CLEVELAND (Reuters) - City police on bicycles and horseback, backed by state and local officers from across the country, kept order outside the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, as predictions that protester unrest would tarnish the event did not come to pass for a second day. There have been only five arrests since the convention began on Monday, police announced at an early evening news conference. As sundown neared, the mood on downtown streets was calm. In Tuesday’s largest demonstration, police on bicycles rode into the crowd in the city’s Public Square in mid afternoon. Helmeted officers, some in protective equipment and others wearing shorts, separated a crowd of Black Lives Matters protesters from other protesters wearing masks and helmets, occasionally lifting their bikes to push through the crowd. “If America is so bad, why don’t you leave?,” a pro-Trump demonstrator shouted at a group carrying signs that read, “America was never great” A pair of men dressed in traditional Muslim garb walked near the plaza carrying assault-style rifles, with one also bearing a semiautomatic handgun. Micha Noziri of Yellow Spring, Ohio, who is not Muslim, said he wanted to take a stance against Trump’s positions on “religious minorities” and immigration.  “We came out to show solidarity for all minority groups, the so-called minority groups that Donald Trump would oppress if he does the things that he says,” Noziri told a knot of reporters surrounding him. Ten men identifying themselves as Ohio militia walked through Public Square with weapons on open display, surrounded by a pack of journalists.  Police escorted conservative radio host Alex Jones from the square, amid shouting and jostling, after Jones used a megaphone to shout invective about Black Lives Matter and other groups toward a group of liberal-leaning protesters.   Dozens of Cleveland police on bicycles and dozens more in state police uniforms intervened. They walked Jones and a handful of supporters past a few hundred demonstrators and journalists.  One Trump supporter, Elam Stoltzfus, said he felt “very safe” watching the scene. “About 150 police were here in a minute,” Stoltzfus said in reference to events that led up to Jones’ being escorted away. “Ohio is an open-carry state; we have a lot of protection here.” Earlier Tuesday, police arrested three people for climbing flagpoles near Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and hanging a banner with the words, “Don’t Trump Our Communities.” Firefighters used a ladder truck to assist in the arrest, police officials said.

Summary: बाइक, घोड़े और पैर पर, पुलिस रिपब्लिकन सम्मेलन के बाहर आदेश रखती है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A foreign-policy adviser to U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump avoided all questions about how the United States should shape its policy toward Russia on a visit to Moscow on Thursday. Carter Page said at a lecture he gave to students and business figures organized by Moscow’s New Economic School that he did not want to comment on the U.S. election campaign. Page declined to say whether he was planning to meet anyone from the Kremlin, the Russian government or Foreign Ministry during his visit. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidential election, has made contradictory comments about Russia but made headlines with warm words for President Vladimir Putin.  Putin called Trump “very talented”, fuelling speculation the Kremlin would be pleased to see Trump in the White House, but later rowed back from those comments. In his lecture on Thursday, Trump’s adviser Page said Western governments had often had a hypocritical focus on democratization, corruption and inequality in the post-Soviet world. He also accused the United States and its partners of “proactive steps to encourage regime change overseas”. “This may understandably advance a certain level of insecurity,” Page said. Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated sharply under U.S. leader Barack Obama, undermined by disagreements over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and fights on the opposing side of the five-year-old Syrian civil war. Page worked in Russia for U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch in the mid-2000s and said in an interview with Bloomberg in March that he was an investor in Russian gas producer Gazprom.

Summary: ट्रम्प सलाहकार, मास्को यात्रा पर, रूस पर अमेरिकी नीति के बारे में सवालों को चकमा देता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) told a congressional committee on Tuesday he did not believe his predecessor Mary Jo White knew of a 2016 cyber breach to the regulator’s corporate disclosure system, the exact timing of which could not be known “for sure.” Jay Clayton, who was formally appointed to his role in May, also said listed companies should disclose more detailed information on cyber breaches “sooner,” and that the U.S. regulator was working on new guidelines to ensure this. The Senate Banking Committee grilled Clayton on Tuesday over a 2016 hack of EDGAR, the agency’s online corporate financial disclosure system, only disclosed last Wednesday, which has shaken confidence in the SEC’s cyber defenses. Clayton said he had decided last weekend to disclose the breach once he had enough information to establish it was “serious,” but he would not be drawn on who at the agency had known about it and whether there was an attempt to cover it up. “I have no belief sitting here that Chair White knew,” Clayton said when asked whether his predecessor had been aware of the hack, adding: “I don’t think we can know for sure” on the exact timing of the breach. Clayton fielded several questions from senators on the recent Equifax Inc data breach in which hackers stole personal data of about 143 million customers of the credit reporting firm, including on the timing of the company’s disclosure. Although the former Wall Street lawyer declined to comment on whether the SEC was investigating stock sales made by Equifax executives prior to the disclosure, he said he was “not ignoring” the issue.  The hearing, which had been scheduled prior to the disclosure of the SEC’s breach, offered lawmakers, companies and investors the first opportunity to hear from the SEC chief on the incident. Clayton originally had been scheduled to discuss capital market reform at his first hearing before the committee since being formally appointed in May, but his pro-growth agenda was largely eclipsed by the SEC breach and the Equifax scandal.  Wall Street’s top regulator came under fire last week after disclosing that hackers might have used information stolen from EDGAR, which houses millions of market-sensitive corporate disclosures such as earnings releases, for insider trading. “When we learn a year after the fact that the SEC had its own breach and that it likely led to illegal stock trades, it raises questions about why the SEC seems to have swept this under the rug,” Senator Sherrod Brown, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, asked Clayton during opening remarks. “What else are we not being told, what other information is at risk, and what are the consequences?” Brown asked. “How can you expect companies to do the right thing when your agency has not?” Reuters reported on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service have launched investigations into the breach, which occurred in October 2016 and appeared to have been routed through servers in Eastern Europe. The breach appeared to have been one of several cyber incidents documented by the SEC in recent months, Reuters reported. Clayton said he only learned about the 2016 hack in August and that the SEC’s enforcement staff and inspector general’s office have launched internal probes. The regulator reported the breach to the Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team when it was first discovered, Clayton said in the testimony, adding the regulator plans to hire more cyber security experts. Clayton said the hack was possibly the result of a defect in the EDGAR software and said that personally identifiable information did not appear to have been put at risk, but he declined to provide further detail.  He said the SEC was still determining the extent and impact of the breach and that it could take “substantial time” to complete due to the amount of data that needed to be analyzed.  The committee also quizzed Clayton about other potential breaches at the agency and the regulator’s general cyber defenses.  Clayton said he could not say with “100 percent certainty” that the EDGAR breach was the only one suffered by the agency, and added that he planned to ask Congress for more funds to tackle the rising cyber threat. “We’re going to need more money for cyber security, and I intend to ask for it.”

Summary: अमेरिकी एस. ई. सी. अध्यक्ष से सीनेट पैनल ने साइबर उल्लंघन, इक्विफैक्स पर पूछताछ की


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday the country’s government would not pay for a wall along the U.S. border promised by president-elect Donald Trump. “Paying for a wall is not part of our vision,” foreign minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told local television. As part of his campaign, Trump vowed that he would build a massive border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Ruiz Massieu said that the government had maintained communication with Trump’s campaign team ever since his visit to Mexico in August. “There has been a fluid, daily communication with different members of the campaign,” she said.

Summary: मेक्सिको का कहना है कि ट्रम्प की दीवार के लिए भुगतान करना 'हमारे दृष्टिकोण का हिस्सा नहीं है'


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has fired his national political director after six weeks on the job, campaign sources said on Wednesday. Trump told staffers and supporters gathered backstage before a campaign rally in California on Wednesday that political director Rick Wiley “should be fired” for his handling of a fundraising deal with the Republican National Committee, according to the sources.  The RNC fundraising agreement included 11 states but not Nevada, where Republicans in the state are angling for key victories in the November elections. Three sources confirmed Trump said Wiley should be fired after Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald told Trump that Wiley was responsible for leaving Nevada out of the deal. McDonald did not return calls seeking comment. Wiley did not respond to emails, text messages and phone calls seeking comment. The move is the latest in a tug of war between Trump’s original campaign team, including press secretary Hope Hicks and  campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and a group of professionals he brought in later to shore up support from more traditional corners of the Republican Party. The new arrivals, led by veteran strategist Paul Manafort, whom Trump hired in late March, have urged Trump to tone down some of his most provocative positions, such as his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. But Trump reprimanded Manafort, according to two sources familiar with the conversation, after Manafort told a gathering of RNC members at an April meeting in Florida that Trump was only “acting” when describing his proposed Muslim ban or his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Manafort hired Wiley on April 13. A statement issued by the Trump campaign said Wiley had been hired on a “short-term basis as a consultant until the campaign was running full steam” and it thanked him for “for helping us during this transition period.” Manafort did not responds to calls and emails seeking comment.

Summary: ट्रंप ने अपने राष्ट्रीय राजनीतिक निदेशक को बर्खास्त कियाः अभियान सूत्र


ISTANBUL/BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey has released German journalist Mesale Tolu after nearly eight months in prison on the condition that she does not leave the country, German government officials said on Monday. Ankara has charged Tolu with being a member of a terrorist organization and publishing terrorist propaganda following a failed military coup in July 2016.  Her husband, Suat Corlu, a journalist who had been detained earlier, was released last month. Both continue to face charges in Turkey. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the news with reservations, given curbs on Tolu s ability to travel.  Regarding Ms Tolu, it is good news given that she will be freed, but not completely so, because she can t leave the country and the trial continues,  Merkel told reporters. Tolu s father, Ali Riza Tolu, was jubilant outside the courthouse, but said Ankara had  stolen  nearly a year of his daughter s life and there was no proof of any wrongdoing.  My daughter is free,  he said.  We are now a happy family.  The decision to release Tolu came two weeks after German federal prosecutors dropped an investigation against a dozen Muslim clerics sent from Turkey who had been suspected of spying in Germany on behalf of the Turkish government. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told broadcaster ARD that Turkey seemed to be gradually making some limited progress in terms of the rule of law but the German government still had many concerns such as about human rights and press freedom. He said Berlin and Ankara, between whom ties have been strained of late, were trying to find ways to deal with their disputes appropriately and that was proving tough but:  Small steps are better than none . Merkel s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin would continue to press for the release of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel. Germany has urged Ankara to release Yucel, Tolu and other journalists detained after the abortive coup in July 2016, saying their detentions are unfounded and political. Including Tolu, Ankara is preventing a total of 28 German citizens from leaving the country, she said. Tolu was first detained on April 30. German Green party co-leader Cem Ozdemir, who is of Turkish descent, welcomed the news, but said it did little to change the  miserable state of the rule of law in Turkey .  I demand that the Turkish government release all political prisoners and immediately allow German citizens like Mesale Tolu to leave the country,  Ozdemir said in a statement. Heike Haensel, a member of Germany s far-left Left party who attended Tolu s hearing in Istanbul, said on Twitter that Tolu was required to check in with Turkish authorities every Monday.  I would say it is a second-class release,  Haensel told Reuters TV.  Germany s mainstream parties have been outspoken critics of Turkey s security crackdown since the abortive military coup. Tens of thousands of Turks have been jailed since then, including around a dozen who hold German citizenship. Germany is home to some 3 million people of Turkish heritage. Turkey has criticized Berlin for not handing over asylum seekers it accuses of involvement in the would-be coup.  Ankara has blamed U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen for masterminding the failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement.

Summary: तुर्की ने जर्मन पत्रकार टोलू को रिहा किया लेकिन वह देश नहीं छोड़ सकतीः बर्लिन सरकार


EDINBURGH/OTTAWA (Reuters) - The standoff between Madrid and supporters of independence in Spain s wealthy Catalan region has stirred separatist feelings far beyond the Spanish borders. Politicians across the globe criticized armed Spanish police who used truncheons and rubber bullets on voters, injuring hundreds in a crackdown on Sunday s secession vote, considered illegal under Spain s 1978 Constitution. Several politicians from regions with their own separatist movements said it was time for politics to resolve the crisis in the euro zone s fourth-biggest economy. Catalan leaders said the result showed its people wanted to leave Spain and it would push ahead with secession. Madrid has ruled out talks until, it said, Catalonia acts within the law.     The solution is political. It won t be through repression, it won t be through brutality, and what needs to happen is a political discussion. I think that s reality,  Quebec s premier Philippe Couillard told reporters.  He drew parallels for a potential solution to his own province, which has held two referendums on whether to separate from Canada and the last of which in 1995 was narrowly defeated. Other politicians called on the European Union, currently facing a huge challenge to its unity in Britain s impending exit from the bloc, to intervene in a deepening crisis that has shaken the euro and Spanish stocks and bonds. They said it was a matter of human rights.   Joanna Cherry, a lawmaker from the Scottish National Party, called on the EU to  up its game.  Her party lost a legally binding referendum on Scottish independence from the UK in 2014   the terms of which were hammered out between both sides.   The SNP-led Scottish government is urging talks to let Catalans decide their own future.   Spain will maintain that this vote is not legitimate, but the strength of feeling demonstrated cannot be ignored by Spain,  it said. Matt Carthy, European lawmaker for Irish nationalists Sinn Fein whose aim is to unite British-run Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic, called the EU  a shower of utter hypocrites.   The EU has ignored a vicious assault on EU citizens in Catalonia because they had the audacity to vote,  he told fellow European lawmakers in an emotionally-charged speech.  We are told the EU stands for peace, democracy and human rights. Where were those values on Sunday?   Opinion polls conducted before the Catalan vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of Catalans backed independence, but a majority wanted a referendum to be held. Catalan officials released preliminary referendum results showing 90 percent support in favor of breaking away, but turnout was 43 percent and low among those who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot.   Spain s constitution determines that the majority which counts is Spain as a whole, not Catalonia s 5.3 million voters. Ireland s prime minister Leo Varadkar has said his government respects Spain s constitution but he also described the violence as  disproportionate and counterproductive.  Spain s deputy prime minister and European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans have said the use of force was  proportionate . Turkey, which condemned last week s referendum for Kurdish independence in northern Iraq, also spoke of the importance of respecting Spanish law and territorial integrity.  We believe that Spain ( ) will overcome such challenges and establish a national dialogue environment through a democratic approach,  Turkey s foreign ministry said.  In Serbia, officials accused the EU of double standards by refusing to recognize Catalonia s vote and at the same time supporting the independence of Serbia s former province Kosovo.  Another would-be breakaway group, the Movement for the Autonomy of Slask (RAS) which wants autonomy for Poland s Slask region, said that events in Spain were proof of the temptation to use repression to control political dissent.  The European community should work out rules and procedures for solving similar conflicts,  it said.    Its indifference with respect to the forceful repression of aspirations of Catalan people for self-rule will be interpreted as a sign of weakness and will deepen the confidence crisis that many Europeans feel toward EU institutions.

Summary: कैटलन गतिरोध ने स्पेन से परे अलगाववादियों के दिलों को छुआ


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills will exhaust its reserves in 2028, two years sooner than last year’s estimate, trustees of the program said on Wednesday, but spending growth remained within forecasts. The Medicare program, which provides health coverage for more than 55 million older as well as disabled people, said that the projected growth rate for per capita spending has not exceeded its target. That put aside the need for the program’s regulator, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, to establish a savings target and to initiate mandatory spending cuts, their annual financial report said. As such, the government would not need to immediately set up an Independent Payment Advisory Board to make proposals on the cuts, it said. Drug stocks gained after the release of the report on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index up 2.5 percent. It had lost ground ahead of the report’s release. Wall Street analysts had worried that if the mandatory savings clause was triggered, the new board might have tried to implement cuts in prescription drug prices. “Not hitting the trigger is good news for healthcare investors,” Sanford Bernstein analyst Timothy Anderson wrote in a research note. In the annual financial review, the trustees also said that the combined Social Security and disability trust fund reserves are estimated to run out in 2034, the same projection as last year. Medicare spending in 2015 totaled $647.6 billion.    The Medicare program’s trust fund for hospital care is still scheduled to have sufficient funding 11 years longer than the estimate given before the Affordable Care Act was passed, the trustees said. The trustees put the shorter timeline down to changes in estimates of income and cost, particularly in the near term. A depletion in funds available for Medicare and Social Security does not mean the programs would suddenly stop. At the current rate of payroll tax collections, Medicare would be able to cover 87 percent of costs in 2028. This would fall to 79 percent by 2043 and then gradually increase. Social Security would be able to pay about three-quarters of scheduled benefits from 2034 to 2090, the trustees said.

Summary: चिकित्सा कार्यक्रम का खर्च लक्ष्य दर के भीतरः न्यासी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leaders released on Thursday a revised plan to dismantle the Obamacare law, but it drew criticism from senators on both sides of the political divide within the Republican party, indicating a treacherous path for the bill. The bill played to the party’s disparate factions by letting insurers sell cheap, bare-bones policies while retaining taxes on the wealthy.  But the immediate outcry illustrated the difficult political terrain that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must navigate. He is under pressure by President Donald Trump to pass a healthcare bill and make good on Republicans’ seven-year mission to gut Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. “The American people deserve better than the pain of Obamacare. They deserve better care. And the time to deliver that to them is next week,” McConnell said. In addition to the criticism from some senators, a major hospital association and one large insurer said the measure falls short in critical areas. With Democrats united against it, McConnell cannot afford to lose more than two Republican senators to win passage. But moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul voiced opposition to even bringing the new plan up for debate. Several senators said they had concerns about the legislation, particularly its Medicaid cuts, including Shelley Moore Capito, Rob Portman and John McCain. And two other Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, complicated matters by announcing an alternative plan. McConnell, a skillful tactician who was forced two weeks ago to scrub a planned vote on an earlier version opposed by both moderates and hard-line conservatives in his party, has planned for a vote on the retooled bill next week. The continuing lack of consensus among Republicans on what to do with Obamacare after calling for its demise since 2010 shows that it is no sure thing that Trump’s party will be able to get the job done. Healthcare is Trump’s first major legislative initiative. Failure would call into question his party’s ability to govern despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House. The measure represents a retreat from long-standing Republican aspirations to dump Obamacare-related taxes. It retains two taxes on the wealthy that helped pay for the Obamacare law that the previous version would have repealed, and also keeps Obamacare’s limits on corporate tax deductions for executive pay in the health insurance industry. The bill included a provision allowing insurers to offer stripped-down, low-cost healthcare plans - a measure proposed by Senator Ted Cruz to try to win over holdout conservatives. These “skinny plans” would not have to cover the broad benefits mandated under Obamacare like maternity and newborn care, mental health services and addiction treatment, outpatient care, hospitalization, emergency room visits and prescription drugs. Insurer groups, including the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, have derided the skinny plans, saying they would raise insurance premiums, destabilize the individual insurance market and undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions. Moderate senators could balk at the provision for the same reasons. The new bill provides an additional $70 billion to help stabilize the individual insurance market on top of the $112 billion in the original bill to help insurers slow growth in premium costs and help lower-income insurance holders cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. The bill would phase out the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, and includes sharp cuts to federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025. Moderate Republicans were spurned in their desire to see a reduction in Medicaid cuts in the revised version. Critics said despite some changes to coax wavering senators, the revised bill’s core remains unchanged: restructuring and cutting the critical Medicaid social safety-net program, taking away insurance from millions of Americans and driving up healthcare costs for millions of the most vulnerable Americans, especially older people and the sick. The revamped bill contains a provision that appears to be aimed at winning over Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a moderate who had opposed the original bill. It would funnel additional money to states that have higher insurance premiums – at least 75 percent above the national average. Alaska is the only state with premiums that high, Senate aides said. Hospital and insurer groups have spoken out against the Senate Republican approach, particularly proposed Medicaid cuts. The cuts would result in lower revenues for hospital companies like Community Health Systems Inc and Medicaid insurance specialists like Molina Healthcare and Centene Corp.  Molina Healthcare, which has more than 1 million customers on the Obamacare individual exchanges and manages Medicaid health programs, said the changes would leave insurers competing for the least risky customers and would make plans for sick people unaffordable.  The American Hospital Association said the new version of the bill retained the “unacceptable flaws” of the previous version. “Instead of merely putting forth an update, we again call on the Senate to put forth an upgrade,” Rick Pollack, president of the association, said in a statement. Healthcare stocks were mostly unmoved by the announcement, as Wall Street analysts described the core of the revised bill as largely unchanged from the earlier one. The new bill includes another $45 billion for fighting the opioid addiction epidemic, on top of the $2 billion in the earlier version. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which forecast that the previous version would have increased the number of Americans without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, is due to evaluate the new bill in coming days. The Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, expanded health insurance coverage to some 20 million people, in large part by expanding Medicaid. The House of Representatives on May 4 passed its own version of healthcare legislation. Republicans have a 52-48 Senate majority, with Vice President Mike Pence able to cast a potential tie-breaking vote. Any bill passed by the Senate would have to go back to the House for approval. Repealing and replacing Obamacare, which Republicans fault as a costly government intrusion into the healthcare system, was a top campaign promise for Trump, who was monitoring the Senate developments during his visit to Paris. “I’d say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare,” Trump told reporters on his flight to Paris. (Corrects 20th paragraph to show the bill applies to states with premiums at least 75 percent above the national average, not 75 percent of the national average)

Summary: नया सीनेट रिपब्लिकन स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पहले से ही मुसीबत में है


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have failed to fully agree a deal on Brexit, the BBC Europe editor said on Monday.  No deal today I ve just been told #brexit,  Katya Adler said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन और यूरोपीय संघ सोमवार को ब्रेक्सिट समझौते पर सहमत होने में विफल रहेः बीबीसी


TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan s President Tsai Ing-wen has accepted the resignation of Premier Lin Chuan, the ruling party said on Monday, a departure that had been widely expected because of the president s falling public support. Taiwan presidents often shuffle premiers in response to dips in popularity. Lin had faced mounting pressure to step down as Tsai s popularity plummeted to 29.8 percent by August, a private foundation survey has shown. When she took office in May 2016, her approval rating was as high as 70 percent.  The president has accepted his resignation after sincere talks,  Tsai s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said in a statement.  Under Taiwan s system, the president is the more important office, holding the jobs of commander in chief and head of state. The prime minister is appointed by the president to lead the cabinet. Tsai is likely to be looking ahead to her 2020 re-election campaign. Frozen relations with China, a backlash over pension reforms and a revised labor rule, among other controversies, have put pressure on her to replace Lin, in preparation for that campaign. Lin said the party had  reached a point where we must embark on the next stage of the mission .  So I ve resigned to pave the way for the president to re-organize her team and resources for that purpose,  he said. The presidential office said a new premier would be announced on Tuesday. William Lai, the popular mayor of the southern city of Tainan and a leading DPP figure, is widely expected to replace Lin.  A Lai premiership would not necessary help the president to improve her ratings, some analysts said.  They need a reboot, because current ratings for both are low,  said Alex Huang, a professor of Tamkang University, Taipei, referring to Tsai and Lin, adding that it must have been a hard decision for Tsai because of their friendship.  Lin is sort of biting the bullet to clear the path ahead for the president and the next premier,  Huang said. Some representatives of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) have expressed scepticism that Tsai would build an effective partnership with Lai, if he did replace Lin.  I d like to see how they both work together,  said Lai Shyh-bao, a KMT legislator.  Both Tsai and Lai have reputations for being overbearing and domineering.  Lin has been criticized not just by legislators from the opposition, but also from his own DPP. Tsai had praised him as  a great communicator  when she introduced him last year. Lin, a close confidant of the president who retains her trust, could become the next central bank governor when current governor Perng Fai-nan retires next year.

Summary: ताइवान के प्रधानमंत्री ने राष्ट्रपति की गिरती लोकप्रियता को बढ़ावा देने के लिए इस्तीफा दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s first budget outline, calling for a security-heavy realignment of federal spending, drew resistance on Thursday from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress as many balked at proposed deep cuts to diplomatic and foreign aid programs. Conservatives have plenty to like in the White House plan, with its 10 percent increase in military spending next year and beefed-up funding to help deport more illegal immigrants and build a wall on the border with Mexico. It also takes steps to downsize government, a central goal of conservatives. But the gaze into Trump’s priorities for the next four years proved too savage for many Republicans’ taste, foreshadowing an intense battle between Congress and the White House over spending in coming months. Although Republicans control both the Senate and House of Representatives, Congress holds the federal purse strings and seldom approves presidents’ budget plans. The administration asked Congress for a 28 percent, or $10.9 billion, cut in State Department funding and other international programs to help pay for a 10 percent, $54 billion hike in military spending next year. “These increases in defense come at the expense of national security,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has not hesitated to take on Trump. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who like Graham ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, leveled similar sentiments, as did some prominent Republicans in the House of Representatives. House Speaker Paul Ryan sidestepped reporters’ questions about whether he supported State Department cuts, saying the White House blueprint was just the start of the budget process. The budget also drew criticism internationally. The French ambassador to the United Nations, Francois Delattre, warned that cutting funding of global programs could fuel instability. The White House shrugged off concerns about the impact, saying Trump was making good on election promises. “The president said, specifically, hundreds of times - you covered him - ‘I’m going to spend less money on people overseas and more money on people back home’ and that’s exactly what we’re doing with this budget,” Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told reporters. Democrats, whose votes would be needed later this year to sign off on the spending bills that implement any budget blueprint given the slim Republican hold on the Senate, attacked the proposed reductions to the Environmental Protection Agency and programs that benefit the poor. The White House proposal would inflict a 31 percent, or $2.6 billion, cut on the EPA. Some veteran Republicans, including Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a White House budget chief during the administration of President George W. Bush, vowed to preserve the EPA’s Great Lakes restoration program that Trump wants to eliminate. Moderate Republicans expressed unease with potential cuts to popular domestic programs. Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, attacked plans to cut or eliminate programs that help the poor pay heating bills, provide aid for localities to deal with wastewater and subsidize air travel in rural areas like her home state of Alaska. “We need to remember that these programs are not the primary drivers of our debt,” Murkowski said. In fact, those “discretionary” programs that must be renewed annually by Congress, account for about $1.2 trillion out of a $3.9 trillion federal budget. The biggest portion of the budget - about $2.4 trillion - is for “mandatory entitlement” programs that provide Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare and Medicaid healthcare for the elderly, poor and disabled. Conservatives have been clamoring for years for reforms to those programs to save money. Trump vowed, however, to protect them as he campaigned for president last year. Trump was silent on those programs in the plan released on Thursday, but they will be included in a fuller fiscal blueprint due out in mid-May that will project spending and revenues over 10 years. It is unclear if any reforms for those programs will be part of that budget. Other discretionary cuts proposed by Trump included community development grants at the Housing Department and more than 20 Education Department programs. Funding would disappear for 19 independent bodies that count on federal money for public broadcasting, the arts and regional programs. “Throwing billions at defense while ransacking America’s investments in jobs, education, clean energy and lifesaving medical research will leave our nation weakened,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Trump also asked for $25 billion more for core Defense Department programs for the current fiscal year, as well as $5 billion more for combat operations. A detailed copy of that request seen by Reuters showed some of the funds would be for procurement of technology such as F-35 fighter aircraft and drone systems. About $13.5 billion of the supplemental request was earmarked for aircraft, missiles and ships. It included THAAD missiles, Blackhawk helicopters and F-35s made by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), as well as F/A-18 warplanes and Apache helicopters manufactured by Boeing Co (BA.N). Also for this fiscal year, Trump requested $3 billion more for the Department of Homeland Security, with some of that money intended for planning and construction of the border wall that he made a major part of his 2016 election campaign. Congress will likely consider the supplemental request by April 28, when regular funding expires for most federal agencies.  The budget outline also does not incorporate Trump’s plan for sparking $1 trillion in investments to build roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure projects. The White House has said the infrastructure plan is still to come. The planned defense increases are mainly matched by cuts to other programs so as to not increase the $488 billion federal deficit. Despite the proposed big cuts to the EPA and the State Department, Mulvaney said their “core functions” would be preserved.  Reflecting Trump’s repeated election campaign pledge to reduce illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security would get a 6.8 percent increase, with more money for extra staff needed to catch, detain and deport illegal immigrants. Trump wants Congress to approve $1.5 billion for the border wall in the current fiscal year - enough for pilot projects to determine the best way to build it - and a further $2.6 billion in fiscal 2018, Mulvaney said. The estimate for the total cost of the wall will be included in the upcoming full budget. Trump has repeatedly said that Mexico will pay for the  wall. Mexico has adamantly said it will not. Since Trump took office in January, the White House has said funding would be kick-started in the United States.

Summary: ट्रम्प के घरेलू, सहायता कार्यक्रमों के लिए बजट में कटौती ने रिपब्लिकन की निंदा की


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia’s poor treatment of refugees in offshore detention camps is “draconian” and is causing lasting damage to refugees and to Australia’s reputation as a rights-respecting country, Human Rights Watch said on Friday. Conditions in the camps are abusive and detainees “regularly endure violence, threats and harassment”, Human Rights Watch said in the Australian chapter of its annual global report.     Under Australian rules, anyone intercepted while trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps in the Pacific Island nation of Nauru and at Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea (PNG). They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia. A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration, asked about the report before its release, declined to comment but referred to earlier department assertions that conditions at the camps were adequate and were the responsibility of Nauru and PNG. Those governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Australia said in November it had agreed with the United States to resettle some of the refugees in the Nauru and PNG camps, in return for Australia taking refugees from Central America. But subsequent White House comments cast doubt on whether the new U.S. administration would proceed with the deal.     The arrangement offered “no solution” in any case, Human Rights Watch said, adding Australia should close the camps and better protect refugees.  Australia’s tough policy has drawn strong criticism from the United Nations and other international rights organizations amid a global debate on how to manage huge numbers of asylum seekers displaced by conflict. Successive Australian governments have supported the policy, which they say is needed to stop people drowning at sea during dangerous boat journeys.       More than 1,990 asylum seekers have drowned on voyages to Australia since January 2000, according to Monash University’s Australian Border Deaths Database.  More than a third of the deaths occurred between 2007 and 2012, when Australia suspended its offshore detention program, including an accident in 2010 when 50 people were killed when their boat was thrown onto rocks at Christmas Island. That accident swung political and public opinion behind the offshore detention policy, which has enjoyed bipartisan and public support in Australia. Human Rights Watch also criticized PNG for police brutality, after officers opened fire on student protesters in June. PNG was also “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman”, and the government had failed to address corruption, Human Rights Watch added.    Australia and PNG agreed to close the Manus Island camp in August, but gave no date and it remains open. It held 871 people and the Nauru camp 383 people, according to the most recent statistics released by Australia in November.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया शरणार्थियों को 'गंभीर और स्थायी नुकसान' पहुंचा रहा हैः ह्यूमन राइट्स वॉच


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that work on settling Britain s financial obligations to the EU when it leaves was not even halfway done. He said more than half the work remained to be completed on the crucial issue of Britain s exit bill and that discussions could not move to the next phase on the future relationship until the three divorce issues of citizens  rights, the Irish border and financial settlement have been settled.  A lot is in the hands of Theresa May,  Macron said in a news conference at the end of an EU summit.

Summary: फ्रांस के मैक्रों का कहना है कि ब्रेक्सिट विधेयक पर काम आधा भी पूरा नहीं हुआ है


(Reuters) - Five transgender members of the U.S. military including Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans sued President Donald Trump on Wednesday, challenging his ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. Trump said on Twitter on July 26 that the U.S. government “will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity” in the military, a reversal of Pentagon policy that the lawsuit said was made without consulting senior military commanders. The surprise announcement, citing healthcare costs and unit disruption, appealed to some in Trump’s conservative political base but created uncertainty for thousands of transgender service members, many of whom came out after the Pentagon said in 2016 it would allow transgender people to serve openly.  Trump’s tweets appeared to dismiss findings from a RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon that found allowing transgender people to serve would “cost little and have no significant impact on unit readiness.” The White House and the Pentagon said they do not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The service members suing the president are three U.S. Army soldiers, one U.S. Air Force airman and one member of the U.S. Coast Guard who are active duty. All have come out as transgender to their commanding officers but are anonymous in the lawsuit, named only as Jane Doe, for fear of retribution, said Jennifer Levi, a lawyer from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. The group filed the lawsuit along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was preparing its own lawsuit. The lawsuit said Trump’s tweets violate the rights of the service members to due process and equal protection under the law. It asks the court to declare Trump’s directive as unconstitutional and to issue injunctions to stop it. The defendants are listed as Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis and other military leaders including Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford said in a memo a day after Trump’s tweets that there would be no change in policy until Mattis received an official order from the president. That order has yet to be issued. “In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect,” Dunford said. Lawyer Levi said the plaintiffs, some of whom are near retirement, need not wait for an official policy because the tweets alone created uncertainty about their futures.

Summary: ट्रांसजेंडर सैन्य कर्मियों ने सेवा प्रतिबंध को लेकर ट्रम्प पर मुकदमा दायर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget will call for an 11 percent increase in funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and a 32 percent increase for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a White House official said on Monday. Obama will propose that the SEC be given $1.8 billion and the CFTC $330 million in the budget, economic adviser Jeffrey Zients said in a blog post on the White House website. “Last year the Administration fought hard to keep Congressional Republicans from using must-pass budget legislation to roll back Wall Street Reform,” he wrote, referring to fiscal 2016. “We also fought to increase funding for financial regulators and to maintain their independence. But even these gains aren’t enough.” “And while the Administration is pushing for more funding for these regulators, we’ll also continue to oppose efforts to restrict the funding independence of the other financial regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” he wrote.  The Republican-controlled Congress is likely to oppose these and many other proposals in Obama’s budget. In addition to the proposed increases from the previous fiscal year, the budget will offer support again for user fees to fund the CFTC in a similar way to other financial regulators, Zients said. “Fee funding would shift the costs of regulatory services provided by the CFTC from the taxpayer to the very firms that benefit from the CFTC’s oversight.  This is a commonsense change that is long overdue,” he said. The budget would also take steps to reduce risk in the financial sector by assessing a fee against large financial institutions based on their liabilities. “We learned the hard way in 2008 just how damaging risk and leverage in the financial system can be, and we’ve done a lot to curb excessive risk on Wall Street since,” Zients said, referring to the global financial crisis. “This fee is another way to further those reforms, ensuring that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for risky Wall Street gambles.” Federal fiscal 2017 begins on Oct. 1 of this year.

Summary: ओबामा एस. ई. सी., सी. एफ. टी. सी. के लिए बजट बढ़ाने का आह्वान करेंगेः व्हाइट हाउस


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A delegation of Russia s defense ministry is taking part in the first meeting of a Russian-North Korean military commission in Pyongyang, the RIA news agency cited Russian diplomats as saying on Thursday. The Russian delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, Russian media reported at the time. No details of its agenda in the reclusive nation have been available.

Summary: रूस, उत्तर कोरिया सैन्य आयोग ने प्योंगयांग में पहली बैठक शुरू कीः आर. आई. ए.


CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian army officer was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday after announcing his intention last month to run in the country s 2018 presidential election, his lawyer and wife said. A military court found Colonel Ahmed Konsowa, 42, guilty of expressing political opinions as a serving military officer, his lawyer Asaad Heikal told Reuters. Konsowa appeared in a video last month announcing that he intended to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the vote, which will take place early next year. He said he had submitted his resignation from the army in 2014 but it had not been accepted. Konsowa s wife Rasha Safwat said they would appeal against the verdict. Sisi, the former commander of Egypt s military, has yet to announce he will seek reelection, but is widely expected to do so.

Summary: राष्ट्रपति पद की उम्मीदवारी की घोषणा करने के बाद मिस्र के सेना अधिकारी को जेलः वकील, परिवार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday slammed China on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and longstanding bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services. The annual trade barriers list from the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office sets up more areas of potential irritation for the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Florida. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, asked about his expectations for the meeting, told Fox News on Friday: “What I would hope will come out would be a commitment to starting to abide by the rules and a commitment to working collaboratively to help reduce our deficit.“ USTR, controlled by the White House, said that Chinese government industrial policies and financial support for industries such as steel and aluminum have resulted in overproduction and a flood of exports that have distorted global markets and undermined competitors. “While China has begun to take steps to address steel excess capacity, these steps have been inadequate to date and even fewer efforts have been taken by China in aluminum and other sectors,” USTR said in the report. USTR released the list of trade irritants in 63 countries just after senior Trump trade officials announced an executive order to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits.  The report said China also is using a series of cybersecurity restrictions as part of an apparent long-term goal to replace foreign information and communications technology products and services with locally produced versions. USTR also accused China of using a range of measures to engineer the transfer of foreign technology to Chinese firms. They include denying financial or regulatory approvals to companies using foreign-owned intellectual property (IP) or that do not conduct research or manufacture products in China. “China also reportedly conditions foreign investment approvals on technology transfer to Chinese entities, mandates adverse licensing terms on foreign IP licensors, uses anti-monopoly laws to extract technology on unreasonable terms and subsidizes acquisition of foreign high technology firms to bring technology to the Chinese parent companies.” Gaps in IP rights enforcement have allowed the misappropriation of foreign IP and trade secrets, both within and outside of China. USTR’s criticisms are consistent with increasingly vocal concerns raised by international business groups about what they see as a worsening business climate for foreign firms in China, as well as China’s goal to boost domestic manufacturing content in 10 sectors from robotics to biopharmaceuticals. Earlier this month, the European Union Chamber of Commerce said the “Made in China 2025” plan amounts to a “large-scale import substitution plan aimed at nationalizing key industries” or “severely curtailing the position of foreign business.” USTR also brought up longstanding complaints about online piracy of movies, books, music, video games and software in China as well as a ban on U.S. beef that has been in place since 2003. It said delays in China’s approval process for agricultural products derived from biotechnology also worsened in 2016, hurting U.S. corn exports. Ross, the commerce secretary, also said Trump will sign two executive orders on Friday. The first calls for a 90-day study by the Commerce Department into the causes of U.S. trade deficits, the results of which would be used to formulate policy. A second order would solve a problem involving collection of anti-dumping duties, he said. “There’s some $3 billion worth of duties that have never been collected because they set up straw-man importers that don’t have any financial substance, so by the time the case ends, there’s nobody there against whom you can assess the fine. So what these orders will do is require letters of credit or insurance company bonds or cash so there will be somebody against whom we can levy the fine,” Ross said.

Summary: अमेरिकी व्यापार बाधा रिपोर्ट ने अधिक क्षमता, तकनीकी हस्तांतरण पर चीन की आलोचना की


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Peter Navarro, an economist who has pushed a hard line on China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said in a statement. Senate confirmation is required for all the posts except national security adviser, White House chief of staff, directors of the White House National Economic Council and the White House National Trade Council, and White House strategist. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration: Tillerson, 64, has spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil Corp, where he rose to serve as its chairman and CEO in 2006. A civil engineer by training, the Texan joined the world’s largest energy company in 1975 and led several of its operations in the United States as well as in Yemen, Thailand and Russia. As Exxon’s chief executive, he maintained close ties with Moscow and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. Mnuchin, 54, is a successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. Housing advocacy groups criticized the bank for its foreclosure practices, accusing it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was in 2005 rebuked for saying: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  Zinke, 55, a first-term Republican representative and a member of the House subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public lands. He has taken stances favoring coal, which suffered during the Obama administration. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. Ross, 79, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co and Forbes has pegged his net worth at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization, for causing massive U.S. factory job losses.               Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board. Puzder, 66, has argued that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close and praises the benefits of automation, so his appointment is likely to antagonize organized labor.  U.S. Representative Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Co. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Perry, 66, adds to the list of oil drilling advocates skeptical about climate change who have been picked for senior positions in Trump’s Cabinet. The selections have worried environmentalists but cheered an oil and gas industry eager for expansion. Perry, who also briefly ran in the 2016 presidential race, would be responsible for U.S. energy policy and oversee the nation’s nuclear weapons program.  DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for expansion of charter schools. The final leadership role of Kelly’s 45-year military career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 66-year-old retired Marine general differed with Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. Recently re-elected to serve as Republican National Committee chairman, Priebus will give up his party post to join Trump in the White House, where the low-key Washington operative could help forge ties with Congress to advance Trump’s agenda. Priebus, 44, was a steadfast supporter of Trump during the presidential campaign even as the party fractured amid the choice. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to stem climate change, Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists. But he fits with the president-elect’s promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top state prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011 and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. U.S. Representative Mick Mulvaney, 49, a South Carolina Republican, is a fiscal conservative. He was an outspoken critic of former House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who resigned in 2015 amid opposition from fellow Republicans who were members of the House Freedom Caucus. Mulvaney was first elected to Congress in 2010. Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former chief executive of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012 and was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. U.S. Representative Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran. Retired Lieutenant General Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Cohn, 56, president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, had widely been considered heir apparent to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Wall Street firm. Trump hammered Goldman and Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class. Navarro, 67, has suggested a stepped-up engagement with Taiwan, including assistance with a submarine development program. A professor at University of California, Irvine, who advised Trump during the campaign, Navarro argued that Washington should stop referring to the “one China” policy, but stopped short of suggesting it should recognize Taipei: “There is no need to unnecessarily poke the Panda.” Viola, 60, is a West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division. He founded high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial Inc and served as  chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he began his financial services career. After the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Viola helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is an owner of the Florida Panthers ice hockey team. CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST, SENIOR COUNSELOR: STEVE BANNON The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump’s campaign chairman in August. A rabble-rousing conservative media figure, he helped shift Breitbart into a forum for the alt-right, a loose confederation of those who reject mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. His hiring signals Trump’s dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. As White House chief of staff, Bannon, 63, will serve as Trump’s gatekeeper and agenda-setter.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रंप ने अपने प्रशासन के लिए शीर्ष पदों को भरा


PARIS (Reuters) - France warned Iraq s Kurdish region on Wednesday that a declaration of independence would likely destabilise the region, but called on the central Iraqi government to give the Kurds greater autonomy.  What would be desirable today is that Kurdish Iraq be integrated in the reconstruction of Iraq, reconciliation of Iraq by having the greatest amount of autonomy possible,  Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian told BFM TV.   It does not seem timely today to have independence ... but (if) a declaration of independence happened it would provoke new major crises in the Middle East at a time when Islamic State is being defeated in Iraq.

Summary: फ्रांस का कहना है कि इराकी कुर्द स्वतंत्रता अभियान के खिलाफ हैं, बगदाद से रियायतों का आग्रह किया


VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday said he wanted Russia to continue supporting sanctions against North Korea after Pyongyang conducted its largest nuclear test at the weekend.  I hope that Russia will continue its support on this question,  Moon said alongside Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया के मून ने रूस से उत्तर कोरिया पर प्रतिबंधों का समर्थन जारी रखने को कहा


SAN DIEGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday said he was leaning toward approving a $25 million settlement of fraud claims against President Donald Trump and his Trump University real estate seminars but deferred a final decision to a later date.  At a hearing in San Diego, Judge Gonzalo Curiel noted that, under the class action settlement, former Trump University students were expected to recover 80 percent of the money they spent on courses and mentoring programs. “That is an extraordinary amount,” the judge said, noting the recovery rate in similar lawsuits is usually closer to between 11 and 20 percent. He did not specify when he would rule. A Florida woman objected to the settlement, saying she should have the opportunity to opt out and take Trump to court herself.  Patrick Coughlin, a class action lawyer for the students, said the students would actually receive over 90 percent of their money back. Some 3,730 students submitted claim forms in the class action that dates to 2010, according to court papers. The students, who paid as much as $35,000 for the seminars, claimed they were lured by false promises that they would learn Trump’s investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors. Trump vowed to continue fighting the fraud claims during the presidential election campaign but agreed to the settlement soon after. He has admitted he did not personally select the instructors, but his lawyers have described the claim as mere sales “puffery.” Trump accused Curiel of bias last year based on the Indiana-born judge’s Mexican ancestry. Sherri Simpson, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who paid $19,000, objected to the settlement provision blocking students from opting out of the deal. She has said in court papers she would like to seek full recovery from Trump, plus punitive damages and other relief.  Gary Friedman, a lawyer for Simpson, argued in court the notices were defective. Curiel questioned Friedman and said he would consider the objection.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प विश्वविद्यालय के 25 मिलियन डॉलर के समझौते को अनुकूल माना


FENGXIAN, China (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to the country on Wednesday about  waves of positive energy  from the ruling Communist Party after its twice-a-decade leadership shuffle, but on the rural outskirts of Shanghai, not everyone was riveted to the screen. As the party congress drew to a close and Xi prepared to unveil a new leadership team during the national broadcast, some elderly residents gathering for lunch in the sleepy suburb of Fengxian expressed indifference. An 85-year-old man with a shock of white hair, who identified himself by the surname Cai, said he would not watch.   Whatever happens today, I don t care,  he said with a smile.   I m a Christian and I go to worship after lunch, and I will be late if I watch. I am not cultured. I don t understand what they are saying.            Gathering in a crowded two-storey compound with dusty concrete floors and solid wooden furniture heaving with fruit and snacks, Fei Jinxian, another 85-year-old Fengxian resident, said she was unclear of the significance of Wednesday s events. Watching the broadcast, Fei and her friends nodded appreciatively when Xi emerged on to the stage, but she said she barely recognized any of the other figures appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee, including Premier Li Keqiang.  I recognize Xi Jinping, and I recognize Han Zheng because he is from our city, but the others I don t know about,  Fei said in the local dialect. As a Chinese television commentator reflected on the  historical importance of this moment , 58-year-old Gu Wenfeng said she did not understand.   I don t normally pay much attention to politics,  she said.    I only watch it if my son is around and he puts it on.  Xi has emerged as China s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong after a congress that enshrined his own political theory into the constitution. Xi told the gathering of Chinese and international reporters and a TV audience of millions about the  great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation  and the  waves of positive energy  from the ruling Communist Party, but people in Fengxian were more concerned about local matters.  Fengxian has seen its population decline as its youth head into the cities for fresh opportunities and better wages, but rapid urbanization and a campaign to build a  new socialist countryside  through government infrastructure spending has transformed the area.   The leaders have been paying a lot of attention with the waterways, roads and whatnot,  said Gu, pointing to a new drainage channel running through the village.  I think the next five years are going to get better.  Shen Bo, a 31-year-old grassroots Communist Party official in Fengxian, told Reuters that he was unfamiliar with most of the new leadership line-up, but said he was proud of the  powerful  President Xi, who had a  feeling for the times  and remained in touch with China s rural heartlands.  I can use three characters to describe him,  he said, using characters that mean  touching the ground , or  down to earth .   Because he has studied the grassroots more, and that is my strongest impression of him.

Summary: शंघाई के बाहरी इलाके में, चीन द्वारा नेतृत्व का अनावरण किए जाने पर कुछ निवासी अडिग हैं


WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Wednesday his country was not involved in an effort to influence the U.S. presidential election even as WikiLeaks released another trove of internal documents from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Last week, the U.S. government formally accused Russia of launching a hacking campaign to “interfere with the U.S. election process.” Clinton’s campaign, which has charged the Kremlin is trying to help Republican Donald Trump win the White House on Nov. 8, took its allegations a step further on Tuesday when John Podesta, chairman of the Democratic nominee’s campaign, accused the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia. At events in Florida, Trump said he had nothing to do with Putin or Russia. “I promise you, I don’t have any business deals with Russia,” Trump said at a rally in Lakeland. In Moscow, Putin said nothing in the hacking scandal is in Russia’s interests and accused all sides in the U.S. presidential campaign of misusing rhetoric about Russia for their own purposes.  “They started this hysteria, saying this (hacking) is in Russia’s interests, but this has nothing to do with Russia’s interests,” Putin told a business forum. Putin said his government would work with whoever won the U.S. election, “if, of course, the new U.S. leader wishes to work with our country.”  WikiLeaks, the organization started by Julian Assange that publishes leaked information on the internet, this week released thousands of emails from Podesta’s email account and has not said how it obtained them. Last week, it posted excerpts from Clinton’s private speeches to banking and financial firms.  The Clinton campaign has not confirmed the authenticity of the messages.  The leaks, coming as the election campaign reaches the final stretch, have the potential to embarrass the Clinton camp. In recent days, however, Trump’s own campaign has been in deeper trouble over the emergence of a 2005 video in which Trump bragged about groping women. Many Republican elected officials have turned their back on him and Clinton’s lead in national opinion polls has increased. Trump escalated his attacks on U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, deepening a fracture in the Republican Party.  Clinton, a former secretary of state, has repeatedly accused Trump of having overly friendly ties with Putin and Russia.  She has noted that Trump’s foreign policies have tended to align with Russian’s interests, whether it has been questioning NATO’s role in defending Eastern Europe, failing to recognize Russia’s intrusion into Ukraine, and supporting Russia’s actions in Syria.  Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for office, has shifted his policies on a wide range of issues, from taxes to the minimum wage to immigration during his White House campaign but his statements on Russia have been consistent. His friendly stance toward Moscow departs from the views of many prominent Republicans.  During a presidential debate on Sunday, Trump publicly disagreed with his own vice presidential choice, Mike Pence, who had called for a more hawkish approach toward Russia.     At that debate, Trump questioned whether Russia was behind the hacks, as the U.S. government has asserted. And on Wednesday, during a rally in Ocala, Florida, Trump echoed those remarks. “Have you ever noticed, anything that goes wrong they blame Russia?” Trump told the crowd. “They always blame Russia and then they says Donald Trump is friends . . . I don’t know Putin, folks. What the hell do I have to do with Putin?” Trump has said that as president he would seek warmer relations with Russia and that it would be in the United States’ best interests to seek Russia’s help to defeat Islamic State.  “Trump is the most pro-Russian presidential candidate ever,” said Max Boot, a senior fellow for national security studies at the Council of Foreign Relations. “Putin no doubt sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reorient U.S. foreign policy in his direction by electing Trump.” A Russian ultra-nationalist ally of Putin who is known for his fiery rhetoric said Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington, and predicted nuclear war if Clinton were elected.      “Relations between Russia and the United States can’t get any worse. The only way they can get worse is if a war starts,” Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker, told Reuters.            Clinton campaign chairman Podesta said on Tuesday the FBI was investigating a “criminal hack” of his emails, and he tied the Trump campaign to the leaks by suggesting that a former Trump adviser, Roger Stone, had advance warning of the hacks.  The Trump campaign has not responded to the allegation about Stone, but Trump has denied any coordination with the Russian government to embarrass Clinton.  He has, however, made clear he supports WikiLeaks’ efforts. “I love WikiLeaks,” he said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.  The United States has an ongoing criminal investigation into Assange’s publishing of classified material. Clinton has been a fierce critic of Assange, who remains at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden.  Last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security said the government was confident the hacks of Democratic political groups and campaign officials originated from high levels of the Russian government. The White House on Tuesday promised a “proportional” response to Russia over the hacks.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told CNN the United States has offered no proof of his government’s involvement, and suggested Moscow was unconcerned about possible reprisals. “If they decided to do something, let them do it,” Lavrov said.

Summary: पुतिन ने अमेरिकी चुनाव में हस्तक्षेप के आरोपों को खारिज किया


TALLINN (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday assured the Baltic states of U.S. support if they faced aggression from Russia, telling them that Washington firmly backs NATO’s doctrine of collective defense. Pence’s comments to the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, ahead of Russian war games on their doorstep, were clearly intended to reassure following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump’s early lukewarm support for NATO. During a visit to NATO’s Brussels headquarters in May, Trump jarred allies by not restating U.S. support for a critical portion of the alliance’s charter and instead berated some members for not spending enough on defense. Trump has since said he supports the NATO charter’s Article 5, the requirement that each member of the alliance defend each other if they come under attack. “A strong and united NATO is more necessary today than at any point since the collapse of communism a quarter-century ago and no threat looms larger in the Baltic states than the specter of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east,” Pence said at news conference with the three Baltic presidents. “Under President Donald Trump, the United States stands firmly behind our Article 5 pledge of mutual defense. An attack on one of us is an attack on us all.” Russia is scheduled next month to hold large-scale military maneuvers with its ally Belarus. The U.S. army’s top general in Europe said this month that the Zapad war games could be a “Trojan horse” resulting in military equipment being left in Belarus. He warned that Russia continues to “seek to redraw international borders by force, undermine democracies of sovereign nations and divide the free nations of Europe, one against another”.      Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite told Lithuanian radio that NATO’s air-policing missions would be doubled during the Russian-led Zapad exercise.   Pence is also due to visit Montenegro, the alliance’s newest member, and make a stop in Georgia, an aspiring member, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008.

Summary: बाल्टिक में वी. पी. पेंस ने नाटो में आपसी रक्षा के लिए समर्थन की आवाज उठाई


MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia warned the United States on Thursday it would target U.S.-backed militias in Syria if Russian troops again came under fire, as the United States disclosed an unusual face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Russian generals meant to avoid such clashes.  The Russian warning underscored growing tensions over Syria between Moscow and Washington. While both oppose Islamic State (IS), they are engaged, via proxies, in a race for strategic influence and potential resources in the form of oilfields in eastern Syria s Deir al-Zor province. The Russian Defence Ministry said the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had taken up positions on the eastern banks of the Euphrates with U.S. special forces, and twice had opened fire with mortars and artillery on Syrian troops who were working alongside Russian special forces.  A representative of the U.S. military command in Al Udeid (the U.S. operations center in Qatar) was told in no uncertain terms that any attempts to open fire from areas where SDF fighters are located would be quickly shut down,  Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.  Fire points in those areas will be immediately suppressed with all military means.  In a sign of the high stakes as both forces come in increasing proximity, U.S. and Russian generals held a face-to-face meeting this week in an effort to avoid accidental clashes, U.S. military officials said on Thursday.   They had a face-to-face discussion, laid down maps and graphics,  said Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, adding it appeared to be the first meeting of its kind. Dillon, addressing a Pentagon briefing, disclosed few details, including who participated in the meeting or its precise location.  A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the participants included both U.S. and Russian generals.     The Russian Defence Ministry this week accused U.S. spies of initiating a jihadi offensive against government-held parts of northwest Syria on Tuesday. The ministry, in a Wednesday evening statement, said 29 Russian military policemen had been surrounded by jihadis as a result and that Russia had been forced to break them out in a special operation backed by air power.  According to our information, U.S. intelligence services initiated the offensive to halt the successful advance of government troops to the east of Deir al-Zor,  said Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi. The Syrian army, backed by Russian war planes, has captured about 100 km (62 miles) of the west bank of the Euphrates this month, reaching the Raqqa provincial border on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.  Syrian troops also crossed to the eastern side of the river on Monday where the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, has been advancing. The convergence of the rival offensives has increased tensions in Deir al-Zor.  The U.S.-backed militias said on Saturday they had come under attack from Russian jets and Syrian government forces, something Moscow denied.  On Monday, the SDF warned against any further Syrian army advances on the eastern riverbank, and Russia s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the waters of the Euphrates had risen as soon as the Syrian army began crossing it, suggesting this could only have happened if upstream dams held by the U.S.-backed opposition had been opened. (Corrects conversion of 100 km to miles in paragraph 13.)

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि उकसाने पर सीरिया में U.S.-backed लड़ाकों को निशाना बनाया जाएगा


HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday attempted to clear up confusion over whether he accepts Russian President Vladimir Putin s denials of meddling in the U.S. election last year. At a news conference in Vietnam, Trump distanced himself from remarks he made on Saturday in which he suggested he believed Putin when he said there had been no Russian meddling in the election that took him to the White House. The comments had drawn criticism at home because U.S. intelligence agencies have long since concluded there was Russian meddling.  As to whether I believe it or not, I m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted,  Trump said at a news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.   As currently led, by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies.  He was careful to make clear he sided with the intelligence agencies under his own leadership. Former U.S. intelligence director James Clapper had told Reuters:  The fact the president of the United States would take Putin at his word over that of the intelligence community is quite simply unconscionable.   The Russian issue has clouded Trump s first year in office and his comments on Saturday were a distraction from his    five-nation Asia tour. Trump said he still believed Putin did not think there had been Russian meddling.      I believe that President Putin really feels, and feels strongly, that he did not meddle in our election,  Trump said, while adding:  What he believes is what he believes.   Trump said he was not interested in arguing with Putin over meddling and wanted to get on with Russia to work on world problems including North Korea, Syria and Ukraine. Trump has called allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax. A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is conducting an investigation that has led to charges against Trump s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates. U.S. intelligence agencies have also concluded Russians interfered to tip the election in Trump s favour through hacking and releasing emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and spreading social media propaganda.

Summary: चुनाव में हस्तक्षेप को लेकर पुतिन पर की गई टिप्पणी से खुद को अलग करते हैं ट्रंप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Monday approved an aviation bill that would upgrade security at U.S. airports in the aftermath of the Brussels and Istanbul attacks while extending funds for the Federal Aviation Administration for another 14 months. The approval, by a simple voice vote, sends the legislation to the Senate, where lawmakers were expected to approve the measure and forward it to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature before Congress leaves for a seven-week summer break on Friday. The measure includes provisions from an earlier Senate bill that require tougher vetting of aviation workers with access to secure airport areas, expedited security checks to move passengers more quickly from airport areas that are not secured and a larger number of police dogs for security duty in the U.S. transportation system. It extends the current level of federal funding for FAA programs through September 2017. Congress has been struggling to find agreement on a more comprehensive package to reauthorize the U.S. aviation regulatory agency. A measure that would have provided FAA funding over six years stalled in the House earlier this year, amid disagreement over a proposal to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system. House Republicans say they intend to use the time between now and September 2017 to find ways to move the privatization plan forward.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन ने हवाई अड्डे की सुरक्षा बढ़ाने के लिए विधेयक को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign took in $80 million last month, leaving it with $74 million in cash on hand ahead of the Nov. 8 election, it said in a statement released on Wednesday. Of the $80 million raised in July, $64 million was from donations that included matching donations from Trump, it said. Another roughly $16 million was from 20 fundraisers cohosted with the Republican National Committee, the statement said.

Summary: ट्रम्प अभियान का कहना है कि उसने जुलाई में 8 करोड़ डॉलर जुटाएः बयान


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Almost 12 million people, or almost one sixth of Thailand s population, have visited the glittering Grand Palace in Bangkok to pay their respects to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej since he died last October, the palace said on Thursday. Thousands lined the streets of Bangkok s historic area near the Chao Phraya River to enter the palace on Thursday, the last day to see the late king before the royal cremation on Oct. 26. Queues stretched for more than two km (1.2 miles), officials said, with many lining up since Wednesday.  I ve been here since 6 pm and I managed to pay respects at 7 am,  Tossapon Thongmak, 33, a Bangkok resident.  We were rained on last night but this is a must - we must pay our respects to father,  he said. King Bhumibol died last October aged 88 and his body has laid in state in a gold hall at the palace. He was widely seen as a father figure and regarded as the nation s moral compass during decades of on-off political turbulence including several coups, bloody street protests and a region-wide 1997/98 financial crisis. He was succeeded in December by his only son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, who has since overseen a shake-up at the palace to give himself greater authority. The royal funeral will be a mix of Buddhist religious ceremonies and Hindu Brahmin rituals.   This is the first time that many Thais will experience a royal funeral for a monarch. So the grandeur, the beauty, and the determination of everyone involved in the preparation is a new experience for all,  Tonthong Chandransu, a public relations official for the funeral organization committee and an expert on the Thai monarchy, told Reuters in an interview.  From the architecture, the craftsmanship, the various preparations and their fine details, I have never seen this sort of dedication.  Builders have been working for months on a royal crematorium that was built from scratch on a green in front of the palace.  Time was needed in order to build heaven, based on imagination and belief systems that fused Buddhism with Brahmin Hindu traditions that are important in Thai society,  Tonthong said. The palace has said it expects 250,000 mourners to attend the royal cremation. Thailand s tourism body has asked tourists to respect Thai sensitivities during what promises to be an emotionally-charged time.

Summary: थाईलैंड के दिवंगत राजा भूमिबोल को अंतिम श्रद्धांजलि देने के लिए हजारों की कतार


YANGON (Reuters) - Human rights groups called on Friday for international agencies to be allowed to monitor the planned repatriation of hundreds of thousands Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh to the homes they have fled from in Myanmar over the past three months. The two governments signed a pact on Thursday settling terms for a repatriation process. They aim to start the return of Rohingya in two months in order to reduce pressure in the refugee camps that have mushroomed in the Cox s Bazar region of Bangladesh. But rights groups have expressed doubts about Myanmar, also known as Burma, following through on the agreement, and some have called for independent observers.  The idea that Burma will now welcome them back to their smoldering villages with open arms is laughable,  said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch.  Instead of signing on to a public relations stunt, the international community should make it clear that there can be no returns without international monitors to ensure security, an end to the idea of putting returnees in camps, the return of land and the rebuilding of destroyed homes and villages.   More than 600,000 Rohingya sought sanctuary in Bangladesh after the military in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar launched a brutal counter insurgency across northern parts of Rakhine State following attacks by Rohingya militants on an army base and police posts on Aug. 25. The United Nations and United States have described the military s actions as ethnic cleansing, and rights groups have accused the security forces of atrocities, including mass rape, arson and killings.  China has backed Myanmar over the crisis and blocked a stronger international response, however. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday discussed the issue in Beijing with Myanmar s army chief, Min Aung Hlaing. While Myanmar s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has said repatriation of the largely stateless Muslim minority would be based on residency and would be  safe and voluntary , there were concerns that the country s autonomous military could prove obstructive. The memorandum of understanding signed by Myanmar and Bangladesh on Thursday said a joint working group would be set up within three weeks to prepare for the return of the refugees. But it gave scant details about the criteria of return and of what role, if any, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, could play. The agency believed conditions in northern Rakhine  are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns  of Rohingya and some refugees were still fleeing Myanmar, spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.  It is important that international standards apply, and we are ready to help,  he said, adding that the UNHCR had still not seen the repatriation agreement signed by the two countries.  It s important that people don t end up being sent back to confinement and ghettos.  Human rights monitors said other important points not addressed in the statements released separately by the two governments included the protection of Rohingya against further violence, a path to resolving their legal status and whether they would be allowed to return to their old homes. Suu Kyi s spokesman was not immediately available for comment on Friday, and had declined to comment on these concerns when contacted by Reuters late on Thursday. Charmain Mohamed, Amnesty International s director for refugee and migrant rights, said the United Nations and the international community  have been completely sidelined  and the talk of return was  premature  while the flow of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh continued. China welcomed the agreement, saying it  feels gratified at the current positive progress that has been achieved , Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, adding that situation in Rakhine  has obviously been alleviated . Humanitarian workers say, however, that hundreds of Rohingya are arriving in Bangladesh daily, driven out of Myanmar predominantly by chaos, starvation and fear. While the violence has mostly ceased, Rohingya say they have largely lost access to sources of livelihood such as their farms, fisheries and markets.   We will go back if they don t harass us and if we can live life like the Buddhists and other ethnic groups. Our educated children should get government jobs like the others,  said Sayer Hussein, 55, who arrived in Bangladesh two months ago.  Thousands of Rohingya, most of them old people, women and children, are stranded on beaches near the border, waiting for a boat to take them to Bangladesh. Some independent estimates suggest there could still be a few hundred thousand Rohingya in Rakhine State. Thirty-six groups, including the International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International, called for a U.N. Human Rights Council special session on the situation in Myanmar.  Myanmar should  immediately cease all human rights violations, including crimes against humanity , the groups said in an open letter to the U.N. council.

Summary: मानवाधिकार समूहों का कहना है कि रोहिंग्याओं की म्यांमार वापसी के लिए बाहरी पर्यवेक्षकों की आवश्यकता है


PARIS (Reuters) - Europe should challenge the United States over its increasingly aggressive use of extraterritorial laws that have cost European companies - especially banks - billions in fines and other settlements, a French parliamentary report said. Still reeling from the $9 billion fine its biggest bank, BNP Paribas, had to pay U.S. authorities over violations of American sanctions against other countries, the French government has criticized in recent years what it considers the over-reach of the U.S. legal system. Paris’s main objections center on the U.S. Department of Justice’s broad interpretation of what it considers its jurisdiction. This sphere of influence can include transactions between non-Americans outside the U.S. where the U.S. dollar currency is involved. It can also cover deals and other actions taking place via the Internet using U.S. computer servers. “We consider that today’s situation amounts to abusive use of American law,” Karine Berger, a lawmaker from the ruling Socialist party told Reuters in an interview, calling the practices akin to “extortion”. “We ask France and Europe to let it be known to the United States that we will no longer accept this type of behavior.” In a non-binding investigative report last week, lawmakers from both the Socialist party and opposition conservatives said U.S. law appeared to be more punitive toward foreign firms than domestic ones. Although foreign firms accounted for only 30 percent of investigations opened by U.S. authorities between 1977 and 2014 under its anti-foreign bribery law, 67 percent of the amount levied in fines came from foreign companies, the report said. Since 2009, European banks such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank have paid about $16 billion to the United States over breaches of various sanction regimes. European firms have also accounted for 14 of the 15 biggest penalties, the report said. The report did not question U.S. regulators’ current prosecution of Deutsche Bank over mis-selling toxic mortgage securities before the financial crisis, since the actions took place in the United States. But it did say the DoJ had not taken account of the impact on the financial system that the $14 billion fine it sought from the German bank went on to have. Swiss bank Credit Suisse said on Sunday it has put five employees on leave while it investigates a tax-related matter. Swiss paper SonntagsZeitung reported that the move was connected to a U.S. probe of the bank’s Israeli unit over possible tax evasion. Berger said Europe’s response had not been forceful enough, and that both the European Union and individual member states should adapt their own legislation, which is why the report will be sent to counterparts at other EU parliaments. “There must be a legal rearmament in Europe, so we fight on equal terms with the United States in the field of economic competition,” Berger said.   The European Union should consider challenging parts of the U.S. sanction regime at the World Trade Organisation, the report said, citing a 1998 precedent when Europeans successfully forced the U.S. to back down over Congressional sanctions against Cuba, Libya and Iran that could have affected European firms. The EU should update a 1996 ban on European firms complying with U.S. sanctions based on such extraterritorial legislation, giving European firms a legal “excuse” to reject U.S. demands. European countries and institutions should also encourage the use of the euro for global transactions and strengthen the use of intelligence services for economic means. Citing the recent EU ruling asking Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland, Berger said Europe should not be afraid to be more confrontational. “It shows Europe is perfectly capable of waging this economic war since the U.S. is only going to keep it up,” she said.

Summary: अमेरिका को कॉर्पोरेट यूरोप की न्यायिक 'जबरन वसूली' रोकनी चाहिए, फ्रांसीसी सांसदों का कहना है