LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday revived a lawsuit by prospective gun shop owners who were banned by Alameda County, California, from opening within 500 feet of a residential district, ruling that local officials had failed to justify their law in the face of a constitutional right to bear arms. A three-member panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the local ordinance, but voted 2-1 to overturn a federal judge who threw the gun store owners’ lawsuit out of court. Gun rights groups quickly hailed the decision as an important protection of the Second Amendment. “We’re very happy to see the Court take a very principled and reasoned approach to protecting the fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms,” Brandon Combs, executive director of the Calguns Foundation, said in a written statement.  The Ninth Circuit panel ordered that judge to take up the case again and said that if Alameda County wanted to enforce the gun-control ordinance, officials there would have to prove that there was a basis for the restrictions. “Alameda County’s ordinance may very well be permissible. Thus far, however, the county has failed to justify the burden it has placed on the right of law-abiding citizens to purchase guns,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in a 34-page opinion for the majority.  “The Second Amendment (of the U.S. Constitution) requires something more rigorous than the unsubstantiated assertions offered to the district court,” O’Scannlain wrote. Representatives for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors could not immediately be reached for comment. In tossing the lawsuit out of court, the lower-court judge found that Alameda County’s gun restrictions were permissible to achieve such “important governmental objectives” as protecting public safety, preserving the character of residential areas and guarding against “secondary effects” of gun stores. But the Ninth Circuit majority said that Alameda County had not provided any evidence that such objectives would be achieved. The plaintiffs also asserted that no parcels in Alameda County would fit within the regulations, which meant that gun sales were effectively banned there. In dissenting from the majority, Judge Barry Silverman said that the ordinance did not infringe upon anyone’s right to bear arms and that “what we’re dealing with here is a mundane zoning dispute dressed up as a Second Amendment challenge.”

Summary: अपीलीय अदालत ने कैलिफोर्निया काउंटी के बंदूक कानून को चुनौती दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmental activist Tom Steyer endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for U.S. president a day after she secured the Democratic nomination to run in the Nov. 8 election. “Hillary Clinton is an experienced leader who will lead us to victory because she embodies the best values of our country,” Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, said in a statement. “Now is the time to come together to defeat Donald Trump, who is utterly unfit to be our next president.”

Summary: अरबपति पर्यावरण कार्यकर्ता टॉम स्टेयर ने क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government could award a 400 million euros ($465 million) contract this month for work on up to three new spy satellites for its foreign intelligence service, the RND news group reported late on Friday. Citing security sources, it said the funds had already been quietly approved by the budget committee of the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. The newspaper chain said Airbus and the Bremen-based company OHB had submitted separate bids to build the new satellite system called  George . It quoted unnamed lawmakers as saying that Israel Aerospace Industries [ISRAI.UL] may also have submitted a bid. The new satellites are to be used by the BND intelligence agency to provide  rapid, independent information and threat assessments,  RND said, citing a paper from the chancellery.  It s not enough anymore to be dependent on third parties to generate data, to purchase imagery on the commercial market or to request it from international partners,  the paper said. Increasing crises around the world could impact Germany, and  political decisionmakers expect immediate and valid information  from intelligence agencies. No comment was immediately available from the chancellery or the BND intelligence agency. ($1 = 0.8617 euros)

Summary: जर्मनी इस महीने नए जासूसी उपग्रहों के लिए अनुबंध दे सकता हैः आर. एन. डी. समाचार समूह


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that the  final Brexit withdrawal agreement will be put to a vote in both houses of parliament.  We will put the final withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU to a vote in both houses of parliament before it comes into force,  May told parliament.  We expect the UK parliament to vote ahead of the European parliament so we fully expect parliament to vote well before March 2019,  she added.  Of course after we leave, the withdrawal agreement will be followed up by one or more agreements covering different aspects of the future relationship and we will introduce further legislation where it is needed to implement this into UK law, providing yet another opportunity for proper parliamentary scrutiny.

Summary: ब्रिटिश पीएम मे ने कहा कि सांसद अंतिम ब्रेक्सिट सौदे पर मतदान करेंगे


WARSAW, Indiana/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Donald Trump takes over as president on Jan. 20, one of the first business tax breaks he delivers is likely to go to the U.S. medical device industry and companies like Mark Throdahl’s. The chief executive of OrthoPediatrics Corp, based in northern Indiana, said his company has been able to hire more workers since the temporary suspension effective last January of a federal tax on medical devices. The tax was imposed as part of outgoing President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare law. Throdahl said he hopes the incoming Republican-led Congress and president will permanently repeal the tax. Trump and U.S. lawmakers are likely to do that, according to lawmakers, lobbyists and industry executives, in a step that also would help larger medical device makers such as Medtronic Inc, Boston Scientific, St. Jude Medical Inc and Johnson & Johnson. Tax cuts are Republican gospel, and Trump’s new Republican administration is widely expected to make them happen. The medical device tax may be one of the first on the chopping block. It was first imposed in January 2013 as a funding mechanism for the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, a law that has brought medical coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans. But Republicans hate Obamacare and this particular tax has powerful enemies in both parties. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said repealing the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, will be the first order of business in the Senate when it convenes in January. Whether cutting taxes, including the one on medical devices, will deliver more jobs remains to be seen. The Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, said in January 2015, when the medical device tax was fully in effect, that it was having only “fairly minor” impact on production of devices and employment in the industry. That may not matter much, as Republican lawmakers and lobbyists increasingly try to link tax cuts to job creation, perhaps sensing this connection will resonate with Trump, who made big promises in his campaign about restoring U.S. industrial employment. The medical device industry, in its long-running assault on the device tax, is seeking to frame the fight as a jobs issue. Immediately after Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory, industry lobbying group AdvaMed wrote to him and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Indiana’s governor, asking for permanent repeal of the tax. In the letter, AdvaMed President Scott Whitaker wrote, “The medical device tax has been a significant drag on medical innovation, and resulted in the loss or deferred creation of jobs, reduced research spending, and slowed capital expansion.” Industry complaints like these led Congress last year to temporarily suspend the 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of non-retail medical devices, such as pacemakers, heart valves and artificial hips. It had been in effect for only three years. OrthoPediatrics, founded in 2006, develops and markets implantable orthopedic devices, such as metal plates that can be attached to bones, to treat deformities and traumatic injuries in children. It has 60 employees in its Warsaw, Indiana headquarters, and 94 sales representatives around the United States. When the tax was in full effect, Throdahl said, OrthoPediatrics “had almost a headcount freeze during 2015” because of the revenue that was siphoned away by the tax. Since the tax’s temporary suspension, he said, “We’ve resumed an aggressive pace of hiring and investment.” There are about 9,000 U.S.-based medical device manufacturers. The industry accounts for about 520,000 U.S. jobs and has $150 billion in direct sales, AdvaMed spokesman Mark Brager said. Indiana is home to several device companies. So are Minnesota, California and Massachusetts. Lawmakers from these states helped push through the temporary suspension of the device tax. Repealing the tax would further improve the already favorable tax profile of Medtronic, one of the largest U.S. medical device companies. Two years ago, Medtronic did an “inversion” deal, which is when a U.S. company shifts its home base to another country, at least on paper, to cut its tax bills. Medtronic is now technically based in Ireland, though it is still managed in Minnesota. Asked whether Medtronic expects the tax to be repealed, company spokesman Fernando Vivanco said, “It’s much too early to speculate on future tax policy.” Republicans said the industry has little reason to fear that the tax will ever return. Senator John Barrasso, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said Obamacare repeal legislation will move next year in a way that will circumvent expected Democratic resistance. “The plan is to move the entire piece that we moved last year,” Barrasso said, referring to Republican-backed repeal legislation that ultimately was vetoed by Obama. “And it did include the medical device repeal, so I would expect that to be part of the list as well. It’s to repeal the taxes related to Obamacare,” Barrasso added. J.C. Scott, head of government affairs at AdvaMed, said companies “feel a great sense of urgency in trying to get complete repeal done early next year, rather than later in the year, because companies need certainty.” Repealing the tax would worsen the federal budget deficit. “Any time you repeal a tax, that is a loss of revenue to the federal government,” said Jack Hoadley, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. But this tax was never a big one, relatively speaking. When imposed, it raised barely $2.5 billion a year, less than expected. By comparison, federal tax subsidies to help people obtain health insurance under Obamacare in 2016 were estimated to be $660 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said. Ever since the tax was put on hold, it has been viewed as endangered. “At the time it was suspended, we were told by people in Washington that in all probability it will not be reinstituted. But still, we’ll all sleep better at night knowing that it’s gone,” OrthoPediatrics CEO Throdahl said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के नेतृत्व में, कांग्रेस चिकित्सा उपकरण कर पर रोक लगा सकती है


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s air force has again flown bombers and other warplanes through two strategic channels near Taiwan and also over the disputed South China Sea during training drills, state media said on Thursday. Numerous H-6K bombers and other jets recently flew through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines and the Miyako Strait in Japan s south, and also over the South China Sea on a  combat patrol , the official Xinhua news agency said, citing Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke. Shen did not say when the drills began but said all planes had finished their patrols on Thursday, which were intended to  improve maritime real combat capabilities and forge the forces  battle methods . China has been increasingly asserting itself in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. It is also worried about Taiwan, run by a government China fears is intent on independence. Beijing has never ruled out the use of force to bring proudly democratic Taiwan under its control, and has warned that any moves towards formal independence could prompt an armed response. China is in the midst of an ambitious military modernization program that includes building aircraft carriers and developing stealth fighters to give it the ability to project power far from its shores. Taiwan is well armed, mostly with U.S. weaponry, but has been pressing Washington to sell it more high-tech equipment to better deter China.

Summary: चीनी वायु सेना ने फिर से दक्षिण चीन सागर के ऊपर ताइवान के चारों ओर उड़ान भरी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five million to 6 million power customers lack electricity after Hurricane Irma swept through the Florida and other parts of the U.S. southeast, leaving about 15 million people without power, federal emergency officials said on Tuesday.  Obviously, power restoration is one of the biggest goals,  Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long told reporters at a news conference. He added that he was traveling to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to meet with their governors later on Tuesday.

Summary: अमेरिकी अधिकारियों का कहना है कि इरमा के बाद लगभग 50-60 लाख ग्राहक बिना बिजली के हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a federal rule for electricity markets that encouraged grid operators to pay large users to reduce consumption at peak times is good news for consumers and clean energy, the White House said on Monday. “This decision allows us to continue realizing billions in annual savings from innovative incentives and business models that ensure we use our electricity system efficiently as we integrate more energy efficiency and renewable energy onto the power grid,” White House spokesman Frank Benenati said in a statement.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने बिजली बाजार नियम पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के फैसले का स्वागत किया


RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer is recovering after a successful operation in a Sao Paulo hospital to reduce the size of his prostate, his office said in a statement late on Friday night. Temer spent the night in the hospital in a semi-intensive care unit, the statement said. He was admitted to an army hospital on Wednesday for tests and treatment after his doctor identified a urinary obstruction that was causing him pain. Temer is set to receive Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday.

Summary: ब्राजील के राष्ट्रपति प्रोस्टेट सर्जरी के बाद ठीक हो रहे हैं


(Reuters) - A federal judge in Miami on Thursday said former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli should be extradited to his homeland to face charges he illegally orchestrated a campaign funded by public money to spy on political rivals there. U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Panama had established probable cause for all charges it brought against Martinelli, and that a show of  good faith  to its government required his surrender.  There are reasonable grounds to suppose him guilty of all or some of the offenses charged,  Torres wrote in a 93-page decision. The U.S. Department of State will decide whether to extradite Martinelli, but in an Aug. 1 court filing said it supported extradition. It is not clear when a decision might be made. Martinelli, 65, has denied the charges, and plans to appeal the extradition order, according to an email from his lawyer Marcos Jimenez. He is also seeking political asylum. Officials with the Panamanian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Martinelli was Panama s president from 2009 to 2014. Prosecutors accused him of diverting more than $13.4 million of public funds, intended to help the underprivileged, to fund a surveillance system to listen in on more than 150 rivals. Martinelli, a wealthy businessman through his ownership of supermarkets, was arrested in June by U.S. authorities in Coral Gables, Florida, and later held without bail. He had previously left Panama as that country was preparing to charge him. Panama s current president, Juan Carlos Varela, had once been Martinelli s vice president, but they later became rivals. Martinelli s lawyers have called their client s prosecution politically motivated. They had sparred with U.S. prosecutors over whether an extradition treaty updated in July 2014 between the United States and Panama covered Martinelli s alleged cyber crimes, which predated the update. Torres said it did, and that Martinelli s having  at best  suggested the issue was ambiguous was  not enough to conclude that his interpretation ultimately prevails and bars his extradition.

Summary: राजनीतिक जासूसी के आरोपों का सामना कर रहे पनामा के पूर्व राष्ट्रपति का प्रत्यर्पण किया जाना चाहिएः अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Laura Russo is just the kind of voter the Republicans need, but the party’s proposed tax overhaul, which includes limits on the deductions for mortgage interest, state taxes and property taxes, is pushing her away.  “I would be dramatically affected,” she said. An airline pilot and single mother of two, she says that like many in her affluent Loudoun County, Virginia, neighborhood she stretched to buy her home. She fears it will become harder to sell that house or pay her other tax bills if President Donald Trump signs the plan into law.  Russo, 52, said she had voted for the Republican in every presidential race since 1992 until last year when she picked Hillary Clinton. She still voted for Barbara Comstock, the Republican who represents her district in Congress.  “I will not do that again,” she said. “The tax bill is the straw that broke the camel’s back.”  Russo is one of thousands of homeowners in Republican-leaning areas who could be hit by the elimination or reduction of tax breaks for homeowners, a Reuters analysis of federal mortgage and tax data shows, potentially opening those districts to a Democratic challenge in the November 2018 mid-term elections.  The plans are expected to affect mainly the Democratic-leaning “blue states” such as California, New Jersey and New York where homes are expensive, mortgages are huge and state and local taxes tend to be high.  But while these blue states will be hardest hit, county level data also shows there is a significant number of Republican enclaves in districts expected to be hotly contested in next year's polls that will feel the pain. Republican leaning pockets in blue or swing states, such as Orange County, California, or Loudoun County, Virginia, tend to have high property values – and thus the higher mortgages. Many of these areas also tend to have higher state and local income taxes.   Larry Sabato, director of the non-partisan Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, estimates that there are 16 counties where 2018 races will be toss-ups between Republican incumbents and Democratic challengers.  Reuters data shows that almost half of those counties have an above-average share of new mortgages worth more than $500,000, which is a proposed cap for tax deductions. The results are similar for districts selected as 50-50 ones by The Cook Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter that analyzes U.S. elections.  Among those on Cook’s list is a district in Harris County in the deep-red state of Texas. Even though the state has no income tax, thousands of residents of the district, which includes Houston, deduct taxes owed in other states because of work or business done there, and property taxes - the nation’s sixth-highest.  Democrats need 24 more seats to win lower house majority from the Republicans, who now control the White House and both houses of Congress. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, said in a fundraising note Democrats were rushing out “rapid-response ads” targeting swing voters to capitalize on the concerns, while Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said on CNBC on Tuesday his party’s leadership was working on ways to mollify Republicans in blue states.  That concern is felt on the ground too. Will Estrada, chairman of the Republican party in Loudoun County, said he firmly believed the tax plan would deliver savings to most people. But he said that if Democrats are right and many middle class voters face higher bills, “the GOP is going to be toast in 2018.”  The bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 16 let homeowners who take out new mortgages deduct only the interest paid on the first $500,000 of a mortgage. It also ends deductions for state and local income taxes, and caps deductions for property taxes at $10,000.  The Senate’s plan, passed on Saturday, would keep the mortgage interest deduction as is, on any mortgage up to $1 million, but agrees with the House on state, local and property taxes. The two houses of Congress are now reconciling the two versions.  The Reuters data analysis shows that 37 percent of the total mortgages issued in Orange County in 2016 were above $500,000 and 26 percent in Loudon County. Both include districts represented by Republicans and have some of the highest rates of expensive mortgages in the country.  Comstock, who retained her Virginia seat by 3 percentage points, voted for the House bill, but later asked for changes on deductions, saying through a spokesman that she sought “the best possible tax package for all of her constituents.” In Orange County, Republican Representative Darrel Issa voted against the House version, in part, because of how it will affect homeowners. Neither California Republican Dana Rohrabacher, who also voted against the bill, nor Issa would comment on a possible backlash from voters.  Home buyers in expensive areas count on the mortgage interest deduction to make their payments manageable, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, which opposes any changes to the deductions.  Yun says his analysis suggests curbing the mortgage interest deduction would lead to as much as an 8 percent drop in housing values nationwide, and cutting property tax deductions could lead to a further drop of up to 3 percent because it would make buying and selling homes more costly.  “Not just in high cost states like Illinois and California, but relatively speaking in places like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, which were critical in swaying the presidential election,” he said.  Other economists think the impact may be smaller. As refinancing of mortgages becomes less popular and consumers begin paying debt down faster, the market would rebalance, said Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, who forecasts a 5 percent decline in home values.  California’s Placer County northeast of Sacramento, where the median home sells for more than $440,000, remains a Republican enclave. But local Republicans have noticed that each year fewer residents vote Republican and their web page bears the slogan, “Keep Placer Red.”  To do that, the party will have to keep the loyalty of Republicans like Rudy Coscia, a 36-year-old plastic surgeon who just took out a $900,000 mortgage to buy a four-bedroom house in Granite Bay for $1.1 million.  Coscia is counting on mortgage interest and property tax deductions as he is also making payments on $200,000 worth of medical school loans and $400,000 he borrowed to get his practice started.  “They’re hurting their base,” he said. “You’d think they’d be trying not to hurt the people who voted for them.”

Summary: 2018 की दौड़ में घर के मालिक के कर छूट में कटौती रिपब्लिकन को महंगी पड़ सकती है


(Reuters) - Atlantic City’s mayor said on Tuesday that bankruptcy was “back on the table” after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed legislation considered essential to the distressed gambling hub’s tax base and cash flow.  “If the state is not able to come up with the funding we need within the next few weeks, we will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy,” Mayor Don Guardian said in a statement.  The seaside city’s gambling industry, facing increased competition from neighboring U.S. Northeastern states, lost four of its 12 casinos in 2015. The legislation called for casinos to make fixed payments in lieu of taxes and would have added a measure of stability to the city’s rapidly shrinking property tax base.    Lawmakers first passed it in June. Nearly five months later, Christie vetoed it but said he would consider signing it with certain changes he required.  The Democratic-led legislature then amended the measure, which was part of a package of bills, passed it, made yet more changes and passed it again. Christie, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, also declined on Tuesday to sign the other bills in the package. The city’s emergency manager, Kevin Lavin, who was appointed by Christie a year ago, said in a report on Friday that without the revenues generated in the package, the city’s cash flow would run dry by April. Legislative leaders, who have proposed a takeover of the city, will have to reintroduce the bills if they want to keep pushing for them. Democratic Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, whose district includes Atlantic City, said in a statement that Christie’s vetoes showed a “brazen disregard” for Atlantic City’s fiscal recovery and added he would move forward on measures to restore the region’s economic security. Asked why Christie vetoed the bills, the governor’s office referred to comments he made on Saturday when he was  campaigning in Iowa.  “If I don’t think the total package makes sense, I won’t (sign it),” he said, according to the remarks. He has been discussing “some accommodation on this” with Senate President Steve Sweeney and other legislative leaders.      Sweeney, a Democrat, originally championed the legislation but is now pushing for a takeover of the city’s operations. “We cannot afford to let Atlantic City go bankrupt,” Sweeney said in a statement. “The best way out is for the State of New Jersey to take control of Atlantic City’s finances and the best way to do it is to act quickly.”

Summary: मेयर का कहना है कि बिल के वीटो होने के बाद अटलांटिक सिटी दिवालिया हो सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has selected Joseph Simons, an antitrust attorney from a Washington law firm, to head the Federal Trade Commission, a White House official said on Wednesday. Trump is expected to nominate Simons to the agency, along with Noah Phillips and Rohit Chopra to be FTC commissioners, the White House official said. Upon confirmation, Simons will be designated chairman, the official said. The agency is currently headed by Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, with Democrat Terrell McSweeny the only other commissioner. The president has long been expected to name a permanent chair and fill the three empty commission seats, two Republican and one Democrat or independent. Simons, a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, was a director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition from 2001 to 2003. During Simons’ tenure at the FTC, the agency sued to stop Diageo PLC and Pernod Ricard from buying Seagram Spirits and Wine in 2001 to prevent a duopoly in rum. The FTC also filed a lawsuit in 2003 to stop Haagen-Dazs owner Nestle Holdings Inc from buying Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc, which makes also superpremium ice cream. The FTC later settled both cases. Noah Phillips, who graduated from Stanford Law School in 2005, is chief counsel for U.S. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican. He is also a veteran of the law firms Steptoe & Johnson LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore.  To fill the empty Democratic seat on the commission, the president tapped Rohit Chopra, a financial services expert. Chopra, an ally of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, is currently at the Consumer Federation of America. The FTC works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and pursues companies accused of deceptive advertising. It is an independent agency that is headed by a chairman and four commissioners. No more than three commissioners can come from any one party.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रंप ने वाशिंगटन के वकील जो सिमंस को एफटीसी का प्रमुख चुना-अधिकारी


(Reuters) - U.S. Senate lawmakers excoriated Wells Fargo & Co’s chief on Tuesday for his oversight of the bank as it opened 2 million bogus customer accounts, potentially laying the groundwork for new rules and reviving questions of whether banks are “too big to fail.”  Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that customers who had bogus accounts opened in their name will be made whole and compensated for any damage to their credit rating, but some Democratic senators called for his resignation. Under fire, Stumpf said he has told his managers to do “whatever it takes” to make customers whole, refunding fees or compensating them for damage to their credit ratings. But he stood behind the former executive who ran the unit that oversaw many of the practices, and at times downplayed the scope of the affair. In answer to a question, he declined to commit to setting aside mandatory arbitration agreements that prohibit clients from suing Wells Fargo. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau has proposed a ban on such clauses that prohibit class-action lawsuits. Earlier this month, the lender agreed to pay $190 million in penalties and customer payouts to settle the case involving the creation of credit, savings and other accounts without customers’ knowledge. About $5 million will directly go to customers, many of whom might have paid a small fee on the unwanted accounts. The revelations are a severe hit to Wells Fargo’s reputation. During the financial crisis, the bank trumpeted itself as conservative, in contrast to its rivals.  Besides potential criminal charges against the company and its executives, Wells Fargo may face pressure from shareholders to change its practices on executive pay and governance.  The scandal also renewed debate over whether U.S. banks are “too big to fail” and need closer government oversight to prevent a massive collapse.  Lawmakers could use the fraud settlement as a springboard for new rules on executive pay, including clawbacks of compensation, and limits on forced arbitration. Wells Fargo has said its board will assess whether to cancel or claw back any incentive compensation paid to a now-retired executive at the center of the scandal, Carrie Tolstedt.  Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called for Stumpf to resign, with Warren saying Stumpf should give back his salary and be criminally investigated.  “You should resign. You should give back the money you took while this scam was going on, and you should be criminally investigated,” Warren said.  The bank’s board of directors is examining what action it should take against company executives, Stumpf told the committee.         “I accept full responsibility for all unethical sales practices,” Stumpf said, adding later, “I apologize to all of the American people and our customers, and I will make it right.”  Lawmakers said the phony bank accounts might have hurt customer credit ratings, increased the cost of a mortgage or car loan. New credit card applications and consumer borrowing trends can weight on an individual’s credit. Wells Fargo has acknowledged bank employees “inappropriately opened” the customer accounts and that about 5,300 employees were fired over five years. Former bank employees say they were under intense pressure to add accounts for each customer.     Abuses were found as early as 2011, Stumpf said, but bank executives only realized the scale of the problem early last year. At that time, Stumpf said, managers came to recognize how a pattern of creating phony accounts could be used to boost unwarranted fees. “It never dawned on us that there could be a cycle,” the CEO said. “It just sort of begs the issue of where was management,” said Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the senior Democrat on the panel. Brown said employees were caught “forging signatures, and stealing identities, Social Security numbers, and customers’ hard-earned cash, so as to hang on to their low-paying jobs and make money for the high-paying executives at Wells Fargo.” Thomas Curry, the Comptroller of the Currency, said the agency is considering action against individual Wells Fargo executives who may have violated laws or regulations.  The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Manhattan and in San Francisco are investigating Wells Fargo, a person familiar with the matter said last week.  While Democratic lawmakers were the most outspoken in their attacks, Republicans also grilled Stumpf. Louisiana Senator David Vitter pressed the CEO on how  customer fraud could persist for years and thousands of employees could be fired before the head of the bank got involved. “Why isn’t this crystal clear proof that an entity as big as Wells is not only too big to fail but it’s too big to manage and too big to regulate?” Vitter asked. Stumpf said the widespread abuse was “a problem of focus and not of size.” Stumpf appeared before the congressional panel with a bandaged right hand. He suffered an injury playing with his grandchildren, according to the bank.  Wells Fargo shares rose 2 percent to $46.94.

Summary: सीनेटर्स ने वेल्स फार्गो के सी. ई. ओ. को फर्जी खातों के बाद वेतन क्लॉबैक पर धक्का दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has removed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as leader of his transition team, handing the reins over to Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, a former U.S. lawmaker with deep Washington ties, the New York Times reported on Friday.  The Times, citing several sources close to the transition team, said Trump told advisers he wanted to use Pence’s contacts to move the transition process along. NBC News also reported the handover, which came one week after two former Christie associates were found guilty in the New Jersey “Bridgegate” scandal.

Summary: ट्रांजिशन टीम का नेतृत्व करने के लिए ट्रम्प ने पेंस को चुना, न्यू जर्सी के क्रिस्टी को हटायाः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate has postponed confirmation hearings for three nominees to serve in President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet, all wealthy people with wide-ranging potential conflicts of interest, including billionaire Wilbur Ross for Commerce secretary. The Senate Commerce Committee said on Tuesday it was moving Ross’s hearing to Jan. 18 from Jan. 12 because Ross has not completed all of the necessary government paperwork. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. “While Mr. Ross has submitted his responses to the committee’s questionnaire, we have not yet received the ethics agreement he is working on with the Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Commerce to finalize,” the panel’s Republican and Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. The Ross delay came shortly after postponements of hearings for Trump’s choices to head the Education and Labor departments. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee delayed a hearing for Betsy DeVos, the billionaire Republican donor tapped for Education secretary, to Jan. 17 from Jan. 11. The committee’s Republican majority said on Twitter on Monday that it had moved DeVos’s hearing at the request of Senate leadership to accommodate its schedule. DeVos is a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. The same panel had tentatively slated a confirmation hearing for fast-food executive Andy Puzder, Trump’s selection for Labor secretary, for Jan. 17. With DeVos’s hearing moved to that date, the committee said it had no specific date selected for Puzder’s hearing and may not hold it until February. Puzder has submitted his paperwork to the Office of Government Ethics, according to a Trump transition staffer. Puzder is chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc [APOLOT.UL], which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains. He has been a critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट की सुनवाई में तीन अमीर ट्रम्प उम्मीदवारों के लिए देरी हुई


HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China has quietly undertaken more construction and reclamation in the South China Sea, recent satellite images show, and is likely to more powerfully reassert its claims over the waterway soon, regional diplomats and military officers say. With global attention focused on North Korea and Beijing engrossed in its Party Congress, tensions in the South China Sea have slipped from the headlines in recent months.     But with none of the underlying disputes resolved and new images reviewed by Reuters showing China continuing to develop facilities on North and Tree islands in the contested Paracel islands, experts say the vital trade route remains a global flashpoint.          Some expect China to land its first deployments of jet fighters onto its runways in the Spratly islands in coming months, while regional military officers say it is already using the new facilities to expand naval and coast guard deployments deep into Southeast Asia.  They ve built these extensive facilities and both Chinese civilian and PLA experts have always made it clear that when the strategic time is right, they re going to start using them more fully,  said Bonnie Glaser, a China security expert at Washington s Center for Strategic and International Studies.  I think it is a question of when, rather than if, China will start to assert its interests more forcefully in the South China Sea ... and that is likely to be at a time of China s choosing,  Glaser told Reuters. Rival claimant Vietnam, meanwhile, is nearing completion of reclamations and an extended runway on its base on Spratly Island, the satellite images show. The build-up of the Spratlys symbolizes China s growing assertiveness over the South China Sea during President Xi Jinping s first term and was highlighted in his address to the Communist Party Congress this month.  Construction on islands and reefs in the South China Sea has seen steady progress,  Xi told the Congress. The issue is likely to come up during U.S. President Donald Trump s visit to Asia, which begins this week.  We remain concerned about tensions in the South China Sea, in particular those caused by land reclamation and militarization of disputed outposts and the willingness of some to resort to coercive tactics to assert their claims,  said Michael Cavey, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department.  We have consistently called on China, as well as other claimants, to refrain from any further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of the disputed features.    Responding to Reuters  questions, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang reiterated the islands were irrefutably Chinese territory.  You can t say that the construction on our islands and reefs in the South China Sea and the building of necessary defensive facilities is an expansion of military deployments,  he said.  We believe that at present the situation in the South China Sea is generally good, and all relevant parties should work hard together to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea.  China s ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, said on Monday the United States should not try to  interfere  in regional efforts to resolve disputes in the South China Sea.    For a graphic on Spratly Islands, click here China has been seeking to soothe fellow claimant the Philippines and accelerating talks with the wider ASEAN grouping, amid concerns in Washington about the long-term security of the waterway through which some $3 trillion in trade a year passes. In a speech in Singapore earlier this month, the most senior U.S. military chief in the region said even while Washington pushed Beijing for help on North Korea, it would still hold China accountable for actions that countered international rules and norms.  We also want Beijing to do more to stop provocative actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, where the Chinese are building up combat power and positional advantage in an attempt to assert de-facto sovereignty over disputed maritime features,  Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said. China claims much of the area through its controversial nine-dash line, which overlaps rival maritime claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. A recent study by the U.S. government-linked RAND Corp weighing the risks of a conflict between the United States and China moved the South China Sea up its list of potential flashpoints. Placing it above Taiwan but below the Korean peninsula, the  study notes the waterway has  become the unanticipated focal point of U.S.-Chinese ... rivalry . While the Pentagon has embarked on more regular freedom-of-navigation patrols, or FONOPS, to challenge Beijing s claims, some analysts believe Washington is struggling to counter China s creeping domination of the area.  China appears to be pursuing a well-thought out and long-term strategy to achieve dominion over the South China Sea while America responds with ad hoc tactical maneuvers,  said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore s Yusof Ishak Institute.  FONOPS are tactics not strategy, and they have not made China rethink its plans for the South China Sea one iota.  Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said there was little need for China to dramatically increase deployments now, but much depended on the actions others.  As long as others don t intentionally go and provoke clashes, things will be fine,  he added.  The issue is that some countries, like the United States, go and stir things up.

Summary: बीजिंग को दक्षिण चीन सागर में नए सिरे से मुखर होने के लिए तैयार देखा गया


RIYADH (Reuters) - The chief negotiator of Syria s main opposition said early on Saturday that Russia s proposal to hold a congress of the Syrian government and opposition in Sochi did not serve the political process. Nasr Hariri called on the international community, including Russia,  to focus all our work on serving the political process according to the U.N.-sponsored Geneva track in order to save time and achieve the desired goal .

Summary: सीरिया के विपक्षी प्रमुख का कहना है कि सोची राजनीतिक प्रक्रिया की सेवा नहीं करता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump praised Chinese efforts to rein in “the menace of North Korea” on Thursday, after North Korean state media warned the United States of a “super-mighty preemptive strike.” Trump told a news conference “some very unusual moves have been made over the last two or three hours,” and that he was confident Chinese President Xi Jinping would “try very hard” to pressure Beijing’s ally and neighbor North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. While Trump gave no indication of what the moves might be, U.S. officials told Reuters that the United States was aware of a higher-than-usual level of activity by Chinese bombers, signaling a possible heightened state of readiness. The officials played down concerns and left open a range of possible reasons. * COMMENTARY: The next super weapon could be biological reut.rs/2oVooHc * COMMENTARY: The worrying lessons of the Syria chemical attack reut.rs/2o6r55r Those possibilities included defensive exercises or Chinese concerns over North Korea. None of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested alarm or signaled that they knew the precise reason for such Chinese activity.      U.S. officials have been saying for weeks that North Korea could soon stage another nuclear bomb test, something both the United States and China have both warned against. Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has proceeded with nuclear and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Tensions have risen sharply in recent months after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests. Trump, who took office in January, has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile. Trump has focused his efforts on North Korea on trying to persuade China to put more pressure on its ally and could view any unusual Chinese military movements as supportive of this. He told a news conference with the visiting prime minister of Italy on Thursday that the United States was “in very good shape” on North Korea and that China’s Xi, whom he met this month for a summit in Florida, was working hard to help. “We don’t know whether or not they’re able to do that, but I have absolute confidence that he will be trying very very hard.” Trump repeated a past comment that he had told Xi in Florida that China would make much better deal on trade with the United States “if you get rid of this menace or do something about this menace of North Korea.” ‘SUPER-MIGHTY PREEMPTIVE STRIKE’  The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, struck an aggressive tone earlier on Thursday.  “In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only U.S. imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes,” it said. Reclusive North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and has shown no let-up in its belligerence after a failed missile test on Sunday, which followed a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang. South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted an unnamed South Korean government source as saying that the U.S. Air Force had dispatched a nuclear sniffer aircraft on Thursday to the east of the Korean Peninsula in anticipation of a possible nuclear test. The U.S. Defense Department does not comment on deployments of the WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft used to collect samples from the atmosphere to detect and analyze nuclear explosions.    The U.N. Security Council on Thursday condemned North Korea’s latest failed missile test and demanded it not conduct any more nuclear tests. South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, at a meeting with top officials on Thursday, repeatedly called for the military and security ministries to maintain vigilance. The South Korean defense ministry said U.S. and South Korean air forces were conducting an annual training exercise, codenamed Max Thunder, until April 28. North Korea routinely labels such exercises preparations for invasion. “We are conducting a practical and more intensive exercise than ever,” South Korean pilot Colonel Lee Bum-chul told reporters. “Through this exercise, I am sure we can deter war and remove our enemy’s intention to provoke us.”     William Perry, who served as U.S. defense secretary from 1994 to 1997 and negotiated with North Korea, said he did not believe Pyongyang was planning a surprise attack, despite the fiery rhetoric. But he warned: “They are doing a lot of bluster and a lot of threats, and they might misplay that hand and blunder into a war.” GRAPHIC: Carl Vinson strike group - tmsnrt.rs/2p1yGTQ GRAPHIC: North Korea's nuclear program -  tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF

Summary: ट्रंप ने उत्तर कोरिया पर चीनी प्रयासों की सराहना की, प्योंगयांग ने हमले की चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michelle Obama will travel to Liberia, Morocco and Spain with her teen daughters Malia and Sasha at the end of June to promote education for girls, one of her signature issues as the first lady of the United States, the White House said on Wednesday. In Liberia, Obama will visit a Peace Corps training center in Kakata and a school in Unification Town to talk to young women about barriers they face to staying in school. She will be joined by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the White House said. Obama will be joined by actor Meryl Streep in Morocco on June 28 and 29 to talk about commitments made by the U.S. government and the Kingdom of Morocco to help girls go to school. On June 30, Obama will wrap up the trip by giving a speech in Madrid about her “Let Girls Learn” global initiative, a push to harness government and private sector resources to promote education for girls, the White House said.

Summary: मिशेल ओबामा, बेटियां लाइबेरिया, मोरक्को, स्पेन का दौरा करेंगीः व्हाइट हाउस


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union plays down talk by Britain s Brexit minister that last week s interim accord is not binding and will launch new talks on Friday that are  David Davis-proof , a senior EU official said. The comment on Tuesday followed Brexit Secretary Davis s weekend remark that outline divorce terms were more a  statement of intent  than legally binding. The EU official told reporters that EU leaders meeting on Friday will ram home in guidelines to their negotiator that Britain must honor its agreements so far if it wants to discuss the future free trade treaty it wants. Davis himself pledged to convert last Friday s deal into  legal text  as soon as possible after he spoke to the European Parliament s Brexit point man. Guy Verhofstadt branded Davis s earlier comment  unhelpful  and said that what the EU executive calls a gentleman s agreement must be made legal. British and EU officials said that would mean agreeing the formal withdrawal treaty within the coming year so that it can be ratified by their parliaments before Brexit in March 2019. Davis s EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, said he aimed in the new year to present a draft of a withdrawal treaty that would reflect the accords struck with Prime Minister Theresa May last week on settling financial obligations, the rights of expatriate citizens and ensuring no  hard  EU border with Northern Ireland. Adding to the debate over how far London is bound by May s deal, Barnier insisted there should be  no backtracking  if London is to have the trade negotiations it so much wants.  That is spelled out in legal language in the negotiating guidelines which leaders are expected to approve on Friday after May has left the summit:  Negotiations in the second phase can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken during the first phase are respected in full and translated faithfully into legal terms as quickly as possible,  the draft guidelines read. That, the senior EU official said, made clear there could be no going back, as Davis had implied might be possible:  The guidelines are David Davis-proof,  the official said. Guidelines were sent by summit chair Donald Tusk to the 27 other national leaders on Friday. They were little changed when their aides met on Monday to prepare the meeting, principally to spell out more clearly the timing of the next steps in the process and to emphasize continuing obligations on London. An intention to start negotiating a transition period from Brexit to a future trade pact early in 2018 now includes a plan to be able to launch talks in January. The new draft makes clearer that talks on what happens after transition will start only after further guidelines are agreed in March. Tusk, in his formal letter on Tuesday inviting leaders to the summit, warned there was no time to lose and highlighted a gnawing concern in Brussels that keeping divergent interests among the 27 in check may be much harder when it comes to a free trade treaty than it has been in settling Britain s divorce.  This will be a furious race against time, where again our unity will be key,  Tusk wrote.  And the experience so far has shown that unity is a sine qua non of an orderly Brexit.  EU officials expect relatively straightforward talks on the transition period, given British desire for a quick deal and EU insistence that it be as simple as possible; essentially Britain will retain all its obligations as an EU member, as well as many of its rights   except, crucially, any say over EU decisions. Starting trade talks will require, first, more information from May on what future deal she wants. Davis spoke at the weekend of a free trade pact similar to but better than one the EU concluded last year with Canada    Canada Plus Plus Plus . But it will also require hard bargaining among the 27, who have very different relationships and interests with Britain.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने 'डेविड डेविस-प्रूफ' ब्रेक्सिट शिखर सम्मेलन की तैयारी की


TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras  electoral tribunal said on Sunday that a partial recount of votes from the disputed presidential election showed broadly the same result as previously, giving the lead to current President Juan Orlando Hernandez. In the partial recount of 4,753 ballot boxes, the conservative Hernandez won 50.1 percent of the votes, against some 31.5 percent for his rival Salvador Nasralla from the center-left coalition Opposition Alliance against the Dictatorship.  The tribunal did not specify exactly how many votes from the Nov. 26 election were recounted. There are some 18,000 ballot boxes overall. Including all votes, Nasralla trails conservative Orlando Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the official count, which has been questioned by the two main opposition parties and a wide swathe of the diplomatic corps. Observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a series of recommendations this week to authorities including a recount of disputed ballots.  What we can say is that the results of the recount are extremely consistent with what we had originally,  David Matamoros, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said. The election has been plagued with problems since voting stations closed, sparking concerns of deepening political instability in the poor, violent Central American nation.  The tribunal declared Nasralla the leader in an announcement on the morning after the vote, with just over half of the ballot boxes counted. However, it gave no further updates for about 36 hours. Once results then started flowing again, Nasralla s lead quickly started narrowing, sparking a major outcry. Since early December, the government imposed a curfew which is still in place in 5 of the country s 18 departments. Opposition parties on Friday presented formal requests to annul the election.     On Sunday afternoon, opposition groups were expected to take to the streets to protest the results. The electoral tribunal has until December 26 to declare a winner.

Summary: होंडुरास ट्रिब्यूनल का कहना है कि आंशिक मतदान की फिर से गिनती से समान परिणाम दिखाई देता है


LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered closed some bank accounts linked to the Gupta family in South Africa in 2014, a spokeswoman for the bank said on Thursday.  We are not able to comment on the details of client transactions, but can confirm that after an internal investigation, accounts were closed by us by early in 2014,  the spokeswoman said by email.   The Gupta family, a trio of Indian-born businessmen, are under scrutiny for their close ties to South African President Jacob Zuma.  Britain s Financial Conduct Authority separately said it is in contact with StanChart and HSBC following reports in British newspapers that Britain s finance minister has asked regulators to investigate the lenders  possible ties to the Gupta family and Zuma.  The FCA is already in contact with both banks named and will consider carefully further responses received,  the regulator said. The FBI in the U.S. is also investigating the matter. HSBC declined to comment.

Summary: स्टेनचार्ट ने 2014 में दक्षिण अफ्रीका के गुप्ता परिवार से जुड़े खातों को बंद कर दिया था।


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would seek an end to Turkey s membership talks with the European Union in an apparent shift of her position during a televised debate weeks before a German election.  The fact is clear that Turkey should not become a member of the EU,  Merkel said in the debate with her Social Democrat (SPD) challenger Martin Schulz.  I ll speak to my (EU) colleagues to see if we can reach a joint position on this so that we can end these accession talks,  Merkel added. The comments are likely to worsen already strained ties between the two NATO allies that have deepened since Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s crackdown on opponents in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in July of last year.  There was no immediate reaction from Turkey which is in the midst of a national religious holiday. Merkel s comments came after Schulz appeared to surprise her by vowing to push for an end to the negotiations if he was elected chancellor in the Sept. 24 federal election.  If I become German chancellor, if the people of this country give me a mandate, then I will propose to the European Council that we end the membership talks with Turkey,  Schulz said.  Whether we can win over all the countries for this I don t know. But I will fight for this.  Merkel initially cautioned against such a move, saying it would be irresponsible to endanger ties with Turkey at a time when German citizens are imprisoned there. Twelve German citizens are now in Turkish detention on political charges, four of them holding dual citizenship.   I do not intend to break off diplomatic relations with Turkey just because we re in an election campaign and want to show each other who is tougher,  she said. But after the moderators had moved on and asked the two candidates a question about U.S. President Donald Trump, Merkel returned to the Turkey issue, suddenly throwing her weight behind an end to the membership talks. Merkel s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has long opposed Turkish membership in the European Union. But the green light for membership talks was given months before Merkel became chancellor in 2005 and she has always said that she will respect that decision, referring to the negotiations as  open ended . The accession talks have ground to a virtual halt and EU leaders have stepped up their criticism of Erdogan.

Summary: बदले में, मर्केल ने यूरोपीय संघ-तुर्की सदस्यता वार्ता को समाप्त करने का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division denounced white hate groups on Wednesday and pledged to support the agency’s investigation into the murder of a woman by a man believed to harbor Nazi sympathies.  In his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Eric Dreiband called white supremacy groups “a disgrace” and said he was putting people “on notice” that if they commit racially motivated crimes, then the “Civil Rights Division is coming for them.”   Last month’s rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, has weighed heavily on the Trump administration in recent weeks, after Trump suggested that “both sides” were to blame for violence between the protesters and counter-demonstrators. His comments drew a sharp rebuke from both sides of the aisle in Congress. More recently, Trump angered civil rights activists after he pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for defying a 2011 injunction that barred his deputies from racially profiling Latinos. Dreiband told the committee, “The bigotry and ideology of Neo-Nazism, Nazism, white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan are a disgrace to this country and should be eradicated from the United States.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced the department was launching a civil rights investigation into the  death of Heather Heyer, 32, who died after witnesses saw James Alex Fields Jr. drive his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.  Those who know Fields said the 20-year-old Ohio man harbored white supremacist views. He already faces state charges in the incident. “If confirmed, I will do everything I can to support the investigation,” Dreiband told senators on Wednesday.  Multiple civil rights groups have strongly opposed Dreiband’s nomination to head the Civil Rights Division as an assistant attorney general. Dreiband, a partner at the law firm Jones Day, has represented companies in some high-profile discrimination cases and has written several articles critical of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Dreiband previously worked at both the EEOC and the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division during the George W. Bush administration. He also served under Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. More recently, he represented retailer Abercrombie and Fitch Co after it was sued by the EEOC for refusing to let a Muslim female job applicant observe her religion by wearing a head scarf.  The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against the company in 2015. Dreiband also represented R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co in a case last year involving a 49-year-old job applicant who sued over age discrimination.  A divided U.S. appeals court later sided with the company, finding it did not violate the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act by telling recruiters to hire workers just out of college.   In his testimony Wednesday, Dreiband stressed that he has represented a diverse array of clients, including a police shooting victim and another facing the death penalty.

Summary: ट्रम्प न्याय विभाग के नागरिक अधिकार उम्मीदवार ने नव-नाज़ियों की निंदा की


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States on Wednesday reaffirmed support for Lebanon after the resignation of its prime minister, striking a sharp contrast to Saudi Arabia, which accuses Beirut of declaring war because of the Shi ite group Hezbollah. Statements of support from EU ambassadors to Lebanon and the United States have set a different tone to their Sunni Gulf ally Saudi Arabia, which has lumped Lebanon together with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah as parties hostile to it. Lebanon has been pitched into deep crisis since the Saudi-allied Saad al-Hariri resigned on Saturday in a speech delivered from Saudi Arabia in which he accused Hezbollah and Iran of sowing strife in the Arab world and cited fear of assassination. The circumstances surrounding Hariri s sudden resignation have given rise to wide speculation that he had been caught up in a high-level anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia, where his family made their fortune, and coerced into resigning. Saudi Arabia has denied this along with reports that it has put Hariri under house arrest. It says he quit because Hezbollah was calling the shots in the government.    The move has pulled Lebanon back to the forefront of a regional struggle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shi ite Islamist government of Iran, a rivalry which has also swept through Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen. It has plunged Lebanon into political crisis and hit market confidence in the heavily indebted Lebanese state. A sell off of Lebanese bonds continued for a third day on Wednesday, with some of them hitting their lowest ever levels.  The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon said on Wednesday the United States remained  committed to a stable, secure, democratic, and prosperous Lebanon  during a meeting with Lebanese army commander General Joseph Aoun, a U.S. embassy statement said. The meeting was to announce a U.S. government reimbursement of $42.9 million for border operations conducted by the Lebanese army, a major recipient of U.S. military aid. The United States classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist group even as it supports the weak Lebanese state, drawing a line between the two in a long-standing policy.  On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said Lebanon was a strong U.S. partner.  The United States strongly supports the legitimate institutions in the Lebanese state,  spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.  We expect all members of the international community to respect fully those institutions and the sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon,  she said. In a statement, EU ambassadors to Lebanon said they reaffirmed  their strong support for the continued unity, stability, sovereignty, and security of Lebanon and its people . Lebanon has also received significant Western aid to help it cope with the strain of hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees, equivalent to around a quarter of the population. Hezbollah, set up by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982, is the most powerful group in Lebanon, with major sway in government and a guerrilla army that outguns the national military. The group s role has grown beyond Lebanon in recent years, and its fighters have provided critical support to President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war. Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government have responded to accusations made by Saudi Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan that both Lebanon and Hezbollah had declared war on the kingdom. President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally who took office last year, has refused to accept Hariri s resignation, saying he first wants him to return to Lebanon so he can meet him in person to understand the reasons. Aoun said Lebanon s security and economy were stable and the presidency still viewed Hariri as prime minister, Lebanese media reported. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said the coalition government led by Hariri still stands.  Lebanese policymakers and bankers say there is no concern for the Lebanese pound - which has been pegged against the U.S. dollar at the same rate for two decades - thanks to record levels of foreign currency reserves. Banking sources say there was more demand than usual for converting Lebanese pound savings into dollars when banks opened on Monday. But they said this was not unexpected and is at minimal levels.  Lebanon s June 2020 bond, and its April 2020 issue both fell to their lowest ever levels on Wednesday.  Yields could come down, if a new Prime Minister is found quickly and the government can get back to business, but this doesn t appear to be likely in the short term,  said Carmen Altenkirch, emerging market sovereign analyst at Axa Investment Managers. Byblos Bank s Chief Economist Nassib Ghobril said:  We ve had worse cases when we saw pressure on the actual peg of Lebanese pound to U.S. dollar but it takes a severe shock of the magnitude of the (former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri) assassination in 2005 or the 2006 Israeli war to put real pressure on the currency peg.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ, अमेरिका ने लेबनान के समर्थन की पुष्टि की, सऊदी से अलग हुए


BERLIN (Reuters) - In the week before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Brussels and pledged America’s “steadfast and enduring” commitment to the European Union, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon met with a German diplomat and delivered a different message, according to people familiar with the talks. Bannon, these people said, signalled to Germany’s ambassador to Washington that he viewed the EU as a flawed construct and favoured conducting relations with Europe on a bilateral basis. Three people who were briefed on the meeting spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The German government and the ambassador, Peter Wittig, declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of the talks. A White House official who checked with Bannon in response to a Reuters query confirmed the meeting had taken place but said the account provided to Reuters was inaccurate. “They only spoke for about three minutes and it was just a quick hello,” the official said. The sources described a longer meeting in which Bannon took the time to spell out his world view. They said his message was similar to the one he delivered to a Vatican conference back in 2014 when he was running the right-wing website Breitbart News. In those remarks, delivered via Skype, Bannon spoke favourably about European populist movements and described a yearning for nationalism by people who “don’t believe in this kind of pan-European Union.” Western Europe, he said at the time, was built on a foundation of “strong nationalist movements”, adding: “I think it’s what can see us forward”. The encounter unsettled people in the German government, in part because some officials had been holding out hope that Bannon might temper his views once in government and offer a more nuanced message on Europe in private. One source briefed on the meeting said it had confirmed the view that Germany and its European partners must prepare for a policy of “hostility towards the EU”.  A second source expressed concern, based on his contacts with the administration, that there was no appreciation for the EU’s role in ensuring peace and prosperity in post-war Europe. “There appears to be no understanding in the White House that an unravelling of the EU would have grave consequences,” the source said. The White House said there was no transcript of the conversation. The sources who had been briefed on it described it as polite and stressed there was no evidence Trump was prepared to go beyond his rhetorical attacks on the EU - he has repeatedly praised Britain’s decision to leave - and take concrete steps to destabilise the bloc. But anxiety over the White House stance led French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, to issue unusual calls last week for Pence to affirm during his visit to Europe that the U.S. was not aiming to break up the EU. Pence obliged on Monday in Brussels, pledging strong ties between the United States and the EU, and making clear his message was shared by the president. “President Trump and I look forward to working together with you and the European Union to deepen our political and economic partnership,” he said. But the message did not end the concerns in European capitals. “We are worried and we should be worried,” Thomas Matussek, senior adviser at Flint Global and a former German ambassador to the Britain and the United Nations, told Reuters. “No one knows anything at the moment about what sort of decisions will be coming out of Washington. But it is clear that the man on top and the people closest to him feel that it’s the nation state that creates identity and not what they see as an amorphous group of countries like the EU.” With elections looming in the Netherlands, France and Germany this year, European officials said they hoped Pence, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could convince Trump to work constructively with the EU. The worst-case scenario from Europe’s point of view was described by Ischinger in an article published last week, entitled “How Europe should deal with Trump”. He said that if the U.S. administration actively supported right-wing populists in the looming election campaigns it would trigger a “major transatlantic crisis”.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः व्हाइट हाउस ने पेंस की यात्रा से पहले ईयू-संदिग्ध संदेश दिया-सूत्र


LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday the UK government had to make changes to its European Union withdrawal bill before her devolved government in Edinburgh would agree to back it, but said she was hopeful progress could be made. The devolved governments in Scotland and Wales are worried that the withdrawal bill will sap their powers. They cannot veto the EU bill, but failure to win their consent would be an embarrassing setback for British Prime Minister Theresa May s government and could reignite Scottish demands for independence.  There s a long way still to go and I m very clear that bill has to change,  Sturgeon told reporters after talks with May in London that she described as  constructive and cordial .  Hopefully having had the opportunity to air the concerns we have in more details we will be able to make progress in weeks to come,  Sturgeon said.  The EU withdrawal bill seeks to convert all existing EU laws into British law to provide legal clarity after Britain leaves the bloc and lawmakers started to debate it on Tuesday in Britain s parliament. Scotland and Wales, which currently control policy areas such as health, education, transport and agriculture, say the legislation does not guarantee the status of their devolved powers after Brexit. A spokeswoman for May said that devolved powers would be enhanced after Brexit.  The prime minister reiterated that as powers are repatriated from Brussels back to Britain there will be a significant increase in the decision-making powers for the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations.  Brexit is a source of tension for the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom because Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, while Wales and England - by far the most populous of the four - voted to leave.

Summary: स्कॉटलैंड के स्टर्जन ने मई से मुलाकात के बाद यूरोपीय संघ से बाहर निकलने के विधेयक में बदलाव की मांग की


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow will limit the scope of U.S. military observation flights over Russia from Jan. 1 next year in retaliation for U.S. curbs on similar Russian flights over the United States, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday.  The United States has accused Russia of flouting the Open Skies Treaty, an agreement designed to build confidence between the countries  militaries which entered into force in 2002, and said it plans to take measures against Moscow. The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported in September that this would include restricting Russian military flights over American territory in response to what it said was Moscow preventing U.S. observation flights over its heavily militarized Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. The United States is reported to have been keen to restrict Russian flights over Alaska and Hawaii as well as limiting the distance of Russian observation flights. RIA on Wednesday cited Georgy Borisenko, a senior foreign ministry official, as saying Moscow would take reciprocal steps to respond to the new U.S. measures from Jan. 1 and limit the territory which U.S. observations flights can fly over.

Summary: रूस अमेरिकी सैन्य अवलोकन उड़ानों को सीमित करेगाः आर. आई. ए.


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday that 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels had agreed to give the green light to internal preparations for the second phase of Brexit talks with London.  The 27 EU states want to be ready to move to talks with London about their post-Brexit relations after the chief divorce issues are settled in negotiations that are already taking place.  They have, however, stalled and British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to break the deadlock when she appealed to her EU counterparts during a Brussels dinner on Thursday night.  The 27 have said they hope they can announce enough progress in agreeing the exit terms with London in December to be able to start new talks with Britain on their ties after Brexit materializes, as is due in March, 2019. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday night talks with Britain were moving forward and were unlikely to break down.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के टस्क का कहना है कि 27 नेताओं ने ब्रेक्सिट चरण दो पर आंतरिक काम शुरू किया


CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday approved payments totaling $6.45 million to settle cases involving two  black men who died while in police custody. The settlements come as the third-biggest U.S. city’s police department faces a federal investigation and racism accusations over the death of black teenager Laquan McDonald. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired his police commissioner in 2015 after protests following the release of a video showing a Chicago police officer shooting 17-year-old McDonald 16 times. Under the settlements, the family of Philip Coleman, who was tasered by police officers while handcuffed in a jail cell in 2012 and later died after being taken to a hospital, will receive $4.95 million. Coleman was dragged motionless out of his cell by the handcuffs. The tasering and dragging were caught on video cameras. The committee also approved $1.5 million for the family of Justin Cook, who died of an asthma attack after being arrested in 2014. The suit claimed that police did not provide appropriate medical attention. The full city council will vote on the settlements on Wednesday. High-profile killings of black men by mainly white police officers in U.S. cities have prompted a national debate and protests about the use of excessive force by police.

Summary: शिकागो वित्त समिति ने पुलिस हिरासत में मौतों के लिए भुगतान को मंजूरी दी


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that President Barack Obama and European leaders did not discuss imposing sanctions against Russia over its military involvement in Syria when they met in Berlin on Friday. “We did not discuss in concrete terms sanctions against Russia with regard to this,” Merkel said at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Merkel said the leaders had, however, discussed sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine conflict. She said no decision had been made yet on whether to extend those sanctions but added that progress towards implementing the Minsk peace agreement was not sufficient.

Summary: मर्केलः ओबामा, यूरोपीय संघ के नेताओं के साथ सीरिया पर रूस पर प्रतिबंधों पर चर्चा नहीं की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will name former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as his nominee for secretary of agriculture on Thursday, a senior transition official said on Wednesday. Perdue, 70, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. His nomination, which must be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, will complete Trump’s proposed cabinet just before he is sworn in as president on Friday. By nominating a former governor from a Southern state, Trump eschewed candidates from major Farm Belt states in the Midwest that produce the bulk of crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat which dominate agriculture exports. Georgia is a key producer of crops such as cotton and peanuts. While Georgia governor, Perdue had to handle a severe drought in 2007, during which he took steps to cut water usage and at one point led a service outside the state capitol to pray for rain. Perdue, a Republican, was elected twice as governor, serving from 2003 to 2011. Before that, he was in the state senate representing a rural swath of the state about 100 miles (160 km) south of Atlanta. He switched political parties from Democratic to Republican in 1998 amid redistricting in the state and shifting demographics. Trump received strong support from the agricultural community as the farm economy slumped amid falling prices for key commodities. Ron Moore, president of the American Soybean Association (ASA), said he thought Perdue would support agriculture exports. “I think he will be very much in favor of trade,” Moore said in a telephone interview. The ASA, with 15 other farm groups,  this month urged the incoming administration to “protect and enhance” agricultural trade and its impact on the rural economy. Trade, a signature issue during the campaign in which Trump accused China of unfair practices, is critical for the farm economy. U.S. farm and food exports to China were more than $20.2 billion in 2015.  Prices for soybeans rose 16.2 percent during 2016 on strong demand from China, which buys nearly 30 percent of the U.S. crop. Soybean exports helped boost U.S. gross domestic product in the third quarter. Some farmers are concerned that Trump’s criticism of China could lead to deteriorating trade relations and put exports at risk. An influential Chinese state-run newspaper warned this week that U.S. agricultural imports and U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co could be targets for retaliation in any trade war ushered in by Trump. Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau, praised Perdue as a strong voice. But environmental groups opposed the nominee. “Farmers need a champion in the USDA who will fight for conservation programs to help farmers be more resilient in the face of extreme weather, not pray for rain,” Kari Hamerschlag, deputy director of food and technology at Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. After finishing his second term as governor, Perdue founded Perdue Partners, a global trading firm that consults and provides services for companies looking to export products. His cousin David Perdue is serving his first term representing Georgia in the U.S. Senate. The nominee is not related to chicken magnate Frank Perdue.

Summary: ट्रम्प जॉर्जिया के पूर्व गवर्नर पर्ड्यू को कृषि सचिव के रूप में नामित करेंगे


GENEVA (Reuters) - Fighting in Yemen s capital has intensified, with the known toll from three hospitals reaching at least 125 killed and 238 wounded in the past six days, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday. Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck at Houthi militia positions in Yemen s capital Sanaa for a second day on Monday in support of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former Houthi ally who has now renounced his alliance with the Iranian-backed group. Residents are trapped in their homes, many lacking provisions, with the sick, wounded and pregnant women often unable to reach hospitals, ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said.  The ICRC supplies three large hospitals in the Yemeni capital - Al Thawra, Al Jumhouri and Al Kuwait - which urgently need kits for treating war-wounded, she said.   According to the hospitals we are in touch with, the clashes have claimed the lives of 125 people and wounded 238,   she said.  But due to the fighting, the agency cannot reach its medical warehouse in Sanaa which was hit overnight, but as far as it knows the kits and other goods have not been damaged, she added, declining to give more details about whether it was struck in an air strike or by another type of attack. She said they were looking at donating body bags to the hospitals, plus other supplies.  We hope to donate fuel to the main hospitals because they depend on generators and they are in urgent need of fuel because their stocks are being depleted at a time of the recent increase in the number of casualties,  Jaquemet said. Hospitals need electricity to perform surgeries and maintain the cold chain for drugs and vaccines, she said.  The ICRC  relocated  13 international staff to Djibouti from Sanaa on Monday, leaving about 199 staff in the city, including 21 expatriates, she said. The agency deploys about 425 staff in Yemen, including in Hodeida, Saada, Taiz and Aden, she said. U.N. and other aid officials said on Sunday that the United Nations was trying to evacuate at least 140 aid workers from the Yemeni capital amid fighting that had cut off the airport road, but awaited approval from the Saudi-led coalition.

Summary: सना, यमन में अभी तक की सबसे भीषण झड़पों में हताहतों की संख्या बढ़ रही हैः आई. सी. आर. सी.


ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday after media reports that American intelligence services tapped the telephones of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his aides in 2011. Newspaper La Repubblica reported the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the billionaire, four-time prime minister five years ago when his government was under pressure at the height of the euro zone debt crisis. La Repubblica said whistleblowing site WikiLeaks showed the 79-year-old media tycoon and head of Italy’s main center-right party had been in the NSA’s crosshairs between 2008 and 2011. Ambassador John Phillips met the director general of the foreign ministry, Michele Valensise, in the afternoon. Afterwards the ministry issued a statement saying that Italy had called for “specific clarifications about what emerged in relation to the events of 2011”. Phillips “assured us that he will immediately refer the question to his superiors,” the ministry said. During the meeting, Phillips also pointed out that President Barack Obama banned eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies of the United States in 2014, the statement said. Obama made that decision in part to smooth over frayed relations between the United States and Germany after reports surfaced in 2013 that the NSA had monitored the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though Berlusconi’s influence has waned since he left government, he is still a prominent figure and leads Forza Italia, the second-largest party on the fragmented right wing of Italian politics.  Jewels in the crown of his business empire include TV company Mediaset and a majority stake in football team AC Milan.  Germany’s federal prosecutor opened an investigation into the alleged tapping of Merkel’s mobile phone by the NSA but closed it after a year in June 2015, saying there was a lack of evidence that would stand up in court. Staunch Berlusconi ally and Forza Italia member Renato Brunetta said there had been a “conspiracy” to bring down Berlusconi, and warned current Prime Minister Matteo Renzi not to take the allegations too calmly.  “Let’s not forget how the ratings agencies downgraded Italy for no reason other than to push Berlusconi out,” Brunetta said on Twitter. In the past, Berlusconi has repeatedly accused European Union officials of a “plot” to force him out of government. Berlusconi resigned in November 2011 and was replaced by former European Commissioner Mario Monti. A book by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner released in Italy in 2014 suggested EU officials had approached the United States with a project to force Berlusconi to step down.

Summary: अमेरिका द्वारा बर्लुस्कोनी की जासूसी करने की रिपोर्ट के बाद इटली ने अमेरिकी राजदूत को तलब किया


DES MOINES (Reuters) - An influential conservative magazine’s rejection of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy triggered a fire storm on Friday, with Republican rivals saying it is validation of what they have been saying all along: that Trump is not a conservative. With Iowa to kick off the Republican search for a presidential candidate with its Feb. 1 caucuses, Trump and his aides reacted with scorn to the editorial in National Review, which was signed by 22 prominent conservative intellectuals. The “Against Trump” editorial by National Review, a New York-based magazine founded in 1955 by famed conservative thinker William F. Buckley Jr., was scathing. “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP (Republican Party) in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones,” National Review said. Trump’s opponents in the nomination fight pounced quickly. “I don’t think Donald is running as a movement conservative,” Republican candidate Marco Rubio told Fox News. “I don’t think he’s ever said that. It’s clear he’s not. I mean, what he’s running [as is] someone who’s a populist, who’s upset about the direction of this country.” Republican candidate Jeb Bush told Fox that National Review was “just telling the truth.” “This transformation (to conservative) that he claims he’s done needs to be tested,” Bush said. The Republican National Committee, concerned that the magazine was taking sides, dumped National Review from co-sponsoring a candidates’ debate on Feb. 25 in Houston. The National Review editorial emerged as some establishment Republican figures debate whether Trump is a preferable standard-bearer for the Nov. 8 election instead of the other leader in the Republican race, Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Trump, anxious to put his stamp on the race with a victory in Iowa, tweeted that the National Review is a dying magazine and a ghost of its past. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the publication’s conclusion is irrelevant. “The bottom line is nobody cares,” he told CNN. “The average voter in Iowa doesn’t care. The average voter in New Hampshire doesn’t care.” Trump is currently in position to seize control of the race. Polls show he could win not only Iowa’s caucuses, but also New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 9, which would put him on a strong path to the presidential nomination. A CNN/ORC poll on Thursday said Trump had taken a solid lead over Cruz in Iowa, with 37 percent to 26 percent for Cruz. Cruz has led other polls in Iowa. Both men will campaign in Iowa on Saturday, the same day that the influential Des Moines Register newspaper will announce its endorsements for the caucuses. Trump’s campaign released a TV ad accusing Cruz of being weak on illegal immigration. “Against Trump” began trending on Twitter in the United States by Friday morning. Most of the response on the social media site was negative toward “National Review,” with several Twitter users expressing dismay over the publication’s decision to criticize the front-runner. “National Review is leading a coalition against Trump,” wrote Jeff Fogle (@jefffogle342). “We the people will get him in office if we push hard. Stick together! We can do it!!!” “Without any sense of self awareness @nro [National Review] ignores [its] attacks on conservatives last 2 cycles,” tweeted Madlaw (@madlaw1071).  (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: पत्रिका के ट्रम्प विरोधी संपादकीय ने रिपब्लिकन बहस को बढ़ावा दिया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday European Union foreign ministers would discuss taking further sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear missile program at the weekend and that these were  required urgently .  North Korea s nuclear tests are a flagrant violation of all international conditions,  Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.  I say clearly and in the name of the whole government:  there can only be a peaceful, diplomatic solution,  she added.

Summary: जर्मनी की मर्केल ने कहा कि उत्तर कोरिया के खिलाफ और प्रतिबंधों की 'तत्काल आवश्यकता' है


BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese diplomat will visit North Korea from Friday as a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing said, although it did not say he was planning to discuss North Korea s nuclear and ballistic programs. China has repeatedly pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but in recent months has had only limited high-level exchanges with North Korea. The last time China s special envoy for North Korea visited the country was in February last year.   In a brief dispatch, the official Xinhua news agency said Song Tao, who heads the ruling Communist Party s external affairs department, would leave for North Korea on Friday. He will  inform the DPRK of the 19th CPC National Congress and visit the DPRK , Xinhua said on Wednesday, using the North s official name and referring to China s recently concluded Communist Party Congress at which Xi further cemented his power. North Korea s KCNA news agency confirmed the visit, but said only that it would take place  soon . The trip will come just a week after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Beijing as part of a lengthy Asia tour, where he pressed for greater action to rein in North Korea, especially from China, with which North Korea does 90 percent of its trade.  It is not clear how long Song could stay, but he has already visited Vietnam and Laos to inform them of the results of the congress, a typical courtesy China extends other communist countries after such important meetings. It is also unclear whether Song will meet North Korea s youthful leader Kim Jong Un. Song s  main objective  in going to North Korea was to  report on the 19th Party Congress , Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing, adding that it was routine for China and other socialist countries to have such exchanges after important party meetings.  The two countries would also  exchange opinions on matters of mutual concern  during the visit, Geng added.  He reiterated that China was committed to resolving the Korean nuclear issue peacefully through consultation.      Kim and Xi exchanged messages of congratulations and thanks over the Chinese party congress, but neither leader has visited the other s country since assuming power.  Song s department is in charge of the party s relations with foreign political parties, and has traditionally served as a conduit for Chinese diplomacy with North Korea. A department official said last month that China s Communist Party continues to hold talks and maintain contacts with its North Korean counterpart, describing the two countries  friendship as important for regional stability. China s new special envoy for North Korea, Kong Xuanyou, who took up his position in August, is not believed to have yet visited the country since assuming the job.

Summary: शी के राजदूत के रूप में उत्तर कोरिया का दौरा करेंगे वरिष्ठ चीनी राजनयिक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A high-ranking Republican senator on Tuesday dismissed as “not satisfactory” draft legislation aimed at addressing Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis before a looming debt default on May 1, deepening intraparty divisions on the complex rescue effort.      Orrin Hatch of Utah, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, told reporters that draft legislation introduced this month by the House Natural Resources Committee is “not satisfactory and it’s not going to work. And we’re not going to be able to pass it over here” in the Senate. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and fellow Republican leaders already were struggling to advance a bill to help Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, deal with its crippling $70 billion debt. Their efforts have been complicated by opposition from some conservative lawmakers, even as they have been negotiating with the Obama administration over details.     Some conservative House Republicans, who want to protect creditors’ rights, have balked at an element of the bill that could allow Puerto Rico to cut repayments to creditors without their consent, a so-called cram-down debt restructuring.       Hatch, too, wants to protect creditors, but said the bill must include cram-down authority to ensure that more senior bondholders, like those holding Puerto Rico’s constitutionally backed public debt, are better protected.      “Let’s face it, you’ve got to protect the preferred creditors. If you don’t do that, I mean, you’re violating the rule of law to begin with,” Hatch said, adding that he is working on a different approach to the legislation.     The internal division showcases the complexity of the task facing lawmakers - to keep Puerto Rico’s economy intact, while also protecting the competing interests of 18 classes of bondholders owed money by the island.       In a brief interview with Reuters on Tuesday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop expressed confidence that once rank-and-file House Republicans familiarize themselves with his bill, it will gain momentum. He added that “bondholders and other players” were beginning to contact lawmakers to talk up the legislation.     Time is of the essence. Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank owes creditors $422 million on May 1, a payment the island’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has said it cannot afford. A default at GDB, the primary liquidity source for most of Puerto Rico’s public agencies, would be the island’s most significant default to date.     The bill would also create a federal board to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances, but legislators are debating how much power it should have.      Hatch on Tuesday said an oversight board would need “the power to resolve the problems.”     “If you don’t give them the power to do that, it’s just another bailout,” he said. “We’ll be back here two years from now.”    Hector Negroni, a prominent municipal finance investor, objects to the draft bill, saying it changes the rules under which debt was sold to investors and puts creditors at the bottom of the pile while ignoring the priority of payments.    That pivot will have a more adverse affect on the municipal bond market than any potential default in Puerto Rico, Negroni said on Saturday, in a panel discussion held by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Washington.     “So we have a framework here which doesn’t help Puerto Rico, harms the state and local marketplaces by risking an expectation and change in the rules and raising borrowing costs,” he said. “So if it is not for Puerto Rico, and it is not for state and local governments, I’m not sure who this bill is for.”         Representative Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday that the bill is falling victim to intra-party divisions among Republicans. Hoyer said Republicans should collaborate with Democrats to advance a bill by next week that would need the support of only 40-50 of the House’s 246 Republicans.     That would be a dangerous political step for Speaker Ryan, however, because he would be turning his back on a majority of members of his own political party on a major piece of legislation during an election year.     For now, Republicans “seem to be at risk of not doing it at all,” Hoyer said, referring to a Puerto Rico debt relief bill. (The story is refiled to clarify that Negroni spoke on Saturday, not Friday, paragraph 15)

Summary: सीनेटर हैच ने सदन के प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण विधेयक की आलोचना की