BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union sounded an alarm on Saturday about moves in the U.S. Congress to step up U.S. sanctions on Russia, urging Washington to keep coordinating with its G7 partners and warning of unintended consequences.  In a statement by a spokeswoman after Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress reached a deal that could see new legislation pass, the European Commission warned of possibly “wide and indiscriminate” “unintended consequences”, notably on the EU’s efforts to diversify energy sources away from Russia. Germany has already warned of possible retaliation if the United States moves to sanction German firms involved with building a new Baltic pipeline for Russian gas.  EU diplomats are concerned that a German-U.S. row over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built by Russia’s state-owned Gazprom could complicate efforts in Brussels to forge an EU consensus on negotiating with Russia over the project. “We highly value the unity that is prevailing among international partners in our approach towards Russia’s action in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions. This unity is the guarantee of the efficiency and credibility of our measures,” the Commission said in its statement. “We understand that the Russia/Iran sanctions bill is driven primarily by domestic considerations,” it went on, referring to a bill passed in the U.S. Senate last month and to which lawmakers said on Saturday they had unblocked further obstacles. “As we have said repeatedly, it is important that any possible new measures are coordinated between international partners to maintain unity among partners on the sanctions that has been underpinning the efforts for full implementation of the Minsk Agreements,” the Commission said, referring to an accord struck with Moscow to try to end the conflicts in Ukraine. “We are concerned the measures discussed in the U.S. Congress could have unintended consequences, not only when it comes to Transatlantic/G7 unity, but also on EU economic and energy security interests. This impact could be potentially wide and indiscriminate, including when it comes to energy sources diversification efforts. “Sanctions are at their most effective when they are coordinated. Currently our sanctions regimes are coordinated. As a result their impact on the ground is increased and through coordination we are able to avoid surprises, manage potential impact on our own economic operators and address collectively efforts to circumvent such measures. Unilateral measures would undermine this,” the Commission said.  “We therefore call on the U.S. Congress/authorities to engage with the partners, including the EU, to ensure coordination and to avoid any unintended consequences of the measures discussed.”

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने चेतावनी दी, अमेरिका से रूस के प्रतिबंधों पर समन्वय करने का आग्रह किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Christie said on Friday the state would begin taxing income earned by people who work in New Jersey but live in Pennsylvania, ending a long-standing arrangement with the neighboring state. Pulling out of the nearly 40-year old “reciprocity” agreement would allow New Jersey to raise more revenue starting Jan. 1. Christie, a close ally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, said in a statement that he was forced to act because the Democrat-controlled legislature created a $250 million budget hole in June by relying on public employee health insurance cuts they have not yet made. If lawmakers come back next week and cut health costs, Christie could consider “revising” his termination of the reciprocal tax pact. “I will not raise state taxes, cut property tax relief, reduce aid to education or our hospitals, or reduce the state’s record pension payment to cover for this blunder by the legislature,” Christie said.  Jeff Sheridan, press secretary to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, said Christie “erred significantly in his decision to unnecessarily punish 125,000 Pennsylvanians and cost the commonwealth $5 million annually.” He said Wolf, a Democrat, was hopeful Christie would change his mind. However, Christie seems committed to making Pennsylvania “suffer the consequences of his failure to enact a responsible budget in a bipartisan way,” Sheridan said. Pennsylvanians pay a flat 3.07 percent income tax rate with no personal exemptions. New Jerseyans pay higher rates the more they make, with progressive rates increasing from 1.4 percent to 8.97 percent. The reciprocal agreement is advantageous for high-income Pennsylvania residents who work in New Jersey, because they pay their state’s lower tax rate. It is also good for low-income New Jerseyans who work across the border because of New Jersey’s progressive tax system. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said in a statement that ending the scheme is “the wrong decision for our state” and that more than 100,000 New Jersey residents will pay almost $1,000 per year in additional income tax.  “The burden falls completely on working families in New Jersey, especially those in South Jersey who work in Philadelphia, and will have a very real impact on their quality of life,” he said.

Summary: न्यूजर्सी के गवर्नर क्रिस्टी ने पेनसिल्वेनिया के साथ पुराने आयकर सौदे को आगे बढ़ाया


(Editors note: Attention to language in 2nd paragraph that some readers may find offensive) BOSTON (Reuters) - A Democratic state lawmaker in Maine called President Donald Trump “a joke” and made a threatening remark about him in a Facebook post that drew a sharp condemnation by the head of the state’s Republican party. “Trump was installed by the Russians, because they wanted to undermine American democracy and embarrass our country. Mission accomplished. Trump is a joke,” Representative Scott Hamann wrote in a comment posted to a friend’s Facebook page on Tuesday. “Trump is a half-term president, at most, especially if I ever get within 10 feet of that pussy.”     The chair of the state Republican party, Demi Kouzounas, called on the Democratic speaker of the Maine House of Representatives to take action after Hamann posted his lengthy message about Trump late on Tuesday.     “Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this tirade is an implied death threat against our president,” Kouzounas said in a statement. “The best way I can describe these comments is simple: Unhinged, dangerous.” Hamann, a third-term representative, said in a statement that he regretted his words. “While the tone of the post was born out of frustration with the vile language currently surrounding politics, I should not have responded with the same language,” he said. “This is not language I typically use, it does not reflect my personal values.” A spokeswoman for the Democratic speaker of the House, Sara Gideon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summary: मेन के डेमोक्रेट सांसद ने ट्रंप के बारे में धमकी भरे पोस्ट के लिए की निंदा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is nominating U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ top aide to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, the White House said in a statement on Friday.  Joseph Hunt, now chief of staff and senior counselor to Sessions, previously led the division’s Federal Programs Branch handling various legal cases in federal district courts, according to the White House.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सिविल डिवीजन का नेतृत्व करने के लिए शीर्ष सत्र वकील को चुनाः व्हाइट हाउस


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump expects by the end of the year “real progress” among NATO allies to step up their defense spending toward the minimum criteria of two percent of their economic output, Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday. Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Pence said: “America will do our part but European defense requires European commitment as much as ours... The president expects real progress by the end of 2017.”

Summary: ट्रंप चाहते हैं कि नाटो साल के अंत तक रक्षा खर्च बढ़ाएः पेंस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 190 Democratic lawmakers sued President Donald Trump in federal court on Wednesday, saying he had accepted funds from foreign governments through his businesses without congressional consent in violation of the U.S. Constitution.  The complaint said Trump had not sought congressional approval for any of the payments his hundreds of businesses had received from foreign governments since he took office in January, even though the Constitution requires him to do so. The White House did not respond to requests for comment but has said Trump’s business interests do not violate the Constitution. The Trump Organization has said it will donate profits from customers representing foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury but will not require such customers to identify themselves.  At least 30 U.S. senators and 166 representatives are plaintiffs in Wednesday’s lawsuit, representing the largest number of legislators ever to sue a U.S. president, according to two lawmakers who are among the plaintiffs. It was the latest in a series of such lawsuits against the Republican president. The Constitution’s “foreign emoluments” clause bars U.S. officeholders from accepting payments and various other gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval. The lawmakers are seeking a judicial order to require Trump to seek Congress’ assent before he accepts such payments. “The president’s failure to tell us about these emoluments, to disclose the payments and benefits that he is receiving, mean that we cannot do our job. We cannot consent to what we don’t know,” said Richard Blumenthal, the lead senator on the lawsuit, in a conference call on Tuesday.  John Conyers, the lead plaintiff from the House of Representatives, added: “President Trump has conflicts of interest in at least 25 countries, and it appears he’s using his presidency to maximize his profits.” The Justice Department declined to comment.  Similar lawsuits have been filed in recent months by parties including a nonprofit ethics group, a restaurant trade group, and the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia.  They allege that Trump’s acceptance of payments from foreign and U.S. governments through his hospitality empire puts other hotel and restaurant owners at an unfair disadvantage and provides governments an incentive to give Trump-owned businesses special treatment.  In a motion to dismiss one such lawsuit on Friday, the Justice Department argued that the plaintiffs had not shown any specific harm to their businesses, and that Trump was only banned from receiving foreign government gifts if they arose from his service as president. On Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said “partisan politics” was behind the lawsuit by the Maryland and District of Columbia officials. Lawmakers rarely sue the president, so there are few federal court decisions the legislators can cite to prove their legal standing to bring Wednesday’s case, said Leah Litman, an assistant professor specializing in constitutional law at the University of California, Irvine. A 1997 Supreme Court decision by then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist indicates such cases have standing if the plaintiffs are numerous enough that they could have had a decisive impact on the vote from which they were excluded, said  Tara Grove, a professor specializing in federal courts and constitutional law at William & Mary Law School. “Courts are more and more receptive to the idea that a large group of federal lawmakers can sue over being deprived of their constitutionally conferred powers,” Grove said. Conyers and Blumenthal said they planned to reach out to their Republican colleagues in Congress to invite them to join the lawsuit. “I won’t be surprised if a few do,” Conyers added.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट सांसदों ने व्यवसायों को विदेशी राज्य भुगतान पर ट्रम्प पर मुकदमा दायर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering appointing Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci, a long-time supporter, to be his White House communications director, a senior White House official said on Thursday. The position has been vacant since Michael Dubke resigned in May as communications director. Sean Spicer has been serving a dual role as press secretary and communications director since Dubke left. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Scaramucci is being interviewed for the job but that it had not yet been offered. Scaramucci, a Republican fundraiser and founder of Skybridge Capital, had been offered to be the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के संचार निदेशक के लिए स्कारामुची पर विचार कर रहे हैं ट्रंप


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has not yet set a date for the next stage in the passage of legislation to sever ties with the European Union, her spokesman said on Wednesday after the BBC reported it would not be until November, later than many had expected. The EU withdrawal bill, which seeks largely to  copy and paste  EU law into British legislation to ensure Britain has functioning laws and the same regulatory framework as the bloc at the moment of Brexit, is the next major hurdle for May. Weakened by a June election when she lost her governing Conservatives  majority and an ill-fated party conference that failed to reset her agenda, May wants to steer the bill through both houses of parliament with as little difficulty as possible. But lawmakers have already proposed several amendments to the bill, including some to hand parliament a vote at the end of the negotiating process with the EU and others to reduce the amount of power the government gives itself to amend laws. Asked whether the government was planning to introduce the legislation into the so-called committee phase of its lengthy passage towards the statute book in November, her spokesman told reporters:  We haven t yet confirmed a date for the bill at the committee stage.   But the leader of the house will set out (next week s business) tomorrow,  he added, referring to a weekly procedure when the government sets out its agenda, which may, or may not, include the EU withdrawal bill. Earlier, the BBC cited sources as saying it would not be introduced until after a parliamentary recess ends on Nov. 13. Sources in both the Conservative and opposition Labour parties expect the government to offer some concessions to avoid a defeat, amending powers which allow ministers to rewrite some laws without consulting parliament. Several Conservative lawmakers said they would not vote on any amendment that had been backed by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. But the sheer number of amendments could slow the progress of a bill which the government says is essential to ease Britain s departure from the EU in March 2019 and give certainty to business.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट विधेयक के अगले चरण को अगले महीने तक छोड़ सकते हैं


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico’s benchmark General Obligation bond fell in price on Friday in choppy trading after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation aimed at helping the U.S. territory fix its fiscal mess. The GO bond, carrying an 8 percent coupon and maturing in 2035, last traded at 64.74 points in price, pushing the yield to 13.05 percent from 12.73 percent on Thursday, according to data provided by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. According to the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Market Access database, about $21 million worth of bonds traded versus $14 million the day before. Late on Thursday the House passed the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act" (PROMESA), by a vote of 297-127, with the U.S. Senate expected to take up the bill quickly ahead of a $1.9 billion debt payment due July 1. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/1PjZvh5) Puerto Rico has a $70 billion debt load it says it cannot pay and a staggering 45 percent poverty rate. It faces steady migration of its residents to the mainland and a potential humanitarian crisis because it cannot sustain social services. PROMESA, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, would establish a powerful seven-member federal Oversight Board to navigate through the restructurings. Among other things, the board would have the authority to enforce balanced budgets. “It is definitely a step forward, a very good step forward. We think it was necessary. It doesn’t answer all your questions but at least it sets up a framework and does provide fiscal management and oversight which we think was necessary because the credibility of the government is pretty much shot,” said Joe Rosenblum, director of municipal credit research at AllianceBernstein in New York. “We don’t think at these prices we are ready to dip our toes back in and we haven’t seen a lot of trading activity out there, so I think we are in company,” Rosenblum said. PROMESA does not set out specific rules for restructuring, leaving such decisions to the control board to work through with creditors. This is a critical point for municipal bond market investors where long-standing rules set out a hierarchy among creditors, typically with GO bondholders considered senior to all others. “Regardless of how things get restructured today, the fact that the economy continues to shrink and the population continues to shrink is a problem for the credit going forward,” said Craig Brandon, co-director of municipal investments at Eaton Vance in Boston.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको जी. ओ. बांड की कीमत में गिरावट, बचाव विधेयक सीनेट में भेजा गया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Not only Russian President Vladimir Putin but many other Russian officials also have good relations with Exxon Mobil Corp’s Rex Tillerson, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has announced Tillerson as his choice for secretary of state. “He (Tillerson) has actively assisted business cooperation and is known to everyone”, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists. Asked whether Tillerson becoming secretary of state could help mend U.S.-Russian ties, Ushakov said: “We want to get out of the crisis state (of our relations), which does not satisfy neither the Russian nor the American side.”

Summary: कई रूसी अधिकारियों के टिलरसन के साथ अच्छे संबंध हैंः क्रेमलिन


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland should lower its  surprising  level of state control over the economy, particularly in the banking and energy sectors, and speed up privatizations, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development s president said on Tuesday. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which won the 2015 parliamentary election, has called a halt to privatizations and questioned the rationale and pricing of the previous centrist government s sales.  Instead, state-run financial firms and utilities have taken over some smaller rivals from foreign investors, helping the government increase the share of domestic capital in the banking and energy sectors.   It s quite surprising, given Poland s leadership in the whole transition race, that so much of the economy is still in state hands,  Suma Chakrabarti told Reuters during a visit to Warsaw.  Since Poland overthrew communism in 1989 and started its transition to a market economy, the number of companies controlled by the state has shrunk to several hundred from more than 8,000. But Chakrabarti said the PiS government, which argues the state can better serve Poland s economic interests than foreign corporations, should do more.  Poland has pockets of poverty and it s important for the state to act,  he said.  But, what I m not in general a supporter (of) ... is when states become ... the prime economic actor in major sectors.  There is at least one state-owned enterprise in 39 out of 43 sectors in Poland, and 12 of the 20 biggest listed companies are controlled by the state, representing 77 percent of (blue chip index) WIG20. That s quite high,  he said. Since PiS came to power, Polish insurer PZU and a state-fund PFR bought a 33-percent stake in bank Pekao from Italy s UniCredit, while Poland s biggest power firm PGE has offered to buy power assets owned by France s EDF.  The process of transition toward a more market economy is actually not as fast as it was in early days, in the 90s. That has slowed down. We would love to see more privatizations in Poland,  Chakrabarti said.  The EBRD has invested 8.6 billion euro ($10.28 billion) in Poland, mostly in the private sector, since the early 1990s. The EBRD head also warned that Poland s overhaul of the judiciary and the rule of law, which raised concerns in the European Commission, are an issue for investors. [nL5N1KK08Q] [nL8N1LH28P]  Every time one talks about the EU, Brexit is one thing people always mention but the other is obviously the issues about Poland,  Chakrabarti said.   Poland is still not achieving its ... potential. And policies matter ... I think Poland could achieve a higher level of private sector investment and foreign direct investment with the right policies , he said. The EBRD sees its investment in Poland falling to about 600-650 million euros this year from 776 million in 2016.  The bank will likely invest similar amounts in the coming years as the economy is growing, Chakrabarti said, but will narrow the financing to fewer areas. Rather than invest in renewable sources of energy, which are subject to a number of unexpected legal changes, it would help private companies tap foreign markets, the president said.   For many investors the more boring a country, the better. Poland is not boring and that is the problem,  Chakrabarti said.

Summary: ई. बी. आर. डी. ने पोलैंड से निजीकरण को पुनर्जीवित करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of former contestants on Donald Trump’s reality television show “The Apprentice” put their old boss in the hot seat on Friday, saying the U.S. Republican front-runner has widened racial divisions and should not be president. Trump’s one-time admirers, most from racial minorities, urged the New York billionaire to tamp down his divisive rhetoric as he campaigns to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov. 8 election. “We are all disappointed and in some ways shocked to see what is being spewed from Donald regarding his views on women, immigrants, and the list goes on,” said Randal Pinkett, winner of the 2005 fourth season of the reality television show. “We strongly condemn Donald’s campaign of sexism, xenophobia, racism, violence and hate,” he said at a news conference in Manhattan. Pinkett said Trump “is not worthy of the highest office of the land,” and said there had been glimpses of those attitudes in private conversations and time spent off-screen with Trump during the making of the TV show. Running for 14 seasons, “The Apprentice” gave Trump a national platform, and his often blunt and unfiltered style helped make the show a major hit. The show featured groups of business-minded contestants vying for a titular apprenticeship in Trump’s organization. At its peak, nearly 21 million people watched the show. Trump’s proposals to ban Muslims from entering the United States and to build a wall at the Mexican border have drawn criticism even within his party. His campaign has been accused of tacitly encouraging violence at  large and rowdy rallies where Trump supporters have at times clashed with protesters. On Friday evening, as protests broke out at a rally in Hartford, Connecticut, Trump belted out his usual response: “Get them out of here!” “I always say ‘don’t hurt that person, right?’” he said.  Pinkett told Reuters he had contacted former “apprentices” and said their effort was independent and timed to precede New York state’s crucial primary election on Tuesday. At the news conference, Pinkett was joined by former “Apprentice” contestants Tara Dowdell and Kwame Jackson; another former contestant, Marshawn Evans Daniels, participated via video link. Their efforts seemed unlikely to dent Trump’s comfortable advantage in New York opinion polls against Republican rivals Ohio Governor John Kasich and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Trump dismissed his former aspiring protégés on Friday as “failing wannabes out of hundreds of contestants.”  “How quickly they forget. Nobody would know who they are if it weren’t for me,” he said in a statement. “They just want to get back into the limelight like they had when they were with Trump. Total dishonesty and disloyalty.” Trump pulled ahead of Cruz and Kasich this week in the national Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. Among Republicans, 45 percent support Trump, compared with 29 percent for Cruz and 21 percent for Kasich.  On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are tied at 47 percent. The poll had a credibility interval of 4.6 percentage points. In an apparent bid to establish a more presidential footing,    Trump turned from his usual platform of Twitter to the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal to denounce the Republican National Committee over a nomination process he said was rigged. Friday’s piece, along with an endorsement by tabloid newspaper the New York Post, signaled a possible detente with media magnate Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp (NWSA.O) owns both newspapers. A News Corp spokesman declined to comment on the relationship between the two billionaires. Murdoch took to Twitter last year to denounce Trump’s comments that many illegal immigrants from Mexico were bringing crime to the United States, tweeting: “Trump wrong.” The Journal in July called Trump a “catastrophe” in a withering editorial. Trump on Wednesday met privately with Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly after a feud that had lasted months. Another Murdoch-controlled company, 21st Century Fox (FOXA.O), owns the channel.  NBC, the network that aired “The Apprentice,” cut ties with Trump last year after he described some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. Trump’s other well-known NBC venture, the Miss USA pageant and Miss Universe pageants, was also dropped from the line-up around that time.  Other “Apprentice” contestants have backed Trump, including actors Stephen Baldwin, Gary Busey and Lou Ferrigno, former basketball star Dennis Rodman and reality television star Jesse James. Pinkett, however, in remarks directed at Trump, said: “I am calling, we are calling, for you to do better.”

Summary: पूर्व टीवी 'प्रशिक्षुओं' ने व्हाइट हाउस में ट्रम्प की बोली की निंदा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. power sector’s shift toward burning less coal and using more natural gas and renewable energy will not be derailed by the Supreme Court ruling against the Obama administration’s limits on carbon emissions, state regulators and utilities said on Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 on Tuesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions crackdown on coal plants until a legal challenge is resolved.  Some states may now slow work on compliance with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. But some experts said they were confident the rule will survive the legal challenge when the D.C. circuit court makes a decision this summer.  “In a way we are really just postponing the inevitable,” said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center. Even in some of the 27 states that sued to block the rule, officials had been working on compliance plans.  Most states said they will continue to decarbonize their energy supply. Utilities across the country have already begun a major shift away from coal-fired electricity toward cleaner burning and cheaper natural gas and renewables like wind and solar. “We fully expect that many of these states will continue their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under their own legal authorities,” said Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.  States like California, Colorado and New York criticized the high court’s decision and vowed to pursue their plans to shift to cleaner energy regardless of the delay in the EPA rule. Meanwhile, states like Montana and North Dakota that joined in the lawsuit against the EPA welcomed the “breathing room” the stay provides. But even these opponents of the rule said they will keep diversifying their power supply. Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper said the state will keep working on compliance so it “is not left at a disadvantage if the courts uphold all or part of the Clean Power Plan.” Colorado challenged the EPA plan even though the governor supports it. The state’s Republican attorney general disagrees about the legality of the rule and its economic impact. Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, opposed the EPA rule. He said the state would put on hold the work of a group to devise compliance options, but added that it still needs “to address climate change and embrace Montana’s energy future.” He said: “I am committed to ensuring we do so on our own terms.”   For coal-producing North Dakota, which had one of the highest emission reduction targets to meet under the rule, regulators and utilities will keep working on ways to lower power plant emissions, said state health department chief Dave Glatt.  He said the EPA plan did not give the state “a sufficient amount of time to have reasonable solutions.” He pledged to “look at reasonable steps forward.” For most states, coal-fired electricity has been in decline. In 2015, generators shut over 15,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plants, the most in any year, as low gas prices drove down power costs. It became uneconomical to overhaul older coal plants even to meet existing federal clean air rules.  Ohio regulators said Wednesday they were not sure how the state will respond to the court decision, but the state’s major utilities are already shifting away from coal. American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N) will continue generating more power with natural gas and renewable energy since prices for those have dropped significantly, said spokeswoman Melissa McHenry. She added that the five-year extension of federal renewable energy tax credits has given AEP an incentive to bring more renewable energy into the mix. “It makes sense that we are sticking to our current plans, and will be positioned to respond to the courts’ ultimate decision on the future of the Clean Power Plan,” she said. Another Ohio utility, FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N), said it already retired a number of older coal plants in 2012. The court decision will have little impact. “The Supreme Court decision does not change the path we are on,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Young. “We think it is the right thing to do – this is a complicated issue and this decision will give the states the appropriate amount of time to develop their compliance plans.”

Summary: उच्च न्यायालय का उत्सर्जन निर्णय स्वच्छ ऊर्जा अभियान को नहीं रोकेगा


MOGALAKWENA, South Africa (Reuters) - A new power struggle is unfolding in South Africa s old homelands between global mining giants, traditional leaders and an impoverished rural populace. Parts of an industry long used to labor unrest are now contending with community protests that have cut production of the country s largest mineral export earner, platinum, and may shut some operations down altogether. At the heart of the conflict are tribal leaders who have royal titles and feudal-style control over the homelands, poor rural areas designated to South Africa s black majority by its former white minority rulers during apartheid. Tribal leaders are also key allies of President Jacob Zuma, whose political base has become increasingly rural, and his African National Congress party has drafted a law that would cement their control. But with protests spreading across the homelands, the communities, mining companies and some within the ANC itself are moving to change what they see as an anachronistic system. The traditional leaders have acted as intermediaries with companies which have discovered chrome and coal as well as platinum in the homelands and hope to find shale gas. Many locals say they are seeing none of the proceeds.  If they don t give us that 175 million rand ($13 million), we are going to shut down the mine,  said Chippa Langa, a leader of the community around the Mogalakwena platinum mine, referring to a community fund set up by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats). To avoid such an outcome, a leading human rights lawyer is negotiating with the local royal house to allow community representatives more control over the fund.   We are renegotiating the agreement to make it more accountable,  said the lawyer, Richard Spoor, whose work has included spearheading a class action suit against gold producers over the fatal lung disease silicosis which miners contract. It is a plan that, if copied elsewhere, would dilute the power of the tribal leaders and could do the same to the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. But Spoor says he and his legal team, who are acting for the communities rather than the mine, are not undermining tradition.  Our view is that this more democratic model is far more aligned with traditional law and custom. We don t regard the current very authoritarian top-down style of chieftanship as consistent with the traditional institution.  Zolani Mkiva, head of presidency at Contralesa, the umbrella group for South Africa s traditional leaders, agreed that the African way is bottom up, but said what he called isolated cases involving some mining deals were giving the chiefs a bad name.   They tend to attract attention and create an impression that this represents the African way of leadership,  he said. Chris Griffith, chief executive of Amplats, a unit of Anglo American, said the company was fully behind the restructuring of the community trust and was applying the lessons learned to other deals.  What we are trying to do is get away from some of the previous structures where we felt obliged to pay the money over to the Kgoshi (chief),  Griffiths told Reuters, noting a new-style deal on a chrome project in February. At that project, there have been no protests so far. Discontent has not been confined to Mogalakwena, the world s largest open-pit platinum mine, where Amplats says protests two years ago cost it 8,600 ounces of its annual 200,000-plus ounces of production. Impala Platinum s Marula mine says it lost 10,000 ounces of almost 80,000 ounces of production in the last financial year to community protests that included road blocks, vehicle stonings and assaults on people reporting for work. A nearby chrome project it set up with a tribal council - made up of a chief and his aides - has collapsed and Impala says it may soon have to close Marula, which would be the first such shutdown in South Africa linked purely to social upheaval. Falling platinum prices have multiplied the pressure. Implats CEO Nico Muller told Reuters the company would not change the structure itself but wanted the two sides to resolve their differences.  The way they apply the proceeds is perceived not to benefit the broader community,  he said. Around Mogalakwena, set amid rust-tinged rocky outcrops in sweltering latitudes north of Johannesburg, resentment over grinding poverty runs deep.  I never worked in the mine. I never got benefit, nothing,  said 57-year-old Leg Phalanea as he walked down a dusty street near the mine. The bill before parliament formalizes the current political system in the homelands with a clause allowing traditional councils to enter partnerships with any  body or institution . It says such deals  must be beneficial to the community represented by such council , but does not require consultation. However, Richard Mdakane, an ANC MP who chairs the parliamentary committee on traditional matters, said villagers should have more say.  We are amending many clauses that were there just to make sure that the bill allows community participation in these processes,  he said. Some in the ANC are seeking to go further by ending the chief s role as custodians of land now regarded as communal by giving villagers title deeds to the land they plough. ANC Treasurer Secretary Zweli Mkhize - seen as a contender to replace Zuma as party chief at a December conference where policy positions will also be adopted - told Reuters:  We are discussing this issue. There is a huge discussion about what kind of land tenure we need in the former homelands.    Tribal power is already ebbing in places such as Mogalakwena. Villagers there have agreed a new trust structure with four trustees: one from Amplats, one independent, and the other two from the royal Mapela clan, to replace a structure dominated by the tribal council. Former chief Kgabagare Langa, who has been ousted in a dispute, said he is challenging his removal in court. The new chief, or Kgoshi, Hans Langa, said he could not comment on the restructuring as his lawyers were working on it. Residents say they have received positive signals from the new chief s camp and Amplats  Griffith said the company was just waiting for him to settle in.  It s clear the new Kgoshi will want to see peace in Mapela,  said Jonathon Manamela, 53, treasurer of the Mapela Executive Committee, a community group involved in the talks.  Our culture believes you are a king because of the people.  ($1 = 13.5818 rand)

Summary: विरोध प्रदर्शनों ने दक्षिण अफ्रीका के प्लैटिनम बेल्ट पर आदिवासी अधिकार का परीक्षण किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s hardline rhetoric on immigration might not trigger the surge in Latino voter turnout for which many activists are hoping, according to a Pew Research Center survey released on Tuesday. About 89 percent of Latino registered voters who were surveyed said they planned to vote in the Nov. 8 election, down from 91 percent who said in October 2012 that they were planning to vote in that year’s election. The decrease was within the survey’s plus or minus 4.6 percent margin of error. The Pew report was based on a bilingual telephone survey of 1,507 Latino adults, including 804 registered voters, from Aug. 23 through Sept. 21.  In July 2008, four months before the presidential election that year, 94 percent of respondents said they planned to vote. According to previous Pew research, about 81.7 percent of Hispanic registered voters cast ballots in 2012, the year  Democratic President Barack Obama ran successfully against Republican Mitt Romney. That turnout was down from 84 percent in 2008, when Obama ran against Republican John McCain and won. The latest Pew survey found that Democrats continued to maintain an edge as the party “more concerned” for Latinos.  Hillary Clinton is relying on a coalition of minority voters to help her against Trump, who launched his presidential bid last year by calling some Mexican immigrants rapists and promising to build a wall to stop them entering the United States. Latinos, a growing segment of the U.S. electorate with rising influence in closely fought states like Florida and Nevada, tend to lean Democratic and favor Clinton heavily over Trump. According to the survey, some 58 percent support Clinton compared to 19 percent for Trump. Another 10 percent favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 6 percent prefer Green candidate Jill Stein.  Turnout among Latinos tends to run well below that of whites and African Americans, blunting their impact in political races.  A number of civic groups opposed to Trump have been working to ensure Latinos get to the polls.  Pew said that 27.3 million Latinos were eligible to vote. However, knowing how many of those people are registered is harder to measure because many states do not capture information such as race or ethnicity along with voter registration information.  In 2012 an estimated 11.2 million Latinos voted in the presidential election, according to Pew. In 2008 that figure was 9.7 million Latino voters. While one must be a U.S. citizen to cast a ballot in U.S.  elections, requirements for voter registration can vary by state.  Immigrants’ rights group America’s Voice, for example, launched a new Spanish language radio ad in Miami and Orlando for the next two weeks bashing Trump’s hardline immigration proposals, which include deporting all undocumented foreigners and making it harder for would-be immigrants to get visas. In Nevada, the Culinary Union, which is heavily Latino, is working to ensure its members get to the polls, helping them with logistics like finding their polling stations and arranging transport. “It could make the difference between a one point loss and a one point win,” said Yvanna Cancela, the union’s political director. Sergio Garcia-Rios, a professor of Latino studies at Cornell University, said Clinton could be missing an opportunity to drive voter turnout further by not engaging Latino voters enough on policy. “We can’t just rely on an anger reaction to Donald Trump,” he said. The challenge is “to create enthusiasm for Latinos to get out and vote.”

Summary: अमेरिकी लैटिनो वोट में वृद्धि राष्ट्रपति चुनाव में मायावी हो सकती हैः सर्वेक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comprehensive reform of the U.S. tax code is still likely to pass by the end of 2017 despite the government spending deal President Donald Trump struck with Democrats, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday.  In an interview with Fox Business Network, Mnuchin said he was not worried about the plan going off track because of either  Democrats, who won the surprise deal on Wednesday with the Republican president, or more conservative Republicans making their own demands.  “It’s still very viable to get it done this year,” Mnuchin said. “We have a path to get this done this year, and we’re still very hopeful that we can get it done,” he added, saying it was his and Trump’s top priority.  Asked whether he was concerned, however, that Democrats could use the funding deal struck Wednesday to make demands such as rejecting any tax cut for the wealthy or pushing for a cut for middle income earners, Mnuchin said no.  Instead, he said Wednesday’s deal “cleared the decks 90 days to have more room to focus on taxes. I think that was a big win,” adding that he expected some Democrats to back the final plan. Separately, Axios reported that the Freedom Caucus, a more conservative faction of House Republicans, is planning to unveil their own tax plan that would cut the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 16 percent.  It would also double the standard, abandon the idea of revenue neutrality and push some kind of welfare reform, Axios said, citing people familiar with the matter. Asked about the report, Mnuchin told Fox Business Network: “I’m not worried about any GOP revolt at all,” adding that lawmakers could push their ideas with leadership as part of a regular legislative process. Mnuchin did not give any more details about the administration’s tax proposal. On Wednesday, Trump said he would offer more details about his tax reform plan in about two weeks.

Summary: म्नुचिन का कहना है कि 2017 के लिए कर सुधार अभी भी दृष्टि में है


AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan has begun consultations on convening an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation before an expected move this week by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, a senior Jordanian source said.   A senior U.S. administration official said on Friday that Trump was likely to make the controversial declaration in a speech on Wednesday. Recognizing Jerusalem would upend decades of American policy and possibly inflame tensions in the Middle East. Jordan, the current president of the Arab summit, would invite members of the two bodies to convene if the recognition is extended, to  discuss ways of dealing with the consequences of such a decision that raised alarm and concern , the senior Jordanian diplomatic source told Reuters.  It could ultimately hamper all efforts to get the peace process moving and would certainly be provocative to Arab and Muslim countries and Muslim communities across the West,  said the source, asking not to be named.  No issue can move Arabs and Muslims in the same potent way as Jerusalem does.       King Abdullah s Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Amman sensitive to any changes of status of the disputed city. Officials are worried the move could trigger violence in the Palestinian territories and a spillover into Jordan, a country where many people are descendants of Palestinian refugees whose families left after the creation of Israel in 1948.  A tremendous wave of anger will spread across the Arab and Muslim world,  said another regional diplomatic source in touch with U.S. officials on the issue. Tensions in Jerusalem s Al Aqsa compound, the third holiest site in Islam, earlier this year provoked days of unrest.  Word of Trump s planned announcement, which would deviate from the line taken by previous U.S. presidents who insisted Jerusalem s status must be decided in negotiations, drew criticism from the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the international community does not recognize Israel s claim on all of the city, home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions.     Jordan lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank to Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and says the city s fate should only be decided only at the end of a final settlement.   King Abdullah warned of the repercussions of Trump s expected move in talks this week in Washington with top administration officials.  Trump suggested earlier this year he was open to new ways to achieve Middle East peace that did not necessarily entail the creation of a Palestinian state, a hallmark of U.S. policy for decades.  If it happens (recognition of Jerusalem) it will jeopardize all efforts towards stability and peace in the region and thwart a resolution of the conflict,  the regional diplomatic source said.

Summary: जेरूसलम पर ट्रंप के कदम से पहले जॉर्डन ने राजनयिक हमला शुरू किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel examining alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election removed a top FBI investigator from his team for exchanging text messages with a colleague that expressed anti-Trump views, two U.S. newspapers reported on Saturday. The New York Times and the Washington Post identified the investigator as FBI agent Peter Strzok, the deputy head of FBI counter-intelligence. He was reassigned last summer to the FBI’s human resources department after the Justice Department’s inspector general began looking into the text messages, the papers said, quoting several unidentified people familiar with the matter. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the reports Strzok was transferred to the human resources department over the politically charged text messages. Strzok played a key role in the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, the papers said.  During that probe and the 2016 presidential election, Strzok and an FBI colleague exchanged texts that disparaged then-Republican candidate Donald Trump and favored Clinton, his Democratic rival, the Washington Post said. The newspapers did not disclose details of the text messages. Reuters was unable to reach Strzok for comment. The New York Times said that a lawyer for Strzok declined to comment, while the Washington Post said it repeatedly sought comment from Strzok, but received no response.  Mueller’s office confirmed Strzok’s removal, but did not elaborate on the cause. “Immediately upon learning of the allegations, the Special Counsel’s Office removed Peter Strzok from the investigation,” spokesman Peter Carr said. In apparent reference to the case, the Justice Department inspector general’s office said in a statement on Saturday that it was “reviewing allegations involving communications between certain individuals.” The matter came up during a review that the Justice Department launched into the FBI’s decision to announce an inquiry into Clinton’s emails shortly before the November presidential election. The statement provided no further details and it did not mention any individuals by name. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for further comment. The FBI was not immediately available for comment.  According to the newspapers, federal law enforcement officials became concerned that Trump and his supporters could use the exposure of the text messages to attack the credibility of Mueller’s investigation. Mueller, a former FBI director, is looking into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, which ran an influence operation aimed at swinging the vote to Trump over Clinton, according to three U.S. intelligence agencies. Trump has criticized the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, initially citing it as his reason for firing former FBI director James Comey on May 9. Some lawmakers have called for Mueller to resign.

Summary: मुलर ने रूस की जांच से एफ़. बी. आई. एजेंट को हटायाः रिपोर्ट


(Reuters) - Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson signaled on Wednesday he was quitting the Republican presidential race, leaving three candidates facing Donald Trump as the party establishment struggled to find a way to halt the outspoken businessman. Carson, a conservative who briefly led opinion polls among Republicans earlier in the campaign, said he did not “see a political path forward” after performing poorly in this week’s Super Tuesday nominating contests. He said he would not participate in a Republican debate on Thursday. Despite a push by some mainstream Republicans to try to block Trump from winning the nomination, the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers will not deploy their $400 million political arsenal to attack him in the presidential primary campaign.        As a conservative black Republican, Carson, 64, stood out in the mostly white Republican Party, but his campaign foundered amid staff infighting and questions about Carson’s familiarity with foreign policy. His departure is unlikely to have a major impact on the fight among Republicans to become the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Reuters/Ipsos polling last month showed Carson supporters would mostly likely be split if he dropped out between Trump and U.S. Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.  Trump consolidated his lead in the Republican race with a string of victories on Tuesday that moved him closer to    becoming the nominee. The 69-year-old New York real estate tycoon won seven states from Massachusetts to the conservative Deep South. His victories compounded the problem for a party whose leaders are critical of many of Trump’s positions and values and skeptical he can defeat the likely Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump has showered insults on rivals and is facing strong party disapproval over his ideas to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. The 2012 Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, plans to deliver a rebuke of Trump on Thursday in a speech in Utah, sources familiar with his thinking said. It will be a high-profile display of establishment Republican unease. Romney’s speech comes on the same day that Trump and his  remaining rivals, Rubio, Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich share a debate stage in Detroit, hosted by Fox News. The Koch brothers, the most powerful conservative mega donors in the United States, “have no plans to get involved” in the Republican primary process, James Davis, spokesman for Freedom Partners, the brothers’ political umbrella group, told Reuters.         Donors and media reports have speculated that the brothers would launch a “Trump Intervention,” a strategy that would involve deploying the Kochs’ vast political network to target Trump in hopes of removing him from the race.   Trump has reached out to House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the most senior Republican in Congress. The Trump campaign contacted Ryan’s office late on Monday, a day before the speaker publicly admonished Trump over his failure to repudiate the backing of his candidacy by a white supremacist group. Trump responded with a warning to Ryan.     Among Trump’s rivals, Cruz, 45, won three states on Tuesday, bolstering the conservative senator’s argument that he has the best chance of stopping former reality TV star Trump. The Republican establishment’s favored 2016 candidate, Rubio, only won one Super Tuesday state, taking Minnesota. Anti-Trump Republicans have yet to coalesce around a single strategy to halt him, but the conservative group Club for Growth claimed credit for slowing Trump in some primary states by running attack ads. It said it would air a new advertisement in Florida as part of a $1.5 million ad buy. Some party donors - including hedge-fund manager Paul Singer and Meg Whitman, the Hewlett-Packard Enterprise chief executive - organized a phone call on Tuesday to get funding for an anti-Trump effort, The New York Times reported.  But one of Trump’s former rivals in the 2016 race, Mike Huckabee, admonished Republicans for not respecting the will of the voters. “The establishment Republicans are all bed-wetting over this and they don’t seem to understand that we have an election,” the former Arkansas governor said on Fox News. “Let’s remember that we have an election process, not a selection process.” Trump responded to the furor against him, saying in a tweet on Wednesday: “The special interests and people who control our politicians (puppets) are spending $25 million on misleading and fraudulent T.V. ads on me.” Trump later unveiled proposals for reforming U.S. healthcare that included repealing Obamacare, allowing prescription drugs to be imported, and turning the Medicaid program for the poor into block grants to states. Democrats pounced on the Republican campaign infighting.     Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called Trump a “monster” the Republicans spawned with their years of rancorous opposition to all major Obama administration initiatives. “Republicans created him by spending seven years appealing to some of the darkest forces in America,” Reid said on the Senate floor. In the Democratic race, Clinton, 68, took big steps on Tuesday toward securing her party’s nomination, the 2016 campaign’s biggest day of state-by-state nominating contests. Clinton’s rival, U.S Senator Bernie Sanders, 74, won his home state of Vermont along with Colorado, Minnesota and Oklahoma.        (Reporting by John Whitesides in Washington and Steve Holland in Detroit; Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, Richard Cowan, Doina Chiacu, Megan Cassella and Eric Walsh in Washington and Michelle Conlin in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu and Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: कार्सन ने पद छोड़ने के संकेत दिए, अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन ने ट्रम्प की जीत के साथ संघर्ष किया


ISTANBUL(Reuters) - Turkey s parliament has approved the government s 2018 budget, which includes increased spending on defense and projects a rise in the fiscal deficit to 65.9 billion lira ($17.28 billion). The 2018 budget, approved by parliament late on Friday, introduces changes in tax regulations, such as tax increases for companies and motor vehicles, to help pay for increased security. In 2017, Turkey s budget is expected to show a deficit of 61.7 billion lira, more than twice the 2016 budget deficit of around 30 billion lira. Turkey s 2018 budget also projects tax income of 599.4 billion lira, up some 15 percent from estimates for 2017, and a 5.8 billion lira primary surplus. Over the past two years, Turkey s current account deficit has widened due to increasing government incentives to boost the economy and defense spending. Next year s budget deficit to gross domestic product ratio is expected to be 1.9 percent. The government says the additional defense spending is urgently needed to modernize the military, the second-largest in the NATO alliance, and meet the costs of domestic and foreign security operations. Turkey s economy has rebounded from a downturn that followed an attempted coup last year, helped by a series of government stimulus measures. GDP grew 11.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, its fastest expansion in six years, according to official data.

Summary: तुर्की की संसद ने 2018 के बजट को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire Wilbur Ross, chosen by Donald Trump to help implement the president-elect’s trade agenda, earned his fortune in part by running businesses that have offshored thousands of U.S. jobs, according to Labor Department data attained by Reuters. As a high-stakes investor a decade ago, Ross specialized in turning around troubled manufacturing companies at a time when the U.S. economy was losing more than 100,000 jobs yearly due to global trade. A Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to become commerce secretary is set for Wednesday. Supporters say Ross saved thousands of U.S. jobs by rescuing firms from failure. Data attained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that rescue effort came at a price: textile, finance and auto-parts companies controlled by the private-equity titan eliminated about 2,700 U.S. positions since 2004 because they shipped production to other countries, according to a Labor Department program that assists workers who lose their jobs due to global trade. [For a graphic click tmsnrt.rs/2iYIJWa]  The figures, which have not previously been disclosed, amount to a small fraction of the U.S. economy, which sees employment fluctuate by the tens of thousands of jobs each month. But Ross’s track record clashes with Trump’s promise to protect American workers from the ravages of global trade.  Recently, Trump claimed credit for saving 800 jobs at a Carrier Corp. factory in Indiana, even touring the plant to shake hands with employees. He has targeted Ford Motor Co (F.N) and other automakers to keep hundreds of jobs inside the U.S. borders.  That disconnect could draw attention at his hearing, one of many scheduled this week for Cabinet nominees ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. “He is not the man to be protecting American workers when he’s shipping this stuff overseas himself,” said Don Coy, who lost his job at the end of 2016 when a company Ross created - International Automotive Components Group - closed a factory in Canton, Ohio and shifted production of rubber floor mats to Mexico, eliminating the final 16 jobs in a factory that once employed 450 workers. Ross resigned from the IAC board of directors in November 2014 and was named chairman emeritus. Ross did not respond to several requests for comment. His offshoring activities are not unusual in an era when globalization has lowered international trade barriers. Auto-parts maker Delphi Corp., for example, has offshored 11,700 U.S. jobs since 2004, while textile makers have offshored at least 17,000 jobs since then, the Labor Department said. As IAC shuttered its Canton plant in the final months of 2016, Ross argued on behalf of Trump that free-trade agreements hurt the United States.  “When Ford offshores new production facilities to Mexico, that both boosts the Mexican economy and reduces investment in this country,” he wrote in September in a Washington Post opinion piece penned with Peter Navarro, another Trump economic adviser who has been tapped to direct a White House trade council.  In a bid to reverse offshoring, Trump has threatened to impose “a big border tax” on automakers that choose to build cars in Mexico rather than the United States and has talked of resetting free-trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A Trump transition spokesperson said personnel decisions at Ross’s auto-parts and textile companies were driven by the need to put operations near customers and keep U.S. plants competitive, echoing arguments made by other auto industry executives who face pressure from Trump.  “Few people have done as much to defend American jobs and negotiate good deals for American workers as Wilbur Ross,” said the spokesperson, who asked not to be named. The offshoring figures for Ross’s companies came from the Labor Department’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which provides retraining benefits to some workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing or cheap imports. The program does not cover everybody who is hurt by global trade: service-sector workers were not eligible until 2009, and those who don’t apply for the program don’t show up in its records.  Only 1.6 million factory workers qualified for TAA benefits between 2001 and 2010, a time when the United States shed 6 million manufacturing jobs.  Despite Trump's campaign rhetoric about countries like Mexico and China taking U.S. jobs, the TAA figures show globalization has claimed fewer jobs in recent years. The program covered roughly 80,000 workers last year, down from about 340,000 in 2009. [For a graphic, click tmsnrt.rs/2iYGJgR] Ross amassed a fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine at $2.5 billion, by buying up companies in struggling industries and returning them to profitability. Labor leaders such as United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard have said that Ross over the years saved thousands of manufacturing jobs. In one case, Ross bought two struggling North Carolina fabric makers out of bankruptcy to create International Textile Group (ITG) in 2004, as textile import quotas were being phased out. Between 2005 and 2011, the company laid off 1,268 U.S. workers as it set up operations in Mexico, China and Nicaragua, TAA records show. ITG CEO Ken Kunenberger told Reuters that those job reductions were primarily due to competition from cheap imports. ITG now operates six U.S. plants, down from nine in 2007, according to its annual reports. Ross sold the company in October for an undisclosed sum. Ross also created International Automotive Components Group in 2007 to buy up auto-parts makers around the world as the industry struggled with overcapacity and slowing sales. TAA filings show IAC eliminated 853 U.S. jobs because it shifted work from the United States to Mexico.  “We tried every trick in the book to get them to stay but they just weren’t interested,” said Tim Scott, who served on the city council in Carlisle, Pennsylvania when IAC decided to close its plant there in 2009, shifting work to Mexico and Tennessee.  An IAC spokesperson said the company has expanded in Mexico to be near the automakers that buy its parts, a common business strategy in the sector. IAC has expanded its workforce in Mexico and Canada by 42 percent to 8,500 since 2008, and by 10 percent in the United States to 11,000 over the same period, spokesman David Ladd said.  In another venture, Ross combined several mortgage lenders into Homeward Residential Holdings Inc. in 2007, just as the housing market was collapsing.  Homeward laid off 596 employees in Florida and Texas and shifted their work to India in 2012, according to TAA filings. That was a sizeable portion of the company’s global workforce, which it pegged at 2,800 a few months after the layoffs were announced.  Ross sold Homeward in October 2012 for $750 million, which delivered a further return on top of $900 million in profits the company had already generated.  “Homeward has been profitable in each year of its existence,” he said in a press release.

Summary: विल्बर रॉस, ट्रम्प के वाणिज्य चयन, 2004 से 2,700 नौकरियों की पेशकश की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump fired back at British Prime Minister Theresa May over her criticism of his retweeting of anti-Muslim videos, saying she should focus on terrorism in Britain. “Theresa @theresamay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine,” Trump tweeted. The Twitter handle Trump included in his tweet was not that of the British leader.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने ब्रिटेन के मई पर पलटवार कियाः 'मुझ पर ध्यान केंद्रित न करें'


BERLIN (Reuters) - More emphasis should be placed on the Holocaust in integration courses for migrants, Germany s justice minister said, reflecting heightened unease among leading politicians about a spate of anti-Semitic acts including Israeli flag burnings. More than a million migrants have arrived in Germany in the last three years, many of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East, causing concern that anti-Semitism could increase. German police have reported protesters setting Israeli flags ablaze and using anti-Semitic slogans in Berlin and other cities in demonstrations against U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. In a piece for weekly magazine Der Spiegel, Justice Minister Heiko Maas wrote that the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed six million Jews, and its significance needed to become an even more important part of integration courses and migrants should be tested on it in the examination at the end of their course.  The lessons from the Holocaust need to be one of the guiding ideas in those lessons and not just some chapter of German history,  he said.  Racism has no place in Germany, so everyone who wants to stay in Germany for the long term needs to be clear that we fight the Neonazis  anti-Semitism and we won t tolerate any imported anti-Semitism from immigrants either,  Maas added. Jens Spahn, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU), told Der Spiegel he thought immigration from Muslim countries was one of the causes of recent anti-Semitic demonstrations in Berlin. Spahn said incidents in recent days  were related to immigration from a culture in which people are not prissy about how they deal with Jews and homosexuals . Speaking at an event marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday Germany needed to remember its historical responsibility, including the lessons of two world wars, the Holocaust, ensuring Israel s security and rejecting any form of racism and anti-Semitism.  There s no end to this responsibility for people born afterwards and no exceptions for immigrants,  he said, adding that those who burned Israeli flags did not understand or respect what it meant to be German. In an interview with the Funke newspaper consortium, Israel s ambassador in Berlin Jeremy Issacharoff called for a ban on burning flags.  Anyone who burns flags questions Israel s right to exist,  he said. Stephan Kramer, the head of a state intelligence agency in the eastern region of Thuringia, warned in Der Spiegel that anti-Semitism was becoming  ever more uninhibited  and many Jews were too scared to identify themselves as such.

Summary: होलोकॉस्ट प्रवासी पाठ्यक्रमों का बड़ा हिस्सा होना चाहिएः जर्मन मंत्री


FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May set out a plan on Friday to retain full access to the EU s single market for two years after Brexit to try to reassure business and reset the tone of stalled negotiations with Brussels. But her proposals for such a transition, for meeting Britain s financial obligations and for protecting EU citizens  rights fell short of what the EU wanted.  EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier praised the speech for its  constructive spirit  but asked for more detail. Another official said it had left him  even more concerned . In a speech at a 14th-century church in Florence, Italy, May appealed directly to EU leaders to unlock the talks, which have stalled over a series of issues, including the size of the bill Britain should pay as part of its divorce settlement. She spent much of her 30-minute speech describing the similarities between Britain and the EU, saying that if the complicated talks to unravel more than 40 years of union should fail, the only beneficiaries would be those who oppose democracy, liberalism and free trade. Sterling fell against both the dollar GBP= and the euro EURGBP= during May's speech, weakening by more than half a cent against the U.S. currency. Late on Friday ratings agency Moody s downgraded its assessment of Britain s creditworthiness, saying Brexit was damaging the country s medium-term growth prospects. The government said Moody s view was  outdated  and did not consider May s most recent comments.  Clearly people, businesses and public services should only have to plan for one set of changes in the relationship between the UK and the EU,  May told an audience of Italian business leaders and diplomats.  So during the implementation period, access to one another s markets should continue on current terms, and Britain also should continue to take part in existing security measures.  Britain wants to move the talks forward and start addressing how a future relationship with the EU would work, a move May s government says is vital if they want to find agreement on the divorce bill. But the EU has stood firm, refusing to discuss trading arrangements until  sufficient progress  is made on the first three issues - the financial settlement, the land border with EU member Ireland and the protection of expatriates  rights. Beyond her vision for a transition, involving around two years of trading on the same terms, but no payments for access to the EU single market, May pledged to protect EU citizens  rights in Britain after Brexit, saying that decisions by the European Court of Justice would be taken into account by British courts. On the financial settlement, she also said Britain would  honor commitments we have made during the period of our membership .   I do not want our partners to fear that they will need to pay more or receive less over the remainder of the current budget plan as a result of our decision to leave,  she said. May has long said Britain will honor its financial obligations, but she did not mention the 20 billion euro figure reported in local media in the days running up to the speech.  She said little on Ireland, beyond noting that no one wanted a return to a  hard border  with British-ruled Northern Ireland that could reignite tensions on the island. Barnier said her words showed  a willingness to move forward, as time is of the essence , but that they needed to be  translated into a precise negotiating position of the UK government . But the head of the European Parliament s biggest group, the center-right European People s Party, Manfred Weber, said May s speech had brought no more clarity.  I am even more concerned now,  he added. British opposition lawmakers were not impressed, with the Labour Party saying the government was  no clearer about what our long-term relationship with the EU will look like.   Trade union leader Frances O Grady said the prime minister was pretending that  we can have our cake and eat it,  while a business lobby, the British Chambers of Commerce, underlined its desire to  get trade talks moving . It was never going to be an easy speech, with May struggling to appeal simultaneously to the EU, to business and to the supporters of Brexit in her own party who want to hold her to her pledge of a clean break with the bloc.  It s clear that we re out,  one senior Conservative source said, adding that he was pleased to hear May agree that no deal was better than a bad deal. The speech comes at the start of a crucial week for Europe.  On Sunday, German voters are expected to return conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel to power but also vault euroskeptic parties into parliament, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose nationalist, anti-immigrant ideas echo those of Britain s UKIP party, a driving force behind Brexit.  Two days later, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to flesh out his ideas for a  relaunch  of the EU and euro zone, underscoring the bloc s determination to press ahead with a closer union that excludes the UK. Britain and the EU do agree on one thing: The clock is ticking, with Barnier saying there is only a year left to find an agreement to give Britain a controlled exit. May s ill-fated decision to have an election in June not only used up time but also sapped her authority and gave a stronger hand to pro-Brexit lawmakers who want a total break with the bloc and to reduce any divorce bill to zero. May s top team of ministers put on a show of unity in Florence - with foreign minister Boris Johnson, one of Britain s most prominent hardline Brexit politicians and a one-time leadership contender, sitting in the front row.  I think what was so uplifting about this speech was it was positive; it was confident about what Britain can do but also about our relations with the rest of the EU,  Johnson said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन की मई ने ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता को खोलने के लिए बोली में संक्रमण योजना निर्धारित की


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is concerned that violent clashes could erupt in the Middle East following reports that U.S. President Donald Trump would recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital, its Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. France s Foreign Ministry also warned on its website that demonstrations were expected and that its nationals should avoid them and any large crowds in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. In an update of its travel advice for Israel and the Palestinian territories, the German ministry in Berlin said:  From December 6, 2017, there may be demonstrations in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Violent clashes can not be ruled out.  It advised its travellers in Jerusalem to closely monitor the situation via local media and avoid the affected areas. Senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital on Wednesday and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to the city.

Summary: अमेरिका की योजनाबद्ध मान्यता के बीच जर्मनी, फ्रांस ने येरुशलम में नागरिकों को चेतावनी दी


KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani sacked the chairman of the country s Independent Election Commission on Wednesday, raising doubts over whether parliamentary and council ballots scheduled for next year will take place as planned. Najibullah Ahmadzai, head of the body charged with organizing the elections, had faced growing pressure following repeated delays to preparations for them and had lost the support of both Ghani and disillusioned foreign donors. The 2018 votes are seen as dry runs for a presidential election in 2019 and a key test of the progress made by Afghanistan s Western-backed government towards establishing durable democratic institutions. Following a contentious presidential election in 2014, marred by allegations of massive voter fraud on both sides, international donor countries have laid heavy emphasis on the need for successful elections next year. But planning has been beset by a mix of technical and political problems that have made the officially scheduled date of July 2018 increasingly unrealistic. Five members of the seven-member IEC wrote to Ghani this week accusing Ahmadzai of was incompetence. Ambitious plans for a biometric voter registration system had to be abandoned and squabbling between members of parliament and Ghani s fragile National Unity Government over issues including who sits on the election commission have caused months of delay. The problems underline the fragility of the political institutions created in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led campaign brought down the Taliban in 2001. The bitter 2014 presidential election produced no agreed winner and led to a U.S.-brokered deal which saw former rivals Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah forced into an uneasy coalition that has struggled to win popular support. District council elections have never been held, despite being mandated in the 2004 constitution, while the current parliament s term was supposed to end in June 2015 but has been extended due to the difficulty of holding new elections. Last month, officials from international partners including the United Nations told the Afghan government that even under the most favorable conditions, the earliest date on which an election could feasibly be held was Oct. 2018.  Many Western diplomats believe even that date is impossible. If not ready by October, Afghanistan s mountainous terrain, bad roads and lack of security mean that registering voters and setting up balloting stations across the country are likely to face severe delays over the winter months, potentially pushing the date into the following year.

Summary: अफगान चुनाव निकाय के प्रमुख को बर्खास्त किया गया, 2018 के मतपत्रों पर संदेह पैदा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said Republican Donald Trump’s gun rights comment incites violence and said he does not have the temperament to be president.  “Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States,” she said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, a day after Trump’s remarks.

Summary: क्लिंटन का कहना है कि ट्रम्प की बंदूक अधिकार टिप्पणी हिंसा को उकसाती है


LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Border controls inside what should normally be Europe s cherished zone of free travel are here to stay for now, EU ministers said on Friday, citing continued terrorist threats and the need to control migration. Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Norway told their Schengen zone peers they will extend until mid-May internal frontier checks first put in place in 2015 to counter unprecedented levels of migration and Islamist attacks. At a meeting of European Union interior ministers in Luxembourg, Germany s Thomas de Maiziere said Berlin was still committed to freedom of movement,  but at the moment we cannot do without checks.   The reason is the tense security situation in Europe with regards to international terrorism and the still inadequate protection of our external borders,  he said. France, which imposed emergency border controls after Islamist attackers killed 130 people in Paris in November, 2015, also wants to keep them in place.  The issues around terrorism are still extremely important for us,  French Interior Minister Gerard Colomb said.  France wants to extend border controls by six months.  The other four countries announced the same move, citing  serious threat to public policy or internal security  before the authorization to impose the border checks expires next month. Nearly all EU states consider the free-travel Schengen area as a major benefit of decades of European integration, and are keen to avoid disruptions to travel and trade.   But border checks have become the new reality over the last two years and the bloc is working on changing its laws to allow for the introduction of such measures more easily and for longer periods.

Summary: यूरोप में हमलों, प्रवास से तंग आकर सीमा जांच जारी रहेगी


ATHENS (Reuters) - Two gunmen fired a round of shots at the headquarters of Greece s socialist Pasok party in central Athens on Monday,  causing no injuries but slightly damaging a nearby clothing store, police said. The shots were fired about an hour before a televised debate among candidates to lead the broader socialist alliance.  There were about 30 people inside the party s headquarters when at least four shots were fired. Two men were seen leaving the scene on a motorbike,  a police official said. A police officer on duty had seen an assailant pointing a gun at him but managed to take cover, the official said, suggesting the gunmen were not targeting the party but the police outside. Pasok has often been the target of violent attacks in the past and its current leader Fofi Gennimata blamed the government for not taking action to prevent this.  We have repeatedly been the target of attacks,  Gennimata told Skai TV.  We have repeatedly warned the citizens protection minister in the past.  In January attackers shot at riot police guarding the Pasok offices, slightly wounding one officer. The leftist-led government condemned the attack.

Summary: बंदूकधारियों ने ग्रीस के समाजवादी पार्टी के मुख्यालय पर गोलियां चलाईं


RICHMOND, VA. (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday heard Virginia Democrats’ challenge to a Republican-backed state law requiring prospective voters to show approved photo identification before casting ballots. The three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly questioned attorneys about similarities between Virginia’s 2013 statute and North Carolina’s photo ID law. The appeals court struck down the North Carolina law in July, ruling that it intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The Virginia Democratic Party wants the law overturned, contending the measure was intended to counter its growing political clout in the state. Republicans say it was aimed at combating voter fraud. Judge Dennis Shedd asked attorney Bruce Spiva, who  represented opponents of the law: “Was it as egregious as North Carolina’s [law] was as seen by the court?” “Yes, your honor,” said Spiva. “Was the motive in Virginia as bad if not worse?” Shedd asked, referring to the intent of racism found by the court in North Carolina’s law. “As bad, your honor,” Spiva said. He added that the law was especially burdensome for minorities and young people, who tend to vote Democratic. Mark Hearne, who defended the state measure, said the Virginia photo ID law was different from North Carolina’s. Among other factors, Hearne said, there had been “no evidence of discriminatory intent” as the court found in the North Carolina case. The appeal ahead of the Nov. 8 elections is among several legal challenges around the United States to voter identification laws that were driven by Republicans, who argue that they prevent election fraud. The appeals panel did not say when it might rule. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in May had upheld the law passed by the Republican-led legislature and signed by then-Governor Robert McDonnell, also a Republican. He said the “inconvenience” to potential voters was not enough to merit striking it down. Democrats have made gains in the state, once a Republican stronghold. President Barack Obama won the state in 2008, boosted by turnout among black, Latino and young voters, and again in 2012. Virginia’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and both U.S. senators are Democrats. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also leads Republican opponent Donald Trump in Virginia opinion polls. In the North Carolina case, the U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected a request by the state that the restrictions be reinstated for the Nov. 8 election.

Summary: अमेरिकी अपील अदालत ने वर्जीनिया के मतदाता पहचान पत्र कानून पर दलीलें सुनीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has certified that the Honduran government has been fighting corruption and supporting human rights, clearing the way for Honduras to receive millions of dollars in U.S. aid, a document seen by Reuters showed. The document, dated Nov. 28, which was seen by Reuters on Monday, showed that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson certified Honduras for the assistance, two days after a controversial presidential election that has been claimed by an ally of Washington. Honduras has faced violent protests over the disputed results of the election, which has still not produced a clear winner over a week after the vote ended. The decision to issue the certification prompted concern from some congressional Democrats that Republican President Donald Trump s administration could be seen to be taking sides.  What kind of message does that send?  one congressional aide asked. State Department officials did not have an immediate response when questioned about the timing of the certification.  Honduras is required to fulfill about a dozen requirements in order to receive its share of $644 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress under a program to assist Central American governments. Among those requirements are combating corruption - including investigating and prosecuting current and former government officials alleged to be corrupt - and protecting the rights of political opposition parties. Honduras struggles with violent drug gangs, one of the world s highest murder rates and endemic poverty. In recent years, many Hondurans - including children - have attempted to migrate to the United States. In hopes of stemming this migration, former President Barack Obama s administration in 2015 came up with a plan that included sending hundreds of millions of dollars in additional aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Congress agreed to provide the money, if the governments were found to be taking steps to fight crime and corruption. A preliminary ballot count in Honduras on Monday pointed to a narrow victory for President Juan Orlando Hernandez over opposition challenger Salvador Nasralla, although the electoral tribunal has not declared a winner. Early last week, Nasralla, a former sportscaster and game show host, appeared set for an upset victory over Hernandez. The counting process suddenly halted for more than a day and began leaning in favor of Hernandez after resuming. Opposition leaders said they wanted a recount and have accused the government of stealing the election. Hernandez, 49, implemented a military-led crackdown on gang violence after taking office in 2014. He has been supported by Trump s chief of staff, John Kelly.  Nasralla, 64, is one of Honduras  best-known faces and is backed by former President Manuel Zelaya, a leftist ousted in a coup in 2009.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः अमेरिकी दस्तावेज़ ने वोट संकट के बीच होंडुरास को समर्थन अधिकारों के रूप में प्रमाणित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he accepted the U.S. intelligence assessment that the “highest level” of the Russian government was responsible for cyber attacks during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Asked during a news conference if he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, Kerry said: “I accept the judgment of the intelligence community that this went to the highest level” of the Russian government.

Summary: केरी का कहना है कि वह रूसी हैकिंग पर अमेरिकी खुफिया मूल्यांकन को स्वीकार करते हैं


SEOUL (Reuters) - China has resumed its ban on group tours into South Korea, South Korea s inbound travel agency said on Wednesday, an issue that erupted last year as part of China s retaliation over the South s deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system.  I was told from my boss this morning that our Chinese partners (based in Beijing and Shandong) said they won t send group tourists to South Korea as of January,  the official from Naeil Tour Agency told Reuters by phone. The move was probably due to visa refusals by Chinese authorities, the official said. The move came despite South Korean President Moon Jae-in s recent visit to China, which showed some signs of a thaw in relations since the row over the anti-missile system broke out last year.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरियाई इनबाउंड ट्रैवल एजेंसी का कहना है कि चीन ने दक्षिण की सामूहिक यात्राओं पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday called James Comey, the FBI chief he fired, a “showboat” and “grandstander” and said in a NBC-TV interview he would have dismissed him even if officials at the Justice Department had not recommended it. “He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander. The FBI has been in turmoil,” Trump told NBC in his first interview since his abrupt firing on Tuesday of Comey, who was leading an investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow. “I was going to fire Comey. My decision,” Trump said. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. प्रमुख को बर्खास्त करने का 'अपना फैसला' बताते हुए ट्रंप ने उन्हें 'शोबोट' कहाः एन. बी. सी. साक्षात्कार


TOKYO/YANGON (Reuters) - The arrest of two Reuters journalists in Yangon this week was a signal that press freedom is shrinking in Myanmar and the international community must do all it can to get them released, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday. Guterres said his main concern over Myanmar was the  dramatic violations of human rights  during a military crackdown in Rakhine State that forced more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country for southern Bangladesh, and the arrest of the journalists was probably related.  It is clearly a concern in relation to the erosion of press freedom in the country,  he told a news conference in Tokyo, referring to the detention of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who had been working on stories about the strife in Rakhine State.  And probably the reason why these journalists were arrested is because they were reporting on what they have seen in relation to this massive human tragedy,  he added. Myanmar s Ministry of Information said in a statement on Wednesday that the Reuters journalists and two policemen faced charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The 1923 law carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. The reporters  illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media , the ministry said in its statement, which was accompanied by a photo of the two reporters in handcuffs. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say their exodus from the mainly Buddhist nation was triggered by a military offensive in response to Rohingya militant attacks on security forces at the end of August. The United Nations has branded the military s campaign in Rakhine State  a textbook example of ethnic cleansing  of the minority Rohingya. Guterres said the international community should do everything possible to secure the journalists  release and freedom of the press in Myanmar. He called for aid to be delivered, violence contained and reconciliation promoted in Rakhine State, and for the Rohingyas  right of return to be fully respected and implemented.    Britain has expressed  grave concerns  to the government of Myanmar over the arrest of the two journalists, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters in London on Thursday.  We are committed to freedom of speech and people s ability to report the facts and bring into the public domain what is happening in Rakhine state,  he said. Canada s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland tweeted that she was  deeply concerned  by the reports about the arrests.  Freedom of the press is essential for democracy and must be preserved,  she said. And the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani also called on Myanmar to protect media freedoms and release the two. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo went missing on Tuesday evening after they had been invited to meet police officials over dinner on the outskirts of Yangon. The authorities have not confirmed where the journalists  are being held and, as of Thursday evening, Reuters had not been formally contacted by officials about their detention. At Htaunt Kyant police station, where the journalists were charged, family members of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were told that the pair were being detained at another location by an investigative team.   They are not here,  said Police Second Lieutenant Tin Htway Oo, according to Pann Ei, wife of reporter Wa Lone.  The police investigation team took them soon after they were arrested.   He said he did not know where the journalists were, Pann Ei added, but he did tell her they would be brought back to the station in  two to three days at most.  Reuters could not immediately reach Tin Htway Oo for comment. Police Lieutenant Colonel Myint Htwe of the Yangon Police Division told Reuters the reporters  location would not be disclosed until the investigation was complete.   It will be known later. Please wait a while,  he said. Reuters President and Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement on Wednesday:  We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately.  The Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar said it was  appalled  by the arrests and  gravely concerned  about the state of press freedom in the country. In a statement, it called on the authorities to ensure the safety of the reporters and allow their families to see them. The foreign correspondents  club in neighbouring Thailand said it was  alarmed by the use of this draconian law with its heavy penalties against journalists simply doing their jobs .  Wielding such a blunt legal instrument has an intimidating effect on other journalists, and poses a real threat to media freedom,  the Bangkok-based club said in a statement, calling for the journalists to be released.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र प्रमुख ने म्यांमार में गिरफ्तार रॉयटर्स पत्रकारों की रिहाई के लिए दबाव डाला


OSLO (Reuters) - The Nobel Peace Prize winner s campaign to ban nuclear weapons will not make the world more peaceful, the U.S. Embassy in Norway said, confirming its top diplomat will not attend next month s award ceremony.  On Wednesday, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) accused the United States, Britain and France of snubbing its disarmament work by planning to send only second-rank diplomats in a coordinated move. ICAN, a little-known organization that was a surprise choice for the prize, has been campaigning for the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by 122 nations in July this year. But the treaty is not signed by - and would not apply to - any of the states that already have nuclear arms: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, as well as India, Pakistan and North Korea.  North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday in a  breakthrough  that puts the U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. The U.S. Embassy in Oslo said it planned to send its acting deputy chief of mission instead of its acting ambassador to the Dec. 10 ceremony, attended by King Harald and Queen Sonja and the highlight of the diplomatic calendar in Norway.  This year s Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN for its efforts in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, comes at a time of increased danger of nuclear proliferation,  the embassy said in the statement to Reuters on Thursday.   This treaty will not make the world more peaceful, will not result in the elimination of a single nuclear weapon, and will not enhance any state s security,  it said.  This treaty ignores the current security challenges that make nuclear deterrence necessary, and risks undermining existing efforts to address global proliferation.  Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Kenneth Braithwaite to the post of ambassador in Oslo, currently held by an acting ambassador.      While Britain and France will do the same as the United States in sending lower-ranking diplomats to the ceremony, the other two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are taking different approaches.  The Russian embassy said it would send its ambassador to the ceremony.  The ambassador is planning to attend,  said Russian embassy spokeswoman Olga Kiriak. The Chinese embassy said the ambassador was unavailable and that it had no plans to send someone else instead of him.  We cannot be sure about the ambassador s schedule at this time. He is on holiday,  said a press officer at the Chinese embassy, who did not give her name.

Summary: अमेरिका का कहना है कि प्रतिबंध-द-बम नोबेल विजेता दुनिया को अधिक शांतिपूर्ण नहीं बनाएगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI chief James Comey will likely hold back from accusing President Donald Trump of trying to interfere with an  investigation into links between Trump’s election campaign team and Russian officials when he testifies in Congress this week, legal sources said. Comey’s highly anticipated appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday could be a turning point in a controversy that has rocked Trump’s young administration. In his first public remarks since Trump fired him last month, Comey is expected to tell the Senate Intelligence committee that Trump asked him during a meeting in the Oval Office to end the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia. Comey may also detail other conversations with Trump.  Two legal experts said Comey would seek to avoid compromising a new inquiry led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller or separate congressional investigations. “I would expect him to hew pretty closely to facts and events,” said Jack Sharman, a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin and White and former special counsel to a congressional committee that investigated President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Another source, who asked not to be named, said Comey does not see it as his role to charge the president or anyone else with obstruction of justice or any other crime. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a report declassified in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, but to affect the election’s outcome. Comey told the House of Representatives intelligence committee on March 20 that the FBI was probing Moscow’s role in the election, including possible Trump campaign collusion. Trump fired Comey on May 9, a step that stunned Washington and intensified scrutiny of the matter. Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, was fired in February. The White House said he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about contacts Flynn had with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, before Trump took office. Federal prosecutors last month issued grand jury subpoenas seeking business records from people who worked with Flynn when he was a private citizen.  The Senate intelligence panel also issued its first subpoena in its Russia investigation, demanding documents from Flynn. The first roughly 600 pages of those documents were delivered on Tuesday.

Summary: ट्रम्प-रूस जांच पर अमेरिकी सुनवाई में सावधान कोमी की उम्मीद