WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by State Farm contesting a jury finding that the insurance company defrauded the federal government when assessing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast. The court will review a 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the verdict in a suit brought under the federal False Claims Act, which lets people sue over allegations that the government has been defrauded. The court will consider a lawsuit brought by sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, former claims adjusters who worked with State Farm after the hurricane. People win a portion of the damages if such a False Claims Act suit is successful. The jury found that the U.S. government had been defrauded of $250,000 over a house that had sustained Katrina-related damage in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Rigsbys said the damage was caused by wind, which would be covered by the owners’ policy with State Farm. But State Farm concluded that the damage was flood-related, which was covered by the federal government’s flood insurance program. The court said State Farm would have to pay $758,000 in damages. The Rigsbys were awarded $227,000 under the False Claims Act. State Farm argued in part that the lawsuit should have been thrown out because the Rigsbys’ former lawyer, Dickie Scruggs, had distributed information about the lawsuit to members of the media. False Claims Act lawsuits are required to be filed under seal and remain private for 60 days. In 2008, Scruggs was convicted of conspiring to bribe a judge in a different case. He was sentenced to five years in prison. The court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in the case during its next term, which begins in October and ends in June 2017.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट तूफान कैटरीना धोखाधड़ी के दावे पर स्टेट फार्म मामले की सुनवाई करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump disclosed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation, two U.S. officials said on Monday, plunging the White House into another controversy just months into Trump’s short tenure in office. The intelligence, shared at a meeting last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, was supplied by a U.S. ally in the fight against the militant group, both officials with knowledge of the situation said. The White House declared the allegations, first reported by the Washington Post, incorrect. “The story that came out tonight as reported is false,” H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters at the White House, adding that the leaders reviewed a range of common threats including to civil aviation. “At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed. The president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known...I was in the room. It didn’t happen,” he said. Russia’s foreign ministry said reports that Trump had revealed highly classified information were “fake”, according to the Interfax news agency. The White House also released a statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said the Oval Office meeting focused on counterterrorism, and from Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, who called the Washington Post story false. Still, the news triggered concern in Congress.  The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, called Trump’s conduct “dangerous” and “reckless”.  Bob Corker, the Republican head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the allegations “very, very troubling” if true.  “Obviously, they’re in a downward spiral right now and they’ve got to come to grips with all that’s happening,” he said of the White House.     The latest controversy came as Trump’s administration reels  from the fallout over his abrupt dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey and amid congressional calls for an independent investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. One of the officials said the intelligence discussed by Trump in his meeting with Lavrov was classified “Top Secret” and held in a secure “compartment” to which only a handful of intelligence officials have access. After Trump’s disclosure of the information, which one of the officials described as spontaneous, officials immediately called the CIA and the National Security Agency, both of which have agreements with a number of allied intelligence services around the world, and informed them what had happened. While the president has the authority to disclose even the most highly classified information at will, in this case he did so without consulting the ally that provided it, which threatens to jeopardize a long-standing intelligence-sharing agreement, the U.S. officials said. Since taking office in January, Trump has careened from controversy to controversy, complaining on the first day about news coverage of his inauguration crowds; charging his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, with wiretapping; and just last week firing the FBI director who was overseeing an investigation into potential ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government. Trump, a Republican who has called allegations of links between his campaign team and Russia a “total scam,” sharply criticized his 2016 election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for her handling of classified information as secretary of state, when she used a private email server.  The FBI concluded that no criminal charges against Clinton were warranted, but Comey said she and her colleagues had been “careless” with classified information.     In his conversations with the Russian officials, Trump appeared to be boasting about his knowledge of the looming threats, telling them he was briefed on “great intel every day,” an official with knowledge of the exchange said, according to the Post. Some U.S. officials have told Reuters they have been concerned about disclosing highly classified intelligence to Trump. One official, who requested anonymity to discuss dealing with the president, said last month: “He has no filter; it’s in one ear and out the mouth.” One of the officials with knowledge of Trump’s meeting with the Russian called the timing of the disclosure “particularly unfortunate,” as the President prepares for a White House meeting on Tuesday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, an ally in the fight against Islamic State. Trump’s first foreign trip also begins later this week and includes a stop in Saudi Arabia, another Islamic State foe, and a May 25 NATO meeting in Brussels attended by other important U.S. allies. He also has stops planned in Israel and the Vatican. The president’s trip and latest uproar over his meeting with Russian officials come amid rumors that he might shake-up his  senior staff in a bid to refocus his administration.

Summary: ट्रंप ने ओवल ऑफिस में रूसियों के सामने गुप्त सूचनाओं का खुलासा कियाः अधिकारी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Qatar is ready to sit at the negotiating table to try to end a dispute with its Gulf Arab neighbors, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Friday in Berlin. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, accusing the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas of financing terrorism and cozying up to their arch-rival Iran. Doha denies the charges. Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone with Sheikh Tamim a week ago in what looked like a breakthrough. But Riyadh promptly suspended any dialogue with Doha, accusing it of  distorting facts  in its news agency s report of the interaction.  As you know we have had a siege of more than 100 days against Qatar,  Sheikh Tamim told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.  We spoke about Qatar s readiness to sit at the table to solve this issue.  For her part, Merkel said she was concerned that there was still no solution to the crisis, adding she supported efforts by Kuwait and the United States to mediate an end to the dispute. Sheikh Tamim also said he retained confidence in German firms and will hold on to stakes in Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen. Separately, Qatar s foreign ministry warned its citizens against traveling to Egypt, because it said the authorities there had imposed  security measures  on Qataris entering the country. It did not provide details in a statement.

Summary: कतर के अमीर ने कहा, खाड़ी संकट को समाप्त करने के लिए बातचीत के लिए तैयार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Journalists from NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox News will moderate the three scheduled debates between U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ahead of the Nov. 8 election, the nonpartisan group organizing the events said on Friday. NBC anchor Lester Holt will ask questions at the first debate on Sept. 26 in New York, while ABC global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will co-moderate the Oct. 9 “town meeting” style debate in St. Louis, the Commission on Presidential Debates said.  Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will moderate on Oct. 19 in Las Vegas, it said in a statement. CBS journalist Elaine Quijano will moderate the single vice presidential debate on Oct. 4 between Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence and his Democratic rival, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the commission said.  C-SPAN’s Steve Scully will be a back-up moderator for all four of the debates, it added. Trump, the Republican candidate, has said he will take part in the three debates but wants to see the conditions. Representatives for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s announcement. The New York businessman, who has never held elected office, has had repeated run-ins with the media since launching his campaign last year, charging networks like CNN with “phony reporting,” sparring with MSNBC hosts and insulting Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly. His campaign has also black-listed several reporters and news outlets. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, has said she will participate in all three debates as scheduled.  Separately, NBC has said Trump and Clinton will participate in a “commander-in-chief” forum focused on military issues on Sept. 7 in New York, appearing separately. On Friday, Trump’s son Eric raised questions about ties between the anchor for that event, Matt Lauer, and the Clinton Foundation and said NBC and its cable offshoot MSNBC have been against his father. “Obviously, there’s a lot of speculation because of his involvement with the foundation,” Eric Trump told Fox News in an interview. “I hope he’ll be fair.” Representatives for NBC said Lauer was not a member of the foundation and that he had interviewed former President Bill Clinton for the network’s “Today” show, not on behalf of the foundation. Trump’s reality television show, “The Apprentice,” debuted on NBC in 2004. NBC later cut other ties with the businessman, dropping his “Miss USA” and “Miss Universe” pageants, and Trump sued. NBC is a unit of Comcast Corp.. Fox News is part of the Twenty-First Century Fox Inc, ABC News is owned by Walt Disney Co, while Time Warner Inc owns CNN. CBS Corp is also publicly traded.

Summary: आयोजकों ने अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति की बहस को नियंत्रित करने के लिए टीवी पत्रकारों को नामित किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that U.S. accusations that Moscow was behind a hack of Democratic National Committee computers were insulting and unworthy, the Interfax news agency reported. The ministry also said that Washington had not made the accusations through official channels, according to Interfax.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि डी. एन. सी. ईमेल हैकिंग के पीछे उसका हाथ होने के आरोप अपमानजनक हैं-आई. एफ. एक्स.


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Republican Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander, as his interior secretary, a senior transition official said on Tuesday. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration; all the posts but those of national security adviser, the White House chief of staff, White House director of the National Economic Council and White House strategist require Senate confirmation: Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  U.S. Representative Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.     Ross, 79, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses.     Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. Perry, 66, adds to the list of oil drilling advocates skeptical about climate change who have been picked for senior positions in Trump’s Cabinet. The selections have worried environmentalists but cheered an oil and gas industry eager for expansion. Perry, who also briefly ran in the 2016 presidential race, would have to be confirmed by the Senate to head the Energy Department, which is responsible for U.S. energy policy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons program.  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to stem climate change, Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists. But he fits with the president-elect’s promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top state prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011, and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. U.S. Representative Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. The final leadership role of Kelly’s 45-year career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 66-year-old retired Marine general differed with Democratic President Barack Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. Zinke, 55, a first-term representative and a member of the House subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public lands. It is unclear where he would stand on opening up more federal lands to increased drilling and mining, something Trump promised he would do as president. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board. Puzder, 66, has argued that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close, and praises the benefits of automation, so his appointment is likely to antagonize organized labor.  Cohn, 56, president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, had widely been considered heir apparent to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Wall Street firm. Trump hammered Goldman and Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class. Retired Lieutenant General Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Tillerson, 64, has spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil Corp, where he rose to serve as its chairman and CEO in 2006. A civil engineer by training, the Texan joined the world’s largest energy company in 1975 and led several of its operations in the United States as well as in Yemen, Thailand and Russia. As Exxon’s chief executive, he maintained close ties with Moscow and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former chief executive of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, and was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Mnuchin, 53, is a successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. Housing advocacy groups criticized the bank for its foreclosure practices, accusing it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. Recently re-elected to serve as Republican National Committee chairman, Priebus will give up his party post to join Trump in the White House, where the low-key Washington operative could help forge ties with Congress to advance Trump’s agenda. The 44-year-old was a steadfast supporter of Trump during the presidential campaign even as the party fractured amid the choice. CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST, SENIOR COUNSELOR: STEVE BANNON The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump’s campaign chairman in August. A rabble-rousing conservative media figure, he helped shift Breitbart into a forum for the alt-right, a loose confederation of those who reject mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. His hiring signals Trump’s dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. As White House chief of staff, Bannon, 63, will serve as Trump’s gatekeeper and agenda-setter.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रंप ने अपने प्रशासन के लिए शीर्ष पदों को भरा


CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that an internal email sent to staff at its Agricultural Research Service unit this week calling for a suspension of “public-facing documents,” including news releases and photos, was flawed and that new guidance has been sent out to replace it. The ARS focuses on scientific research into the main issues facing agriculture, including long-term climate change. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on whether man-made climate change is real and has railed against ex-President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat it. “This internal email was released without Departmental direction, and prior to Departmental guidance being issued,” USDA said in a statement. “ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff.” It said peer-reviewed scientific papers from the unit should not be blocked. “ARS values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public.” The original email, sent Jan. 23, said: “Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content.” USDA officials said that after the email was sent, acting USDA Deputy Secretary Michael L. Young sent out a three-page memo to USDA agency department heads and other key agency officials outlining the interim procedures staff should follow. A copy of the interim procedures memo, dated Jan. 23 and seen by Reuters, shows many of the steps reflect either the same or similar measures taken by the previous administration. Reuters also saw a memo, dated Jan. 22, 2009, that was sent to agency officials by former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 2017 memo, however, differs in two main areas.  It centralizes the agency’s media inquiries and social media presence through the Office of the Secretary. As part of that, the memo asks USDA agencies to “review their websites, blog posts and other social media and, consistent with direction you will receive from the Office of Communication, remove references to policy priorities and initiatives of the previous Administration.” It also rescinds the ability of USDA agencies to close an office or notify local delegations of office closures.

Summary: यूएसडीए ने वैज्ञानिक अनुसंधान इकाई को ईमेल किए गए गैग-ऑर्डर को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his lengthy meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit was a good sign and showed the two countries can work together on issues like the ceasefire in Syria where they share interests. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said: “I think we get along very, very well. We are a tremendously powerful nuclear power, and so are they. It doesn’t make sense not to have some kind of relationship.” The U.S. leader also took a dig at his Democratic campaign rival Hillary Clinton, saying Putin would have been much happier with her as president because she wouldn’t have spent as much on the U.S. military as he plans to.

Summary: पुतिन पर ट्रम्पः 'हम बहुत, बहुत अच्छी तरह से मिलते हैं'-सीबीएन साक्षात्कार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has invited the top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence panels to review new material relevant to their investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday. “There has been information, ... material that has ... come to light, and that we want to make sure that the people who are conducting the review have that information,” Spicer told reporters without giving details about the information. “We have invited them up to view it in a classified setting,” he said, referring to the Republican chairs and Democratic ranking members of the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि रूस की जांच पर नई जानकारी सामने आई है


PARIS (Reuters) - The election of Donald Trump as the United States’ 45th president will make work “harder” for the European Union, the European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Wednesday. “It will be hard, harder than with previous administrations but he is the freely elected president,” Schulz said on Europe 1 radio. “We must respect the future president of the United States (...) I hope we will find a slot to cooperate,” he said. Republican Donald Trump stunned the world on Tuesday by defeating heavily favored Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, ending eight years of Democratic rule.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के शुल्ज का कहना है कि ट्रम्प के साथ काम करना 'कठिन' होगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation placing a permanent ban on states’ taxing Internet access, sending the measure to President Barack Obama for signing into law. By a vote of 75-20, the Senate gave final approval to a bill toughening enforcement of U.S. duties on foreign goods, which contains the permanent extension of the “Internet Tax Freedom Act.” The measure also would ban some taxes on digital goods and services and will put an end to a series of temporary extensions on the tax prohibitions. “Most Americans pay $0 in taxes to connect to the Internet. And thanks to a bill that passed today, you will never have to pay taxes just to get online, or pay more taxes for goods and services just because they’re bought online,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement. The legislation, however, fails to address calls for better enforcement of state sales tax collections related to Internet purchases, something that brick-and-mortar businesses have long sought. Separate legislation on this could be considered by Congress later this year, according to Senate aides. Most U.S. states have imposed sales taxes on online purchases, but the actual collection is spotty.

Summary: कांग्रेस ने स्थायी इंटरनेट पहुंच कर प्रतिबंध को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey will be grilled on whether President Donald Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, key U.S. senators said on Sunday ahead of Comey’s testimony this week on Capitol Hill. Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election, was fired by Trump last month, four years into his 10-year term. The move sparked accusations that Trump dismissed Comey to hinder that investigation and stifle questions about possible collusion between his campaign and Russia. “I want to know what kind of pressure - appropriate, inappropriate - how many conversations he had with the president about this topic?” Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday. The former FBI chief is due to testify on Thursday before the intelligence committee as part of its own Russia-related investigation. After Comey’s dismissal, news reports emerged that Trump asked Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a February meeting in the Oval Office, the day after Flynn was fired for misrepresenting his contacts with the Russian ambassador. The account, first reported by the New York Times, was based on a memo Comey wrote after the meeting. The Comey memo caused alarm on Capitol Hill and raised questions about whether Trump tried to interfere with a federal investigation. “It would be unthinkable if the president actually did what was reported, asked FBI Director Comey to, in effect, back off of at least the investigation into General Flynn,” Warner said. The potential for explosive testimony from Comey that could impact a sitting president makes Thursday’s hearing a highly anticipated event, akin to the hearings in the 1970s examining the Watergate scandal, said Linda Peek-Schacht, a political adviser who worked in President Jimmy Carter’s White House. “There are only a few times when Americans come together to watch one thing,” said Peek-Schacht, founder of a civics institute at Lipscomb University in Tennessee. “Americans will be watching this.” U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump’s favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that  he does not have any relationship with Flynn and only spoke briefly with Flynn when he sat next to him at a 2015 dinner for Russian TV network RT. “I made my speech. Then we talked about some other stuff. And I got up and left,” Putin told NBC News’ “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” program. “That’s it. I didn’t even really talk to him. That’s the extent of my acquaintance with Mr. Flynn.”  Republican Senator Susan Collins, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she is eager to question Comey to find out more about Trump’s allegation that Comey told him on three separate occasions that he was not under investigation. “We need to hear directly from Mr. Comey on these important issues,” Collins told “Face the Nation.”  “The tone, the exact words that were spoken and the context are so important and that’s what we lack right now and we can only get that by talking to those directly involved,” she said. Trump has called the investigation into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia a “witch hunt” designed to undermine the legitimacy of his electoral win. After reports that Trump asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hired former FBI chief Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the FBI’s Russia probe.

Summary: कोमी पर दबाव डाला जाएगा कि क्या ट्रम्प ने रूस की जांच में हस्तक्षेप किया था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. lawmakers launched an effort on Tuesday to modify a $38 billion military aid agreement with Israel by providing more money and easing controls on how it is spent, setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama over the package days after it was signed. Senators Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, John McCain and Ted Cruz told a news conference they had filed a measure to give Israel an additional $1.5 billion in military aid, while renewing U.S. sanctions on Iran. Republican Senators Mark Kirk, Marco Rubio and Roy Blunt also co-sponsored the bill introduced on Tuesday. Ayotte, McCain, Kirk, Rubio and Blunt all face competitive races for re-election on Nov. 8. Arguing that U.S. law gives Congress control of spending, they objected to a provision preventing Israel from asking for additional funds from Congress after the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), begins at the end of fiscal 2018. “This is a very dramatic moment in the U.S.-Israel relationship between Congress and the state of Israel. Congress is not going to sit on the sidelines,” Graham said. The senators also object to Israel’s agreement to return any money if Congress tries to send it more than $3.8 billion per year before then. Graham said he would introduce legislation to overturn a provision in the agreement that phased out an arrangement that has allowed Israel to spend 26.3 percent of U.S. military aid on its own defense industry instead of on U.S. weapons. U.S. and Israeli officials signed the agreement on Wednesday. The 10-year package is the largest in U.S. history. It was reached after nearly 10 months of negotiations that underscored continuing friction between Obama and Israeli Prime  Minister Netanyahu. But Netanyahu decided it would be best to forge a new arrangement with Obama, who leaves office in January, rather than hoping for better terms from the next U.S. administration, according to officials on both sides. The senators insisted that Netanyahu was forced into signing because Israel’s arch-enemy Iran is growing stronger as it obtains billions of dollars unfrozen under an international nuclear agreement reached last year. “Now is not the time to say that we’re going to nickel and dime Israel,” Graham said. Congressional Republicans strongly oppose the nuclear pact. They angered the White House in 2015 by inviting Netanyahu to give an address to Congress opposing it. They have offered several pieces of legislation to overturn or undermine the nuclear deal, and sought to make it an issue in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Summary: सीनेटर बड़े पैमाने पर इजरायल के नए सहायता पैकेज को बदलना चाहते हैं


(Reuters) - Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power Wednesday afternoon in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after Hurricane Irma battered the region, down from a peak of more than 7.8 million customers on Monday, local utilities said. Most of the remaining outages were in Florida Power & Light s service area in the southern and eastern parts of the state. FPL, the state s biggest power company, said about 1.9 million had no power on Wednesday, down from more than 3.6 million on Monday. NextEra Energy Inc-owned FPL, which serves nearly 5 million homes and businesses, expects to restore essentially all its customers in the eastern portion of Florida by the weekend and the harder-hit western portion of the state by Sept. 22. It will take longer to restore those with tornado damage or severe flooding, FPL said. Outages at Duke Energy Corp, which serves the northern and central parts of Florida, fell to 922,000 on Wednesday, down from a peak of about 1.2 million on Monday, according to the company s website. Irma hit southwestern Florida on Sunday morning as a Category 4 storm, the second most severe on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. On Monday it weakened to a tropical depression. In Georgia, utilities reported that outages declined to about 550,000 on Wednesday, down from a peak of around 1.3 million on Monday. Other big power utilities in Florida are units of Emera Inc and Southern Co, which also operates the biggest electric companies in Georgia and Alabama.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः इरमा के बाद अमेरिका के दक्षिण-पूर्व में लगभग 42 लाख अभी भी बिजली के बिना हैं


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s Supreme Court ruling to scrap last month s presidential election was shaped by a new chief justice who proved a staunch defender of judicial independence on a continent where judges are often seen as being under the thumb of executive powers. David Maraga s declaration that the Aug. 8 election was void and demand for a new poll with 60 days shocked many in the East African nation and abroad. But his announcement, after a 4-2 vote by a court panel to annul the vote, didn t surprise those who know the chief justice.  We knew this case was coming and he was the man to hear it,  Professor Tom Ojienda, who worked with Maraga and sits on the Judicial Service Commission that appointed him chief justice, told Reuters.  He is a stickler for the rules.  President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was expected to be sworn in for a second term until Friday s Supreme Court ruling, said he respected the decision. But he took a swipe at Maraga s colleagues, calling them  crooks  and saying the judiciary needed fixing. Kenya, a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamists and a trade gateway to East Africa, has a history of disputed votes. A  row after the 2007 vote led to ethnic bloodshed that killed more than 1,200 people. In 2013, a bid by veteran opponent Raila Odinga to secure an election rerun was rejected by the Supreme Court. This time, the opposition changed tack in their petition. Instead of seeking to prove enough votes were fake to undermine the vote - an almost impossible task in the two weeks the court had to give its judgment - Odinga s supporters sought to demonstrate that the online tallying process lacked integrity. The new approach may have been a key factor in securing a decision that had the backing of four of the panel s six judges, who have three weeks from the ruling to publish details of their decision. But the opposition also found in the chief justice a man ready to defend judicial powers against the highest office and unswayed by a tendency in Kenya, a nation of more than 40 ethnic groups, for voters to back fellow clans people. Within months of his appointment in October, Maraga called out Kenyatta for telling voters on a campaign stop in Maraga s home region of Nyamira County in April that  their son  had a job. Maraga responded that his appointment had nothing to do with the president. Kenyatta is a Kikuyu, Kenya s biggest ethnic group but still a minority. Odinga is a Luo, another big grouping. The chief justice is Kisii, a smaller group from Kenya s western highlands. Maraga also sent a clear message to national leaders on Aug. 2 that the judiciary was above the political fray.  The emerging culture of public lynching of judges and judicial officers by the political class is a vile affront to the rule of law and must be fiercely resisted,  he said in a statement. Maraga did not immediately issue a response to Kenyatta s latest comments. Reuters could not reach him for comment. Kenyans have long complained that getting any official business done requires a  kitu kidogo , Swahili for  a little something  or bribe, a frustration that is echoed across Africa. But Kenya has slowly rebuilt confidence in its judiciary after the post-2007 vote violence. A new constitution in 2010 demanded reforms of the judiciary and other public institutions. Maraga, who has risen the ranks as those reforms have been implement, was known by colleagues for his strict adherence to the rules even as a young lawyer. A devout Christian of the Seventh Day Adventist tradition, he built his practice in the Rift Valley city of Nakuru rather than to Nairobi where he where he could have secured more high profile cases and would have more easily rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful, his colleagues said.  If a client gave you any problem, or asked for anything  that was wrong, or refused to pay, (Maraga) would just say,  Let him go. Other ones will come ,  said Professor Ojienda said. Maraga s integrity and record of strictly interpreting election procedures in past polls swayed the commission to appoint him last October, Ojienda said. The opposition s high hopes in 2013 that it could overturn that election result were dashed. Supreme Court judges, then led by Maraga s predecessor Willy Mutunga, rejected their petition. This time, even Odinga - a former prime minister who has fought and lost three presidential races including this one - seemed surprised. After listening to Friday s ruling in court, he broke out into a broad grin and pumped his fist in the air. Since 2013, several new judges were appointed to the Supreme Court s seven-strong panel. Friday s decision was backed by Maraga and two others appointed after 2013. Another, who had been on the panel in 2013, also backed the ruling. Two judges dissented, while one was ill and did not vote.  An election is not an event, it is a process from the beginning to the end,  Maraga said before reading the ruling. Four years earlier, the opposition had some of their arguments thrown out as they were lodged too late, while their complaints about the widespread failure of the electronic voting systems failed to convince the judges. This time, the opposition case hinged on the election board s failure to post online tally forms from each of the 40,883 polling stations before announcing results. The forms were supposed to be signed by each party s agent, as a hard-copy backup to the electronic transmission. But thousands of forms were missing from the board s website when it announced results. A report by independent court-appointed experts found many forms lacked official stamps, signatures or serial numbers. That was enough to convince a majority in Maraga s panel. (Corrects ethnicity of Chief Justice, paragraph 11)

Summary: मुख्य न्यायाधीश के फैसले ने केन्या के लोगों को आश्चर्यचकित किया, लेकिन उनके सहयोगियों को नहीं


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand s junta and a Malay Muslim separatist faction have blamed each other for a delay in setting up a  safety zone  as a confidence-building measure towards ending a decades-old insurgency. Talks on the zone ended last week in Malaysia without full agreement to be followed by bombings that killed a soldier and a policeman in the Thai south, where more than 6,500 people have been killed since 2004. No group claimed responsibility for the latest attacks.  On Monday, the Mara Patani faction said that implementing a safety zone had been  a little delayed , because some details,  especially from the Thai side , had not been satisfactorily addressed, but that did not mean talks had failed.  The correct approach is to continue dialogue, not walking away from it,  Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a leader of the group, said in a statement. At the weekend, Thailand s chief negotiator had said the insurgents were not ready for the safety zone, despite the sincerity of the Thai government.  If the dissidents are not ready, then people s participation in the process will be delayed,  General Aksara Kerdphol said, adding that talks would continue. The proposed safety zone would be jointly administered by Thai authorities and the separatists in a district of the three southern provinces that formed part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until being annexed by the mostly Buddhist Thai kingdom in 1909. Within the safety zone, neither side would attack the other.  If you want to create peace you have to work with your enemy,  Al-Hakim told Reuters, saying he was hopeful a safety zone could be set up within three to six months. But the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) group, which has greater control over combatants than other factions, has not joined talks. A leader of the group told Reuters last week that the current negotiations were doomed. Pak Fakih said in a rare interview that safety zones could be  a trick by the military in trying to uncover the insurgent networks . The BRN neither claims nor denies responsibility for any specific attack, but says it is continuing to fight to send a signal to the government. The leader of another insurgent group, Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), also said he was uneasy about the government s safety zone plan, but would go along with it in the spirit of cooperation. Violence would continue for now as the only way to get the government to listen, Kasturi Mahkota told Reuters.

Summary: थाई जुंटा और मुस्लिम अलगाववादियों ने शांति के कदमों पर आरोप लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. Senate Republicans from oil refining states urged the Trump administration on Thursday to not block oil shipments from Venezuela as part of U.S. sanctions against the country, saying it could raise costs for U.S. fuel consumers.  The United States sanctioned President Nicolas Maduro and other Venezuelan officials after Maduro established a constituent assembly run by his Socialist Party loyalists and cracked down on widespread opposition. It has not placed sanctions on the OPEC member’s oil industry. Senators John Cornyn of Texas, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi said in the letter, which was seen by Reuters, that unilaterally blocking oil exports could harm the U.S. economy and Venezuelan people.  The United States imports about 740,000 barrels per day of oil from Venezuela.  The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the letter, which was addressed to President Donald Trump.    “We believe it is critical to consider the role the U.S. energy industry and refining sector play in our economic and national security interest,” the senators wrote. “Blockading imports could inflict great harm on this industry and burden U.S. taxpayers with the cost.” The senators said sanctions on shipments of Venezuelan oil to the United States could also increase the likelihood of a disorderly default by Venezuela, given the oil business is its  main source of revenue. Creditors could then seize Venezuelan oil assets and cut off the government’s remaining sources of financing.  They also noted that such sanctions could expand the interests of China and Russia in Venezuela’s oil business. Both countries have invested in Venezuela for years.     Sources have said the United States could use heavy crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve held in caverns along the Gulf Coast, to relieve any short-term supply pressure if Venezuela’s shipments were blocked. Nearly 680 million barrels of oil are in reserve. A drilling boom in the United States has allowed the government to store more oil than it needs to meet international spare supply agreements.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने ट्रम्प से वेनेज़ुएला के तेल शिपमेंट की नाकाबंदी से बचने का आग्रह किया


MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday an employee had attached the wrong photos to a statement accusing the United States of providing de-facto air cover for Islamic State in Syria after the mistake was spotted online. The ministry said it would investigate the incident, which it said was caused by a civilian employee, but did not say how or why the pictures used were incorrect.  However, the U.S. command s refusal to carry out strikes on the convoys of ISIL terrorists retreating from Albu Kamal on November 9 is an objective fact reflected in the transcripts of the talks and therefore, fully known to the U.S. side,  Interfax news agency quoted the ministry as saying on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, the ministry posted a statement on its Facebook page saying the U.S. air force had tried to hinder Russian strikes on Islamic State militants, accompanied by satellite photographs it said showed a vehicle convoy of Islamic State militants leaving the Syrian town of Albu Kamal on Nov. 9 2017. At least one of the photographs exactly matched a frame from a promotional video for a  AC-130 Gunship Simulator  computer game posted online in March 2015. Reuters was unable to reach the game s Argentinian developed, Byte Conveyor Studios, for comment. Asked about Russian allegations of the U.S. helping Islamic State around Albu Kamal, Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said:  The Russian ministry of defense statements are about as accurate as their air campaign and I think that is a reason for them to start, you know, coming out with their latest barrage of lies.   I certainly can t verify, but I ve seen the report that one of the pictures came from a video game. So, again that is pretty consistent with what we have seen come out of Russian MoD, as being baseless, inaccurate and you know, completely false,  he told a briefing with Pentagon reporters on Tuesday.

Summary: सीरिया के बयान पर इस्तेमाल की गई गलत तस्वीरों की जांच करेगा रूस का रक्षा मंत्रालय


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Puerto Rico would get substantial debt relief and other new aid to help it recover from destruction inflicted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September, under legislation unveiled on Tuesday by leading liberals in the U.S. Senate. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, called for a new “emergency credit facility” of up to $57.2 billion for Puerto Rico and $5 billion for the Virgin Islands, according to a summary of the bill. The bill would also extend the deadline for individuals to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The legislation cannot advance without the support of Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the Senate. Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration have approved some $51 billion in aid to the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and U.S. states hit by hurricanes and wildfires, with a new round expected to be approved in December. The effort has been criticized as lackluster by many Democrats in Congress, with large swaths of Puerto Rico still without power and clean water. Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello is seeking more than $94 billion in disaster recovery aid, including $31.1 billion for housing and $17.8 billion to rebuild and bolster the power grid. The legislation would put Congress on record in support of relieving Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt. The island has a further $50 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Kenneth Mapp, governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the island had requested $7.5 billion to cover uninsured hurricane-related damages to the public sector. The hurricanes devastated the island’s healthcare sector, destroying two already struggling hospitals. Mapp also asked for a waiver to use $226 million in unspent Medicaid funding provided under Obamacare. The island was unable to spend the money because the local government could not provide its share of matching funds. The Sanders-Warren plan would also restore the U.S. minimum wage for certain young workers in Puerto Rico, open some federal food and nutrition programs to the two territories and improve benefits under the Medicare and Medicaid health programs. The legislation as well would provide more federal aid for rebuilding Puerto Rico’s electric grid, with an emphasis on beefing up solar, wind and other “clean” energy capabilities.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट के उदारवादी लोगों ने प्यूर्टो रिको में सुधार के लिए नए कदम उठाने का प्रस्ताव रखा


(Reuters) - A hack at global accounting firm Deloitte [DLTE.UL] disclosed in September compromised a server with emails of some 350 clients, including U.S. government agencies and large corporations, the Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. Deloitte disputed the story, saying  very few  clients were affected  in a statement emailed to Reuters.  We take any attack on our systems very seriously,  the statement said.  We are confident that we know what information was targeted and what the hacker actually did.

Summary: डेलॉयट साइबर हमले ने 350 ग्राहकों को प्रभावित कियाः गार्जियन


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine immigration authorities freed four East Timor delegates after holding them for 12 hours at Manila airport in a security clampdown ahead of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit next week. The four East Timorese were allowed into the Philippines but authorities kept their passports until a formal order is issued clearing their entry, said Rhoda Viajar, media relations of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People s Forum. Immigration authorities said the four were held upon arrival on Saturday morning because they could not explain the purpose of their travel and were  not able to establish financial capacity for the visit .  The civil society conference organizers understand the more stringent security measures being implemented due to the upcoming ASEAN summit,  Viajar said. She said they  remain concerned about the possibility of similar incidents upon the arrival of many more participants from other countries . Since 2005, ASEAN leaders have held a dialogue with the region s top civil society groups to listen to development concerns and address critical issues such as poverty, health and education. Philippines security forces are deploying nearly 60,000 army and police personnel during the Nov. 10-14 ASEAN and East Asia Summit to ensure the safety of 19 world leaders and thousands of delegates from 10 Southeast Asian nations and 10 other dialogue partners, including U.S. President Donald Trump.  We have not monitored any real and direct threat in the national capital region, but we are not complacent,  national police chief Ronald dela Rosa told reporters after reviewing security preparations on Sunday.  There could be threats but we are ready and we are up to the challenge.  Police will deploy 400 mobile patrol cars, 200 motorcyles, 22 armored vehicles and 100 bomb-sniffing dogs to ensure the security and safety of leaders, officials and delegates to the biggest regional summit in Manila this year.     Some areas will be completely locked down, such as where heads of state and governments will hold meetings. Main roads running from the former U.S. air force base about 90 kms north of Manila to the venues will be partly closed. Interior Undersecretary Catalino Cuy said there was no plan to jam mobile phone signals to prevent potential crude bomb attacks because this would cause inconvenience for state officials and security personnel.

Summary: फिलीपींस ने चार पूर्वी तिमोरियों को आसियान बैठक में भाग लेने के लिए मुक्त किया


TOLEDO, Ohio; WINSTON SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized Democrat Hillary Clinton on Thursday over her trade policies, saying she would handle trade deals so badly that the country should “just cancel the election” and name him the victor.  Speaking to supporters in Toledo, Ohio, Trump said the North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, had led to the outsourcing of thousands of Ohio jobs to Mexico, a practice he vowed to stop if elected president on Nov. 8. “We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right?” he said. “What are we even having it for? Her policies are so bad.” Trump said he believed Clinton would seek passage of the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership, President Barack Obama’s signature Asian trade deal, which she now opposes. Trump’s remarks came as the New York businessman tries to steady rocky poll numbers amid a series of controversies and self-inflicted wounds.  He has struggled to handle the fallout from the release of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video that showed the then-reality TV star talking on an open microphone about groping women and trying to seduce a married woman. The video was taped only months after Trump married his third wife, Melania. Trump said on Thursday it was “certainly illegal” for NBC to release the tape and he left open the option of seeking legal action against the network after the election. Since the video’s release, a series of women have accused Trump of groping them or kissing them without their consent. Trump has called the allegations “absolutely false.” The latest RealClearPolitics poll average showed Clinton with a nearly 6-point national lead over Trump, fueled by declining support among women for his candidacy. Trump, without evidence, has blamed his sagging poll numbers on a rigged election, and said the media had fixed the opinion polls in order to inflate Clinton’s numbers. Numerous studies have shown that voter fraud in U.S. elections is very rare, and a number of prominent Republicans have denounced Trump’s claim that the system is unsound. While Trump campaigned in  Ohio, a plane carrying his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, skidded off the runway after landing at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night. There were no injuries, the Pence campaign said. Clinton on Thursday made her first joint campaign appearance with one of her most powerful supporters, first lady Michelle Obama, at a North Carolina rally to urge young people and women to vote. Clinton, a former first lady who lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama before becoming his secretary of state, praised Michelle Obama for standing up for the rights of girls and women worldwide, drawing a sharp contrast with her Republican rival. “I wish I didn’t have to say this. ... But indeed, dignity and respect for women and girls is also on the ballot in this election,” Clinton told a crowd of about 11,000. “And I want to thank our first lady for her eloquent, powerful defense of that basic value.” Michelle Obama’s stinging denunciation of Trump after a leaked 2005 video showed him making lewd remarks and bragging about groping women was seen by many as one of the campaign’s most striking condemnations of the New York businessman. Without naming Trump, Obama took him to task again in North Carolina, asking the crowd which candidate they wanted to represent their daughters from the White House. “We want a president who takes this job seriously, and has the temperament and maturity to do it well. Someone who is steady. Someone who we can trust with the nuclear codes,” Obama said.  “I would not be here lying to you: I believe with all of my heart that Hillary Clinton will be that president,” she said. Although Michelle Obama was critical of Clinton during the hard-fought 2008 Democratic nominating race, any trace of bitterness appeared long behind them. The two women showed an easy rapport. They embraced and smiled. Obama called Clinton “my girl” and made a point of telling the crowd they were tight. “If people wonder: Yes, Hillary Clinton is my friend,” she said. Clinton promised to take good care of Obama’s White House vegetable garden if she won and wistfully praised the athletic first lady’s dancing skills. “One could only hope,” Clinton said. She also lauded Obama’s work for children and military families and in what was perhaps a nod to African-Americans she hopes will vote for her in the state, said Obama had faced challenges she had not as a presidential spouse. “Let’s be real. As our first African-American first lady, she’s faced pressures I never did, and she’s handled them with pure grace,” Clinton said to applause. Although a sometimes reluctant campaigner, the first lady has thrown herself into the race, and the Clinton campaign has deployed her strategically to increase support among young people and blacks, with whom she is especially popular.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने व्यापार पर क्लिंटन पर हमला किया, कहा कि उन्हें जीत सौंपी जानी चाहिए


ABOARD USS RONALD REAGAN, Sea of Japan (Reuters) - The USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier, patrolled in waters east of the Korean peninsula on Thursday, in a show of sea and air power designed to warn off North Korea from any military action. The U.S. Navy s biggest warship in Asia, with a crew of 5,000 sailors, sailed around 100 miles (160.93 km), launching almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck, in sight of South Korean islands. It is conducting drills with the South Korean navy involving 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.  The dangerous and aggressive behavior by North Korea concerns everybody in the world,  Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the Reagan s strike group, said in the carrier s hangar as war planes taxied on the flight deck above.  We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend the Republic of Korea.   The Reagan s presence in the region, coupled with recent military pressure by Washington on Pyongyang, including B1-B strategic bomber flights over the Korean peninsula, comes ahead of President Donald Trump s first official visit to Asia, set to start in Japan on Nov. 5, with South Korea to follow. North Korea has slammed the warship gathering as a  rehearsal for war . It comes as senior Japanese, South Korean and U.S. diplomats meet in Seoul to discuss a diplomatic way forward backed up by U.N. sanctions.     The U.N. Security Council has unanimously ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since 2006. The most stringent include a ban on coal, iron ore and seafood exports that aim at halting a third of North Korea s $3 billion of annual exports. On Monday, Kim In Ryong, North Korea s deputy U.N. envoy, told a U.N. General Assembly committee the Korean peninsula situation had reached a touch-and-go point and a nuclear war could break out at any moment.  A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 and two missile launches over Japan, has stoked tension in East Asia. A Russian who returned from a visit to Pyongyang has said the regime is preparing to test a missile it believes can reach the U.S. west coast. On Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to defuse tension with North Korea.  Washington has not ruled out the eventual possibility of direct talks with the North to resolve the stand-off, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said on Tuesday.

Summary: प्योंगयांग को चेतावनी देते हुए कोरियाई प्रायद्वीप में अमेरिकी वाहक गश्त कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Advocates of landmark net neutrality rules on Friday blasted Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai’s plans to roll back the Obama era legal framework. Reuters and other outlets reported late Thursday that Pai told major telecommunications trade groups of his plans Tuesday to replace 2015 net neutrality rules with voluntary agreements to adopt open internet principles. The 2015 rules prevented broadband providers from giving or selling speedy or so-called fastlane access to some internet services over others.  Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, opposes the rules approved by the FCC which gave the agency strong legal control over broadband providers, treating them much like utilities. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, said if the reports are accurate “we are gearing up for a battle that could eviscerate the widely supported open Internet protections.” The rules “were built on a record of more than four million comments, and demonstrated that a free and open internet is at the very heart of our American democracy,” she added. Chris Lewis, vice president at Public Knowledge said Pai could “give dominant cable and telecommunications companies what their DC lobbyists have dreamed of for years: voluntary net neutrality ‘rules’ where consumer protection is no more than ‘trust your cable or internet provider.’” The FCC declined to comment.  Pai wants to introduce new regulations under which internet providers like AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc would voluntarily agree in their terms of service to not obstruct or slow consumer access to web content. The move would allow the Federal Trade Commission to enforce compliance with the new rules. Internet providers do not oppose net neutrality principles, but opposed the decision to reclassify internet service under a law that subjects them to potential utility style regulation. Pai is expected to unveil his proposal as early as April 27, with an initial vote planned for either May or June, sources told Reuters. The proposal would be open for public comment before the FCC could finalize it. The Internet Association, the trade group that represents major internet companies like Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc, Netflix Inc and Microsoft Crop, and strongly supports net neutrality, will meet with Pai on Tuesday, a person briefed on the matter said. The group declined to comment.

Summary: अमेरिकी नेट तटस्थता अधिवक्ताओं ने नियमों को उलटने के पाई के प्रयास की निंदा की


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil s Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to grant Congress the final word on decisions to remove a sitting politician, conceding a victory to lawmakers fighting to shield themselves from prosecution for corruption. The narrow 6-5 decision will allow the Senate to vote next week to revoke a top court ruling that suspended Senator Aecio Neves who is being investigated in seven corruption cases. A majority of the justices decided to back off from confrontation with Congress in the midst of Brazil s biggest political corruption scandal, which has even implicated President Michel Temer and his inner circle of cabinet ministers. The lower house of Congress is expected to vote later this month to shelve charges against Temer in a corruption case involving meatpacker JBS SA, saving him from trial by the Supreme Court. More than 110 politicians are targeted by the sprawling Car Wash graft investigation that has uncovered since 2014 a massive network of bribes and kickbacks paid by companies seeking to win government contracts and influence legislation. Congress has pushed back against judicial action by the Supreme Court since the justices ordered the removal of the former speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, who was  arrested last year, convicted of corruption and sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for corruption. One third of the politicians in Brazil s Congress - more than 230 - including more than half of its senators, are being investigated for breaking the law and face trial by the Supreme Court, the only court that can try lawmakers and ministers. Those being investigated include the presidents of the Senate and the lower house, and many of the leaders of Temer s governing coalition. In another gain for the political class, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that no one can be charged merely on the basis of plea bargain testimony by just one witness if no evidence is provided to back up the accusation. Plea deals have been the main tool used by anti-corruption prosecutors to track the network of political kickbacks and   dismantle graft schemes discovered at oil company Petrobras and other state-run enterprises. The ruling was part of a decision to throw out corruption and money laundering charges against Senator Renan Calheiros, the former president of the Senate who faces seven other graft investigations.

Summary: ब्राजील सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने सांसदों को हटाने पर कांग्रेस को अंतिम शब्द देने की अनुमति दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan healthcare deal aimed at stabilizing Obamacare, saying the Senate bill was too costly. “No way to pay for it. Oh my gosh, give me a break. I appreciate the innovation and the attempt to do it right. But it doesn’t help,” the Utah Republican told reporters. “I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea.” As the Republican head of the Senate finance panel, Hatch oversees legislation that addresses the financial aspects of healthcare policy.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर हैच ने द्विदलीय स्वास्थ्य सेवा सौदे को खारिज किया


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A top Israeli diplomat was rebuked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for suggesting that American Jews have a poor commitment to service in the U.S. military. Asked in an English-language television interview about criticism of Israeli policies by some U.S. Jews, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely questioned whether  people that never send their children to fight for their country  could understand the  complexity  of the Middle east.  Most of the Jews don t have children serving as soldiers, going to the Marines, going to Afghanistan or to Iraq,  she said on i24 TV news on Wednesday.  They don t feel how it feels to be attacked by rockets, and I think part of it is to actually experience what Israel is dealing with on a daily basis,  said Hotovely, a member of Netanyahu s right-wing Likud party. While Israel has often quarreled with American Jews over their right to advise it from afar, Hotovely s remarks went further by appearing to insinuate they are not fully committed to their native country, a notion U.S. Jewish organizations have long fought against in their battle against anti-Semitism. In a statement, Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel s foreign minister, denounced Hotovely s comments as  hurtful .  There is no place for such a harangue and her remarks do not reflect the State of Israel s position,  the statement said. According to a 2009 survey published by the congressionally-mandated Military Leadership Diversity Commission, an estimated 1.09 percent of the members of the U.S. armed forces are Jewish. The Pew Research Center estimated in 2013 that Jews make up about 2 percent of the U.S. adult population. The website of the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington lists more than 50 Jewish service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

Summary: अमेरिकी यहूदियों की सैन्य सेवा पर टिप्पणी के लिए इजरायली अधिकारी की आलोचना


CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen who attacked a mosque on Friday in Egypt s North Sinai brandished an Islamic State flag as they opened fire through doorways and windows, killing more than 300 worshippers, including two dozen children, officials said on Saturday. No group has claimed responsibility, but Egyptian forces are battling a stubborn Islamic State affiliate in the region, one of the surviving branches of the militant group after it suffered defeats by U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. The assault on a mosque has stunned Egyptians, prompting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi s government to tighten security at places of worship and key buildings, and call three days of mourning for the bloodiest attack in Egypt s modern history.  State news agency MENA said the death toll had risen to 305, including 27 children, and 128 people were injured. Egypt s public prosecutor s office, citing interviews with wounded survivors as part of its investigation, linked Islamic State militants, also known as Daesh, to the attack on the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El-Arish city.  The worshippers were taken by surprise by these elements,  the prosecutor said in a statement.  They numbered between 25 and 30, carrying the Daesh flag and took up positions in front of the mosque door and its 12 windows with automatic rifles.  The gunmen, some wearing masks and military-style uniforms, had arrived in jeeps, surrounded the mosque and opened fire inside, sending panicked worshippers scrambling over each other to escape the carnage. Witnesses had said gunmen set off a bomb at the end of Friday prayers and then opened fire as people tried to flee, shooting at ambulances and setting fire to cars to block roads. Images on state media showed bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the mosque.  When the shooting began everyone was running, and everyone was bumping into one another,  Magdy Rezk, a wounded survivor, said from his hospital bed.  But I was able to make out masked men wearing military clothing.  Striking a mosque would be a shift in tactics for the Sinai militants, who have previously attacked troops and police and more recently tried to spread their insurgency to the mainland by hitting Christian churches and pilgrims. Local sources said some of the worshippers were Sufis, whom groups such as Islamic State consider targets because they revere saints and shrines, which for Islamists is tantamount to idolatry. Islamic State has targeted Sufi and Shi ite Muslims in other countries like Iraq. The jihadists in Egypt s Sinai have also attacked local tribes and their militias for working with the army and police. Sisi, a former armed forces commander who supporters see as a bulwark against Islamist militants, promised the  utmost force  against those responsible for Friday s attack. Security has been a key reason for his supporters to back him, and he is expected to run for re-election next year. Egypt s military carried out air strikes and raids overnight to target hideouts and vehicles involved in the attack, the army said, without giving details on the number of militants.  What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism,  Sisi said on Friday. The Sinai attack came as Sisi s government looks to draw more foreign investment and finish an IMF reform program to help revive an economy that struggled through instability after the 2011 uprising ousted long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak. North Sinai, a mostly desert area stretching from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long been a security headache for Egypt and is a strategic region for Cairo because of its sensitive borders. Local militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, once allied to al Qaeda, split from it and declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. But attacks in the Sinai worsened after 2013 when Sisi led the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.

Summary: मिस्र की मस्जिद हमले में बंदूकधारियों के पास इस्लामिक स्टेट का झंडा थाः अभियोजक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and Chinese officials on Wednesday failed to agree on major steps needed from Beijing to help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China during an annual economic dialogue meeting, a Trump administration official said. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the talks and requested anonymity, said that the disagreements covered most areas important to the United States, including access to China’s financial services markets, steel overcapacity, trade in autos, Chinese requirements for data localization and ownership caps for foreign firms. But amid a “frank exchange,” the official said it was important that the Chinese delegation acknowledged the need to reduce U.S. trade deficit and work toward that goal.

Summary: अमेरिका, चीन अमेरिकी व्यापार घाटे को कम करने के तरीके पर असहमत थेः अधिकारी


BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan secessionists were working on Friday toward a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain that could be adopted next week in defiance of a court order and increased economic pressure from Madrid. After Spain s Constitutional Court suspended a session of the Catalan regional parliament set for Monday, which had been expected to endorse an independence declaration, the parliament said the region s pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont would address the assembly at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday. Madrid apologized for the first time on Friday for police use of violence in trying to hinder a weekend referendum it had declared illegal. That crackdown raised the temperature of a  confrontation that has grown into the worst political crisis for decades in Spain.  A Catalan legislator was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying secessionist parties in the Catalan parliament were discussing an independence declaration to be submitted to the assembly next Tuesday.  We are in talks about a text, with paper and pencil, on the declaration that we want the regional parliament to accept on Tuesday,  Carles Riera, a lawmaker from the pro-independence CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), was quoted as saying.  Nobody has put forward any scenario of delay, ambiguity or confusion. We are not working on that scenario,  he said. The stakes are high for the euro zone s fourth-largest economy. Catalonia is the source of a huge chunk of its tax revenue and hosts multinationals from carmaker Volkswagen to drugs firm AstraZeneca (AZN.L). The Catalan region s head of foreign affairs, Raul Romeva, told the BBC earlier that the Catalan parliament intended to make a decision on independence, without specifying when.  Parliament will discuss, parliament will meet. It will be a debate and this is important,  Romeva said. The Spanish government stepped up economic pressure on the Catalan government on Friday by passing a law to make it easier for companies to move their operations around the country, potentially dealing a blow to the region s finances. Within hours of the government s move, CaixaBank (CABK.MC), Spain s third biggest lender and Catalonia s biggest company, said its board had decided to move its registered office to Valencia  in light of the current political and social situation in Catalonia . Catalonia-based utility Gas Natural (GAS.MC) said its board had decided to move its registered office to Madrid for as long as the legal uncertainty in Catalonia continued. They joined a number of other Catalonia-based companies, including Sabadell (SABE.MC), Spain s fifth-largest lender, that have already announced plans this week to move their registered offices elsewhere in Spain. Spain made a conciliatory gesture in apologizing for Sunday s referendum violence, where Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets to stop people voting. The scenes brought worldwide condemnation and fanned separatist feeling but failed to prevent what the Catalan government described as an overwhelming  yes  vote.  When I see these images, and more so when I know people have been hit, pushed and even one person who was hospitalized, I can t help but regret it and apologize on behalf of the officers that intervened,  Enric Millo, the Spanish government s representative in Catalonia, said in a television interview. The apology came after the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia quoted sources in Puigdemont s party as saying a unilateral declaration of independence could be delayed if Madrid made a  gesture , such as withdrawing some Spanish police reinforcements from the region. Artur Mas, a former head of the Catalan government who was barred from public office for two years in March for staging an informal independence referendum in 2014, told the Financial Times on Friday that the region had yet to lay the groundwork for  real independence . He said there was a debate among Catalan leaders about whether now was the right time to unilaterally declare independence. Amid calls from many groups, including Barcelona soccer club, for a mediated solution to the standoff, Swiss state broadcaster RTS said neutral Switzerland was ready to help forge  dialogue between the Spanish government and Catalonia. The foreign ministry said Switzerland was in touch with Spain and Catalonia but conditions for talks were not yet ripe. Puigdemont has called for international mediation to find a way out of the impasse. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered all-party political talks to find a solution, opening the door to a deal giving Catalonia more autonomy, but only if the Catalan government gives up any independence ambitions.  You can t hold talks if people are outside the law,  Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting. Final referendum results released by the Catalan regional government on Friday showed 90.18 percent support for breaking away among the nearly 2.3 million people who voted. But turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot. Secession could fuel separatist-nationalist divisions across the rest of Spain, which only this year saw ETA guerrillas in the northern Basque region lay down their arms after a campaign lasting almost half a century. Spanish ruling-party lawmakers say Rajoy is considering invoking the constitution to dissolve the regional parliament and force fresh Catalan elections if the region s government goes ahead with an independence declaration. Romeva s remarks about the Catalan parliament pressing ahead with an independence debate hit Spanish stocks and bonds, including shares in the region s two largest banks, Caixabank and Sabadell. In a separate development that could raise tensions, Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero appeared in Spain s High Court on Friday to answer accusations he committed sedition by failing to enforce a court ban on holding the referendum. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggest a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia back independence.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया की संसद ने मैड्रिड के दबाव की अवहेलना की, स्वतंत्रता की घोषणा पर काम किया


HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for nations around the world to unite to defeat terrorism, saying the thoughts and prayers of Americans were with Belgium after the attacks in Brussels that killed 34 people. “We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism,” Obama told Cubans during a historic visit to Havana. “We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world.”

Summary: आतंकवाद को हराने के लिए दुनिया को एकजुट होना होगाः ओबामा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As she waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a challenge to a restrictive Texas abortion law, Amy Hagstrom-Miller said she hopes she will not have to close up to three of the clinics she operates in the state, but is planning for it just in case.     Hagstrom-Miller founded Whole Woman’s Health, which runs four facilities in Texas that provide abortions and led the legal challenge to the law. She said she has spreadsheets listing staffers who would be laid off if the court allows the law to survive, and is thinking about selling buildings and medical equipment as well as shutting her clinics in Fort Worth, San Antonio and McAllen.     “I would be irresponsible if I didn’t plan,” Hagstrom-Miller said in an interview. The Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June on whether the Texas law, which imposes strict regulations on abortion doctors and clinic facilities, violates a woman’s constitutional right to end her pregnancy as set out in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The court has not issued a major abortion-related ruling since 2007.     The law requires abortion doctors to have “admitting privileges,” a type of formal affiliation, at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the clinic. That provision has been implemented. A second provision, not yet in effect, requires clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities including extensive standards for such attributes as corridor width, room size, floor tiles and the swinging motion of doors. Supporters of the law, passed by a Republican-led legislature and signed by a Republican governor in 2013, say it was enacted to protect women’s health.     Abortion rights advocates say it imposes medically unnecessary regulations intended to shut clinics and has dramatically reduced access to abortion in Texas, the second-most-populous U.S. state with about 27 million people. Getting a clear-cut ruling is complicated by the fact that the court is down to eight justices, split evenly with four conservatives and four liberals, following the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia. One possibility is a 4-4 split that would affirm a lower court’s decision upholding the law but would not set a national legal precedent that could guide other states eager to pass similar statutes. Because it is unlikely one of the court’s liberals would join the four conservatives, there is almost no chance of a  broad ruling upholding the law and giving other states a green light to enact similar measures. Numerous Republican-governed states have considered measures that would restrict abortion availability. For abortion opponents, who no longer have Scalia to cast a fifth vote to tip the balance in their favor, a 4-4 split leaving the Texas law in place may be the best result possible. John Eastman, a professor at Chapman University School of Law in California, an abortion opponent who filed a brief with the high court backing the Texas law, said if the justices cannot deliver a decisive ruling, “It’s not a catastrophe.” “I’d rather have women’s health and safety in some parts of the country than no parts of the country,” Eastman said. Legal fights over similar laws are ongoing in several states, including Mississippi, Louisiana and Wisconsin.     If the court leaves in place the lower-court ruling upholding the Texas law, the number of abortion clinics in the state would drop from the current 19 to nine, abortion providers said. Texas had 41 abortion clinics when the law was passed.     “A 4-4 decision would leave us in the untenable situation where a woman’s ability to get an abortion will depend on where she lives,” said Jennifer Dalven, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes restrictive abortion laws.      Another possibility is that the justices strike down the law, or invalidate one of the two provisions at issue while keeping the other. It may be more likely that the admitting-privileges provision, already in effect, would survive, while the hospital-grade facilities requirements, which the justices themselves temporarily blocked, would not. Justice Anthony Kennedy could be the key player in any such scenarios, which would require at least one conservative to join the four liberals. Kennedy is a conservative who in past rulings has endorsed Roe v. Wade, but has voted to uphold some abortion restrictions. “It comes down to Justice Kennedy, and during the argument he didn’t show his hand too much,” said John Seago, the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life’s legislative director, adding that the ruling could give abortion opponents “ideas about what laws we could pass.” Another possibility is that the court returns the case to a lower court for further proceedings, as Kennedy suggested during March 2 oral arguments. “It’s overwhelming for me when I think what could happen if it’s not a favorable decision,” said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, who performs abortions at two Texas Whole Woman’s Health clinics. “I try not to think about it every minute of every day.”

Summary: गर्भपात प्रदाता, विरोधी अमेरिकी उच्च न्यायालय के फैसले के लिए तैयार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday said pharmaceutical firms risked damaging their reputations with big price hikes, but it sidestepped commenting directly on Mylan NV’s decision to raise the price of its severe allergy treatment drug EpiPen. “I’m obviously not going to make specific comments to specifically second guess the pricing strategy ... of one private enterprise,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. “I will observe, however, that pharmaceutical companies that often try to portray themselves as the inventors of life-saving medication often do real damage to their reputation by being greedy and jacking up prices,” he said.

Summary: दवा की कीमतों में वृद्धि से कंपनी की प्रतिष्ठा को नुकसान हो सकता हैः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Taliban has increased the amount of territory it has influence over or controls in Afghanistan in the past six months, a U.S. watchdog agency reported on Tuesday, as the militant group has stepped up attacks in recent weeks. As of August, 13 percent of the 407 districts in Afghanistan were under Taliban control or influence, compared with 11 percent in February, according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR. That means an additional 700,000 people now live in districts where the Taliban has at least some influence. The updated figures are a sign of the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country, even as the United States has committed several thousand more troops. The gains being made by the Taliban and a spate of recent attacks underscore worries about Afghan security forces  ability to deal with a relentless insurgency that they have struggled to contain since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014. In total, about 43 percent of Afghanistan s districts are either under Taliban control or being contested, three percent higher than six months ago, SIGAR said. U.S. forces in Afghanistan also withheld certain data on the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, the report said, including  casualties, personnel strength, attrition, and the operational readiness of equipment.   In a significant development this quarter, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) classified or otherwise restricted information SIGAR has until now publicly reported,  the report said. Afghanistan s worsening security situation was highlighted on Tuesday when a suicide bomber in the capital killed as many as eight people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. The increase in the campaign of U.S. air strikes in recent months is part of a new strategy aimed at reversing Taliban gains and forcing the insurgents to seek peace talks with the Afghan government. The SIGAR report, citing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, also said there had been a 52 percent increase in civilian casualties from coalition and Afghan air strikes in the first nine months of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016. There had also been a sharp increase in  insider attacks  by militants, targeting U.S. and Afghan forces. In June, three Americans were killed an one wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire on them.

Summary: तालिबान ने अफगानिस्तान में अपना प्रभाव, क्षेत्र बढ़ाया हैः अमेरिकी निगरानीकर्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. will head an education reform task force under U.S. President Donald Trump and is keen to cut university regulations, including rules on dealing with campus sexual assault, the school he heads said.  Falwell, the son of the late televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., was described by Trump as “one of the most respected religious leaders in our nation” last year after Falwell endorsed him during the Republican party primary race.  READ MORE Trump vows end to prohibition on church political activity Vatican worried about Trump immigration order Falwell is president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, which bills itself as the world’s biggest Christian university. A school spokesman, Len Stevens, said on Wednesday it was not clear yet when the task force would start its work.  Stevens said Falwell was interested in eliminating numerous regulations the U.S. Department of Education has placed on colleges and universities, adding that many college presidents felt the same, regardless of their political orientation.  “It’s an autonomy issue for universities to be able to not be micromanaged by the Department of Education,” Stevens said in an email.  Falwell also wants to cut federal rules on investigating and reporting sexual assault under Title IX, the federal law that bars sexual discrimination in education, according to Stevens.  The Liberty University head believes on-campus sexual assault investigations are best left to police and prosecutors, Stevens said.  Falwell told the Associated Press he turned down an offer from Trump to become education secretary, in part because Falwell did not want to move his family to Washington.  When Falwell introduced Trump before a speech he gave at Liberty University early last year, Falwell said he saw similarities between Trump and his father, the founder of the Moral Majority organization, including a penchant to “speak his mind.”  The Senate Education Committee sent Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos, a charter school advocate, to be education secretary to the full Senate on Tuesday for a confirmation vote.

Summary: इवेंजेलिकल जेरी फालवेल जूनियर ट्रम्प शिक्षा कार्य बल के प्रमुख होंगे


TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has written to U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz demanding a shipment of weapons-grade plutonium en route to her state from Japan be turned back or sent elsewhere, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters. The demand has the potential to embarrass the Obama administration a week before it hosts an important summit on nuclear non-proliferation and undermine what so far has been viewed as a success in keeping weapons-grade material safe. The ship loaded with weapons-grade plutonium left Japan for a Department of Energy site in South Carolina on Tuesday in what is the largest such shipment of the highly dangerous material since 1992, the environmental group Greenpeace said.  The shipment “puts South Carolina at risk for becoming a permanent dumping ground for nuclear materials,” Haley said in the letter dated March 23. “Therefore, stop shipment or re-route this defense plutonium. God bless.”   A representative for the U.S. Department of Energy said it is reviewing Haley’s letter but cannot comment on matters under active litigation. The state has sued the department over the federal government’s plans to scrap a plutonium recycling plant that has been under construction for years in the state. The dispute comes as Washington prepares to host the Nuclear Security Summit March 31 to April 1.  The plutonium being shipped was supplied by the United States, Britain and France for the government-owned Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Fast Critical Assembly research project in Tokai Mura, according to the International Panel on Fissile Materials. The agreement to transfer the material to the United States was reached in March 2014 at a previous non-proliferation summit, the panel said on its website.  A South Carolina-based environmental advocacy group said the shipment “only exacerbates the plutonium storage and disposition problems at” the department’s Savannah River Site, a 310-square mile (500 square kilometers) area bordered by the Savannah River and Georgia. “The U.S. Government has done a poor job of explaining why this material is being taken to SRS,” Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, said in a statement.    The 331 kilograms (730 pounds) on board the British-owned Pacific Egret is only a tiny proportion of the nearly 50 tonnes  (55 tons) of plutonium held by Japan. Japan wants to use the plutonium extracted from spent fuel in nuclear plants as fuel for modified reactors. But with nearly all the country’s units still shut down in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster five years ago and no schedule for further restarts there is little use for the material. Only a few reactors can take plutonium as fuel. A homegrown reprocessing plant being built in northern Japan, which has relied on the British and French to extract plutonium from spent uranium fuel rods, also has the potential to add to the stockpile, although its start has been repeatedly delayed. The plutonium being shipped, enough to make about 50 nuclear weapons, was taken from the nuclear research center in the port town of Tokai Mura near Tokyo, for transport to South Carolina. The website www.vesselfinder.com said the ship is a nuclear fuel carrier.     Shipments of plutonium are highly sensitive because it can be used in nuclear weapons or to make a so-called dirty bomb. In Japan, public sensitivity is also high because it is the only country that has been attacked with nuclear bombs. Japan is also the only nation without atomic weapons with significant amounts of plutonium, which has led to constant criticism from neighboring countries, scientists and others.      China, a nuclear weapons state, this week said Japan should abide by its non-proliferation obligations. “Japan is still stockpiling a large amount of other sensitive nuclear materials, including separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium. This certainly is an issue for the international community to be concerned about,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.      Thomas Countryman, an assistant U.S. secretary of state in charge of non-proliferation, has called into question the renewal of an agreement between Washington and Tokyo that allows Japan to reprocess and produce weapons-grade plutonium.  The agreement is due to be extended in 2018, but with a new U.S. administration starting in January its status is unclear. “We think that there are genuine economic questions where it’s important that the U.S. and its partners in Asia have a common understanding of the economic and non-proliferation issues at stake before making a decision about renewal of the 1-2-3 Agreement, for example, with Japan,” Countryman told a Senate hearing last week.

Summary: दक्षिण कैरोलिना के गवर्नर ने अमेरिका से जापान से प्लूटोनियम हटाने का आग्रह किया