TOKYO (Reuters) - Ivanka Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump s daughter and informal adviser, told a summit in Tokyo on Friday that the world must boost women and minority participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Ivanka Trump, seen as an important influence on her father, has made women s issues one of her signature policy areas since beginning her role at the White House. Her comments came ahead of her father s trip to Asia - his first since taking office in January - that begins in Japan on Sunday.  Female and minority participation in STEM fields is moving in the wrong direction,  she said at the World Assembly for Women summit.  We must create equal participation in these traditionally male-dominated sectors of our economy.   She said her father s tax reforms - unveiled by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday - would benefit American families.  We are seeking to simplify the tax code, lower rates, expand the child tax credit, eliminate the marriage penalty, and put more money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans,  she told a meeting room in a Tokyo hotel that had a number of empty seats. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government was aiming to mobilize women in Japan s workforce and boost economic growth, launching policies such as improved childcare in his  Womenomics  program.  We ve put our full strength into creating an environment where it s easy for women to work,  Abe said in an opening address to the conference.  I really feel that Japan has come a long way,  he said.  Japan s gender gap remains wide despite such efforts, with little progress made since Abe vowed at the United Nations in 2013 to create  a society where women can shine . Japan ranked 114 out of 144 in the World Economic Forum s 2017 Global Gender Gap report - sandwiched between Guinea and Ethiopia and down 13 places since Abe took power. Abe appointed only two women to ministerial posts in a Cabinet reshuffle in August, down from three and five respectively in his previous two cabinets. Only 14 percent of Japan s lawmakers are women. Men also dominate decision-making in business in Japan. Only 3.7 percent of Japanese-listed company executives were women at the end of July, according to the Cabinet Office, barely changed from 3.4 percent a year earlier. (This version of the story corrects a typographical error in the summit title in paragraph 3)

Summary: इवांका ट्रंप ने कहा कि दुनिया को अत्याधुनिक उद्योगों में महिलाओं को बढ़ावा देना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday that the White House may have disproportionately punished Russia by ordering the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies. Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump will be asking questions of U.S. intelligence agencies after President Barack Obama imposed sanctions last week on two Russian intelligence agencies over what he said was their involvement in hacking political groups in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Obama also ordered Russia to vacate two U.S. facilities as part of the tough sanctions on Russia. “One of the questions that we have is why the magnitude of this? I mean you look at 35 people being expelled, two sites being closed down, the question is, is that response in proportion to the actions taken? Maybe it was; maybe it wasn’t but you have to think about that,” Spicer said. Trump is to have briefings with intelligence agencies this week after he returns to New York on Sunday. On Saturday, Trump expressed continued skepticism over whether Russia was responsible for computer hacks of Democratic Party officials.  “I think it’s unfair if we don’t know. It could be somebody else. I also know things that other people don’t know so we cannot be sure,” Trump said. He said he would disclose some information on the issue on Tuesday or Wednesday, without elaborating. It is unclear if, upon taking office on Jan. 20, he would seek to roll back Obama’s actions, which mark a post-Cold War low in U.S.-Russian ties. Spicer said that after China in 2015 seized records of U.S. government employees “no action publicly was taken. Nothing, nothing was taken when millions of people had their private information, including information on security clearances that was shared. Not one thing happened.” “So there is a question about whether there’s a political retribution here versus a diplomatic response,” he added. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organizations and operatives before the presidential election. Moscow denies this. U.S. intelligence officials say the Russian cyber attacks aimed to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on foreign cyber threats and has said that Russia must be made to pay the price for attacks “on our very fundamentals of democracy. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on the same ABC program that Congress would push for an even harsher reprisal against Russia and warned Trump against undoing Obama’s sanctions. “We think that more has to be done. We don’t think that frankly the steps that have been taken are enough of a deterrent,” said Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat. “And you’re going to see bipartisan support in Congress for stronger sanctions against Russia.” Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, said on “Fox News Sunday” that Obama’s sanctions were not enough. Russian President Vladimir Putin decided not to expel anyone in retaliation, saying he would consider the actions of Trump when deciding on further steps. Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin, said the Russian leader was “very smart” for holding back. Russian diplomats who were expelled by Obama left Washington on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Russia’s embassy.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगी का कहना है कि रूस पर अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध असमान हो सकते हैं


GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency on Wednesday welcomed a decision by Libya to open a transit center for unaccompanied children and other vulnerable refugees from among hundreds of thousands of migrants, and called on EU countries and others to accept them. Reports this month of white Libyan slave traders selling black African migrants at markets in Libya - a grim echo of the trans-Saharan slave trade in centuries past - have drawn worldwide horror and condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have been crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean to reach Europe through Libya in each of the past several years. Thousands die during crossing the desert and at sea. Many are now being held in camps in Libya in conditions rights groups describe as inhumane. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has flown 13,000 migrants from Libya back to their countries of origin this year under a voluntary repatriation program. But thousands of others who face war or persecution at home cannot be sent back safely. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been seeking to open a refugee transit center in Tripoli to resettle or evacuate as many as 5,000 of the most vulnerable out of Libya each year.  UNHCR...welcomes the decision by the Libyan authorities to set up a  transit and departure facility  in Tripoli for people in need of international protection,  the Geneva-based agency said in a statement on Wednesday. With support from the Italian government, the initiative will facilitate the transfer of thousands of vulnerable refugees to third countries, it said.  But we now need EU member states and others to step up with offers of resettlement places and other solutions, including family reunification slots,  said Roberto Mignone, UNHCR Representative to Libya. The goal is to speed up the process of securing places in third countries, particularly for unaccompanied and separated children and women at risk, it said. William Lacy Swing, head of the IOM, told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that it was working with partners  to try to empty the detention centers  in Libya of around 15,000 migrants. Nigeria s president said on Wednesday the government had started bringing stranded citizens home from Libya after the global outcry over reports that migrants there were being sold into slavery.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने शरणार्थी समाधान खोजने में मदद के लिए लीबिया के कदम का स्वागत किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Communist Party once shunned the rule of law, preferring to rely on what Chairman Mao Zedong called  rule of man    essentially using the authority of party leaders to govern. In recent years, though, as China s economy modernizes, the party has increasingly been turning to the law to exert central authority over the bureaucracy and keep citizens under control, according to legal experts and diplomats. And under President Xi Jinping, that trend has been accelerating, they say. Emblematic of that drive is a move to enshrine in law Xi s signature anti-graft campaign, which has ensnared nearly 1.4 million party members in the past five years. The move, announced last year, will be finalised at the Communist Party Congress that opens Wednesday.   Don t underestimate the importance of writing these things down,  says Jessica Batke, who covered China for the U.S. State Department and now writes on China s leadership for the Hoover Institution. Legal reforms are part of efforts by the Communist Party under Xi to grant more freedoms to ordinary people, while drawing red lines and creating harsher punishments for those who cross them, Batke said. Human rights groups often criticize China for only paying lip service to the rule of law and say the Communist Party systematically ignores due process when prosecuting activists and dissidents. Courts are being pushed by the Communist Party to be more accessible and fair in the hope that law becomes an effective tool to resolve disputes and stabilize society. But the reforms also help the leadership enforce central control by codifying previously informal restrictions, or campaigns like the anti-corruption drive, legal experts say.  What Xi is trying to do is centralize power in order to exert that power over China s unruly bureaucracy,  said Carl Minzer, a Chinese law expert at Fordham Law School in New York. Under Xi, the legislature has issued a flurry of new laws governing issues like internet controls, espionage and even how to sing the Chinese national anthem. New rules and laws are also being used to punish people who oppose the party, according to Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. The justice ministry has taken a tougher line on lawyers taking on rights cases. Last year it ordered law firms to  support Party activities,  which activists say raises the risks of taking on sensitive cases for lawyers. This month, Zhu Shengwu became the first lawyer to be stripped of his license for online posts critical of the Communist Party under the new measures. His posts had mocked the anti-corruption campaign and said the party was lawlessly administering justice.  Under Xi Jinping s rule of law reform, political and executive power has been legalized so as to erode the possibility of resistance,  said Fu Hualing, an expert on Chinese law at the University of Hong Kong. Xi s anti-corruption campaign will be overseen by a new National Supervision Commission, which will be given legal authority with a law still being drafted. The new body will take over from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and merge multiple anti-graft units into a single body, according to an announcement from the CCDI last year. It will also expand the graft campaign s purview to include employees at state-backed institutions. The CCDI, justice ministry and the National People s Congress, China s legislature, did not respond to requests for comment. The extent of the commission s power is closely tied to the fate of Wang Qishan, who has overseen the anti-graft campaign and is expected to stay in a leadership role despite being past the customary retirement age of 68, sources have told Reuters. Wang s exact position is likely to be made clear at the congress. One scenario would see him usher in the next phase of the graft fight as head of the super-ministry. Wang has said that the new commission should be granted detention powers by law, raising concerns among rights activists that practices like the informal detention of suspects for questioning could be validated. Rights groups consider the practice illegal and say that suspects are often tortured. Details about the commission are expected to be announced next year at an annual meeting of the National People s Congress, according to diplomats and legal experts.

Summary: चीन के शी कांग्रेस में कानूनी प्रभाव, भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी अभियान को संहिताबद्ध करने के लिए तैयार हैं


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rick Perry, who proposed eliminating the U.S. Energy Department during his unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the agency under President-elect Donald Trump, a transition official said on Sunday. Democratic U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia also are in the running for the job as Trump continues to fill key positions in his administration ahead of taking office on Jan. 20, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Perry served as governor of Texas, a leading oil-producing state, from 2000 when he succeeded President George W. Bush until 2015. In his two unsuccessful presidential runs, he touted his record of job creation in the second-most-populous state. Perry’s proposal to scrap the Energy Department caused what has become known as his “oops” moment during a November 2011 debate when he could not remember the departments he wanted to eliminate. “It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: commerce, education and the um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said. His debate adversaries tried to prod his memory, but Perry ultimately gave up, saying, “I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” It was the Energy Department, which is responsible for U.S. energy policy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Perry also ran for the 2016 presidential nomination against Trump but dropped out in September 2015 after gaining little traction. Perry initially was a fierce critic of Trump but later endorsed Trump and called him “the people’s choice.” In July 2015, Perry said: “Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.” If Perry gets the job, it would be further indication that the incoming Trump administration may be friendly toward the fossil fuel industry. Trump is set to pick U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a climate-change skeptic and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, to head the Interior Department. Trump’s pick for the Environmental Protection Agency is  Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, an ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to curb climate change who has sued the EPA to block in a bid to undo a key regulation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from coal-fired power plants. And Trump is expected to name Rex Tillerson, chief executive of oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp, as secretary of state.

Summary: रिक पेरी अमेरिकी ऊर्जा पद के लिए एक प्रमुख उम्मीदवारः स्रोत


QAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) - Syrians voted on Friday in an election organized by the Kurdish-led authorities of northern Syria, the start of a three-phase process to set up new governing institutions that aim to shore up regional autonomy.  Today comes as a historical day for us. The people are choosing their way of life, politics, economy,  said Renas Ahmed, 25, among several dozen people casting their vote for the local community representatives being elected.  Voters were picking leaders for some 3,700  communes  spread across three regions of the north where Kurdish groups have established autonomous rule since 2011, when the Syria s civil war erupted. Friday s election will be followed in November by elections to local councils and culminate in January with the election of an assembly that will act as a parliament for a federal system of government in northern Syria.      The election points to the ambitions of Kurdish groups and their allies that control close to a quarter of Syria. Their stated aim is to secure autonomy as part of a decentralized Syria, and insist they do not want to follow the example of the Kurds of northern Iraq who are due to vote in an independence referendum on Monday. But their autonomy plans are opposed by the Syrian government in Damascus, by neighboring Turkey, and by the United States even though it is fighting alongside the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against Islamic State (IS). The government, which is winning back territory from rebel and jihadist groups with help from Russia and Iran, has pledged to recover all of Syria. The YPG and Damascus have mostly stayed out of each other s way in the war. But tensions between Damascus and its allies on the one hand, and the YPG and its allies on the other are surfacing as they race to capture Deir al-Zor province in eastern Syria from IS.  This is the first time I vote,  said Mohamad Murad Khalil, a man in his late 50s who was one of tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds denied citizenship by the Syrian state.  I lived 60 years without nationality. We couldn t breathe, we were denied all civil rights. (But) it s not like before when they could oppress us,  he said.  We have strength, will, an army - everything, thanks to God, the YPG and the YPJ,  he said referring to the all-female militia affiliated to the YPG, whose flag was flying at the polling station. The political structures expected to emerge from the process are inspired by the ideas of Abdullah Ocalan, head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who is in jail in Turkey for leading a three-decade insurgency. Turkey views the political rise of Syria s Kurds as a threat to its national security. The dominant Syrian Kurdish political groups, centered around the PYD - the Democratic Union Party - say their system embraces all ethnic and religious groups in northern Syria. But the YPG has faced hostility from the Syrian Arab groups that have fought President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long war. They accuse it of working with Assad against them - something the YPG denies.  The YPG is fighting Islamic State as part of a U.S.-backed militia alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes fighters from Arab and other backgrounds. But the elections are not going ahead in all of the territory captured from IS by the SDF: the majority-Arab cities of Manbij and Tabqa near Raqqa are not part of the new political order, though they may have the option of joining it. Though the areas where the elections are taking place are predominantly Kurdish, Naser al-Jasim, 45, an Arab from Qamishli, said his village was taking part. He said he was casting a vote to improve local services and to show  that unlike what narrow-minded people think, there is no difference between a Kurd and an Arab .

Summary: सीरियाई लोग उत्तर के कुर्दों के नेतृत्व वाले क्षेत्रों में मतदान करते हैं


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed the need to improve ties between their countries and take mutual steps to that end during a phone call on Wednesday, Turkish presidential sources said. Aside from bilateral relations, the sources said, Erdogan also briefed Steinmeier about a summit on Syria s conflict held by Turkey, Russia and Iran in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Nov. 22.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन और जर्मनी के स्टाइनमायर ने संबंधों में सुधार पर चर्चा कीः तुर्की के सूत्र


SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There is no guarantee California will vote to legalize recreational marijuana in November, but political operative and father of four Daniel Conway has already staked his future on it. Conway left his job as chief of staff to Sacramento’s celebrity mayor, former Phoenix Suns NBA basketball star Kevin Johnson, to help start the marijuana investment company Truth Enterprises. He is one of hundreds in the most populous U.S. state already pushing ahead with plans to enter a market experts say will be worth $4 billion by 2020. “I’m someone of an age and of a demographic that sees the legalization and normalization of marijuana as inevitable,” said Conway, 35. “This was a chance not just to build companies but to build an industry.” With a population of nearly 40 million people, and a thriving medical marijuana trade legalized 20 years ago, California already has the United States’ largest legal marijuana market. Legalization of recreational pot would generate an estimated $1 billion in additional taxes per year. If voters in November approve a measure to legalize and tax marijuana that qualified last Tuesday for the ballot, California would be the fifth U.S. state - and by far the largest - to allow marijuana for recreational use, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia. A similar ballot initiative failed in California in 2010, but recent polls show strong support for legalization. The latest effort is backed by mainstream leaders including Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who helped negotiate the regulations and taxes it would impose. Eight other states, including Nevada and Maine, also have recreational or medical marijuana proposals headed for their 2016 ballots. California’s sheer size as the world’s 6th largest economy means a decision by its voters to legalize marijuana could accelerate the trend elsewhere. “I don’t believe there will be any precedent in the United States that can compare to it except for maybe the Gold Rush,” said Leslie Bocskor, whose Nevada-based private equity firm, Electrum Partners, advises and invests in marijuana-related businesses. The lure of wealth in an uncharted industry is so great that thousands of people are jostling for position, said Bocskor. Since January, 115 new California companies have joined the National Cannabis Industry Association, bringing total membership in the state to 330, said Deputy Director Taylor West. New companies include cultivators, dispensaries, laboratories, law partnerships, accountants, software developers, insurers and more, she said. Their challenge is to set up an infrastructure for a business that is not yet legal. Conway and his business partner, General Hydroponics CEO Ross Haley, for example, recently purchased farmland in Northern California that they hope to use to grow marijuana but would not say where before the measure is passed. Newport Beach-based Terra Tech is trying to prepare for recreational sales while building a legal business within the state’s medical marijuana marketplace, which has annual sales of $2.7 billion. The company spent more than $800,000 designing and remodeling its Oakland dispensary to look more like a high-end lounge than a drab medical clinic, said CEO Derek Peterson. It also developed colorful packaging for its marijuana instead of dispensing it in prescription bottles. Despite such optimism, passage of the California measure is not certain. It is opposed by many of the same law enforcement and health care groups who helped defeat the 2010 initiative. But this time backers have the deep pockets of former Facebook president Sean Parker, support from Newsom - a Democrat expected to run for governor in 2018 - and a switch in attitude among voters who saw legalization come on line in other states. The measure would allow adults age 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, cultivate up to six plants and sets rules for commercial cultivation, manufacture and sale. It includes rules aimed at keeping cannabis products from children, preventing impaired driving and requiring licenses for sellers. Newsom said he is backing it as a way to responsibly manage legalization, which he views as inevitable but necessary to handle carefully. “As a guy with four kids, who doesn’t like the drug, doesn’t like the smell, doesn’t want my kids to think it’s normalized, this is my number one concern,” Newsom said.

Summary: कैलिफॉर्निया के लोग मारिजुआना को वैध बनाने के लिए सोने के बर्तन की मांग करते हैं


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financially troubled Puerto Rico’s push for a debt restructuring program could get a lift from the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who was viewed as likely to oppose granting such relief in an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case. The highest U.S. federal court in December agreed to hear Puerto Rico’s bid to reinstate a 2014 law called the Recovery Act after it was struck down by a lower court.  The government of the U.S. territory, which has around $70 billion in borrowings, hoped the act would help it to restructure its debt and pull it out of a fiscal crisis. It would give the Caribbean island more power to impose conditions on creditors in a debt restructuring, which could worsen creditor recoveries, bondholders had argued.  “Scalia has been a fairly aggressive defender of contractual rights over the years,” said Height Securities analyst Daniel Hanson, who estimated the chances of a Puerto Rico victory have risen to around 30 percent from five percent after Scalia’s death. Scalia, who served on the Supreme Court for nearly 30 years, died at a ranch in Texas last Saturday, setting up a major political showdown between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over who will replace him on the nine-member court. A Supreme Court victory could help strengthen the arguments of island officials and a number of Democrats in their campaign to give Puerto Rico bankruptcy protection rights, which U.S. states already receive. That effort has been stunted by lack of Republican support. The Recovery Act was designed to apply to some of Puerto Rico’s public corporations, such as utility PREPA, but excluded debt issued by the island and its Government Development Bank.  PREPA bondholders Oppenheimer Funds and Franklin Templeton sued Puerto Rico, claiming the act would enable Puerto Rico to modify debt obligations. A U.S. federal court in Puerto Rico a year ago voided the Recovery Act saying it contravened federal bankruptcy law, and a U.S. appeals court affirmed that last July.  The Puerto Rican government and its lawyers, as well as a representative for the bondholder plaintiffs, did not respond to requests for comment or declined comment. Scalia’s death means that only seven justices are likely to vote on the Puerto Rico case as Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative, who had investments in funds with Puerto Rico bonds, last year recused himself.  If there had been a tied 4-4 vote it would have automatically upheld the lower court’s decision. Alito could still participate if he divests investments before the oral argument.  Of the remainder of the justices, four are viewed as liberals and three as conservatives. The latter are seen by some restructuring experts as more likely to support creditors on the basis of contractual business rights.  “The four liberal justices are the justices most likely to be sympathetic to Puerto Rico’s arguments,” said David Skeel, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania law school, who said Scalia’s death creates the possibility that the liberal block will prevail by a 4-3 vote. Skeel wrote a brief supporting Puerto Rico’s position in the case.    Still, the restructuring experts said that it may be too simple to suggest that Scalia would have voted against Puerto Rico as the case involves complex legal questions. Richard Levin, Co-head of Jenner & Block’s Restructuring and Bankruptcy Department, said the court tries very hard to apply the law, rather than allow political leanings to dominate its decisions. Carlos Del Valle Cruz, counsel for Eduardo Bhatia, president of Puerto Rico’s Senate, also said that Scalia’s absence may favor Puerto Rico.  A complicating factor is a separate case which was just argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. That concerns the indictment of two men by Puerto Rico prosecutors on gun charges, and their subsequent indictment by a federal grand jury. Both pleaded guilty to the federal charges and were sentenced to prison but the case in Puerto Rico continued.  The U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has argued that the Puerto Rico prosecution violated double jeopardy laws that ban trying a defendant twice for the same crime in the same jurisdiction, while Puerto Rico’s government countered that its rights to self-governance were threatened. Nicholos Venditti, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said rulings in both cases could “have significant implications for Puerto Rico and the U.S. that reach far beyond the $70 billion in debt.”  John Miller, co-head of fixed income for Nuveen Asset Management, which holds around $300 million in par value of insured Puerto Rican paper, said the concern with the Recovery Act being reinstated would be the potential for it to be expanded to other issuers beyond the public agencies it was originally designed for.    Oral arguments in the Supreme Court case are scheduled to be held March 22.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको के पास स्कैलिया की मृत्यु के बाद सुप्रीम कोर्ट की जीत की बेहतर संभावना हो सकती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s commission to investigate possible election fraud will convene this month, a government notice said on Friday, as more U.S. states have refused to hand over at least some voter data. Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May, after claiming without evidence that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election. U.S. civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have called the panel a voter suppression tactic by Trump, a Republican who won the presidential election by securing a majority in the Electoral College tally of delegates even as he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a watchdog group, has filed a lawsuit to block the commission’s data request until its privacy impact can be weighed. A hearing in the case was scheduled for Friday afternoon. There is a wide consensus among state officials from both parties and election experts that voter fraud is rare. States rejecting the commission’s attempts to gather voter information have called it unnecessary and a violation of privacy. Most U.S. states have rejected full compliance with the commission’s requests. Republican Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chairman, said in a statement sent by the White House that 14 states and Washington, D.C., had rejected the request outright.   The commission will meet on July 19 to swear in members, formulate objectives and discuss next steps after asking the 50 states to turn over potentially sensitive voter information, according to a General Services Administration (GSA) notice published in the Federal Register. A June 28 letter from the election panel sought names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories. Matthew Dunlap, Maine’s Democratic secretary of state and a commission member, on Friday dismissed Trump’s claim that millions of voters illegally cast ballots. “We just don’t see that,” he told CNN. “People are incredibly law abiding.” Although Maine is one state that has pushed back at the commission’s request, Dunlap said he hopes the panel can tackle voting issues including ballot access and hacking. A Republican commission member, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, defended the panel, telling CNN on Thursday that fraud with even “one vote per precinct ... can change the course of history.” A court filing in the Electronic Privacy Information Center case also showed the panel plans to house data on White House computers rather than at the GSA. The Washington Post, which earlier reported the filing, noted GSA would be required to follow specific privacy requirements. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow tried to tilt the election in Trump’s favor. Moscow has dismissed the accusations. Trump has denied any collusion and has questioned the agencies’ conclusion as well as any Russian role.

Summary: अमेरिकी राज्यों के इनकार के रूप में ट्रम्प के मतदाता धोखाधड़ी पैनल की बैठक होगी


MADRID (Reuters) - The people of Catalonia cannot accept the  illegal  measures taken by the Spanish government to rule the region directly from Madrid, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Saturday, as he called on the regional parliament to act against them. Puigdemont said the decision by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to fire the regional government and force a new election, which will be effective next Friday, was  the worst attack against the institutions and the people of Catalonia since the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco.   I ask the parliament to meet in a plenary session during which we, the representatives of the citizens  sovereignty, will be able to decide over this attempt to liquidate our government and our democracy and act in consequence,  Puigdemont said in a televised speech.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया मैड्रिड से 'अवैध' नियंत्रण को स्वीकार नहीं कर सकताः क्षेत्रीय नेता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia, is expanding his probe to assume control of a grand jury investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, three sources told Reuters. The move means Mueller’s politically charged inquiry will now look into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the Nov. 8 presidential election.      Federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating a deal between Flynn and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin as part of a grand jury criminal probe, according to a subpoena seen by Reuters.  Alptekin’s company, Netherlands-based Inovo BV, paid Flynn’s consultancy $530,000 between September and November to produce a documentary and research on Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric living in the United States. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed coup last July.  Alptekin, an ally of Erdogan, told Reuters he hired Flynn to provide research on how Gulen is “poisoning the atmosphere” between Turkey and the United States. Gulen has denied any role in the coup and dismisses Turkey’s allegations that he heads a terrorist organization. The grand jury in Virginia has issued subpoenas to some of Flynn’s business associates involved in the work for Inovo, two people familiar with the probe say. The subpoena seen by Reuters seeks bank records, documents and communications related to Flynn, his company, Flynn Intel Group, Alptekin and Inovo. Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to questions about Flynn’s work for Inovo or Mueller’s investigation. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. Alptekin declined to comment when asked about the investigation into Flynn and whether he or anyone he knows has been subpoenaed.  Mueller’s move to take over the Virginia grand jury’s criminal investigation highlights his broad powers as special counsel. Reuters could not determine when the grand jury was first convened, but its existence has been previously reported. Until now the investigation has been led by Brandon van Grack, an espionage prosecutor in the Justice Department, and federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia. It is not clear whether Van Grack and others who have been working on the case will continue to do so. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, on May 17 to oversee an investigation into any links or collusion between Russia and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. Rosenstein also gave him authority to pursue “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” Some members of Congress have asked the Justice Department to define the scope of Mueller’s inquiry. Mueller’s appointment followed an uproar over Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, who had been investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November’s election in favor of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, who has said there was no coordination between his campaign and Russia, has decried the investigation as a “witch hunt.” One of Trump’s most trusted aides during the election campaign, Flynn had a long career in the military. He set up the Flynn Intel Group, an Alexandria, Virginia-based intelligence consultancy, after President Barack Obama dismissed him as head of the military’s Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. Mueller, who takes over leadership of an FBI investigation that began last July, can present evidence to grand juries and hear testimony from witnesses. Trump fired Flynn in February after it became clear that he had falsely characterized the nature of phone conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December, just after the Obama administration imposed new sanctions on Russia for what U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded was a Kremlin-led effort through computer hacking, fake news and propaganda to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House.  Flynn’s work for Inovo came under scrutiny after he published a commentary on a political news website on Election Day calling Gulen a “radical Islamist” who should be extradited to Turkey. Along with the editorial, the Flynn Intel Group also produced a 75-page report on Gulen based mainly on news reports and some video footage for a documentary that was never made, according to three people familiar with the project. Alptekin, who is chairman of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council, told Reuters he was satisfied with Flynn’s research because it had helped him understand how Gulen’s network operates in the United States. He said the $530,000 payment to Flynn’s firm came “mostly” from his personal funds. The rest came from Inovo’s corporate revenues, Alptekin said.     On Nov. 18, the day after Flynn was appointed Trump’s national security adviser, Trump transition team lawyer William McGinley raised concerns on a call with the Flynn Intel Group and others involved in the Inovo project over who had paid for  Flynn’s commentary, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation. Flynn did not participate in that call, they said.     At the time of the call, Flynn had not disclosed that his work for Alptekin meant he was being paid to represent Turkish interests during the election campaign. Flynn Intel Group had said in a September 2016 filing that it was lobbying for Inovo but did not disclose its Turkish links. In March, Flynn retroactively registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. In a letter accompanying the March filing, Flynn’s lawyer, Kelner, said the disclosure was being made because Flynn’s work for Inovo “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey,” which he noted was seeking to extradite Gulen.     The House of Representatives intelligence committee, which is also investigating  Russian interference in the election, subpoenaed records from Flynn on Wednesday. The Senate’s intelligence committee, which has a separate probe under way, has also served subpoenas on Flynn and two of his businesses, and earlier this week Flynn indicated that he would start turning over relevant materials.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः विशेष वकील म्यूलर ट्रम्प के पूर्व सहयोगी फ्लिन के तुर्की संबंधों की जांच करेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian military jet crashed while taking off from Russia s Hmeymim air base in Syria on Tuesday in an incident that killed its two-man crew, Russia s Defense Ministry said, Russian news agencies reported. The Sukhoi-24 attack aircraft, codenamed Fencer by the NATO military alliance, was heading out on a combat mission, but its crew failed to eject after the plane veered off the runway, the ministry was cited as saying. A technical fault may have been to blame, the ministry said.  Russia has used the Hmeymim base in Latakia Province to launch air strikes against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad since it first intervened in the Syrian conflict in September 2015. Russia lost two other planes - a Sukhoi-33 and a MiG-29 - off the coast of Syria last year in accidents involving its sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.

Summary: सीरिया में उड़ान भरते समय रूसी सैन्य विमान दुर्घटनाग्रस्त, चालक दल के सदस्यों की मौत


WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed Republican rival Donald Trump on Thursday for talking about things he learned in classified intelligence briefings and for praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin as a better leader than President Barack Obama. Speaking to reporters the day after a New York security forum featuring separate appearances by the two candidates, Clinton also criticized the businessman for saying U.S. generals had been “reduced to rubble” by Obama’s policies. At the televised forum on Wednesday night, Trump said he was “shocked” by information he got during the briefing. “What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow what our experts ... said to do,” Trump said. Clinton, who was secretary of state during Obama’s first term, said Trump’s comments on the briefing were “totally inappropriate and undisciplined.” “I would never comment on any aspect of an intelligence briefing I received,” Clinton said before boarding her campaign plane. As nominees for the Nov. 8 presidential election, she and Trump are entitled to receive intelligence briefings. Clinton said Trump’s praise of Putin as a better leader than Obama was “not just unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country, as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary.” “It suggests he will let Putin do whatever Putin wants to do and then make excuses for him,” Clinton said. Trump fired back at Clinton, saying her comments were an effort to make up for a poor performance during the security forum. “Hillary Clinton is always complaining about what’s wrong,” he said during a campaign stop in Cleveland, where he visited a charter school and proposed federal spending on “school choice” programs.  “I just watched her on the tarmac. She tried to make up for her horrible performance last night,” Trump said. The intensifying political combat came as Clinton’s lead in opinion polls has slipped in recent days. The current average of polls by website RealClearPolitics puts her at 45.6 percent support, compared with Trump’s 42.8 percent. Obama also hit back at Trump for criticizing his foreign policy record, saying the Republican nominee was unfit to follow him into the Oval Office and the public should press Trump on his “outright wacky ideas.” The televised “Commander-in-Chief” forum on Wednesday, attended by military veterans, was the first time Trump and Clinton had squared off on the same stage since accepting their parties’ White House nominations in July, although they did not appear at the same time. The forum offered a prelude to how Clinton and Trump will deal with questions of national security in their three upcoming presidential debates later in September and in October. Clinton has said her experience in government as secretary of state and a U.S. senator makes her uniquely qualified for the White House, and that Trump’s series of controversial comments make him temperamentally unfit for the office. Some of Trump’s foreign policy positions, such as his proposal to fight terrorism by imposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, have alarmed not just Democrats but many in his own party’s leadership.  Trump, who has never held elected office, has criticized Clinton’s judgment for backing the 2003 Iraq war and her support for the U.S. intervention in Libya in 2011. The Republican candidate was widely criticized recently when he called her a “co-founder,” along with Obama, of the Islamic State militant group. Clinton, who voted in favor of the 2003 Iraq war as a senator but has since said she regrets doing so, said she would convene a meeting of bipartisan security experts on Friday to discuss the fight against Islamic State. “What you didn’t hear from Donald Trump last night was any plan to take on ISIS,” Clinton told reporters, using an acronym for the group. “That’s not only dangerous, it should be disqualifying.” Trump and Clinton supporters went on the offensive on social media Wednesday night and Thursday morning, defending their candidates’ performances during the forum. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway spoke with Trump supporters in Congress on Thursday morning, and Trump spoke with the group by phone to thank them for their support. Some supporters shrugged off his comments about Putin. “I think he is being very smart in how he addresses Putin and you know, maybe he’s playing with Putin’s ego,” said Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Mike Pence, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, told CNN it was “inarguable” that Putin had been a stronger leader of Russia than Obama had been in the United states. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top elected Republican official, who has frequently broken with Trump, took a sharply different view. “Putin is an aggressor that does not share our interests. Vladimir Putin is violating the sovereignty of neighboring countries,” Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference.     Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told reporters at the Cleveland rally that Trump was not endorsing Putin with his praise. “He doesn’t agree with his style of government. He wasn’t saying that,” he said. Clinton said Republicans holding or seeking office across the country should be pressed on whether they agree with Trump’s comments, including his views on Putin and U.S. generals that surfaced during the forum. “Republicans are just in a terrible dilemma trying to support a totally unqualified nominee, I have no sympathy for them, it’s their nominee,” she said.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने सुरक्षा ब्रीफिंग, पुतिन पर टिप्पणी के लिए ट्रम्प की आलोचना की


(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump does not plan to invoke executive privilege as a way to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying to Congress next week, the New York Times said on Friday citing two unnamed senior administration officials. On Saturday, a White House spokesperson referred a question about the Times’ story to outside council. Outside council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Comey was leading a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign when the president fired him last month. On Friday, White House officials said that they did not know yet whether President Donald Trump would seek to block Comey’s testimony, a move that could spark a political backlash. “I have not spoken to counsel yet. I don’t know how they’re going to respond,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Friday. The former FBI chief is due to testify on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its own Russia-related investigation, and his remarks could cause problems for the Republican president. Presidents can assert executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information. However, legal experts say it is not clear whether certain conversations between Trump and Comey that the president has talked about publicly would be covered, and any effort to block Comey, who is now a private citizen, from testifying could be challenged in court.

Summary: ट्रम्प कोमी की गवाही के लिए कार्यकारी विशेषाधिकार का उपयोग करने की योजना नहीं बना रहे हैंः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Trump administration is pushing security ties between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, but the revival of the Asian  Quad  must overcome lingering mistrust in New Delhi towards its allies that hampers genuine military cooperation. Joint naval drills have been at the heart of a relationship that analysts widely see as a move to counterbalance China s rising power by binding the region s leading democracies more closely together. But while the navies of the United States, Japan and Australia can easily operate together - based on common U.S.-designed combat systems and data links - India is the outlier.  Not only are most of its ships and warplanes Russian-made, its government and military remain deeply reluctant to share data and open up sensitive military communications systems. The United States has carried out more naval exercises with India than any other nation. But naval sources and experts say these are more about  cultural familiarization  than drills for joint combat. Because India will not sign an agreement on sharing data, naval exercises are conducted through voice and text commands with rudimentary SMS-style data exchange, Indian and Japanese military sources said.  Think of it as directing your friend to your house in the 1980s. Your left may be his right, neither of you have situational awareness,  said Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, a senior fellow at New Delhi s Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies who has tracked the military exercises.  What the Americans want is 2017 - drop a pin on Google maps and hit share. You know where your friend is and he knows where your house is and how to get to it.  The Indian defense ministry did not respond to a request for a comment. The so-called Quad to discuss and cooperate on security emerged briefly as an initiative a decade ago - much to the annoyance of China - and was revived recently, with an officials-level meeting this month on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Manila. The Trump administration has talked up cooperation with India as part of efforts for a  free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific . Describing the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a  single strategic arena , U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described India and the United States as regional  bookends .  In concrete terms, it will lead to great co-ordination between the Indian, Japanese and American militaries including maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious warfare, and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and search and rescue,  he said.  To be sure, India and the United States have steadily been bringing more powerful ships into their annual  Malabar  drills that have been expanded to include Japan in recent years.  This year the USS Nimitz carrier group was deployed for the maneuvers off India s eastern coast, along with an aircraft carrier from India and a helicopter carrier from Japan. But a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces official said when Japan conducts drills with the Indian navy, communication is done mostly through voice transmission. There is no satellite link that would allow the two navies to access information and share monitor displays in on-board command centers. Communication is usually the most difficult aspect of any joint drill, he said. The exercises are meant to lay the ground for joint patrols that the U.S. eventually wants to conduct with India and its allies across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.  U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said better interoperability was a goal of the exercises and noted that India s enhanced role as a major U.S. defense partner would help boost the relationship.   The designation of India as a major defense partner is significant and is intended to elevate defense trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of our closest allies and partners,  he said.  As this relationship matures so will the level of interoperability.  Last year, India signed a military logistics pact with the United States after a decade of wrangling, but two other agreements are stuck.  The United States says the Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) would allow it to supply India with encrypted communications equipment and systems. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement is the other pact that would set a framework through which the United States could share sensitive data to aid targeting and navigation with India. India is concerned that agreeing to the CISMOA would open up its military communications to the United States, and even allow it to listen in on operations where Indian and U.S. interests may not coincide - such as against arch-rival Pakistan, military officials in New Delhi say. Captain Gurpreet Khurana, executive director at the government-funded National Maritime Foundation, said India s underlying concern was having its autonomy constrained by binding its military into U.S. codes and operating procedures. Once, the Americans proposed a portable  suitcase  communications system called the CENTRIXS which could transmit full situational awareness data to Indian ships while the two navies practised together. India refused to allow it to be plugged in for the duration of the exercise, citing operational security, according to an Indian source briefed on the planning of the exercises.  Even the joint air exercises that the two countries are conducting as a follow-on to Malabar are severely restricted, the source said. India sends its Russian-acquired Sukhoi jets to the drills, but their radars and jammers are turned off.  David Shear, who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia under President Barack Obama, said U.S. forces, particularly the Navy, were well aware of the interoperability constraints to interacting with India.  They understand what the obstacles are and that this is going to be a long-term project,  he said.

Summary: भारतीय नौसेना एशिया के 'क्वाड' गठबंधन से बाहर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats rejected President Donald Trump’s requests on Sunday that renewed protection for “Dreamers” - people brought illegally to the United States as children - include funding for a border wall and money for thousands more immigration officers.  “We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable. This proposal fails to represent any attempt at compromise,” the two top congressional Democrats - Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi - said in a joint statement. “The list includes the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the negotiations,” they added.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स ने 'ड्रीमर्स' की मदद के लिए सीमा दीवार के वित्तपोषण के लिए ट्रम्प के अनुरोध को खारिज कर दिया


MADRID (Reuters) - Eight former Catalan cabinet members currently in custody awaiting trial will appear before the Supreme Court on Friday, after requesting their release ahead of a regional election Dec. 21 in the wake of a disputed independence referendum. Sacked regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras, one of his ERC party s main candidates for the election, has asked to be allowed to leave jail in order to campaign in the vote which was called by Madrid. Junqueras and seven other former members of the Catalonia regional cabinet were jailed on Nov. 2 pending trial on charges of sedition, rebellion and misappropriation of funds after the Catalan government declared independence from Spain. The Oct. 1 referendum, declared unconstitutional by Spain, and the subsequent proclamation of independence by the wealthy northeastern region pushed Spain into its worst political crisis in decades and led Madrid to impose direct rule on Barcelona. The eight jailed cabinet members, whose original hearing was at the Spanish High Court, had their case moved to the Supreme Court after the presiding judge argued the different Catalan cases should be tried in the same court.   Earlier November, the Supreme Court released Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell on bail of 150,000 euros after she agreed to renounce any political activity that went against the Spanish constitution. All the eight former cabinet members have said they would abide by a ruling giving Madrid control over the region, according to their lawyers, although some of them said they did not agree with this unprecedented move stripping power from the rebel administration. Campaigning for the Dec. 21 election, seen by pro-independence parties as a de facto plebiscite on secession from Spain, starts on Monday at midnight.   The former leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, in self-imposed exile in Belgium and subject to an arrest warrant from Spain for rebellion and misuse of public funds, has called the elections the most important in the region s history. Barely a quarter of Catalans want to continue with the project of creating an independent state, a recent survey by pollsters Metroscopia showed. However, polls show the vote split evenly between parties seeking independence from Spain and those wanting to remain part of a united country. The leaders of Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart - who were imprisoned last month - also testify before the Supreme Court over their role in the independence drive.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया के पूर्व कैबिनेट सदस्य सुप्रीम कोर्ट में पेश होंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New names for possible appointees to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet have emerged, including 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney as secretary of state, as he works to fill administration positions ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20. A senior Trump official said the job of national security adviser has been offered to retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Trump announced on Sunday he would hire Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff and named Stephen Bannon, former head of the conservative website Breitbart News, as his chief strategist and senior counselor. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles. * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman * Jeb Hensarling, U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee * Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer * Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc * Mitt Romney, 2012 presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor  * Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City * Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina * Jeff Sessions, U.S. senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee  * John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush * Bob Corker, U.S. senator from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee * Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq * Jeff Sessions, U.S. senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee * Tom Cotton, U.S. senator from Arkansas       * Jon Kyl, former U.S. senator from Arizona * Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California and early Trump supporter, member of the House Armed Services Committee * Jim Talent, former U.S. senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee  * Kelly Ayotte, outgoing U.S. senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee * Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City * Ted Cruz, U.S. senator from Texas * Jeff Sessions, senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who takes a hard line on immigration * Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state, architect of anti-immigration efforts who says he is advising Trump on immigration issues * Pam Bondi, Florida attorney general  * Trey Gowdy, U.S. representative from South Carolina who headed the House committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya * Henry McMaster, lieutenant governor of South Carolina * Tom Price, U.S. representative from Georgia who is an orthopedic surgeon * Rick Scott, Florida governor  * Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie * Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor * Michael McCaul, U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee * David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter  * Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump  * Jeff Holmstead, energy lawyer, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Mike Catanzaro, energy lobbyist, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas attorney general * Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Kevin Cramer, U.S. Representative from North Dakota * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp * James Connaughton, chief executive of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee * Jan Brewer, former Arizona governor * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors * Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, chairman of Invesco Ltd subsidiary WL Ross & Co * Linda McMahon, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive and two-time Senate candidate * Ronald Burgess, retired lieutenant general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief  * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. representative from Michigan * Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. representative from Michigan * Michael Flynn, retired lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was offered the job, according to a senior Trump official. * Kelly Ayotte, outgoing U.S. senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee * Richard Grenell, former spokesman for the United States at the United Nations  * Peter King, U.S. representative from New York * Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp The Trump transition team confirmed he would choose from the list of 21 names he drew up during his campaign, including U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, and William Pryor, a federal judge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  * Victoria Lipnic, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner and former Labor Department official during the George W. Bush administration. * Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रशासन में प्रमुख पदों के लिए दावेदार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he raised $13 million in 24 hours from online donations.  Trump, who has struggled to convince traditional Republican donors to back his campaign, has turned to online donations from supporters to fund his campaign for the Nov. 8 election. In August, Trump raised $90 million, trailing Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, who raised $143 million in the same month.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने ट्वीट किया कि उन्होंने ऑनलाइन दान में 24 घंटों में 13 लाख डॉलर जुटाए


MANILA (Reuters) - A tropical storm in the southern Philippines triggered mudslides and flash floods that killed more than 100 people, while dozens are missing, police and disaster officials said on Saturday. The casualties, most of them caused late on Friday, were all on the main southern island of Mindanao, they said, adding three provinces were hardest hit. Disaster officials said many residents had ignored warnings to leave coastal areas and riverbanks.  Many people were swept to the sea as flood waters quickly rose due to the high tide,  Manuel Luis Ochotorena, a disaster agency official, said.  They never heeded the warnings. They thought it was a weak storm but it dumped more rains.   Hundreds of kilometers to the east, army and emergency workers were checking reports an entire village was buried by mudslide in Tubod town in Lanao del Norte. Ryan Cabus, a local official, said power and communication lines to the area had been cut, complicating rescue efforts. The weather bureau said the storm had gathered strength over the Sulu Sea and was packing winds of up 80 kph (50 mph) and moving west at 20 kph.  It was heading out over the sea by midday on Saturday and would have moved clear of the Philippines by Monday, it said. Emergency workers, soldiers, police and volunteers were being mobilized to search for survivors, clear debris, and restore power and communications. More than 100 deaths were reported in various places  including 60 in Tubod, El Salvador and Munai towns in Lanao del Norte province. In Zamboanga del Norte province, police said 42 people had been killed in the towns of Sibuco and Salug. Three people were killed in Bukidnon province, while politicians in Lanao del Sur province said 18 people had drowned in flash floods there. Sixty-four people were reported missing in floods and landslides, according to a tally of reports form officials and police. The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons every year, bringing death and destruction, usually to the poorest communities.  Last week, 46 people were killed in the central Philippines when a typhoon hit. In 2013, super typhoon Haiyan killed nearly 8,000 people and left 200,000 families homeless.

Summary: फिलीपींस में भूस्खलन, बाढ़ में 100 से अधिक लोगों की मौतः अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British primatologist Jane Goodall sent a letter to every U.S. senator on Tuesday urging them to oppose a push in the U.S. Congress to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region environmentalists say is one of the world’s last paradises. The Republican-led Senate is trying to open up the 1002 region on the coastal plain of the ANWR, a region inhabited by Gwich’in natives, caribou herds, polar bears and millions of birds that migrate to six of the world’s seven continents. “If we violate the Arctic Refuge by extracting the oil beneath the land, this will have devastating impact for the Gwich’in people for they depend on the caribou herds to sustain their traditional way of life,” Goodall said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The ANWR’s “very wildness speaks to our deeply rooted spiritual connection to nature, a necessary element of human psyche,” wrote Goodall, best known for her study of chimpanzees in Tanzania. Last week, a group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked senators to not open the ANWR, saying that drilling would be “incompatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established.” The Senate energy committee on Wednesday will consider a bill spurred by Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska and the head of the panel, to hold at least two lease sales in the ANWR over the next 10 years.  Some Native Alaskans support drilling believing it will provide jobs. Matthew Rexford, a member of the Iñupiat tribe and the tribal administrator of the village of Kaktovik, has said he believes technological advances mean drilling can be performed with little impact to the land.   The administration of President Donald Trump is pursuing a policy to make the country “energy dominant” by maximizing oil, gas and coal production. Republicans say the 1002 portion of the ANWR is a “non wilderness area” because the government put it aside decades ago for drilling. Republicans have attached the ANWR measure to budget legislation, which needs only 50 votes to pass the Senate, but faces hurdles with many provisions being added to it.     Democrats are fighting the ANWR bill saying that Republicans are trying to sneak it through the budget process, and that it would not survive as stand-alone legislation that would need 60 votes to pass. Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the energy committee, told Reuters she was urging her fellow lawmakers to listen to scientists. “Does it take the voice of Jane Goodall to beg Senators to stop hurting indigenous people and animals?” asked Cantwell.”  “She’s calling on them to set a conservation example instead of creating the next tragedy.”

Summary: जेन गुडाल ने अमेरिकी सीनेट से आर्कटिक शरण तेल की खोज रोकने का आग्रह किया


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Hurricane Irma is of epic proportion, perhaps bigger than we have ever seen. Be safe and get out of its way,if possible. Federal G is ready! [0834 EDT] - Our incredible U.S. Coast Guard saved more than 15,000 lives last week with Harvey. Irma could be even tougher. We love our Coast Guard! [0837 EDT] - Republicans, sorry, but I’ve been hearing about Repeal & Replace for 7 years, didn’t happen! Even worse, the Senate Filibuster Rule will.... [0841 EDT] - ...never allow the Republicans to pass even great legislation. 8 Dems control - will rarely get 60 (vs. 51) votes. It is a Repub Death Wish! [0846 EDT] - Republicans must start the Tax Reform/Tax Cut legislation ASAP. Don’t wait until the end of September. Needed now more than ever. Hurry! [0857 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (8 सितंबर)-तूफान इरमा, फिलिबस्टर नियम


(Reuters) - Nine U.S. senators from states that have oil refineries sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Thursday urging changes to the country’s biofuels policy and asking for a meeting to discuss the issue. The letter reflects growing tensions between refiners that oppose the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard - a law requiring them to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into the nation’s fuel each year - and the Midwest corn lobby that supports it. The Trump administration bowed to rising pressure from Midwest lawmakers last week, assuring them in letters and phone calls that it would ditch proposals, supported by the refining industry, to overhaul the biofuels policy. The senators said that decision could cost jobs. “If your administration does not make adjustments or reforms on matters related to the Renewable Fuel Standard, it will result in a loss of jobs around the country, particularly in our states,” according to the letter, which was signed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and six others. In the letter, the senators asked Trump for a meeting within the next three weeks that would include them, a number of Midwest lawmakers and relevant administration officials “to discuss a pathway forward toward a mutually agreeable solution.” A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting request. The Renewable Fuel Standard was implemented by former President George W. Bush in 2005 as a way to support farmers, reduce imports and combat climate change. The oil industry has opposed the regulation, mainly because the increasing biofuels volume mandates cut into their petroleum-based fuel market share.  A number of independent refiners, like Valero Energy Corp, CVR Energy and PBF Energy are also vocally opposed to the regulation’s requirement that refiners blend the biofuels or purchase credits from rivals that do - which they say costs them hundreds of millions of dollars each year. CVR’s majority owner, billionaire Carl Icahn, served for months as a top adviser to Donald Trump on regulation and during that time pushed to shift the responsibility for blending away from refiners to supply terminals or distributors. He resigned from his post this summer over concerns about his dual role as an investor and adviser.  The Environmental Protection Agency said last week that it did not believe shifting the blending requirement off refiners was appropriate. The EPA also jettisoned a proposal to cut biofuels volumes mandates, and another to count ethanol exports against those mandates.

Summary: रिफाइनरी राज्यों के सीनेटरों ने जैव ईंधन पर ट्रम्प की बैठक का अनुरोध किया


FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - The trade union powerhouse that won the 35-hour work week for Germans more than two decades ago is mobilizing for a new campaign to reduce working hours at annual wage negotiations about to kick off nationwide. IG Metall, Germany s biggest union with 2.3 million workers mainly in the car and manufacturing industries, says shorter hours will help shift workers and those who need to care for children or elderly relatives, with wide implications for how German society evolves in the 21st century. If the union s gambit is successful, economists counting on strong wage rises will be watching to see if there are deflationary effects as domestic consumption overtakes exports as the driver of the euro zone s biggest economy. The union begins internal discussions at the local level on Thursday, just as campaigning in Germany s parliamentary election enters its final phase, with issues of work and family high on the agenda.  The timing could have been made to order for a wage round in which our issues will have great support from society,  IG Metall President Joerg Hofmann told a union conference in late June, as he launched the initiative.  The value of time and the value of money will carry equal weight,  Hofmann told journalists last week. IG Metall will release its national list of demands at the end of October. Negotiations with employers begin in November. Buoyed by record employment, a shortage of skilled labor and a strong economy, it is in its strongest bargaining position for years.  Employers are rattled.  Working time is our number one concern,  Oliver Zander, chief executive of the Gesamtmetall umbrella association of employers that mirrors IG Metall, told reporters last week.  We need more hours to be worked.   Reducing working hours now could be problematic, particularly for small companies, he said, and argued productivity gains were not keeping up with unit labor costs.  We have a very tough wage round ahead of us.  IG Metall, whose members work at giants like Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and Siemens as well as thousands of smaller firms, is trying to wrest back control of working conditions as employers demand ever more flexibility. According to the plan laid out in June, the union wants to establish that workers can reduce weekly hours to 28 for up to two years with a right to return to full-time work. In the cases of low-paid workers who need the extra time to care for relatives, employers would help make up the pay shortfall.  A poll of nearly 700,000 workers at its plants earlier this year found that many shift workers in particular were dissatisfied with their influence over working patterns. One in three of those surveyed worked shifts. IG Metall acknowledges there may have to be a trade-off with the headline pay rise.  Where big sums are involved, such as compensation for the shortfall, the employers will certainly want their payback,  Hofmann told Germany s Deutschlandfunk radio last week. Bundesbank Chief Economist Jens Ulbrich said IG Metall s ideas about working time autonomy and partial compensation for reductions were uncharted territory.  It s quite difficult to assess what the implications of the wage round will be on working time arrangements and wage growth,  he told Reuters. Both the Bundesbank and the European Central Bank are keeping a close eye on the negotiations for any sign that wage growth is picking up, potentially lifting inflation and allowing the ECB to start winding down its massive stimulus program. Despite robust growth across the euro zone, wages have barely risen for years, likely reflecting hidden slack in the labor market - the shortfall between the work people want and the amount available. This is putting the ECB in a tight spot as it has missed its price growth target for nearly five years. The Bundesbank s latest forecast, for 1.4 percent German inflation in 2018, assumes actual wage rises of 2.9 percent, up from 2.4 percent in 2017 and 2.5 percent in 2016. It s not the first time the German work week has been cut. A decade ago, Germans voluntarily cut their hours to share the available work more equally during the global economic crisis.  But where that was a crisis measure, this could be the beginning of a social trend, experts say. Employers got a hint of the mood this year, when most of the more than 100,000 employees at national rail operator Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] were given a choice of more money or more holidays and chose the extra days off.  I do believe the trend will go in the direction of shorter working hours,  said Anke Hassel, academic director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) of the trade union-affiliated Hans Boeckler Foundation.  IG Metall is the pioneer.   Germans already work fewer than any other nation in the OECD - 1,363 hours a year on average - partly due to large numbers of women working part-time. Jon Messenger, working time specialist at the International Labour Organisation, said the fall in working hours could be seen as a natural evolution of working life, especially in the face of enormous technological change.  That type of working hours reduction is not something I see much of, although I think it would be a good thing,  he said.  It seems to me like it would be a very logical response to increasing automation of production, for example.  Willem Adema, senior economist at the social policy division of the Organisation of the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), agreed, especially when a reduction was coupled with the right to return to full-time work.  Long hours are not necessarily more productive,  he said. IG Metall s wage settlement will affect as many as 3.9 million workers, including members at plants not directly covered by the pact, and will have a strong influence on other agreements among the 44.4 million workers throughout Germany.  If IG Metall goes a step further with working time, it will certainly send out signals in many areas,  said Thorsten Schulten, wage expert at the WSI.  I can well imagine that we will experience this as a broader issue perhaps already in the next wage rounds, and also in future rounds,  he said.

Summary: जर्मन वेतन वार्ता में नए फोकस को शामिल किया जाएगाः काम के घंटों में कमी


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - As dark falls, Adeeb Joudeh, a Muslim, makes his way through the stone alleyways of Jerusalem s walled Old City cradling the ancient key to one of Christianity s holiest sites. Centuries ago, the imposing iron key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried, was entrusted to his family, one of Jerusalem s most prominent clans, says Joudeh. He dates the arrangement back to the time of Saladin, the Muslim conqueror who seized the holy city from the Crusaders in 1187.  Honestly, it s a great honor for a Muslim to hold the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the most important church in Christendom,  Joudeh, 53, said.     Another of the city s oldest Muslim families, the Nusseibehs, were entrusted with the duty of opening and closing the church doors, a task they perform to this day. It requires firm fingers: The key is 30 cm (12 inches) long and weighs 250 grams (0.5 pounds). Historians differ on the roots of the arrangement. Some researchers say Saladin most likely bestowed the guardianship upon the two families in order to assert Muslim dominance over Christianity in the city. It also had financial implications, with a tax from visitors collected at the door.   Documentation, however, only goes back to the 16th century, Joudeh said, displaying dozens of  Fermans , or royal decrees by  rulers of the Ottoman empire, bestowing the key custodianship upon his family. Jerusalem s Old City today houses sites that are sacred to all three major monotheisms. It and other east Jerusalem areas were captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has since declared the entire city its undivided capital. This status is not recognized internationally and is rejected by the Palestinians who want East Jerusalem as capital of a state they hope to found.   Joudeh says his key is about 800 years old. Another copy he holds broke after centuries of use.   I started learning this when I was eight years old. It s handed down from father to son,  said Joudeh.  I have been doing this for 30 years and I feel that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is my second home.       The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church, where tensions often run high over control of its various sectors. Christianity scholar Yisca Harani said having Muslim families in charge of the key and the doors helps somewhat in keeping the peace between the denominations.   The church is definitely a model of co-existence,  Harani said.

Summary: मुसलमान के पास येरुशलम में यीशु के मकबरे की प्राचीन चाबी है


(Reuters) - Reuters photographers witnessed the biggest stories of 2017   from Donald Trump s first year as U.S. president to the flight of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, from Venezuela s crisis to the fall of Islamic State and a tower block inferno in London. This feature presents some of their strongest images. It also gives the photographers a chance to tell the stories behind their pictures and explain in their own words how the images were taken. They talk about trekking through the night in South Sudan and flying over the Pacific Ocean to photograph a total eclipse. They talk about watching drowning migrants being rescued in the Mediterranean and finding the best vantage point to capture Air Force One as it takes off from Las Vegas in the wake of the worst gun massacre in recent U.S. history. Through it all, the photographers raise a question that shows how close they were to the action: in moments of crisis, should they take pictures or try to help?   It is always hard to come to the realization that I am most helpful when I am taking pictures,  said photographer Jonathan Bachman on his image of residents wading through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston.  As an observer of suffering you have to believe that your images can make a difference.  Not all of the images are serious, of course. Some are quirky and fun and the boy who was enjoying mowing the White House lawn so much that he ignored Trump is just one example.

Summary: वर्ष की तस्वीरेंः एक तस्वीर और उसकी कहानी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday ran into resistance for calling ousted FBI chief James Comey a “showboat,” an attack that was swiftly contradicted by top U.S. senators and the acting FBI leader, who pledged that an investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia would proceed with vigor.  In his first interview since firing Comey on Tuesday, Trump appeared to try to underscore that Comey’s dismissal was about his performance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and not about the Russia probe.  Trump faces accusations from Democrats that he fired Comey to hinder the FBI investigation into U.S. intelligence agency allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Trump. The probe has hung over Trump’s presidency since he took office in January and threatens to overwhelm his policy priorities.  “He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander,” Trump told NBC News. “The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that.”  Trump’s characterization was at odds with that of the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee.  At a hearing on Thursday, the Republican chairman of the panel, Richard Burr, and the top Democrat, Mark Warner, praised Comey. Warner said he was offended at Trump’s remarks.  Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, testifying in place of Comey, contradicted Trump’s appraisal of turmoil at the FBI, saying that Comey had “broad support” from the rank and file “and still does to this day.”  A White House spokeswoman on Thursday morning had said that Trump was expected to soon visit FBI headquarters, but MSNBC later reported that plan had been thrown out after agency officials told the White House that Trump would not be greeted warmly following his firing of Comey.  Several candidates are being considered to replace Comey, a senior White House official said, including Mike Rogers, a former Republican representative; Trey Gowdy, a Republican representative and former federal prosecutor; Alice Fisher, assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration; and Ray Kelly, former commissioner of the New York Police Department.  The nominee must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  McCabe promised to tell senators of any White House meddling into the agency’s probe on Russia. Democrats have called for a special counsel to look into the matter.  “It is my opinion and belief that the FBI will continue to pursue this investigation vigorously and completely,” McCabe told the senators.  Moscow has denied interference in the election, and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.  In firing Comey, Trump said he knew he ran the risk he would “confuse people” and “lengthen out the investigation” into ties to Russia.  “In fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,” he told NBC.  Trump said in the interview that he never pressured Comey into dropping the FBI probe, adding: “If Russia did anything, I want to know that.” Trump said there was no “collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians,” but that “the Russians did not affect the vote.”  His explanation of why he fired Comey ran counter to previous administration explanations of Comey’s dismissal.  The White House and Vice President Mike Pence had said Trump fired Comey on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and No. 2 Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein.  On Thursday, Trump said he would have taken the action regardless. “I was going to fire Comey. My decision,” Trump said. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”  Rosenstein, who met privately with some senators on Thursday, was invited to brief all 100 senators next week, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. Schumer said he hoped that Sessions would also speak to senators separately on the firing of Comey.  In the House of Representatives, Justin Amash, a Republican member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Twitter that he had signed onto Democratic-sponsored legislation calling for an independent, bipartisan commission to probe Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. election campaign.  U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to disrupt the election that included hacking into Democratic Party emails and leaking them, with the aim of helping Trump.  Leaders of the U.S. intelligence agencies, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, testified to the senators on Thursday that they agreed with that finding.  Trump, in his interview, also gave further details of his account that Comey had told him on three separate occasions that he was not under investigation in the Russia matter.  Trump said he had asked Comey once over dinner and twice by telephone. “I said: ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?’” Trump told NBC. “He said: ‘You are not under investigation.’”  Trump said the dinner with Comey was at the White House and Comey wanted to discuss staying on as FBI chief. “We had a very nice dinner. And at that time, he told me: ‘You are not under investigation.’”  White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she believed it was not a conflict of interest for a president to ask the FBI chief such a question.  Comey has not publicly discussed any conversations he had with Trump.  At the Senate hearing, McCabe testified it was not typical practice to tell people they were not a targets of an investigation.  Republican chairman Burr asked McCabe whether he ever heard Comey tell Trump that the president was not the subject of investigation. McCabe sidestepped the question, saying he could not comment on an ongoing probe.  Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, said it was “hard to avoid the conclusion” that Trump’s firing of Comey was related to the Russia investigation.  “And while it’s clear to me now more than ever that an independent special counsel must be appointed, make no mistake our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 presidential election,” Warner said.

Summary: बर्खास्त एफ. बी. आई. प्रमुख पर ट्रम्प के हमलों का विरोध हुआ; रूस की जांच आगे बढ़ी


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian banks have frozen more than 1,200 accounts belonging to individuals and companies in the kingdom as part of the government s anti-corruption purge, bankers and lawyers said on Tuesday. They added that the number is continuing to rise. Dozens of royal family members, officials and business executives have been detained in the crackdown and are facing allegations of money laundering, bribery, extorting officials and taking advantage of public office for personal gain. Since Sunday, the central bank has been expanding the list of accounts it is requiring lenders to freeze on an almost hourly basis, one regional banker said, declining to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media. The banker did not name the companies affected but said they included listed and unlisted firms across many sectors. He added that if the freezes stayed in place for long, they could start to hurt day-to-day business activities such as paying staff and creditors or making other transactions. A second banker said, however, that most of the frozen accounts belonged to individuals rather than companies, and that banks were being allowed by the regulator to continue to fund existing commitments. A central bank spokesman was not available to comment. Among top business executives detained in the probe are billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of investment firm Kingdom Holding 4280.SE; Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar, founder of Al Tayyar Travel 1810.SE; and Amr al-Dabbagh, chairman of builder Red Sea International 4230.SE. The stocks of all three companies, which have issued statements saying they continue to operate as normal, plunged between 9 and 10 percent on Tuesday. One of the bankers speaking to Reuters said the central bank had met with some foreign banks this week to reassure them that the freezing of accounts targeted individuals, and that firms linked to those people would not be damaged.

Summary: सऊदी बैंकों ने जांच में 1,200 से अधिक खातों को फ्रीज किया, संख्या अभी भी बढ़ रही हैः सूत्र


SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia s main opposition party, the rightist VMRO-DPMNE formally replaced its leader Nikola Gruevski on Saturday and appointed Hristijan Mickoski, a technocrat, as his successor. Gruevski, 47, resigned earlier this month following an election defeat last year and unrest that rocked the small Balkan country in April.     In his speech to the party s convention on Saturday, Gruevski said that a key reason for VMRO-DPMNE s fall from power was his refusal to yield to what he described as international and domestic pressure to accept a compromise in a dispute with Greece.    Macedonia, which won independence in 1991 from then-federal Yugoslavia, has made little progress towards EU and NATO membership due to a long-running dispute with Greece which claims Macedonia s name represents a territorial claim to its province with the same name.    We wanted a fair compromise and a name solution, but not under dictate,  Gruevski said. Gruevski s successor Mickoski, 41, a relative novice in politics, became VMRO-DPMNE Secretary General earlier this year. He served in Gruevski s government as the general manager of ELEM, Macedonia s state-owned power plants managing company. (This story corrects spelling to Mickoski in paras 1 and 6.)

Summary: मैसेडोनिया की सबसे बड़ी विपक्षी पार्टी ने नए नेता की नियुक्ति की


ZURICH (Reuters) - Investigators in Zurich, ranked among the world s cleanest cities, are probing alleged grubby dealings within the municipal garbage and recycling department. While trash services in the United States and Italy have  sometimes been linked with illicit dealings, the Swiss financial center appears an unlikely source of muck. Rubbish bins are ubiquitous, and a fleet of motorized street sweepers keeps boulevards nearly spotless. But so far Zurich has unearthed irregular accounting surrounding some $15 million in cost overruns on one of its marquee projects, possible nepotism and an alleged off-the-books slush fund, according to a series of reports released last week.  The garbage and recycling department in Zurich developed into a state within a state,  Filippo Leutenegger, a city council member who has overseen the Sanitation and Recycling office since 2014, told state broadcaster SRF.  We cannot allow that to happen,  he added, rejecting criticism he failed to act quickly enough to halt the problems. The department s chief, Urs Pauli, was fired in June after revelations he was driving a taxpayer-funded BMW sedan worth more than $100,000 and after a so-called  secret stash  of 215,000 Swiss francs ($226,500) was uncovered in his offices.  The city prosecutor s office seized the cash, which Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger has reported resulted from selling used department vehicles and was used to reward employees for good performance.  SWEEPING COVER-UP  According to the city s reports, the garbage department hid 15 million Swiss francs in cost overruns on a logistics center, including by booking them to unrelated accounts in a  sweeping cover-up.  A whistleblower alerted authorities in 2015, accusing Pauli s department of neglecting proper documentation as well as irregularities on no-bid construction contracts involving firms with close ties to trash department officials.   Awarding contracts without seeking bids or ensuring transparency can prompt questions about compliance when the same contractors are always chosen,  according to the city reports.  It creates fertile ground for accusations of favoritism.  Earlier this year, Leutenegger filed a criminal complaint with city prosecutors, alleging Pauli, who had led the department since 2008, had broken the law by bypassing formal approval for his BMW.  Zurich prosecutors did not immediately respond to questions on Tuesday about their investigation s status. Nobody has been charged. Pauli, who has denied wrongdoing, declined to comment this week through his attorney.

Summary: कर्कश-स्वच्छ ज्यूरिख के कचरा विभाग ने गन्दे लेन-देन के लिए जांच की


PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Poland s plans to overhaul the judiciary remained a cause for concern though there were a decreasing number of subjects where the two countries did not see eye-to-eye. Frosty even under the previous French administration, bilateral relations between the two powers reached a new low in August when Macron said the Polish people deserved better leaders and he shunned Poland during an eastern Europe tour. That prompted Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo at the time to call him  arrogant  and  inexperienced . But at a joint news conference on Thursday in Paris the two leaders appeared to want to put their differences to one side, with Macron saying:  We have disagreements, which we talked about, but also points on which we share views.  Poland s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has been increasingly at loggerheads with the EU since coming to office in late 2015, locked in disputes with the bloc over immigration and putting courts and media under more government control.  More than two dozen rights groups signed a petition this week saying plans to overhaul Poland s judiciary would end the country s status as a democratic state based on the rule of law. When he met Szydlo on Thursday, Macron avoided overt criticism and said it was not up to him to lecture another EU country on its domestic reforms. But he added that France would follow the conclusions of the EU Commission s investigation on Poland s judicial reforms. The EU is pressing a legal case against Poland over its judicial reform plans and has suggested the country could forfeit some development funds if it refuses to change course.   We will continue to exchange views on this topic for concerns,  Macron said.  If it turns out that what is done does not comply with European treaties, we will all draw the consequences.   If agreements are found, and it turns out it does comply, or if Poland changes the ongoing reform to comply - of which I m neither the judge nor the participant - then in that case we will no longer have any problem,  he added. Szydlo said Poland respected all the principles, values and rights of the European Union.  All the ongoing reforms comply with these principles,  she said. On another issue which has caused friction - the reform of the EU s directive on posted workers - Macron and Szydlo said there was room for compromise. The issue of the so-called posted workers pits wealthier countries against poorer peers keen to preserve current rules that allow their citizens to work elsewhere in the bloc for salaries higher than they would get at home but still lower than the local labor force. Macron won the backing of a majority of EU member states in October to limit  posted work , but Poland opposed it.  The most important thing is that we sit together at the table and talk,  Szydlo said on Thursday.

Summary: मैक्रों ने पोलैंड की आलोचना को कम किया, लेकिन इसकी न्यायिक सुधार योजनाओं से चिंतित हैं