WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For a man who prefers to project a glowering brusqueness, Donald Trump’s trip to Houston on Saturday provides him with the opportunity to show a warmer, more empathetic side — and perhaps connect with some Americans critical of his presidency. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, became known as the “comforter-in-chief” for his role in consoling victims of mass shootings and terror attacks. But the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey marks the first large-scale national tragedy under Trump’s watch. The White House said Trump will first travel to Houston to meet with flood survivors and volunteers who assisted in relief efforts and then will move on to Lake Charles, Louisiana, another area hammered by the storm.  Trump first visited the region on Tuesday, but stayed clear of the disaster zone, saying he did not want to hamper rescue efforts. Instead, he met with cabinet members, state and local leaders, and first responders. He was criticized, however, for not meeting with victims of the worst storm to hit Texas in 50 years, and for largely focusing on the logistics of the government response rather than the suffering of residents.  “That was reasonable criticism,” said Matt Mackowiak, chairman of the Republican Party in Travis County, Texas, who has praised the Trump administration’s handling of the disaster.  More than 1 million people have been displaced by Harvey and up to 50 are feared dead in flooding that paralyzed Houston and swelled river levels to record highs. Saturday’s trip gives Trump a second chance, one Mackowiak said he should take full advantage of. “It’s useful for the president of the United States to have an emotional connection with the country,” he said, adding that it could be “valuable for the half of the country that opposes him right now.” According to the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll, almost 59 percent of the public disapproves of Trump’s performance as president.  While Obama famously shed tears after the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut that left 20 children dead, Trump has rarely displayed emotion other than anger at his critics and the news media.  One exception was the chemical attack in April by Syria’s  government that killed more than 70 people, many of them children.  “When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal,” Trump said at a press conference after the attack. “That crosses many, many lines.” As a presidential candidate, Trump was lauded by the families of people killed by undocumented immigrants, who said he personally expressed his sympathy for their loss.  But he was widely rebuked for his response to last month’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia when he appeared to be more interested in apportioning blame and feuding with his detractors than soothing the nerves of a rattled nation.  Trump of course first made his name as a real-estate mogul in Manhattan, branding himself as an expert in steel-eyed negotiation, and then cemented that image with his popular reality TV show, in which he coldly fired contestants unable to measure up.  As a presidential candidate, he frequently exhorted the value of “toughness” and praised business executives who were “killers.” “My sense, based on his life and career, is that he’s not a publicly sympathetic or empathetic individual,” Mackowiak said.  Tony Perkins, a pastor and president of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, said there is a warmer side to Trump. Perkins accompanied Trump when, as a candidate, he visited with flood victims in rural Louisiana last year. Trump, along with now-Vice President Mike Pence, toured the devastation, handing out bottles of water and diapers.  Perkins said Trump would repeatedly order his caravan to stop so he could talk to survivors. “I saw a very compassionate side to him ... He was visibly impacted by what he saw.” Gerard Landry, the mayor of Denham Springs, Louisiana, a city of 10,000 which saw almost 80 percent of its buildings damaged by the flood, met with Trump at the town high school.  “He shook my hand, grabbed me by the shoulder,” Landry said. “He said, ‘Mr. Mayor, your city is going to come back, and I know you’ll be fine. I know you can do this thing.’” Landry had been expecting the boisterous Trump of his campaign rallies, but found him to be “totally different, down to earth.” Saturday’s trip, Perkins said, affords Trump a moment to show the nation that side of him. “It’s genuine,” Perkins said. “It’s real.”

Summary: ट्रम्प की ह्यूस्टन यात्रा सहानुभूति परीक्षण के रूप में काम करेगी


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Twelve years ago, Barack Obama’s electrifying speech at the Democratic National Convention brought tears to Andrew Gillum’s eyes. Now mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, and viewed as a rising star in that state, Gillum did not hesitate when asked to name his political role model.  “Elizabeth Warren,” he replied, referring to the firebrand U.S. senator from Massachusetts.  That the 37-year-old African-American mayor of a Southern U.S. city identifies Warren as his political lodestar speaks volumes about the Democratic Party’s progressive shift, even as Hillary Clinton officially became its presidential nominee after a quarter-century in the public eye. With the party in transition, Clinton’s 1990s-era brand of Democratic centrism is slowly being eclipsed by a wave of progressivism personified by Warren and by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a rival of Clinton’s until he endorsed her this month. Although Sanders’ insurgent presidential bid fell short, leaving his supporters bitterly disappointed, a new crop of Democratic candidates seems determined to carry on his work, with Warren, 67, as their putative leader.  Like Obama in 2004, Gillum and many others at the Philadelphia convention sought to boost their profiles, raise cash and network with fellow Democrats, buoyed by the adoption of the most progressive platform in party history, with planks for debt-free college, expanded Social Security benefits and a tax on carbon emissions. Clinton, too, has moved to the left, embracing many of these causes, separating herself from a more moderate brand of Democratic politics personified by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who was pro-free trade, friendlier to Wall Street and emphasized budget discipline.  She appealed to Sanders supporters during her speech accepting the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday, pledging to work with him on progressive issues. “Let’s go out there and make it happen together,” Clinton said.  Sarah Lloyd, 44, a congressional candidate in Wisconsin who supported Sanders, said, “There is an energy that’s coming from the folks that were brought to the process by the Sanders campaign.... That can only be a positive thing for the party.” More than Sanders, Warren has taken the lead in shaping the Democrats’ next generation. Formerly a professor of law, Warren conceived and set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formed in 2011 under President Obama. She launched a political action committee to back Democratic candidates and inspired other advocacy groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, to solicit donations to a bloc it terms the party’s “Warren wing.” A speaker at the convention, Florida’s Gillum was frustrated by Sanders because he seemed disinterested in helping other Democratic candidates, in contrast with Warren.  “Senator Sanders was content to be a movement by himself,” Gillum said. “It’s a revolution when you bring people along with you.”  Warren’s committee has donated to the campaigns of U.S. Senate hopefuls such as Kamala Harris, 51, of California, Jason Kander, 35, of Missouri, and Catherine Cortez Masto, 52, of Nevada. They and Wisconsin’s Lloyd oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the global trade deal that has split the progressive and moderate elements of the party. The PCCC’s slate of “Warren wing” candidates supports a $15-an-hour minimum wage, campaign-finance reform and tighter rules for Wall Street.  One of those on the slate is Zephyr Teachout, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York, who has campaigned in a T-shirt that reads, “I’m from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the party” and who has been endorsed by Sanders.  “There is a rising and very important populism, talking about money in politics, talking about trade, talking about economic issues,” Teachout, 44, told Reuters. “Within the party, and across the board, there has been a serious rethinking of trade, rethinking of big banks, rethinking of monopolies that have too much power.” Tulsi Gabbard, a U.S. representative from Hawaii, is often mentioned by Sanders supporters as one who could assume his mantle. A cable-news regular, Gabbard, 35, was one of a few Sanders supporters offered a convention speaking slot. Onstage she formally nominated Sanders for president, saying he had become a “voice for millions, connecting seamlessly with laborers in the Rust Belt and environmentalists in the West.” Other rising Democratic progressives frequently cited by strategists include Julian Castro, 41, the U.S. housing secretary, and his twin brother, Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, 48, U.S. Senate candidate Pramila Jayapal, 50, of Washington, and former South Carolina lawmaker Bakari Sellers, 31. Harris might be the one to shine the brightest. As California’s attorney general, Harris has been mentioned as a potential U.S. presidential candidate or U.S. Supreme Court justice should she win her Senate race in November. She enjoys the support of Warren, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, suggesting she can appeal to both the party’s liberal and moderate flanks.  She joined forces with Bloomberg in his crusade for tighter gun laws, bonded with Warren over helping homeowners struggling through the foreclosure crisis of the late 2000s and joined Obama’s efforts to overhaul a criminal justice system that tends to treat black citizens more harshly than white ones. In one campaign ad, Warren is viewed saying, “Kamala Harris was fearless.” Harris, in turn, has backed Clinton. In an interview, she rejected the idea that the party is leaving Clinton behind even as it nominates her for president.  “I strongly believe that these two generations have much more in common than what separates them in terms of fundamental values,” Harris said.

Summary: प्रेरणा के लिए, नए डेमोक्रेटिक सितारे एलिजाबेथ वारेन की ओर देखते हैं


(Reuters) - Iowa on Monday withdrew a request to waive some Obamacare rules to help shore up its struggling healthcare insurance market, marking a setback in efforts by Republican-governed states to sidestep requirements of the Obama-era law. With open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act - better known as Obamacare - set to start in just over a week, the state announced it would no longer wait to hear if federal officials would approve its request aimed at cutting individual healthcare insurance premiums and widening coverage.  The withdrawal prompted a leading U.S. Senate Republican to urge Congress to approve a bipartisan fix to Obamacare, which President Donald Trump has vowed to scrap. Iowa was viewed as a test case by some for other states that submitted similar, if far less-reaching, waivers and of how the Trump administration would respond to such requests. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said the law had not been flexible enough to accommodate the state’s request.  “Ultimately, Obamacare is an inflexible law that Congress must repeal and replace,” the governor said in a statement, adding that premiums under Obamacare had increased by 110 percent for Iowans since 2013. Iowa sought the waiver after its individual healthcare marketplace shrank to only one insurer for next year, Minnesota-based Medica. Some of the state’s requests were similar to provisions included in Republican repeal and replace bills this year. For instance, the waiver sought to replace Obamacare’s income-based tax credits with flat age-based credits and eliminate insurer payments that Trump cut off earlier this month. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said the move by Iowa demonstrated the need for repairs to Obamacare that he and Democratic Senator Patty Murray have proposed aimed at stabilizing insurance markets. It would also provide states more flexibility in reshaping some parts of Obamacare. Trump has sent mixed signals over whether he would support the bipartisan fix. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that he was willing to bring up the proposal for a vote but needed to know where Trump stood. Alexander said the bipartisan repair proposal would allow the federal government to approve Iowa’s waiver. Alexander told reporters that the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan scorekeeper, would soon announce its analysis of the bipartisan repair legislation, possibly on Tuesday.

Summary: आयोवा ने ओबामाकेयर आवश्यकताओं से बाहर निकलने का अनुरोध वापस लिया


AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian opposition groups are resisting Jordanian pressure to hand control of a border crossing back to the Syrian government, a step that would be a major boost for President Bashar al-Assad and undermine rebel groups in southwestern Syria. Talks over reopening the Nasib crossing have gathered pace since a Russian-U.S. brokered ceasefire in July brought relative calm to southern Syria, the first peacekeeping effort in the war by U.S. President Donald Trump s administration. Jordan, which hopes to revive a once flourishing trade route and encourage Syrian refugees to return, has plenty of leverage over the rebels: many of the opposition groups in southern Syria depend on logistical support from the staunch U.S. ally.  But rebel groups which seized control of the crossing in 2015 have so far resisted proposals for a return of Syrian government authority to Nasib, even in the form of civilian officials with no Syrian army presence. The possibility of the crossing being reopened underlines just how far the scales have tipped in favor of Assad, who is steadily winning back territory with Russian and Iranian help, forcing neighboring states to rethink their policies.  The presence of any regime employee is like restoring legitimacy to a worn-out regime against which the Syrian people rose up,  said Adham al Karad, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel commander who led battles in Deraa city against the army. Jordan has trodden a careful path during the six-year long war, maintaining diplomatic ties with Damascus even as it became a hub for a U.S.-led program that funneled aid to vetted Syrian rebels. Trump recently decided to shut down that program.             Before the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, Nasib served as a major transit route for hundreds of trucks a day transporting goods between Turkey and the Gulf in multi-billion dollar annual trade. Its closure has also had a knock-on effect for other economies in the region, including Lebanon s.      Jordan has put forward proposals by which rebels would secure the road to Nasib, 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, while a civil administration from Damascus would run the crossing, according to Syrian opposition officials. Rebels would receive a portion of the customs fees as part of the deal. The proposals were discussed during a meeting between the Jordanian government and opposition-run local councils and rebels from southern Syria in Amman at the end of last month.  The situation of the crossing is delicate and sensitive and until now we have not responded (to Amman s demands),  Ali Salkhadi, the governor of opposition-run Deraa province, told a meeting of local figures on Sunday, footage of which was posted on YouTube. Jordan told the opposition delegation that it was obliged to deal with a recognized state in order to open the crossing and to allow trucks to proceed to third countries, he said. It also threatened the opposition delegation it could open another land crossing into Syrian government-controlled Sweida province, east of Nasib, if rebels fail to reach a deal.  If they open Sweida crossing they would close the other humanitarian crossings ... this is what they are saying,  Salkhadi said in the meeting. Syrian government officials could not be reached for comment. A Jordanian government official contacted by Reuters declined to comment. Though rebels stand to profit if the crossing were opened, they also risk losing local support if seen to make such a big concession to Damascus. They want long-standing demands, including a detainee release, addressed before talks on Nasib.  We will not watch with our hands tied, we won t allow this and will work to stop all the efforts to hand over critical areas to the regime and to confiscate them from the rebels and impose a fait accompli on us,  said Abu Jasem al Hariri, a rebel commander in southern Syria. Jordan last month succeeded in pressuring two Western-backed rebel groups operating in southeastern Syria near the Jordanian border, an order that resulted in them abandoning their territory to advancing Syrian government forces. But while Amman has recently sought to mend fences with Damascus, a full restoration of ties seems a distant prospect as Jordan remains deeply concerned over expanding Iranian influence in Syria. The Syrian army and allied militia are steadily seizing more and more of the Jordanian frontier from insurgents. But while the government is gaining ground at the Jordanian border, key crossings to Turkey and Iraq remain outside its control.

Summary: सीरियाई विद्रोहियों ने सीमा पार करने के लिए जॉर्डन के दबाव का विरोध किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster’s reappointment as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, despite some concern over his handling of a sexual assault case. The committee vote was 23-2, with two abstentions. The complete vote breakdown was not immediately available, but one “no” came from Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand, a leader of congressional efforts to address sexual assault in the military, said she was concerned about McMaster’s past decision to allow two service members accused of assault to advance their careers while the case against them was open, in violation of Army regulations. “General McMaster was more concerned about hampering these men’s careers than following the rules in pursuit of justice,” she said in a statement.  The Washington Post reported last week that the Army investigated McMaster and rebuked him in 2015 over a case in which two lieutenants were allowed to attend the elite Army Ranger School despite being under investigation for assault. The case against them was later dropped. The Senate does not normally approve a president’s national security advisor. However, U.S. law requires McMaster’s reappointment to the new position to be approved because he is an active-duty military officer. A Senate aide said Senator Elizabeth Warren, another Democrat, was the other “no” vote. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summary: सीनेट पैनल ने ट्रम्प के राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार के चयन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Coal mining executive Robert Murray, one of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign backers, said on Friday he wants the president-elect to support a bill that would protect the health and pension benefits of thousands of coal miners retired from companies that have gone bust. The outspoken founder of Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp said he has asked Trump, who campaigned on a promise to help the coal industry, to speak out on behalf of the spending bill provision currently tied up in Congress. “I asked him and Vice President-elect Mike Pence to be involved verbally and in writing,” Murray told Reuters in an interview. Murray said he has not yet heard back. A Trump transition official did not respond to a request for comment. Murray Energy was among the biggest contributors to Trump’s bid for the presidency. Its $100,000 donation to the Trump Victory PAC was the PAC’s largest from a company, according to Trump’s fundraising committee’s latest filing. Murray also hosted fundraisers for the Republican candidate. On the campaign trail, Trump won over coal-producing states by promising to revive the sector, put laid-off miners back to work, and scrap regulations that he said are hobbling the industry.  Coal prices have sunk in recent years due to competition from cheap natural gas and rules to combat climate change ushered in by President Barack Obama. The Senate is now contemplating a spending bill that contains a provision to extend the benefits of retired coal miners whose companies have gone bankrupt until next April, but some coal state Democratic senators are agitating for a longer-term solution and threatening a government shutdown. A group of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, are resisting, and the bill is in limbo.  White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that the Obama administration hopes “there should be bipartisan common ground to address the needs of these 20,000 coal miners who are slated to lose their health insurance at the end of the month.”  Dozens of United Mine Worker retired miners have been on Capitol Hill this week holding rallies and visiting lawmakers to urge them to pass a longer-term solution. UMWA spokesman Phil Smith said the Trump transition team is aware of the issue but has not said anything publicly. As one of just a handful of U.S. coal companies that has not declared bankruptcy, Murray said his company is struggling to pay into its health and pension funds and “can’t compete with those companies that didn’t go through bankruptcy proceedings.”

Summary: कोयला सी. ई. ओ. ने खनिकों के लाभ के लिए बोलने के लिए ट्रम्प पर दबाव डाला


TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that the United States would not be able to wipe out terrorism with military might as he offered a sweeping defense of his administration’s national security record. In his final major speech on counterterrorism as president, Obama argued that his administration had been able to make al Qaeda “a shadow of its former self” and had put Islamic State on its heels, but said terrorism would remain a threat to the United States. “Rather than offer false promises that we can eliminate terrorism by dropping more bombs or deploying more and more troops or fencing ourselves off from the rest of the world, we have to take a long view of the terrorist threat and we have to pursue a smart strategy that can be sustained,” Obama said during a speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Obama will turn over the White House on Jan. 20 to Republican President-elect Donald Trump who has been sharply critical of his administration’s approach to fighting terrorism.  Trump referred to Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as the “co-founders” of Islamic State during the presidential campaign, blaming them for the initial spread of the militant group. The White House said Obama’s national security speech had been planned long before the Nov. 8 election and was not aimed specifically at the incoming Trump administration. But during his speech, Obama spoke of the importance of adhering to American laws and values and against reinstating the use of waterboarding or imposing a religious test on immigrants, two positions that Trump has supported in the past. “The whole objective of these terrorists is to scare us into changing who we are and our democracy,” Obama said. Obama signed an executive order after taking office in January 2009 that banned waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” or EITs. Such executive orders can be rescinded by a president’s successors. Many lawmakers and human rights groups have denounced waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, as torture. While Trump is now calling for “extreme vetting” of certain refugees admitted to the United States, during the campaign he proposed banning foreign-born Muslims from entering the country. Obama came into office planning to unwind U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and promising to focus on fighting militant groups that threatened the United States wherever they were. Instead, he has been forced to return some U.S. troops to Iraq and keep thousands in place in Afghanistan after more than 14-1/2 years of war. Obama said his administration’s approach of providing support to local partners and not undertaking massive ground invasions has been effective and is making progress in the fight to take Mosul in Iraq from Islamic State. Some counterterrorism experts have pointed to the rise of Islamic State as an example of Obama being too slow to respond to an emerging threat.  While the United States has been successful in killing some key militant leaders, Obama’s “legacy has been tarnished by the way terrorist groups have regenerated and strengthened in the latter parts of his presidency,” said Robin Simcox, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Summary: ओबामा ने राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा भाषण में आतंकवाद पर रिकॉर्ड का बचाव किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany expects to work closely together with Austria s new government, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday when asked if Berlin had reservations about the presence in the new coalition of a far-right party.  We are open to and prepared for a close and trusting relationship with the new Austrian government,  Seibert told a regular news conference held some minutes after the new Vienna government, a coalition of the centre-right with the far-right Freedom Party, was sworn in. Asked if he had concerns about cooperating with a foreign ministry or security services under the control of far-right ministers, he said:  We do not comment on ministerial assignments, especially not those made by our friends and neighbours.

Summary: जर्मनी को ऑस्ट्रिया की नई सरकार के साथ घनिष्ठ संबंधों की उम्मीद है


PARIS (Reuters) - French voters view far leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon as the strongest opponent of President Emmanuel Macron, according to a new poll on Tuesday that highlights the weakness of mainstream opposition. The Ifop-Fiducial poll showed Macron s popularity has dropped sharply since he took power in May but its key finding could help him as he embarks on reforms because polls show voters see Melenchon as too extreme to be a serious candidate for power.  Melenchon is very much on the protest front but not seen as an actual alternative (to Macron),  said Frederic Dab of Ifop pollsters.   That can be an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron, allowing him to create a vacuum around him and replace the left-right divide by a reform vs protest debate.  The poll for Paris Match and Sud Radio showed 45 percent of voters say Melenchon s  France Unbowed  party provides the strongest opposition to Macron. That is more than twice the figure for the conservative Republicans (LR) or the far-right National Front (FN). Only 8 percent mentioned the Socialists. France Unbowed has been much more vocal than the conservatives or Socialists. The Republicans have been subdued in the wake of their defeat in the presidential election and divided over what stance to take toward Macron, whose economic policies resemble what many in their party have asked for for years. All three parties are struggling to get their voices heard above Macron and Melenchon s criticism of each other.  Macron is trying to eliminate anything there is between him and extreme parties. I won t let him do that ... I won t resign myself to Melenchon being the only opposition to Macron,  Laurent Wauquiez, the frontrunner to win LR s leadership in December, said on Sunday.  A government source said Melenchon s relative strength was welcome and he was Macron s only proper opponent.   I was praying to have Jean-Luc Melenchon and Marine Le Pen in parliament ... The Emmanuel Macron/Edouard Philippe alliance was meant to get the Socialist Party and the right to explode and we are not disappointed,  the source said. He was referring to the fact that Macron s prime minister Philippe comes from LR.     Melenchon strongly opposes Macron s plans to overhaul labor laws but his party can do little to block the measures because it has just 17 lawmakers in the 577-strong parliament. Melenchon, an anti-NATO euroskeptic known for his fiery debating style, has called on his supporters to march on Sept. 23 to protest the labor reforms, which will give companies more flexibility on firings, pay and working hours. The poll confirmed Macron s drop in popularity with 46 percent saying they approved of his policies, down 10 points from July.

Summary: फ्रांसीसी दूर-वामपंथी मेलेनचोन को मैक्रों के सबसे मजबूत प्रतिद्वंद्वी के रूप में देखते हैंः सर्वेक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday that wanted to interview President Donald Trump’s son, campaign chairman and everyone else who was at a meeting last year with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower. “Sure, sure,” the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Richard Burr, told reporters when asked if he wanted the committee to call in the attendees. Senator Mark Warner, the panel’s Democratic vice chairman, also said the committee wanted to see everyone who had been at the meeting.

Summary: सीनेट का खुफिया पैनल ट्रम्प जूनियर की रूस बैठक में सभी का साक्षात्कार लेना चाहता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the House of Representatives conservative Freedom Caucus said Republicans were confident that their healthcare overhaul would likely win passage in a vote later on Thursday. “We’re optimistic that we’ll pass it out of the House today,” caucus chairman Representative Mark Meadows said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.

Summary: शीर्ष सदन रूढ़िवादी का कहना है कि अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक गुरुवार को पारित होने की संभावना है


SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s rise to de-facto Republican nominee for president poses an unusually high level of uncertainty for investors and businesses, potentially weighing on the economy and the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates this year. Uncertainty is always present in elections and the Fed has hiked rates during past campaign seasons. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/1rD6A1u) But the possibility of the firebrand New York real estate mogul occupying the White House presents a step up in risk because of the unconventional policies he has proposed and a lack of detail on how they will be achieved, economists say. Promising to “make America great again”, Trump has raised fears of a trade war by saying he would slap steep tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports. He has also vowed to deport all 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, and suggested, though later retracted, a partial default on U.S. debt. Fed officials say they avoid discussion of domestic politics at rate-setting meetings. Transcripts from previous election-year policy discussions show that political uncertainty is a factor in their thinking, though there is no clear pattern of a loosening or tightening bias in the run-up to elections. In recent comments, some Fed officials have acknowledged that campaign rhetoric could spill over into the economy. “If consumers, because of political rhetoric, are slowing their spending or just pausing a little bit, or capex is slowing down...that I’ve got to take into account,” Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan told Reuters last Thursday.  Asked his view of Trump’s policy proposals, he said, “If I have one, you’ll never know what that is. I will never allow that to seep into my work.”  Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that it was fair to say the election “could be a factor in this year’s economy.” The Fed kept rates on hold at 0.25-0.5 percent last month and signaled it was in no rush to raise them again soon, citing slowing economic activity despite an improved labor market. Fed policymakers in March forecast two rate hikes this year after raising them last December for the first time in nearly a decade. A Reuters poll of economists released on Thursday showed they have pushed back their expectations for the Fed to raise interest rates again to September from June. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers have often cited uncertainty over the economic, financial and policy outlook as a factor in their interest-rate decisions. The VIX measure of stock-market volatility is one approach to measuring uncertainty; querying influential business owners is another. The exact mix of measures the Fed uses is not known. Stanford University professor Nick Bloom’s economic policy uncertainty index, which he presented to Yellen and economists at recently as April last year, is another approach that the Fed considers. The index analyzes newspaper coverage of policy-related economic uncertainty and divergence between economic forecasters’ predictions on the U.S. outlook among other factors.   “When uncertainty is high, firms put on pause hiring and investment decisions,” Bloom said in an interview. “If Trump looks like a serious contender and is still making ‘Mexican Wall’ and ‘Trade Rape’ comments we will have the mother of all policy uncertainty spikes running up to the election.”  Trump has said he would build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border and accused China of “raping” the U.S. with unfair trade policies.  A rise in the index, Bloom said, would foreshadow declines in production, investment, and employment.  Policymakers pay close attention to financial market volatility as well as economic data. The Fed delayed an expected hike last September after China’s sharp economic slowdown caused stock market drops and a tightening in financial conditions. A strong Trump candidacy could similarly upset markets, economists say. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed Trump running nearly even with Democrat Hillary Clinton among likely U.S. voters, a dramatic turnaround since he became his party’s presumptive nominee. Traders see a 36.5 percent chance of a Republican taking the presidency, according to futures prices on the Iowa Electronic Market.  “If Trump gains in the polls and the market reacts poorly, that (market turmoil) would be a good argument for the Fed to stay on hold,” said Cornerstone Macro economist Roberto Perli, a former Fed board staffer. China and Mexico are the second and third largest trading partners of the United States, respectively. “The trade stuff is anti-growth and harmful to the U.S. outlook,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of conservative think tank the American Action Forum and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “He’s an utterly unpredictable political element at this point,” added Holtz-Eakin, who was also chief economic policy adviser to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.  Trump, who says his policies will boost U.S. jobs and business interests, has said he likes low rates, but has also said he would replace Yellen when her term expires in 2018 if he wins the presidency.   So far there’s little indication Bloom’s uncertainty index is about to spike. It fell to a reading of 98.39 in April, just above where it was in November ahead of the Fed’s well-telegraphed rate hike. Other readings of uncertainty, like the VIX, look similarly benign. Voters go to the polls on Nov. 8. Historically, Bloom’s index jumps just ahead of tight presidential ballots, as well as during times of other policy uncertainty, such as the U.S. debt ceiling debate in 2011. A surge of 90 points in the index could presage a one percent decline in production and declines in employment and investment of about a half a percent each, based on Bloom’s models.  <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic showing past Fed rate moves in election years    tmsnrt.rs/1rD6A1u) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Summary: इस बार अलग? ट्रम्प की उम्मीदवारी फेड की सोच पर भारी पड़ सकती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the end, it was a simple hand gesture - Senator John McCain pointing his right index finger in a downward motion to register a no vote - that ruined his party’s seven-year effort to repeal Obamacare. But in that signal in the early hours of Friday, the 80-year-old McCain also delivered a political gut-punch to U.S. President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican and a man he has clashed with repeatedly over the past two years. McCain, who just last week was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, dropped a hint on Tuesday that if his legislative demands were not met he was prepared to take on Trump in the dispute over how to replace parts of Obamacare with a Republican healthcare program. “We are not the president’s subordinates. We are his equals,” he said in an emotional speech to the Senate - his first since being diagnosed. McCain’s relations with Trump have been frosty for some time. At an election campaign appearance in Iowa in 2015, Trump responded to criticism from McCain by denigrating the senator’s military service, which included 5 1/2-years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He was tortured while in captivity and is seen as a war hero by many Americans. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump told a gathering of religious conservatives. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”  The following day, Trump said McCain’s work on behalf of military veterans was “all talk no action.” McCain, a leading Republican voice on defense and security, has generally been restrained in his criticism of Trump but has also at times let loose, including recent accusations that Trump has weakened America’s standing in world affairs and kowtowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. With his Friday vote that brought the tally to 51-49 against a Republican bill repealing parts of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, McCain became the third Senate Republican to bolt, leaving no path for passage of the measure. The Arizona Republican, who was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, also added another important chapter to his maverick, 30-year Senate career, stunning some of his fellow legislators and leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with the worst defeat of his long political career. But most notably, McCain denied Trump what could have been the first major legislative victory of his administration, and demonstrated to the businessman-turned-president that Washington works in different ways from companies where CEOs have freer hands in dictating outcomes. Although Trump was minimally involved in the process of crafting the legislation, he had made plain it was a priority. When the Senate failed to push through bills drawn up by the Republican leadership over the past few weeks, Trump told Republicans to get back to work and try again. He has been publicly urging them to get the job done. Despite McCain’s tensions with the White House, Vice President Mike Pence was assigned the task of trying to convince him to vote for the so-called skinny bill that aimed to pare away parts of Obamacare. That, after it became apparent that Trump’s cheerleading tweet on Thursday night was not working: “Go Republican Senators, Go! Get there after waiting for 7 years. Give America great healthcare!” Pence spent 21 minutes, according to reporters watching inside the Senate chamber, talking to McCain on the Senate floor. McCain was not budging, even after taking a short phone call from the president. After the Senate vote tally was announced in the Senate, McCain was embraced by senators from both sides of the aisle. Democrats were delighted he had helped kill the Obamacare repeal effort and some Republicans just wanted to show their respect for the man. McConnell spoke bitterly of the defeat. “I imagine many of our colleagues on the other side are celebrating, probably pretty happy about all of this.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer again called for bipartisan work to fix Obamacare’s shortcomings, saying, “I would suggest we turn the page... We are not celebrating. We are relieved.” Just three days ago, Trump praised McCain as a brave “American hero” for coming back to Washington from Arizona, where he had been recuperating from surgery, to take part in the healthcare legislative effort.  Now the president was dejected. “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!,” Trump tweeted following his defeat. On Friday, McCain advised a much different approach: an immediate, collaborative effort with Democrats on healthcare. For McCain, who also hoped to shepherd a major defense bill through the Senate, his political and legislative tussles could now be interrupted by the more pressing need to treat his cancer.

Summary: मैक्केन, जिन्हें कभी ट्रम्प ने अपमानित किया था, उन्हें स्वास्थ्य सेवा मतदान में बड़ी हार का सामना करना पड़ा


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is ready to cooperate fully with the central Iraqi government to end the presence of the outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK in Iraq, the foreign ministry said on Monday. In a statement, the ministry also said Ankara would stand by Baghdad to provide peace and stability in the country, as Iraqi forces captured several positions near Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters, following Kurdish northern Iraq s independence referendum last month.

Summary: तुर्की कुर्द आतंकवादियों के खिलाफ इराक के साथ सहयोग करने को तैयारः विदेश मंत्रालय


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday nominated the state’s inspector general to serve as interim attorney general until November’s election, temporarily replacing Kathleen Kane, who resigned the post earlier this week after her conviction for perjury. Bruce Beemer, who previously served under Kane as first deputy in the attorney general’s office, will have to be confirmed by the state Senate. Wolf said in a statement that he had already conferred with both Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and expected a quick confirmation. Beemer would hold the job until a successor is elected in November for a four-year term, and then return to his role as inspector general. Kane announced her resignation on Tuesday, a day after a jury convicted her of leaking sealed grand jury material to a news reporter in an effort to embarrass a political rival. The move will likely end a brief stint as acting attorney general for Bruce Castor, whom Kane had hired as her second-in-command earlier this year. In a statement, Castor said the governor was fulfilling his duties under the law. “I will do all within my power to see that the office of attorney general is in the best possible shape for whenever the next attorney general arrives,” Castor said. Castor, the former Montgomery County district attorney, made headlines earlier this year when he testified at a hearing for comedian Bill Cosby in his sexual assault case. Castor said he had agreed not to prosecute Cosby if the entertainer testified in a civil case brought by his accuser. But a court ruled Castor’s claims were not enough to prevent the current district attorney from bringing charges. Kane’s conviction, meanwhile, ended what had once been seen as a promising political career. Prosecutors said Kane believed former state prosecutor Frank Fina was behind a 2014 newspaper article that said she had abandoned a corruption investigation into Philadelphia officials. In an effort to take revenge, prosecutors said, Kane leaked sealed details about a separate investigation that Fina declined to pursue and then lied about having done so to a grand jury investigating the matter. Kane had portrayed the charges as politically motivated, after she revealed lewd emails exchanged among judges, state officials and prosecutors that she discovered while re-examining the Jerry Sandusky molestation investigation. Several officials, including two state Supreme Court justices, lost their jobs in the wake of the email scandal, dubbed “Porngate.”

Summary: पेनसिल्वेनिया के गवर्नर ने दोषी ठहराए गए अटॉर्नी जनरल के प्रतिस्थापन को नामित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior U.S. senators said on Wednesday they want to amend a law allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the Sept. 11 attacks to narrow the scope of possible lawsuits. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, two of the Republican party’s congressional foreign policy leaders, said they would introduce an amendment to the law so that a government could be sued only if it “knowingly” engages with a terrorist organization. “All we’re saying to any ally of the United States (is), you can’t be sued in the United States for an act of terrorism unless you knowingly were involved, and the same applies to us in your country,” Graham said in a Senate speech. In September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected President Barack Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, known as JASTA, making it U.S. law. However, lawmakers said almost as soon as they did so that  they wanted the scope of the legislation narrowed to ease concerns about its potential effect on Americans abroad, which was one reason Obama vetoed the measure. The law grants an exception to the legal principle of sovereign immunity in cases of terrorism on U.S. soil, clearing the way for lawsuits seeking damages from the Saudi government. Riyadh denies longstanding suspicions that it backed the hijackers who attacked the United States in 2001. However, it was not immediately clear whether Graham and McCain’s proposal would go anywhere. A group of Sept. 11 families, who lobbied intensely for the bill and have strong support in Congress, immediately objected to their suggestion because it would weaken the law.

Summary: वरिष्ठ सीनेटर सऊदी अरब के 11 सितंबर के कानून में संशोधन करना चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress struggled on Thursday with their efforts to dismantle Obamacare, with conservatives urging haste while some lawmakers said the task had become more of a repair job than the repeal of the U.S. healthcare law promised by President Donald Trump’s administration. Two influential conservatives in the House of Representatives, worried that the process was getting bogged down, said the repeal measure that the Republican-majority Congress passed last year should be taken up quickly. But in the Senate, Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and chairman of the health committee counseled patience. He said changes to the law would be made in “chunks” and would be better labeled a “repair.” “It’s more accurate to talk about repairing it ... we’re repairing the damage Obamacare has done,” Alexander said outside the Senate. “We’re not repealing all of Obamacare, it’s not technically possible to do that (now) in the procedures that we have in the Senate, and secondly, there are some parts of it we want to keep,” he said. But Vice President Mike Pence, asked in a Fox News interview about talk of repairing Obamacare, pushed back, saying: “We are absolutely committed to follow through on President Trump’s directive to repeal and replace Obamacare and to have the Congress do it at the same time.”   Trump and congressional Republicans campaigned on a promise to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation that Republicans  consider federal government overreach.  While Republicans voted last month to start the process of scrapping the law, they missed a target date of Jan. 27 to begin drafting legislation to do so. At a congressional retreat last week, Republican leaders told lawmakers they hoped Congress would finish the repeal by March or April.  Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, and Representative Jim Jordan, the caucus’ former chairman, urged the party leadership on Thursday to quickly enact a repeal measure. “That’s what the American people expect us to do – and they expect us to do it quickly,” they said. Obama, a Democrat, vetoed the repeal passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year. Three of the biggest national insurers have also stepped up pressure on the lawmakers to act. Aetna Inc (AET.N), Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) and Cigna Corp (CI.N) this week urged changes in Obamacare individual plan regulations in the next few weeks, in time for them to decide if they will sell the products in 2018. They want stricter oversight of eligibility and enrollment periods, as well as other changes. Without them, these insurers say they may pull out of the Obamacare exchanges next year, which would lead to less competition and higher premium rates. Rates for 2017 rose an average of 25 percent. Edmund Haislmaier, a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow who advised the Trump transition team to help craft the regulation change but has not seen the final version, said he expected it to address concerns of insurers. He said insurers were consulted. “The incoming administration and the insurers have by in large the same agenda on a lot of this stuff,” said Haislmaier. He said that pleasing the insurers could help Congress move more quickly on a plan to repeal and replace the law. “The (administration) can reassure Republicans that we’re taking steps so the market doesn’t blow up when you move ahead with legislation, and I think that would actually maybe move the process along on the Hill,” he said. Democrats were enjoying the Republican turmoil. They have long accused Republicans of rushing to gut the law without having a replacement plan ready. The law has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage. “They (Republicans) haven’t come up with the so-called repairs,” the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a hallway. “What a departure (for the Republicans), from ‘let’s repeal it and walk away from it and America will be a better place.’”

Summary: अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन ओबामाकेयर को समाप्त करने के प्रयास के साथ कुश्ती करते हैं


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Implicated in five corruption scandals since the 1990s but never convicted, the speaker of Indonesia s parliament Setya Novanto is a political survivor. Last week Novanto was detained by anti-corruption investigators over the biggest graft scandal to hit Indonesia s legislature. The 62-year-old political powerbroker was defiant, denying any wrongdoing and urging parliament and the political party he leads not to unseat him. His lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, expressed confidence that Novanto would be cleared.   In every court we always win,  Yunadi told Reuters. But the latest allegations against Novanto have reinforced the perception among Indonesians that their parliament, long regarded as riddled with entrenched corruption, is a failing institution. Politicians and analysts say that is unlikely to change, whatever the outcome of the case.  Before Setya Novanto, there were many, many MPs who were put in jail and it didn t have an effect,  said Eva Sundari, a member of parliament from the PDI-P party, which sits in the ruling coalition alongside Novanto s Golkar. A Corruption Eradication Commission, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, was established in 2002 after the demise of  authoritarian president Suharto. Fiercely independent and able to wiretap suspects without a warrant, it has been a thorn in the side of the country s establishment. But Bob Lowry, an Indonesia analyst at the Australian Institute of International Affairs, said that - the KPK aside - there has never been a systemic approach to tackling corruption that he says runs through all layers of government and politics.  You are not dealing with individuals, you are dealing with an entire structure and culture.  he said. Novanto is accused of orchestrating a scheme to plunder $173 million, or almost 40 percent of the entire budget for the project, from a government contract to introduce a national electronic identity card. Novanto denies any wrongdoing, writing a letter to other parliament leaders after he was detained asking them to  give me an opportunity to prove that I wasn t involved . According to an indictment filed against Novanto s alleged bagman, businessman Andi Agustinus, they stood to be personally enriched to the tune of $42 million. Agustinus has not yet commented on the allegations or entered any plea. He is due to appear in court this week to answer the charges. The rest of the money was funneled to as many as 60 lawmakers, as well as officials, party chiefs, parliamentary staffers and tenderers, according to the KPK, which alleges some of the cash was brazenly divided up in parliamentary meeting rooms. In August a witness in the probe, a U.S.-based consultant to a company that won a contract to supply biometric technology for the identity cards - ironically aimed, in part, at curbing graft - shot himself after a stand-off with police in Los Angeles. Before his death, Johannes Marliem told KPK officers about meeting Novanto at his Jakarta home in 2011, according to a declaration to a court in Minnesota by a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, at which the parliament speaker negotiated a  discount  under which he and Agustinus would get a 40 percent share of a contract worth more than $50 million. Marliem is also alleged to have said he had brought Novanto a $135,000 Richard Mille watch and showed the agent a photo of Novanto wearing it. A consummate political operator, Novanto is a key link between parliament and the government of President Joko Widodo, who is expected to seek re-election in 2019, said Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. He gained a measure of international prominence in September 2015 when Donald Trump, then a U.S. presidential candidate, hailed him as  an amazing man  at a news conference in Trump Tower in New York. Two months later he resigned from the speaker s post after a recording of a meeting emerged in which he was alleged to have attempted to extort $4 billion of shares from the U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan. The case got blanket media coverage and hearings were televised live. Within a year, however, Novanto was speaker again after the Constitutional Court ruled the recording inadmissible. Novanto s detention last week came after months of declining to answer summonses for questioning by the KPK. The allegations have once more gripped Indonesia, with newspaper front pages splashing the story and memes mocking Novanto trending on social media. Indonesia was ranked last year at 90 out of 176 countries on Transparency International s corruption perception index. The watchdog has singled out parliament as Indonesia s most corrupt institution, and in July called on President Widodo to protect the KPK against attempts by the legislature to weaken the commission s powers. Critics inside and outside the parliament say the root problem is money politics, which is underpinned by an open-ticket electoral system and campaign financing laws.  These laws allow only tiny amounts of public funding, and do not require public disclosure of individual donors, which some lawmakers say perpetuates a system of funding from illicit sources and financial patronage for favors. The open-ticket voting system encourages candidates to spread largesse to voters and community leaders and then recoup the expenditure if they reach parliament, says the PDI-P s Sundari. Lawmaker Aryo Djojohadikusumo told Reuters that, with members of parliament holding the power to micromanage and approve the budgets of individual projects,  the temptation to engage in pork-barrel politics is extremely high . However, he believes that parliament s reputation as corrupt has been magnified by the KPK s zeal in going after politicians, who make more headlines than low-level bureaucrats. Critics say many members of parliament are so focused on raising money for future campaigns and personal enrichment that the legislature is not doing its job. According to watchdog Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), lawmakers in Southeast Asia s biggest economy have ratified just five of 50 priority bills this year.  If you want to see Indonesia free of corruption,  Fahri Hamzah, one of parliament s vice speakers, told Reuters,  you have to start tackling the political financing.

Summary: स्पीकर की गिरफ्तारी ने इंडोनेशिया की संसद को फिर सुर्खियों में ला दिया है।


GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - Nicola Sturgeon told her Scottish National Party on Tuesday that Britain s impending exit from the European Union strengthened the case for Scottish independence from the UK and that her party still has a mandate to offer a choice.  With the UK government so engulfed in chaos and taking the country down a path of self-imposed decline, the need to (make the case for independence) has never been greater,  she told the party faithful gathered in Scotland s biggest city, adding that it was not clear when a new vote would be held.  We have a mandate to give the people that choice,  she said.  That mandate was won fairly and squarely. But exercising it must be done with the interests of all of Scotland at heart.  However Sturgeon, who also heads the devolved Scottish government, saw her party lose more than a third of its seats in Britain s June election after it mistimed a push for another vote on secession. In a 2014 referendum, Scotland voted to stay part of the UK. Two years later, when Britain held its referendum on EU membership, Scots voted overwhelmingly to stay but Britain as a whole voted to leave. The SNP said the prospect of being dragged out of the EU against their will meant Scots should revisit the question of independence. But the wider public does not seem to have embraced the prospect of yet another vote on constitutional change. This summer the SNP put vote plans on hold, and much of the conference centered on measures   such as doubling childcare and banning fracking   aimed at seizing the initiative and squaring up to criticism that it has been ignoring day-to-day affairs. As Brexit drags on, support for the EU in Scotland is rising, according to polls, but backing for Sturgeon s independence proposal has stayed roughly where it was in 2014. Britain s economy has slowed sharply this year as consumers felt the pinch from rising inflation, caused largely by a fall in the value of the pound and by weak wage growth. Some delegates expressed concern at the limited traction that they feel Scotland has regarding Brexit, the biggest change in British politics in 40 years. Scotland and Wales are angry because they say they have not been given a meaningful role in the Brexit process, something the UK government denies. They are threatening to withhold legislative consent to the UK government s EU withdrawal bill which they say would water down their devolved powers. The bill, currently going through parliament in London, is designed to convert all existing EU laws into domestic ones and is part of Britain s plan to provide legal clarity before it parts ways with the EU.  I think the SNP is being very vocal and people like (Scotland s Brexit minister) Mike Russell are doing a good job,  said Mhairi McCabe, 58, a retired food safety expert.  But I don t think they are being listened to. It s quite frustrating.  Infighting within the British government over the shape of Brexit means nothing can be taken for granted, Sturgeon has said, and Scotland will use the opportunity to continue to argue for the UK to stay in the European single market.

Summary: स्कॉटलैंड अभी भी ब्रिटेन से स्वतंत्रता पर विकल्प दे सकता हैः स्टर्जन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s appointee Neil Gorsuch on Monday showed himself to be a frequent and energetic questioner during U.S. Supreme Court arguments in his first day hearing cases as a justice, at one point even apologizing for talking too much. Gorsuch, whose confirmation to the lifetime job restored the court’s conservative majority, exhibited composure and confidence, sitting on the far right of the bench in the ornate courtroom, alongside liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He appeared relaxed, gingerly sipping from a disposable coffee cup.  The justices, with the exception of the usually silent Clarence Thomas, are known for their aggressive questioning, and Gorsuch showed no qualms about jumping right in. Eight times during the course of three one-hour arguments Gorsuch peppered attorneys with a series of pointed questions. The court had its full complement of nine justices, five conservatives and four liberals, for arguments for the first time since Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February 2016. Gorsuch formally joined the Supreme Court on April 10 after being confirmed three days earlier by the Republican-led Senate over broad Democratic opposition. The Coloradoan came across as temperamentally different from the sometimes hard-edged New Yorker Scalia, offering respectful but firm questioning even when the lawyer facing his queries seemed evasive. “I’m sorry for interrupting, counselor,” Gorsuch told one of the lawyers in the second case, a property dispute from New York state. “If you would just answer my question, I would be grateful.” In the first case, an employment dispute, Gorsuch grilled lawyer Christopher Landau, who represented a man claiming he was discriminated against by the U.S. Census Bureau, over the fine points of a law governing civil service employees. “I’m sorry for taking up so much time, I apologize,” Gorsuch said after his first lengthy exchange, sitting back in his high-backed chair and smiling. Chief Justice John Roberts welcomed Gorsuch to the court before oral arguments began. “Justice Gorsuch, we wish you a long and happy career in our common calling,” Roberts said. Gorsuch responded by thanking his new colleagues for their “warm welcome.” Gorsuch asked a string of questions about complicated federal law. As he indicated during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, his line of inquiry focused on the text of a statute, an approach also embraced by Scalia and other conservative jurists. “Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if we followed the plain text of the statute? What am I missing?” Gorsuch asked government lawyer Brian Fletcher in the employment case. When Fletcher responded that he could give reasons for his interpretation, Gorsuch appeared unsatisfied. “Not reasons. Where in the language?” he asked, referring to the statute. The second case involved whether a developer can intervene in a lawsuit brought by a property owner against the town of Chester, New York over its refusal to give him permission to build on his land. One of the lawyers in the case, Neal Katyal, was a familiar face to Gorsuch, having heartily endorsed his nomination, even testifying at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general in Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department, represented the town. Gorsuch sparred with a lawyer for a developer hoping to build on the land but did not directly engage with Katyal. The third case involved a dispute over whether certain securities class-action lawsuits can be barred because they were filed too late. Gorsuch, who at 49 could remain on the court for decades, served for a decade on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before Trump nominated him in January. Trump was able to fill Scalia’s vacancy only because Senate Republicans last year refused to consider Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland.

Summary: ट्रम्प द्वारा नियुक्त गोरसच पहली अमेरिकी उच्च न्यायालय की दलीलों में ऊर्जावान हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, took over the White House briefing lectern on Friday to praise the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, an unusual move that shows how hard President Barack Obama will push for the trade deal’s approval. Obama, a Democrat who is leaving office in four months, met with the governor, who fell short in his bid to be the Republican presidential candidate, in the White House Oval Office to discuss strategies for overcoming domestic political angst over the TPP. The unlikely partnership comes as the White House makes a final full-court push to persuade Republican congressional leaders to approve the deal in a “lame duck” session after the Nov. 8 election. Both Republican and Democratic candidates have pilloried the TPP. “We cannot get to the point in America that because a Democrat wants something, you can’t agree with them,” Kasich said in an impassioned plea to Republican lawmakers to back the deal, which is a key part of Obama’s foreign policy legacy. Kasich said the deal is vital for the U.S. economy and also to counter China and Russia, and said business leaders need to apply pressure on lawmakers to approve it. “Right now, China is pushing hard to create their own trade agreement,” Obama told reporters in the Oval Office ahead of the meeting, saying U.S. businesses were at risk of being “cut out” of Asia, the world’s fastest-growing market. “I promise you that China’s not going to be setting up a bunch of rules that are going to be to the advantage of American companies and American businesses,” Obama said. Other business and political leaders also attended the meeting, including former Republican Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, International Business Machines Corp Chief Executive Officer Virginia Rometty and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Republicans traditionally have backed free trade deals, but the party’s presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has blamed the agreements for U.S. job losses and threatened to tear them up should he win. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the TPP would not get a Senate vote this year, and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan has said he does not see enough votes for it to pass. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also opposed the deal, which is unpopular with labor unions and environmental groups. Obama has said he hopes opposition cools after the election. The White House has pointed to opinion polls showing most Americans support trade as a sign that the TPP could still squeak through Congress. “If you’re frustrated about rules of trade that disadvantage America, if you’re frustrated about jobs being shipped overseas ... then you want to get this thing passed,” Obama told reporters. On his final trip to Asia as president earlier this month, Obama spent time reassuring nervous partners that the United States would finalize the TPP. But on Friday, Vietnam’s parliament indicated it would not ratify the deal quickly. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Vietnam’s decision was not a setback. “I think the real stumbling block, the real impediment, the obstacle here is (the U.S.) Congress,” Earnest said, noting there was “every indication” that Vietnam would proceed as long as Congress approved the TPP.

Summary: ओबामा ने टी. पी. पी. व्यापार समझौते पर जोर देने के लिए रिपब्लिकन कासिच को सूचीबद्ध किया


BAGHDAD/LONDON (Reuters) - When the Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Shi ite militia entered a key oil processing facility in Iraq s north to retake it from Kurdish Peshmerga forces last week, the installation was deserted and its alarm bells ringing. Engineers and workers on the facility, which processes oil from two major fields in the Kirkuk area of predominantly Sunni Kurdistan, had fled, fearing the military advance.  No one wanted to risk their life and decided to evacuate as stories about the Shi ite militia and Qassem Soleimani were spreading fast,  said a senior Kurdish oil industry source, referring to the head of foreign operations for Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards. The source declined to be identified. Iraqi engineers arrived to the sound of alarm bells warning about system malfunctions, prompting them to immediately shut down wells. Now, they need passwords and expertise from their Kurdish counterparts to restore oil output fully.  The loss of control of Kirkuk oil fields is likely to starve the KRG of vital oil revenue and cause deep concern to global trading houses such as Vitol and Glencore, which have granted the semi-autonomous government billions of dollars in loans against future oil sales. Baghdad s lightning military offensive into northern Iraq came after the Kurdistan Regional Government held an independence referendum last month. Major-General Soleimani, one of the most influential military figures in the Middle East, with reach in Syria and Lebanon, issued tough warnings to Kurdish leaders ahead of the Iraqi military advance.  We went inside the oilfield facilities after Kurdish workers fled and we found overalls and safety boots thrown on the ground,  said an engineer from the Baghdad-run North Oil Company, who declined to be named because he was ordered not to speak publicly about the issue.   It seems that workers took them off and escaped very quickly.   NOC crews entered oil facilities in the Bai Hassan and Avana fields on Oct. 17 for the first time since 2014, when Peshmerga forces drove Islamic State from the area and found all crude oil stations unmanned. Peshmerga fighters had also withdrawn.  After we discovered that some of the key equipment was missing and the control panel was ringing alarms of crude processing malfunction, we immediately shut down oil wells,  the NOC engineer said. A week after the operation, Iraqi engineers are still struggling to resume Kirkuk s oil production, saying they had yet to understand how to operate the equipment processing some 350,000 barrels per day. The military offensive more than halved Kurdistan s oil output and cut its exports to global markets via Turkey by two thirds.  The drop in exports has deprived the region of more than $200 million in revenues over the past week, a Kurdish oil industry source familiar with loadings told Reuters. It has also dealt a further blow to the region s finances already stretched by a fight against Islamic State and a budget crisis caused by a fall in oil prices. The United States has called on both sides to resume dialogue, saying the tensions hamper efforts to fight Islamic State. Resuming normal oil production and exports will be challenging and will take at least another week and will only succeed if Iraqi and Kurdish engineers agree to cooperate, according to both sides. On Tuesday, NOC officials asked Kurdish engineering firm Kar Group to send back its workers, according to sources on both sides. Iraqi engineers need guidance on how to operate recently installed equipment at Bai Hassan and Avana, the sources said. The pumping and operational stations for both oil fields are located in the city of Dahuk, which unlike Kirkuk is still under the control of the Peshmerga forces.  Energy facilities in Kirkuk are more like a locked box and only their crew have the password,  the Iraqi engineer said. Kar Group has, however, so far refrained from going back without security guarantees, according to sources close to the engineering company. Kirkuk, one of the oldest and best known oil areas in the Middle East, had long been under the control of Iraqi forces until it was over-run by Islamic State. In 2014, it was retaken by the Peshmerga, the official security forces of the KRG, as part of their advance on Islamic State. That allowed Kurdistan to regain control of an area it believes is historically Kurdish and ramp up exports from the oil fields while borrowing billions of dollars from trading houses and Russian state oil major Rosneft.  We need to figure out who gets what when the fields resume production. At the moment the potential split of revenues is far from clear,  said the Kurdish oil industry source. Before the referendum, Kurdistan was exporting some 600,000 bpd of crude via Turkey, which it said had made it almost totally economically independent as it could pay its own bills without the need to wait for budget transfers from Baghdad. Under the deal with Baghdad, Kurdistan was exporting 540,000 bpd on behalf of the government in the city of Erbil and some 60,000 bpd on behalf of NOC. With the loss of control of the Kirkuk area, Kurdistan will be in theory left with only 250,000-300,000 bpd of its own output, less than it needs to cover its debt obligations. Vitol, Glencore, Petraco and Trafigura have loaned Kurdistan some $2.5 billion and Russia s Rosneft has loaned some $1.2 billion. Glencore s boss Ivan Glasenberg said last week he could not rule out a rescheduling of the payments.

Summary: ईरानी जनरल के डर से इराकी कुर्द तेल क्षेत्र खाली हो गए


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan expects the United States to lift economic sanctions as Khartoum has met all the required conditions, a Sudanese minister said on Wednesday, days before Washington is due to announce a decision. The U.S. government has said it is deciding whether to lift a raft of penalties imposed first over Khartoum s perceived support of global terrorism, later its violent suppression of rebels in Darfur. Former U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily eased some of the sanctions that have effectively cut Khartoum off from large parts of the global financial system. Officials said the gesture was meant to recognize Khartoum s moves to end conflicts and its help in the war on terrorism. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump s administration postponed for three months a decision on whether to remove the restrictions full-time - giving it an Oct. 12 deadline to make up its mind.  Sudan has fulfilled all the necessary conditions relating to the roadmap and the U.S. administration is a witness to that and therefore we expect the sanctions to be lifted,  Sudan s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hamed Momtaz, told Reuters. Washington has said Sudan needs to resolve its internal conflicts and let more aid into Darfur and other rebellious border areas, among other conditions. Some rights groups have raised concerns, saying the lifting of sanctions could lead to further abuses.  We re afraid lifting the sanctions could pave way for the government to ... violate rights,  said  Al-Buraq al-Nazir al-Warraq, the executive manager of the Sudanese Observatory for Human Rights, a group suspended by the government. Any lifting of economic penalties would be a major turnaround for the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who once played host to Osama bin Laden and is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of orchestrating genocide in Darfur.

Summary: सूडान को उम्मीद है कि अमेरिका प्रतिबंध हटाएगा, शर्तों को पूरा किया गयाः राज्य मंत्री


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - 3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch! [0225 EDT] - If Republicans are going to pass great future legislation in the Senate, they must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60... [0946 EDT]  - ...Even though parts of healthcare could pass at 51, some really good things need 60. So many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes.... [1000 EDT]   -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (28 जुलाई)-ओबामाकेयर, रिपब्लिकन, स्वास्थ्य सेवा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ethics probe into U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold, who is already under a cloud for alleged sexual misconduct, is being expanded to look into whether he mixed his political campaign with congressional work and lied to the House Ethics Committee, the panel said on Thursday. Last week, Farenthold said he would not seek re-election next year after accounts surfaced that he created a hostile work environment. The Texas Republican denied allegations of sexual harassment but admitted allowing an unprofessional culture in his Capitol Hill office. On Thursday the ethics committee voted unanimously to investigate whether Farenthold used his congressional staff and other resources of the House of Representatives to further his political campaign, and if he had made false statements or omissions to the committee. The panel was already looking into whether he committed sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation against a former staff member and if he made inappropriate statements to other members of his staff.  The committee said the announcement should not be read as an indication that it had found any rule violations. Farenthold’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Congress strictly divides lawmakers’ work on Capitol Hill and their runs for re-election so that taxpayers do not end up subsidizing political campaigns. In August, the committee went so far as to warn Representatives, who face elections every two years, they should not even send texts or forward emails related to their campaigns while in House buildings. Congress is reviewing its workplace policies on sexual harassment after a number of lawmakers have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks amid a wave of such allegations against powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House said on Thursday intends to introduce legislation in January reforming a 20-year-old law that covers sexual harassment in Congress, which it hopes will pass soon after.

Summary: हाउस ने फैरेंथोल्ड अभियान कार्य को शामिल करने के लिए नैतिकता जांच का विस्तार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has shown no interest in pursuing talks on its nuclear and missile programs, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged the United States was communicating directly with Pyongyang.  North Korean officials have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearization,  spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Summary: प्योंगयांग ने वार्ता में कोई रुचि नहीं दिखाईः विदेश विभाग


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee has launched an examination of the Food and Drug Administration’s criminal office, raising questions about the unit’s management and handling of cases involving food, drugs and devices. The House Energy and Commerce Committee told FDA Commissioner Robert Califf it is “examining management concerns” and “possible morale concerns with the field offices” of the Office of Criminal Investigations. The September 20 letter, signed by committee chairman Fred Upton and Tim Murphy, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, seeks answers to a detailed list of questions by October 12. Among other issues, the House committee questions why George Karavetsos, director of the Rockville, Maryland-based FDA criminal office, is allowed to run the unit from an office in South Florida, near his home. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency received the letter and will respond to the committee directly. The House questions come two weeks after Reuters reported how some FDA agents complain criminal office managers have forced them to pursue cases involving mislabeled foreign-imported injectable drugs, at the expense of cases with more potential to protect the public health. Current and former agents complain they have turned into the “Botox Police,” spending thousands of hours chasing doctors who purchased authentic versions of Allergan’s anti-wrinkle drug that were labeled for use in other countries. Some agents say their efforts have done little more than protect the pharmaceutical industry’s high drug prices in the United States. Those concerns come as the criminal office has had mixed success in bringing cases. From fiscal year 2008-2015, Reuters found, more than half of all opened OCI cases were closed without action. The House committee asked Califf to explain the process for how criminal cases get opened, and to provide statistics on OCI’s arrests, convictions, case initiations and amount of money recovered. Reuters also reported on Karavetsos’ relocation to Florida, a move that came less than two years after the FDA paid more than $25,000 to move him to Maryland. Karavetsos, in a prior interview, defended the office’s efforts, saying statistics are not a fair measure of OCI’s success because public health and safety will “always trump the criminal investigation.”  FDA Regulatory Affairs Associate Commissioner Melinda Plaisier defended Karavetsos’ move to Miami, saying it was good for the FDA and his family. The House committee letter also questions how the FDA responded to two prior reports, from the Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, that were critical of the criminal office. The 2012 OIG report cited problems with how the Rockville-based office is run and concluded that field offices “lack the discretion” to open cases to address “food and drug concerns prevalent in their locales.” The report cited a lack of independence within the FDA’s criminal office. OCI is housed within the Office of Regulatory Affairs, which is responsible for compliance inspections and helps determine the criminal office’s budget. The inspector general recommended structural changes to “ensure the independence of investigations.” FDA leadership at that time rejected those suggestions. The criminal office headquarters controls the opening of investigations. Some agents have questioned the office’s priorities and say they have, on occasion, been told not to open cases involving other federal agencies. A September 2015 email from Robert West, the recently retired Special Agent in Charge of the Miami field office, is one example. West, in the email, contended agencies including the FBI, the HHS OIG and Homeland Security investigators “were riding our coattails and were not bringing anything to the table.” Involving those agencies in an investigation from day one, he wrote, “is unacceptable.” West previously declined interview requests. Reuters could not immediately reach him Tuesday through an FDA spokeswoman.

Summary: सदन समिति ने एफ. डी. ए. आपराधिक कार्यालय की समीक्षा शुरू की


NEW YORK/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Donald Trump agreed on Friday to pay $25 million to settle fraud lawsuits over his Trump University real estate seminars, in what New York’s attorney general called a “stunning reversal” for the U.S. president-elect. The lawsuits had dogged Trump, who denied any wrongdoing,  throughout his campaign. They led to one of the more controversial moments of his run when he claimed the judge overseeing two of the cases was biased because he was of Mexican ancestry. The settlement was announced by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who said it followed repeated refusals by Trump “to settle for even modest amounts of compensation for the victims of his phony university.” Lawyers for Trump had argued against students, who claimed they were they were lured by false promises into paying up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors. Three lawsuits relating to Trump University will be covered by the deal: two class actions suits in California and a New York case brought by Schneiderman. The agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego. Trump will not admit any wrongdoing under the agreement. His attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, acknowledged Trump had previously vowed to fight the case. The settlement demonstrated Trump’s desire to set his personal feelings aside in order to work on issues facing the county, Petrocelli said. “President-elect Trump has laser focus on moving forward. It’s time to move on,” Petrocelli told reporters on Friday. Schneiderman and attorneys for the students praised the deal. “Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university,” Schneiderman said in a statement. At a court hearing on Friday, students’ attorney Jason Forge said that out of the $25 million proposed settlement, $4 million will be earmarked for students represented by Schneiderman who were not part of the California class actions, as well as administrative costs. Class action lawyers for the students will not seek attorneys fees, but reimbursement for costs, he said.  Curiel, who is presiding over the two California cases, had urged both sides to settle. Trump said during his election campaign that Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents, could not be impartial because of Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to control illegal immigration. In court on Friday, Trump lawyer Petrocelli praised Curiel for his hard work on the case.  Curiel said he hoped the settlement could be part of a healing process after the U.S. election “that this country very sorely needs.”

Summary: ट्रम्प विश्वविद्यालय के मुकदमों को निपटाने के लिए $25 मिलियन का भुगतान करने के लिए सहमत हुए


CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. congresswoman urged the Labor Department on Monday to investigate Chipotle Mexican Grill for possible wage theft, another potential hurdle for the burrito chain as it seeks to rebound from food-safety problems last year. U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the department should probe allegations from about 10,000 current and former Chipotle employees who have joined a federal lawsuit that alleges the company did not properly pay them for hours worked. Such actions, if true, would contradict federal law, DeLauro said in a letter to the department, “depriving workers of the wages and earnings to which they are legally entitled.” Chipotle said her call for an investigation was “misdirected.” “We have maintained from the outset that this case is without merit and will vigorously defend our employment practices,” company spokesman Chris Arnold said. The Labor Department had no immediate comment. Chipotle has been working to revive sales growth after outbreaks of E. coli, norovirus and salmonella linked to its restaurants sickened more than 500 people last year and drove away customers. Last week, activist investor William Ackman disclosed that his hedge fund had purchased a 9.9 percent stake in the company, saying it was undervalued. The case over unpaid wages began two years ago when Leah Turner, who worked as a manager at a Chipotle restaurant in Colorado, alleged in a lawsuit that the company routinely required hourly paid employees to work “off the clock,” according to court records.  The company used timekeeping devices that automatically punched employees off the clock, even if they were still working, the lawsuit said. Since then, about 10,000 others from across the country have joined the lawsuit seeking to recover unpaid wages, said Andrew Quisenberry, an attorney representing the workers for law firm Bachus & Schanker. The large number of plaintiffs is “significant to us, showing that it’s widespread across Chipotle,” Quisenberry said. The case is Tuner et al vs Chipotle Mexican Grill, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, No. 14-cv-02612.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद महिला ने श्रम विभाग से वेतन चोरी के आरोपों पर चिपोटल की जांच करने का आग्रह किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who announced on Nov. 4 from Saudi Arabia that he was quitting as Lebanon s prime minister, suggested on Sunday he could rescind his resignation. Speaking from Riyadh in an interview with Future TV, a station affiliated with his political party, Hariri said he planned to return to Lebanon to confirm his resignation in accordance with the constitution. But he also said that if he rescinds his decision to quit, the Hezbollah movement must respect Lebanon s policy of staying out of regional conflicts.

Summary: हरीरी ने अपने इस्तीफे को रद्द करने की संभावना का संकेत दिया


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has suspended trade relations with North Korea, the latest of Pyongyang s major trade partners to cut commercial ties under toughening U.N. sanctions over its weapons program, a customs notice obtained on Thursday showed. The move comes about two months after the United States imposed North Korea-related sanctions on a number of firms and individuals, including two entities based in Singapore.  Singapore will prohibit all commercially traded goods from, or to, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK),  the city-state s customs said in the notice sent to traders and declaring agents last Tuesday, referring to the country by its official name.   The suspension would take effect from Nov. 8, Fauziah A. Sani, head of trade strategy and security for the director-general of customs, said in the notice.  Repeated breach of the new prohibitions is punishable by a fine of up to S$200,000 ($147,340.50) or four times the value of the goods traded, imprisonment of up to three years, or both, it added.  Singapore is North Korea s seventh largest trading partner. The Philippines, Pyongyang s fifth biggest trading partner, suspended trade with North Korea in September to comply with a U.N. resolution. Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea s young leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons in defiance of U.N. sanctions. North Korea has tested a series of missiles this year, including one that flew over Japan, and conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test in September. Pyongyang maintains a diplomatic presence in Singapore, with an embassy in its financial district.  In September, Singapore issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to North Korea, where it does not have diplomatic representation.  In an interview with National Public Radio in May, Singapore s minister of foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, had said the country was not ready to cut all diplomatic ties with North Korea.    In January last year, Singapore-based Chinpo Shipping Company (Private) Ltd was fined S$180,000 for facilitating a shipment of arms to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. (reut.rs/2ARbm14)

Summary: सिंगापुर ने उत्तर कोरिया के साथ व्यापार संबंध निलंबित किए


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia must maintain eradication and substitution of coca crops as a long-term policy across the Andean nation s isolated jungle and mountain zones to permanently defeat drug trafficking and consolidate peace, the defense minister told Reuters. A new government, which will be elected next year, must keep up the policy if the nation hopes to stamp out the illegal drugs industry, which has funded Colombia s half century war that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions.  There can be no interruption to this policy because there s a new government, not in 2018, nor in 2022 or 2026,  Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas, 60, said in an interview.   It has to be a process of at least a generation so that it bears fruit and that there s true peace.     Since signing a peace accord last year with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the government has focused efforts on clearing coca from areas once controlled by the rebels.  Coca, the raw material that makes cocaine, is cultivated in about 188,000 hectares across Colombia by subsistence farmers who have few other opportunities to feed their families.  Criminal gangs, right-wing paramilitaries and Marxist rebels form the purchasing chain that has helped make Colombia one of the biggest producers of cocaine.  Cocaine seizures reached 300 tons so far this year and may exceed the record 362 tons seized last year, said the minister, who formed part of the government s peace negotiating team with the FARC. As part of the policy, the government plans to invest in development programs - building schools, health centers and roads - to allow poor farmers to improve their social conditions and sell legal crops like cacao, fruits, coffee and palm oil. Colombia s vast rural expanse lacks roadways, so Villegas said infrastructure that brings communities closer to market are vital for eradication to work.  It s not enough to plant cacao to replace coca ... thousands of miles of tertiary roads are needed,  he said. Colombia wants to manually eradicate 100,000 hectares of coca this year, with farmers voluntarily destroying half of it. The United States has raised concerns about the increase in coca production and cultivation, which has reached levels seen a decade ago, arguing that the increase is a result of Colombia s ban on aerial fumigation. Despite pressure to resume spraying, using glyphosate, a chemical linked to cancer, Villegas ruled out the possibility.  It s off the radar,  he said.

Summary: कोलंबिया के रक्षा मंत्री का कहना है कि दवा नीति दीर्घकालिक होनी चाहिए


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is determined to press on with its efforts to join the European Union despite tensions with the bloc, the government said on Sunday ahead of an EU summit which will discuss the frayed relations between Brussels and Ankara.  The EU, particularly heavyweight member Germany, has become increasingly critical of Turkey since President Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown on critics, including journalists and academics after the July 2016 failed coup. Erdogan accused Berlin of  Nazi-like  tactics in March when it prevented Turkish ministers speaking at expatriate rallies in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate in September that it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a NATO ally.  Is there another country that has waited at the EU s doorstep since 1963? There is not,  Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency.  We are determined to continue this process despite all the setbacks. We, as Turkey, have no intention of pulling back,  he said. Turkey s 12-year-long accession talks have ground to a halt since Ankara s crackdown after the failed coup, in which more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the military, private and public sectors. EU leaders will meet on Oct. 19 to discuss deteriorating ties between the bloc and Turkey in a two-day summit. However, Merkel was quoted as saying the summit will not make a conclusive decision on Ankara s accession bid.

Summary: तुर्की यूरोपीय संघ में शामिल होने की प्रक्रिया को बनाए रखने के लिए दृढ़ संकल्पित हैः सरकार


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc s local unit on Thursday lowered its 2017 Mexico gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.0 due to the impact of a massive earthquake that leveled buildings in the capital, the country s economic heartland.   However, Citibanamex (C.N), in a client note, said this was a conservative estimate as they expected an improvement in economic activity at the end of the third quarter and in the fourth which would help counter the impact of Tuesday s 7.1 magnitude tremor. The quake, which killed at least 273 people, also toppled buildings in the states of Puebla and Morelos, sparking a desperate hunt for survivors under the rubble. Another massive tremor two weeks ago killed at least 100 people and wreaked havoc in southern Mexico.  Citibanamex said it expects a moderate fiscal stimulus from the government, and no changes in monetary policy. That fiscal stimulus would likely come from two emergency funds, it added, noting that Mexico was in much better shape to handle the impact of the quake than it was in 1985, when a similarly massive tremor devastated the capital.

Summary: भूकंप के कारण सिटीबानेमेक्स ने मेक्सिको 2017 के सकल घरेलू उत्पाद को घटाकर 1.9 प्रतिशत कर दिया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - An Iranian military vessel confronted an American warship in the Gulf and warned it to stay away from a damaged Iranian fishing boat, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, but the U.S. Navy denied any direct contact with Iranian forces. The American vessel turned away after the warning from the Iranian ship, which belonged to the naval branch of the Iranian army, according to Tasnim. The Iranian military vessel then towed the fishing boat, which had sent out a distress signal after taking on water, back to shore. The agency did not specify when the incident, close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, took place. In statement, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) said the coastal patrol USS Tempest, operating in the Gulf of Oman on Sept. 6, heard the distress call of an unidentified small boat about 75 nautical miles from the Tempest s position. At the same time the motor vessel Nordic Voyager, much closer to the boat in distress, offered help and had made visual contact with it. The Tempest offered to support the Nordic Voyager which declined the offer, NAVCENT said.  Following the radio traffic from a distance, USS Tempest heard the Nordic Voyager coordinate additional Iranian Navy help for the vessel in distress to tow it back to Iran.   At no time was there any direct contact between the U.S. and Iranian maritime forces,  NAVCENT spokesman Chloe Morgan said. Tensions have been on the rise between the Iranian and U.S. military in the Gulf in recent months. In August, an unarmed Iranian drone came within 100 feet (31 meters) of a U.S. Navy warplane as it prepared to land on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, a U.S. official said at the time. And in July, a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots when an Iranian vessel in the Gulf came within 150 yards (137 meters) in the first such incident since President Donald Trump took office in January, U.S. officials said. Years of mutual animosity had eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran last year as part of a deal to curb Iran s nuclear ambitions. But serious differences remain over Iran s ballistic missile program and conflicts in Syria and Iraq. The Trump administration, which has taken a hard line on Iran, recently declared that Iran was complying with its nuclear agreement with world powers, but warned that Tehran was not following the spirit of the accord and that Washington would look for ways to strengthen it. During the presidential campaign last September, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harass the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be  shot out of the water.

Summary: अमेरिका ने अमेरिकी पोत के साथ टकराव की ईरान की रिपोर्ट का खंडन किया