before the measures that were announced on the 6th November,  said Lowcock, adding that there had also been no U.N. flights allowed into Yemen since Monday. The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the Houthis since they seized parts of Yemen in 2015, including the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee. Lowcock called for an immediate resumption of U.N. and other aid flights to Sanaa and Aden, assurances from the coalition that there would be no further disruptions to those flights, and immediate resumption of humanitarian and commercial port access. He also called for the coalition to allow a WFP ship to be pre-positioned off Aden and assurances that there would be no further disruption to its functions and demanded that all vessels that have passed U.N. inspection be allowed to offload.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने चेतावनी दी कि अगर यमन की सहायता नहीं मिली, तो दुनिया दशकों में सबसे बड़ा अकाल देखेगी


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will deploy troops to regain full control of the Kirkuk oil area and fields surrounding it to restart production suspended by the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, a senior Iraqi oil official in Baghdad told Reuters.  Kurdish forces following Erbil orders have deliberately evacuated oil workers from oilfields under its control in Kirkuk, including Bai Hassan and Avana and this reckless action caused the halt of production from these oilfields,  the official said.  We will not allow them to shut down production. We ve got confirmation from military commanders that it s a matter of a very short time,  the official said.  Our brave forces will regain control of all Kirkuk oilfields and then we will restart production immediately.

Summary: इराकी सेना उत्पादन फिर से शुरू करने के लिए कुर्द तेल क्षेत्रों को फिर से हासिल करेगीः इराक के तेल मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said the suspected gunman who opened fire on Republican lawmakers on Wednesday had died from injuries he received during the shooting. “The assailant has now died from his injuries,” Trump announced from the White House.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि सांसदों पर गोली चलाने वाला संदिग्ध बंदूकधारी अब मर चुका है


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May s government averted a rebellion in parliament on Tuesday over plans to ditch the European Union s Charter of Fundamental Rights, promising to review its approach and make changes if needed.  Parliament is debating legislation which will enact Britain s exit from the EU in March 2019 and copy EU law into British law - described by officials as  one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK . The bill is testing May s ability to govern effectively after she lost her parliamentary majority in June, leaving her leading a fragile minority government and in charge of a Conservative Party divided on how best to manage the split from the EU. On Tuesday, the focus of an eight-day debate which has already forced May s ministers into some concessions, fell on the government s plan not to include the Charter of Fundamental Rights in its mass  cut and paste  of EU law. The government, which says there is no need to copy across the EU charter because all it does is codify rights that exist through other legal instruments, headed off a potential rebellion by promising a review and possible technical changes later in the lawmaking process.   We do recognise the strength of views... and we are prepared to look again at this issue to make sure that we are taking an approach which can command the support of this house,  said the government s Solicitor General Robert Buckland. That was enough to dissuade dissatisfied members of May s party from joining forces with opposition lawmakers to force an outright U-turn on scrapping the charter.  The government still intends to scrap the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but says citizens will not lose any of the existing rights the document sets out.  During the debate, critics - including members of May s own party - argued that abandoning the charter was an unnecessary risk and in its current form diluted some citizens  rights and created uncertainty over the protection of others.  The rights charter came into force in 2009 through the EU s Lisbon Treaty and brings together the fundamental EU-protected right in a single document. It is one of only a handful of exceptions contained within the government s Brexit blueprint which sets out to preserve EU law after Britain leaves the bloc to give businesses certainty that they won t face overnight rules changes.     The bill is currently at an early stage in the lawmaking process. The government has so far avoided any defeats, but has had to make last-minute concessions on several points. Tuesday s concession concerned a technical issue around how certain types of EU law should be treated after Brexit. The toughest test of May s authority, set to centre on the issue of fixing the date and time of Britain s EU exit in law, is yet to come. No date has been set yet for the remaining five days of debates that make up the current stage of the bill s passage.

Summary: ब्रिटेन सरकार ने ब्रेक्सिट विद्रोह को टाला, यूरोपीय संघ की अधिकार योजना को आधार दिया


DUBAI/ZURICH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has announced it will confiscate money and assets held by dozens of top officials and businessmen detained in an anti-corruption crackdown. But the experiences of two other Arab states trying to  recover stolen money, Egypt and Tunisia, suggest Riyadh may face years of legal and diplomatic battles to secure assets held abroad. Even then success is not guaranteed. The anti-corruption committee that detained princes, tycoons and ministers at the weekend has the power under a royal decree to take  whatever measures are deemed necessary  to seize companies, funds and other assets without waiting for the results of criminal investigations. The offshore scrutiny of assets has already begun in the Gulf region, where Saudi Arabia regularly shares information. The United Arab Emirates  central bank and securities regulator has asked banks and finance companies there to provide information on the accounts of 19 Saudi citizens, banking sources told Reuters on Thursday. The Saudi committee has not given details of the allegations individuals face, though Saudi officials say they include money laundering, bribery, extortion and taking advantage of public office for personal gain.  Riyadh has also set no timetable for its confiscations, although banking sources say more than 1,700 domestic bank accounts have already been frozen at the request of the central bank. If the committee were to try to retrieve all the revenue that has been lost to corruption, from bribes to illegal expropriation of land, the total would be $800 billion, an official at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has estimated. A large amount of the funds are believed by financial sources to be held offshore in bank accounts, portfolio investments, corporate shareholdings and real estate. Many of the businessmen detained have private planes   one has a Boeing 747 airliner. And a study by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research estimated Saudis have stashed away wealth equivalent to over 55 percent of the country s gross domestic product in foreign tax havens   an amount exceeding $300 billion. But Egypt and Tunisia s experiences show that although asset freezes can be arranged within months, repatriating the money can take many years. Cairo has tried unsuccessfully for five years to retrieve about 85 million pounds ($111 million)in British bank accounts belonging to the inner circle of former President Hosni Mubarak.  British officials have said they are bound by British law, which requires the Egyptians to provide them with criminal convictions first. Tunisia has so far recovered only a small portion of about $35 million claimed from Switzerland following the 2011 revolution that inspired the Arab Spring uprising. Saudi Prince Alwaleed's investment: tmsnrt.rs/2j5fE04 There are some precedents that could give Saudi Arabia cause for hope that it will be able to repatriate money.  Last year, Nigeria and Switzerland signed a deal paving the way for the return of over $300 million confiscated from the family of Nigeria s former military ruler Sani Abacha. Requests from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria have led to nearly 1 billion Swiss francs ($1 billion) of assets being frozen by Swiss authorities. But the efforts of Egypt and Tunisia to retrieve the money have stumbled over a requirement to submit evidence that would be admissible in Western legal systems, proving the beneficial owners of the assets and showing that corruption has taken place. Often assets are held in complex offshore vehicles making it hard to show who really owns them. Carlo Lombardini, a banking lawyer and professor of banking law at University of Lausanne, said Riyadh would have to provide detailed evidence proving how the money was obtained to seize assets in Switzerland on the grounds of corruption.  And then there is an issue whether this person in Saudi Arabia can defend themselves, and whether they benefit from a proper defense,  he said.  Saudi officials would have to satisfy Swiss authorities that owners of assets had been given due process. This could be difficult given the speed and the scale of the crackdown, and the sweeping powers given to the anti-corruption committee. The Saudi attorney-general said on Monday that detailed questioning of detainees had already produced  a great deal of evidence , but gave no more details. Senior Saudi officials did not respond to requests for information on the investigation. A Gulf-based lawyer familiar with international corruption cases said there were two channels through which Saudi Arabia could pursue assets abroad. In cases where Riyadh had a signed a treaty or convention with a foreign country, it could use this to obtain assistance gathering evidence before seeking to seize assets via the court system. However, Saudi Arabia does not have such a treaty with the United States, Switzerland and many other countries. Saudi Arabia could also send a letter of request to a relevant ministry in the other nation. This would be a test of its diplomatic influence in foreign capitals. Businessmen in detention include international investor Prince Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine before the crackdown at $17 billion; Mohammad al-Amoudi at $10.4 billion, with construction, agriculture and energy companies in Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia; and finance and healthcare magnate Saleh Kamel at $2.3 billion. Repatriating assets could be so hard that Riyadh may try to avoid foreign legal action altogether in many cases, instead making deals with detained tycoons and princes that in effect legalize their fortunes in exchange for a share of their money, some bankers and consultants say.   The government will also strike deals with businessmen and royals to avoid arrest, but only as part of a greater commitment to the local economy,  said Ayham Kamel, Eurasia Group s practice head, Middle East & North Africa in a note.  Saudi wealth stored abroad: tmsnrt.rs/2znHlrL

Summary: भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ कार्रवाई के बाद सऊदी अरब को संपत्ति वापस करने के लिए संघर्ष का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his party change the chamber’s rules to undercut the ability of Democrats to block legislation with filibusters. “There is an overwhelming majority on a bipartisan basis that is not interested in changing the way the Senate operates on the legislative calendar,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. McConnell was responding to a question about a tweet in which Trump suggested changing the rules so that legislation could pass on a simple majority vote. Currently, the rules require a super-majority of 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. (This version of the story corrects third paragraph to say “require a super-majority” instead of “request a super-majority”)

Summary: शीर्ष सीनेट रिपब्लिकन ने ट्रम्प के फिलिबस्टर विचार को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has completed the main wave of arrests in its sweeping crackdown on corruption and is preparing to channel billions of dollars of seized funds into economic development projects, a Saudi minister said on Monday.  As far as I know, this is the case,  Minister of Commerce and Investment Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi told Reuters when asked whether authorities had finished taking large numbers of top officials and businessmen into custody.  Now the government will not keep its mouth shut when it sees a corrupt case. So definitely it will act. But this is   in terms of its magnitude, in terms of scale, in terms of how, in terms of why, in terms of now, that s it,  he said. Dozens of princes, officials and businessmen were detained last month, about 200 people questioned, and over 2,000 bank accounts frozen in the purge, which has strengthened the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Some suspects will go to court but authorities are seeking to reach financial settlements with most and said last week that the first deals had been done. Senior prince Miteb bin Abdullah, once seen as a leading contender for the throne, was freed after agreeing to pay over $1 billion, officials said. A special Ministry of Finance account has been opened to receive such funds, which the public prosecutor s office has estimated should eventually total between $50 billion and $100 billion, Qasabi said during a visit to Washington to meet U.S. businessmen.  This money definitely will be used for housing, for the general public needs, because it is the money for the people. It will not be used for any other issue but for development projects.  The public prosecutor is expected in a few days to issue a statement on the status of the investigation, including how many people are detained and how many face legal charges, Qasabi added. Riyadh is seeking huge amounts of U.S. and foreign investment to reduce its dependence on oil exports. Qasabi conceded that U.S. businessmen were somewhat concerned by the potential impact of the crackdown on corruption.  They re worried about if this is ... will be, the end of it or where it will stop,  he said.  But they all think this will be good for the country, because the country s leadership stood visibly to fight corruption, and ultimately this will be a level playing field for everybody.  The economic reforms include a privatization program that is to raise some $300 billion. In the past 18 months, there has been little concrete progress as deals have been slowed by red tape, legal uncertainties and high asking prices for assets, foreign businessmen say. Qasabi said the program was on track and the government, having identified sectors to be privatised, was working on the complex mechanics of asset transfers that would take place by mid-2019. Sea ports will be a major area of activity, he said. Privatization of grain mills under the Saudi Grains Organisation is in its final phase and could be completed by mid-2018, Qasabi added. The economy has been hit hard in the past couple of years by low oil prices and government austerity measures. Authorities have promised stimulus steps and Qasabi noted they had this year increased the capital of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, which makes soft loans to businesses. More stimulus measures are likely to be announced with the 2018 state budget, expected to be released in late December, or before then, he added. Financial incentives offered by the government could total 70 billion riyals ($18.7 billion). Qasabi chairs a program that encourages strategic Saudi companies to expand globally in sectors such as food, logistics, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals. The government will allocate money to help them grow by acquiring other firms locally, he said.

Summary: मंत्री ने कहा कि सऊदी ने भ्रष्टाचार रोधी अभियान में गिरफ्तारी की मुख्य लहर पूरी कर ली है


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Air pollution in New Delhi hit 18 times the healthy limit on Friday under a thick, toxic haze after a night of fireworks to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali - despite a court-ordered ban on their sales. Residents of the sprawling Indian capital, which already ranks among the world s most polluted cities, complained of eyes watering and aggravated coughs as levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter that reaches deep into the lungs, rose alarmingly. Air quality usually worsens in New Delhi ahead of Diwali, the festival of lights, and the Supreme Court temporarily banned the sale of firecrackers, aiming to lessen the risk to health. But many still lit fireworks across the capital late into the night, either using old stocks or buying them from neighboring states.  Some environment activists said the court order was poorly enforced and firecrackers were still available to celebrate one of north India s biggest festivals.  Breathe nitrate and ammonia, home grown, hand made!  said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha in a Twitter post calling for city authorities to declare a public emergency. An index of air quality had crossed the  hazardous  limit of 300 on Friday, the most severe level on a U.S. embassy scale of measurement which rates a reading of 50 as good and anything above that as a cause for concern.  Some parts of Delhi such as Mandir Marg showed an air quality reading of 941, close enough to the maximum level of 999 beyond which no readings are available. The index measures concentrations of PM 2.5, PM 10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide among other indicators.  A hazardous level is an alert in which everyone may experience ill effects and are advised to stay indoors. Apart from the firecracker ban, the Supreme Court also ordered diesel generators and a power plant to be shut down to try to reduce the pollution. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority also ordered some brick kilns to close and a halt to the burning of rubbish. Dipankar Saha, a scientist at the government s Central Pollution Control Board, said the still weather had also played a part in the toxic haze hanging over the city. But pollution levels were better than at last year s Diwali when crop burning in nearby states and firecrackers combined.   It was going to be hard to beat last year s level in any case,  he said.

Summary: रोशनी के त्योहार के बाद जहरीले पटाखों की धुंध ने भारतीय राजधानी को अंधेरा कर दिया


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - There will be NO change to your 401(k). This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays! [0742 EDT] - Two dozen NFL players continue to kneel during the National Anthem, showing total disrespect to our Flag & Country.  No leadership in NFL! [0753 EDT] - I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation! [0830 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (23 अक्टूबर)-401 (के), एन. एफ. एल., सार्जेंट ला डेविड जॉनसन


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will meet with Lockheed Martin Corp Chief Executive officer Marillyn Hewson on Friday, a Trump transition officials said. Trump, who takes office next Friday, said last month he viewed costs for the aerospace company’s F-35 fighter as too high and would ask Boeing to price out an upgraded F-18.

Summary: ट्रंप, लॉकहीड मार्टिन के सीईओ शुक्रवार को मिलेंगेः संक्रमण अधिकारी


(Reuters) - North Carolina lawmakers adjourned for the year on Friday night after leaving mostly intact a law restricting transgender bathroom access that has drawn condemnation and jeopardized the state’s efforts to host the NBA All-Star Game, officials said. The law passed in March made North Carolina the first U.S. state to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings and schools that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. The National Basketball Association has said it could move its All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and has cited concerns over the law’s effects on principles of inclusion and equal protection that league officials say they uphold.   A spokesman for the NBA could not immediately be reached for comment. North Carolina state Representative Chris Sgro, a Democrat who opposes the law, which is known as House Bill 2, said he had hoped lawmakers would vote on Friday on whether to repeal it. But they adjourned for the year without holding that vote, he said. “It probably means that we’re going to have to come back for a special session because we’re going to lose the All-Star Game if we don’t,” Sgro, who is executive director of the gay rights group Equality North Carolina, said in a phone interview. The NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 2017. President Barack Obama, business leaders, entertainers and some prominent politicians have criticized House Bill 2, saying it is unfair to transgender people. State lawmakers on Friday addressed one point of controversy over House Bill 2 by restoring the right to sue for wrongful termination in state court on allegations of discrimination based on age, sex, race or other factors, officials said.  House Bill 2 had removed that right and required such suits to be filed in federal court. The office of Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said in a statement the change addressed concerns from the state’s governor and others.  But Berger expressed continued support for House Bill 2.    “Protecting the safety and privacy of North Carolina families by keeping grown men out of bathrooms, shower facilities and changing rooms with women and young girls has always been our primary objective,” Berger said in a statement.  On Thursday, an NBA statement said no final decision had yet been made regarding the All-Star Game.

Summary: ट्रांसजेंडर कानून को काफी हद तक अपरिवर्तित छोड़ने के बाद उत्तरी कैरोलिना के सांसदों ने स्थगन कर दिया


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democrats face years of work, focusing on “kitchen table” economic issues over several election cycles, if they want to regain ground lost to Republicans, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday. The Democratic mayor of the nation’s third largest city also said Republican President Donald Trump’s legal and political troubles give Democrats a chance to regain a large slice of the more than 1,000 seats Democrats have lost in Congress and state legislatures since 2008. With Democrats controlling cities and Republicans dominating rural areas, the battle will be fought among swing suburban voters, he added. “It’s not going to be done in a singular election,” Emanuel told Reuters in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview.  “The real crux question to me as a party is what I call kitchen table economics,” Emanuel said. Home ownership, affordable college, job security, retirement savings and health care are key issues, he said. Chicago has faced fiscal problems and untamed street violence since Emanuel first was elected mayor in 2011. The release in 2015 of a dashcam video showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting an unarmed teenager led to street protests that hurt the mayor’s standing with voters. Black Lives Matter sued the city Wednesday, seeking to force Emanuel to agree to federal oversight of proposed police reforms. Emanuel said the Justice Department under President Trump will not participate. “I can’t wish a different Justice Department,” Emanuel said. Instead, he is focused on police body cameras, more training and the hiring of new cops in supervisory roles, he added. Emanuel cited improvements under his leadership, public transportation in particular. “Eighty-five percent of our people in the city are happy with our public transportation system. In New York, I don’t think you could get 85 people, let alone 85 percent,” he said, citing not-yet-published data from an annual ridership survey for the Chicago Transit Authority.  Emanuel blamed Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner for gridlock that has put the state’s credit rating near “junk” status and helped bring the Chicago Public Schools to the brink of insolvency. “There is a fundamental flaw here in the inability to find a way to say, ‘Yes,’” Emanuel said.  Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis said the mayor and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan are to blame for the state’s budget stalemate and “saying no at every turn.” In national politics, Emanuel is positioned to play a role as a leader of Democratic Party efforts to recover from the 2016 electoral defeat. He has served as White House adviser to President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton and led the 2006 mid-term campaign that returned Democrats to a majority in Congress.  With a 38 percent approval rating in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump’s unpopularity figures to be a dominant issue during the 2018 mid-term elections, Emanuel said. He declined to predict whether Trump will finish his term. “It’s a parlor game right now,” he said.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स को चुनाव जीतने के लिए उपनगरों को बदलने पर ध्यान केंद्रित करना चाहिएः शिकागो के मेयर


VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria s far-right Freedom Party (FPO) on Tuesday accused Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz of stealing its platform on immigration and the economy ahead of a parliamentary election, which he is favorite to win. FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache s comments come a day after Kurz presented plans for his conservative People s Party (OVP) for a slimmer state, changes in corporate tax law and cuts to benefits for foreigners.  The program Kurz presented is almost identical to the FPO economic program. We are still waiting for the presentation of the OVP s own economic plan,  Strache told Reuters. Kurz has led opinion polls ahead of the Oct. 15 election with just over 30 percent. The Freedom Party and the center-left Social Democrats (SPO) trail with around 25 percent each.   The conservatives and the far right have enough common ground on migration, taxes and education to launch coalition talks if the vote does not yield a clear winner, said political analyst Peter Filzmaier. Austria s system of proportional representation will likely lead to another coalition government. A coalition of the SPO and OVP has held power since 2006 but is unpopular because it failed to agree major reforms on job creation, investment and taxes.  Given Sebastian Kurz s popularity, a coalition between the OVP and the FPO seems to be the most likely outcome,  said Vienna-based analyst Peter Hajek. Kurz told reporters on Tuesday he did not rule out working with any party and was  equidistant  from the FPO and the SPO. A cartoon in daily newspaper Kurier showed a naked Strache in a police station telling an officer Kurz had stolen  everything  from him. The FPO and OVP focus on the free market, a small state and low taxes. The SPO wants new taxes, including on wealth and inheritance and subsidies to promote job creation. The Social Democrats under Chancellor Christian Kern have begun to consider cooperation with the Freedom Party but Kern this week said his party was  light years  from it.   The Freedom Party s popularity rose to a high during Europe s migration crisis in 2015 when it denounced the government s decision to open Austria s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants.  It led polls for more than a year with support above 30 percent and its candidate came close to winning last year s presidential election. Tens of thousands of people from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa have arrived in Austria in the past two years, raising public spending on social benefits and fuelling support for policy makers who advocate cutting migration.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया की अति-दक्षिणपंथी पार्टी ने रूढ़िवादियों पर अभियान के विचारों को चुराने का आरोप लगाया