WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had misled Congress over his contacts with a Russian official before the U.S. presidential election and for the good of the country should resign. “Attorney General Jeff Sessions had weeks to correct the record that he made before the Judiciary Committee but he let the record stand,” Schumer told a news conference. “Because the Department of Justice should be above reproach, for the good of the country Attorney General Sessions should resign,” he said.

Summary: सीनेट के डेमोक्रेटिक नेता ने कहा कि अटॉर्नी जनरल सेशंस को इस्तीफा दे देना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to build dozens of new warships in one of the biggest peace-time expansions of the U.S. Navy. But interviews with ship-builders, unions and a review of public and internal documents show major obstacles to that plan.  The initiative could cost nearly $700 billion in government funding, take 30 years to complete and require hiring tens of thousands of skilled shipyard workers - many of whom don’t exist yet because they still need to be hired and trained, according to the interviews and the documents reviewed.  Trump has vowed a huge build-up of the U.S. military to project American power in the face of an emboldened China and Russia. That includes expanding the Navy to 350 warships from 275 today. He has provided no specifics, including how soon he wants the larger fleet. (For graphics on projected strength of U.S. Navy, shipyard employment see: tmsnrt.rs/2n3vOr0)  The Navy has given Defense Secretary Jim Mattis a report that explores how the country’s industrial base could support higher ship production, Admiral Bill Moran, the vice chief of Naval Operations with oversight of the Navy’s shipbuilding outlook, told Reuters.  He declined to give further details. But those interviewed for this story say there are clearly two big issues - there are not enough skilled workers in the market, from electricians to welders, and after years of historically low production, shipyards and their suppliers, including nuclear fuel producers, will struggle to ramp up for years.  To be sure, the first, and biggest, hurdle for Trump to overcome is to persuade a cost-conscious Congress to fund the military buildup.  The White House declined to comment. A Navy spokeswoman said increases being considered beyond the current shipbuilding plan would require “sufficient time” to allow companies to ramp up capacity.  The two largest U.S. shipbuilders, General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (HII.N), told Reuters they are planning to hire a total of 6,000 workers in 2017 just to meet current orders, such as the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine.  General Dynamics hopes to hire 2,000 workers at Electric Boat this year. Currently projected order levels would already require the shipyard to grow from less than 15,000 workers, to nearly 20,000 by the early 2030s, company documents reviewed by Reuters show.  Huntington Ingalls, the largest U.S. military shipbuilder, plans to hire 3,000 at its Newport News shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, and another 1,000 at the Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi this year to fulfill current orders, spokeswoman Beci Brenton said.  Companies say they are eager to work with Trump to build his bigger Navy. But expanding hiring, for now, is difficult to do until they receive new orders, officials say.  “It’s hard to look beyond” current orders, Brenton said.  Smaller shipbuilders and suppliers are also cautious.  “You can’t hire people to do nothing,” said Jill Mackie, spokeswoman for Portland, Oregon-based Vigor Industrial LLC, which makes combat craft for the Navy’s Special Warfare units. “Until funding is there ... you can’t bring on more workers.”  Because companies won’t hire excess workers in advance, they will have a huge challenge in expanding their workforces rapidly if a shipbuilding boom materializes, said Bryan Clark, who led strategic planning for the Navy as special assistant to the chief of Naval Operations until 2013.  Union and shipyard officials say finding skilled labor just for the work they already have is challenging. Demand for pipeline welders is so strong that some can make as much as $300,000 per year, including overtime and benefits, said Danny Hendrix, the business manager at Pipeliners Local 798, a union representing 6,500 metal workers in 42 states.  Much of the work at the submarine yards also requires a security clearance that many can’t get, said Jimmy Hart, president of the Metal Trades Department at the AFL-CIO union, which represents 100,000 boilermakers, machinists, and pipefitters, among others.  To help grow a larger labor force from the ground up, General Dynamics’ Electric Boat has partnered with seven high schools and trade schools in Connecticut and Rhode Island to develop a curriculum to train a next generation of welders and engineers.  “It has historically taken five years to get someone proficient in shipbuilding,” said Maura Dunn, vice president of human resources at Electric Boat.  It can take as many as seven years to train a welder skilled enough to make the most complex type of welds, radiographic structural welds needed on a nuclear-powered submarine, said Will Lennon, vice president of the shipyard’s Columbia Class submarine program.  The Navy envisioned by Trump could create more than 50,000 jobs, the Shipbuilders Council of America, a trade group representing U.S. shipbuilders, repairers and suppliers, told Reuters.  The U.S. shipbuilding and repairing industry employed nearly 100,000 in 2016, Labor Department statistics show. The industry had as many as 176,000 workers at the height of the Cold War in the early 1980s as the United States built up a fleet of nearly 600 warships by the end of that decade.  Apart from the labor shortage, there are also serious capacity and supply chain issues that would be severely strained by any plan to expand the Navy, especially its submarine fleet.  Expanding the Navy to 350 ships is not as simple as just adding 75 ships. Many ships in the current 275-vessel fleet need to be replaced, which means the Navy would have to buy 321 ships between now and 2046 to reach Trump’s goal, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report in February.  The shipyards that make nuclear submarines - General Dynamics’ Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, and Huntington’s Newport News - produced as many as seven submarines per year between them in the early 1980s. But for more than a decade now, the yards have not built more than two per year.  The nuclear-powered Virginia class and Columbia class submarines are among the largest and most complex vessels to build. The first Columbia submarine, which is set to begin construction in 2021, will take seven years to build, and two to three additional years to test.  Retooling the long-dormant shipyard space will take several years and significant capital investments, but a bigger problem is expanding the supply chain, said Clark, the former strategist for the Navy and now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.  Makers of submarine components such as reactor cores, big castings, and forgers of propellers and shafts would need five years to double production, said a congressional official with knowledge of the Navy’s long-term planning.  “We have been sizing the industrial base for two submarines a year. You can’t then just throw one or two more on top of that and say, ‘Oh here, dial the switch and produce four reactor cores a year instead of two.’ You just can’t,” the official said.  In his first budget proposal to Congress on Thursday, Trump proposed boosting defense spending by $54 billion for the fiscal 2018 year – a 10 percent increase from last year. He is also seeking $30 billion for the Defense Department in a supplemental budget for fiscal 2017, of which at least $433 million is earmarked for military shipbuilding.  A 350-ship Navy would cost $690 billion over the 30-year period, or $23 billion per year - 60 percent more than the average funding the Navy has received for shipbuilding in the past three decades, the Congressional Budget Office said.  Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who will have a major say in approving the defense budget, said in a statement to Reuters that he supported Trump’s vision to increase the size of the Navy to deter adversaries.  "However, this is not a blank check," he said.  (Click here for a graphic on 'Fleet expansion' here)

Summary: ट्रम्प की भव्य नौसेना योजना से गायबः बेड़े का निर्माण करने के लिए कुशल श्रमिक


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Mauricio Macri s preferred candidate was leading former President Cristina Fernandez in an election for a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province, with 24.5 percent of polling booths counted. Esteban Bullrich, Macri s former education minister, had 42.9 percent of the vote counted compared with 35.9 percent for Fernandez in the province that is home to nearly 40 percent of voters.

Summary: मैक्री के सहयोगी ने पूर्व राष्ट्रपति के खिलाफ अर्जेंटीना सीनेट की दौड़ में बढ़त बनाई


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia proposed a two-day ceasefire on Monday in the last major rebel stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus, where warplanes killed at least 41 people in two days of air strikes as Russian-backed government forces tried to capture the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring body, said 18 people were killed by bombing on Monday and 23 on Sunday. At least 147 have been killed by air strikes and shelling since the Syrian army, with Russian air power, began the offensive to take the besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta nearly two weeks ago. The area of densely-populated agricultural land is the last major territory near the capital still held by rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad s government. Across Syria, fighters have been driven out of most towns and cities in the past two years since Russia joined the war on Assad s behalf. Eastern Ghouta is also one of several  de-escalation zones  across western Syria where Russia has brokered deals to ease fighting. Russia proposed imposing a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone for Tuesday and Wednesday, Interfax news agency reported, quoting the Defence Ministry.  Such measures will ease tension in the western part of the de-escalation zone,  General-Lieutenant Sergei Kuralenko, in charge of Russia s ceasefire monitoring center in Syria, was quoted as saying. The enclave has been besieged by Assad forces since 2012, but the siege has become far worse in recent months since routes used to smuggle in food were shut. Residents are so short of food that they are eating trash, fainting from hunger and forcing their children to eat on alternate days, the U.N. World Food Programme said in a report last week. On Monday, 13 shells hit government-held Damascus and its surrounding areas, Syrian state media SANA reported. Four people were injured from a shell that hit the capital on Sunday, SANA said.

Summary: रूस ने दमिश्क उपनगर में दो दिवसीय युद्धविराम की मांग की; हवाई हमलों में दर्जनों मारे गए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, drafted a letter of resignation over the administration’s weak response to recent clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-racism protesters, but decided to stay on the job, the New York Times reported on Friday. Cohn spoke publicly about the controversy for the first time in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, saying the administration needed to clearly reject hate groups. He said  there was no equivalence between white supremacists or neo-Nazis and those who protest inequality. “I believe this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities,” the former Goldman Sachs president told the newspaper. “Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK,” he added. Cohn’s criticism came nearly two weeks after white supremacist and neo-Nazi activists clashed with anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, over a plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War. A man thought to have neo-Nazi sympathies drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring more than a dozen others. Following the clashes, Trump said there had been violence on “both sides,” remarks that spurred condemnation by both Republican and Democratic politicians.  Cohn stood nearby during an impromptu Trump Tower news conference as the president insisted there were “very fine people on both sides” in Charlottesville. Cohn considered resigning over Trump’s response, both newspapers reported, citing sources.  Cohn went so far as to draft a resignation letter, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the document. Cohn said he felt “compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks” and came under intense pressure to quit over Trump’s reaction to the incident but decided against it. “As a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting ‘Jews will not replace us’ to cause this Jew to leave his job,” he said, referring to chants by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. “I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these hate groups. We must all unite together against them.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के सलाहकार कोहन ने इस्तीफा पत्र लिखा, रहने का फैसला कियाः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday eased off his earlier call to send the suspect in this week’s truck attack in New York City to the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, but stood by his comments that the alleged attacker should get the death penalty. “Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system,” Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Twitter. “There is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the horrible crime he committed. Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!”

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क शहर के संदिग्ध को ग्वांतानामो भेजने में बहुत लंबा समय लगेगाः ट्रम्प


FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton sparred in a debate on Sunday over who had the best chance to beat Republican front-runner Donald Trump, and mocked the level of discourse in the Republican White House race. Near the end of a Michigan debate that featured sharp clashes over trade and the auto industry bailout, as well as a lengthy discussion of religion, Clinton and Sanders both said they could not wait to face the brash billionaire in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. “I think Donald Trump’s bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people,” Clinton said. “We have to end the divisiveness, we have to unify the country.” Sanders said he would “love” to run against Trump and noted many opinion polls showed him faring better against him than Clinton did. He and Clinton urged voters to compare the substance of their debate with the Republican versions, which last week featured name-calling and Trump defending his penis size. “We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money in mental health,” Sanders said, then cracked a joke. “And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.” Trump frequently says he will beat either Clinton or Sanders. “I am the one person that she does not want to run against,” he said of Clinton on Saturday.  The debate in Flint, which is suffering a water contamination and public health crisis, came as Sanders has struggled to slow Clinton’s march to the presidential nomination. Sanders picked up some good news on Sunday with a projected win in Maine’s caucus. Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state and first lady,  has spoken on the campaign trail of the need for more love and kindness, a contrast to Trump’s rhetoric about his plans to deport illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. “I don’t intend to get into the gutter with whoever they nominate, but instead to lift our sights,” Clinton said in the debate. Describing herself as a “praying person,” she said it was hard to imagine living under the pressure of the White House “without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith.” Sanders, asked if he was deliberately keeping his Jewish faith in the background on the campaign trail, said his father’s family was wiped out in the Holocaust. He described going shopping with his mother as a boy in Brooklyn, New York, and seeing people with numbers on their arms from Nazi concentration camps. “I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being,” Sanders said. Earlier, the two candidates exchanged angry jabs over trade, with Sanders accusing Clinton of backing “disastrous” trade policies that moved manufacturing jobs out of cities like Flint and Detroit and shifted them overseas. But Clinton said Sanders’ opposition to the 2009 auto bailout, a crucial issue in a state that is home to the U.S. auto industry, would have cost millions of jobs. The bailout, which Clinton supported, passed Congress and has been credited with helping save the U.S. industry. Sanders, 74 a U.S. senator from Vermont and democratic socialist, also questioned the sincerity of Clinton’s conversion to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal. The two contenders cut each other off on several occasions, a rare occurrence in a race that has been much more polite than the raucous Republican presidential campaign. “Excuse me, I’m talking,” Sanders said to Clinton when she tried to interrupt. “If you’re going to talk, tell the whole story,” Clinton responded. Sanders pressed his charge that Clinton was too close to Wall Street and demanded again that she release the transcript of paid speeches she has given to Wall Street firms. Clinton said she would release them when all the candidates, including Republicans, also release transcripts of similar talks. Throwing up his hands, Sanders said: “I’ll release it. Here it is. There ain’t nothing! I don’t give speeches to Wall Street!” The debate was held in Flint to highlight the city’s water contamination crisis, and both candidates expressed outrage at Flint’s plight and demanded Republican Governor Rick Snyder’s resignation. The crisis in Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was triggered when an emergency city manager installed by Snyder switched the city’s water supply to the nearby Flint River from Lake Michigan to save money. The change corroded Flint’s aging pipes and released lead and other toxins into the water supply, exposing thousands of residents including children to high lead levels that have sparked serious health problems.  (Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: क्लिंटन, सैंडर्स दोनों का कहना है कि वे मिशिगन बहस के दौरान ट्रम्प को हरा सकते हैं


BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa s state prosecutors told the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday the six-year sentence for murder handed to Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius was  shockingly lenient  and asked for the right to launch an appeal. Pistorius was imprisoned in July last year after being found guilty on appeal of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine s Day 2013. The case has attracted worldwide interest.  He was not in court for Friday s hearing. Women s rights groups in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women say Pistorius has received preferential treatment compared to non-whites and those without his wealth or international celebrity status. The athlete was originally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in jail. That conviction was increased to murder by the SCA in December 2015 and his sentence increased to six years by trial Judge Thokozile Masipa. State prosecutors, led by advocate Andrea Johnson, said the sentence by Masipa was too lenient as the jail term was less than half the minimum 15-year sentence prescribed for murder in South Africa. Johnson said the High Court did not list the substantial and compelling factors for deviating from the 15-year sentence and that Pistorius had not shown remorse for the murder.  There is no true, gut-wrenching remorse,  Johnson said.   It is shockingly lenient and has accordingly resulted in an injustice,  she said, referring to the sentence. Lawyers for the gold medalist, known as the  Blade Runner  for his carbon-fiber prosthetics, say he did not deliberately kill model and law graduate Steenkamp. Barry Roux, lead defense lawyer for Pistorius, said the athlete was suffering from severe and worsening post-traumatic stress disorder over the case.  Roux said Masipa had addressed the misperception that Pistorius deliberately killed Steenkamp.   Leave to appeal should really not be granted,  he said. The court did not set a date for when it would rule on whether the appeal can be heard or not.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीकी अभियोजकों ने कहा कि पिस्टोरियस की सजा 'चौंकाने वाली रूप से उदार' है, अपील की मांग की


TOKYO (Reuters) - Heavy rain and powerful winds are expected to lash large areas of Japan on Sunday as a strong typhoon sweeps ashore, possibly hindering voter turnout in a national election. Typhoon Lan was classified as an intense Category 4 storm on Saturday, with winds of up to 250 km/h (156 mph), according to the Tropical Storm Risk web site. By midday, it was south of South Borodino Island, east of Okinawa, and moving northeast at 15 kph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It is expected to weaken to a Category 1 typhoon as it nears the Tokyo metropolitan area on Monday morning, Tropical Storm Risk said. Authorities in Okinawa and Hyogo prefectures have moved voting ahead a day for some remote islands as the storm neared, media said. Saturday marked the last day of campaigning for the parliament s lower house seats, and bad weather could deter some voters. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition is on track to roughly match the two-thirds  super majority  it held in parliament s lower house before dissolution, helped by divisions in the opposition camp and jitters over North Korea s nuclear and missile programs, media forecasts have said.

Summary: चुनाव से एक दिन पहले दक्षिणी जापान के पास शक्तिशाली तूफान आया


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will meet its financial obligations when it leaves the European Union, transport minister Chris Grayling said on Friday, hours before Prime Minister Theresa May makes a high-stakes speech to reset Brexit talks. May, weakened after losing her Conservative Party s majority in a June election, is hoping to move talks forward with the EU in a speech in Florence, Italy, on Friday. According to Grayling, the speech will set out the principles of a future relationship.  It s not about the specific purpose of where we might end up at that point in the negotiations ... what she is doing is setting out today the principles of a future relationship, she is talking about how we move the negotiations forward,  Grayling told BBC radio. Asked whether reports that Britain will offer a financial settlement to the EU are correct, Grayling said:  We are a nation that meets its obligations. Of course we absolutely accept that Britain has obligations ... but what we are looking to do though, is not simply today to start talking about the nuts and bolts of negotiation.

Summary: ब्रिटेन अपने ब्रेक्सिट वित्तीय दायित्वों को पूरा करेगाः मंत्री


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans generally agree that politicians should not enrich themselves while running the country. Yet most think it is okay for President Donald Trump to do so.  Democrats largely support the idea of government-run healthcare. But their support plummets when they learn that Trump once backed the idea.  At a time of already deep fissures among American voters on political, cultural and economic issues, Trump further polarizes the public as soon as he wades into the debate, according to the results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll suggests any effort to reach a consensus on key policy issues could be complicated simply by Trump’s involvement.  The survey from Feb. 1 to March 15 of nearly 14,000 people asked respondents to consider a series of statements Trump has made on taxes, crime and the news media, among other issues. In many cases, the data showed that people will orient their opinions according to what they think of Trump.  Republicans, for example, were more likely to criticize American exceptionalism – the notion that the United States holds a unique place in history - when told that Trump once said it was insulting to other countries. They were more likely to agree that the country should install more nuclear weapons, and they were more supportive of government spending for infrastructure, when they knew that Trump felt the same way.  Democrats moved in the opposite direction. They were less supportive of infrastructure spending, less critical of the judiciary and less likely to agree that urban crime was on the rise when they knew that those concerns were shared by Trump.  “I’m basically in disagreement with everything he says,” said Howard House, 58, a Democrat from Jacksonville, Florida, who took the poll. “I’ve almost closed my mind to the guy.”  Trump is not the first president to polarize the public. A 1995 poll by the Washington Post found that Democrats appeared to favor legislative action when they thought it was then-President Bill Clinton’s idea, and a 2013 survey by Hart Research Associates showed that both positive and negative attitudes about the 2010 Affordable Care Act intensified when called by its other name, Obamacare.  But previous presidents were more popular than Trump at this point, according to the Gallup polling service, and they may have been better positioned to address the public divide because of it. Gallup had Trump at a 42 percent approval rating on Tuesday. He was as low as 35 percent last week.  That leaves Trump facing a largely disapproving electorate, even as the White House signals that in the coming months it wants to pass a sweeping tax-reform package, a large infrastructure plan, and perhaps try again to supplant the Affordable Care Act.  The White House said that Trump has tried to reach out to those who did not support him during the campaign in an attempt to build political consensus.  “The door to the White House has been open to a variety of people who are willing to come to the table and have honest discussions with the President about the ways we can make our country better,” a White House spokeswoman wrote in an email.  THE HYPER-PARTISAN ERA OF TRUMP  Poll respondents were split into two groups. Each received nearly identical questions about statements Trump has made in recent years. One group, however, was not told the statements came from Trump.  The poll then asked if people agreed or disagreed with those statements. In a few cases, Trump made little to no impact on the answers. But most of the time the inclusion of his name changed the results.  A series of questions about conflicts of interest produced the biggest swings.  Some 33 percent of Republicans said it was okay if “an official” financially benefits from a government position. However, when a separate group was asked the same question with Trump’s name added in, more than twice as many Republicans – 70 percent – said it was okay.  When interviewed afterward, some respondents said they knew they were making special exceptions for Trump.  Susie Stewart, a 73-year-old healthcare worker from Fort Worth, Texas, said it came down to trust. While most politicians should be forbidden from mixing their personal fortunes with government business, Stewart, who voted for Trump, said the president had earned the right to do so.  “He is a very intelligent man,” Stewart said. “He’s proved himself to be one hell of a manager. A builder. I think he has the business sense to do what’s best for the country.”  On the other side of the political spectrum, House, the Democrat from Florida and a Hillary Clinton supporter, said he also made an exception for Trump. But in this instance it meant that House disagreed with everything Trump supported.  If Trump said the sky was blue, “I’m going to go outside and check,” he said.  It is impossible to say exactly what motivates people to answer a certain way in a political poll, said John Bullock, an expert in partisanship at the University of Texas at Austin.  Some respondents may have looked past the question and answered in a way that they thought would support or oppose Trump, Bullock said.  But he said it was also likely that others simply have not thought deeply about the issue and are looking to Trump as a guide for how to answer.  “They think of him either as a man who shares their values or someone who manifestly does not,” Bullock said.

Summary: क्या आसमान नीला है? यह इस बात पर निर्भर करता है कि डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प क्या कहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday his top legislative affairs aide, Katie Beirne Fallon, is leaving the White House and will be replaced by her deputy, Amy Rosenbaum, a former aide to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Obama, in a statement, credited Fallon with helping the White House “build up our relationships with folks in both parties” in Congress on issues like the budget, the Iran nuclear deal, and reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank.

Summary: ओबामा के विधायी सहयोगी फॉलन चले गएः व्हाइट हाउस


VARADERO, Cuba (Reuters) - From Cuba to Antigua, Caribbean islanders began counting the cost of Hurricane Irma on Sunday after the brutal storm left a trail of death, destruction and chaos from which the tourist-dependent region could take years to recover. The Category 5 storm, which killed at least 28 people across the region, devastated housing, power supplies and communications, leaving some small islands almost cut off from the world. European nations sent military reinforcements to keep order amid looting, while the damage was expected to total billions of dollars. Ex-pat billionaires and poor islanders alike were forced to take cover as Irma tore roofs off buildings, flipped cars and killed livestock, raging from the Leeward Islands across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola then into Cuba before turning on Florida. Waves of up to 36 feet (11 meters) smashed businesses along the Cuban capital Havana s sea-side drive on Sunday morning. Further east, high winds whipped Varadero, the island s most important tourist resort.  It s a complete disaster and it will take a great deal of work to get Varadero back on its feet,  said Osmel de Armas, 53, an aquatic photographer who works on the beach at the battered resort.  Sea-front hotels were evacuated in Havana and relief workers spent the night rescuing people from homes in the city center as the sea penetrated to historic depths in the flood-prone area. U.S President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration on Sunday for Puerto Rico, where Irma killed at least 3 people and left hundreds of thousands without electricity. Trump also expanded federal funds available to the U.S. Virgin Islands, which suffered extensive damage to homes and infrastructure. Further east in the Caribbean, battered islands such as St. Martin and Barbuda were taking stock of the damage as people began emerging from shelters to scenes of devastation. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the death toll on the Dutch part of St. Martin had doubled to four, and that 70 percent of homes had been damaged or destroyed. Following reports of looting, the Netherlands said it would increase its military presence on the island to 550 soldiers by Monday. Rutte said that to ensure order, security forces were authorized to act with a  firm hand . Alex Martinez, 31, a native of Florida who was vacationing on the Dutch side of St. Martin when Irma hit the island in the early hours of Wednesday, vividly described how his hotel was gutted by the storm, turning it into a debris-strewn tip. Doors were torn from hinges, windows shattered, cars lifted off the ground and furniture blown through the rooms after Irma hit the building with a burst of pressure that was  like you were getting sucked out of an aeroplane,  he said. Martinez, his wife and two others barricaded themselves in their bathroom, pushing with all their might to secure the door as Irma battered it with winds of up to 185 mph (300 km/h).  That s when we thought,  that was it ,  he said.  I honestly, swear to God, thought we were going to die at that point in time. Everything continued for maybe 20, 30 minutes; my wife s there, she s praying, praying, praying, praying, and things just kinda calmed down. I guess that s when the eye (of the storm came).  Staff deserted the hotel to look after their families and Martinez and a few others had to scavenge for food and water for three days until they were airlifted out on Saturday, he said. Dutch authorities are evacuating other tourists and injured people to Curacao, where Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk were expected to arrive today. France, which oversees neighboring Saint Barthelemy and the other half of St Martin, said the police presence on the two islands had been boosted to close to 500. The French interior ministry said 11 people suspected of  malicious actions  had been arrested since Friday as television footage showed scenes of chaos on the islands, with streets under water, boats and cars tossed into piles and torn rooftops. Irma killed at least 10 people on the two islands, the French government said. France s Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, a state-owned reinsurance group, estimated the cost of Irma at some 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion). French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit St. Martin on Tuesday. Barbuda, home to some 1,800 inhabitants, faces a reconstruction bill that could total hundreds of millions of dollars, state officials say, after Irma steamrolled the island. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said Irma had wreaked  absolute devastation  on Barbuda, which he described as  barely habitable  after 90 percent of cars and buildings had been damaged. The government ordered a total evacuation when a second hurricane, Jose, emerged, but a handful of people refused to leave their homes, including  a gentleman (who) said he was living in a cave , said Garfield Burford, director of news at government-owned broadcaster ABS TV and Radio in Antigua and Barbuda. Irma also plunged the British Virgin Islands, an offshore business and legal center, into turmoil. Yachts were piled on top of each other in the harbor and many houses in the hillside capital of Road Town on the main island of Tortola were badly damaged. Both there and in Anguilla to the east, residents complained help from the British government was too slow in coming, prompting a defensive response from London.  We weren t late,  Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC television on Sunday, saying Britain had  pre-positioned  an aid ship for the Caribbean hurricane season and that his government s response  has been as good as anybody else s.  British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, who sought refuge in the wine cellar of his home on Necker island, called Irma the  storm of the century  on Twitter and urged people to make donations to help rebuild the region.

Summary: इरमा की तबाही के बाद कैरिबियन को सुधार के लिए कठिन रास्ते का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party enshrined President Xi Jinping s political thought into its constitution on Tuesday, putting him in the same company as the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, and cementing his power ahead of a second five-year term. A key Xi ally, top corruption fighter Wang Qishan, will not be on the new Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of power in China, to be revealed on Wednesday as he was not among those named on Tuesday to the 204-member Central Committee. Whether or not the powerful Wang would remain on the Standing Committee, which currently has seven members, despite being beyond the customary retirement age of 69, had been among the key questions to be answered at the week-long party congress, which ended on Tuesday. Wang could still assume another senior role over the next few months. As expected, the party unanimously passed an amendment to include  Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era  as one of its guiding principles. The party will announce its new Standing Committee, headed by Xi, at around midday (0400 GMT) on Wednesday, culminating a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle. As expected, the amended constitution affirmed that Xi s signature fight against corruption, which has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials, will continue. Unexpectedly, Xi s  Belt and Road  initiative, an ambitious program to build infrastructure linking China with its neighbors and beyond, was also included in the party constitution. Also included was a commitment to supply-side industrial reforms, and giving play to the  decisive role  of market forces in resource allocation, a commitment Xi had made early in his first terms that many investors say he has failed to deliver on.  The party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country,  the party said in a statement reflecting Xi s ongoing efforts to strengthen the party and its place in contemporary Chinese society. If no clear successor to Xi is named to the new Politburo Standing Committee, it will further fuel speculation that Xi may look to retain power beyond the customary second five-year term.  This is about further erasing any distinction between Xi Jinping and the party,  said Jude Blanchette, who studies the party at The Conference Board s China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing, referring to Xi s thought getting into the constitution.   Add on to this having supply-side structural reform and One Belt One Road written into this, which were Xi s signature policies, this makes questioning or non-compliance with those tantamount to betrayal of the party.  Xu Hongcai, deputy chief economist at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a Beijing think-tank, said party control was needed to push through the market reforms key to restructuring the world s second-largest economy.  To build a market economic system in such a big country, it s impossible without the leadership of the party,  he said. Others have argued that the two are contradictory.  When you put  supply-side reform  and  market playing a decisive role  in the same document, then that just shows they have to almost choose one,  said Alex Wolf, Senior Emerging Markets Economist with Aberdeen Standard Investments in Hong Kong. China s blue-chip shares climbed to a 26-month high on Tuesday, led by infrastructure and property stocks, as Xi wrapped up a congress that began with his three-and-a half hour speech envisioning a more prosperous, confident China. The yuan strengthened against the dollar. Xi rapidly consolidated power after assuming party leadership in late 2012 and then the presidency the next year. The party gave Xi the title of  core  leader a year ago, a significant strengthening of his position. Whether Xi was able to have his name  crowned  in the party constitution had been seen as a key measure of his power, elevating him to a level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory.  No other leader since Mao has had an eponymous ideology included in the document while in office. Deng s name was added after his death in 1997. A list of 133 committee members for the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection released on Tuesday included Zhao Leji, who heads the party s Organisation Department, a strong sign that he will take over from Wang as anti-corruption chief. China s top banking regulator, Guo Shuqing, and veteran banker Jiang Chaoliang, front runners to succeed Zhou Xiaochuan as central bank governor, both made it to the Central Committee. The constitutional amendment, along with Xi s work report and a work report of the graft watchdog to the congress, were passed by a show of hands. When Xi next asked for any  no  votes or abstentions for the amendment or two work reports, the sound of  none  echoed throughout the chamber, as officials shouted out from different sides of the hall.

Summary: चीन ने 'शी जिनपिंग विचार' को स्थापित किया, प्रमुख शी सहयोगी पद छोड़ेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States’ top transportation official on Wednesday promoted the Trump administration’s proposed privatization of the air traffic control system in the face of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. “Our air traffic organization must be more nimble,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao told the Senate Commerce Committee. “A bulky federal government procurement apparatus does not move fast enough to keep pace with new technologies and new demands.” President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled the plan to modernize air traffic control and lower flying costs. Under the proposal, air traffic control would be spun off from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and put under the aegis of a nonprofit entity. Critics say the plan would hand control of a key asset to special interests and big airlines. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said on Wednesday that small airports in his state oppose the plan. He said that after air traffic privatization in the United Kingdom airline passenger fees rose 30 percent. “This is a tough sell,” Wicker said. Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said he remains “skeptical” of the idea of removing Congress from air traffic control oversight and handing it to a 13-member board. The administration says it would not charge the private entity for the government’s air traffic control assets and would bar Congress from reviewing fees charged by the board. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, opposes the proposal. “Why give away billions of dollars in government assets to an entity that will be governed in large part by the airlines?” he asked. Nelson argued “a fundamental breakup of the FAA cannot advance when there are such strong divisions among aviation stakeholders and in Congress. It just won’t happen.”     Chao denied that the major airlines would control the board and said they would have just two seats on the board. She also pledged to address rural concerns. One big issue is whether general aviation could face higher costs and access to airspace if a private board takes over. Executives from United Airlines (UAL.N), Hawaiian Airlines Inc [HAII.UL], American Airlines Inc (AAL.O) and Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N), all represented by the Airlines for America lobbying group, praised the Trump plan on Monday. The FAA spends nearly $10 billion a year on air traffic control funded largely through passenger user fees, and has spent more than $7.5 billion on next-generation air traffic control reforms in recent years. It is unclear whether privatization would speed the rollout of new systems such as satellite-based aircraft tracking that replaces ground radar dating back to World War Two.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने हवाई यातायात नियंत्रण के निजीकरण की ट्रम्प की योजना को चुनौती दी


TORONTO (Reuters) - A regional Latin American grouping on Thursday agreed more steps may be needed to further isolate Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro has been accused of stamping on rights and democracy, said Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. She spoke to reporters after a Toronto meeting of the Lima Group, which also includes Canada. The group has already condemned what it calls recent anti-democratic acts by Venezuela s government.  If necessary we must put added pressure on the Maduro regime by taking concrete steps to further isolate it from the international community,  she said. Freeland added that Canada was mulling a second round of sanctions against Venezuelan officials.  Other countries should consider doing so as well,  she said. Last month Ottawa said it would impose targeted sanctions against 40 Venezuelan senior officials to punish them for  anti-democratic behavior . The Lima Group has around 15 members, including Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. It is next due to meet in Chile in January 2018. Last week the group criticized a nationwide election held in Venezuela, when the ruling Socialist Party took 18 of 23 governorships in a nationwide vote despite widespread anger over economic hardship, that has left millions suffering food shortages, a currency collapse and soaring inflation. Opposition protests this year have led to 125 deaths, thousands of arrests and injuries, and widespread damage to property and infrastructure. The opposition is starting to fragment and the Lima Group meeting on Thursday called on groups to work together.  It s a very important point. The people of Venezuela, in their struggle to reestablish democracy in their country ... deserve an opposition which is united and can represent them effectively,  said Freeland.

Summary: वेनेजुएला को और अलग-थलग करने की आवश्यकता हो सकती हैः लैटिन अमेरिकी समूह


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Phyllis Schlafly, who became a “founding mother” of the modern U.S. conservative movement by battling feminists in the 1970s and working tirelessly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, died on Monday at the age of 92, her Eagle Forum group said. Schlafly, who lived in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, Missouri, died at her home in the presence of her family, Eagle Forum said in a statement. The cause of death was not given. She was still a conservative force and popular speaker in her 90s, endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and praising his policy on immigration. She was a delegate to the Republicans’ convention in Cleveland. Trump said in a statement that he spoke with Schlafly a few weeks ago by telephone “and she sounded as resilient as ever ... She was a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength.” Schlafly once called feminists “a bunch of bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems,” Time said, while insisting that “women find their greatest fulfillment at home with their family.” Her political ardor did not fade with age and in 2014, as President Barack Obama pushed for pay equity for women, Schlafly sparked controversy with a column for the Christian Post saying a man’s paycheck comes first. “The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages,” she said. “... The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap.” Schlafly promoted traditional family values and once told a reporter that she always listed her occupation as “mother” when filling out applications. But she was hardly a typical stay-at-home housewife/mother. Shortly after marrying lawyer Fred Schlafly in 1949, she became active in Republican Party politics in Alton, Illinois, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice. She would go on to found the Eagle Forum grass-roots conservative group, write a newspaper column and newsletter and author some 20 books. Her crowning achievement was crusading to prevent the Equal Rights Amendment from being added to the U.S. Constitution and it made Schlafly a leader in the modern American conservative movement. “Phyllis Schlafly courageously and single-handedly took on the issue of the Equal Rights Amendment when no one else in the country was opposing it,” said James C. Dobson, chairman and founder of Focus on the Family. “In so doing, she essentially launched the pro-family, pro-life movement.” Biographer Donald T. Critchlow said defeating the ERA helped usher in a conservative era in American politics and boosted Ronald Reagan to the presidency. In her decade-long fight against the ERA, Schlafly traveled across the country to speak at rallies and persuade state legislators not to approve the ERA.  Along the way she often debated feminist writer Betty Freidan, who called Schlafly “a traitor to her sex” and once told her: “I’d like to burn you at the stake.” The intention of the ERA was to ensure women were treated the same as men under state and federal laws. Schlafly’s attack on the proposed amendment was based on the premise that the rights of women already were well protected by the U.S. Constitution. She said the ERA actually would erode women’s standing, leading to homosexual marriages, women in combat, government-funded abortions and loss of alimony. In 1972 she started the Eagle Forum, now located in Clayton, Missouri, along with Stop ERA, bringing in legions of supporters who had been regarded as non-political housewives. In a 1978 appearance at the Illinois capitol she was accompanied by backers bearing loaves of home-made bread. Described by Time magazine as “feminine but forceful” and with her hair always carefully styled, Schlafly said she attended 41 state hearings to testify against the Equal Rights Amendment. When the ERA’s ratification deadline expired in 1982, having been approved by only 35 of the 38 states needed, Schlafly threw a party in Washington. Phyllis Stewart was born Aug. 15, 1924, in St. Louis and grew up in a home she described as Republican but not activist. She put herself through Washington University by firing weapons as an ammunition factory tester and later earned a master’s degree in political science from Radcliffe. In 1978 she graduated from Washington University’s law school. The left attacked Schlafly for promoting domestic life to her supporters while spending so much time pursuing her ambitious political agenda. She responded by saying she never told women they should not work. “I simply didn’t believe we needed a constitutional amendment to protect women’s rights,” Schlafly told the New York Times. Schlafly first became a political presence with her 1964 self-published book “A Choice, Not an Echo,” which championed the conservative politics of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Schlafly also built a reputation as a strident anti-Communist and opponent of arms control treaties. After the ERA’s defeat, she continued to preach conservative causes such as limited government, anti-abortion laws, traditional education, strong defense and keeping out illegal immigrants. She frequently criticized immigration reform and the Obama administration and wrote more than 25 books. Schlafly also was a critic of gay rights, which proved to be a sensitive topic in 1992 when the oldest of her six children, John, who worked for the Eagle Forum, acknowledged he was homosexual. Schlafly’s husband Fred died in 1993. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, Eagle Forum said.

Summary: अमेरिकी रूढ़िवादी कार्यकर्ता फिलिस श्लाफली का 92 वर्ष की आयु में निधन हो गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that a new $38 billion aid package will help ensure Israel can defend itself from threats, commenting in a statement on the 10-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two nations. “Both Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and I are confident that the new MOU will make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remains a dangerous neighborhood,” Obama said.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा, सुरक्षा सुनिश्चित करने में मदद के लिए 38 अरब डॉलर का इजरायल सहायता पैकेज


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nine Democratic senators asked President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, on Tuesday to recuse himself from any FBI or Justice Department investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The request was signed by every Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the panel responsible for confirming Sessions’ appointment. It comes amid growing concern in the U.S. Congress about what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was hacking and other actions by Russia during the election campaign aimed at tilting the November vote in Trump’s favor, and about potential personal or financial connections between Trump associates and Moscow.  The letter also asked Sessions, who as attorney general would be the country’s top law enforcement official and head of the Justice Department, to commit to not shutting down any investigation into Russia’s activities. FBI Director James Comey last week declined to comment on whether or not the FBI might be investigating links between Russia and associates of Trump. The president-elect frequently called during the campaign for improved relations between Washington and Moscow. A spokesman for Sessions, who is expected to be confirmed in the job by the Republican-controlled Congress, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.  On Friday the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said their panel would investigate allegations Russia used cyber attacks to influence the U.S. presidential election, including any links between Russia and the political campaigns.  Classified documents that the heads of four U.S. intelligence agencies presented earlier this month to Trump included unsubstantiated information compiled by a private security firm suggesting Moscow had compromising personal and financial details about Trump.  Trump has called the dossier that contains salacious claims about him in Russia “fake news” and “phony stuff.”  The Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing last Tuesday for Sessions, a Republican and early backer of Trump’s candidacy. He declined to comment on news reports that emerged late in the hearing about the dossier, saying he had no information about the matter at that time. “We understand that you may have been unaware of this news report at the time, which is why we would like to give you another opportunity to respond,” the senators wrote. During his testimony, Sessions said he would recuse himself from investigations involving Trump’s rival for the White House, Democrat Hillary Clinton, saying comments he made during the campaign about her email practices and charitable foundation would cloud the perception of impartiality at the Justice Department. He said he would instead favor a special prosecutor to carry out any future Clinton probes.

Summary: सीनेट डेमोक्रेट्स ने ट्रम्प के अटॉर्नी जनरल से रूस की जांच से खुद को अलग करने के लिए कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inaction on North Korea and bilateral trade issues and is now considering possible trade actions against Beijing, three senior administration officials told Reuters. The officials said Trump was looking at options including tariffs on steel imports, which Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross already has said he is considering as part of a national security study of the U.S. steel industry.  Whether Trump would take any steps against China remains unclear. In April, he backed off from a threat to withdraw from NAFTA after he said Canadian and Mexican leaders telephoned him asking him to halt a planned executive order in favor of opening discussions. The officials said there was no consensus on the way forward with China and they did not say what other options were being studied. No decision was expected this week, a senior official said. Chinese steel already is subject to dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders. As a result it has only a small share of the U.S. market. “What’s guiding this is he ran to protect American industry and American workers,” one of the U.S. officials said, referring to Trump’s 2016 election promise to take a hard line on trade with China. On North Korea, Trump “feels like he gave China a chance to make a difference” but has not seen enough results, the official said. The United States has pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs. Beijing has repeatedly said its influence on North Korea is limited and that it is doing all it can. “They did a little, not a lot,” the official said. “And if he’s not going to get what he needs on that, he needs to move ahead on his broader agenda on trade and on North Korea.” U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, spoke reporters outside his residence on Wednesday and said the United States hoped to collaborate with China. “We need to work together to deal with some of the pressing, difficult issues, such as the threat from North Korea. We want to work together to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” he said.  The death of American university student Otto Warmbier last week, after his release from 17 months of imprisonment in Pyongyang, has further complicated Trump’s approach to North Korea, his top national security challenge. Trump signaled his disappointment with China’s efforts in a  tweet last week: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!” Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping when he played host to Xi in April at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. “I think China will be stepping up,” Trump said at the time.  Since then, however, North Korea’s tests of long-range missiles have continued unabated and there have been reports it is preparing for another underground nuclear test. Trump dropped by last Thursday as White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner were meeting Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, an official said. China’s inability to make headway on North Korea was one of the topics that was discussed, according to two people familiar with the meeting. In a statement last week, China’s foreign ministry said Yang had met McMaster and Kushner, but it gave no details. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang did not directly answer a question about that meeting, but said China and the United States had discussed North Korea, among other issues, during a security dialogue Yang attended. Yang also had a separate meeting with Trump. The ministry said last week that Yang told Trump that China was willing to work with all sides, including the United States, to lessen tension on the Korean peninsula and promote an “appropriate” resolution.  Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at India rival Beijing. Trump also thanked India for joining the United States in imposing new sanctions against North Korea.

Summary: चीन से निराश हो रहे हैं ट्रंप, व्यापार कदमों पर कर रहे हैं भारीः अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers, alarmed that foreign entities used the internet to influence last year’s election, introduced legislation on Thursday to extend rules governing political advertising on television, print and radio to also cover social media like Facebook Inc (FB.O). Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner and Republican John McCain introduced the “Honest Ads Act,” one of the strongest efforts in Congress yet to address allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. The legislation would expand existing election law covering television and radio outlets to apply to paid internet and digital advertisements on platforms like Facebook, Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google.  “Our laws have failed to keep up with evolving technology and the capabilities of our foreign adversaries,” Klobuchar told a news conference. The measure would also require digital platforms with at least 50 million monthly views to maintain a public file of all electioneering communications purchased by anyone spending more than $500. And it would require online platforms to make “all reasonable efforts” to ensure that foreign individuals and entities are not buying political advertisements to influence the U.S. electorate. Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Republican Representative Mike Coffman and Democrat Derek Kilmer. Social media companies have become an increasing focus of congressional investigations into allegations that Russia sought to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election on behalf of Republican candidate Donald Trump, something now-President Trump and Moscow deny. Warner, who was a technology executive before entering politics, said $150,000 of ads paid for in rubles may be only the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of how many political advertisements were bought by foreign firms. He said advertisements could have been purchased using dollars, euros or pounds. U.S. law bars foreigners from spending money to attempt to influence American elections. Warner and Klobuchar acknowledged that the companies have resisted the legislation. But Warner said, “It’s our hope that the social media companies and platform companies will work with us.” It was not immediately clear how much support the act would receive in Congress or when it might come up for a vote. Social media companies have begun a lobbying campaign to at least influence, if not prevent, the bill. The companies said they are open to working with Congress and have been turning over information, but are legally obligated to protect their users’ privacy. Facebook has turned over thousands of ads to congressional investigators and its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, met with members of Congress last week. Google said it was look at steps it could take on its various platforms and would work closely with Congress, the Federal Election Commission and the industry to come up with solutions. “We support efforts to improve transparency, enhance disclosures and reduce foreign abuse,” Google spokeswoman Riva Sciuto said in an emailed statement.  Klobuchar and Warner said it was possible the measure could be offered an amendment to another larger piece of legislation. Warner is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the congressional panels investigating the alleged Russian hacking and the possibility that Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow. Klobuchar is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, which helps oversee elections. And McCain is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They said they would like it to become law by early next year, well ahead of the November 2018 U.S. mid-term elections, in which every seat in the 435-member House and about one third of the 100-seat Senate will be up for grabs Many lawmakers and other U.S. officials have said they fear Russian efforts to meddle in those polls as well. Separately, Facebook, Twitter and Google said Thursday they would send their general counsels to testify Nov. 1 before public hearings of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. General counsel Colin Stretch will be the Facebook representative to testify before both committees, company spokesman Andy Stone said. The company’s high-profile Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sandberg will not appear. A Twitter spokeswoman said Acting General Counsel Sean Edgett will represent the microblogging site. A Google spokeswoman said General Counsel Kent Walker would represent that company.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद फेसबुक, ट्विटर राजनीतिक विज्ञापनों पर कार्रवाई चाहते हैं


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s would-be coalition partners have not agreed to abolish a tax imposed after reunification to help poorer eastern states, a conservative politician told Reuters on Sunday, retracting his previous remarks that a deal on the issue had been reached. Hans Michelbach, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservative bloc, said earlier that an agreement had been reached with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) to abolish the  solidarity tax  by 2021. The FDP had made abolishing the tax, which was due to expire in 2019, an election promise.

Summary: जर्मन गठबंधन दलों के बीच कर पर कोई समझौता नहीं हुआः रूढ़िवादी राजनेता


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner vowed to pursue a legal challenge against union dues the state collects from non-unionized, rank-and-file government workers despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that upheld the practice. In a victory for labor, a 4-4 deadlock by the nation’s high court allowed a federal appeals court opinion to stand against 10 non-unionized California public school teachers who contended so-called fair-share dues should not be withheld from their paychecks if they chose against union membership. But the court move likely does not settle the issue, because nearly identical federal litigation in Illinois that Rauner helped launch last year remains viable. “Our case is winding its way through the courts, and it will get to the Supreme Court probably at some point in the future,” Rauner said during a stop in rural Illinois on Tuesday. “And we will just continue the fight for the freedom of political expression and the right of free speech for government employees. It’s a fundamental issue.” Since taking office in 2015, the first-term Republican governor has waged war with public-sector unions in a bid to weaken their longstanding influence over state politics. During his first month in office, the governor signed an executive order to bar state agencies from withholding fair-share dues, which non-unionized employees must pay under Illinois law and collective-bargaining agreements to support non-political union activities that benefit all workers. Public-sector unions sued in Illinois state court to block Rauner’s executive order from being implemented and persuaded a judge to allow the fees to continue to be collected while the case, which is still pending, was litigated. Simultaneously, Rauner sued in federal court to challenge the fees, but last May he was dismissed from the case by a judge, who ruled the governor lacked legal standing. Three non-unionized Illinois workers forced to pay between $19.75 and $60.86 in union dues per paycheck were allowed to proceed with their own complaint. A spokesman for the union representing the largest bloc of state workers called Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling a “win” but acknowledged the Illinois case may become the next fair-share battlefront. “These attacks are political, and they’re ideological. They’re brought by people who want to rig the economy and our democracy in their favor. They’re not going to stop because they lost this particular challenge. They’ll bring another one,” said Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME Council 31.

Summary: यूनियन बकाया लड़ाई में अदालत के फैसले से विचलित नहीं हुए इलिनोइस के गवर्नर


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese general and nine soldiers were killed in clashes in the war-damaged region of Darfur on Sunday after their vehicles were ambushed by militants, state news SUNA reported on Monday. Conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan s Arab-led government and has led to intermittent clashes ever since, though the government announced a unilateral ceasefire last year. Fresh clashes erupted on Sunday following a military effort by government forces in the southern Darfur region to collect weapons from militants, SUNA reported. Defence Minister Ali Mohamed Salem said that prominent Darfur militia leader Musa Hilal had been arrested and the situation in Darfur was now stable following the clashes, according to SUNA. The news service did not elaborate.

Summary: दारफुर में झड़पों में सूडान के जनरल और नौ सैनिकों की मौतः सूना


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland is currently seen as a force for disintegration of the European Union (EU) and hence it is important to end the destruction of Warsaw s reputation, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday.  Poland is perceived today as a disintegrating force in this part of Europe and this is why I believe that it is important to end this devastation (...) of Poland s reputation,  Tusk told local media, commenting on European Commission s decision to launch Article 7 procedure against Warsaw. Tusk also said he did not expect sanctions to be imposed on Poland in the near future.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के टस्क ने कहा कि पोलैंड की प्रतिष्ठा की "तबाही" को समाप्त करना महत्वपूर्ण है


PARIS (Reuters) - As he looks back on a momentous year, French President Emmanuel Macron might be tempted to have an extra glass of champagne this holiday season, and not just because he turned 40 on Thursday. A year ago, his newly created En Marche movement was only just starting to gain traction, with the candidate inching ahead of his main center-right rival Francois Fillon in the polls.  But he still faced a full-throated challenge from far-right leader Marine Le Pen, and the idea of a 30-something former economy minister with no party affiliation rising to become president of the republic appeared far-fetched. A year on, and a few wobbles aside, Macron looks to be sitting pretty: he s up in the polls again, the opposition is largely in disarray, the economy is picking up, and business and consumer confidence are strong.  With German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 63, bogged down in draining coalition negotiations, Britain s Theresa May, 61, battling to make Brexit work while holding her divided government together, and President Donald Trump, 71, taking the United States in often unpredictable directions, Macron is arguably the most stable and reliable leader in the West. In the past few weeks alone he has hosted a global climate summit, convened Middle East and African leaders to tackle Islamist militancy in the Sahel, brokered the return of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon from Saudi Arabia, and been at the forefront of discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the status of Jerusalem. Next month he will visit China for four days, and in the coming months he is expected to become the first French leader to visit Tehran since 1971   six years before his birth. In Europe, he is credited with standing up to the wave of nationalist populism and unabashedly backing EU integration at a time when such ideas have become a dirty word in many capitals.  Macron s unexpected performance underscores that harsh anti-EU populism is not always a winning strategy,  Erik Brattenberg, director of the Europe Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote this week. So as Macron prepares to wind down a little bit at the end of the year, what are the risks? One of the former investment banker s shortcomings has been a tendency to use dismissive, even denigrating, language that has at times made him appear arrogant. Opponents have dubbed him  president of the rich , a label that s proving hard to shake. Referring to those who oppose his economic reforms as  slackers  and suggesting that protesting workers should stop  kicking up a bloody mess  was ready fuel for the center-left opposition and dented his popularity. [nL8N1MG11O]  He faces a challenge to keep his ambitious agenda on track. While he has pushed through changes to the labor rules with minimal unrest, he still needs to secure an overhaul to the pensions and unemployment benefit systems. [nL8N1MM3H0] In Europe, his grand plans for a separate budget for the euro zone have been stymied in large part by Germany s post-electoral impasse [nL8N1OC2QI], and his talk of pan-European lists to run in next year s elections to the European Parliament is unsettling parties and leaders across the continent. He also cannot bank on the opposition being disordered forever. The center-right Republicans party has now elected Laurent Wauquiez, a 42-year-old in the Macron mould, as its leader, and the far-left La France Insoumise keeps promising to put hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets. What s certain is that 2018 is unlikely to be uneventful.

Summary: 40 साल के होने पर मैक्रों एक उथल-पुथल भरे साल का आनंद ले सकते हैं


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that one its general lieutenants, Valeryi Asapov, was killed by mortar shelling in Syria, the TASS news agency reported. The mortar shelling was carried by the Islamic State near Syria s Deir al-Zor, the ministry said.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि सीरिया में मोर्टार गोलाबारी में उसके एक जनरल की मौत हुईः टीएएसएस


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Move over, Janet Yellen. The Federal Reserve chief has a challenger for the title of speaker most scrutinized by Wall Street, and it’s Donald Trump.  All new U.S. President-elects are closely monitored by the financial community for clues about what their policies mean for markets. But Trump’s speaking style, often using enthymemes or incomplete sentences that leave room for interpretation, along with vague or contradictory campaign promises make him all the more challenging to decipher.  “His statements are crazy. He says peculiar things, like building the wall and getting Mexico to pay for it, that you know are just not going to happen,” said Allan Meltzer, a Fed historian and professor of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburg.  “But his actions as opposed to his statements have been very moderate,” he said. Exhibit A for how Trump has policy makers and investors hanging on his every word came shortly after the Republican’s conciliatory acceptance speech early Wednesday. Bonds fell and stocks gained as investors placed tentative bets that Trump’s somewhat vague platform of economic stimulus would translate into corporate profits and higher inflation. The stakes are high. With a Republican controlled House and Senate, Trump has the opportunity to use his time in office to radically reshape the American economy.  He has pledged dramatic tax cuts, infrastructure spending and economic deregulation, and wants to repeal Obamacare. These measures he says will turbo-charge growth and help boost the wages of those who have lost out in a globalized world where “middle-class” jobs have been squeezed. With the U.S. budget deficit at just 3.2 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 9.8 percent in 2009, and near record low interest rates, Trump has room to undertake a large-scale fiscal boost, at least in the short term.  His restrained acceptance speech hinted that infrastructure was a priority. Trump said he would “rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals (and) our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none.” On the campaign trail, Trump’s speeches were full of superlatives and unfinished thoughts that only complicated matters for traders and economic policy watchers. These enthymemes are a rhetorical device at the heart of a persuasive speaking style that has helped catapult the billionaire to the White House. Trying to parse his words is one thing. Actually putting money to work quickly base on them brings far more risk than usual, according to Brian Shapiro, CEO of SPAG Funds, a small global macro hedge fund manager based in New York.  “I won’t react to it, but the world will,” he said. “I think people will have a heart attack if they react to every word.” Economic advisory firm Fathom Consulting dubbed the election outcome “Trump Lite”: a world in which as President-elect he would be unwilling or unable to enact some of his more extreme policies such as building a wall at the Mexico border, mass deportations of immigrants and wide-ranging protectionist measures. “Markets are waiting to see if we are going to have the campaign Trump who spoke in rhetoric, or Trump the president who is going to be more pragmatic in his approach,” said Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies. Economists and fund managers, as well as the Fed’s policymakers, are looking to see which issues Trump will prioritize. So far, indications are he would pursue tax cuts, additional military spending, and revamping President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, speaking to reporters as Americans voted on Tuesday, said he would try to figure out whether or not the new president’s fiscal policies “would be more simulative, about the same, or worse,” adding the level of market volatility would provide a clue.  Trump has no defined economic team. It is unclear whether he will follow the lead of say Peter Navarro, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, whose studies suggest a tougher trade stance against China; or whether he could cleave to Wall Street allies such as former Goldman Sachs alumnus Steven Mnuchin, who has been mooted by Trump as a potential Treasury Secretary. “Trump’s fiscal plan as it stands is pretty vague and it doesn’t add up,” said Paul Ashworth, Toronto-based chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “We expect some fiscal plan that will pursue the Republican agenda, but it’s likely to be much smaller in scale than the one originally envisaged by Trump.”  While these policy questions are expected to persist even after Trump succeeds Obama in January, “the nature of the Trump cabinet appointments and the tone of their confirmation hearings will either ease or amplify the uncertainty premium in the markets,” wrote Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. chief economist at Mizuho.   Beyond Navarro and Mnuchin, all eyes will be on whether many of the conservative economists, like Columbia University business school dean Glenn Hubbard, who abandoned Trump during a divisive campaign could ultimately return as advisors.  Yet the reality-TV-host-turned-president-elect has struggled in the past to maintain the measured tone shown in his victory speech. During his campaign, for example, Trump appeared to suggest the United States could renegotiate its debts to obtain a better deal, a comment he quickly rowed back upon.  His past criticisms of Yellen as someone who should be “ashamed” of her policy actions, and comments that she was keeping interest rates low for political reasons, could roil markets if repeated during his wait to take office in January.  “He has managed to keep it under control some of the time,” Meltzer said. “Whether he will be able to do that as president will very much determine whether he is successful.”

Summary: निवेशक, अर्थशास्त्री नए खतरनाक खेल के लिए तैयारः ट्रम्प के शब्दों का विश्लेषण


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet! [0617 EST] - Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more. Look at your 401-k’s since Election. Highest Stock Market EVER! Jobs are roaring back [0700 EST] - With the great vote on Cutting Taxes, this could be a big day for the Stock Market - and YOU! [0703 EST] - A must watch: Legal Scholar Alan Dershowitz was just on @foxandfriends talking of what is going on with respect to the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. political history. Enjoy! [0735 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (4 दिसंबर)-रॉय मूर, स्टॉक मार्केट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration’s plan to set federal borrowing on a sustainable path relies on stronger economic growth than what is seen by other big government agencies, which in turn have been lowering their expectations. The administration’s view, laid out on Tuesday in its annual budget proposal, is that gross domestic product will grow 2.3 percent each year over the long run.  The median policymaker at the Federal Reserve, however, sees long-term growth at 2 percent, which is the same rate seen by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The differences are modest but show White House economists are being slower to downgrade their view of America’s growth potential. While the Fed and the CBO have been cutting their views on long-term growth in recent years, the White House has held steady in each budget submitted since early 2013.  Over the same period, the CBO has cut its view from 2.2 percent and the views of core Fed policymakers have gone from a 2.3-2.5 percent range to a 1.8-2.2 percent range.      It is impossible to make a full apples-to-apples comparison between the administration’s view with those of the Fed and CBO. The administration’s projections are based on the assumption its budget is fully enacted, which is unlikely to happen.  Proposed immigration law changes would make the workforce younger and more productive while infrastructure investments would also boost efficiency, the administration said in the budget. Prominent academics including former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon have warned that U.S. growth may have shifted persistently lower in recent decades.  A stronger growth view allows the White House to project that the national debt will stay around 75 percent of GDP through 2026. The CBO by comparison sees debt on an upward path over the period, hitting 86 percent in 2026.  White House economists acknowledge slower growth would put pressure on the budget, saying in Tuesday’s proposal that a 1 percentage point slowdown in GDP growth would add $3.1 trillion to the deficit in the decade through 2026. The budget also assumes a modest pace of health care inflation, easing strains on the budget created by an aging society, while arguing that proposed investments and immigration reform will help productivity growth. But the proposal notes that slower productivity growth and higher health care costs could result “in a debt explosion, with debt-to-GDP reaching over 500 percent by (around 2090).”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का ऋण मार्ग दृष्टिकोण आशावादी विकास पूर्वानुमान से जुड़ा हुआ है


MANILA (Reuters) - The parents and lawyers of a Philippine high school student shot dead last week filed a murder complaint on Friday against three  anti-narcotics policemen amid rare public outrage about the country s war on drugs.  The death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos on Aug. 16 in a rundown area of Manila has drawn huge domestic attention to allegations by activists that police have been systematically executing suspected users and dealers, a charge the authorities deny.  The head of the Public Attorney s Office (PAO) and the parents of the slain youth submitted the complaint against the three policemen at the justice department, calling for them to be charged with murder and breaches of a law on torture. The PAO, a government agency, provides indigent litigants free legal assistance. Delos Santos was found dead in an alley with a gun in his left hand. Police said they killed him in self defense, but his family said he had no weapon, was right-handed and had no involvement in drugs. Security cameras showed the officers aggressively escorting a man matching delos Santos  description in the direction of the spot where he was killed. The three policemen admit they were the people shown in the video, but that they were escorting another suspect, not delos Santos. PAO and police pathologists who did separate autopsies told a Senate hearing that delos Santos was shot from above, from close range.   It was cold-blooded murder, he was shot while kneeling down,  PAO chief Persida Acosta told news channel ANC.  We are here for truth and justice so we have to file this immediately.  The complaint, if accepted, would follow at least two cases filed last year against police over President Rodrigo Duterte s war on drugs, which has killed thousands of Filipinos, outraged human rights groups and alarmed Western governments. Most Filipinos however support the campaign, according to opinion polls, and domestic opposition has been muted.  Several police commanders relieved of their duty over the student s killing told a Senate inquiry on Thursday that delos Santos was not the target of their operation, and his links to drug were known to them only the day after his death. Officers said they learned of his suspected links to drugs from another drug suspect, a cellphone and chatter circulating on social media. Delos Santos was among more than 90 people killed last week in three nights of intensified raids dubbed  One Time, Big Time , which had Duterte s steadfast support. The term refers to a coordinated police drive to stamp out crime in a particular district. The teen s killing puts focus on Duterte s repeated promises to police administering the crackdown that he would insulate them from any legal consequences. Critics say his rhetoric is tantamount to giving police a license to kill. Duterte took a softer tone on Wednesday, telling police to arrest suspects and kill only if their lives were in danger, adding that he would not protect those who killed unarmed people.

Summary: फिलीपींस के मारे गए किशोर के परिवार ने पुलिस के खिलाफ हत्या की शिकायत दर्ज कराई


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Tuesday it will introduce reforms by the end of the year to combat foreign interference and covert political influence, which could pose a threat to the economy and political system. The decision to improve safeguards follows a review of Australia s espionage and foreign interference laws and will include legislation to ban foreign political donations, Attorney-General George Brandis told Parliament.  Espionage and covert foreign interference can cause immense harm to our national sovereignty, to the safety of our people, to our economic prosperity, and to the very integrity of Australian democracy,  Brandis said. Policies modeled in part on the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, requiring individuals or institutions to make a declaration if acting on behalf of a foreign power to influence the political processes, would also be introduced, he said. While Brandis did not mention any countries targeted by the legislation, there has been growing concern about China extending its influence. In June, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax Media, publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, reported there had been a concerted campaign by China and its proxies to  infiltrate  the Australian political process and institutions to promote their interests. China dismissed the accusation as  totally unfounded and irresponsible .  This week, one of Australia s largest independent publishers said it decided to delay the publication of a book that alleges widespread Chinese government influence in Australian institutions due to legal concerns.

Summary: गुप्त विदेशी हस्तक्षेप के खिलाफ सुरक्षा उपाय लागू करेगा ऑस्ट्रेलिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York’s attorney general ordered Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s charitable foundation to immediately stop fundraising in the state, warning that a failure to do so would be a “continuing fraud.” For Trump, the cease-and-desist order was the latest in a series of blows that has sent his campaign reeling. The New York businessman and his aides spent much of the weekend dealing with the fallout from a New York Times report that said Trump may have avoided paying federal income taxes for almost 20 years. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office said the Donald J. Trump Foundation was violating a state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with the office’s Charities Bureau. The order followed a series of reports in The Washington Post that suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses. “The failure immediately to discontinue solicitation and to file information and reports required under Article 7-A with the Charities Bureau shall be deemed to be a continuing fraud upon the people of the state of New York,” according to a letter dated on Friday that the office posted online on Monday. Trump’s campaign has suggested that the probe launched by Schneiderman, a Democrat, was politically motivated. While again putting Trump’s campaign on the defensive, the order could also undercut his efforts to make the Clinton Foundation, the family charity of Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton, a primary target in his campaign against her for the Nov. 8 election. Trump has sought to paint the Clinton Foundation as a “pay-to-play” operation under which the former U.S. secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, rewarded big donors to the foundation with access. The Clinton Foundation, which has $354 million in assets and almost 500 staffers, is a radically different charitable vehicle from the small-scale Trump nonprofit. It has worked to reduce the cost of drugs for people with HIV in developing countries, eradicate childhood obesity in the United States and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There has been no evidence that foreign donors to the foundation obtained favors from the State Department while Clinton headed the agency. While some donors were able to obtain meetings with her or senior State Department officials, Clinton has said the fact that they had donated to the foundation did not play a role in her decision to meet with them. The scrutiny of the Trump Foundation came as the Republican candidate was dealing with a torrent of bad news, including his shaky performance in his first debate with Clinton on Sept. 26 and the release by the New York Times of tax records that showed Trump taking an almost $1 billion loss in 1995 that may have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years. In its series on the Trump Foundation, The Washington Post reported that Trump may have violated U.S. Internal Revenue Service rules against “self-dealing” by using foundation money to purchase two portraits of himself, which were then hung at his private golf clubs in New York and Florida. The newspaper also said that Trump may have improperly used the foundation to settle legal disputes, including one at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, diverted income from his business to the charity to avoid paying income tax, and donated foundation money to support Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican, who was considering launching an investigation into Trump University, Trump’s for-profit education venture. The foundation ended up paying a $2,500 fine to the IRS for that donation. A Trump Organization representative told the Post the donation was meant to be from Trump’s personal account, and that it came from his foundation’s account by clerical error. In response to the Post’s reporting, Schneiderman’s office began a probe into the Trump Foundation. The Trump campaign said in a statement on Monday that the charity would cooperate with the investigation. “While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind AG Schneiderman’s investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks. “Because this is an ongoing legal matter, the Trump Foundation will not comment further at this time,” she added. The New York Attorney General’s Office is the sole regulator of charities in the state. A spokesman for the office said it was not unusual for the regulator to send notices to charities whose filings were overdue or incomplete but that a cease-and-desist letter was more serious. While letters such as the one the Trump Foundation, which is based in Woodbury, New York, on Long Island, received are not judgments of wrongdoing, they are sent only after the office gets “a clear indication of wrongdoing,” the spokesman said. Trump established the charitable foundation in 1988, but it runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates money to other nonprofit groups such as the Police Athletic League for youths. Once the foundation began soliciting money from other donors beyond the Trump family, it was required by New York law to register with the state and file regular reports.

Summary: अभियान को नया झटका, ट्रम्प के फाउंडेशन ने धन उगाहने पर रोक लगाने का आदेश दिया


(Reuters) - Lawyers for the United States on Monday urged jurors to allow the U.S. government to seize a Manhattan office tower from a non-profit for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. In closing arguments at the end of a month-long trial in Manhattan federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard told jurors that the non-profit Alavi Foundation, the building’s majority owner, knew its minority partner, Assa Corp, was a front for Iran’s government and helped hide that fact. “They knew that when that secret got out, they stood to lose everything,” he said. The government wants to seize the 36-story building at 650 Fifth Avenue, likely worth close to $1 billion, to benefit people with judgments against Iran relating to bombings and other attacks. John Gleeson, arguing for Alavi, did not dispute that Alavi knew Assa was owned by Iran’s state-controlled Bank Melli when it entered into a partnership with it in 1989. But he said the foundation, established in the 1970s by the Shah of Iran to promote Persian and Islamic culture in the United States, was led to believe that Assa was sold before 1995, and was misled when it tried to learn more. “At every turn, it was either ignored, or given the run-around, or lied to,” Gleeson said. Lockard told jurors that Alavi continued to turn rental income from the building over to Assa after the United States imposed sanctions on Iran in 1995, violating those sanctions. He pointed to evidence including testimony from former Alavi board member Seyed Mojtaba Hesami-Kiche, a key government witness. He said a letter from another former board member to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei referred to the United States as “the Great Satan” and suggested Alavi was working for Iran. Lockard acknowledged that much of the evidence was from before 1995, but said Alavi personnel did not “forget” who controlled Assa when the sanctions took effect. Gleeson described Alavi as a legitimate non-profit raising money for charitable activities. He attacked the credibility of Hesami-Kiche, who was paid by the U.S. government and admitted on the stand that he initially failed to pay taxes on that money. Gleeson is expected to continue his arguments on Tuesday. The government will be allowed a brief response.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीशों ने ईरान से जुड़े कार्यालय टावर पर समापन दलीलें सुनीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said he was confident that United Nations secretary general-elect Antonio Guterres would be an effective leader of the international organization. “He has an extraordinary reputation,” Obama told reporters ahead of his meeting at the White House with Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal. Noting that Guterres had led multilateral delegations at the highest levels, Obama said he had “great confidence” that Guterres would be able to ensure that the U.N. would be able to operate efficiently and effectively when taking on issues such as climate change and the international refugee crisis.     “At a time when those challenges are mounting, having an effective partner in the United Nations secretary general will be critically important,” Obama said. Guterres will take over as head of the world body for five years on Jan. 1, 2017. He was Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015. Obama and Guterres were expected to discuss cooperation between the United States and the United Nations. Guterres said he was ready to forge a relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.  He said he was totally committed “to work closely with the United States in the present administration” and “also with the next administration.” Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has relatively little foreign policy experience, as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The real estate magnate’s unconventional campaign prompted uncertainty about how his administration will handle international relations. Some of his campaign promises, such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and suggesting NATO partners need to pay more for their security, have raised concerns among allies. Trump was slated to meet with John Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush, on Friday. Bolton, who is in the running for a cabinet position, has called for major reforms to the U.N.

Summary: ओबामा ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र के भावी प्रमुख गुटेरेस में विश्वास व्यक्त किया