BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand s Supreme Court convicted and sentenced former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison on Wednesday for mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions of dollars. Yingluck fled abroad last month fearing that the military government, set up after a coup in 2014, would seek a harsh sentence. For more than a decade, Thai politics have been dominated by a power struggle between Thailand s traditional elite, including the army and affluent Bangkok-based upper classes, and the Shinawatra family, which includes Yingluck s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was also ousted by a coup. Yingluck had faced up to 10 years in prison for negligence over the costly scheme that had helped get her elected in 2011. She had pleaded innocent and accused the military government of political persecution.  Nine judges voted unanimously to find Yingluck guilty in verdict reading that took four hours, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. The court said Yingluck knew that members of her administration had falsified government-to-government rice deals but did nothing to stop it.  The accused knew that the government-to-government rice contract was unlawful but did not prevent it ...,  the Supreme Court said.  Which is a manner of seeking unlawful gains. Therefore, the action of the accused is considered negligence of duty,  it said.  A former commerce minister in her government was jailed for 42 years last month for falsifying government-to-government rice deals in connection with the subsidy scheme.  Norrawit Larlaeng, a lawyer for Yingluck, told reporters outside the court that an appeal was being discussed. The Shinawatras had commanded huge support by courting rural voters, helping them to win every general election since 2001, but their foes accused them of corruption and nepotism. Under the rice scheme, Yingluck s government bought rice from farmers at above-market prices, leading to stockpiles and distorted global prices. Losses amounted to $8 billion, the military government has said.  Yingluck s Puea Thai Party defended the scheme on Wednesday.  The Puea Thai Party believes in the various schemes that the party introduced during the previous administration,  Phumtham Wechayachai, secretary-general of party, said. Yingluck was banned from politics for five years in 2015 but remained the unofficial face of the party and the populist movement that supports it. Kan Yuengyong, executive director of the Siam Intelligence Unit think-tank, said Wednesday s sentence marked the end of her political career, adding that it was unlikely she would return to Thailand in the near future.  Politically, this is an execution for Yingluck. The verdict has effectively taken her out of politics,  Kan told Reuters. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said the Puea Thai Party was now  rudderless .  Pheu Thai officially becomes rudderless and will have to regroup under new leadership. If it is not dissolved and if its leader is more compromising, then maybe Thailand can move on,  he said.  The bottom line is that the Shinawatras have corruption problems and their elected governments are flawed but their unintended legacy of helping and connecting with the masses will need to be openly adopted by their opponents if Thailand is to move on.  Dozens of supporters had gathered outside the court to hear the verdict on Wednesday. That was far fewer than on Aug. 25, when the court was originally scheduled to deliver its verdict, only to find out that Yingluck had fled the country. Though her whereabouts has not been disclosed by either her aides or the junta, Reuters reported last month that she had fled to Dubai where Thaksin has a home and lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a 2008 jail sentence for corruption.  Neither Yingluck or Thaksin commented publicly immediately after the verdict. Nothing has been heard from Yingluck since she fled the country, and one of her lawyers, Sommai Koosap, told Reuters outside the court on Wednesday that she has not been in contact.  Photos posted on Instagram this week by one of Thaksin s daughters show Thaksin in London.  None of the photos features Yingluck. The leader of the junta, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Tuesday he knows where Yingluck is but would not reveal it until after the verdict is read. Thai authorities investigating how Yingluck escaped said last week they have questioned three police officers who admitted to helping her.

Summary: भगोड़े थाईलैंड के पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री यिंगलुक को उनकी अनुपस्थिति में पांच साल की जेल हुई


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Twelve migrants, apparently from North Africa, have been sailing to and fro on a Danish passenger ferry between Istanbul and Odessa for the last seven weeks locked in four cabins, with no country willing to take them. According to the Danish DFDS ferry operator, Turkey and Ukraine both refuse to accept the men, who have been violent and threatening suicide.  There has been a tendency to violence and aggressions and they have threatened to jump overboard... so there is no alternative to locking them inside the cabins,  a DFDS spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.  DFDS has hired Turkish guards and invited authorities from the United Nations aboard to question the men of which they believe at least six are Moroccans and four Algerian. The origin of the remaining two is still unknown. The Danish Foreign Ministry has opened negotiations with Turkey, Ukraine and, since the ferry is sailing under the Lithuanian flag, with Vilnius.  The problem can be solved. All it takes is a quick decision from Ankara or Kiev,  a source in the Danish Foreign Ministry with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters.  A spokesman for the Ukrainian border service said the men wanted to go from Turkey to Romania but got on the wrong ferry and ended up in Ukraine, where they cannot be taken in because they do not have documents.  The problem is that Turkey doesn t want to take them, but Turkey should take them because they sailed from Turkey,  he said, adding that in accordance with the bilateral agreement, the country that delivered these people should take them back.  That s why they ve been cruising about on that ferry,  he said. A Turkish foreign ministry official said the case was being followed  with all related institutions .     DFDS suspected that the young men, in spite of various security measures, boarded by hiding in a trailer that was loaded onto the ferry.        According to the ferry operator, the best solution would be if Ukraine or Turkey agreed to take the migrants, or to get final confirmation as to where the men are from, so they can be sent back to these countries.  It is completely unsound that we should handle thi,  DFDS said.  This is a situation the border controls should handle, not a transportation company.

Summary: यूक्रेन और तुर्की के बीच नौका पर पकड़े गए प्रवासी यात्रियों के लिए कोई देश नहीं


(Reuters) - The family of an Australian woman who was fatally shot wants the Minneapolis policeman involved charged, their attorney said on Tuesday, the same day investigators sent the evidence collected to the local prosecutor. State investigators did not release their findings in the July 15 shooting of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40, who died from a single gunshot fired by Officer Mohamed Noor. The policeman was in a patrol car with Officer Matthew Harrity.  Damond had called police about a possible sexual assault near her house and had approached the police after their arrival, authorities previously said. Damond was living in Minneapolis and engaged to be married. The shooting sparked outrage in Minnesota as well as in Australia, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the incident  shocking  and  inexplicable.  Minneapolis  police chief resigned after city officials said procedures had been violated during the incident and Damond  didn t have to die.  The attorney for Damond s family, Bob Bennett, said her family believes the officer should be held accountable.   They certainly believe charges are merited,  he said in a telephone interview. The most likely charges may be second-degree manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years, Bennett said.     Attorneys for the officers could not be reached. Noor previously expressed condolences to the Damond family in a statement, but declined to discuss the shooting. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman will review the case file to determine what, if any, charges might be brought after the findings were submitted Tuesday, according to a statement. A decision is expected by the end of the year, his office said. Harrity told investigators he was startled by a loud sound near the patrol car shortly before Noor fired through the open driver s-side window, striking Damond. Court documents said a woman slapped the back of the car before the shooting. Noor was put on paid leave after the shooting. Neither officer had their body cameras activated, police have said. Damond s family has not yet filed a civil lawsuit, Bennett said. He is the same lawyer who reached a nearly $3 million settlement for the family of black motorist Philando Castile who was shot and killed by Minnesota police in July 2016 during a traffic stop. Because of past criticism over a lack of transparency when grand juries consider possible charges in police shootings, Freeman plans to decide on charges himself, his spokesman said. Freeman s office said in a statement it might ask for additional investigation into the matter.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलियाई महिला के परिवार ने मिनेसोटा पुलिस वाले पर आरोप लगाने की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will review briefing documents from his staff this weekend on potential Supreme Court nominees, the White House said on Friday, as a tough political fight loomed with Senate Republicans over filling the pivotal vacancy. The White House arranged for photographers to snap pictures of Obama carrying a thick binder filled with papers during his walk from the Oval Office to his residence on Friday night as he ponders who to pick to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. Earlier in the day, the president and first lady Michelle Obama paid respects to Scalia as the late justice’s body lay in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall. “The president’s team, over the course of this week, has spent a lot of time preparing materials for the president’s review, and I would expect, over the weekend, that the president will begin to dig into the materials that have been prepared for him,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Earnest gave no clues about who Obama might pick but said the lengthy briefing materials included information about “some potential nominees” including career accomplishments and experience. The court’s ideological balance of power is at stake, and Obama’s nominee could tip it to the left for the first time in decades. Scalia’s death left the court with four conservative and four liberal justices. Obama phoned Senate leaders, including Republicans who have threatened to block any nominee made by the Democratic president to replace Scalia. Obama made it clear in his calls with two key Senate Republicans, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, that he will nominate someone for the job, Earnest told reporters. McConnell has said the seat should remain vacant until Obama’s successor takes office next January so voters can have a say in the selection when they choose a new president in the Nov. 8 election. Obama also spoke with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Earnest said. Reid said on Thursday after speaking with Obama that he expected the president to name his pick in “a little over three weeks.” Earnest declined to discuss a timetable for Obama’s decision, and said the president’s staff had not yet provided a “short list” of candidates.

Summary: ओबामा ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट के संभावित चयनों पर शोध करने की कोशिश की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican infighting over the fate of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children could be so vitriolic that the party loses control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, said in an interview airing on Sunday. Bannon, whose far-right views on immigration, climate and trade helped shape Trump’s presidential campaign and his first months in office, was fired by the Republican president last month in a push to end factional fights within the White House. In an interview with the CBS program “60 Minutes,” Bannon predicted Republicans could lose control in the House in the 2018 congressional elections because of a looming battle over what to do about 800,000 immigrants known as “Dreamers.” Trump said last week he would scrap a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that allowed the young immigrants to live and work in America. Bannon supported ending the program, which had been put in place by Democratic former President Barack Obama. Trump gave the Republican-controlled Congress six months to come up with an alternative, saying he would “revisit this issue” if lawmakers could not agree. “I’m worried about losing the House now because of this,” Bannon told CBS. “If this goes all the way down to its logical conclusion, in February and March it will be a civil war inside the Republican Party,” he said. “And to me, doing that in the springboard of primary season for 2018 is extremely unwise.” Republicans are divided over the Dreamers. Some believe they are illegal immigrants who are taking American jobs, while others say they contribute to the country and deserve compassion. Bannon, who said he left the White House on his own terms, lashed out against “establishment” Republicans who have at times grappled with Trump, a real estate celebrity who had never before held elected office. “The Republican establishment is trying to nullify the 2016 election,” Bannon said, saying it was an “open secret on Capitol Hill” that many Republicans did not support Trump’s agenda, and singling out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan for criticism.     “They do not want Donald Trump’s populist, economic nationalist agenda to be implemented,” Bannon said. He called Republican national security officials who had served in the George W. Bush administration “idiots,” including former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, and former Vice President Dick Cheney. “I hold these people in contempt, total and complete contempt,” Bannon said, blaming them for U.S. trade problems with China and involvement in Iraq. “They’re idiots, and they’ve gotten us in this situation, and they question a good man like Donald Trump,” Bannon said.

Summary: आप्रवासन लड़ाई के कारण रिपब्लिकन 2018 में अमेरिकी सदन हार सकते हैंः बैनन


GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) -  There is more work to be done  to unlock Brexit talks, British Prime Minister Theresa May was told on Friday, as the European Union repeated an early December deadline for her to move on the divorce bill and border with Ireland. May met fellow leaders on the sidelines of an EU summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, to try to break the deadlock over how much Britain will pay on leaving the bloc in 16 months. She signalled again that she would increase an initial offer that is estimated at some 20 billion euros, about a third of what Brussels wants. But without any immediate plans to detail which financial commitments Britain was planning to cover and with a growing row with Ireland over their shared border, European Council President Donald Tusk, who coordinates Brexit for the bloc s other 27 leaders, concluded Britain must take further steps. He increased the pressure on May to make progress by early  December, in time for the EU to react at a summit on Dec. 14-15, or risk losing a chance to push the talks to a discussion of future trade ties, something London desperately wants so it can offer some certainty to nervy businesses. Asked about Brexit minister David Davis complaining that Britain had made  all the running  in finding compromises on the third key divorce issue   the rights of expatriate citizens, Tusk said pointedly:  I can say only that I really appreciate Mr. Davis s English sense of humour.   He told the news conference:  While good progress on citizens has been made, we need to see much more progress on Ireland and on the financial settlement.  In order to avoid any ambiguity about our work calendar, I made it very clear to prime minister May that this progress needs to happen at the beginning of December at the latest.  It was an echo of the ultimatum issued by the EU s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who a week ago gave Davis until the end of the month to detail the British approach to the financial settlement   and effectively increase the money on the table. But Tusk, who met May earlier on Friday, added another demand - more progress on the future status of the border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which Britain says is almost impossible to make without discussing the future trade deal as that would determine the kind of customs needed. Under pressure at home from members of parliament in her own party who are concerned she is preparing for Britain to walk away with no deal and from the EU, May has tried to gloss over the differences and emphasise how far the talks have come.  We ve agreed that good progress has been made. More does need to be done. But we re clear, and I m clear, that what we need to do is move forward together and that is how we can ensure that we are going to get the best deal for the United Kingdom and the European Union,  May told reporters. But a growing row with Ireland broke into the open on Friday, with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney saying Dublin was not ready to allow the talks to move onto a discussion of future trade next month. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar went further.  I can t say in any honesty that it s close on the Irish issue or on the financial settlement,  he told Sky News.  After 40 years of marriage, most of them good, now Britain wants a divorce but an open relationship the day after.  With German Chancellor Angela Merkel absent from the summit because of government formation talks in Berlin, it was left to French President Emmanuel Macron to speak for the heavyweight powers which are taking a tough line with London:  We won t change the agreed process in any way, and we won t open talks on the future relationship as long as the conditions set in the first phase have not been met,  he said Sweden. But May, weakened after losing her Conservative Party s majority at a June election she did not need to call, has little room for manoeuvre. Some of her team of ministers are pressing her to hold off from naming a figure, seeing it as one of the few levers Britain has to press for better trade deal. Despite the tough language, Tusk offered some hope.  I feel much better, safer after my meeting with Theresa May, everything is possible,  the former Polish premier said.  There was very visibly goodwill on both sides. We still have a chance to achieve our first goal   to achieve the finalisation of the first phase of negotiations. I am very cautious. But optimistic.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने मई से कहा, ब्रेक्सिट को खोलने के लिए दो सप्ताह


(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit China around the end of January to promote her vision of a  global Britain  whose economy is strongly placed to succeed after Brexit, Sky News reported on Wednesday. May s office has pencilled in a trip on or around Jan. 31. She will be accompanied by a delegation of business leaders drawn from across the UK economy, Sky reported, citing insiders.  China is one of the countries with which Britain hopes to sign a free trade pact once it leaves the EU. Plans for the trip have not been finalised and remain subject to change, Sky added.

Summary: ब्रिटेन की मई 31 जनवरी के आसपास चीन की यात्रा करेगीः स्काई न्यूज


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two leading House Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday intended to curb corporate tax inversion deals by preventing companies from lowering the effective tax rates of U.S. business operations after moving their headquarters overseas. A bill, authored by the top Democrats on the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees, would limit the ability of newly inverted companies to engage in a tax strategy called “earnings stripping,” which the lawmakers said often follows an inversion deal.    Corporate inversions, an issue for anti-establishment voters in this year’s presidential and congressional election campaigns, typically occur when a U.S. company buys a foreign firm and then relocates its headquarters to the foreign company’s home country, if only on paper, in a bid to reduce overall taxes. The Obama administration has taken policy steps to discourage such deals. But only Congress can eliminate the option through tax reform, a prospect unlikely until after the Nov. 8 election. “We cannot continue to allow companies to shift their tax obligations onto American workers and families simply by changing their mailing address,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Van Hollen introduced the “Stop Corporate Earnings Stripping Act of 2016” with Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. The lawmakers said newly inverted companies have stripped their U.S. operations of taxable earnings by loading them with debt that produces tax-deductible interest payments. The payments are made to the new foreign parent or another foreign affiliate as interest income that often pays a reduced or zero tax rate. The new legislation would reduce or eliminate financial thresholds that allow companies to pursue the earnings-stripping strategy after inversion.

Summary: हाउस डेमोक्रेट्स ने कंपनी कर व्युत्क्रम पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए विधेयक पेश किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - Springer Nature, which publishes science magazines Nature and Scientific American, said on Wednesday it had pulled access to a small number of articles in China to comply with regulations, adding that it viewed the move as regrettable but necessary. The decision comes after Britain s Cambridge University Press (CUP) said in August it had removed from its website in China about 300 papers and book reviews published in the China Quarterly journal, after a request from the Chinese government. CUP, the publishing arm of elite Cambridge University, later reversed its decision and reposted the articles, following an outcry from academics, who attacked the decision as an affront to academic freedom. In a statement, Germany-based Springer Nature said that less than one percent of its content had been  limited  in mainland China.  This action is deeply regrettable, but has been taken to prevent a much greater impact on our customers and authors,  it said.   This is not editorial censorship and does not affect the content we publish or make accessible elsewhere in the world. It is a local content access decision in China done to comply with specific local regulations,  it added. The Financial Times said at least 1,000 Springer Nature articles had been blocked in China, containing sensitive key words like Taiwan, Tibet and Cultural Revolution. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up censorship, tightened controls on the internet and various aspects of civil society, and strengthened Communist Party authority over academia and other institutions. Beijing said in September that Chinese importers of foreign publications must verify the products were legal. China s State Council Information Office did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment sent after office hours.  In not taking action we ran the very real risk of all of our content being blocked,  Springer Nature said.  We do not believe that it is in the interests of our authors, customers, or the wider scientific and academic community, or to the advancement of research, for us to be banned from distributing our content in China.  Cambridge University Press had said it had blocked articles on topics including the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, the 1960s Cultural Revolution and Tibet, in order to keep its other academic and educational materials available in the country.

Summary: स्प्रिंगर नेचर चीन में कुछ वस्तुओं तक पहुंच को अवरुद्ध करता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Party progressives intent on reining in Wall Street are pushing Hillary Clinton to choose people to head the Treasury, SEC and other agencies who will crack down on big banks if she wins the White House on Nov. 8. “Do they have a proven track record of challenging corporate power?” asked Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a grassroots group aligned with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the party’s liberal firebrand. In meetings with Clinton’s team, progressive groups are urging that she break sharply with the centrist, pro-business bent of some of the economic leaders who served her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and President Barack Obama. Big U.S. banks are voicing concern about both Clinton and Donald Trump, her Republican rival who has accused corporate America of buying influence in Washington. Among Democratic progressives, a favorite for Treasury secretary is Sarah Bloom Raskin, now deputy Treasury secretary and a backer of strict enforcement of the Volcker Rule that prohibits banks from making some types of speculative investments. “I view proprietary trading as an activity of low or no real economic value that should not be part of any banking model that has an implicit government backstop,” Raskin, then a Federal Reserve governor, said in a 2012 speech. Democratic activists, who believe Obama did not go far enough at the height of the 2007-2009 financial crisis to punish bankers and tighten regulation, want to make sure Clinton keeps her campaign promises to defend the 2010 Dodd-Frank reforms and build on them to curb Wall Street’s excesses. Progressive priorities include ensuring the U.S. Justice Department pursues criminal cases against bankers, not just institutions. Some Democratic activists are wary of two potential  Treasury candidates - Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, and Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard - because of links to the Bill Clinton and Obama administrations. Sandberg was chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers in Bill Clinton’s administration and Brainard was a top lieutenant to Timothy Geithner, Obama’s first Treasury secretary.      Locked in a tight race with Trump, Clinton has said little about any future appointments. Her spokesman, Brian Fallon, said any speculation about personnel is “entirely premature” as Clinton is focusing on winning the election. She has no obligation to heed the advice of progressives like Warren or Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination. But Clinton risks a damaging intraparty rift early in her White House tenure if she ignores them. Kara Stein, a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and co-author of a book warning of the dangers posed by big financial institutions, are progressive favorites for SEC chair. Progressives also favor Gary Gensler, an adviser to Hillary Clinton, for a senior administration role because of his reputation as a tough regulator when he headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the Obama administration. Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said progressives have a “broad feeling of regret” that they did not exert more pressure on Obama to name officials committed to bold financial regulatory reforms. “It wasn’t so much that progressives lost, it’s that they didn’t understand the stakes at the time and didn’t get into the game until it was too late,” Hauser said. Warren, who would have a big microphone in any potential fight over U.S. Senate confirmation of nominees, in a speech last week at the Center for American Progress, warned Clinton against choosing people who work at big investment banks. “When we talk about personnel, we don’t mean advisers who just pay lip service to Hillary’s bold agenda, coupled with a sigh, a knowing glance, and a twiddling of thumbs until it’s time for the next swing through the revolving door, serving government then going back to the very same industries they regulate,” she said. The New York-based Roosevelt Institute think tank is seeking lesser-known candidates, some outside Washington, for at least 120 administration jobs. Their potential candidates include state attorneys general who have taken on for-profit colleges and handled large mortgage settlements.

Summary: निर्वाचित होने पर, क्लिंटन पर वॉल स्ट्रीट के सख्त शेरिफ नियुक्त करने का दबाव है


LANUS, Argentina (Reuters) - Adriana Rodriguez, a 59-year-old vendor at an open-air market in an industrial city in Argentina s Buenos Aires province, never imagined her home would be connected to the sewage system. But as business-friendly President Mauricio Macri invested in infrastructure ahead of Sunday s legislative election victory, sewage construction in her hometown of Lanus advanced to within two blocks of Rodriguez s house. She expects pipes to reach her home soon.   My husband and I thought we would die without getting connected to the sewage system,  she said.  It is a step forward.   Like many of the working-class suburbs surrounding Argentina s capital that collectively make up the country s most important electoral region, Lanus has long been a bastion of support for the Peronist movement, which generally emphasizes strong unions and redistributive policies. Macri s coalition, which initially struggled to appeal to the working class, went after those votes with a 150 billion peso ($8.7 billion) public works plan in Buenos Aires province, home to more than a third of Argentine voters. It paved roads and built express bus lanes after a decade of stagnant infrastructure investment under former populist President Cristina Fernandez. That helped Macri s  Let s Change  coalition defeat Fernandez in the province s Senate race on Sunday. In Lanus, Macri s candidate beat Fernandez with 40.8 percent of votes versus 38.9 percent. That compared to a virtual tie in an Aug. 13 primary.  People now identify  Macrismo  with public works,  said Marcos Buscaglia, founding partner at Buenos Aires political and economic consultancy Alberdi Partners.  It has given them a lot of hope to actually see paved roads, sewers, and the like.   When a Macri ally took over as Lanus mayor in December 2015 from a Peronist, just 35 percent of the city s residents were connected to the sewage system. The municipality is aiming for 100 percent connection by 2019, and state-run water service company AySA says it has invested 5.6 billion pesos ($321.7 million) in Lanus, including 60 sewage pipe projects benefiting nearly 300,000 residents. Some remain skeptical. Many of the projects are being financed with debt, a hot button issue in Argentina due to still raw memories of the country s 2001 debt default and economic crisis. In August, the Inter-American Development Bank pledged $305 million to fund water projects, including sewerage in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.  The moment will come when the lenders want to collect,  said Alberto Francisco, a 46-year-old shopkeeper in Lanus, a Fernandez supporter.  We will end up like in 2001: without money.

Summary: पब्लिक वर्क्स ब्लिट्ज ने अर्जेंटीना के मध्यावधि चुनाव में मैक्री गठबंधन की मदद की


(Reuters) - A proposal by the Trump administration to cut $190 million in funding for updating U.S. maps of flood-prone areas would trigger higher insurance rates or more homebuilding in risky locations, a consumer group said on Monday. Flood-mapping provides important details about where it is safe to build, whether flood insurance is needed and how to price coverage, Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, said in a statement. Slashing funding for the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) retooling of U.S. flood maps will lead to relying on old maps and construction in areas that are now flood prone, or hiking insurance premiums to pay for new maps, Hunter said. The White House 2018 budget, unveiled last Thursday, would eliminate a $190 million “discretionary appropriation” for the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) updating of U.S. flood maps and “explore other more effective and fair means of funding flood mapping efforts.” Costs for mapping have been shared by insurance policyholders and the federal government for the past 15 years, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA), which operates the flood insurance program.  “The president’s budget directs us to explore avenues to shift these costs away from general appropriations,” the FEMA spokeswoman said. Updating U.S. flood maps is seen by consumer and insurance industry advocates as a necessary step toward modernizing the U.S. flood insurance market. The White House 2018 budget is the first step in a long process that will be debated by U.S. lawmakers.  The NFIP, whose authorization is set to expire in September, could face other sweeping changes. The program is $24.6 billion in debt to the U.S. Treasury Department, the FEMA spokeswoman said.  Insurance industry groups are also concerned about the mapping proposal. “Understandably, we’re all concerned about the potential to undermine efforts to modernize the maps,” said Leigh Ann Pusey, president and chief executive officer of the American Insurance Association.  Still, the budget process is at an early stage, Pusey said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के बाढ़ मानचित्र कार्यक्रम में कटौती से बीमा दरों में वृद्धि हो सकती हैः समूह


VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria s conservative People s Party and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) said on Friday they had agreed on a commitment to the European Union and budget discipline as well as cuts in migrants  welfare benefits as basic policies for a new coalition government. People s Party leader Sebastian Kurz started coalition talks with the FPO last week after his party won a parliamentary election with 31.5 percent of the vote. Kurz s hard line on immigration and his decision to force a collapse of the current coalition with the Social Democrats, who came second, made the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) a natural partner. Some European leaders have expressed concern about the likely return to power of the FPO, which first became a major force in the 1990s under the late Joerg Haider, who praised Hitler s employment policies. Austria s new government will focus on  actively shaping the Austrian EU Council presidency and a commitment to further develop the European Union according to the principle of subsidiarity , FPO chief Heinz-Christian Strache said at a news conference with Kurz in Vienna on Friday. Subsidiarity is the principle that power should be exercised at the lowest feasible level.  Austria will take on the rotating EU Council presidency for six months from next July.  Kurz has repeatedly said that any government must have a clear pro-European orientation. However, just like Strache, he wants the EU to slim down and focus mainly on core issues such as trade and securing external borders. Kurz and Strache said they had also agreed to reduce inefficiencies in state spending to be able to cut taxes and meet EU budget criteria. Finance Ministry projections last month forecast Austria s 2018 structural deficit at 1.1 percent of GDP, well above an EU limit of 0.5 percent.  We are jointly committed to ensuring sustainable financing as the basis of our work,  Kurz said. The goal was  not to spend more than is earned . Details will be negotiated between the parties, he said.   Both parties called in their election campaigns for tax cuts for low earners and for companies, and both promised not to introduce a wealth or inheritance tax. To achieve this, they plan to reduce welfare benefits for migrants and consider introducing a five-year residence qualification for citizens of other EU countries to be eligible for welfare payments in Austria.  Three of Austria s nine provinces have already cut benefits for new arrivals, saying the system was being overstretched by an influx of refugees. Austria took in asylum seekers equivalent to more than 1 percent of its population in 2015, most of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के संभावित सत्तारूढ़ दल बजट अनुशासन, प्रवासियों के लिए कटौती पर सहमत हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Thursday it was paying close attention to evidence from a U.N. investigation that shows Syrian forces used chemical weapons in different attacks in 2017 and before. French President Emmanuel Macron said in May, barely two weeks after his inauguration, that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would represent a red line and result in reprisals.     U.N. war crimes investigators said on Wednesday that Syrian forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during the country s six-year civil war, including a deadly attack that led to U.S. air strikes on government planes. Syrian government forces carried out chemical attacks seven times between March 1 and July 7, according to the U.N. investigation, suggesting attacks would have taken place after Macron s warnings.   We are paying extremely close attention to the consistent evidence revealed by the commission regarding different types of chemical attacks on 2017,  a foreign ministry spokeswoman said in response to a question on what Paris would do if its red line had been crossed.   She said the foreign ministry called for those behind the April 4 sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, which killed more than 80 civilians, to be held to account.

Summary: फ्रांस सीरिया में रासायनिक हमलों पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र की रिपोर्ट पर पूरा ध्यान दे रहा है


BERLIN (Reuters) - The German military needs a  fifth-generation  replacement for its Tornado fighter jets that is hard to detect on enemy radars and can strike targets from a great distance, the chief of staff of the air force said on Wednesday. Lieutenant General Karl Muellner s comments are his clearest public statements to date on the Tornado replacement program. They indicate a preference for Lockheed Martin Corp s F-35 fighter jet, the only Western aircraft that meets those requirements. The air force last month issued a formal request for information about the F-35, as well as three other jets: the F-15 and F/A-18E/F, both built by Boeing Co, and the European Eurofighter Typhoon. Germany is kicking off the process of replacing its 85 Tornado jets, which will go out of service around 2030. The program could be worth billions of euros for the winning bidder in coming years.  Muellner told Reuters Germany would need to buy an off-the-shelf replacement that could enter service around 2025 to facilitate a smooth transition with the Tornado, noting that did not leave enough time to develop a unique solution. But he said changing warfare requirements and the need for a credible deterrent meant the successor fighter had to be  low-observable, and able to identify and strike targets from a great distance .   It will have to be a fifth-generation jet to meet the full spectrum of our needs,  Muellner said. Many German allies in Europe, including Norway, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Turkey and Denmark have selected the F-35 and some have received initial deliveries. Belgium is expected to make a decision next year. Lockheed is rolling out the red carpet, bringing its F-35 flight simulator to Berlin and offering members of parliament, ministry and military officials and a journalists a chance to  fly  the stealthy single-seat, single-engine fighter. It even printed a new version of its standard F-35 lapel pin in the black, red and gold colors of Germany s flag. Any new fighter jet purchase would have to be approved by parliament in the next two years and a contract signed by 2020 or 2021 to ensure deliveries by 2025. A purchase of around 100 jets would help ensure German industry got a decent share of work on the program. Steve Over, Lockheed s director of F-35 international business development, welcomed the comments and said Lockheed stood ready to support the German government in its selection process. He said most F-35 foreign military sales involved some work for companies in the buying country. Over told Reuters the price of the aircraft would have dropped to around $80 million by the time Germany would need to sign a contract. He said interest was growing in the F-35 given the changing threat environment.  It s really about giving nations a deterrent capability. Because if you re got the capability to take an airplane into another country s airspace and they don t even know you re there, that s an incredible deterrent,  he said. Muellner said he also strongly supported a Franco-German plan to develop a successor for its fleet of what will be 140  Eurofighter Typhoon jets, built by Britain s BAE Systems Plc, Italy s Leonardo and Airbus. The project, unveiled in July, would help preserve critical technology skills in Europe and allow Europe to develop its own low-observable technology, Muellner said. Airbus last week said that choosing an interim U.S. fighter that could eventually become a longer term commitment might interfere with the Franco-German fighter. Industry sources said a decision to order the F-35 would be negative for Airbus, which is part of the Eurofighter consortium and is seen as one of the key partners in the Franco-German initiative announced earlier this year. Muellner said the German air force had also committed to NATO to provide a fleet of 14 electronic warfare aircraft by the middle of the next decade, which meant it would likely have to buy around 20 such jets. Possible candidates could be the Boeing EA-18 Growler, a modified A400M transport plane that could provide stand-off jamming capability, or a modified Eurofighter, experts said. No decisions on that program have been made.

Summary: बवंडर प्रतिस्थापन पांचवीं पीढ़ी का होना चाहिएः जर्मन वायु सेना प्रमुख


BRASILIA (Reuters) - The arrest on Sunday of Joesley Batista, a billionaire meatpacker who implicated President Michel Temer in a corruption scandal, has actually improved the Brazilian leader s prospects of surviving graft allegations and serving out his term through 2018.    But the three-month political crisis triggered by the plea bargain allegations by Batista, formerly chairman of meatpacker JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), has consumed precious time that Temer has to pass legislation to overhaul Brazil s costly pension system and avoid a fiscal crisis in Latin America s largest nation. Temer and his coalition allies in Congress are confident they can block a second corruption charge that Brazil s top prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, is expected to file against the president by the end of the week. A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday authorized a new probe of Temer for suspected corruption involving a decree regulating ports, a day after a separate police probe into Temer s allies kept pressure on the president. Yet as long as Temer is in office, any charges against the president must be approved by the lower house of Congress in which he has retained enough backing to avoid trial by the Supreme Court.  Temer s political standing in Congress has improved a lot, because the economy is starting to grow again and the pressure of another corruption charge is falling,  said the government s deputy whip in the lower house, Beto Mansur.  The prosecutor s case has been weakened and the next charge will arrive here with little credibility,  he told Reuters. A new poll by Arko Advice consultancy, however, shows that most lawmakers do not expect pension reform to clear Congress until 2018, and passing the unpopular measure in the run-up to next year s elections may be an uphill struggle. A proposed overhaul of the pension system, the main contributor to Brazil s record budget deficit, was headed for approval in the lower house of Congress until accusations against Temer in May derailed his plans. In a bombshell plea bargain agreement in May, Batista confessed to bribing hundreds of politicians and gave prosecutors a taped conversation of the president. The recording appeared to show Temer condoning hush money payments to silence a witness in a sprawling corruption scandal. Just two weeks ago, however, another tape inadvertently submitted to prosecutors by Batista with other documents appeared to show he had been helped by a close aide to Janot in crafting the deal. The Supreme Court revoked his immunity and ordered his arrest for concealing other crimes. Beyond the embarrassment to Janot in his last days in office - he steps down as top prosecutor on Sunday - the revelation has given Temer s lawyers an opening to try to dismiss evidence provided by Batista, while strengthening the president s hand in Congress to fight any further charges. The credibility of Temer s accuser was further undermined on Wednesday by the arrest of Batista s brother Wesley, the chief executive officer of JBS SA, for alleged insider trading to avoid hefty losses related to the May plea bargain. Temer mustered enough support to block Janot s initial corruption charge from putting him on trial, in a 263-227 vote in the lower house on Aug. 2. That margin is expected to widen if a second charge comes before the house.  There is no motivation in Congress to remove president Temer. Many of the politicians who will vote are being investigated, so why would they empower the public prosecutors at this time?  said Lucas de Arag o, a political scientist and partner at Arko Advice. Still, Arag o said fighting the next charge will cost Temer more pork barrel and patronage for lawmakers and at least a 30-day delay for pension reform, leaving the Senate with little time to pass the bill in 2017. No less than 83 percent of lawmakers believe pension reform will not be passed this year, according to an Arko poll of 201 Congressmen last week. Temer has ordered his minister to restart the pension reform debate in Congress immediately so that it can be put to the vote in the house my mid-October.  The country lost 90 days. The economy could be recovering faster and growth would have been more robust if it had not been for this artificial crisis,  said a Temer aide who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Speaker Rodrigo Maia is expected to expedite the pension bill after Temer signed off on a bailout for his bankrupt state of Rio de Janeiro, a source on the economic team said.

Summary: जे. बी. एस. याचिका सौदे में गड़बड़ी के बाद ब्राजील के टेमर के लिए जोखिम कम हुआ


OCSENY, Hungary (Reuters) - Zoltan Fenyvesi s offer to host migrants for a free holiday in his guest house set off a backlash in this southern Hungarian village. His van s tires were slashed and angry locals railed against him. He says there was even a death threat. The controversy also triggered the resignation of the long-time mayor of Ocseny, a quiet village nestled among swathes of farmland 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Budapest, as well as national debate about Hungarians  tolerance levels. As right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban gears up for an election in April that he is widely expected to win, this four-bedroom guesthouse, just across the street from an elementary school and a Catholic church, has become an unlikely flash point for anti-migrant sentiment. Orban has taken a hard line on immigration which has included a barbed-wire fence on Hungary s southern border and tough laws criticized by human rights groups. He has also referred to the importance of maintaining  ethnic homogeneity . The measures have kept out migrants and shored up support for his Fidesz party since 2015 when at the peak of the crisis hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East crossed Hungary on their way to western Europe. Billboard campaigns, television ads and questionnaires sent to Hungarians to bolster Orban s platform have contributed to a surge in anti-migrant sentiment to record levels according to a survey by Tarki, a think-tank. Last week s town hall meeting in Ocseny to discuss Fenyvesi s offer, raised jointly with Migration Aid, a group set up to help migrants, descended into angry shouting and locals voicing fears of violence and robbery if migrants showed up.  Who can guarantee that the little boys and girls will not be harmed, like we heard of in other countries?  shouted a middle-aged woman in footage taken at the scene by local media.  Who will protect you if they sneak into your property at night and beat you to death?  she said. At one point, as Fenyvesi tried to make his case for hosting the migrants amid a cacophony of boos and whistles, a man walked up to him and took the microphone, prompting applause from the scores of agitated locals gathered at the town hall.  I thought I would be able to explain this (his offer of a free holiday),  said Fenyvesi, who has already hosted poor children, including Roma, at his guesthouse, which led to no such furor. Fenyvesi told Reuters that he had wanted to set a positive example after learning that a previous attempt to host some migrants for a holiday near Lake Balaton fell through due to local opposition.  It turned out otherwise. Very soon people started shouting and told me squarely they will have none of this,  Fenyvesi said in an interview. Once the meeting was over, Fenyvesi said he had received a death threat in the street from a local he did not want to identify. Later that night, someone slashed the tires of his  van parked outside the guesthouse. Tires on his son s vehicle were also cut. Police have launched an investigation.  Fenyvesi abandoned the project because of the outcry.    When 54-year-old Orban, whose Fidesz party is well ahead of its main rivals in opinion polls, was asked whether his government bore any responsibility for the anti-migrant feelings expressed by villagers in Ocseny, he said:  People have been lied to on the migrant issue so much, that they do not believe it is only children coming.   Orban told reporters ahead of a European Council meeting:  I fully understand them and it is very right that they have expressed their opinion so resolutely, so loudly and clearly.  With the main opposition Socialists in disarray after the resignation of their candidate for prime minister, nationalist Jobbik is emerging as Orban s main challenger in the 2018 vote. Dressed in a dark blue suit, Balazs Szabo, a Jobbik council member in nearby Szekszard called on Fenyvesi at the debate in the town hall to devote his goodwill to poor Hungarians and children in need instead. His remarks earned a big round of applause. Szabo, Jobbik s candidate for parliament, said locals invited him to the event. Janos Fulop, the independent mayor of Ocseny who quit because of the row, said there was no legal recourse to stop legally residing refugees coming to Ocseny, if they wanted to. Some of his local critics deemed that stance too soft even though Fulop himself is opposed to the idea of mass immigration.   But if there are such people here already, the country must meet its obligations under international law,  he said. Official data showed 881 migrants received some sort of state protection in Hungary, a country of about 10 million people, in 2017, including 75 granted refugee status.      I hope that people will find calm and talk to one another, but this will take time,  Fulop said. He resigned after seeing the divisions both in the village and within the local council. Reuters tried to interview more than 20 locals on a week-day morning near the guesthouse, to no avail. The few who spoke off-camera expressed relief that no migrants would come. With Fidesz dominating the public discourse on migration, Orban s government announced a campaign aimed at Hungarian-born U.S. financier George Soros for what it said was a plan to bring a stream of refugees to Europe. His spokesman has described the government s portrayal of him as  fantasy . Orban has vowed to fight a ruling by the European Union s top court that dismissed a challenge by Hungary and Slovakia against migrant quotas that reignited an east-west row that has shaken EU cohesion. Data from Tarki shows the proportion of people deemed as xenophobic shot up to 60 percent this year, rising 19 points from two years ago when the migrant issue came to the fore and more than double the levels seen in 2010, when Orban took power.  I do not think this is all due to the government s behavior, but it plays a very large role nonetheless,  Tarki researcher Endre Sik said.  Ocseny is not some sort of hell-hole from this regard,  he said.  These are average people, who have displayed non-average behavior, the groundwork of which was laid very firmly by the government.  The government declined to comment on the Tarki findings. Orban s chief of staff, Janos Lazar has said such feelings of distrust were inherent in Hungarians anyway. In a rare display of solidarity, the Roma mayor of Cserdi, a poor village also in southern Hungary, told local media that he would host any refugees rejected from Ocseny.

Summary: प्रवासियों के लिए छुट्टी के विरोध में हंगरी के ग्रामीण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has given immunity from prosecution to a State Department employee who helped set up and manage the private email server Hillary Clinton used for her work as secretary of state, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. A senior U.S. law enforcement official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign before joining the State Department with her and setting up the server in her New York home in 2009, the newspaper reported. (wapo.st/1RqkIk2) The Post described the investigation as a criminal inquiry, a label Clinton and her staff have resisted as they seek to reassure voters that the frontrunner to become the Democratic Party’s nominee in November’s presidential election is not in legal jeopardy. Clinton has said she did nothing wrong and that she believes the U.S. government will vindicate her. She has also apologized for what she said was poor judgment. In 2014, Clinton returned about 30,000 emails to the State Department, but said she “chose not to keep” thousands of others her staff deemed not to be work-related. Her staff have acknowledged that other work emails were not handed over, without explaining why. More than 2,000 of Clinton’s work emails contain classified information that could harm national security if exposed, according the State Department, including 22 classified as ‘top secret’, the highest level. The government forbids sending or storing classified emails through unsecured, non-government channels, and has prosecuted people for breaches. Brian Fallon, a Clinton spokesman, said in a statement that Clinton’s campaign was “pleased” that Pagliano was cooperating. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment on whether Pagliano had been granted immunity, and his lawyer did not respond to questions. Last month, a federal judge overseeing a civil lawsuit against the State Department ruled that department officials and aides to Clinton could be questioned under oath about whether her use of a private email system was an effort to skirt open records laws. The FBI is likely to ask Clinton and her aides in coming months how the server was set up and whether they knew they were sending classified information in emails, the Post reported. Pagliano has declined to testify to lawmakers, citing a constitutional right against self-incrimination. Republicans have called for Clinton’s prosecution. “This terrible error in judgment coupled with Clinton’s arrogant and dishonest claims shows she can’t be trusted with the presidency,” Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee’s chairman, said in a statement.  (Reporting by Eric Walsh and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler and Richard Borsuk) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: क्लिंटन ईमेल सर्वर स्थापित करने वाले राज्य विभाग के कर्मचारी को प्रतिरक्षाः वॉशपोस्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday it will bar certain scientists from serving on its independent advisory boards, a move critics say could open the way to more industry-friendly advisors on the panels. The EPA barred scientists who have won agency-awarded grants in the past, billing the step as a way to preserve the independence and diversity of the boards, which provide the scientific input for agency decisions around pollution and climate change regulation. “Whatever science comes out of EPA, (it) shouldn’t be political science,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, said in a release, adding that committee members will be “financially independent” from the agency.  Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate environment committee, said Pruitt’s decision was part of an EPA effort to “delegitimize the work of nonpartisan scientists.” Carper added, “this crusade endangers the health of every American, and it cannot be tolerated.” Pruitt signaled the move during a speech last week at the conservative Heritage Foundation, when he questioned the independence of scientists who have won past EPA research grants, and promised to “fix” the situation. During his election campaign last year, Republican President Donald Trump promised to roll back environmental regulations from Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration, including those limiting carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming, to make government more friendly to the drilling, mining, and manufacturing businesses.     The advisory boards were created by Congress to serve as a check on EPA policies and research. They include the EPA Scientific Advisory Board, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Board of Scientific Counselors.  Last year, the SAB questioned an EPA report that concluded that hydraulic fracturing - an oil and gas drilling technology that frees petroleum from underground shale formations - had no "widespread impacts" on drinking water despite evidence of problems in several states. (reut.rs/2h2GTrD) In June, Pruitt decided not to renew the terms of nine members of a separate body, the 18-member Board of Scientific Counselors. One of those members, Michigan State University professor of community sustainability Robert Richardson, told Reuters the move came as a surprise because the work they were doing was “apolitical.”     The EPA is also expected to announce three new members of the Clean Air advisory committee on Tuesday. Pruitt is an outspoken doubter of mainstream climate science, a consensus of scientists that carbon dioxide from human use of fossil fuels is a primary driver of global warming, triggering more frequent volatile storms, sea level rise, and droughts.  Pruitt has said he wants to set up a televised debate about the science of climate change between scientists who believe it is driven by humans and those that do not.

Summary: अमेरिकी ई. पी. ए. ने कुछ वैज्ञानिकों को स्वतंत्र सलाहकार बोर्डों से प्रतिबंधित कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership President Donald Trump quit as part of his pledge to protect American workers from “bad trade deals” may still serve to shape a revised NAFTA trade pact, U.S. officials and trade experts say. Trump threatened to ditch the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement too, but eventually decided to renegotiate the pact in talks with Mexico and Canada due to begin in mid-August. On Monday U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will offer first insights into the administration’s strategy when he presents Congress its objectives for the NAFTA negotiations. Several U.S. administration  officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Lighthizer will outline plans for updating NAFTA rather than seek a major overhaul of the agreement. While the administration has said it hopes to complete NAFTA negotiations by the end of the year, the strategy will not set a timeline, they say. Thus far, the Trump administration offered few specifics, other than expressing its desire to modernize the pact to account for digital trade that was in its infancy in the early 1990s and to tackle festering issues on labor, environment, intellectual property rights and state-owned enterprises.    Since those areas have already been addressed in the TPP negotiated under Democratic President Barack Obama and agreed by Canada and Mexico, the pact provides a useful template that could help speed up the NAFTA negotiations, U.S. officials say. They warn, however, that no final decision has been made on using TPP language. TPP requires members, for example, to allow independent unions, set working hours and safety standards and deter forced labor and has set higher environment standards than any other previous U.S. trade deal.  The pact also set a 70-year copyright term and eight years of patent protection for costly biologic drugs, significantly less than the 12 years applied in the United States. Lawmakers from the U.S. industrial heartland particularly want to see enforceable labor standards that would lift Mexico’s chronically low wages, which they blame for U.S. factories migrating south of the border. “A lot of the negotiators were just in the room a few years ago doing this stuff. They know where the bodies are buried,” said one business executive with knowledge of NAFTA deliberations. Some lawmakers want a more ambitious deal than TPP. “Donald Trump promised to get a better deal than TPP, and Americans are going to be deeply disappointed if he doesn’t follow through on NAFTA negotiations,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and an influential voice on trade matters. In particular, Canada and Mexico should be able to agree to U.S. proposals on digital trade and environment that got watered down in the final TPP text, Wyden told Reuters. “This is a once-in-a-generation chance to rewrite NAFTA. Trump can’t squander this opportunity.” The demands the Trump administration makes in the talks  could have far-reaching implications for U.S. trade relations across the globe, with China keen to make inroads with Mexico and Canada if the United States is seen to be pulling back. One area to watch will be the so-called rules of origin that determine how much regional content a product must have to be exempt from tariffs. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has frequently said NAFTA needed to tighten those rules to prevent China from using the trade bloc as a tariff-free “back door” to the U.S. market. Analysts say any U.S. demands for more specifically U.S. rather than broadly North American content for autos or other manufactured goods would be a tough sell, though Mexico has indicated it could be ready for some concessions to strengthen the region’s defenses against Asian competition. Christopher Padilla, former U.S. under secretary for international trade at the U.S. Commerce Department now at IBM, believes that merely “tweaking” the rules of origin would be enough to satisfy Trump’s political agenda, but it still may require companies to alter their supply chains. The clarion call from U.S. business groups in the lead-up to the talks is “do no harm.” U.S. and international companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars building integrated North American supply networks and Trump rang alarm bells in corporate boardrooms in April when he threatened to terminate the pact. Trump backed off after a furious lobbying effort, but analysts say he may still choose a “hard exit” if the talks fail to achieve his goal of shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico. NAFTA has quadrupled trade between the three countries, surpassing $1 trillion in 2015. Over a decade through to 2010, however, the United States lost nearly 6 million manufacturing jobs, a figure that resonates with Trump. U.S. trade balance with Mexico also swung from a small surplus in 1994 to deficits that have exceeded $60 billion for most of the past decade. (Graphic:tmsnrt.rs/2oYClp2) Fred Bergsten, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the administration would risk derailing the talks if it focused on reducing the trade imbalance with Mexico, like it has threatened to do. “We’re talking about an imbalance of $60 billion and there is no way under the sun that Mexico can eliminate that or even make a big dent in that without doing some really massive uneconomic distortion of trade flows.”

Summary: टी. पी. पी. के एक डब के साथ अपग्रेड करना नाफ्टा सुधार के लिए यू. एस. नुस्खा हो सकता है।


MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines  environment minister said he was hopeful that a ban on open-pit mining would be lifted before the end of the year after a government panel recommended its removal on Tuesday. Lifting the ban would allow the development of some big-ticket mining projects including the $5.9 billion Tampakan copper and gold mine. Open-pit mining is allowed under the mining laws of the Southeast Asian country, the world s top nickel ore exporter. However, the former environment minister Regina Lopez banned it during her 10 months in office, saying the environmental degradation ruined the economic potential of places where it was done. A staunch environmentalist, Lopez stepped down in May after she failed to win congressional confirmation. Roy Cimatu, a former soldier, replaced her and was confirmed in his post by lawmakers earlier this month. The Mining Industry Coordinating Council said in a statement that a majority of the panel voted to recommend that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources  lift the ban on open pit mining provided that mining laws, rules and regulations are strictly enforced.  Cimatu, who co-chaired the council with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, said he will follow the recommendation and present it at a Cabinet meeting in the first week of November.  Asked whether the ban will likely be lifted before the end of the year, Cimatu said:  Hopefully.   We will strengthen the regulatory environment surrounding the implementation of open-pit mining,  he told reporters. The Tampakan project in South Cotabato province on the island of Mindanao is the nation s biggest stalled mining venture. Its development was halted after South Cotabato banned open-pit mining in 2010, prompting operator Glencore Plc to quit the project in 2015.  Lopez has said the project would cover an area the size of 700 soccer fields in what otherwise would be agricultural land. Removing the ban would may also lead to the resumption of development of the $1.2 billion Silangan copper and gold mine , also in Mindanao, by Philippine miner Philex Mining Corp. Miners praised the panel s recommendation, saying it is a positive step for the industry.  Open-pit mining is an accepted method worldwide to extract shallow mineral deposits and a lot of our minerals are exactly that,  Ronald Recidoro, executive director of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, told Reuters by phone.  The challenge is for it to be done safely and the environment is protected during and after the mining is accomplished.  However, President Rodrigo Duterte said last month he supported the open-pit mining ban given the environmental damage it causes though he would give mining firms time to find other ways to extract minerals. Lopez, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, said open-pit mines pose  very high risks in tropical and archipelagic countries like the Philippines  where strong typhoons are normal.  The Philippines is not a fit and proper place for open pit mining,  she said.

Summary: फिलीपींस के पर्यावरण मंत्री को खुले गड्ढे में खनन प्रतिबंध समाप्त होने की उम्मीद


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress formally nominated Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the only candidates to run for the presidency of the party at a conference on Sunday. The official nominations, announced by an election official, come after months of campaigning across Africa s most industrialized economy set the stage for the start of voting by 4,776 delegates in the tight race between the two candidates.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के रामफोसा, डलामिनी-जुमा को औपचारिक रूप से एएनसी के अध्यक्ष पद के लिए नामित किया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed the expansion of NATO to allow Montenegro to join the alliance, hoping to send a message that the United States will push back against Russian efforts to increase its influence in Europe. The long-delayed vote was 97-2 in favor of Montenegro’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That was well above the two-thirds majority needed in the 100-member Senate to ratify Montenegro’s membership. There was no immediate confirmation of whether President Donald Trump would formally deposit the instrument of ratification, the last step in the U.S. ratification process. However, his administration had supported NATO membership for the tiny Balkan nation, one of Europe’s smallest, despite Trump at times criticizing the alliance as he campaigned for president last year. While campaigning, Trump accused other NATO members of  failing to pay their fair share while adopting a conciliatory tone toward Russia. But as president, Trump has pledged his support for the alliance. Reuters reported last week that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote to the leaders of the Senate this month to say Montenegro’s membership in NATO was “strongly in the interests of the United States.” On Tuesday, the only two “no” votes came from Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee, who had delayed the vote for months by refusing to allow a quick vote. Senate leaders held the more time-consuming roll call vote this week after receiving Tillerson’s letter. Paul had questioned the wisdom of allowing a country with just 650,000 residents and an army of just 2,000 to join the alliance, saying American taxpayers should not be forced to pay if Montenegro were attacked. Russia opposes NATO’s enlargement in the western Balkans. Backers said it was important to support countries like Montenegro to promote western values and push back against Moscow, which Montenegrin officials said was partly behind an alleged plot to overthrow their government during an election in October 2016. Moscow dismissed that accusation. “With a nearly unanimous vote, the Senate has sent a clear message that it stands firmly with Montenegro and against the Kremlin’s bullying,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. All 28 NATO members must ratify Montenegro’s accession in order for the country to join the alliance. Washington is among  the last to do so. (This story corrects vote to 97-2 in second paragraph)

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने नाटो में मोंटेनेग्रो की सदस्यता का समर्थन किया


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland plans to bar Ukrainians with  anti-Polish views , its foreign minister said on Thursday, emphasizing the nationalist credentials of his ruling party that often talks of the  historic wrongs  inflicted on Poles by their neighbors. Witold Waszczykowski said the policy was a reaction to disrespect shown at a Polish cemetery in the western city of Lviv, which was part of Poland before World War Two.  The foreign ministry said lion sculptures at the cemetery s entrances that hold shields inscribed with the Polish phrases  Always faithful  and  To you, Poland  had been covered up with boxes.  Waszczykowski said Ukrainians who express anti-Polish sentiments or make it difficult to maintain ageing Polish symbols in Ukraine would be refused visas. He did not say how the policy would be applied in practice.  At the moment, we are launching procedures that will not allow people with extremely anti-Polish views to come to Poland ... Those who demonstrate and use administrative instruments against Poland will also bear the consequences,  Waszczykowski told state-run TVP1 television.  Poland is home to between 1.5 million and 2 million Ukrainians who left their country seeking jobs after the 2014 Maidan uprising and conflict with pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine plunged their economy into recession. Despite Poland s support for an independent Ukraine that can stand up to Russia, tensions over the countries  troubled shared history have risen since the Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in Poland two years ago. Poland last year passed a resolution that declared the World War Two-era killing of tens of thousands of Poles by units in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)  genocide . Ukraine rejects that label, saying the killings were tragic and calling for reconciliation and forgiveness. Waszczykowski said Poland s sympathy for Ukraine s struggles with Russia must not push  historical issues  into the background.   It cannot be that geopolitics, that the Russian aggression will be an excuse and that for years we will not settle the issues that divide us,  Waszczykowski said.

Summary: पोलैंड 'पोलिश विरोधी विचारों' वाले यूक्रेनियनों पर प्रतिबंध लगाएगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected flamboyant former two-term Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appeal of convictions on corruption charges including attempted extortion from campaign contributors, wire fraud and other crimes. The court left in place last July’s ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the bulk of the convictions.     Blagojevich began serving a 14-year prison sentence in 2012. Prosecutors said Blagojevich was at the center of a conspiracy to seek cash, campaign contributions and jobs for himself and others in exchange for state appointments, state business, legislation and pension fund investments. Among those actions were attempts to leverage his authority as governor to appoint a U.S. senator from Illinois when Barack Obama left his Senate seat after being elected president in 2008, prosecutors said. Patti Blagojevich, the former governor’s wife, expressed disappointment with the court’s action. “We are hopeful that after the governor is resentenced, as a result of a federal appeals court tossing out five of the counts against him, that the highest court may be moved to take the case then,” she said in a statement released by a spokesman. “This was, of course, not the outcome that Rod, our daughters Amy and Annie, had hoped and prayed for. But we continue to have faith in the system.” Blagojevich, first elected in 2002, was arrested in 2008 while still governor and was impeached by the state’s General Assembly in 2009, becoming the first Illinois governor to be removed from office. His 18 convictions, five of which were thrown out by the appeals court, came in two jury trials. From the time of his arrest until his conviction, Blagojevich launched a national campaign to proclaim his innocence, appearing on television shows including Donald Trump’s program “Celebrity Apprentice.” Blagojevich was caught on court-approved wiretaps describing the Senate seat as something so valuable “you just don’t give it away for nothing.” Blagojevich added he might appoint himself if he could not get anything for the seat. He was known for his love of Elvis Presley, his tendency to quote poetry and his full head of carefully tended thick black hair. He was criticized while in office for rarely being in the state capital of Springfield, and letting legislation stall. Blagojevich was the fourth former Illinois governor to be convicted of criminal charges since 1973. The case is Blagojevich v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 15-664.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने इलिनोइस के पूर्व गवर्नर की भ्रष्टाचार की अपील को खारिज कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans made last-minute changes to their tax bill to secure enough votes to pass the sweeping legislation on Saturday and move on to negotiations this week on a final measure with Republicans in the House of Representatives. The deals enabled leadership to get four wavering Republican senators on board with the legislation by addressing issues such as deductions for state and local property taxes and the tax treatment of so-called pass-through enterprises.  Republicans also agreed to changes to help pay for the deals, including higher tax rates on the repatriation of U.S. corporate profits held overseas.   Following are some of the changes:  STATE AND LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES: Senator Susan Collins got Senate Republican leaders to include a federal deduction for up to $10,000 in state and local property taxes in the legislation, which eliminates a similar deduction for state and local income and sales taxes. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT,  estimates that the change will mean the loss of an additional $148 billion in federal revenue over the next decade, compared with a legislative proposal approved earlier by the Senate Budget Committee.   PASS-THROUGHS: Under pressure from Senators Ron Johnson and Steve Daines, Senate Republican leaders increased to 23 percent from 17.4 percent a deduction for the owners of pass-through enterprises including small businesses, S-corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships. JCT estimated revenue loss versus earlier legislative proposal: $114 billion.     FULL EXPENSING: Senator Jeff Flake, who had been a holdout over deficit concerns, agreed to vote “yes” after Republican leaders did away with an abrupt end to the full business expensing of capital investments after five years. Instead, the bill phases out full expensing in 20 percent increments over four years, beginning in year six. Flake said Congress would not have been able to suddenly eliminate full expensing and that benefit would have been left to bleed red ink for years to come.  JCT revenue loss estimate versus earlier legislative proposal: $34 billion.   MEDICAL EXPENSES: Collins also added language to reduce the threshold for deducting unreimbursed medical expenses for two years to 7.5 percent of household income from 10 percent.  JCT estimated revenue loss versus earlier legislative proposal: $4.6 billion.  RETIREMENT SAVINGS: Collins persuaded Republican leaders to retain catch-up contributions to retirement accounts for church, charity, school and public employees. No immediate JCT revenue impact estimate.   INDIVIDUAL ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Republicans rescinded an earlier provision to repeal the individual AMT but increased exemption amounts and phase-out thresholds to make the tax less onerous. JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $133 billion over a decade.   REPATRIATION: Senate Republicans increased tax rates on the repatriation of U.S. corporate profits held overseas to 14.5 percent for liquid assets and 7.5 percent for illiquid holdings, up from 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively. JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $113 billion.  CORPORATE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Republicans decided to retain this tax, after initially proposing its repeal. JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $40.3 billion.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्स-रिपब्लिकन ने अमेरिकी सीनेट कर विधेयक को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए साइड सौदों में कटौती की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. immigration officials have kicked off a new round of raids intended to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children who have entered the country illegally, according to a legal group that works with the immigrants. Immigration enforcement officers as of Friday had arrested about 40 women and children encompassing at least 18 Central American family groups in Texas, North Carolina, South Dakota and possibly other states, said Laura Lichter, an immigration lawyer and a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Reuters reported on May 12 that the raids were planned for May and June and likely would be the largest deportation sweep targeting immigrant families by the administration of President Barack Obama this year after similar raids in which 121 people were arrested over two days in January. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea declined to confirm that the new round of raids had begun but defended the administration’s deportation operations as a whole. “We stress that these operations are limited to those who were apprehended at the border after January 1, 2014, have been ordered removed by an immigration court, and have no pending appeal or pending claim for asylum,” Elzea said. The immigrants arrested in the latest raids have been sent to two ICE detention centers in Texas, according to Belle Woods, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The deportation operations are intended to deter illegal immigration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and curb crossings of the U.S.-Mexican border by Central Americans, U.S. officials have said. Lichter said ICE was not following its own policy in the raids. “It’s the same thing we saw in January. These people deserve asylum, but didn’t get a proper chance to have their cases heard,” Lichter said. The issue of illegal immigration has figured prominently in the U.S. presidential campaign, with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump promising to deport all roughly 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. The White House on May 13 defended its deportation policy after complaints from Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and congressional leaders that the sweep targeting Central American illegal immigrants is inhumane. “I’m against large-scale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities,” Clinton said at the time.

Summary: अमेरिकी निर्वासन छापे मध्य अमेरिकी परिवारों को लक्षित करते हैंः वकील


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration’s ability to win over the U.S. Supreme Court will be put to the test when the nine justices begin their new term on Monday with major cases awaiting on voting rights, religious liberty, union funding and class-action suits. President Donald Trump’s Justice Department already has flipped the government’s position in some important cases, reversing the stance taken under Democratic former President Barack Obama, and could have a receptive audience on the court, whose term runs through June. The addition of Trump’s appointee Neil Gorsuch in April restored the court’s 5-4 conservative majority, as the new justice prepares to begin his first full term. The administration has backed companies against employees and supported voting laws that critics say could prevent eligible people from casting ballots. [Graphic showing major cases: tmsnrt.rs/2y3eCs6] It also has reversed the Obama administration’s stance in support of protections for gay workers under federal law, an issue that could reach the court within weeks.  The Supreme Court generally gives special deference to the views of the U.S. solicitor general, the federal government’s top lawyer. Trump’s appointee Noel Francisco holds the job. But some justices may look dimly upon the government abruptly changing its position in cases. Former Justice Department lawyer Pratik Shah said a flip-flop can provide an opening for justices sympathetic to the view of the prior administration, who can ask: “What in the law has changed to warrant a different view?” The court’s oldest justice, 84-year-old liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has called the upcoming term “momentous” owing to the importance of the cases on the docket. On Tuesday, the term’s second day, the justices are due to hear a case that could help shape U.S. elections for decades involving the long-standing practice of a majority party manipulating electoral boundaries for future elections to try to cement their hold on power. Wisconsin is appealing a lower-court ruling that the way the Republican-led legislature redrew boundaries following the 2010 census was so far-reaching in its bid to marginalize Democratic voters that it violated the Constitution. In a case expected to be argued in December involving free speech, religious liberty and gay rights, the justices will weigh whether a Denver-area baker who cited his Christian beliefs in refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple can be penalized for violating a Colorado anti-discrimination law. The new administration has backed the baker, infuriating groups that support gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual rights. “President Trump said on the campaign trail that he’s an advocate for LGBT people, but actions speak much louder than words,” said James Esseks, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who works on gay rights issues. The Supreme Court on Monday canceled arguments that had been scheduled for Oct. 10 in what would have been the biggest case of the term, whether Trump’s ban on people entering the United States from several Muslim-majority countries amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against Muslims. The action came after a temporary ban expired and the administration announced a new set of restrictions. ‘ONE-TWO PUNCH’ A case on the first day of the term on Monday presents a rarity, with the administration facing off against one of the federal government’s own agencies, the National Labor Relations Board. “That will be a first for me in the nearly 25 years I have served on the court,” Ginsburg said at a Georgetown Law Center event on Sept. 20. The administration is no longer defending the NLRB’s position that employment agreements in which businesses require workers to waive their rights to bring class-action claims are invalid. The waivers compel workers to individually arbitrate disputes with employers rather than bringing collective lawsuits with co-workers. The court’s conservative majority is expected to be sympathetic to the arguments made by employers.  The court on Thursday agreed to hear a case that could end an important source of funding for unions representing police, teachers and other government employees. The dispute centers on fees that some states require non-union members to pay to unions in lieu of dues to fund collective bargaining and other organized labor activities.  Claire Prestel, associate general counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said those cases could lead to a “one-two punch against workers.” The Obama administration backed the unions in a similar case in which the justices ended with a 4-4 deadlock last year. The Trump administration may change course and back the anti-union challengers. In another about-face, Trump’s Justice Department has also sided with Ohio in its bid to revive a state policy of purging infrequent voters from voter-registration lists, reversing the Obama administration’s stance that the practice was illegal. Obama’s former attorney general, Eric Holder, joined a friend-of-the-court brief criticizing the reversal, saying the Trump administration policy departed from the government’s  interpretation of Ohio’s law dating back more than 20 years and spanning administrations from both parties. The justices are set to hear that case on Nov. 8.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत की वापसी के साथ ट्रम्प प्रशासन सुर्खियों में


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Monday said the United States needs to increase its military response against Islamic State in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting over the weekend, including additional bombings. The presumptive Republican nominee, in an interview on Fox News, said that he would address acts of terrorism in his speech at 2 p.m. EDT in New Hampshire, which he had earlier planned to use to target Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Summary: ऑरलैंडो गोलीबारी के बाद ट्रम्प ने सैन्य प्रतिक्रिया बढ़ाने का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has maintained a hiring freeze at the State Department even though it was lifted for the rest of the federal government, a spokesman said on Thursday, as the agency begins to downsize before Congress approves funding cuts.  Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed that the hiring freeze would remain until the plan to downsize and reorganize had been fully developed. He could not give a timeline for the reorganization. “We can’t be onboarding people when we don’t know what our reorganization is going to ultimately look like,” Toner told a briefing for reporters. Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would cut 28 percent of the budget for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. Republicans and Democrats in Congress, which approves the budget, have rejected the prospect of such cuts. It was not known whether the White House directed Tillerson to keep the hiring freeze in place for the State Department or whether other agencies would also refuse to lift the hiring ban. Two State Department officials said Tillerson plans to downsize staff over a period of two to three years. Tillerson informed State Department employees of the decision on Wednesday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. While Trump’s original hiring freeze notice on Jan. 23 excluded political appointees, it has stopped the hiring of rank-and-file workers and the replacement of others who have resigned or retired. William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, said the Trump administration may have to seek congressional approval if the hiring freeze changes the function of programs congress explicitly voted to fund.  Hoagland said the administration would have to send what is known as an impoundment resolution if the State Department “jeopardizes what that agency is there to begin with by not filling positions that are vacated.” Congress would then have to approve the resolution, Hoagland said.  The State Department’s Toner said Tillerson was not breaking any federal rule by maintaining the hiring freeze.  “My understanding is that (Tillerson) has the jurisdiction to keep this freeze in place as we go about this presidentially-mandated” reorganization, Toner said.  The Office of Management and Budget, which handles federal budgeting, did not respond to a request for comment.     Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Tuesday that the hiring freeze would be lifted but that agencies will be asked to remain mindful of Trump’s goal to reduce the federal work force. Tillerson said in March that the State Department’s current spending was “simply not sustainable.”

Summary: अमेरिकी विदेश विभाग ने टिलरसन की संख्या कम करने के इरादे से कर्मचारियों की नियुक्ति पर रोक लगा दी है


MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The presidents of the United States and Russia on Wednesday both presented souring views of the relationship between their two countries, exchanging sharp words as Moscow extended an icy welcome to the United States’ top diplomat in a face-off over Syria.  In Washington, President Donald Trump said the United States’ relationship with Moscow “may be at an all-time low.”  Trump’s comments came after he made his biggest foreign policy decision of his new presidency last week, firing missiles at Syria to punish Moscow’s ally for its suspected use of poison gas. Russia condemned the U.S. action. (For graphic on battle for control in Syria click here: tmsnrt.rs/2nm68H0) Hours earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was equally pessimistic, saying in an interview broadcast on Russian television, “The level of trust on a working level, especially on the military level, has not improved but has rather deteriorated.”  The rhetorical salvos came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson received an unusually hostile reception in Moscow, where any hope that the Trump administration would herald less confrontational relations was dashed in the week after the U.S. missile strike on Syria. Tillerson met Putin in the Kremlin after talking to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, for about three hours. The Kremlin had previously declined to confirm Putin would meet Tillerson, reflecting the renewed tensions. Trump had frequently called during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign for warmer ties with Putin, despite criticism from lawmakers in his own Republican Party. But the civil war in Syria has driven a wedge between Moscow and Washington, upending what many in Russia hoped would be a transformation in relations, which reached a post-Cold War low under Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.     As Tillerson sat down for talks with Lavrov on Wednesday, a volley of statements, including from a senior Russian official, appeared timed to maximize the awkwardness during the first visit to Moscow by a member of Trump’s cabinet. Lavrov doubled down on Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, repeating denials that Assad’s government was to blame for the gas attack last week and adding a new theory that the attack may have been faked by Assad’s enemies. Tillerson reiterated the U.S. position that Assad must eventually relinquish power in Syria. “We discussed our view that Russia as their closest ally in the conflict perhaps has the best means of helping Assad recognize this reality,” he said.  Asked whether Assad could be subject to war crimes charges, Tillerson said people were working to make such a case, though he cautioned doing so would require clearing a high legal hurdle. Lavrov greeted Tillerson with unusually icy remarks, denouncing the missile strike on Syria as illegal and accusing Washington of behaving unpredictably. One of Lavrov’s deputies was even more undiplomatic. “In general, primitiveness and loutishness are very characteristic of the current rhetoric coming out of Washington,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency. But Lavrov said some progress had been made on Syria at the meeting and that a working group would be set up to examine the poor state of U.S.-Russia ties. He also said Putin had agreed to reactivate a U.S.-Russian air safety agreement over Syria that Moscow suspended after the U.S. missile strikes.         Tillerson noted the low level of trust between the two countries. “The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship,” he said. Moscow’s hostility to Trump administration figures is a sharp change from last year, when Putin hailed Trump as a strong figure and Russian state television was often full of effusive praise for him. In another possible setback to a thaw with Moscow, Trump said on Wednesday that NATO is not obsolete, as he had declared during the election campaign last year. But he told a news conference at the White House with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that alliance members still need to pay their fair share for the European security umbrella.     Trump said U.S. relations with Russia were not going well. “Right now, we’re not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of a relationship with Russia. This has built for a long period of time. But we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told the news conference. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said his administration’s policy was not to demand Assad step down as part of a “peaceful resolution to the conflict,” in some contrast to Tillerson’s remarks in Moscow. “Are we insisting on it? No. But I do think it’s going to happen at a certain point,” Trump said. The Wall Street Journal cited Trump as saying that Assad’s use of chemical weapons again would elicit another military response, but he also said he would not intervene in depth in the conflict. The White House has accused Moscow of trying to cover up Assad’s use of chemical weapons after the attack on a rebel-held Syrian town last week killed 87 people. Trump responded to the gas attack by firing 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base on Friday. Washington warned Moscow, and Russian troops at the base were not hit. Moscow has stood by Assad, saying the poison gas belonged to rebels, an explanation Washington dismisses as beyond credible.  Russia blocked a Western effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn the gas attack and push Assad to cooperate with international inquiries into the incident. Trump came to the presidency promising greater cooperation with Russia in fighting against the two countries’ common enemy in Syria, the Islamic State militant group. Tillerson is a former oil executive who was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship by Putin. Trump’s relations with Russia are also a domestic issue, as U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of using computer hacking to intervene in the U.S. presidential election to help Trump win. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether any Trump campaign figures colluded with Moscow, which the White House denies.

Summary: U.S.-Russia सीरिया हमलों के बाद संबंध एक और निचले स्तर पर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with the chief executive officers of airlines on Thursday, the White House said, another in a series of meetings the new president has had with business leaders. The White House statement on Friday did not say who would attend the breakfast and “listening session.” Last week, Trump met with the CEOs of the Big Three U.S. automakers and pressed them to bring more jobs to the United States. This week he met with pharmaceutical executives and called on them to make more drugs in the United States and cut prices.

Summary: ट्रम्प गुरुवार को एयरलाइन के मुख्य कार्यकारी अधिकारियों से मिलेंगेः व्हाइट हाउस


LONDON (Reuters) - British Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday Britain s rules and regulations will diverge from those set by the European Union after Brexit because the government  will do things our own way . As a member of the EU, Britain must meet the rules and regulations of the bloc to have full access to the single market and frictionless trade.  We start at the same position, but we will manage the divergence,  Davis told the BBC s Andrew Marr television show.  Of course we will diverge, we will do things our own way.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट के बाद ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ के नियमों से अलग हो जाएगाः मंत्री