MOSCOW (Reuters) - From Damascus to Doha, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has been showing up in unexpected places, a sign of the military s growing influence under Vladimir Putin. In the past few months, at times wearing his desert military uniform, Shoigu has held talks with Syria s president in Damascus, met Israel s prime minister in Jerusalem and been received by the Emir of Qatar in Doha. The defense ministry s forays into areas long regarded as the preserve of the foreign ministry are raising eyebrows in Russia, where strict protocol means ministers usually hold talks only with their direct foreign counterparts. The military is reaping political dividends from what the Kremlin saw as its big successes in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine after Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms seized control of the peninsula in 2014, and Syria, where Russian forces helped turn the tide of war in President Bashar al-Assad s favor.   That has translated into more top-table influence,  said a long-serving Russian official who interacts with the defense ministry but declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. The Kremlin and the defense ministry did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this article, but three sources who know both ministries well confirmed the trend. The foreign ministry, in a Dec.15 statement to Reuters, said it was baffled by what it called assumptions it likened to  rumors and gossip.   The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the leading but not the sole government department involved in foreign policy making,  Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman, said in the statement.  Foreign policy making has long become a multi-faceted complex process involving many parts of government. One part of government seizing some kind of monopoly in international relations will not be beneficial and is hardly possible.  The military s increased influence has, however, caused discontent among some Russian diplomats and unease among Western officials about the harder edge it is giving Russia s foreign policy. Foreign policy-making has become more bellicose and more opaque, and this makes new Russian military adventures more likely, some Western officials say.   If you allow the defense ministry a bigger say in foreign policy it s going to be looking for trouble,  said one, who declined to be named because of the subject s sensitivity.  Shoigu s high profile has also revived talk of the long-time Putin loyalist as a possible presidential stand-in if Putin, who is seeking a fourth term in an election in March, had to step down suddenly and was unable to serve out a full six-year term. Shoigu, 62, is not involved in party politics but opinion polls often put him among the top five most popular presidential possibles. His trust rating is also often second only to Putin, with whom he was pictured on a fishing trip this summer.  The military s influence has ebbed and flowed in Russia and, before that, the Soviet Union.  It had huge clout at the end of World War Two and in the 1950s after the death of Soviet leader Josef Stalin when Georgy Zhukov, a commander credited with a crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany, was defense minister.  But the ignominious Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, completed in 1989, two wars Russia fought in Chechnya after the Soviet Union s collapse, and the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine with the loss of all 118 people on board in 2000 left the military s prestige in tatters. Under Putin, a former KGB agent who as president is the armed forces  commander-in-chief, its stock has risen. Defence spending has soared, the military has been deployed in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria and its actions are used to foster patriotism. The military s growing political and foreign policy muscle is most noticeable when it comes to Syria.  After going to Damascus twice earlier this year for talks with Assad, Shoigu was at Putin s side this week when the president flew in to meet the Syrian leader. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has not visited Syria at all in 2017. Unusually for a defense minister, Shoigu has been involved in diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria. In this role he has spoken about the importance of a new draft constitution for the country, met the U.N. special envoy on Syria and had talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. A Western official who has direct contact with the foreign and defense ministries said the Russian military had real heft in Damascus of a kind the foreign ministry did not. There was  strong mutual trust  between the Russian military  and senior people in Damascus, the official said, because  the Russians saved their asses and the Syrians respect that.  The foreign ministry retains strong Middle East experts and continues to play an important Syria role, helping run peace talks taking place in Kazakhstan. But Lavrov s own efforts to secure a U.S.-Russia deal on cooperating in Syria have shown how differently the foreign and defense ministries sometimes think. Lavrov is still seen as a formidable diplomat whom Putin trusts and respects. But Western officials say he is not summoned to all important meetings and is not informed about major military operations in Syria.  The military s other foreign policy interventions include a  role in Russia s alleged interference in last year s U.S. presidential election, U.S. intelligence agencies say. They say the GRU, Russia s military foreign intelligence agency, hacked email accounts belonging to Democratic Party officials and politicians, and organized their leaking to the media to try to sway public opinion against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump s main rival.   The Kremlin denies the allegations. Other policy interventions included a news briefing in December 2015 at which the defense ministry said it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.  Erdogan said the allegations, made at a briefing held a week after a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border, amounted to slander.  The defense ministry s response to the incident was much sharper than that of Russian diplomats, part of a wide-ranging communications policy that has included frequent criticism of  the U.S. State Department and Washington s foreign policy. Other areas of interest for the defense ministry have included Egypt, Sudan and Libya.  Shoigu was involved in talks between Putin and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Moscow last month and the ministry hosted Khalifa Haftar, Eastern Libya s dominant military figure, aboard its sole aircraft carrier in January. During the visit,  Haftar spoke to Shoigu via video link about fighting terrorism in the Middle East. One Western official told Reuters such incidents were fuelling fears that Russia plans to expand its footprint beyond Syria, where it has an air base and a naval facility, to centers such as Yemen, Sudan or Afghanistan. The military s influence in domestic policy-making has expanded too, Russian analysts and Western officials say, with Putin seeking its views on everything from the digital economy to food security. That is in part because Putin, since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, has altered the way he takes decisions and widened the scope of what the Security Council, which he chairs, discusses to include many domestic policy questions.  At a time when there s a feeling that Russia is increasingly surrounded by enemies, Putin is consulting the intelligence services and the military more when he takes all decisions. He s meeting them all the time,  said Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the analytical department at the Center for Political Technologies think tank. Stanovaya said that did not mean the military was initiating ideas, but that its opinions were taken into account far more by Putin now than in the past and that it now had an important voice on domestic policy areas.

Summary: पुतिन के समर्थन से रूसी सेना ने विदेश नीति पर जोर दिया


GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump must convey to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte the deep sense of alarm about his apparent shirking of his duty to prosecute human rights violations, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said on Monday.  The White House on Sunday defended Trump’s decision to invite Duterte to Washington, saying his cooperation was needed to counter North Korea, even as the administration faced human rights criticism for its overture to Manila. “So one hopes the message will be very clear and undiluted from the President of United States to the President of the Philippines,” Zeid told a news briefing.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र को उम्मीद है कि ट्रम्प दुतेर्ते को मानवाधिकारों का उपदेश देंगे


MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberians went to the polls on Tuesday for a presidential election they hope will mark their first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades, despite allegations of fraud. Former world footballer of the year George Weah is squaring up against vice president Joseph Boakai, both of them promising to tackle poverty and corruption in a country where most citizens have no reliable electricity or clean drinking water. They are bidding to succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in a run-off vote delayed for more than a month after Boakai and another candidate alleged widespread fraud in October s first-round vote, a challenge that the Supreme Court rejected this month. There were no reports of violence as voting proceeded under sunny skies in the capital Monrovia. Election agents told Reuters first indications pointed to a lower turnout than in the first round.  It is great day for Liberia - a test day for democracy,  said Boakai after casting his vote in Paynesville.  We will accept the results provided they meet all the standards.  Officials said results were expected in the next few days, declining to give a specific date. Johnson Sirleaf s 12-year rule cemented peace in the West African country after civil war ended in 2003, and brought in much needed aid. But critics, including much of the country s youth, say her administration was marred by corruption and that she did little to raise most Liberians out of dire poverty.  Liberia was also racked by the Ebola crisis, which killed thousands between 2014 and 2016, while a drop in iron ore prices since 2014 has dented export revenues.  Weah, world footballer of the year in 1995, won with 38 percent in the first round versus Boakai s 29 percent.   I voted George Weah because I believe that he will do better for me and my country. I want change,  said Miama Kamara, a 32-year-old businesswoman, after casting her ballot in the capital. Observers from the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute said polling stations were better organised than in the first round.  The National Elections Commission said there were isolated incidents of voting irregularities, including one woman caught trying to vote twice, but no sign of widespread graft.   So far the election process has been smooth and there are marked improvements on the Oct. 10 poll,  NEC said. Boakai has found it harder to convince voters that he will bring change, given that he worked alongside Johnson Sirleaf for 12 years. Weah, by contrast, has won the hearts of mostly young Liberians through his star performances for Europe s biggest football teams in the 1990s.    His arrival at a polling station in Paynesville was met with cheers by a crowd of supporters.   My focus now is to win,  he told reporters.  From there, I am going to get on the drawing board with my team and then we ll put a plan together to move our country forward.     Some however are wary of Weah s lack of political experience, education and concrete policy.  Boakai understands diplomacy,  said McArthur Nuah Kermah, a school registrar in Paynesville.  Weah is not experienced and doesn t know the workings of government.   Turnout appeared low on the day after the Christmas holiday, in contrast to the high turnout for the first round, although official figures are yet to be released.  NEC did its best to rally young voters and conjure a sense of occasion in a morning Twitter post.   First-time voters MUST vote on December 26 Run-Off elections,  its tweet said.  This is the first big process you are a part of ... you  must complete it in order to be a part of  tomorrow s glorious and democratic Liberia!

Summary: लाइबेरियाई लोगों ने ऐतिहासिक, विलंबित चुनाव में मतदान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on Sunday that it was his department’s job to follow the law on the Affordable Care Act, former President Obama’s signature domestic initiative known as Obamacare. Price, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” was asked whether he would implement the Affordable Care Act as it was intended. “Our job is to follow the law of the land,” Price said, but added that “the law ... is failing the American people.” He said the administration’s goal was to repeal and replace Obamacare and “put in place a system that actually works for patients.”

Summary: अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य सचिव का कहना है कि उनका काम ओबामाकेयर कानून का पालन करना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulations, proposed by the Treasury to crack down on companies that try to reduce taxes by rebasing abroad, have begun a White House review and could be finalized shortly, officials said on Tuesday. The regulations, which would make it difficult for U.S. business operations to avoid taxation while shifting profits overseas through a practice called “earnings stripping,” were received by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last week. The agency has up to 90 days to decide whether the rules should be finalized or returned to Treasury for further consideration. “We are satisfied we have addressed stakeholder feedback and are close to issuing final earnings stripping regulations,” a Treasury spokesperson said. The Obama administration has faced widespread criticism from the business community over its regulatory assault on tax inversions, which are tax-driven mergers in which a U.S. company acquires a smaller, foreign business in a low-tax country and shifts its headquarters there, if only on paper, to avoid higher U.S. taxes.    Business and industry groups have threatened lawsuits and called for the new rules to be withdrawn or heavily revised because of what critics say is the potential for unintended harm to business. Members of Congress have also accused the administration of overstepping its legal authority. Earnings stripping occurs when an inverted company eludes U.S. taxes on its domestic operation by shifting profits overseas in the form of tax-deductible interest payments to its foreign parent. The new rules would change certain interest payments into equity dividends, which are not tax deductible in the United States.  The regulations were proposed in April, along with a temporary rule to prevent serial inversion deals by foreign companies. That rule, which is already the target of a lawsuit, has not yet been forwarded to OMB.

Summary: प्रस्तावित यू. एस. विरोधी व्युत्क्रम नियम अंतिम समीक्षा में प्रवेश करते हैं


(Reuters) - A former U.S. representative whose lavish Washington office raised questions about use of taxpayer money pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of defrauding the federal government and campaign committees, then trying to cover it up. Aaron Schock, a 35-year-old former Republican congressman from Illinois, was indicted in November by the U.S. Department of Justice on 24 counts, including wire fraud, theft of government funds and filing false federal income tax returns. He entered his plea in a federal court in Springfield, Illinois. “I look forward to the truth and all the facts coming out in this case. I have complete faith in my legal team, the good people of this community, and that justice will ultimately prevail,” Schock said in an emailed statement. Schock, elected to the, U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 at the age of 27, gained a following by posting flashy photos on social media of himself traveling around the world.  But he was hounded with questions after The Washington Post reported last year about lavish decorations in his Capitol Hill office based on the PBS period melodrama “Downton Abbey.”  Although staff told the Post that the interior design work had been done for free, the story prompted more investigations into Schock’s spending habits, with several media outlets reporting he failed to disclose some expenditures and had to repay others after improperly using taxpayer funds.

Summary: इलिनोइस के पूर्व सांसद ने खर्च घोटाले के लिए दोषी नहीं होने का अनुरोध किया


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton joined striking Verizon workers’ picket lines on Wednesday after Sanders was endorsed by New York City transit workers in his fight for union support that has largely gone to Clinton. Sanders addressed hundreds of striking workers in Brooklyn as “brothers and sisters” and thanked them for their courage in standing up to what he characterized as corporate greed by the mammoth communications company. Employees cheered as Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, criticized Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes, calling it “just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans.” “Today I became a Bernie supporter. Basically just having his presence and knowing that he acknowledges the working class matters,” said technician Kerryann Reid, 36, who said she has worked for Verizon for 15 years. It was a scene tailor-made for the U.S. senator from Vermont, who has focused on income inequality in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton, the front-runner, in Tuesday’s primary in New York, a state both candidates have called home. On Wednesday afternoon, several dozen workers picketing a Verizon store in Manhattan cheered as Clinton arrived to show her support.  “This has been going on for months,” she said of the deadlocked contract talks, adding that the employees needed all the support they could get. Despite Sanders’ daily championing of the rights of working-class Americans, Clinton has racked up the lion’s share of support from organized labor, a crucial base for the Democratic Party. Among Democrats and independents who belong to a labor union, 50 percent support Clinton and 36 percent back Sanders, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll in March. In comparison, Clinton and Sanders have been about even in the poll among all Democrats and independents. The poll from March 1 to March 31 included 780 people who said they were Democrats or independents and belonged to a labor union. It had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points. Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees went on strike on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. walkouts in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse. “You are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you’re standing up for millions of Americans ... and you’re telling corporate America that they cannot have it all,” Sanders told the striking workers. Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam accused Sanders of getting the facts wrong and oversimplifying the situation, dismissing the candidate’s views as “contemptible.” The company has to adapt to competition and technology, but still provides good jobs and benefits to thousands, he said in a statement. Sanders fired back on Twitter at McAdam and General Electric Co (GE.N) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, who criticized Sanders in an opinion article last week. “I don’t want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their friends in the billionaire class,” Sanders wrote. “I welcome their contempt.” While Sanders whipped up the crowd in Brooklyn, Clinton’s campaign issued a statement criticizing Verizon for wanting to outsource more jobs and urging the company to go back to the bargaining table. “To preserve and grow America’s middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security,” Clinton said. “And we should be doing all we can to keep good-paying jobs with real job security in New York.” Earlier in the day, Sanders announced the endorsement of Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York City area.  Clinton, meanwhile, won the backing of a local unit, representing more than 27,000 area workers, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of the unions involved in the Verizon strike. The other union involved in the strike, the Communications Workers of America, has endorsed Sanders for president. Other influential unions that have backed Clinton include the AFSCME, a public employees union with 1.6 million members, and the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, which has about 2 million members in a variety of professions. In what was widely viewed as a win for Sanders, the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor union federation, in February declined to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary. Sanders also won his first endorsement from a fellow U.S. senator, Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon, on Wednesday, while Clinton was endorsed by New York’s Daily News, which called her a “superprepared warrior realist.”

Summary: सैंडर्स, क्लिंटन पिकेट लाइन में शामिल हुए, संघ के समर्थन के लिए लड़ते हैं


MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s upper house Senate could vote on measures to impose direct rule on Catalonia, revoking the wealthy region s autonomy in response to a secession bid, as soon as the end of next week, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The Senate must create a committee to debate the measures, which have never been used before. The committee will probably meet on Oct. 23, the spokeswoman said. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will then be given an opportunity to reply. The entire upper house, where the ruling People s Party holds a majority, will then vote on the measures as soon as Oct. 27.

Summary: स्पेन की सीनेट अगले सप्ताह कैटलन में प्रत्यक्ष शासन के उपायों को मंजूरी दे सकती हैः प्रवक्ता


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May s offer of  settled status  for EU residents is flawed and will leave them with fewer rights after Brexit, the European Parliament s Brexit coordinator said on Tuesday. A family of five could face a bill of 360 pounds to acquire the new status, Guy Verhofstadt told May s Brexit Secretary David Davis in a letter seen by Reuters    a very significant amount for a family on low income . Listing three other concerns for the EU legislature, which must approve any treaty on the March 2019 exit, Verhofstadt told Davis:  Under your proposals, EU citizens will definitely notice a deterioration of their status as a result of Brexit. And the Parliament s aim all along has been that EU citizens, and UK citizens in the EU-27, should notice no difference.  Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, wrote in response to Davis, who had written to him after Parliament complained last week that there remained  major issues  to be settled on the rights of the 3 million EU citizens in Britain. On Tuesday, he told reporters that Parliament was determined that expatriates should not become  victims of Brexit . May had unveiled more details last week of a system aimed at giving people already in Britain a quick and cheap way of asserting their rights to stay there indefinitely. The issue, along with how much Britain owes and the new EU-UK border across Ireland, is one on which the EU wants an outline agreement before opening talks on the future of trade. Verhofstadt said lawmakers were not dismissing British efforts to streamline applications but saw flaws in the nature of  settled status  itself. As well as the cost, which is similar to that of acquiring a British passport, he cited three others: - Europeans should simply  declare  a whole household resident, without needing an  application  process; the burden of proof should be on the British authorities to deny them rights. - more stringent conditions on criminal records could mean some EU residents, including some now with permanent resident status, being deported for failing to gain  settled status . - EU residents would lose some rights to bring relatives to Britain as the new status would give them the same rights as British people, who now have fewer rights than EU citizens.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट प्रस्ताव से यूरोपीय संघ के नागरिकों को नुकसान हो सकता हैः यूरोपीय संघ की संसद


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by 3 percentage points nationally in a Washington Post-ABC tracking poll released on Friday. Clinton drew 47 percent of the vote in the survey compared with Trump’s 44 percent four days before Tuesday’s presidential election, according to the telephone poll of 1,768 adults taken from Sunday to Wednesday. The margin of error was 2.5 percentage points. In the Post-ABC poll released on Wednesday, the two candidates were tied with 46 percent each.

Summary: वाशिंगटन पोस्ट-ए. बी. सी. पोल में क्लिंटन ने ट्रम्प को 47-44 प्रतिशत से आगे कर दिया


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When Tuesday s earthquake struck Mexico, Martha Mejia watched the tin walls of her tiny shack quiver and remembered the smell of death that hung in the air of shattered apartment blocks 32 years before.  I wanted to scream because I had lived this all before. I wanted to run out and scream,  said the 64-year-old Mejia, whose home was destroyed in a 1985 quake that devastated Mexico City.  Back then, I was strong. But this time I felt it more.  The 1985 earthquake, which killed around 5,000 people, was a defining moment for the Mexican capital.  Three decades on, hundreds of its victims are still living in hovel encampments across the sprawling city of 20 million, waiting for long-promised government-subsidized homes - and now the latest quake has made thousands more people homeless.   Mejia s apartment building in the Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood was shaken to the ground in 1985. Today, she lives in one of the encampments with her husband, her daughter and a granddaughter. Their 10-foot by 20-foot hovel in the Lindavista district in the north of the capital has a double bed, a bunk bed and a stove.  Supposedly this place was going to be temporary, but that temporary has been my whole life,  she said.  A heavy rain pounded on the tin roof of the shack as Mejia watched TV coverage of this week s earthquake and wept.  Tuesday s tremor - which struck on the anniversary of the 1985 quake - killed close to 300 people.  The time has come for me to give up all illusions,  Mejia said.  Now with this other earthquake, how many people will be left homeless? They are going to make new shelters and we are going to stay in the same one.  According to the leaders of the Lindavista camp, its ramshackle shacks are home to around 750 people, divided into roughly 250 families. There are almost 200 children who are the grandchildren of those originally resettled here, according to local leaders. At least six such camps exist in the capital. Mexico City s housing institute said that since 2016, they have delivered 173 homes to victims of the 1985 quake and expected to hand over 120 more before the end of next year.  Data on how many homes have been delivered in total since 1985 was not immediately available.  With the race for July s presidential race heating up, President Enrique Pena Nieto, the mayor of Mexico City and governors from the affected states rushed to the scene of the recent devastation, making promises to help those affected.  Political parties have vied to outdo each other with offers to donate campaign funds to disaster victims. But there is deep skepticism among Mexicans that they will see enough aid.  Jeanete Morales, 41, cleans offices in the city and comes home every night to the Lindavista shanty town she first moved into with her mom when she was nine years old. Their three-story apartment building was severely damaged in 1985 and they were soon forced to leave and brought to the camp. They were told they would only be there for two weeks. Now married with four children, Morales still lives at the camp. Her mother died eight years ago.  She died believing she would get her house,  Morales said.  It makes you so mad. You feel so impotent.  Morales said officials at the city s housing institute said they already gave her mother an apartment.  Alfredo Villegas, one of the leaders of the camp, said Morales  mother had not been given a home despite her name appearing on what he said was a government list of those who had been given homes. The list he produced could not be immediately authenticated by Reuters.   The questions is: where are those apartments?  Villegas said. He said it seemed that city officials were fraudulently selling homes to others.   The cost of the government-subsidized homes depends on a victim s income but is often in the range of 250,000-300-000 pesos ($14,000-$17,000), Villegas said. The housing institute did not immediately respond to request for comment. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera has said the problem lies with how the institute delivers housing to the loose organizations that represent the people with a claim to the subsidized housing.   At least 2,500 people are sleeping in the streets or in their cars in Mexico City after Tuesday s 7.1 magnitude tremor collapsed dozens of buildings and damaged hundreds more. Thousands of others have lost their homes in the states of Morelos, Puebla and the state of Mexico. Many more in Oaxaca and Chiapas lost their homes in the quake that hit southern Mexico on Sept. 7.   Hundreds of millions of dollars will be required for reconstruction in Mexico City, according to the mayor.  The home of taxi driver Emanuel Jardon, 60, was severely damaged by the collapse of a neighboring building on Tuesday. Wearing a helmet, he cursed politicians as he cleared debris from his home.   It is a vile lie. Right now as the campaigns begin...they come to see us, to supervise, but the months will pass and they will forget,  he said.  I m sorry to be rude, but they suck.

Summary: भूकंप के बत्तीस साल बाद भी गुस्साए मैक्सिकन अभी भी घरों का इंतजार कर रहे हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy, preserve the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.	 Here are the proposals the former secretary of state has made as part of her argument that she is best qualified to occupy the Oval Office: Clinton has said the rich, not the middle class, would see their taxes go up. She supports billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s eponymous tax proposal calling for those making more than $1 million a year to pay an effective tax rate of 30 percent. Clinton has also called for an additional 4 percent tax on those making more than $5 million annually. Clinton has pledged to raise the estate tax levied on property transferred from a deceased person to their heirs. She also supports a tiered inheritance tax structure, with a top rate of 65 percent on the wealthiest estates of more than $500 million for a single person or $1 billion for a couple. Clinton has pledged to unveil a plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure during her first 100 days, saying this would create new jobs. She would use some of the revenue generated from her tax plan to pay for making community colleges tuition-free and ensuring students can graduate from public colleges and universities without incurring debt. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that independently scored Clinton’s proposals in their totality, estimated her policies would cost $1.8 trillion over the next decade and would be offset by $1.6 trillion, mostly generated by taxing high earners. The group said the remaining $200 billion could be covered by $275 billion in corporate tax revenue the Clinton campaign has called for but not yet spelled out in sufficient detail for them to credit as an offset at this time. Clinton has promised to propose broad legislation within her first 100 days in office to overhaul the immigration system and establish a process for undocumented workers to become citizens. Clinton has said she will defend executive actions taken by Democratic President Barack Obama to defer deportations of children brought illegally to the United States and the parents of children who are citizens or legal residents. She has said if Congress does not pass comprehensive immigration reform, she will similarly use executive action to defer deportations in “sympathetic cases.” A federal court has ruled that Obama did not have the authority to issue his executive orders on immigration, known as DACA and DAPA. The U.S. Supreme Court, currently short one member, split 4-to-4 on whether to hear the administration’s appeal, leaving the lower court’s ruling in place for the time being. Clinton has promised to preserve the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law enacted after the financial crisis, and to pursue further measures to toughen Wall Street regulations. She has proposed a fee for large financial institutions based on their size and the level of risk they pose. She would also give regulators additional authority to force institutions that pose high risks to break apart or reorganize. Clinton has also urged strengthening the Volcker Rule, which restricts proprietary trading by commercial banks. She has called for a new tax on high-frequency trading and for stricter oversight of hedge funds, private equity firms and other players in the so-called shadow-banking system. She has promised stiffer policies on people who commit financial crimes, including an extension of the statute of limitations on such crimes and a requirement for bank executives to return bonuses if their institutions suffer major losses. Changes to Dodd-Frank have stalled in the Republican-controlled Congress, and it is unclear whether Clinton could get congressional backing to strengthen the law, unless Democrats win control of one or both chambers in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton has pledged to defeat Islamic State and has said the first step to fighting the militant group is to eliminate its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. In a departure from the Obama administration, she supports the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria and has called for an intensified air campaign by the U.S.-led coalition. Clinton has said she would send additional American special forces to help Arab and Kurdish forces already on the ground. She opposes sending additional U.S. ground troops to the region. Clinton has said the United States and European allies must share intelligence more effectively in order to thwart potential attacks. She has urged Silicon Valley companies to work with the government to track militant recruitment tactics on the internet.  Current and former Obama administration officials have told Reuters they believe Clinton would  take a harder line on Russia than either Obama or Trump. Clinton has said she believes Russian hackers are behind the breach of Democratic Party systems in an attempt to influence the U.S. presidential election. Clinton has said Russia should play a role in combating Islamic State in Syria, and her foreign policy adviser has said she would consider arming government forces in Ukraine, one of Russia’s neighbors, in a move to combat Russian “aggression in Europe.” Russia has backed ethic Russian separatists in Ukraine. Clinton was a key player in Obama’s “pivot” to Asia when she served as his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Clinton has said she will “aggressively pursue trade cases and impose consequences” against China when it commits trade abuses. She opposes granting China market-economy status, which China will be seeking when a World Trade Organization clause expires in December, and has said she would make sure a newly installed trade prosecutor would ensure that China is playing by the rules. Clinton has said she would treat cyber attacks from countries such as Russia and China “like any other attack” and that the United States “will be ready with serious political, economic and military responses.”

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अर्थव्यवस्था, इस्लामिक स्टेट और अन्य मुद्दों पर क्लिंटन की नीतियां


SYDNEY/GENEVA (Reuters) - Australia s foreign minister said on Wednesday that asylum seekers occupying an abandoned Australian-run detention camp in Papua New Guinea (PNG) can relocate to alternative accommodation, challenging United Nations claims that the substitute site is unfinished and inadequate. Some 380 men have barricaded themselves into Manus Island center for more than 20 days without regular food or water supplies, defying attempts by Australia and PNG to close the facility. The asylum seekers say they fear for their safety if moved to the transit center, and risk being resettled in PNG or another developing nation permanently.  There is accommodation that is perfectly acceptable,  Australia s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, said in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp radio on Wednesday.  The stand-off on Manus Island can be ended if the men ... move from the regional processing center to the alternative accommodation that is being offered.  Mostly from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria, the men are held under Australia s strict  sovereign borders  immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. The stand-off has attracted the attention of the United Nations, which is a long-time critic of the conditions experienced by asylum seekers held in Australia s offshore camps. Nai Jit Lam, a regional representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told a U.N. briefing in Geneva on Tuesday that asylum seekers  are still not adequately provided for outside the center .  It s still under construction ... we saw for ourselves that they are trying to complete the site as quickly as possible but the fact remains that major work is still in progress,  Lam said in a satellite phone call from Manus Island. Australia says allowing asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores would only encourage people smugglers in Asia and see more people risk their lives trying to make the perilous sea voyage. It rejected an offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 of the men to focus on sending up to 1,250 asylum seekers to the United States. Conditions at the abandoned facility are getting worse each day, according to Lam, with rubbish and human waste building up and medical supplies already exhausted. Papua New Guinea s Post-Courier newspaper reported on Tuesday that immigration officials would begin evicting the men on Wednesday, the fourth such deadline imposed on the refugees to leave since the camp s closure on Oct. 31. Papua New Guinea s Immigration department did not respond to a request for comment.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र की आलोचना के खिलाफ शरण चाहने वालों के लिए वैकल्पिक आवास का बचाव किया


LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May appointed the top official at the Brexit ministry as her EU adviser on Monday, taking tighter control of divorce negotiations just as Britain tries to shift the focus of talks onto the future relationship with Europe.  In order to strengthen cross-government co-ordination of the next phase of negotiations with the European Union, the Prime Minister has appointed Oliver Robbins as her EU Adviser in the Cabinet Office, in addition to his role as EU Sherpa,  a government spokesman said in a statement. Robbins will continue to lead British officials in the negotiations and will work closely with Brexit Secretary David Davis, the spokesman said. Robbins, 42, who media reported had sometimes clashed with Davis, had worked in the Brexit ministry since shortly after it was set up following the EU referendum in June 2016. Robbins will be replaced as permanent secretary of the Brexit department by his second-in-command Philip Rycroft. May, whose position was weakened after losing her governing Conservative Party s majority at a June election, has been criticized for failing to give clear instructions to her negotiating team. Her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, was accused by colleagues on Sunday of  backseat driving  after setting out his own vision for Brexit days before May is due to give a major speech on the subject on Sept. 22.  Moving key individuals at this critical time adds a whole new dimension to government s chaotic approach to Brexit,  opposition Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said.  The real problem we have is the failure of the government to confront the difficult policy choices it faces,  Bob Kerslake, a former top government official told BBC Radio, adding the timing of the move was odd.  It could be ... a simple case of the prime minister wanting more control and influence over the process, it could be down to clash of personalities,  he said.  What I worry about is the signal it sends ... about our organization and capability in this crucial time.  May is due to make a speech on Britain s future EU relationship ahead of the next round of talks later this month. So far negotiations on the terms of the divorce have made limited progress, prompting warnings from the EU the start of discussions on post-Brexit ties could be pushed back from October.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री ने ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता पर पकड़ मजबूत की, अधिकारी को यूरोपीय संघ का सलाहकार नियुक्त किया


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Russian Islamic State fighter was sentenced to death by hanging in Iraq on Tuesday, authorities said, a rare conviction of a foreign militant on terrorism charges. The unnamed man was captured after running out of ammunition in western Mosul, a spokesman for Iraq s Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement.  The Russian was a member of Daesh operating in Mosul since 2015,  he added, using an Arabic acronym for the Sunni Muslim militant group.  Thousands of foreigners have been fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.   Security and aid officials told Reuters over the weekend that Iraqi authorities were holding 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected militants - most from Turkey, others from former Soviet states including Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Russia. Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition allies and Kurds, retook Mosul in July following the group s occupation of the country s second largest city in 2014. The Sunni militant group still controls territory in Iraq and is expected to revert to more conventional insurgent tactics such as bombings as its self-proclaimed caliphate falls apart.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट के रूसी लड़ाके को इराक में फांसी की सजा


LONDON (Reuters) - Language suggesting that Britain should be punished for leaving the European Union is  regrettable , as are any suggestions from London that officials do not want to negotiate a Brexit deal, trade minister Liam Fox said on Wednesday. Answering questions from lawmakers, Fox also said it was  inconceivable  that the open skies agreement between the United States and the EU would not continue to include Britain once it has left the bloc in March 2019.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट पर ब्रिटेन को दंडित किए जाने के सुझाव खेदजनक हैंः मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 48 lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday asked the Obama administration to brief Congress “as soon as possible” about a 2015 Yahoo YHOO.O  program to scan all of its users’ incoming email at the behest of the government. The request comes amid scrutiny by privacy advocates and civil liberties groups about the legal authority and technical nature of the surveillance program, first revealed by Reuters last week. Custom software was installed to search messages to hundreds of millions of accounts under an order issued by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. “As legislators, it is our responsibility to have accurate information about the intelligence activities conducted by the federal government,” according to the letter, organized by Republican Representative Justin Amash of Michigan and Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California. “Accordingly, we request information and a briefing as soon as possible for all members of Congress to resolve the issues raised by these reports.” Investigators searched for messages that contained a single piece of digital content linked to a foreign state sponsor of terrorism, sources have told Reuters, though the nature of the content remains unclear. Intelligence officials said Yahoo modified existing systems used to stop child pornography and filter spam messages on its email service.  But three former Yahoo employees told Reuters the court-ordered search was done by a module buried deep near the core of the company’s email server operation system, far below where mail sorting was handled. The Senate and House intelligence committees were given a copy of the order when it was issued last year, sources said, but other members of Congress have express concern at the scope of the email scanning. Some legal experts have questioned the breadth of the court order and whether it runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. Half of registered U.S. voters believe the Yahoo program violated the privacy of customers, according to a poll of 1,989 people conducted last week by Morning Consult, a polling and media company. Twenty-five percent were supportive of the program because of its potential to stop criminal acts, the survey found, while another quarter did not know or had no opinion. The congressional letter is addressed to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Summary: दर्जनों अमेरिकी सांसदों ने याहू ईमेल स्कैनिंग पर जानकारी देने का अनुरोध किया


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will raise subsidies to universities to 1 percent of gross domestic product over the next five years from nearly 0.7 percent at present as recommended by a commission on higher education funding, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.  As a result of this substantial increase in subsidy to universities, there will be no tuition fee increment for students from households earning up to 600,000 rand a year during the 2018 academic year,  Zuma said in a statement.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका उच्च शिक्षा पर खर्च बढ़ाएगाः जुमा


(Reuters) - The eye of Hurricane Irma was passing over the Caribbean island of Barbuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory on Wednesday. The hurricane was about 40 miles (65 km) north of Antigua with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), the NHC said.  Irma is moving toward the west-northwest near 15 miles per hour (24 kph) and this motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days,  it added.

Summary: इरमा कैरेबियाई द्वीप बारबुडा के ऊपर से गुजरते हुए पश्चिम-उत्तर-पश्चिम की ओर जाता है।


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive said on Monday it had a unanimous mandate from the bloc’s 28 members to finalize negotiations on a free trade deal with the United States, a day after Germany’s economy minister said the talks had “de facto failed”. Sigmar Gabriel of Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, said on Sunday that negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had failed because Europe rejected some U.S. demands. Asked to comment on Gabriel’s remarks, a European Commission spokesman said: “The ball is still rolling” on TTIP. “Although trade talks take time, the ball is rolling right now and the Commission is making steady progress in the ongoing TTIP negotiations,” Margaritis Schinas told a news conference. The White House also disputed Gabriel’s contention, saying it was still aiming to reach a deal by the end of the year. “It’s going to require the resolution of some pretty thorny negotiations, but the president and his team are committed to doing that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington. In Berlin, Germany’s leading industry associations were critical of Gabriel’s remarks and urged the German government to show greater commitment to free trade deals. The head of industry association BDI, Ulrich Grillo, said it was “astonishing” that Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor and head of the co-governing Social Democrats, had declared the TTIP talks a failure when negotiations were still going on. Top officials of other industry associations such as VDMA and the Auto Industry Association VDA also spoke out against Gabriel’s comments, which highlighted growing divisions within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition ahead of next year’s elections.   Three years of negotiations have failed to resolve multiple differences, including over food and environmental safety, with critics saying the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers. Backers of a sweeping U.S.-EU free trade deal see it bringing economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic. EU trade ministers will discuss the issue in Bratislava on Sept. 22. Schinas said the Commission was still ready to finalize the deal by the end of the year but not at the expense of “Europe’s safety, health, social and data protection standards, or our cultural diversity”. Commenting separately on Gabriel’s remarks, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he believed arriving at a deal would benefit both the EU and the United States. “It would be better for all sides to agree,” he said. “Of course, not at an expense of our interests. We have to defend our interests, but we also have to negotiate and conclude this agreement. It would be a big boost for economies, jobs, trade.” Britain’s June vote to leave the EU has further clouded the picture, although Schinas said Brussels was still negotiating on behalf of all 28 members of the bloc, including London.

Summary: यूरोपीय आयोग का कहना है कि अमेरिका के साथ व्यापार समझौते पर 'गेंद अभी भी चल रही है'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday faulted North Carolina again in a racially tinged voting rights case, upholding a lower court’s ruling that Republican lawmakers mapped state legislative districts in a way that diluted the clout of black voters. But the justices also threw out another ruling by the same panel of three federal judges ordering special elections by November to fill the state legislature seats at issue in the dispute. The high court, with no recorded dissents, sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider whether special elections are necessary. The Supreme Court in January put the matter of special elections on hold while it decided whether to hear the state’s appeal of the ruling. The justices upheld an August 2016 ruling by the three-judge panel that the districts were racial “gerrymanders,” with boundaries drawn to diminish the voting power of minorities, and violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The lower court found that the Republican-led state legislature had crammed black voters into a limited number of districts in order to lessen their statewide electoral power. At issue were nine state Senate districts and 19 state House districts, as carved out in a plan adopted by the legislature in 2011. The Supreme Court has dealt with North Carolina voting rights cases three times in the past three weeks. On May 22, it ruled that North Carolina Republicans unlawfully took race into consideration when drawing two majority-black U.S. House of Representatives districts, concentrating black voters in an improper bid to diminish their statewide influence. On May 15, the justices rebuffed a Republican bid to revive a strict North Carolina voter-identification law that a lower court found deliberately discriminated against black voters. On Monday, the justices, in an opinion with no recorded dissents throwing out the decision requiring special elections, said the lower court gave only a “cursory” analysis of whether such elections were “a proper remedy for a racial gerrymander” when it ordered them last November. They added that said “obvious considerations include the severity and nature of the particular constitutional violation, the extent of the likely disruption to the ordinary processes of governance if early elections are imposed, and the need to act with proper judicial restraint when intruding on state sovereignty.” Packing minorities into a limited number of legislative districts would reduce their influence in electing a larger number of lawmakers, increasing the sway of white voters. “Whether the election is November 2018 or earlier, redrawing the districts is good for our democracy by leveling the playing field for free and fair elections,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “The people should be able to choose their representatives in competitive districts instead of the representatives being able to choose the people in lopsided, partisan districts,” Cooper added. Republican lawmakers praised the high court’s action to throw out the order requiring special elections. “We are encouraged the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the lower court’s politically motivated attempt to force a special legislative election in 2017 and its efforts to ‘suspend provisions of the North Carolina Constitution,’ ignore voters’ constitutional right to elect representatives to two-year terms, and effectively nullify their votes from 2016,” state Senator Ralph Hise and Representative David Lewis said in a statement. Democrats have accused Republicans of taking a variety of steps at the state level to disenfranchise black and other minority voters who tend to back Democratic candidates. Republicans have defended their actions, saying some are meant to prevent voter fraud.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत ने फिर से मतदान के अधिकार पर उत्तरी कैरोलिना को दोषी ठहराया


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The security incident at the Scottish parliament is over, a spokesman for the parliament said on Tuesday.  The MSP block is now open and members and their staff can return to their offices,  the spokesman said. The devolved parliament in Edinburgh was evacuated earlier after a package containing what was thought to be white powder was investigated by police.

Summary: स्कॉटिश संसद ने कहा कि सुरक्षा घटना समाप्त हो गई है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to cut red tape to speed up approval of infrastructure projects and said his overhaul could top $1 trillion on roads, tunnels and bridges, one of his 2016 election campaign promises.  Trump, a real estate businessman before he was elected, did not provide further details on the amount or where the money would come from when he spoke to a White House meeting of 50 chief executives and other business leaders. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said at the forum that the administration plans to release a legislative package in May. Investors have become more skeptical that the plan would  win approval this year in Congress, which is controlled by Republicans who are traditionally wary of big spending. Trump said building a highway can require dozens of approvals and take 10 to 20 years, a process he vowed to speed up. Trump said he would not fund projects that cannot be started within 90 days.  The administration wants to improve the electrical grid and water systems, rebuild airports, bridges, roads and potentially hospitals for military veterans and broadband. National Economic Council director Gary Cohn told executives that privatizing air traffic control, which the administration proposed in its budget outline in March, “is probably the single most exciting thing we can do.”. Cohn, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs before he became Trump’s top economic adviser, said it could help speed flight times and reduce fuel use. Cohn said if cities “sell off” or privatize infrastructure assets, the administration could provide financial support. “We’re not on the cutting edge of this,” Cohn said. “We’ve got to get a little more comfortable with public-private partnerships.” Cohn touted an idea of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk to use tunnels to speed rail transit on the densely populated east coast and also to cut traffic congestion in Los Angeles. A Tesla spokesman declined comment.

Summary: बुनियादी ढांचे में सुधार 1 खरब डॉलर से अधिक हो सकता है, लालफीताशाही में कटौतीः ट्रम्प


DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain s top Shi ite Muslim cleric underwent surgery on Friday, activists said, after he was hospitalized following months under virtual house arrest. News of Ayatollah Isa Qassim s fragile health has stoked tension in Bahrain as the Sunni Muslim-led monarchy pursues a crackdown on dissent by majority Shi ites.  The leading Shia cleric was transferred this morning at 7:30 am to Ibn al-Nafees Hospital to undergo urgent surgery,  the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said in a statement.  Upon his arrival, he went into surgery and he is expecting further operations.  Qassim, who is believed to be in his 70s, was suffering constant pain and excreting blood, citing a groin hernia, diabetes and a form of heart disease, the group said on Nov 27. The Interior Ministry said in June 2016 that Qassim s citizenship had been revoked, accusing him of trying to divide Bahraini society, encourage youths to violate the constitution and promote a sectarian environment in the Gulf Arab state. The decision sparked angry protests in Bahrain and drew sharp condemnation from regional Shi ite power Iran and statements of concern from the United States and Britain. In May, five people were killed when security forces raided Qassim s homevillage to disperse followers. The Sunni-ruled kingdom   where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based   has pursued a crackdown on members of the Shi ite community since, with Saudi help, it quashed 2011  Arab Spring  protests calling for more rights and representation. Authorities have closed opposition political groupings, revoked dissidents  passports and arrested suspected militants accused of being backed by its arch-foe, Shi ite Iran.

Summary: बहरीन के शिया आध्यात्मिक नेता की सर्जरी हुई, कार्यकर्ताओं का कहना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that Congress’s passage of a law allowing Sept. 11-related suits against Saudi Arabia was “an abject embarrassment” and that the administration was willing to talk to lawmakers about narrowing the measure’s impact. “I think what we’ve seen in the United States Congress is a pretty classic case of rapid onset buyer’s remorse,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing, noting that 28 senators had written a letter expressing concern about the measure within minutes of voting to override President Barack Obama’s veto.

Summary: 11 सितंबर के मुकदमे का पारित होना 'बेहद शर्मनाक' हैः व्हाइट हाउस


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The International Support Group (ISG) for Lebanon appealed for Lebanon to  continue to be shielded from tensions in the region , a joint statement said on Friday. Following a meeting of ISG members with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday, the group, whose members include the United States, Russia and France, stressed the importance of restoring  vital balance  of state institutions in Lebanon, and welcomed  the call of the president for Prime Minister Hariri to return to Lebanon , the statement said.

Summary: लेबनान समर्थन समूह ने लेबनान से क्षेत्रीय तनाव से बचने का आग्रह कियाः बयान


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday he did not believe that Britain would crash out of the European Union with no Brexit deal. EU leaders will meet on Friday to discuss their response to British Prime Minister Theresa May s appeal to move to the next phase of Brexit negotiations and are expected to agree that there needs to be more progress in talks on the divorce terms.  We have some details but we don t have all the details we need... It s not my working assumption that we ll have no deal,  Juncker told reporters.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के जंकर का कहना है कि माना जाता है कि ब्रेक्सिट पर 'कोई सौदा नहीं' होगा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Nerves are fraying in the Brexit talks, negotiators are trying to work out if the other side is bluffing about walking away, and a ticking clock is fast narrowing British options come March 2019. Philip Hammond, Britain s finance minister, echoed recent EU assertions when he said that a transition period to some new relationship was a  wasting asset , the value of which would  diminish significantly  for both sides if its form remains unclear to businesses much after the start of the new year. As negotiators in Brussels make little progress before Prime Minister Theresa May meets EU leaders next week, a warning about a breakdown in talks from a minister seen strongly to favor a business-friendly  bespoke  transition out of the EU came a day after the EU summit chair spoke of a similar new year deadline. Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that if London fails to settle divorce terms by December, and so unlock talks on the transition and future trade pact, then the EU would reconsider its objectives. That reflects mounting doubts across Europe that any legal exit deal can be struck. The longer the stand-off goes on, EU negotiators said, the more Britain s choice come March 30, 2019, will be between the  hard Brexit  by which it will simply quit all EU systems and be treated like, say, Australia, and a virtual status quo, staying in most EU systems, without voting rights, rather like Norway.  The closer we get, the less there is to discuss about a transition and the more it just goes to a standstill transition, with Britain still in everything, but without a vote,  one said.  Pretty soon,  said another,  It will be Norway or nothing.  While all such commentary reflects the sides  jockeying for negotiating advantage, the evidence this week is that they remain far apart and are getting tetchy. May and the EU traded jabs over whose court  the ball  is in after the prime minister made concessions in a speech at Florence on Sept. 22. Behind closed doors, British negotiators voiced outraged surprise that her offer was seen as insufficient to launch talks on the future relationship.  It s hard to say it was genuine,  one EU official said of the show of emotion.  It s a form of pressure.  Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU negotiator Michel Barnier are due to give a news conference around noon (1000 GMT) on Thursday to give an update on the week s progress. Businesses are sounding the alarm. A German industry federation warned members to start preparing for a  very hard Brexit . A senior representative of London s financial services industry told a Brussels audience this week that a legal transition agreement must be reached by the end of this year.  Most importantly, it must reflect the status quo,  said Catherine McGuinness of the City of London Corporation.  There is no feasibility in asking firms to transition to a transition. If uncertainty continues, businesses will vote with their feet.  Hammond ruled out budgeting   yet   for more customs and border facilities, and few on the continent believe threats of a walkout they say would hurt Britain more than them. So leaders will watch May s struggle to unite her government and sit tight. One senior EU diplomat said British counterparts were in such a weak position that  sometimes I feel sorry them . For many in Brussels, that makes a virtual status quo after Brexit the increasingly likely outcome:  In March 2019, Britain will formally leave,  said another EU official.   But de facto most of the existing arrangements will remain ... They will have their celebration of  independence  and then we will sit down to talking business again.  May insists a two-year transition period is enough to agree a new free trade pact, but many question that.  John Bruton, the former prime minister of Ireland, has recommended an alternative to either no deal at all or a virtual status quo transition   just keeping Britain fully in the EU for four years beyond 2019. Arguing that the two-year deadline set by Article 50 of the EU treaty raises the risk of talks collapsing, and that agreeing first a transition and then another accord is complex, Bruton said this week that Britain and the EU should agree to a six-year negotiating period, with Britain only leaving in 2023. Neither wants any extension. But Bruton warned:  The present tight time frame ... increases the likelihood of miscalculation and of the UK leaving the EU with no deal at all.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट पोकर में, घड़ी संक्रमण विकल्पों को संकुचित करती है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Actions that lead to an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula are undesirable and fraught with very dangerous consequences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.  North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. strategic bombers even if they are not in the country s air space.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया पर तनाव बढ़ाने के खतरनाक परिणाम हो सकते हैंः क्रेमलिन


KIGALI (Reuters) - A critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame will appear in court on Friday charged with inciting insurrection and forgery, the prosecutor s office said on Thursday.  Diane Shima Rwigara, a 35-year-old accountant, is the latest political opponent of Kagame to face criminal charges. She was barred from contesting the presidency in an August election he won with 98.8 percent of the vote.  She has repeatedly accused him of stifling dissent and criticized his Rwandan Patriotic Front s tight grip on the country since it fought its way to power to end a genocide that killed more than 800,000 people in 1994.  The Court will examine the serious grounds justifying provisional detention of the suspects,  the prosecutor s office said on Twitter. The office noted that the other two suspects to appear in court are Rwigara s mother Adeline and sister Anne.    The three women have been in detention for around two weeks. They were first taken from their home in the Rwandan capital on Aug. 30 on tax evasion allegations related to the family s tobacco company. That charge was not listed in those filed on Tuesday. Kagame has been widely praised for restoring stability in Rwanda and presiding over a rapid economic recovery after the genocide in the East African nation.  But human rights groups say he has muzzled independent media and suppressed potential democratic opponents. Some critics of the government have been imprisoned or killed. Rwanda last month charged another opposition official and eight others with forming an armed group and seeking to overthrow the government.   With each arrest in Rwanda, fewer and fewer people will dare to speak out against state policy or abuse,   read a Human Rights Watch in a report released last month.

Summary: रवांडा के राष्ट्रपति के आलोचक को शुक्रवार को आपराधिक मुकदमे का सामना करना पड़ेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter makes his last scheduled trip to Asia next week, and he will try to sooth anxieties caused by Donald Trump’s election, U.S. officials said. The Obama administration made Asia and U.S. alliances there a priority. While details of Trump’s approach to the region remain scant, his calls for allies to pay more to sustain U.S. forces or face their possible withdrawal have alarmed Japan and South Korea.  In Tokyo, Carter will emphasize the importance of the U.S.-Japanese alliance and the presence of some 50,000 U.S. troops there, given China’s rise and the increasing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, a U.S. defense official said. But the soothing effect of anything Carter has to say will be limited because he is a “lame-duck”, and does not represent Trump’s still-undefined policies. A source who has advised the incoming president’s transition team downplayed concerns about a dramatic break with the past or  possibly allowing Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons rather than relying on the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Trump wants the allies to shoulder a greater share of defense costs, but this would be a matter for negotiation, the source said. “It’s not an ultimatum; it’s not saying ‘Let’s crush the alliance,’” he said. “It will be a negotiation like we always have,” the source said. Trump caused alarm during his campaign by suggesting that Japan and South Korea could acquire nuclear weapons to defend themselves, although he has not repeated those remarks since his election.  “As president-elect, there has never been any question other than supporting the existing (nuclear) umbrella and the existing non-proliferation regime,” he said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after the election, and said afterwards that alliances must be based on trust and that he saw the future president as a “trustworthy leader.” However, Trump plans to quit the trans-Pacific trade pact that was the economic pillar of Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, which had Japan as its main partner.  “Regardless of what (Carter) conveys, the reverberations caused by Trump’s election have made many countries envisage a future where a robust U.S. presence may not be a certainty,” said Reed Foster, a defense analyst for IHS Jane’s. Carter will also visit India. Trump pledged in his campaign that the United States and India would be “best friends” and would boost intelligence-sharing against Islamist militants. In August, the two countries reached a deal on using each other’s military bases for repairs, and they have been cooperating on an Indian aircraft carrier project. A senior U.S. defense official said two pacts that would allow secure communications and the exchange of nautical and other data would not be sealed before Obama leaves office. India is pushing for faster movement on a request to buy U.S. Predator drone aircraft.

Summary: अंतिम यात्रा पर, कार्टर एशिया के सहयोगियों को आश्वस्त करना चाहते हैं


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis held talks with Indian leaders on Tuesday, vowing to jointly stamp out militant sanctuaries and seeking India s greater involvement in helping to stabilize Afghanistan. The comments come as President Donald Trump s administration has stepped up pressure on Pakistan for more action against militant groups operating from its soil that are blamed for attacks in India and neighboring Afghanistan. Islamabad denies giving material support to the militants and instead accuses its arch-rival of trying to use Afghanistan as a base for anti-Pakistan activities.  But Mattis, the Trump administration s first cabinet official to visit India, said the two countries would work together to fight terrorism.        There can be no tolerance of terrorist safe havens,  he said in a statement.  As global leaders, India and the United States resolve to work together to eradicate this scourge.    Washington welcomed Indian efforts to promote stability in Afghanistan, he added. New Delhi has committed $3 billion in development projects in Afghanistan and trains Afghan officers in India.  But it has not sent soldiers in the international effort to restore peace.  Our engagement in Afghanistan will continue, we shall expand our engagement,  Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, following talks with Mattis.     Defence ties between India and the United States have expanded rapidly, with New Delhi buying U.S. weapons worth $15 billion over the last decade, moving away from traditional supplier Russia. Military experts say U.S. weapons transfers aim at bolstering Indian capabilities to develop a counterweight against China s growing assertiveness in recent years. Indian and U.S. negotiators are now trying to move forward with a deal to supply the Indian navy with 22 Sea Guardian drone aircraft, whose June approval by the U.S. government was the first such clearance to a non-NATO ally.  India wants the unarmed drones to help its navy lengthen the duration of its surveillance in the Indian Ocean, where Chinese naval ships and submarines make regular forays. Expanding naval cooperation with India was a top priority, Mattis said, adding that three-way exercises involving the United States, India and Japan boosted operational cooperation.  The United States has been critical of China s build-up of military facilities in the South China Sea. But New Delhi turned down a U.S. suggestion of regional joint patrols with the Indian navy, for fear of a Chinese backlash.  China looms very large for both countries,  said Dhruva Jaishankar, a specialist on India-U.S. relations at Brookings India.   The strategic underpinning of India-US defense ties is in the common concerns they have over China, over its revisionism.     The Indian air force has also asked for 90 armed Avenger Predator drones that experts say could be deployed for cross-border strikes, such as targeting militant camps India says exist on Pakistan s side of disputed Kashmir.  Such a sale would need White House and Congress approval, sources said. But Pakistan and, possibly, China could see the move as destabilizing.  Dronemaker General Atomics is pleased the Indian government has won approval for the surveillance version of the drone, said Vivek Lall, its chief executive for U.S. and international strategic development.  Not only will this platform enhance India s capabilities in the areas of maritime domain awareness and security, but the interoperability with one of the U.S. s most important strategic partners will contribute to security across the region.   The two sides will also discuss Lockheed Martin s (LMT.N) offer to build F-16 fighter planes in India as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi s drive to build a domestic military industrial base.  We look forward to sharing some of our most advanced defense technologies,  Mattis said.  Sweden s Saab (SAABb.ST) is the other contender for the deal to supply at least 100 single-engine combat planes.

Summary: मैटिस ने अफगानिस्तान में भारतीय भूमिका की मांग की, आतंकवादियों के पनाहगाहों से लड़ने का संकल्प लिया


MIAMI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Tim Kaine made his first appearance on the campaign trail as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate on Saturday, touting an optimistic view of America and leaping to attack Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s record. Joining Clinton at a rally in the battleground state of Florida, the bilingual Kaine peppered Spanish-language phrases into a speech focused on introducing himself to voters unfamiliar with the low-key U.S. senator from Virginia. Kaine criticized Trump’s recent suggestion he might not honor U.S. security commitments to NATO in Europe, and the real estate mogul’s history of casino bankruptcies and founding the failed Trump University. “When Donald Trump says he has your back, you better watch out,” Kaine said, with Clinton sitting at his side nodding. “He leaves a trail of broken promises and wrecked lives wherever he goes. We can’t afford to let him do the same thing to our country.” In contrast, he said, Clinton “doesn’t insult people, she listens to them. What a novel concept.” He said they shared a common creed: “Do all the good you can.” Clinton unveiled her choice of Kaine late on Friday, grabbing the political spotlight from Trump, who accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night after a chaotic four-day convention. The former secretary of state will formally be nominated as her party’s presidential candidate in the Nov. 8 election at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, which opens on Monday. In choosing the soft-spoken Kaine, a former Richmond mayor and Virginia governor with a long establishment resume, Clinton opted for a steady and experienced hand who she hopes will offer a clear alternative to Trump’s volatile campaign and his Republican vice presidential choice Mike Pence. “Senator Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not. He is qualified to step into this job and lead on day one,” Clinton told the Miami crowd. Trump was unimpressed, saying on Twitter he had watched the joint appearance and “ISIS and our other enemies are drooling. They don’t look presidential to me!” In his speech, Kaine said he was an optimist and described his childhood in Kansas City helping his father in his metal-working shop and his Catholic mission to Honduras, where he helped teenagers with carpentry and welding and they taught him Spanish. He said in Honduras he learned the values “Fe, familia, y trabajo” — faith, family, and work. Kaine became emotional when he recalled the 2007 shooting deaths of 32 people at Virginia Tech University during his stint as governor, calling it the worst day of his life. He promised to take on the National Rifle Association and fight for “common sense” gun control. Judith Sweeney, 58, from West Park, Florida, said she knew little about Kaine before attending the speech but was impressed by his resume and liked his civil rights work and school reform efforts. “Wonderful, very experienced, an innovator,” she said. Peter Daou, a former adviser to Clinton who now owns a media company, said Kaine’s speech would turn around some of the doubters about the choice. “The combination of his tone, his demeanor, his life story -it just said a lot about her capacity to choose the right person and not listen to pressure from the outside,” he said. Clinton is hoping Kaine will help her appeal to independents and moderates, but some supporters of Clinton’s Democratic primary rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were dismayed by the choice because of Kaine’s past advocacy for an Asian free-trade pact. But in a nod to party liberals, the Clinton campaign said Kaine will not support the final version of the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership, which is pending in the Senate. A spokeswoman for Kaine confirmed his opposition to the pact. The decision drew cheers from liberal groups and labor leaders. “We’re glad to see the Clinton-Kaine ticket taking steps to campaign on big, bold, populist ideas that voters want to hear from Democrats,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progessive Change Campaign Committee. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said Kaine’s decision to join Clinton in opposing the trade pact “sets an irretrievable, progressive path forward for America.” In picking Kaine, Clinton passed over liberal candidates who would have generated more grassroots enthusiasm like U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Hispanic Cabinet members Julian Castro and Thomas Perez. Clinton tried to reassure party liberals, offering an extended list of Kaine’s efforts on behalf of low-income workers, education and civil rights, and for expanded gun control laws and immigration reform. “He fights for the people he represents, and he delivers real results,” Clinton said, applying one of her favorite self-descriptions to him. “When I say he’s a progressive who likes to get things done, I mean it.” Sanders supporters lost their bid to eliminate or reduce the influence of superdelegates, party leaders who are not bound to any candidate, during a meeting of the convention rules committee in Philadelphia. Sanders had complained about the superdelegates, which overwhelmingly backed Clinton. But enough committee members backed the effort to let them take the fight to the convention floor during next week’s convention, participants said.

Summary: ट्रम्प पर हमला करते हुए, डेमोक्रेट केन ने अभियान की शुरुआत की


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott signed amended “stand your ground” legislation on Friday, making it easier for defendants in the state to successfully claim they were protecting themselves when they commit violence. Previously, the law required defendants to prove that they were using force in self-defense. The new law shifts the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors, rather than defendants, to prove whether force was used lawfully. Supporters of stand your ground laws, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering civilians’ right to protect themselves.  Florida’s self-defense law was initially passed in 2005, and inspired similar laws in other states. It removes the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allows the use of deadly force when a person feels greatly threatened. Opponents have said the amended law will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in the Orlando area, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.  The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the state’s stand your ground law was included in jury instructions. Scott, a Republican, signed the amended legislation into law along with a spate of other measures passed this week in a special session of the state’s legislature. The measure was largely passed by party-line vote in the legislature.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा के गवर्नर ने 'स्टैंड योर ग्राउंड' कानून पर हस्ताक्षर किए


GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian government and opposition negotiators meeting in Geneva this week will have the chance to hold direct talks for the first time, but it is not clear if they will take it, the U.N. envoy mediating the talks told reporters on Tuesday.  We are going to offer it. We will see if this takes place. But we will be offering that,  Staffan de Mistura said after meeting the opposition delegation at their hotel.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र पहली बार सीरियाई वार्ताकारों को सीधी बातचीत की पेशकश करेगा


SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit President Donald Trump’s business advisory group on Thursday amid mounting pressure from activists and employees who oppose the administration’s immigration policies. Critics included Uber drivers, many of whom are immigrants themselves. “Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,” Kalanick, who had planned to attend a meeting of the group on Friday, said in an email to staff that was seen by Reuters. Uber spokeswoman Chelsea Kohler later confirmed that he had left the group. Social media campaigns had targeted Uber, urging users to delete accounts and opt for rival Lyft Inc. Uber has been emailing users who deleted their accounts to say it shares their concerns and will compensate drivers affected by the ban.  Kalanick said he spoke briefly to Trump about the immigration order “and its issues for our community” and told the president he would not join the economic council. The CEO came under increasing pressure to leave the council after Trump issued an executive order temporarily barring people from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States. “There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that. The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America,” he wrote in a note to employees. “Families are being separated, people are stranded overseas and there’s a growing fear the U.S. is no longer a place that welcomes immigrants.” The White House said in a statement Thursday evening that did not mention Uber that Trump “understands the importance of an open dialogue with fellow business leaders to discuss how to best make our nation’s economy stronger.” The move could put pressure on other CEOs expected to attend a meeting with Trump on Friday. General Motors Co said its chief executive would attend, while Walt Disney Co said earlier Thursday its chief executive would not attend because of a long-planned board meeting. Others expected to take part include the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Blackstone Group LP, IBM Corp and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Others that are part of the council include Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, PepsiCo Inc CEO Indra Nooyi and Boston Consulting Group CEO Rich Lesser. Musk said he would attend the meeting. “In tomorrow’s meeting, I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy,” he said in a tweet on Thursday. Kalanick’s departure could signal a growing rift between technology companies and Washington.  “There is a battle brewing between Trump and Silicon Valley,” said Neeraj Agrawal, general partner at Battery Ventures. “They (the Trump administration) clearly don’t value the economic activity generated by tech.” Microsoft Corp on Thursday said it proposed a modification of Trump’s travel limits. Technology companies including Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc have opposed Trump’s order, arguing that they rely on workers from around the world. Amazon and Expedia Inc have filed court documents supporting a legal challenge to the order by the Washington state attorney general.

Summary: उबर के सीईओ ने ट्रंप के बिजनेस एडवाइजरी ग्रुप को छोड़ा


BERLIN (Reuters) - At least 65 media workers around the world have been killed doing their jobs this year, media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday. Among the dead were 50 professional journalists, seven citizen journalists and eight other media workers. The five most dangerous countries were Syria, Mexico, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines. Of those killed, 35 died in regions where armed conflict is ongoing while 30 were killed outside of such areas. Thirty-nine of those killed were targeted for their journalistic work such as reporting on political corruption or organized crime while the other 26 were killed while working due to shelling and bomb attacks, for example.   It s alarming that so many journalists were murdered outside of war zones,  said Katja Gloger, a board member of Reporters Without Borders.  In far too many countries perpetrators can assume they ll get off scot-free if they re violent towards media professionals,  she added. The organization said more than 300 media workers were currently in prison, with around half of those in five countries, namely Turkey, China, Syria, Iran and Vietnam.

Summary: 2017 में कम से कम 65 मीडियाकर्मियों की हत्या कर दी गईः रिपोर्टर्स विदाउट बॉर्डर्स


CRANFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - Appearing at a town hall in upscale Cranford, New Jersey this week, five-term Republican congressman Leonard Lance got a barrage of complaints from constituents about President Donald Trump. “This administration is the most foul administration I have ever seen in my life. The stench that comes from Washington can be smelled in my hometown,” said Martin Carroll of Watchung, New Jersey, who drew a standing ovation. Another man, who identified himself as Alan, lambasted what he called the “criminality” of the Trump administration. “When will you call them out?” he asked Lance. Lance, a mild-mannered 64-year-old, is one of many centrist Republicans who are feeling voter heat over Trump and are vulnerable to a backlash in next year’s congressional elections. Democrats hope to make the 2018 mid-term elections a referendum on Trump. Any path they have for capturing the Republican-led House of Representatives runs through areas such as Lance’s, one of 23 Republican districts that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. In Lance’s district, anger has risen over proposed cuts to domestic programs, Republican efforts to roll back Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, and allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Russia, despite the president’s denial of any such contacts. At the Cranford town hall, the congressman made clear he has differences with Trump on issues such as the budget and a special counsel investigation into any links between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. While Trump has called the Russia probe a “witch hunt,” Lance said he believes it is necessary and that he will “let the chips fall where they may” when the findings come in. Lance also questioned the economic assumptions underpinning Trump’s budget and said he opposed its proposed cuts for the arts and environmental programs. Of the 23 Republicans in districts that voted for Clinton, Lance has been among the more vocal in distancing himself from Trump. But there are others. Republican Representative Barbara Comstock of Virginia has said she could not defend Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. Comstock and Lance were among 20 Republicans who voted against the Trump-backed Republican healthcare bill in May. Nine of those dissenters hailed from the 23 Republican districts where Clinton beat Trump in November. In California, Republican Representative Darrell Issa has faced weekly protests in his district since Trump’s inauguration in January. Issa says he backs Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the Russia investigation, and like Lance, he opposes Trump’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency. But Issa infuriated Trump opponents with his backing of the healthcare bill. “We saw your vote!” some chanted outside Issa’s office, while others displayed the message “Repeal & Replace Issa” on a California bridge. Still, the 23 districts, which have a majority of white voters and tend to be moderately well-educated and well-off, do not make easy targets for Democratic congressional candidates. Republicans have triumphed repeatedly in these districts during the past 20 years, winning 198 races to Democrats’ 36.  And Republicans have won every U.S. House election in 11 of those districts since 1996.(For graphic on the districts:  tmsnrt.rs/2rN3xb9)  In Lance’s district, a collection of well-heeled bedroom communities outside New York City, registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats, but “unaffiliated” voters outnumber both categories. Lance is rated a slight favorite to keep his seat by the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan election tracker. Speaking after the Cranford town hall, Lance said he thought the crowd had been less contentious than those that had confronted him at recent constituent meetings. He thought his rejection of the healthcare bill was one reason. “I guess I had to prove my bona fides,” Lance said. “I vote with the president when I think he’s right and I don’t vote with him when I don’t agree with him.” But Democrats note Lance had earlier backed Trump’s  healthcare bill in a House committee. Lance should have “tried to convince his colleagues to do the right thing, and he didn’t do that,” said Linda Weber, a 53-year-old bank executive who is one of four people already seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Lance next year. Ed Harris, a retired attorney who attended the Cranford town hall, said Lance’s rejection of the healthcare bill was a step in the right direction. Harris, an unaffiliated voter, said he voted for Clinton in 2016, though not enthusiastically. “I thought the bubonic plague was better than Trump,” Harris said. “I will support anybody who is opposed to Trump.” Voters like Harris pose a conundrum for Lance and other Republican moderates as they prepare for the mid-term elections. Differing with the president may help them win over centrists or independents, but then they run the risk of alienating Trump supporters. Trump backer Wells Pikaart, a sales manager from Westfield, New Jersey, said he understands Lance’s predicament but was nonetheless disappointed that the congressman did not vote in favor of the Republican healthcare bill. “I think that he needs to use his time now to advance the president’s agenda,” Pikaart said.

Summary: गृहनगर के गुस्से का सामना करते हुए, कुछ रिपब्लिकन सांसद प्रमुख मुद्दों पर ट्रम्प से अलग हो गए


SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Billionaire former President Sebastian Pinera will likely win Chile s presidential election on Sunday, Radio Bio-Bio forecast, a result that would likely usher in more market friendly policies in the world s top copper producer.  Pinera, a conservative, was seen taking 54.8 percent of the vote, the local broadcaster said after polls closed, with center-left candidate Alejandro Guillier with 45.2 percent in the contest to take over from President Michelle Bachelet. The exit poll from Radio Bio-Bio, a well-known broadcaster, was the most accurate in Chile s first round presidential vote in November.

Summary: चिली के रूढ़िवादी पिनेरा ने राष्ट्रपति पद जीताः मीडिया पूर्वानुमान


PARIS (Reuters) - France will on Thursday announce a plan to raise regulated minimum food prices and limit bargain sales in supermarkets as part of a wider field-to-fork plan aimed at increasing farmers  income, a government official said. The measures are part of a wider review promised by President Emmanuel Macron to appease farmers, an important constituency in French politics, who have long complained of being hit by squeezed margins and retail price wars. In October Macron said the government would raise minimum prices retailers can charge on food products only if each sector proposed detailed organization plans by the end of the year. Most of these plans arrived late last week, the official said. The government will propose that threshold below which retailers cannot sell food products will rise by some 10 percent while prices on promotional offers could not be discounted by more than 34 percent and no more than 25 percent of a product s volume could be sold in a promotional offer, the official said, in line with a proposal reported by daily Le Figaro. The new rules, aimed at limiting sales at losses that pressure suppliers down the chain, would be applied for a trial period of two years. Macron had delayed until year-end the proposal by retailers to raise regulated minimum prices as he sought guarantees it would meet his promise to boost farm income while minimizing retail inflation. The measures will be included in a new law, set to be approved in the first half of next year, which will also tackle price renegotiation in case of a wide swing in commodity prices and create a reversed contract starting from farmers  production costs to food processors and to retailers. Company and industry representatives, unions, non-governmental organizations and officials, have gathered at the so-called Food Convention since the summer to discuss topics ranging from food quality to farm income and export strategy.

Summary: फ्रांस खाद्य पदार्थों की न्यूनतम कीमतें बढ़ाएगा, सौदेबाजी की बिक्री को सीमित करेगा


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City s infamous traffic jams were back on Monday as offices re-opened after last week s deadly earthquake, but closed schools and clusters of homeless people served as  reminders that life in the megalopolis has not yet returned to normal. The 7.1 quake on Sept. 19 killed at least 325 people and left thousands homeless, with many of them living in tents in the streets or emergency housing. Others among the 20 million people who live in greater Mexico City were gradually resuming their routines, however.  You can t say that everything has totally returned back to being normal, but we do feel more safe that we did last week,  said market researcher Diego Sandoval, 27, back at work in an office in trendy Condesa, one of the worst hit areas of town, and lining up at a taco stand with a dozen other office workers and laborers. The most visible sign of the city coming back to life were the rush hour queues after a week of eerie quiet along the avenues and highways that criss-cross the capital, known for its gridlock.  We just opened up today, getting things back on track. We ve been closed since the earthquake,  said Martha Bertha Martinez, 70, who along with her sister runs a small grocery store in Tlalpan, a southern neighborhood.  Life goes on,  she said. More than 44,000 schools in six states were due to reopen on Monday, but only 103 in Mexico City, or barely 1 percent of its schools, were set to resume classes after they were certified as structurally safe. Officials said they did not want to impede relief efforts, so more than 4,000 public schools and nearly as many private schools in the capital will remain closed for now. The National Autonomous University of Mexico, with 350,000 students at campuses in and around Mexico City, resumed classes on Monday. Of 6,000 damaged buildings, some 1,500 have yet to be inspected, said Horacio Urbano, president of Centro Urbano, a think tank specializing in urban issues and real estate. Urbano said 10 percent of the damaged buildings were constructed after 1990, by which time strict building codes had been enacted in the wake of the 1985 earthquake that killed some 10,000 people. Search operations for quake survivors in Mexico City were narrowed to five buildings, using advanced audio equipment to look for signs of life beneath tons of rubble, with help from teams from as far afield as Israel and Japan. At a school in southern Mexico City where 19 children and six adults had previously been reported killed, officials recovered another body on Sunday, that of an adult women. The search for survivors and bodies also carried on at a ruined office building in the Roma neighborhood and in a five-story apartment building in historic Tlalpan. Even with offices and businesses opening up again, it will take months or years for neighborhoods like Condesa to recover emotionally and physically from the quake and aftershocks, with numerous residents packing up belongings and moving out.   Our neighborhood is in mourning,  said Deborah Levy, 44, in Condesa.  Some neighbors and friends got together (Sunday). We went to eat to cheer ourselves up, looking for a little normality.  Florist Josue Castillo reopened the stall he has been tending for 15 years the day after the quake,  so people could see something pretty,  he said, between the ruins of buildings and cordoned off streets.  But he said residents and businesses still did not feel safe in the area, which became the heart of Mexico City s hip revival over the past decade.  People are leaving their homes and offices in Condesa. Leaving with their families. It was horrible yesterday to see people filling their cars with belongings and moving elsewhere out of fear of aftershocks,  he said. (Graphic: Earthquake strikes Mexico - tmsnrt.rs/2jJ1WA0)

Summary: भूकंप के बाद मेक्सिको सिटी अपने पैरों पर खड़ा हो गया है