BAMA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria s government has a plan for the northeast, torn apart by eight years of conflict with Boko Haram: displaced people will be housed in fortified garrison towns, ringed by farms, with the rest of the countryside effectively left to fend for itself. The vision for the state of Borno, ground zero for the war with the Islamist insurgency, is a stark admission of the reality in the northeast. For two years, the military and government have said Boko Haram is all but defeated, and the remnants are being mopped up.  But the military is largely unable to control territory beyond the cities and towns it has wrested back from Boko Haram. That means many of the nearly 2 million displaced people across the northeast cannot return to their homes in rural areas. Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, said it was not possible for people to live in small villages.  There s beauty in numbers, there s security in numbers. So our target is to congregate all the people in five major urban settlements and provide them with means of livelihood, education, health care and of course security,  he told Reuters.  It s a long term solution, certainly.   The plan for the eastern part of the state, centered on the town of Bama, is intended as a pilot scheme to be rolled out in other parts of Borno if it is successful. Vigilantes, currently members of a group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, will become agricultural rangers, the governor said.  Aided by Nigerian security forces, they will aim to secure and patrol a five-km (three-mile) radius around each garrison town where people can farm. Peter Lundberg, the United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, who heads the organization s response in the northeast, said the reconstruction of Bama town, the second biggest in the state, was  logical .   People are very eager to go back if the conditions are right and if the conditions are safe, if the conditions are dignified, and of course it has to be voluntary,  he told Reuters. Sentiment amongst the displaced is mixed. Abubakar Goni, who lived outside Bama before fleeing to the Borno state capital Maiduguri, said he wants to return home, but if the town is safer he will agree to go there.  I will support it as long as I will have a place to farm. I am also happy to hear the government will give us protection on the farm because I learnt Boko Haram men are still around.  Others, like Tijja Modu Alhaji, are wary of potential disputes between residents of the towns where people will be sent and the returnees.  I don t want to stay in Bama because I will still be a stranger there, just as I am in Maiduguri now,  he said.  I want to go home, not to somebody else s land.  The governor s plan is still in its early stages. It involves bringing back thousands of people who fled the town of Bama and the surrounding area and sought refuge in camps in Maiduguri and elsewhere.  They will eventually be housed in towns such as Bama, which was largely abandoned by its inhabitants when Boko Haram took it three years ago, but has since been recaptured by the military. Many of Bama s buildings are still shells, windows smashed, doors ripped out and roofs gone. Telephone and electricity wires remain torn down, more than two years after the military evicted Boko Haram. It is not clear how the returnees will be housed. There are already 15,000 people in a crowded camp for displaced local residents set up by the military after it retook the town. The United Nations had planned to move them gradually to new shelters accommodating 30,000 people that have been erected in the town, but the military said it could not oversee two camps there at the same time, UN and military officials told Reuters. The government has announced plans to build 3,000 homes in the Bama area. But there are concerns about how people sent to the town will manage, since many did not originally live there.  It s one thing to move people to Bama,  said Lundberg.  Unless the engine of the economy can restart, the risk is that people are moving back to places where they will become very dependent (on aid).  Aid workers said the demarcation between garrison towns and a lawless countryside means people have a choice: live in virtual quarantine, or return to their homes in the countryside, where Boko Haram roam, and be treated by security forces as potential insurgency sympathizers.   You re imprisoned, but you re safe,  said one senior relief worker, speaking on condition of anonymity.  If you prefer your own life you can do it on the outside.  Boko Haram s recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that killed at least 50 in a mosque in Adamawa state last week, are the  last kicks of a dying horse,  Nigeria s Information Minister Lai Mohammed said last Sunday. But military and diplomatic officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said overstretched troops are unable to push Boko Haram out of non-urban areas. Much of Borno is not under the authorities  control and attacks are rife.  On Saturday, suicide bombers killed at least 13 people in the town of Biu and injured 53 others.  Borno is not getting better at all. It may have even gotten worse,  a diplomat said of the security situation outside urban areas.  There is no recovery and stabilization.

Summary: नाइजीरिया ने किले के कस्बों को नई बोको हराम रणनीति के केंद्र में रखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. senator who oversees the United States’ UN funding threatened on Friday to pull financial support for the international body if it moves forward with a vote on a resolution over Israeli settlements, and for any nation that backs the measure. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who oversees the Senate subcommittee that controls such assistance, said in a statement: “If the United Nations moves forward with the ill-conceived resolution, I will work to form a bipartisan coalition to suspend or significantly reduce United States assistance to the United Nations.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटर ने इजरायल पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रस्ताव पर सहायता पर अंकुश लगाने की धमकी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight Democratic senators asked U.S. regulators on Tuesday to launch an investigation into billionaire Carl Icahn’s activities in the U.S. biofuels blending credit market, saying the activist investor may have violated trading laws since becoming an adviser to President Donald Trump. “We are writing to request that your agencies investigate whether Carl Icahn violated insider trading laws, anti-market manipulation laws, or any other relevant laws based on his recent actions in the market for renewable fuel credits,” the senators said in a letter to the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. The letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, was signed by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and five others. The agencies are not required to act on it.  Efforts to reach Icahn for comment were not immediately successful. There have been months of public outcry from Democratic lawmakers and liberal watchdog groups concerned that Icahn’s dual role as a high-powered investor and presidential adviser could lead to conflicts of interest. Trump, a Republican, named Icahn as an unpaid adviser on regulation shortly after November’s election, saying the choice could help him slash red tape and bolster economic growth.  In February, Icahn submitted a proposal to the White House to change the U.S. biofuels program in a way that would ease its regulatory burden on oil refining companies, already struggling with low profit margins. Icahn owns a majority stake in refining company CVR Energy Inc (CVI.N). The White House is considering the proposal. An administration official did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A Reuters review of securities filings last month showed that CVR had accumulated a large short position in biofuels blending credits, called Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, which many refiners are required to purchase under the biofuels law. That meant the company would have been in a strong position to profit if RIN prices fell. In their letter, the senators pointed out that RIN prices dropped sharply in late February after Icahn’s proposal on the biofuels regulation was reported. “We have no way of knowing at this time whether Mr. Icahn made any of his renewable fuel credit trades or decisions about trades based on material, non-public information or otherwise manipulated the market,” the senators wrote.  “But the publicly available evidence is troubling, and based on this evidence, we ask that your agencies investigate whether Mr. Icahn’s conduct violated any laws under your jurisdiction,” they said. Icahn previously dismissed accusations that his proposal to the White House to change the biofuels program was self-serving, saying the overhaul would help other refining companies too, including his competitors.  CVR Energy shares fell 0.4 percent to $22.20 on Tuesday. A CVR spokesman declined to comment. Shares in Icahn’s investment firm, Icahn Enterprises (IEP.O), fell 4.3 percent to $50.82. Icahn, 81, has spent decades doing battle with major companies as an activist investor, and has amassed a fortune that Forbes Magazine pegs above $20 billion. In recent years, he built up an 82 percent stake in CVR, making him a player in the niche biofuels market. “Carl Icahn is not shy, and he knows his voice and his actions as special adviser can influence the RIN markets,” said Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen, a liberal watchdog group that has already asked Congress to investigate whether Icahn had violated any lobbying disclosure laws. “The real issue is did Carl Icahn use his position as special adviser to unduly impact the RIN market and then make corresponding bets on those moves,” Slocum said.  CVR Energy’s refining unit (CVRR.N) posted a net gain of $6.4 million associated with the biofuel credits market in the first quarter of 2017, a $50 million turnaround from the year-ago period when CVR shelled out $43.1 million, the company said in a filing. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, requires increasing volumes of biofuels to be blended into the nation’s gasoline and diesel every year. It places that responsibility mainly on refiners, who are required to blend the fuel themselves or purchase credits from others that do it for them. Icahn’s proposal had called for regulators to shift the responsibility for blending from refiners, many of which lack sufficient blending capacity, to terminal operators.  A number of biofuels groups oppose the proposed change, saying it could undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard by making it more complicated, since there are many times more terminal operators than refining companies.  “Moving the point of obligation would require a dramatic increase in the staff required to track this at EPA, all while delivering poorer supervision, increasing the complexity of the program, and ultimately higher costs for American drivers,” said Growth Energy Chief Executive Emily Skor.

Summary: अमेरिकी डेमोक्रेटिक सीनेटरों ने इकान के जैव ईंधन ऋण सौदों की जांच की मांग की


ERBIL/LONDON, Iraq (Reuters) - About five million people in Kurdish-held areas of northern Iraq will be summoned to take part in a non-binding referendum on independence from Iraq on Monday. They will be asked to tick a yes/no box next to this question:  Do you want the Kurdistan region and the Kurdish areas outside the region s administration to become an independent state?   The Kurds are the largest ethnic group left stateless when Britain and France, the colonial powers which won World War One, carved up the Ottoman empire. The region s roughly 30 million ethnic Kurds were left scattered, mainly over four countries: Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. All of them suffered persecution and were often denied the right to speak their language. Those in Iraq were uprooted under Saddam Hussein s regime and suffered an attack using chemical weapons.  The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq says the Shi ite ruled central government in Baghdad has failed to respect autonomy established after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in a U.S.-led invasion.  The KRG says the vote acknowledges the Kurds  crucial contribution confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq. WHAT S THE LIKELY OUTCOME AND WHAT S THE NEXT MOVE:  The outcome is likely  to be a comfortable  yes . The KRG, led by Massoud Barzani, plans to use the vote as a legitimate mandate to press for negotiations with Baghdad and neighboring countries to achieve independence.   Baghdad thinks the vote could lead to a messy breakup of Iraq at a time when it is struggling with reconstruction and the return of refugees. It offers talks to resolve disputes over land, energy and power sharing, including the status of the multi-ethnic oil region of Kirkuk. Iraq s powerful neighbors fear separatist contagion for their own Kurdish populations. Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish minority. It has been fighting Kurdish insurrection in its south-east since 1984. Iran s Kurds are close culturally to Iraq s Kurds and they speak the same Kurdish language. Tehran is also close to the Shi ite political parties who have been ruling Iraq or holding key security or government positions since 2003.  Syria is embroiled in a civil war in which its own Kurds are pressing for self-administration. About everyone, including the United States and United Nations who fear a destabilization of Iraq while the war with Islamic State is not yet over.  WHY OIL-RICH KIRKUK IS EMERGING AS A FLASHPOINT:  Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city. It lies outside the recognized Kurdish region and is home to Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrian Christians. It sits on susbtantial oil reserves and its crude is exported through a pipeline to the Mediterranean that crosses KRG territory and Turkey. If Turkey decides to close the pipeline, it would deprive the KRG government in Erbil of most its hard currency income. Iraqi Kurdistan produces around 650,000 bpd of crude from its fields, including around 150,000 bpd from the disputed areas of Kirkuk. The region s production volumes represent 15 percent of total Iraqi output and around 0.7 percent of global oil production. The KRG aspires to raise production to over 1 million bpd by the end of this decade.  Kurdish oil production has been dominated by mid-sized oil firms such as Genel, DNO, Gulf Keystone and Dana Gas.  Major oil firms such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Rosneft also have projects in Kurdistan but they are mostly at an exploration stage. Russia s state oil major Rosneft, however, has lent over $1 billion to the KRG guaranteed by oil sales and committed a total of $4 billion to various projects in Kurdistan. Trading houses Vitol, Glencore, Trafigura and Petraco have lent a total of $2 billion to Kurdistan guaranteed by oil sales while Turkey has also provided a total of $1.5 billion to support Erbil in the past two years. All registered residents of the Kurdish-held region in northern Iraq, Kurds and non-Kurds, are eligible to vote. The Kurdish-held regions include those inside the official boundaries of the KRG and surrounding areas that Peshmerga fighters seized in the course of the war on Islamic State. Kirkuk lies outside the KRG and is also claimed by Baghdad. Internally displaced people from the disputed territories will be allowed to vote. Iraq s Kurdish diaspora will also be allowed to submit electronic ballots on Sept. 23 and 24. The United Nations opposes the referendum and says it will  not participate in the process.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः इराक के कुर्द स्वतंत्रता पर ऐतिहासिक जनमत संग्रह में मतदान करेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Sea trips between Vladivostok, Russia and isolated North Korea have resumed after a two-month break, with the transport of cargo, the RIA news agency reported on Monday, quoting the head of the company operating the route. The North Korean-flagged Mangyonbong left the Russian port  for North Korea s Rajin on Sunday, RIA said, citing the company s director general, Vladimir Baranov. The ferry line, the only one between the two countries, was opened in May to carry cargo and passengers, predominantly Chinese tourists. It stopped operating in August, however, because the port in Vladivostok refused to provide services to the vessel after the company failed to pay for them, RIA reported citing a port official. The ferry service was launched in May in spite of calls by the United States for countries to curtail relations with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs. On Monday, Katina Adams, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington expected all U.N. member states, including Russia, to fully implement U.N. sanctions on North Korea and urged countries  to take additional steps to apply maximum pressure on (North Korea), including by cutting their economic and diplomatic ties.  Baranov said the ferry was carrying only cargoes and no passengers for now, though the company was in talks with the port to resume passenger traffic, RIA said. Pyongyang s nuclear tests and missile launches have stirred global tensions and prompted several rounds of international sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. Russia has condemned North Korea s weapons testing but opposes U.S.-led efforts to isolate North Korea economically. President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree imposing restrictions on North Korea in order to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution introduced in response to Pyongyang s missile tests in late 2016.

Summary: रूस ने उत्तर कोरिया के लिए नौका मार्ग फिर से खोला


DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday Saudi Arabia was blaming Iran for the consequences of its own  wars of aggression , after his Saudi counterpart accused Tehran of threatening regional security.  KSA (Saudi Arabia) is engaged in wars of aggression, regional bullying, destabilizing behavior (and) risky provocations. It blames Iran for the consequences,  Zarif said on his Twitter account.

Summary: ईरान का कहना है कि सऊदी अरब अपने 'आक्रामकता के युद्धों' के परिणाम का सामना कर रहा है


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, said on Tuesday night he supported Bernie Sanders in the U.S. presidential race, adding that the candidate, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, would win if the vote were “free.”  Maduro, a socialist who sees himself as the political heir to his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has long railed against the United States, blaming it for Venezuela’s economic crisis and accusing Washington of attempting to topple him. “Bernie Sanders, our revolutionary friend, ought to win in the United States,” Maduro said during an hours-long televised broadcast.  “If the elections were free ... Bernie Sanders would be president of the United States,” he said, criticizing the U.S. Electoral College system as unrepresentative of popular sentiment.  Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, trails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. In an email to supporters in September, Sanders called Chavez a “dead communist dictator.” Venezuela is reeling from a brutal economic crisis that has seen food and medicine running short and spiraling inflation destroying incomes.  The United States and Venezuela have had troubled relations since Chavez became president in 1999, and the countries have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010. Maduro suffered a blow on Tuesday, when the head of the Washington-based Organization of American States called an urgent meeting to discuss whether Venezuela was violating basic democratic principles, paving the way for a vote that could suspend it from the regional diplomatic body. (reut.rs/1P1h0ND) Maduro is also under pressure from Venezuela’s opposition, which is pushing for a recall referendum to remove him from office this year, although authorities have said there would be no such vote.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के मादुरो अमेरिकी अभियान में 'क्रांतिकारी मित्र' सैंडर्स के लिए जड़ें जमा रहे हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans’ version of a tax cut bill will delay corporate rate cuts by one year to take effect in 2019, and will not include a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate, Republican Senate Finance Committee member Bill Cassidy said. “It’ll be in the initial proposal,” Cassidy, referring to the tax rate delay, told reporters ahead of the plan’s release later on Thursday.

Summary: सीनेट की योजना कॉर्पोरेट कर में कटौती में देरी करेगी, ओबामाकेयर जनादेश को निरस्त नहीं करेगीः सीनेटर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration is exploring hardening its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, two U.S. officials tell Reuters.  Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding U.S. drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally, the two officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other U.S. officials are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous U.S. efforts to curb Pakistan’s support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening U.S. ties to India, Pakistan’s arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.  U.S. officials say generally they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review, due by mid-July, of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.  The discussions include officials from across the Trump administration, including the White House and the Defense Department, both of which declined comment on the review before its completion. Precise actions have yet to be decided. But Pakistan’s embassy in Washington warned against “scapegoating” Pakistan to explain the stalemate in Afghanistan, pointing instead to Afghanistan’s own troubled internal dynamics. It also noted past Pakistani efforts to battle militants and expressed willingness to work with the United States and Afghanistan on border management. “Singling out Pakistan and pinning the entire blame on Pakistan for the situation in Afghanistan is neither fair nor accurate, nor is it borne out by the ground realities,” said Abid Saeed, press minister at the embassy. Experts on America’s longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.  Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration  in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a regional strategy to be presented to Trump, who took office in late January, one official said. “We’ve never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically,” the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other U.S. officials question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say. The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that U.S.-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent. Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional U.S. troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace. “I believe there will be a much harder U.S. line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past,” Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.  Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.  Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at U.S. claims that Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan. A senior Pakistani government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: “They don’t want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism.” Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence. But the Pentagon, in a report to Congress released on Tuesday, explicitly accused elements of Pakistan’s government of supporting Afghanistan-focused militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, who it said retained “freedom of action” within Pakistan.  It called Pakistan “the most influential external actor affecting Afghan stability.” Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the U.S. battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents. The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus U.S. military hardware. Yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow. Some U.S. officials and experts on the region scoff at the title. “Pakistan is not an ally. It’s not North Korea or Iran. But it’s not an ally,” said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution think tank.  Lisa Curtis, prior to becoming senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.  “Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one,” said the February report, published by the conservative Hudson Institute think tank. It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal. The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Kabul.   Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in the Afghan capital - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies. Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, U.S. officials told Reuters. U.S. frustration over the Haqqani’s presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in 2012. U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of the ISI. Any U.S. pivot in its approach would be sharply different than the one taken at the start of the Obama administration, when U.S. officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani. David Sedney, who served as Obama’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a “disaster.” “It didn’t affect Pakistan’s behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan’s behavior worse,” Sedney said. MORE DRONES, CASH CUT-OFF Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in U.S. assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a U.S. Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations. Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.      U.S. officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan. Curtis’ report singled out the aid as a target. But U.S. aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.  Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. officials and a Pakistan expert said. “Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren’t taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves,” said the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified. Pakistan’s army chief of staff last week criticized “unilateral actions” such as drone strikes as “counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan.”

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रंप प्रशासन की नजर पाकिस्तान की ओर सख्त रुख अपनाने पर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chances that the federal government could hand off the U.S. air traffic control system to private management are increasing, say advocates who report they are getting supportive feedback from President-elect Donald Trump and his team. U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, who chairs the House of Representatives Transportation Committee, has met with Trump and incoming Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to make his case for moving the nation’s 14,500 air traffic controllers and their mission out of government control and into a non-profit organization. Shuster and other privatization advocates argue that spinning off air traffic control into a non-government entity would allow for a more efficient system and rapid, cost-effective improvements of technology, in part by avoiding the government procurement process.  The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents controllers, came out in favor of Shuster’s legislation earlier this year. But he has run into bipartisan opposition in both the House and the Senate and push back from some of the nation’s airlines. Opponents say the U.S. system is so large that privatization would not save money, would drive up ticket costs and could create a national security risk. There also are concerns that airlines would dominate the private-company board and limit access to airports by business jets. The National Business Aviation Association, which represents thousands of corporate and individual business jet owners, strongly opposed Shuster’s bill earlier this year. “Our nation’s airspace and airport system should benefit the public and not be controlled by airline interests,” the organization said in April. The landscape might change once Trump, who campaigned on improving the nation’s infrastructure and is a regular user of his own private plane, occupies the White House on Jan. 20. Apart from Shuster, officials and lobbyists who work in infrastructure construction say the idea of privatizing air traffic controllers as part of an infrastructure bill is gaining steam, especially among those who are concerned that Congress will not be able to pass a separate sweeping transportation bill. Congress has been averse to spending money, but privatizing air traffic control systems would shift the cost of upgrades from tax coffers to air travelers, the kind of move that makes lawmakers view it as free instead of an increase in federal spending.  “I’ve had some conversations with Trump transition folks and they seemed very interested in putting this in their larger infrastructure bill,” Shuster said.  The air traffic control system is in need of expensive upgrades, including the multi-billion dollar implementation of “NextGen,” a system that would utilize GPS to direct aircraft instead of the outdated use of radar. In Shuster’s vision, the move would not enrich any particular company as air traffic control would be overseen by a nonprofit that reinvests any profits back into infrastructure improvements.  Shuster first broached the subject with Trump two years ago, he said, and the two have discussed it several additional times. He met with Chao last week. It could take a strong presidential push for the privatization effort. Earlier this year, it failed to get even enough support from Republican members for a vote on the House floor. In February, Delta released a study arguing that privatization would cost air travelers more and would not achieve any savings. Many air traffic controller operations are funded through ticket taxes - which are levied on every flight. Historically, those taxes have been kept low by the government’s aversion to raising rates. But should the ticket tax become the control of an outside board, opponents are concerned that could drive up ticket prices.

Summary: ट्रंप देश के हवाई यातायात नियंत्रकों का निजीकरण कर सकते हैं


(In this Sept. 13 story, corrects definition of intersex in paragraph 5.) SYDNEY (Reuters) - The alarming volume of hate-speech during Australia s ballot over whether to legalize same-sex marriage spurred parliament  to pass emergency legislation on Wednesday to outlaw opponents spewing their vitriol while the vote was in progress. Australia began a non-compulsory postal vote on Tuesday that will determine whether it becomes the 25th country to legalize same-sex marriage. But with an emotionally charged campaign raising concerns about the welfare of vulnerable Australians, the government moved to strengthen laws preventing hate-speech. The opposition Labor Party supported the amendment, though it had rejected the need for a ballot on the issue. Until voting ends on November 7, anyone found guilty of intimidation, or threats to cause harm on the basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status - people who are born with genetic, hormonal or physical sex characteristics that are not typically male or female - or the religious convictions of someone will be liable to fines of A$12,500 (over $10,000) and a court injunction.  This bill cannot stop all of the hurt, all of the prejudice that is being expressed, all of the lack of acceptance that is being communicated to LGBTI Australians, to same-sex couple families. But it provides limited protections,  said Penny Wong, leader of the opposition in the senate.

Summary: शत्रुतापूर्ण समलैंगिक विवाह मतदान ने ऑस्ट्रेलिया को घृणा विरोधी कानून में संशोधन करने के लिए प्रेरित किया


DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police have arrested an Australian, an American and a Malaysian on the holiday island of Bali for drugs offences, the latest foreigners to run afoul of some of the world s strictest laws against narcotics. The three men, who were arrested in separate cases, appeared before the media at a briefing, dressed in orange prison garb, their faces concealed by balaclava, with armed police officers standing guard. It was not immediately clear if any of the three, who were identified only by their initials, would face the death penalty if convicted. Authorities found methamphetamine and the party drug ecstasy hidden in a plastic bottle and another container in the luggage of the Australian after he arrived on a flight from Bangkok on Monday, the customs office said.  Based on the results of the inspection, our officers found five packages containing clear crystals weighing 19.97 grams and 14 tablets weighing a total of 6.22 grams,  Bali Airport customs office chief Himawan Indrajono said in the statement. Australia s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was  providing consular assistance to an Australian man detained in Bali  in response to emailed questions on the arrest. It declined to comment further.  The U.S. citizen was arrested at a Bali post office on Nov. 30 in connection with a package sent from the United States containing 336.6 grams of e-cigarette liquid containing THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in cannabis. The Malaysian was arrested on Nov. 8 after being found with 3.03 grams of leaves thought to be marijuana and 0.65 grams of a white powder suspected to be narcotics, Idrajono said. Possession of small amounts of drugs can incur lengthy jail sentences in Indonesia and larger amounts can result in a death sentence. The execution by firing squad of two Australians in 2015, along with six other drug convicts from several other countries, strained relations between Jakarta and Canberra. Indonesia says it is facing a drug crisis with an estimated  6.4 million drug users in the country of 250 million people, and needs to impose tough punishments to contained the problem. President Joko Widodo has called for a  merciless  crackdown on narcotics, and told law enforcers to shoot drug traffickers if they resisted arrest. That echoes a tough stand taken by Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte who has ordered a war against drugs in which several thousand people have been killed since mid-2016.

Summary: इंडोनेशिया के बाली में मादक पदार्थों के मामले में ऑस्ट्रेलियाई, अमेरिकी, मलेशियाई गिरफ्तार


MIAMI (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters took their frustrations over Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president onto the streets on Friday and into Saturday in several cities, including Portland, Oregon, where one protester was shot. The unidentified man was wounded on Portland’s Morrison Bridge at 12:45 a.m. local time as he and dozens of other protesters crossed it during their demonstration, one of several across the country denouncing Trump’s campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and women. In the Portland incident, police said in a statement that a man got out of a vehicle on the bridge where he confronted and then shot a protester, who was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect is still at large, police added. Earlier in the night, protesters blocked traffic and threw objects at Portland police dressed in riot gear who responded with pepper spray and flash-bang devices. At one point, police pushed protesters back and appeared to take at least one person into custody, according to footage on a local NBC affiliate.  Hundreds of protesters also marched through the streets of Los Angeles, blocking traffic as they waved signs in opposition of Trump and chanted “We reject the president elect” and “Whose streets? Our Streets”.  Several thousand activists marched through downtown Miami, with a few hundred making their way onto a highway, halting traffic in both directions. In New York, demonstrators again gathered in Washington Square Park and by Trump Tower, where the Republican president-elect lives, on Fifth Avenue. Trump, who initially denounced Americans who protested against his election, saying they had been “incited” by the media, reversed course and praised them on Friday. “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!” Trump said on Twitter. The tweets were further evidence of Trump’s mixed messages since he announced his candidacy 17 months ago. After Democrat Hillary Clinton conceded defeat early on Wednesday, he took a far more conciliatory tone than he had often displayed during his campaign and promised to be a president for all Americans.  Anti-Trump demonstrators have voiced concerns that his presidency, due to start on Jan. 20, would infringe on Americans’ civil and human rights.  They cited his campaign promises to restrict immigration and register Muslims, as well as allegations the former reality-TV star sexually abused women. Protesters in various cities have chanted slogans, including “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” and carried signs reading “Impeach Trump”. White supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) have praised Trump’s election, and some civil rights advocacy groups have reported a spike of attacks on minorities following Trump’s victory on Tuesday. Trump has rejected the KKK’s support. Most of the protests across the country, which have also taken place in Washington, D.C., have been largely comprised of young adults and college students. With the country evenly divided, many voters were shocked by the result given that opinion polls failed to predict Trump’s triumph. The Republican Party also managed to maintain its majorities in both houses of Congress in Tuesday’s vote. More anti-Trump demonstrations were planned for the weekend, including in New York and Los Angeles. A group calling itself “#NotMyPresident” has scheduled an anti-Trump rally for Washington on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, when the New York real-estate developer formally succeeds President Barack Obama. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus acknowledged on Friday the tight race with Clinton, but said anti-Trump protesters have to accept the election results. He pointed to Trump’s call for unity and meetings on Thursday with Obama and Republican leaders as reasons for reassurance. Security barricades now shield some of Trump’s most visible properties, including the newly opened Trump International Hotel near the White House and Trump Tower in New York. Trump’s base of support in the election was the broad middle of the country, with voters in states that had long supported Democrats shifting to him after he promised to renegotiate trade deals with other countries.

Summary: ट्रम्प विरोधी प्रदर्शनकारी तीसरी रात के लिए एकत्र हुए, पोर्टलैंड में एक गोली मारी गई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shouts of “Shame, shame, shame,” erupted in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday as Republican lawmakers narrowly defeated legislation to protect the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of government contractors. The measure, an amendment to a veterans and military construction spending bill introduced by New York Democrat Sean Maloney, initially had enough “yes” votes to pass, according to the count in the House chamber. But House Republican leaders extended the time allowed for the vote as they urged enough party members to change their positions to defeat it by a vote of 213 to 212. All 183 Democrats who voted backed the amendment, joined by 29 Republicans. All 213 “no” votes were from Republicans. Eight House members - three Republicans and five Democrats - did not vote. Lawmakers are allowed to change their vote in the few minutes between voting and the result being declared.     LGBT rights have been a hot-button issue during the 2016 election season. National politics have featured debate over whether making cakes for same-sex couples violates bakers’ religious freedom or whether the government should decide which public bathrooms are used by transgender people. Democrats chanted “Shame, shame, shame,” at Republicans. “House Republicans are so committed to discriminating against LGBT Americans, that they broke regular order to force their members to reverse their votes and support Republicans’ bigotry,” Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said in a statement. Republicans who backed the provision said it was necessary to protect the religious rights of military contractors and not intended to be discriminatory. Thursday’s emotionally-charged vote came hours after the House late on Wednesday passed a $602 billion defense authorization bill that included “religious freedom” language that critics said would allow contractors to discriminate against LGBT individuals. The House Rules committee had angered Democrats by voting along party lines late on Tuesday not to allow a vote on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have eliminated that language. The House also backed by 265-159 a separate Democratic amendment to the spending bill that limits the display of the Confederate battle flag on flagpoles at federal veterans’ cemeteries. The measure angered some conservative Republicans from southern states, who argue that the flag is a symbol of their heritage. Some lawmakers have been seeking to limit displays of the Confederate banner since a racially motivated murder of nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, S.C.  last year.

Summary: सांसदों ने एल. जी. बी. टी. अधिकारों के उपाय पर मतदान किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German parties exploring a coalition government remain divided on the issues of a euro zone budget, Europe s banking union and its ESM bailout fund ahead of a meeting of party leaders later on Friday, according to a draft paper on Europe seen by Reuters. The 1-1/2 page document, a blueprint for a new German government s stance on European issues, contains several bracketed sentences, reflecting ongoing areas of disagreement that must be resolved by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other party leaders at their meeting this afternoon.  We reject [a separate euro zone budget as well as] the introduction of instruments that would lead to automatic transfers or a mutualization of debt,  one passage reads, reflecting differences over whether to rule out French President Emmanuel Macron s idea for such a budget. Macron sent his finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, to Berlin this week to talk with leaders of the German parties and try to persuade them not to reject his ideas for a reform of the euro zone in their coalition agreement. In addition to Merkel s conservatives, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) are involved in the talks. The FDP has been particularly critical of Macron s ideas for a euro zone budget, fearful this would open the door to Germany subsidizing economically weak members of the 19-nation single currency bloc. The paper, which included footnotes spelling out where the different parties stood on the divisive issues, showed a degree of FDP isolation on key European issues. But in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday, FDP leader Christian Lindner signaled a readiness to compromise, notably on Europe s rescue fund, saying a party that won 11 percent of the vote in Germany could not dictate the path for all of Europe. During the German election campaign, the FDP argued that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) should be wound down, while the other parties argued it should be developed further into a European version of the International Monetary Fund.  The ESM has built up a level of expertise in recent years on the surveillance of stability goals,  Lindner said.  If it stays, it could be an instrument for more discipline.  The paper contained two alternate phrasings on Europe s banking union, one supported by Merkel s conservatives and the Greens, and a second with more hardline language backed by the FDP, according to the footnotes. The first variation talks about the step-by-step completion of the banking union. The second FDP version says the banking union should focus on systemic risks, rather than those to individual banks. The paper also includes passages agreed by all the German parties that will be welcomed by the French. It says Franco-German cooperation is of  particular importance  and acknowledges the need for member states and the EU to have an  appropriate capacity  to invest and counter asymmetric economic shocks.

Summary: जर्मन वार्ता में यूरो बजट, ई. एस. एम., बैंकिंग संघ का रुख अनसुलझाः दस्तावेज़


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After Republicans’ effort to pass a healthcare bill in the Senate collapsed on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday put the blame on Democrats and a few members of his own party, but vowed to come back with “a great healthcare plan.” “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!” Trump added.

Summary: सीनेट विधेयक के टूटने के बाद, ट्रम्प ने 'महान स्वास्थ्य सेवा योजना' का संकल्प लिया


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has hired two people with close ties to U.S. organized labor to try to lock down support from union members as Republican candidate Donald Trump makes courting working-class voters central to his campaign.      The two new staffers, Lori D’Orazio and Michele Gilliam, are to be deputy labor campaign directors, according to a campaign aide. D’Orazio is moving to the campaign from the biggest U.S. labor federation, the AFL-CIO. Gilliam is a former staffer for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was Clinton’s fiercest primary competitor.     Clinton and Sanders battled fiercely over union support during the Democratic primary, with Clinton, the presumptive nominee, ultimately securing the bulk of the national endorsements from labor unions. But she will need to harness the on-the-ground manpower of unions in crucial battleground states ahead of November’s general election match-up with the populist presumptive Republican nominee, Trump. The aide said the campaign is counting on D’Orazio and Gilliam to do just that. Although organized labor is a traditionally Democratic constituency, Trump has made a play to win over rank-and-file union members by criticizing international trade deals such as the pending Trans Pacific Partnership, which labor opposes. Even so, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned last month when the federation endorsed Clinton that a Trump presidency would be disastrous for U.S. workers and vowed to mobilize the group’s resources to defeat him.  The AFL-CIO is the largest U.S. federation of labor unions that collectively represent more than 12 million workers. Before joining the AFL-CIO, D’Orazio worked for another large U.S. union, the United Auto Workers, and Gilliam once served as an organizer for a local chapter of the Transport Workers Union.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने ए. एफ. एल.-सी. आई. ओ. के अधिकारी, सैंडर्स के पूर्व कर्मचारी को श्रम संपर्क में रोका


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a possible breakdown of the Iran nuclear deal would send the wrong signal when it came to trying to resolve the situation around North Korea, the RIA and Interfax news agencies reported on Friday. Any attempts to provoke a military scenario for North Korea would lead to catastrophe, the agencies quoted Lavrov as saying in the Russian parliament.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि ईरान परमाणु समझौते के टूटने से उत्तर कोरिया के प्रबंधन के प्रयासों को नुकसान होगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s businesses say it would be “impractical” to require customers representing foreign nations to identify themselves, raising questions about how Trump will fulfill a pledge to donate all profits from overseas governments to the U.S. Treasury. The umbrella Trump Organization sent a pamphlet to the general managers at each hotel, golf course, social club, and winery owned or operated by Trump, saying it would only donate profits from guests who declare they represent foreign governments. The pamphlet was sent to the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee in response to a request for information on how the Trump Organization was fulfilling the pledge Trump made in January.  “Putting forth a policy that requires all guests to identify themselves would impede upon personal privacy and diminish the guest experience of our brand,” said the pamphlet. The Trump Organization, Trump’s lawyer, Sheri Dillon, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.  Dillon announced at a January press conference that Trump would voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his properties to the Treasury. Payments from foreign governments to businesses that profit Trump have drawn criticism from constitutional and ethics experts who say they put Trump in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban on the president receiving “emoluments” from foreign governments.  Emoluments are typically defined in this context as funds or gifts of value. Seven Democratic lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee sent the Republican president a letter on Wednesday asking for a detailed account of “any benefits or rewards, financial or otherwise” he received from foreign governments since he took office on Jan. 20.  The Kuwaiti and Azerbaijani governments have already hosted events at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. In March, the Government Accountability Office said it would check whether Trump has made any payments to the U.S. Treasury from profits at his hotels.  The Trump Organization pamphlet identified other entities through which foreign governments may operate, such as state-owned aerospace, defense, banking, finance, healthcare, and energy business entities. Those entities “may not be reasonably identifiable as foreign government entities, and therefore may not be included in our calculation of profit to be donated,” the pamphlet read. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the congressional committee that received the pamphlet, said in a response to the Trump Organization that its method for identifying foreign government payments was deficient. Cummings said foreign powers would still be able to provide unconstitutional emoluments to Trump through entities that are funded and controlled but not openly affiliated with foreign governments. “Those payments would not be tracked in any way and would be hidden from the American public,” Cummings wrote.

Summary: प्रतिज्ञा के बावजूद, ट्रम्प संगठन विदेशी सरकारों के सभी मुनाफ़ों पर नज़र नहीं रखता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel appointed to lead a probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election should be granted full control of the investigation independent of Justice Department officials, the Democratic National Committee said on Friday. The DNC, in a statement, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has authority over special counsel Robert Mueller, needs to recuse himself from the Russia probe and control of the investigation should not be given to another Trump appointee.

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी का कहना है कि विशेष वकील को रूस की जांच पर पूर्ण नियंत्रण की आवश्यकता हैः बयान


BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese space official and military officer has been promoted to run the People s Liberation Army s key equipment development department, the military said on Monday, part of a reshuffle ahead of next month s Communist Party congress. China s armed forces, the world s largest, are ramping up their capabilities with new equipment like aircraft carriers and stealth fighters as the country pursues a more assertive stance in the disputed East and South China Seas and seeks to project power far from home shores. In a brief story on its website about a military technology exhibition in Beijing, the Defence Ministry named Li Shangfu as the new head of the military s Equipment Development Department. It gave no other details of his appointment. According to his official resume, Li was previously director of one of China s main satellite launch sites in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan and has been involved in missions to explore the moon. The U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China s increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets in a crisis. China insists it has only peaceful ambitions in space, but has tested anti-satellite missiles. Li, 59, takes over from Zhang Youxia, who has likely reached retirement age. Li could be promoted to Zhang s position on the Central Military Commission, which is in overall charge of the People s Liberation Army, when the party holds its once-in-five-years congress in Beijing next month. However, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that the commission may be cut down to Xi and four vice-chairmen, doing away with committee members and streamlining reporting lines. President Xi Jinping, who is commander-in-chief of China s armed forces, currently chairs the commission, which also comprises two vice-chairmen and eight committee members. China s military is preparing a sweeping leadership reshuffle, dropping top generals, including two that sources say are under investigation for corruption. China earlier this month also appointed new commanders for its army and air force.

Summary: चीनी अंतरिक्ष अधिकारी को सैन्य फेरबदल के हिस्से के रूप में पदोन्नत किया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials told Reuters on Wednesday they have been aware of a CIA security breach, which led to the latest Wikileaks dump since late last year. The two officials said they were focusing on contractors as the likeliest source of the leak.

Summary: अमेरिकी खुफिया, कानून प्रवर्तन अधिकारियों को पिछले साल के अंत से सी. आई. ए. के उल्लंघन की जानकारी थी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a special counsel’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election would show there was “no collusion” between his campaign and a foreign power. “As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know –- there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” he said in a statement released by the White House. “I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.” Earlier the U.S. Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate possible links between Trump’s 2016 campaign team and Russia as well as alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election.

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि रूस की जांच में उनके अभियान के साथ किसी भी तरह की मिलीभगत का पता नहीं चलेगा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed on Monday to step up cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law-enforcement channels after North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the White House said. China and the United States are also targeting the finances of Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, a Chinese conglomerate headed by a Communist Party cadre, that the Obama administration thinks has a role in assisting North Korea’s nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. U.N. diplomats say the two countries have started discussions on a possible U.N. sanctions resolution in response to the nuclear test earlier this month, but Beijing has not said directly whether it will support tougher steps against North Korea. Obama met Li on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York. “Both leaders condemned North Korea’s September 9 nuclear test and resolved to strengthen coordination in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including by invigorating cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law enforcement channels on North Korea,” a White House statement said. China is isolated North Korea’s most important diplomatic backer and its biggest trading partner. It has been angered by Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear and missile tests and signed on to increasingly tough U.N. sanctions, but it has said it believes such steps are not the ultimate answer and called for a return to talks with North Korea. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart last week China opposes “unhelpful” unilateral sanctions on North Korea but will work within the United Nations to formulate a response. Washington has pressed Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea. The United States has said it is willing to negotiate with the North if the country commits to get rid of its nuclear weapons, which Pyongyang has refused to do. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is preparing as early as this week to announce legal action against Chinese firms suspected of providing financial assistance to Pyongyang, the Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the matter. It said DoJ prosecutors visited Beijing twice last month to make their Chinese counterparts aware of alleged criminal activities being committed by Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial.  A social media post last week from the police in Liaoning, the northeastern border province of China, said they were investigating the firm’s alleged long-term involvement in “serious economic crimes” and that relevant suspects were cooperating. A report by Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul and C4ADS in Washington says it identified more than $500 million in trade from January 2011 to September 2015 between the North and the Liaoning Hongxiang Group, which states on its website that it trades heavily with the North. The figure includes more than $360 million in imports from North Korea by one group company, Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co., an industrial machinery and equipment wholesaler. “While no judgment is being made on the final use of these funds, trade at this volume is of particular note. By one estimate, this amount would have been almost enough to both fund North Korea’s uranium enrichment facilities, and to design, make and test its nuclear weapons,” the report said. Certain assets related to the company, its founder and top executive Ma Xiaohong, and some of her relatives and associates, have been frozen by Chinese authorities in recent weeks, according to government and corporate filings cited by the Journal. The Asan report said its trading of goods that could qualify as potential military and nuclear dual-use products under U.S. export restrictions were of particular concern. The companies identified have had dealings with sanctioned North Korean entities, the report said. Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, Seoul National University, said this case was symbolic and could have real practical impact. “This was the U.S. taking China into consideration and working with China. More such cases may follow if the U.S. or South Korea have firm evidence ... Chinese companies that have capacity for producing or securing goods for North Korea may be worried now,” he said. China’s Foreign Ministry said relevant departments were investigating Liaoning Hongxiang Group and were following the provisions of U.N. resolution 2270, which imposed tighter sanctions on North Korea in March in response to its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range missile a month later. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice and Hongxiang Industrial were unavailable for comment. The Liaoning Hongxiang Group is also heavily involved in North Korea-related shipping, with Ma and other people associated with the group owning and operating a combined fleet of 10 ships that regularly sail between the North and China. Ma, who served on Liaoning’s People’s Congress before resigning at the weekend, is described by Chinese media as the most successful businessperson in Dandong involved in cross-border trade with North Korea. Government records say Ma’s investment in Hongxiang was frozen on Sept. 2.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया पर सहयोग बढ़ाने के लिए अमेरिका और चीन


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Britain must accept the full economic and legal status quo in a transition period after it leaves the EU and should expect no tailor-made terms on trade in its future relationship. Suggesting a transition should run for 21 months from Brexit on March 30, 2019 until the current EU budget expires at the end of 2020, Barnier said Britain would  certainly  remain subject to EU laws and courts during that transition.  During this period, the EU legal framework including on jurisdiction would continue to apply to Britain,  Barnier said in an interview published on Tuesday in Germany s Handelsblatt newspaper.  We don t have time to invent a new model. So for a short time after the formal exit from the EU the economic status quo would continue to apply, which besides the internal market also includes the customs union and collective political decisions.  In a version of the interview in Belgium s L Echo, he said of the transition:  The only difference is that the British would no longer take part in decisions on European legislation.  British Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed a transition of around two years to give time to put a new free trade pact in place, although she faces opposition in London from some Brexit supporters who want a clean, quick break. Barnier noted that May had rejected the option of staying in the EU single market long-term   the  Norwegian model  as he called it, referring to Norway s membership of the EU internal market, accepting all its rules and costs without having a say.  So we must work on other hypotheses,  Handelsblatt quoted him as saying.  Another option would be a free trade treaty using the example of the CETA agreement with Canada. It would take several years, however, to negotiate such an agreement.  Asked if that meant there could be  a specifically British model  along the lines of the  bespoke arrangements  May has referred to without giving detail, Barnier replied simply:  No.  Quoted by L Echo, he said a trade deal could be agreed in three years   meaning that if talks start in December it would be ready just in time for a transition ending in December 2020. He said his staff were already working on drafting a withdrawal treaty that will include terms for transition. Barnier said he still hoped that May could provide more detail on her offer to meet financial commitments on withdrawal so that EU leaders could agree in December to end their refusal to negotiate a future trade deal. May told an EU summit last week that she could not agree a figure until she knows what trade terms the EU offers. Barnier said it was important to  de-dramatise  talks on the payment.

Summary: कोई 'बेस्पोक' ब्रेक्सिट नहीं, संक्रमण का मतलब 'यथास्थिति' हैः बार्नियर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale to India of one Boeing C-17 transport aircraft, with an estimated cost of $366 million, a Pentagon agency said on Monday. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement it notified Congress on Monday of the sale, which includes four turbofan engines, a missile warning system, a countermeasures dispensing system and an identification friend or foe transponder.

Summary: भारत को बोइंग सी-17 विमानों की संभावित बिक्री को मंजूरीः पेंटागन


PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech parliament revoked an election of a Communist-era policeman to a police oversight job on Tuesday after some lawmakers claimed the vote was manipulated. Earlier, the lower chamber entrusted oversight of the police force to Zdenek Ondracek, former member of a Communist-era special unit which tried to crush the peaceful 1989 uprising that helped to bring down Communist rule. The unprecedented appointment of a Communist lawmaker as chairman of parliament s General Inspection of Security Forces commission appeared to be part of complex maneuvering by the new prime minister, billionaire businessman Andrej Babis, and his ANO party to get backing for a minority government. After the secret ballot, some lawmakers challenged the result with claims that it was unclear how many in the 200-seat lower chamber actually participated in the election. Ondracek received 95 votes, but due to the uncertainty it was impossible to determine whether he got the required majority. Speaker of the house, ANO s Radek Vondracek, then declared the vote confused and said that it would be repeated in January.  The ANO has 78 seats in the new 200-seat lower house. Babis is seeking support or at least acquiescence from lawmakers of the other eight parties in parliament.  The far-left Communists with 15 seats, and far-right, anti-European Union SPD party with 22, have lent support in initial parliamentary votes in return for committee posts, but no deal has been announced on their backing for an ANO cabinet.  The secret ballot vote on Tuesday to appoint Ondracek was the first time the Communist party has gained such a post in nearly three decades since the fall of communism. In 1989 his police unit used water cannon, clubs and dogs to disperse anti-regime protests. The demonstrations eventually led to the peaceful overthrow of Communist dictatorship in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. A video from 1989, posted on YouTube, shows Ondracek defending police actions in an interview with state television.  It is sad that it happened only one day after we remembered the anniversary of (late president and leading anti-Communist dissident) Vaclav Havel s passing. The times have changed,  said Vit Rakusan, deputy chairman of the Mayors and Independents party. Communist party deputy chairman Jiri Dolejs, however, defended the appointment.  Police work should be scrutinized by those who understand it,  he told reporters. In October, the Communist party suffered the worst election result in its nearly 100-year history. Still, it is the only faction so far to say it could back the ANO government.  Direct or indirect support might also come from the SPD party of Czech-Japanese businessman Tomio Okamura. Other parties have shunned Babis, mainly due to pending police charges against him over allegations he concealed his company s ownership of a farm and conference center a decade ago to illegally obtain a 2 million-euro European Union subsidy. Babis denies wrongdoing. Babis, who was appointed prime minister this month and whose cabinet took power last week, has until mid-January to win a confidence vote. President Milos Zeman has said Babis will get a second try if his first attempt to form a government fails.

Summary: चेक संसद ने कम्युनिस्ट युग के पुलिसकर्मी के निरीक्षण पद के लिए चुनाव को रद्द कर दिया


TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili on Friday reluctantly signed into law a new constitution that will do away with direct election for president and switch to a system of proportional representation in parliament. Margvelashvili, who unsuccessfully tried to veto the draft bill, said it was personally difficult for him to sign the document, but he did so in the interests of stability in the country which straddles an energy supply route to Europe and is an arena of strategic rivalry between Russia and the West.  Considering the country s internal and external challenges and the fact that we should do everything to avoid possible causes of detribalization, I am signing this document,  Margvelashvili said in a statement. Margvelashvili had originally sent the draft back to parliament with his objections which included opposing a call for an end to direct elections for president. But parliament overturned his veto. Margvelashvili, who was elected in 2013 for a five-year term, criticized the ruling Georgian Dream party for adopting the constitution without a consensus with other political forces in the ex-Soviet country.  It has been obvious since the very first day (of the constitutional reform process) that the ruling party aimed to adopt a one-party constitution,  he said. The next presidential election in Georgia is to be held in 2018 and it is not clear whether Margvelashvili, who is at odds with the ruling party on several issues, will stand again. MPs from the Georgian Dream said the constitutional reform process set a new constitutional tradition and culture in Georgia.  The amendments were introduced not to strengthen the ruling party s political positions, but ... to strengthen democracy in Georgia,  Irakli Kobakhidze, a parliamentary speaker said. The new constitution will enter into force following the next presidential election next year.

Summary: जॉर्जियाई राष्ट्रपति ने अनिच्छा से नए संविधान पर हस्ताक्षर किए


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not meet President Vladimir Putin when he visits Moscow on Wednesday, a move that could point to tensions over a U.S. missile attack on a Syrian air base last week. John Kerry, Tillerson’s predecessor, often met Putin as well as the Russian foreign minister when he visited Moscow, and Putin granted several audiences to the Texan when he ran oil major Exxon Mobil before taking his current job. Putin even personally awarded Tillerson a top Russian state award — the Order of Friendship — in 2013, and it was widely expected that the former oilman would meet Putin on what is his first trip to Russia as secretary of state. But Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday that no such meeting was planned, suggesting Tillerson will follow strict diplomatic protocol and only meet his direct counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “We have not announced any such meetings and right now there is no meeting with Tillerson in the president’s diary,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call. He did not say why Putin was not planning to receive Tillerson. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian military base last week in retaliation for what Washington and its allies say was a poisonous gas attack in which scores of civilians were killed. Moscow says there is no proof that the Syrian military carried out the attack, and called the U.S. missile strike an act of aggression that violates international law.   Tillerson’s visit is being seen as an early test of whether Trump’s new administration can use any momentum generated by striking the Syrian base to craft and execute a strategy to end the war there. Even before Trump ordered the strike in retaliation for a nerve gas attack, Tillerson’s visit was certain to be dominated by thorny issues. Those include alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Washington’s accusation that Russia is violating an important arms control treaty, and trying to bridge differences on how to conduct the fight against Islamic State. Syria, ironically, was one of the few areas where analysts believed Moscow and Washington might be able to find common ground. Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Monday that the U.S. strikes had shown Washington’s total unwillingness to cooperate on Syria. Reacting to media reports that Tillerson would use his visit to press Moscow to back away from supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s biggest Middle East ally, Peskov signaled that was a non-starter. “Returning to pseudo-attempts to resolve the crisis by repeating mantras that Assad must step down cannot help sort things out.”

Summary: सीरिया के मिसाइल हमले से नाराज क्रेमलिन ने कहा कि पुतिन टिलरसन से नहीं मिलेंगे


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain will honor all its financial obligations to the European Union as part of its divorce bill, but the payments will not be required any earlier than if Britain had remained an EU member, the EU s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said. The European Commission declared earlier on Friday that sufficient progress in the divorce talks with Britain was reached to move on to discussions of a transition period and a future trade deal. Barnier repeated the words of British Prime Minister Theresa May that no EU country, including Britain would have to pay more or receive less as a result of Brexit.  The UK will honor all the commitments entered into during its EU membership,  Barnier told a news conference.

Summary: ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ का सदस्य होने की तुलना में यूरोपीय संघ को अधिक या जल्द भुगतान नहीं करेगाः बार्नियर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will vote next week on a bipartisan proposal that would make it easier to penalize operators of websites that facilitate online sex trafficking, the panel said in a statement on Wednesday. U.S. technology companies including Alphabet’s Google and Facebook have long opposed legislation that would amend what is known as Section 230 of the decades-old Communications Decency Act, arguing it could thwart digital innovation and prompt endless litigation. The vote is a setback for the internet industry, which is witnessing shifting political fortunes in Washington on a range of policy issues after decades of relatively little regulatory scrutiny. Silicon Valley companies generally consider Section 230 a bedrock legal protection because it helps shield companies from liability for the activities of their users. The legislation from Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal in August came after years of law-enforcement lobbying for a crackdown on the online classified site backpage.com, which is used for sex advertising. The measure would make it easier for states and sex-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep exploitative material off their platforms. In a statement, Portman said the lawmakers should “act with urgency to hold online sex traffickers accountable and give survivors the justice they deserve.” The bill has attracted bipartisan support from about a third of the Senate. A companion measure has similar backing in the House of Representatives. Republicans control both chambers.  Technology lobbyists in recent weeks have engaged in negotiations with lawmakers supportive of the bill in an attempt to narrow its impact.

Summary: ऑनलाइन यौन-तस्करी विधेयक पर अगले सप्ताह मतदान करेगी सीनेट समिति


MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Republican Ted Cruz easily won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump’s hopes of amassing enough delegates for the party’s nomination and boosting chances of a rare contested convention. Cruz’s double-digit win over Trump was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nomination fight that could last to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against front-runner Hillary Clinton and trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Trump entered the night with 737 convention delegates to Cruz’s 481, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the party’s nominee in the Nov. 8 election. Cruz said the result in Wisconsin showed the party was beginning to rally behind him, but he acknowledged the growing possibility that the fight could go all the way to the convention. “Either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November,” Cruz told cheering supporters in Milwaukee. “We’re winning because we’re uniting the Republican Party.” Cruz, a conservative U.S. senator from Texas, was aided in Wisconsin by Republican Governor Scott Walker, who dropped his own presidential bid in September, and by a barrage of ads from Super PACS - independent funding groups - backed by party establishment figures worried that Trump will lead Republicans to a broad defeat in November. Trump’s campaign released a blistering statement saying Cruz had been propped up “by countless millions of dollars of false advertising” from anti-Trump Super PACs. “Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -  he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,” the Trump campaign statement said. The Wisconsin primary capped a difficult week for Trump, who was forced to backtrack after saying women who have abortions should face punishment if the procedure is outlawed, and who voiced support for his campaign manager after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for grabbing a reporter. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz about even with Trump nationally, with Cruz’s recent gains the first time since November that a Trump rival has threatened his standing at the head of the Republican pack. The poll of 568 Republicans, taken between April 1-5, showed Cruz winning the support of 35 percent of Republicans to Trump’s 39 percent. Cruz and Trump were also briefly about even early last week. In the Democratic race, the win for Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is his sixth in the last seven contests for the nomination. Sanders said his message of breaking up big banks, reining in Wall Street and reducing income inequality was bringing new and young voters into the process. “What we have been seeing throughout this campaign is extraordinary voter turnout in state after state,” Sanders said at a rally in Laramie, Wyoming. Clinton, who did not appear in public on Tuesday night, tweeted her congratulations to Sanders. “Congrats to @BernieSanders on winning Wisconsin,” Clinton said on Twitter. “To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! -H.” Sanders still faces a difficult task overtaking Clinton as the race moves to New York on April 19 and to five other Eastern states on April 26. Heading into Tuesday, Clinton led Sanders by 263 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,383 needed to be nominated at the party’s July convention in Philadelphia. She also has a big lead in superdelegates, who are party leaders free to back any candidate. Sanders needs to win up to two-thirds of the remaining delegates to catch Clinton, who will keep accumulating delegates even when she loses under a Democratic Party system that awards them proportionally in all states. Sanders needs to rack up big winning margins over Clinton in the remaining states to close the gap. He has vowed to stay in the race until the convention, and his campaign says superdelegates could begin to shift their support to him if they see he has popular support.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन क्रूज ने विस्कॉन्सिन में ट्रंप को हराया, कहा-पार्टी एकजुट होगी


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians seethed with anger and a sense of betrayal over U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Many heard the death knell for the long-moribund U.S.-sponsored talks aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. They also said more violence could erupt.  Trump wants to help Israel take over the entire city. Some people may do nothing, but others are ready to fight for Jerusalem,  said Hamad Abu Sbeih, 28, an unemployed resident of the walled Old City.   This decision will ignite a fire in the region. Pressure leads to explosions,  he said. Jerusalem   specifically its eastern Old City, home to important shrines of Judaism, Christianity and Islam   is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli captured Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War then later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future independent state and resolution of its status is fundamental to any peace-making. Trump is due to announce later on Wednesday that the United States recognizes the city as Israel s capital and will move its embassy there from Tel Aviv, breaking with longtime policy..      This is insane. You are speaking about something fateful. Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine and neither the world nor our people will accept it,  said Samir Al-Asmar, 58, a merchant from the Old City who was a child when it fell to Israel.  It will not change what Jerusalem is. Jerusalem will remain Arab. Such a decision will sabotage things and people will not accept it.  Palestinian newspapers also decried the move.  Trump Defies the World,  thundered Al-Ayyam. Another, Al-Hayat, roared  Jerusalem is the Symbol of Palestinian Endurance  in a red-letter headline over an image of the city s mosque compound flanked by Palestinian flags. Palestinian leaders have also warned the move could have dangerous consequences. Although winter rains dampened protests called for East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, few doubted fresh bloodshed now loomed. Israeli security forces braced for possible unrest but police said the situation in Jerusalem was calm for now.  That could quickly change, given the religious passions that swirl around the Old City, where Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam s third-holiest shrine, abuts the Western Wall prayer plaza, a vestige of two ancient Jewish temples. Palestinians mounted two uprisings, or intifadas, against Israeli occupation from 1987 to 1993 then from 2000 to 2005, the latter ignited by a visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the shrine area, known to Jews as Temple Mount.         Violent confrontations also took place in July when Israel installed metal detectors at an entrance to Al-Aqsa compound after Arab gunmen holed up there killed two of its policemen. Four Palestinians and three Israelis died in ensuing violence. In the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, demonstrators  chanted  Death to America ,  Death to Israel  and  Down with Trump . They also burned posters depicting the U.S., British and Israeli flags.  Youssef Mohammad, a 70-year-old resident of a refugee camp, said Trump s move would be a test for Arab leadership at a time of regional chaos and shifting alliances.  Let him do it. Let s see what Arab rulers and kings will do. They will do nothing because they are cowards,  the father of eight said.  The Jerusalem uproar could affect Egyptian-brokered efforts to bring Gaza, which has been under Islamist Hamas control for a decade, back under the authority of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who favors negotiation with Israel. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Trump s planned moved showed the United States was biased.  The United States was never a neutral mediator in any cause of our people. It has always stood with the occupation (Israel),  he said. He said Abbas  administration should  rid itself of the illusion that rights can be achieved through an American-backed deal . (Corrects Ariel Sharon s title to opposition leader)

Summary: फिलिस्तीनियों ने ट्रम्प के 'पागल' यरुशलम कदम पर नाराजगी जताई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., declined to discuss with lawmakers on Wednesday a conversation he had with his father about emails related to a June 2016 meeting he attended with Trump associates and Russians, a congressional panel member said. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee investigating allegations of Russian interference in last year’s U.S. election, said Trump Jr. answered the “overwhelming majority” of questions from committee members in his hours of testimony. But Trump Jr. claimed attorney-client privilege in declining to respond to queries about that discussion with his father because a lawyer was in the room when it took place. The discussion between then-Republican candidate Trump and his son took place after the emails became public, Schiff said. Trump Jr. released the emails in July.  “In my view there is no attorney-client privilege that protects a discussion between father and son,” Schiff told reporters after the closed-door testimony had ended. “We will be following up with his counsel,” Schiff said. Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the investigation, said Trump Jr. had answered all of his questions. “Mr Trump was cooperative at all times,” Conaway said. Trump Jr. arrived and left without being seen by reporters.  Lawmakers said they want to question him about a meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York at which he had said he hoped to get information about the “fitness, character and qualifications” of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who was his father’s presidential election opponent. It was at least the second time Trump Jr. has testified to a congressional committee investigating any Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Moscow by the Trump campaign. He arrived shortly before 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) and was questioned for most of the next eight hours by members of the intelligence panel. A person familiar with knowledge of Trump Jr’s testimony said Trump had said repeatedly he did not remember things he was asked about, including some details about information provided by Russians during the Trump Tower meeting. Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also  investigating. He has announced the first charges of Trump associates, and Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty to lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. The House intelligence panel also released on Wednesday a transcript of testimony last week of Erik Prince, a Trump supporter and founder of the Blackwater military contractor. A focus of that testimony was a report that Prince tried to set up a “back channel” for communications between Trump associates and Russia. Prince denied such a plan. Trump Jr.’s appearance coincided with criticism of the Russia probes from some of his father’s fellow Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and accuse investigators of bias against Trump. Other lawmakers, Republicans as well as Democrats, say the goal of the investigations is to guarantee the integrity of U.S. elections, not to target Trump and his associates. Trump Jr., like his father, denies collusion with Russia. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 campaign to boost Trump’s chances of defeating Clinton. Moscow denies any such effort. Some Republicans criticized Mueller, the FBI and the Department of Justice at a news conference on Wednesday, ahead of congressional testimony on Thursday by the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray. Republican House members accused the Justice Department and the FBI of  bias against the president and having been too easy on Clinton during the investigation of her use of a private email server while leading the State Department. However, Clinton has made no secret of her belief that then-FBI Director James Comey’s announcement just before the election that the bureau was investigating potential new evidence in the lengthy email probe cost her the White House. Also on Wednesday, Representative Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced a hearing next week with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, citing “serious concerns” about reports on the political motives of staff on Mueller’s team.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सबसे बड़े बेटे से कांग्रेस में रूस के बारे में पूछताछ की गई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump announced the formation of a council to advise him on job creation, a group comprised of the leaders of a variety of major U.S. corporations including GE, GM, Boeing, Disney and IBM.  Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of major investment firm Blackstone Group LP, will chair the council.  “My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America,” Trump said in a statement announcing the formation of the council.  Trump called Schwarzman earlier this week to ask for his help in chairing the council, according to a source familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly on the arrangements. The two men, who are not friends and have not done business together before, drafted a list of CEOs to ask to participate in the forum, and then Schwarzman asked each individual to participate. The forum could meet as frequently as monthly, the source said.  Trump has said that his top priorities will include cutting regulations that affect business and lowering the corporate tax rate, positions business leaders have cheered.  Presidents often convene councils of business leaders. President Barack Obama frequently met with the CEOs of large companies and often spoke before the Business Roundtable, comprised of CEOs of big corporations. In 2011, Obama convened a jobs council that was led by General Electric Co CEO Jeff Immelt and an export council headed by Xerox Corp CEO Ursula Burns.     Obama and business leaders worked on trade, technology and immigration efforts. Some members of Trump’s council also served in advisory roles with Obama, including Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Co; Jim McNerney, former CEO of Boeing Co ; and Ginni Rometty, CEO of International Business Machines Corp. All three served on Obama’s export council and will continuing advising the next administration. Noticeably absent from the council are heads of leading U.S. technology companies such as Google’s parent Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Trump’s transition team has been slow to establish a group to address cyber security and other technology issues. The council could still add leaders from technology companies, a source familiar with the formation of the group said. The members of Trump’s council include:

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सीईओ के साथ व्यापार सलाहकार परिषद बनाई


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Preet Bharara, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan known for pursuing a series of cases targeting public corruption and crime on Wall Street, said on Wednesday he has agreed to remain in his post after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president. Bharara, appointed to his position by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009, told reporters following a meeting with the Republican president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan that Trump asked him to stay on during his administration and he accepted. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. “We had a good meeting,” Bharara said. “I said I would absolutely consider staying on. I agreed to stay on.” The announcement’s timing, when Trump has not yet finished filling all Cabinet-level positions, was unusual. But some former prosecutors who served under Bharara said they were not surprised their former boss would be willing to remain as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “I think Preet is an independent, law enforcement-minded prosecutor who loves his job and is clearly talented in it,” said Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former chief of Bharara’s public corruption unit who is now a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the incoming Senate Democratic leader who Bharara previously worked for as chief counsel, said Trump called him last week to ask what he thought about Bharara staying in his job. “I am glad they met and am glad Preet is staying on,” Schumer said in a statement. “He’s been one of the best U.S. Attorneys New York has ever seen.” Bharara’s office has pursued an aggressive push against corruption in state and city politics, an agenda that could fit with Trump’s vow to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Those political investigations led last year to the convictions of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, in separate corruption trials. Bharara also brought dozens of successful cases against insider traders and was on the cover of Time magazine in 2012 with the headline “This man is busting Wall St.” Those cases include the 2011 conviction of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving an 11-year prison term, and a $1.8 billion settlement and plea deal in 2013 with hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP. His 227-lawyer office also secured corporate settlements with companies including General Motors Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co; won several convictions and guilty pleas of former employees of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff; and prosecuted Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bharara’s office’s priorities have often matched those set by Obama’s Justice Department. Amid an increase in civil rights investigations nationally, for example, Bharara’s office joined a lawsuit that led to a settlement in 2015 aimed at reducing violence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. How priorities set by the Justice Department under Trump’s pick for attorney general, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, affects the cases Bharara’s office pursues remains unclear. “Obviously there is likely be some changes in priorities from Main Justice (the department’s Washington headquarters), and the office will have to adjust to those,” said Richard Zabel, who previously served as Bharara’s deputy before becoming hedge fund Elliott Management’s general counsel. Bharara said his office had for the past seven years pursued its work “independently, without fear or favor.” Former prosecutors they expect that to stay the same. “He would have only taken it on if he were 100 percent confident that that independence could be preserved,” said Matthew Schwartz, partner at the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner and a former prosecutor under Bharara.

Summary: मैनहट्टन के संघीय अभियोजक भरारा को पद पर रखेंगे ट्रंप