DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar must do more to protect construction workers from heat which often reaches levels that are potentially fatal, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. HRW and other rights campaigners are frequent critics of Qatar s treatment of migrant laborers whose working conditions have received additional scrutiny as the country prepares to host the 2022 World Cup. The group said existing regulations only set limits on outdoor work during the period June 15 to Aug. 31, and then only from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.   Climate data shows that weather conditions in Qatar outside those hours and dates frequently reach levels that can result in potentially fatal heat-related illnesses in the absence of appropriate rest,  it said. HRW called authorities also to investigate the causes of migrant worker deaths and publish data on such incidents. In 2013, health authorities reported 520 deaths of workers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, HRW said.  Like other wealthy Gulf Arab states, Qatar relies on vast numbers of migrant workers, mostly from the Philippines, South Asia and Africa. Around 2 million migrant workers live in Qatar, outnumbering the local workforce by nearly 20 to one. Some 800,000 work in the construction sector. Unions and labor protests are banned and authorities penalize dissent with jail or deportation. The Qatari government s Communications Office said:  Qatar is committed to its labor reform program and is constantly reviewing its policies to ensure that migrant workers receive the necessary on-site protections.  We continue to coordinate closely with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and international NGOs to implement reforms that will improve the health, safety and rights of migrant workers,  Sheikh Saif Al Thani, head of the Communications Office, said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Summary: कतर को श्रमिकों को घातक गर्मी से बचाना चाहिएः मानवाधिकार समूह


LOWELLVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - On a sweltering evening in a rural corner of Ohio, the struggle for the soul and identity of the Democratic Party is playing out over wine, meatballs and recriminations about Hillary Clinton’s defeat in last year’s presidential election. Joe Schiavoni, the former top Democrat in the Ohio state senate, is talking to a crowd at a fundraising event for his fledgling bid to become their next governor. He believes leaders of his party in Washington have lost touch with voters. It’s a familiar refrain among Democrats in a state that helped catapult Republican Donald Trump into the White House in November. “You can’t just talk about things and send out press releases,” says Schiavoni, a former boxer who revels in his blue collar roots. Many in the crowd, a few miles from the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, nod in vigorous agreement. Meeting voters and hearing their daily concerns is vital, he says. In Ohio, as in other politically competitive “swing” states that Democrats won in 2012 but lost in 2016, Democrats are struggling to come up with a clear message and identity to win back the voters they lost. Listening to voters is the key to moving forward, some three dozen Democratic Party members across Ohio said in interviews. But there was little consensus on how to win over those voters. Many of those interviewed said the party’s national leaders have not learned the lessons of last year’s defeat, when many voters rejected the party as too elitist and out of touch with working Americans.  David Pepper, chairman of the state party, dismissed that criticism in an interview, saying he and his team have been traveling around Ohio, talking to voters and visiting their homes. They have been especially focused on two groups: the people who voted twice for President Barack Obama and then Trump, and Democratic voters who sat out the last election. Democrats across America, as in Ohio, are desperate to win again as they look ahead to next year’s congressional elections. The stakes are high. Without a significant shift in voting patterns, the party will fail to recapture the House of Representatives and could lose more seats in the Senate, where they are already in the minority. On Monday, the national Democratic Party unveiled an economic platform they said would help U.S. families. Called “A Better Deal,” it was the first major step by the party to try to reconnect with voters since the election. The plan called for creating 10 million jobs over five years and cracking down on monopolies and big corporate mergers. “But the plan was missing a vital piece,” said Alan Melamed, a longstanding member of the Ohio Democratic Party’s executive committee and a political consultant who has worked on dozens of campaigns for more than 40 years. “We need to show we are fighting for people. The plan failed to do that.” Since Clinton’s defeat in November, Tom Perez, the head of the Democratic National Committee – the body which runs the national party – has conducted a nationwide “listening tour” to hear why so many traditionally Democratic voters defected to Trump last year. Yet when he came to Ohio, some Democrats said, he didn’t do much listening – just a lot of talking. In June, the listening tour came to Youngstown. About 75 party stalwarts paid $25 each to attend a “Pizza with Perez” event at a local pizzeria. “What I saw was a typical campaign event, with the audience doing the listening while Democratic operatives touted their positions,” said John Russo, the former co-director of the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown University and a political analyst. “We paid $25 to be told by Perez what he thought we were thinking.” Michael Tyler, a spokesman for Perez, disputed that account, saying Perez had done a lot of listening at the event. “Too many in Ohio and elsewhere feel politically homeless because for too long the national party focused solely on electing the president of the United States at the expense of local concerns,” Tyler said. “That’s exactly why Ohio was among the first places Tom visited when he decided to run for DNC chair.” One of the national politicians unveiling “A Better Deal” in the town of Berryville, Virginia at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, was Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mention Pelosi to Democrats in Ohio and many roll their eyes. A California liberal, Pelosi is part of the problem, not the solution, they said in interviews. They view Pelosi as part of a coastal elite that does not understand the struggles of Americans in the Midwest.  Christopher Celeste, the son of former Ohio governor Dick Celeste and a major Democratic Party donor at both the state and national level, said the retention of Pelosi as a party leader earlier this year was “mindboggling.” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, said the Democratic leader has raised almost $570 million for Democrats since becoming part of the party leadership in 2002, and was a master legislator and strategist. “While some may find it politically advantageous to engage in a circular firing squad, Leader Pelosi isn’t in Congress on a shift. She’s on a mission to protect the Affordable Care Act,” said Hammill, referring to Obama’s healthcare reform law which Trump wants to repeal. Joyce Beatty, a congresswoman from central Ohio, also defended Pelosi. “To just blame Nancy Pelosi is not only wrong, but it’s wrong for Democrats to do it. If there has been a failure we all need to own it.” Angered by last year’s defeats up and down the ballot in Ohio, a group of political consultants circulated a memo to every member of the state party’s executive committee in December. The memo, which has not been previously reported, lambastes the party leadership for the “electoral carnage” of 2016. (Read the memo here tmsnrt.rs/2h2sTgT) Clinton lost Ohio, a key battleground, by over eight points. Only one Democratic presidential candidate in the past 40 years – Walter Mondale in 1984 – won fewer counties in Ohio than Clinton. Ohio Democrats also lost the U.S. Senate race, both Democratic nominees for the Ohio Supreme Court were defeated, and state races were lost. Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation in Washington is at its lowest in decades and Republicans control the governor’s mansion and both the state House and Senate. “The status quo cannot stand,” the memo says. It calls for  “new messages – and more effective strategies for delivering them.” The memo does not make clear what those messages should be. A source close to the state party leadership dismissed the memo as sniping by disgruntled consultants. Pepper, the Ohio party leader, does not want to relitigate the past. “We need to go and talk to voters and win them back,” he said.

Summary: ओहायो में डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी की आत्मा के लिए संघर्ष चल रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday after a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump and House Republican moderates that “we’re making strong progress” on efforts to reach agreement on a Republican healthcare bill. “@POTUS & I gathered the Tuesday Group at the @WhiteHouse. We’re making strong progress to #PassTheBill,” Pence said on Twitter.

Summary: पेंस ने कहा कि रिपब्लिकन स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पर 'मजबूत प्रगति हो रही है'


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A technician hired by Hillary Clinton to run the private email system she used while U.S. secretary of state told investigators he tried to pass on colleagues’ concerns that the system might not comply with records laws, FBI interview summaries show.  Bryan Pagliano, the technician Clinton hired when she joined the State Department in 2009, told federal investigators he relayed the concerns to Cheryl Mills, then Clinton’s chief of staff. Mills, whose lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, has previously testified under oath she could not recall anyone alerting her to potential problems with Clinton’s email arrangement. The episode had not been disclosed until the Federal Bureau of Investigation released on Friday night nearly 200 pages of additional records from its year-long investigation into the handling of classified government documents by Clinton and her staff via an unauthorized email server in the basement of her New York home. Clinton has said the decision to use a private email system was a mistake, but the controversy has dogged her campaign as the Democratic candidate for the presidency and raised public doubts about her trustworthiness, public opinion polls show. Republicans have criticized her for putting national security at risk. The FBI closed the year-long investigation in July, recommending no charges, although FBI Director James Comey said Clinton and her staff had been “extremely careless” in handling classified government secrets. Pagliano has declined to answer questions by Republican lawmakers about his work on Clinton’s server, but spoke to federal investigators after securing a form of immunity from prosecution. He told investigators two colleagues from the technology office approached him with concerns during Clinton’s first year after learning about the email system. One said it could lead to a “federal records retention issue,” Pagliano told investigators, and urged him to raise the concern with Clinton’s “inner circle.” A colleague also warned Pagliano “he wouldn’t be surprised” if classified information was being sent through Clinton’s unsecure system, Pagliano told the FBI. The newly released interview summaries from the FBI investigation show government employees undercutting other aspects of the public accounts given by Clinton and senior State officials. A State Department employee, whose name was redacted, told investigators they believed senior department officials interfered with the screening of Clinton’s emails for public release last year in a way that helped Clinton.  The employee, who worked on the screening process, said there was pressure to obscure the fact they were finding classified information in the messages. John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement the department “strongly disputes” the claim of interference. Clinton repeatedly said last year she never sent or received classified information, but now says she did not do so knowingly since the release of the FBI findings. The employee also said the Defense Department told the State Department last year it had found about 1,000 emails between Clinton and David Petraeus in its records from his time as the director of the United States Central Command. The State Department has said that Clinton did not include any of her emails with Petraeus when her lawyers screened and returned what they said were all her work emails in 2014. A single conversation of about 10 emails later emerged last year after the Defense Department provided it. Spokesmen for Clinton have declined to discuss the omission, and did not respond to questions about the new interview summaries. Kirby, the department spokesman, said he could not “speculate” whether the Defense Department had found more than just a single conversation between Clinton and Petraeus. “We can only speak to the records in our possession,” he said.

Summary: क्लिंटन सर्वर टेक ने एफ. बी. आई. को सिस्टम के बारे में सहयोगियों की चिंताओं के बारे में बताया


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said it will release a South Korean fishing vessel on Friday for humanitarian reasons after the boat was found  illegally  in waters under the North s control six days ago, North Korean state news agency KCNA said. The boat and its crew had been captured on Oct. 21 and they will be released  at the designated waters of the military boundary line in the East Sea (38 39 20  latitude, 128 38 10 longitude) at 1800 on Oct. 27,  the news agency report said.  North Korea had reached its decision to release the South Korean boat after  taking into account the fact that all the crewmen honestly admitted their offence, repeatedly apologizing and asking for leniency,  the report said in English. An investigation by the North had  proved  the boat and crew had entered North Korean waters for fishing. North Korean fishing boats, because of age or low fuel, have been found drifting south of the maritime border between the two Koreas at times. Most North Korean crew are released to the North after interrogations by intelligence officials if they wish to return. It is more unusual for South Korean fishing vessels to be found under similar circumstances. The South Korean government could not be immediately reached for comment.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया शुक्रवार को पकड़ी गई दक्षिण कोरिया की मछली पकड़ने वाली नाव को रिहा करेगाः केसीएनए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider a rule on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas operations and delay its compliance date, the agency said on Wednesday in the Trump administration’s latest move to reduce regulations. Oil interest groups, including the American Petroleum Institute and the Texas Oil and Gas Association, had petitioned the EPA a year ago to reconsider the rule limiting emissions of   methane and other pollutants from new and revamped oil and gas wells and systems.  The EPA said in a statement that it would delay the rule’s June 3 compliance date by 90 days and take public comments during that period. Under Democratic President Barack Obama, the EPA released the first methane limits on the facilities in May 2016, saying it would cost energy companies $530 million, but would lead to $690 million in benefits, including lowering medical bills.  Scott Pruitt, the EPA chief in the administration of Republican President Donald Trump, joined dozens of other states  in challenging the rule when he was attorney general of oil-producing Oklahoma. Pruitt has said he does not believe that greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of climate change.  Energy companies had complained that the methane rule would add costs to wells that were not producing much oil and gas, and that it was duplicative as the sector had already reduced the emissions. Environmentalists believe limiting methane, a gas about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat, is a low-hanging fruit in efforts to curb climate change.  Michelle Robinson, director of the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said EPA was favoring industry over science. “Instead of looking backwards to review well-reasoned rules based on clear science, the administration should be moving forward,” and extend methane limits, she said.  Wednesday’s move signaled another retreat from climate change action after the Trump administration in March halted an effort to gather methane data from existing oil and gas operations to rein in leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas. In late March, Trump signed an order to undo climate regulations, following up on a campaign promise.  Pruitt said the EPA is continuing to follow through with Trump’s order. “American businesses should have the opportunity to review new requirements, assess economic impacts and report back, before those new requirements are finalized,” he said.

Summary: तेल और गैस उत्सर्जन नियम पर पुनर्विचार करेगा ट्रम्प का ईपीए


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former Zimbabwe finance minister Ignatius Chombo, who was among those detained by the military in an operation against  criminals  around ousted president Robert Mugabe last week, has been handed over to the police, a relative said on Friday. The relative, who wished to remain anonymous because of safety fears, said Chombo had been severely beaten while in military custody. Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said she had no information about Chombo.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे की सेना ने पूर्व वित्त मंत्री को पुलिस के हवाले कियाः रिश्तेदार


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Hurricane Irma has caused  enormous devastation  to the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and cut off electricity and gas, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday. Most communications with the outside world are being conducted via the military, he said, adding that there was  no clarity  on victims. The Dutch navy, which has two ships stationed off the coast of the island, tweeted images gathered by helicopter showing damaged houses, hotels and boats. French authorities have counted at least eight dead on the French side of the island.  Dutch Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said he briefly had contact with Saint Martin s prime minister but communications are sporadic. He said nine patients at a hospital in the country had been evacuated by Dutch military helicopter. Sint Maarten is an independent nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with a population of around 40,000   about the same as the French side. Images of the country s Juliana Airport showed the landing strips appeared intact, though the navy said the airport is  unreachable  for now. Andre van der Kamp, commander of the Dutch ship Zeeland, tweeted that the Zeeland and Pelikaan would be trying to moor on Sint Maarten to deliver emergency aid on Thursday, but they needed to complete a safety check of the port first.

Summary: डच प्रधान मंत्रीः सेंट मार्टिन पर 'भारी तबाही'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ideologically divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a win to Republicans in Texas by putting on hold rulings that said  electoral districts drawn by state lawmakers discriminated against minority voters. On a 5-4 vote, with the court’s conservatives in the majority and the liberal justices dissenting, the court in a brief order blocked two different lower court decisions that found fault with both congressional districts and state legislative districts drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature. In August, a federal court in Texas struck down two Republican-drawn congressional districts saying they were discriminatory and ordering new maps to be drawn ahead of elections in 2018. The court said the 27th and 35th congressional districts were drawn in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. Texas has 36 districts, with Republicans holding 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats 11. The August decision and a similar ruling on the state legislative districts will both remain on hold, meaning no new districts will be drawn in the interim while the high court considers Texas’ appeal in the cases. Voting rights advocates say the Republican lawmakers drew up the districts to undermine the influence of racial minority voters, who typically show more support for Democrats than Republicans.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत ने टेक्सास मतदान मानचित्र पर रिपब्लिकन को जीत दिलाई


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday that it had changed some of the procedures for its “Trending Topics” section after a news report alleging it suppressed conservative news prompted a U.S. Congressional demand for more transparency. The company said an internal probe showed no evidence of political bias in the selection of news stories for Trending Topics, a feature that is separate from the main “news feed” where most Facebook users get their news. But the world’s largest social network said in a blogpost that it was introducing several changes, including elimination of a top-ten list of approved websites, more training and clearer guidelines to help human editors avoid ideological or political bias, and more robust review procedures. Earlier this month, a former Facebook contractor had accused the company’s editors of deliberately suppressing conservative news. The allegations were reported by technology news website Gizmodo, which did not identify the ex-contractor.  The report led Republican Sen. John Thune to write a letter demanding that the company explain how it selects news articles for its Trending Topics list. (bit.ly/1Tvv3Nm) Two days after Thune’s letter, Facebook published a lengthy blogpost detailing how Trending Topics works even though it rarely discloses such practices. Previously, it had never discussed the inner workings of the feature, which displays topics and news articles in the top right hand corner of the desktop homepage for its more than 1.6 billion users. Facebook said its investigation showed that conservative and liberal topics were approved as trending topics at nearly identical rates. It said it was unable to substantiate any allegations of politically motivated suppression of particular subjects or sources. But it did not rule out human error in selecting topics. “Our investigation could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias in the implementation of our guidelines or policies,” Colin Stretch, Facebook’s General Counsel, wrote in a company blogpost.  Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg met last week with more than a dozen conservative politicians and media personalities to discuss issues of trust in the social network. In his letter, Thune had called on Facebook to respond to the criticism and sought answers by May 24 to several questions about its internal practices. “Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open internet,” Thune said.

Summary: आलोचना के बाद फेसबुक ने 'ट्रेंडिंग टॉपिक' पर नीतियों में बदलाव किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Families of Sept. 11 victims and others who may seek to sue foreign governments accused of supporting terrorism in the United States still face significant legal hurdles, despite a boost from passage of a law allowing such cases to proceed.  The new Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, grants an exception to the legal principle of sovereign immunity in cases of terrorism on U.S. soil.  Passage of the law over a presidential veto could allow relatives and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to move forward with a case they filed more than a decade ago against Saudi Arabia in New York federal court. Still, it will be hard to prove a foreign nation is responsible for acts of terrorism, said attorneys and professors with expertise in international law, who expected drawn-out legal wrangling. “We may find that at the end of the day, after years of litigation, that the link is not sufficiently established even for Saudi Arabia,” said Curtis Bradley, a law professor at Duke University.  The law says plaintiffs must show the foreign state “knowingly or recklessly provided material support or resources” to designated terrorist groups, not that the countries were simply negligent or looked the other way.  Congress on Wednesday overwhelming voted to pass the law, overturning President Barack Obama’s veto. Before the law, American victims of terrorist acts could only sue countries designated by the U.S. State Department as state-sponsors of terrorism, currently Iran, Syria and Sudan. Now, any country can be sued if there are allegations of support for known terrorists that carry out attacks on U.S. soil.  Existing tort law requires plaintiffs to prove that support played a “substantial factor” in the victims’ injuries, a high bar, said Jimmy Gurule an expert in international criminal law at the University of Notre Dame.    This could be challenging in the Sept. 11 case since an independent commission on the 2001 attacks did not find sufficient evidence of Saudi involvement. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks and most of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.  “We have a high degree of confidence we can meet that burden. The Saudis think we can’t,” said Jack Quinn, co-counsel for more than 2,000 family members of Sept. 11 victims.  The families sued Saudi Arabia in 2003, seeking to hold the country responsible. The proceedings have been stalled on the question of Saudi Arabia’s immunity Quinn said the plaintiffs will now ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the issue in light of the new law.  If the court says the case can move forward, both sides will use discovery to seek documents and take depositions of witnesses and experts.  “We will next attempt to complete the development of evidence and find out what the truth is and on the basis of that, let the chips fall as they may,” said Quinn.   But even under the new law, the White House can still request a court to halt this and other potential lawsuits. The law allows a court to put a proceeding against a foreign state on hold if the United States says it “is engaged in good faith discussions” with the country to resolve the claims.  The stay provision and other changes were added to address concerns raised by the White House, Saudi Arabia and companies like General Electric and Dow Chemical Co. Obama is likely to request such a stay, said Bradley. Stephen Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law, said this revision and others injected uncertainty into the law and could result in litigation aimed at clarifying the bill’s language. “The next step in this is either a whole bunch of lawsuits being placed on indefinite hold or a whole bunch of litigation to figure out the meaning of all these obstacles that Congress snuck back into the bill at the last minute,” said Vladeck. Even with the revisions, detractors of the new law worried that it could inspire other countries to retaliate by enacting their own statutes that could drag the United States or U.S. companies into court. Some U.S. lawmakers said Congress may revisit the law to narrow it further.  Ultimately, though, if the victims of terrorist acts win a court  judgment against a foreign government, other cases have shown that collecting damages can be a slog. A Reuters analysis last year found that in the 10 years following the Sept. 11 attacks, the number of lawsuits filed under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and similar laws more than tripled compared to the decade before with plaintiffs winning billions of dollars worth of judgments in U.S. courts.  But judgments awarded against organizations or governments are often unenforceable and even when there are assets that can be claimed in the United States, their value often falls short of the award. (reut.rs/2dexDdV)

Summary: अमेरिका के 11 सितंबर के कानून के बावजूद आतंकवाद पर सरकारों पर मुकदमा करना कोई निश्चित बात नहीं है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria s army and its allies have encircled Islamic State in the city of al-Mayadin, southeast of Deir al-Zor, in eastern Syria, a Syrian military source said on Sunday.  Al-Mayadin is one of the last strongholds of Islamic State as it falls back upon the fertile area downstream of Deir al-Zor in the Euphrates valley and launches counter attacks in the central desert after losing swathes of territory this year.   Units of our armed forces with the allied forces continue their advance on a number of fronts and axes in Deir al-Zor and its countryside... and encircle Daesh terrorists in the city of al-Mayadin,  the military source said. The army and its allies reached Deir al-Zor in September after a months-long offensive across the Syria desert, and have in recent weeks pushed down the Euphrates towards al-Mayadin.  However, counter attacks by Islamic State in the central desert region have put pressure on the main supply road to Deir al-Zor from western Syria.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is backed in the war by Russia, Iran and Shi ite militias including Lebanon s Hezbollah, and its campaign against Islamic State has mostly been on the west bank of the river.  A U.S.-led coalition is also supporting a rival campaign against the jihadists, mostly on the east bank, where it is close to recapturing Raqqa, and has also advanced downstream to hold areas opposite Deir al-Zor.  U.S. officials have previously said that Islamic State had relocated some of its diminished command and propaganda structures to al-Mayadin as it was forced from territory elsewhere.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना ने अल-मायादीन में आईएस को घेर लियाः सीरियाई सैन्य सूत्र


FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Airline Lufthansa said on Friday it had changed its flight routes to Japan because of North Korean missile tests. Lufthansa Group, which owns Swiss, Lufthansa, and Lufthansa Cargo, had already been avoiding direct overflights of North Korean airspace for more than a year, the company said. “As a result of the latest North Korean missile tests, Lufthansa Group has decided for now to change routings to and from Japan, purely as a precautionary measure,” the airline said, adding that changes to the flight time were negligible. Air France-KLM said on Thursday it had expanded its no-fly zone over North Korea after one of its jets flew past the location where an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) splashed down 10 minutes later. Air France’s flight 293, a Boeing 777 carrying 323 people from Tokyo to Paris, missed North Korea’s latest ICBM as it fell to earth on July 28 by about 100 km (60 miles), a spokesman for Air France-KLM said, citing flight data provided by Japan. North Korea said a week ago that its latest ICBM test proved its ability to strike the U.S. mainland, drawing a sharp warning from President Donald Trump and a rebuke from China.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के नवीनतम मिसाइल परीक्षण के बाद लुफ्थांसा ने उड़ान मार्ग बदले


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials held a roundtable discussion at the White House on Tuesday about the “worsening” fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico, as the Obama administration continues to press Congress to act on the issue. The meeting with Puerto Rican labor leaders and business executives featured briefings from Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell, according to a White House blog post issued late on Tuesday. Lew told meeting participants that Puerto Rico has already had to take extreme emergency measures like borrowing from its pensions to stay afloat and the island will face additional strain in May and June, when more than $2 billion in debt payments come due. “We simply cannot provide Puerto Rico with the tools it desperately needs to confront this crisis without congressional action,” the White House said. The White House has said that Puerto Rico needs federal legislation to allow it to restructure its debts and give it independent fiscal oversight.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने प्यूर्टो रिको संकट पर गोलमेज सम्मेलन आयोजित किया, कांग्रेस से कार्रवाई करने का आह्वान किया


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California’s elections watchdog on Thursday voted to force groups that hire lobbyists to reveal more about the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually to sway state lawmakers on climate change, education and other issues. In 2015, spending on lobbyists in the most populous U.S. state topped $243 million - nearly as much as the payroll for all of California’s state lawmakers combined. “We want more disclosure of these payments to shine light on the interaction between public officials and the special interests attempting to influence them,” said Jodi Remke, chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which adopted the rules in a unanimous 5-0 vote. California joins a handful of states considering tighter campaign finance and ethics laws in the run-up to the Nov. 8 elections, including Missouri, New York, New Mexico and South Carolina. The California rules would not apply to federal lawmakers, such as the state’s U.S. representatives. When the California rules go into effect July 1, organizations that hire lobbyists will have to specify whether payments over $2,500 are used for advertising, research, event planning or public affairs, among other categories. But critics say the proposal does not go far enough. The new rules do not, for example, require those who hire lobbyists to identify the legislation that an individual payment was intended to influence.  And critics say the public affairs category, which encompasses grassroots organizing and coalition building, could easily become a murky catch-all much as the “other” category is used currently. “If the idea is to improve disclosure, why create a new category that is just as vague?” asked Denise Roth Barber, managing director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.  Lobbyists have been mostly quiet on the proposal.  As of Wednesday afternoon, only one firm had responded to the commission’s request for comment, saying the regulations would create too much paperwork and asking that the effective date be postponed until 2017. None of 2014’s top spenders on lobbying - among them the Western States Petroleum Association and California State Council of Service Employees - would comment for this story. Remke conceded the measures are incremental, blaming an outdated software system for limiting the number of new categories that can be added to California’s searchable campaign spending database. But Carmen Balber, the executive director of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, said the commission could still demand more details, uploading the disclosure forms as stand-alone images or offering copies to the public upon request.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया 2016 के चुनाव के करीब आने पर लॉबिंग के नियमों को सख्त करने पर विचार कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers on Tuesday called for more information after reports that President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House said a memo written by Comey after he met with Trump in February was not an accurate portrayal of the conversation. Details of the memo were first reported by The New York Times and were confirmed by a Reuters source.  Last week, the Republican president fired Comey, who had been leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome.  Flynn resigned in February after disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Media reports of the Comey memo prompted members of Congress to renew calls for an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible connections to Russia and for Comey to testify before Congress. Here are reactions from Capitol Hill: “@GOPoversight is going to get the Comey memo, if it exists. I need to see it sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.” - Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Twitter. He later sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation a letter asking for all memos, notes and recordings between Comey and Trump by May 24. “What we’re seeing ... is an obstruction of justice case unfolding in real time. And I’m still stunned that more of my Republican colleagues are not standing strong and speaking out.” - Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to CNN “I have to say yes simply because obstruction of justice is such a serious offense. And I say it with sadness and reluctance.” - Independent Senator Angus King, asked on CNN if Congress was getting close to impeachment proceedings “We’re a long ways from a conviction - the fact that we simply have a headline in The New York Times.”  - Republican Representative Trey Gowdy on Fox News “We need to have all the facts and it is appropriate for the House Oversight Committee to request this memo.” - AshLee Strong, spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, in a statement “I don’t want to read a memo. I want to hear it from him (Comey).” - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in an MSNBC interview “This is an explosive allegation and it appears like a textbook case of criminal obstruction of justice. We need to hear testimony immediately from Director Comey - in public. ... We also obviously need to get Director Comey’s memos immediately, as well as all associated records, including any audio tapes, and notes, if they exist.” - Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings in a statement “If true, this is yet another disturbing allegation that the president may have engaged in some interference or obstruction of the investigation. I think we know enough now. There’s been enough alleged publicly to want to bring the director back to testify, ideally in open session, either before our committee or the Judiciary Committee.” - Democratic Representative Adam Schiff to reporters “Country must have answers. It is clear former FBI Director Comey should testify before Congress.”  - Republican Representative Frank LoBiondo on Twitter  “If these reports are true, the president’s brazen attempt to shut down the FBI’s investigation of Michael Flynn is an assault on the rule of law that is fundamental to our democracy. At best, President Trump has committed a grave abuse of executive power. At worst, he has obstructed justice.” - Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi in a statement  “I’m shocked and surprised by this development and would like to discuss it with Chairman Grassley and look forward to doing so. The Judiciary Committee is the appropriate place to hold a hearing and get to the bottom of exactly what was said and by whom.” - Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein in a statement “The stories of the last week raise serious questions about whether the president respects the independence of the FBI and law enforcement authorities. It is vital that Congress obtain these memos and hear public testimony from former Director Comey. ... The American people deserve answers about President Trump’s conduct.”  - Democratic Senator Bob Casey in a statement

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः सांसद ट्रम्प की बैठक पर कोमी का ज्ञापन देखना चाहते हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - France will not recognize Catalonia if the Spanish region unilaterally declares independence, European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said on Monday.  If there were to be a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral, and it would not be recognized,  Loiseau said on CNews television. Catalonia, which has its own language and culture and is led by a pro-independence regional government, held a referendum on Oct. 1 over secession in defiance of Spain s constitutional court, which had declared the vote illegal.      Catalonia cannot be defined by the vote organized by the independence movement just over a week ago,  the French junior minister said.  This crisis needs to be resolved through dialogue at all levels of Spanish politics.  A hasty decision to recognize independence following such a unilateral declaration would amount to fleeing France s responsibilities, Loiseau added.  If independence were to be recognized - which is not something that s being discussed - the most immediate consequence would be that (Catalonia) automatically left the European Union.

Summary: फ्रांस कैटलन की एकतरफा घोषणा को मान्यता नहीं देगाः मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court may weigh in this week on gun control, an issue smoldering again following the June 12 Orlando massacre, with the justices due to decide whether to hear a challenge by gun rights advocates to assault weapon bans in two states. The Connecticut and New York laws prohibit semiautomatic weapons like the one used by the gunman who fatally shot 49 people at a gay night club in Orlando in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The Supreme Court will announce as soon as Monday whether it will hear the challenge brought by gun rights groups and individual firearms owners asserting that the laws violate the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms. The court has not decided a major gun case since 2010.  If they take up the matter, the justices would hear arguments in their next term, which begins in October. A decision not to hear the challenge would leave in place lower-court rulings upholding the laws. The court’s action in another recent appeal indicated it may be disinclined to take up the matter. The justices in December opted not to hear a challenge to a Highland Park, Illinois ordinance banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. A national assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Congressional Republicans, backed by the influential National Rifle Association gun rights lobby, beat back efforts to restore it. Some states and municipalities have enacted their own bans. In their petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, those challenging the Connecticut law said the type of weapons banned by the state are used in self-defense, hunting and recreational shooting. Connecticut said its law targets firearms disproportionately used in gun crime, “particularly the most heinous forms of gun violence.” It said people in Connecticut still can legally own more than 1,000 types of handguns, rifles and shotguns. There is a longstanding legal debate over the scope of Second Amendment rights. In the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual’s right to bear arms, but the ruling applied only to firearms kept in the home for self-defense. That ruling did not involve a state law, applying only to federal regulations. Two years later, in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court held that the Heller ruling covered individual gun rights in states.

Summary: राज्य द्वारा हमला करने वाले हथियारों पर प्रतिबंध पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट कार्रवाई कर सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Repealing Obamacare could take months and developing replacement health insurance plans could take years, senior Republican aides in the U.S. Congress said on Thursday, discouraging talk of a quick end to the program after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump has promised to repeal Obamacare, and Republican lawmakers have said repealing President Barack Obama’s signature domestic initiative will be the first thing they take up in the new year, saying it should be rushed to Trump’s desk for signing into law. But the project is going to take time, said senior Republican aides in the House of Representatives, asking not to be named. “We are talking a matter of weeks, in two months - but not a matter of many months” for Congress to pass a repeal, one aide said, adding that Republicans “certainly” hope Trump will sign the repeal into law in the first half of 2017. Congressional Republicans are consulting with the Trump transition team on when the effective date of the repeal should be, another aide said. Setting it a few years out will provide lawmakers time to debate whether and how to replace some elements of the Obamacare law.  The effective date of repeal “can be as short as two (years), it can be as long as three or four. We have to see where the Trump administration wants to go in terms of how much time they need on this,” the second House aide said. Some 20 million previously uninsured Americans gained health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, as Obamacare is officially called. Coverage was extended by expanding Medicaid and through online exchanges where consumers can receive income-based subsidies. Republicans have launched repeated legal and legislative efforts to dismantle the law, criticizing it as government overreach. They say they want to replace it by giving states, not the federal government, more control. Talk that the Republican-majority Congress could repeal the program in January was not based on careful consideration of the process or politics, said Joe Antos, a health policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “I can see repeal relatively quickly,” Antos said, although not within a few weeks, “but replace is harder.” “Democrats will put up every procedural hurdle they can (to repeal),” said Tevi Troy, head of the American Health Policy Institute. Stuart Butler, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that a four-year effective date of repeal could fall after the next presidential election. “Somehow I doubt people will see that as a fulfilled campaign promise,” he said.

Summary: ओबामाकेयर को निरस्त करने में महीनों लग सकते हैं; प्रतिस्थापन, सालः रिपब्लिकन सहयोगी


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has postponed a trip to China that had been provisionally planned for November due to a timetable clash with U.S. President Donald Trump who would have been there at the same time, Sky News reported on Friday. Sky cited a source from May s office who said the trip had never been finally confirmed or publicly announced.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री ने ट्रम्प के साथ समयबद्ध टकराव से बचने के लिए चीन की यात्रा स्थगित कीः स्काई


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The incoming Dutch government rolled out the red carpet for big business on Tuesday, firming up plans to lower the corporate tax rate to 21 percent and scrap a 15 percent tax on dividends. As part of the biggest tax overhaul in years, it also introduced a tax on royalties in a bid to counter a reputation for abetting tax avoidance by housing shell companies that act as a conduit for money destined for tax havens.  I do feel we should be much tougher on mailbox companies ... and we are going to do that,  Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a news conference at the parliament building.  At the same time if there are serious companies that want to have their headquarters in the Netherlands, we d love to have them,  he said. He said Britain s decision to leave the European Union gave the Netherlands a chance to attract firms based in Britain but seeking a European headquarters. The corporate tax rate will be lowered incrementally each year. Other proposals are targeted to go into effect by 2019, after approval by parliament. The Netherlands is favored by multinationals and is currently battling a fine from the EU for giving Starbucks tax advantages that amounted to state aid. Google and Apple route money there and reinvest it abroad rather than repatriating it to the United States where it would be subject to higher tax rates. The Netherlands is also popular with rock stars such as the Rolling Stones and U2 who until now have benefited from the country s favorable treatment of royalties. Tax experts said the package of reforms was a mixed picture.  Reducing the corporate tax benefits all businesses and getting rid of dividend withholding is aimed at making the Netherlands more interesting for foreign investors,  said Rudolph de Vries, a tax adviser at Ernst & Young and professor at Leiden University. He said the reduction in corporate taxes will be partially offset by another reform in the works: a move to limit the deductibility of debt. Marcel Klok, senior economist at ING, said the rules will lead to about 1.3 billion euros in missed tax revenues from  foreign companies, to a large extent due to the abolition of dividend taxes.  He noted the lower corporate tax rate of 21 percent, while a significant cut from 25 percent, is just slightly below the EU average of 21.5 percent.  It seems like the Netherlands is shifting towards doing what the OECD and other international partners are asking for, so going in the direction of having less exemptions,  he said.  But because they are reducing some tariffs and other measures the net effect is very beneficial for foreign firms to come and invest here.  Alexander Pechtold, the leader of one of the junior parties in Rutte s new four-party coalition, said mailbox companies and others taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code  will be better off elsewhere .  You have these singers who are doing all these fabulous charitable things from the money they are not paying in taxes,  he said.  We will now take care of the charitable causes ourselves directly, without the singers in between.

Summary: डच सरकार ने कर में कटौती के साथ व्यापार के लिए कालीन तैयार किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany strongly condemns North Korea s latest ballistic missile test, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Wednesday, adding that he would summon North Korea s ambassador.  North Korea has again breached international law. North Korea s ruthless behavior poses a huge threat to international security,  Gabriel said in a statement. North Korea said on Wednesday it successfully tested a powerful new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons.

Summary: जर्मनी ने मिसाइल परीक्षण को लेकर उत्तर कोरिया के राजदूत को तलब किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan trio of U.S. senators said on Tuesday they planned to introduce legislation to remove regulatory roadblocks to the introduction of self-driving cars, including sorting out conflicts between state and federal rules. Republican Senator John Thune, who chairs the Commerce Committee, Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the panel, and Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said in a joint statement that existing federal vehicle regulations written over recent decades did not account for self-driving cars without a human driver behind the wheel. Thune said the senators hoped to reach agreement based on “prioritizing safety, fixing outdated rules, and clarifying the role of federal and state governments.” Federal auto regulations pose significant legal hurdles that must be cleared before fully self-driving cars can be sold without steering wheels and gas pedals, a government report said last year. The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on self-driving cars on Wednesday. Mitch Bainwol, head of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an auto trade group, will tell the panel that Congress should work to eliminate state or local laws that could “unduly burden or restrict the use of self-driving vehicles in the future.” The senators are joining a broader movement in Washington to respond to calls from Detroit and Silicon Valley for federal action to set rules for self-driving cars, rather than allowing states such as California to write potentially conflicting rules.  The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee told Reuters last week he planned to unveil a package of legislation to overhaul federal rules governing self-driving vehicles. Companies such as Alphabet Inc, General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) are pursuing automated technologies and want unified federal regulations to replace outdated rules and make it simpler to develop and eventually sell the technology across the country. In April, automakers and technology companies urged California to make changes to its proposed state regulations governing autonomous vehicles. Many oppose California’s plan to require a state permit to deploy autonomous vehicles, which must meet performance and design criteria. The U.S. Transportation Department said last week it would unveil revised self-driving guidelines within the next few months, responding to automakers’ calls for regulations to sanction costly efforts to put autonomous vehicles on the road. Vehicle crashes annually kill more than 35,000 people on U.S. roads and injure 2.4 million. The economic cost of vehicle crashes is at least $240 billion annually, the government says.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने स्व-ड्राइविंग कार कानून के लिए रोडमैप का अनावरण किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, under mounting pressure to advance gun-control legislation, will vote next week on a measure to keep guns out of the hands of people on government terrorism watch lists. Republican and gun lobby sources said the legislation, due to be introduced as part of a terrorism package, was likely to be a National Rifle Association-backed bill brought by Representative Lee Zeldin of New York as the companion to a Senate Republican measure from Senator John Cornyn of Texas. House Democrats, who last week staged a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor to push for gun control after the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, condemned the Cornyn-Zeldin measure as the handiwork of the NRA. Senate Democrats blocked the same legislation last week.   “House Democrats will keep up our efforts to push for the majority to allow a vote on gun violence legislation, but bringing up a bill authored by the NRA just isn’t going to cut it,” said Drew Hammill, an aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The NRA denied writing the legislation.  House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the plan in a conference call with lawmakers. Republican leadership aides declined to provide details. One said the package was still being negotiated. After the Orlando, Florida, shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at a gay nightclub [nL1N19L1WH], gun-control proponents ratcheted up pressure for meaningful legislation.  “We are going to get something done this year, I predict,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters. “I think we’re going to take a bite out of the NRA.” Reid said he was hopeful for a bill introduced by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and a bipartisan House companion bill backed by Republicans including Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida, to prevent gun sales to anyone on the government’s “No Fly List” for terrorism suspects or the “Selectee List” for extra airport screening.   Before Thursday’s announcement, Representative Bob Dold of Illinois, a Republican backer of the Collins-Curbelo bill, urged Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to opt for the bipartisan measure, according to a Dold aide. But hopes for a vote on that measure could be dashed if House Republicans move first on the Cornyn-Zeldin bill, which would allow party leaders to say they had acted on gun control.   “It would really be a sharp blow,” said Representative Scott Rigell, a Virginia Republican and NRA member who supports the Collins-Curbelo measure. The NRA-backed measure would give officials three days to decide whether a gun sale should be blocked. Democrats argue the timetable is insufficient and say the government would have to persuade a court that a would-be buyer “has committed or will commit an act of terrorism” before it could block a gun sale. Under the Collins-Curbelo bills, a court would have 14 days to decide on appeals.

Summary: प्रतिनिधि सभा ने नियोजित मतदान के साथ बंदूक-नियंत्रण बहस को फिर से शुरू किया


AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. troops and allied Arab fighters have evacuated a garrison set up in June in the Syrian desert near the border with Iraq and relocated to their main Tanf base, rebel sources said on Tuesday. They said the move follows a deal between Washington and Moscow to abandon the Zakf site, located around 60-70 km (40-50 miles) northeast of Tanf. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has gained momentum in the six-year civil war but rebel groups still control large, populous areas in both the northwest and southwest of the country as well as other pockets elsewhere.  Zakf was established to stop the Syrian army and allied Iranian-backed militias advancing from territory north of Tanf toward the Iraqi border after they managed to cut off and encircle rebels backed by Washington.    We have left the garrison after our allies reached an agreement with Russia to pull back to Tanf. We have moved all the equipment and destroyed some of the fortifications so they are no longer usable,  said a source who belongs to Maghawir al-Thawra. Maghawir al-Thawra is a Pentagon-backed rebel group that maintained the base and patrols around Tanf. The Pentagon did not comment on the status of the Zakf site. It has closed numerous temporary bases, as warranted by the operational situation, said spokesman Eric Pahon.  Zakf was set up at a tense moment when jets of the U.S.-led coalition hit Iranian-backed militias several times to stop them advancing toward Tanf, located near Syria s border with Iraq, to ensure the safety of its forces.  The base was a first line of defense and now the justification behind it is no longer present and the aim is to concentrate in Tanf,  the senior commander in the group said.   Western-backed rebels had also hoped at the time that it could be used to take more territory along the Iraqi border and to push toward Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria.  However, advances by the Syrian army and its allies from central Syria, as well as by coalition-backed forces from northern Syria, have since approached the city, making a rebel drive there from the south redundant.  As the fighting has moved to Deir al-Zor, most Iranian-backed forces have pulled away from the area around Tanf, said a Western diplomat familiar with the situation, based on intelligence reports.  At the same time, Western and Arab countries, have put pressure on rebel groups they back in the sparsely populated desert area to pull out of Syria and retreat to Jordan, which the groups have so far resisted. Washington and Moscow have now moved closer to cooperation in Syria, brokering a ceasefire in the southwest which was the first such understanding between them since the start of the conflict. The diplomat said the latest move is part of a broader effort that included that ceasefire.   This is the latest outcome of the ongoing secret US-Russian talks over southern Syria,  the diplomat, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.  Tanf is the only position with a significant U.S. military presence in Syria outside the Kurdish-controlled north, where it has much larger air bases.

Summary: विद्रोहियों का कहना है कि अमेरिका ने दक्षिणी सीरियाई रेगिस्तान में अपना अड्डा खाली कर लिया है


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives’ energy committee on Wednesday said it wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to explain how it is overseeing contracts for rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power grid after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria. In a letter to FEMA, the committee raised questions about contracts between Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and two companies: Whitefish Energy Holdings and Cobra Acquisitions LLC, a subsidiary of Mammoth Energy Services Inc. Six weeks after the hurricane swept across the island, two-thirds of its residents are still without electricity. Washington is preparing to spend billions on relief for the territory, home to 3.4 million Americans, with assistance for the grid seen as one of the most expensive and complex pieces of the aid. The House Energy and Commerce committee - one of several panels of lawmakers keeping a close eye on Puerto Rico projects - said in its letter that “federal leadership and strategic coordination” are needed to restore power, and outlined a series of concerns about the role played so far by FEMA. Usually, power utilities seek help from other utility companies to restore power immediately after disasters. But Puerto Rico first turned to contractors, as utilities were leery about getting paid by PREPA, which declared bankruptcy in July. On Sunday, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello and PREPA said they would cancel a $300 million contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings, after a controversy over the deal’s provisions and the Montana company’s lack of experience with projects of such a large size. The committee said it was concerned about FEMA’s oversight of the Whitefish contract. “We have a contract with PREPA, and how PREPA and FEMA are interacting, that is PREPA’s issue,” a spokesman for Whitefish said in a statement. Lawmakers also questioned provisions in a PREPA contract issued to Cobra Acquisitions, including “language which would appear to have the effect of preventing government oversight of the agreement.” In a statement, Cobra said its managers met with PREPA at its command center and “described the company’s experience, ability to mobilize quickly and its plan to aid in the restoration of power to the island. We also met with representatives of FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other key agencies.” FEMA asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Sept. 30 to take on an extra role in emergency repairs of the grid because of the scope of the damage. The Army Corps has awarded some of its own contracts and is boosting its presence. The lawmakers asked FEMA to brief its staff by Nov. 15. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. FEMA Administrator Brock Long testified to a Senate committee on Tuesday that the agency was not notified until “several weeks after the fact” that PREPA had contracted with Whitefish, and had not agreed to the contract language. “Not one dollar has gone toward that contract from FEMA,” Long said, telling senators that the agency is making sure PREPA has not asked for reimbursement for the work. Long told senators that FEMA’s coordinator on the island has asked PREPA to “make sure that we are unified with the Army Corps so we’re not working in separate streams, but we’re working together in a consolidated effort.”

Summary: सदन ने प्यूर्टो रिको बिजली अनुबंधों पर फेमा से सवाल किए


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders called on Malta on Thursday to carry out a full investigation with international help over the killing of the country s best-known journalist, and the EU parliament agreed to hold a debate on media freedom on the island. Malta s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has already called in foreign investigators to help look into the car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, who wrote about widespread breaches of the rule of law and corruption on the island. Malta is the smallest EU country but is home to a disproportionately large financial services sector and is the continental hub for the flourishing online gaming industry.  Muscat, who himself had sued Caruana Galizia after she accused him and his wife of wrongdoing, promised a thorough investigation of the killing.  We will not exclude any sort of path, any sort of measure to make sure we get to the bottom of it,  Muscat told reporters arriving to the EU summit in Brussels. The president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani said he raised the issue in a meeting with EU leaders.  I called for an international investigation to fully clarify an event of unprecedented gravity,  he said, adding that the leaders broadly shared the view. During the meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed an international investigation, EU officials said. Diplomats said that France, Spain and Portugal had also stressed the need for involvement of foreign investigators. Before the meeting Muscat said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Dutch investigators would help in the case and other security forces, including London s Scotland Yard, could join. The chief of the Maltese police later denied possible involvement of the British police. Political leaders of the EU Parliament agreed to hold a debate next Tuesday on  protection of journalists and the defense of media freedom in Malta , according to a draft agenda adopted on Thursday.   Malta is a Mecca for money launderers and tax avoiders,  Greens EU legislator Sven Giegold said.  Malta s center of power suffers from a culture of impunity unlike hardly any other country in the EU. Europe must no longer turn a blind eye to the way in which the rule of law is flouted in Malta.  Muscat has rejected criticism that he has allowed wealthy foreigners to hold great sway over Malta, and says the financial services sector is as transparent and compliant as any other European jurisdiction.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के नेताओं ने माल्टा में पत्रकार की हत्या की पूरी जांच का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy on Friday finalized a determination that the landmark fuel efficiency rules instituted by President Barack Obama should be locked in through 2025, a bid to maintain a key part of his administration’s climate legacy. Major U.S. and foreign automakers have appealed to President-elect Donald Trump, who has been critical of Obama’s climate policies, to review the rules requiring them to nearly double fleet-wide fuel efficiency by 2025, saying they impose significant costs and are out of step with consumer preferences.  As part of a 2012 regulation, EPA had to decide by April 2018 whether to modify the 2022-2025 model year vehicle emission rules requiring average fleet-wide efficiency of more than 50 miles per gallon. In November, the agency moved up the timetable for proposing that automakers can meet the 2025 standards. McCarthy said in a statement her determination, a legally binding decision to maintain the fuel efficiency rules, rests on an extensive technical record.  McCarthy said in her determination the rules are “feasible, practical and appropriate” and in “the best interests of the auto industry.”  She told automakers the EPA could consider adopting new rules “to provide additional incentives for very clean technologies or flexibilities that could assist manufacturers with longer term planning.”    In 2011, Obama announced agreement with major automakers to raise fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon. This, the administration said, would save motorists $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles, but cost the auto industry about $200 billion over 13 years.  In July, EPA said because Americans were buying fewer cars and more SUVs and trucks, it now estimated the fleet will average 50.8 mpg to 52.6 mpg in 2025.  Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade association representing General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp , Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and others, criticized the decision. “Our fundamental priority remains striking the right balance to continue fuel economy gains and carbon reduction without compromising consumer affordability and vital auto-sector jobs,” she said. Automakers hope to work with regulators and California, Bergquist said, “to see whether we can find a prudent compromise path forward that avoids an unnecessary and counterproductive regulatory collision.” Environmental groups praised the decision. Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the standards were working.  “Automakers have the technologies to continue their progress in a cost-effective way. It will keep us on track to reduce oil use by 2.4 million barrels a day, cut global warming emissions and keep American-made vehicles competitive in a rapidly-changing global market,” he said. Legal experts have said it will be more difficult for the Trump administration and Congress to undo the determination than to unwind other regulatory actions issued by the Obama administration during its final months in office. The 2025 determination is not a new regulation, so the EPA, under Trump, would likely have to go through an extensive process before withdrawing the determination, and could face lawsuits from environmental groups if they took that step. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement “a new administration is no reason to shift progress to reverse.”

Summary: ई. पी. ए. ने 2025 के ईंधन दक्षता नियमों को लागू किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - A new political party led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is floating populist slogans such as ending nuclear power and freezing a sales tax hike ahead of a general election next month, but voters may find few other big policy gaps with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Koike s Party of Hope, formally launched on Wednesday with a slick promotion video and news conference, could attract voters who feel Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has become complacent, even arrogant, after nearly five years in office. The new party adds more uncertainty to the election. Abe s LDP-led coalition is unlikely to lose its grip on power, but a weak showing would erode Abe s clout, make policy initiatives harder and jeopardize his hopes of becoming Japan s longest-serving premier.  There s not much daylight between Koike s party and the LDP,  said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York.  It s a question of who can impress the voters as more competent. It s competence and it s character.  The Party of Hope shares policy space with both the conservative, business-friendly LDP and the right wing of the main opposition Democratic Party, an often fractious mix of conservatives and liberals. The Democrats are struggling with defections to the new party and single-digit ratings.  Asked about media reports that she discussed a merger or tie-up with the Democrats  leader, Koike told public broadcaster NHK she was not interested.   Rather than party to party, I welcome participation by individuals who share our policies,  she said, adding her party had been approached by many would-be candidates.         Some political analysts suggest Koike might opt to ally with the LDP after the election, given their policy similarities.  Abe, promising strong leadership to cope with Japan s fast-ageing population and a rising threat from North Korea, is betting the LDP and its junior coalition partner can keep their majority in parliament s lower house, where they hold a two-thirds  super majority . He will dissolve the lower house on Thursday for a vote expected on Oct. 22. The 63-year-old premier returned to power in December 2012 for a rare second term, promising to bolster Japan s defense and reboot its deflation-plagued economy with hyper-easy monetary policy, spending and reforms. He has made revising the post-war, pacifist constitution a key plank in his long-term agenda. Koike, 65, served as defense minister in Abe s first 2006-07 cabinet, but she defied the LDP to run successfully for Tokyo governor last year and, in July, her novice local party handed the LDP an historic defeat in a Tokyo assembly poll. The media-savvy former TV announcer - often floated as a candidate to become Japan s first female premier - is looking to repeat that success nationally. She said on Wednesday, though, that she wouldn t run for parliament this time. A vague Party of Hope platform unveiled on Wednesday pledged to be a  tolerant, conservative reform party,  break free of vested interests, protect the public, spend tax money wisely and respect diversity. Koike has, however, distanced herself from the LDP on two issues that could resonate with voters. She has suggested freezing a rise in the sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent, from 2019, and called for an end to nuclear power - without saying how or by when. The latter issue has sparked speculation Koike could win the backing from once popular former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who advocates an immediate end to atomic energy. Abe, in contrast, says he ll go ahead with the tax hike but divert some revenue to childcare and education instead of paying back public debt. His government plans to keep atomic power as a basic energy source despite public concerns after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. Koike has criticized the prime minister s  Abenomics  growth policy for not making people feel good, but she has not outlined what she d do instead, except speed up reform. Both Abe and Koike are hawkish on security policy, although she has said little lately except to pledge  practical diplomacy and security policy based on pacifism . She has said debate was inevitable on revising the post-war constitution, but should not be limited to the divisive issue of amending pacifist Article 9, which Abe wants to change to clarify the military s status. Promises to reform  vested interest politics  and end governance through back-room deals often resonate with Japanese voters, who periodically long for change from the LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the past six decades.

Summary: जापान में, नई पार्टी ने आबे को लोकलुभावन नारों के साथ चुनौती दी; लेकिन नीतिगत अंतर बहुत कम है


(This version of the May 10 story has been corrects to update new name of group to “GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders” from “Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders,” in the sixth paragraph) By Daniel Trotta and Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) - The legal battle over transgender rights between the state of North Carolina and the U.S. government has moved the country closer to settling one of the last frontiers in civil rights law.  At issue is whether transgender people deserve the same federal protections that have been extended to groups such as blacks and religious minorities. Backers of the North Carolina law, which requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity, say it will protect women and girls from predators. Transgender advocates say that claim is unfounded and ignores a modern understanding of people who identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth.  The next step is likely to be a federal judge’s decision on whether to impose an injunction, or temporary ruling, to void the North Carolina law pending a trial. Regardless of how a judge might rule on an injunction, the case stands to add to a growing body of legal decisions that have tended to side in favor of transgender rights but not enough to dissuade states like North Carolina.  A handful of U.S. states and cities have attempted to enact measures affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, but North Carolina is the first state to focus on transgender people’s use of public bathrooms.    “This is absolutely a critical moment in terms of the focus and the answers that will come through these cases about the established scope of protections for transgender people,” said Jennifer Levi, a lawyer with GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. The North Carolina law is the subject of four lawsuits in federal court, two on each side. The U.S. Justice Department and an advocacy group, the American Civil Liberties Union, have each sought to strike it down, saying the law violates the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which jolted a divided nation into applying full rights to African-Americans a century after the abolition of slavery. North Carolina’s governor and legislature both sued on Monday to protect their law, saying the Justice Department was trying to strike down a “common sense privacy policy” meant to protect the state’s public employees. State officials also said if the Obama administration wants protections for transgender people, it should appeal to Congress to amend existing laws. At least two provisions of federal law ban discrimination on the basis of sex — Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which covers and employment, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The issue before the courts is whether “sex” also applies to gender identity. The Obama administration has taken a firm stance that transgender people are protected, a point that Attorney General Loretta Lynch emphasized on Monday. “The entire Obama administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward,” Lynch told transgender people in remarks at a news conference.  Lynch also threatened to withhold federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina while the legal case proceeds. North Carolina stands to lose $4.8 billion in funds, mainly educational grants, if it does not back down from the law, according to an analysis by lawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School. Unless North Carolina backs down, any ruling by a trial judge would likely be challenged and end up in a Virginia-based federal appeals court that only weeks ago issued an important ruling in favor of transgender rights. That court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, said a transgender teen from Virginia could sue his high school for being barred from using the boy’s bathroom. The court noted that federal education officials have interpreted Title IX to apply to transgender people but did not directly rule on the issue.  So far, only one appeals court has explicitly ruled that the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against transgender people, in a 2005 case brought by a police officer. At least five other appeals courts have suggested that they agreed, some in cases involving other federal discrimination laws. The U.S. Supreme Court could help settle the matter, but experts said it was unlikely to take up any precedent-setting case any time soon.

Summary: उत्तरी कैरोलिना ट्रांसजेंडर लड़ाई नागरिक अधिकार कानून का विस्तार कर सकती है


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday his government s future was at risk if it lost a Sydney by-election this weekend and failed to regain its one-seat majority, forcing it to rely on independents to survive in power. Turnbull s conservative voter base in the harbourside seat of Bennelong, usually a safe blue-ribbon seat, has collapsed, according to an opinion poll on Tuesday. The Newspoll in The Australian newspaper said Turnbull s Liberal-National coalition and the opposition Labor each have a 50 percent chance of winning on a two-party preferred vote, with Liberal voters deserting to a newly formed conservative party.  It is a tight race. It is very high cost. If Labor were to win in Bennelong, then (Labor leader) Bill Shorten would be very close to becoming prime minister,  Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. If Turnbull loses Bennelong, it would only take the loss of support from key independents in a vote of no confidence to see his minority government topple. Centre-left Labor has not held power since 2013. Turnbull has led a minority government since October after his deputy prime minister was forced to quit parliament for holding dual citizenship. Under Australia s constitution, national politicians can only have Australian citizenship. The deputy prime minister was re-elected on Dec. 2 after renouncing his New Zealand citizenship, but Turnbull failed to regain his one-seat majority because Bennelong s Liberal incumbent, former tennis champion John Alexander, quit parliament because he believed he might hold dual Australian-British citizenship. Turnbull s future now rests on the voters of the affluent Bennelong electorate, where 13 percent of electors were born in either China or Hong Kong. But a strain in relations between Australia and China in the past week may cost Turnbull votes. Turnbull announced last week a ban on foreign political donations aimed at preventing external influence in domestic politics. He singled out China in announcing the ban, prompting a rebuke in China s People s Daily newspaper.  Australia must recognise China is now leading the world. The government s attitude towards China will cost them votes, said Cao Gui Dong, a candidate for the Christian Democrat Party in Bennelong. A loss in Bennelong would also see Turnbull s grip on the prime ministership again come under scrutiny, with one Liberal politician already calling for him to quit before Christmas. Turnbull has fought off leadership speculation for most of 2017, amid a slump in polls as voters flock to far-right parties, but has vowed to lead his government to the next election due in 2019. (This version of the story fixes typo paragraph six)

Summary: सिडनी उपचुनाव हारने पर सरकार खतरे मेंः ऑस्ट्रेलियाई प्रधानमंत्री


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York state judge on Tuesday that under the U.S. Constitution she had no jurisdiction over the president and therefore urged her to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by a woman who has accused Trump of sexual harassment. The lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” contends that Trump’s denials of her accusations amounted to false and defamatory statements. Being “branded a liar” by Trump, the lawsuit said, has harmed her and her business.  Trump’s lawyers, led by Marc Kasowitz, said the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause prevented the judge from letting Zervos’s lawsuit proceed in a state court.  The hour-long hearing was held in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where Zervos’s lawyers responded that there was no legal precedent preventing a state court from ruling on the conduct of a president outside his official duties.  “The motion today has nothing to do with putting anyone above the law,” Kasowitz told Justice Jennifer Schecter. Under the Supremacy Clause, he said, “a state court may not exercise jurisdiction over the president of the United States while he or she is in office.” Schecter occasionally stopped Kasowitz to ask him to clarify his views on her jurisdiction. She asked him if it mattered that she would not be directing the president in his official duties, only potentially ruling on whether his comments as a candidate defamed Zervos. Kasowitz said it made no difference.  “What that means is the president being haled into court, and once the president is haled into court there are innumerable obligations that flow from that,” he said, saying this would amount to inappropriate “control” over the president. Mariann Wang, the lead lawyer for Zervos, argued, “There is no case that holds that a federal official cannot be held to account in a state court.”  Trump’s lawyers did not dispute this.  Wang acknowledged that the president holds a unique position but noted that even the president has downtime. They could, for example, meet Trump during one of his weekend visits to his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida to record a video deposition, she suggested. The judge said she would rule later. Trump’s lawyers have said in court filings that Zervos is making false, self-contradictory and politically motivated accusations and that the president’s remarks were “non-actionable fiery rhetoric.” Zervos has accused Trump of groping her during meetings in 2007. She filed her lawsuit in January, three days before Trump’s inauguration. In March, she subpoenaed Trump’s presidential campaign for any documents concerning similar allegations against him.  Trump has said accusations by Zervos and other women who last year accused him of sexual harassment are false. If the case went ahead, it could lead to Trump being compelled to hand over any documents from his campaign related to any accusations of sexual impropriety made against him.  Zervos’s lawyers, including Gloria Allred, have cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Clinton v. Jones, which allowed former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill Clinton to proceed in 1997 while he was still U.S. president.  The decision led to Clinton’s impeachment after he lied under oath about his sexual relationship with another woman, Monica Lewinsky. Trump’s lawyers have said that Clinton v. Jones only applies to lawsuits in federal courts, not state courts. Zervos met Trump after becoming a contestant on NBC’s “The Apprentice” in 2005. She has accused Trump of kissing her against her will at his New York office in 2007 and later groping her in a hotel in Beverley Hills after she met with him about a possible job. She was one of several women who made accusations against Trump after the emergence last year of a conversation caught on an open microphone in 2005 in which he spoke in vulgar terms about trying to have sex with women. Trump has said the comments amounted to “locker room banter,” and his campaign issued a statement in which he apologized if anyone was offended. Since the lawsuit was filed, numerous accusations of sexual misconduct have been made against powerful men in politics, media and entertainment.

Summary: ट्रंप के वकीलों का कहना है कि न्यायाधीश के पास मानहानि के मुकदमे के लिए अधिकार क्षेत्र नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is expected to visit Miami as early as next Friday to announce a new Cuba policy that could tighten rules on trade and travel, rolling back parts of former President Barack Obama’s opening to the island, according to a U.S. official and people familiar with the matter. Trump’s aides are nearing completion of a review of relations with Cuba and are expected to send recommendations to his national security team and then to the president in coming days, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Plans are in the works for Trump to roll out his new approach on June 16 in a speech in Miami, where he is expected to claim fulfillment of a campaign promise and justify it, at least in part, on human rights grounds, the sources said. But they cautioned that a delay in the announcement is still possible if it takes longer for Trump to make a final decision. While specific changes have not yet been finalized, the sources say Trump is likely to unveil a partial rather than complete rollback of Obama’s actions, which included restoration of relations and reopening of embassies after a diplomatic breakthrough in 2014 with America’s former Cold War foe. Among the options under consideration are banning U.S. companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises tied to the military – which controls a large part of the communist-ruled island’s economy – and tightening rules on Americans traveling there, according to people familiar with the discussions. With the Cuba review approaching its final stages, both sides of the issue have recently stepped up lobbying to sway Trump’s decision. In the letter sent to Trump on Friday, seven of his fellow Republicans warned that rescinding Obama’s policies would “incentivize Cuba to once again become dependent on countries like Russia and China.” Senior officials at the National Security Council met on Friday to begin finalizing a list of recommendations, the sources said. Trump’s changes are expected to stop short of breaking diplomatic relations restored two years ago after more than five decades of hostility, administration officials say. But divisions remain within the Trump administration over how far to go, especially given that rapprochement with Cuba has created opportunities for American companies. Some aides have argued that Trump, a former real estate magnate who won the presidency promising to unleash U.S. business and create jobs, would have a hard time defending any moves that close off the Cuban market. But other advisers have contended that it is important to make good on a promise to Cuban-Americans whose support they considered significant winning Florida in the 2016 election. Miami is home to the largest Cuban-American community. The U.S. airline and travel industries have made clear they do not want to see reinstatement of Cuba restrictions. “Imposing new regulations on travel to and trade with Cuba would be bad politics, bad policy, and bad for U.S. business,” said James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, a Washingon-based lobbying group. But Trump has come under heavy pressure from Cuban-American lawmakers, including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, to roll back Obama’s rapprochement. Rubio, a member of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees, is seen by Trump’s aides as an important figure to cultivate at a time when the members of his administration are under investigation over contacts with Russian officials. Rubio and other Obama critics have argued that he gave away too much to Cuban President Raul Castro for too little in return, especially on human rights. Trump’s aides are considering ways to make future engagement moves contingent on the Cuban government’s improvement on human rights and political freedoms, U.S. officials say. Such an emphasis would contrast sharply with Trump’s approach in other parts of the world where he has insisted the United States would stop lecturing other countries on the issue. “Trump - friend of Putin, Sissi, Salman, Duterte, Erdogan - will cite human rights to justify hurting the Cuban people,” tweeted Ben Rhodes, Obama’s former deputy national security adviser and an architect of his Cuba détente policy. Trump threatened shortly after his election in November to “terminate” Obama’s approach unless Cuba made significant concessions, something it is unlikely to do. Obama implemented his normalization measures through executive actions, and Trump has the power to undo much of it.

Summary: ट्रंप अगले शुक्रवार को नई क्यूबा नीति का खुलासा कर सकते हैंः सूत्र


(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal calls for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to be questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee over his failure to disclose meetings with Russia’s ambassador during last year’s presidential campaign. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the U.S. political scandal over contacts between the Russian ambassador and members of Trump’s administration looks like “a witch hunt.” Less than five weeks after Trump took office, the chances of a thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow – once buoyed by an apparent “bromance” between Trump and President Vladimir Putin – are much dimmer, U.S. officials say. A Kremlin spokesman says Trump’s proposed increase in U.S. defense spending is an internal matter for Washington and does not concern Russia unless it disrupts the existing strategic balance of power. New Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tells employees he will not sell off federal lands, as had been feared, but says he plans to review Obama-era measures that limited energy development on some federal land and undertake a “bold” reorganization of his 70,000-employee agency. The Trump administration’s attempts to plug leaks creates unease among some career civil servants who say the campaign appears designed to limit the flow of information inside and outside government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Washington on March 14 to meet Trump, their first encounter after a rocky start to relations amid disagreements about trade, Trump’s travel ban and his comments about the media. The Trump administration says it is suspending action on an Obama administration decision in October to investigate a long-time practice by some airlines of preventing various travel websites from showing their fares. Mexico is prepared to negotiate changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement to modernize the 23-year-old open trade pact grouping the United States, Canada and Mexico, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo says. Mexico’s peso rallies to a nearly four-month high after the new U.S. commerce secretary offered support to the battered currency and said Mexico and the United States could reach a mutually beneficial trade deal.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी 3 मार्च को दोपहर 2ः50 बजे ई. टी.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nine senators from his own Republican party urged President Donald Trump on Thursday to take a “tough-minded” approach to Russia, joining a growing chorus of lawmakers addressing concerns that he might be too conciliatory toward Moscow. The nine senators, including the Senate’s number two Republican, John Cornyn, wrote in a letter to Trump that cooperation with Moscow is essential in many areas, but calling for tough action on Ukraine, Syria and cyber security. “However, while we should seek common ground with Russia in the areas of mutual interest, we must never pursue cooperation with Russia at the expense of our fundamental interests of defending our allies and promoting our values,” they wrote. The letter said the United States should condemn, and take steps to stop, Russian aggression in Ukraine, including maintaining sanctions and imposing new ones as necessary. They also want Trump to send Ukraine lethal weapons to defend itself. Trump’s open admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and promises to rebuild frayed U.S. ties with Moscow have raised questions, in Washington and among U.S. allies, over his commitment to maintaining sanctions against Russia for its involvement in fighting in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The letter also said Washington should not enter into any agreement with Moscow on Syria until Russia stops supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And it said Washington should counter cyber attacks blamed on Russia. The letter was led by Senator Cory Gardner. Besides Cornyn and Gardner, it was also signed by Jim Inhofe, Todd Young, Rob Portman, Mike Rounds, Joni Ernst, Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have also introduced legislation seeking additional action against Russia, although there has been no action on most of those bills just three weeks into the Trump administration. Some lawmakers have also sought to give Congress a voice over whether Trump, who has issued a series of executive orders on a range of issues, can ease current sanctions on Russia.

Summary: नौ रिपब्लिकन सीनेटरों ने ट्रम्प से रूस की सख्त नीति अपनाने का आग्रह किया


(Reuters) - Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said on Wednesday he expected the federal government to waive the Jones Act, which would lift restrictions on ships that can provide aid to the island devastated by Hurricane Maria. He said he has been speaking with members of Congress from both parties who have supported an emergency waiver.      “We expect them to waive it,” Rossello said in an interview with CNN. He noted there was a seven-day waiver after Hurricane Irma, which was much less devastating to the island.     On Tuesday, the Trump administration said there was no need to waive shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, saying it would do nothing to address the island’s damaged ports, the main impediment to shipping. A waiver would allow Puerto Rico to get help not only from U.S. ships but from any ships that can bring aid.     “That is critical, particularly for fuel,” he said. “One of the considerations right now is the priority of getting fuel, diesel, gasoline, all across the island. Right now we have enough fuel. We’re limited by the transportation logistics, but at some point of course, getting fuel into the island is going to be critical so that we can have the major functions of telecoms, hospitals, water, to be running appropriately.”     The Jones Act requires that all goods shipped between U.S. ports be carried by American owned-and-operated ships. U.S. Senator John McCain asked acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke on Tuesday to grant an emergency waiver of the law. He said that Puerto Rican residents would have to pay at least twice as much for food, drinking water and other supplies without the waiver. (This corrected version of the story fixes paragraph four to show the administration has not formally denied a waiver request).

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको को उम्मीद है कि अमेरिका जोन्स एक्ट शिपिंग प्रतिबंधों को हटा देगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump will meet with retired U.S. General David Petraeus on Monday as the president-elect considers him to serve as U.S. secretary of state, Bloomberg reported, citing a senior official with Trump’s transition team. Petraeus, a former CIA director who resigned in 2012 after it emerged he had an extra-marital affair, has indicated that he would serve in Trump’s administration if asked.

Summary: ट्रम्प सेवानिवृत्त जनरल पेट्रियस को शीर्ष राजनयिक मानते हैंः ब्लूमबर्ग