SAN JUAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers are writing a fix to the Puerto Rico debt crisis that would give an independent financial review board sweeping power to arbitrate creditor disputes and map a future for the U.S. territory’s pension system. Rather than pick winners and losers among investors who hold roughly $70 billion of Puerto Rican debt, the Republican plan envisions leaving key questions to a newly-created board, according to legislative sources familiar with the work.  Republicans control both houses of Congress and so the party leaders often write the first draft of legislation. Under the proposal, White House and congressional leaders would appoint a board of financial experts to arbitrate politically-charged questions like whether bonds issued by utilities or even the island’s government should be written down.  “We expect to have a framework that protects taxpayers and restores solvency to the island,” said Parish Braden, spokesman for the Natural Resources Committee that is writing legislation in the House of Representatives. A crucial issue for lawmakers is whether Puerto Rico will have a clear path to restructure debt through the courts, in a process akin to U.S. bankruptcy, if the new board could not facilitate a deal among stakeholders. The U.S. Treasury Department has long called for a debt restructuring for Puerto Rico. So have Congressional Democrats, and Puerto Rico’s leaders. A spokesman for the Treasury Department said officials were “encouraged by the increased legislative activity,” but declined to speculate on the Republican legislation that was expected to be finished before the end of the month. And while Republicans will write the first draft of the rescue bill, Democrats in Congress and the White House will have a say as legislation moves toward approval from President Barack Obama. On Monday, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, proposed putting roughly $45 billion in unfunded pension liabilities at the top of the list of creditors. Some creditors are concerned where they might rank with such a move and many oppose any provision that would allow the island to file for bankruptcy. Municipal bond markets would be roiled if Puerto Rico were cleared, some Republican lawmakers have argued.  “These are complicated issues and Congress needs to empower people qualified to handle them,” said one staffer working on the plan. The 3.5 million residents of Puerto Rico may face a reduction of “essential government services” like public safety and health care if there is no fix before the next debt payments in May, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla told Congress last year. The Menendez plan would restructure all of Puerto Rico’s debt, establishing a chief financial officer, a “Fiscal Stability and Reform Board” and require the island’s governor to develop a 5-year fiscal plan. If Puerto Rico accepts the plan Menendez proposes then an automatic 12-month stay on debt payments would go into effect, after which a restructuring plan with creditors would be crafted. The plan would see that pensions would be paid before the  island’s General Obligation debt, which is typically the first in line for payment. Padilla praised Menendez’s plan for providing tools needed to stave off the immediate impact of the crisis while helping to stabilize the economy. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, swatted away Menendez’s proposals. “While I have yet to see the full legislative text of the proposals, from what I’ve read, Senate Democrats appear to want to move the goal posts on broad debt restructuring,” Hatch said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

Summary: सांसद मजबूत बोर्ड को प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण निर्धारण के हिस्से के रूप में देखते हैं


MANILA (Reuters) - A group of Philippine lawyers on Wednesday filed an injunction with the Supreme Court to try to stop President Rodrigo Duterte s bloody war on drugs, calling it as an illegal campaign that lets police kill and circumvent legal procedures. The government s directive for the fierce 15-month-old crackdown permits police to  negate  and  neutralise  targets, effectively granting them a license to kill suspected users and dealers, without gathering evidence or building a case, the lawyers said. A practice of compiling lists of  drug personalities  and encouraging citizens to anonymously provide names was tantamount to drawing up a hit list, the petition said. It called for judicial intervention in thousands of cases where Filipinos were killed by police.  The present war on drugs being waged by the government is not going to stop illegal drugs, crime and corruption,  Jose Manuel Diokno, chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), told a news conference.  (It) will only result in the killing of more and more people especially the poor.   The petition comes as public scrutiny intensifies on Duterte s signature campaign, which he insists will not stop, regardless of the bloodshed. He says he is prepared to go to jail to protect Filipinos from crimes fueled by addiction. Duterte rejects criticism that his notoriously bellicose public remarks have been interpreted by some police as veiled instructions to kill drug users, with impunity. Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Dionardo Carlos said police  welcome the filing of the petition before the Supreme Court . He did not elaborate. Though Filipinos are largely supportive of Duterte s iron-fisted approach, recent opinion polls indicate public doubts that his drugs war is above board and effective as the government says. Analysts say unease about the campaign has contributed to Duterte s ratings decline. PNP data shows 3,900 people have been killed in operations in which police say armed suspects violently resisted arrest. Duterte s opponents and activists dispute that and say executions and cover-ups are commonplace, which police deny. The petition by FLAG, which is comprised of around 200 pro-bono human rights lawyers, was filed on behalf of three people whose relatives were killed by police. FLAG has also represented two men who testified before the Senate that they were part of an alleged  death squad  that killed drug dealers and criminals at Duterte s behest when he was Davao City mayor, long before his presidency.  Duterte dismisses the allegation as nonsense. The latest petition seeks to compel the PNP and the interior ministry to halt the campaign and wants killings to be examined by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which would take charge of evidence, including guns that police say were used by victims. It said house-to-house visits by anti-drugs police followed unverified tip-offs from unknown informants and were not based on evidence. It argues police had no intent to persuade suspects to surrender and would kill anyone who refused to cooperate or denied involvement.  The government s war on drugs is short-cutting the justice system by dispensing justice from the barrels of guns,  the petition said.

Summary: फिलीपींस के वकीलों ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट से ड्रग्स के खिलाफ 'अवैध' युद्ध को रोकने की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a congressional panel on Tuesday that he expects a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to be “well under way” within the next two years.  Kelly said the wall would be some kind of “physical barrier,” perhaps including a fence in some places.  Republican President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration.

Summary: गृह सुरक्षा सचिव को उम्मीद है कि दो साल के भीतर दीवार पर काम शुरू हो जाएगा।


VIENNA (Reuters) - Ministers from Austria s main conservative People s Party (OVP) and the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) were sworn in on Monday, making it the only western European country with a far-right component in its governing coalition. Below are some of the policies that new chancellor Sebastian Kurz s OVP and Heinz-Christian Strache s FPO have already agreed on. For the entire program in German please click [here] ** Oppose deeper political integration among EU members states, seek to have more powers returned to national governments. Oppose Turkey s bid to join the EU. ** Rule out a referendum on Austrian membership of the EU. ** Move some departments that deal with European affairs, including the task force preparing Austria s EU presidency in the second half of 2018, to the chancellery headed by Kurz. (The FPO will take control of the Foreign Ministry). ** Push for more relaxed relationship between West and Russia. ** Introduce tougher minimum sentences for violent and sex crimes. ** Make fighting political Islam a priority. ** Secure Austria s borders nationally to stop illegal immigration until the EU has secured external frontiers. ** Put around 2,100 more policemen on the streets. ** Extend the maximum working day to 12 hours from 10. ** Facilitate immigration only for qualified workers in sectors that are struggling to find suitable Austrian employees. ** Simplify administrative framework in highly federalized Austria. ** Support construction of third runway at Vienna Airport. ** Focus on improving test results in basic skills such as reading, writing and numeracy, allow children to start school only if their German is good enough. ** Cut social benefits for parents who fail to comply with certain requirements, like ensuring attendance and that their child speaks German well enough. ** Cut public spending to fund tax cuts. Kurz and Strache repeatedly said during their campaigns that they planned to cut public spending by around 12 billion euros ($14.1 billion). ** Reduce corporate tax burden, for example by exempting profit reinvested in Austria. ** Not introduce wealth or inheritance taxes. ** Introduce public  debt brake  in the constitution. ** Push, also at a European level, for higher taxes on online transactions with foreign companies. ** Block newcomers from accessing many social services in Austria in their first five years in the country. ** Cap the main basic benefit payment at 1,500 euros a month for families and provide refugees with a  light  version of regular benefits. ** Cut benefits for refugees and turn cash payments into benefits in kind so as to minimize what they say is a  pull factor  attracting immigrants to the country. ** Reform the state pension system to reflect Austria s ageing population. ** Give families a tax cut worth 1,500 euros per child per year. ** Merge Austria s 22 public health and other social security funds into five entities to cut administrative costs. ** Produce 100 percent of Austria s power from renewable sources by 2030, compared with roughly 33 percent at present, and keep the national ban on nuclear power plants.  ** Gradual introduction of legislation to allow a referendum to take place if at least 900,000 voters support the issue. ** Rule out referendums on Austrian membership of the EU; support the European-Canadian trade deal CETA. ** Overturn a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants that is due to come into effect in May 2018.  ($1 = 0.8497 euros)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ऑस्ट्रिया के रूढ़िवादी/दूर-दराज़ गठबंधन की प्रमुख नीतियां


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president’s son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. “Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me,” Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program “This Week.”  In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow’s comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump’s son and two senior campaign officials. “Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time,” the statement said. According to emails released by Trump Jr. last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties. On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump’s election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel. Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr. have denied any collusion. Sekulow’s comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W. Bush on homeland security. “Ok let’s try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus,” she said on Twitter. The Secret Service’s mission is to provide physical protection for the U.S. president. The agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting people who meet with a U.S. president or candidates is limited to ensuring physical safety. Trump himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer until a few days ago. “The president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this meeting,” Sekulow told the CBS program “Face the Nation.” Sekulow added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and Russians. A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: “The level of credibility from the senior level of this administration really is suspect.” Warner said he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting. “Whether we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them,” Warner said.

Summary: अमेरिकी गुप्त सेवा ने ट्रम्प के बेटे की बैठक की जांच करने के सुझाव को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, said on Thursday he had agreed to testify in a closed hearing to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee in its investigation of possible Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election. “All 20 members of the committee will be present for the hearing,” Stone, an informal adviser to the Republican president, said in a statement. The hearing will be held on Sept. 26. Stone said he had asked for an open, public hearing in the interest of full transparency. Since it will be closed, he has requested an immediate release of transcripts to avoid confusion about his testimony. “I very much look forward to testifying and I am anxious to correct a number of the misstatements by committee members regarding my activities in 2016,” Stone said. A spokeswoman for Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican in charge of the committee investigation, declined comment. The House panel is one of the main congressional committees investigating allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election and probing whether any Trump associates colluded with Moscow. Russia denies any such efforts, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. Media reports earlier this year said that Stone was among Trump associates whose communications and financial transactions were being examined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and others as part of the broad investigation. At the time, Stone denied contacts or collusion with the Russians.

Summary: चुनाव में हस्तक्षेप की जांच कर रहे हाउस पैनल के सामने गवाही देंगे ट्रंप के सहयोगी स्टोन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s tax reform plans won partial support on Friday when Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul said he was “all in” for massive tax cuts, but the party was still far from united over how to achieve the main item on its domestic agenda.  Trump’s drive to overhaul the U.S. tax code cleared a critical hurdle on Thursday when the Senate approved a budget measure that will allow Republicans to pursue a tax-cut package without Democratic party support. But Republicans, who control both the Senate and House of Representatives, have yet to produce a tax reform bill as a self-imposed deadline to overhaul the U.S. tax code by the end of the year approaches. The party’s lawmakers differ widely on what cuts to make and how to pay for them.  They are under intense pressure to succeed on tax reform after failing so far to make good on their other main legislative ambition: scrapping Obamacare, the signature healthcare law of former President Barack Obama.  On major world markets, stock prices advanced on Friday, bond yields rose, and the U.S. dollar strengthened on increased hopes that Trump could make progress on his fiscal plans. Democrats are likely to reject the Trump administration’s tax plan, which promises to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts to businesses and people but will bloat the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. Senator Rand Paul, a fiscal hawk, was the lone Republican to vote against the budget measure on Thursday. He objected to spending levels that he said would exceed agreed caps by $43 billion, and called for spending reforms for so-called entitlements such as the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs. On Friday, Paul said in a post on Twitter that he was “all in” for the “biggest, boldest cuts possible - and soon!” But he did not address the specifics of the tax plan. Trump on Friday expressed optimism about the tax reform, saying Paul would eventually back the proposed tax measure when it comes up for a vote. “The Budget passed late last night, 51 to 49. We got ZERO Democrat votes with only Rand Paul (he will vote for Tax Cuts) voting against,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “This now allows for the passage of large scale Tax Cuts (and Reform), which will be the biggest in the history of our country!”   Trump told Fox Business Network in a television interview set to air on Sunday that he thinks Republicans have the votes to pass a big tax cut package. He said he had been thinking about tying tax legislation to an infrastructure spending bill but that it was not clear a combined package would gain more votes. “I don’t want to take any chances cause I feel we have the votes right now the way it is,” he said, according to a transcript provided by the cable news outlet. The budget resolution passed by the Senate on Thursday has to be reconciled with a markedly different version passed by the House, where Republicans say negotiations on a unified measure could take up to two weeks. The House budget resolution calls for a revenue-neutral tax bill and would combine tax cuts with $203 billion in spending cuts to mandatory programs, including food assistance for the poor. As far as spending cuts go, the Senate version only instructs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to save at least $1 billion over the next decade.     That difference could set up a possible conflict between Republicans in the Senate and House as they negotiate a final budget blueprint.   Overhauling the complex U.S. tax code has defied Washington since 1986.     In the current effort, some Republican senators question the planned repeal of a 40 percent inheritance tax levied on estates worth more than $5.5 million, or $11 million for married couples, a tax paid only by the wealthiest American taxpayers.      Republican lawmakers from high-tax states such as New York are also seeking compromise on repealing the deduction from federal taxes for state and local tax payments. The party’s lawmakers agree roughly on lowering the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent but have not settled on a final number.     Trump seeks to cut the corporate rate to 20 percent, which he says would create jobs and boost wages for blue-collar workers.             Asked how he would make the case that the plan would not be a tax cut for the wealthy, House Speaker Paul Ryan told CBS,  “That’s why we’re introducing the fourth bracket, so that high-income earners do not see a big rate cut and those resources go to the middle class ... and closing loopholes and carve outs which disproportionately benefit the very high-income people.”

Summary: अमेरिकी बजट मतदान के बाद ट्रम्प की कर कटौती योजना ने गति पकड़ी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. Senate Democrat on Thursday pledged to pursue a procedural hurdle to try to block the confirmation of Republican President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, a move that could provoke a nasty partisan fight and change the way the Senate does business. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the 100-member Senate, leaving Democrats with an uphill battle to prevent Gorsuch’s confirmation. But Senate rules enable Democrats to insist on 60 votes to overcome a procedural move called a filibuster to allow a final up-or-down vote on confirming Gorsuch, 49, to the lifetime job on the nation’s highest court. Trump has called on Senate Republicans to change the long-standing rules in order to allow a simple majority vote on confirmation if Democrats mount a filibuster. If eventually confirmed as expected, the federal appeals court judge from Colorado would restore a conservative majority on the nine-seat high court, fulfilling one of Trump’s top campaign promises. As the Judiciary Committee completed its fourth and final day of Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing, the spotlight turned to whether he gains the support of vulnerable Democratic senators facing re-election in 2018. The support of eight Democrats would short-circuit a filibuster. “After careful deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot support Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor, a day after Gorsuch finished marathon Judiciary Committee testimony.  “He will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. My vote will be ‘no,’ and I urge my colleagues to do the same.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer called Schumer’s remarks “truly disappointing” and urged him to abandon the filibuster threat, saying it was the type of partisanship Americans have grown tired of. Spicer said Trump, in light of Schumer’s comments, would discuss Senate confirmation strategy with Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Conservative activists have said they have identified 10 possible “yes” votes for Gorsuch among Democrats seeking 2018 re-election in states Trump won in the 2016 presidential  election. Democratic Senator Bob Casey, up for re-election in 2018 in one of those states, Pennsylvania, announced he would vote against Gorsuch and support a filibuster. “I don’t believe that Judge Gorsuch, his judicial approach, would ensure fairness for workers and families in Pennsylvania,” Casey said, expressing “serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch’s rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy.” Casey said he was unaware of any discussions among Democrats about a deal to advance Gorsuch’s nomination in return for a guarantee from Republicans that the next Supreme Court nomination would need 60 votes to proceed to a Senate confirmation vote. Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, facing re-election in Wisconsin next year, also opposes the nomination, a spokesman said. West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Florida’s Bill Nelson, Democrats facing voters next year, remain undecided on Gorsuch, their spokesmen told Reuters. Several Judiciary Committee Democrats, including its top Democrat Dianne Feinstein, declined to comment on whether they would support a filibuster. Another vote potentially up for grabs is that of Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Gorsuch’s home state of Colorado. He is not up for re-election next year and his state voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. He introduced Gorsuch to the Judiciary Committee on Monday, but did not commit to supporting confirmation, promising an “open mind.” Schumer said if Gorsuch cannot attract 60 votes, “the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee.” Schumer said Gorsuch failed to convince him he would be “an independent check on a president who has shown almost no restraint from executive overreach” or that he would be a neutral justice “free from the biases of politics and ideology.” Democratic committee members on Tuesday and Wednesday pressed Gorsuch on rulings he participated in that they said showed a inclination to decide in favor of corporate interests and against what they called “the little guy.” Democrats  expressed frustration about his refusal to answer questions on whether Supreme Court rulings favoring abortion, contraception and gay rights were correctly decided.  The Judiciary Committee was due to vote on the nomination on April 3. McConnell planned a full Senate confirmation vote before senators begin a recess on April 7. On Thursday, the committee heard about six hours of testimony from witnesses supporting and opposing Gorsuch, including representatives of the American Bar Association, the lawyers group that evaluates such nominees and gave Gorsuch its highest rating of “well qualified.”  Feinstein noted that Merrick Garland, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee who the Republican-led Senate last year refused to consider for confirmation, also earned the ABA’s highest rating.  Another witness was Jeff Perkins, father of an autistic son who Gorsuch ruled against in 2008 in a special-education dispute using legal reasoning repudiated by the Supreme Court in a related case on Wednesday. Perkins said Gorsuch set a “new low standard” for educational benefits school districts must offer disabled students. “I was devastated,” Perkins said of Gorsuch’s ruling.

Summary: शीर्ष सीनेट डेमोक्रेट ने ट्रम्प उच्च न्यायालय के चयन को रोकने के लिए लड़ने का वादा किया


OSLO/LONDON (Reuters) - The United States will play a big role at global talks next month on shaping the Paris agreement on climate change, to the dismay of some nations that want Washington sidelined because of President Donald Trump s plan to withdraw from the deal. U.S. officials have said they will be constructive at the annual 195-nation climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, from Nov. 6-17 to work on a  rule book  for the 2015 Paris plan to shift the world economy from fossil fuels this century. But other nations are torn between welcoming or berating Washington s envoys after Trump s decided in June to pull out and instead promote the U.S. fossil fuel industry. Washington retains its place in the talks because the Paris pact stipulates that no country can formally pull out before November 2020.  The Trump regime really needs to walk away and not hold the rest of the world hostage to the President s ineptitude,  said Ian Fry, who represents Tuvalu, a low-lying Pacific island nation at risk of rising sea levels and storm surges. He told Reuters that Trump s pro-coal policies, and doubts that climate change is caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, could undermine urgency at the meeting of senior officials and environment ministers. The White House did not respond to requests for comment and the State Department has not set up a briefing ahead of the meeting, as it traditionally has. This year is on track to be the second warmest since records began in the 19th century, behind 2016. Scientists say rising temperatures will stoke ever more powerful hurricanes, floods and wildfires. But U.S. delegates at preparatory meetings said they will play a positive role in Bonn, said Nazhat Shameem Khan, chief negotiator of Fiji which will preside at the meeting. The U.S. approach  send positive signals ... that this will not be a destructive COP,  she said, using the shorthand for Conference of the Parties. It is not yet clear if any U.S. political leaders will attend.  Many U.S. allies, including France, Canada and Britain, hope to coax Trump to end up staying in the pact which is backed by all nations except Syria. Nicaragua, which had judged the deal too weak, ratified it this month. In a sign that most nations are willing to permit a strong U.S. role, an internal U.N. document obtained by Reuters shows that a U.S. official, Andrew Rakestraw, will co-lead a section of the talks with a Chinese counterpart on ensuring transparent rules for the Paris agreement. And the U.S. delegation will be led by Thomas Shannon, a career diplomat who gave a speech in 2015 calling climate change  one of the world s greatest challenges .  The meeting will work on a rule book, due to be completed in 2018, for implementing the Paris agreement on issues such as the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and how national emissions will be checked. Washington and many other developed nations have long sought tough rules to bind emerging nations such as China and India, which have been wary of outside oversight.  And many delegates expect the U.S. officials, many of whom were architects of the Paris accord under former President Barack Obama, will contribute to clear, enforceable rules that will be in U.S. interests whether it is in or out of the deal.  Having the United States at the table with good negotiators who can take this forward is a win-win,  said Paula Caballero, a director of the World Resources Institute think-tank and formerly a climate negotiator for Colombia. The treatment of the United States is likely to hinge on whether Washington limits itself to technical details of the rule book or promotes Trump s pro-coal political agenda.  It is quite likely that the U.S. will be sidelined ... unless they play a constructive role,  said Elisa de Wit, head of climate change at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. Outside the conference center, a U.S. network called  We Are Still In  will highlight actions by states, cities and other non-federal groups to implement the Paris agreement and shift to wind, solar and other clean energies. It says Trump s pro-coal policies will be only a blip in a long-term economic shift this century.  We need to make sure the world maintains confidence in our ability to move forward,  said Washington State Governor Jay Inslee.

Summary: पेरिस समझौते से हटने के बावजूद जलवायु वार्ता में अमेरिका की बड़ी भूमिका


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior lawyer at the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General said on Thursday he found “no violation of law” in Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s use of private jets for seven official trips, but called for better cases to be made in future for such travel by Trump administration officials. But the report by OIG counsel Rich Delmar found the department offered insufficient justification for the use of a government plane and recommended future requests provide more detail. (bit.ly/2fUVFQP) Mnuchin’s use of a plane at taxpayer expense to travel to Kentucky in August with his wife to view the solar eclipse and speak to business leaders prompted an outcry from Democratic party lawmakers and spurred the Treasury’s watchdog agency to examine whether it violated travel or ethics policies.  Cabinet members rarely use government planes or chartered aircraft for domestic travel, but the practice has received significant attention in the wake of Mnuchin’s trip. On Friday, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after an outcry over his use of private charter planes for government business at a cost of nearly $52,000.  Mnuchin said on Sunday he did not regret using a government plane for the Kentucky trip, calling it “completely justifiable.” “It was approved by the White House and there were reasons why we needed to use that plane that are completely justifiable,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Mnuchin told NBC that he would only use a private plane for government purposes “if either there was a national security issue or we couldn’t get somewhere.” The Treasury Department has described Mnuchin’s trip in August as official government travel. Mnuchin spoke to business leaders in Louisville and visited Fort Knox, the site of significant U.S. gold reserves. Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, also viewed the Aug. 21 solar eclipse in Kentucky with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others.  Public uproar over the trip began to mount after Linton posted a photo of herself deboarding the plane on social media and listed the expensive designer brands she was wearing in the caption.  “I recommend that the OIG advise that future requests be ready to justify government air in greater detail, especially regarding cost comparisons and needs for security and other special factors,” Delmar said in his report.

Summary: ट्रेजरी वॉचडॉग ने पाया कि म्नुचिन की निजी जेट यात्राओं ने कोई कानून नहीं तोड़ा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will take executive action on Thursday to ease a ban on political activity by churches and other tax-exempt institutions as part of an order on religious liberties, a senior White House official said on Wednesday. Trump’s executive order to mark the National Day of Prayer will also mandate regulatory relief to religious employers that object to contraception, such as Little Sisters of the Poor, the official said in a briefing. The order does not include provisions to allow government agencies and businesses to deny services to gay people in the name of religious freedom, as was feared by some civil liberties and gay rights groups. “This executive order isn’t about discrimination,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Anything currently illegal under current law would still be illegal.”  “It directs the IRS to exercise maximum enforcement discretion to alleviate the burden of the Johnson amendment which prohibits religious leaders from speaking about politics and candidate from the pulpit,” the official said. Trump frequently complained about the 1954 law known as the Johnson amendment during his campaign for the presidency, bolstering his support among religious conservatives who contend it violates free speech and religious freedom rights. Changing the law altogether would require action in the Republican-led U.S. Congress. “And it provides regulatory relief for religious objectors to Obamacare’s burdensome preventive services mandate, which is a position supported by the Supreme Court decision in Hobby Lobby,” the official said. In the case of Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts retailer, the high court said certain employers could, on religious grounds, choose to not pay for employee contraception mandated under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. The Little Sisters of the Poor is a religious order that faced huge fines over its refusal to pay for contraception under Obamacare.

Summary: चर्चों द्वारा राजनीतिक गतिविधियों पर प्रतिबंध में ढील देने का ट्रम्प का आदेश


CHICAGO (Reuters) - A rare sign of bipartisanship in the Illinois House on Friday fueled hopes of movement toward a spending deal, but a consensus failed to emerge in time to stop the state from heading into a  third-straight fiscal year without a budget. The record stalemate between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the legislature has put the third-most populous U.S. state’s credit rating in peril of dropping to junk. House Republicans on Friday helped advance a Democratic-drafted $36.5 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins on Saturday, but the deal stalled with negotiations continuing over a revenue package and an assortment of non-budgetary matters sought by Rauner. After a 90-25 test vote on the spending bill, House Speaker Michael Madigan said his legislative chamber will return to session on Saturday, and he sent letters to major bond-rating agencies imploring them not to downgrade the state’s credit ratings to junk as budget talks continue. The impasse has ballooned the unpaid bill pile to nearly $15 billion as the state operated on spending mandated by state law and courts. Illinois, already the lowest-rated state, risked becoming the first U.S. state to have its credit downgraded to junk. Ted Hampton, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, which rates Illinois one notch above junk at Baa3 with a negative outlook, said the rating agency “won’t refrain from changing a rating no matter the reason when it’s appropriate to take action.” S&P, which also rates Illinois one step above junk at BBB-minus, and Fitch Ratings, which has the state at BBB, declined to comment on Madigan’s letter. Ahead of the House vote, Republican leader Jim Durkin said he and others in his caucus would support the budget bill amendment as a gesture of “good faith” while talks continue on new taxes and non-budgetary reforms.  “We are close,” he said on the House floor. “We are so close I can taste it.”  House budget votes require Republican support to meet a three-fifths majority needed for passage. “I think it’s a good step forward, a step we can build upon. There’s much work yet to be done,” Madigan said following the vote. A final affirmative vote by the House on the spending plan would send it back to the Senate for concurrence. The House must still take up a revenue bill increasing personal and corporate income tax rates to raise more money for the cash-strapped state.

Summary: इलिनोइस बजट अनिश्चितता नए वित्तीय वर्ष में बढ़ी


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Austria s new chancellor traveled to Brussels on Tuesday on his first foreign trip since being sworn in, aiming to dispel concerns that his coalition with the far right spells trouble for the European Union. Responding to a letter on Monday from European Council President Donald Tusk that underlined EU worries, 31-year-old conservative leader Sebastian Kurz tweeted back that his new government would be  clear pro-European and committed to making a positive contribution to the future development of the EU . A day after he took office at the head of a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Kurz delivered that message in person to Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, whose EU executive has responded to October s election with little of the outrage that greeted the FPO s first taste of government in Austria 17 years ago.  At a joint news conference in Brussels, Juncker said he would judge Kurz s government by its deeds.   This government has a clear pro-European stance. That is what is important for me,  Juncker said. The FPO has distanced itself from its Nazi-apologist, anti-Semitic past, while surges in irregular immigration and militant attacks have pushed the European political mainstream rightward, leading to a much more muted reaction than in 2000. But a French member of the Commission was wary:  Things are doubtless different from the previous time, in 2000,  tweeted Socialist former finance minister Pierre Moscovici.   But the presence of the far right in government is never without consequences.  Confirmation of the FPO s return to a share of power raises concern that small, wealthy Austria will be an intractable voice on EU asylum reform and efforts to increase the EU budget. The bluntest criticism has been south of the Alps, where a plan to offer Austrian citizenship to people living in Italy s German-speaking border region has rekindled worries over old territorial arguments. A junior foreign minister in Rome said the offer may be couched in a  velvet glove of Europeanism  but bore  a whiff of the ethno-nationalist iron fist . Kurz assured Italians on Tuesday that he would consult Rome on the plan, which is a long-standing FPO policy, adding he would speak to Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. For an EU battered by mounting nationalism that goes well beyond Brexit, there is concern too that criticism of Brussels in Vienna may help fuel the euroscepticism of former communist member states in Central Europe, including Poland, where the Commission is seriously considering imposing sanctions that were initially designed in response to the FPO s rise early this century. Speaking in Brussels, Kurz said he would make it Austria s task to bridge the gap between EU member states in the east and the west, adding his country would fight to stop illegal immigration into the EU. In a letter of congratulation to Kurz, Tusk made clear his concerns about the new coalition in Austria:  I trust that the Austrian government will continue to play a constructive and pro-European role in the European Union,  Tusk wrote, noting that Austria will from July enjoy six months of influence in Brussels as chair of EU ministerial councils. Germany and France, the EU s lead powers, also indicated a vigilance about Austria in their comments on Monday which highlighted Kurz s pledges to foster European cooperation.     Kurz s visit to Brussels comes on the eve of an important Commission meeting on Wednesday, where Juncker s team will consider recommending sanctions on Poland for its continued  defiance of warnings that its new laws on the judiciary are contrary to EU democratic standards.  We are in a difficult process, which I hope will turn out to be a process of convergence. But not all bridges to Poland will be burnt tomorrow,  Juncker said.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के नेता ने ब्रसेल्स में यूरोपीय संघ की साख का बचाव किया


OTTAWA (Reuters) - The 11 nations working on a new version of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact have agreed to the core elements of a deal but more work remains, according to a draft of the final statement seen by Reuters on Friday. The statement, which is due to be issued on Saturday, marks a successful conclusion to talks in Vietnam which at one stage had looked headed for failure amid resistance by Canada.

Summary: टी. पी. पी. देश एक समझौते के 'मुख्य तत्वों' पर सहमत हैंः अंतिम बयान


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen s Liberal Party suffered losses in Denmark s local elections, a possible bellwether for the next national election, which is to be held no later than mid-2019. The center-right Liberal Party received 23.1 percent of the votes in Tuesday s election, 3.5 percentage points less than in 2013. The Social Democrats gained 3 percentage points to 32.5 percent. The Social Democrats won the leadership of four of Denmark s five regions, and in at least 40 of the 98 municipalities, including the four largest cities. Coalition talks are still ongoing in some municipalities. The results are seen as a boost for Mette Frederiksen who took over the Social Democratic leadership after former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt failed to extend her rule at the 2015 national election.  The Danes have said that it is more important to take good care of our welfare, rather than to get tax cuts,  Social Democrat spokesman Nicolai Wammen said, alluding to the government s plans to cut taxes next year. Rasmussen was  relatively satisfied  with the result, he told broadcaster TV2. A spokesman for his party said the election results were mainly driven by local agendas rather than national level politics.       The support for government ally Danish People s Party fell 1.3 percentage points to 8.8 percent, contrary to some predictions ahead of the elections.

Summary: डेनमार्क के प्रधानमंत्री की पार्टी को स्थानीय चुनाव में झटका, सोशल डेमोक्रेट्स को फायदा


SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Creditors of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank on Monday sued to stop it from distributing money to creditors in what they call “preferential transfers” ahead of the GDB’s May 1 debt payment that Puerto Rico’s governor says may not be payable. Hedge funds including Brigade Capital Management and Claren Road Asset Management, which hold some of GDB’s $3.75 billion in debt, asked a federal court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to bar municipalities, public entities and other depositors from removing their money, to prevent a run on the bank. The lawsuit is the latest sign of an increasingly urgent financial crisis in Puerto Rico, which has $70 billion in total debt, a 45 percent poverty rate and a shrinking population.  Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has said the GDB is near insolvency, and is considering a moratorium on debt payments. The GDB has a payment due on May 1 of approximately $422 million. The island, as a whole, faces a July 1 payment of $1.55 billion on various debt classes. The GDB and its creditors are in the midst of restructuring talks that could lead to a forbearance agreement or debt restructuring. Monday’s lawsuit was filed to give those talks time to evolve without a fear of a run on the bank, said Donald Bernstein, a lawyer for the creditors. “GDB needs to be able to fund essential services, but to the extent money is being pulled out by people who want to bail out of the situation at the expense of other creditors, that shouldn’t happen,” Bernstein said in an interview. GDB acts as the commonwealth’s main liquidity source, with public agencies drawing on accounts to fund services and pay their own debt. GDP President Melba Acosta Febo said the central claim of the lawsuit, that the bank withheld financial information in order to prefer certain depositors over its bondholders, is false and not based in fact. “Although the specific allegations set forth in the lawsuit are erroneous, it is clear that our creditors agree with us on one thing: Puerto Rico’s fiscal situation is dismal, the Island’s debt is unpayable, and the need for a federal restructuring regime to help the Commonwealth on the road to recovery is acute,” Acosta said in a statement. A default at the GDB could allow creditors to seek the appointment of a receiver, a process that would be triggered by Puerto Rico’s treasury secretary, Juan Zaragoza.  Zaragoza last week resigned his membership on GDB’s board of directors, which a source close to the restructuring talks at GDB told Reuters was done to avoid a conflict of interest in the event he must appoint a receiver. The same source said the island’s treasury department is not considering removing money from GDB, but is considering opening new accounts at other banks in the event GDB becomes insolvent.

Summary: ऋणदाताओं ने प्यूर्टो रिको विकास बैंक से निकासी को रोकने के लिए मुकदमा दायर किया


KABUL (Reuters) - The international military mission in Afghanistan will fail if troop levels are reduced further, with potentially dangerous repercussions for the rest of the world, a delegation of U.S. lawmakers warned during a visit to Kabul on Monday. Fifteen years after an American-led operation toppled the Taliban in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Barack Obama is considering whether to maintain the current level of 9,800 U.S. troops or reduce it to 5,500 by the end of the year, as current plans call for. “I cannot guarantee success if we keep 9,800, but I can ensure you failure if we go to 5,500,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in Kabul. “I will have a hard time supporting our continued presence here as it’s not fair to those left behind... They just can’t do the job. If we go to 5,500 this place will fall apart, quickly.” Graham joined U.S. senators John McCain, Benjamin Sasse, and Joe Donnelly in a visit timed so the bipartisan delegation could visit with troops during the Independence Day holiday. The Obama administration should decide on troop levels “sooner rather than later,” McCain said, arguing that reducing the number of troops could lead to a repeat of the disaster in Iraq, where Islamic State militants seized major cities and wide swathes of territory. McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sharply criticized the White House’s decision last year to restrict U.S. forces from targeting Taliban fighters except in self-defense and other limited circumstances. Those rules were recently relaxed on the recommendation of American commanders in Kabul, but McCain said it was “almost criminal” that the restrictions were in place for more than a year. “The rules of engagement were so restrictive that it gave an advantage to the Taliban and other terrorist groups,” the senator said. The lawmakers highlighted Afghanistan’s history as one of the original havens for al Qaeda terrorists and pleaded for more patience. “Ultimately we’re going to win this fight, it’s just going to take decades,” Sasse said. “The American people well understand that staying partnered with a good ally like the Afghan government is the best way to deny future safe havens to those who would plot jihadi attacks across the globe.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटरों ने अफगानिस्तान में सैनिकों की और कटौती के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, in a sign that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is gathering pace. The sources added that Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to help investigate allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. “Bonds view this as a flight to quality while stocks had a minor hiccup. The Euro is near the highs of the day. This makes the placement of Treasuries going into tomorrow’s employment number at the recent highs, not a good risk reward.” JIM PAULSEN, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, THE LEUTHOLD GROUP, MINNEAPOLIS: “We’re going to get a fair number of these headlines. It’s going to take a while, whatever happens. Anything that represents volatility is an automatic sell (for stocks).  “I’m not even sure if beyond the volatility there’s much of Wall Street that would get terribly upset if (Trump) got impeached. That would give them (current Vice President Mike) Pence, and likely full power for Republicans and maybe some policies being enacted including health care, tax reform and a fiscal spending program. Even reinforce less regulations. “From a Wall Street standpoint I can’t say over the long term that (a Trump impeachment) would be a bad result for stocks. The uncertainty of going through it all would be a negative, but I’m not sure the market would remain lower for long, assuming all else is equal.”  AXEL MERK, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF MERK INVESTMENTS IN PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA: “Given that Trump’s approval rating is very low, and given that it might be all but impossible to find a jury that hasn’t heard of the allegations, odds are this jury might be leaning against Trump. This is yet a negative for the administration, and with that, if recent months are any guide, it is a negative for the dollar. And so yes, sure enough, the euro rallied on this. This is good news for the euro, this should be good news for gold…and it is ultimately a negative also for risk assets only for the reason that the Trump agenda has ever more difficulty of being realized because it does weaken the presidency. The hopes for real growth picking up are just diminishing the more headwinds the administration is getting.” CHRIS ZACCARELLI, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CORNERSTONE FINANCIAL PARTNERS, HUNTERSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA:    “To the extent that people are afraid something will happen to the presidency of the United States, whether that brings us closer to impeachment or serves as a further distraction for the administration, neither of those are good for the markets or a risk-on position.” “It’s more distraction for the White House and less stability … It definitely was market moving. The timing lines up perfectly.  The immediate drop was probably computer driven but people aren’t taking advantage of the dip.” JUAN PEREZ, CURRENCY STRATEGIST, TEMPUS INC, WASHINGTON DC:  “The world is paying attention and ultimately currencies are weighed to measure the stability of a country, whether you can have faith in what’s going on or not … I think with this investigation and the constant bombardment of news out of the White House the rest of the world is starting to see this image of somewhat of an unstable U.S., which is somewhat unprecedented. And now politics, even more than economic data, is really a driver of dollar weakness.” “What’s really going to weigh heavily on the dollar for the remainder of the year is that as long as this investigation continues and there is a probe and the White House continues to work on everything except the economic agenda it’s going to weigh heavily on the dollar. The reaction was certainly immediate (to the news). Looking at it long-term, is this going to affect the dollar in a negative way? Absolutely it is.” STOCKS: U.S. stocks extended losses, with the S&P falling around 0.2 percent after the news, then tracking back slightly.  BONDS:  U.S. bond yields fell to session lows.  FOREX:  The US dollar index fell around 0.17 percent in the minutes after the news, then tracked back slightly.

Summary: तत्काल दृश्यः डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प जूनियर के संबंध में ग्रैंड जूरी सम्मन पर प्रतिक्रियाएँ।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican governors from four U.S. states on Thursday met with Vice President Mike Pence to voice deep concerns over proposed changes to NAFTA that could affect jobs and manufacturing in their states, officials who attended the meeting said. The meeting at the White House included Governors Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Rick Snyder of Michigan, Bill Haslam of Tennessee and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, as well as President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. After the meeting, Pence, also a former governor of Indiana tweeted: “great discussion...about how @POTUS’ priorities of pro-growth tax cuts & better trade deals will result in MORE JOBS & stronger US manufacturing.” Reynolds emphasized during the meeting the importance of the North American Free Trade Agreement to Iowa’s farmers and manufacturers while expressing support for an updated NAFTA, her spokeswoman Brenna Smith said later. “The governors had a healthy discussion, but the conversation is ongoing,” Smith added. Arkansas’ Hutchinson said in a statement afterwards that the United States should be careful not to harm global trade as it revises NAFTA. “The administration was clear that it wants to be able to negotiate a better NAFTA deal for American manufacturers and workers,” Hutchinson said. “I respect that negotiating position, but my message is that Arkansas must be able to continue its access to North American markets unimpeded by trade barriers. Otherwise, there will be serious harm to Arkansas agriculture, and retail and manufacturing sectors.” On Tuesday, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, accompanied by  representatives from Subaru , Fiat Chrysler, Honda, General Motors and Toyota also met with Pence to discuss NAFTA, the Republican governor’s office said. In a letter to Lighthizer in October, Holcomb urged the administration to safeguard the trade relations with Canada and Mexico, especially in the car industry. He emphasized that the auto industry represented about $2 billion in exports and 100,000 jobs in Indiana in 2016. Both Mexico and Canada have pushed back at demands by the Trump administration during negotiations that would require regional content for autos be raised to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, with 50 percent of the content coming produced in the United States. Neither Canada nor Mexico have offered counterproposals but have argued that the U.S. demands would cause serious damage to North American automotive manufacturing. The meetings this week took place as NAFTA negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico met behind closed doors at a downtown Washington hotel to update the decades-old accord, which Trump has blamed for American job losses and big trade deficits for his country.

Summary: नाफ्टा की चिंताओं पर रिपब्लिकन गवर्नरों ने पेंस से मुलाकात की


(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Friday he favored the United States reaching trade agreements with individual countries as opposed to multilateral accords like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump, who is leading in the race for the Republican nomination for president, has made his opposition to trade deals like the 12-nation TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement a centerpiece of his campaign toward the Nov. 8 vote. “To do these deals where they wrap them up and they put 12 countries in one. TPP is an example. I want individual trade deals with individual countries,” Trump told a Palm Beach, Florida, news conference ahead of the state’s nominating contest on Tuesday. “Some countries treat us better than others. Some are worse,” he said. “China will take advantage of TPP. It’s not in it now but believe me they come through the back door. They are watching it so closely,” said Trump, a real estate developer. The deal was reached in October. Trump said he favored free trade but it must be “fair.” He said NAFTA had cost many Americans their jobs and TPP, which must be ratified by Congress, would do the same.  The United States already has bilateral trade deals with 20 countries, including Canada, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and South Korea.   (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अलग-अलग देशों के साथ व्यापार समझौतों का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump unveiled a new national security strategy on Monday, calling for Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorism and saying Washington had to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s weapons programs. In a wide-ranging speech, Trump said his security strategy for the first time addresses economic security and would include a complete rebuilding of U.S. infrastructure as well as a wall along the southern U.S. border. Trump said the United States wanted Pakistan to take decisive action to help fight extremism, and that Washington had “no choice” but to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Trump said the security strategy would also end mandatory defense spending limits, frequently called “sequester,” but did not mention if he had consulted with members of Congress about a possible bill to end the caps established in 2013 budget legislation. “We recognize that weakness is the surest path to conflict and unrivaled power is the most certain means of defense. For this reason, our security strategy breaks from damaging defense sequester,” Trump said. “We’re going to get rid of that.”

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया की हथियार चुनौती से निपटने के अलावा अमेरिका के पास कोई विकल्प नहीं हैः ट्रम्प


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government on Friday raised its estimate of casualties caused on the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin by Hurricane Irma to two dead, one of natural causes, and 43 wounded. Of those wounded, 11 are in critical condition, Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said at a press conference. The island suffered widespread damage in the hurricane, including severe damage to homes, stores, ports, airports, gas stations and power stations.  Two hundred Dutch soldiers are assisting on the island from two nearby ships as it struggles to restore its airport and main harbor in order so that it can receive more aid.

Summary: डच सरकारः सेंट मार्टिन पर 2 की मौत, 43 घायल


SEOUL (Reuters) - Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), North Korea s only western-funded university, will start the fall semester without its dozens of American staff after failing to secure exemptions to a U.S. travel ban that starts on Friday.  PUST - home to the largest concentration of foreigners in the reclusive state - plans to revise courses and teaching schedules but its largely English-based curriculum will be heavily impacted, two sources familiar with PUST s operations said. PUST was founded in 2010 by a Korean American evangelical Christian with the goal of helping North Korea's future elite learn the skills to modernize the isolated country and engage with the outside world. (Graphic: Americans detained in North Korea - tmsnrt.rs/2pmE3ks) In mid-July, however, the U.S. State Department announced a ban on Americans traveling to North Korea following the death earlier this year of an American student who had been detained by the state while on a tour. It advised U.S. citizens living there to leave. Since then, tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated significantly. Nuclear-armed North Korea has undertaken a number of provocative missile tests, including two intercontinental ballistic missile launches and one medium-range missile test this week that flew over Japan. Of the roughly 130 foreigners at PUST including faculty members, staffers and family members, about 60 were U.S. citizens, one of the sources said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation. None had received special permission to stay and all have now left Pyongyang.  The teaching activities and the unique  international English-based  character of the school are severely impacted by the U.S. travel ban and the decision of some other personnel not to return,  the source said.  The school, which is open about its Christian affiliation, has already been rocked by the detention of two of its staff members by the North Korean regime this year. The two were accused of acting against the interests of the state. U.S. officials announced the ban six weeks ago due to the risk Americans will be held for  long-term detention  in the country. The ban was imposed after U.S. student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster while on a tour last year.  Warmbier fell into a coma in custody and died soon after he was released to U.S. officials. The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear. The last major tour involving U.S. tourists flew out of North Korea on Thursday. The ban, similar to previous U.S. restrictions on travel to Iraq and Libya, makes North Korea the only country in the world Americans are currently banned by the State Department from visiting. Journalists and humanitarian workers can apply for special permission. But the U.S. government has yet to issue guidelines on how to obtain waivers, leaving PUST and educators uncertain how or when it might be possible to apply for exemptions, according to the people familiar with PUST s operations. The State Department said it was unable to comment on specific requests for exemptions.  Over the past several weeks, PUST leaders have tried to lobby for exemptions so that their work can continue, the sources said. The school is involved in ongoing discussions with U.S. officials, they added. The university was seen as a rare experiment in academic diplomacy with a country increasingly entirely isolated from the rest of the world due to tightening sanctions over its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons programs. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to stop Pyongyang achieving its goal of being able to fire a nuclear warhead to the United States and has warned the U.S. military is  locked and loaded  in case of North Korean provocation. Since PUST took in its first 50 students in 2010, the school has grown to about 500 undergraduate and 60 graduate students studying in mostly three departments - electronic and computer engineering, international finance and management and agriculture and life sciences.   A lot of effort has been spent over the past seven years that PUST has been operating. The prospect of this progress being undermined - even totally thwarted - as a consequence of the U.S. government action, is deeply worrying to everyone involved,  one of the sources said.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः यात्रा प्रतिबंध के बाद प्योंगयांग विश्वविद्यालय अमेरिकी कर्मचारियों के बिना गिरावट की कक्षाएं शुरू करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Hawaii this month, using his first official trip to the Asia-Pacific region to discuss economic policies and underscore U.S. commitment to its allies, the White House said. Pence will be accompanied on the April 15-25 trip by his wife and two daughters, the White House said. Pence will arrive in Seoul on April 16 before traveling on to Tokyo on April 18, to Jakarta on April 20, Sydney on April 22 and Honolulu on April 24, it said.

Summary: अमेरिकी उपराष्ट्रपति दक्षिण कोरिया, जापान, इंडोनेशिया, ऑस्ट्रेलिया और हवाई की यात्रा करेंगे


KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Missouri lawmakers pushed through bills on Wednesday eliminating the need for permits to carry concealed weapons and requiring voters to show a photo identification before casting a ballot, overriding Democratic Governor Jay Nixon’s vetoes of the bills. Both votes by the Republican-controlled state House and Senate reached the two-thirds majority required to enact legislation over the governor’s veto. The weapons bill abolished a state law requiring a permit, training and background checks for people who want to carry a concealed weapon in the state.  The House voted 112-41 to override Nixon’s veto and the Senate voted 24-6. Supporters of the bill said it will make the state safer by allowing more residents to carry firearms in self-defense, while still banning certain criminals and mentally incompetent people from having a gun. In vetoing the bill in July, Nixon said the measure struck an extreme blow to sensible safeguards against gun violence. Earlier on Wednesday, the state Senate voted 24-7 and the House 115-41 to override Nixon’s veto of a bill requiring voters to produce a government-issued ID instead of less official identification such as a utility bill or bank check. The bill would not take effect until 2017, after this year’s presidential election, and only if voters in November pass a state constitutional amendment in support of the new law. That is necessary because the Missouri Supreme Court ruled 10 years ago that such a statute violated the existing state constitution. Courts in recent months have blocked voter ID laws passed in several states by Republican-led legislatures after civil rights groups argued the measures were discriminatory against poor and minority voters. In Missouri, voters without a photo ID can still vote if they sign an affidavit swearing that they lack any type of identification. However, election officials can take their picture, and steps must be taken to get a photo ID for later use, with the state covering the cost. Supporters of the bill said it will help prevent voter fraud. “Why not have more certainty in the election process?” Republican Representative Justin Alferman, the bill’s main sponsor, said in a statement before the vote. Opponents had argued that the ID requirement places an undue burden on young, minority and low-income voters who tend to support Democratic candidates. “Putting additional and unwanted barriers between citizens and their ability to vote is wrong and detrimental to our system of government as a whole,” Nixon said in explaining his veto.

Summary: मिसौरी के सांसदों ने बंदूक, मतदाता पहचान पत्र पर वीटो को दरकिनार कर दिया


KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait has ordered North Korea s ambassador to leave within a month as the Gulf country downgraded diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, a North Korean diplomat in the Gulf region said on Sunday. The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions after North Korea s sixth and largest nuclear test this month, and the United States called on countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with it.  The diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the ambassador, So Chang Sik, will leave following Kuwait s decision to downgrade the North Korean diplomatic representation to charge d affaires level. However, Chang Sik was planning to leave at the end of September because he has ended his term, the diplomat added. Kuwaiti officials did not immediately respond when asked to comment. Kuwait, where around 3,000 North Koreans live, has been hosting North Korea s sole diplomatic mission in the Gulf region. Kuwait s announcement comes after U.S. President Trump met with the Gulf state s ruler in Washington earlier this month.  Last month the Gulf country stopped direct flights to and from Pyongyang as well as halting entrance visas and commercial licenses, state news agency KUNA reported, citing an official at the foreign ministry. The Kuwait foreign ministry said at the time it was committed to implementing Security Council resolutions on North Korea, adding that it had stopped loans to the Asian state, banned imports and cut the numbers of its diplomats in the country.

Summary: कुवैत ने उत्तर कोरिया के राजदूत को एक महीने के भीतर देश छोड़ने का आदेश दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will visit Flint, Michigan next week to hear from residents about the drinking water crisis, the White House said on Wednesday. Obama will visit Flint on May 4 to hear “first-hand from Flint residents about the public health crisis,” and get a briefing on federal response efforts, a White House official said. Children in Flint were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in drinking water after a state-appointed city manager ordered a switch to the Flint River for supplies.

Summary: जल संकट के बारे में जानने के लिए फ्लिंट, मिशिगन जाएंगे ओबामा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that would lessen prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders, reviving a similar effort that failed to become law last year. The bill would narrow the scope of mandatory minimum drug sentences so they would apply only to violent criminals or serious drug offenders. It also contains provisions that aim to help non-violent inmates become rehabilitated so they can re-enter society. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, who rolled out the bill with a group including senior Judiciary Committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican Lindsey Graham, said it represented “the product of much thoughtful deliberation.” “This bipartisan compromise ensures that these consequences fit their crimes by targeting violent and career criminals who prey on the innocent while giving nonviolent offenders with minimal criminal histories a better chance to become productive members of society,” Grassley said. Lawmakers failed last year to pass criminal justice reform, an issue that had been central to former Democratic President Barack Obama’s efforts to overhaul the system and reduce prison overcrowding. It is unclear whether the bill will get support from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has made cracking down on violent crime, drugs and illegal immigration a focus since taking office this year under Republican President Donald Trump. “The Department of Justice’s mission is to prevent crime and maintain public safety and the longstanding practice of the Department is to fulfill that mission by charging the most serious readily provable offenses supported by the facts of the case,” Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement. Sessions opposed last year’s reform effort while he was a Republican senator. He issued a memo in May that reversed course from the Obama administration by telling U.S. attorneys they were now required to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.” The policy shift is expected to trigger mandatory minimum sentences under laws passed in the 1980s and 1990s that critics say can wrongfully criminalize drug addicts and disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities. Sessions is scheduled to announce an initiative to reduce violent crime at a news conference on Thursday morning.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों के समूह ने सजा सुधार पर नया अभियान शुरू किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of a THAAD anti-missile defense system to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $15 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday, citing Iran among regional threats. The approval opens the way for Saudi Arabia to purchase 44 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers and 360 missiles, as well as fire control stations and radars.  This sale furthers U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, and supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian and other regional threats,  the Pentagon s Defense Security Cooperation agency said in a statement. Saudi Arabia and the United States are highly critical of what they consider Iran s aggressive behavior in the Middle East. Iran also has one of the biggest ballistic missile programs in the Middle East, viewing it as an essential precautionary defense against the United States and other adversaries, primarily Gulf Arab states and Israel. THAAD missile systems are deployed to defend against ballistic missile attacks. Saudi-owned al Arabiya television reported on Thursday that the kingdom had agreed to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, an announcement that came as Saudi King Salman made during his visit to Russia, the first by a Saudi monarch. U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia have come under increased scrutiny over the Saudi-led coalition s war in Yemen.  Riyadh and its allies have been bombing the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since the Houthis seized much of the country s north in 2015. Riyadh says the coalition is fighting terrorists and supporting Yemen s legitimate government but the office of the U.N. human rights chief has said Saudi-led air strikes cause the majority of civilian casualties. Lockheed Martin Co (LMT.N) is the prime contractor for the THAAD system, with Raytheon Co (RTN.N) playing an important role in the system s deployment. The United States deployed THAAD to South Korea this year to guard against North Korea s shorter-range missiles. That has drawn fierce criticism from China, which says the system s powerful radar can probe deep into its territory.

Summary: अमेरिका ने सऊदी अरब को 15 अरब डॉलर की संभावित थाड मिसाइलों की बिक्री को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A unit of the U.S. Treasury Department that fights money laundering will provide financial records to an investigation by the Senate into possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his associates, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Senate Intelligence Committee asked for the records from the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, late last month, the Journal cited the people as saying. (on.wsj.com/2qbNL7K) One person said the records were needed to decide whether there was collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the 2016 campaign, the Journal said.  Representatives for FinCEN and Republican Senator Richard Burr, the intelligence committee chairman, declined to comment, the Journal said. The Senate probe took on added significance after Trump dismissed FBI Director James Comey earlier this week amid an agency investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible Moscow ties to the Trump presidential campaign. The House of Representatives intelligence panel is conducting a similar probe.

Summary: ट्रेजरी इकाई ट्रम्प-रूस जांच के लिए सीनेट के साथ रिकॉर्ड साझा करेगीः डब्ल्यूएसजे


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants set fire to three oil wells near Hawija, west of the oil city of Kirkuk, one of two areas of Iraq still under their control, military and oil officials said on Monday. Iraqi security forces were using bulldozers to control the fires started by the militants in the early hours of Saturday to slow the advance of U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Shi ite militia groups toward Hawija town, military officials said.  The Allas oilfield, 35 km (20 miles) south of Hawija, was one of the main sources of revenue for Islamic State, which in 2014 declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.  Terrorists are trying to use the rising smoke to avert air strikes while retreating from the area toward Hawija,  said army Colonel Mohammed al-Jabouri. Military officials said the fire had been brought under control at one of the wells, while the other two were still burning. They said it would take about three days to put out the fires. Oil officials from the state-run North Oil Company said it was still too risky to send its crews in to assess damage at the wells as militants may have left bombs and landmines. Iraq launched an offensive on Sept. 21 to dislodge Islamic State from Hawija. Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group, has lost control of all the oilfields it once controlled in the north of Iraq.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने उत्तरी इराक में तेल के कुओं में लगाई आगः अधिकारी


BERLIN (Reuters) - German parties cited progress on Friday after three weeks of talks about a three-way coalition, with their leaders due to thrash out remaining differences over transport and climate on Sunday. Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, which bled support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Sept. 24 election, are trying to forge a coalition government with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmentalist Greens. The chiefs of the parties huddled on Friday evening to review progress in the talks thus far, but planned no statements.  They had initially hoped to agree on the outlines of a coalition deal by Friday after the two smaller parties dropped demands this week on tax and climate policy, but later decided to meet again on Sunday before a final push by full delegations for an outline deal next week. Still, the overall tone was more upbeat than at the end of the previous week.  We re heading into the home stretch,  Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU), told reporters. Seehofer and FDP leader Christian Lindner said they were optimistic that the exploratory talks could be wrapped up next week, paving the way for weeks of detailed negotiations about the exact terms of a coalition contract. But Michael Kellner, a top negotiator for the Greens, demanded more compromises from the other parties. The FDP this week gave ground by agreeing to accept more modest income tax cuts than a campaign pledge of 30-40 billion euros ($35-46 billion) of relief.  In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday, Lindner also signaled a readiness to compromise on the euro zone s European Stability Mechanism, moving away from a campaign pledge to shut down the rescue fund. The Greens for their part dropped their insistence on fixed dates for shutting down coal-fired power stations and banning cars with internal combustion engines. But the parties remain divided on whether or not to push for a euro zone budget, on Europe s banking union and on the use of drones in military conflicts, as well as German participation in   foreign military missions, according to draft papers seen by Reuters. They must also agree how to meet key targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, how to deal with the pollution caused by diesel cars already on the road, and whether to introduce a law that would ease tax rates for venture capital projects. If the parties fail to reach agreement, Germany could be forced into a new election that could unsettle investors at a time when many in the European Union are looking to Europe s biggest economic power for leadership on issues ranging from euro zone governance to transatlantic relations. Merkel, seeking a fourth term as chancellor, hopes to reach agreement in the exploratory talks by Nov. 16. She plans to take the broad outlines of what is agreed to key conservative party leaders in five meetings the following weekend, the CDU said.

Summary: जर्मन दलों ने लंबे समय तक विभाजन के बावजूद गठबंधन वार्ता में गति देखी


ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 10 people have died and another 92 are missing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo due to flooding after torrential rains caused a river to overflow its banks, a local official said on Wednesday. The administrator of Masisi territory in eastern Congo s North Kivu province, Dieudonne Tshishiku, said emergency teams had been dispatched to the town of Bihambwe to search for the missing.

Summary: पूर्वी कांगो में बाढ़ से कम से कम 10 लोगों की मौत, 92 लापता


WASHINGTON, 2016 - A top aide to Donald Trump said on Sunday he did not believe the Republican presidential front-runner posed as his own spokesman to brag about his personal life, a controversy that came as Democrats sharpen their attacks on the billionaire’s character.  The Washington Post released an audio recording on Friday of a man who identified himself as Trump publicist “John Miller” and talked about the real estate tycoon’s romantic encounters in a 1991 conversation with a People magazine reporter. After listening to the tape while appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, senior Trump adviser Paul Manafort said he did not believe it was the Republican candidate’s voice despite his past admissions of sometimes using a pseudonym.  “I could barely understand it,” Manafort said. “I couldn’t tell who it is. Donald Trump says it’s not him, I believe it’s not him.” Trump told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that the voice was not his, although he has admitted in years past to using at least one pseudonym to speak to reporters.  The original People article, which ran in 1991, winkingly described Miller as “a mysterious PR man who sounds just like Donald.” Within a few days of that article, Sue Carswell, the People reporter who originally made the recording, reported that Trump had admitted that he posed as Miller as a joke and had apologized for it. Trump earlier this month effectively locked up the Republican nomination to run in the Nov. 8 presidential election and has been working to try to unify his party after many of its leaders opposed his candidacy. Leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s allies have described Trump as “deceptive” and honed in on his treatment of women. Clinton has begun attacking Trump more aggressively since he effectively secured the nomination, deriding his character and recently suggesting he is hiding something by not releasing his tax returns. Trump has reacted angrily to criticism he sometimes reduces women to their appearances, and in turn has criticized Clinton for how she and her husband, Bill Clinton, treated women who accused the former president of sexual indiscretions. Bill Clinton has admitted to having extra-marital affairs with two women: Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, and Gennifer Flowers, a singer and actor from Arkansas.   On Sunday, Trump used his Twitter account to deride a New York Times article in which several women said he had “unnerved” them over the years with comments about their looks and unwelcome advances. The article also said he had a good track record of promoting women to senior positions, which was rare in the real estate industry. “Everyone is laughing at the @nytimes for the lame hit piece they did on me and women,” went one message posted on Trump’s account on Sunday. Democratic President Barack Obama used a commencement speech at a university on Sunday to criticize Trump’s positions, including a proposal to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from entering the United States. “Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting that they should be treated differently when it comes to entering this country, that is not just a betrayal of our values, that is not who Americans are,” he told the students at Rutgers University in New Jersey.  Although it was widely reported in the early 1990s that Trump sometimes posed as a fake spokesman in order to shape media coverage, the recording of what is said to be such an occurrence only emerged a few days ago. It quickly rippled through American media. The comedy television program “Saturday Night Live” showed a skit with an actor posing as Trump calling reporters pretending to be his own spokesman, named John Pepperoni. Trump’s willingness to pose as a fake spokesman first emerged in 1990, when he testified during a lawsuit that he had used the pseudonym John Baron, sometimes rendered in news reports as John Barron, when speaking to journalists by telephone. “Lots of people use pen names,” Newsday quoted Trump as saying after his testimony. “Ernest Hemingway used one.”

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स द्वारा चरित्र का मुद्दा उठाए जाने पर ट्रम्प के सहयोगी ने ऑडियो टेप को खारिज किया


(Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder denied Thursday that he had misled a U.S. House of Representatives committee last year over testimony on Flint’s water crisis after lawmakers asked if his testimony had been contradicted by a witness in a court hearing. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wrote Snyder earlier Thursday asking him about published reports that one of his aides, Harvey Hollins, testified in a court hearing last week in Michigan that he had notified Snyder of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease linked to the Flint water crisis in December 2015, rather than 2016 as Snyder had testified. “My testimony was truthful and I stand by it,” Snyder told the committee in a letter, adding that his office has provided tens of thousands of pages of records to the committee and would continue to cooperate fully.  Last week, prosecutors in Michigan said Dr. Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical executive who already faced lesser charges, would become the sixth current or former official to face involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the crisis. The charges stem from more than 80 cases of Legionnaires’ disease and at least 12 deaths that were believed to be linked to the water in Flint after the city switched its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014. Wells was among six current and former Michigan and Flint officials charged in June. The other five, including Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, were charged at the time with involuntary manslaughter stemming from their roles in handling the crisis. The crisis in Flint erupted in 2015 when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the predominantly black city of about 100,000. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes and into the drinking water. Lead levels in Flint’s drinking water have since fallen below levels considered dangerous by federal regulators, state officials have said.

Summary: मिशिगन के गवर्नर ने फ्लिंट जल पर अमेरिकी सदन को गुमराह करने से इनकार किया


HONG KONG (Reuters) - The following are highlights of the maiden policy address of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Wednesday as she laid out a blueprint of her government s priorities in the coming five years. National security - Say  no  to any attempt to threaten country s (China s) sovereignty, security and development interests Infrastructure  - Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area development will bring enormous opportunities for Hong Kong s economy Economy - The government last went into deficit in 2003-04 and now fiscal reserves are in excess of HK$1,000 billion. - Hong Kong grew by 4.0 percent in real terms year-on-year in the first two quarters, with unemployment dropping to 3.1 percent in recent months, the lowest level in two decades - Overall economic growth in 2017 is expected to be higher than 3.5 percent Innovation and Technology  - The government will step up efforts in research and development, expanding talent pool, venture capital, legislation reviews, and I&T development  - The government has set a goal to double the Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product from the current 0.73 percent to 1.5 percent within the current-term government s five-year tenure Taxation - On the two-tier profits tax system, the profits tax rate for the first HK$2 million of profits of enterprises will be lowered to 8.25 percent, or half of the standard profits tax rate  - Profits above that amount will continue to be subject to the standard tax rate of 16.5 percent  Housing - To step up efforts to increase the supply of housing units  - Seek to shorten the waiting time for public rental housing and increase supply of flats under the home ownership scheme. - Proposes to introduce affordable  Starter Homes  for middle-class families in Hong Kong  - Land for  Starter Homes  to come from sites already owned by private developers or to be bought from the government - Provisions in land leases to require developers to pursue mixed developments, to build and offer for sale a specified number of  Starter Homes  units in addition to private housing units to target buyers who meet the eligibility criteria Education and talents - Increase education expenditure by HK$5 billion a year - Appoint more young people to government committees, with the aim of increasing the overall ratio of youth members to 15 percent within the current-term government - Recruit young people in policy research units so that the voices of young people can be heard at senior levels of the government

Summary: हाइलाइट्सः हांगकांग की नेता कैरी लैम ने पहला नीतिगत संबोधन दिया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Japan s Foreign Minister Taro Kono told the United Nations Security Council on Friday that North Korea was  nowhere near ready  to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and was not interested in a meaningful dialogue.  He noted that North Korea s intercontinental ballistic missile launch last month came 75 days after its previous tests.  Some optimistic views labeled 75 days of silence as a positive signal. However, the missile launch in November made it clear that North Korea was continuing to relentlessly develop its nuclear and missile programs even while they were seemingly silent,  he told the 15-member council.

Summary: जापान ने कहा कि उत्तर कोरिया को सार्थक वार्ता में कोई दिलचस्पी नहीं है


(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed William Emanuel, a veteran  management-side labor lawyer, to the National Labor Relations Board, giving the agency a Republican majority widely expected to roll back recent decisions that business groups have said favored unions. Emanuel, a partner with global labor-law firm Littler Mendelson, was confirmed 49-47 by the Republican-controlled Senate. President Donald Trump nominated Emanuel and Marvin Kaplan, a lawyer and former Republican congressional aide, to the board earlier this year. Kaplan was confirmed in August. The NLRB oversees union elections and disputes between private-sector employers, workers and unions.  Republicans will now have a 3-2 edge on the board. Business groups and many Republicans lawmakers have called on the agency to revisit significant changes to labor policy adopted during the administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama. They include rules designed to speed up the union election process and a 2015 decision that made it easier for companies to be found to be joint employers and held liable for legal violations by contractors, staffing agencies and franchisees. Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  said that during the Obama administration, the board strayed from its role as “a neutral umpire in labor disputes.” “It’s time to get back to that important original mission,” he said. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said, however, that  Emanuel should not join the NLRB after spending 40 years trying to prevent workers from organizing. Emanuel has worked with Republicans in Congress and trade groups including the National Retail Federation and National Association of Manufacturers, and has defended employers for decades in NLRB cases.  He is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, an influential group of lawyers credited with pushing Trump to nominate Neil Gorsuch to U.S. Supreme Court. At a Senate confirmation hearing in August, several Democrats questioned whether Emanuel would properly consider workers’ collective bargaining rights after long representing employers and trade groups.  He said he would be “honest and objective” as a board member, and noted that it would be unusual for a labor lawyer to have experience representing both unions and management.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने श्रम बोर्ड को रिपब्लिकन बहुमत के लिए सुझाव दिया


SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Venezuela and the United States will immediately start talks to ease tensions between the two countries and does not support its ouster from a regional diplomatic bloc, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday after meeting his counterpart from the OPEC nation. Venezuela is embroiled in an economic and political crisis that has led to social unrest in one of the world’s largest oil producers. The United States will send Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, a veteran on Latin American diplomacy, as its representative to the talks, Kerry told reporters traveling with him after the bilateral meeting.   Kerry said that the United States did not support efforts by the head of the Organization of the American States to suspend Venezuela from the regional diplomatic bloc.

Summary: केरी का कहना है कि अमेरिका और वेनेजुएला तनाव कम करने के लिए बातचीत शुरू करने पर सहमत हैं


MARSEILLE, France/PARIS (Reuters) - Two women were stabbed to death and their assailant shot dead by a soldier in the southern French port city of Marseille on Sunday in what officials described as a  likely terrorist act . Police sources said the suspect had shouted  Allahu Akbar  (God is greatest) in Arabic as he attacked the women, aged 17 and 20, at Marseille s main railway station. Two police sources said one had her throat slit while the other was stabbed in the chest and stomach. An Islamic State militant was responsible for the attack, the group s Amaq news agency said. The assailant was shot dead by a soldier from a military Sentinelle patrol, a force deployed across the country as part of a state of emergency declared after Islamist attacks that began almost two years ago.  We have until now managed to avoid such dramatic incidents (in Marseille). I think it was a terrorist attack and the individual who was killed seems to have had several identities,  Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin told reporters. Paris was rocked in 2015 by multiple attacks that killed 130 people. In 2016 a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people. Both of these attacks were claimed by Islamic State. Other countries, including Britain, Germany and Belgium, have also suffered attacks by militants using knives, guns, explosives and driving vehicles at crowds. Some 200 police officers cordoned off the area and all roads were closed to traffic. A witness told Reuters she saw a man take out a knife from his sleeve and then stab a young girl and then a second woman, shouting what could have been  Allahu Akbar . Speaking in Marseille, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the man had initially killed one woman and looked to be running away before returning to attack a second woman and then rush toward soldiers from the Sentinelle force who arrived on the scene quickly and shot him dead. Two police sources said the attacker had been carrying a butcher s knife, was around 30 years old and of North African appearance. One source said he was known to police for common law crimes, while another said digital analysis of fingerprints had come up with several aliases.  This could be an act of terrorism, but we cannot confirm it fully at this stage,  Collomb told reporters. French troops are part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and has thousands of soldiers in West Africa fighting al Qaeda-linked militants, operations that have made these groups urge their followers to target France. Security forces have increasingly been targeted by militants in knife attacks. A man wielding a knife attacked a soldier in a Paris metro station on Sept. 15. President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter he was  disgusted by this barbaric act  and praised the calmness and efficiency of security forces. French lawmakers are due to vote on a much-criticized anti-terrorism law on Tuesday, which would see France come out of its state-of-emergency in November, although some of the powers would be enshrined into law. The number of military personnel on the ground is also due to be reduced slightly, although the force is being adapted to make it more mobile and its movements less predictable.  The presence of Sentinelle soldiers, their speed and efficiency ensured that the death count was not bigger,  police union official Stephane Battaglia told Reuters.

Summary: फ्रांस में 'अल्लाहू अकबर' चिल्लाने वाले चाकूधारी की गोली मारकर हत्या, दो की मौत