WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether a financial enforcement task force created during the Obama administration in the wake of the housing crisis is still relevant, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Wednesday. The department’s scrutiny of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is part of a broader review by a new working group, which Rosenstein said will be offering up suggestions “on promoting individual accountability and corporate cooperation.” “We are also reviewing the mandate of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to evaluate whether it continues to meet current needs,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, without giving specific reasons for the review. The financial task force was launched in November 2009 by former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro and other top government officials. The group was tasked with unearthing fraud following the  2007-2009 financial crisis, including fraud related to toxic mortgage securities that were sold to investors and soured as homeowners defaulted on their mortgages. The Justice Department was heavily criticized during the Obama administration for its lackluster record on bringing criminal cases against big banks and their executives following the crisis. The five-year statute of limitations to bring criminal charges has long since lapsed. However, the department in recent years has brought a number of high-profile civil cases against big banks using the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, which has a 10-year statute of limitations. The task force was credited by the department in helping bring a number of those crisis-era cases, as well as other cases unrelated to the crisis, such as criminal charges against a former Valeant executive in connection with an alleged kickback scheme. Rosenstein has previously said the department is reviewing its corporate prosecution policy outlined under the so-called Yates Memo, penned by his predecessor Sally Yates during the Obama administration. That memo emphasized holding individuals accountable and called on companies to cooperate by providing the department details about people who may have been involved in wrongdoing. Rosenstein did not announce any changes on Wednesday, though he said the department will carefully weigh whether companies cooperate and if their compliance programs are “applied faithfully.” Without mentioning any company by name, he warned about the risks of delaying in disclosing cyber attacks, saying it “may prevent other innocent parties from taking steps to protect themselves.” Equifax Inc has recently come under heavy criticism for delays in reporting a massive breach that may have exposed more than 145 million U.S. customers.

Summary: न्याय विभाग ओबामा काल के वित्तीय कार्य बल में बदलाव पर विचार कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday called on the Republican-led U.S. Congress to allow an up-or-down vote on funding to combat the Zika virus without other provisions attached, calling the health threat posed by the pathogen a national emergency. Congress has failed to approve any funding to fight the mosquito-borne virus since President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February.  Lawmakers have been deadlocked for months over a $1.1 billion funding bill. Democrats have accused Republicans of attaching controversial provisions related to abortion that they cannot accept. Republicans have accused Democrats of blocking the bill to gain political advantage by portraying Republicans as obstructionists on Zika funding. “Give us an up-or-down vote, straight, on Zika,” Biden said at an event on Capitol Hill with fellow Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives. “I understand attaching controversial issues to important legislation ... but this is a national emergency,” Biden added. “People’s health, the well-being of unborn children, the health of the country at large, is at stake. Act.” U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika. Two top federal health officials also visited Congress on Thursday to underscore the importance of Zika funding. “We’re all hopeful that the Congress will come through with the money that’s needed to respond effectively to Zika,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters after meeting with Senate Democratic leaders alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that Democrats want Zika funding added to stop-gap legislation that Congress must pass by Oct. 1 to keep federal agencies operating.  “By Zika, I mean for a year. I don’t mean for three months,” Pelosi said. “Zika should be emergency spending. It should not be off-set (requiring cuts in other government programs), because it is an emergency.”  A main issue is Democrats’ opposition to language, backed by Republicans, that they say would prevent Zika funds for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, mainly in Puerto Rico. The virus, first detected in Brazil last year, has spread rapidly through the Americas. Florida is the only U.S. state so far where local mosquitoes are known to be transmitting Zika.

Summary: बाइडन ने अमेरिकी कांग्रेस से बिना रोक-टोक के जीका फंडिंग वोट की अनुमति देने को कहा


GENEVA (Reuters) - A senior U.N. official said on Tuesday that Israel s killing of a disabled Palestinian man protesting against U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital was  incomprehensible , but Israel said he had not been targeted. A statement issued by Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said wheelchair-bound Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh was shot in the head by Israeli security forces close to the border fence with Israel on Friday. But the Israeli military said its own investigation had found that it was not possible to say what had killed Abu Thurayeh and that no live fire had been directed at him during the dispersal of the violent demonstration.  No live fire was aimed at Abu Thurayeh. It is impossible to determine whether Abu Thurayeh was injured as a result of riot dispersal means, or what caused his death,  part of the military statement said. It added that protesters hurled explosive devices and rocks and rolled burning tyres  with the aim of harming soldiers and destroying security infrastructure  and that non-lethal riot dispersal means were mainly used, although a few live rounds fired under supervision were aimed  towards main instigators.  Zeid said there was nothing to suggest Abu Thurayeh was posing an imminent threat when he was killed and  the facts gathered so far by my staff in Gaza strongly suggest that the force used against (him) was excessive.    Given his severe disability, which must have been clearly visible to those who shot him, his killing is incomprehensible   a truly shocking and wanton act,  Zeid s statement said. The Israeli military statement said  numerous requests  for information on Abu Thurayeh s wounds had not been answered and that  if additional details are received, they will be examined and studied.  Gaza medical officials said on Friday that Israeli troops had shot dead four people, including Abu Thurayeh, and that 150 others were wounded by live fire during the protests. Most of the casualties were on the Gaza Strip border. In the West Bank, the Israeli military said about 2,500 Palestinians took part in riots against soldiers and border police officers. Abu Thurayeh, 29, was a regular at such demonstrations. In media interviews, he had said he had lost both his legs in a 2008 Israeli missile strike in Gaza. Zeid s statement said the Israeli response had resulted in five people being killed, including three deaths in Gaza, as well as more than 220 injured by live ammunition.  International law strictly regulates the use of force in the context of protests and demonstrations, and the lethal use of firearms should only be employed as the last resort when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life, Zeid said. Trump s announcement on Jerusalem infuriated the Arab world and upset Western allies. The status of the city has been one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians for generations. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future independent state of their own.  These events ... can sadly be traced directly back to the unilateral U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem, which breaks international consensus and was dangerously provocative,  Zeid said, calling for an independent investigation into the casualties.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने गाजा के विकलांग व्यक्ति की इजरायल की हत्या की निंदा की, इजरायल ने इनकार किया कि उसे निशाना बनाया गया था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday he had not yet seen any provocative actions from Iran following President Donald Trump s speech outlining a more confrontational approach to Iran and added there had been no change in U.S. military posture so far.  Right now, we keep an eye on the potential for more provocations from the Iranians but right now we have not seen that,  Mattis told reporters on board a military plane.  With the Iranians destabilizing record from Lebanon to Syria, from Yemen to Afghanistan, of course we watch for this,  Mattis said.  Right now we are not changing our posture.

Summary: अमेरिका के मैटिस का कहना है कि ट्रम्प के भाषण के बाद ईरान की उत्तेजक कार्रवाइयों पर उनकी नजर है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Friday said James Comey has told him he was “uneasy” with a planned dinner in January with President Donald Trump that has come under renewed scrutiny this week after Trump fired the now-former FBI director. Clapper, in an interview with MSNBC, said he had spoken with Comey at an unrelated event hours before the White House dinner and that the FBI chief “was uneasy with it” because of the potential appearance of compromising the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s independence.

Summary: पूर्व खुफिया प्रमुख क्लैपरः कोमी ट्रम्प के रात्रिभोज से असहज थे-एमएसएनबीसी


ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama did not mean to be critical of British Prime Minister David Cameron about Libya policy in an article published this week in The Atlantic magazine, a White House spokesman said on Friday.  Obama told The Atlantic in the piece that some European allies had become passive regarding chaos in Libya and Cameron had become “distracted by a range of other things.” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said the United States “values deeply the special relationship” with the United Kingdom and shares responsibility to deal with chaos in Libya. After Libya’s 2011 uprising, the country faces a power vacuum and is threatened by Islamic State militants.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने कहा कि अमेरिका ब्रिटेन के साथ संबंधों को बहुत महत्व देता है


BISHKEK (Reuters) - European observers said on Monday vote-buying and significant procedural problems marred Kyrgyzstan s presidential vote, though they praised the move towards an orderly transfer of power in the volatile ex-Soviet state. Sooronbai Jeenbekov, a protege of the outgoing president, won on Sunday with 55 percent - a stronger result than the near tie polls had predicted. Opposition leader Omurbek Babanov conceded defeat but said he would investigate irregularities. The election is seen as a test of stability in the central Asian country where Russia still holds considerable sway and two previous leaders were ousted in violent riots. Kyrgyz news website Turmush.kg published a video showing hundreds of Babanov supporters rallying outside a local government building in his home Talas region. But there were no reports of violence. The vote was competitive and candidates could, in general, campaign freely, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said. But cases of misuse of public resources, pressure on voters and vote-buying remained a concern, it added. The mission s statement mentioned  numerous and significant procedural problems  during the vote count and initial stages of tabulation. But it said the election had  contributed to the strengthening of democratic institutions by providing for an orderly transfer of power .     An official confirmation of the figures is expected within a week. A unchallenged result would mark the first peaceful transition of power between full-time presidents in the mostly Muslim nation.  Pre-election polls had suggested both candidates would fail to get 50 percent and have to proceed to a second-round runoff. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday became the first foreign leader to congratulate Jeenbekov on his victory. Outgoing President Almazbek Atambayev - who developed particularly close ties with Moscow during his six years in office - dismissed Western criticism as biased.  Of course, they would be singing praise if a pro-American candidate won the election,  Kyrgyz news website 24.kg quoted him as telling foreign diplomats in a meeting on Monday. Both candidates differed little on the main points of policy during the campaign: a secular state and hewing close to Russia in a region where Moscow vies for influence with the United States and China. However, they represent rival interest groups and clans inside Kyrgyzstan that are fighting for access to power and state resources. Atambayev and Jeenbekov s Social Democratic party has the biggest faction in parliament and dominates the coalition cabinet. Jeenbekov has pledged to continue his predecessor s policies. Kyrgyzstan hosts a Russian military base.

Summary: किर्गिस्तान में मतदान-खरीद, गिनती में गड़बड़ी से मतदान प्रभावितः पर्यवेक्षक


HONG KONG (Reuters) - As Hong Kong seeks more land to help ease a worsening housing crisis, some lawmakers and activists are urging officials to take a fresh look at little-used swathes of more than $100 billion worth of real estate controlled by the Chinese military. The Hong Kong garrison of the People s Liberation Army (PLA) still occupies some 19 sites across the global financial hub it inherited from the British military when the former colony was handed back to China in 1997. While several sites, such as the high-rise barracks near the Central financial district, are neon-lit and busy, others appear overgrown, rundown and little used, according to Reuters investigations, activists and diplomats monitoring military activity. The parcels range from mansions in the exclusive Peak district and once-luxurious officers  apartments in Hong Kong and Kowloon, to firing ranges and decades-old Nissen huts across the semi-rural New Territories, near the border with mainland China. With Hong Kong property prices at record highs, Denis Ma, head of research at property consultancy JLL, said a mid-range estimate of the total land value could reach HK$1.06 trillion  ($135 billion). Based on the recent sale of a nearby plot, the Central site alone could be worth $29 billion and deliver 4.5 million square feet of floor space if developed into a commercial site. Suitable residential land among the 19 sites could yield 65,000 family-sized apartments, Ma added. Across Hong Kong, the PLA occupies some 2,700 hectares (6,670 acres), according to local government records, nearly half the size of Manhattan. A lack of housing is a source of rising social and political tension in Hong Kong, one of the world s most expensive property markets where owning even a 600-square foot flat is beyond the reach of many families.  A recently formed government task force on land supply acknowledged public calls for some military land to be returned for housing, but its chairman has said their development potential  may not be large .  The task force s initial meetings have instead advocated developing 1,400 hectares of new land through reclamation.  The preference for costly reclamation over re-purposing PLA land has led some to believe the Hong Kong government does not want to confront the Beijing leadership over a potentially sensitive issue of national security. Under the laws that enshrine Hong Kong s freedoms and autonomy, Beijing is given direct control of defense and foreign affairs. Reuters sent questions to Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, the government s development bureau and the task force. In reply, a spokesman told Reuters the task force would consider ideas from the community,  their facts as well as their pros and cons . It would finalize its recommendations by the end of 2018.  As far as we understand, all existing military sites in Hong Kong are currently used for defense purposes and none is left idle,  the spokesman said, quoting Hong Kong s security bureau. Lawmaker Eddie Chu, part of Hong Kong s democratic opposition, said even though it was common sense to open up some military sites for housing, the local government would likely avoid asking tough questions of Beijing.  The Hong Kong government must know this is a solution, but I expect them to pay lip service to it,  he said. The PLA garrison and China s Defence Ministry did not respond to faxed questions from Reuters.  Security experts say while some PLA presence is a fact of life, the city s defense needs are easily met by Beijing s rapidly modernizing forces - a vastly different situation to that faced by the British in defending their outpost during the Cold War.  Hong Kong has never been so well defended ... it is a tiny segment of the mainland and is surrounded by the now significant forces of the Southern Theatre Command of the PLA,  said Trevor Hollingsbee, a former Hong Kong security official and naval intelligence analyst with Britain s Defence Ministry.  Rather than serve a vital strategic interest, the PLA presence in Hong Kong is essentially to show the public who is boss.   After inspecting the garrison as part of 20th handover anniversary celebrations in June, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the troops they were  an important embodiment to national sovereignty , according to state media. As well as its Central barracks, security experts and diplomats believe a naval base and small airfield are considered key local sites to the PLA, along with a Kowloon barracks that houses light tanks and anti-riot units.  Another 10-hectare Kowloon site and residential blocks near Shek Kong appear barely used, according to activists and Reuters  own checks. Soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets guard the entrance to the Kowloon site, but some buildings appear dilapidated, others rundown and many are unoccupied. At Shek Kong, the residential blocks appear little used, day or night, and security is lax. In camps closer to the border, small deployments of troops drill at dawn outside aging British-era huts and weed-choked fences. The 122 hectares of the Stanley fort on Hong Kong s prime southern coast is also underutilized, according to diplomats. About half of the 8,000-10,000 soldiers of the Hong Kong garrison are based in the city at any time, security experts and diplomats believe. Key units are kept in southern China, along with its most advanced weaponry, including jet fighters and air defense weapons.  Chinese laws covering the garrison state that any unused land, after central government approval, should be handed back  without compensation  to the local authorities, so any deal would likely have no benefits for the PLA s coffers.  Community organizer Sze Lai-shan, who assists some of the city s 200,000 people living in wire cages and partitioned homes, said all options for the land should be on the table. I think using some for temporary housing shouldn t be a big issue,  Sze said.  We could perhaps use some existing buildings for temporary housing, or even build temporary housing on some sites.

Summary: हांगकांग की कम उपयोग की गई सैन्य भूमि एक संभावित सोने की खान हैः लेकिन सरकार के लिए एक खदान क्षेत्र


MILAN (Reuters) - The remains of Victor Emmanuel III, who reigned as Italy s king through two world wars and died in exile in 1947, were flown back from Egypt on Sunday for reburial at a family mausoleum near Turin. The remains of his wife, Queen Elena, also returned to Italy on Friday for reburial with those of the king at the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, near the Piedmont town of Cuneo, a spokesman for the sanctuary said. Elena died in 1959 and her remains had lain in Montpelier in France. Victor Emmanuel III s 46-year reign, which started in 1900 after the assassination of his father Umberto I, encompassed the period of fascist rule in Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini. He drew criticism for failing to prevent Mussolini s seizure of power in 1922 and for fleeing Rome in 1944 to avoid an invading German army. The monarch - known as  sciaboletta , or small sabre, due to his stature - abdicated the throne in 1946 in favor of his son Umberto II in a vain effort to avert a plebiscite to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. After Italians voted for a republic, Victor Emmanuel went into exile in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died the following year. Italy s post-war constitution barred male descendants of the royal House of Savoy from setting foot in Italy because of the family s support for Mussolini. The ban was lifted in 2002. The grandson of Umberto II, Emanuele Filiberto, told the Italian press recently that he believed the right place for the remains of former Italian kings was the Pantheon in Rome.

Summary: निर्वासित इतालवी राजा के अवशेष इटली लौट आए


BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Congressional committee led by Evangelical Christians has voted to ban abortion in Brazil in all situations, including cases of rape and where the mother s life is in danger. The decision was voted 18-1 late on Wednesday by a special committee considering a constitutional amendment to extend maternity leave for mothers of premature babies. The single vote against the ban was cast by the only woman present during the session, Erika Kokay of the Workers Party, who called the decision a maneuver by the committee s pro-life Evangelical majority. Abortion is illegal in predominantly Catholic Brazil except when the pregnancy is the result of a rape or puts the mother s life at risk. In 2012, the Supreme Court authorized the abortion on fetuses with anencephaly. More than one million abortions are carried out at clandestine clinics each year in Brazil and thousands of women end up in hospital as a result of botched procedures, according to government estimates. But even the limited circumstances where abortions are legal have been targeted by a growing Evangelical caucus in Congress that has led to a conservative trend in lawmaking on social issues.  To defend abortion, like it or not, is a Satanic, diabolical and destructive act,  Evangelical Congressman Pastor Eurico told the committee, brandishing a replica of a 12-week-old fetus. The move to criminalize all cases of abortion would require  supermajorities, or two-thirds of the votes in both chambers of Congress, as it is part of a constitutional amendment. The measure could clear those hurdles as part of a trade-off for other legislation the governing coalition seeks to pass, such as pension reform needed to plug a gaping budget deficit.

Summary: ब्राजील की कांग्रेस समिति ने सभी गर्भपातों पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के लिए मतदान किया


RIYADH (Reuters) - A political solution through U.N.-brokered negotiations is needed to resolve the conflict in Yemen, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday as he made his first trip in the role to Saudi Arabia. At the same time, officials have said the United States is considering deepening its role in the Yemen conflict by more directly aiding its Gulf allies, who are fighting Iranian-supported Houthi rebels. At least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 3 million displaced in the war, now in its third year. Millions of people are also struggling to feed themselves. The Houthis control the capital Sanaa and large swathes of territory. The United States backs the Saudi-led coalition which is trying to restore the Aden-based government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power, including through a devastating aeriel bombing campaign. “It has gone on for a long time, we see Iranian supplied missiles being fired by the Houthis into Saudi Arabia and this is something, with the number of innocent people dying inside Yemen, it has simply got to be brought to an end,” Mattis told reporters on his way to Riyadh. Seven ceasefires brokered between government and rebel forces by the United Nations have failed while U.N.-backed peace talks have repeatedly broken down. “We will work with our allies, with our partners to try to get it to the U.N.-brokered negotiating table,” Mattis said. He gave no details on what additional support, if any, the United States would provide to the Saudi-led coalition. But he said he was looking to deepen and broaden the relationship between the two countries on the trip. Mattis is expected to meet senior Saudi officials including King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman. Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Saudi Arabia was concerned strategically about Iran, its main rival in a regional power struggle. “The near-term Saudi concern is how they send a message to the Iranians in Yemen, and they would like full-throated American support,” Alterman said. The review of possible U.S. assistance, which already includes intelligence support, would come amid evidence that Iran is sending advanced weapons and military advisers to the Houthis.  Congressional sources say the Trump administration is on the verge of notifying Congress of the proposed sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia. Increased military support for the Saudi-led coalition could fuel controvesy over the air campaign, which has killed a number of civilians and destroyed infrastructure, including hospitals. The United States’ involvement in Yemen has also focused on battling al-Qaeda, whose affiliate there has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the war. Mattis will also be visiting Egypt, Qatar and Israel on a trip which may give clarity on the Trump administration’s tactics in the fight against Islamic State militants and its willingness to use more military power than former President Barack Obama did. One of the main questions from allies about Syria is whether Washington has formulated a strategy to prevent areas seized from militants from collapsing into ethnic and sectarian feuds or succumbing to a new generation of extremism, as parts of Iraq and Afghanistan have done since the United States invaded them. U.S.-backed forces are fighting to retake the Islamic State strongholds of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, and questions remain about what will happen after that and what role other allies such as Saudi Arabia, can play.  Administration officials said the U.S. strategy in Syria — to defeat Islamic State while still calling for the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — is unchanged, a message Mattis is expected to reinforce.

Summary: यमन युद्ध को राजनीतिक समाधान की जरूरतः अमेरिकी रक्षा सचिव


MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - A stronger-than-expected U.S. economic report on Friday came at a good time for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, although Republican contender Donald Trump’s campaign blasted the numbers as “dismal.” The Commerce Department reported that the economy grew at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the third quarter, its fastest pace in two years and higher than the expected 2.6 percent, thanks to a surge in exports and a rebound in investment.  With just 11 days to go before the Nov. 8 election, the report bolstered Clinton, who has positioned herself as the best candidate to continue years of economic expansion under President Barack Obama. More Americans say jobs and the economy are their No.1 priority when they decide who to vote for than any other issue. Trump argues that as a successful businessman and political outsider, he is the best person to take a new approach to rebuilding an economy that has sent too many jobs overseas and left many Americans struggling to find decent jobs. His campaign said the figures are still not good enough. “America can do better than the modest growth of 2.9 percent recorded for the 3rd quarter and the dismal growth of 1.5 percent for the past year,” Dan Kowalski, Trump’s deputy policy director, said in a statement. “Growth hasn’t risen above 3 percent for a full year in any year of the Obama presidency,” he said. While many voters do not follow economic indicators closely, outside experts said the release was still a good one for Clinton. She is seeking to solidify her lead in opinion polls as the Democratic Party works to win as many seats as possible in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, where Republicans now control majorities. “Today’s release will likely improve the perception of economic conditions in the U.S. and slightly increase the odds of a Democratic president remaining in the White House,” said Brian Schaitkin, senior economist at the Conference Board. Clinton’s camp said Friday’s report showed “real progress” since Obama took office in 2009, when the country was struggling to emerge from economic recession. “With more than 15 million jobs created since early 2010 and real median incomes growing more than 5 percent last year, it’s clear we’ve made real progress coming back from the crisis,” Clinton senior policy advisor Jacob Leibenluft said in a statement. But he added that there is still more that can be done. Clinton was campaigning on Friday in Iowa, where polls show she and Trump running neck-and-neck, and in Michigan, a traditionally Democratic state hit hard by the movement offshore of many formerly well-paying American manufacturing jobs. Trump was holding rallies in Iowa as well as in another closely contested swing state, New Hampshire, and in Maine, where his campaign sees a chance to grab one of four electoral votes. In the last weeks of the campaign, Clinton has dramatically widened her advantage over Trump in ad spending, amid questions over the celebrity businessman’s pledge to contribute more than $100 million of his own money. He spent $56 million through the end of September, and only $31,000 since, according to filings.   Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News reports that the candidate has stopped putting his own money into his campaign are not true. “He has said publicly many times he is in for $100 million and he is happy to invest in his campaign,” she said.

Summary: मजबूत आर्थिक रिपोर्ट ने क्लिंटन के लिए प्रोत्साहन का स्वागत किया, ट्रम्प ने इसे 'निराशाजनक' बताया


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump is set to sign an order to greatly reduce the role climate change plays in decision making across the U.S. government, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the administration’s plan. The order, which could be signed this week, aims to reverse former Democratic President Barack Obama's broad approach for addressing climate change, the report said. (bloom.bg/2nkDvKo) The directive will urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to undo the Clean Power Plan, the Bloomberg report said. The Clean Power Plan is Obama’s centerpiece initiative to combat climate change, requiring states to slash emissions of carbon dioxide, but it was never implemented due to legal challenges launched by several Republican states. According to the report, the measure would direct U.S. regulators to rescind Obama-era regulations limiting oil industry emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The order will also involve a reconsideration of the government’s use of a metric known as the “social cost of carbon”, which weighs the potential economic damage from climate change, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Trump has long signaled his intention to reverse Obama’s climate-change initiatives, but the Republican president has vowed his planned overhaul of green regulation would not jeopardize America’s water and air quality. Reuters reported earlier this month that the White House had proposed to slash a quarter of the EPA’s budget, targeting climate-change programs and those designed to prevent air and water pollution like lead contamination. The Bloomberg report said that some of the changes could happen immediately, while others could take years to implement.

Summary: पर्यावरण समीक्षाओं से जलवायु परिवर्तन को हटाएंगे ट्रंपः ब्लूमबर्ग


LONDON (Reuters) - Around 10,000 finance jobs will be shifted out of Britain or created overseas in the next few years if the UK is denied access to Europe s single market, according to a Reuters survey of firms employing the bulk of workers in international finance. Frankfurt was by far the most popular destination for the new roles, the survey showed, with Paris a distant second. The results from 123 firms came from the first comprehensive public survey to ask the biggest banks, insurers, asset managers, private equity firms and exchanges in Britain about the specific details of their plans so far in case of a so-called  hard  Brexit.  Canvassing was conducted by email and telephone interviews between Aug. 21 and Sept. 15, weeks after companies submitted detailed plans on their Brexit preparations to the Bank of England as required on July 14. The Bank declined to comment on the results of that survey.  Nearly half of the companies surveyed told Reuters they would have to move staff or restructure their businesses because of Brexit, which is due to take place in March 2019. Another third said it would have no impact, and the remainder said they were still deciding on their plans or declined to comment. The number of jobs to be moved or created overseas was based on answers from 39 companies employing at least 350,000 people. About 1.1 million people work in Britain s financial sector. The findings suggest that the first wave of job losses from Brexit may be at the lower end of estimates by industry lobby groups and firms, which could mean London will keep its place as the continent s top finance center, at least in the short term.  Most respondents said bigger moves could be in store in a decade or more, however.   If it is going to happen it won t be in one big bang,  said a senior executive at one of Europe s largest banks, which took part in the survey.  There will be a slow drain of jobs from London over a number of years.   The survey also suggests some financial institutions may be delaying decisions, hoping a soft Brexit can be negotiated in talks currently going on in Brussels. BoE Governor Mark Carney has specifically warned companies against that approach, saying it s important to start planning now.  They would like to think there is going to be a mutually easy way of dealing with financial services across the EU-UK border,  said Andrew Gray, global head of Brexit for financial services at PwC.  So firms are finding it hard to land on precise plans.  London s future as Europe s premier financial hub is one of the biggest issues in Brexit talks because the sector is the UK s biggest source of corporate tax revenue.      (For details from the poll, please read)  For its survey, Reuters approached 158 of the largest and most internationally focused financial firms in Britain and received responses from all but 35. Those included the 20 investment banks that earned the most fees from investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2016, according to Thomson Reuters  data. Many participants gave only partial answers to the survey questions, however, and some asked not to be named and for their data to be used only in aggregate. The number of workers employed by the 75 organizations who provided their staffing numbers added up to 484,578, the bulk of employees in the internationally focused financial sector.  The 39 who gave information on their Brexit staffing plans included many of the companies most likely to be affected by losing the EU financial  passport  mechanism because London is their base to sell services across the EU. The survey indicated 9,777 banking roles would be affected. Many of those would be shifted out of the UK, but some would be new roles in Europe, resulting in a period of duplication, the executives surveyed said. Insurance companies said they planned to move or create about 98 jobs overseas and the asset management sector 311 roles, the survey showed. U.S. and British banks would see the biggest impact because many use London as their EU investment banking base, which has increased in importance since the 2008 global financial crisis, when banks tried to simplify their international structures into a few main hubs. The impact on Spanish, Italian and Dutch banks was muted because they don t use London as a hub and have less of a focus on investment banking, the survey showed. Japanese lenders such as Nomura, Daiwa Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group plan to set up subsidiaries in Frankfurt, according to the survey. One said it planned to move about 100 jobs, but asked not to be identified.  Bank of America (BAC.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), two of the biggest investment banks in London, declined to say how many jobs would be affected. But BofA did say it would pick Dublin as its EU hub if there was a hard Brexit. Most in the financial industry picked Frankfurt as their preferred place to put jobs, with 5,470 roles, most of which are the up to 4,000 anticipated moves from Deutsche Bank.  Paris came second with 1,800 roles, of which 1,000 were planned by HSBC (HSBA.L).  The true impact of Brexit will only become clear in ten or twenty years because most firms are implementing a two-stage contingency plan, senior executives in London said.   The first phase will involve relatively small numbers to make sure the requisite licenses and infrastructure are in place. The next will require longer-term thinking about what the companies  European business will look like. The final impact will also depend on the details of the Brexit deal, Europe s economic growth and whether Frankfurt and Dublin prove to be successful alternatives to London.   Previous forecasts for jobs losses in a hard Brexit scenario have ranged from about 30,000 jobs estimated by the Brussels-based Bruegel research group in February to up to 75,000 by Oliver Wyman in October and as many as 232,000 by London Stock Exchange chief executive Xavier Rolet in January. The Bruegel estimate was for a three-year period starting from when divorce proceedings were formally triggered in March, according to Dirk Schoenmaker, an author of the report. The Oliver Wyman forecast is up to 2022.  The London Stock Exchange forecast is up to 2024.  Some politicians, financiers and academics say bankers have exaggerated the threat to the economy from Brexit.  Brexit presents an inconvenience to their operations but also an opportunity to wrangle tax and rule changes to stay,  according to Robert Jenkins, a professor at London Business School and a former Bank of England policymaker.   They will play this for all it s worth.      Several banks have heavily scaled back their estimates compared with a year ago. JPMorgan, for example, is currently planning to move fewer than 1,000 roles, whereas before the Brexit referendum the bank had said about 4,000 jobs might be at risk. Paul Venables, the finance director of Hays, the largest recruiter for financial services in the City, said the job market for financial services in London is gradually improving.  Where there s been a lot of public pronouncements from the banks, we ve seen very little action, we re not seeing a large number of jobs go outside of the UK to Europe,  he said.  We re beginning to see tentative signs of that market returning to normalcy.   (For a graphic on Brexit banks click tmsnrt.rs/2x8CKZq)

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ब्रेक्सिट की पहली लहर में 10,000 यूके वित्त नौकरियां प्रभावित हुईं-रॉयटर्स सर्वेक्षण


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin joked on Thursday that if former FBI director James Comey suffers persecution because of his falling-out with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia is ready to grant him asylum. The offer, made with Putin’s trademark sardonic humor, came as the Russian president poured scorn on Comey for his role in a row in Washington over alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election. At a congressional hearing this month, Comey said Trump asked him to drop an investigation into contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials, while the U.S. president has accused Comey of not telling the truth. Asked about Comey at a question-and-answer session with Russian voters, Putin said it was “strange” that, while still FBI director, Comey had passed the contents of a conversation he had with Trump to the media via a friend. “What is the difference then between the FBI director and Mr. Snowden?” Putin said, referring to former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who was granted asylum in Russia in 2013 after leaking classified information about U.S. spy operations. “In this case, he (Comey) is not the head of a special service but a human rights activist who defends a certain position,” Putin said. “By the way, if he is subject to any sort of persecution in connection with this, we will be ready to give him political asylum in Russia. And he should know about this.” Striking a more serious note, Putin said Comey, in his congressional testimony, had produced no proof that Russia had meddled in the U.S. election. “I am not familiar in detail with the testimony given by former FBI director Comey,” Putin said. “Again, he gave no evidence of this (Russian interference).” “And what about constant U.S. propaganda, constant U.S. support of America-oriented non-governmental organizations by giving them money directly? Isn’t it an impact on our minds? Isn’t it an attempt to influence how we should behave during election campaigns? This continues year after year,” he said. Putin said many heads of state around the world had told him of similar U.S. meddling in their internal affairs. But they would not voice their concerns openly, fearing they would “spoil relations” with Washington, he said.  As for Russia, “we have an opinion of our own, we express it openly. But this is not any sort of underground, subversive activity”, Putin said.

Summary: पुतिन ने कहा कि वह एफबीआई के पूर्व प्रमुख कोमी को शरण देने के लिए तैयार हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Monday voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination of Callista Gingrich to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. Gingrich, 51, an author, documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide, is the wife of former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, a vocal Trump ally. Her nomination was approved on a 70-23 vote. Gingrich’s nomination to the post at the Holy See in May caused some controversy because of her marriage to Gingrich, with whom she became involved when he was still married to his second wife. Gingrich is Roman Catholic. Gingrich may need to smooth over relations with Pope Francis, who has criticized the Trump administration’s positions on the environment and immigration.

Summary: सीनेट ने कैलिस्टा गिंगरिच को वेटिकन में अमेरिकी राजदूत के रूप में नियुक्त करने की पुष्टि की


PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire businessman who ran on an anti-establishment ticket, took office with his cabinet on Wednesday, but it was unclear whether his tenure will survive a confidence vote next month. Babis, who built a business empire in food, farming, chemicals and media before entering politics in 2011, will have one month to gain confidence under the constitution for his minority government. He said after being formally appointed by Czech President Milos Zeman, that the confidence vote should take place on Jan. 10. Running on pledges to fight immigration and make the state more efficient, Babis s ANO party won 29.6 percent of the vote in an October national election that saw the rise of other parties preaching against the establishment. As finance minister over the past three years, Babis saw the central state budget swing to a surplus and has vowed to further cut public debt ratio to GDP, currently at a half of the European Union average. His problem is that ANO holds just 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house and does not have the firm backing of any of the other eight parties. The far-right, anti-EU SPD party and the far-left Communists have lent ANO support in initial parliamentary votes in return for committee posts, but no deal has been announced on their backing for the cabinet.  Babis will need a few parties to either support the cabinet or leave before the confidence vote to lower the threshold the government needs to pass. Babis s government includes non-partisan ministers, in line with his pledge to bring more managerial style to governance. His first tack will be representing the country at the European Union summit on Thursday and Friday, where he will push for strengthening EU borders and stopping illegal migration. If Babis loses the confidence vote, his government will stay in power until an alternative is formed. Zeman reiterated on Wednesday his willingness to give Babis a second try if the first attempt fails, and signaled this may be the way forward.  (I have) the impression that several (parties) wanted to be coaxed, but in order not to lose their dignity or prestige, they will want to be coaxed only in the second round,  Zeman said. Most parties have called for Babis himself to stay out of the government due to a police case looking at whether he illegally hid ownership of a farm and conference center a decade ago to get a 2 million euro ($2.35 million) EU subsidy meant for small businesses. Babis has denied any wrongdoing.  Some parties also criticize Babis for conflicts of interest as an owner of two national newspapers and a businessman whose firms have numerous contracts with the state and benefit from public aid. He placed his firms into a trust fund earlier this year, overseen by his close collaborators and his wife. Daily Hospodarske Noviny reported on Wednesday that the outgoing ruling party, the leftist Social Democrats, could support a Babis-led government in a second round of talks, if his first cabinet fails. It cited unnamed sources within that party. The other member of the outgoing coalition, the Christian Democrats, have also said they could negotiate with ANO.

Summary: चेक प्रधान मंत्री बाबिस ने पदभार संभाला लेकिन अभी तक संसदीय समर्थन का अभाव है


(Reuters) - Activists have filed a federal lawsuit asking for a new primary election in Baltimore, alleging irregularities during the tight April 26 mayoral vote. The lawsuit was filed by Voters Organized for the Integrity of City Elections, or VOICE, late on Wednesday against the city and state election boards. It asks the U.S. District Court to declare the primary election results invalid, order a new election and appoint federal observers to oversee the procedure. State Senator Catherine Pugh narrowly won the Democratic mayoral primary, defeating former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Pugh had backed law enforcement reform as Baltimore recovers from unrest in April 2015 sparked by a black man’s death from an injury suffered while in police custody. An investigation by the state election board found that Pugh won the nomination by 2,400 votes. About 1,700 ballots cast in the primary were handled improperly, the probe found. Dixon said on Wednesday that she would not file a lawsuit challenging the election outcome. Spokesmen for the two election boards did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit alleged improper handling of the ballots. It also alleged that voters were hampered by polling places that opened late and by a letter mistakenly sent by election officials to ex-offenders saying they might not be able to vote because of their convictions.

Summary: बाल्टीमोर प्राथमिक चुनाव में अनियमितताओं का हवाला देते हुए मुकदमा दायर किया गया


PRAGUE (Reuters) - The designated Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that the European Union should not push Czechs over their refusal to shelter asylum-seekers, because it could strengthen extremist parties in the country. The European Union s executive will sue Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the bloc s top court for their refusal to host asylum-seekers, Brussels said on Thursday. Babis, whose government is due to be appointed by President Milos Zeman on Dec. 13, repeated his country s stance on migrants.  The (European) Commission can withdraw the charge at any moment. We have to negotiate on this and to offer different models, like guarding the borders or help to other countries. But we don t want any refugees,  Babis said in an interview published on Saturday by the Pravo daily paper.  He will represent his country at the EU summit on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, where European leaders will discuss migration. The Czechs have declined to shelter asylum-seekers despite an overall drop in arrivals due to tighter borders and projects beyond the EU s frontiers to discourage migration to Europe. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) cases could lead to financial penalties but may take months, or years, to conclude. Babis said that by pushing on with the case, the EU might embolden extremist elements.  The EU has to understand, that if it won t listen to our proposals, then the influence of extremist parties like (Germany s) AfD or (Czech) SPD will grow, whose strategy actually is to destroy the EU,  he said. Despite his ANO party winning the parliamentary election by a landslide in October, it is unclear whether Babis will be able to win a confidence vote for his government by mid-January as required by the constitution. He also faces the threat of prosecution in connection with his business interests. The far-right, anti-EU and anti-NATO SPD party and the Communists have lent ANO support in several initial votes in parliament in return for committee posts for their members, raising the prospect that they may have some kind of agreement to back ANO. But Babis reiterated in the Pravo interview that there was no deal in place and he would talk to all parties to either back the cabinet or abstain from the vote to help ANO win.

Summary: चेक प्रधान मंत्री नामितः यूरोपीय संघ को हमें प्रवासियों पर दबाव नहीं डालना चाहिए-कागज


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A group of 36 Dutch tourists were flying out of South Africa on Tuesday after they were robbed at gunpoint on Sunday in a brazen heist while traveling from Johannesburg s main international airport to their hotel, officials said. The incident is an embarrassment for South Africa, a country keen to promote itself as a tourist destination but scarred by violent crime. Tourism accounts for 3 percent of GDP and is seen as a bright spot in an otherwise moribund economy. Journalists saw the group pull out of the hotel in a bus under police escort after they met with South Africa s police minister and tourist minister as well the ambassador from the Netherlands.  We ll bring these criminals to book. We ll find them,  Police Minister Fikile Mbalula told journalists after the meeting. The bus was stopped on Sunday night by a vehicle with police markings and one man in police uniform with five accomplices in civilian clothing robbed the tourists at gunpoint. Nobody was shot but two people were injured, police said. Dutch ambassador Marisa Gerards said most of the tourists had to cut their visit short because all of their belongings were taken.   Ironically, she said many of the tourists had  booked this organized trip out of safety concerns.   South Africa entices tourists with first-rate infrastructure, sunshine, beaches, wildlife and an exchange rate that makes its food and wine cheap by global standards.  But a jobless rate of over 25 percent and glaring income disparities have worsened its problems with violent crime. The murder rate is 34 per 100,000 people, according to data released by police last year, almost seven times the rate in the United States.

Summary: सशस्त्र बस डकैती के बाद डच पर्यटक समूह ने दक्षिण अफ्रीका की यात्रा रद्द की


MUZDALIFA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Two million Muslims gathered at Mount Arafat on Thursday for a vigil to atone for their sins, then descended to Muzdalifa to prepare for the final stages of the annual haj pilgrimage. Pilgrims clad in white robes spent the previous night in an encampment at the hill where Islam holds that God tested Abraham s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail and where the Prophet Mohammad gave his last sermon. Other worshippers who had been praying in the nearby Mina area ascended in buses or on foot from before dawn as security forces directed traffic and helicopters hovered overhead. Some of the faithful carved out seats on the craggy hillside, carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. Others filled nearby roads, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Men and women from nearly every country in the world gathered side by side, some crying on their neighbor s shoulder. An elderly Syrian pilgrim sitting on the hilltop shouted out,  Oh God, take revenge on the oppressors . Others assembled around him responded,  Amen . Awfa Nejm, from a village near Homs, said:  We ask God to protect Syria and its people and return it to the way it was before.  Twenty-seven-year-old Amin Mohammed from Nigeria said he was praying for peace in his country. Saudi Arabia said more than 2.3 million pilgrims, most of them from outside Saudi Arabia, had arrived for the five-day ritual, a religious duty once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey. Sheikh Saad al-Shathri, a senior Saudi cleric, delivered a midday sermon denouncing terrorism and violence against civilians.  Sharia came to preserve the security of nations and cultivate benevolence in (people s) hearts,  he said, referring to the Islamic legal and moral code derived from the teachings of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet. He urged pilgrims to set aside politics during the haj and come together with fellow Muslims.  This is no place for partisan slogans or sectarian movements which have resulted in great massacres and the displacement of millions,  he said. Still, violence in the Middle East, including wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, and other global hotspots are sure to be on the minds of many pilgrims. As the sun set, they began moving to the rocky plain of Muzdalifa to gather pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolizing the devil at another location called Jamarat on Friday, which marks the first day of Eid al-Adha (feast of sacrifice). A crush in 2015 which killed hundreds occurred when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in Mina, a few kilometers east of Mecca, on their way to Jamarat. It was the worst disaster to strike haj for at least 25 years. Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam s holiest sites - Mecca and Medina - and organizing the pilgrimage. King Salman visited Mina to review the services offered to pilgrims, state media showed. Officials say they have taken all necessary precautions this year, with more than 100,000 members of the security forces and 30,000 health workers on hand to maintain safety and provide first aid. Saudi state television on Thursday morning showed a new kiswa, the cloth embroidered with verses from the Koran, being placed over the Kaaba in Mecca s Grand Mosque. Pilgrims will return to pray there at the end of haj. Abdelhadi Abu Gharib, a young Egyptian pilgrim, prayed in Muzdalifa before collecting stones for Friday s ritual.  The scene today in Arafat confirms that Muslims are not terrorists and that Islam is the greatest religion,  he said.  God has blessed us with Islam.  For a graphic on the haj journey, click: here For a graphic on the haj stampedes, click: here

Summary: मुजफ्फरनगर में मुस्लिम तीर्थयात्री हज के अंतिम चरण की तैयारी कर रहे हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - The final death toll from the fire that destroyed the Grenfell Tower social housing block in London in June is 71, police said on Thursday after five months of painstaking search and recovery operations. Police had previously said about 80 people died in the blaze, which tore through the 24-storey tower in west London in the middle of the night, but officers now believe all those who died in the fire have been recovered and identified. The figure has come down because some people were reported missing several times, some people who lived in the tower and were feared dead were found to have been elsewhere on the night, and some people were falsely reported dead by fraudsters hoping to receive financial compensation. The final toll includes 70 adults and children who died in the tower during the fire, and one baby who was stillborn shortly after the heavily pregnant mother escaped from the 21st floor, suffering severe smoke inhalation on her way down. The mother survived.  Specialist teams working inside Grenfell Tower and the mortuary have pushed the boundaries of what was scientifically possible to identify people,  said Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy, who is in charge of operations at the tower.  I know that each and every member of the team has done absolutely all they can to make this possible. They have done that for every person who lost their life, their families and loved ones, and all those for whom Grenfell Tower was home.  The tower was home to a tight-knit, multi-ethnic community in a deprived social housing estate within the wealthy Kensington and Chelsea borough that is also home to large numbers of millionaires. The tragedy has prompted political debate and soul-searching about London s stark social inequalities and whether neglect of social housing estates and the communities living in them played a part in the fire. A criminal investigation is under way that could result in individuals or organizations being charged. A separate public inquiry aims to shed light on any flaws or irregularities in the design, construction or maintenance of the tower. Cundy said that when he first entered Grenfell Tower after the fire, the devastation was such that he feared it would not be possible to find, recover and identify all those who died. Police officers, assisted by forensic anthropologists, archaeologists and specialists in using dental science to identify unknown human remains, searched every flat on every floor and every communal area. The search involved sifting through tonnes of debris by hand to identify all human remains in the charred building. In parallel, huge amounts of investigative work was undertaken to identify who was in Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire, who was missing and presumed dead, enquire after those reported missing and reconcile all the information. One person was reported missing 46 separate times. Some were reported under a number of different names, and even the slightest differences in spelling had to be investigated. Police said that having completed all this work, they now believed it was highly unlikely that anyone remained in Grenfell Tower.

Summary: लंदन के ग्रेनफेल टावर में आग लगने से मरने वालों की अंतिम संख्या 71 हुईः पुलिस


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland s parliament has passed a bill that gives the government, rather than a panel of top judges, control over who conducts elections, a move the opposition called  satanic . Minutes before midnight on Thursday, lawmakers of the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party and their allies approved a bill that allows the interior minister to nominate all candidates for head of the National Election Bureau. The PiS has said its bill will make voting more transparent, but critics have said the real aim is to boost the electoral prospects of the party, which has denied European Commission accusations of eroding democratic standards. The head of the judges  panel, the State Electoral Commission (PKW), said the bill would undermine the electoral process.  De facto, the minister will take decisions, not us,  PKW head Wojciech Hermelinski told reporters on Friday. Poland is already at risk of sanctions from the EU over a PiS judicial reform; Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday he expected the European Commission to launch an unprecedented punishment procedure against Warsaw next week.    Hermelinski said Germany had a functioning system where government officials organized elections, but that the Polish government should not leave the independent PKW in place as a  camouflage  without real powers. According to the bill, if none of the minister s candidates meet with the judges  approval, the minister can simply appoint the head of the Election Bureau.   Lawmaker Jacek Protas from the opposition Civic Platform said in parliament that the bill was a  satanic idea  that would give a controlling stake in democracy to a single political party. The PKW head said he would speak to members of the PiS-dominated upper house, the Senate, and President Andrzej Duda to urge them to prevent the measures passing into law. The changes will also require the PKW to appoint about 100 lower-ranking election officials from lists of candidates presented by the interior minister. Those candidates will no longer have to be judges themselves and, as with the head of the bureau, if the PKW rejects all the names put forward, the minister will have the power to impose a choice. The PiS-dominated Senate is set on Thursday to approve the overhaul of the judiciary - the deepest since Poland s transition from communism nearly three decades ago - which the opposition says violates the constitution.

Summary: पोलैंड ने सरकार को प्रमुख चुनावी भूमिका दी, विपक्ष ने चेतावनी दी


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran denounced U.S. President Donald Trump s U.N. remarks as  shameless and ignorant  and said his speech on Tuesday showed his lack of knowledge about Tehran s fight against terrorism, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.  Trump s shameless and ignorant remarks, in which he ignored Iran s fight against terrorism, displays his lack of knowledge and unawareness,  Iran s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying.

Summary: ईरान ने कहा कि ट्रम्प की संयुक्त राष्ट्र की टिप्पणी 'बेशर्म, अज्ञानी' हैः फार्स समाचार एजेंसी


GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Almost half of the 1.5 million people displaced by an insurrection in central Democratic Republic of Congo since last year have returned home as violence has waned in recent months, the United Nations said on Monday. Fighting in central Congo s Kasai region between government forces and militia fighters demanding their withdrawal from the region has killed up to 5,000 people since August of last year. The violence in the usually peaceful center of the country has come amid concern over instability since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate last December.  The election commission said earlier this month that an election to replace Kabila, who came to power after his father s assassination in 2001, will not be possible before April 2019 at the earliest - angering opposition members and raising the prospect of long-term unrest. For now, the situation in Kasai appears to be improving. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that 710,000 people had returned to their homes in Kasai, while 762,000 remain displaced. Another 30,000 have fled to neighboring Angola. It did not specify when those people returned home. But in a report on the humanitarian situation last month, it said 1.4 million remained displaced. It added that three million people are in a state of food insecurity in three of the Kasai region s five provinces. Congo s government has devoted considerable resources to stamping out the insurrection by the Kamuina Nsapu militia, which began after Congolese forces killed a local chief who was an outspoken critic of Kabila.  Congolese forces  heavy-handed tactics in suppressing the militia have drawn international condemnation. The United Nations has accused both the government and the militia of carrying out summary executions, and the militia of using child soldiers. The sides both deny such charges. Two U.N. investigators were killed in the region in March while investigating rights abuses.  While violence in Kasai has waned, it has flared in other areas. Militia in eastern Congo s borderlands with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda have formed new alliances to challenge the central government.

Summary: मध्य कांगो के 15 लाख विस्थापित लोगों में से आधे लौट आए हैं।


SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean police prevented U.S. boxer Mike Tyson from entering the country citing non-compliance with immigration laws and were putting him on a flight home, the Investigative Police (PDI) said on Thursday. Local media reported that the former world heavyweight champion was planning to attend an awards ceremony for action films taking place in Santiago, Chile s capital.  Detectives from the International Police are re-boarding Mike Tyson for not complying with immigration law,  the PDI said on its verified Twitter account on Thursday, alongside a photograph of Tyson walking in an airport with two individuals wearing PDI jackets.  The PDI did not specify which part of the law Tyson did not comply with, and did not immediately respond to an email and a phone call seeking additional information.  Tyson served three years of a six-year U.S. jail sentence for rape in 1992. In 2012, New Zealand revoked an entry visa for Tyson after a charity that was going to benefit from his visit dropped its support due to his rape conviction.

Summary: चिली पुलिस ने मुक्केबाज माइक टायसन को देश में प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday urged China and Russia to take direct action against North Korea in response to its latest missile launch.  China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own,  Tillerson said in a statement. He said China supplies North Korea with most of its oil and  Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor.

Summary: चीन, रूस को उत्तर कोरिया के खिलाफ सीधी कार्रवाई करनी चाहिएः टिलरसन


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A proposal by the U.S. Senate to change the way shares in startup companies are taxed incited panic and dread in Silicon Valley on Monday, with startup founders and investors warning of nothing less than the demise of their industry should the proposal become law. The provision in the Senate’s tax reform plan, which appeared to catch the industry by surprise, involves the treatment of employee stock options. These options give the holder the right to purchase shares in the future at a set price and can be very valuable if a company does well and the share price increases. Options are often a major portion of the compensation for  startup employees and founders, who take lower salaries in anticipation of a big payout if their startup takes off. Options typically vest over a four-year period. Senate Republicans have now proposed taxing those stock options as they vest and before startup employees have the opportunity to cash them in, resulting in annual tax bills that could easily climb into the tens of thousands of dollars, say startup founders and venture capitalists. “If there were a single piece of legislation to adversely affect startups, it would be this,” said Venky Ganesan, managing director at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures. “Everyone is freaked out.” Justin Field, vice president of government affairs at the National Venture Capital Association, said that the Senate’s proposed tax change would be “crippling” to the startup industry. How far the provision gets remains to be seen. The National Venture Capital Association was successful in getting a similar proposal removed from the House tax bill, although it “didn’t fully appreciate” the Senate’s intention to add the tax provision, Field said. The association also helped to steer lawmakers away from a proposal discussed late last year to tax venture capitalists’ profits on investments at a higher rate. Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, has filed an amendment to repeal the provision in the tax bill, according to his spokesman.  Under current tax code, employees are taxed only when they exercise their options. Options are exercised when the price they were granted at—known as the strike price—is lower than the share price, and some shares can then be sold to pay the taxes. But the Senate proposal would require startup employees to pay regular income tax on the value gain of their stock options even before they are exercised. These options are illiquid assets, and cannot be spent or saved. “What this would mean is every month, when your equity compensation vests a little bit, you will owe taxes on it even though you can’t do anything with that equity compensation,” Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist with Union Square Ventures, wrote on his blog Monday. For instance, if a startup employee receives stock options at a dollar per share, and the shares increase in value by $1 every year during the four-year vesting period, the employee would have to pay income tax on $1 per share after the first year, pay again on the $1 increase in value after the second year, and so on. When that employee owns hundreds of thousands and even millions of shares, that is a hefty bill to pay. And there is always the risk the startup will eventually fail. “This reform will force the average employee to pay taxes on that bet well before they even know if it’s a winning ticket,” said Amanda Kahlow, founder and executive chairman of marketing data startup 6sense. For startup founders in particular, such a tax bill could be ruinous.  “It would mean that I would have to sell the company,” said Shoaib Makani, founder and chief executive of long-haul trucking startup KeepTruckin. “I have zero net worth aside from the common stock I hold in the company. It would be impossible. I would be in default.” Some executives in the startup industry, however, have pushed for companies to move toward bigger salaries so employees are not so dependent on options to buy a house or pay for other large expenses. And when startups suffer valuation cuts, employees can end up with worthless options. The Senate’s proposal came as a revenue-generating measure to help offset tax breaks in the bill. A spokesman for Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, did not respond to requests for comment and other Republicans on the committee were not immediately available.  A spokeswoman for Senator Ron Wyden, the committee’s ranking member and a Democrat, said he was aware of concerns that the provision would limit startups’ ability to attract talent.

Summary: सिलिकॉन वैली ने स्टार्टअप विकल्पों पर कर लगाने के सीनेट के प्रस्ताव को खारिज किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he believed Republicans had enough votes to pass a healthcare bill that would allocate block grants to states. “As soon as we’re finished with taxes ... we really feel like we have the votes to get block grants into the states where the states can much better manage this money and much better take care of the people,” Trump told reporters.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि उनका मानना है कि ब्लॉक-अनुदान स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पारित हो जाएगा


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has extended temporary passport controls on its border with Austria and for flights coming from Greece for six more months amid continuing concerns about attacks and illegal immigration, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The European Commission last month offered initial backing to a Franco-German proposal to allow more permanent border checks within the bloc s Schengen free-travel zone. Germany notified the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the President of the European Parliament and the interior ministers of the EU-Schengen states about its decision in a letter on Wednesday. The commission allowed Germany to control its border with Austria in 2015 after a surge of refugees and migrants began arriving in western Europe. The temporary permission was due to expire on Nov. 11. Immigration will be a key issue in coalition talks by Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens.  Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere justified Germany s move given continued security concerns, and said a complete return to free travel within the Schengen area was contingent on an improvement in the overall situation. Germany was hit by five Islamist attacks in 2016, including one in December on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.  We are working hard on this, all member states, the EU Commission and the EU Council, but there is still a long way to go,  de Maiziere said in a statement. Border controls also apply to flights to Germany from Greece, which was the gateway for thousands of migrants from Iraq and Syria. Ministry data on Wednesday showed that 140,000 asylum seekers have registered in Germany since the beginning of 2017.

Summary: जर्मनी ने ऑस्ट्रिया की सीमा पर पासपोर्ट नियंत्रण बढ़ाया, ग्रीस से उड़ानें


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump was not in the room during U.S. President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union speech, but the Republican presidential front-runner was a looming presence nonetheless.  Both Obama’s speech on Tuesday and, for that matter, the Republican response by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, took pains to rebuke Trump, the real estate billionaire whose red-hot rhetoric has endeared him to some and dismayed others in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama and Haley, although from different parties, offered a defense of establishment politics, a plea for optimism and a quest for common ground. Obama seemed to refer specifically to Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration following a deadly shooting attack last month in San Bernardino, California, by a couple authorities said had been radicalized. “We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness,” Obama said. Trump has mounted much of his insurgent candidacy on the notion of America losing ground, both economically and in terms of global influence. Obama rejected that idea outright.  “It’s easier to be cynical,” Obama said, “to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter.” Soon after Obama concluded his remarks in the chamber of the House of Representatives, Trump tweeted: “The State of the Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time.” While consistently criticizing Obama’s record, Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a potential Republican vice presidential choice, also seemed to indict Trump’s message. “Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference,” she said. “That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.” Like Obama, Haley did not mention Trump by name during her address but she criticized him in an interview on NBC’s “Today show” on Wednesday while calling on the Republican Party to be more inclusive. “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk,” she said. Trump responded shortly afterward by telling Fox News that Haley has been “very weak on illegal immigration” for a long time. Paul Sracic, chairman of the politics department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said Trump was dominating “our political discourse in a way that no one would have predicted even a year ago.” “Donald Trump must be smiling tonight,” he said, pointing out that the candidate managed to make himself the target of not just the State of the Union address, but also the Republican response. The White House gave Haley credit for defending “American values” in her speech. “She was willing to do something that a lot of other Republicans - leading Republicans - have been unwilling to do,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday.  But he stressed that the administration disagrees with many of Haley’s positions. Obama flew on Wednesday to Nebraska, a Republican “red state,” to promote the big-picture ideas he laid out in his speech.  On Tuesday night, Obama also appeared to single out conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the top challenger to Trump in the Republican race. Cruz has called for a massive bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria to wipe out Islamic State forces. Meeting the threat of Islamic State, Obama said, “needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians.” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said Obama “made the argument very well that leadership is not bombing the crap out of someone.”  Cruz quickly countered in a statement. Obama, he said, “lectures us on civility yet he has been one of the most divisive presidents in American history.” Both Trump and Cruz, who are topping opinion polls weeks before the early nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, have pledged to push the Republican Party in a more confrontational direction, and seek to undo much of what Obama has accomplished as president. Both candidates are likely in coming days to hammer the Obama administration on its approach to Islamic State.     Obama’s defense of pragmatic politics may also help his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is trying to stave off a challenge from self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest, said Bannon.  “He’s taking about holding up the establishment,” he said. “When the president makes a good case, it helps Hillary more than Bernie.” But John Geer, an expert on voter opinion at Vanderbilt University, thought Obama, in his bid for unity, damaged Clinton’s prospects by not making a stronger case for  continuing the Democratic agenda. “He didn’t put forward an argument why there should be another Democrat for four years,” Geer said. “I think she would have liked to see that.”

Summary: ओबामा और हेली दोनों के भाषणों के पीछे ट्रम्प का हाथ


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said a final election tally released on Saturday did not fundamentally change negotiations between his National Party and the nationalist New Zealand First Party to form a coalition government. The final count in the Sept. 23 election showed National had lost two seats compared to the preliminary count on election night, but remained in the lead with 56 seats, compared to the opposition Labour Party s 46.  I don t think it weakens it significantly at all, the fundamentals haven t altered,  English told reporters in Queenstown in response to a question on his party s negotiation position.  The inconclusive election results have left neither major party with enough votes to form a government without populist New Zealand First, which holds nine seats.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड के प्रधानमंत्री का कहना है कि अंतिम चुनावी आंकड़े गठबंधन सरकार बनाने की उनकी संभावनाओं को कमजोर नहीं करते हैं


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she has no regrets about her 2015 decision to open the country s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and added she will not be deterred from campaigning by angry hecklers. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday, Merkel denied she had made any mistakes with her open-door policy even though the arrival of a million refugees over the last two years from Syria and Iraq opened deep rifts in her conservative party and depressed its support.    Four weeks before the Sept. 24 election, an Emnid opinion poll on Sunday showed Merkel s conservatives would win 38 percent, or 15 points ahead of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). That is up from 32 percent in February but well below the 41.5 percent her party won in the last election in 2013.  I d make all the important decisions of 2015 the same way again,  Merkel said.  It was an extraordinary situation and I made my decision based on what I thought was right from a political and humanitarian standpoint.  Those kinds of extraordinary situations happen every once in a while in a country s history,  she added.  The head of government has to act and I did.  Her decision to open the borders contributed to a surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which pollsters say could win up to 10 percent in the September election. Merkel, seeing a fourth term, has had to contend with loud and sustained heckling from demonstrators strongly opposed to her refugee policies so far on the campaign trail. The volume and intensity of the protests have been especially strong in her home region in formerly communist eastern Germany. But the 63-year-chancellor said she would not be kept away from areas where animosity towards her runs high.  We re a democracy and everyone can freely express themselves in public the way they want,  she said.  It s important that we don t go out of our way to avoid certain areas only because there are a bunch of people screaming.  Support for Merkel and her party has recovered somewhat after the influx of refugees slowed in 2016 to 280,000 and fell even further to about 106,000 in the first seven months of this year.  Merkel said it was unfair that Greece and Italy were left on their own carrying the full burden of the refugee crisis  simply because of their geography . She added she would not stop pushing for the fair distribution of refugees across the European Union.  That some countries refuse to accept any refugees is not on. That contradicts the spirit of Europe. We ll overcome that. It will take time and patience but we will succeed.

Summary: राजनीतिक कीमत चुकाने के बावजूद मर्केल को शरणार्थी नीति पर कोई पछतावा नहीं है


DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. government is seeking public comments for a review of tough U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards put in place by the Obama administration, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday. The review was ordered by Republican President Donald Trump earlier this year. It is widely seen as a preamble to loosening fuel standards, handing a victory to the auto industry. Rules set by the EPA may, however, take a back seat to consumers demanding vehicles that guzzle less gas and automakers having to meet strict standards if they want to sell cars overseas, according to auto industry analysts. “We want to increase public participation, listen to those impacted directly by our regulations and use the best available information and data to inform our regulatory actions,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement.  The Obama administration’s rules, negotiated with automakers in 2012, were aimed at doubling average fleetwide fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, although the real-world mileage figures would be lower. The review covers vehicle model years 2022 to 2025. The EPA is also seeking comments on whether fuel standards for the 2021 model year “are appropriate.” The public comment period will be open for 45 days. Environmental and consumer groups criticized the ongoing process to review the Obama-era standards. “If automakers are allowed to slack off on making cars run more efficiently, Americans will be forced to spend thousands of dollars more on gas, instead of on their families,” Jack Gillis, public affairs director of the Consumer Federation of America, said in an emailed statement.

Summary: अमेरिकी सरकार ने ईंधन-अर्थव्यवस्था मानकों की समीक्षा के लिए टिप्पणियां माँगी


(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday it has reopened most stores in the Gulf region that were shut due to Hurricane Harvey.  The company said five stores along the coast where the hurricane made landfall remain shut. Texas has been trying to recover from a storm that dumped some 50 inches (125 cm) of rain on the low-lying Gulf coastal region after coming ashore on Aug. 25, killing about 50 people.

Summary: हार्वे के बाद वॉल-मार्ट ने खाड़ी क्षेत्र के अधिकांश स्टोर फिर से खोले


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wants to set the record straight on Donald Trump: “We were not friends.” “We knew each other, obviously, in New York,” Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York, said in excerpts of a People magazine interview released on Wednesday. “I knew a lot of people.” Trump, the real estate billionaire whose standing as Republican front-runner was dented by a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, had long touted his friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. In a March 2012 Fox News interview, Trump praised Clinton as a “terrific woman.” “I am biased because I have known her for years. I live in New York. She lives in New York. I really like her and her husband both a lot. I think she really works hard,” Trump told Fox. But the Clintons, who attended Trump’s 2005 wedding, were fair game on the campaign trail.  In November, Trump said Hillary Clinton did not have strength or stamina to be president and called her the worst U.S. secretary of state, a post she held from 2009 to 2013. When Clinton denounced Trump last month for showing “a penchant for sexism,” Trump turned the phrase against her, using it to refer to Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals as president. Trump’s caustic comments about Hispanics, women, Muslims and his rivals for the nomination have set much of the tone for the Republican race.  Clinton has accused him of being divisive and a bully. Clinton told People she could handle Trump’s barbs, but worried about the immigrants and American Muslims he targets. “I’m more concerned about the tone that is being set in the political debate this year because the last thing our country needs right now is more divisiveness, more mean-spiritedness,” she said.  It was not clear when the People interview, which included Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, was conducted. Clinton won the Iowa Democratic caucuses over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday.  “I really care about what he says about other people, who don’t have the voice and the platform,” Clinton said, referring to immigrants and American Muslims. Chelsea Clinton said she has never had a relationship with Donald Trump but remains friends with his daughter, Ivanka. “I do believe that friendship is more important than politics,” she told People. “I would never hold anyone accountable for what their parents or anyone else in their family said or did.”  (Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: ट्रम्प पर क्लिंटन ने स्पष्ट कियाः 'हम दोस्त नहीं थे': पीपल पत्रिका


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump does not like the “border adjustment” tax cooked up by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans in the House of Representatives. At least, he does not like the term. “I don’t like the word ‘adjustment’, because our country gets taken advantage of, to use a nice term, by every other country in the world,” Trump told Fox Business News in an interview that aired on Wednesday. “Adjustment means we lose. We lose.” “Let’s call it an import tax. Let’s call it a reciprocal tax,” he added. “Nobody gets angry when you say reciprocal tax.” Trump was talking about a provision in Ryan’s House Republican tax blueprint that has polarized the tax reform debate, as the White House tries to score a much-needed legislative victory by overhauling the U.S. tax code for the first time since the Reagan era. The proposal would exempt U.S. corporate export revenues from federal taxes, while requiring U.S. companies to shoulder the same flat 20 percent tax rate on supplies and other purchased products, whether produced overseas or domestically. But the president appeared to favor an import tax that could be adjusted to reflect the country of origin’s tax rate for U.S. products. He said such an approach could take the form of trade policy rather than tax policy. “There has to be a certain reciprocal nature to it,” the president said. “The other countries, if they’re charging you a 50 percent tax, you say: ‘O.K., whatever you charge, we’re charging’.” The House border adjustment tax, or BAT, would help Trump keep his campaign pledge to create manufacturing jobs, advocates say, by exempting U.S. export revenue from tax while subjecting imports to the same 20 percent corporate tax imposed on domestic products. But the measure has been angrily denounced by import-dependent industries and rejected by enough Senate Republicans to call its political viability into question. In his Fox interview, Trump lamented the inequalities of the international tax system, saying U.S. products face high tax rates overseas while foreign-made goods enter the U.S. market tax free. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin floated the idea of a “reciprocal” tax in February, but administration officials have offered few details and lobbyists have suggested that it could strongly resemble the House BAT proposal. “I love the idea of reciprocal,” Trump said. “You can call it a reciprocal or a matching tax or a mirror tax. There are numerous terms. But the reciprocal tax is very important.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सीमा समायोजन कर की शब्दावली पर आपत्ति जताई


ANKARA (Reuters) - Allegations of wrongdoing by Turkey s political and financial leaders have transfixed the country this week, but with some newspapers focusing instead on courtroom conspiracies and clothes, many Turks have been left hungry for news.  Casual chic on the 2nd day , read HaberTurk newspaper s front page story after main witness Reza Zarrab told a New York court that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.  On the second day of the trial, Reza Zarrab was not wearing a prison uniform and was casual chic in his white shirt and dark blazer,  HaberTurk said. Like other publications, HaberTurk stepped nimbly around the substantive issues. Erdogan has presided over a crackdown in areas from judiciary to media since a failed coup last year with a number of journalists jailed. He has also frequently taken court action against those he deems have insulted him. Zarrab is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors in the criminal trial of a Turkish bank executive accused of helping to launder money for Iran. The executive has pleaded not guilty. Erdogan, who has governed Turkey for almost 15 years, has not yet responded to courtroom claims; but had already dismissed the case as a politically inspired attempt to bring down the Turkish government.  He says the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for the failed military coup and known by Turkish authorities as FETO, was also behind the court case.   The pro-government daily Star branded the case  American Theater  on its front page.  Zarrab plot trial is a political show staged by FETO together with judges, prosecutors and experts who are all Neo-cons and enemies of Turkey.   The limited or skeptical coverage of the case has encouraged curious Turks to take to Twitter, where hashtags such as #Zarrabcase and #Zarrabkonusuyor (Zarrab is speaking) became top trending topics late on Wednesday and Thursday. Since the trial started this week there have been hundreds of thousands of tweets, retweets and replies with Zarrab-related hashtags on Twitter.  You can t see it on televisions or newspapers here. They either cut feeds or don t mention it,  said Oguzcan Gundogmus, a 24-year-old PhD student, as he sipped tea in central Ankara.  The court case has reverberated on the streets.  Spill the beans, my son!  one elderly protester urged Zarrab at a women s demonstration in Istanbul last weekend.  But most of the focus has been online. Followers of journalists tweeting from inside the courtroom surged over the past two days, more than 20-fold in some cases. One court reporter s tweets are being simultaneously translated into Turkish and followed by 10,000 people so far. Zarrab said in court he bribed several officials in Turkey as part of his scheme.  I am surprised the government hasn t still banned Twitter. Me and my friends stay up at nights and follow the case there, we even make popcorn like it s a movie night, and we call the case  Lord of the Bribes,  said Mehmet Baglar, a 34-year-old engineer.

Summary: सोने के व्यापारी पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के मामले में तुर्क सोशल मीडिया पर उमड़ पड़े


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders sought to nail down the final votes needed to pass what U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called their “last best chance” to repeal Obamacare while a new analysis underscored how Democratic-leaning states stand to lose large amounts of federal funding under the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to bring the bill introduced by fellow Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy to a vote next week, as his party seeks to make good on seven years of promises to erase Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. With no Democratic support for the bill, Republicans remain a handful of votes short in the Senate, needing 50 votes in a 100-seat chamber they control 52-48, with Pence casting a potential tie-breaking vote. Senator Rand Paul opposes it and at least six others are undecided: John McCain, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, Rob Portman and Jerry Moran. Asked whether the legislation will pass, Pence said, “We’ll see. We’re close.” Republicans, still reeling from their failure in July to win Senate passage of previous legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, have set a Sept. 30 deadline for passage of this bill. “This may well be our last best chance to stop and turn around and head America back in the direction of the kind of healthcare reform that’s based on individual-choice, state-based innovations,” Pence told Fox New Channel. President Donald Trump has been pushing Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, which would fulfill one of his top campaign promises from last year. The current bill would take money that the federal government now spends on healthcare through the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and subsidies to help Americans buy private insurance and distribute it to the states in block grants. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has not yet assessed the bill’s effects but independent analyses indicate it would fundamentally redistribute federal healthcare money, generally with Republican-leaning states benefiting and Democratic-leaning states losing. The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, a healthcare research group, estimated on Thursday that states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare would lose $180 billion under the bill from 2020 to 2026, while non-expansion states would gain $73 billion in the same time period. The Graham-Cassidy bill in 2020 would end the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which many Democratic-governed states had carried out while many Republican-governed states did not, and limit overall federal spending on the five-decade-old program regardless of how many Americans qualify for its benefits. Republicans have called Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, a federal overreach, and say block grants would give states discretion on how to provide healthcare coverage. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, five states would stand to lose more than 30 percent of their federal healthcare money from 2020-2026: New York (down 35 percent), Oregon (down 32 percent), Connecticut (down 31 percent), Vermont (down 31 percent) and Minnesota (down 30 percent). All are Democratic leaning. The analysis found that six Republican-leaning states would get at least 40 percent more in federal funds: Mississippi (up 148 percent), Texas (up 75 percent), Kansas (up 61 percent), Georgia (up 46 percent), South Dakota (up 45 percent) and Tennessee (up 44 percent). In total dollars, the state with the largest forecast loss of funds is California, losing $56 billion. The biggest gainer would be Texas, with a $34 billion increase. California, the most populous U.S. state, is Democratic leaning. Texas is the second most populous state and the largest Republican-leaning one. “It’s absolutely true to say the Graham-Cassidy bill over time levels out on a per-person basis the way we distribute money on healthcare, which I think resonates with most Americans,” Pence said. McCain, Collins and Murkowski were the three Republicans who voted against the last Republican healthcare legislation brought up in the Senate, which failed 51-49 in July. Paul, who voted in favor of that bill after previously expressing misgivings, on Thursday went to Twitter to underscore his criticism that the Graham-Cassidy bill does not go far enough to erase Obamacare. The insurance industry, hospitals, medical advocacy groups such as the American Medical Association, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society, the AARP advocacy group for the elderly and consumer activists have come out against the bill, urging a bipartisan fix to the current law that was abandoned this week. More medical and civil rights advocacy groups lined up against the Graham-Cassidy bill on Thursday, including the American Psychological Association, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the NAACP.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, estimated that the bill would cause more than 30 million people to lose insurance. The Graham-Cassidy proposal would let states opt out of the requirement that insurers charge sick and healthy people the same rates, causing a furor among advocacy groups that say it could make health insurance unaffordable for those with pre-existing conditions.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक में राज्य वित्तपोषण परिवर्तन सुर्खियों में


(Reuters) - Irma is forecast to weaken into a tropical storm over far northern Florida or southern Georgia on Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.  The Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale was about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Tampa, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (155 km/h), the NHC said.   On the forecast track, the center of Irma will continue to move over the western Florida peninsula through Monday morning and then into the southeastern United States late Monday and Tuesday,  it said.

Summary: तूफान इरमा सोमवार को उष्णकटिबंधीय तूफान बन जाएगाः एनएचसी