BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of the coming few days that will determine whether Britain avoids further costly delays in giving business assurances of a smooth exit from the European Union and of free trade with its biggest market in the future:  May wants the EU to open the second phase of Brexit negotiations concerning relations after Britain s withdrawal on March 30, 2019. The EU will only do that if there is  sufficient progress  in agreeing  divorce  terms, notably on three key issues: a financial settlement, guaranteed rights for EU citizens in Britain and a  soft border  with Ireland. A deal on money is effectively done, EU officials said last week. There are indications of agreement on citizens  rights. But opposition from British Prime Minister Theresa May s key allies in Northern Ireland to treating the province differently from the mainland in a bid to maintain an open EU land border with EU-member Ireland scuppered a deal on Monday. As part of the  choreography  for a political deal, the EU set May an  absolute deadline  of Monday to provide new offers in time for the other EU leaders to approve a move to Phase 2 at a summit of the EU-27 on Dec. 15. That is now pushed back till the end of the week, EU officials say. May is pushing for a simultaneous, reciprocal guarantee from the EU of a soft transition and future trade deal, which she may use to show Britons what her compromises have secured. The EU wants to have firm British offers which the 27 can discuss before leaders commit. The result is some complex dance steps: Wednesday, Dec. 6? May is expected to return to Brussels as soon as Wednesday. If European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier emerge from the meeting to pronounce that  sufficient progress  has been made, summit chair Donald Tusk will then distribute draft guidelines for the EU negotiating position in trade talks to the other 27 governments. Monday, Dec.  11 EU-27 sherpas meet to prepare the summit - a key moment for national leaders  advisers to seek changes to guidelines. Tuesday, Dec. 12 EU affairs ministers of EU-27 meet to prepare summit. Thursday, Dec. 14 4 p.m. - May attends routine EU summit in Brussels. Defense, social affairs, foreign affairs and migration are on the agenda. Friday, Dec. 15 After May has left, EU-27 leaders hold Brexit summit. If they have had enough time, they could acknowledge sufficient progress and endorse the trade negotiating guidelines, including proposed terms for a two-year, status-quo transition period. January - Outline of EU transition offer, to be included in the 2019 withdrawal treaty may be ready. Under it, Britain is likely to retain most rights except voting in the bloc, and meet all its obligations until the end of 2020. February - After fine-tuning their negotiating position, EU-27 may be ready to open talks with London on a free trade pact that Brussels likens to one it has with Canada. The EU estimated at some 60 billion euros ($71 billion) what Britain should pay to cover outstanding obligations on leaving. EU officials say there is now agreement after Britain offered to pay an agreed share of most of the items Brussels wanted, especially for committed spending that will go on after 2020. Both sides say there is no precise figure as much depends on future developments. British newspaper reports that it would cost up to 55 billion euros sparked only muted criticism from May s hardline pro-Brexit allies who once rejected big payments. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Saturday that London would be paying the EU 60 billion euros on Brexit. Barnier is still seeking a commitment that the rights of 3 million EU citizens who stay on in Britain after Brexit will be guaranteed by the European Court of Justice, not just by British judges. May has said the ECJ should play no more role in Britain. But the issue could be vital to ensure ratification of the withdrawal treaty by the European Parliament. EU officials say a compromise may be to let the Luxembourg-based ECJ oversee cases on citizens rights for only a few years after Brexit. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said London agreed on Monday that Northern Ireland, a British province, would remain in  regulatory alignment  with the EU, and hence the Irish Republic, to ensure there was no  hard border  with police and customs checks that could disrupt peace. However, a hostile reaction from May s pro-Brexit and pro-London allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), on whom she depends for her slim parliamentary majority, caused her to hold off agreeing the package deal with Juncker. The DUP and many in May s own party fear that means separating the province from the British mainland - or forcing EU rules onto the whole of the UK. Leaders of mainland regions Scotland, Wales and London leapt on the deal to demand similar freedom to perhaps remain in the EU customs union or single market, giving May a new headache.  Varadkar said he is willing to see changes in the text - but not something that would change its actual meaning.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट की सफलता की उलटी गिनती?


TALLINN (Reuters) - Israelis and Palestinians will face more unrest over the next year without a revival of a long-fractured Middle East peace process that the European Union must be part of, Ireland s foreign minister said on Friday. Simon Coveney, who met Israeli and Palestinian leaders less than a month after taking up his post in June, is leading the charge to involve the EU in a fresh attempt at peace talks and overcome divisions that have weakened the bloc s influence.   Speaking to EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Middle East policy in Tallinn on Thursday, Coveney said the bloc had a duty to make its voice heard in any new U.S. initiative as the Palestinians  biggest aid donor and Israel s top trade partner.  My concern is that it will be a much more difficult political challenge in a year s time or in two years  time,  Coveney told Reuters.   If you look at cycles of violence in Gaza, for example, without intervention and new initiatives in my view, we are heading there again,  he said, describing the Israel-Palestinian situation as an  open sore  that could erupt at any time. Coveney said EU governments had to pull together and keep the focus on a two-state solution.  Now is the time for the European Union ... to become more vocal,  said Coveney, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in July.  Coveney has also met Jason Greenblatt, Trump s Middle East envoy, and said it was crucial that the EU sought to influence U.S. plans that are being drawn up by Greenblatt and Trump s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Coveney said the European Union had a right to be heard because EU governments and the European Commission spend 600 million euros ($724 million) a year on aid to the Palestinians and on projects with Israel.  We cannot simply wait for the U.S. to take an initiative on their own, we should be supportive of them and helping them to shape it and design it in a way that is likely to have international community support,  he said, although he added he still did not know what the U.S. proposals would look like.  In the absence of the U.S. being able to bring forward a new initiative, I think the EU will have to do that itself.  Hurdles for the European Union include its range of positions, ranging from Germany s strong support for Israel to Sweden s 2014 decision to officially recognize the state of Palestine, something Ireland considered three years ago. Coveney said the European Union is also perceived by some in Israel as being too pro-Palestinian, partly because of the EU s long-held opposition to Israeli settlements.     But Coveney said the European Union could build trust with Israel by deepening ties in trade, science, scholarships for students and to pursue what he called  a positive agenda .  The EU aims to hold a high-level meeting with Israel to broaden trade and other economic links later this year, although a date is still pending. It would be the first such meeting since 2012.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ को अमेरिका के मध्य पूर्व शांति अभियान का हिस्सा होना चाहिएः आयरलैंड


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer is being treated for a slight blockage of a coronary artery, his office said on Wednesday, denying a press report that he would undergo an angiogram procedure later this month.  There is no catheter procedure or surgery planned or recommended for the president,  a spokesman said. The blockage was detected during a routine medical checkup and Temer s doctor Roberto Kalil Filho put the 77-year-old leader on a low-fat diet and told him to take an aspirin a day, the spokesman said. TV Globo reported on Tuesday that Temer had a partial coronary obstruction and would undergo a heart procedure via catheter. The television network said the president had decided to delay the procedure until after Congress votes on whether he should stand trial on charges of obstructing justice and criminal organization in a corruption case.

Summary: ब्राजील के राष्ट्रपति का छोटे कोरोनरी ब्लॉकेज का इलाज किया गया


CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova s Prime Minister Pavel Filip said on Monday he was confident of meeting all the conditions to get funding next year under a 100-million-euro ($117-million) agreement with the European Union. A reduction in red tape and better fiscal governance had already improved public finances, allowing it to get by without the EU cash this year, he told Reuters. The European Union agreed in June to provide 60 million euros in loans and 40 million euros of grants in 2017-18 to help the former Soviet republic to stabilize its economy and promote reform. One condition for receiving it was respect for democratic process and the rule of law, the EU added.  Moldova this year introduced a new electoral law that the Venice Commission, a pan-European rights body, said could make the system more susceptible to undue influence by vested interests. Last week Filip said Moldova would receive no tranches this year, but he was more upbeat on 2018 in emailed comments to Reuters on Monday.  The EU has a serious partner in Chisinau and we are eager for EU financing in 2018 - we are confident all conditions will be met,  he said.  What is important for us and our citizens is predictability, including on the EU flank. It s important not to see the MFA (macro-financial assistance) captive to political bickering at home or abroad.  Moldova s economy grew 4.1 percent last year, recovering from a contraction of 0.4 percent in 2015 that was due in part to a Russian economic crisis that hit exports and remittances from Moldovans working there. Moldova is hopeful that funding will be available next year,  while in the meantime, we signaled the obvious: that Moldova is in better shape and can settle its accounts for this year,  Filip said.  Europe s poorest country was rocked by a scandal in which the equivalent of an eighth of its gross domestic product was stolen from three of its largest banks between 2012 and 2014. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have forecast Moldova will grow 4-4.5 percent this year.

Summary: मोलदोवा के प्रधानमंत्री को 2018 में यूरोपीय संघ के वित्तपोषण को हासिल करने का विश्वास है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor of New Jersey on Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC projected, sweeping to victory in the race to succeed unpopular Republican Governor Chris Christie on a liberal agenda that included a $15 minimum wage and increased school funding. Murphy, a former investment banker and ambassador to Germany, beat Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who was hampered by her association with Christie and lagged in fundraising. A one-time presidential candidate, Christie has hit record-low approval ratings as he closes out his eight-year tenure in the Democratic-leaning state.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट फिल मर्फी ने न्यू जर्सी के गवर्नर का चुनाव जीताः मीडिया


NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Tuesday urged the leaders of majority-Buddhist Myanmar, mired in a crisis over the fate of Muslim Rohingya people, to commit themselves to justice, human rights and respect for  each ethnic group and its identity . The pope avoided a diplomatic backlash by not using the highly charged term  Rohingya  in his addresses to officials, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  However, his words were applicable to members of the beleaguered minority, who Myanmar does not recognize as citizens   or as members of a distinct ethnic group. More than 620,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh - where the pope heads on Thursday - since the end of August, escaping from a military crackdown that Washington has said included  horrendous atrocities  aimed at  ethnic cleansing . Francis made his comments in Naypyitaw, the country s capital, where he was received by Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate and champion of democracy who has faced international criticism for expressing doubts about the reports of rights abuses against the Rohingya and failing to condemn the military.  The future of Myanmar must be peace, a peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of each member of society, respect for each ethnic group and its identity, respect for the rule of law, and respect for a democratic order that enables each individual and every group   none excluded   to offer its legitimate contribution to the common good,  he said. Myanmar rejects the term  Rohingya  and its use, with most people instead referring to the Muslim minority in Rakhine state as illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The pope had used the word Rohingya in two appeals from the Vatican this year. But before the diplomatically risky trip, the pope s own advisers recommended that he not use it in Myanmar, lest he set off a diplomatic incident that could turn the country s military and government against minority Christians. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which has accused the army of  crimes against humanity , had urged him to utter it. A hardline group of Buddhist monks warned on Monday - without elaborating - that there would be  a response  if he spoke openly about the Rohingya. Richard Horsey, a former U.N. official and analyst based in Yangon, said the pope s speech was  very cautiously worded  and  crafted to avoid antagonizing local audiences .  He has clearly taken the advice of his cardinals to avoid weighing in too heavily on the Rohingya crisis, but he certainly alludes to it with a message in his speech on some of the specific points that he makes,  Horsey said. Vatican sources say some in the Holy See believe the trip was decided too hastily after full diplomatic ties were established in May during a visit by Suu Kyi. The pope met privately with Suu Kyi at the presidential palace in this sparsely populated town that became the capital in 2006, and then they both made public addresses at a conference center. Suu Kyi said in her speech that there had been an erosion of trust and understanding between communities of Rakhine state, but did not refer to the Rohingya. Francis, speaking in Italian, said that as it emerged from nearly 50 years of military rule, Myanmar needed to heal the wounds of the past.  He called for a  just, reconciled and inclusive social order , adding that  the arduous process of peacebuilding and national reconciliation can only advance through a commitment to justice and respect for human rights . Myanmar s army, whose leaders the pope met on Monday, has been battling various autonomy-seeking ethnic minority guerrillas for decades. The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement of the Rohingya that have been made against it. The Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state began after Aug. 25, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive. Referring to the country s communal tensions, Francis said religious differences  need not be a source of division and distrust, but rather a force for unity, forgiveness, tolerance and wise nation-building . He made the same point at an earlier meeting with leaders of the Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish and Christian faiths in Yangon, where he called for  unity in diversity . Aye Lwin, a prominent Muslim leader who was at the interfaith meeting, told Reuters he had asked the pope to appeal to Myanmar s political leaders  to rescue the religion that we cherish, which could be hijacked by a hidden agenda . Only about 700,000 of Myanmar s 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have traveled from far and wide to see him and more than 150,000 people have registered for a mass that Francis will say in Yangon on Wednesday. Francis is expected to meet a group of Rohingya refugees in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on the second leg of his trip.

Summary: पोप ने म्यांमार में मानवाधिकारों का सम्मान करने का आग्रह किया, 'रोहिंग्या' विवाद को टाला


RIYADH (Reuters) - France s foreign minister on Thursday called on the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen to boost humanitarian efforts for the local civilian population who required  urgent  assistance. The heads of three U.N. agencies urged the Saudi-led military coalition on Thursday to lift its blockade on Yemen, warning that  untold thousands  would die if it stayed in place.  We spoke about the humanitarian situation and the measures that needed to be taken so that international aid can quickly get to the Yemeni population that have an extremely urgent need,  Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a news conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel Jubeir.  The coalition led by Saudi Arabia has taken the first measures that now need to be followed up and amplified.   Saudi Arabia is involved in a two-year-old war in neighboring Yemen and has been criticized for blocking humanitarian aid. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Jubeir accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of besieging civilian areas and preventing supplies from coming in or out.

Summary: फ्रांस का कहना है कि सऊदी गठबंधन को यमन के लिए सहायता प्रयासों को बढ़ावा देना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House excluded several major U.S. news organizations, including some it has criticized, from an off-camera briefing held by the White House press secretary on Friday. Reporters for CNN, The New York Times, Politico, The Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed were not allowed into the session in the office of press secretary Sean Spicer. Spicer’s off-camera briefing, or “gaggle,” replaced the usual televised daily news briefing in the White House briefing room. He did not say why those particular news organizations were excluded, a decision which drew strong protests. Reuters was included in the session, along with about 10 other news organizations, including Bloomberg and CBS. President Donald Trump has regularly attacked the media and at a gathering of conservative activists on Friday he criticized  news organizations that he said provide “fake news”, calling them the “enemy” of the American people. Spicer said his team decided to have a gaggle in his office on Friday instead of a full briefing in the larger White House briefing room and argued that “we don’t need to do everything on camera every day.”  Reporters at the Associated Press and Time magazine walked out of the briefing when hearing that others had been barred from the session.  Off-camera gaggles are not unusual. The White House often invites handpicked outlets in for briefings, typically for specific topics. But briefings and gaggles in the White House are usually open to all outlets and they are free to ask anything. A pool reporter from Hearst Newspapers was included in the gaggle on Friday and gave full details to the entire press corps. Media outlets allowed into the gaggle also shared their audio with others. Spicer’s decision drew a sharp response from some of the media outlets that were excluded. “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, said in a statement.  “We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.” The White House Correspondents Association, or WHCA, also protested. “The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today’s gaggle is being handled by the White House,” said Jeff Mason, president of the association and a Reuters reporter. During the election campaign last year, Trump’s team banned a few news organizations, including The Washington Post and BuzzFeed, from covering his campaign rallies for a period of time to protest their coverage. CNN posted a Twitter message on Friday afternoon saying: “This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don’t like. We’ll keep reporting regardless.” Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, said in a statement: “While we strongly object to the White House’s apparent attempt to punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like, we won’t let these latest antics distract us from continuing to cover this administration fairly and aggressively.” On Friday, Spicer said the White House plans to fight against what it says is unfair coverage. “I think we’re going to aggressively push back,” he said.  “We’re just not going to sit back and let false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts get out there.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने कुछ समाचार संगठनों को ब्रीफिंग से रोका


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s conservative coalition government regained its razor-thin parliamentary majority on Saturday after inner Sydney voters re-elected a former professional tennis player in a special poll triggered by a constitutional crisis. The Liberal Party victory in the blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Bennelong is a much-needed relief for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose leadership has been increasingly unpopular with the public over the past two years. A loss in Bennelong would have plunged his government into a parliamentary minority, forcing it to rely on independent lawmakers to complete its agenda. A loss would also have placed Turnbull s personal position in danger. With around 73 percent of the two-party preferred vote counted by late Saturday, the opposition Labor Party candidate Kristina Keneally has secured a swing of about 5.6 percent against the Liberal Party s John Alexander, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. While a sizeable swing, that was well short of the 10 percent plus needed to install Keneally, a high-profile former premier of New South Wales, Australia s most populous state, in federal politics, and the Labor Party conceded defeat. The battle for Bennelong was bitterly fought. Turnbull  campaigned personally for Alexander in the electorate both in the run-up to the vote and on the day of the poll.  Thank you Bennelong, the people of Bennelong have put their faith in this man,  Turnbull told cheering supporters as he raised Alexander s arm in a victory celebration.  Liberals have come from across the state, across the nation.  But Keneally, who ran a robust campaign urging voters to use the by-election to punish the federal government, warned Turnbull that he should be concerned about the swing to Labor.  The verdict is in, the message is clear, we have had enough of your lousy leadership,  she said in her concession speech.   Malcolm Turnbull injected himself in this campaign, he owns this result.  Turnbull s coalition has been forced to govern in minority since October, when a citizenship crisis cost him several cabinet members and wiped out his flimsy majority. Among those forced out was Turnbull s deputy, Barnaby Joyce, who has since won back his seat. Turnbull, who has lagged in opinion polls all year, and his minority government were forced to accept a widespread banking inquiry after independent members in parliament flexed their new-found power. The race tightened in recent days amid a diplomatic spat between Australia and China, sparked when Turnbull accused Beijing of improper interference in Canberra. One in five Bennelong voters has Chinese heritage, raising fears of a backlash. Alexander was forced to re-contest his seat after becoming one of 10 lawmakers, alongside Joyce, to leave parliament in recent months as they were swept up in the citizenship crisis. Alexander left parliament because he believed he might hold dual British citizenship, which he has since rescinded. Australia s constitution bars foreign nationals from sitting in parliament to prevent split allegiances.

Summary: सिडनी उपचुनाव में ऑस्ट्रेलियाई प्रधानमंत्री का भविष्य सुरक्षित


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called support from a broad coalition of voters - including people of color, women and union households - “critical” for anyone hoping to secure the party’s nomination for the November 2016 election and beyond. Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, noted support for the former secretary of state among African Americans, Latinos and Asian American Pacific Islanders, women and union households in a memo sent out by the campaign.  He also noted that Clinton won white voters in the nominating contests for several states on Super Tuesday, the previous day, in which Clinton won seven states to the four states captured by her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. “It is also important to note that these constituencies are not only critical to winning the Democratic nomination but will also be central to how a Democrat wins in November, and a candidate that starts with a deep base of support will have an advantage in the general election,” Mook wrote.  (Reporting by Luciana Lopez) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट नामांकन जीतने के लिए मतदाता गठबंधन की जरूरतः क्लिंटन अभियान


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn likely broke the law by failing to get permission to be paid for a trip to Russia in 2015, the leaders of a House of Representatives committee said on Tuesday. During the visit, Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who advised Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, dined with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “General Flynn had a duty and an obligation to seek and obtain permission to receive money from foreign governments,” Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters. “It does not appear to us that that was ever sought, nor did he ever get that permission.” The oversight panel is looking into whether Flynn fully disclosed payments from Russian, Turkish or other foreign sources. “As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else. And it appears as if he did take that money. It was inappropriate and there are repercussions for the violation of law,” Chaffetz said. Flynn was forced to resign on Feb. 13 for failing to disclose talks with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, about U.S. sanctions on Moscow and misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations, which occurred in December before Trump took office. He is a subject in investigations by intelligence committees in the House and Senate, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, into allegations Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election. Russia has denied the allegations, which have cast a shadow over the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, said it also appeared as if Flynn had not fully disclosed the payments after the fact as required, saying a failure to do so would be a felony. An attorney for Flynn did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters, but he told ABC News the retired general had briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is part of the Defense Department, before and after the Russia trip. “He answered any questions that were posed by DIA concerning the trip during those briefings,” attorney Robert Kelner said, according to a statement ABC News posted on Twitter. Asked about the assertions that Flynn appeared to have violated the law, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters: “That would be a question for him and law enforcement agencies.”

Summary: ट्रंप के पूर्व सलाहकार फ्लिन ने रूस की यात्रा के दौरान कानून तोड़ाः सांसद


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the bosses of some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies headed to Washington in January to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, it had all the makings of a potentially hostile meeting.  Just weeks before, Trump had sent drug stock prices plummeting after accusing the companies of “getting away with murder” by charging too much for medicines.  But the Trump who greeted chief executives of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), Novartis (NOVN.S), Merck (MRK.N), Eli Lilly (LLY.N), Celgene (CELG.O) and Amgen (AMGN.O) on Jan. 31 was a surprisingly genial host who even gave them a personal tour of the Oval Office, according to several participants in the breakfast.  “There is no question that it was better than it could have been or we thought it could be,” said one industry insider familiar with the meeting.  Trump did not repeat his public attacks on the industry. Instead, he focused on “outdated” regulations that drive costs up for drugmakers, according to participants interviewed by Reuters. The CEOs left with Trump’s word that he would streamline regulations and reform the high U.S. corporate tax rate.  Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has held at least nine meetings with groups of business leaders, including automakers, airlines, retailers and health insurers. On Wednesday, he was hosting lunch for a group of New York real estate developers and private equity CEOs, during which possible private-public partnerships on infrastructure would be discussed, according to a person briefed on the meeting. In early morning or late-night tweets and in speeches, Trump has lambasted many of these companies for cost over-runs, or high prices, or foreign manufacturing, often knocking down their share prices.  But Reuters interviews with nearly a dozen executives and lobbyists who have taken part in these meetings or have been briefed on them reveal a Trump who is very different from his uncompromising and demanding @realDonaldTrump Twitter handle.  When he meets the nation’s top chief executives in person, he is a mix of charm and cajoling. This Trump is flexible and inquisitive, a schmoozer who remembers birthdays and often lavishes praise on their companies, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity so they could freely discuss private meetings.  This private side of Trump sheds light on why many CEOs have expressed confidence that the Republican president is good for business, despite his share-denting public attacks. As recently as Tuesday, Trump tweeted he was working on a system to increase competition in the health industry and lower drug pricing, sending pharma shares lower.  In the White House meetings, Trump focuses much of his talk on cutting regulations, the sources said, underscoring one of his administration’s key priorities - getting rid of rules imposed by his predecessor Barack Obama. He typically asks which regulations are holding businesses back from adding new jobs and promises to resolve the issues, executives say.  “He said one thing for the cameras and the door shuts and then it’s like kumbaya,” said one person who was briefed on a meeting between Trump and a group of CEOs.  “He likes to be seen as engaging and buddy buddy with other big important business leaders,” said this person.  A former businessman, Trump runs his closed-door meetings with CEOs as if they were a corporate board meeting, attendees said. In contrast to his doctrinaire tweets, he likes to seek input from everyone at the table, and compared to former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, conversations are less scripted.  Trump’s approach to these meetings is “one of listening and not lecturing”, said a senior White House official who has participated in industry meetings. “I’ve seen a president who is listening and asking questions to get to how he can create a thriving economy,” the official said.  An Amgen spokeswoman said Trump made it clear that he wanted to work with the company on U.S. job creation and biotech innovation. Representatives of the other drugmakers declined to comment.  Because so little is known about how Trump interacts privately with CEOs, trade groups and company officials have begun to swap tips on how to approach their meetings with him.  “There is this undercurrent of information sharing about what to expect, what to do,” said one trade group official who prepared CEOs for a recent meeting with Trump. He said he has gotten a flurry of calls from other industries next in line for a White House visit.  At the end of most meetings, Trump leads CEOs into the Oval Office, showing off paintings, sculptures and the furniture, as well as the rug and curtains he has picked out. He also points out a bust of Martin Luther King Jr., which he inherited from Obama. Then he takes a group photo behind the desk.  “He becomes tour guide and brings them over to the Oval Office,” the same official said. “He’s very proud of the Oval Office.”  The White House official said Trump recognized the “awe” of the Oval Office.  Chief executives of Detroit’s top three automakers - General Motors Co (GM.N), Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) - were pleasantly surprised when they went to the White House for a breakfast with Trump on Jan. 24.  Since his election, Trump has frequently attacked the car companies for building in Mexico and warned U.S. firms would no longer be able to move U.S. jobs abroad “without consequences.”  When Trump entered the Roosevelt Room, he greeted GM CEO Mary Barra with a playful tap on the shoulder as he gently prodded her to add jobs in the United States and later pulled out her chair before the meeting started, a review of the video transcripts of the first part of the meeting shows.  He greeted Ford CEO Mark Fields with a “Happy Birthday. It’s his birthday ladies and gentlemen.” Trump said it was a “great honor” to see Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.  Trump did not specifically ask them to build plants in the United States - as he had tweeted he would before the meeting - but instead listened to their complaints about regulations and indicated a willingness to help them, people briefed on the meeting said.  Ford declined to comment and referred to Fields’ comments to dealers in January that Trump had asked for a list of regulations that automakers wanted cut or kept.  GM CEO Mary Barra said in a speech last week that Trump “really listened” to the automakers, while Marchionne told reporters at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday that Trump was “quite willing to make our lives easier” in terms of compliance and taxes in order to encourage U.S. job creation.  Trump has been complimentary of his high-profile guests - and at times playful.  After Denise Morrison, chief executive of Campbell Soup (CPB.N), introduced herself in one of those meetings, Trump quickly responded: “Good soup.”  At another, after Target Corp (TGT.N) CEO Brian Cornell spoke, Trump responded by pronouncing the name of the company as “Tar-Jay,” a common joke to make the retailer sound more fancy.

Summary: 'यह कुंभया की तरह हैः' सार्वजनिक हमलों के साथ सी. ई. ओ. के साथ ट्रम्प की निजी बैठकें


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he wants to see action to fix the flaws he sees in the Iran nuclear deal in a short period of time, adding that he could end the deal instantaneously. “We’ll see what happens over the next short period of time and I can do that instantaneously,” Trump told reporters when asked why he did not choose to scrap the deal now. “I like a two-step process much better,” said Trump, who was speaking shortly after he announced he would not certify the 2015 deal, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, in a major shift in U.S. policy.

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि अगर जल्द ही इसे ठीक करने के लिए कोई कार्रवाई नहीं की गई तो वह ईरान समझौते को समाप्त कर सकते हैं


(Reuters) - The Democratic and Republican nominees for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election are decided in a series of state-by-state contests. The key to winning the nomination for each party is ultimately not about the popular vote, but about securing the number of delegates needed to win the nomination at each party’s convention - July 18-21 in Cleveland for the Republicans and July 25-28 in Philadelphia for the Democrats. The following is a guide to the nominating process: Q: Is the delegate selection process the same for the Republican and Democratic parties? A: No. The parties set their own rules. One thing that is the same is that at each party convention, a candidate needs to reach only a simple majority of the delegate votes to win the nomination. Q: How many delegates are there? A: The Democratic convention will be attended by about 4,763 delegates, with 2,382 delegates needed to win the nomination. The Republican convention will be attended by 2,472 delegates, with 1,237 delegates needed to win. Q: I keep hearing about “superdelegates.” Are they different from other delegates? Do both the Republicans and Democrats have superdelegates? A: Superdelegates, officially known as unpledged delegates, are a sort of wild card in the nominating process, but only the Democrats have them. The category was created for the 1984 Democratic convention, and according to political scientists, they are a legacy of the 1980 convention when there was a fight for the nomination between President Jimmy Carter, who was seeking a second term in the White House, and Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Members of Congress were frustrated by their lack of influence, because delegates elected to support one candidate could not switch to support another. So Democratic members of the House of Representatives led an effort to win a role for themselves. That resulted in the creation of superdelegates. Unlike other delegates, superdelegates may change what candidate they are supporting right up to the convention. There is no fixed number of superdelegates because the group is defined by various categories whose members change from one election cycle to another. Here is who gets to be a superdelegate:  All Democratic members of the House of Representatives and the Senate; the Democratic governors; the Democratic president and vice president of the United States; former Democratic presidents and vice presidents; former Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate; former Democratic speakers of the House and former Democratic minority leaders. Throw in the members of the Democratic National Committee and the former chairs of the DNC and you finally have the whole pool of superdelegates. Q: What about the other delegates? Do they get to choose which candidate to support? A: Both the Democratic and Republican parties send delegates to their conventions based on the popular vote in the primary elections and caucuses held in each of the 50 states. But the parties have different rules on how delegates are allotted to a candidate. The Democratic Party applies uniform rules to all states. In each state, delegates are allocated in proportion to the percentage of the primary or caucus vote in each district. But a candidate must win at least 15 percent of the vote to be allocated any delegates. The Republican Party lets states determine their own rules, although it does dictate some things. Some states award delegates proportionate to the popular vote, although most such states have a minimum percentage that a candidate must reach to win any delegates. Some other states use the winner-take-all method, in which the candidate with the highest percentage of the popular vote is awarded all the delegates. Other states use a combination of the two methods. States that use the proportionate method may instead use the winner-take-all method if one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the popular vote.  In addition, the Republican Party requires that all states with nominating contests held between March 1 and March 14 use the proportional method, meaning that all the states holding votes on Super Tuesday will have to award delegates proportionally.  Q: What happens to delegates if a candidate drops out of the race? A: Another good question, because we have certainly seen that happen this year. For the Democratic Party, in every state, delegates are reallocated to the remaining candidates. For the Republican Party, it varies by state. In some states, delegates are required to stick with their original candidate at least through the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. In some other states, if a candidate drops out, his or her delegates may immediately pledge to another candidate. There is also a middle ground in which those delegates are reallocated to the remaining candidates. Graphic on the delegate count: tmsnrt.rs/1QHZulM Graphic on Super Tuesday delegates won: tmsnrt.rs/1RABdg7 Republican National Committee: here here Democratic National Committee: here Battlopedia: here,_2016 Vote for Bernie: here www.realclearpolitics.com here here www.demconvention.com/

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति पद के नामांकन की दौड़ः प्रतिनिधियों का चयन कैसे किया जाता है


ALTOONA, Iowa (Reuters) - Iowa’s governor said on Tuesday it would be a “big mistake” for voters in the nation’s first presidential contest next month to choose Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination, citing the U.S. senator’s opposition to a biofuel mandate important to the state. Republican Governor Terry Branstad said Cruz was in the pocket of “Big Oil,” and criticized the Texan’s opposition to the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires U.S. fuel to contain a minimum amount of biofuels, including ethanol. Ethanol is a major market for Iowa corn, and the state’s voters have generally supported ethanol mandates. Branstad said Cruz is a big opponent of renewable fuels who is “heavily financed by Big Oil.” “Ted Cruz, who is ahead in the polls, is diametrically opposed to what we really care about, and that is growing the opportunity for renewable fuels in this country,” Branstad said. Branstad spoke after addressing the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, where Republican front-runner Donald Trump also spoke later in the day and endorsed the Renewable Fuel Standard. Branstad’s oldest son, Eric, has worked on a political action committee that has been critical of Cruz’s ethanol stance. The governor has said he would not endorse a candidate before the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa, where Cruz leads Trump in some opinion polls. “I think it would be a big mistake for Iowa to support him,” Branstad said of Cruz. “I know he’s ahead in the polls, but the only poll that counts is the one they take on caucus night. And I think it could change between now and then.” U.S. Representative Steve King of Iowa, who backs Cruz, criticized Branstad’s comments as a “de facto endorsement of Trump.”  (Reporting by Kay Henderson; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: आयोवा के गवर्नर ने कॉकस जाने वालों से क्रूज़ को 'नहीं' कहने का आग्रह किया, 'बिग ऑयल' का हवाला दिया


SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A decision on Friday by a Brazilian federal judge to freeze the assets and companies of the billionaire Batista family is  legally fragile  because it is based on newspaper reports and not on prior judicial rulings, the lawyers representing the family s investment holding company J&F Investimentos SA said. In a statement, the lawyers said a decision by Federal Judge Ricardo Leite of the 10th District Court of Bras lia demanding the family deposits 1.6 billion reais ($506 million) to compensate state development bank BNDES is unjustified because J&F was to pay a slightly bigger fine as part of a May leniency accord. Earlier in the day, Leite ordered the assets of the Batistas be frozen as part of an investigation. ($1 = 3.1615 reais)

Summary: J & F ने ब्राजील के न्यायाधीश के संपत्ति को जब्त करने के फैसले को 'कानूनी रूप से नाजुक' बताया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maryland, Delaware and Louisiana on Monday joined a growing number of U.S. states that have refused to hand over voter data to a commission established by President Donald Trump to investigate possible voting fraud. More than 20 states, including Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York and Massachusetts, have declined to provide some or all of the information that the panel requested, saying it was unnecessary and violated privacy. Republican Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after making unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election. Calling the request “repugnant,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement that his office had advised the State Board of Elections that the commission’s request was illegal. The request “appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President Trump’s fantasy that he won the popular vote,” Frosh said. The commission sent a letter to the 50 states asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories.  Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler said the presidential commission could purchase the limited information legally available to candidates running for office. “You’re not going to play politics with Louisiana’s voter data,” he said in a statement. Delaware Elections Commissioner Elaine Manlove said in an interview with Milford’s WXDE-FM radio that her office would not comply since some of the information was confidential. Manlove said she was working with the attorney general’s office to see if the request could be denied completely. Trump has blasted the states who have refused to turn over the data. He said in a tweet on Saturday, “What are they trying to hide?” Trump won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. He has claimed he would have won the popular vote had it not been for voter fraud. Civil rights activists say the commission will encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers to voting, such as requiring identity cards to vote.

Summary: तीन और राज्यों ने ट्रम्प आयोग के मतदाता डेटा अनुरोध को अस्वीकार कर दिया


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Police seized more than 12 tons of cocaine from Colombia s top crime gang on Wednesday, the biggest haul ever in the nation s long-running fight against drug trafficking, President Juan Manuel Santos said. The cocaine, with a U.S. market value estimated by Santos at about of $360 million, was found stored underground on four farms in a banana-growing region of northwest Antioquia province, near Colombia s border with Panama.   Thanks to a police operation with overseas intelligence, from friendly countries, the largest seizure in history was made,  Santos said at a police base where the cocaine was laid out in packages on display. Santos linked the cocaine to the drug-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, which has become one of the biggest threats to security since peace was signed last year with Marxist-led Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. The seizure comes as the United States, Colombia s staunchest ally in the fight against drug trafficking, has raised concern over an increase in coca cultivation and as the government faces criticism from opposition lawmakers for allowing new crime gangs to fill the void left by the FARC.  Santos, who leaves office next year, has pledged to send 80,000 military and police to areas once controlled by the FARC in a bid to prevent new trafficking gangs from taking hold. Four people were arrested during the three-day operation leading to the drug seizure, according to a police statement. The Gulf Clan is led by fugitive Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel. The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture or death. In addition to drugs, the gang deals in illegal mining and most if its estimated 1,500 members formerly served in the ranks of right-wing paramilitary groups. Colombia is one of the world s leading producers of cocaine, with output of around 910 tons per year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  Anti-drug police have confiscated 362 tons of cocaine this year.

Summary: कोलंबिया ने 12 टन कोकीन जब्त की, यह अब तक की सबसे बड़ी बरामदगी है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday backed a new round of disaster aid to help Puerto Rico and several states recover from damage from hurricanes and wildfires. The legislation would provide $36.5 billion in emergency relief as Puerto Rico in particular struggles to regain electricity and other basic services following destructive hurricanes. The House of Representatives approved the bill earlier this month. The Trump administration already has indicated it will seek another round of emergency relief from Congress.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट के बहुमत ने आपदा सहायता विधेयक का समर्थन किया


LONDON (Reuters) - A row over how much money Britain should pay the European Union when it leaves the bloc will probably go on for the full duration of the EU exit talks, Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday. The Brexit bill is a contentious issue both in Britain, where eurosceptics are keen to see as little money paid as possible, and in the EU, which is demanding Britain meets its existing commitments to the bloc.   My expectation is that the money argument will go on for the full duration of the negotiation,  he told parliament.  Britain, which began a two-year negotiating period in March, has said it is prepared to meet its international obligations and, last week, Davis said London was willing to offer more than the bare legal minimum.  The bill is one of three issues the EU is demanding progress on before it is willing to begin discussing Britain s future relationship with the bloc - something London is keen to move on to as soon as possible. But, Davis stressed that Britain would not be pressured into cutting a deal just to move talks to the next stage.  Davis said the two sides disagreed over the basis of the so-called Brexit bill, and that he did not expect them to fully resolve their differences.  It is clear that the two sides have very different legal stances,  Davis told parliament during an update on the talks.  (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier and I agreed that we do not anticipate making incremental progress on the final shape of the financial deal in every round ... it is also clear there are significant differences to be bridged in this sector.   Davis also said that there was widespread agreement across the European Union about having an implementation period when Britain leaves the bloc, and that it would probably look to continue its relationship with the European Investment Bank.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट विधेयक विवाद ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता की अवधि को बनाए रखेगाः ब्रिटेन के मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI’s acting director promised on Thursday to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee of any effort to interfere with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. “I absolutely do,” acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who leads the agency following President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of former director James Comey on Tuesday, told the committee, which is also investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. प्रमुख ने रूस की जांच को रोकने के किसी भी प्रयास का खुलासा करने का वादा किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The reports that U.S. President Donald Trump has revealed highly classified information about a planned Islamic State operation to Russia’s foreign minister are “fake”, Interfax news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि ट्रम्प द्वारा गुप्त जानकारी का खुलासा करने की खबरें 'नकली' हैंः इंटरफैक्स


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s foreign minister called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s immediate removal on Friday, saying a transitional government must be established and voicing support for a U.S. missile strike overnight on one of his air bases. “It is necessary to oust this regime as soon as possible from the leadership of Syria,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the southern town of Alanya in comments broadcast live. “If he doesn’t want to go, if there is no transition government, and if he continues committing humanitarian crimes, the necessary steps to oust him should be taken,” he said. Cavusoglu said safe zones for civilians in Syria were now more important than ever. He said the coalition had been informed of the U.S. missile strike and that he had spoken by phone with the French and German foreign ministers, although he did not say when. He also said contacts had been initiated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Summary: तुर्की के विदेश मंत्री का कहना है कि असद प्रशासन को हटाया जाना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating suspected attempts to hack mobile phones used by Democratic Party officials as recently as the past month, four people with direct knowledge of the attack and the investigation told Reuters. The revelation underscores the widening scope of the U.S. criminal inquiry into cyber attacks on Democratic Party organizations, including the presidential campaign of its  candidate, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. U.S. officials have said they believe those attacks were orchestrated by hackers backed by the Russian government, possibly to disrupt the Nov. 8 election in which Clinton faces Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. Russia has dismissed allegations it was involved in cyber attacks on the organizations. The more recent attempted phone hacking also appears to have been conducted by Russian-backed hackers, two people with knowledge of the situation said. Federal Bureau of Investigation representatives had no immediate comment, and a Clinton campaign spokesman said they were unaware of the suspected phone hacking. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) did not respond to a request for comment. An official of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said that nobody at the organization had been contacted by investigators about possible phone hacking. Interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile told CNN: “Our struggle with the Russian hackers that we announced in June is ongoing - as we knew it would be - and we are choosing not to provide general updates unless personal data or other sensitive information has been accessed or stolen.” FBI agents had approached a small number of Democratic Party officials to discuss concerns their mobile phones may have been compromised by hackers, people involved said. It was not clear how many people were targeted by the hack or whether they included members of Congress, a possibility that could raise additional security concerns for U.S. officials. If they were successful, hackers could have been able to acquire a wide range of data from targeted cellphones, including call data, text messages, emails, photos and contact lists, one person with knowledge of the situation said. “In a sense, your phone is your office brain,” said Bruce Schneier, a cyber security expert with Resilient, an IBM company, which is not involved in the investigation. “It’s incredibly intimate.” “Anything that’s on your phone, if your phone is hacked, the hacker can get it.” The FBI has asked some of those whose phones were believed to have hacked to turn over their phones so that investigators could “image” them, creating a copy of the device and related data. U.S. investigators are looking into whether hackers used data stolen from servers run by Democratic organizations or the private emails of their employees to get access to cellphones, one person said. Hackers previously targeted servers used by the DNC, the body that sets strategy for the party, and the DCCC, which raises money for Democrats running for seats in the House of Representatives, officials have said.  Clinton said during Monday’s presidential debate there was “no doubt” Russia has sponsored hacks against “all kinds of organizations in our country” and mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin by name. “Putin is playing a really tough, long game here. And one of the things he’s done is to let loose cyber attackers to hack into government files, to hack into personal files, hack into the Democratic National Committee,” Clinton said. Trump countered that there was no definitive proof that Russia had sponsored the hacks of Democratic organizations. “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC,” he said. “It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people.”

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. ने डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी के अधिकारियों के फोन हैक करने की जांच कीः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday his budget proposal aims to bolster Americans’ safety with a significant investment in cyber security with an eye toward overhauling how the federal government manages and responds to online threats. Obama, speaking to reporters after meeting with national security advisers, said the United States must increase its spending to upgrade outdated government technology systems that are far behind the private sector.  Obama, in his budget released earlier on Tuesday, proposed an increase in U.S. cyber security funding.

Summary: ओबामा ने अमेरिकियों की सुरक्षा के लिए सरकारी सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी को अद्यतन करने का आह्वान किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that North Korea s remarks and behavior were  absolutely unacceptable  and provocative to regional and international security. Suga was speaking after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make U.S. President Donald Trump pay dearly for threatening to destroy his country, and after North Korea s foreign minister was quoted as saying he believes the North could consider a hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the comment by North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho was utterly unacceptable.

Summary: जापान ने उत्तर कोरिया के व्यवहार को 'बिल्कुल अस्वीकार्य' बताया


(Reuters) - Residents of New Jersey’s southern shorefront towns on Monday cleaned up homes and businesses flooded by a storm surge during the weekend’s massive blizzard and rued what they described as Governor Chris Christie’s dismissive treatment of the damage. The storm that walloped Washington and New York with about 2 feet (60 cm) of snow hit coastal Cape May County in New Jersey with tides higher than those measured during 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, sending salt water into properties and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Jim Hand voiced exasperation as he surveyed the damage at Fred’s Tavern in Stone Harbor, a bar and liquor store about 35 miles (56 km) down the coast from Atlantic City. Hand, a member of the third generation of his family to own the shop, said that the property’s kitchen, electrical wiring and floors would all need to be replaced. “We’re doing the same thing today we did after Sandy,” said Hand, 61. He was one of a handful of local business owners to criticize comments by Christie, a Republican White House contender who told CNN on Sunday that he had “no concerns” about flooding as a result of the storm.  “Keep this in perspective,” Christie told CNN during a one-day return to the state from the campaign trail in New Hampshire. “Cape May County area was the least flooded area during Hurricane Sandy and had almost no damage in that area.” No immediate estimate of the financial toll of the flooding damage was available but reinsurance broker Aon Benfield said that total insured losses along the East Coast will run into the billions of dollars.     Hand had no patience for Christie’s words, saying, “It shows you how out of touch he is with what’s going on in his state.” Angry comments from New Jersey residents immediately flashed across Twitter and raged into Monday, some showing images of street flooding and tagged to Christie with comments like “nothing to see here.”  Christie spokesman Brian Murray said that the governor’s words had been taken out of context. “Cape May County and lower Atlantic County did not sustain the direct hit from Sandy suffered by more northern parts of the Jersey Shore. But the governor did not say they were not impacted by Sandy,” Murray said. “He only cautioned news reporters to use some context when pointing to Saturday’s flooding in Cape May and saying it’s ‘Worse than Sandy.’” Sandy was directly responsible for 147 deaths in the United States, destroying more than 650,000 homes around the greater New York area and causing nearly $50 billion in damage. Christie said in a statement on Monday that he had sent teams to the storm-hit areas to determine whether the damage was  severe enough to seek federal assistance, a process that he said could take days. Children’s clothing store owner Maggie Day sprayed an anti-bacterial mix over her ruined merchandise as she surveyed the damage to her shop in Stone Harbor in Cape May County.    “I did walk away from Sandy with a lot of damage,” said Day, 39, who had to replace flooring, walls, insulation and merchandise after the 2012 storm and was working with a “water excavator” to get a handle on the latest damage. “It’s not even help that I’m asking for,” Day said. “It’s just a little bit of compassion with a public leader on TV. You can’t pooh-pooh it publicly when you’re a leader.”

Summary: तटीय न्यू जर्सी में, क्रिस्टी के लिए आलोचना की बाढ़ तूफान के बाद आई


OSLO (Reuters) - Norway on Friday received the first three of the 40 F-35 fighter jets it ordered from Lockheed-Martin as part of efforts to beef up its air force. Norway is the fourth country after the United States, Israel and Italy to receive the planes.  These warplanes will improve the entire Norwegian defense,  General Major Tonje Skinnarland, head of the Norwegian airforce, told broadcaster TV2.  Their main task was to secure air control, to allow other parts of Norwegian defense to operate safely, she said. From next year, the Norwegian airforce will take delivery of six aircraft a year. In total, Oslo has committed to order 40 F-35 planes, with another 12 on the books - planes for which Norway has expressed an interest but not placed a firm order.  The estimated cost of acquiring 52 new combat aircraft would be NOK 67.9 billion ($8.36 billion) in 2015 values, including support equipment, simulators, weapons and training, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.

Summary: नॉर्वे को मिला पहला एफ-35 लड़ाकू विमान


PARIS (Reuters) - French police unearthed a second stash of explosive materials near Paris on Thursday after a similar find in a nearby suburb on Wednesday, a justice official said as three suspects were questioned by anti-terrorism investigators. Thursday s swoop was carried out at a garage rented by one of the three detained in the wake of Wednesday s raid on an apartment in Villejuif, on the southern edge of the French capital, the source said. Materials used to produce TATP, an explosive often used by suicide bombers, were found at the flat after a plumber phoned  police to report suspect activity there, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.  Two people in their 30s and 40s were arrested in the immediate wake of Wednesday s raid, said Collomb, who added that the suspects were being questioned on suspicion of terrorist activity despite talking of a bank heist. A third man was arrested overnight, a source said.  Those under investigation spoke of wanting to blow up a bank with the TATP but they way we see it is they have links with terrorism, and this is the channel of investigation,  Collomb told public radio station franceinfo. That line of inquiry was prompted by information found in telephone communications after the raid, he added. The minister spoke before developments later in the day in which police found explosive materials at a garage in Thiais, southeast of Paris.  More than 230 people have been killed by Islamist-inspired attackers in the past three years in France, which along with the United States and other countries are bombing Islamic State bases in Iraq and Syria. TATP, an unstable explosive, has been used by militants in several attacks in western Europe in recent years, including Manchester in May, Brussels in 2016 and Paris in 2015.

Summary: पेरिस के पास छापेमारी के बाद फ्रांसीसी पुलिस को और विस्फोटक मिले


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The corporate income tax is a major revenue source for the U.S. government, but it has been shrinking for decades and the three main presidential candidates could not differ more dramatically on what to do about it. Republican Donald Trump and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have starkly contrasting plans, some more detailed than others, for taxing corporations. The tax paid by companies on their profits accounted for 30 percent of the U.S. federal tax base in the 1950s; last year, it was only 11 percent, Internal Revenue Service data show.  The decline, experts say, has many causes: loopholes that cut corporations’ taxes; a lower corporate tax rate; rising overseas profits that are lightly taxed; and a shift away from incorporation toward partnerships and other business structures that pay no corporate tax. Despite the dwindling corporate tax base, Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive nominee for the Nov. 8 election, wants to ease the burden on companies by slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. In this regard, he shares the same view as most Republicans. Trump, a real estate developer, has described his proposals as revenue neutral, saying reduced tax rates would be paid for by eliminating some tax breaks and repatriating corporate cash held overseas. However, the Tax Policy Center, a centrist tax research group in Washington, said that under Trump’s plan, corporate income tax revenues would fall $1.9 trillion from 2016 to 2026. A cut on that scale would hugely expand the federal budget deficit, unless severe budget cuts or alternative tax hikes were also made, the center said. Steven Rosenthal, a Tax Policy Center senior fellow, said Trump’s plan is a standard business-focused approach, but “the drafting is incomplete, so we can’t tell exactly what he’s thinking.”   A Trump campaign spokeswoman pointed to the proposals on the campaign website but declined to comment further. Republicans generally support corporate income tax cuts because, they say that would help corporations compete globally. In addition, some question the validity of the tax, which they say is passed on to consumers and investors. “Taxing businesses is the Democrats’ version of manna from heaven: someone else supposedly is paying for the government. But all citizens are hurt through lower growth, higher prices, lower wages,” said Grover Norquist, a Republican tax activist. “Taxes should be transparent. It should be clear who is paying them. The corporate income tax is designed to hide the tax burden,” said Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a small-government group that opposes tax increases. Democrats tend to view the corporate income tax as a fair levy on businesses that benefit from the security, services and infrastructure provided by government. Corporations have been taxed by Washington since 1909. Clinton, a former secretary of state and the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has not promised a corporate tax cut. Like Trump, she has called for closing loopholes that corporations use to avoid taxes. But unlike Trump, her plan would raise corporate tax revenues by $136 billion over 10 years, the Tax Policy Center said. Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said the candidate’s proposals “go further to prevent the erosion of the corporate tax base by ensuring corporations pay their fair share.” But the Clinton campaign has yet to release its full plan. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont challenging Clinton for the Democratic nomination, would make more drastic changes and boost the corporate tax take by $1 trillion in the same decade, mostly by raising taxes on overseas profits, according to the Tax Policy Center. “Virtually all of the revenue raised by Senator Sanders’ corporate tax plan would come from large, multinational corporations that have shifted their profits offshore to avoid taxes,” said Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels.  The question of whether businesses pay their fair share of taxes strikes a chord with Americans on the campaign trail. An April Gallup poll found 67 percent of U.S. adults said corporations do not pay enough tax.    Since the mid-1950s, income tax receipts from individuals  have held steady at 40-50 percent of federal revenues, while payroll taxes, deducted from the paychecks of wage-earners, have soared to 34 percent last year from 5-10 percent in the 1950s. Meanwhile, Congress has steadily reduced the corporate tax rate, now 35 percent. That is down from 46 percent in 1986, and 52 percent in 1956. Over that period, corporations have also carved out various loopholes that let them avoid paying the full rate.  The corporate tax applies only to incorporated businesses, while other business structures have been gaining in popularity. In 2003, the share of U.S. business income generated by incorporated companies fell below the share made by partnerships and other kinds of companies that pay no corporate tax.  Whatever candidates may say on the campaign trail, no changes can occur without agreement by Congress. And despite years of talk about the importance of tax reform, neither President Barack Obama nor lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been able to agree on a reform agenda that many say is needed to boost the economy and bring sanity to a tax code of Byzantine complexity.

Summary: अमेरिकी कॉर्पोरेट कर आधार के सिकुड़ने पर, राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवारों में काफी अंतर है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has complicated the situation in the Middle East and is causing a split in the international community, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Summary: क्रेमलिन का कहना है कि ट्रम्प का जेरूसलम निर्णय अंतर्राष्ट्रीय समुदाय को विभाजित कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A backlash against “bump stock” gun accessories, which enable rifles to be turned into rapid-fire guns, grew in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as House Speaker Paul Ryan opened the door to possible debate on controlling the devices.     “Clearly that’s something we need to look into,” Ryan told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, referring to the accessories. He added that many lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Congress had not been aware until now that such devices existed. An excerpt from the interview aired on MSNBC. The National Rifle Association, a powerful opponent of most gun control initiatives, so far has been silent on whether it would support or oppose efforts in Congress to ban or control bump stocks.  A shooting rampage on Sunday night in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500, the most deadly mass shooting in modern U.S. history, has reignited debate around regulation of firearms. Officials said 12 of the rifles authorities recovered from a hotel suite in Las Vegas used by gunman Stephen Paddock were fitted with bump stocks, allowing the guns to fire almost as though they were automatic weapons.  “I didn’t even know what they were until this week,” Ryan said, referring to bump stocks. “I think we’re quickly coming up to speed with what this is.” Ryan and other leading Republicans have not embraced specific legislation, however.  The House speaker’s remarks followed a call on Wednesday by the U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn, for lawmakers to investigate bump stocks, as Democrats pushed for a ban on the devices. On Thursday, Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte also said the matter should be looked into. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said at a weekly press conference that Congress should promptly pass legislation toughening background checks on gun buyers. She also touted Democratic legislation stopping bump stocks. “Hopefully we can bring that to the floor and at least pass a bill that bans, something that enables a shooter to spray murderous automatic fire on innocent people,” Pelosi said. Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo was preparing his own measure to ban the ownership, manufacture and transport of the devices. While he said there was growing bipartisan consensus, he cautioned against assuming that a legislative win was certain.  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We hope that there will be a breakthrough,” Curbelo told reporters, adding, “But I think this is just such a blatant exploitation of the law, a circumvention of the law.” Indeed, Republican Senator Dean Heller, who could face a tough re-election fight next year, told Fox News, “We’re going to have this conversation, but let me be clear, I’m not interested in watering down the Second Amendment.” Republicans, and some Democrats, are generally reluctant to push for tighter controls on firearms ownership, which is protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Automatic weapons have been largely illegal for decades,  but bump stock devices offer a way around that. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has called for bump stocks to be banned.  Representative David Cicilline, also a Democrat, has proposed a ban too, with a House bill that he said has 148 co-sponsors. None are Republicans, he told CNN, although he is talking with about five or six conservatives to seek their support.  In the interview with Ryan aired by MSNBC, the top House Republican gave no other details about what action the Republican-controlled House might take toward bump stock devices, or what the timeline would be for any legislative steps. Republicans also control the Senate and the White House.

Summary: कांग्रेस को बंदूक 'बंप स्टॉक' उपकरणों की जांच करने की जरूरतः सदन अध्यक्ष


SEATTLE (Reuters) - The man who sued Seattle Mayor Ed Murray accusing him of paying him for sex when he was a teenager has dropped the lawsuit, his attorney said on Wednesday, and Murray said he felt vindicated and would consider options for getting back into the race for reelection. In Twitter messages, Lincoln Beauregard, a lawyer for accuser Delvonn Heckard, wrote that his client was “delaying” his lawsuit until the mayor was out of power. Beauregard did not reply to a request for comment beyond the tweets, but emailed a copy of the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. A copy of a court order by a Superior Court judge in King County granting the dismissal was posted online by the Seattle Times newspaper. In April, Heckard, 46, accused Murray in the lawsuit of paying him for sex when Heckard was a homeless, drug-addicted teenager.  The allegations caused Murray, whose mayoral term will expire at the end of 2017, to abandon his campaign for re-election. “I believe the withdrawal of this lawsuit vindicates me,” Murray told a press conference.  “This lawsuit was filed just as people were just getting ready to run, and it’s withdrawn about 30 days after I move out of the race,” he said. Murray, 62, said he was considering his options regarding launching re-entry into the crowded mayoral race.  Murray is Seattle’s first openly gay mayor. As a senator in the Washington state legislature, he was an advocate for gay rights and legalizing same-sex marriage.

Summary: सिएटल के मेयर पर यौन शोषण का आरोप लगाने वाले व्यक्ति ने मुकदमा वापस लिया


LONDON (Reuters) - British trade minister Liam Fox said on Wednesday he hoped to be able to agree similar trading arrangements with those countries which already have free trade deals with the European Union by the time Britain leaves the bloc. Trade officials had said previously that Britain had already won some kind of agreement with the dozens of countries which have trade deals with the EU to continue to trade largely along the already agreed lines.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के फॉक्स का कहना है कि ब्रेक्सिट से पहले देशों के साथ यूरोपीय संघ के व्यापार सौदों की पुष्टि करने की उम्मीद है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Senate Republican aide Hester Maria Peirce to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the White House said on Tuesday. Peirce is a former Senate Banking Committee staff member and currently is the director of the Financial Markets Working Group at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. She was nominated to the SEC last year by President Barack Obama, but the full Senate never acted on her nomination. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee attempted to block her nomination when she declined to fully commit to work as a commissioner on requiring corporations to publicly disclose their political donations. She ultimately won the committee’s blessing but her nomination stalled in the Senate as Republicans dragged their feet on approving names put forward by Obama, a Democrat. Peirce could face a rocky time again in the chamber. Liberal firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren is highly critical of Peirce, who is a member of the Federalist Society, an organization of conservative and libertarian lawyers. Peirce could be instrumental in carrying out Trump’s plan to reform regulations imposed after the 2007-09 financial crisis and recession. She recently edited and contributed to a book published by the right-leaning Mercatus Center that called for totally restructuring the country’s financial regulation. Peirce would fill one of two vacancies on the five-member commission. If Trump follows tradition, he will suggest a Democrat for the other open slot at the top U.S. securities regulator. Columbia University law professor Robert Jackson is a leading contender to fill the Democratic slot, people familiar with the matter said last month.

Summary: सीनेट के पूर्व सहयोगी पियर्से को एसईसी आयुक्त के लिए नामित करेंगे ट्रम्प


(Reuters) - Airlines were racing against the clock to clear as many customers as possible from the likely Florida path of Hurricane Irma, as social and political pressure mounted for carriers to play a bigger role in aiding evacuations. As the powerful storm threatened to rip through the Florida coast by Sunday, airlines ramped up the number of flights available out of south Florida airports, where operations were likely to temporarily cease through the weekend and beyond.  But flights out of the area remained extremely limited. At Miami International Airport, many outbound flights were canceled, leaving residents scrambling to rebook to anywhere outside the path of the storm.  American Airlines, which has one of the larger operations in south Florida, said on Thursday it had added 16 flights out of Miami, amid more than 2,400 forced cancellations through Monday. Delta Air Lines Inc said it had upsized aircraft and added flights to increase the number of available outgoing seats by 2,000. United Airlines added six flights out of Miami to its hubs, including Newark, New Jersey, and Chicago O Hare. All three carriers said they planned to mostly wind down south Florida operations by Friday evening. In areas already pummeled by the powerful storm, flight operations had been rolled back and halted altogether.  A Delta-operated flight from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and back, made headlines for narrowly avoiding the storm in a mission to evacuate another plane-full of passengers from the area ahead of Irma s landfall.  Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com saw the plane land for one last departure in the U.S. territory located squarely in the path of Irma s landfall, fill with passengers, and make its successful flight back to New York on Wednesday. Other airlines had already ceased operations in the region. PRICE-GOUGING  As residents sought to secure last-minute flights out of the dangerous Category 5 storm s path, airlines faced accusations of trying to capitalize on the panic and chaos by price gouging.   Under pressure from some members of Congress following social media reports, airlines have taken the unusual step of publicly announcing price caps on tickets out of areas in Irma s course. Early on, carrier JetBlue capped flights out of the area at $99, and other carriers followed suit, capping fares at between $99 and $399 a ticket.  But while airlines offered some cheap flights out of south Florida after complaints, passengers said that did little good if all the flights were fully booked or canceled.                         Medical student Eric Slabaugh said he was dismayed by ticket prices over $2,000 when he started looking for flights earlier this week. He got a ticket to Detroit for $700, he said,  because nobody wants to go there.                          Publix can t charge $50 for a case of water without getting accused of price gouging, but airlines can charge 50 times the price of a normal ticket. I don t think that s fair,  Slabaugh said. Airlines  customer service practices have come under fire in recent months, and just last year, U.S. carriers were cleared in a federal investigation regarding exorbitant fare mark-ups in the wake of a deadly Amtrak derailment that drove up demand for air travel on some routes.  Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who had been pressuring airlines to aid in evacuating Florida residents, spoke with airline executives on Thursday and urged them to add more flight outs of Florida.   His office said Nelson is  pleased  airlines were doing everything they could to  help get impacted Floridians to safety.  The Federal Aviation Administration is holding twice daily phone calls with airlines to talk about airport conditions, but does not plan to close the Miami airport on Friday, officials said. Airlines are still planning for airport closures, however, and said they expect their operations to be impacted in the region at least through the weekend.  Also affected by the storm, Carnival Cruise Lines, which has major operations out of Florida ports, said on Thursday it had canceled four of its Caribbean cruises, though it still planned to operate several more under modified itineraries.

Summary: तूफान इरमा से पहले अमेरिकी एयरलाइंस ने निवासियों को निकालने के लिए हाथापाई की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI was reeling after President Donald Trump unexpectedly fired its director James Comey, with agency staff scheduling an emergency high-level meeting for Tuesday night amid speculation about who would replace Comey in the top job. An FBI official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters and so asked not to be identified, said the staff meeting would explore next steps for the law-enforcement agency. Trump sacked Comey amidst a probe into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome, sparking backlash from some Democrats in Congress who said the decision had the appearance of a cover-up and some Republicans who called the timing troubling.  The official said the FBI had no idea the Trump administration was considering dismissing Comey and the news “took even top officials by surprise.” An FBI spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was expected to step in for now, but he was unlikely to be nominated by Trump for the director’s post, said two former FBI officials. Comey, who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama, had 6-1/2 years left in his term as director of  an agency with 56 U.S. field offices and more than 30,000 employees.  The new director must be appointed by Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.      Comey is the third high-profile law-enforcement official to be fired under Trump. Preet Bharara was fired as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and Sally Yates was fired as acting attorney general. Trump, a Republican businessman and former TV celebrity, was elected on Nov. 8 and took office on Jan. 20. One possible contender for director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is Dana Boente, No. 3 at the Justice Department and former acting attorney general, said the two former FBI officials. Other potential choices include Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, a former prosecutor who led a congressional inquiry into former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s role in the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Close campaign allies of Trump include former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Sheriff David Clarke. But both men would be seen as highly political nominees for an agency designed to be independent. “The White House has to avoid all the politicos if they are going to get a nominee through the Senate,” said one of the former FBI officials.   Boente was tapped to temporarily lead the Justice Department’s Trump-Russia investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Trump appointee, stepped down because of his dealings with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Rod Rosenstein replaced Boente in that role when the Senate confirmed him as deputy attorney general last month. Rosenstein served as a federal prosecutor under both Republican President George W. Bush and Obama. A lengthy memo from Rosenstein on Tuesday faulted Comey for his handling of an FBI probe of Clinton’s private email server.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. में कोमी की बर्खास्तगी को लेकर उथल-पुथल, नए प्रमुख की तलाश जारी


(Reuters) - Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continued holding meetings on Monday in New York as he prepared to take over the White House from Democrat Barack Obama on Jan. 20. Below is a list of meetings for Monday, according to Trump’s transition team and eyewitness accounts. *Chairman and chief executive officer, LVMH     *Founder and executive chairman, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd * U.S. Senate majority leader * Kentucky Republican     * President and CEO Randy Falco [UVN.UL] * Chief News, Entertainment & Digital Officer Isaac Lee * Fox News media host

Summary: अलीबाबा के मा, अमेरिकी सीनेट के बहुमत के नेता, यूनिविजन से मिलेंगे ट्रम्प


HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. organizations that have worked closely with the outgoing Obama administration to improve relations with Cuba on Tuesday released a four-page letter to President-elect Donald Trump urging him not to act rashly toward the Communist-run nation. The Cuban Study Group, an organization of Cuban-American business leaders who favor engagement, and the Washington-based Engage Cuba coalition, arranged what they termed the “memo” which says, “to reflexively reverse course could have pernicious consequences for U.S. economic and foreign policy interests and the prospects of evolutionary change in Cuba.” The Trump transition includes five Cuban-Americans who are vocal opponents of detente and have close ties to Cuban-American lawmakers who are calling for a return to pre-Obama efforts to isolate Cuba. A number of other Trump appointees have expressed hostility toward the Obama administration’s two-year effort to normalize relations. “We are confident that a close evaluation will confirm that constructive engagement — including the reduction of travel and commercial barriers — is the best strategy for supporting the Cuban people and boosting U.S. jobs and exports,” the signers of the report, which include the U.S.-Cuba Business Council, the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society of Travel Agents and the Association of International Educators, say. They argue that the policy has improved human rights on the island, sped the expansion of internet access, led to dialogue on sensitive issues, improved national security and created jobs, among other positive results. The report follows the release last week of a similar plea by dozens of U.S. agricultural organizations which argued Cuba was an important market for their products. Trump, a Republican, has said he will dismantle the still-fragile detente unless Cuba gives the United States a better deal, while providing no specifics. He is expected to review the Cuba engagement on taking office on Friday. Trump has named Jason Greenblatt, a Trump Organization executive and chief legal counsel, as negotiator for sensitive international issues, including Cuba. The normalization of relations between the old Cold War foes has included restoration of diplomatic relations, Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, the signing of 18 cooperation agreements and the use of executive orders to punch holes in the embargo, which can be lifted only by the U.S. Congress, now controlled by Republicans. Travel to the island from the United States has increased, with the start of direct flights and cruises and the signing of  cellphone roaming agreements, but no manufacturing or significant trade deals have been reached.

Summary: U.S.-Cuba हिरासत में लिए गए समर्थकों ने ट्रम्प को प्रभावित करने के लिए अंतिम प्रयास किया


AMMAN (Reuters) - Sabih al-Masri, Jordan s most influential businessman and the chairman of its largest lender Arab Bank, was detained in Saudi Arabia for questioning after a business trip to Riyadh, family sources and friends said on Saturday. Masri s detention, which follows the biggest purge of the Saudi kingdom s affluent elite in its modern history, has sent shockwaves through business circles in Jordan and the Palestinian territories, where the billionaire has major investments.  A Saudi citizen of Palestinian origin, Masri was detained last Tuesday hours before he was planning to leave after he chaired meetings of companies he owns, according to the sources.  He is the founder of Saudi Astra Group, which has wide interests in diversified industries ranging from agro-industry to telecommunications, construction and mining across the region.   Masri was heading to the airport and they told him to stay where you are and they picked him up,  said a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. He canceled a dinner in Amman on Wednesday that he had invited board members of Arab Bank and business associates to attend on his return.  The Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment, while Masri could not be reached for comment.  His confidants had warned him not to travel to the Saudi capital after mass arrests of Saudi royals, ministers and businessmen in early November, the sources said.  He has been answering questions about his business and partners,  said a source familiar with the matter who did not elaborate nor confirm he was held.  A source close to the family later said that  while Masri is currently restricted from leaving Saudi Arabia, no official charges have been filed against him.  Reasons for Masri s detention were not clear but political sources said the Saudis might have used him to put pressure on Jordan s King Abdullah not to attend a Muslim summit last week to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. The Jordanian monarch attended the Istanbul summit, however. He is a custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and has been vocal in criticizing Trump over his decision on Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia, whose relations with the United States have warmed with Trump taking a harder line against its arch-rival Iran than his predecessor, appears to have taken a softer line on the decision on Jerusalem, according to analysts. Riyadh sent a junior minister to the Istanbul meeting.  Masri, who comes from a prominent merchant family from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, amassed a fortune from partnering with influential Saudis in a major catering business to supply troops during the U.S.-led military operation to retake Kuwait from Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Reports of his detention surfaced on Thursday in the local media in Jordan where Masri s multi-billion dollar investments in hotels and banking are a cornerstone of the economy. He was elected chairman of Arab Bank in 2012 after the resignation of Abdel Hamid Shoman whose family had founded the bank in Jerusalem in 1930. The bank, which has earned a reputation of resilience in the face of political upheaval, played a prominent role in supporting former Palestinian leader, the late Yasser Arafat during past Middle East turmoil.  Arab Bank, which operates in 30 countries and five continents, has an extensive network in Palestinian territories where it is the largest bank. It also owns 40 percent of Saudi Arabia s Arab National Bank ANB. Masri led consortium of Arab and Jordanian investors who bought a 20 percent stake in Arab Bank Group from Lebanon s Hariri family business empire for $1.12 billion last February. He was also instrumental in agreeing in 2015 to settle litigation brought by hundreds of Americans who accused Arab Bank of providing financial services in the West Bank that facilitated militant attacks in Israel. They had sued Arab Bank under the U.S Anti-Terrorism Act, which permits U.S. citizens to pursue claims arising from international terrorism. Masri is also the leading investor in the Palestinian territories with a large stake in Paltel, a public shareholding company, which is the largest private sector firm in the West Bank.  Masri s family ranks among the wealthiest in the Palestinian territories, with majority holdings in real estate, hotels and telecommunications firms set up after a self-rule agreement with Israel in 1993.

Summary: फिलिस्तीनी अरबपति मसरी सऊदी अरब में हिरासत मेंः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is reviewing licenses for Boeing Co and Airbus to sell aircraft to Iran, department head Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday, telling lawmakers he would increase sanctions pressure on Iran, Syria and North Korea. “We will use everything within our power to put additional sanctions on Iran, Syria and North Korea to protect American lives,” Mnuchin said in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee. “I can assure you that’s a big focus of mine and I discuss it with the president.” Mnuchin did not elaborate on the review of the licenses, which were issued under a 2015 agreement between Tehran and world powers to lift sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear activities. His statements followed President Donald Trump’s Middle East trip, in which he called on Iran to stop funding “terrorists and militias.” The review suggests that Trump’s support for Boeing’s defense and jetliner businesses could have political limits. Iran has accused Washington of supporting terrorism by backing rebels in Syria and says halting the airplane deals would breach the 2015 nuclear agreement. Mnuchin told the Ways and Means hearing that sanctions “really work” and were responsible for bringing Iran to the negotiating table ahead of the nuclear deal.  For Boeing, losing the IranAir deal could affect 777 production, since 15 of the widebody jetliners are included in the first approved batch of Boeing aircraft due for delivery to IranAir by 2020. Deliveries start in May next year.  Boeing said in December it would cut 777 output by 40 percent this year under plans that include IranAir’s still-tenative order. IranAir has agreed to buy 200 U.S. and European passenger aircraft worth up to $37 billion at list prices, though such deals typically include big discounts.    They include 80 jets from Boeing, 100 from Airbus and 20 turboprops from Franco-Italian ATR. All the aircraft need U.S. licenses because of their reliance on U.S. parts. “Boeing continues to follow the lead of the U.S. government with regards to working with Iran’s airlines, and any and all contracts with Iran’s airlines are contingent upon U.S. government approval,” a spokeswoman said by email. An Airbus spokesman had no immediate comment. In its first business with the Islamic Republic since U.S. President Donald Trump took office vowing a tougher stance on Iran in January, Boeing last month announced a tentative deal to sell 30 jets to Iran Aseman Airlines, its third-largest carrier. Boeing said it would apply for licenses for the deal. People involved in the deals say the Treasury has so far issued licenses for the main contracts between Western suppliers  and IranAir, but that many need to be renewed beyond 2020. IranAir does not need further approvals to take delivery of the first 70 or so aircraft, they say, though legal experts have said the U.S. Treasury can withdraw licenses at any time. About a third of the Airbus jets, or some 37, also are due to arrive by 2020, including three already delivered. IranAir last week took delivery of four ATR turboprops and plans to take the remaining 16 next year.  Even with licenses in place, bankers say talks between Iran and Western banks to fund deliveries of the aircraft have been disrupted by concerns that sanctions could be reintroduced or that banks could be penalized for dealing with Iran.

Summary: ट्रेजरी प्रमुख ने ईरान के विमान लाइसेंसों की समीक्षा करने की बात कही