BISMARCK, N.D. (Reuters) - Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, promised on Thursday to roll back some of America’s most ambitious environmental policies, actions that he said would revive the ailing U.S. oil and coal industries and bolster national security. Among the proposals, Trump said he would pull the United States out of the U.N. global climate accord, approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada and rescind measures by President Barack Obama to cut U.S. emissions and protect waterways from industrial pollution. “Any regulation that’s outdated, unnecessary, bad for workers or contrary to the national interest will be scrapped and scrapped completely,” Trump told about 7,700 people at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, the capital of oil-rich North Dakota. “We’re going to do all this while taking proper regard for rational environmental concerns.”   It was Trump’s first speech detailing the energy policies he would advance if elected president. He received loud applause from the crowd of oil executives. The comments painted a stark contrast between the New York billionaire and his Democratic rivals for the White House, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who advocate a sharp turn away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy technologies to combat climate change. Trump slammed both rivals in his speech, saying their policies would kill jobs and force the United States “to be begging for oil again” from Middle East producers.  “It’s not going to happen. Not with me,” he said. Trump’s comments drew quick criticism from environmental advocates, who called his proposals “frightening.” “Trump’s energy policies would accelerate climate change, protect corporate polluters who profit from poisoning our air and water, and block the transition to clean energy that is necessary to strengthen our economy and protect our climate and health,” said Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist. But industry executives cheered the stance. “It’s simple. If Trump wins, oil field workers will be happy. If Clinton wins, oil workers will be unhappy,” said Derrick Alexander, an operations manager at oilfield services firm Integrated Productions Services. Trump hit Clinton hard in his speech, saying the former secretary of state would be more aggressive than Obama on regulations. He repeated several times Clinton’s March comments that her policies would put coal miners out of work. “Hillary Clinton’s agenda is job destruction,” Trump said. Trump said slashing regulation would help the United States achieve energy independence and reduce America’s reliance on Middle Eastern producers. “Imagine a world in which oil cartels will no longer use energy as a weapon,” he said. The United States currently produces about 55 percent of the oil it uses, with another quarter of the total coming from Canada and Mexico, and less than 20 percent coming from OPEC, according to U.S. Energy Department statistics. Trump’s advisers, including U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, have said they suggested Trump examine the role of OPEC in the global oil price slump since 2014, which has contributed to the demise of a handful of smaller U.S. oil companies. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members have declined to cut production to support prices.          Until Thursday, Trump had been short on details of his energy policy. He has said he believes global warming is a hoax, that his administration would revive the U.S. coal industry, and that he supports hydraulic fracturing - an environmentally controversial drilling technique that has triggered a boom in U.S. production. Earlier this month, he told Reuters in an interview that he would renegotiate “at a minimum” the U.N. global climate accord agreed by 195 countries in Paris last December, saying he viewed the deal as bad for U.S. business. He took that a step further in North Dakota. “We’re going to cancel the Paris climate agreement,” he said. Trump also promised he would invite Canadian pipeline company TransCanada (TRP.TO) to reapply to build the Keystone XL pipeline into the United States, reversing a decision by Obama to block the project over environmental concerns. “I want it built, but I want a piece of the profits,” Trump said. “That’s how we’re going to make our country rich again.” Trump’s pledge briefly sent TransCanada’s shares 29 Canadian cents higher to C$54.13 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the stock quickly leveled back off and close up 2 Canadian cents at C$53.86. In response to Trump’s promise that he would seek more profits from the pipeline, TransCanada spokesman James Millar noted the project would create jobs, offer major contracts to U.S. suppliers and provide tens of millions in taxes for state coffers.  “The pipeline will benefit American workers longer term as the companies they work for have signed contracts to ship and refine oil through Keystone XL,” Millar said in an email.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने तेल क्षेत्र से अपील में ओबामा के जलवायु एजेंडे को पूर्ववत करने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three congressional committees are scuffling over a former British spy’s reports that are central to investigations into U.S. allegations that Russia tried to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, people involved in the inquiries said. The dossier assembled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele outlined Russian financial and personal links to Trump’s campaign and associates. The Senate Intelligence Committee and special counsel Robert Mueller are looking into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign and Mueller’s investigators have met with Steele.  However, the Republican chairmen of the House Intelligence and Senate Judiciary committees are challenging the dossier’s credibility and one has implied that Russians may have played a role in its preparation, sources familiar with the inquiries said. The duel is not purely partisan. Senator Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Mark Warner, the committee’s ranking Democrat, are leading what other committee members from both parties called a serious effort to pursue the allegations dug up by Steele. “As I understand it, a good deal of his information remains unproven, but none of it has been disproven, and considerable amounts of it have been proven,” Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview with Reuters. He did not elaborate. Russia has repeatedly denied any interference in last November’s election won by businessman Trump, a Republican, against Democrat and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign or associates.    In a report published in January four U.S. intelligence agencies said they took the dossier’s allegations seriously. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has been the harshest public critic of Steele, suggesting that Russia might have somehow had influence with Fusion GPS, the U.S. opposition research firm that hired Steele, and that they may have broken U.S. law. The dossier was first commissioned on behalf of Trump opponents in the Republican primary and then Democrats took it up when Trump became the presidential nominee. Steele met with FBI representatives before the election to discuss his findings. In a March 6 letter to then-FBI Director James Comey, Grassley wrote: “The idea that the FBI and associates of the Clinton campaign would pay Mr. Steele to investigate the Republican nominee for president in the run-up to the election raises further questions about the FBI’s independence from politics, as well as the Obama administration’s use of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for political ends.”     Whitehouse, however, said that a July 27 Judiciary Committee hearing called by Grassley was part of a Republican effort to discredit Steele by creating “confusion” and the false impression that Russia paid Steele for the dossier.     “It could not have been clearer that there is no evidence of any Russian role behind the Steele dossier,” Whitehouse said. A Judiciary Committee aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “The American people need to be able to trust that the FBI and Justice Department are operating free from political influence. That’s what this investigation is about, and we will follow the facts wherever they lead.”     Despite recusing himself in April from the House Intelligence Committee investigation, the Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, is also trying to discredit Steele’s work, sources familiar with the probe said. On Tuesday, Nunes subpoenaed the partners who run Fusion GPS, the U.S. opposition research firm that hired Steele, a source familiar with the matter said. “This is a blatant attempt to undermine the reporting of the so-called ‘dossier,’ even as its core conclusion of a broad campaign by the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election has been confirmed by the U.S. intelligence community and is now widely accepted as fact,” Joshua Levy, counsel to Fusion GPS, said in a statement. Committee Democrat Eric Swalwell also fired back, saying Nunes told Congress he had recused himself and that issuing the subpoenas would violate that recusal. “It is also a way to go it alone, not work with Democrats, and it looks like he is trying to again undermine the investigation,” Swalwell said. Nunes also used his power last month to issue subpoenas to the FBI and Justice Department, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, demanding that they surrender their files on Steele, his dossier, and their investigations into his work. So far, the Justice Department and FBI have not turned over the information Nunes requested because of the FBI investigation, which is supervised by special counsel Mueller. Mueller’s office declined to comment on the request or the investigation.

Summary: रूस के संपर्कों पर 'ट्रम्प डोजियर' पर अमेरिकी कांग्रेस के पैनल आपस में भिड़े


LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump once again criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday over his response to a deadly attack on the city, while the British public and politicians lauded the mayor for his handling of the aftermath.  Trump accused Khan of making a “pathetic excuse” over his statement urging Londoners not to be alarmed by the presence of additional police on the streets in response to the attack. But British Prime Minister Theresa May said Khan was doing a “good job”, echoing public sentiment across London. Three jihadis drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge  on Saturday night before running into the bustling Borough Market area where they slit people’s throats and stabbed them indiscriminately. Police shot dead all three attackers. Khan had said on Sunday morning that people would see an increased police presence on the streets of the capital and should not be alarmed by that. Trump mocked Khan’s comment on Sunday, suggesting in a tweet that the mayor was downplaying the attacks. A spokesman for Khan responded that the mayor “has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context” his remarks. Trump’s comments drew widespread scorn in Britain but the U.S. leader went on the attack again on Monday, saying in a tweet: “Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!” Trump wrote. MSM referred to mainstream media. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she did not think it was fair to characterize Trump’s tweets as “picking a fight” with Khan, who is the first Muslim elected as London mayor. “The point is, there is a reason to be alarmed. We have constant attacks going on, not just there but across the globe, and we have to start putting national security and global security at an all time high,” she told a White House briefing. Khan said he had been too busy dealing with the fallout from the attack to respond directly to the tweet. Khan, who belongs to the opposition Labour Party, is popular in London and his response to Saturday’s killings has been widely praised as dignified. Prime Minister May, the Conservative Party leader, was asked earlier on Monday about Trump’s criticism of Khan. “I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job and it is wrong to say anything else,” she said. Khan’s statement on Sunday morning condemned the attack and gave a number of details about what had happened and what measures were being taken in response. “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed. One of the things the police, all of us need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be,” Khan said. In his Sunday tweet, Trump commented: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” It was met with a barrage of criticism in both Britain and the United States, with former Vice President Al Gore among many public figures who accused Trump of misrepresenting what Khan had said. A YouGov poll of 1,000 Londoners published on Monday found that Khan was more trusted than both May and national Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to make the right decisions about keeping Britain safe from terrorism. “My focus from Saturday night has been working with the police the emergency services and the government to deal with the horrific attack on Saturday,” Khan told Sky News, when asked about Trump’s latest tweet. “I just haven’t got time to respond to tweets from Donald Trump. I’ve got better and more important things to focus on.”     The two men have history. During the U.S. presidential election campaign, Khan was among many people who spoke out against Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, an idea he said would play into the hands of extremists. During a visit to Chicago in September last year, Khan endorsed Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton. In March, after an attack by an Islamic militant that left five people dead in Westminster, central London, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. issued a tweet that criticized Khan. Trump Jr. wrote “You have got to be kidding me?!” above a link to an article reporting comments Khan had made months earlier.  In the article, Khan was reported as saying that being prepared for terror attacks was “part and parcel” of living in a major city.

Summary: लंदन के मेयर खान पर हमले को लेकर ट्रंप ने फिर की आलोचना


LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative Party has suspended a lawmaker over what it said were serious allegations, a step that could undermine the authority of her minority government as Britain seeks to iron out a Brexit deal with the European Union. May s Conservative Party refused to give any detail about the nature of the allegations against Charlie Elphicke, a Conservative lawmaker for Dover in southern England, but said it had referred the matter to the police. Elphicke, formerly a tax lawyer who was first elected in 2010, denied any wrongdoing.  The party tipped off the press before telling me of my suspension,  he said on Twitter.  I am not aware of what the alleged claims are and deny any wrongdoing.  May s office did not respond to calls from Reuters about the allegations, whose nature was unclear. Email enquiries went unanswered. The Conservatives declined to comment. May s Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party are grappling with a slew of sexual harassment and abuse claims - many of them unsubstantiated - against British politicians. The allegations have surfaced since the sexual abuse claims against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted women and men in British politics to share stories about alleged improper behavior. One of May s most loyal ministers, Michael Fallon, resigned as defense secretary on Wednesday. Fallon, who had admitted touching a radio presenter s knee in 2002, said his past conduct had fallen below the required standard. He gave no details. Separately on Saturday, a lawmaker from the Scottish National Party resigned from his cabinet post in the devolved Edinburgh administration after apologizing for what he described as  inappropriate  actions.  Where I have believed myself to have been merely humorous or attempting to be friendly, my behavior might have made others uncomfortable or led them to question my intentions,  Mark McDonald, who represents Aberdeen Donside, said in a statement.  May set out the code of conduct for her party on Friday detailing standards and procedures expected of elected and appointed party members. She lost her party s majority in parliament with a botched bet on a snap election in June, so now has to rely on a small Northern Irish party to ensure she can pass legislation.  With the support of Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), May has a slender working majority of about 13 in the 650-seat House of Commons. Parliament remains bitterly divided over terms for Britain s planned departure from the European Union. The pace of the Brexit talks remains slow, heightening the risk of Brexit in March 2019 without a deal on future relations with the EU, much to the alarm of business leaders.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के सत्तारूढ़ कंजरवेटिव्स ने सांसद को निलंबित किया, उनका मामला पुलिस को भेजा


(Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, trying to redeem himself at home and nationally after a scandal-tarred 2016, said on Tuesday he will make tackling New Jersey’s spiraling drug-abuse epidemic the focus of his last year in office. Beginning his eighth and final year as governor, the former Republican presidential contender touted achievements - including reducing the size of state government, trimming taxes and lowering the unemployment rate - in his annual State of the State address. Christie’s approval rating has tanked to 18 percent in his home state in the most recent polls after he spent much of 2015 traveling outside of New Jersey during his presidential campaign. He is not eligible for a third term and will stand down next January. His national political career has also waned since the Bridgegate scandal involving his former top aides tarnished his reputation. After a trial late last year, two of Christie’s former aides were convicted of fraud and conspiracy and have asked for a new trial in the politically motivated scheme to close traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest. While Christie has not been charged and denied having advance knowledge of the scheme, the controversy helped diminish his role on President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team.  New Jersey had also not recovered jobs after the recession as quickly as neighboring states and suffered 10 credit rating downgrades during Christie’s tenure. Democrats, who control the state legislature and could retake the governor’s office in the state’s November election, said they would work with Christie to lower drug abuse deaths, according to Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto. Christie said tackling drug addiction also touches schools, law enforcement and residents’ financial security.  “Drug addiction is a disease. It is not a moral failing. It is a disease that can be treated,” he said. He wants to limit prescription of painkillers and said the state Attorney General should, “if necessary,” open an investigation into doctors’ prescribing practices and their interactions with drug makers. “Profit, by physicians or the pharmaceutical industry, must never be a rationale for contributing to the death of our citizens by overprescribing of these drugs,” he said. With several major pharmaceutical and biotech companies headquartered in New Jersey, it has long been considered the “medicine chest of the world,” though it has experienced job declines in recent years.     The state is launching a website, reachnj.gov, and a hotline, among other measures to battle addiction.

Summary: क्रिस्टी गवर्नर के रूप में पिछले साल न्यू जर्सी की नशीली दवाओं के दुरुपयोग की समस्या से लड़ेंगे


SREBRENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Almir Salihovic sits in his office in Srebrenica, waiting for a U.N. tribunal to give its judgment on the man accused of massacring his cousins and uncles there in 1995. He is hoping for a measure of justice, but little else. The businessman was 10 when he fled through the woods with his father and brother as Bosnian Serb soldiers opened fire behind them. The troops killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the days that followed.  Next week the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia will give its verdict on Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general accused of overseeing the murders and other war crimes, including the siege of Sarajevo. A guilty verdict on Nov. 22 would give some  personal satisfaction to victims,  Salihovic told Reuters at his transportation company in the eastern town, where his family returned in 2004.  But it would do little else - certainly nothing to heal the deeper traumas and still gaping divides.  For most Serbs he will remain a hero, for others he will be the butcher and criminal, and we will continue to live in our folds, side by side, not together,  he said.   We carry the burden of a terrible crime that puts inter-ethnic relations under pressure.     The legacy of a commander who led the Bosnian Serb army in its swift takeover of two-thirds of the country during the 1992-95 war still divides Muslim Bosniaks and Serbs in Bosnia. For Srebrenica Muslims, Mladic is a symbol of the chaos and killings that broke out when his forces took over the U.N-protected eastern enclave where about 40,000 Muslims from eastern Bosnia had sought refuge.  For Serbs the 74-year-old is a proud general who won the territory with very few of his own casualties. Srebrenica s own Serb mayor Mladen Grujicic says the killings did not amount to genocide - and the two international courts who ruled that they did were biased against his fellow Serbs.  It will take many more years to reveal the complete truth, which is not favoring any side,  Grujicic told Reuters.   We in both communities are victims while higher agendas are at stake,  he added, without elaborating. Srebrenica is now a shrinking town where about 7,000 Muslim Bosniaks and Serbs still live side by side, suspicious of each other and divided by the past.  One thing they do share is their poverty. The town is dotted with empty houses, left behind by people seeking a better life. This year the only bakery and butchers shop had to close down. Srebrenica was once known for its metal plant and nearby lead, zinc and gold mines. These days, the main landmark is the cemetery on its outskirts and the 6,575 white tombstones marking the remains of the victims that authorities have managed to find.  In 2010, I buried my children and husband. Nobody should go through it ever again. Now I live alone, and I should not have had to live alone if it was not for some hotheads,  said Hatidza Mehmedovic. The 66-year-old comes every day to tend the graves of her husband and two sons killed in what is widely seen as Europe s worst atrocity since the World War Two.  This is not life, this is hell, this is a life of punishment,  Mehmedovic told Reuters.  Further southwest, in Mladic s home village of Bozanovici, his cousins are also waiting for the tribunal s verdict. They fear he will be jailed for crimes they say he did not commit.  I would be happiest if he died before the judgment,  his uncle Mile Mladic told Reuters.   We would then raise a large monument for him in the village and write the truth. All this that is happening is not the truth. It is a lie. The general is not guilty.

Summary: विभाजित स्रेब्रेनिसा नरसंहार के 22 साल बाद म्लादिक फैसले का इंतजार कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Labor Department has taken a first step toward possible derailment or dilution of its controversial rule on retirement advice as it begins to re-examine it at the directive of President Donald Trump, according to a notice made public on Wednesday. The department proposed a 60-day delay of the fiduciary rule, which requires retirement advisers to put the interests of clients ahead of their own. It was slated to take effect on April 10, but Trump asked the department to review the rule one more time for its impact on investors. Industry analysts and consumer groups agreed it could be the first of multiple delays as the department begins a comprehensive review of the Obama-era regulation, after Trump in February issued an executive order directing the department to review the rule. “A 60-day delay is relatively short to undertake the type of economic and legal analysis that they’re contemplating, which suggests to me that this isn’t just going to be a 60-day delay, It’s likely going to be a string of delays,” said Micah Hauptman, with the Consumer Federation of America. The proposed delay should have a “calming” effect on the marketplace, which had been “hanging in limbo” ahead of the April 10 effective date, said Denise Valentine, a senior analyst with Aite Group, which advises the financial services industry on regulatory issues. “All along we’ve kind of known that the rule is very likely to be amended. I don’t think it will be killed,” Valentine said. The public will have 15 days from the publication of the proposed delay in the Federal Register on Thursday to comment on the delay itself before the Labor Department can formalize it. There will also be a 45-day window to submit comments or information related to other aspects of Trump’s memorandum.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has sued to kill the rule, on Wednesday praised the proposed delay. When former President Barack Obama’s administration finalized the rule last year, it said it was a move to help Americans saving for their retirement. But critics in the financial services industry say the rule would limit the ability of advisers to service clients who cannot afford to pay for financial advice and must use products that carry commissions or other indirect costs. When Trump issued the executive order, White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the rule “a solution in search of the problem” at a briefing ahead of the signing. The move drew fire from Democrats and other critics, who said it showed the Republican White House was aligned with Wall Street, not middle-income Americans. Industry groups, however, praised the delay proposed on Wednesday. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it would “allow the new administration an opportunity to review the rule’s impact on investors and the market.”  UBS Wealth Management Americas, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.N> declined to comment. Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summary: श्रम विभाग ने वित्तीय सलाहकारों के लिए नए नियम में देरी का प्रस्ताव रखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether the U.S. Constitution limits how far lawmakers can go to redraw voting districts to favor one political party over another in a case that could have huge consequences for American elections. The high court has been willing to invalidate state electoral maps on the grounds of racial discrimination, as it did on May 22 when it found that Republican legislators in North Carolina had drawn two electoral districts to diminish the statewide political clout of black voters. But the justices have not thrown out state electoral maps drawn simply to give one party an advantage over another. The justices will take up Wisconsin’s appeal of a lower court ruling last November that state Republican lawmakers violated the Constitution when they created state legislative districts with the partisan aim of hobbling Democrats in legislative races. The case will be one of the biggest heard by the Supreme Court during its term that begins in October. The case involves a long-standing practice known as gerrymandering, a term meaning manipulating electoral boundaries for an unfair political advantage. The lower court ruled that the Republican-led legislature’s redrawing of state legislative districts in 2011 amounted to “an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.” A panel of three federal judges in Madison ruled 2-1 that the way the Republicans redrew the districts violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection under the law and free speech by undercutting the ability of Democratic voters to turn their votes into seats in Wisconsin’s legislature. In a possible sign of deep ideological divisions among the nine justices over the issue, the court’s conservative majority granted Wisconsin’s request, despite opposition from the four liberal justices, to put on hold the lower court’s order requiring the state to redraw its electoral maps by Nov. 1. That means Wisconsin will not need to put in place a new electoral map while the justices consider the matter. A Supreme Court ruling faulting the Wisconsin redistricting plan could have far-reaching consequences for the redrawing of electoral districts due after the 2020 U.S. census. State and federal legislative district boundaries are reconfigured every decade after the census so that each one holds about same number of people, but are sometimes draw in a way that packs voters who tend to favor a particular party into certain districts so as to diminish their statewide voting power. Wisconsin Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel welcomed the justices’ decision to hear the state’s appeal and called the state’s redistricting process “entirely lawful and constitutional.” The case in the short term could affect congressional maps in about half a dozen states and legislative maps in about 10 states, before having major implications for the post-2020 redistricting, according to the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Wisconsin’s gerrymander was one of the most aggressive of the decade, locking in a large and implausibly stable majority for Republicans in what is otherwise a battleground state,” said Brennan Center redistricting expert Thomas Wolf. “It’s a symptom of politics going haywire and something that we increasingly see when one party has sole control of the redistricting process.” Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes sides with the court’s liberals in major cases, could cast the decisive vote. Kennedy, writing in a 2004 case, indicated he may be open to the idea that racial gerrymanders could violate the Constitution. Though a “workable standard” defining it did not exist, he suggested one might emerge in a future case. Democrats have accused Republicans of taking improper actions at the state level to suppress the turnout of minority voters and others who tend to support Democrats and maximize the number of party members in state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans call their actions lawful. Republicans control the U.S. Congress. They also have majorities in an all-time high of 69 of 99 state legislative chambers, according to the Republican State Leadership Committee. After winning control of the state legislature in 2010, Wisconsin Republicans redrew the statewide electoral map. They were able to amplify Republican voting power, gaining more seats than their percentage of the statewide vote would suggest. In 2012, Republicans received about 49 percent of the vote but won 60 of the 99 state Assembly seats. In 2014, the party garnered 52 percent of the vote and 63 Assembly seats. A dozen Wisconsin Democratic Party voters in 2015 sued state election officials, saying the redistricting divided Democratic voters in some areas and packed them in others to dilute their electoral clout and benefit Republican candidates.  The lower court found that redistricting efforts are unlawful partisan gerrymandering when they seek to entrench the party in power, and have no other legitimate justification.  The state argues recent election results favoring Republicans were “a reflection of Wisconsin’s natural political geography,” with Democrats concentrated in urban areas like Milwaukee and Madison.

Summary: राजनीतिक सीमाओं पर बड़े मामले की सुनवाई करेगा सुप्रीम कोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Sunday there is a possibility that his group could support a tax reform plan that is not revenue neutral. “Does it have to be, what they would say, revenue neutral? Or do you have to have an offset like with the border adjustment tax? ... I think there’s been a lot of flexibility in terms of some of my contacts in conservatives in terms of not making it totally offset ...,” Meadows said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” A fiscal conservative, Meadows had said that tax reform depended on the repeal of Obamacare in order to offset the likely cost of tax cuts.  President Donald Trump has already said he will move on from dealing with healthcare to his tax plans and in a tweet on Sunday morning blamed the Freedom Caucus for keeping Obamacare intact. “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!” he tweeted. Meadows, whose group was pivotal in sinking the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare in the House, said he had not yet given up on efforts to reform healthcare before tackling tax reform. “I still believe that there is a good chance, if moderates and conservatives can come together, that we repeal and replace Obamacare, bring premiums down, cover more people,” he said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन मिडोज़ः कर योजना को राजस्व तटस्थ होने की आवश्यकता नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate negotiators on Wednesday tried to reach a deal to provide more than $1 billion to battle the Zika virus that is feared will creep north into the United States with the onset of warmer weather, which breeds mosquitoes that could carry the disease. Senior Senate Democratic aides said details were still being worked out, but votes could come by next week on whether to approve the new money. In February, President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds, but Republicans balked, with some arguing that $1.1 billion is more in line with what is needed. Many Republicans also want any Zika funds to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere. These are among the details that still have to be worked out, according to aides. Republican Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri and Democratic Senator Patty Murray from Washington, the two senior senators on an appropriations panel that oversees healthcare spending, have been trying to hammer out a deal. An aide to Murray said in a statement: “Senator Murray is having conversations with Chairman Blunt and others about the path forward on emergency funding to respond to Zika.” The aide said Murray still supports Obama’s $1.9 billion request. Amid congressional inaction, the Obama administration shifted $589 million to help federal agencies prepare for Zika. Most of that money came from a fund to fight the Ebola virus and will have to be replenished, according to officials. Senator Marco Rubio, however, is one Republican pushing for both immediate, emergency funding and longer-term money to be made available starting on Oct. 1 to battle the disease that can cause severe brain deformities in babies born of infected mothers and other illnesses. “This is going to be an ongoing issue beyond this year,” Rubio said, adding, “We need to jump on it now.” There are fears that Rubio’s home state of Florida could be the first place in the continental United States to get hit hard by Zika because of its tropical climate. “For the first time, I’ve seen high-level conversations about a way forward here in the Senate and that’s a positive development,” Rubio said in a brief hallway interview with Reuters. Republicans in the House of Representatives are still deeply divided over new funding for Zika, according to two senior aides.

Summary: यू. एस. सीनेट वार्ताकारों ने जीका वायरस के वित्तपोषण पर शून्य किया


ZURICH (Reuters) - A Swiss federal court has dismissed the asylum appeal of a woman convicted in Spain of supporting the Basque separatist group ETA, but said she was now free to remain in Switzerland after Madrid dropped her sentence. The case of Nekane Txapartegi, who said she was tortured while in custody in Spain before fleeing in 2007, has drawn considerable attention in Switzerland, with members of a  Free Nekane  movement staging rallies in Zurich and other cities. The United Nations  special rapporteur on torture and Amnesty International had also urged Swiss authorities not to extradite Txapartegi to Spain. On Friday the Swiss court said the asylum issue was no longer relevant because Spain s High Court had ruled that her sentence - initially 11 years in jail, later reduced to 3-1/2 years - had reached its statute of limitations.  As with every European citizen, Ms. Txapartegi may stay in Switzerland within the rules of free movement,  a spokesman for the State Secretariat for Migration said. Switzerland is not in the European Union but EU citizens can settle there provided they are in gainful employment or can prove they have sufficient funds to support themselves. Swiss authorities arrested Txapartegi in Zurich in April 2016 after they discovered she had been living under an assumed name in Switzerland since 2009. They agreed in March this year to extradite her but freed her in September after the Spanish decision to drop her jail sentence. Txapartegi had told Swiss authorities she was tortured into confessing support for ETA while in Spanish custody. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said at the time she  could  not credibly show that she was actually tortured . On Friday the Swiss court said that, given the conditions prevailing in Spain at the time of her arrest, she may well have been subjected to physical and psychological abuse, but said it no longer needed to evaluate her claims. ETA, which killed more than 850 people in a decades-long campaign to carve out a separate state, effectively ended its armed resistance this year when it surrendered its weapons.

Summary: स्विस ने ई. टी. ए. कार्यकर्ता की शरण याचिका खारिज की, लेकिन वह रहने के लिए स्वतंत्र है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer on Tuesday denied that he or Trump colluded with Russia to interfere in last year’s presidential election, and said such charges were meant to discredit Trump’s presidency. “I emphatically state that I had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in our electoral process,” Michael Cohen said in a statement prepared for a scheduled meeting with Senate Intelligence Committee investigators that was ultimately postponed. “Given my own proximity to the president of the United States as a candidate, let me also say that I never saw anything - not a hint of anything - that demonstrated his involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russia collusion,” Cohen said. After the statement was reported by media organizations on Tuesday morning, Cohen and his attorney, Stephen Ryan, traveled to Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with Intelligence Committee investigators - but were told that the committee had decided to postpone the meeting. The Senate committee, as well as other congressional panels and special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating Russia’s reported interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump or his top aides colluded with Moscow. Cohen’s name surfaced in a dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, that reported Cohen played an important role in liaison with the Russian government and secretly met with Kremlin officials in Prague in August 2016. The Steele dossier, Cohen said in his statement, is “riddled with falsehoods and intentionally salacious allegations.” “I have never in my life been to Prague or to anywhere in the Czech Republic,” he said. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials have said that while they cannot verify all the details in the Steele dossier, neither have they debunked it entirely. It was not immediately clear why Cohen’s meeting with Senate investigators was postponed. “The committee has chosen to postpone today’s interview and we will come back for a voluntary interview whenever we can to meet with them,” Ryan told reporters. “Mr. Cohen will continue to co-operate.” Cohen said in his statement that the collusion charges are meant to discredit Trump’s presidency. “I’m also certain that there are some in this country who do not care about the facts, but simply want to politicize this issue, choosing to presume guilt - rather than presuming innocence - so as to discredit our lawfully elected president in the public eye,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के वकील ने 2016 के चुनाव में रूस के साथ मिलीभगत से इनकार किया


(Reuters) - Here are some of the highlights of the Reuters interview with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. ON HIS DECEMBER TWEET SAYING THE UNITED STATES SHOULD EXPAND ITS NUCLEAR CAPABILITY “We’ve fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity. And I am the first one that would like to see ... nobody have nukes, but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country, we’re never going to fall behind on nuclear power. And I did tweet that. It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack.” “It’s a one-sided deal like all other deals we make. It’s a one-sided deal. It gave them things that we should have never allowed. ... Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it’s START, whether it’s the Iran deal, which is one of the bad deals ever made. Our country only made bad deals, we don’t make good deals. So we’re going to start making good deals.” ON RUSSIA’S DEPLOYMENT OF A CRUISE MISSILE IN VIOLATION OF ARMS CONTROL TREATY  “To me, it’s a big deal ... If I meet (Putin), if and when we meet, I would bring it up. It’s a big deal. Because it’s a violation of an agreement that we have.” “I know exactly what’s going on between China and North Korea and everybody else. But I don’t like talking about military strategy in newspapers ... I’m not liking it. This didn’t take place under the Trump administration, this took place under the Obama administration. Many things took place that should not have been allowed. One of them is the building of a massive, you know, massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea. And don’t forget I’ve only been here for four weeks. This is something that took place and has been started three years ago and you were in a much better negotiating position three years ago. I am not happy about it.” “I think they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency. So I haven’t held back. We’ll see what happens.” “Well, we appreciate that. You know, I have a very, very good, I’ve had very good phone calls with the president, President Xi, and I’ve had very, very good talks with him, and the call is a start. But we have a very big problem and a very dangerous problem for the world with North Korea. ... I think China has tremendous control over North Korea. Whether they say so or not is up to them, but they have tremendous control over North Korea. I think they could solve the problem very easily if they want to.” “It’s very dangerous and something should have been done about it years ago. It’s very dangerous and very unacceptable. ... And very unfair to Japan.” ON TALK OF ACCELERATING MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM FOR JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA “There’s talks of a lot more than that. We’ll see what happens. But it’s a very dangerous situation, and China can end it very quickly in my opinion. ... It’s one of many things that can be done. Missile defense is one of many things that can be done.” ON WHETHER MEETING WITH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN IS A POSSIBILITY “I guess ... I would never say no. It may be very late. It’s very late in the picture right now. ... We’re very angry at what he’s done, and frankly this should have been taken care of during the Obama administration.” ON THE BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX PROMOTED BY REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS “It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States. ... I certainly support a form of tax on the border because everybody else does. We’re the only country, we’re one of the very few countries, possibly the only country, that has no border tax. And that’s not a tax to the consumer, because that’s going to be a tax to companies and it’s going to be a tax to other countries much more so than it is to the consumer. That’s a tax to other countries. And what will happen is, don’t forget there is no tax if we make our product in the United States. So I don’t consider it a tax. That’s a tax if companies are buying their product outside of the United States. But ... if they make their product in the United States, there is no tax. So what is going to happen is companies are going to come back here, they’re going to build their factories and they’re going to create a lot of jobs and there’s no tax.” “We’re going to have a corporate tax cut ... anywhere from 15 to 20 percent (as a target for the corporate tax rate). ... We’re going to have other things that are very good and we’re going to have a tremendous regulatory cut because the regulations are piled up on top of each other and you’ll have many regulations for the same thing within different industries and it’s out of control. The regulations in this country are out of control. And it makes it hard for businesses to even open in the United States. We’re going to get rid of a lot of the unnecessary regulations.” “We’re going to submit legislation. We’re going to be working with Congress to do legislation, yes. .... We’re mandated to do the healthcare first. We have to. And that’s for budgetary reasons. So the healthcare will come first. It’s moving along really well. I would say before the middle of March. ... We have a very, very good healthcare plan which will give great healthcare to great numbers of people. We have to also remember, Obamacare is a disaster. It doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work. So we have a plan that will be a far better plan which will cost people less money, which will cost our country less money also ‘cause Obamacare is very expensive for the country. And we will be submitting sometime during the month of March. ... It’d be repeal and replace. ... The tax reform comes immediately thereafter.” “The economy, we have close to 100 million people that are not working. We’re going to get the economy revving again through meetings like I had today with the biggest companies in the world and the biggest manufacturers in the world, through tax reform, and through regulatory reform, and it will take a little period of time, but yeah, we’re going to have, I mean, we had massive deficits under Obama, under President Obama, massive deficits, and until it gets kicked in, there’ll be some deficits but something which we can very easily handle.” “We have a $70 billion trade deficit with Mexico, which is unacceptable. Unacceptable. On top of the $70 billion, many of our jobs and companies have fled to Mexico, and that, and they sell their product back in the United States. It’s just not acceptable. So, hopefully, we’ll be able to work something out with Mexico, we’ll see. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. ... We have the right to do a lot of things that I haven’t done yet. We have a lot of rights that people don’t know about and they never did know about until I came along.” ON THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION IN ISRAEL “I like the concept of the two-state solution. People have been talking about it for so many years now, it so far hasn’t worked. But I am satisfied with whatever makes both parties happy.” “I do, sure. I have very good relations with the EU. But I thought that the UK would pull out of Brexit and I was right. ...  But the EU, I’m totally in favor of it. I think it’s wonderful, if they’re happy. If they’re happy – I’m in favor of it.” “Remember the first time I talked about NATO, I said they all owe money? The first time anyone ever asked me a question about NATO ... I said two things: It’s obsolete because it doesn’t cover terrorism. They have now opened up a division to cover terrorism, solely because of me. And experts on NATO that do nothing but study it said, ‘You know, Trump is right.’ And I knew nothing about NATO, I mean, I knew very little about NATO. ... But you watch what’s going to happen. They’re paying. They’re paying big league. ... They owe a lot of money. Many countries owe a lot money. Number one, 2 percent is a low number, and number two, only five countries are paid up.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के साथ रॉयटर्स के साक्षात्कार की मुख्य बातें


POTOMAC, Md. (Reuters) - As Hillary Clinton sets her sights on becoming the first female president of the United States, the Democratic front-runner has found herself in another role - the subject of children’s books.     In “Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can,” author Cynthia Levinson charts her rise from her youth in Park Ridge, Illinois, to her work as a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Levinson brought Clinton’s story this week to fourth graders at Cold Spring Elementary School in suburban Washington, whom she found were paying close attention to the presidential race.      “I hope kids enjoy the book, and I hope that it’s thought-provoking for them,” said Levinson, who went to Wellesley College with Clinton and interviewed mutual acquaintances and the former first lady for the book. The book is among several recent children’s biographies on Clinton. They include “Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls are Born to Lead” by Michelle Markel and Jonah Winter’s picture book “Hillary.”     While the books all include the theme of female strength, Levinson said she was keen to highlight both Clinton’s successes and failures, such as her vote for the U.S. war in Iraq and bungled healthcare initiative while first lady.     The grade-schoolers were divided over whether Clinton, 68, was the woman for the job.     “I’m more on Bernie Sanders’ side. Hillary Clinton is less direct than Bernie Sanders,” said Sudhish Swain, 10, referring to Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination. Many students said they got their news about the election, which will be held in November, from the radio or school bus debates. “We mostly agree that Donald Trump would not be a good president,” said Tianlai Yang. Katherine Pease, 9, added: “He lies, he’s a hypocrite, he’s a megalomaniac, and he’s delusional, which, really, those four qualities aren’t good for a president.” She showed off an op-ed piece she had submitted to the Washington Post urging Republicans to rally around one candidate to counter Trump. She said she hoped that candidate would be Ohio Governor John Kasich.     Kyle Baer said he liked Clinton but still would not vote for her if he were old enough.     “The only thing I have against her is that she’s already been a resident of the White House before, and I don’t think she should be a resident again,” he said.       (Reporting by Vanessa Johnston, writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Richard Chang) 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: बच्चों के लिए नवीनतम हिलेरी क्लिंटन बायो सफलताओं और असफलताओं पर प्रकाश डालता है


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel emerged as the clear winner of the only television debate with her center-left challenger Martin Schulz three weeks before a federal election, a poll showed on Sunday. The survey by Infratest Dimap for ARD television showed that 49 percent viewed Merkel as being more credible while 29 percent favored Schulz. Merkel s overall performance was viewed as more convincing by 55 percent, compared to 35 percent for Schulz.

Summary: मर्केल केवल टीवी बहस में स्पष्ट विजेता के रूप में उभरींः सर्वेक्षण


SEOUL (Reuters) - Take the dregs left from making soy bean oil, which usually go to feed the pigs. Press and roll them into a sandy-colored paste. Stuff with rice, and top with chilli sauce. The dish s name, injogogi, means  man-made meat.  In North Korea for years it was a recipe for survival. Today it is a popular street food, traded alongside other goods and services on informal markets, known as jangmadang. Defectors say there are hundreds of these markets. The creation and informal trade of injogogi and other foods offers a window into a barter economy that has kept North Korea afloat despite years of isolation, abuse and sanctions.  Back in the day, people had injogogi to fill themselves up as a substitute for meat,  said Cho Ui-sung, a North Korean who defected to the South in 2014.  Now people eat it for its taste.  North Korea was set up with backing from the Soviet Union as a socialist state. The Soviet collapse in 1991 crippled the North Korean economy and brought down its centralized food distribution system. As many as three million people died. Those who survived were forced to forage, barter and invent meals from whatever they found. Since people started to use their own initiative, studies indicate, person-to-person dealings have become the way millions of North Koreans procure basic necessities such as food and clothing. But the prevalence of informal markets also makes it hard to understand the exact state of the North Korean economy. And this makes it hard to measure how badly sanctions, which do not apply to North Korean food imports, are hurting ordinary people. Pyongyang has said the curbs threaten the survival of its children. Defectors say a poor corn harvest this year has made it hard for people in rural areas to feed themselves. The agencies who want to help find all this hard to measure. Pyongyang says 70 percent of North Koreans still use the state s central distribution system as their main source of food, the same number of people that the U.N. estimates are  food insecure.  The system consistently provides lower food rations than the government s daily target, according to U.N. food agency the World Food Programme (WFP). The U.N. uses this information to call on member states to provide food aid for North Korea - $76 million for  nutrition support  alone at its last request - of which it has received $42 million. But surveys and anecdotal evidence from defectors suggest private markets are the main source of supply for most North Koreans.  It becomes sort of ridiculous to analyze food distribution in North Korea by focusing on an archaic system that s lost so much of its significance over the past couple of decades,  said Benjamin Silberstein, an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who researches the North Korean economy. The WFP and the U.N. s other main food aid agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization, said the U.N. relies on all available information and inputs, including official statistics. The agencies have a permanent office in Pyongyang and make regular visits to Public Distribution Centers, farms and occasionally markets in North Korea.  We recognize that the data and their sources are limited but it s the best we have available at present,  said the U.N. agencies in a joint statement, referring to the official North Korean government data. The agencies said they have seen no sign that more food than needed is delivered to North Koreans.  The main issue ... is a monotonous diet   mainly rice/maize, kimchi and bean paste   lacking in essential fats and protein,  the statement said. The North Korean diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to questions about how international sanctions might be harming food availability and whether U.N. aid agencies had access to markets in North Korea to assess the products on offer. Last year, North Korea s economy grew by 3.9 percent - its fastest in 17 years and faster than many developed economies, according to South Korea s central bank. It was helped largely by mining, market reforms, and dealings with China, its neighbor and now the world s largest economy. Reporters saw signs of chronic hunger in North Korea as recently as 2013, but people who have defected say the food supply has improved in recent years.  Eight defectors told Reuters they ate much the same thing as people in the South. Asked about the contents of their food cupboards, most said they were stocked with privately grown vegetables, locally made snacks and rice, or if they were poor, corn, which is a cheaper staple. Younger and wealthier defectors say they had plenty of meat, although it was often seasonal because electric power is too erratic to power fridges. Pork is common, but defectors also talked of eating dog meat, rabbit, and badger. Even so, on average North Koreans are less well nourished than their Southern neighbors. The WFP says around one in four children have grown less tall than their South Korean counterparts. A study from 2009 said pre-school children in the North were up to 13 cm (5 inches) shorter and up to 7 kg (15 pounds) lighter than those brought up in the South. The North s Public Distribution System (PDS) stipulates that 70 percent of people receive ration coupons to spend at state distribution shops. The other 30 percent are farmers who are not eligible for rations because they grow their own vegetables in private plots. According to the WFP, the PDS had been reinstated by 2006. Defectors say Kim Jong Un, who came to power in 2011, also quietly loosened the rules on private trade. Some markets, known as  grasshopper markets  for the speed with which traders set up and take down the stalls, are still illegal. But there are also officially sanctioned markets, where traders are free to buy and sell provided they pay stall fees to the state. Inventions like injogogi are among foods traded on these stalls. It is low in calories but rich in protein and fiber, to help muscle growth and keep hunger at bay, said Lee Ae-ran, a chef from the North Korean town of Hyesan who took a doctorate in nutrition in Seoul.  Because it contains so much protein, it s also very chewy,  Lee said. The sauce can be delicious, said Cho.  People who lived by the sea put shredded anchovies in the sauce; people living in the countryside used spicy peppers. I lived close by shore so I used shredded sand eels.  The jangmadang are remotely monitored by a website called Daily NK, a Seoul-based operation staffed by North Korean defector journalists. It said in a report released this August that there are 387 officially sanctioned markets in the country, encompassing more than half a million stalls. Over 5 million people are either  directly or indirectly  reliant on the markets,  solidifying their place in North Korean society as an integral and irreversible means of survival,  the report said. In 2015, a survey of 1,017 defectors by Seoul University professor Byung-yeon Kim found that official channels such as the PDS accounted for just 23.5 percent of people s food intake. Around 61 percent of respondents said private markets were their most important source of food, and the remaining 15.5 percent came from self-cultivated crops. So the official system may mean little to many North Koreans.  WFP has consistently been asking (the North Korean government) to carry out a more detailed study on market activity and the role of markets in achieving household food security,  a spokeswoman said.  As in other countries, North Korea s wealthy have choice. Residents of the capital can order up a pizza in one of Pyongyang s hundreds of restaurants, say regular visitors. Many of the eateries are operated by state-owned enterprises. Some used to cater only to tourists. Increasingly they now also collect dollars and euros from locals. At a place people know as the  Italian on Kwangbok Street,  for example, moneyed locals and western tourists alike can pick vongole pasta for $3.50, or pepperoni pizzas for $10, the menu says. This compares with $0.30 for a kilo of corn or $0.50 for a portion of injogogi in the markets. Reuters was unable to determine how the restaurant sources its ingredients such as pepperoni, although North Korea imports processed meats and cheeses from European countries and Southeast Asia - such imports are legal. Calls to the phone numbers on the menu failed and an operator for the Pyongyang switchboard said the numbers could not be connected to international lines. As the economy in North Korea has changed, so have the tastes of a moneyed middle class keen to try new foods. Kim Jong Un has called for more domestically produced goods, according to state media, and there are more locally made sweets, snacks and candies. The country does not publish detailed import data but China s exports of sugar to North Korea in January to September this year ballooned to 44,725 tonnes, Chinese data shows. That is about half of all China s global sugar exports and compares with 1,236 tonnes in 2016 and 2,843 in 2015. North Korea does not produce sugar. According to the International Sugar Organization, the North s sugar consumption is fairly steady at around 89,000-90,000 tonnes a year   a very modest amount per head. Each South Korean consumes about nine times more than that. At the other end of the social scale, Chinese data shows corn exports to North Korea also jumped in the first nine months of this year, to nearly 50,000 tonnes, compared with just over 3,000 tonnes in the whole of 2016. Daily NK reporters say they call secret sources in North Korea several times a week to get the market price of rice, corn, pork, fuels and the won currency - which is traded at around 8,100 to the dollar, as opposed to the official rate of around 100 to the dollar. So far, their reports suggest, petrol and diesel prices have doubled since the most recent round of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The market price of rice and corn has increased less sharply. Reuters was not able to independently confirm their reports. And there are other ways North Koreans can supplement their diets.  My dad often received bribes,  said one 28-year-old defector who asked to be identified only by her surname, Kang, because when she moved out in late 2010 she left her father behind. He was a high-ranking public official. The bribes he received included goat meat, dog meat and deer meat, she said. (For a graphic on 'Rising costs, falling aid' click tmsnrt.rs/2h95QBL)

Summary: नकली मांस, मुक्त बाजार उत्तर कोरियाई लोगों की भूख को कम करते हैं


(Reuters) - The New York Times Editorial Board on Saturday said Ohio Governor John Kasich was the “only plausible choice” in the race for the Republican nomination in the U.S. presidential election. The editorial board said that, while Kasich was an underdog, he had “been capable of compromise and believes in the ability of government to improve lives.”  It said that front-runner Donald Trump did not have experience of international issues or interest in learning about them. It said Ted Cruz would “say anything to win.”

Summary: कासिच रिपब्लिकन नामांकन के लिए 'एकमात्र प्रशंसनीय विकल्प': न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स बोर्ड


ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he and the leader of the Northern League had agreed a pact to choose the candidate to head an eventual center-right governing coalition, a newspaper reported. Italy is expected to hold a national election by March that polls suggest the center-right would win, though it would be unlikely to obtain a working majority of seats in parliament. Berlusconi was banned from running for office in 2013 due to a tax fraud conviction, but is hoping the European Court of Human Rights will overturn this when it reviews his case in November. He told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview  that he and Matteo Salvini agreed that  whichever party of the center-right gets more votes  would propose a prime minister for the center-right. According to a poll released by the EMG Aqua agency on Monday, the Northern League is running at 14.8 percent, Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!) at 12.2 percent and the third center-right party, Brothers of Italy, at 5.0 percent. That makes the trio largest single bloc with about 32 percent. Berlusconi told the newspaper he was convinced Forza Italia would get the most votes. He did not say who the party s candidate would be if he could not run.    According to the same poll, the governing center-left Democratic Party (PD) has about 27 percent and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement about 28 percent.

Summary: इटली के बर्लुस्कोनी का कहना है कि केंद्र-दक्षिणपंथी अगले प्रधानमंत्री पद के उम्मीदवार पर समझौते पर सहमत हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - From William Pitt to Winston Churchill, Britain s finest prime ministers have risen to greatness in the Palace of Westminster, heightening its reputation as one of the world s most respected parliaments. But with nine centuries of history come traditions, and a culture that is now under fire for concentrating power in the hands of lawmakers who can make or break the careers of aides, interns and party activists. The resignation of Britain s defense minister, who admitted repeatedly touching a radio presenter s knee in 2002, and a series of accusations against other members of parliament, from alleged extramarital affairs to sexual assaults, have prompted calls for change. Parliament is an  old and famous  institution, said Brendan Chilton, a Labour activist and general secretary of Labour Leave, a pro-Brexit group.  However it has in recent years become a den of vice. We should all seek to make parliament the envy of the world again.  The ornate Palace of Westminster, beside the River Thames in the heart of London, is home to both the upper and lower houses of parliament and is seen by some historians as one of the  birthplaces of modern democracy.  But allegations about British politicians, many of them unsubstantiated, have surfaced since sexual abuse claims against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted women and men in British politics to share stories about improper behavior.  Claims of sexual harassment have prompted some newspapers to refer to parliament as  Pestminster . Michael Fallon resigned as defense minister on Wednesday  over past behavior he said had fallen  below the high standards we require of the armed forces .   Two more ministers are under investigation by the governing Conservative Party into allegations of inappropriate behavior and the opposition Labour Party and Scottish National Party are  looking into similar reports about party members. AWE-INSPIRING The Palace of Westminster s debating chambers, its lavish tea rooms and its maze of corridors with portraits of long-gone politicians and prime ministers can inspire and confuse in equal measure.  Like a self-contained village, it has it own post office, hairdresser, gym, restaurants and bars. There is little reason to leave and for many workers, days are spent in its offices and evenings are spent in its bars.  Drinking culture is both fun and a bit depressing,  one parliamentary researcher wrote on the Glassdoor website where employees and former employees anonymously review companies and their management.  You will miss out on networking if this is not something you want to do.   It is a heady mix, and many relationships have grown in an environment where people work closely together, and often under pressure, for long hours. But the allegations that have surfaced in recent weeks also depict it as an environment where inappropriate behavior is widespread and a laddish culture, where what one person sees as a joke is offensive to another, prevails. The accusations describe parliament as a place where careers of researchers, interns and aides can be decided by the member of parliament or minister they work for - and suggest some fear for their future if they refuse sexual advances.     Many female lawmakers have welcomed the opportunity to share their experiences, some of which they have kept silent about for years for fear of, if not reprisals, criticism from colleagues or officials for bringing parties into disrepute.  There is obviously a problem, it s a good thing that it s been exposed,  Labour lawmaker Harriet Harman told parliament this week.  No one should have to work in the toxic atmosphere of sleazy sexist or homophobic banter.  Scandals involving members of British politicians are not new. The Profumo Affair, involving sex, a Soviet spy and the secretary of state for war, helped bring down the Conservative government in 1963. Twenty years later, Conservative Cecil Parkinson resigned as trade and industry minister over an affair with his secretary, who became pregnant.  But Fallon told the BBC that what had been  acceptable 15, 10 years ago is clearly not acceptable now . The government is introducing measures to tackle sexual harassment, including measures to enforce a code of conduct and to set up an independent grievance procedure. But critics say the power disparity between lawmaker and employee will remain.

Summary: ब्रिटिश संसदः सम्मानित संस्था या 'बुराई का अड्डा'?


KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian police clashed with backers of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday and prevented them from forcing their way into Kiev s October Palace after a rally against President Petro Poroshenko. The confrontation, which included the firing of tear gas canisters, was the latest chapter in the former Georgian president s stand-off with Ukrainian authorities that led to his detention and release from custody last week. The October Palace, a cultural center, became a symbol of revolt when it was a key location in the 2013-14 pro-European uprising that ousted a Moscow-backed president and installed Poroshenko, who promised to eliminate widespread corruption. Saakashvili, president of his native Georgia in 2004-2013, moved to Ukraine after an uprising there and served as a regional governor in 2015-16 before falling out with Poroshenko, whom he accuses of failing to stamp out endemic graft and being corrupt himself. Poroshenko denies the accusations. Sunday s scuffles at the October Palace were an offshoot of a larger, peaceful opposition rally in which several thousand people marched through central Kiev earlier in the day, calling for Poroshenko s impeachment. The situation was relatively calm at the Palace after darkness fell with a large number of riot police blocking the entrance to the center, whose doors protesters had earlier tried to break through, some throwing stones and other objects.   We have to be calm, keep the peace,  Saakashvili told a few hundred of his supporters, who remained outside the building. No serious injuries were reported in the clashes. Saakashvili accused the authorities of engineering the situation to provoke violence. Earlier, he had called on protesters to set up a headquarters in the building. But later, he condemned any attempt to seize administration buildings. Interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko held Saakashvili responsible for the clashes.  Despite all the provocations as a result of which Mikheil Saakashvili wants to spill the blood of Ukrainians, he has not succeeded,  he said in a post on Facebook. The comments continue a long-running blame game that has included prosecutor s accusing Saakashvili of assisting a criminal organization, charges he says are trumped up to undermine his campaign to unseat Poroshenko. Police said the attempt to charge into the October Palace occurred while a children s concert was going on inside. Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko, who attended the rally, joined other opposition MPs in condemning Saakashvili s actions.  This behavior could destroy the remnants of trust among like-minded political associates and alienate society,  he said on Facebook.

Summary: कीव में साकाश्विली समर्थकों के साथ यूक्रेनी पुलिस की झड़प


LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday summoned a police officer investigating the case of a missing peace activist who is believed to have been kidnapped by unidentified men this month. Four activists critical of the army and its attitude towards militant groups went missing this year but reappeared after about a month. Two later said Pakistani military intelligence agents abducted and tortured them. The military denied the accusations. The latest activist to go missing is Raza Mehmood Khan, 40, a member of Aghaz-i-Dosti (Start of Friendship) group that works to build peace between arch-rivals Pakistan and India. He has not been heard from since Dec. 2 and his family filed a writ of habeas corpus in a court in the eastern city of Lahore in the belief he has been unlawfully detained, a lawyer acting for his family said. The Lahore High Court took up the case on Wednesday and the presiding judge, Anwar ul Haq, asked for the officer in charge of the police station handling the case to appear at the next hearing on Dec. 19. The lawyer, Usama Malik, told Reuters a neighbor had called police on the night of Dec. 2 to report that Khan was being kidnapped by unknown men. Khan s brother and police arrived to find Khan gone, along with his mobile telephones and computer, the lawyer said. Police were not available for comment on the court summons on Wednesday. Police said earlier they had no suspect in the case and they were investigating. On the day of his disappearance, Khan had spoken at a forum on militancy.  Everyone discussed their views and, of course, Raza was very critical,  said a friend, Rahim-ul-Haq. Khan had also posted comments on Facebook critical of the military and its suspected link to some Islamist hardliners who at the time were protesting against the civilian government.  Liberals in Pakistan have long criticized what they see as the military s use of some militant factions to further its political and security objectives. The army denies sponsoring militant factions. It regards security policy, especially towards neighbors India and Afghanistan, as its responsibility.

Summary: पाकिस्तानी अदालत ने लापता शांति कार्यकर्ता के मामले में पुलिस को तलब किया


AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups on Monday rejected Russia s planned Sochi conference on Syria, saying Moscow was seeking to bypass a U.N.-based Geneva peace process and blaming Russia for committing war crimes in the war-torn country. In a statement by around 40 rebel groups who include some of the military factions who participated in earlier rounds of Geneva peace talks, they said Moscow had not put pressure on the Syrian government to reach a political settlement.  Russia has not contributed one step to easing the suffering of Syrians and has not pressured the regime that it claims it is a guarantor by move in any real path towards a solution,  the rebel statement said. Russia, which has emerged as the dominant player in Syria after a major military intervention over two years ago, received backing from Turkey and Iran for holding a Syrian national dialogue congress in the Russian city of Sochi on Jan. 29-30.  Russia is an aggressor country that has committed war crimes against Syrians... It stood with the regime militarily and defended its politically and over seven years preventing U.N. condemnation of (Syrian President Bashar) Assad s regime,  the statement said. Moscow says it targets militants but rebels and residents say the Russian air strikes conducted since a major aerial campaign over two years ago has caused hundreds of civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas away from the frontline. Some rebels said they had not yet made up their mind. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said that Russia s plan to convene the congress should be assessed by its ability to contribute to and support the U.N.-led Geneva talks on ending the war in Syria.

Summary: सीरियाई विद्रोही समूहों ने रूस द्वारा प्रायोजित सोची सम्मेलन को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s prediction that the U.S. economy was on the verge of a “very massive recession” hit a wall of skepticism on Sunday from economists who questioned the Republican presidential front-runner’s calculations.   In an interview with the Washington Post published on Saturday, the billionaire businessman said a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slump. He put real unemployment above 20 percent. “We’re not heading for a recession, massive or minor, and the unemployment rate is not 20 percent,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York. The official unemployment rate has declined to 5 percent from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009, according to government statistics. But a different, broader measure of unemployment that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment is at 9.8 percent. Coming off a difficult week of campaigning, in which he acknowledged he struggled to articulate his position on abortion among other missteps, Trump’s comments to the Post might be some of his most bearish on the economy and financial markets.  “I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble,” he said.  Some economists agree the stock market is in a period of overvaluation but do not see that as foretelling a cataclysmic economic downturn originating in the United States. “Nobody can predict what the stock market is going to do,” said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. “I cannot predict a stock market crash, so I cannot predict a recession. I don’t see any of the reasons for a recession going forward unless there is a huge problem with the market or there is some catastrophic world event which is beyond the scope of economics.”  Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, put the probability of an imminent recession at less than 10 percent. “If it happens, it would be because of what is happening overseas, especially in China and Europe,” he said. Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Pennsylvania, said it would take a “total financial meltdown” to trigger a recession. “We can get by with Europe growing minimally,” he said. “We can get by with China growing modestly because the rest of the U.S. is still solid enough that we can handle weakness in the rest of the world.” The Democratic National Committee criticized Trump for his remarks, saying they “undermine our economy.” Trump’s success with voters, despite his sometimes saying things only to contradict them later, has also alarmed many leading figures within his own party. Some of them are openly plotting to try to prevent him from becoming the nominee at the party’s national convention in July.     Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, said on Sunday that voters were “afraid” of their economic situation, when asked about Trump’s remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “When people are afraid and when they’re angry, sometimes people say things that they regret,” he said, apparently referring to Trump’s remarks.  He also played down speculation that party leaders would  seek to dislodge Trump by helping someone who is not even a declared candidate prevail at the convention, which becomes governed by complicated voting rules if no candidate arrives with a clear majority. “I think that our candidate is someone who’s running,” Priebus said, referring to Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich. The candidates will next face voters on Tuesday in Wisconsin, where recent polls show Cruz holding a small lead over Trump.

Summary: ट्रम्प की 'भारी मंदी' की भविष्यवाणी अर्थशास्त्रियों को उलझन में डालती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate’s top Republican on tax policy said on Tuesday that allowing U.S. corporations to deduct dividend payments to shareholders from federal income tax could overcome problems facing Republican efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code. In a statement at the outset of a tax reform hearing, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he sees the proposal known as “corporate integration” as a way to end the perceived double taxation of U.S. companies through tax legislation that would also reduce the statutory U.S. corporate income tax rate, which now stands at 35 percent. “This idea – whether it applies fully or in some other limited way – can help address a number of the problems we’re trying to solve with comprehensive tax reform,” said Hatch, a member of the “Big Six” tax policy makers from the Trump administration and Congress who are expected to issue a tax reform blueprint next week.

Summary: सीनेट रिपब्लिकन कर प्रमुख कर सुधार में लाभांश कटौती चाहते हैं


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrats are still not available to join Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats in a continuation of their  grand coalition  government after talks with other parties failed, a party document showed on Monday.  Given the results of the Sept. 24 election, we are not available for entry into a grand coalition,  read a SPD paper due to be discussed by party leaders that was obtained by Reuters.  We are not afraid of new elections.  The comments came after Merkel s efforts to form a three-way coalition government failed, pitching Germany into its worse political crisis for decades, raising the prospect of fresh elections and casting doubt over her future. The SPD won just 20.5 percent in the September election, its worst post-war result after it lost stature as junior partner in the often awkward coalition dominated by Merkel.

Summary: वार्ता विफल होने के बाद जर्मनी की एस. पी. डी. सरकार के लिए उपलब्ध नहीं


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine commandos and law enforcers have practiced hostage negotiations and the storming of a commercial jet to free American passengers in a major joint exercise with U.S. counterparts to boost the country s counter-terrorism readiness. The Philippine defense ministry on Tuesday said some 1,200 uniformed and civilian Filipino and American personnel took part in the exercise  Tempest Wind  last week at a former U.S. air force base outside Manila and in Hawaii. Most of the Filipino civilian participants were not told it was a drill. The simulation was the latest exercise between the two longtime defense treaty allies at a critical time for the Philippines, which is facing its biggest internal security crisis in years as supporters of Islamic State try to gain a foothold in the south. Defence department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said civilian participants were told a plane from Sydney bound for Honolulu had been seized mid-air by eight Islamic State militants, and was making an emergency landing in Clark, north of Manila. He said the hijacking was made to appear realistic when officials from the U.S. State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation started to provide technical intelligence about the hijackers and the flight manifest to Philippine authorities.  Many of the participants were unaware of the drill until the last minute, thinking the hijacking was for real,  Andolong told reporters. He said the operation was executed by Filipino forces guided by U.S. information and technical advice. The drill featured a negotiation phase, when Philippine authorities talked around the clock with hijackers for nearly 72 hours before commandos were sent in to  neutralize  all eight hijackers. In the scenario, some of the 182 passengers were killed.   The drill gave both sides valuable lessons on dealing with such crisis,  Andolong said.  There were many operational and tactical gaps discovered. Even the U.S. found some of its protocols did not work the way it is expected.  Militaries of both countries have for decades held training exercises in trans-national crime, disaster response and maritime security.  Washington has provided more than $700 million in security aid to the Philippines over the past 17 years. Most recently, the United States has been providing technical support to Philippine ground and air forces, who have battled for four months to retake southern Marawi City from Islamic State loyalists. The joint exercises do not, however, have the support of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has made clear his disdain for the rotating U.S. troop presence in his country during frequent tirades against the former colonial power. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the hijacking exercise was the first of its kind involving multiple levels of security and civilian authorities.   The drill was designed to provide realistic scenarios on terrorism that demanded both high-level engagements and responses on tactical level,  he said.

Summary: कमांडो ने Philippines-U.S में विमान पर हमला किया. अपहरण अनुकरण


ROME (Reuters) - Libya s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar was quoted on Friday as saying force must remain an option for imposing order in the country, though he added that a political solution would be preferable. Libya has been mired in turmoil since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi s 42-year rule, giving space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe via Italy. Italy and other Western states have tried to work with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, but  factions aligned with Haftar control eastern Libya and back a rival government.   It s obvious that we prefer the political routes, but when these don t work there must be other solutions,  Haftar told Italy s Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview.  We are defeating terrorism in Libya not through diplomatic channels, but with weapons.  Haftar s comments came as United Nations envoy Ghassan Salame made a renewed push to get rival factions to sign up to a plan to stabilize Libya and take the country toward presidential and parliamentary elections. Haftar spoke to the Corriere after his first official visit to Italy on Tuesday. After the meeting, Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti expressed hope that all parties would support Salame s  inclusive political strategy... excluding any military solution . Haftar also said Pinotti had agreed to train his soldiers and urged the revocation of a U.N. arms embargo  if European countries are interested in stopping migrants . He also criticized Italian efforts to convert armed groups on the Western coast into anti-smuggling police.  It s a big mistake. The Italian government should not be led astray by the militias... Tomorrow they will fight among themselves for a share of the spoils; it will be a never-ending blackmail,  Haftar said.   Some international media have reported that the leader of one such group, the Anas al-Dabbashi brigade, had received five million euros directly from Italy s secret services to stop the migrant boats. Italy has denied making any direct payments to armed groups. There has been a sharp reduction in migrant departures since the brigade, known previously as one of the country s biggest people smuggling gangs, clamped down on trafficking in July in exchange for promises of legitimacy and state security jobs from the GNA.  Almost two weeks ago, fighting broke out in Sabratha between the Dabbashi brigade and its allies and rival cross-town factions.

Summary: हफ्तार का कहना है कि लीबिया में बल प्रयोग विकल्प बना हुआ है लेकिन राजनीतिक समाधान सबसे अच्छा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will wrap up work on Thursday on major tax overhaul legislation, Chairman Kevin Brady said, which could bring the measure to a vote by the full House as early as next week. Brady said that before the committee vote is held a change will be inserted into the bill to keep it in line with a requirement that the measure add no more than $1.5 trillion to the U.S. debt.

Summary: हाउस पैनल कर कानून पर काम गुरुवार को पूरा करेगाः अध्यक्ष


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland s ruling Fine Gael party has opened up an eight-point lead over its nearest rival, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, suggesting the minority government was seeing a bounce under new prime minister Leo Varadkar. Varadkar, the 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant and the first gay premier of the once-staunchly Catholic country,  succeeded Enda Kenny in May as members of his center-right Fine Gael hoped a young, straight-talking leader would propel the party ahead of main rival Fianna Fail. Fine Gael secured the support of 33 percent of respondents to the Sunday Times/Behaviour & Attitudes poll, up from 29 percent in July, while the opposition Fianna Fail fell five points to 25 percent.  All of this increase has come from those who were undecided about the Taoiseach (prime minister) in the previous poll,  said Behaviour & Attitudes executive chairman Ian McShane. In opinion polls taken before the summer recess, Fine Gael had mostly held only a marginal lead over Fianna Fail. Varadkar s minority government relies on the backing of fellow center-right Fianna Fail in key votes, under a deal due to last under October 2018, although many analysts expect an election to be called before the agreement concludes. Fine Gael won 25.5 percent of the vote at last year s election, to Fianna Fail s 24.3 percent, leaving both well short of the support needed to form a coalition government. Support for Ireland s third largest party Sinn Fein rose one point to 19 percent in the poll. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail say they will not consider forming a coalition government with left-wing Sinn Fein after the next election.

Summary: वराडकर ने आयरलैंड के फाइन गेल को आठ अंकों की बढ़त दिलाई


(Reuters) - Former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn said in a statement on Friday that his decision to plead guilty to lying to the FBI and to cooperate with an investigation into possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s administration was “made in the best interests of my family and of our country”. In the statement, which was issued by the law firm representing him, Flynn also said it was “painful to endure” the “false accusations of ‘treason’ and other outrageous acts” over the past several months but that he recognized “that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong.”

Summary: फ्लिन का कहना है कि अमेरिका के सर्वोत्तम हित में रूस की जांच में सहयोग करना।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators questioned State Department officials closely on Thursday about corruption in Afghanistan and said failure to address it could cause them to rethink the billions of dollars the United States spends there each year. “I don’t know what the political will here in the United States will be to continue to support the Afghans in light of what is going on there,” said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez described himself as someone who has been supportive of U.S. Afghanistan policy, but said he would “have a totally different view” if the government in Kabul does not act. On Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a report that strongly criticized Washington for pouring billions of dollars into Afghanistan with so little oversight that it fueled corruption and undermined the U.S. mission. The United States spends $5 billion per year in Afghanistan, about $4 billion for defense and national security and another $1 billion in civilian assistance, plus billions more for the cost of the thousands of troops and military contractors there. Richard Olson, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, agreed that corruption can undermine governance. But he called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani “a committed partner” in fighting corruption. Ghani, Olson said, has taken steps including addressing the Kabul Bank scandal, canceling a fuel contract and setting up a monitoring and evaluation committee with experts on anti-corruption. “It is a dramatically different situation from what it was prior to 2014,” Olson testified.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों का कहना है कि अफगानिस्तान के भ्रष्टाचार से भविष्य के खर्च को खतरा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will return to the healthcare legislative effort early next year and negotiate with Democrats on the issue, a day after the failure of Republicans’ latest attempt to get a healthcare plan through the Senate. The Republican president, refusing to admit defeat on one of his primary promises during the 2016 presidential campaign, told reporters at the White House that Republicans will tackle healthcare again in January or February. “I will negotiate with Democrats but from the Republican standpoint, we have the votes,” Trump said. He added that he would probably sign an executive order next week to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कहा कि वह स्वास्थ्य सेवा पर डेमोक्रेट के साथ बातचीत करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives plan a vote as soon as mid-November on a 10-year reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act, congressional aides told Reuters on Tuesday, setting up a potential showdown with the White House and Senate. The Iran Sanctions Act, or ISA, which expires on Dec. 31, allows trade, energy, defense and banking industry sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile tests.  Its fate is one of the major pieces of unfinished business facing lawmakers when they return to Washington on Nov. 14 for the first time after the Nov. 8 elections. U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is expected to introduce the 10-year renewal as soon as Congress gets back, aides said. Congressional aides said a “clean” renewal, meaning unchanged from the current legislation, was likely to pass the House. Its fate in the Senate was much less certain, and a White House spokesman would not say whether President Barack Obama would sign it into law. Republicans control majorities in both the House and Senate, and every Republican in Congress opposed the international nuclear deal announced in July 2015, in which Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Republicans have since tried repeatedly to pass legislation to clamp down on Iran, accusing Obama of being so eager to burnish his foreign policy legacy that he conceded too much to Tehran in the nuclear talks. Some Senate Republicans want more than a clean renewal of the ISA. They are trying to build support for legislation that would renew it but also do more to punish individual Iranians and businesses over the country’s ballistic missile tests and what they see as its support for terrorism. Some senators have also pushed for a law that would eliminate the president’s right to waive sanctions for security reasons. Obama’s administration had asked Congress to hold off on renewing the ISA, saying it has enough power to reimpose economic sanctions if Iran violates the nuclear agreement even if it expires. White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to say how Obama would respond to the bill if it passed both houses of Congress and reached his desk. “I won’t prejudge at this point whether or not the president would sign that bill,” Earnest told reporters traveling with the president in Los Angeles. “The president and the Treasury Department retain significant sanctions authority that already has been used to impose costs on Iran for their flagrant violation of their international obligations,” he said.  White House opposition to the bill could generate resistance from Democrats in the Senate, making it more difficult for any legislation to garner the 60 votes needed to move ahead. Because Republicans hold only 54 seats in the 100-member chamber, they would need Democratic support to move any bill. Renewing the sanctions bill could also increase frustrations in Iran. Iranian officials have been complaining for months that remaining U.S. sanctions have frightened away trade partners and robbed it of too many benefits it was promised under the nuclear deal. A House Foreign Affairs Committee aide said addressing the ISA before it expires is a “top priority” for Royce. “The Iran Sanctions Act was enacted to curb Tehran’s support for terrorism and its very dangerous weapons proliferation. It should remain in place until the regime stops exporting terror and threatening us and our allies with deadly weapons,” Royce said in a statement sent to Reuters. “That’s why I’ll be introducing a bipartisan, long-term extension of these important sanctions,” he said.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः अमेरिकी सदन नवंबर में ईरान प्रतिबंध अधिनियम के नवीनीकरण पर मतदान करेगा


FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A suspicious package that prompted an evacuation of a Christmas market in Frankfurt has turned out to be harmless, the city s police said on Twitter. Authorities said the package in question at Roemer square, the heart of the city s Christmas market, was a donation for the homeless.  Well intentioned, but poorly placed,  the police said on Twitter. The all clear came about 45 minutes after the evacuation was announced.

Summary: पुलिस ने फ्रैंकफर्ट क्रिसमस बाजार में संदिग्ध पैकेज को हानिरहित बताया


PARIS (Reuters) - A scooter was set on fire in front of the Jordanian military attache s office in western Paris on Wednesday, police sources said, after Jordan s foreign ministry had earlier issued a statement saying a motorbike had exploded. According to the Paris police department the fire spread to a diplomatic vehicle early in the morning, but there was nothing that  corresponded to an explosion.  An embassy official said the incident did not appear to intentionally target Jordan.  A motorbike exploded in front of the building where the military attache s office is. The police are investigating,  an embassy official said.  It doesn t seem to be an intentional act that targets Jordan.   Jordan s Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by the Jordanian state-run Petra news agency earlier saying that a motorbike exploded in front of Jordan s military mission, but that no staff were injured in the explosion. The Paris police department said an investigation had been opened, but there was nothing to suggest the incident was related to terrorism.

Summary: पश्चिमी पेरिस में स्कूटर में आग लगने से जॉर्डन में विस्फोट की आशंका