MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday he has terminated intermittent peace talks with Maoist-led rebels and would consider them  terrorists  because hostilities had continued during negotiations. Ending the nearly half-century long conflict with the communists, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed, was among Duterte s priorities when he took office in June last year. Duterte said he would consider the political arm of the Maoists a  terrorist group  and was demanding that dozens of rebel leaders he freed last year in order to restart talks turn themselves in.  I am ordering those I have released temporarily to surrender or face again punitive action,  Duterte in a speech to soldiers.  Let it not be said that I did not try to reach out to them,  he said. Duterte on Thursday signed a proclamation ending the peace talks, which started in August last year and were brokered by Norway. Talks have been intermittent since 1986.   We find it unfortunate that their members have failed to show their sincerity and commitment in pursuing genuine and meaningful peaceful negotiations,  Duterte s spokesman, Harry Roque, said in a statement late on Thursday. In May, government negotiators canceled a round of formal talks with the Maoist-led rebels in the Netherlands as the guerrillas stepped up attacks in the countryside. The rebels had no choice but to intensify guerrilla warfare in rural areas, Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF), said in a statement. The NDF, the political arm of the Maoist guerrillas, said it regretted the unilateral cancellation of talks on such vital social and economic reforms. Government troops were advised to stay alert on the movements of the estimated 3,800 leftist guerrillas, said military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla. Government forces are also battling Islamist fighters in the south of the largely Christian country, some of whom recently occupied a town for several months in the biggest battle in the Philippines since World War Two.

Summary: फिलीपींस के दुतेर्ते ने माओवादी विद्रोहियों के साथ शांति प्रक्रिया को छोड़ दिया


(Reuters) - Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on Tuesday it was investigating the cause of a nearly 11,000-barrel gasoline spill from two above-ground fuel storage tanks at its Houston-area terminal in Texas during Hurricane Harvey. The leak at the Galena Park terminal is the biggest spill reported so far relating to the storm, which unleashed record flooding in the state in late August, destroying homes and killing scores of people.  The Environmental Protection Agency has said federal and state authorities responded to spills linked to Harvey at about a dozen industrial facilities.  The exact cause of the tank failures is now under investigation,  Magellan spokesman Bruce Heine said. He said the company believed it was related to the flooding. Magellan has cleaned up much of the spill, and recovered an undisclosed amount that escaped off the terminal s property into a nearby ditch and the Houston Ship Channel, Heine said.   Clean-up activities at the facility are continuing and we are currently removing and replacing affected soil,  he said.  The spill occurred on Aug. 31, Heine said.  Magellan had initially reported a smaller volume of gasoline spilled to state authorities, but adjusted its estimate upward after it was able to make a full assessment, he said.  It s Magellan s long-term practice to conservatively report a product release to appropriate agencies and local authorities as soon as we become aware of a potential incident,  he said, explaining the smaller initial estimate.  In other words, we do not wait until absolute confirmation, as we want to give the earliest possible notice.  Magellan has said that much of the rest of its infrastructure has returned to normal after the storm.

Summary: मैगलन मिडस्ट्रीम ने हार्वे बाढ़ के दौरान टेक्सास के बड़े ईंधन रिसाव की जांच की


LONDON (Reuters) - British business leaders reacted warily to Prime Minister Theresa May s plan for more government intervention in power and housing markets, and said big unanswered questions about Brexit would drag on the economy. In an attempt to counter Britain s left-wing Labour Party, May s speech to her Conservative Party on Wednesday balanced emphasizing the importance of free markets with a pledge to cap what she called  rip-off  energy prices. The revival of the cap - which May appeared to have dropped after losing her parliamentary majority in a June election - was an unwelcome surprise for representatives of British employers, who are already disappointed by the government s lack of progress in Brexit talks.  Today s announcement is an example of state intervention that misses the mark,  Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General, said.  Market-wide price caps are not the best answer.  Shares in power providers such as Centrica and SSE fell sharply as May spoke.  The Institute of Directors, another employer group, said businesses were worried by the signs of more state involvement in the economy from the Conservatives, a week after resurgent Labour proposed bringing billions of pounds worth of private contracts under state control and higher taxes for companies. In her speech on Wednesday, May said her government would spend an extra 2 billion pounds ($2.65 billion) to build cheaper houses for social housing.  I think it s fair to say that this year s party conference season has been one big let-down for businesses across the UK,  Stephen Martin, the IoD s director general, said.  On the one hand you have a Labour Party which has decided that business is the bad guy, on the other you have a Conservative Party which talks about the importance of markets, but then tinkers around with Help-to-Buy (a housing program) and energy price caps. What are business leaders meant to make of it all?  Beyond the proposals for specific sectors, employers said they remained concerned that May was not moving fast enough to clear up the uncertainty about Britain s relationship with its main trading partners in the European Union after Brexit.  It is vital for business that a comprehensive transition agreement is agreed before the end of the year,  Terry Scuoler, the head of engineering industry body EEF, said.   She must redouble her energies ... if she is to avoid significant boardroom decisions going against UK plc,  he said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के नियोक्ता, जो पहले से ही लेबर पर बढ़त बनाए हुए हैं, मई की 'छेड़छाड़' के बारे में चिंतित हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - British voters will be able to change the terms of the country s relationship with the European Union after leaving the bloc if they don t like the final Brexit deal, senior cabinet minister and pro-Brexit lawmaker Michael Gove said on Saturday. Britain and the EU achieved  sufficient progress  in Brexit negotiations on Friday to allow them to move on to discussing future trade ties, in a move welcomed by Gove and other Brexit supporters in Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative Party. However, while Gove, who is Britain s environment minister, reiterated his support for May, he gave succour to critics of the deal by saying that if Britons were dissatisfied with the terms of Brexit, future governments could change it.   The British people will be in control. By the time of the next election, EU law and any new treaty with the EU will cease to have primacy or direct effect in UK law,  Gove wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph.  If the British people dislike the arrangement that we have negotiated with the EU, the agreement will allow a future government to diverge.  Britain is due to exit the EU in March 2019. The next election is not scheduled until 2022, though there has been speculation in British media that it could come earlier, given May s lack of a parliamentary majority and deep divisions within her party about Brexit. Some eurosceptic voices outside the government have said that May has betrayed British  leave  voters and given in to EU demands with the agreement.  It has been a tough week for May after Northern Ireland s small Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - whose support she needs in parliament - unexpectedly blocked an initial deal on Monday, leaving Britain and the EU scrambling to find wording acceptable to all sides ahead of next week s summit of EU leaders. While agreement was eventually reached on Friday, Gove said that all UK proposals were provisional on a final deal being done, and even then, that arrangement could be revisited by future governments. Matthew Parris, an anti-Brexit columnist and former Conservative lawmaker, told BBC radio that Gove might envisage a situation in which he would be spearheading a new approach to Brexit.  But Gove, who was briefly in the running to lead the party last year, praised May on Saturday, and said the deal was a result of her  tenacity and skill .  Fellow pro-Brexit cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom defended his comments, saying it did not imply that May would be replaced before the next election.  It s simply the case that in taking back control (from Brussels)... it will be for the voters to determine what future governments do,  Leadsom told BBC radio.  I think it is a statement of the obvious.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ से अलग होने के लिए ब्रिटिश लोग ब्रेक्सिट की शर्तों को बदल सकते हैंः ब्रेक्सिट समर्थक मंत्री गोवे


BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran and the United States traded barbs over the landmark 2015 nuclear deal on Thursday, with the U.S. leader accusing Tehran of not living up to the spirit of the accord and Iran’s top diplomat urging Washington to fulfill its own commitments. The exchange came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a letter to Congress saying Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal but raising questions about Tehran’s role in sponsoring terrorism in the region. Tillerson accused Iran of “alarming ongoing provocations” to destabilize countries in the Middle East and said the Trump administration had launched a review of its policy toward Tehran that will include the 2015 nuclear deal. In the first reaction to Tillerson’s remarks from a senior Iranian official, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted that the United States should “fulfill its own commitments.” Asked at a news conference in Washington whether he thought Iran was abiding by the nuclear agreement, President Donald Trump criticized the accord, saying it was a “terrible agreement” and Tehran was doing a “tremendous disservice” to the deal. “Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement and they have to do that,” Trump said, adding that the administration was “analyzing it very, very carefully” and would have more to say about it soon. Under the nuclear deal, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days on Iran’s compliance under the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Tillerson’s letter on Wednesday was the first such notification since Trump took office. In his tweet, Zarif also addressed Tillerson’s terrorism charge: “Worn-out US accusations can’t mask its admission of Iran’s compliance w/ JCPOA.” Iran helped to create and continues to fund Hezbollah, the Lebanese military and political organization which the United States has listed as a terrorist organization.  Both Iran and Hezbollah are currently fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces. Iran has also sent military advisers and fighters to neighboring Iraq, where they are taking part in the Baghdad government’s operations against Islamic State.  The historic deal between Iran and six major powers restricts Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international oil and financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The Trump administration’s inter-agency review of policy toward Iran will examine whether the lifting of sanctions against Tehran is in the U.S. national security interests.

Summary: 2015 के ऐतिहासिक परमाणु समझौते को लेकर अमेरिका और ईरान के बीच तीखी नोकझोंक


LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers ramped up pressure on the government to publish its assessment of the impact Brexit will have on the economy, passing a motion in parliament on Wednesday which could compel the government to release the papers. The government said on Monday it had carried out 58 economic assessments, covering sectors from aerospace to tourism, but has so far refused requests from lawmakers to publish them, saying they could undermine their negotiating position in Brexit talks. That has irked lawmakers - including some from Prime Minister Theresa May s own party - who say the documents should be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and used to help shape the public debate around what a good EU exit deal would look like. Parliament agreed a motion stating that the documents should be released to a parliamentary committee. The government did not oppose the motion but it was unclear if its passage would force them to act.  The debate ended in confusion with the Speaker of the House indicating that he believed the government was obliged to comply with the motion, but saying he would wait to see what their response was before acting further.  We take all parliamentary votes seriously and recognize that parliament does have rights relating to the publication of documents,  a Brexit department spokeswoman said.   Ministers also have a clear obligation not to disclose information when doing so would not be in the public interest. We will reflect on the implications of the vote and respond in due course.  Labour said the result was clear and called on Brexit minister David Davis to set a date for the papers  publication.  Labour has been absolutely clear since the referendum that ministers could not withhold vital information from Parliament about the impact of Brexit on jobs and the economy,  said Labour s Brexit policy chief Keir Starmer. Binding or not, a rancorous debate underlined the extent to which May s approach to Brexit is generating dissent in parliament and potentially undermining her ability to rely on its support when passing crucial laws to implement the EU exit.   I m not going to stand by and see the future of my children s generation and the grandchildren which I hope will follow being trashed or ruined without any form of debate and disclosure as to the consequences,  said Anna Soubry, one of several Conservative lawmakers who said they were ready to rebel. The central plank of May s Brexit strategy, a piece of legislation known as the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, will require all May s lawmakers to back her if the minority Conservative government is to avoid making concessions.  A debate on the bill is due to begin on Nov 14.

Summary: ब्रिटेन की संसद ने कहा कि सरकार को गुप्त ब्रेक्सिट प्रभाव अध्ययन प्रकाशित करना चाहिए


BASRA/BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Worsening clashes among tribes and a political void is threatening security at oil installations in Iraq s main southern oil producing region, officials and security sources said. Iraq has concentrated security forces in the north and west of the OPEC oil producer in the biggest campaign since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to retake territory lost to the Sunni extremist group Islamic State in 2014. That has created a void in the south, home to Iraq s biggest oilfields, where fighting between rival Shi ite Muslim tribes over farmland, state construction contracts and land ownership has worsened in the past few weeks. The surge in violence risks undermining government plans to lure new investment to the oil and gas sector it needs to revive an economy hit by a surge in security spending and destruction by Islamic State. Stability in Basra, the main southern city at the edge of the Gulf, is of vital importance as a hub for oil exports accounting for over 95 percent of government revenues. Officials said tribal clashes had not affected oil output yet. But this could change as recent fighting with mortars and machine guns had come close to the key West Qurna oil phase 1, West Qurna phase 2 and Majnoon oilfields north of Basra city.  Tribal feuds have been exacerbating recently and such a negative development could threaten the operations of the foreign energy companies,  said Ali Shaddad, head of the oil and gas committee in Basra s provincial council. State-run South Oil Co. (SOC) said the violence had started scaring oil workers and foreign contractors who in some cases had refused to move drilling rigs over security concerns.  Tribal fighting near oilfields sites is definitely affecting the energy operations and sending a negative message to foreign oil firms,  Abdullah al-Faris, a media manager at SOC, said. Iraq s government has dispatched thousands of soldiers and policemen into Basra which had been like the rest of the mainly Shi ite south relatively peaceful since 2003. Security force have tried to disarm tribesmen, which had seized large caches of light and heavy weapons from Saddam Hussein s army in the chaos following the 2003 invasion. But security officials said forces were stretched as troops were preparing another offensive against Islamic State, or Daesh, in the north to retake Hawija town. Strategically located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul and near the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk, Hawija fell to Islamic State in 2014.  We need larger forces to control rural areas and restrain lawless tribes in the south,  said Army Lieutenant Colonel Salah Kareem who serves in a brigade that was based in Basra before being moved to Mosul.  This is a difficult job for now as most troops are busy with fighting Daesh,  he said. The security challenges have been worsened by a political void after top local officials quit over graft charges. Basra s governor Majid al-Nasrawi stepped down last month and left for Iran after Iraq s anti-corruption body began investigating graft allegations against him. In July the head of the provincial council, Sabah al-Bazoni, was arrested and sacked after the watchdog accused him of taking bribes and misuse of power. Graft has been a major concern in Iraq but analysts say both men had also been caught in a political battle as parties from the country s Shi ite majority were gearing up for national elections in April 2018. Basra is seen as the ultimate prize given its oil wealth and investment potential. Bazoni, who belongs to former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki s State of Law coalition, had been at odds with Nasrawi from the Shi ite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq over managing the province and distributing contracts for basic services and rebuilding infrastructure in Basra. Disagreements over how to award state contracts had escalated with each party publishing files alleging corruption against the other rivals, two Basra politicians said on condition of anonymity.  For some political parties having the upper hand in Basra is a key objective to expand their power,  said Baghdad-based analyst Jasim al-Bahadli, an expert on Shi ite armed groups.  Basra is forming the triangle of money, power and influence,  he said.  Two officials working with foreign oil companies operating in the south said the departure of top officials raised worries that the tribal clashes could get worse.  We need to see security challenges addressed to avoid working in a difficult operating environment,  said one official working at a foreign oil firm in Basra, asking not to be named.

Summary: जनजातीय संघर्ष, राजनीतिक शून्य से इराक के दक्षिण में तेल प्रतिष्ठानों को खतरा


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday insisted they were still in with a chance of ousting Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Sept. 24 election after media reports said a senior party member seemed to have given up hope. The SPD, which surged in the polls early this year after nominating former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as its election candidate, was on 23 percent in the latest opinion poll - far behind Merkel s conservatives on 37 percent. Some German media reported that foreign minister and former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel no longer believed his party could win the election after he told German magazine Der Spiegel on Wednesday:  A grand coalition doesn t make sense because that would mean the SPD could not come up with the chancellor.  The SPD is currently the junior partner in a  grand coalition  - generally a last resort alliance - with Merkel s conservatives. Gabriel contradicted those media that suggested he thought there was no prospect of an SPD victory, saying in a statement released on Thursday:  Whoever says anything like that is talking nonsense.  He said the race between Merkel and her SPD challenger remained  completely open  and pointed to a survey by pollster Allensbach last week that showed almost 50 percent of voters had yet to decide who they would choose. Schulz told Germany s RND network of newspapers:  Sigmar Gabriel said he doesn t want to continue the grand coalition. I don t want that either. Where s the drama?  Schulz said his aim was still to become chancellor of Germany with the SPD as the strongest party, adding that he would use a television debate between him and Merkel on Sunday to highlight the differences between their parties.

Summary: जर्मन सोशल डेमोक्रेट्स का कहना है कि कमजोर चुनावों के बावजूद चुनाव की दौड़ अभी भी खुली है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-9 on Thursday to approve President Donald Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, an outspoken bankruptcy lawyer aligned with the Israeli right. The vote was largely along party lines, a contrast with  strong bipartisan support for past ambassadors to Israel. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez joined all 11 committee Republicans in backing Friedman, despite concerns about his temperament. Friedman, who has no diplomatic experience, is a long-time friend of Trump who has worked for the New York businessman as a bankruptcy lawyer.  In addition to investing in settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians, Friedman favors moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies because both Israel and the Palestinians claim the city as their capital. Trump’s selection of Friedman reflects his shift in policy toward Israel after years of friction between former President Barack Obama and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Unlike Obama, Trump has wavered on the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution, long a bedrock of Washington’s Middle East policy, and backed the embassy’s relocation. Friedman is also known for using inflammatory language against those with whom he has political disagreements. Democrats said his approach could risk security. “The region is incredibly volatile. The last thing we need in this position is someone who has a penchant for over-the-top, hyperbolic, and even false statements,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said. Friedman has called Obama an anti-Semite, and dismissed the liberal-leaning pro-Israel group J Street as “far worse than kapos,” a reference to Jews who worked for the Nazis in World War Two concentration camps. J Street and the Reform Jewish Movement are among groups opposing Friedman’s nomination. Friedman was heckled during his contentious February confirmation hearing. He said then that he regretted the use of such language. Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said Friedman also was problematic because he does not explicitly back a two-state solution for Middle East peace. Friedman will next be considered by the full Senate, where Trump’s fellow Republicans control a slim majority. He is expected to be confirmed despite continued Democratic opposition. Republican Senator Bob Corker, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, praised Friedman as an “impassioned advocate” for strong U.S.-Israeli ties. “He understands the complexity of issues at stake for the United States and the necessity to support a democratic ally in an important and unstable part of the world,” Corker said.

Summary: सीनेट पैनल ने इज़राइल में राजदूत बनने के लिए ट्रम्प के उम्मीदवार का समर्थन किया


GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump needs to acknowledge that the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding is torture and therefore absolutely prohibited, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said on Monday. “Without any doubt, waterboarding amounts to torture,” Nils Melzer said in a statement, adding that a U.S. revival of torture would be catastrophic because other countries would also “get back into the torture business”. “I urgently appeal to President Trump to carefully consider not only U.S. legal obligations, doctrine and tradition, but also the consolidated legal and moral views of the entire international community before allowing the re-introduction of methods or interrogation that are more closely associated with barbarism than with civilization,” he said. Waterboarding, in which a victim is subjected to simulated drowning to force them to confess or divulge information, was used by the CIA on three suspected militants detained in secret foreign prisons during President George W. Bush’s administration. But the technique was denounced as torture by President Barack Obama, other top officials, lawmakers and human rights groups. The U.S. Senate also voted to ban it in 2015. Trump said last week, however, he feels waterboarding works but he will defer to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who does not “necessarily believe” such techniques work.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र विशेषज्ञ का कहना है कि ट्रम्प को यह स्वीकार करने की आवश्यकता है कि वाटरबोर्डिंग निषिद्ध यातना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators said on Friday that because the new tax bill could make timely financial reporting difficult, public companies can make reasonable estimates when uncertain of the impact of the new tax law in financial reports, and will have up to a year to report final numbers.               The Securities and Exchange Commission bulletin comes after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned on Thursday that some U.S. listed companies may struggle to file their annual financial reports on time because the Republican-led overhaul of the country’s tax system may prompt a raft of additional disclosures. In a statement on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TJCA) issued on Friday, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Commissioners Kara Stein and Michael Piwowar said guidance was similar to that given in the past when tax law changes affected financial reporting. The $1.5 trillion tax bill, signed into law on Friday by U.S. President Donald Trump, will significantly affect many companies’ year-end financial statements because listing rules oblige them to flag any potential material risks or changes to their operations and financial outlook to shareholders. The bill significantly lowers the income tax rate for U.S. companies - to 21 percent from 35 percent - allows them to repatriate cash from overseas, and modifies numerous deductions, among other changes.  Public companies have been given a “measurement period” to study the changes created by a new law. During the measurement period, the SEC expects companies to complete their accounting and that “in no circumstances should the measurement period extend beyond one year from the enactment date,” of the TJCA. Companies will also need to make disclosures during the measurement period, including any updates to provisional amounts given earlier, or newly discovered reporting implications from tax bill. For companies with fiscal years ending Dec. 31, getting the necessary analysis done in time could be tough, the Chamber said. The tax bill It is the largest such overhaul since the 1980. In addition to slashing the corporate rate, it temporarily reduces the tax burden for most individuals.

Summary: कंपनियों के पास नए अमेरिकी कर बिल की रिपोर्टिंग के लिए एक साल तक का समय हैः एसईसी


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called on Friday for the United States to step back from its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital after the United Nations voted against the move despite what he called  ugly and unforgivable  U.S. threats. More than 120 countries defied President Donald Trump on Thursday and voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital.  Despite threats, the U.N. took an honorable stance,  Erdogan said at a meeting of his AK Party in Istanbul.  The U.S. should turn back from this wrong step.  Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, which is non-binding, nine voted against and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.   The U.S. attitude ahead of the U.N. vote will be remembered in the history of democracy as an ugly and unforgivable act,  Erdogan said. Trump s warning appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the resolution than usually associated with Palestinian-related resolutions.  The White House picked up the phone and called these countries one by one, threatening them blatantly,  Erdogan said, without elaborating.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन ने संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका से जेरूसलम कदम से पीछे हटने का आह्वान किया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time from a United Nations General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, after opposing such measures every year for 24 years. For the 25th time, the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favor. Israel, which opposed the resolution last year, also abstained on Wednesday. Such resolutions are non-binding, but can carry political weight. Communist-run Cuba and the United States, former Cold War foes, began normalizing relations in 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama has taken steps to ease trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo. The Republican-controlled Congress has resisted Obama’s call to lift Washington’s economic embargo after more than 50 years. Republican critics say Obama is making too many concessions to Cuba for too little in return, especially on human rights. The U.N. General Assembly applauded when U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power announced prior to the vote that the United States would abstain. “Abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not,” Power told the General Assembly.  “We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people,” she said. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a “positive step for the future of improving relations between the United States and Cuba.” Rodriguez said in September that damage from U.S. sanctions between April 2015 and March 2016 amounted to $4.6 billion and to $125.9 billion since the embargo’s inception more than 50 years ago. In March, Obama made the first visit to Havana by a U.S. president in 88 years. His trip was made possible by his breakthrough agreement with Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 to cast aside decades of hostility that began soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution. Since the opening, Obama has repeatedly used his executive powers to relax trade and travel restrictions, while pushing Cuba to accelerate market-style reforms and boost political and economic freedoms. The U.N. resolution adopted on Wednesday takes note of the steps taken by Obama as positive but “still limited in scope.” It urges the United States to repeal or invalidate the embargo on Cuba as soon as possible.

Summary: क्यूबा प्रतिबंध को समाप्त करने के लिए संयुक्त राष्ट्र के आह्वान पर अमेरिका पहली बार अनुपस्थित रहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Koch Industries, the private conglomerate owned by billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch, warned on Wednesday that a Republican tax reform proposal meant to encourage U.S. exports could have devastating effects on the economy and consumers. The proposal, known as border adjustability, is part of a larger tax reform plan backed by Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Paul Ryan. It has attracted the attention of advisers to President-elect Donald Trump as a potential tool for creating manufacturing jobs for blue-collar Americans. But the provision, which would tax imports while exempting U.S. exports from corporate income tax, has raised concerns in the retailing and energy sectors about its potential effects on prices for imported consumer items and foreign goods used in domestic production. Corporate lobbyists say that Trump’s threatened 35 percent import tax against U.S. companies that move jobs overseas could reflect an interest by the president-elect in a border-adjusted approach to tax reform. The Trump team and Republicans in Congress are currently trying to hammer out an agreement on tax reform for 2017.      “The proposed border tax adjustment will distort the market, increase consumer prices and create an uneven playing field for companies and consumers,” Philip Ellender, who oversees government and public affairs for the Wichita, Kansas-based multinational, said in a statement. “The long-term consequences to the economy and the American consumer could be devastating,” added Ellender, who said Koch otherwise supports tax reform. Koch is the second largest private U.S. company, with operations that range from refining and chemicals to ranching and forest products. Its owners are known to spend heavily on conservative initiatives and to oppose government intervention in business. Representative Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the House tax committee that produced the reform plan, welcomed the Koch statement as feedback but described border adjustability as “a key provision” that would level the playing field for “Made in America” products.  Brady has said the plan would unleash economic and job growth by cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, simplifying the tax code and encouraging investment. Border adjustability would help pay for tax cuts by generating $1.2 trillion in revenues over a decade, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.  The provision would also discourage U.S. companies from moving operations abroad as a result of another provision, which would eliminate U.S. taxes on the foreign profits of U.S. multinationals.

Summary: कोच इंडस्ट्रीज ने हाउस रिपब्लिकन कर सुधार योजना पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया


LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - The largest and busiest airport in Arkansas would no longer be named after the only president and first lady from the state if a bill introduced in the legislature on Thursday succeeds.   The legislation would prohibit public buildings or civil works from being named for anyone living or who served in public office in the 10 years prior to the structure’s completion.   DON’T MISS Video: Trump's plan to hire more border patrol agents would be costly Trump asks NASA to explore putting crew on rocket's debut flight Details emerge of Republicans' plans to replace Obamacare The bill makes no mention of former President Bill Clinton or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for whom the Little Rock airport was re-named four years ago - as Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field - but its author does not hesitate to identify its target.  “You have a president who was impeached for having an affair with an intern in the Oval Office and then disbarred,” said state Sen. Jason Rapert, the bill’s author and one of the Arkansas legislature’s most outspoken conservatives.   President Clinton was impeached in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which accused him of obstructing justice by lying under oath about a sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted in a Senate trial the following year.  Hillary Clinton served as attorney to the city’s airport commission during her husband’s tenure as governor of Arkansas. At the conclusion of her husband’s presidency she won a Senate seat in New York.   She was appointed secretary of state by President Barack Obama, who defeated her for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton won the nomination last year but was defeated by President Donald Trump.  Rapert, whose Senate district does not include Little Rock, said he introduced the legislation after “several Arkansans across the state” had expressed to him their “discomfort” with naming its largest airport after the controversial Clintons.   He conceded his legislation might not win approval.  “But we can prevent this sort of thing in the future,” he said.  City officials have defended re-naming the airport, although sometimes tersely.  “I think the name of the airport is appropriate and I support retaining it,” said Meredith Catlett, a member of the terminal’s governing commission.

Summary: अरकंसास के सांसद हवाई अड्डे से क्लिंटन का नाम हटाना चाहते हैं


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Wednesday to extend for another six months its blacklist of 149 Russian nationals and Ukrainian separatists, as well as 38 entities, for their role in the turmoil in Ukraine, sources in Brussels said.  During a weekly meeting in Brussels, representatives of the 28 EU states agreed on the roll over, which will formally be adopted on Sept. 14, and prolong the visa ban and asset freeze list until mid-March. The bloc first imposed sanctions on Russia after it annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Kiev in March 2014, and ratcheted them up as Moscow went on to back a separatist revolt in the east of the former Soviet republic.  Russia vows to never return Crimea though the annexation has not been internationally recognized and is denounced as illegal. The conflict in east Ukraine has killed more than 10,000 people and is still simmering, a key factor souring Russia s relations with the West, including the EU. The bloc s separate main economic sanctions against Russia, which curb EU cooperation in the energy, defense and financial fields, are in place until the end of January 2018.  Apart from separatist leaders in Crimea and east Ukraine, the EU s blacklist, which prevents people getting visas or freezes their assets, includes senior Russian officials and companies that have supported or benefited from the crisis.

Summary: यूक्रेन में उथल-पुथल के बीच यूरोपीय संघ ने रूसियों को काली सूची में डालने पर सहमति जताई


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said it would be counter-productive for the United States to sanction Pakistani officials or further cut military assistance, warning it would hurt both countries  fight against militancy. U.S.-Pakistan relations have frayed since President Donald Trump last month set out a new Afghanistan policy and lashed out at nuclear-armed Pakistan as a fickle ally that gives safe haven to  agents of chaos  by harboring the Afghan Taliban and other militants. The United States has already begun conditioning future aid to Pakistan on progress Islamabad makes in tackling the Haqqani network militants who it alleges are Pakistan-based and have helped the Taliban carry out deadly attacks inside Afghanistan. Pakistan denies hosting militant sanctuaries, and Islamabad bristles at claims it has not done enough to tackle militancy, noting it has borne the brunt of violence in the so-called war on terror, suffering more than 60,000 casualties since 2001. Former petroleum minister Abbasi, 58, who was installed as prime minister last month after the Supreme Court ousted veteran premier Nawaz Sharif over undeclared income, told Reuters that any targeted sanctions by Washington against Pakistani military and intelligence officials would not help U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.  We are fighting the war against terror, anything that degrades our effort will only hurt the U.S. effort,  Abbasi said in an interview in Islamabad on Monday.  What does it achieve?  U.S. officials privately say the targeted sanctions would be aimed at Pakistani officials with ties to extremist groups and are part of an array of options being discussed to pressure Pakistan to change its behavior, including further aid cuts. Washington s civilian and military assistance to Pakistan was less than $1 billion in 2016, down from a recent peak of $3.5 billion in 2011, and Abbasi warned that Washington will not achieve its counter-terrorism aims by starving Pakistan of funds.  If the military aid cuts degrade our effort to fight war on terror, who does it help?  he said.  Whatever needs to be done here, it needs to be a cooperative effort.  Abbasi said one practical side-effect of military aid cuts and U.S. Congress blocking the sale of subsidized F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan will be to force Islamabad to buy weapons from China and Russia.  We ve had to look at other options to maintain our national defensive forces,  he said. The Trump administration s tougher stance is seen as pushing Islamabad closer to Beijing, which has pledged about $60 billion in roads, rail and power infrastructure in Pakistan as part of its ambitious Belt and Road initiative to build vast land and sea trade routes linking Asia with Europe and Africa.  We have a major economic relationship with (China), we have a major military relationship since the 1960s, so that s definitely one of our options,  he said. Abbasi said it was  unfair  to blame Pakistan for all the troubles in Afghanistan, saying Washington should show more appreciation for Pakistan s losses from militancy and its role in hosting 3.5 million Afghan refugees. He added that Afghan-based militants have also launched cross-border attacks on civilians and military in Pakistan, prompting Pakistan to begin investing  several billion dollars  to fence the disputed and porous 2,500 km (1,500 mile) border.  We intend to fence the whole border to control that situation,  Abbasi added. Abbasi, a skydiving enthusiast and co-founder of a budget airline, also faces growing headwinds on the economy ahead of a general election, likely in mid-2018. Growth in Pakistan s $300 billion economy surged to 5.3 percent in 2016-17, its fastest pace in a decade, but the macro-economic outlook has deteriorated, stoking concerns Pakistan may need an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, as it did in 2013, to avert another balance of payments crisis. Foreign currency reserves have dwindled by almost a quarter to $14.7 billion since last October, while the 2016-17 current account deficit has more than doubled to $12.1 billion. Abbasi said Islamabad was looking at a raft of measures to alleviate current account pressures to avoid going back to the IMF, including reducing imports of luxury goods, boosting exports, and possibly devaluing its currency. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is a staunch opponent of a weaker rupee - whose level against the dollar is effectively controlled by the central bank - but Abbasi said it had been discussed.  There are pros and cons to devaluation, but that could be a decision we take,  he said, adding that any devaluation would not be drastic, and  today, it s not on the table yet.  Abbasi, who has hinted his former boss remains the power behind the throne by repeatedly calling him  the people s prime minister , said the three-time premier remains hugely popular despite his disqualification by the Supreme Court on July 28.  Politics is not decided in courts,  said Abbasi, who was jailed along with Sharif after the 1999 military coup.  Politically, Nawaz Sharif is stronger today than he was on July 28.  Abbasi is also pushing ahead with a wide-ranging tax reform agenda before the elections - a tough task in a nation that has one of the world s lowest tax-to-GDP ratios and where tax evasion is rampant and often culturally acceptable. The ruling PML-N party is looking for cross-party support for the reforms, but Abbasi said radical changes would require an integrated approach, including building confidence among tax payers, reducing income taxes and making it less attractive to invest in a real estate sector that attracts black money.  You not only need to have a stick, you need to have a carrot also,  he said.

Summary: पाकिस्तान के प्रधानमंत्री ने चेतावनी दी कि अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध प्रतिकूल होंगे


WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - The longest-serving member of Delaware’s Supreme Court, Randy Holland, announced his plan to retire at the end of March, according to a statement from the court on Thursday. Holland, 70, joined the five-member court as the youngest ever to serve in 1986 and became the longest-serving member in 2009.  A replacement will be nominated by Governor John Carney, who took office last month, and must be confirmed by the state’s senate. Justices serve 12-year terms. “I just feel that after 30 years it is time to retire,” said Holland in a statement. “I’m looking forward to pursuing other opportunities, like teaching.” A majority of publicly traded U.S. companies are chartered in Delaware and the court plays a key role interpreting the state’s corporate law and has decided many billion dollar merger disputes. The court recently dismissed a $171 million investor lawsuit against pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Inc and revived a lawsuit against Zynga Inc’s controlling shareholder, Mark Pincus, over sales of the social gaming company’s stock. The court is also expected to rule in the coming months on a heated lawsuit that could decide control of one of the world’s largest translation services companies, TransPerfect Global Inc. Holland was the remaining justice on the court who had been appointed prior to Leo Strine becoming the court’s chief justice in 2014. Strine was elevated from the role of chancellor, or chief judge, of the Court of Chancery, which specializes in corporate disputes.

Summary: डेलावेयर सुप्रीम कोर्ट में सबसे लंबे समय तक सेवा करने वाले न्यायाधीश सेवानिवृत्त होंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Friday unveiled a blueprint for sweeping reforms of the U.S. capital markets as it looks to implement Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda to promote economic growth by slashing red tape. The report recommends a raft of measures to encourage companies to seek public listings, to promote company access to capital, and to give investors a wider array of investment opportunities, in what is likely to be a boon for small business, banks, brokers and crowd-funding platforms. It also called for regulators to put U.S. interests first when engaging in international regulatory forums. “The U.S. has experienced slow economic growth for far too long,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.  “By streamlining the regulatory system, we can make the U.S. capital markets a true source of economic growth which will harness American ingenuity and allow small businesses to grow.”  The 232-page report largely steers clear of proposing legislative changes that would have to be passed by a divided Congress, instead focusing on tweaks that could be made relatively quickly by the country’s two markets regulators, which are both led by Trump appointees. Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said in statements on Friday they had provided extensive input to the “thoughtful” report and supported its recommendations. Friday’s report is the second of four expected from the Treasury as it completes a comprehensive review of existing financial rules, as mandated by an executive order President Donald Trump signed in February.   The first report, released in June, sought to promote lending by easing banking regulations outlined under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, with major parts requiring legislative revisions that are unlikely to be passed with Democrats fiercely opposed. Friday’s report, in contrast, outlines a broad range of 91 technical fixes aimed at boosting stock, bond and derivatives markets. All but nine can be put into effect by the country’s federal regulatory agencies, who were consulted on the report. The recommendations were met with quick praise from financial industry groups, who said capital markets regulations were also long overdue for a review. “Efficient capital markets are at the core of a growing and prosperous economy. The Treasury Department’s report offers a blueprint to unlock the resources needed to spur economic growth and job creation,” said David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Effectiveness. The Treasury proposes streamlining disclosure and compliance requirements for companies that are both publicly-listed and which are looking to go public, in bid to reduce a secular downward trend in initial public offerings.  It also proposes scrapping a Dodd-Frank rule requiring public companies to disclose information about the potential conflict minerals in their products, and the ratio between the pay for top executives and the company’s average worker.  To boost small companies’ access to capital, the report recommends loosening the rules around crowd-funding, and suggests revising the definition of an ‘accredited investor’ in order to provide more opportunities for mom and pop investors. The Treasury also waded into the long-running debate over equity market structure, proposing the SEC review share-tick sizes, order types, exchange fee models, and how exchanges themselves operate and are governed. To reduce regulatory duplication and bring the United States more in line with other markets, the report calls for the SEC and CFTC to work more closely and harmonize their rules, but stopped short of recommending a merger of the two - something policymakers have called for in the past. “The focus on harmonizing rule sets ... is a vital part of efforts to reduce the compliance burden for derivatives end users,” Scott O’Malia, chief executive of bank group the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and a former CFTC commissioner, said in a statement.  Derivatives dealers also stand to gain from a recommendation to relax rules around swaps trading and the cash they must post against derivatives trades.  While banks, brokers and small companies have cheered the report, many of the requirements are likely to draw criticism from public advocacy groups worried they may reduce investor protections, and open the door for banks to pursue risky trading behavior once again.  “It’s almost uniformly deregulatory. It calls for cutting back on post-crisis Dodd-Frank rules,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. “It’s quite dangerous.” (This version of the article corrects title for David Hirschmann in 12th paragraph)

Summary: अमेरिकी कोषागार ने पूंजी बाजारों में व्यापक सुधार की रूपरेखा तैयार की


LONDON (Reuters) - Nothing has been formally agreed with the European Union on moving the next round of Brexit negotiations, British Prime Minister Theresa May s spokeswoman said on Tuesday.     Earlier, diplomats in Brussels said the EU and Britain had agreed to delay the talks by a week to Sept. 25 on expectations that May would make an important speech on the subject on Brexit on Sept. 21.  The latest position on this from our perspective was that both sides said they were keen to be flexible, but we hadn t formally agreed anything,  the spokeswoman said.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता के अगले दौर को आगे बढ़ाने पर औपचारिक रूप से कुछ भी सहमत नहीं हुआ-यूके पीएम मे की प्रवक्ता


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday its  friendly policy  toward Zimbabwe would not change, after the military said it had seized power and was holding President Robert Mugabe and his family safe while targeting  criminals . China is paying close attention to the situation in Zimbabwe and hoped for stability and a peaceful,  appropriate  resolution, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing in Beijing. China s cooperation with Zimbabwe was  all round  and benefited both peoples, he added.  China s friendly policy towards Zimbabwe won t change. We will continue to develop friendly cooperation with Zimbabwe on  an equal, mutually beneficial win-win cooperation principle,  Geng said, without elaborating. Influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said in an editorial on Thursday that Zimbabwe was unlikely to reverse its relations with China.  Since Zimbabwe s independence, there has been no anti-China faction in the country, and it is unlikely to appear in the future,  it said. In contrast to his elevated status on the continent, Mugabe is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa s most promising states. China and Zimbabwe have a close diplomatic and economic relationship and Beijing has stood with Mugabe s government in the face of Western economic sanctions, investing in auto, diamond, tobacco and power-station projects. BAIC Motor Corp Ltd (1958.HK), which has a joint venture making pick-up trucks in Zimbabwe, told Reuters there had been no impact on its operations. Neither of two other Chinese companies - Tianze Tobacco and diamond mining Anjin Investments - responded to requests for comment on their operations in Zimbabwe. In August, Zimbabwe s government said a Chinese company planned to invest up to $2 billion to revive operations at Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), which ceased production in 2008 at the height of Zimbabwe s economic meltdown. That same year, China vetoed a proposed Western-backed U.N. resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and 13 other officials, saying it would  complicate , rather than ease, conflict.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि जिम्बाब्वे के प्रति 'मैत्रीपूर्ण नीति' नहीं बदलेगी


(Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey detailed his private conversations with President Donald Trump in written testimony submitted to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and made public on Wednesday, one day before Comey is scheduled to testify in person. Comey was leading a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election when Trump fired him last month. Comey said he had a total of three face-to-face meetings with Trump and six phone calls with him. Following are details of what Comey said occurred in some of the conversations. Jan. 6 Briefing at Trump Tower in New York, when Trump was president-elect. At conclusion of a briefing given with other intelligence community officials, Comey remained alone with Trump to provide a private briefing on material that was “salacious and unverified.”  Comey said he was prepared to tell Trump the FBI was not investigating him personally, because the agency did not “have an open counter-intelligence case on him.”  “I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-elect,” Comey said, saying he began to “type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting.” “Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward,” Comey said. Jan. 27 Dinner at the White House  Comey had dinner with Trump in the Green Room at the White House. Trump called him earlier in the day to extend the invitation and Comey had assumed that other people would be present, but it was just him and the president. Trump asked Comey if he wanted to remain FBI director, which Comey said he “found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him I intended to.” “My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship.” Comey said. “Because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not ‘reliable’ in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth,” Comey said. “A few moments later, the President said, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.’ I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed.” Trump returned to the subject of Comey’s job near the end of the dinner, and said: “I need loyalty.” Comey said he replied: “You will always get honesty from me.” Trump paused and said: “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” Comey said he paused, and said: “You will get that from me,” although Comey said it was possible he and Trump “understood the phrase ‘honest loyalty’ differently.” Feb. 14 Oval Office meeting Comey went to the Oval Office for a counterterrorism briefing with other officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions. At the end of the briefing, Trump indicated he wanted to speak to Comey alone, and when Sessions lingered, Trump said he wanted to speak only to Comey. Once alone, Trump began by saying: “I want to talk about Mike Flynn,” who had been fired as national security adviser the previous day. Trump said of Flynn: “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Comey said he replied only that “he is a good guy,” and said that “I did not say I would ‘let this go.’” Comey discussed the conversation with the FBI leadership team and it was agreed not to report the conversation to the attorney general. But shortly afterward, Comey said he spoke in person to Sessions to pass along Trump’s concerns about leaks. “I took the opportunity to implore the Attorney General to prevent any future direct communication between the President and me. I told the AG that what had just happened – him being asked to leave while the FBI Director, who reports to the AG, remained behind – was inappropriate and should never happen. He did not reply.” March 30 Phone call Trump called Comey at the FBI. “He described the Russia investigation as ‘a cloud’ that was that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country,” and asked what could be done to “lift the cloud.” Trump wanted to know why there had been a congressional hearing about Russia the prior week. Comey said the FBI had briefed congressional leaders on which individuals it was investigating and said Trump was not being personally investigated. Comey said he reminded Trump that he had previously told him that. Trump, he said, “repeatedly told me, ‘We need to get that fact out.’” April 11 Phone call Trump called Comey and asked what he “had done about his request that I ‘get out’ that he is not personally under investigation. I replied that I had passed his request to the Acting Deputy Attorney General, but I had not heard back.” Trump again said “the cloud” was interfering with his ability to do his job. At the end of his conversation, Trump said: “‘Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know,’” Comey reported, adding: “I did not reply or ask him what he meant by ‘that thing.’” Comey said that was his last conversation with Trump.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः एफ. बी. आई. के पूर्व निदेशक कोमी ने ट्रंप के साथ हुई बातचीत पर गवाही दी


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore should end harassment of peaceful activists, Human Rights Watch has said, after participants at a candlelight vigil for a man being executed for drug trafficking were stopped from leaving the country. On July 13, about 10 people, including opponents of the death penalty and relatives Prabagaran Srivijayan, 22, attended the vigil outside Changi Prison in support of the man, who was to be hanged early the next morning. The man, who was executed on July 14, was convicted of trafficking 22.4 grams of heroin into Singapore.  During the vigil, participants said they were approached by police and told that a police report had been filed and that they were to remove the candles.  The police removed the candles and photographs of Prabagaran but the participants say they were not asked to disperse. Assemblies and processions for a cause in public places without a permit is a criminal offense in Singapore. Anyone convicted of organizing such an assembly faces penalties of up to S$10,000 ($7,440) in fines and up to six months in jail. The Singapore government has said that the law is required to provide for the individual s rights for political expression without compromising on  order and safety . Among those at the vigil were a journalist, who is an activist against capital punishment, an editor of independent online blog  Online Citizen  and a filmmaker whose most recent work focused on the detention in 1987 of political activists under Singapore s Internal Security Act. The three said in social media postings that they had been prevented from leaving the country, and had been told that they were required to stay in Singapore to assist police with an investigation. As of Friday afternoon, police were not able to respond to requests by Reuters for comment. Human Rights Watch said the government should respect the right of free speech and assembly.  The government should end its harassment of activists campaigning against capital punishment and respect their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,  the group said in a release on Thursday. None of the three had been arrested or charged, Kirsten Han, the activist and journalist, told Reuters.

Summary: सिंगापुर ने मृत्युदंड विरोधी कार्यकर्ताओं के 'उत्पीड़न' की निंदा की


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) Chief Executive Bob Iger on Wednesday defended his seat on President Trump’s business advisory council as an opportunity to voice opinions that will benefit the company and its shareholders. Facing questions regarding his inclusion on the council at the Disney’s annual shareholders meeting, the chief executive said he had no plans to step down from the group, as some critics have urged him to do. In response to one question, Iger said he did not believe his membership “supports or endorses” Trump’s policies. Another speaker, who identified himself as a member of the Colorado People’s Alliance, said Iger’s decision to remain on the council suggests Disney “is tacitly endorsing Trump’s agenda.”  Iger, however, referenced a song from the Broadway musical “Hamilton” called “The Room Where It Happens,” saying it was important to have input in a forum where policies are being shaped. “I think there is an opportunity, when you are in the room where it happens, to express opinions I believe would be in the best interest of the company and its shareholders,” he said at meeting held in Denver. Iger said he would at times express views “likely to be adversarial” to the president.  Uber Technologies Inc UBER.UL Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s advisory group in February amid pressure from activists and employees who opposed the administration’s immigration policies. Iger said immigration had helped Disney in many ways, citing the issue as an example of something he could address on the Trump advisory council.  The United States and Disney have “benefited from an open and fair immigration policy,” Iger said. “I don’t happen to believe policies that single people out by religion are fair and just.” Iger skipped the first meeting of Trump’s advisory council in February to attend a previously scheduled board meeting. He fielded several questions on political topics at the meeting with another speaker suggesting that Disney-owned ABC News holds a liberal political bias, a charge Iger vigorously rejected. “They work very, very hard to present news in a fair way,” Iger said, adding that he did not agree the media was “an enemy of the people,” as Trump has written on Twitter. Iger said there were times the Obama administration disliked coverage by ABC News. “I am proud of the fact news can be an adversary,” Iger said.

Summary: डिज्नी के सी. ई. ओ. ने कहा कि वे ट्रम्प सलाहकार परिषद में बने रहेंगे


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A top European Commission official defended Malta s record on preventing money laundering in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday prompted by the murder of an investigative journalist, but a variety of EU lawmakers expressed scepticism. Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told European Parliament lawmakers that the European Commission had carried out an analysis of Malta s compliance with anti-money laundering laws and concluded that there were  no general concerns .  He added however that  improvements could be made on various levels,  and said the commission was assessing new information provided by Malta on recent alleged cases of wrongdoing. Timmermans  assessment was however not shared by most lawmakers. Many called for closer oversight of Malta s adherence to the rule of law, a process that could lead to heavy sanctions if wrongdoing was ascertained. Esteban Gonz lez Pons, Vice-Chairman of the conservative group, the largest of the EU assembly, denounced in Malta  the harassment of journalists, the blackmailing of independent media by banks connected with money laundering, the involvement of government officials in tax evasion.  He said that police in Malta  remain silent  in the face of such activities. Other lawmakers echoed Pons s comments and raised other questions about Malta s respect for the rule of law and money laundering rules. A smaller number of parliamentarians urged caution on accusations against Malta. A resolution set to be voted on Wednesday openly questions the independence of the police on the island and raises  serious concerns about the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights  in Malta.   The parliament s debate was triggered by the killing on Oct. 16 of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist who had denounced high-profile corruption and accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of wrongdoing.  The Parliament named the news room in its Strasbourg building after Caruana Galizia on Tuesday.  Timmermans did not make any direct comment on the rule of law in Malta, but he called again on the Maltese authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of Caruana Galizia s murder. He said the investigation should proceed unhampered and stressed that the Maltese authorities had committed to do all in their power to pursue the culprits. He also called on Malta to join the EU public prosecution office, a new body to prosecute crimes in the 28-country bloc, from which Malta has opted out.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ आयोग ने मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग पर माल्टा का बचाव किया, सांसदों को संदेह


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian lawmakers rejected corruption charges against President Michel Temer on Wednesday evening, shelving a case that had threatened to oust a center-right leader who investors hope will bring Brazil s budget deficit under control. The corruption case, involving the payment of bribes by meatpacker JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), had paralyzed Temer s reform agenda for six months and weakened his government. The lower house of Brazil s Congress, which has the authority to decide whether a president should stand trial by the Supreme Court, voted 251-233 to throw out charges of obstruction of justice and organized crime filed by federal prosecutors.  The vote means that Temer is safe from prosecution while he remains president. But he is still subject to investigation and possible trial by lower courts after his term ends in late 2018. While Temer s opponents were far from the 342 votes - or two-thirds of the seats - needed to put him on trial, he got 12 votes less than in August when the lower house voted 263-227 to block an initial corruption charge against him. The slip in support signals Temer will have trouble passing a pension reform bill that is crucial for plugging Brazil s budget deficit. Many lawmakers are reluctant to back the reform, which would make Brazilians work more years before retirement. The speaker of the house, Rodrigo Maia, said the shelving of the charges against Temer cleared the way for the government and Congress to move ahead with the pension reform debate. Allies said Brazil could not afford the upheaval of removing a second president in little over a year, as Latin America s largest economy struggles to overcome deep recession. Temer succeeded impeached leftist President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. Opponents criticized Temer for making policy concessions and fast-tracking pork barrel spending to win votes to ensure his survival. To please the powerful farm lobby that has two-fifths of the votes in the lower house, Temer agreed to lower fines for environmental damage. He attempted to relax a definition of slave labor, but was forced to backtrack after an outcry. A few hours before the vote, Temer was taken to hospital in pain due to a urinary tract obstruction, a health scare that triggered a brief selloff in financial markets. His office said he underwent a bladder test by catheter and left the hospital later on Wednesday. Temer, 77, was recently diagnosed with a partial coronary artery blockage. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index .BVSP closed up 0.47 percent at 76,706 points after the house reached a quorum allowing the vote to go ahead. Earlier, it touched session lows on the news that Temer was in the hospital. Stocks later pared losses and the currency was flat after his office gave details of his condition.

Summary: ब्राजील की कांग्रेस ने राष्ट्रपति टेमर के खिलाफ भ्रष्टाचार के मामले को खारिज किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday that Russia was preparing lawsuits to reclaim what Moscow says was illegally seized property in the United States, Russia s foreign ministry said. Lavrov, in a telephone conversation with Tillerson, also said it was unacceptable that U.S. authorities had removed Russian flags from its seized diplomatic buildings in the United States, the ministry said. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, asked about the accusations later, told reporters that U.S. actions at the shuttered Russian facilities were  perfectly legal  and were carried out with  a lot of thought  and in a  judicious fashion.   The flags of the former Russian consular properties in San Francisco were respectfully lowered. They re safely stored within each of the buildings,  Nauert said.  There s no country in the world that pays greater respect to its own flag and to the flags of other nations. That is something that we take seriously.  But Russia s foreign ministry said Lavrov stressed to Tillerson that  the lawlessness continued by U.S. officials runs counter to declarations made at the highest level in Washington about intentions to normalize the bilateral relations, which have hit an all-time low.  Russian staff left the consulate in San Francisco last month after Washington ordered Moscow to vacate some of its diplomatic properties, part of a series of tit-for-tat actions resulting from a souring of relations between the two countries.

Summary: रूस के लावरोव ने टिलरसन से कहाः मास्को जब्त की गई संपत्ति पर मुकदमा दायर करने के लिए तैयार है


(Reuters) - Lloyd s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd said the price of insuring property in the United States would rise after the states of Texas and Florida suffered billions of dollars of losses from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.    This will definitely have the impact of eliminating price reductions. I think that loss-affected areas will see price rises. The bigger ticket property area will see price rises because that was a very under-priced area beforehand,  Chief Executive Bronek Masojada told Reuters.  People buy programs covering all of their property wherever they are in America. So, it (price rises) will be broader than just Texas and Florida,  Masojada added. Like many Lloyd s of London insurers, Hiscox offers U.S. property insurance.  AIR Worldwide forecast on Monday total insured losses in the United States for Irma of between $20 billion and $40 billion. That was down from initial estimates over the weekend of as much as $65 billion. Rival risk modeling firm RMS estimates insured losses from Harvey of $25-$35 billion. Masojada said Hiscox would be announcing loss estimates  in due course .

Summary: हिसकॉक्स ने हार्वे, इरमा के बाद उच्च अमेरिकी संपत्ति बीमा दरों को देखा


LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is  entirely confused  since Britain voted to leave the bloc and it needs to revisit its vision for enlargement and Turkey s place in that, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Monday.  Launched in 2005 after decades of seeking the formal start of an EU membership bid, Ankara s membership negotiations have long been sensitive for France and Germany because of Turkey s status as a large, mainly Muslim country. The large purge that President Tayyip Erdogan has carried out following a failed coup attempt in July 2016 has worsened relations between Brussels and Ankara.  During a visit to London, Yildirim said the European Union needed to look again at its plans to expand the bloc.   After the Brexit decision the EU is entirely confused. They need to revisit their vision for the future, how far they are going to enlarge and what place Turkey will have in that. We are here. We are not going anywhere,  he said.  Yildirim also reaffirmed that Turkey did not believe that the crisis in neighbouring Syria could be resolved whilst President Bashar al-Assad remained in power.  The current regime is responsible for the way things have evolved in Syria ... I don t think it s a realistic prospect to build lasting peace in Syria with Assad (in place),  he said.

Summary: तुर्की के प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि यूरोपीय संघ ब्रेक्सिट के बाद से उलझन में है, तुर्की के भविष्य के स्थान पर फिर से विचार करने की आवश्यकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday told staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to “disregard” instructions from Leandra English, the deputy director, according to a memo. “Consistent with my email from yesterday, please disregard any email sent by, or instructions you receive from, Ms. English when she is purporting to act as the Acting Director,” Mulvaney wrote in an email to staff Tuesday morning. Mulvaney and English, the agency’s deputy director, are in a legal fight over who should control the agency following the Friday resignation of Director Richard Cordray.

Summary: अमेरिकी बजट प्रमुख मुलवेनी का कहना है कि सी. एफ. पी. बी. कर्मचारियों को उप निदेशक की 'अवहेलना' करनी चाहिएः ज्ञापन


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is back in a South African hospital for a medical review, nearly two weeks after he returned home from that country, his spokesman said on Friday, denying reports that he was critically ill. Tsvangirai, who suffered severe vomiting after a party meeting and was in September airlifted to a Johannesburg hospital where he spent nearly a month receiving treatment and recuperating. He returned to Zimbabwe on Oct. 13 but has not been seen in public since.  He came back knowing full well he would return for a review and he went for the review as scheduled,  Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai s spokesman said.  He could not say when he expected Tsvangirai back.     Tsvangirai s illness has divided the opposition, with some senior party officials saying the former trade unionist should consider stepping down to make way for a younger and fit leader. Tsvangirai, 65, declared last year that he was receiving treatment for colon cancer. Despite the illness, he is leading an opposition alliance to challenge 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe in elections next year.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के विपक्षी नेता त्सवांगिराई दक्षिण अफ्रीका के अस्पताल में वापस आ गए हैं।


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon marks its independence on Wednesday with its sovereignty as compromised as ever by the agendas of foreign states that have shaped its history since the French mandate ended in 1943. The crisis ignited by Saad al-Hariri s sudden resignation  as prime minister is unprecedented even by the standards of a country where loyalties have been split between countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia regionally and the United States, France and Russia globally. Hariri is due back in Lebanon on Wednesday for the first time since his resignation in a televised broadcast from Riyadh. Many believe Saudi Arabia made him quit and held him in Riyadh because he was not serving its objectives. Riyadh denies this. He will take part in independence day celebrations in Beirut after an intervention by Lebanon s former colonial power France led to him leaving Saudi Arabia for Paris last week.  Can Lebanese people act the way they want? Are they free to take a decision and follow it? No they cannot. Because there are foreign powers who decide the way things go,  said Antoine Mouawad, a 65-year old charity employee.  We do not feel independent,  said George al-Basha, 58, an unemployed barber in Beirut s Achrafiyeh district.  For some Lebanese, the latest chapter in their turbulent history carries echoes of its independence in 1943, when France arrested the president and prime minister. International pressure and popular protests eventually forced their release. The parallel with Hariri s situation was drawn by one of Lebanon s major TV stations at the start of the crisis. Foreign states have often regarded tiny Lebanon as a theater for their rivalry, exploiting the fissures between Muslim and Christian sects who have also courted foreign intervention to help them in their struggles with each other.  For years it was the tussle between Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon from 1982-2000, and Syria, which maintained a big military presence across much of the country from 1976-2005, that played out on Lebanese soil. The Palestine Liberation Organisation also controlled much of the country prior to 1982. Reflecting today s biggest Middle East rivalry, it is competition between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran that lies behind many accusations of foreign meddling. Critics of the heavily armed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah view it as a tool of Iranian policy. Opponents of Hariri, who was thrust into politics by the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik, have similarly labeled him as an instrument of Saudi policy. But the demand for his return has united Lebanese across the political spectrum. Politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh held him against his will and forced his resignation to bust a coalition government that suited Hezbollah.  Posters of Hariri demanding his return to Lebanon, even in areas dominated by his biggest political opponents, reflect widely felt anger at the perceived foreign intervention.       The most important thing in a country like Lebanon is to understand that independence is a battle that does not stop,  Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a member of Hariri s Future Movement, said on Tuesday as he laid a wreath on Rafik Hariri s grave.     Saad al-Hariri has also denied being held by Saudi Arabia, and in his resignation speech instead blamed Iran and Hezbollah for Lebanon s present difficulties.  Wednesday s independence parade will be held near the central Martyrs Square, where reconstruction from Lebanon s 1975-90 civil war continues. In the nearby seaport are moored naval vessels belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL which was established after Israeli s first invasion in 1978, and expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.  What we have seen in the last 10 days or two weeks, this is really crude intervention,  said Sami Atallah of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, a thinktank in Beirut.  When you have a prime minister who resigns in a capital not his own, it tells you that someone else is giving the orders.  Syria s military presence in Lebanon was brought to an end in 2005 by a wave of popular protests and international pressure following the Hariri assassination. A U.N.-backed court has charged five Hezbollah members over the killing. The group denies any role.  Lebanon is tied either to Saudi Arabia or to Iran. It doesn t have the ability to take actions by itself and politicians are to blame for this,  said Nohad Chelhot, a retired business owner.

Summary: अभी भी स्वतंत्रता के लिए संघर्ष कर रहा है लेबनान, राष्ट्रीय दिवस मनाया जाएगा


GADSDEN, Ala. (Reuters) - In a U.S. Senate race rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Republican candidate Roy Moore, some women in his hometown said they were sticking by the embattled nominee while others said prayer would guide their votes on Tuesday. Caroll Norman, a retired middle school teacher in Gadsden, said she did not know if she would vote for a Democrat for the first time in her life or write in another name on her ballot. Perusing a candle shop downtown Monday evening, the Trump supporter said not even the president’s vocal backing of the embattled Republican nominee had swayed her. “I’ll have to pray about it and make a decision in the morning,” the 64-year-old Republican said. Reuters spoke to more than a dozen women in the religious, working-class city of about 36,000 people an hour from Birmingham. Gadsden landed in an unwelcome spotlight after multiple women came forward last month to accuse Moore of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was a local prosecutors in his 30s. One accuser said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Moore denounced the allegations as political attacks and refused to heed national Republicans’ calls to leave the race. Reuters has not independently confirmed any of the accusations. Norman said there were inconsistencies in the women’s stories, as well as in some of Moore’s responses.  Nearby at a bus stop downtown, where Christmas music played from speakers on light poles, Republican Sara Teet, 35, said she also remained conflicted. “I just don’t know what to believe,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.”  But at the Gadsden Mall, Republican Debbie Handy said she was voting for “the judge,” as many locals refer to Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice.  “I’ve known him a long time and he’d never have anything to do with those women,” Handy, 40, said. “He’s a man of integrity. He’s a strong Christian.” Handy said she also liked Moore because he supports Trump, who last year won 73 percent of the presidential vote in Etowah County, where Gadsden is the county seat. “Trump and Moore will bring America back to what it should be,” she said. Robin Gibson, 61, a store clerk and self-described liberal Democrat, said she knew one of Moore’s accusers and she believed the allegations against him. Her vote on Tuesday for Democrat Doug Jones would have nothing to do with thwarting Trump or trying to erode the slim margin Republicans hold in the Senate, she said. “This isn’t a race about Trump’s plans for our country. It’s about who represents my state,” Gibson said. Around town, where there were noticeably few campaign signs for either candidate, many voters echoed the sentiments of Pat Miller in the final hours of the race. “We’ve had CNN and the Washington Post and some fellas from New York City all over the place,” said Miller, 54, as she walked out of the Gadsden Variety Café with a bowl of hot chili. “All I can say is that we all can’t wait for this to be over.”

Summary: रॉय मूर के गृहनगर अलबामा में प्रार्थना, सिद्धांत महिला मतदाताओं का मार्गदर्शन करती है


MUNICH/POTSDAM, Germany (Reuters) - More than 8,000 people   including hecklers blowing whistles    showed up in Munich for one of German Chancellor Angela Merkel s final speeches before Sunday s national election that is expected to sweep her into a fourth term. Merkel, whose conservatives have a solid double-digit lead over the Social Democrats, largely ignored jeers from hundreds of left- and right-wing demonstrators to deliver a stump speech focused on stability, security and a promise to avoid tax increases.  Get lost,   Merkel must go,  shouted some demonstrators as curious foreign tourists, in Munich for its famous Oktoberfest,  snapped photographs of the German leader first elected in 2005. Merkel, who has faced down similar heckling at many other  rallies, especially in the former Communist east, admonished the peaceful but boisterous crowd:  Whistling and yelling certainly won t ensure the future of our country.  Merkel defended her 2015 decision to allow in about one million migrants as a humanitarian necessity but said she would prevent a repeat of the migrant crisis by doing more to fund programs in at-risk countries to keep people from fleeing.  What happened in 2015 cannot and will not be repeated,  Merkel said, saying she would protect Europe s borders. At Berlin s Gendarmenmarkt, Merkel s main rival, SPD leader Martin Schulz urged supporters to make their voices heard, saying that high voter turnout could help offset growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Schulz, flanked by hundreds of red balloons, decried the AfD as  gravediggers of democracy,  and said his party, which also opposed the rise of Nazis in the 1930s, would do all it could to fight the anti-immigrant group.  You are our enemies and we will defend democracy in Germany,  he said.  The more people vote, the smaller will be the share of the far-right.   Schulz told Bild newspaper he had not given up hope of victory and 37 percent of voters were still undecided. Support for the AfD, which was founded in 2013 during the euro zone crisis but has won support since 2015 with its anti-immigrant rhetoric, is running around 11 percent. That means it will become the first far-right party in more than half a century to clear the 5 percent hurdle and enter parliament. The AfD, which has already won seats in 13 of 16 state legislatures, promised to reenergize debate there after four years of  grand coalition  rule by the two major parties.  It must get into the Bundestag lower house so that debates happen again,  the AfD s top candidate Alexander Gauland told Reuters in Brandenburg s regional parliament.  This parliament...has become totally boring.  Gauland said the AfD would bring in  completely different political suggestions  after four years of agreement between the parties of Merkel and Schulz on issues ranging from sanctions against Russia, the NSA spying scandal or on the refugee issue. Schulz described Gauland as  shameless . Gauland provoked outrage by saying at a recent rally that Germans should no longer be reproached with the Nazi past and should take pride in their World War Two soldiers.  The language that he speaks is the language of the Harzburger Front,  Schulz said, referring to a radical right-wing alliance in Weimar Germany.  The gravediggers of the Weimar democracy, they spoke like Mr Gauland.  The mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, which may emerge as the third largest party; but Gauland said it would ultimately work toward being able to govern in the medium or long-term. Electoral arithmetic might yet push Merkel into another grand coalition with the SPD, or she may enter a three-way  alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmental Greens. The Forsa poll showed support for Merkel s conservatives holding steady on 36 percent, while the SPD ceded 1 percentage point to 22 percent.  An Emnid poll put Merkel s CDU and its Bavarian sister party at 35 percent, while the SPD was at 22 percent.

Summary: जर्मनी के बढ़ते दूर-दराज़ संसद को बाधित करने के वादे


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who made a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, to oversee the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Referred to as HUD, the agency had a budget of $48 billion in 2016 and is best known for the administration of public housing - historically large buildings where poor people are able to obtain low-cost homes. Large-scale public housing in the country’s largest urban areas still houses millions of people. In the past few decades, the federal government, in partnership with local governments, has largely abandoned large-scale public housing buildings and instead supported mixed-income projects and the use of vouchers, commonly known as “Section 8,” to help low-income people rent from commercial properties.     The largest budget allocations for HUD are for public housing and other assistance programs for groups including Native Americans, the elderly and disabled people. Together, those programs are budgeted for roughly $40 billion. Other responsibilities of the agency include:

Summary: कार्सन से एच. यू. डी.: सार्वजनिक आवास, संघीय बंधक कार्यक्रमों की देखरेख करने वाली एजेंसी


PARIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of hard-left trade unionists marched through French cities on Tuesday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron s labor law reforms, although turnout appeared lower than at demonstrations in previous years. Hitting back at Macron s pledge to give no ground to  slackers , some in Paris carried placards reading:  Slacker on Strike  while in Bordeaux demonstrators chanted:  Macron you re screwed, the slackers are in the streets.  The interior ministry said 223,000 protesters turned out across the country, compared with about 400,000 during March 2016 s demonstration. Riot police clashed with hooded youths in isolated skirmishes on the fringe of the march led by the Communist Party-linked CGT union in Paris. The union said some 400,000 had marched across France, down from its estimate for 2016 of 1.2 million. Labor unions have scuppered previous attempts to weaken France s labor code, but this time there was comfort for Macron as two other unions, including the largest, the CFDT, declined to join the protests.  We ve been passing laws which take apart the labor code for 20 years. The answer (to unemployment) doesn t lie in rolling it back further,  said Maxime Durand, a train driver on strike. After weeks of negotiation, the government last month set out measures including a cap on payouts for dismissals judged unfair and greater freedom for companies to hire and fire.  The reform makes no direct reference to the 35-hour week, a totem of the labor code, though it hands firms more flexibility to set pay and working conditions. The government plans to adopt the new measures, being implemented by decree, on Sept. 22. During a trip to Athens on Friday, Macron told the local French community:  I am fully determined and I won t cede any ground, not to slackers, nor cynics, nor hardliners.  He said the  slackers  comment was aimed at those who had failed to push through reforms in the past, although political opponents and some unions took it as an attack on the unemployed or on workers making the most of job protection.  We will make Macron back down,  far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has become Macron s most vocal opponent in parliament, said on the sidelines of a protest in Marseille.  French workers have long cherished the rights enshrined in the labor code, but companies complain it has deterred investment and job creation and stymied economic growth. Unemployment has been above 9 percent for nearly a decade. Macron s reforms are being followed in Germany as a test of his resolve to reshape the euro zone s second-biggest economy, a must if he is to win Berlin s backing for broader reforms to the currency union. The CGT is France s second-biggest union, though its influence has been waning. Its leader Philippe Martinez said Tuesday s nationwide protests were the  first phase  and more would follow. He called Macron s reference to  slackers  an insult to workers.  The president should listen to the people, understand them, rather than cause divisions,  Martinez told France 2 television. CGT workers from the rail, oil and power sectors heeded the strike call but by the afternoon there was no apparent impact on power and refining production, spokespeople for utility EDF (EDF.PA) and oil major Total (TOTF.PA) said. Just over 11 percent of the workforce at EDF, which operates France s fleet of 48 nuclear reactors, took part in the strike, a spokeswoman for the state-owned utility said. Macron landed in the French Caribbean on Tuesday to survey the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma on the territory of Saint Martin. Governments on the political left and right have been trying for decades to overhaul the 3,000-page labor code, but ended up watering down their plans in the face of street demonstrations. Macron was economy minister in the Socialist government of president Francois Hollande, whose attempt at labor reform led to weeks of protests that at their peak brought 400,000 onto the streets, and stoked a rebellion within his own party. Hollande was forced to dilute his proposals, but so far there are no signs of Macron feeling compelled to back down. An opinion poll published on Sept. 1 indicated that voters have mixed views on the reform. Nearly six in 10 said they opposed Macron s labor decrees overall. But when respondents looked at individual measures, most received majority support. With economic growth accelerating, unemployment on a downward trend and the leading unions divided in their response to the reforms, it is not clear whether the protests will gain significant momentum.

Summary: मैक्रों द्वारा 'स्लैकर्स' की निंदा करने के बाद कट्टरपंथियों ने फ्रांसीसी श्रम सुधार का विरोध किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump asked for the resignation of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after his level of trust in Flynn eroded to the point that he felt he needed to make a change, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday. A day after Flynn’s resignation, Spicer said Trump had been concerned that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence over his contacts with Russian officials before Trump took office on Jan. 20. Trump had been reviewing Flynn’s situation for a few weeks, he said. Amid congressional calls for an investigation into the extent to which Flynn discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Spicer said the White House legal counsel had reviewed the situation and believed Flynn’s case was viewed “not as a legal issue but a trust issue.” Spicer said Trump was informed of Flynn’s conversations with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak and asked counsel to review the case. “The erosion of that trust, frankly, was the issue,” Spicer said. He said Trump had not told Flynn to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian diplomat.

Summary: फ्लिन में ट्रम्प का विश्वास कम हो रहा थाः व्हाइट हाउस के प्रवक्ता


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner refused to step away from his stalled legislative agenda on Wednesday while insisting that a spending deal remains within reach, but his words appeared to leave his Democratic rivals unmoved. Republican Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature have been locked in a budget stalemate for nearly seven months. “To achieve a grand compromise, we must cast partisanship and ideology aside,” Rauner told the state legislature in his State of the State address. “We must break from the politics of the past and do what is right for the long term future of our state. I’m ready, and it’s my genuine hope that you are too.” Rauner, a political newcomer, became governor a year ago. The wealthy venture capitalist used last year’s annual speech to lay out an ambitious agenda that included business-friendly changes to workers’ compensation, a freeze on local property taxes, curbs on public-sector collective-bargaining, and legislative term limits. But Rauner’s so-called turnaround hit a brick wall in the legislature, where House Speaker Michael Madigan pronounced it “extreme.” The stalemate has left Illinois without a budget more than halfway through fiscal 2016. About 90 percent of state government is being funded through court orders, an enacted spending bill for K-12 schools, and continuing appropriations for pensions and bonds. In a nearly 40-minute speech that drew robust Republican applause but only a tepid Democratic response, Rauner did not  abandon his stalled plan and lobbed barbs at two primary Democratic constituencies.  “I understand that union leaders and trial lawyers are putting pressure on you to keep the status quo, but if we don’t offer a competitive environment for businesses, pretty soon the unions won’t have any more jobs to unionize and the trial lawyers won’t have any more businesses to sue,” Rauner said, producing sarcastic laughter from some Democratic lawmakers. After the speech, Democrats continued to balk at the governor’s agenda and questioned why he made no direct reference to the casualties of the budget impasse, including the state’s university system, rape-crisis centers and other human-service providers that have been deprived of state funds. “I certainly would have appreciated it had he done that,” Madigan told reporters. But Rauner’s GOP ally, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, dismissed the speaker’s criticism. “Today is the state of the state, not the state of the budget,” Durkin said. The day ended with the spectacle of the lone public Rauner sympathizer within Madigan’s 71-member super-majority Democratic caucus lashing out at the speaker while appearing before reporters and carrying a red sleeping bag and backpack. State Rep. Ken Dunkin, a Chicago Democrat, used his props to dramatize his willingness to stay at the Capitol and even “shower” in the speaker’s private statehouse bathroom for as long as it takes to strike a budget deal. For a deal to happen, Madigan needs to “stop holding the citizens of Illinois hostage to his political maneuvering, to his political shenanigans, and actually get things done,” Dunkin said.

Summary: राजकोषीय गतिरोध के कारण इलिनोइस के गवर्नर पीछे हटने में विफल रहे