BERLIN (Reuters) - Barring an upset, the main uncertainty surrounding Europe s most important election this year is not whether Angela Merkel will continue to lead Germany after next week s vote, but who with and how long they will take to get going.  Although a surprise cannot be ruled out in the wake of any Russian interference, pollsters say they are confident about their surveys, which show Merkel s conservatives winning the most seats in the Bundestag lower house.  The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) is set to enter parliament for the first time, and some experts have said it may gain more support than the roughly 10 percent polls suggest, an alarming prospect for many at home and abroad.  But all the other parties have ruled out joining it in a coalition - an inherent part of Germany s electoral system - and the most likely scenario is probably a repeat of Merkel s  grand coalition  with the Social Democrats (SPD).  She will start sounding out partners right after the Sept. 24 vote, but coalition building is a protracted process, which could paralyze policy for months at a time when Brexit has shaken Europe s foundations.  The process is especially complex this time as the number of parliamentary groups could rise to six from four. Informal soundings and then exploratory talks precede formal coalition negotiations and party leaders may also seek approval from their members before signing off on any deal.  Depending on the shape of the coalition, the main issues at stake are the integration of the more than 1 million migrants who have arrived in Germany in the last two years, and investment in Europe's biggest economy as well as Merkel's leading role in talks on reform of the European Union and relations with Russia and Turkey.  Here are the main scenarios:  CONSERVATIVES, SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ( GRAND COALITION )  The most likely option, according to opinion polls. Merkel s parliamentary party, made up of her Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) has governed with the SPD for eight of the 12 years that Merkel has been chancellor, including the last four.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: Merkel, who has steered the conservatives toward the political center ground, looks comfortable ruling with the SPD. Such a coalition would likely have a large majority, provide continuity and broadly agree on Europe, Turkey, foreign policy, migration and security issues.  HURDLES: It is a last resort for both sides, especially the SPD, which fears it will lose out as junior partner. It wants more emphasis on investment, education, tackling inequality and fair pensions while conservatives are more focused on tax cuts. The SPD is also reluctant to back planned defense spending hikes.  CONSERVATIVES, FREE DEMOCRATS ( BLACK-YELLOW )  The conservative block and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) are traditional partners, especially on financial and economic policy, having ruled together for almost half of post-war Germany s seven decades. If they win sufficient votes, this is the most likely scenario.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: The pro-business FDP has rebounded this year, winning enough votes in a vote in Germany s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in May to share power with the CDU there. A repeat at federal level would herald tax cuts and deregulation and possibly tighter laws on immigration, asylum seeking and security.  HURDLES: The FDP was wiped out of parliament in 2013 after four chaotic years ruling with Merkel. It has more radical tax reduction and privatization plans, opposes deeper EU integration and wants EU countries to be able to quit the euro zone. Party leader Christian Lindner has also suggested Germany accept Russia s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, something Merkel has ruled out.  CONSERVATIVES, FDP, GREENS ( JAMAICA  - REFERENCE TO PARTIES  COLOURS: BLACK, YELLOW, GREEN)  As yet untested at a federal level, this combination rules in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE - If Merkel s bloc can t form an alliance with the FDP or the Greens alone, it may try a three-way deal. Both smaller parties have played down this option but may be lured by the prospect of power.  HURDLES - The Greens and FDP are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Policy clashes would be likely on tax, energy, the EU and migrants.  CONSERVATIVES, GREENS ( BLACK-GREEN )  Untested at a federal level, this has been mooted as an option under Merkel, who has pushed renewable energy. The CDU and Greens have worked together at regional level, including in a Greens-led coalition in the rich southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: The Greens  leaders are pragmatic, worlds away from the eco-warriors who founded the party. The prospect of power may persuade them to compromise. Such a coalition would promote a strong Europe and focus on fighting climate change. The Greens would push for a phaseout of coal-fired power stations.  HURDLES: Doubtful they would win a majority. Conservatives want lower taxes while Greens want to tax the super rich. Greens have a more liberal migrant policy which could pit them against the CSU, and they oppose plans to increase defense spending. Clashes are also likely on some aspects of energy policy and auto emissions regulation following the diesel scandal.  A minority government would be a first and stability-craving Germans would not like it but may prefer it to new elections.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: If Merkel fails to find a partner, she may feel she has a mandate to rule given her personal popularity. She would probably get support for individual policies from the FDP, SPD and Greens.  HURDLES: Merkel s natural caution coupled with Germans  fear of instability, a legacy of the fragmentation in the years that preceded the rise of Hitler s Nazi party.  SPD, LEFT, GREENS ( RED-RED-GREEN  or  R2G )  Highly unlikely. Never tested at a federal level, a tie up between the SPD and Greens, preferred partners, and the radical Left party, could be the only way for the SPD to take the chancellery. It is being tested in the state of Berlin under SPD leadership and, with a Left premier, in the state of Thuringia.  WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: For the first time, the SPD has not excluded the possibility of joining the Left. Such a coalition would probably focus on boosting investment and tackling inequality and adopt a more Russia-friendly stance.  HURDLES: The Left s links with Communists in former East Germany and painful SPD memories of an exodus to the Left over deep labor market reforms more than a decade ago. While the SPD and Greens could rule together relatively easily, the Left wants a top tax rate of 75 percent, a 30-hour week and to replace NATO with an alliance including Russia.

Summary: चुनाव के बाद की पहेली जर्मनी की मर्केल का इंतजार कर रही है


BEIJING (Reuters) - Winter is bringing a frigid existence and an uncertain future for migrant workers in Beijing deprived of electricity and heating as they resist a month-long campaign to evict them from the city s urban villages. A deadly fire in a hamlet of ramshackle dwellings on the capital s southern fringes last month prompted a fire safety blitz by the authorities, forcing thousands of the workers out of homes and businesses. But not everyone has left, and a handful of holdouts are preparing for tough times as temperatures plunge below freezing.  There s no electricity when we re coming home. We can t see where we re going,  said Feng, a migrant worker hailing from the southwestern province of Sichuan, pointing to a pile of blankets. Feng, who was willing to reveal only his surname, had been renting a room in a shared apartment block built and run by migrants in Picun, a village in northeast Beijing, until the authorities cut off their power and ordered everyone to leave.  I sold my house in the northeast, there is nothing to go back to,  said another worker, Wang Liping, who said she paid 200,000 yuan ($30,000) to buy part of the apartment block where migrants like Feng rent rooms for a few hundred yuan each month.  I d rather freeze to death than leave here,  added Wang, who is refusing to leave despite efforts to remove her.   The evictions have sparked unusually direct criticism from China s intellectuals, students and journalists, who say the government is unfairly targeting the vulnerable underclass.  Originally it was just a fire, but they used the fire as an excuse to force people young and old onto the streets in the middle of the coldest days of winter,  independent political commentator Zhang Lifan told Reuters. But the city could not do without migrants, Cai Qi, the city s Communist Party chief and a close ally of President Xi Jinping, said during a visit to the migrants this week, in a bid to allay the fears. The capital s need for cheap labor has attracted thousands of workers, even though they are denied official residency permits because of government curbs on internal migration. Migrant enclaves have grown into full-fledged communities today, from clusters of shanty towns. Picun, one of the most developed, has its own literature society and houses numerous aspiring artists and musicians. One young couple living by torchlight in their block said they were considering going to Tangshan, a steel-producing hub in their home province of Hebei, but after 10 years of living in Beijing, they would miss the lifestyle.  To be honest, if it wasn t for all the migrants, Beijing wouldn t be any better than any other city,  the woman, who is surnamed Xiang, told Reuters.

Summary: बीजिंग से बेदखली ने प्रवासी श्रमिकों को अनिश्चित स्थिति में छोड़ दिया क्योंकि सर्दी गहरी हो गई है


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it was set to kick off talks next week with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on immigration policy, government spending and other issues that need to be wrapped up early in the new year. The expected flurry of legislative activity comes as Republicans and Democrats begin to set the stage for midterm congressional elections in November. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party is eager to maintain control of Congress while Democrats look for openings to wrest seats away in the Senate and the House of Representatives. On Wednesday, Trump’s budget chief Mick Mulvaney and legislative affairs director Marc Short will meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan - both Republicans - and their Democratic counterparts, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the White House said. That will be followed up with a weekend of strategy sessions for Trump, McConnell and Ryan on Jan. 6 and 7 at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, according to the White House. The Senate returns to work on Jan. 3 and the House on Jan. 8. Congress passed a short-term government funding bill last week before taking its Christmas break, but needs to come to an agreement on defense spending and various domestic programs by Jan. 19, or the government will shut down. Also on the agenda for lawmakers is disaster aid for people hit by hurricanes in Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida, and by wildfires in California. The House passed an $81 billion package in December, which the Senate did not take up. The White House has asked for a smaller figure, $44 billion. Deadlines also loom for soon-to-expire protections for young adult immigrants who entered the country illegally as children, known as “Dreamers.” In September, Trump ended Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected Dreamers from deportation and provided work permits, effective in March, giving Congress until then to devise a long-term solution. Democrats, some Republicans and a number of large companies have pushed for DACA protections to continue. Trump and other Republicans have said that will not happen without Congress approving broader immigration policy changes and tougher border security. Democrats oppose funding for a wall promised by Trump along the U.S.-Mexican border.  “The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc,” Trump said in a Twitter post on Friday. Trump wants to overhaul immigration rules for extended families and others seeking to live in the United States. Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent critic of the president, said he would work with Trump to protect Dreamers. “We can fix DACA in a way that beefs up border security, stops chain migration for the DREAMers, and addresses the unfairness of the diversity lottery. If POTUS (Trump) wants to protect these kids, we want to help him keep that promise,” Flake wrote on Twitter. Congress in early 2018 also must raise the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid a government default. The U.S. Treasury would exhaust all of its borrowing options and run dry of cash to pay its bills by late March or early April if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling before then, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Trump, who won his first major legislative victory with the passage of a major tax overhaul this month, has also promised a major infrastructure plan.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस, कांग्रेस ने खर्च, आप्रवासन पर बातचीत की तैयारी की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer told the Senate on Thursday that it would harm the morale of U.S. forces to order them to carry out activities such as waterboarding or targeting civilians, options previously cited by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not comment on U.S. politics, and Trump’s name did not come up in a question put to him by Senator Lindsey Graham or in Dunford’s response. However, when asked by Graham, a former 2016 White House contender and frequent Trump critic, what the impact such tactics would have on the morale of the force, Dunford said: “Those kinds of activities that you described are inconsistent with the values of our nation. And quite frankly I think it would have an adverse effect,” citing fallout on the morale of the force. “And frankly what you are suggesting are things that actually aren’t legal for them to do anyway,” Dunford added.  During the campaign, Trump indicated that, if elected president, he might order the U.S. military to break the law on interrogation tactics, including waterboarding. Trump also suggested his willingness to target the families of terrorist suspects. Trump, the Republican front-runner, softened his stance on torture earlier in March, saying he would not order the U.S. military to break international laws on how to treat terrorism suspects. Waterboarding is the practice of pouring water over someone’s face to mimic drowning as an interrogation tactic. Critics say it is torture. Democratic President Barack Obama banned use of the method days after taking office in 2009.

Summary: शीर्ष अमेरिकी जनरल, ट्रम्प का हवाला दिए बिना, सैनिकों के मनोबल पर चेतावनी देते हैं


(Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump holds more meetings on Monday and Tuesday as he continues to form his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20.  He was scheduled to meet with the following people, according to his transition team: * A former adviser on homeland security to former U.S. President George W. Bush * A former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission * Member of Trump’s transition team overseeing independent agencies, including the SEC.  * A former head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, now with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think tank. * Has been mentioned as a possible chief of the Environmental Protection Agency.  * Retired four-star general and former director of the CIA under President Barack Obama until his resignation in 2012 over an extramarital affair, after which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for mishandling classified information * Has been reported as a possible pick for secretary of state.     * Chairman of World Wide Technology Inc, an information technology and supply chain logistics firm described as one of the largest African-American-owned businesses in the United States. * Republican attorney general of Oklahoma* Reported to be a possible candidate to head the Environmental Protection Agency. * Sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin * A strong Trump supporter, Clarke, who is black, had criticized protests that erupted in Milwaukee after a 23-year- old man was shot and killed by police in August.  * Former CEO of regional bank BB&T and former CEO of the Cato Institute. * Reported to be under consideration to head the U.S. Treasury Department. * Chief executive officer of Chicago-based real estate investment firm General Growth Properties Inc * Republican congresswoman from Tennessee. * Veterans advocate who was formerly executive director of Vets for Freedom and a former counterinsurgency instructor in Afghanistan. * President and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America and former CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, a defense industry trade group. * Former Federal Aviation Administration administrator under President George W. Bush * Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Tennessee Republican  * House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security chairman, Texas Republican * Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, member of the House Committee on Homeland Security * Republican presidential candidate in 2012 who was highly critical of Trump during the election * Considered a potential pick for secretary of state

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः रिटायर्ड जनरल पेट्रियस और मिट रोमनी से मिलेंगे ट्रंप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. State Department officials were aware of Hillary Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state but did not understand the full extent to which she employed it, a department spokesman said on Wednesday. Spokesman Mark Toner said the State Department has already complied with many recommendations in an inspector general’s report on Clinton’s email use and acknowledged failings during her 2009-2013 tenure. “We, like many federal agencies, were not doing enough to meet the requirements of records management and preservation,” Toner said at a news briefing.

Summary: विदेश विभाग ईमेल, रिकॉर्ड पर पर्याप्त काम नहीं कर रहा थाः प्रवक्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. policy is to achieve a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday, shortly after a senior U.S. official said trying to persuade Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons was a lost cause. The comment by State Department spokesman John Kirby at a news briefing followed remarks by the Director of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper at a Washington think tank that the U.S. policy of trying to persuade North Korea to denuclearize “is probably a lost cause.”

Summary: कोरियाई प्रायद्वीप का परमाणु निरस्त्रीकरण अमेरिकी नीति हैः विदेश विभाग


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodians on Thursday marked the 64th anniversary of the country s independence from France by releasing doves and balloons into the sky at the Independence Monument in the capital Phnom Penh. Late King Norodom Sihanouk declared Cambodia s independence from France in 1953 after seizing power a year earlier in a bloodless coup, but maintained good relations with the European nation. Thursday s independence ceremony was attended by current King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years, and was attended by thousands of school children, civil servants and foreign diplomats. Cambodia was under French rule for almost a century before its 1953 independence. Hun Sen in a Facebook post credited King Norodom Sihanouk with devoting his life to fight for the independence.  November 9 is the day that brought independence, territorial integrity, peace and development,  Hun Sen said. Hun Sen s ruling Cambodian People s Party has cracked down on the opposition in recent months in the lead up to a 2018 election. His government has asked the Supreme Court to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. A court ruling is expected to decide the matter next week.

Summary: कंबोडिया ने कबूतरों, गुब्बारों के साथ फ्रांस से स्वतंत्रता प्राप्त की


LONDON (Reuters) - North Korea s biggest nuclear test to date was condemned around the world on Sunday, with several leaders calling for new sanctions and U.S. President Donald Trump saying  appeasement  would not work. The explosion of what North Korea said was an advanced hydrogen bomb came just days after it fired a missile over Japan.  Trump, who said after last week s missile launch that talking to Pyongyang  is not the answer , tweeted that Sunday s test showed North Korea s  words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States . U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he would put together new sanctions to potentially cut off all North Korea s global trade.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron said they planned to tighten European Union sanctions.  This latest provocation by the ruler in Pyongyang has reached a new dimension,  the German government said in a statement after Merkel and Macron discussed the issue by phone. Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson said:  They (North Korea) seem to be moving closer towards a hydrogen bomb which, if fitted to a successful missile, would unquestionably present a new order of threat,  adding that there were no palatable military solutions.  British Prime Minister Theresa May said the U.N. Security Council should urgently look at new measures. Russia struck a cautious tone.  In the emerging conditions it is absolutely essential to keep cool, refrain from any actions that could lead to a further escalation of tensions,  Russia s foreign ministry said, adding that North Korea risked  serious consequences . Later on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in China where they agreed to  appropriately deal with  the crisis, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.  The two leaders agreed to stick to the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and keep close communication and coordination to deal with the new situation,  Xinhua said. Earlier, China urged North Korea to stop  wrong  actions and said it would fully enforce U.N. resolutions on the country. As North Korea s most important trading partner, the position of China - a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council - will be closely watched. A Japanese government source said there would be pressure on Beijing to impose an oil embargo.  They will probably act eventually but ... it is possible that will not be before their October (party) convention,  the source said.  Russia does not have real influence on North Korea. It s China that matters.  Trump said North Korea had become  a great threat and embarrassment to China  and that Beijing had tried but failed to solve the problem. What he called South Korea s  talk of appeasement  would not work as  they (the North Koreans) only understand one thing!  The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has no access to North Korea, called the nuclear test, Pyongyang s sixth since 2006,  an extremely regrettable act  that was  in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the international community .

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के परमाणु परीक्षण की वैश्विक स्तर पर निंदा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has added a lawyer with congressional experience to his legal team, the lawyer told Reuters on Sunday. Trump Jr. has hired Karina Lynch of the law firm Williams and Jensen, Lynch confirmed in an email to Reuters. She did not respond to queries about what her role in the team would be. ABC News reported the hiring earlier on Sunday. Trump Jr. also hired Alan Futerfas as a lawyer after reports detailed meetings last year between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer. Trump Jr., his father’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016. That meeting was held in Trump Tower in New York after the lawyer offered damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump says his campaign did not collude with Russia. Lynch’s biography on her law firm website describes her as having experience on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. She was also investigative counsel to Senator Charles Grassley, according to her law firm biography. The Senate Judiciary Committee said on Friday that Trump Jr. and Manafort had agreed to negotiate whether to be interviewed by the panel in its Russia investigation.

Summary: डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प जूनियर ने वाशिंगटन के वकील को कानूनी टीम में जोड़ा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that America need not choose between jobs and the environment, in a nod to the energy industry, as the White House prepares executive orders that could come as soon as this week to roll back Obama-era regulation.  “I believe that we as an agency, and we as a nation, can be both pro-energy and jobs, and pro-environment,” Scott Pruitt  said in his first address to staff. “We don’t have to choose between the two.”   Critics of the agency have complained that regulations ushered in by former Democratic President Barack Obama have killed thousands of energy jobs by restricting carbon emissions and limiting areas open to coal mining and oil drilling. Democrats, environmental advocates and many of the EPA’s current and former staff worry President Donald Trump’s appointment of Pruitt signals a reversal in America’s progress toward cleaner air and water and fighting global climate change. Both Trump and Pruitt have expressed doubts about climate change, and Trump vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to pull the United States out of a global pact to fight it. The Republican president has promised to slash environmental rules to help the drilling and mining industries, but without hurting air and water quality. Pruitt sued the agency he now leads more than a dozen times while attorney general of Oklahoma to stop federal rules. He did not mention climate change in his 12-minute speech at the EPA’s headquarters in Washington.  He struck a conciliatory tone in the address,  saying he would “listen, learn and lead” and that he valued the contributions of career staff.  Trump is expected to sign executive orders aimed at reshaping environmental policy as early as this week. Those orders would lift a ban on coal mining leases on federal lands and ease greenhouse gas emissions curbs on electric utilities, according to a report by the Washington Post. They would also require changes to Obama’s Waters of the United States rule that details which waterways fall under federal protection, the report said. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Washington Post story. Pruitt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week after contentious hearings that focused on his record as the top prosecutor of the oil- and gas-producing state of Oklahoma.  Democrats had sought to delay Pruitt’s confirmation over questions about his ties to the oil industry. Some 800 former EPA staff also signed a letter urging senators to reject him, and about 30 current EPA staff joined a protest set up in Chicago by the Sierra Club environmental group. In Oklahoma, a state judge ruled last week that Pruitt would have to turn over emails between his office and energy companies by Tuesday after a watchdog group, the Center for Media and Democracy, sued for their release. The judge will review and perhaps hold back some of the emails before releasing them, a court clerk said.       Nicole Cantello, a representative of the union that represents EPA workers, said that despite Pruitt’s record, she was hoping for the best.  “One would hope that the administrator would learn about what we do and would then not treat as lightly the EPA’s mission and accomplishments, and what it is required to do under the statutes,” she said.     The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said it looked forward to working with Pruitt, the administration and Congress “on policies that will keep energy affordable, create jobs, and strengthen our economy.”

Summary: अमेरिका के नए पर्यावरण प्रमुख का कहना है कि एजेंसी नौकरी के पक्ष में भी हो सकती है


(Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt is said to have taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000, the Washington Post reported. In June, Pruitt took the most expensive of the four trips when he traveled from Andrews Air Force Base to Cincinnati to join President Trump, the paper reported, citing records obtained from a congressional oversight committee. wapo.st/2fsAyBo “When the administrator travels, he takes commercial flights,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told Washington Post on Wednesday. The administrator and the cabinet secretary are the face of the agency, and have an obligation to get out throughout the country, the paper quoted Bowman as saying. Pruitt’s frequent travels to Oklahoma are already being investigated by EPA’s inspector general. The EPA and Pruitt’s office were not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours.

Summary: ईपीए के प्रुइट ने करदाताओं की 58,000 डॉलर से अधिक की लागत वाली उड़ानें लींः वाशिंगटन पोस्ट


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republicans on a U.S. House of Representatives panel said they were making progress on a Puerto Rico debt relief bill that will take the same basic approach as an earlier failed version, despite cancelling plans to unveil new legislation on Wednesday. The House Natural Resources Committee said more time was needed to refine the bill’s language. House Democratic leadership now expects legislation from the committee before the end of the week. Competing forces have fought over the bill and raised concerns that creditor rights and long-established municipal bond market hierarchy would be set aside in a broader plan to fix Puerto Rico’s festering debt problems that have resulted in a breakdown in the island’s social services. “The new bill itself already protects existing lawful creditor priorities and liens. The integrity of creditor hierarchy will be preserved,” said Parish Braden, spokesman for the Natural Resources Committee said on Wednesday. HNRC Chairman Rob Bishop told Reuters on Monday the bill is still expected to include the installation of an independent oversight board to lead the restructuring of the U.S. commonwealth’s credit and work with the local government to develop an economic reform plan. “The introduction (of the bill) is not being delayed due to the underlying foundation of the board,” Braden said, adding: “There aren’t hang ups. There are a number of refinements to the bill being made to ensure internal consistency among the titles (of the bill).”  One source familiar with the delay said it was due to a need to refine language related to the minimum wage and land-use issues over the island of Vieques. U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday her party could not support the latest legislative effort but still hopes for an agreement within a few days. “We were disappointed that the bill we saw yesterday wasn’t something we could support, and so another few days of back and forth I think will produce something that we can take to the floor,” Pelosi told reporters. “I’m hoping maybe by Friday, so that we can have something for next week,” she added. Puerto Rico has already defaulted on some of its debt and faces an overall bill of $70 billion it cannot pay. A staggering 45 percent poverty rate and increased migration among its 3.5 million citizens to the U.S. mainland drains economic activity. The ranking Democrat on the HNRC issued a statement that said the families on the island needed relief from cuts to public services but remained hopeful a deal is close at hand. “We are making progress, but we are not there yet. The situation in Puerto Rico is dire, but a bill that doesn’t solve the problem, or doesn’t pass, won’t help anyone,” Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona said. Puerto Rico defaulted on May 1 for a third time on some of its debt, missing a roughly $400 million payment owed by the Government Development Bank, the island’s main fiscal agent. The May 1 default and the nearly $2 billion July 1 debt payments have spurred congressional activity. “(Senator Chuck) Schumer from the Senate is pushing to get something done. But the problem here is that Democrats are going to push for protections for unions and for pensioners and we feel like they should be at the bottom of the heap because that’s the way the law states,” Republican Representative John Fleming of Louisiana, a Tea Party favorite and member of the HNRC, told Reuters on Wednesday. “I think there’s just big divisions on how this goes. But I think the way it was previously set up, it’s not going to fly,” Fleming said.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन पैनल ने प्यूर्टो रिको विधेयक पेश करने की योजना रद्द की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday to discuss border security and other issues, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement.  The two will meet in Ottawa to  discuss U.S.-Canadian coordination on a range of global and regional topics,  the statement said. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson and Freeland will confer on North Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela among other issues. Canada and the United States plan to co-host an international meeting on North Korea in Vancouver in January.  Pyongyang has continued to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The meeting is designed to produce  better ideas  to ease tensions over North Korea s tests, Canadian officials have said. The two ministers also are likely to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump s demand for revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Summary: टिलरसन, कनाडा के समकक्ष सीमा सुरक्षा और अन्य मुद्दों पर करेंगे चर्चा


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned a decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as  irresponsible  and called on Washington to reconsider the move. Several hundred protesters gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The protest was largely peaceful, although some of the demonstrators threw coins and other objects at the consulate.       We condemn the irresponsible statement of the U.S. administration... declaring that it recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and it will be moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,  the foreign ministry said in a statement.   We call upon the US Administration to reconsider this faulty decision which may result in highly negative outcomes and to avoid uncalculated steps that will harm the multicultural identity and historical status of Jerusalem,  it said.

Summary: तुर्की ने येरुशलम पर अमेरिकी कदम की निंदा करते हुए इसे 'गैर-जिम्मेदाराना' बताया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities were investigating a threatening letter containing a granular substance that was sent to Donald Trump’s son urging an end to the elder’s presidential campaign, a New York City police official said on Friday. The letter was addressed to the Manhattan home of Eric Trump, 32, who has appeared frequently on the campaign trail with his father, the Republican front-runner for the White House in 2016. “There was a substance inside that is being tested, it’s not lethal,” the official said. The letter, which contained threats over Trump continuing his campaign, was being examined by law enforcement experts, the official said. No suspects have been identified. Police were called to Trump Parc East, a luxury apartment building in mid-Manhattan, at 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 EDT) on Thursday with a report of a suspicious letter received by a tenant. No injuries were reported.

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क में ट्रम्प के बेटे को भेजे गए दानेदार पदार्थ के साथ पत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released a video statement on Facebook on Saturday, apologizing for lewd comments he made about women but calling footage of his comments a “distraction” from bigger political issues.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने भद्दी टिप्पणियों के लिए माफी मांगी लेकिन फुटेज को 'विचलित करने वाला' बताया


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif (Reuters) - Even as U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump raises concerns among world leaders, the mayor of Los Angeles is confident that whoever reaches the White House will not hurt his city’s chances of landing the 2024 Olympics. “This is something that transcends politics,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) media summit on Tuesday. “Sports doesn’t ask what your party affiliation is. “When the dust settles on these presidential campaigns and we have a new president he or she will squarely be behind Los Angeles’ bid to bring these Games back to the U.S. “This is something that breaks down walls and something that brings us together.” Making that pitch to the International Olympic Committee, who will select a 2024 host in 2017, could prove challenging if Trump wins the U.S. presidency in November and follows through on his plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the United States. Los Angeles is up against European glamor cities Paris, Rome and Budapest in the race to host the 2024 Summer Games. USOC chairman Larry Probst conceded that at a time when Los Angeles is throwing out a welcome mat to the world the anti-immigration rhetoric being put forward by some presidential candidates will not make the challenge any easier. “At the end of the day this is about building positive relationships with the IOC membership,” Probst said after a USOC board meeting where they were briefed by LA24 officials. “There are extraneous things we can’t control. “We have to work as hard as we can at building those relationships with the voting members.” The USOC has felt the sting from an international backlash before as New York’s bid for the 2012 Summer Games and Chicago’s attempt to land the 2016 Olympics were soundly rejected, much of that attributed to a strong anti-American sentiment within the IOC at the time. “Our relationship within the IOC was not terrific if you look back six or seven years ago and (we) have worked really hard to rebuild those relationships,” said Probst. “That process is well underway and I think we are in a much better place than where we were a few years ago. “The feedback has been positive across the board. I have heard nothing but compliments about everything so far.” Countries bidding to host and Olympics have counted on their leaders to put them over the top. Russian President Vladimir Putin led his country’s bid for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games while British Prime Minister Tony Blair went to Singapore to trumpet London’s successful bid for 2012 Olympics. “Politicians, if they are good, reflect the people they represent and I know how the American people feel about the Olympics and I know how they feel about Olympians and Paralympians,” said Garcetti. “I know that the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games is something that touches our hearts and any good President is going to follow with that spirit.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के राष्ट्रपति पद से 2024 ओलंपिक की बोली को कोई नुकसान नहीं होगा-एल. ए. मेयर


ROME (Reuters) - The leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio, said on Monday that Italy should quit the euro zone unless it manages to change the bloc s rules on public finances. 5-Star, which leads in opinion polls ahead of an election expected in March, says if it wins power it will lobby Italy s EU partners to loosen the so-called Fiscal Compact which imposes steep budget cuts for high-debt countries like Italy. The maverick party threatens to hold a referendum on Italy s euro membership unless it is allowed to boost public investment and raise the budget deficit above the current limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. Di Maio has recently softened the party s anti-euro rhetoric, saying 5-Star is  pro-Europe  and calling the euro referendum a  last resort  to be used only if Italy is unable to win any concessions.  If we should arrive at the referendum, which for me is a last resort because first I want to go to Europe and try to change a series of rules ... it s clear that I would vote to leave, because it would mean Europe hasn t listened to us on anything  he said in a television interview on Monday.  But today I see an opportunity for Europe (to reform) , he told the private station La7. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party (PD), said in a tweet that  this time Di Maio has been clear... he would vote to leave the euro. I say it would be madness for the Italian economy.  The PD, which has split under Renzi s leadership, lags 5-Star by some 4 percentage points in most opinion polls, but no party or coalition is seen winning an outright majority at the election, which is expected to result in a hung parliament.

Summary: 5-स्टार नेता का कहना है कि इटली को यूरो छोड़ देना चाहिए जब तक कि नियम नहीं बदलते


TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Tuesday that the two countries need to persuade China to play a larger role in dealing with North Korea, a Japanese government spokesman said. The two confirmed during a working lunch that China’s role was important in dealing with North Korea, and they needed to work on China to take on a bigger role, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told reporters. North Korea has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches in recent months in defiance of U.N. sanctions and concerns have been growing that the reclusive state could soon conduct a sixth nuclear test.     With a U.S. aircraft carrier group steaming to the area in a show of force, fears of a confrontation have been rising.

Summary: अमेरिका, जापान सहमत हैं कि चीन को उत्तर कोरिया पर बड़ी भूमिका निभानी चाहिए


NEW YORK/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Erik Duhaime is a passive stock market investor, but he isn’t afraid to short Donald Trump or go long on Hillary Clinton. The 28-year-old from Cambridge, Massachusetts, trades on PredictIt, an online political stock market that allows users to wager small amounts of money on “yes” or “no” predictions about whether an event will occur. That includes who will win the U.S. presidential election in November. “This is probably one of the ways I restrain myself from being active in the stock market,” said Duhaime, a PhD student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, who checks the site a few times a week for fun. PredictIt, which was launched in 2014, now has more than 30,000 traders registered, up from 19,000 at the end of 2015, and has received shout-outs from pundits and presidential campaign advisors alike. Users must be U.S. residents and registered voters. PredictIt says it is not like an online gambling site because it mainly exists to supply its data to universities for academic research, one of the main reasons the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission allows it to operate legally, according to a letter issued by the regulator in 2014. It is jointly run by Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and a Washington-based political consulting firm Aristotle International Inc.  Unlike mainstream financial markets, bets are not big: The CFTC caps each participant’s position at $850 per market, and the average deposit when people sign up is just $100. The regulator hasn’t been as friendly to such betting sites in the past. In 2012, the CFTC filed a civil complaint against the now defunct Intrade for violating a ban on off-exchange options trading. The Ireland-based market also allowed people to wager money on “yes” or “no” questions, but it wasn’t tied to an academic institution and didn’t have a cap on the maximum amount that could be traded.  Predictions markets like PredictIt and a similar venue run by the University of Iowa have emerged as an alternative to polling for election forecasters. PredictIt is bigger than the Iowa Electronic Markets, which has only about 2,000 active traders with access to its political markets. “Polling is very expensive,” said David Rothschild, an economist at Microsoft Research who runs a predictions-market aggregator called PredictWise, which draws heavily from PredictIt. “It’s a slow process. It’s not very flexible.” Knowledge of polls does also feed into betting decisions on PredictIt. “Predictions markets translate this and other information into probability,” said Rajiv Sethi, professor of economics at Barnard College. “The basic intuition is that it’s a ‘wisdom of crowds’ effect.”     For example, Trump’s chances of securing the Republican nomination for the presidential election swung dramatically on the site over the past three months as the primary season progressed. A Trump share shot from 30 cents in early February when he lost to rival Ted Cruz in the Iowa primary to 80 cents a month later when Trump dominated on Super Tuesday. They then lost half their value by early April as Cruz appeared to regain momentum with a big win in Wisconsin. With Cruz and another rival, John Kasich, now out of the race, Trump had risen to 94 cents by Monday. For graphic showing Trump's ascendancy on PredictIt during primary season, see tmsnrt.rs/1WmRq For November’s election, though, Trump is trailing on PredictIt with 40 cents against Clinton’s 59 cents.  While PredictIt’s precision has yet to be closely examined by academics, other predictions markets such as the Iowa Electronic Markets, have proven to be just as accurate as polls, experts who have studied them said. PredictIt markets go beyond topics related to U.S. elections. Users also put the probability of a North Korea hydrogen bomb test this year at only 29 cents, and a British exit from the European Union by 2017 at just 30 cents. The idea for PredictIt was first thought up in the mid-1990s by Lew Evans, professor of economics at the University of Victoria. It took until 2008, for the market, called “iPredict” in New Zealand, to get up and running.  Early on, it focused primarily on New Zealand politics, and research showed iPredict out-performed the majority of polls in predicting the results in two of New Zealand’s last three general elections. However, new anti-money laundering laws in New Zealand put an end to iPredict last year after the cost of verifying users’ identities to comply with the rules threatened to blow through iPredict’s shoe-string budget.   PredictIt attracts everyone from campaign volunteers to political junkies. In mid-April, about 30 PredictIt traders gathered at a bar in New York to watch the state’s primary results roll in. “I think it’s a good source of collective wisdom,” said Brian Hegarty, who was at the event. Hegarty, who worked for Kasich’s campaign, reads political news, but also relied on picking up information through his campaign experience. That didn’t always translate to a bet in favor of Kasich. He said he put money on Republican candidate Marco Rubio to win the Minnesota caucus because he had overheard someone who was working for the Florida senator express confidence about Rubio’s chances. It turned out to be one of the few states Rubio won before dropping out in mid-March. Duhaime, the MIT student, said he usually bets against candidates he believes are likely to flame out.  “For me, Trump was one of those people,” he said. “I shorted Trump way back in July, and it hasn’t been fun watching.”  After Trump’s win in Indiana in early May, Duhaime was down nearly $1,000, about a third of the money he put into PredictIt.  “I still think it was a one in a hundred thing,” Duhaime, who doesn’t identify as a Democrat but is a fan of President Barack Obama, said of the Trump phenomenon. “Obviously I’m bummed, but I’m sort of more concerned for other reasons.” (This version of the story corrects the spelling of Lew Evans)

Summary: ट्रम्प की जीत या उत्तर कोरिया के एच-बम पर दांव लगानाः एक भविष्यवाणी साइट कर्षण प्राप्त करती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An aggressive corporate lobbying effort to derail a Republican-backed border tax has forced lawmakers working on tax reform to seek alternatives, Kevin Brady, chairman of the tax-writing U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, said on Wednesday. “To their credit, they mobilized quickly and aggressively, and yes, it had an impact,” Brady told Reuters. It was a rare instance of a lawmaker acknowledging the impact of industry in lawmaking. The proposed border adjustment tax on U.S. companies that move jobs abroad and import products back into the U.S. market was meant to be a linchpin of a Republican tax overhaul in the House of Representatives.  Brady said leading companies that rely on imports lobbied aggressively, eroding Republican support for the border tax.  While not declaring the proposed border tax dead, Brady acknowledged being open to alternatives that would accomplish the same goals, primarily removing incentives for American companies to move operations overseas. Retailers were united in their response. Led by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, CEOs of Target (TGT.N) and Autozone (AZO.N) and lobbyists for auto manufacturers like Toyota (7203.T) met with members of Congress and the administration.  “I have seen no other issue bring the retail industry closer together than this one,” said Brian Dodge, spokesman for the association. “The threat to retailers was enormous and the response needed to be swift and strong.” “We are proud of the work we have done and the impact we have had, but we are not done yet,” he said. “As long as leaders continue to defend the BAT, the threat remains and our fight continues.”    The National Retail Federation, a group that includes large and small retail business owners and also helped launch the coalition against the tax, took a group of small business owners to Washington this week to argue against the border tax.  Earlier this year they took 20 CEOs to Washington and have been running television advertisements in home districts of lawmakers they were working to persuade.  In 150 meetings with lawmakers this week, they drove home how the tax would force them to raise prices. “Hardest hit would be low and middle-income consumers, especially those on a fixed income,” NRF Senior Vice President David French wrote to Brady in a letter on Wednesday. The failure of Republicans to repeal Obamacare, the signature 2010 healthcare overhaul of Democratic former President Barack Obama, has many in Congress now turning their attention to tax. Republican President Donald Trump has vowed to sign a tax overhaul into law this year. Both political parties have voiced support for an overhaul, but expectations of progress have been tempered by their varying approaches, a lack of cooperation on healthcare, and corporate opposition to the House Republican plan. Commenting on the border-adjustment tax, House Speaker Paul Ryan said: “I understand it’s controversial and some people don’t like it.”  Ryan told The Mike Gallagher Show syndicated radio program on Wednesday: “At the end of the day, what matters is we get tax reform that we can all agree to, and so we’re working toward that consensus ... We’re going to get there.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद ने स्वीकार किया कि कॉर्पोरेट लॉबिंग ने सीमा कर को पटरी से उतारने में मदद की


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Nearly half Australian adults would support their country distancing itself from the United States if Donald Trump became U.S. president, a poll suggests, as the New York billionaire tightens his grip on the Republican nomination race. The telephone poll of 1,202 Australian adults found that 45 percent believed the country should distance itself from the U.S. “if it elects a president like Donald Trump”, said researcher the Lowy Institute, which commissioned the research. Just 51 percent of Australians believed the country should remain close to the United States regardless of who became president in the Nov. 8 election, the lowest level of support in a generation. “By allying ourselves with the United States ... we contribute to global security as well as our own,” said Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove. “That nearly half of Australians would seek to move away from America in the event of a Trump victory says something quite disturbing about the GOP front runner.” Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. have been formal allies since signing the ANZUS treaty to protect the Pacific in 1951, and have been allies in most conflicts of the past century. Australia currently has troops in the Middle East to fight Islamic State alongside the United States. The poll by the Lowy Institute, an independent policy think tank based in Sydney, was conducted between Feb. 26 and March 15. It did not offer any insight into how Australians would want to distance themselves from the United States, nor did it specify a Donald Trump presidency - merely “a person like Donald Trump” becoming president. But Australia’s sentiment towards the United States under  Trump is weaker than it was under President George W. Bush in 2007, several years into the unpopular Iraq war. In what was considered a dip, 63 percent of Australians regarded the country’s alliance with the United States then as important to Australia’s security, Lowy said. Just a year ago, 80 percent of Australians said the alliance with the United States was either “very” or “fairly” important, Lowy said.

Summary: लगभग आधे ऑस्ट्रेलियाई राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प की संभावना से सिकुड़ते हैंः सर्वेक्षण


YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Four Britons have been kidnapped in Nigeria s southern Delta state, a police official said on Wednesday. The police are attempting to rescue the four people, who were taken by unidentified gunmen on Oct. 13, said Andrew Aniamaka, a spokesman for Delta state police.  Kidnapping for ransom is a common problem in parts of Nigeria. A number of foreigners have, in the last few years, been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region, which holds most of the country s crude oil - the country s economic mainstay.     The abductors have not made any contact but we are doing our investigations to know the motive and have them rescued without jeopardising their lives,  said Aniamaka.  Information available to us shows they are missionaries giving free medical services,  he said, adding that the British nationals had been working in a very rural area. There was an increase in crime in the southern region last year that coincided with a series of attacks on energy facilities. However, there have been no militant attacks on energy installations so far this year.

Summary: नाइजीरिया के डेल्टा राज्य में चार ब्रितानियों का अपहरणः पुलिस


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the United States was serving the interests of Islamic State by preventing the Syrian army and its allies advancing in some areas of eastern Syria.  American jets have this year targeted pro-government militias in eastern Syria that were advancing towards Washington s local allies.  Nasrallah said the United States was delaying the Syrian military in its battle to retake territory from Islamic State.  The American air force in some areas prevents the Syrian army and its allies from advancing in areas controlled by Islamic State,  said the leader of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi ite movement designated by Washington as a terrorist group.   The Americans are working to hinder the battle against Islamic State,  he said in a speech, part of a commemoration for Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes against Islamic State.  His comments came after a senior U.S. official said President Donald Trump was considering putting sanctions on Iran for its support of Hezbollah, and as the U.S. Congress prepares to consider tighter sanctions on Hezbollah itself. The battlefield situation in Syrian is complex, comprising both a civil war that pits Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government against rebels, as well as two separate campaigns against Islamic State.  The Syrian army, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi ite militias including Hezbollah, has advanced against Islamic State in an offensive across the central Syrian desert in recent months.  The United States is meanwhile leading a rival international coalition against the Sunni jihadists that includes an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias.  Russia and the United States have put in place measures to prevent outright conflict between the two offensives against Islamic State, but there have been times when they fired on each other.  Security sources in Lebanon have said that Hezbollah has lost hundreds of fighters in Syria since it entered the conflict in support of Assad in 2013 against rebel groups. Last week Islamic State counter attacks against the Syrian army and its allies killed a number of Hezbollah fighters including a senior commander, Ali al-Hadi al-Asheq.

Summary: हिज़्बुल्लाह नेता का कहना है कि अमेरिकी कार्रवाई सीरिया में इस्लामिक स्टेट की सहायता कर रही है


MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - With vehicles crushed and overturned and buildings reduced to skeletons of mangled steel and rubble, the Philippine city of Marawi resembles the aftermath of a war that lasted years, rather than months. Except for small clusters of troops dotted amid the ruins and skinny cats and dogs scavenging for food, the heart of Marawi is a ghost town, all but destroyed by the Philippines  biggest and fiercest urban battle in recent history. Hundreds of rebels claiming allegiance to Islamic State seized large areas of the city of 200,000 people in May and clung on through unrelenting government air strikes and artillery bombardments, right until the last remaining gunmen were killed three days ago. The military escorted media on Wednesday through the ravaged streets of the once picturesque lakeside town, showing for the first time the front lines of a devastating conflict that has stoked fears of Islamic State s extremist agenda taking root in the region. The scale of the damage was stark as a convoy of vans carrying reporters and cameramen followed an army truck through one district after another, stopping off at key intersections  recently cleared of unexploded munitions and booby traps.  Wide boulevards in the city were lined by crumbling homes and shop fronts missing higher floors, with fragments of chairs, children s toys and household appliances wedged into piles of crumbled concrete. Tattered pieces of clothing poking above banks of rubble provided the only color in the mass of gutted grey buildings blackened by smoke. Vans, pickup trucks and cars were turned over, coated in rust or torn apart by bomb blasts. The militants  planning, stockpiling of weapons and their combat capability stunned government forces, who had to fight street by street to take back the city and were often pinned down by snipers and homemade bombs.  At first our forces cannot press them, they moved from one building to the next. Our concept was to restrict them - it took time, but we constricted them,  said Lieutenant Colonel Sam Yunque, a special forces commander deployed in Marawi since the beginning of the conflict.  We innovated to suppress their techniques. They were not better than us, that s why they lost.  The Philippines announced the end of combat operations in Marawi City on Monday after troops killed 42 remaining militants, including some foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops and 45 civilians, died in the conflict. The government has said the rest were militants. Senior officers said they took pains to protect the multitude of mosques in what is the only designated Islamic City in the mainly Catholic Philippines. Although many escaped the pounding of daily air strikes, domes and walls were peppered with holes from heavy machine gun fire as troops sought to flush out rebels hiding within. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised Filipino soldiers for defeating the militants without attracting allegations of human rights violations. The United States provided critical tactical intelligence in the Marawi combat operation, deploying surveillance planes and drones, thermal imaging and eavesdropping equipment. The walls were blasted away at Marawi s police headquarters where the armory was looted, and in the adjacent jail where more than 100 prisoners were freed. Close by, a mosque minaret had fallen into a mash of metal and rock. Behind it was a lone, leafless tree with only a few branches left. The militants smashed through thick layers of concrete to turn drainage channels into trenches, doubling as tunnels for fighters to move between buildings and elude surveillance drones and army snipers. Rebel-held buildings were covered with graffiti, including one of an arrow through a heart, with the message  I love ISIS , an acronym for Islamic State. But there was no love for the rebel alliance among the hundreds of jubilant soldiers at send-off ceremonies held this week as troops gradually return home. Colonel Corleto Vinluan, the commander of joint special operations, described the enemy as  rats . He said the military had gained valuable experience in urban combat and chose a strategy that took time, but ultimately paid off.   We couldn t just enter the area, it was very big, we did not know where the leaders were, we had to surround them and the area became smaller. It was that time when we really took control,  Vinluan told Reuters.  We didn t expect they ll last that long, their ammunition their firearms and their food. We learned a lot from this event, we adjusted our strategies.  They were tough fighters, some of them, but not all.

Summary: सैनिक और भटके हुए, बर्बाद मरावी में जीवन के एकमात्र संकेत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran that passed the U.S. Senate nearly unanimously last week has run into a procedural problem that could prevent a quick vote in the House of Representatives, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes new sanctions against Russia, passed the Senate 98-2 last week, an overwhelming vote that looked like it might complicate President Donald Trump’s desire for warmer relations with Moscow. But the measure must still pass the House before it can be sent to Trump to sign into law, or veto, and the House parliamentarian found that the legislation violated a constitutional requirement that any bill that raises revenue for the government must originate in the House, something known as a “blue slip” violation. “The final bill, and final language, violated the origination clause in the Constitution,” Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters. Democrats suggested that Republicans were stalling the bill out of loyalty to Trump, whose administration has criticized the sanctions package as potentially too restrictive. In the past, Democrats said, House leaders had overcome such objections without discussion by quickly voting on identical versions of Senate legislation. “This is nothing but a delay tactic and the public shouldn’t be fooled by complex-sounding parliamentary procedure,” said Representative Eliot Engel, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans insisted it was a procedural, not a policy, matter, noting that the Russia amendment to the Iran bill was 100 pages long and passed in the Senate only last week. “I strongly support sanctions against Iran and Russia to hold them accountable,” Brady said. Brady said House leaders were working with the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committee to determine how to proceed, but the Senate could address the issue by quickly updating the bill and sending it back to the House. Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a majority of 52 seats in the 100-member Senate, and a more commanding 238- to 193-seat margin in the House. Brady could not predict when the House might vote,  including whether it would be before Congress’ summer recess starts at the end of July. Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said the committee is reviewing the bill.

Summary: रूस, ईरान प्रतिबंध विधेयक ने अमेरिकी सदन में बाधा डाली


CHICAGO (Reuters) - After trying for years to stymie the growth of charter schools in Chicago, leaders of its public school teachers’ union are seeking to enlist staff from charter schools in a bid to strengthen the union’s bargaining power and tap a new source of members’ fees. Union officials in the third-largest U.S. city say their push for a tie-up took on added urgency after U.S. President Donald Trump chose Betsy DeVos, a backer of charter and private schools, as his education secretary. In cities and suburbs across the country, charters and traditional public schools have been in fierce competition for students and financing. But many are united in their rejection of private schools and voucher programs. Unions fear Trump and DeVos will slash funding for traditional public schools, and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) wants charter members to boost their ranks in order to help them fight back. A more unified approach has long been the answer, said Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the CTU.  “I don’t think we’re going to get to keep public education the way we currently think of it unless people organize and prepare to defend it,” he said. Charter schools are free and open to the public but are run independently of local school districts by private companies that compete for state funds. They often boast small class sizes, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus. Their numbers in the United States have shot up to more than 6,000, from 2,500 a decade ago. An estimated 6 percent of U.S. public school students, or more than 3 million pupils, attend charter schools. The possibility of a merger has many eyes on Chicago, where the proportion of charter school teachers who are unionized on their own is much higher than in other cities. While only about 10 percent of U.S. charter schools had collective bargaining agreements last year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 25 percent of Chicago’s 130 charter schools are organized. Leaders of the city’s unionized charter school educators say they see the benefits in joining forces with the CTU. “We face an existential crisis,” said Chris Baehrend, president of Chicago’s union for charter teachers. “The answer to every crisis is more solidarity. It’s better for us to be a small part of a larger voice that wins things.” Leaders of his 1,000-member organization had been mulling a merger with the CTU for years, Baehrend said, but Trump’s election propelled them into action from fear of his and DeVos’ conservative agenda. DeVos’ office did not respond to requests for comment.  In June, the education secretary faced hostile questions from a U.S. Senate committee about her support for school vouchers, to which DeVos responded that she was only exploring the possibility of a program.  Vouchers are state-funded payments families can use to send children to private schools.  Supporters say they could give those children in neighborhoods with weak public schools the chance of a better education at private institutions. Critics say they are intended to boost private-sector profits with public money. A majority of Baehrend’s organization voted in June to merge with the CTU.  The CTU’s leadership favors the merger, and its 23,500 members will vote on it in the fall. Baehrend said he is confident the measure will pass.  Not everyone supports the closer links. Some supporters of charter schools say the attributes that attract many parents, including their flexibility and autonomy, could be put at risk in Chicago if the CTU introduces new terms for contracts, such as limits on the time an instructor can teach each day.  “They’re now trying to find ways to undermine the existing schools via organizing,” Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, said of the CTU’s leaders.

Summary: शिकागो शिक्षक संघ चार्टर विलय के साथ भविष्य की सुरक्षा पर नजर रखता है


LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles led the annual ceremony to honor Britain s war dead on Sunday, laying a wreath on behalf of 91-year-old Queen Elizabeth to mark Remembrance Sunday as she watched the service from a balcony. Breaking with her usual custom of placing the wreath at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London, the queen asked her eldest son to take on the role, in part because of the demands of the ceremony for someone in their 90s. A two-minute silence was held at 1100 GMT (6.00 a.m. ET) and wreaths were laid at the foot of Britain s main war memorial by senior royals and political leaders including Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. The queen and her 96-year-old husband, Prince Philip, watched from the balcony of the nearby Foreign Office. Royal historian Hugo Vickers said the queen had slightly stumbled during last year s service.  One of the most important things with the queen as she gets older is not to put her in any situation where she might be uncomfortable or things might be difficult,  he told Reuters.  It requires a certain amount of standing around and then it involves the queen carrying something quite heavy and walking backwards.  But he rejected the notion that it symbolized something more significant, saying it was  another step that we realize that we have an ageing monarch, and it s very important that we should not put too much pressure on her . The head of state has been gradually reducing her workload and younger royals, including the 68-year-old Charles, have been taking up some of her duties.  Philip retired from public life in August but was keen to attend the annual ceremony, which commemorates the fallen of two World Wars and later conflicts. The queen has missed the wreath-laying ceremony only six times in her 65-year reign. On four of those occasions she was on foreign visits: to Ghana in 1961, Brazil in 1968, Kenya in 1983 and South Africa in 1999. She also missed the ceremonies in 1959 and 1963, before the births of her two youngest children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Summary: प्रिंस चार्ल्स ने ब्रिटिश युद्ध में मारे गए लोगों के लिए स्मरण दिवस समारोह का नेतृत्व किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Reuters on Wednesday he expects bipartisan support for approval of a bill authorizing taxpayer and industry funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The bill to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act would let the FDA continue to collect hundreds of millions of dollars from drugmakers and medical device companies to partially cover the cost of reviewing new products, with U.S. taxpayers funding the remainder. “It’s an extremely important bill that I think we’ll be able to move on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said in an interview. [L1N1IQ1CH] The FDA has been charging companies to review their products since 1992. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump proposed in his 2018 budget that the industry pay the full cost of drug and medical device reviews.  The industry at present pays about 60 percent. That proposal is unlikely to be approved in this cycle. Reauthorization of the user fee bill is typically negotiated between the FDA and industry over a period of several years. Earlier this month, the bill was approved by a Senate panel by a 21-2 vote. It must be renegotiated every five years. The FDA reviews drugs for approval or rejection for many companies, including major ones such as Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc and Johnson and Johnson. Pharmaceutical companies based overseas, including Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG, also pay these fees for U.S.-approved drugs.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः मैककोनेल को एफडीए उपयोगकर्ता शुल्क को फिर से अधिकृत करने वाले बिल के लिए द्विदलीय समर्थन की उम्मीद है


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday he was against bringing nuclear weapons into his country despite North Korea s nuclear threats. Introducing nuclear weapons in South Korea would make it impossible for the two Koreas to establish peace and could fuel an nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia, Moon said in an interview with CNN, according to the presidential Blue House.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया के मून का कहना है कि वह उत्तर कोरिया की धमकी के बावजूद परमाणु हथियार रखने के खिलाफ हैं


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton continued to resist calls to release her transcripts of paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs and other banks, saying she would hold onto them until Bernie Sanders and other rivals for the U.S. presidency released theirs. Sanders, her populist rival for the Democratic presidential nomination who has surged in polls with his furious rebukes of Wall Street and its role in the 2008 recession, said on Friday he had none to release because he does not give paid speeches to banks.  Clinton’s reluctance to reveal what she privately told banks and other organizations has become an increasingly heated issue ahead of the election this November as she fights suggestions by Sanders and others from their party’s more liberal wing that she is too cozy with the U.S. financial industry. “I am happy to release anything I have whenever everybody else does the same, because everybody in this race, including Senator Sanders, has given speeches to private groups,” she said on Thursday night in a televised ‘town hall’ event with voters in Nevada. Nevada is the third state to vote for the Democratic Party’s nominee in caucuses to be held on Saturday.  Clinton has earned more than $20 million for 92 paid speeches since leaving her job as U.S. secretary of state in 2013, according to records disclosed by her campaign, including $675,000 for three closed-door speeches to New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs. Her husband, Bill Clinton, has earned even more since he stepped down as president in 2001. She says this income has no influence on her policies and that she would increase Wall Street regulation. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, last gave a paid speech in 2004, according to his Senate financial disclosures, when he spoke about social activism at the California Institute of Technology in an event that was open to the public. He earned $2,000, according to his disclosures. On Friday, Sanders’ spokesman said the senator “accepts Clinton’s challenge.” “He will release all of the transcripts of all of his Wall Street speeches,” Michael Briggs said in a statement. “That’s easy. The fact is, there weren’t any.”  Briggs said he hoped this was sufficient for Clinton to release her transcripts. Clinton’s standard speaker’s contract stipulated that the speech’s host make a transcript that would then remain in Clinton’s control. Spokesmen for Clinton and Goldman Sachs did not respond to questions.  It remained unclear if Clinton’s Republican rivals would meet her demands.   (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Andrew Hay) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: गोल्डमैन सैक्स के भाषणों को जारी करने के लिए हिलेरी क्लिंटन पर दबाव बढ़ता जा रहा है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Monday for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Weiner, 53, started to cry as soon as the sentence was announced by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan. His wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was not in the courtroom and has filed for divorce. He pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a minor, and agreed he would not appeal any sentence of 27 months or less. “I was a very sick man for a very long time, but I’m also responsible for the damage I have done,” Weiner read from a statement in court before he was sentenced. He said he was being treated, and asked Cote to spare him prison and sentence him to probation so he could continue treatment. Weiner’s lawyer, Arlo Devlin-Brown, said that while Weiner exchanged sexually explicit messages with many women, all of the others were adults. Cote said she believed Weiner was suffering from an addiction, and was serious about being treated. However, she said it was important to deter others from committing similar crimes. “There is the opportunity to make a statement that could protect other minors,” she said. “We are of course disappointed that Anthony was sentenced to prison, particularly so given that Judge Cote found that the treatment program Anthony had engaged in for the past year was showing great promise and should be continued,” Weiner’s lawyer, Devlin-Brown, said in a statement Monday afternoon. Weiner declined to speak to reporters as he left the courtroom. He was ordered to surrender by Nov. 6. The investigation into Weiner’s exchanges with a North Carolina high school student roiled the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in its final days, when authorities found emails on Weiner’s laptop from his wife. Weiner, who wore his wedding band at the sentencing, and Abedin have a son, Jordan, who is 5 years old.  The discovery of the emails prompted James Comey, then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to announce in late October that the agency was reopening its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was U.S. secretary of state. Clinton has said the announcement contributed to her upset loss to Republican Donald Trump, who had accused her of endangering national security by using the private server. President Trump fired Comey in May amid the FBI’s probe into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to defeat Clinton, a claim the president has denied. Weiner represented parts of New York City in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years before resigning in 2011, after it emerged that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with adult women. In 2013, Weiner ran for New York City mayor, but was defeated in the Democratic primary after more lewd messages became public. (This version of the story corrects paragraph 16 to say that Weiner did not drop out of the 2013 mayoral election, but instead was defeated).

Summary: Ex-U.S. रेप. वेनर को किशोर 'सेक्सटिंग' मामले में 21 महीने की सजा सुनाई गई


(Reuters) - The state of Hawaii renewed its bid to narrow President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban, following court rulings which said the state had taken the wrong procedural approach in attempts to challenge the administration’s policy earlier this week. In a court filing late on Friday, Hawaii’s attorney general asked a Honolulu judge to issue an injunction allowing grandparents and other family members to travel to the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court last month let the ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries go forward with a limited scope, saying it could not apply to anyone with a credible “bona fide relationship” with a U.S. person or entity. The Trump administration then decided that spouses, parents, children, fiancés and siblings would be exempt from the ban, while grandparents and other family members traveling from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen would be barred.  Trump said the measure was necessary to prevent attacks. However, opponents including states and refugee advocacy groups sued to stop it, disputing its security rationale and saying it discriminated against Muslims. Earlier this week Hawaii had asked a Honolulu judge for a court order clarifying the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow grandparents into the United States. The judge, along with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the lower courts did not have the power to simply clarify the Supreme Court’s opinion. However, the 9th Circuit on Friday said the courts could issue an injunction against Trump’s policy in the future, if the government misapplied the Supreme Court’s ruling to a particular person or entity harmed by the travel ban. Hours after that ruling, Hawaii made such an injunction request in a Honolulu federal court. Hawaii said the state itself, along with resettlement agencies, are harmed by Trump’s guidelines because they are prevented from helping refugees move there. A Justice Department spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.  The roll-out of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued last week than in January when Trump first signed a more expansive version of the order. That sparked protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world.

Summary: हवाई ने ट्रम्प यात्रा प्रतिबंध को कम करने के लिए बोली को नवीनीकृत किया


LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that he was concerned about reports that U.S. President Donald Trump s would recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital.  Lets wait and see what the president says exactly. But, you know, we view the reports that we have heard with concern because we think that Jerusalem obviously should be part of the final settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians,  he told reporters in Brussels. Senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital on Wednesday and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to the city.

Summary: येरुशलम की नियोजित अमेरिकी मान्यता के बारे में ब्रिटिश विदेश सचिव 'चिंतित' हैं


(This March 30 story was corrected to note Prieto says Wisniewski, not Prieto, was acting for political reasons in paragraph 13) By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A day after two former allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were sentenced to prison in the “Bridgegate” scandal, a state lawmaker who helped uncover the scheme to cause massive traffic jams over a political slight wants to keep pushing for answers to the two biggest unanswered questions. What did the governor know about the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, and when did he know it? To learn the truth, the legislature’s Bridgegate probe should be resumed, with Christie subpoenaed and required to testify, said Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who co-chaired a special committee that unearthed the damning emails and texts revealing the plot. He also is campaigning to replace Christie as governor. But fellow Democratic leaders in the state legislature offered a lukewarm response, saying it was not clear what further investigation would accomplish. Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, was  sentenced on Wednesday to 1-1/2 years in prison. Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, got a prison sentence of two years. Along with David Wildstein, another former Port Authority executive who pleaded guilty, they are the only officials charged in connection with the shutdown of access lanes at the bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in September 2013. The resulting traffic nightmare was intended to punish the town’s Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign. Christie has denied any involvement, but the fallout damaged his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign and saddled him with historically low approval ratings at home. A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. At trial, numerous witnesses, including close Christie advisers, testified that the governor and his inner circle were aware of the lane closures much earlier than they admitted publicly. Following her sentencing, Kelly said she refused to be a “scapegoat” and vowed to fight her conviction. The criminal case might never have existed had it not been for the legislative committee, which used its subpoena power to secure communications between Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein. Those documents included the now-infamous email from Kelly to Wildstein saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” “We need to follow the facts wherever they go,” Wisniewski said in a phone interview. He noted that Christie previously invoked executive privilege to avoid turning over texts and emails in what he called a “Nixonian” move. But the assembly speaker, Democrat Vincent Prieto, said in a statement it was “unlikely after the federal trial that additional hearings or subpoenas will provide new information.” Prieto, whose approval would be needed to set up a new committee, also criticized Wisniewski for sending out a campaign statement calling for a renewed investigation, saying Wisniewski was using the issue for political reasons.  Christie cannot run for another term this year due to term limits. Wisniewski, however, said leaving the investigation half-finished would allow such abuses to occur again. State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a longtime Christie foe who co-chaired the investigative committee, said she had “mixed feelings” about further action. “I’m not sure what our goal would be,” Weinberg, a Democrat, said in a phone interview. She said it was not clear whether the legislature could force Christie to testify under oath or gain access to his communications. Christie’s status as a lame-duck governor is another factor weighing against a renewed probe, as is the potential cost to taxpayers, Weinberg said. The target of the scheme, Sokolich, the Fort Lee mayor, said it was obvious the plot extended beyond the three charged defendants. “There were many others who were half a text or one email conversation away from getting indicted,” he said, adding that Christie has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. “I guess we’ll never know for sure,” Sokolich said. “Welcome to Jersey politics.”

Summary: एन. जे. डेमोक्रेट क्रिस्टी की 'ब्रिजगेट' जांच को नवीनीकृत करने पर विभाजित हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia supports U.S. President Donald Trump s stance on Iran after he decided not to certify that Tehran is complying with a nuclear accord, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump broke ranks with other major powers this month by refusing to formally certify that Tehran is complying with the deal, even though international inspectors say it is.     Jubeir said the nuclear deal had shortcomings, and that he agreed with Trump s assessment that Iran was working to destabilise the region and was funding militant organisations.  Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has been at loggerheads with Iran, a Shi ite Muslim country, for decades, and the countries have fought a long-running proxy war in the Middle East.  (Iran s behaviour) is not acceptable, and there will be consequences to the Iranians. This is what President Trump has said, and we are very supportive of that,  Jubeir said at a conference in London.          Following Trump s decision, U.S. Congress has until mid-December to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the pact. Jubeir said that new sanctions on Iran would be welcome, and that a delay could mean that by the time sanctions had impact, Iran could have already developed  a dozen  nuclear bombs.   The international community needs to support those (sanctions) in order to send a very strong message to Iran that your behaviour, your nefarious activities, have consequences,  Jubeir said. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and denies it has aimed to build an atomic bomb.

Summary: सऊदी विदेश मंत्री ने ईरान पर ट्रंप के रुख का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday issued subpoenas to the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts to force them to submit information on their investigations into whether Exxon Mobil misled investors on climate change risks, accusing the attorneys general of having a political agenda.  The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology also subpoenaed eight environmental and legal groups. “The attorneys general have appointed themselves to decide what is valid and what is invalid regarding climate change,” committee Chair Lamar Smith, a Republican of Texas, said. He said the attorneys general are pursuing a political agenda at the expense of scientists’ right to free speech. The panel has demanded that state attorneys general hand over any records of consultations the prosecutors had with outside environmental groups before their probes were opened. New York and Massachusetts’ top lawyers lead a coalition of 17 state attorneys general who have said they would investigate Exxon and whether its executives misled the public by contradicting research from company scientists that spelled out the threats of global warming.    Smith and Republican members of the House panel have accused the coalition’s members of stifling free speech and scientific inquiry by those who do not believe in manmade climate change. “I don’t know what we will find,” Smith told reporters. “We might find an intent to intimidate.”  So far, New York and Massachusetts have issued subpoenas against Exxon Mobil, one of the world’s largest publicly traded companies.  The House committee twice demanded that the state attorneys general hand over all records of communications between their offices and outside groups about Exxon inquiries. Darin LaHood, a Republican of Illinois on the panel, said on Wednesday that the probe by the attorneys general prohibits free speech in a way “you would see in a third world country.” Cyndi Roy Gonzalez, the spokeswoman for the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, said in a statement that Smith’s committee has no right to interfere with “... a state inquiry into whether a private company violated state laws, and we will continue to fight any and all efforts to stop our investigation.” Green groups Greenpeace and 350.org made similar criticisms in a letter to Smith. Exxon, which has said that it has acknowledged the reality of climate change for years, called the subpoena unreasonably burdensome and intrusive. It also raised questioned about jurisdiction.  The attorneys general and the groups have two weeks to respond.

Summary: हाउस पैनल ने न्यूयॉर्क, मैसाचुसेट्स के अटॉर्नी जनरल को सम्मन भेजा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency will run out of disaster assistance funding on Friday unless Congress approves more money, two Florida senators warned on Thursday. As Hurricane Irma barrels through the Caribbean on its way to an expected landfall on Florida on Sunday, the Senate approved a measure 80 votes to 17 to more than double funding to $15.25 billion to FEMA and local block grants to handle natural disasters. The House is expected to approve the measure later this week. It already approved $7.85 billion on Wednesday.  FEMA is stretched, and, of all things, FEMA runs out of money unless we act by tomorrow,  Democrat Senator Bill Nelson said in a speech on Thursday, following a letter he wrote with Republican Senator Marco Rubio to congressional leaders warning that more funds were needed. The bill also extends the National Flood Insurance Program through Dec. 8 that was set to expire on Sept. 30. The government-subsidized insurance program helps homeowners in flood-prone areas receive coverage. It is nearly $25 billion in debt and members of both parties want to reform it. FEMA declined on Thursday to say how much remained in its Disaster Relief Fund, which had just over $1 billion on hand as of Tuesday, less than half the $2.1 billion it had last week. The agency has received a record number of disaster assistance requests from victims of Hurricane Harvey.  We re not going to let money get in the way of saving lives,  FEMA director Brock Long told broadcaster CBS on Wednesday.  Congress knows what they need to do.  David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, also declined to say on Thursday when the fund would be depleted, but said it would not be long without congressional action. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands, which makes residents eligible for FEMA and other government grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs. In response to Irma, FEMA said staff had been deployed to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and more than 1,000 personnel were ready to respond in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Provisions include millions of liters of water, meals, medical equipment and generators.

Summary: फेमा के पास शुक्रवार को पैसे खत्म हो सकते हैंः सीनेटर


HAVANA (Reuters) - The man forecast to replace Cuban President Raul Castro early next year rejected U.S. demands that the Communist-run country change its political and economic system. In a Sunday speech blasting U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government and what he termed an effort to discredit the Cuban tourism industry, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel said these and other recent events in the region proved  imperialism can never be trusted, not even a tiny bit, never.   Diaz-Canel was quoting Ernesto Che Guevara at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of the revolutionary who had helped lead a Bolivian uprising modeled after Cuba s.  Cuba will not make concessions to its sovereignty and independence, nor negotiate its principles or accept the imposition of conditions,  Diaz-Canel said, apparently responding to U.S. President Donald Trump s recent statement at the United Nations that sanctions would not be lifted until the Caribbean island restores democracy and capitalism.  The changes needed in Cuba will solely be carried out by the Cuban people,  Diaz-Canel said. Castro, 86, has announced he will step down as president in February. Experts expect Diaz-Canel, 57, to become the first head of state since the early 1960s without Castro as a last name. There are no direct elections in Cuba for national office. Trump said in June that he would once more tighten sanctions on Cuba and seek a better deal from the country than the gradual detente achieved by predecessor Barack Obama. The Trump administration has drastically reduced staffing at its embassy in Cuba and ordered a reciprocal reduction of Cuban diplomats in Washington due to a series of alleged  health attacks  on U.S. personnel in Havana. The United States has not blamed Cuba for the still unsolved incidents but holds it responsible for not protecting its personnel. The administration has also issued a travel warning stating U.S. citizens might be targeted.  Some unnamed officials are propagating unusual nonsense without any evidence, with the perverse aim of discrediting the impeccable reputation of our country as a safe destination for foreign visitors, including from the United States,  Diaz-Canel said.

Summary: क्यूबा के कास्त्रो के संभावित उत्तराधिकारी ने परिवर्तन की अमेरिकी मांगों को खारिज किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that it is important to change North Korea s policy by imposing a higher level of pressure on the country than ever before. Abe told reporters that Japan wants to exercise leadership to bring about change in Pyongyang s policies through close cooperation with the international community. The United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against North Korea on Monday over the country s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, imposing a ban on the country s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

Summary: जापान के प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि मजबूत दबाव के माध्यम से उत्तर कोरिया की नीति को बदलना महत्वपूर्ण है


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai suffered severe vomiting after a party meeting and was airlifted to a Johannesburg hospital, a senior party source said on Saturday. Tsvangirai - who is due to challenge President Robert Mugabe in elections next year - was stable, the source said, dismissing reports in the media that he was dangerously sick.     The 65-year-old s symptoms came on suddenly at a meeting of his opposition coalition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Thursday evening in Kadoma, a city around 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the capital Harare, the source said.  Two other Zimbabwean political sources confirmed the details of his sudden illness and airlift on Friday to South Africa. But the MDC said in an official statement that Tsvangirai was in South Africa for a routine medical procedure.  Morgan Tsvangirai ... is in a very stable condition contrary to morbid media reports that he is critical and is battling for his life,  the MDC statement said. The announcement came a month after Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, seen as a favorite to succeed 93-year-old Mugabe, was rushed to South Africa for emergency medical care. Mnangagwa, who has since returned, dismissed local media speculation that he had been poisoned. Tsvangirai said last year that he was being treated for colon cancer. The party source said on Saturday the sudden illness was not related to that condition.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के विपक्षी दल के प्रमुख त्सवांगिराई अचानक बीमार हो गए, उन्हें हवाई मार्ग से अस्पताल ले जाया गयाः सूत्र