WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded an ethics probe into Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. health secretary, following a report that the fierce Obamacare critic traded in healthcare company stocks while pushing legislation in Congress that could affect those shares. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others made their comments as congressional Republicans moved ahead with their long-desired effort to dismantle President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and signaled the vehemence with which Democrats will fight to protect the 2010 law. Price is an orthopedic surgeon and a Republican congressman from Georgia who, if confirmed by the Senate as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, would be given the task of carrying out Trump’s promise to gut the law that has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain medical coverage. The Democrats called on the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which examines misconduct allegations involving House of Representatives members, to investigate Price’s stock trades. The Wall Street Journal last month reported that Price bought and sold more than $300,000 in stock in about 40 healthcare, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that could influence those companies’ shares. “Every American should be shocked by this,” Schumer told a news conference. “We don’t know if he broke the law,” Schumer said of Price. “But there are certainly enough serious questions to warrant a serious investigation before any hearing is held on Congressman Price to become secretary of HHS.” Democratic Senator Patty Murray said lawmakers want to know what nonpublic information Price may have had when the transactions at issue were made. Phil Blando, a Trump transition spokesman, called Schumer’s demands a “stunt” to deflect attention from Obamacare’s “dismal record.” Price, asked by Reuters in a Capitol hallway for a reaction to Schumer’s comments, replied, “We’re looking forward to a positive and productive confirmation hearing.” A 2012 law prohibits members and employees of Congress from using “any nonpublic information” stemming from the person’s position or gained while performing their job for personal benefit. The nonpartisan watchdog group Public Citizen also asked the ethics office, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to investigate Price and another Republican congressman, Chris Collins of New York, for possible violations of insider trading and conflict-of-interest laws and rules. Public Citizen said that, while serving in the House, Collins also sat on the board of directors of Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd (IIL.AX) and was its largest shareholder, with a 17 percent stake. It said Price also bought shares in the company. Collins serves as the Trump transition team’s congressional liaison. Collins spokesman Michael McAdams said in a statement the congressman “has followed all ethical guidelines related to his personal finances during his time in the House and will continue to do so.” House Republicans had moved on Monday to weaken the ethics office but backtracked a day later after criticism from Democrats and Trump. Trump transition spokesman Blando said the ethics questions Schumer raised about Price should be directed to three sitting Democratic senators, Delaware’s Tom Carper, Virginia’s Mark Warner and Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse, “who own and have traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical and health insurance company stocks.” “Hypocrisy is apparently alive and well this morning in Washington,” Blando said. A Warner spokeswoman said his investments were managed by an independent trustee. A Whitehouse spokesman said the senator does not direct his trading. A Carper spokeswoman said he has submitted thorough financial disclosures and “always complied with every requirement and regulation.” Republicans will control the White House and Congress once Trump takes office on Jan. 20. In a series of Twitter posts on Thursday, Trump blasted the Democrats over Obamacare, taunting Schumer as “head clown.” “It is time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works - much less expensive & FAR BETTER!” Trump wrote. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said he expects the legislative work on repealing and replacing Obamacare to be completed this year. “What date all of this gets phased in on is something we do not now know,” Ryan added. Ryan indicated that a Republican proposal to strip women’s healthcare organization Planned Parenthood of federal funding will be included in the Obamacare repeal legislation. Planned Parenthood draws the ire of many Republicans because it provides abortions, as well as cancer screenings and other services. Republicans criticize Obamacare, one of Obama’s signature accomplishments in his eight years in office, as an excessive government intrusion into the healthcare market and contend it is harming job growth by burdening businesses. Democrats said Obamacare has extended insurance to millions of Americans and curbed abuses by private insurers such as refusing to provide policies to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स ने ट्रम्प के स्वास्थ्य उम्मीदवार की जांच की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asked both sides for new information in a challenge by Christian nonprofit employers to a mandate under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law to provide insurance to female workers covering birth control, indicating the justices are struggling to decide the closely watched case. The court’s order requested more information on how contraceptive coverage can be obtained “in a way that does not require any involvement” by these employers, who object to the requirement on religious grounds. The Supreme Court suggested that one way to resolve the case would be for insurance companies to have the job of notifying employers about the availability of contraception coverage if their religious employer does not provide it. In the oral argument in the case last week, the shorthanded eight-justice court appeared split, raising the possibility of a 4-4 decision that would leave in place lower court rulings that backed the Obama administration. The court, now evenly divided with four conservatives and four liberals, is one justice short following the death of conservative Antonin Scalia in February. The order in the contraception matter came just hours after the court deadlocked 4-4 in another major case: a conservative challenge to a critical source of funding for public sector unions.. The request for additional information could both delay a ruling and indicate the court is seeking a compromise that a majority of justices could back. A ruling is due by the end of June. Dubbed Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress in 2010 over unified Republican opposition and is seen as Obama’s signature legislative achievement. But congressional Republicans have repeatedly sought to repeal it and conservatives have launched numerous legal challenges, with the Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015 issuing high-profile rulings preserving it. In the current case, Christian nonprofit employers objected to a 2013 compromise offered by the Obama administration that allowed entities opposed to providing contraception insurance coverage to comply with the law without actually paying for the required coverage. Groups can certify they are opting out of the mandate by signing a form and submitting it to the government. The government then asks insurers to pay for contraception. The challengers primarily are Roman Catholic including the archdiocese of Washington and the Little Sisters of the Poor order of nuns that runs care homes for the elderly. They contend the accommodation violates their religious rights by forcing them to authorize the coverage for their employees even if they are not paying for it.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत ने गर्भनिरोधक बीमा मामले में अधिक जानकारी मांगी


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Britain made progress in the latest round of divorce talks, but not enough to move to the next phase of discussions on a transition period after Brexit or a future trade deal, top negotiators said on Thursday.  We have had a constructive week, yes, but we are not yet there in terms of achieving sufficient progress. Further work is needed in the coming weeks and months,  chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters, praising a  new dynamic  created by concessions made last week by Prime Minister Theresa May. She had hoped that a speech she made in Florence on Friday would unblock the three-month-old talks and pave the way for the EU to open discussions on a post-Brexit free trade deal, by allowing Barnier to tell EU leaders that there is  sufficient progress  on three key  divorce  issues - rights for expatriate citizens, the Northern Irish border and Britain s exit bill. Differences over the role of the European Court of Justice and how much London will owe Brussels remain major obstacles. Officials involved said there had been a better atmosphere this week. One EU official said May had averted the  train crash  which might have resulted from another week of stubborn deadlock. That would have increased risks of Britain simply crashing out of the Union into legal limbo in March 2019. British Brexit Secretary David Davis said the talks achieved  considerable progress  over the four days in Brussels. He repeated his eagerness to move on to discuss what happens after Brexit and the two-year transition period which May requested, during which Britain would remain in the EU single market.   We must never forget the bigger picture. Britain wants to be the European Union s strongest friend and partner,  he said, echoing May.  I leave Brussels optimistic about this future.  Officials said transition issues were not raised this week.  Barnier said he would  take stock  of progress with leaders of the other 27 EU states at a Brussels summit in three weeks time, a week after the next negotiating round. But he gave no indication of how likely he is to recommend opening trade talks. And  sufficient progress  has been deliberately left undefined. EU diplomats doubt Barnier will be satisfied by October and many see a December summit as a more likely moment to open the trade negotiations. However, officials said there could be some blurring of the EU refusal to discuss post-Brexit issues if the sides narrow differences and gain confidence in settling terms. Barnier highlighted two key areas of disagreement - on the legal protection for the rights of the 3 million EU citizens in Britain and on a pre-Brexit settlement from Britain for a share of outstanding financial commitments made during its membership. New figures from EU auditors on Thursday showed that the sum at stake may be growing as talks continue, simply due to delays in the bloc s spending of already agreed payments. May said on Friday that Britain would ensure the other 27 were not out of pocket in the current EU budget period and that it would  honour commitments . Barnier expressed disappointment that negotiators had made clear she meant to end those budget payments in 2020, even though payments from the current 2014-20 budget will go on for some years beyond that. And London had given him no detail on what other commitments it would meet. On citizens  rights, he welcomed Davis  confirmation that the treaty guaranteeing them should now have  direct effect  in British law. That tightens a link between what the EU negotiates and what its citizens can count on in future in British courts.  But the Union continues to demand that people also have the right to pursue grievances at the EU s own court in Luxembourg - a red line for a British government keen to show voters who backed Brexit last year that they have taken back control. Welcoming a guarantee that Britain would safeguard rights in a way  consistent with EU law , Barnier said:  We failed to agree that the European Court of Justice must play an indispensable role in ensuring this consistency.

Summary: मे के भाषण के बाद ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता गर्म, लेकिन कोई समापन नहीं


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico s leftist presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed on Monday to boost infrastructure spending but guard economic stability, while his team reiterated that ongoing NAFTA talks should be put off until after next year s election. Lopez Obrador, the front-runner in most polls ahead of the July vote, unveiled a platform that envisioned an austere government to root out corruption and redirect spending to public works and social programs without new taxes or raising the debt-to-GDP ratio. He rebutted claims he would pursue Venezuela-style socialist policies if elected.  Let s be very clear, we are not inspired by any foreign governments, neither Maduro nor Trump,  said Lopez Obrador, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and U.S. President Donald Trump. The veteran leftist who is known popularly by his initials AMLO, is set to make his third bid for the presidency, this time seeking closer ties with business and moderating some policies to fend off rivals who claim he will wreck Mexico s economy. Lopez Obrador has mainly avoided picking public fights with Trump, who is widely loathed south of the border for his anti-Mexican rhetoric. On Monday he said he would seek friendly relations with the U.S. government but would demand respect. His team repeated his position that talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should be scrapped until after Mexico s election because the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto would not defend Mexico s interests.  A government like this ... lacks the necessary legitimacy to represent the interests of the country in this negotiation,  said Hector Vasconcelos, a former diplomat who helped draw up the government plan and spoke at the event.  U.S., Mexican and Canadian negotiators are currently engaged in a fifth round of talks in Mexico City following Trump s demand the deal be rewritten to benefit the United States.  The talks are due to be wrapped up in early 2018. The two-time presidential runner-up s platform also calls for studying the construction of new oil refineries with the capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day. Lopez Obrador narrowly lost in 2006 and by a larger margin in 2012, in both cases refusing to accept the results which he dismissed as marred by fraud. This time he will run as head of the MORENA party he founded in 2014.  He previously ran a popular, moderate government as mayor of Mexico City, but political rivals depict him as a dangerous firebrand and liken his policies and style to the socialist project in crisis-hit Venezuela. At a packed 10,000 seat arena, MORENA party delegates voted in favor of a  development plan  that Lopez Obrador said he would implement if elected and after further discussion with supporters. The folksy orator offered the platform on the national holiday that commemorates the start of Mexico s 1910 revolution. The plan touted a series of proposals including universal access to public or private universities for all qualified students, better pensions and public health services.  Vasconcelos said a Lopez Obrador government would gradually pull back the army and marines from the streets where they have been engaged in a decade-long war against cartels that has left more than 100,000 dead.  However, he said the military would not be abruptly removed from towns where its presence was the main guarantee of security. The plan vowed less spending on running the government, respect for private-property rights and the central bank s autonomy.   We are not opposed to businesses, they are necessary. We are against corrupt politicians and influence traffickers,  Lopez Obrador said.   As the central plank of the platform, Lopez Obrador promised to redirect federal government spending equivalent to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product to infrastructure and priority social programs, with a goal of increasing economic growth. According to the plan, a $13 billion airport being constructed by the current government of President Enrique Pena Nieto is not economically viable. Lopez Obrador s government would come up with an alternative to improve air transportation, it said. Lopez Obrador also vowed to slash the large pensions former presidents receive, while halving the presidential salary and reducing that of other top officials.  This is not revenge, it is justice,  he said. Lopez Obrador said he will announce his 16-member cabinet next month, which he said will feature equal numbers of men and women. Also on Monday, the leaders of a left-right coalition that could represent a stiff challenge to Lopez Obrador adopted an anti-corruption platform that also proposes a universal minimum income.  The coalition, dominated by the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) will choose its consensus presidential candidate by mid-December. Next year s election is expected to be contested by multiple candidates including independents for the first time, which is likely to fragment the vote and could help a candidate win with less than a third support, a change that could favor either Lopez Obrador or the ruling party. Pena Nieto is barred by law from seeking a second term.

Summary: मेक्सिको के राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार ने स्थिर अर्थव्यवस्था की शपथ ली; सहायक ने नाफ्टा में देरी का आग्रह किया


KABUL (Reuters) - Gunmen disguised as police killed a security guard and opened fire on staff at a private television station in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday and Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. After a sporadic gun battle lasting about two hours, Afghan special forces suppressed the attack on Shamshad TV, a private Pashto-language broadcaster based close to the national stadium. Police said at least two people were killed and 20 wounded.  People dressed in police clothes came in and initially threw hand grenades, which killed one of our guards and wounded another,  Abed Ehsas, Shamshad s news director told broadcaster Tolo News TV.  Others got into our building and started firing. Some of our colleagues were hit, though, thank God, many others managed to get out. Some were wounded by gunshots, falling glass and when they jumped from higher floors.  Some two hours later the station, which had replaced regular programs with a still picture as the fighting went on, resumed normal service, its newsreader appearing with a bandage on a hand injured in the attack.. The attack, which underlined insecurity in Kabul, came on the day NATO announced an increase of some 3,000 troops in its Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan as part of a bid to break the stalemate with Taliban insurgents. Amid the crack of gunfire, a special forces unit blasted a hole in the concrete wall around the compound and entered the site as police blocked off surrounding streets. At least one attacker was killed during the operation, while another died at the compound entrance. In a statement on its news agency Amaq, Islamic State claimed responsibility, without giving evidence. The group, based mainly in the eastern province of Nangarhar, has claimed a number of attacks on civilian targets in Kabul but uncertainty remains over whether all the attacks the group claims are actually its work. Shortly after the beginning of the attack, the Taliban s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, issued an immediate denial of involvement. Suicide bombings are part of life in Kabul but the latest attack on journalists and media workers was described by human rights group Amnesty International as an  horrific crime .  The Afghan authorities must do what they can to protect the country s media, allowing them to work freely and without fear,  the group said in a statement. Last year a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven members of Afghanistan s largest private television station, Tolo. In May, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on state broadcaster RTA in the eastern city of Jalalabad.. Tuesday s attack took place about three weeks after a series of attacks including one on a Shi ite mosque in the city in which more than 50 people were killed.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने अफगानिस्तान की राजधानी में टीवी स्टेशन पर हमले का दावा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers are investigating whether retired U.S. General Michael Flynn secretly promoted a U.S.-Russian project to build dozens of nuclear reactors in the Middle East after becoming President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Eliot Engel made the disclosure in a letter they sent on Tuesday to Flynn’s lawyer and executives of the private firms that developed the project. Flynn’s  now-defunct company worked as a consultant on it. Robert Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, declined to comment. Separately on Wednesday, NBC News reported that Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his inquiry into U.S. allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Flynn worked for his father’s consulting firm. A lawyer for Flynn Jr. declined to comment to NBC. “The American people deserve to know whether General Flynn was secretly promoting the private interests of these businesses while he was a (Trump) campaign adviser, transition official, or President Trump’s national security adviser,” Cummings and Engel said in the letter made public on Wednesday. They asked Flynn’s lawyer and executives of the companies involved to provide “all communications” they had with Flynn or other administration officials during Flynn’s association with Trump. The project proposes to build 40 nuclear reactors across the Middle East that would feed a regional electric grid. The reactors would be “proliferation proof,” meaning they could not be used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons. A promotional slide of the project said security would be provided by Rosoboron, a Russian state-owned arms exporter that is under U.S. sanctions. The sanctions imposed during the administration of former President Barack Obama soured relations between Moscow and Washington and Trump said in his election campaign that he wanted to improve those ties. Intelligence reports indicate that some Trump associates may have violated a law called the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized U.S. citizens from negotiating with a foreign government that has a dispute with the United States, sources familiar with the reports said. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, asked that the documents be provided by Oct. 4. The retired general is a central figure in Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump aides colluded with Russia to boost Trump’s campaign. Russia has denied interfering in the U.S. election and Trump has said there was no collusion. Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, fired Flynn on Feb. 13, 18 days after a top Justice Department official warned that the former Defense Intelligence Agency director could be blackmailed because Moscow knew he made misleading statements about his contacts with Russian officials. Cummings and Engel sent their letter as part of an inquiry into the renewal of Flynn’s 2016 Top Secret security clearance. They said Flynn failed to disclose a June 2015 trip he made to Egypt and Israel to promote the reactor project to investigators reviewing his renewal application and that he also did not list the foreigners with whom he met. The lawmakers wrote that replies from the executives and Kelner to a June letter confirmed that Flynn made the trip. “Based on your responses, it appears that General Flynn violated federal law,” they wrote. “Since these violations carry criminal penalties of up to five years in prison, we are providing your responses to Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” they wrote to Kelner, Alex G. Copson of X-Co Dynamics/ACU Strategic Partners, and retired Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt of X-Co Dynamics/Ironbridge Group/IP3. All are private companies. “Second, your responses raise significant questions about whether General Flynn continued to communicate with you and others about this project after the presidential election, after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, and after General Flynn assumed the post of national security adviser - without disclosing his foreign travel or contacts,” the lawmakers added. Donald Gross, counsel for ACU Strategic Partners, said the company has cooperated with the oversight committee in providing information about the project being developed along with Hewitt’s IP3, and “General Flynn’s limited involvement in June 2015.” Hewitt did not respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment. The proposed reactor project would be funded by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states and built and run by a consortium of U.S., Russian, French, Dutch, Arab, British, Ukrainian and Israeli firms.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट जांच कर रहे हैं कि क्या फ्लिन ने ट्रम्प के सहयोगी के रूप में परमाणु परियोजना को आगे बढ़ाया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany is urging the European Union to add up to four more Russian nationals and companies to the bloc’s sanctions blacklist over Siemens (SIEGn.DE) gas turbines delivered to Moscow-annexed Crimea, two sources in Brussels said.  The EU has barred its firms from doing business with Crimea since the 2014 annexation, imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, and curbed cooperation with Russia in energy, arms and finance over its role in the crisis in Ukraine.  After it annexed Crimea from Kiev, Moscow threw its support behind a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people and is still simmering.  The EU’s blacklist comprises 150 people and 37 entities subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban. The restrictions are in place until Sept. 15. “The regular review would normally be the moment to look at who is on the list. In the past, when there were good grounds, we’ve added entries to the list,” an EU official said.  Siemens, trying to distance itself from the scandal, last week said it was halting deliveries of power equipment to Russian state-controlled customers and reviewing supply deals. Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak played down the potential consequences of a halt. “What Siemens supplies can be delivered by other companies,” Novak told reporters in St Petersburg. “As for electricity generation, we ... have now learnt to produce the necessary equipment,” he said, without referring to the prospect of additional sanctions. Siemens says it has evidence that all four turbines it delivered for a project in southern Russia had been illegally moved to Crimea. German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said on Monday the turbines were delivered to Crimea against the terms of the contract and despite high-ranking assurances from Russian officials that this would not happen. Berlin was consulting on what consequences this “unacceptable” operation might have, she said, adding, however, that the onus was on companies to ensure they did not violate the sanctions regime.  The proposed additions to the blacklist could include Russian Energy Ministry officials and the Russian company that moved the turbines to the Black Sea peninsula, one senior diplomatic source in Brussels said. Another source said representatives of all 28 EU member states could discuss the matter for the first time in Brussels as soon as Wednesday.  The EU needs unanimity to impose or extend any sanctions. Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy and Cyprus are among EU states which are usually skeptical of Russia sanctions. They take the line that punitive measures have failed to force a change of course by Moscow while hurting European business. Reuters first reported a year ago on the Siemens case, which has exposed the difficulties of imposing EU sanctions.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः जर्मनी सीमेंस क्रीमिया टर्बाइनों को लेकर रूस पर यूरोपीय संघ के और प्रतिबंध चाहता है-सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief of staff of the U.S. Army, General Mark Milley, said on Thursday he had no advance knowledge of President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender individuals from the military before his announcement via Twitter on Wednesday, but added that was not unusual. “I personally did not, but nor would I have expected to,” Milley said.

Summary: सेना प्रमुख को ट्रम्प के ट्रांसजेंडर प्रतिबंध के बारे में कोई अग्रिम जानकारी नहीं थी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the House of Representatives intelligence committee’s investigation into U.S. allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election said on Thursday they would seek to ensure the FBI’s probe “is not impeded or interfered with.” “As a part of our responsibilities, we will be conducting rigorous oversight to ensure that the FBI’s own investigation is not impeded or interfered with in any way,” Republican Representative Mike Conaway and Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said in a joint statement, two days after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन रूसी जांच नेताओं ने एफ. बी. आई. जांच की रक्षा करने का वादा किया


SYDNEY (Reuters) - A citizenship crisis will loom over the Australian government for at least another two months after a court said on Thursday it would not begin hearings into the parliamentary eligibility of seven lawmakers until mid-October. Australia s parliament has been rocked by the revelation that the seven lawmakers, including the deputy prime minister and two other ministers in the coalition government, are dual citizens, meaning they are potentially ineligible to hold elected office. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull s center-right government holds just a one-seat majority in parliament and its popularity is sitting at six-month lows in opinion polls, meaning its future could rest on the outcome of the citizenship crisis. Turnbull s government had asked for an expedited ruling on the eligibility of the lawmakers, but Australia s High Court said on Thursday it would not begin the three-day hearing until Oct. 11. The delay means the crisis threatens to further erode support for Turnbull. The next national election is not due until 2019 but political analysts say prolonged poor poll results could encourage a leadership challenge.  Turnbull needs to urgently remove the doubt around the credibility of his government, which has already caused him great harm,  said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia. The High Court ruling also threatens to create a parliamentary impasse for Turnbull if his deputy, Barnaby Joyce, is disqualified. Joyce, the leader of the rural-based Nationals, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, has said he was a joint New Zealand citizen when he was elected last year. If Joyce is disqualified by the court over the citizenship rules, Turnbull would have to rely on the support of the often fractious independents in parliament to have any hope of passing legislation. The possible deadlock also threatens consumer sentiment, analysts said, a bad sign for Australia s somewhat sluggish economy. Turnbull brushed away any suggestions that the court could deliver a ruling that would doom his government.  We are very, very confident that our members who have been caught up in this will be held by the court to be eligible to sit in the parliament and therefore eligible to be ministers,  Turnbull told reporters in the rural town of Albury, 555 km (345 miles) south of Sydney. A 116-year-old law demands an elected lawmaker only have Australian citizenship, but some have discovered they hold dual citizenship by descent of a father being born in another country, such as neighboring New Zealand, or Britain or Italy.

Summary: अदालत द्वारा नागरिकता की सुनवाई में देरी के बाद ऑस्ट्रेलियाई सरकार को दो महीने के लिए अनिश्चितता का सामना करना पड़ा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration has been contacting U.S. energy companies to ask them about their views on the U.N. global climate accord, according to two sources with knowledge of the effort, a sign Trump is reconsidering his 2016 campaign pledge to back out of the deal. The sources, who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the subject, said many of the companies reached by the administration had said they would prefer the United States remain in the pact, but would also support reducing U.S. commitments in the deal.  The accord, agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015, would limit planetary warming in part by slashing carbon dioxide and other emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. As part of the deal, the United States committed to reducing its emissions by between 26 and 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The sources did not name the companies contacted.  One of the sources said the companies were “publicly traded fossil fuel companies,” and added the White House would consider their input in making a decision on the Paris accord shortly. The source said the White House has been leading the discussions with the fossil fuel companies and the State Department, which represents the United States in climate negotiations, had not taken part.   A White House official declined to comment. Trump has called climate change a hoax and vowed during his campaign for the White House to “cancel the Paris Climate Agreement” within 100 days, claiming it would be too costly for the U.S. economy.  Since being elected he has been mostly quiet on the issue. In a New York Times interview in November he said he would keep an open mind about the Paris deal. He and members of his family and inner circle also met with climate change advocate and former Vice President Al Gore in December.     Officials for Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Peabody Energy Corp and others did not immediately comment when asked about whether they had been contacted by the White House about the Paris accord. But several, including Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, have expressed public support for the pact. The World Coal Association, which represents Peabody and other miners, has also said it supports the deal. Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Darren Woods recently called the pledges that came out of the Paris agreement an “effective framework” for dealing with emissions, and pointed to Exxon’s own work to cut its carbon emissions. In comments on Exxon’s website, Woods wrote: “I believe, and my company believes, that climate risks warrant action and it’s going to take all of us – business, governments and consumers – to make meaningful progress.”   Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s former CEO and now U.S. Secretary of State, also supported remaining a part of the climate change discussion during his confirmation hearing. He said he did not see climate change as an imminent national security threat but said the U.S. would be “better served by being at that table” and remaining a party to climate change negotiations. Conoco CEO Ryan Lance similarly said he favored the U.S. remaining in the Paris agreement, during CERAWeek comments last week, in part because it could create opportunities for its natural gas operations and its investments in carbon-capture and storage.  Benjamin Sporton, the president of the World Coal Association, had a similar stance: “With a number of well-developed carbon capture and storage projects, the United States is already a global leader in cleaner coal technology. Given the role given to low emissions coal technology in the Paris Agreement by many developing economies, there are clear benefits to remaining within the agreement.”  J. Robinson West, former chairman of Magellan Petroleum Corp., and now a managing director at Boston Consulting Group, said President Trump’s anti-Paris accord sentiments probably reflected his dealings with the CEOs of smaller companies that operate only in the U.S. “The independents are anti-climate change ... all this stuff costs them money. The global companies operate all over the world. They have to operate at one standard - the highest standard - wherever they operate,” he said.  Global oil companies have spent heavily on environmental initiatives in recent years. Exxon Mobil, for example, logged $4.9 billion in environmental spending in 2016, about 2.24 percent of total revenue, according to its annual report with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. ConocoPhillips spent $627 million, or 2.57 percent of revenue.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने पेरिस जलवायु समझौते पर अमेरिकी ऊर्जा कंपनियों से इनपुट मांगा


GOP leaders have unleashed a stunning level of vitriol against their party’s most successful presidential candidate.  House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), emphatically declared last week that he was not ready to endorse Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive presidential nominee. This move was unprecedented in modern American history. Trump’s response was that Ryan may need to be replaced as head of the Republican National Convention.  Ryan’s rebuke reminds Americans that Trump is deeply unpopular, particularly among a significant number of powerful Republicans. Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney belittled the GOP’s new leader as a moral cretin unfit to be the standard bearer. Former President George W. Bush and his father, President George H.W. Bush, both say they are not attending the GOP convention in Cleveland.  Such attacks, however, are nothing new.  Political elders have lambasted their party’s leading presidential contenders throughout U.S. history. The big difference now is that this battle is playing out in public. In the past, attacks were largely in party backrooms, behind closed doors.  To be sure, some serious breaks have been acted out in public. With dire results. President Theodore Roosevelt, for example, realized in 1912 that his progressive agenda was being abandoned by his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. TR challenged Taft in the Republican primaries. “We stand at Armageddon,” Roosevelt thundered at the convention, “and we battle for the Lord!”  When Taft prevailed, Roosevelt bolted the party. He ran as a third-party candidate in 1912 on a Progressive Party ticket. Ultimately, the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, won.  In most other cases, however, the internecine bloodletting took place in private, preserving the appearance of party unity and making it easier to heal any rifts.  The 1944 Republican nominee Thomas Dewey ignored former President Herbert Hoover at an important state funeral that October and drew the national leader’s ire. “Dewey has no inner reservoir of knowledge on which to draw for his thinking.” Hoover sneered to a friend. “A man couldn’t wear a mustache like that without having it affect his mind.”  Hoover, though, sought to keep his beliefs private  Former presidents have kept mum even when they see a nominee as a threat to their legacy. In 1964, for example, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn’t have much regard for Senator Barry Goldwater. The conservative firebrand had repudiated Eisenhower’s presidency as a “dime-store New Deal.” Nonetheless, Eisenhower gave only halting support to the party’s anti-Goldwater forces. Despite Eisenhower’s contempt, the Arizonan became the Republican nominee, only to lose in a landslide to President Lyndon B. Johnson.  Four years earlier, the Democratic power brokers were not as reticent. They viewed Senator John F. Kennedy, their party’s leading candidate in 1960, as too conservative and inexperienced. They disliked the campaign role of Joseph Kennedy, JFK’s father, and his controversial past. In addition, party leaders worried that JFK could not win national office because he was a Catholic.  During the primaries, Truman, the titular head of the party, told a TV news conference that a nominee should have “the greatest possible maturity and experience” -- a clear dig at JFK’s relative youth. The former president beseeched his party to hold a brokered convention and find a way to avoid nominating Kennedy. Eventually, however, Truman endorsed Kennedy in the general election, reasoning that GOP nominee Richard M. Nixon was worse  Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, also refused to back Kennedy during the primary. Even Kennedy’s promise to name Stevenson as secretary of state could not persuade him.  Still, most of the party elders’ scathing criticism against JFK was confined to backroom conversations. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, who also wanted the nomination, privately mocked Kennedy as “a scrawny little fellow with rickets.” Johnson urged Eisenhower to oppose Kennedy during the primary contest, calling him “a [Senate] nobody” and “a dangerous man.”  But Johnson’s efforts to stop Kennedy were not aired before the country in real time. In fact, 1960 demonstrated how the Democratic elders were able to prevent serious rifts from destroying their party’s chances. After securing the nomination, JFK offered — and LBJ accepted — the second slot on the ticket.  The resentment of party elders toward party nominees was often rooted in a sense that the candidate was repudiating a mentor’s record. In the 1960 GOP presidential race, for example, Eisenhower resented Vice President Nixon’s implication that he would offer more robust leadership. Close to Election Day, Ike was asked to name an instance when Nixon’s advice influenced a presidential decision. “If you give me a week,” Eisenhower replied, “I might think of one.”  In the reverse situation, Vice President Al Gore sought to distance himself from President Bill Clinton during the 2000 presidential campaign. Gore declared in his announcement that he would provide “moral leadership” and defend the American family — not-so-subtle knocks against Clinton’s sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The bitterness between the two men festered and Gore never asked Clinton to campaign with him. After Gore lost to George W. Bush, Clinton upbraided his former vice president for running a lame, visionless campaign.  The current spectacle — in which former Senator Bob Dole will likely be the only past Republican presidential nominee to come to the convention and endorse the party’s standard bearer — is partly a function of Trump’s scorched-earth multi-media campaign. His attacks have been leveled personally, in real-time, via Twitter and cable news. Wounds are deeper, and could be harder to heal.  Trump’s presidential primary campaign is the apotheosis of the anti-Washington mood that has gripped presidential politics since Jimmy Carter’s 1976 White House run. One reason Trump vanquished his foes was because he ran against the GOP’s leadership as out-of-touch and inept.  This played out even as party elders have less power to shape national tickets — and outsiders more ability to tear down anything that smacks of Washington politics-as-usual.  Republican-on-Republican hits on Trump and his main rival, Ted Cruz, have contributed to the fraying of the GOP. The anti-Trump former presidents, as well as current and former party chairmen and congressional leaders, have much at stake. They are fighting for, as they see it, their legacies, their party’s future, their professional identities — and their own power.  In recent decades, party elders have been clinging to an increasingly tenuous position. Think former Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost a primary election, as Sarah Palin recently noted. Or former House Speaker John Boehner, who was unable to control his party’s Tea Party wing. Boehner is still so incensed that he called Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) “Lucifer in the flesh.” As we are seeing now with Ryan, Trump’s ferocious public attacks could yet come back to haunt him. Unlike so many past presidential primaries, this rift might prove irreparable.

Summary: टिप्पणीः पार्टी के नेता अक्सर अपने उम्मीदवार को नापसंद करते थे। यह सार्वजनिक द्वेष है जो नया है।


NAIROBI (Reuters) - In a dramatic picture, Kenyan opposition lawmaker Caleb Amisi Luyai leans through the window of his car as tear gas billows out, police having fired it at a convoy of opposition politicians in Nairobi on Oct. 13. Police acted to prevent the politicians from entering the center of the capital to enforce a ban on staging political protests there ahead of a repeat presidential election. Kenya is holding a re-vote on Oct. 26 after the Supreme Court threw out the result of an election in August won by incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta. His opponent, Raila Odinga, is boycotting the repeat, arguing that it should not be held until wide-ranging reforms are adopted to prevent another failed vote. For Reuters photographer Baz Ratner, who took the image,  the main challenge is how to cover the story when the protests are moving very fast in a few different focal points around Nairobi . Ratner had ridden just ahead of the opposition convoy on his motorcycle when tear gas canisters were fired.  I stopped on the side of the road and put on my gas mask when I noticed one of the cars was engulfed in smoke. It was moving forward slowly, while I ran towards it as I took a few photos.  Ratner did not recognize the driver, Luyai, an opposition member of parliament, but saw him leaning out of the window and gesturing.  I helped him open the door. I walked to the other side where other people who were in the car were lying on the floor. Very quickly, the car drove away,  Ratner said.

Summary: एक तस्वीर और इसकी कहानीः नैरोबी में आँसू गैस


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is considering supplying arms to Myanmar s government in a sign of strong support for a neighbor that faces criticism for its crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. The arms were discussed during a visit by the chief of Myanmar s navy, Indian officials said on Thursday. The two sides also talked about training Myanmar sailors on top of the courses taught to its army officers at elite Indian defense institutions. India s decision to discuss enhancing military cooperation with its eastern neighbor appears part of a push to counter Chinese influence in the region. It comes at a time when Western countries are stepping up pressure on Myanmar s government for violence against Rohingya Muslims in its northwestern Rakhine state. Myanmar rejects the charge, saying its forces are tackling insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army who it has accused of setting fires and attacking civilians. Britain said this week it was suspending its training program for the Myanmar military, demanding it take steps to end the violence against civilians. On Wednesday, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar navy Admiral Tin Aung San met Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and the chiefs of India s army, navy and air force. The two sides are discussing the supply of offshore patrol boats, a military official said. The Myanmar navy chief also visited the naval ship building site in Mumbai as part of the four-day trip that ends on Thursday.  Myanmar is a pillar of our Look East policy and defense is a large part of the relationship,  said the official.  In 2013, India offered to supply equipment such as artillery guns, radars and night vision devices to Myanmar s army. Since then, the focus has shifted to naval cooperation as India seeks to push back against Chinese influence in the region.  The two sides are expected to increase coordinated patrols in the Bay of Bengal that help the two navies operate together.  The fact that the Indian government is receiving a high level military officer at a time when the international community is criticizing the military sends out a signal,  said K.Yhome who specializes on India s neighborhood policy at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.   The message is (that) India is with the Myanmar government so far as the Rohingya issue is concerned,  he said. Since the crisis erupted in Rakhine last month, New Delhi has been supportive of de facto leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi, condemning insurgent attacks on security forces that prompted a military crackdown against the Rohingya. Only later as international criticism mounted, India expressed concern at the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring Bangladesh. China has also stood by the Myanmar government. This week Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.N. Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres that it supported Myanmar s efforts to protect its national security and opposes recent violent attacks in Rakhine.

Summary: भारत ने समर्थन दिखाने के लिए म्यांमार की रक्षा आपूर्ति पर जोर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday took a jab at rival Hillary Clinton’s electability, pointing to the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server as evidence of potential damage to the front-runner’s campaign. “In terms of what people are going to get slapped with, look at the front pages today in terms of what Secretary Clinton is getting slapped with,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week,” referring to Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state. “There is a legal process underway right now,” he said. “And I’m not going to politicize that issue.”   Sanders, a senator from Vermont, had previously refrained from invoking the controversy over Clinton’s controversial use of a private email account on a private server. In an early Democratic presidential debate, he declared that the American people were “sick and tired” of hearing about it. But the issue has taken on new urgency in recent days as the two fight in an increasingly tight battle for the party’s nomination. On Friday, the U.S. State Department announced they would withhold seven private email chains from Clinton’s server, saying they contain top-secret information.  Throughout the dispute, Clinton has maintained that she did nothing wrong in conducting State Department business outside of an official server, arguing that it was permitted and that there was precedent for the practice.  When asked on Sunday whether she thought the call to withhold the email exchanges was political, Clinton shied away from outwardly accusing anyone but questioned the timing of the decision, which came just before Monday’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest in Iowa. “I just have to point out that the timing and some of the leaks that have led up to it are concerning,” Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week.”  “The best way to resolve is to do what I asked months ago, release these, let the public see them and let’s move on,” she added.  In Iowa, Sanders and Clinton are locked in a statistical dead heat, with Clinton earning 45 percent support of likely caucus-goers compared with 42 percent for Sanders, according to a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg politics. Nationwide, Clinton leads Sanders with 51 percent support to 40 percent, according to a Jan. 27 Reuters/Ipsos poll.  (Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: सैंडर्स ने ईमेल विवाद का हवाला देते हुए क्लिंटन की निर्वाचन क्षमता पर सवाल उठाए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since mid-2016, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has carried around a “postcard” that he has said shows how easy it will be for Americans to file their taxes once Republicans are finished their tax overhaul. And as recently as Thursday President Donald Trump touted Americans being able to “file their taxes on a single, little beautiful sheet of paper.”     With lawmakers finalizing the biggest tax reform in 30 years and the president ready to sign it into law before the end of the year, the moment should be near when Ryan’s postcard stops being a rhetorical prop and becomes a reality. Right? “It’s kind of crazy to say you can file on a postcard when, first, no one is going to put their Social Security number on a postcard. And second, you already have a giant postcard in the form of the 1040EZ,” Mark Mazur, a director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said, citing a 14-line Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form. Representatives from the $11 billion U.S. tax preparation industry said that the legislation so far seemed unlikely to render their services unnecessary. “I don’t think you’re going to have millions of people filing their taxes on a cell phone,” said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc [JAKHT.UL]. “I think the demise of the tax business is a bit premature.” The IRS would not discuss changes that might come from the proposed tax overhaul. However, the IRS estimates that, despite its efforts to make filing taxes easier, 90 percent of Americans use tax preparation services such as Jackson Hewitt, H&R Block Inc and Liberty Tax Inc or tax software such as TurboTax from Intuit Inc.     If Congress enacts the Republican plan into law, it would not affect 2017 tax-year returns filed in 2018. But in 2019,  millions of middle-class Americans would no longer gain from a wide range of deductions, credits and other tax breaks. A key driver of this, according to independent analyses, would be a proposed doubling of the standard deduction and a curtailment of the deduction for state and local tax payments. In combination, these two changes would mean that about 29 million people would no longer benefit from itemizing. So they would stop writing off their charitable donations, mortgage interest and state and local tax payments, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank. Itemized deductions for medical expenses, investment interest, unreimbursed employee expenses and tax preparation fees could also be dropped by many.  Personal exemptions for individual taxpayers, which now take up a lot of space on tax forms, would also be eliminated.  Such changes would mean simpler taxes and possibly allow a number of taxpayers to use shorter forms. The IRS expects 24 million people in 2018 to file the longest and most widely used IRS form today, the Form 1040, which is 79 lines long. About 4.6 million people will use the 14-line 1040EZ. Wealthy Americans likely would still itemize under the Republican plan. Owning businesses, homes and other factors could also lead to taxes being more complicated than what filers could describe on a postcard. “Even though we’re talking about simplification for a large number of taxpayers, there’s still many taxpayers who will have complicated tax situations and we’ll be there to help them as well,” said David Williams, chief tax officer for TurboTax. (Adds first name, title in 4th paragraph)

Summary: रिपब्लिकन योजना से पोस्टकार्ड आकार के कर रिटर्न की उम्मीद न करेंः विशेषज्ञ


LANY, Czech Republic (Reuters) - Czech election winner Andrej Babis will attempt to form a minority government after being shunned by other parties, Babis said on Tuesday after meeting the president. The country faces the possibility of months of political wrangling which could put approval of the 2018 budget approval at risk, potentially curbing investments that would help the economy keep growing at least at its current rapid pace. Babis said he hoped to have a new government put together by the Christmas holiday. His ANO party won a parliamentary election this month by a large margin, convincing voters it could deliver a more effective state, weed out corruption and distribute the fruits of economic expansion more fairly. Other parties have refused to back a government that includes billionaire businessman Babis, who is facing fraud charges regarding a 2 million euro EU subsidy. Babis denies any wrongdoing, calling the charges politically motivated. After meeting President Milos Zeman, Babis said he was  very sorry  the other parties had not given ANO a chance in coalition talks.  We will try to form a minority government and will try to convince lawmakers ... of other parties with our programme,  he told a news conference alongside Zeman. Zeman said he would give Babis a second attempt if his first try fails a confidence vote in the lower house. Forming a minority government would require support from other parties as ANO s 78 seats do not make up a majority in the 200-member lower chamber.  Only the Communists have said they could tolerate a minority government. Babis can be appointed prime minister only after Nov. 20, when the newly elected lower chamber of parliament opens its session. It has to elect a speaker before current Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka can vacate the position for his successor. This process could take long as some parties may try to prevent Babis  appointment by blocking the speaker s election.   In 2013, Zeman rejected a majority coalition in parliament after a centre-right cabinet had collapsed, and appointed Jiri Rusnok, the current Governor of the Czech National Bank, as prime minister. His government ruled for half a year without winning a confidence vote. Babis dismissed a suggestion by the head of the conservative TOP 09 party to block the speaker as  destructive and reckless .   The worst thing which could happen is that we would have a blocked parliament and a provisional budget,  he said. If a budget is not approved by the end of the year, a provisional arrangement kicks in, meaning the state would run with the previous year s budget, imposing severe limits on investments and other non-mandatory spending. Czech markets have taken the political uncertainty in their stride, with the crown trading near multi-year highs as the central bank looks set to continue raising interest rates this week. The country of 10.6 million has a history of shaky coalition governments. The outgoing centre-left coalition, led by the Social Democrats and including ANO, is the first in 15 years to finish its four-year term.

Summary: चेक चुनाव विजेता बाबिस अल्पसंख्यक सरकार की मांग करेंगे


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois’ overall financial condition deteriorated in fiscal 2015 as tax collections fell, with the state recording its fourteenth straight budget deficit, according to an annual audit released on Tuesday. The nation’s fifth-largest state ended fiscal 2015 on June 30 with a general fund deficit that grew to $6.9 billion from $6.7 billion in fiscal 2014, the comprehensive annual financial report by Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino showed. A temporary income tax hike enacted in 2011 partially expired midway through fiscal 2015, decreasing collections by $1.8 billion. “The state continues to show an inability to generate sufficient cash from its current revenue structure to pay operating expenditures on a timely basis,” the audit said. It also warned that budget deficits, along with growing unfunded liabilities for pensions and retiree healthcare, and credit rating downgrades “may impact the state’s ability to access credit markets to pay operational expenditures more timely and may increase interest costs of those borrowings.”  Illinois, which already pays a big penalty in the U.S. municipal bond market, has the worst-funded pensions and the lowest credit ratings among the 50 states. The state is in its 10th month without a full fiscal 2016 budget due to an impasse between its Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature.  Lawmakers returned to session this week after their spring break without any deal in sight for a fiscal 2016 or 2017 budget. The state’s liabilities, led by a $108.6 billion unfunded pension liability and $32.5 billion in payments due on bonds, dwarfed nearly $22 billion in assets, including buildings, infrastructure and equipment, resulting in a net deficit of $125.3 billion compared with $121.2 billion in fiscal 2014, the audit said. This left Illinois in the worst shape of the 42 U.S. states that have filed fiscal 2015 audits. Of the seven states that ended the fiscal year with a net position in the red - a list that also includes New Jersey, California and Kentucky - Illinois had the largest overall net deficit. Illinois’ budget stabilization fund was unchanged at $275.7 million, an insufficient amount to address cash management needs, according to state Comptroller Leslie Munger. Her office reported a $6.58 billion unpaid bill backlog on Tuesday.

Summary: इलिनोइस ने वित्त वर्ष 2015 में लगातार 14वां बजट घाटा दर्ज कियाः लेखा परीक्षा


HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Reuters) - Washington’s decision to lift its ban on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam is not aimed at China, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday, describing the move as “very normal” and not provocative. Kerry, who is accompanying President Barack Obama on a trip to Vietnam, also urged China to peacefully resolve disputes with its neighbours, including Vietnam, in the South China Sea. “Nothing we are doing here is focused on China,” Kerry told reporters in Ho Chi Minh City, a day after the lifting of a three-decade-old arms embargo on Vietnam. “That is very normal, not out of order and certainly not inflammatory,” he said, referring to the embargo. “I hope China will read this correctly because our hope is for normal respect for maritime law and for the relationships that are so key in this region.”     Kerry called on China to engage diplomatically with Vietnam and other neighbours to resolve disputes over territorial claims in the South China Sea. China’s island reclamation there has stoked tensions with the United States   “I would caution China, as President Obama and others have, to not unilaterally move to engage in reclamation activities and militarization of islands and areas that are part of the claims that are in contest,” Kerry added, repeating that the United States welcomed the rise of a strong China. “We’re not saying China is wrong in its claims, we’re simply saying resolve it peacefully, resolve it through a rules-based structure,” said Kerry.

Summary: वियतनाम से हथियारों पर प्रतिबंध हटाने का मकसद चीन नहीं हैः केरी


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday her office had received 45 complaints of inflated prices at Chevron Corp branded gasoline stations in the southern part of the state, as shortages worsened ahead of Hurricane Irma s expected U.S. landfall this weekend. More than 1,800 gas stations - more than a quarter of the state s total - were without fuel late Thursday, up from 1,200 Wednesday, ahead of Irma, which is battering the Caribbean with winds at speeds of around 185 miles per hour (300 km per hour). The storm is expected to hit Florida on Sunday.  Gasoline prices in Florida have risen sharply in the last week, with the average cost of a regular gallon of gas hitting $2.725 on Thursday, according to motorists advocacy group AAA. Suppliers and terminal operators said demand has soared as motorists in coastal areas flee. Shortages were more acute in southern Florida, according to Gasbuddy.com. More than 40 percent of stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area were without fuel and around 30 percent were empty in the West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce areas, said Patrick DeHaan of Gasbuddy.com.  So Chevron, if you re watching me right now, you need to call us and tell us why your prices are inflated in south Florida,  Bondi said on Fox News.  Chevron has said several times this week it has no tolerance for price gouging at its stations. No retail outlets in Florida are directly owned by the company. The company reiterated that on Thursday, saying consumers should report price gouging to Bondi s office.   Our fuel supply agreements with independently owned Chevron and Texaco stations in the state and elsewhere require them to comply with all laws,  spokesman Braden Reddall said in a statement.   Port Everglades, the major point of fuel delivery for south Florida, is set to close Friday evening. At Tampa Bay, three ships made deliveries Thursday morning, unloading 1.2 million gallons each, said Samara Sodos, a spokeswoman for the port, adding that the port received five deliveries on Wednesday. One terminal operator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his terminal typically loaded 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day onto trucks every day, and expected to hit 40,000 to 45,000 on Thursday.  Concerns about shortages spread beyond Florida as Caribbean fuel terminals closed and residents began evacuating other coastal U.S. states, including Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Georgia said on Thursday it will close its ports Friday night because of Irma.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा ने शेवरॉन गैस की कीमतों पर शिकायतों का हवाला दिया क्योंकि कमी बढ़ रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Rifle Association said on Wednesday it stood by its position on terrorism watch lists and access to firearms, saying sales to potential buyers who are on the lists should be delayed while they are investigated by the FBI. In a statement, the gun lobbying group said it welcomed a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It also said protections needed to be put in place to allow people wrongfully put on a terrorism watch list to be removed.

Summary: आतंकवाद निगरानी सूची में शामिल लोगों को बिक्री में देरी होनी चाहिएः एनआरए


PARIS (Reuters) - France’s far-right National Front party leader, Marine Le Pen, voiced support for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would bring war and hardship to the world. Le Pen is a candidate in France’s April 2017 presidential election. While her increasingly popular party thrives on anti-immigration sentiment, she has been more careful in her speeches than Trump has been so as to make her party more mainstream. “As far as France’s best interest is concerned it’s, ‘Everything but Hillary Clinton’,” Le Pen told CNN in an interview hen asked which U.S. candidate she would support.  “It’s everything but Hillary Clinton because I believe Hillary Clinton means war, Hillary Clinton means devastation, destabilizing the world, economic choices that would be devastating for my people, geostrategic choices that would lead to global conflicts.” Opinion polls see Le Pen making it to an early May run-off in France’s presidential election but losing that second round to a mainstream candidate as a majority of voters do not want her as president, despite her growing popularity. She shares with Trump a strategy that banks on presenting herself as “anti-system.”  “What we have in common is that we’re not insiders, we are not taking part in the ‘system’, we depend on no one and do not take our orders from any financial institutions,” she told CNN in the interview taped and released on Wednesday. Trump has been rebuked by opponents for his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. He has faced criticism even from within his own party for comments seen as insulting women, Muslims and Mexican immigrants.

Summary: ट्रंप का समर्थन करते हुए फ्रांस के ली पेन ने कहा, 'हिलेरी क्लिंटन के अलावा सब कुछ'


PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech police have requested parliament lift the immunity of prospective prime minister Andrej Babis to allow prosecution in a case involving alleged fraud in tapping European Union subsidies, the lower house s press office said on Tuesday. Babis, whose ANO party was the runaway winner in a parliamentary election in October on pledges to run the state better and fight corruption among traditional parties, denies any wrongdoing and has called the charges politically motivated.      Police suspect the billionaire businessman hid ownership of the Stork s Nest farm and convention center almost a decade ago to get a two million euro EU subsidy that was part of a program aimed at small businesses.  Lawmakers already voted in September to allow his prosecution, but Babis won immunity again with his re-election. He said on Tuesday the new request to lift immunity was further evidence of a campaign against him.   The speed at which they are coming after me again only shows what huge fear the corrupt system has; how much this old system is afraid of me and how tenaciously they are trying to get me,  Babis was quoted by CTK news agency as saying. President Milos Zeman has tasked Babis with forming a government, but the case has hurt his chances of assembling a coalition as almost all of the other eight parties in the lower house have refused to work with him if he faces police charges. Babis instead is aiming for a minority cabinet, which may be appointed in the coming weeks, but still faces the prospect he may lose a vote of confidence in the 200-seat lower house.  His party won 78 seats in the election and he has not found other support than possible tolerance from the Communist party with 15 seats.  A failure to win confidence would trigger two more attempts to form a cabinet, which could take months, while Babis s team would hold office in the meantime. Most parties have said they would vote to lift immunity again but it was not clear if a majority would be found. The case also involves ANO s deputy chairman Jaroslav Faltynek, who has denied wrongdoing. Babis entered politics in 2011 and had sat in the outgoing center-left government. He moved his holding in his business empire - valued at $4 billion and comprising numerous companies in food processing, agriculture, chemicals and media - to trust funds earlier this year.

Summary: चेक पुलिस ने संसद से भावी प्रधानमंत्री बाबिस के खिलाफ मुकदमा चलाने की अनुमति देने को कहा


NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from some Muslim-majority countries heat up again next week when two U.S. appeals courts consider whether it is constitutional. The legal fights may end up at the U.S. Supreme Court perhaps in the fall, many months after Trump first issued an executive order in January saying there was an urgent need to halt some immigration to the United States for 90 days while officials reviewed the visa process.          Trump dropped the original travel order after unfavorable legal rulings and replaced it with a more limited ban which is itself now being challenged in appeals courts on two coasts. Arguing that the United States needed to tighten national security measures, Trump’s attempt to limit travel was one of his first major acts in office. The fate of the ban is one indication of whether the Republican can carry out his promises to be tough on immigration and national security. Omar Jadwat, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, who will be arguing the case at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia on Monday, said the fact that so much time has passed since the ban was issued is proof that there was no pressing national security need for it in the first place. The court fight will give those challenging the order an opportunity to argue that the government never intended for the travel pause to be temporary, said Buzz Frahn, an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in Palo Alto, California whose firm has been closely tracking the ongoing litigation.  Now almost 100 days after the original travel ban, the government says the period of 90 days was reset when the administration issued the new order in March. The Department of Homeland Security “is, and will be, continuously examining ways to enhance the screening and vetting process to shut down terrorist and criminal pathways into the United States,” agency spokesman David Lapan said. “Some improvements will be classified, others will be public, but the Department has only just begun ways to enhance the security of our immigration system,” he said in an email. Opponents - including states and civil rights groups - say that both the first ban and the revised ban, which also put a halt to all refugee admissions to the country for four months, discriminates against Muslims.  The government argues the text of the order does not mention any specific religion and is needed to protect the country against attacks.      The 4th Circuit will decide the fate of a ruling from a Maryland district judge that struck down a section of the revised executive order barring visitors from Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.  The hearing will take place before 14 full-time judges of the appellate court. Ten of them were appointed by Democrats, and four by Republicans.  Then, on March 15, a three-judge panel at the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review a decision from a Hawaii judge that halted not just the travel portion of the ban but also the section that barred refugees. The judges – who will sit on a panel in Seattle - have been assigned but their identities have not been made public. The 9th Circuit blocked Trump’s first ban in February, in a unanimous vote by one Republican-appointed judge and two-Democratic appointees. Trump lashed out at the ruling on Twitter and said he is ready for a fight at the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court is more likely to hear a case if the federal appeals courts reach opposite rulings or if the issue is of great national importance, according to legal experts.       But the Supreme Court’s session ends in June, and if it take the case it would probably not be heard until after the justices return in October.

Summary: ट्रम्प अगले सप्ताह अमेरिकी अदालतों में यात्रा प्रतिबंध वापस ले लेंगे क्योंकि लड़ाई जारी है


AMMAN (Reuters) - Protests broke out on Wednesday in areas of Jordan s capital Amman inhabited by Palestinian refugees in response to U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, witnesses said. Youths chanted anti-American slogans in Amman, while in the Baqaa refugee camp on the city s outskirts, hundreds of youths roamed the streets denouncing Trump and calling on Jordan s government to scrap its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.  Down with America.. America is the mother of terror,  they chanted. King Abdullah s Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Amman sensitive to any changes in the status of the city, whose eastern sector was captured by Israel from Jordan in a 1967 war. Many people in Jordan are descendants of Palestinian refugees whose families left after the creation of Israel in 1948.

Summary: जेरूसलम पर ट्रंप के कदम को लेकर जॉर्डन में फलस्तीनी विरोध प्रदर्शन शुरू


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jay Clayton, the Wall Street attorney tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Thursday defended himself against Democrats’ charges that multiple conflicts of interest would force him to miss too many SEC votes. Clayton, a partner at elite law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, is expected to win confirmation easily, although some Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee raised concerns about his ties to Wall Street and Goldman Sachs, a bank he represented during the financial crisis and that employs his wife, Gretchen.  His wife plans to resign from the bank if Clayton is confirmed, and he said he will recuse himself from matters involving his or the firm’s clients for two years. Some clients have included Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Bill Ackman’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management and former Ocwen Financial Corp Executive Chairman William Erbey. Clayton told the panel his Wall Street legal experience is a “strength,” adding he did not think conflicts of interest would present problems in leading the agency that enforces securities laws and regulates U.S. stock, options and bond markets. “As far as the extent of my practice and whether the recusals that would be required for potential conflicts will impair my ability to act as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, I do not believe they will do so,” he said. Clayton, a political independent, told the committee the Dodd-Frank financial reform law should be “looked at” to determine if it has achieved its goals. When pressed on certain parts of the law, such as whether the SEC should delay implementing a rule requiring companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of workers, Clayton declined to wade into the debate until he could get more information from SEC staff. In their questioning, Republicans led by panel chairman Mike Crapo of Idaho said the SEC should help make it easier for companies to raise money, a goal the Trump administration has embraced. Clayton said that SEC regulations should be clear and lean, saying complexity creates confusion. Companies are taking longer to go public and compliance costs are a deterrent, he said, but he did not offer policy solutions to the problem. Throughout the hearing, Democrats including Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, repeatedly said Clayton’s Wall Street relationships are a worry. “In today’s confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, the matter of conflicts of interests was the skunk at the party,” said Lisa Gilbert, a vice president of legislative affairs for Public Citizen, which has criticized Clayton’s Wall Street ties. Clayton’s potential recusals could be significant because the commission currently only has two sitting members: Democrat Kara Stein and Republican Michael Piwowar. If Clayton recuses himself and the remaining two disagree, any measure before the commission would fail. He stressed he did not see this as a major concern because most enforcement votes are “unanimous.” Clayton also said he strongly believes in holding individuals accountable for wrongdoing, adding it could be a greater deterrent than coming down on corporations. The SEC only has civil jurisdiction and cannot bring criminal prosecutions. Democrats also questioned if Clayton is willing to stand up to Trump and his appointees. Warren pointed to billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who is advising Trump on regulation, and asked Clayton about Icahn using his high-profile role to boost his own investments. Icahn has a controlling stake in a refinery that could benefit from a change he has proposed to the U.S. biofuels program and a 24.57 percent stake in Herbalife Ltd, which is under investigation for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Clayton acknowledged he met with Icahn after he was nominated to discuss the role of activist investors, but was careful not to judge Icahn’s roles as investor and White House adviser. Violations of insider trading laws generally entail a “facts and circumstances analysis,” he said. Current and former SEC staff have told Reuters they are confident that Clayton will make a strong SEC chairman. Former Republican SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher, who has known Clayton since the financial crisis, attended the hearing Thursday and gave him high marks. “His demeanor is perfectly fitting for an SEC chairman,” he said.

Summary: सीनेट पैनल ने संघर्षों पर एसईसी उम्मीदवार क्लेटन पर दबाव डाला


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A little-known Chinese elevator maker saw its Shenzhen-listed shares surge the maximum 10 percent on Wednesday. The reason? The company s name resembles that of Wang Huning, a Chinese Communist Party theoretician who was elevated on Wednesday to China s apex of power.  The frenzied buying in Hangzhou Huning Elevator Parts Co, whose business has nothing to do with Wang, offers the latest example of the enduring influence of short-term speculators, despite regulators  stepped-up campaign against  pump and dump  trading. The government is introducing more foreign institutional investors, hoping they can help improve the trading culture in the country s stock market - sometimes likened to a casino. U.S. index publisher MSCI will include China A-shares in its global indexes next year. But Wednesday s surge in Huning Elevator shows that many investors still pick stocks merely by name, not fundamentals.  This is pure speculation, spurred by irrational euphoria. It has nothing to do with fundamentals,  said Yang Hai, analyst at Kaiyuan Securities.  Heady investors who chased the stock will be burnt.       Trading in Huning Elevator was calm in the morning, but that changed after the Communist Party revealed around midday its new Politburo Standing Committee, the country s top policy-making body. The seven-man unit included Wang, a one-time law professor from Shanghai who has risen steadily up the party s ranks but mostly operated behind the scenes. When the stock resumed trading in the afternoon, a buying spree pushed it up the maximum 10 percent. It gave up some gains in afternoon trading and closed up 6 percent. The elevator maker, which cannot be immediately reached for comment, forecast roughly flat nine-month profit on Oct. 13. Name-based stock-picking is not uncommon in China, especially during major political events. Last November, when news headlines pointed to a likely presidential election win for Donald Trump, shares in Wisesoft Co Ltd - whose Chinese name sounds like  Trump s big win  - surged, while Yunan Xiyi Industrial- whose Chinese name bears resemblance to  Aunt Hillary  - slumped. And when Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election in 2008, speculators piled into home appliances maker Aucma Co Ltd, which sounds roughly like the Chinese pronunciation of Obama. Some listed firms in China even took advantage of speculators  preference for sexy names. In 2015, property developer Shanghai Duolun Industry changed its name to P2P Financial Information Services Co, in an apparent attempt to tap into investors  mania toward fin tech at the time, triggering a surge in its shares, before the bubble burst.

Summary: चीन के सट्टेबाजों ने राजनीतिक नाम के प्रचार पर 'हुनिंग' लिफ्ट फर्म को निशाना बनाया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China has confidence in its economic relations with the United States going forward and will continue to open up and provide broader market access, Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday. Zheng was speaking at a briefing about next week’s visit to China by President Donald Trump.

Summary: चीन ने ट्रम्प की यात्रा से पहले अमेरिका के साथ आर्थिक संबंधों में विश्वास व्यक्त किया


PARIS (Reuters) - France’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said new U.S. sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea appeared at odds with international law due to their extra-territorial reach. The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday for these sanctions, which could affect European firms. The foreign ministry said in a statement that French and European laws would need to be adjusted in response and added that discussions would be necessary at European Union level because of the potential impact on European citizens and firms.

Summary: फ्रांस का कहना है कि ईरान, रूस पर अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध अवैध लगते हैं


BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations refugee agency praised the European Union s refugee quota system for member states on Tuesday and urged Hungary to drop its resistance to taking in its fair share of migrants. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is facing criticism over his continued refusal to change his anti-immigration stance despite a ruling by the European Union s top court this month upholding the bloc s quota system.  My impression is there is a very clear intention to limit the number of people coming to Hungary to seek protection,  U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said during a visit to Budapest. Grandi said the EU s quota system, introduced at the height of the migrant crisis in Europe in 2015, provided a model for other countries worldwide.  This was an EU decision... we agree with that decision,  he said.  It was a very good example of sharing that responsibility. It could be used globally... Forced displacement is a global phenomenon like climate change. You can only address it through global solutions and solidarity.  Grandi, who earlier in the day visited a camp on the Serbian border where migrants are detained while their asylum cases are pending, said razor wire fences and tough legal measures conveyed the wrong message that asylum was a crime. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country took in the bulk of the migrants who entered the EU in 2015-16, has also urged Hungary to implement the EU court ruling. Grandi warned EU states in April not to send asylum seekers back to Hungary until Budapest amended a law that allows it to detain migrants at its border. EU rules allow member states to return refugees to the first safe country they reached on entering the 28-nation bloc. Orban has branded migrants - most of whom are Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa - a threat to Europe s historic Christian identity and a  Trojan horse for terrorism , and he has defended the asylum centers on Hungary s border. Grandi said migrants held there were not being mistreated but added that limitations on their freedom of movement while their cases are pending, especially for minors, raised problems.  Material conditions, food, medical care water, hygiene is acceptable,  he said.  The problem is the detention aspect. People are treated well but in a confined situation.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र शरणार्थी एजेंसी ने हंगरी से यूरोपीय संघ के प्रवासी कोटा योजना में शामिल होने का आग्रह किया


CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian military said on Monday its air force hit eight four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying arms and explosives at Egypt s western border with Libya, killing the militants on board. A military statement gave no details of the number of fatalities or about which militant group it suspected was transporting the arms. Last Friday Egypt s security forces suffered one of their deadliest attacks, when militants killed police officers using rockets and explosives in a remote area about 135 km (85 miles) southwest of Cairo.    Egyptian security forces have been battling an insurgency by Islamic State that was largely concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula but has in recent months extended to other parts of the country. Egypt has carried out air strikes in Libya occasionally since its neighbor descended into factional fighting in the years following the 2011 civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. In a separate statement, Egypt s armed forces said they had  raided a terrorist stronghold in northern Sinai, killing six very dangerous takfiris  - a term used by hardline Muslims to accuse other Muslims of apostasy.  The statement added that in the raid, which was carried out after the military received information of the stronghold, security forces confiscated  a large amount of arms and ammunition.

Summary: मिस्र की वायु सेना का कहना है कि लीबिया की सीमा पर हथियारों के काफिले पर हमला किया गया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday it was not possible to put a concrete figure on the amount of money Britain will have to pay the EU upon exiting the bloc because numbers may change in the future.  I have never quoted any figures and will not start today ... because they can change,  Barnier told a news conference. He said he was satisfied with the agreement between the EU and Britain that no EU country, including Britain, would have to pay more or receive less as a result of Britain s decision to leave the bloc in 2019.

Summary: वर्तमान में ब्रेक्सिट बिल के आंकड़े की गणना करना असंभव हैः यूरोपीय संघ के बार्नियर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The man who led President Donald Trump’s transition team for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Myron Ebell, told a conservative conference last month that the new administration is moving too slowly to unravel climate change regulations. In closed-door remarks to members of the conservative Jefferson Institute in Virginia on April 18, a recording of which was obtained by Reuters, Ebell said Trump’s administration had made a series of missteps, including delays in appointing key EPA officials, that could hamper efforts to cut red tape for industry. “This is an impending disaster for the Trump administration,” Ebell, a prominent climate change doubter, said in the recording provided to the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Reuters. Ebell was chosen by Trump’s campaign to lead the EPA’s transition until the Jan. 20 inauguration, a choice that had reinforced expectations Trump would follow through on promises to rescind Obama-era green rules and pull the United States out of a global pact to fight climate change. Ebell had been seen as a candidate for the EPA administrator job, a post that ultimately went to former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.  Ebell no longer works at the agency but remains influential within a faction of the U.S. conservative movement with ties to the Trump administration. His criticism reflects a broader disappointment by some conservatives about Pruitt’s focus and commitment to scrapping even more complex Obama-era regulations.         Since taking office, Trump and Pruitt have moved to unwind environmental regulations, including former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generators. But his administration has frustrated some conservatives by entertaining the idea of remaining in the Paris Climate Agreement, and hesitating to tackle the Obama-era “endangerment finding” that concludes carbon dioxide is a public health threat and underlies many U.S. regulations governing emissions. Lawyers have said challenging that scientific finding could be time consuming and legally complex.  Pruitt has said he does not want the United States to remain in the Paris agreement but he has not yet decided to tackle the endangerment finding. At least three conservative groups have filed petitions asking the EPA to overturn the finding. “Paris and the endangerment finding are the two big outstanding issues. It’s the first wave of things that are necessary to turn this country around, particularly in the heartland states,” Ebell said at the conference. Ebell cited the slow pace of key EPA appointments, including deputy administrator and various assistant administrators, a lack of experienced personnel at the White House, deep ideological divisions between the president’s close advisers, and an “imperfect choice” of EPA administrator, as the main reasons Trump was not acting more aggressively on climate rules. He said Trump strategists should have allowed his transition team to roll out the full de-regulatory agenda before Trump took office, instead of delaying. “The new president doesn’t have long before inertia sets in,” he said. He also found fault in Trump’s choice of Pruitt to run the EPA, saying the former state attorney is a “clever lawyer” but his “political ambition” may distract him from taking-on time-consuming efforts like challenging the endangerment finding.       A spokesman for Pruitt responded to Ebell’s assertions, saying Pruitt had been implementing Trump’s executive orders and had spearheaded “about two dozen regulatory reform actions” since taking up his position. Ebell also faulted Trump for choosing advisers with broadly different political perspectives and backgrounds - something he said was triggering paralyzing debate, instead of action. “He’s got people on different sides and they are all fighting over who gets these jobs and nobody has the clout except the president to say, ‘Hey fix this, let’s get this done,’” Ebell said.     In a statement given to Reuters on Saturday, Ebell said he is still concerned about the White House log-jam in nominating people for key EPA posts and the delay in making the Paris decision. But he said he supports Pruitt as an administrator and is encouraged by his recent actions. “Pruitt was an excellent choice to head the EPA, and minor disagreements aside, his recent actions have made me even more confident that he will be an outstanding administrator,” he said. A White House official did not respond to a request for comment.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रम्प ई. पी. ए. संक्रमण प्रमुख ने हरित नियमों को खत्म करने में धीमी प्रगति पर अफसोस जताया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday they will replace two top executives at the powerful bi-state agency that controls many of the region’s most critical transportation assets. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye, whom Cuomo appointed to the authority in 2011, and Chairman John Degnan, whom Christie appointed in 2014, are leaving. The shakeup comes amid a struggle to find a chief executive officer. This is a new position created under reforms intended to clean up the agency after the “Bridgegate” scandal raised questions of political meddling. Resuming the CEO search will be “one of the first priorities” for the incoming officers, Cuomo and Christie said in a joint statement. Replacing Foye is Rick Cotton, Cuomo’s special counsel since January 2015 who has overseen some of the governor’s highest profile infrastructure projects. Those projects include a replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge, a $4 billion public-private partnership to renovate LaGuardia Airport’s central terminal and the transformation of an historic post office into a grand waiting hall for Pennsylvania Station, the busiest transport hub in the nation. Tapped to lead the board is Kevin O’Toole, a lawyer, Christie ally and former long-time state senator who joined the board in March. O’Toole and Cotton are expected to be sworn in at a special meeting of the Port Authority board on Thursday. The authority has been slow to fully adopt governance changes after the Bridgegate controversy. In 2013, a former Port Authority executive, David Wildstein, shut down lanes at the George Washington Bridge to cause massive traffic jams as punishment for a local mayor who declined to support Christie’s gubernatorial re-election bid. In his resignation letter to Christie on Tuesday, Chairman Degnan said he was “disappointed” that the CEO position has not yet been implemented. He highlighted changes including posting board meeting agendas and materials online well in advance, allowing the public to comment before board votes, and new guidelines on recusals and oversight. Degnan had championed a replacement for the authority’s crumbling 42nd Street bus terminal in Manhattan, helping to secure about $3.5 billion for the project in the authority’s latest capital plan. Degnan told Reuters in an email that he did not have specific plans other to “increase my attention to nonprofit boards I sit on and watch my grandchildren grow up.”

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क, न्यू जर्सी के राज्यपालों ने पोर्ट अथॉरिटी के नेतृत्व की जगह ली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise version of an annual defense policy bill on Thursday without controversial provisions such as requiring women to register for the draft or allowing contractors to make religion-based hiring decisions. Ninety-two senators backed the $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, and seven opposed it. Because it passed the House of Representatives by a similarly large margin last week, the bill now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law. A White House spokesman told a briefing he did not yet have a position on the bill to report. The 2016 bill, the last of Obama’s presidency, includes some Republican-backed initiatives with which he has disagreed in the past. It includes a $3.2 billion increase in military spending, when there has been no similar increase in non-defense funding. The bill also bars closures of military bases, although top Pentagon officials say they have too much capacity, and it blocks planned reductions in active-duty troop numbers. And it continues policies that bar transfers of prisoners to U.S. soil from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Obama had hoped to close. While his administration has shipped most inmates from the controversial prison, the Democrat is not expected to accomplish his goal of shuttering it before he leaves office Jan. 20. Obama’s successor, Republican Donald Trump, wants to keep Guantanamo open, and expand it. The NDAA passed both chambers in the Republican-led Congress with margins large enough to overcome a veto, and the compromise legislation features many provisions such as a military pay raise and an expansion of a landmark human rights bill, that are extremely popular in Congress. [L1N1E316A] After months of negotiation, the Senate and House Armed Services committees unveiled a compromise version of the NDAA last month that left out the Russell Amendment, a “religious freedom” measure Democrats said would have let federal contractors discriminate against workers on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, overturning Obama’s executive order. Some House Republicans said they hoped to revisit that provision after Trump takes office, when they do not have to worry about a veto threat from a Democratic White House. The bill also excluded a provision that would have required women to register for the military draft, now that Pentagon leaders are moving to allow them into combat. A provision recommending that the U.S. conducts yearly high-level military exchanges with Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province, made it into the final bill. China’s defense ministry said in a statement on its official microblog on Friday that it was “firmly opposed” to the move, which would “inevitably damage U.S. interests”.

Summary: अमेरिकी कांग्रेस ने $618.7 बिलियन का वार्षिक रक्षा विधेयक पारित किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian military observers had to pull out of a joint ceasefire control group due to Kiev s determination to solve the crisis in the rebel-held eastern regions of the country by force, a spokesman for Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Earlier this week, the ministry said it was recalling officers serving at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination in Ukraine, accusing the Ukrainian side of obstructing their work and limiting access to the front line. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said on Thursday that the United States encouraged the resumption of large-scale bloodshed in eastern Ukraine by Washington s approval of lethal arms sales to Ukrainian army.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि कीव के युद्ध ने उसके पर्यवेक्षकों को पूर्वी यूक्रेन छोड़ने के लिए मजबूर किया


LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday it was time to ramp up the pace of Brexit talks after the European Union s chief negotiator said they were deadlocked over money.  We re looking for some urgency from our friends and partners, time to put a bit of a tiger in the tank and get this thing done,  he told reporters.  We think ... that we ve made some very helpful suggestions to get the great ship moving down the slipway and on to the open seas, that is what we all want to see. We see no reason why that should not take place.   Brexit talks are deadlocked over money, the EU s Michel Barnier said on Thursday as he ruled out discussions on future trade being launched by EU leaders next week but spoke of possible progress by December.  The prime minister has made it very, very clear that we are going to get a deal, we are working for a great deal, but obviously we must make the right preparations as and when it is necessary for a no-deal scenario,  Johnson said.   Of course that s the responsible thing to do and that s what we are going to do.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के बोरिस जॉनसन ने यूरोपीय संघ से कहाः ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता के टैंक में एक बाघ डालें