PARACAS, Peru (Reuters) - Support from business leaders for Peru s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has plummeted, a survey showed, as he spars with an opposition-controlled Congress and struggles to revive economic growth. The survey by Ipsos Peru, taken at a business forum in Paracas to the south of Lima last week and released late on Friday, showed participants  approval for Kuczynski fell to 37 percent from 89 percent a year earlier at a similar event. Kuczynski took office in July 2016 promising to modernize Peru and strengthen its economy with solid backing from Lima s business elite after a tight runoff election against right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori. But the 79-year-old former investment banker s first year in power was hampered by Congress, which is dominated by Fujimori s Popular Force Party and voted to oust his Cabinet in September.  Meanwhile economic growth in what was once one of Latin America s fastest growing economies slowed after heavy flooding and a corruption scandal involving Brazilian builder Odebrecht stalled investment in public works projects.  The economy and politics cannot continue on separate lines, their progress is interdependent and deficiencies in politics and institutions can block the path of our development,  the president of the business forum, Drago Kisic, told reporters. Peru s Central Bank President Julio Velarde also warned during the event that the clashes between the government and Congress could hinder growth in the future, saying the finance ministry had lost influence over the legislature.  It is absolutely necessary in the long term that there be a better consensus among political forces in terms of agreeing on the essential elements to underpin growth,  he said.  Finance Minister Claudia Cooper said on Friday Peru s economy could grow more than 4 percent in 2018, up from 2.8 percent expected in 2017, if private investment in the metals exporting nation recovered. The Ipsos survey showed that among hundreds attending Peru s best known business forum, disapproval with Kuczynski had risen to 63 percent from 11 percent a year earlier. Closing the conference on Friday, Kuczynski defended his government and called on attendees and Congress to unite in a fight against populism.  I want to ask you to speak out more clearly about the challenges that we are facing politically, this is a determined government, not a confrontational one,  he said.

Summary: पेरू का व्यापारिक समुदाय कुजिंस्की पर खट्टाः सर्वेक्षण


MANDRA, Greece (Reuters) - Flash floods killed at least 15 people, made scores homeless and destroyed infrastructure in Greece on Wednesday after a raging torrent inundated two coastal towns west of Athens following a night of heavy rain. In devastation locals said was unprecedented in scale, an overnight deluge triggered flash floods in the industrial towns of Nea Peramos and Mandra in the foothills of a mountain just west of Athens. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared a period of national mourning.  These are very difficult moments for Greece. We are living a great disaster,  he said in a state address.  Immediately and without delay support measures will be adopted for households and businesses affected,  he said, without going into details. Residents said they were woken on Wednesday morning by rainwater and mud coming through their homes. As the scale of destruction became clearer during the day, large areas were covered in water and mud. In some areas floodwaters rose to the first story of small buildings.  There was just an incredible amount of water which caused raging torrents,  said Yiannis Kapakis, the head of Greece s civil protection service. Torrential rain of this type is uncommon in Greece, where poor infrastructure can leave citizens vulnerable to flooding. It has been raining steadily for about a week, and the country s met office issued a new severe weather warning for Thursday. Some residents were forced onto rooftops and balconies while cars were thrust onto porches of homes, rammed like dodgem vehicles into tree trunks or tipped onto their side.   This is a biblical disaster,  Mandra Mayor Yianna Krikouki told state broadcaster ERT.  Everything is gone.  The Attica prefecture, the administrative district for both towns, said it would seek assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund, set up to respond to natural disasters. A state of emergency was declared in the region.  The walls collapsed, the cars were carried away and they broke everything here. There is nothing left,  resident Marina Kolia said.  Water is everywhere in the house.  Mandra and Nea Peramos have a combined population of about 20,000. Many Greek housing settlements are built without taking into account town planning regulations. An Athens prosecutor ordered an urgent preliminary investigation into the deaths and destruction caused and was also investigating possible urban planning offences. On Tuesday, Greece declared a state of emergency on the eastern island of Symi, just off the coast of Turkey, after a storm swept cars into the sea, damaged homes and cut off electricity and water supplies.

Summary: यूनान के तट पर अचानक आई बाढ़ में कम से कम 15 लोगों की मौत


GAZA (Reuters) - Mohammad Dahlan, who played a key backroom role in a major new effort for Palestinian unity, has said a two-state peace agreement with Israel was impossible and healing wounds from a civil war that split Palestine was now a priority. Once of the fiercest foes of Hamas, the Islamist group that seized the Gaza Strip in a civil war in 2007, Dahlan, a member of the rival mainstream Fatah party, spoke to Reuters after a unity cabinet held its first meeting in the enclave in three years.  The internal Palestinian situation is more sacred, is more important and is more useful now than the so-called negotiation,  the veteran politician said of talks with Israel that collapsed in 2014 over issues such as Israeli settlement-building in occupied territory and Fatah-Hamas reconciliation. A former peace negotiator with Israel who speaks Hebrew and who was born in a refugee camp, Dahlan, 56, noted Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek along with Gaza for a future state.  There is a complete Judaisation of the West Bank, not only of Jerusalem. It has become impossible for the two-state solution to be implemented, therefore, there is no political horizon,  he said in the rare interview. Israel has built about 120 settlements in the West Bank. About 350,000 settlers live there and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, among about 2.6 million Palestinians. Fatah, led by the secular heirs of Yasser Arafat, runs the West Bank, heads the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority and has been responsible for negotiations with Israel. Its rival Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, drove Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas from Gaza and has run the tiny coastal strip that is home to two million people. Relations eased on Monday, when Hamas handed over control of Gaza to a unity government. Although it agreed to the deal  three years ago, the decision to implement it marks a striking reversal for Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and most powerful Arab countries. Officials on both sides of the Palestinian divide and in other Arab countries say Dahlan, based since 2011 in the United Arab Emirates, was behind an influx of cash to prop up Gaza, and a detente between Hamas and Arab states including Egypt that led the group to dismantle its shadow government last month.  It was an honor for us ... that we succeeded to have those understandings between Hamas and Egypt,  Dahlan said by telephone from Abu Dhabi. The former Gaza security chief said he had kept silent during mediation efforts but decided to speak out now that they have borne fruit. Dahlan said Egypt, which has accused Hamas of aiding an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula across the border from Gaza, held meetings with senior officials of the group, which denies aiding the militants. Both sides agreed to shore up security along the border and prevent militants from crossing.  Without reconciling with Hamas and without Hamas understanding the needs of the Egyptian national security there can be no serious (Palestinian) reconciliation, and no one but Egypt is capable of playing an effective role,  Dahlan said. Cairo will host Hamas and Fatah officials next Tuesday for further talks on power-sharing and the holding of Palestinian elections long-delayed by the internal rift. A first sign of discontent surfaced with Hamas criticizing Abbas s decision to await the outcome of the talks before lifting sanctions he has imposed on Gaza. In the interview, Dahlan called on Hamas  to show more patience because all the good things are on the way  thanks to Egyptian mediation. He dismissed any notion that Egypt, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, was pursuing Palestinian reconciliation as part of any wider U.S.-initiated push for a regional peace deal with Israel.  The chances of the so-called deal of the century is zero because (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not want peace and he imposed a reality of 700,000 settlers in the West Bank and in Jerusalem that made it impossible for the two-state solution to be implemented,  Dahlan said. Netanyahu on Tuesday warned Palestinians against engaging in  bogus reconciliations  under which Hamas kept its military arm in Gaza which bristles with hundreds of its rockets. Turning to Palestinian politics, Dahlan, who recently formed the  Fatah Reformist and Democratic Party  to challenge Abbas - now in the 12th year of a four-year term - accused him of committing  crimes and mistakes  but said he was ready to reconcile with the 82-year-old leader to reunite the Fatah movement.  The ball is in his court and we are ready whenever he is,  said Dahlan, in exile since 2011 after quarrelling with Abbas. Ambitious and charismatic, he has long been suspected of harboring designs to succeed Abbas. Dahlan said his strong ties with the UAE helped him to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the past 10 years. A recent poll by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey showed that those who still support Fatah in Gaza are shifting loyalty to Dahlan. His popularity among Gazans has risen over the past nine months from nine to 23 percent. Dahlan said he was not  obsessed  by opinion polls and a decision on whether he would run for a president would await until an election date is set.

Summary: मोहम्मद दहलान ने फिलिस्तीनी एकता और अपने पिछले कमरे की भूमिका के बारे में बात की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An email leak that led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz could plague her bid for re-election to Congress, after a challenger said on Monday he would file a complaint alleging she had broken election rules. Political newcomer Tim Canova, who is challenging Wasserman Schultz in the Aug. 30 Democratic primary for her House of Representatives seat representing Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, said he would file the complaint against her with the U.S. Federal Election Commission. Wasserman Schultz said on Sunday she would be stepping down as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after Wikileaks released more than 19,000 emails showing Democratic officials had worked to undermine U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in his presidential primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Canova suggested that the leaked emails also showed Wasserman Schultz had used the party’s resources in her congressional campaign against Canova in south Florida. Sanders has endorsed Canova in that race.  “The Wikileaks emails indicate that Debbie Wasserman Schultz used DNC resources to assist her reelection campaign in violation of federal law. According to the emails, top DNC officials used party resources to monitor, respond to, and impede my campaign on numerous occasions,” Canova said in a statement emailed to Reuters by his campaign. “My campaign election lawyers are investigating these circumstances and preparing a complaint against Wasserman Schultz with the Federal Election Commission,” Canova said. He also repeated his call for a series of campaign debates with Wasserman Schultz. Searching for Canova’s name in the cache of emails released by WikiLeaks turned up dozens of emails. One indicated Wasserman Schultz had asked staffers to take Canova’s name out of a headline on a statement that was being sent out in response to Sanders’s endorsement of Canova. Sanders told CNN in May that he favored Canova, saying “His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz’s.”  Canova’s south Florida campaign for Congress has reflected some of the themes that Sanders used nationwide to appeal to progressives, including a push for campaign finance reform. Canova has also been a critic of financial deregulation and the Federal Reserve Board under former Chairman Alan Greenspan, according to his biography on the website at Nova Southeastern University, where he is a professor of law and public finance. Sanders made attacks on Wall Street a central theme of his presidential campaign, and called for structural reforms in the Fed. Since Sanders’ endorsement, Canova has almost caught up with Wasserman Schultz in fundraising. Canova has raised $2.27 million so far; Wasserman Schultz has raised $2.81 million, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings.    There are also two Republicans seeking Wasserman Schultz’s seat in Congress, Martin Feigenbaum and Joe Kaufman.

Summary: ईमेल लीक होने से डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी के अध्यक्ष की फिर से चुनाव लड़ने की कोशिश को नुकसान हो सकता है


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities said on Tuesday they will aim to identify some 3,000 bone fragments, apparently human, found at the weekend in the northern state of Coahuila, where organized crime has been blamed for the loss of thousands of lives.  State prosecutors said they were sending the remains to a genetic laboratory to assess whether they could be linked to people who have disappeared. According to government data, nearly 18,600 people have disappeared since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012. In November, he signed into law a national commission dedicated to finding people who have disappeared. It will add some 469 million pesos ($25 million) to fund search efforts in its first stage. Gang violence has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past decade and authorities are often unable to identify bodies found in mass graves. VIDA, a Coahuila-based group representing 77 people whose relatives have gone missing, found the fragments in a field on Saturday after a tip-off about the location. The group, accompanied by prosecutors, experts and members of the military, also found a metal barrel, gun casings, two buttons and a buckle. VIDA spokeswoman Silvia Ortiz said similar previous discoveries indicated that victims  bodies had been dismembered and burned for hours before the bones were broken apart with shovels. State prosecutors said they could not yet determine how many people the bones belonged to, according to a spokesman.

Summary: मेक्सिको में मिले हड्डियों के टुकड़ों का डीएनए लिंक के लिए किया जाएगा परीक्षण


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Major parties running in Sunday s mid-term congressional election in Argentina suspended their campaigns on Wednesday after a body, thought to be that a young protester who went missing more than two months ago, was found in a river. A government spokeswoman said President Mauricio Macri s Cambiemos, or  Let s Change , coalition would halt campaigning for the rest of the day after investigators on Tuesday discovered the body in the Chubut River in the country s southern Patagonia region. The remains were found near the site where indigenous rights activist Santiago Maldonado was last seen at a tribal rights protest on Aug. 1. Former president and now Senate candidate Cristina Fernandez also suspended campaigning, along with other major figures vying for Congress, their campaigns said.  We have halted all events until there is word from either the judge in charge of the case or Santiago s family,  a spokesman for Fernandez s Unidad Ciudadana, or  Citizens  Unity  party told Reuters. In the final week of campaigning the Maldonado case has overshadowed the congressional election, which is expected to give Macri s coalition additional seats but not a majority in either chamber. Some opposition and rights groups believe state security forces took Maldonado, a 28-year-old craftsman, and allege Macri s government covered up information on his whereabouts. Macri s government has said that there is no evidence that shows security forces detained Maldonado. Potential cases of abuse by security forces are sensitive in Argentina, where the 1976-1983 military dictatorship secretly detained, tortured and killed people in clandestine prisons. Rights groups say up to 30,000 people  disappeared.  The markets will watch Sunday s election to see if  business-friendly Cambiemos emerges as the main vote-getter in the bellwether province of Buenos Aires. Investors say they prefer Macri s orthodox economic policies to those of Fernandez, a free-spending populist who led the country from 2008 to 2016.    While it has dominated headlines, political analysts have said they do not expect the case to change votes.

Summary: पेटागोनिया में शव मिलने के बाद अर्जेंटीना का मध्यावधि अभियान रुका


FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S President-elect Donald Trump warned German car companies he would impose a border tax of 35 percent on vehicles imported to the U.S. market, a plan that drew sharp rebukes from Berlin and hit the automakers’ shares. In an interview with German newspaper Bild, published on Monday, Trump criticized German carmakers such as BMW (BMWG.DE), Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) for failing to produce more cars on U.S. soil. “If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax,” Trump said in remarks translated into German. “I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that,” Trump said. Volkswagen (VW) shares closed down 2.2 percent, while BMW and Daimler’s shares ended 1.5 percent lower. Under pressure to deliver on campaign promises to revive U.S. industrial jobs, Trump has turned his fire on carmakers that use low-cost Mexican plants to serve the U.S. market. He has also warned Japan’s Toyota (7203.T) it could be subject to a “big border tax” if it builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a planned factory in Mexico. All three German carmakers have invested heavily in Mexico, but also pointed out on Monday that they manufacturer in the United States as well.  BMW executive Peter Schwarzenbauer told reporters the company was sticking to plans to invest around $1 billion in a new plant in Mexico, which is due to go into production in 2019 and create at least 1,500 jobs. “The president’s powers are considerable. He can legally impose tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days. Trump is not constrained by Congress,” said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade at Switzerland’s University of St Gallen. “Even if foreign companies object and seek to challenge the legality of tariffs, it will take at least 18 months to get decided. Corporate strategies will be disrupted by then.” While investing in Mexico, German carmakers have quadrupled light vehicle production in the United States over the past seven years to 850,000 units, more than half of which are exported from there, Germany’s VDA automotive industry association said. “In the long term, the United States would be shooting itself in the foot by imposing tariffs or other trade barriers,” VDA President Matthias Wissmann said in a statement. German carmakers employ about 33,000 workers in the United States and German automotive suppliers about 77,000 more, the VDA said.  Speaking in tabloid newspaper Bild, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that rather than trying to penalize German carmakers, the United States should instead respond by building better and more desirable cars. Norbert Roettgen, head of Germany’s foreign affairs committee, said Berlin needed to take Trump’s comments seriously. “He seems to be absolutely focused on short-term job interests and security interests ... not that he is looking for free trade so much, but more for protection,” he told Reuters. Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW already have sizeable factories in the United States where they build higher-margin sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for export to Asia and Europe. Around 65 percent of BMW’s production from its factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is exported overseas. BMW builds the X3, X4, X5 and X6 models in the United States. “It is surprising that Trump singles out the carmaker that exports more vehicles from the United States than any other manufacturer,” Evercore ISI analysts said. A BMW spokeswoman said the planned plant in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi would build the BMW 3 Series from 2019, with the output intended for the world market. The plant would be an addition to existing 3 Series production facilities in Germany and China. In June last year, BMW broke ground on the plant, pledging to invest $2.2 billion in Mexico by 2019 for annual production of 150,000 cars. Daimler has said it plans to begin assembling Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 2018 from a $1 billion facility shared with Renault-Nissan (RENA.PA) (7201.T) in Aguascalientes in Mexico. A spokesman for Daimler declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.  Last year, VW’s Audi division inaugurated a $1.3 billion production facility with 150,000 vehicle production capacity near Puebla, Mexico. Audi said it would build electric and petrol Q5 SUVs in Mexico. Audi declined to comment on Monday. VW also declined to comment on Trump’s remarks but noted it was investing another $900 million in its U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Trump called Germany a great car producer, saying Mercedes-Benz cars were a frequent sight in New York, but claimed there was not enough reciprocity. Germans were not buying Chevrolets at the same rate, he said, calling the business relationship an unfair one-way street.  Chevrolet sales have fallen sharply in Europe since parent company General Motors (GM.N) in 2013 said it would drop the Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of 2015. Since then, GM has focused instead on promoting its Opel and Vauxhall marques. Asked by Reuters whether Trump could take any steps to make it easier for GM to sell more American-made cars in Europe, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said the company aimed to build cars in markets where they are sold. “We’re a global company so we’re going to continue that focus just because from an economic perspective that generally turns out to be the best framework,” she said. “I think there is a lot that we can work on with President-elect Trump.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने जर्मन कार निर्माताओं को 35 प्रतिशत अमेरिकी आयात शुल्क लगाने की धमकी दी


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people, many of them children, serenaded Pope Francis on his 81st birthday on Sunday, as the pontiff appealed for the release of Catholic nuns kidnapped last month in Nigeria. The crowd sang Happy Birthday in Italian as the pontiff appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter s Square for his weekly message and blessing. The first Latin American pope was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Dec. 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires. The former cardinal of the Argentine capital became leader of the world s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in 2013.   In keeping with a long-standing tradition in Rome, the children faced the pope s window and held up small statues of the baby Jesus for him to bless. The statues are placed in home nativity scenes, a custom still practised in many Italian families. Francis, who has often warned against excessive materialism during the holiday season, departed from his address to say:  This is the real Christmas. If we remove Jesus, what is left? An empty feast.  He appealed for the release of six Roman Catholic nuns kidnapped from their convent in the town of Iguoriakhi, Nigeria, last month. Francis said he hoped they and all other victims of kidnappings could be home for Christmas.

Summary: बच्चों ने 81वें जन्मदिन पर पोप को प्रसन्न किया; उन्होंने अपहृत ननों के लिए अपील की


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump convenes a gathering of leaders of some of the largest technology companies at his New York headquarters on Wednesday as he continues to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20. The session is billed as an introductory meeting that would not result in any job or investment announcements, sources said.  Below is a list of attendees expected at the summit, according to sources. Trump’s transition team has announced the meeting but did not name any invited executives during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.  * CEO Larry Page of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Google’s parent company * Apple Inc (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook * Facebook Inc (FB.O) COO Sheryl Sandberg * Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) CEO Jeff Bezos * Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk * Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella  * Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) CEO Safra Catz * In addition, the technology news website Recode reported that Intel Corp (INTC.O) executives were invited. An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment.     * The Wall Street Journal reported Palantir Technologies Inc CEO Alex Karp would also attend the meeting.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः गूगल, एप्पल और अन्य तकनीकी दिग्गजों से मिलेंगे ट्रंप-सूत्र


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s oil ministry on Thursday cautioned oil companies against signing contracts with Iraqi Kurdistan. On Wednesday Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft signed an agreement to put production sharing agreements into force with respect to five production blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Summary: इराक के तेल मंत्रालय ने तेल कंपनियों को कुर्दिस्तान अनुबंधों के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump defended embattled U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday, saying the Alabama Republican had denied allegations of sexual misconduct and emphasizing that he did not want Moore’s Democratic opponent to win. Trump previously said that Moore should step aside if the allegations were true. Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving Washington for Florida, Trump left open the possibility of campaigning for Moore, saying he would make an announcement on that next week. The president also ripped into Moore’s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, describing the former prosecutor as liberal and soft on crime. The comments represented a shift in strategy for the White House, which previously tried to keep its distance from the controversy sparked by a Washington Post report detailing accusations by four women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. More women have since spoken out with allegations of their own. “He totally denies it. He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also,” Trump said. Trump’s position was a break from that of other national Republicans. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other prominent lawmakers have pressed Moore to quit the race. It also contrasted with comments from his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser who told the Associated Press there was a “special place in hell for people who prey on children.” She said she had no reason to doubt the women’s accounts. Moore, 70, has denied any wrongdoing. The married Christian conservative has said he is the victim of a witch hunt and has declined to drop out of the race. Reuters has not been able to confirm any of the accusations independently. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump himself faced accusations from several women that he had in the past made unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate personal remarks about them. Trump denied the allegations, accusing Democrats and the media of a smear campaign. Trump supported Moore’s opponent, Senator Luther Strange, in the Republican primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat vacated by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but he backed Moore after the former Alabama chief justice won the nomination. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate. They are eager to hold on to that advantage to pass Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes, healthcare and other priorities. Since the accusations against Moore were reported, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has said repeatedly that Alabama voters should decide the election and called the allegations  “troubling.”  The White House also backed the Republican National Committee’s decision to withdraw support for Moore. But the administration’s position appeared to start evolving this week when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway criticized Jones during an interview with Fox News and said the White House wanted a Republican to win the seat in order to support Trump’s plan for a tax overhaul. Trump, who had declined until Tuesday to answer questions about the Alabama race, was prepared with a list of complaints about Jones when facing reporters on the south lawn of the White House. “I can tell you one thing for sure: We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones,” Trump said. “I’ve looked at his record. It’s terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody that’s going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment.” Before the allegations came to light, Moore was heavily favored to defeat Jones, a former federal prosecutor, in the special election on Dec. 12. Two opinion polls last week showed Moore now trailing Jones. “Doug believes the women, and that the people of Alabama will hold Roy Moore accountable,” Jones’ spokesman, Sebastian Kitchen, said in a statement. Among those prosecuted by Jones when he was a U.S. attorney in Alabama were two former Ku Klux Klan members for their involvement in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four girls.

Summary: दुर्व्यवहार के आरोपों के बावजूद ट्रम्प ने सीनेट उम्मीदवार मूर का बचाव किया


LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and the rest of Prime Minister Theresa May s top team of ministers are united behind the government s plan for Brexit, May s spokeswoman said on Monday. Johnson was accused by cabinet colleagues on Sunday of  backseat driving  on Brexit after setting out his own vision of the country s future outside the EU, days before May is due to speak about Britain s departure from the bloc.  The foreign secretary s views are well known, he expressed them during the referendum campaign. What is important is that the foreign secretary and cabinet are united behind the government s plan for Brexit,  May s spokeswoman told reporters when asked if it was helpful for ministers to set out their own visions for Brexit. The prime minister values the contributions of all of her cabinet colleagues, the spokeswoman added.

Summary: जॉनसन सहित यूके सरकार, मई की ब्रेक्सिट योजना के पीछे एकजुटः प्रवक्ता


MOSCOW (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that London could not ignore Russia s meddling in elections around the world, its actions in Ukraine, or the persecution of gay people in Chechnya. Johnson was speaking at a news conference in Moscow after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने रूस से कहाः हम आपके चुनाव हस्तक्षेप को नजरअंदाज नहीं कर सकते


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has hired a lawyer known for defending government officials in high-profile investigations to help him with probes into whether there were ties between the election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia, his office said on Thursday. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow interfered in last year’s presidential campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. Trump, who hired his own lawyer last month for probes by a special counsel and congressional committees, lashed out on Thursday after a report that he was under investigation for possible obstruction of justice. He dismissed as “phony” the idea that his campaign colluded with any Russian effort to sway the 2016 election. Moscow denies meddling in the campaign. Pence hired Richard Cullen, chairman of law firm McGuireWoods, to help him respond to inquiries from special counsel Robert Mueller, a spokesman said. Cullen is a former federal prosecutor who has long ties to former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired on May 9. He represents former FIFA President Sepp Blatter in the corruption probe into world soccer’s governing body. U.S. prosecutors have not accused Blatter of wrongdoing. Cullen, who supported Trump’s rival Jeb Bush during the race for the Republican presidential nomination, also represented Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican and former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, during the investigation into corrupt Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. DeLay was not charged. Pence had been looking at hiring his own counsel for several weeks, and made his decision earlier this week after interviewing several candidates, his office said. “The vice president is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the president’s agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter,” Pence spokesman, Jarrod Agen, said in a statement. Pence has seldom addressed the Russia issue, which has overshadowed Trump’s efforts to overhaul the healthcare system, cut taxes and boost jobs - priorities that Pence has worked on intensively with Republican lawmakers. The Washington Post first reported the Cullen hire. Just before the story broke, Trump wrote a pair of angry tweets, suggesting that Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the election, should be under investigation instead of him. Earlier on Thursday, Trump called the probe a “witch hunt” on Twitter. “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote. Mueller is investigating whether anyone on Trump’s campaign, or associated with it, with him or any of his businesses, may have had any illegal dealings with Russian officials or others with ties to the Kremlin, said one U.S. official familiar with the rough outlines of the probe and who spoke on condition of anonymity. That includes the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and is a senior adviser at the White House, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter. Mueller is also looking at a second line of inquiry: whether, if any potential offenses were committed, Trump or others attempted to cover them up or obstruct the investigation into them, the source said. An examination of possible obstruction of justice charges was “unavoidable” given testimony by Comey, although the issue may not become the main focus of the probe, the source said. Comey told a Senate panel last week he believed Trump fired him to undermine the FBI’s Russia probe. He also told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his June 8 testimony that he believed Trump had directed him to drop a related agency investigation into the president’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. White House officials, including Pence, initially gave differing reasons for Comey’s dismissal, including that he had lost the confidence of the FBI. Pence said on Twitter on May 10 that Trump had “made the right decision at the right time to remove Comey as the head of the FBI” and praised him for showing “strong & decisive leadership to restore trust & confidence of the American people in the FBI.” Trump later contradicted his own staff, saying on May 11 he had the Russia issue in mind when he fired Comey. Examining the possibility of obstruction charges will allow investigators to interview key administration figures including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and possibly Trump himself, said the source familiar with the Mueller investigation. While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Any such step would face a steep hurdle as it would require approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans.

Summary: पेंस ने रूस की जांच के लिए अपना खुद का वकील रखा


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s ruling United Russia party will support President Vladimir Putin if he decides to run for a new term in office, its leader, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, said on Thursday. Putin, 65, has so far kept silent on whether he plans to seek a fourth term in a presidential election due in March 2018.  Our party, and I personally, will support him in this in every possible way,  Medvedev said in an interview with Russian television channels broadcast live.  Because we believe that he is a successful president who is leading our country.

Summary: रूस की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी ने कहा कि अगर पुतिन नया कार्यकाल चाहते हैं तो वे उनका समर्थन करेंगे


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in a telephone call on Thursday about the need to tighten sanctions against North Korea in light of Pyongyang s latest nuclear weapons test, a spokesman for Merkel said. Both leaders expressed deep concern about the current situation in North Korea, and viewed the latest North Korean nuclear weapons test as a significant danger for the security of the entire region, as well as a violation of international law, Steffen Seibert said in a statement.  Both leaders said they supported a tightening of the sanctions against North Korea,  he said.  At the same time, however, it was important to continue seeking dialogue to peacefully resolve the current tensions, he added.

Summary: जर्मन, चीनी नेता उत्तर कोरिया पर प्रतिबंधों को कड़ा करने की आवश्यकता पर सहमत हुए


SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority nations faces its second challenge at a U.S. appeals court next month, and this time more Republican states are backing the measure, while one Democratic state attorney general dropped out of the legal fight this week. Some legal experts say the states’ realignment could signal that the changes made last month to Trump’s original executive order have strengthened the government’s case. Sixteen Democratic state attorneys general and the District of Colombia on Thursday filed a “friend of the court” brief backing Hawaii in its bid to block the March 6 executive order, which two federal judges put on hold before it could be implemented. Hawaii and other states argue the ban violates the U.S. Constitution because it discriminates against Muslims. But Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who opposed the original ban that Trump signed on Jan. 27, did not join Thursday’s brief, which was filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Shapiro declined to comment.  On the other side, Texas, which had been alone in its support for the original January order, has gained the support of 14 Republican states urging that the ban go forward in a legal brief filed on April 10. Those states back the government’s argument that the president has wide authority to implement immigration policy and that the ban is needed to prevent terrorist attacks. Trump’s original ban, which the president said was needed for national security to head off attacks by Islamist militants, applied to seven Muslim-majority nations and indefinitely banned the entry of all refugees from Syria. It was revised and narrowed after a flurry of legal challenges. “The second executive order was much more carefully written than the first. Maybe when various states analyzed it they weren’t as interested as joining,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr an immigration expert at Cornell University Law School. However, he said, “amicus briefs sometimes are filed for political reasons.”  Some judges pay close attention to amicus briefs, while others disregard them. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. Trump’s January order was hastily implemented just days after his inauguration, leading to chaos and protests at airports and more than two dozen lawsuits. A federal judge in Seattle halted the order and the 9th circuit upheld that ruling. The White House re-crafted the order to exclude legal permanent residents and removed Iraq from the list of targeted countries. Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are still included in the new order. The new ban also dropped language giving preference to refugees who are part of a persecuted religious minority in their country of citizenship. The changes were meant to chip away at the plaintiffs’ “standing” to sue, which requires that anyone bringing a lawsuit show they have been directly harmed by the action they are contesting.  But as soon as the second order was signed, states and civil rights groups went back to court, saying that it was still discriminatory.  Federal district judges in Maryland and Hawaii put the second order on hold before it could take effect on March 16.   The judge in Hawaii blocked the two central sections of the ban, on travel and refugees, while the Maryland judge only halted the travel portion.  Most of the focus is now on the Hawaii case, which is being heard by the 9th Circuit on May 15.  The 4th Circuit appeals court in Virginia is slated to hear arguments in the Maryland case on May 8.  Not all states have staked out a side in the fight. Pennsylvania now is among 18 states, including Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey that have not taken sides on the issue, opting not to file any legal briefs.

Summary: अमेरिकी राज्य ट्रम्प के यात्रा प्रतिबंध पर कानूनी लड़ाई में फिर से शामिल हुए


OSLO (Reuters) - Norway said on Friday it planned to send an armored battalion near its arctic border with Russia and buy more tanks and artillery to respond to growing threats. Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide did not mention Russia as she described her minority government s defense plan, and said she did not see a specific, current military threat. But the NATO member and other nearby countries have grown increasingly alarmed about Moscow s ambitions, particularly following its annexation of Ukraine s Crimea region in 2014 and its naval and air force maneuvers in the region.  The security situation has become more challenging and less predictable. This has consequences for how we organize the military,  Soereide told journalists. The plan calls for the armored unit - still referred to as a cavalry battalion - to be stationed in the remote Porsanger district, in the far north on the edge of a long fjord leading into the Barents Sea, which also borders Russia. It also includes more investment in tanks, artillery and long-range precision weapons in the area and other locations further south, together with an extension of the time people have to spend in some national service positions to 16 from 12 months.  We must be able to defend all parts of our country ... this is a clear signal that we have a particular responsibility in the north,  Soereide said. The Russian embassy in Oslo was not immediately available for comment.  Norway s minority government will need to get support from other parties to get the proposals through parliament, but there is a broad consensus on strengthening defenses in the Arctic north. In June, Russia said Norway s decision to extend the presence of U.S. Marines on its soil would worsen relations and could escalate tensions on NATO s northern flank.

Summary: नॉर्वे की रूसी सीमा के पास बख्तरबंद टुकड़ी भेजने की योजना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican, took himself out of consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday as Senate Republicans dug in on their vow not to act on any nominee by President Barack Obama. Asked if the White House was disappointed by Sandoval’s decision, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, “He’s obviously entitled to make decisions about his own career.” Sandoval’s name surfaced as a possible nominee on Wednesday, but Senate Republicans quickly said they still would not hold hearings or vote on any Obama nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama’s appointee could pivot the court to the left for the first time in decades. Sandoval, a Mexican-American who was Nevada’s first Hispanic governor, did not offer a reason for his withdrawal. “Earlier today, I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said in a statement. “The notion of being considered for a seat on the highest court in the land is beyond humbling and I am incredibly grateful to have been mentioned.” Earlier on Thursday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton expressed concern about Sandoval, urging Obama to pick a “true progressive.” But Nancy Pelosi, the top House of Representatives Democrat, called it a “good idea” for Obama to consider Republicans as well as Democrats. The Republican-led Senate must confirm any nominee. Sandoval, 52, was appointed a judge by Republican President George W. Bush before becoming governor. He took a traditional Republican stance backing gun rights but held more moderate views on social issues, supporting abortion rights. Obama will meet next Tuesday with Senate Republican and Democratic leaders regarding a court nominee, officials said. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said they will use the meeting to reiterate the Republican stance that the Senate will not act on any Supreme Court nominee until the next president takes office in January 2017, following the Nov. 8 presidential election. Republicans hope to win back the White House then. The fight over the nomination got nastier as Grassley accused Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of “childish tantrums” after Reid called Grassley the most obstructionist Judiciary Committee chairman ever. Reid responded: “A childish tantrum, when we’re asking him to do his job?”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सैंडोवल ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट के संभावित चयन के रूप में नाम वापस लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian jets bombed a target east of the Euphrates River near Dayr Az Zawr in Syria where it knew US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers were located, the Pentagon said on Saturday.  Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers,  the Pentagon said in a statement.  Several SDF fighters were wounded,  it added.  Coalition troops advising and assisting the SDF were not wounded, the Pentagon added. The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition. (This story corrects spelling to Dayr Az Zawr, not Dayr Az Zawat in first paragraph)

Summary: रूस को पता था कि सीरियाई सेना उस क्षेत्र में है जहां उसने बमबारी कीः पेंटागन


(Reuters) - A declassified report by U.S. intelligence agencies said  Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Donald Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting Democrat  Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign.  The following quotes are some highlights of the report, which was drafted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, and released on Friday: - “Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations.” - “We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.” - “We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.” - “Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.” - “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election.” - “Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behavior since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals.” - “Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or ‘trolls’.” - “Russia’s intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major U.S.  political parties.” - “We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release U.S. victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.” - “We assess with high confidence that the GRU relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks. Moscow most likely chose WikiLeaks because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity. Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident forgeries.” - “Russia collected on some Republican-affiliated targets but did not conduct a comparable disclosure campaign.”  - “Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple U.S. state or local electoral boards. DHS (Department of Homeland Security) assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.”  - “We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against U.S. allies and their election processes.” - “Immediately after Election Day, we assess Russian intelligence began a spearphishing campaign targeting U.S. Government employees and individuals associated with U.S. think tanks and NGOs in national security, defense, and foreign policy fields. This campaign could provide material for future influence efforts as well as foreign intelligence collection on the incoming administration’s goals and plans.”

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः 2016 के चुनाव में रूसी साइबर हमलों पर अमेरिकी खुफिया रिपोर्ट


(Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday gave the U.S. Department of Justice broad leeway to police password theft under a 1984 anti-hacking law, upholding the conviction of a former Korn/Ferry International executive for stealing confidential client data. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said David Nosal violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in 2005 when he and two friends, who had also left Korn/Ferry, used an employee’s password to access the recruiting firm’s computers and obtain information to help start a new firm. Writing for a 2-1 majority, Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown said Nosal acted “without authorization” even though the employee, his former secretary, had voluntarily provided her password. The defendant had by then been working as an independent contractor for Korn/Ferry. Nosal and his friends had previously had their own log-in credentials revoked. Nosal’s case has been closely watched by digital privacy groups worried that it could make it easier to prosecute people for ordinary password sharing, such as when a husband logs into his wife’s Facebook account with her credentials and permission. “The court is criminalizing conduct that ordinary Americans do every day online,” Jamie Williams, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which supported overturning Nosal’s conviction, said in an interview. Dennis Riordan, a lawyer for Nosal, said in a statement he will ask an 11-judge appeals court panel to review the decision. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Nosal had been appealing his April 2013 jury conviction and one-year prison sentence for violating the CFAA and for trade secret theft under the Economic Espionage Act. The appeals court on Tuesday upheld Nosal’s conviction under the EEA. It also ordered a recalculation of his $827,983 of restitution to Korn/Ferry to reconsider the legal fee component. Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt dissented. He said the majority’s reasoning could cover the sharing of passwords to devices such as smartphones, laptops and iPads, and transform “millions of people who engage in this ubiquitous, useful, and generally harmless conduct into unwitting federal criminals.” McKeown, however, said this approach ignored reality and could enable criminals to escape prosecution after they found obliging employees willing to “willy-nilly give out passwords.” The appeals court had in April 2012 dismissed other counts accusing Nosal of CFAA violations. The case is U.S. v. Nosal, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-10037.

Summary: अमेरिकी अपील अदालत ने साझा पासवर्ड पर दोषसिद्धि बरकरार रखी


KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine is puzzled by the lack of a U.S. response to requests it has made to question former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort as a witness over two cases involving misuse of Ukrainian state funds, the chief investigator said. Manafort was indicted last month in Washington on charges he denies ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agent of former pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovich s Party of Regions. The charges, some going back more than a decade, mention neither Trump nor his campaign. Serhii Horbatiuk, head of special investigations at the general prosecutor s office, told Reuters Ukraine had sent requests in 2014 and 2015 to question representatives of a law firm and Manafort. He said Ukraine had received reassurances from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that the requests would be met, but without result.    Of course it s not normal,  Horbatiuk said in an interview at his office.  I would not say that we are upset, I would not say officially that we are upset, but it s not clear why it is so,  he said.  Even the results they have got so far, we could have got them back in 2015 or 2016 with their help. But during these years there was no cooperation for unknown reasons.  In Washington, the FBI and the Department did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment. Horbatiuk is investigating two cases.  One relates to the suspected illegal use of Ukrainian state funds by justice ministry officials to pay a U.S. law firm for a report used to justify the imprisonment of former prime minister and political rival Yulia Tymoshenko during Yanukovich s rule. The second relates to a so-called  Black Ledger  discovered after Yanukovich s 2014 ouster by street protests, a book supposedly listing payments from a slush fund by Yanukovich s Party of Regions to their associates, including Manafort. Yanukovich denies corruption accusations.  Manafort denies all wrongdoing and in Ukraine he is at this stage only wanted as a witness.  Horbatiuk said he had not been contacted for assistance by the team of Special Council Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort during an investigation into alleged Russian efforts to swing the 2016 presidential election in Trump s favor.  Manafort s attorney says his work for the Ukrainians ended in 2014, two years before he joined the Trump campaign. But the indictment sheds new light on the Ukrainian cases: the allegation that Manafort used offshore accounts to funnel $4 million to pay for the Tymoshenko report was news to Horbatiuk s team, who thought the report had cost around $1 million. He will submit a new request for help to the U.S. within weeks.  It is important to combine our investigations so that we can obtain information to determine the origin of this money ($4 million),  he said.   And the general information allows us to say that the investigation could be promising provided that the law enforcement agencies of the United States and Ukraine cooperate in what we are interested in.      Manafort joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016 and later became campaign manager, but he was forced to resign in August as questions emerged about his previous work for Yanukovich s party.

Summary: यूक्रेन के अभियोजक का कहना है कि मैनफोर्ट मामले में अमेरिकी मदद की कमी से परेशान हैं


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese military aircraft have again carried out drills in the Western Pacific, the Xinhua state news agency said on Thursday, with bombers and fighters from a South China Sea naval air arm exercising with warships. Chinese aircraft, most of them from the air force, have carried out increasing numbers of drills far from Chinese shores in the past few years, most recently focused on self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, and near Japan.  Xinhua said dozens of aircraft, including bombers, fighters and early warning aircraft, drilled in the Western Pacific along with warships, but it did not give an exact location. The exercises were normal drills, part of annual plans, and accorded with international law and norms and were not aimed at any specific country or region, Xinhua said, citing the military. The exercises had no impact on freedom of navigation or overflight in the area, the news agency added. The participation of aircraft attached to the South China Sea fleet implies they could have flown over the disputed South China Sea, where China has been building airfields and other military facilities, some on artificial islands, unnerving the region. China claims most of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which $3 trillion worth of goods passes every year. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei all have overlapping claims. China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its man-made islands in the South China Sea, a U.S. think-tank said last week. [nL8N1OE7HR]

Summary: चीनी विमानों ने पश्चिमी प्रशांत क्षेत्र में फिर से अभ्यास किया


CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll in a devastating militant attack on a mosque on Friday in Egypt s North Sinai has risen to 305 killed, including 27 children, and 128 more people were wounded, MENA state news agency said on Saturday.

Summary: मिस्र की मस्जिद में हमले में मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर 305 हुईः सरकारी समाचार एजेंसी


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has received the most nominations for leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) ahead of a party vote this month, voting data from the country s nine provinces show. Ramaphosa is one of two frontrunners in a closely watched contest to take over from President Jacob Zuma as ANC leader at a party conference starting on Dec. 16. Whoever becomes ANC leader will most likely be the next president of South Africa, owing to the ruling party s electoral dominance. Ramaphosa received 1,862 nominations by ANC branches, whereas his main rival for ANC leader, former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, received 1,309 endorsements. Reuters compiled the number of nominations for each candidate based on voting data released by provincial ANC structures. ANC officials in the provinces of Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal were the last to release their nominations totals on Monday. Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader and millionaire businessman, is seen as more market-friendly than Dlamini-Zuma, who was previously married to Zuma. Signs that Ramaphosa has been doing well in the nominations by ANC branches have boosted the rand currency in recent weeks. However, Dlamini-Zuma could still win the race for ANC leader as analysts say the outcome in December could be swayed by inducements and pressure on conference delegates.  Delegates are not bound to vote for the candidate that was nominated by their ANC branch.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के रामफोसा को एएनसी नेतृत्व के मतदान से पहले सबसे अधिक नामांकन मिले


(Story corrects third paragraph to show Mosul fell in July, not June, after nine, not eight, months of urban warfare in August 29th instance.) By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces battling to retake the small town of al- Ayadiya where militants fleeing Tal Afar have entrenched themselves, saying on Tuesday the fighting is  multiple times worse  than the battle for Mosul s old city. Hundreds of battle-hardened fighters were positioned inside most houses and high buildings inside the town, making it difficult for government forces to make any progress, army officers told Reuters. Iraqi government troops captured the town of Mosul from Islamic State in July, but only after nine months of grinding urban warfare. But one Iraqi officer, Colonel Kareem al-Lami, described breaching the militants  first line of defense in al- Ayadiya as like opening  the gates of hell . Iraqi forces have in recent days recaptured almost all of the northwestern city of Tal Afar, long a stronghold of Islamic State. They have been waiting to take al- Ayadiya, just 11 km (7 miles) northwest of the city, before declaring complete victory. Tough resistance from the militants in al- Ayadiya has forced the Iraqi forces to increase the number of air strikes, as well as bring in reinforcements from the federal police to boost units from the army, air force, Federal Police, the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and some units from the Shi ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Up to 2,000 battle-hardened militants were believed to be defending Tal Afar against around 50,000 government troops last week.  Military intelligence indicated that many militants fled Tal Afar to mount a staunch defense in al- Ayadiya. Many motorcycles carrying the Islamic State insignia were seen abandoned at the side of the road outside al- Ayadiya. Though the exact numbers of militants on the ground in al- Ayadiya was still unclear, al-Lami, the Iraqi Army colonel,  estimated they were in their  hundreds.   Daesh (Islamic State) fighters in their hundreds are taking positions inside almost every single house in the town,  he said.  Sniper shots, mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-armored projectiles were fired from every single house, he added.   We thought the battle for Mosul s Old City was tough, but this one proved to be multiple times worst,  al-Lami said.  We are facing tough fighters who have nothing to lose and are ready to die.   Two army officers told Reuters that no significant advances had yet been made in al- Ayadiya. They said they were waiting for artillery and air strikes to undermine the militants power. The extra Federal Police troops that were called in said late on Tuesday that they had controlled 50 percent of the town, deploying snipers on the high buildings and intensified shelling the militants headquarters with rockets, a federal police spokesman said in a statement.  Tal Afar became the next target of the U.S.-backed war on the jihadist group following the recapture of Mosul, where it had declared its  caliphate  over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Summary: 'नरक के द्वार': इराकी सेना ने कहा, ताल अफार के पास लड़ाई मोसुल से भी बदतर


(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday: Trump says the United States will be “tweaking” its trade relationship with Canada, stopping short of calling for a major realignment in a development likely to please visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump is evaluating the situation surrounding U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn over his Russian contacts, Trump’s spokesman says, pointedly declining to make a public show of support for the aide. The U.S. Senate votes to confirm former banker and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, installing the Trump administration’s point-man on tax reform, financial deregulation and economic diplomacy efforts. A U.S. federal judge rejects a Justice Department request to suspend Seattle courtroom proceedings over Trump’s temporary travel ban from seven Muslim-majority countries until an appeals court has fully reviewed it. Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a Palestinian state, a senior Israeli Cabinet member says, but leaves it unclear whether the prime minister would say that publicly in talks with Trump in Washington this week. Trump says North Korea is a “big, big problem” and that he will deal with it “very strongly” after that country said it successfully test-fired a new type of ballistic missile. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, fresh from a visit with Trump, says the U.S. stance toward North Korea is likely to become tougher. China’s Foreign Ministry is concerned that Japan has received continued U.S. backing for its dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea during a meeting between Trump and Abe. A congressional tax oversight committee will not seek Trump’s tax returns, despite calls from Democrats for a review to determine possible business ties to foreign countries including Russia, the panel’s Republican chairman says. U.S. equity indexes hit record highs, with the benchmark S&P 500’s market value topping $20 trillion as investors bet tax cuts promised by Trump will boost the economy.   The Kremlin says there is talk of a possible meeting between Trump and President Vladimir Putin before a G20 summit in July, but there is nothing specific on this so far.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी 13 फरवरी को रात 8.05 बजे ईएसटी


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has arrested four foreigners and four Malaysians for suspected involvement in terrorist activities linked to Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State and Jemaah Islamiah, the police said on Saturday. Among the foreigners arrested were three Filipinos, one of whom is a permanent resident in Malaysia, and an Albanian. The arrests were made in the states of Sabah, Selangor and Perak between Sept. 27 and Oct. 6. Five suspects were arrested in the Borneo state of Sabah, suspected of assisting the Abu Sayyaf militant group s infiltration into Malaysia. Police said the arrested Albanian, a law lecturer at a local public university, has contact with Islamic State. Another two arrested are former convicts, previously found guilty in 2016 of participating in terrorist activities. One was arrested under suspicion of recruiting convicts in prison and planning an attack on Muslim, Christian and Hindu places of worship in Malaysia. The suspect is also said to harbor information about a member of the Tanzim Al-Qaeda Malaysia, a group linked to Jemaah Islamiah, who remains at large. The other was an accomplice suspected of recruiting two Malaysians. Malaysia has arrested hundreds of people over the past few years for suspected links to militant groups. The Southeast Asian country has been on high alert since suicide bombers and gunmen linked to Islamic State launched multiple attacks in Jakarta, the capital of neighboring Indonesia, in January 2016. A grenade attack on a bar on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, in June last year wounded eight people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, the first such attacks on Malaysian soil.

Summary: मलेशिया ने आतंकी संबंधों के संदेह में आठ लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland s new prime minister faces a difficult balancing act trying to repair bruised relations with the European Union without alienating the eurosceptic government s core voters. A Western-educated former banker who is fluent in German and English and was sworn in on Monday, Mateusz Morawiecki boasts the credentials needed to negotiate with Brussels. But any compromises to improve relations with Brussels, which sees the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party as a threat to democracy, would risk upsetting the traditional, Catholic supporters who propelled it into power two years ago. It is a gamble that could backfire, and it is not yet clear how far Morawiecki, 49, and his party, dominated by former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, are ready to go to please Brussels.   The idea to build up international credibility seems rational,  said Jaroslaw Flis, a sociologist at the Jagiellonian University.  But such actions would have to be in complete contrast with what Mateusz Morawiecki would have to do domestically to prevent the PiS from falling apart.  The PiS government has alienated many people at home and abroad with its nationalist rhetoric and changes to state institutions which the EU says subvert the bloc s laws. The European Commission, the EU executive, opened an inquiry into the rule of law in Poland in January 2016 and the European Parliament has started a process that could deprive Poland of its voting rights in the 28-nation bloc. Any hope in Brussels that Morawiecki s appointment signals a change of course by PiS will have been tempered by Polish parliament approving legal changes to the judiciary in defiance of the EU on Friday - the day after his nomination. The changes give parliament, where PiS has a majority, de facto control over the selection of judges. EU leaders looking for clues about Morawiecki s plans will also have taken little comfort from comments he has made since being nominated, making clear he backs a tough line on the EU and believes in PiS s traditional vision of the Polish state.   We want to transform Europe, this is my dream, to re-christianise it,  Morawiecki told the Catholic Radio Maryja broadcaster.  We want Poland to be strong, but also to contain ... Christian values. We will defend them against the background of laicisation and a deepening consumerism.  Asked by the radio interviewer about demands by French President Emmanuel Macron for Poland to face sanctions over a subversion of democratic rules, Morawiecki said he would not  bow down to blackmail.  In comments to parliament on Tuesday, Morawiecki suggested Poland might relent in a conflict with Brussels over logging in an ancient forest, which an EU court has said contravenes EU laws. But he said Poland s national interests came first in any debate over the future of the EU and that he  wholeheartedly  supported PiS s overhaul of the judiciary. Like Beata Szydlo, whom he replaced as prime minister, Morawiecki is likely to have to defer to PiS leader and co-founder Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Prime minister from July 2006 to November 2007, Kaczynski is widely seen as the power behind the party and Poland s main decision-maker. How much scope that will leave Morawiecki to carve out his own path remains to be seen. Former Polish President Lech Walesa, a PiS critic, has suggested that nothing of substance will change.  The circus has stayed the same, only the clowns have changed their roles,  Walesa, who led the Solidarity trade union movement that ended communist rule, said on Twitter.  The appointment of Morawiecki, whose father founded and led a radical offshoot of Solidarity in the 1980s, appears designed in part to present a new face of Poland to the EU. Szydlo, 54, at times responded angrily to EU criticism and relations with the bloc soured under her government. Underlining PiS opposition to Muslim immigration, she said last month Poland wanted to be sure Christian traditions were not subject to  ideological censorship  in the EU. Along with Hungary, Poland has refused to take in any of its quota of the wave of refugees from Syria and elsewhere who have come to Europe since 2015, on the grounds that Muslim immigrants are a threat to national security and stability.         Such comments appeal to core PiS voters, and Szydlo s government, which promised generous welfare payouts and a dedication to traditional Catholic values, was one of Poland s most popular since communist rule ended in 1989. A relative newcomer to politics, Morawiecki lacks Szydlo s broad appeal. But he has overseen significant economic achievements since becoming finance minister in 2016, a position he has retained in the new government. Tusk has welcomed what he sees as signs that Morawiecki is a liberal economist who wants better ties with the EU.  There is no doubt that (Morawiecki s) liberal bias and some pro-western gestures could be a sign that there is a lurking desire to improve relations,  Tusk said last week. But an economic stimulus plan Morawiecki unveiled in 2016 has been criticized by economists who say it depends heavily on private investment, which is low in Poland despite fast economic growth.  What Morawiecki sees as a solution, meaning more political influence in the economy, is actually dangerous,  said Leszek Balcerowicz, a former finance minister who coordinated the transition to a market economy after decades of communist rule. Any hint of protectionism is also likely to worry EU leaders, who seek to break down trade barriers.  Morawiecki has called the privatization of state-owned companies a tragedy and said he will give more power to domestic capital at the expense of foreign investors. In his comments to parliament on Tuesday, he said economic policy should not change.

Summary: पोलैंड के नए प्रधान मंत्रीः एक जुआ जो उल्टा पड़ सकता है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will veto a draft U.N. resolution being pushed by the United States, Britain and France which aims to bolster support for international inquiries into a deadly toxic gas attack in Syria, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. The U.N. Security Council could vote on the draft resolution later on Wednesday. It is similar to a text circulated to the 15-member council last week that condemns the April 4 attack and pushes Syria’s government to cooperate with investigators. Interfax cited Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov as saying Russia would veto it in its current form.

Summary: रूस ने सीरिया पर पश्चिमी समर्थित मसौदा संयुक्त राष्ट्र प्रस्ताव को वीटो करने के लिए कहा


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he would name retired Marine Corps General James Mattis as defense secretary. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross has helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which entered into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. Chao is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives’ Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY Haley, a 44-year-old Republican, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. [L1N1DO0KC] Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.

Summary: ट्रम्प अपने प्रशासन के लिए शीर्ष पदों को भरते हैं


CUIDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO (Reuters) - Both U.S. presidential candidates routinely criticize free-trade deals they blame for the loss of American jobs. But tweaking the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as Hillary Clinton has pledged to do, or ripping it up, as Donald Trump demands, may do nothing to help companies like Element Electronics Corp, which owns America’s last television factory.  Winnsboro, South Carolina-based Element, and the television industry more broadly, offer a window into the complexity of industrial supply chains and illustrate why pushing manufacturing jobs back to the United States is so difficult. Element’s plant in South Carolina is nearly identical to a rival factory operated by Taiwanese conglomerate Tatung Company that sits on a dusty back street in this Mexican border town. Both import nearly all their components from Asia. The parts often flow in through the same southern California ports. But there's a big, and costly, difference. The Mexican plant, by sitting just over the border from El Paso, Texas, doesn't have to pay duty on those parts, even when the finished televisions are sold in the United States. But Element's factory has to foot the tariff bill, which makes its televisions more expensive. (For a graphic on the trade loophole, click tmsnrt.rs/2ep5QMy ) “It’s pretty crazy that I’m disadvantaged for using U.S. labor,” says Michael O’Shaughnessy, Element’s president. That’s a sentiment that Trump, the Republican nominee, has forcefully tapped as he makes the case that radically revamping the trade deal would level the playing field and bring jobs back. Many trade experts, though, say it would be a costly disaster to try to unravel these production networks, which essentially treat Mexico as a 51st state.  The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank that favors free trade, released a study last month that predicted imposing stiff tariffs on Mexico and China would disrupt North American producers that have created global supply chains and push the United States into a recession. “The TV industry is characterized by particularly dense webs of cross-border supply chains with Mexico and China,” says Marcus Noland, the economist who directed the study. “There’d be chaos and a trade war.” Even many who oppose NAFTA acknowledge it would be disruptive to suddenly erect barriers, given the way companies have shifted supply chains to integrate Mexico. NAFTA, implemented in 1994, forged a common market between the United States, Mexico and Canada. In response, many industries, including television manufactures, have transformed themselves by creating supply chains that crisscross the border.  Televisions once were produced in the United States and elsewhere with hundreds of parts, often tucked into elaborate wooden cases. A modern flat screen, by contrast, has relatively few parts, and more than 70 percent of its value is packed into the glass and the electronics integrated directly into the panel. The heart of the industry, including that core glass technology and production, is now based in Asia. About half of all TVs imported to the U.S. come from Mexico, says Paul Gagnon, an expert on the industry’s supply chain at IHS Markit, an economic research firm.  “The main reason for that is so the producers can respond quickly to fluctuations in demand,” he says. TV sales are highly seasonal, spiking late in the year. In Mexico, some of the factories double their workforce for just a few months to respond to this. Gagnon doubts the jobs would come back to the United States, because margins on TVs are so low. “If there were any major cost increase (in Mexico), you’d probably see some shift to Asia for production — rather than seeing that production happen in the U.S.” Some Mexican plants mold the plastic casing and do other tasks in the assembly process. But in many cases — including at both the Element and Tatung plants — the assembly plants do mostly finishing touches like inserting printing circuit boards and tuning the units. This creates relatively few jobs compared to the kind of television manufacturing done in the U.S. industry’s heyday. In the 1950s, there were some 150 domestic television manufacturers in the United States, and employment peaked at about 100,000 in the 1960s. Mexico’s cost advantage over the United State is formidable. O’Shaughnessy said he pays his 200 workers, who operate in a converted shirt factory, about $15 an hour. The pay at the Juarez plant is about $2.50 an hour. Even with this edge, it’s getting harder to do the work in Mexico, said Chan-hsing Diao, manager of the Tatung plant. (Tatung doesn’t sell televisions under its own name, but rather is paid by other manufacturers to assemble their name-brand products.) “The industry is consolidating and the cost pressures are enormous,” he said, noting that over the last six years, the amount he is paid to assemble a 32-inch television has fallen by half, from about $6 a unit to $3 a unit. “The profits are this,” he said, holding up two fingers almost touching. The Tatung plant in Juarez occupies a cavernous space that was once a windshield factory. It now features long assembly lines for televisions and produced 15 million TVs over the last seven years, Diao said. Some 13 million of those were sold in the United States. In January, the company lost its main customer, a Chinese TV manufacturer that Diao declined to identify. Tatung is scrambling to find a new manufacturer that wants to build TVs for the United States. In the meantime, it continues assembling TVs for Mexico and some other Latin American markets. Diao warned there would be a trade war if a new U.S. administration tore up the NAFTA agreement. With profits already so tight in Mexico, many Chinese producers might find it easier to ship finished goods directly from Asia rather than move production and jobs to the United States, he said. O’Shaughnessy, for his part, said he just wants to get the same break on import duties as Mexico gets under NAFTA. His decision to build in the United States, he said, was driven entirely by his only customer for the U.S. plant, Wal-Mart, which uses Element as a centerpiece of its campaign to promote domestic manufacturing. The South Carolina TVs are shipped in boxes emblazoned with American flags and bearing the words “Assembled in the USA.” O’Shaughnessy has appealed for a tariff exemption from his local congressman, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a Republican. Mulvaney said he is sympathetic but has been unable to win over many fellow lawmakers who consider special exemptions a form of earmarks for special interests, which many oppose on principle. “Element makes clear the real world implications of these trade deals we have signed,” said Mulvaney, adding that it’s time to “review” NAFTA to iron out this and other loopholes.    Back in Juarez, the annual ramp-up of hiring is under way at the Tatung plant to supply the surge of televisions bought over the holidays. Employment at Tatung goes as low as 280 each year, for instance, but is now on its way up to 600, Diao said. “You could never do that in America — at least not easily,” he says, referring to this cycle of hiring and firing large numbers.

Summary: टी. वी. जरूर देखेः नाफ्टा को बंद करने से अमेरिकी नौकरियों के सृजन की संभावना क्यों नहीं है


LONDON (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers on Tuesday gave broad support to a law that could end the City of London s global dominance in clearing euro-denominated financial contracts after Brexit. The plan has raised hackles in Britain, where it threatens both job losses and tax revenues. The draft EU law proposes that a foreign clearing house   which stands between two sides of a transaction to ensure its smooth completion   must be subject to more intense supervision by the bloc s regulators if it wants to serve customers in the EU. But if a clearing house is systemically important to the euro zone, then euro-denominated business with EU based customers must move to the bloc. The draft law is anathema to Britain, which voted to leave the EU in a referendum last year. It is home to LCH, an arm of the London Stock Exchange that clears most euro-denominated swaps in Europe. Financial services represent Britain s biggest tax earning sector and the LSE has warned that thousands of jobs could leave the UK if euro clearing was forced out. In the first debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday, lawmakers from the two biggest parties, the center right European People s Party and the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, gave broad backing to the draft law, but called for some changes.  It s a good proposal from the European Commission,  Polish center-right MEP Danuta Huebner told parliament s economic affairs committee.  In principle, I support the proposal, which I find necessary,  added Roberto Gualtieri, an Italian center-left lawmaker who chairs the committee. The European Parliament and EU states have final say on the reform, with changes expected during the approval process. No timetable has been agreed for approving the law and, separately, there has been scant agreement on any new relationship between the EU and Britain. That means LCH s European customers don t know at the moment if they can continue using the London clearer after Brexit. Exploit this uncertainty, Frankfurt-based Eurex unveiled a  Brexit-proof  package of sweeteners on Monday to woo LCH customers. Huebner said parts of the draft law were too complex, creating uncertainty over how exactly EU regulators and the European Central Bank would decide when euro clearing conducted outside the bloc must move to the EU.  We have to do everything to avoid potential inconsistency in decision-making,  Huebner said.  We must not politicize the whole process.  Gualtieri said there was a need to  upgrade  EU supervision of clearing, but lawmakers should be  very cautious, reflective and in a listening mood  given the potential consequences. Others said there was need to avoid protectionism or using clearing as a stick to beat Britain given that the UK was already  fighting with itself . Kay Swinburne, a British center-right lawmaker, a lone voice in outright opposition, said a regional restriction on a global currency is the wrong approach.  There is a reason why we have done so much work at the global level, and I really hope that we are not going to throw all of that away to have some protectionism with regards to a Brexit decision,  Swinburne added. Banks and the LSE have warned that forcing out some clearing would split markets and bump up costs for EU companies who use swaps to insure against adverse moves in borrowing costs, raw material prices, and currency swings.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के सांसदों ने ब्रेक्सिट मंजूरी कानून को अस्थायी मंजूरी दी जो ब्रिटेन को परेशान कर सकता है


(Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have unveiled a plan to replace Obamacare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act, stripping away much of Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement that insured 20 million Americans.  President Donald Trump and his Republicans had vowed for years to dismantle the law. It was a central campaign issue in 2016. Two House committees will next review the bill, so it could still change substantially. Here are its main provisions:  The Republicans want to eliminate next year Obamacare’s income-based tax credits that help low-income people purchase individual insurance. These would be replaced with age-based tax credits ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 per year that would be capped at upper income levels. While Obamacare’s credits provided more assistance to those with lower incomes, those in the Republican plan would be largely based on age.  The Republican bill would abolish most Obamacare taxes, including taxes on medical devices, health insurance premiums, indoor tanning salons, prescription medications and high-cost employer-provided insurance known as “Cadillac” plans. Those taxes paid for Obamacare. Republicans have not said how they would pay for the parts of the law they want to keep.  The bill also repeals the Obamacare financial penalty for the 2016 tax year for not purchasing insurance, as well as a surtax on investment income earned by upper-income Americans.  And it repeals the mandate that larger employers must offer insurance to their employees. Under Obamacare, more than 30 states, including several Republican states, expanded the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor. About half of Obamacare enrollees obtained insurance through the expansion. The bill would allow the Medicaid expansion to continue until January 1, 2020, providing states that chose not to expand under Obamacare a window to enroll more people. After that date, the expansion would end and Medicaid funding would be capped on a per-person basis. States that did not expand Medicaid would receive additional funds through a number of changes, including the reinstatement of disproportionate share hospital payments, money that is provided to hospitals that serve a large number of Medicaid and uninsured people. State Medicaid plans would no longer have to cover the same essential health benefits that health insurers on Obamacare’s exchanges must provide. That fulfills a Republican promise to return more control to the states, as they can decide what their Medicaid plans must cover. The Republican plan would maintain some of Obamacare’s most popular provisions. It would allow young people to stay on their parents’ health plan until age 26, ban insurers from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions and bans insurers from setting a lifetime dollar limit on coverage. But the bill would allow insurers to mark up premiums by 30 percent for those who have a lapse in insurance coverage of about two months or more.  Insurers won another provision they had long sought: The ability to charge older Americans up to five times more than young people. Under Obamacare, they could only charge up to three times more. It would also allow states to set their own ratio.  The measure also provides states with $100 billion to create programs for patient populations, including high-risk pools to provide insurance to the sickest patients. The bill would also revoke federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः रिपब्लिकन ओबामाकेयर योजना मेडिकेड विस्तार, करों को निरस्त कर देगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is committed to ensuring that U.S. elections are conducted fairly and protected from interference from anyone, the White House said on Thursday. “The president takes our elections very seriously,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters during a briefing.  Separately, she added that current sanctions against Moscow would remain in place until the Ukraine crisis was resolved.

Summary: ट्रम्प किसी भी हस्तक्षेप से मुक्त अमेरिकी चुनावों के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैंः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has asked to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, Politico reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources. Politico said Rosenstein was seen in the vicinity of the panel, which was holding a separate meeting on security issues. Rosenstein’s reported request comes days after President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey in a move that the White House has said followed a memo from Rosenstein.

Summary: डिप्टी अटॉर्नी जनरल ने शीर्ष सीनेटरों के साथ बैठक की मांग कीः पोलिटिको


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday that the military had presented to Congress an unfunded requirements list of $33 billion for fiscal year 2018. “I have reviewed the unfunded requirements, I believe it is $33 billion and I think if we were to receive more money those requests are appropriate,” Mattis said appearing before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.  Mattis added that the Pentagon is likely to seek budget growth of three to five percent from 2019 to 2023.

Summary: अमेरिकी सेना की 33 अरब डॉलर की आवश्यकता सूचीः मैटिस