WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For months Republican presidential candidates traded insults such as “dummy,” “jerk” and “loser.” Then, party front-runner Donald Trump repeated a supporter’s description of Ted Cruz as a “pussy.” With the contest for the party’s nomination moving into South Carolina and the stakes rising, it is possible the most disparaging discourse of the Nov. 8 election campaign is yet to come.  The epithets may be characteristic of schoolyard bullies, but there is some evidence that candidates are reveling in the attention they draw. The harshest attacks elicit the biggest responses at rallies, on the Internet and on cable TV. Trump, the billionaire former reality TV star, sent a New Hampshire rally into a frenzy on Monday when he repeated the term “pussy” shouted by a person in the crowd, effectively questioning Cruz’s manliness. Trump went on to win the state’s primary the next day, ahead of the third-place Cruz by a 3-to-1 margin. “It’s one of the reasons I won. You have to be yourself,” Trump said in a television interview on NBC’s Today show. Trump later promised to clean up his foul language and to be more presidential.   History suggests the language could turn even more coarse in the run-up to next Saturday’s Republican nominating contest in South Carolina. It was there that U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona was accused in 2000 of fathering an illegitimate African-American child, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in 2008 of supporting polygamy.  “These adults are acting like elementary children,”  Leslie McRobbie, a former fifth-grade schoolteacher from New Hampshire, said of this year’s Republican contenders.   President Barack Obama, a Democrat, this week spoke of the snark that characterized a Republican race of the past when he recalled that Ronald Reagan was described by rivals as an “unshapely man” and a “yahoo” before his election as president in 1980. Coming off the first nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the seven remaining candidates for the Republican nomination are under pressure either to break away from the crowd or prevent others from doing so.  Insults can foster that. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, mocked more than once by Trump as a “low-energy” candidate, has since retaliated by tweeting that Trump was “not just a loser,” but also a “liar and a whiner.” The put-down was re-tweeted nearly 3,000 times and “liked” by more than 4,000 users.   Cruz, responding to Trump’s decision to skip a Fox News-hosted Republican debate, branded his rival “Ducking Donald” and sponsored a special edition filter on picture-sharing app Snapchat that featured a blond-haired duck with an exaggerated pout meant to represent the real-estate mogul. “When we create so much of the modern campaign around the characters that are running, and not on the subjects, the natural byproduct of that is calling people names,” said political scientist Michael Artime. Artime said that while bickering and name-calling have always existed in elections, this cycle has seen a notable uptick in the negative. “In the past, if somebody would’ve said what Trump said the other night, that would have been a very damaging thing to their campaign,” Artime said. “The kind of politics we get is kind of the politics we deserve,” he said.  While many have gleefully or indifferently watched as candidates hurled barb after barb, others have condemned it. “Bullying can be highly instrumental and used for social climbing,” said Bob Faris, associate professor of sociology at University of California-Davis, who studies aggressive behavior in adolescents. “And it works,” he said, “provided that kids target the right kids.” For Trump, perhaps the most blustery of the candidates, the target is constantly changing, his numbers remaining constant in the opinion polls while he assails rivals for being “stupid,” “weak” and “pathetic.” “He does look like a bully,” Faris said. “Donald is a whole new development. I can’t think of a candidate like him.” Presidential historian Mike Purdy, however, cites a precedent in the late Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. “Roosevelt loved more than anything else to be the center of attention, and he had a huge, huge ego,” Purdy said. “They both have a certain amount of ego. They both have trouble controlling their mouths,” Purdy said, likening Roosevelt to Trump. Purdy said Roosevelt called his onetime ally William Howard Taft a “fathead” during the 1912 presidential campaign, and went on to say then-rival Taft, seeking re-election at the time, had the “brains of a guinea pig.” Neither won the race. Purdy noted the attacks also came at the expense of substantive political discourse.  “They’re incredibly personal attacks, and they’re not just attacks just on somebody’s position, they’re attacks about personal characteristics,” he said. “That is part of the civility I think we need to recapture.” On Friday, Trump suggested he agreed. “I do this for effect,” Trump said of his foul language in an interview with WOR Radio in New York. “As we get closer, you will be shocked at how presidential I will be. You will be very proud of me.”  (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Howard Goller) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: हारे हुए! जर्क! अपमान रिपब्लिकन अभियान के निशान पर उड़ते हैं


AMMAN (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet a video from a far-right British group which she said was  hateful  and spreads division. Trump sparked outrage in Britain with a sharp rebuke of May on Twitter after she criticized him for retweeting anti-Islam videos from the deputy leader of Britain First.  The fact that we work together does not mean that we re afraid to say when we think the United States has got it wrong, and be very clear with them,  May told reporters in Amman.  And I m very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do,  May said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री मे ने कहा कि डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प ने अति-दक्षिणपंथी वीडियो को रीट्वीट करना गलत था


BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese tour operators based in the border city of Dandong have been told to halt trips to the North Korean capital Pyongyang, five sources told Reuters on Tuesday, the day before U.S. President Donald Trump s first official visit to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping will host Trump in Beijing on Wednesday, with North Korea s development of nuclear weapons expected to top their agenda. The United States has been pressuring China to do more to rein in its neighbor and ally. Tourism is one of the few remaining ways North Korea earns hard currency, as the United Nations has ramped up sanctions on the country over the past year, curbing key export industries including coal, seafood and textiles.  It was very unexpected, we had no idea this was going to happen until we received the notification today,  said a Chinese tour operator who runs trips to North Korea out of Dandong.  This is devastating news for us,  he said, adding the order had come from the Dandong Tourism Bureau. The sources Reuters interviewed for this story all requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.  The Dandong Tourism Bureau was not immediately reachable for comment late on Tuesday. China s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent after working hours on Tuesday night.  Most tour companies that take Chinese tourists to North Korea are based in Dandong, the main trading hub on the Chinese side of the border.  Dandong-based tour companies were told on Tuesday that, as of Wednesday, they were only permitted to run one-day tours to Sinuiju, the North Korean city opposite Dandong, which is a popular destination for Chinese tourists making day trips. Longer trips to Pyongyang and other parts of North Korea were banned until further notice, the sources said. Many Chinese tour operators run three-day or longer tours inside the world s most isolated country.  The sources said the government had not given any official explanation for the changes.   It s low season right now, but that s unlikely to be the reason,  said another Dandong-based tourism source.  It s much more likely to be connected to increasing sanctions against North Korea. We ll have to wait and see what happens once Trump leaves China. Maybe they will loosen the rules but it s very hard to say. This is all connected to the growing tensions.  Earlier this year, the United States banned its citizens from visiting North Korea after American college student Otto Warmbier died shortly after returning to the United States in a coma following more than a year in captivity in North Korea. He had been detained during a tour there. The Korea Maritime Institute, a think-tank in the South, estimates that tourism generates about $44 million in annual revenue for North Korea. About 80 percent of all North Korea s foreign tourists are Chinese, it says. China said more than 237,000 Chinese visited in 2012, but it stopped publishing the statistics in 2013. The order does not appear to affect North Korea-focused tour operators based elsewhere.  We didn t receive any notice to halt trips to North Korea,  said Rubio Chan of GLO Travel, a Hong Kong-based tour company which takes tourists to North Korea.  But that may be because we are based out of Hong Kong and we work directly with our partners in Pyongyang.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः चीन ने ट्रम्प की यात्रा से पहले उत्तर कोरिया में पर्यटन पर प्रतिबंध लगाया-सूत्र


DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States needed to improve its relationship with China, which he criticized for its economic policies and failure to rein in North Korea. “One of the most important relationships we must improve, and we have to improve, is our relationship with China,” Trump told a rally in Iowa. The United States and China are the world’s two biggest economies. “China is not a market economy,” he said. “They haven’t played by the rules, and I know it’s time that they’re going to start.” Trump criticized China repeatedly during his presidential campaign and drew a diplomatic protest from Beijing last week after speaking by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, which China considers a wayward province. It was the first such top-level contact with Taiwan by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter adopted a “one-China” policy in 1979, recognizing only the Beijing government. Trump kept up his criticism of Beijing during the rally, which was part of a “thank you tour” to express gratitude to states that helped him win an upset victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last month. “You have the massive theft of intellectual property, putting unfair taxes on our companies, not helping with the menace of North Korea like they should, and the at-will and massive devaluation of their currency and product dumping,” Trump said of China. “Other than that, they’ve been wonderful, right?” China is not currently viewed as a currency manipulator by either the U.S. Treasury Department or the International Monetary Fund. The World Trade Organization says Chinese tariffs on imported goods are generally higher than U.S. tariffs. Trump brought his pick for ambassador to China, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, onstage, saying Branstad always encouraged him not to say anything negative about China in his state. “I have so many friends there,” Trump said Branstad would tell him. Branstad has said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a 30-year friendship. The Iowa governor has visited China at least six times, and Xi has been to Iowa twice. Trump repeated his campaign message that he planned to prioritize the United States and American workers over global interests. The Trump administration, which takes office on Jan. 20,  would focus on two rules: “Buy American and hire American,” he said, adding he would keep pressuring companies not to move jobs overseas.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि U.S.-China संबंधों में सुधार होना चाहिए


MADRID (Reuters) - A judge will give his ruling on Monday on whether eight pro-independence Catalan politicians charged with sedition should be released from custody so they can contest a regional election set for Dec. 21, judicial sources said on Friday.  The eight, former members of Catalonia s dismissed regional government, appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday to request their release while they await trial in the wake of a disputed independence referendum. Catalan leaders, who previously held a slim parliamentary majority, made a unilateral declaration of independence in defiance of Spanish law on Oct. 27, leading to their arrest and forcing Madrid to take direct control of the region and call the election. The face-off between Barcelona and Madrid has tipped Spain into its worst political crisis in four decades, prompted more than 2,800 companies to move their legal headquarters out of the region, and forced the government to cut growth forecasts. It has also deeply divided people in the wealthy northeastern region and caused resentment in the rest of Spain. Sacked regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras, one of his ERC party s main candidates for the election, has asked to leave jail in order to campaign in the December vote, which pro-independence parties see as a de facto vote on secession. The presiding judge will make his decision on the cabinet members  custody public on Monday, judicial sources said. Any release would likely to be on bail and under strict conditions as the defendants await trial.    Junqueras and seven other former cabinet members were jailed on Nov. 2 pending trial on charges of sedition, rebellion and misappropriation of funds after organizing the illegal secession vote and declaring independence from Spain. Earlier in November, the Supreme Court released Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell on bail of 150,000 euros  ($178,410) after she agreed to renounce any political activity that went against the Spanish constitution. All eight former cabinet members have said they would abide by a ruling giving Madrid control over the region, according to their lawyers, although some of them said they did not agree with this unprecedented move stripping power from the rebel administration. Campaigning for the Dec. 21 election officially starts on Tuesday. The former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, in self-imposed exile in Belgium and subject to an arrest warrant from Spain for rebellion and misuse of public funds, has called the elections the most important in the region s history. Barely a quarter of Catalans want to continue with the project of creating an independent state, a survey by pollsters Metroscopia showed. However, the same poll of 1,800 Catalans taken between Nov. 20 and Nov. 22, showed that separatist parties are forecast to win 46 percent of the vote, down slightly from 47.7 percent in a previous election in 2015.  Unionist parties combined would account for another 46 percent of votes, up from less than 40 percent last time. The leaders of Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart   who were imprisoned last month, also testified before the Supreme Court over their role in the independence drive.  ($1 = 0.8408 euros)

Summary: कैटलन कैबिनेट के पूर्व सदस्य सुप्रीम कोर्ट में पेश हुए


MANILA (Reuters) - China s agreement to begin talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the fine print of a code of conduct framework for the disputed South China Sea will help to stabilize the region, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said.  China s greatest hope is for peace and stability in the South China Sea,  Li told ASEAN leaders in Manila. The Chinese and Southeast Asian foreign ministers in August adopted a negotiating framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, a move they hailed as progress but seen by critics as a tactic to buy China time to consolidate its maritime power. While the South China Sea was not as dominant an issue at this summit at a time of relative calm, there was an underlying acknowledgement amongst ASEAN members that the risk of a miscalculation in the disputed waterway could flare up at anytime.       Li, addressing ASEAN leaders during a summit in the Philippines capital Manila on Monday, said there was a consensus on moving forward and to try to peacefully resolve the issue.  We hope the talks on the code of conduct will bolster mutual understanding and trust,  Li said, according to a transcript of his speech released by China s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.  He added that he hoped this would be a  stabilizer  for the region, while pledging that China would  firmly safeguard  the freedom of navigation and overflight in the strategic waterway where $3 trillion worth of goods passes every year.  Critics, however, say the agreement to talk on the details of the code of conduct is only an incremental move, with a possible final agreement still years away.  While Li did not give a timeframe, Philippines  President Rodrigo Duterte, who was chairing the regional summit, said China was being pressed to set a specific date and that Beijing responded it would  consider really fast-tracking  the code of conduct.   China has graciously agreed to a code of conduct and it binds itself to the agreement,  Duterte said. The framework seeks to advance a 2002 Declaration of Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea, which has mostly been ignored by claimant states, particularly China, which has built seven manmade islands in disputed waters, three of which are equipped with runways, surface-to-air missiles and radars. All parties say the framework is only an outline for how the code will be established but critics say the failure to outline as an initial objective the need to make the code legally binding and enforceable, or have a dispute resolution mechanism, raises doubts about how effective the pact will be.  Signing China up to a legally binding and enforceable code for the waterway has long been a goal for claimant members of ASEAN, some of which have sparred for years over what they see as China s disregard for their sovereign rights and its blocking of fishermen and energy exploration efforts. Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines all claim some or all of the South China Sea and its myriad shoals, reefs and islands. China claims most of the waterway and has been aggressively building and militarizing artificial islands. China s official news agency Xinhua said in a commentary that the pact to hold consultations on the code of conduct was  a new starting point to jointly build a sea of peace, stability and prosperity .

Summary: दक्षिण चीन सागर आचार संहिता वार्ता क्षेत्र के लिए 'स्थिर' होगीः चीन के प्रधानमंत्री


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is built on his business acumen. But some of the Wall Street funds that he has invested in have proven less successful, underperforming industry benchmarks in the last 15 months, according to a Reuters examination. Eighteen out of 21 hedge funds and mutual funds in Trump’s portfolio lost money in 2015, and 17 of them are down so far this year, according to public disclosures and private performance data seen by Reuters. The funds managed by Paulson & Co, BlackRock Inc, Baron Capital and others lost an average of 8.5 percent last year, according to Reuters calculations, whereas stock market and hedge fund industry benchmarks broke even or came close to it. Trump’s funds are down another 2.9 percent so far this year, underperforming many benchmarks again. The performances in part reflect broader weaknesses in the investing climate. The last 15 months have been difficult for many portfolio managers amid volatile stock markets, tumbling oil and commodity prices, and an economic slowdown in China. Trump defended his holdings in an interview with Reuters, saying he invested in the funds three or four years ago and they have done well over time. “I put some money with people that are friends,” the New York businessman said by phone on Monday, without naming names. “I have no idea if they are up or down. I just know that they have been very good over a period of time,” added Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination for the November presidential election. Representatives for Baron, BlackRock and Paulson declined to comment. To be sure, some of Trump’s funds have performed well this year. For instance, Gabelli Funds’ GAMCO Global Gold, Natural Resources & Income fund, a closed-end vehicle, has gained 16.27 percent through March 22, beating a benchmark return of 15.89 percent for natural resource funds, according to net asset value data from Morningstar. Another fund that Trump has invested in, the Invesco European Growth Fund, gained 4.82 percent last year versus a benchmark loss of 5.66 percent, according to Morningstar. Gabelli and Invesco declined to comment. Both funds are listed as small holdings within Trump’s broader brokerage accounts.     The 21 funds examined by Reuters were among 23 funds that Trump disclosed last year in a July 15 filing with the Federal Election Commission. The performance of two of the funds could not be discerned. The Reuters review included performance data publicly disclosed by 14 mutual funds, as well as performance data on seven hedge funds seen in confidential fund reports or shared by people familiar with those firms. Trump told Reuters the funds are a tiny part of his investment portfolio. “I do very little hedge funds business. I for the most part don’t believe in it,” he said. The 23 funds were worth as much as $120.75 million, according to the FEC filing, a fraction of Trump’s self-proclaimed net worth of more than $10 billion.  While Trump selected the funds, their managers are responsible for choosing securities to invest in and the funds’ subsequent performance.  Some investing experts who looked at Trump’s portfolio and Reuters’ compilation of their performance were not impressed, saying he could have earned better returns by investing in other hedge funds.  For instance, Reuters previously reported that Millennium Management’s main Millennium International fund gained 12.65 percent in 2015, while Citadel gained 14.3 percent in its main multi-strategy hedge funds. “By the looks of it, Mr. Trump’s investing prowess is very pedestrian,” said Brian Shapiro, chief executive of Simplify LLC, which tracks and analyses alternative investments like hedge funds. “For someone who prides himself on being surrounded by the best talent,” added Brad Alford, an investment advisor and CEO of Alpha Capital Management, “I’m surprised to see so few winners.”  To be sure, some of Trump’s funds that fell in 2015 have fared better in previous years. For instance, BlackRock’s Obsidian fund has averaged annual returns of 3.39 percent over the last five years, according to a person familiar with the performance. Obsidian fell 6.17 percent in 2016 through March 11, while other comparable funds rose 0.69 percent, according to a private client report by HSBC’s Alternative Investment Group seen by Reuters. BlackRock declined to comment. “You can’t measure it in a short time. I’m way up with BlackRock. I’m way up with Obsidian,” Trump told Reuters, without elaborating further.  Trump disclosed a $27.6 million stake in Obsidian in May 2015, his largest fund holding. It is unclear when Trump first invested in Obsidian, which bets on corporate and government bonds, along with interest rates and other securities.  Obsidian was burned by a slide in oil and other commodities, according to a February BlackRock client note seen by Reuters. Trump’s stable of funds include two Angelo, Gordon & Co hedge funds, three Paulson & Co hedge funds, and 11 Baron Capital mutual funds. The mutual funds are open to virtually anyone, but hedge funds are only accessible to those that meet minimum wealth requirements, which typically include a net worth of more than $1 million. A representative for Angelo, Gordon & Co did not respond to a request for comment. Baron’s billionaire founder, Ron Baron, is known for long-term bets on companies and an optimistic world view. Trump uses 11 Baron vehicles with different investment strategies, including small-cap stocks, real estate and emerging markets. Nine of the funds lost money in 2015, with one energy and resources vehicle falling nearly 32 percent, according to data compiled by Morningstar. Nine are down this year through March 22 with single-digit losses.   Baron’s long-term track record is better. The firm’s best-known Baron Growth Fund has gained an average of about 8.6 percent annually over the last five years.  Paulson’s funds have produced a mixed performance in recent years. Led by New York billionaire John Paulson, the firm became famous for its prescient bet on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market leading up to the financial crisis.  But in 2015, the three Paulson funds used by Trump all fell, according to data provided by an investor to Reuters. One of the funds, the Paulson Advantage Plus fund, had declined an average of about 22 percent every year over the last five years, according to a confidential fund report seen by Reuters. Trump's filing to the FEC lists myriad business ventures, including holdings in hotels and golf properties, as well as individual stocks such as Apple Inc, Goldman Sachs and Altria Group. (Click here ) Trump told Reuters his stock picks have done well recently. “I bought them low and I sold them high,” he said, referring to a series of sales in January 2014 that netted more than $27 million.  “It was very good timing,” he added. “I hit the market exactly perfectly.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के निवेश कोषों को धन का नुकसान, अरबपति परेशान नहीं


NORTHWESTERN JUNGLES, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia s ELN guerrilla group said a Russian-Armenian citizen it held hostage for six months was killed in April while trying to escape, a startling admission that risks throwing current peace talks with the government into jeopardy.  In a rare interview, a commander of the National Liberation Army, Colombia s last active guerrilla group, said that ransoms from kidnappings were necessary to keep its fighters in the field and that peace would be impossible without state funding to feed and clothe the rebels. The ELN seized Arsen Voskanyan in November. The group claimed that he was collecting endangered, poisonous frogs in the jungles of the northwestern department of Choco and accused him of wanting to smuggle wildlife overseas.  After his lengthy captivity, Voskanyan was shot when he grabbed a hand grenade in a bid to escape, according to the ELN commander, who would only give his nom-de-guerre Yerson.   He s dead,  Yerson told Reuters in a remote area along the banks of a river that sees frequent combat between the leftist rebels, government troops and right-wing paramilitaries.  The grenade exploded ... several of our boys were wounded, the entire unit of five boys. He fled, he was shot and killed ... The issue of his body will be negotiated,  he said, adding that the death took place within his unit. Yerson supplied no evidence to back up his assertions. Another person with knowledge of the matter also subsequently confirmed that Voskanyan had been killed.  Reuters could not independently confirm the circumstances surrounding Voskanyan s death. Colombia s government said it knows nothing of the ELN s claim and the last it knew was a statement from the ELN that said he had escaped.  The responsibility is with the ELN,  the senior official said, asking not to be named. The Russian Embassy in Colombia, Colombia s High Peace Commissioner and the Foreign Ministry in Moscow did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ELN s practice of kidnapping civilians is a key issue at peace talks taking place in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. The fact that Voskanyan was killed as talks progress and the ELN failed to inform the government may complicate already tricky negotiations to end 53 years of war and make the need to agree a ceasefire more pressing.  It makes it urgent to get a bilateral, verifiable ceasefire as soon as possible so this doesn t keep happening,  leftist Senator Antonio Navarro Wolff, who once belonged to now-demobilized urban guerrilla group the M-19, told Reuters. Yerson and his troops said they are not optimistic a peace agreement can be reached because neither side will give ground on kidnapping. The ELN has refused to stop taking hostages for ransom, launching bomb attacks and extorting foreign oil and mining companies while talks are ongoing. The government has said it will not move forward on issues like a bilateral ceasefire until it does. Talks with the ELN are being held as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), until this year the biggest rebel group, has demobilized, formed a new political party and ended its part in a civil war that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions over five decades. His face covered by a thin black balaclava and wearing a beret and camouflage fatigues, Yerson, 35, said he has been fighting in Colombia s jungles and mountains  for many, many years.   Flanked by two fighters carrying semi-automatic rifles as other rebels watched on, he questioned the government s willingness to make sufficient concessions but said he would adhere to the wishes of his leadership if a peace deal was reached. The ELN has sought peace before, holding talks in Cuba and Venezuela between 2002 and 2007, but experts have said those discussions were dogged by lack of will on both sides. Yerson is the commander of the Ernesto  Che  Guevara Front, that fights under the command of the ELN leader known as Uriel who commands the Western War Block Omar Gomez. He declined to say how many rebels fight in his unit. The ELN - which has kidnapped hundreds of Colombians and foreigners for economic and political gain - previously said in a statement that Voskanyan escaped injured after a struggle that left several fighters wounded as they tried to release him to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The killing of Voskanyan may turn already dire public perception further against the ELN, analyst Ariel Avila told Reuters.  The impact will be on public opinion and in the questioning of the talks,  he said. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and established by radical Catholic priests in 1964, the ELN was close to disappearing in the 1970s but steadily gained power again.  By 2002 it had as many as 5,000 fighters, financed by  war taxes  levied on landowners and oil companies. It is now believed to have about 2,000 fighters, but Yerson, who would not confirm the number, said the group is heavily recruiting.  Considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, the ELN has stepped up attacks on economic infrastructure this year, hitting oil pipelines and power lines repeatedly. President Juan Manuel Santos, who meted out some of the most crushing military blows against the FARC and earned a Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts at peace, has had less success with the ELN, which moves in mobile units of four or so fighters.  The ELN has said it may declare a temporary ceasefire to honor Pope Francis during his visit next week to Colombia.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः कोलंबिया के ई. एल. एन. का कहना है कि उसने रूसी बंधक को मार डाला; सरकार के साथ शांति वार्ता को खतरा


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain believes it can quickly agree a framework for a transitional agreement on exiting the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May s spokesman said on Tuesday, even as other stark differences over the Brexit timeline persisted. Britain is seeking a so-called implementation period of around two years following its departure from the EU in March 2019, during which its access to the EU single market would stay largely unchanged while new arrangements are put in place. Businesses are keen to see the details of such a deal as soon as possible to end uncertainty over the trading rules they will face after Britain leaves the bloc.  In terms of the broad outline of an implementation period, we believe that we can agree that quickly,  May s spokesman said. He did not provide further detail on when Britain hoped to reach such an agreement.  We re clear that we want to achieve this implementation period, that we believe we can do so, and that our priority is to provide certainty for business,  he said. May left some businesses confused on Monday by saying any implementation period would not be agreed until a deal was struck on Britain s future trading relationship with the bloc. That countered expectations that a transitional deal would come well before any deal on trade. It also highlighted a clear difference between Britain and the EU over when a trade deal would be agreed. Britain is seeking an  ambitious  deal on trade with the EU to replace its existing arrangement at the end of an implementation period. It believes its current close ties with the bloc mean such a deal will be agreed by October 2018. But the EU s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said it would take three years to negotiate a trade deal, meaning that if talks start in December it would be ready in time for the end of a transition period running until December 2020. In response, asked if it was Britain s position that it could still achieve a trade deal by the end of next year under the two-year exit process, May s spokesman said:  Yes . Commenting on the timeline set out by Britain, an EU official said the bloc wanted to  define a framework for our future relationship  by this time next year so that a withdrawal treaty could  take account  of that future under the terms of the  Article 50  legal exit process. However, the official said the EU will only negotiate on the details of a free trade deal after Britain has actually left in March 2019 because the EU s own laws do not allow it to negotiate trade agreements with its own members.  Article 50 says that the withdrawal agreement has to take into account our future relationship, so we will know the terms of our partnership with the EU by our exit,  a spokeswoman for May said when asked about the position set out by the EU official.  But as to the details, that s subject to negotiation and I can t pre-empt those.

Summary: ब्रिटेन ब्रेक्सिट संक्रमण रूपरेखा पर तेजी से सौदा देखता है, अभी भी व्यापार पर यूरोपीय संघ के साथ मतभेद है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager said on Tuesday the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election would “very likely” be decided in March, and that the support of black and Hispanic voters would be key to victory. “It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for a Democrat to win the nomination without strong levels of support among African American and Hispanic voters,” campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in a memo titled “March Matters.” “The nomination will very likely be won in March, not February, and we believe that Hillary Clinton is well positioned to build a strong – potentially insurmountable – delegate lead next month,” he said.  CNN projected on Tuesday that Clinton lost to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.  (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Writing by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Peter Cooney) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: मार्च में डेमोक्रेटिक नामांकन जीतने की संभावनाः क्लिंटन अभियान प्रबंधक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it expects the Senate to retain the “principles” of the healthcare bill approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday even as it makes some changes. “We expect there to be some changes, but we expect the principles and the main pillars of the healthcare bill as it exists now to remain the same,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Among those principles, she said, were creating a competitive environment and giving states more flexibility to make decisions about the healthcare system.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस को उम्मीद है कि सीनेट स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक में बदलाव करेगा, लेकिन सिद्धांतों को बरकरार रखेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is committed to overhauling the U.S. tax code before the end of 2017, a top White House economic advisor said on Monday. “The president is 100 percent committed to getting tax reform done this year,” said Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, at the start of a listening session with real estate industry groups on taxes. “We just had a cabinet meeting ... the No. 1 topic at the cabinet meeting was talking about taxes and tax reform and what it would take to get tax reform done this year,” Cohn said.

Summary: 2017 में कर सुधार के लिए ट्रंप '100 प्रतिशत' प्रतिबद्धः कोहन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday that testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey showed President Donald Trump appeared to threaten his job and asked him to drop an investigation into a senior aide, violating clear guidelines designed to prevent political interference into FBI probes. “The testimony that Mr. Comey has submitted for today’s hearing is disturbing,” Mark Warner will say in his opening statement at a committee hearing, according to excerpts obtained by Reuters.  (Refiles to corrects day of week in first paragraph.)

Summary: कोमी की गवाही परेशान करने वाली, ऐसा लगता है कि ट्रंप नौकरी की धमकी दे रहे हैंः वार्नर


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Shelling along the disputed border between Pakistan and India killed six civilians, and wounded an additional 30 people, officials from the two sides said on Friday, in the latest confrontation between the two nuclear-armed countries. The clash came on the heels of the two arch-foes trading accusations at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.      The firing took place across the frontier separating Pakistan s Punjab province from Indian-administered Kashmir s Jammu region, and most of the casualties were reported on the Pakistani side. Pakistan s military said six civilians were killed and 26 wounded.  Pakistan Rangers Punjab befittingly responded on posts targeting civil population,  the Pakistan army s public relations wing said in a statement. Indian Police officials in Jammu said the ceasefire was violated by Pakistani forces, who injured four civilians on the Indian side.  Both countries claim Kashmir, and have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region, which they have disputed  since partition and independence from British colonial rule in 1947.  In July, four soldiers were killed when Indian shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC) that separates parts of Kashmir held by both countries struck a Pakistani army vehicle. Indian officials denied any knowledge of the incident.  In May, India accused Pakistani forces of killing two soldiers patrolling the LoC and mutilating their bodies. Pakistan s military denied the allegations and said it had not committed ceasefire violations. Both sides have previously accused each of violating the ceasefire and of beheading soldiers in the past. On Thursday in New York, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi urged the UN secretary general to appoint a special envoy for Kashmir.  He accused India s military of brutality in a crackdown against anti-India activists. Hundreds of Kashmiris have been killed or injured and shotgun pellets have blinded and maimed others, he said. India rejected the allegation, terming Pakistan a home to terrorism that harbors violent militants.  India accuses Pakistan of backing several anti-India militant groups and helping them infiltrate the Kashmir to stoke  violence and carry out terrorist acts. Pakistan denies the charge.

Summary: पाकिस्तान-भारत सीमा पर गोलाबारी में छह नागरिकों की मौत, 30 घायल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Rifle Association is on track for record spending this year on U.S. political campaigns, including Missouri’s U.S. Senate race where a gun-owning Democrat is waging a tough fight against an incumbent Republican backed by the gun rights group. Democrat Jason Kander, an Afghanistan war veteran, is running just 2.5 percentage points behind Republican U.S. Senator Roy Blunt in opinion polls in Missouri, despite the NRA’s expenditure of $1.8 million so far trying to protect Blunt as well as the Republicans’ U.S. Senate majority. Gun violence has transfixed the United States in 2016, from a massacre at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub to a rash of police shootings, fueling demands by some Democrats and activists for tighter gun laws. Those efforts have been thwarted, as in years past, by the NRA and its supporters, who say such measures would infringe on the right to bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Congress has not approved major gun-control legislation since the 1990s. An Aug. 19 Reuters/Ipsos poll found 41.8 percent of respondents agreed there should be strong restrictions on firearms and 22.4 percent supported moderate regulations.     Per-capita firearm ownership in the United States far exceeds any other country, according to government estimates.   In the Missouri race and other Senate contests in states such as North Carolina, Nevada, Florida and New Hampshire, the gun-control battle gripping Washington is playing out on the campaign trail. The NRA has spent $23.4 million in this election cycle, with a month to go before voting on Nov. 8, compared with a previous high of $27 million in the entire 2014 campaign cycle, according to federal data gathered by the Center for Responsive Politics. The NRA did not respond to requests for comment. In addition to Senate Republicans, the lobbying group is also backing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Blunt, 66, is a two-decade veteran of Congress. He accuses Kander, 35, of being soft on gun ownership rights. Blunt has an “A” rating from the NRA. Kander has an “F,” which the NRA says he earned by backing expanded background checks on gun buyers and legislation that failed this year in Congress to bar people on “terrorism watch lists” from buying guns. “The difference between Senator Blunt and myself is that I want to stop criminals and suspected terrorists from having the same access to guns as the rest of us, which is why I support background checks,” Kander said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday. Kander, Missouri’s secretary of state, counterpunched against Blunt last month with a 30-second TV commercial that has had more than 1 million views on youtube.com.  In the ad, the former U.S. Army captain assembles a military-style rifle while blindfolded. He says he has supported gun ownership rights, but adds: “I also believe in background checks so that terrorists can’t get their hands on one of these.” A fierce debate in Washington over such background checks in June led to a 25-hour sit-in by Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives.  “The reaction to that ad has reset the debate” in the Missouri Senate race, said Tim Daly, managing director of guns and crime policy for the liberal Center For American Progress, a think tank in Washington. Kander’s polling numbers were already rising when the Sept. 15 ad was first broadcast. But Daly said Kander planted fresh doubts over the NRA position on background checks. Blunt and his campaign spokesmen were not available for comment.  The NRA is Blunt’s No. 2 financial backer in the Missouri race, surpassed only by a group closely associated with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that backs Republicans. Like the Blunt-Kander battle, other key 2016 Senate races feature intense debate over guns as Republicans work to defend their control of the Senate. In North Carolina, the NRA has pumped in $2.8 million to support threatened incumbent Republican Senator Richard Burr. The first televised debate in New Hampshire this week between Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte and her Democratic challenger, Governor Maggie Hassan, began with a moderator asking how they could reduce gun violence without infringing on gun rights. Ayotte has come under attack from Americans for Responsible Solutions for her opposition to tough gun background checks. The group works to reduce U.S. gun violence in the United States.

Summary: एन. आर. ए. बंदूक अधिकार समूह ने रिपब्लिकन अमेरिकी सीनेट अभियानों में धन डाला


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has branded leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a threat to peace and prosperity while Chancellor Angela Merkel said it had always been a pleasure to work with Democrat Hillary Clinton.  The comments by Gabriel, Germany’s vice chancellor and leader of the Social Democrats, are the clearest sign yet that ruling politicians in Europe are increasingly worried about the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections. “Whether Donald Trump, Marine le Pen or Geert Wilders - all these right-wing populists are not only a threat to peace and social cohesion, but also to economic development,” Gabriel told Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. Gabriel said that Trump and French National Front leader Le Pen were promising voters “a way back into a fairytale world” in which economic activity only happened within national borders but that history had shown such isolated economies had no prospect. “We have to make the effort to explain how we want to shape globalization in a fair way,” Gabriel said. Politicians in Germany and elsewhere in Europe have watched nervously as businessman and reality TV star Trump has moved from long shot to front-runner of the Republicans seeking the party’s nomination ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Trump has described Merkel’s welcoming policy towards refugees as “insane” and predicted it would cause rioting in Germany. He has also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at odds with Europe since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region two years ago. Merkel told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview she did not know Trump personally. When asked about his attacks against her refugee policy, the chancellor said: “I don’t see any reason why I should reply to him.” At the same time, Merkel said of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton: “I value her long political experience, her commitment for women’s rights, family issues and health care. “I value her strategic thinking and that she is a strong supporter of the transatlantic partnership. Whenever I had the chance to work together with Hillary Clinton, it was a great pleasure.” Germany does not face a federal election until next year. But a new anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has emerged as a threat to Merkel’s conservatives. The AfD wants Germany to shut its border to migrants and use force to repel them if necessary.  (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Ralph Boulton) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: जर्मन मंत्री ने ट्रंप को बताया खतरा, मर्केल ने की क्लिंटन की सराहना


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s military said on Wednesday that more than 80 militants were killed in an air strike on Monday in northern Iraq, where Turkish jets have frequently targeted PKK fighters. It said in a statement that a weapons depot and two vehicles were also destroyed in the air strike. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey since the 1980s, also has bases across the border in Iraq.

Summary: तुर्की का कहना है कि उत्तरी इराक में हवाई हमले में 80 आतंकवादी मारे गए


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron s speech on European Union reform, which contained  a lot of material  for necessary debate on the issue, her spokesman said. Germany shares Macron s view that the EU needs reforms. The details of reforms must be discussed, added the spokesman, Steffen Seibert.  This discussion is necessary and sensible,  Seibert told a regular government news conference in Berlin, adding that the leaders would have a chance to talk at an EU meeting in Tallinn on Thursday.

Summary: मर्केल ने यूरोपीय संघ सुधार बहस के लिए मैक्रों से 'बहुत सारी सामग्री' का स्वागत किया


(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: U.S.-BRITAIN Trump says he wants good relations with Russia and declined to say whether he was ready to lift sanctions on Moscow, which visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May said must stay in place. U.S.-MEXICO A day after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a Washington trip, Trump says they had a friendly phone call but asserted he will renegotiate trade deals and other aspects of the countries’ ties because Mexico has “beat us to a pulp” in the past. The White House says that Trump and Pena Nieto recognized their differences on Trump’s plan to build a wall on the southern U.S. border but have agreed to “work these differences out.” Trump is poised to sign an executive order on Friday to temporarily halt refugees from some Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, a White House official says. Trump’s executive order taking away federal funding from “sanctuary cities” has an exemption for one of his favorite constituencies, the police, who would be protected from cuts. But opponents say that could be grounds for a legal challenge. U.S.-RUSSIA Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are likely to discuss the sanctions that Washington imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine when the two leaders speak by telephone on Saturday, a senior White House aide says. U.S. Senator John McCain, addressing speculation about lifting sanctions, hopes the administration will reject that “reckless course” and calls Putin a murderer and thug.  Vice President Mike Pence fires up tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists in Washington for the 44th March for Life, celebrating a political shift in their favor with Trump’s election. U.S.-U.N. Nikki Haley, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, pledges to overhaul the world body and warns U.S. allies that if they do not support Washington, then she is “taking names” and will respond. Trump’s move to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline is part of his plan to boost U.S. drillers and create new U.S. jobs, but the project’s biggest winners may be Canadian. Vice President Mike Pence reportedly tells Republicans a “full evaluation of voting rules” will likely be part of the Trump administration’s investigation into what the president claims is widespread voting fraud.

Summary: हाइलाइट्सः 27 जनवरी को दोपहर 2ः43 बजे ईएसटी/1943 जीएमटी पर ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी


BEIJING (Reuters) - When they met at U.S. President Donald Trump s Mar-a-Lago estate in April, China s President Xi Jinping found a way to charm the mercurial former real estate mogul. Trump hailed the  good chemistry  of the sunny summit in Florida and predicted  lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away.   The  bromance  is set to continue when Xi returns the favor by laying on a lavish welcome for Trump s visit starting on Wednesday. Xi has grown more powerful since their last meeting, while Trump is under a political cloud after his former campaign manager was indicted in an intensifying investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.   Chinese experts say Beijing has learned to manage Trump, a real-estate mogul who had never held elective office before becoming president, and whose administration in its first 10 months has been turbulent.   China has an objective view of him. We re going to make him feel comfortable,  said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University.  He may end up being re-elected. We need to look at this from a long-term perspective, and not view him as an  other  or a joke.  Trump clearly respects Xi. In a congratulatory phone call, Trump hailed the  extraordinary elevation  of Xi, whose political thoughts were enshrined in the Communist Party s constitution last month during a congress marking the start of his second term.  Aboard Air Force One on his way to Asia, Trump cited record stock market levels, low unemployment and Islamic State  virtually defeated in the Middle East  as evidence of his own success.  (Xi) knows that and he respects that,  Trump said, adding trade is still an irritant in ties.  I think he s viewing us as very, very strong and also very friendly. Look we have to do better with trade with China because it s a one way street right now. It has been for many years. And we will.   STATE-PLUS  China s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, said Trump will receive a  state visit-plus  experience in Beijing. It s unclear what the  plus  means. Trump is expected to go to the Forbidden City and participate in an inspection of Chinese troops, though China has released few other details. The  protocol will let Trump  rejoice in grandiosity , important to keeping relations stable, said Teng Jianqun, head of American Studies at Foreign Ministry think-tank China Institute for International Studies.  We must seize upon his special characteristics, such as liking instant gratification, and set up some things that bring immediate results,  he said. On the commercial front, that means a slew of deals - and worries among some in the U.S. business community that the transactional Trump will be placated by a handful of contract wins instead of resolving long-standing complaints over discriminatory Chinese policies and market access restrictions. [L4N1N304G] Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told reporters on Friday that China would  create a good atmosphere  with informal activities for the two presidents, so they have ample time to talk about important issues. Zheng said that at the April summit, Trump and his wife Melania had extended an  extremely warm, friendly and thoughtful  reception to Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan.  The Chinese people demand that courtesy be repaid in kind,  he said. Trump is a popular figure for many in China, who admire his business acumen; he is not the divisive figure he is in the United States and its allies in Europe and elsewhere.  The WeChat account of the ruling Communist Party s official People s Daily marked China s announcement of his visit with a picture of a beaming Trump and the headline  Trump s coming!  A contrast between the two presidents was set at the start of the year.  Days ahead of Trump taking office, Xi was the keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, offering a vigorous defense of globalization. Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership his first week in office, distancing America from its Asian allies.  One Beijing-based Western diplomat said Xi s strong and confident vision for China contrasts with perceptions that Trump often seems to pick arguments. But not with China. Trump in office put aside his grievances about China s trade and currency practices, aired vociferously during the campaign, to get China behind his strategy of punishing sanctions on North Korea for its escalating missile and nuclear tests. And Beijing accommodated him when he grew frustrated. Days after Trump s Sept. 4 tweet that the United States was considering  stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,  Beijing ordered North Korean companies operating within its borders to shut down, banned its exports of textiles and reduced China s oil exports to the North. But with North Korea occupying most of the Trump administration s attention in Asia, China s construction of military facilities on artificial islands in disputed waters of the South China Sea has seemingly fallen off the radar. Beijing does still get irritated about U.S. navy  freedom of navigation  patrols there, which have continued under Trump.  Trump is very popular with the (Chinese) military,  said a Chinese official with ties to the military, speaking on condition of anonymity.  It s great for China that the United States is in chaos. It means we don t have to worry about them challenging us.  Trump s 12-day trip to Asia   the longest by a U.S. president in a quarter-century - will give him a chance to reassure friends and allies in the region, who have expressed uncertainty about his  America First  policies.  Tillerson has already signaled the limits of Washington s patience with China. Ahead of a trip to India last month, Tillerson said that  China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order,  and he criticized China for its  predatory economics  and its  provocative actions in the South China Sea . At last month s party congress, Xi laid out a vision for a prosperous and assertive China taking a bigger place on the global stage. The congress left China with  greater confidence and lung power, more unhurried in its dealings with the United States,  Wang Wen, president of Renmin University s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, wrote in a front page commentary on Friday in the overseas edition of the People s Daily.

Summary: चीन पर अमेरिका के दबाव के कारण शी ट्रम्प को शांत करने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could bring in tough new controls on immigration from the European Union without actually having to leave the bloc, former prime minister Tony Blair said on Sunday. Concerns over the impact of high levels of immigration on public services and housing were cited as a factor by many who voted to leave the EU in last year s referendum. Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative government has said free movement of EU citizens coming to Britain must end. Many Brexit supporters blame Blair s government, which allowed citizens of former communist states to settle immediately in Britain despite a long transition period implemented by other EU countries, for a big influx of EU migrants from 2004.  There is no diversion possible from Brexit without addressing the grievances that gave rise to it. Paradoxically, we have to respect the referendum vote to change it,  Blair, who has said Brexit can and should be stopped, wrote in the Sunday Times newspaper.  We can curtail the things that people feel are damaging about European immigration, both by domestic policy change and by agreeing change within Europe to the freedom of movement principle,  added Blair, who led a Labour government for a decade from 1997. Asked about Blair s proposals, defense minister Michael Fallon said the government had to get on with delivering Brexit.  The country has taken its decision, we are leaving the European Union now and that means freedom of movement has to end ... there have got to be restrictions on those coming here,  he told BBC Television. A leaked government document last week said Britain was considering measures to restrict immigration for all but the highest-skilled EU workers, plans some companies called alarming. A paper published on Sunday by Blair s Institute for Global Change said the government could take steps including registering EU migrants when they arrive to keep track of whether they meet EU rules about finding work. EU migrants could also be forced to show evidence of a job offer before being allowed to enter Britain, and those without permission to reside could be banned from renting, opening a bank account or accessing welfare benefits, it said. The paper also proposes seeking an  emergency brake  to implement temporary controls on migration when services are stretched   a strengthened version of a deal offered to former Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of the referendum.

Summary: ब्रिटेन को यूरोपीय संघ के आव्रजन पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए ब्रेक्सिट की आवश्यकता नहीं हैः पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री ब्लेयर


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said the government would do everything it could to help restore Northern Ireland s power-sharing government, adding that Brexit would not herald the return of a hard border between the British province and Ireland.  I believe very firmly that the decisions for Northern Ireland are best made in Northern Ireland in that devolved administration. So we want to see that executive up and running,  May said.   We have been very clear, and the European Union agrees with us, that there should no physical infrastructure on the border,  she said.  It is important ... that we don t return to the hard border of the past.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री मे ने कहा कि ब्रेक्सिट का मतलब आयरलैंड के साथ एक कठिन सीमा नहीं होगा


(Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress reached a deal on tax legislation on Wednesday, clearing the way for final votes next week on a package that, if approved, would be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law. Formal language of the legislation, expected to add at least $1 trillion to the $20-trillion national debt over a decade, has not been released. The following are known provisions on which House of Representatives and Senate tax writers have agreed, based on conversations with aides and lawmakers: CORPORATE TAX RATE: Falls to 21 percent from 35 percent. The House and Senate bills, as well as Trump, had earlier proposed 20 percent. Going to 21 percent gave tax writers more federal revenue needed to allow the tax cut to take effect immediately. U.S. corporations have been seeking a large tax cut like this for many years.  PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES: Creates a 20 percent business income deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships. The House had proposed a 25 percent tax rate; the Senate, a 23 percent deduction.  CORPORATE MINIMUM: Repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax, which was set up to ensure profitable companies pay at least some federal tax. CLEAN ENERGY: Maintains production tax credit for wind energy and the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit. The House had proposed repealing the electric vehicle credit and scaling back the wind energy credit. The Senate version did neither. INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RATES: There will be seven brackets, and the top rate falls to 37 percent from 39.6 percent. The House had proposed maintaining the 39.6 percent top rate and condensing the current seven tax brackets to four. The Senate had proposed cutting the top rate to 38.5 percent and maintaining seven brackets. PERMANENCE: The expectation is that individual tax rates will snap back to current levels in less than 10 years, possibly after 2024. The individual tax rates in the House bill were to be permanent. The individual tax rates in the Senate bill were to expire after 2025. STATE AND LOCAL TAX (SALT): Both the House and Senate had proposed scaling back the popular individual deduction for state and local tax payments by limiting it to property-tax payments and capping that at $10,000. The compromise bill will keep that $10,000 cap, but allow for continued deduction of both state and local income tax payments, as well as property tax payments. MORTGAGE INTEREST: Caps the mortgage interest deduction for new mortgages at $750,000 in home loan value, down from the current $1 million. The House had proposed a $500,000 cap. The Senate bill left it at $1 million. ESTATE TAX: Roughly doubles the exemption from the federal estate tax on inherited assets to about $11 million per person, or about $22 million per couple, but leaves the estate tax in place, mirroring the Senate proposal. The House bill had proposed entirely repealing the estate tax over several years. OBAMACARE MANDATE: Repeals a federal fine imposed on Americans under Obamacare for not obtaining health insurance coverage. The House bill did not repeal the Obamacare individual mandate.  ANWR DRILLING: Allows oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The provision was sponsored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन के अंतिम कर विधेयक के प्रावधान


KABUL (Reuters) - A senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan apologized on Wednesday for a  highly offensive  leaflet which contained a passage from the Koran used in the Taliban militants  banner superimposed on to the image of a dog. The Taliban said the leaflet showed American hatred of Islam, adding that it had launched a suicide attack near the entrance to the U.S. Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul, in revenge. The image, distributed by U.S. forces in Parwan province, north of Kabul, on Tuesday, showed a section of the Taliban s banner superimposed onto the side of a dog - an animal considered unclean by Muslims. The banner contains a passage from the Koran in Arabic.  The design of the leaflets mistakenly contained an image highly offensive to both Muslims and the religion of Islam,  Major General James Linder said in a statement.  I sincerely apologize. We have the deepest respect for Islam and our Muslim partners worldwide,  he said, adding that an investigation would be held  to determine the cause of this incident and to hold the responsible party accountable . Parwan Governor Mohammad Hasem condemned the leaflet as  unforgivable .  Those who have committed this unforgivable mistake in the publicity, propaganda or media section of the coalition forces will be tried and punished,  he said. The incident highlights one of the challenges facing international forces in Afghanistan, most of which are from non-Muslim cultures, despite the efforts Western forces have generally taken to avoid stoking anti-foreigner sentiment. The risk of a backlash against international forces has grown more pronounced with a rise in civilian casualties caused by increased U.S. and Afghan government air strikes since the beginning of the year. The Taliban, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule to Afghanistan and drive out foreign forces, issued a statement saying the leaflet made clear  that this war is a war between Islam and unbelief . The insurgent movement claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the U.S. base at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul that local officials said wounded four Afghan civilians, although the Taliban itself said 20 Americans were killed. In 2012, U.S. commanders were forced to apologize after copies of the Koran and other religious texts were mistakenly burned at Bagram Air Base near Kabul. The incident triggered large demonstrations in Kabul and other provinces in which several people were killed. On another occasion, a film of U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters caused widespread offense, prompting an investigation and criminal charges. So-called information operations conducted by government and coalition forces have long been used to try to persuade local people to turn against the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Above the picture of a lion and the dog, the leaflet urged people to report insurgents to the authorities.   Take back your freedom from the terrorist dogs and cooperate with coalition forces so they can target your enemy and eliminate them,  it said.

Summary: अमेरिकी बलों ने 'अत्यधिक आक्रामक' अफगान प्रचार पत्रक के लिए माफी मांगी


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican finance minister Jose Antonio Meade will step down on Monday, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, as the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gears up to pick its candidate for the 2018 presidential election. One of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Meade would announce his intention to seek the presidency for the PRI when resigning. The office of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto late on Sunday said it would hold an event at 10.00 a.m. local time on Monday, without specifying what it entailed. Several Mexican media said Meade would announce his resignation at 10.00 a.m. A spokesman for Meade s office said he was unaware of any plans for the minister to resign on Monday. Pena Nieto is barred by law from seeking a second term, and his party faces a major challenge from twice presidential runner-up former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist who has led early polls for the July 2018 election. Meade would be replaced as finance minister by Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, currently head of state oil firm Pemex, one of the two people familiar with the situation said. Meade has for months been one of the favorites to be the PRI candidate, both due to his reputation for competence as a minister across two rival administrations, and because he has avoided the taint of corruption that has battered the party. The 48-year-old has also been a top pick to succeed the departing Agustin Carstens at the helm of the Mexican central bank. The second person said if Meade was not stepping down to run for the PRI, he would be going into that job. Meade is not a member of the centrist PRI, which changed its statutes in August to make it easier for outsiders to run for the presidency. Officials say his reputation for honesty and cross-party appeal will be vital if he hopes to defeat Lopez Obrador. On Thursday, the PRI announced it would begin registering presidential hopefuls on Dec. 3, and that a national convention would formally elect the candidate on Feb. 18. Education Minister Aurelio Nuno, 39, Pena Nieto s former chief of staff and one of his closest allies, as well as health minister Jose Narro, are the most likely alternatives to Meade if he does not seek the candidacy, senior officials say.

Summary: मेक्सिको के वित्त मंत्री इस्तीफा देंगे क्योंकि राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ः सूत्र


MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian bank under Western economic sanctions over Russia’s incursion into Ukraine disclosed on Monday that its executives had met Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a top White House adviser, in December.  A U.S. Senate committee investigating suspected Russian interference in the election wants to interview Trump associates, including Kushner, 36, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and has agreed to testify.  Kushner previously acknowledged meeting the Russian ambassador to Washington last December and only on Monday did it emerge that executives of Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) had talks with Kushner during a bank roadshow last year.  The bank said in an emailed statement that as part of its preparing a new strategy, its executives met representatives of financial institutes in Europe, Asia and America.  It said roadshow meetings took place “with a number of representatives of the largest banks and business establishments of the United States, including Jared Kushner, the head of Kushner Companies.” VEB declined to say where the meetings took place or the dates.  There was no immediate comment from Kushner.  Allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian actors were behind hacking of senior Democratic Party operatives and spreading disinformation linger over Trump’s young presidency. Democrats charge the Russians wanted to tilt the election toward the Republican, a claim dismissed by Trump. Russia denies the allegations.  MORE FROM REUTERS  * Breakingviews TV: Kushner's business  * Poll shows Macron win in French election   * U.S. shale enlists genetics to boost output But there has been no doubt that the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, developed contacts among the Trump team. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign on Feb. 13 after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Kislyak and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.  U.S. officials said that after meeting with Russian Kislyak at Trump Tower last December, a meeting also attended by Flynn, Kushner met later in December with Sergei Gorkov, chairman of Vnesheconombank.  White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed the meetings, saying nothing of consequence was discussed.  Gorkov was appointed head of VEB in early 2016 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He graduated from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia’s internal security agency. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit for Services to the Fatherland, according to the bank’s website.  According to two congressional staffers, some Senate investigators want to question Kushner and Flynn about whether they discussed with Gorkov or other Russian officials or financial executives the possibility of investing in 666 Fifth Avenue in New York or other Kushner Co or Trump properties if the new administration lifted the sanctions.  VEB, aside from being under sanctions, has been grappling with bad debt after financing politically expedient projects such as construction for the Sochi Winter Olympics.  It received 150 billion rubles ($2.6 billion) in support from the Russian budget in 2016, when its senior management was sacked and replaced by a team of executives from Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank.  In an article posted on Dec. 18, Forbes estimated that Jared Kushner, his brother Josh and his parents, Charles and Seryl, have a fortune of at least $1.8 billion, more than half of which Forbes estimates is held in real estate.  Forbes did not provide a specific estimate for Jared Kushner’s net worth on his own.  On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that Kushner is willing to testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee chaired by U.S. Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican.  “Throughout the campaign and the transition, Jared served as the official primary point of contact with foreign governments and officials ... and so, given this role, he volunteered to speak with Chairman Burr’s committee,” Spicer told reporters at his daily briefing.  The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate panel also said Kushner had agreed to be interviewed but no date had yet been scheduled.  Simply meeting with representatives of a U.S.-sanctioned entity is not a violation of sanctions or against the law.  Evgeny Buryakov, 41, a Russian citizen who worked at Vnesheconombank and whom U.S. authorities accused of posing as a banker while participating in a New York spy ring, pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy charge in March 2016. Buryakov admitted in federal court in Manhattan to acting as an agent for the Russian government without notifying U.S. authorities.  He was prosecuted by the office of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan under Preet Bharara, who was among several chief prosecutors fired or asked to resign earlier this month by the new administration.  Also on Monday, a mystery rooted in Trump’s claim that he was wiretapped by then President Barack Obama during the election campaign deepened with the disclosure that a top congressional Republican reviewed classified information on the White House grounds about potential surveillance of some Trump campaign associates.  U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, visited the White House the night before he announced on Wednesday that he had information that indicated some Trump associates may have been subjected to some level of intelligence activity before Trump took office on Jan. 20.  Democrats have said Nunes, who was a member of Trump’s transition team, can no longer run a credible investigation of Russian hacking, the U.S. election and any potential involvement by Trump associates.  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have urged Nunes to recuse himself from the Russia probe.  Nunes told CNN on Monday that he went to the White House grounds because the intelligence information was not available to Congress. He said he did not meet with Trump or his aides at that time and did not coordinate the release of information with the Trump administration.  Nunes spokesman Jack Langer said in a statement that Nunes “met with his source at the White House grounds in order to have proximity to a secure location where he could view the information provided by the source.”  White House spokesman Spicer did not shed any light on who at the White House helped Nunes gain access to a secure location.  It was the latest twist in a saga that began on March 4 when Trump said on Twitter without providing evidence that he “just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory.”  FBI Director James Comey told Congress last Monday he had seen no evidence to support the claim.  (This version of the story corrects paragraph 1 to show that meeting was in December, not during 2016 presidential campaign. Paragraph 22 has also been corrected to show Buryakov pleaded guilty in March 2016, not Friday.)

Summary: ट्रम्प के दामाद ने प्रतिबंधित रूसी बैंक के अधिकारियों से मुलाकात की, गवाही देंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House national security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Moscow’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Donald Trump took office, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, the Post said some senior U.S. officials interpreted the contacts as a “potentially illegal” signal to Russia that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in December. Reuters could not immediately confirm the Washington Post report. Reuters reported last month, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that Flynn had held five phone calls with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Dec. 29, the day then-President Barack Obama retaliated for Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Post said Flynn on Wednesday denied that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador, but on Thursday backed away from the denial through a spokesman. Flynn “indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up,” the Post quoted the spokesman as saying. Officials said this week that the FBI is continuing to examine Flynn’s contacts with Kislyak, according to the paper. “Several officials emphasized that while sanctions were discussed, they did not see evidence that Flynn had an intent to convey an explicit promise to take action after the inauguration,” the Post said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सलाहकार ने रूसी राजदूत के साथ प्रतिबंधों पर चर्चा कीः वाशिंगटन पोस्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled his administration’s official go-ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial project that was rejected by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. “I’m pleased to announce the official approval of the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re working out the final details as we speak,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कीस्टोन एक्सएल पाइपलाइन को अमेरिकी हरी झंडी दी


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 aftershock that shook Mexico on Saturday was blamed for five deaths, spreading fear among anxious residents reeling from a string of natural disasters and interrupting the search for survivors from a bigger tremor earlier this week. The Popocatepetl volcano south of Mexico City sent a column of ash into the sky, capping an intense period of seismic activity including two powerful tremors this month that have killed more than 400 people and caused damage of up to $8 billion. Mexico s capital was shattered by Tuesday s magnitude 7.1 quake that flattened dozens of buildings and killed at least 307 people. The government s response to the disaster is under close scrutiny ahead of a presidential election next year. Although the latest quake was not as destructive, fear is  running high among the population. Terrified residents ran into the streets, where they crouched and prayed as earthquake sirens went off. Two women died of heart attacks as the ground shook, the city government said. Tents were set up in different parts of the city where psychologists offered mental health support to survivors and rescuers traumatized by the natural disasters. Acts of solidarity came from all corners of Mexican society. Tuesday s quake hit on the anniversary of a 1985 tremor that, by some estimates, killed 10,000 people. Roxana Trani, a 30-year-old banker, was one of the thousands of young Mexicans who turned to social media to find out how to help. She joined one of the aid collection centers that popped up in Mexico City and traveled to Puebla state in one of many convoys flooding from the city to more isolated communities.  I never understood why the people who suffered the  85 quake were so afraid of the slightest tremors. Now I get it,  Trani said.   Being at a funeral and seeing all the pain that one minute caused has changed me,  she said. Concern that the aftershock could cause further collapses paralyzed rescue efforts at a housing complex in the Tlalpan neighborhood of Mexico City, frustrating first responders who  believed people were alive under the rubble. By the evening, hard-hatted first responders were again digging for bodies or survivors in a dwindling number of rubble heaps. Their work barely skipped a beat elsewhere when earthquake alarms twice rang out across the city. The United States Geological Survey said the latest quake was relatively shallow with an epicenter near Juchitan, a tropical region of Oaxaca state hard hit by a massive 8.1 magnitude tremor that struck on Sept. 7. Three people died in Oaxaca during Saturday s tremor, including a man who was attacked by a swarm of wild bees, authorities said.  Mexico s seismological authorities said it was an aftershock of the Sept. 7 tremor, which was the strongest to hit the country in 85 years and killed at least 98 people. The Popocatepetl volcano, which is visible on a clear day to the approximately 20 million people who live in the Mexico City metropolitan region, spewed vapor and ash-filled gas after two small eruptions on Saturday. Dozens of buildings were brought to the ground by Tuesday s earthquake, while an army of trained rescuers helped by droves of volunteers frantically removed rubble in a day-and-night search for survivors. Apartment buildings, offices, a school and a textile factory were among the structures flattened, leaving thousands homeless. The search had wound up at many sites by Saturday. Officials said there could be some 30,000 badly damaged homes in the adjacent states of Morelos and Puebla. RMS, a risk modeling company, estimated economic losses of $4 billion to $8 billion. Mexican volunteers, professionals and soldiers backed by teams from the United States and countries as far away as Japan and Chile have saved 69 people from the rubble after several days of searching. But in the past 48 hours rescuers have found more corpses than survivors, and frustration was mounting. A government response seen as lacking in the disastrous 1985 temblor severely damaged the credibility of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Mexico is now better prepared to deal with the aftermath of earthquakes, thanks to disaster planning, civic groups, a stringent building code and communication technology. The government has run a massive search-and-rescue operation involving thousands of soldiers and police, but victims in outlying areas of the city and surrounding villages complained that aid has been slow to arrive.   Here we have no help, everything is in the center (of the city),  said Justina Gonzalez, 55, a shopkeeper in the Xochimilco district in the far south of the city whose two-bedroom house fell down on Tuesday. She now lives in a tent and said neighbors were bringing her family food.   We lost everything, we don t even have a way to cook,  Gonzalez said.

Summary: मेक्सिको में घातक आफ्टरशॉक, ज्वालामुखीय राख ने खतरे की घंटी बजाई


GAZA (Reuters) - Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to delay final transfer of power of the Gaza Strip from Hamas to the Western-backed Palestinian government by 10 days to Dec. 10 to allow time to  complete arrangements , officials said. The factions signed a reconciliation deal brokered by Egypt last month after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing, a decade after seizing the enclave in a civil war. The deal bridges a bitter gulf between the Western-backed mainstream Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel. The agreement states that Hamas, which has disbanded its administration, would complete the handover by December 1 but disputes over the transfer process have emerged in recent days and Cairo has sent a senior security delegation to the territory to try to resolve the deadlock. In a brief joint statement, Fatah and Hamas said they had asked Egypt to delay the timetable from Dec 1 so that they could   complete the arrangements to successfully conclude reconciliation steps to which the Palestinian people aspire . Completion will also strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas s standing at any potential resumption of the stalled peacemaking process with Israel, analysts say. It was initially unclear whether the deadline extension would prevent the 40,000-50,000 Hamas-hired employees being paid their November salaries on time.  Hamas has demanded that Abbas lift sanctions he has imposed on Gaza such as slashing salaries of Palestinian Authority-hired public servants and limiting electricity imported from Israel for Gaza.  The Palestinian Authority has demanded that it must have full control of Gaza in order to be able to discharge its administrative powers there and failure to pay the salaries could endanger further reconciliation steps. Earlier on Wednesday, tension between the two factions rose when Hamas refused to allow Palestinian Authority employees to return to their jobs at three ministries as instructed by the government.

Summary: फिलिस्तीनी प्रतिद्वंद्वियों ने पूर्ण गाजा हस्तांतरण में 10 दिनों की देरी की


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil s government has secured between 270 and 280 of the 308 votes needed to approve a bill to overhaul the country s bloated social security system in February, President Michel Temer said on Friday.  It was the first time Temer has said how many votes are still needed to reach the three-fifths super majority to pass the unpopular legislation that investors see as vital to bringing a huge budget deficit under control.  That is the reason why we put off the vote until February,  Temer said at the swearing-in of a cabinet minister who will be responsible for mustering the votes shortfall. The measure is due to be put to the vote on Feb. 19, after the Christmas to Carnival Congressional recess, when it could meet with greater reluctance from lawmakers as the 2018 general election approaches.  The delay has increased market skepticism over Brazil s ability to rein in a deficit that caused the loss of its investment grade credit rating.    Temer s new minister of political affairs, Carlos Marun, said the bill s approval will be his biggest challenge as he takes over government relations with Congress. Marun was sworn in to succeed Antonio Imbassahy, whose PSDB party quit Temer s governing coalition and is split over delivering its 46 votes in the lower house to help pass Temer s pension plan.

Summary: ब्राजील के टेमर का कहना है कि पेंशन बिल में 2 से 3 दर्जन वोट कम हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political feud erupted on Wednesday over the U.S. House Intelligence Committee’s probe of suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, with charges that the panel’s Republican chairman subpoenaed the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency without telling Democratic members. Committee aides complained that the chairman, Representative Devin Nunes, who publicly recused himself from leading the Russia probe in April following a secret visit he paid to White House officials, failed to consult Democrats on the subpoenas. The subpoenas asked the agencies to provide details of any requests made by two top Obama administration aides and the former CIA director to “unmask” names of Trump campaign advisers inadvertently picked up in top-secret foreign communications intercepts, congressional sources said. The former officials named in the subpoenas were Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and former CIA Director John Brennan. “Subpoenas related to the ‘unmasking’ issue would have been sent by Chairman Nunes acting separately from the committee’s Russia investigation. This action would have been taken without the minority’s (Democrats’) agreement,” said a senior committee aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another congressional source, who also requested anonymity, said Democrats were “informed and consulted” before the subpoenas were issued. The CIA declined to comment on the subpoenas and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and NSA did not immediate respond to requests for comment. U.S. privacy laws and intelligence regulations require that Americans’ names picked up in foreign communications intercepts be concealed unless senior officials request them to be disclosed for intelligence or law enforcement purposes. Any such requests undergo rigorous legal reviews. Several U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that all such requests by Obama administration officials were properly scrutinized and appropriate. SUBPOENAS FOR TRUMP LAWYER, EX-AIDE The spy agency subpoenas were not mentioned in a bipartisan announcement on Wednesday that the panel approved subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in connection with the Russia probe. The committee also approved subpoenas to the two men’s firms, Flynn Intel Llc, and Michael D. Cohen and Associates PC, the committee statement said. “As part of our ongoing investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 campaign, today we approved subpoenas for several individuals for testimony, personal documents and business records,” Republican Representative Mike Conaway and Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who are leading the committee probe, said in a joint statement. Conaway assumed Republican leadership of the probe after Nunes recused himself. Nunes retained his power to issue subpoenas. U.S. intelligence agencies reported in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a campaign of computer hacking, fake news and propaganda intended to swing the election to Republican Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Putin has denied conducting such a campaign. Trump denies any collusion between Russia and his campaign and has questioned the veracity of the U.S. intelligence finding. Trump fired Flynn in February for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, and misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. The retired Army general is the subject of congressional, Justice Department and Defense Department investigations into his apparent failure to disclose payments he received from Russian and Turkish entities. Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in an FBI examination of possible contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia, according to the New York Times. It reported that Cohen was involved in a back-channel plan, which never came to fruition, that would have involved a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and the lifting of U.S. sanctions against Moscow. CNN reported on Wednesday night that congressional investigators were looking into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an undisclosed private meeting with Kislyak during the campaign, citing Republican and Democratic sources in Congress and intelligence officials briefed on the probe. The focus of the probe is on whether such a meeting took place on April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington,  where Trump delivered his first major foreign policy address, CNN reported.  During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign and said in a written statement given to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was not in contact with anyone linked to the Russian government during the campaign. It was reported in March that he met with Kislyak twice during the campaign, once at the Republican National Convention in July and once in his Senate office in September. Sessions later admitted having the meetings but said they were part of his Senate duties and were unrelated to the campaign. He later recused himself from the Russia probe.

Summary: सी. आई. ए., एफ़. बी. आई. के लिए हाउस पैनल के सम्मन पर विवाद छिड़ गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday named a suspect captured on Sunday for his alleged role in the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Trump said in statement the suspect, Mustafa al-Imam, would face justice in the United States. U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the 2012 attack.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकियों पर 2012 के बेनगाज़ी हमले में भूमिका के लिए पकड़े गए संदिग्ध का नाम लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Chicago Tribune endorsed Senator Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential race on Wednesday, a week before Illinois’ winner-take-all presidential primary. The newspaper of the state’s leading city credited Rubio’s embrace of spending limits, a line-item veto and a balanced budget amendment. “Crucially, his foreign affairs expertise vastly exceeds that of his rivals,” it said.  (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: शिकागो ट्रिब्यून ने 2016 की रिपब्लिकन राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ में रूबियो का समर्थन किया


ISTRA, Russia (Reuters) - Russia’s ban on imported foodstuffs from the West may have caused a headache for European farmers, but it has played right into the hands of Russian cheese producers gladly filling the lucrative niche. At a cheese fair held some 65 km (41 miles) outside Moscow last weekend, Russian versions of cheddar and feta vied for a spot on counters filled with Russian-made interpretations of brie, camembert and mature blue cheeses. “An industry is being born right in front of our eyes. Many (farmers) started making cheese in saucepans three years ago, just like us,” Oleg Sirota, an IT specialist turned cheese maker, and a one of the organizers of the fair, told Reuters Television. “We made our first cheese in a saucepan. Then we bought equipment produced in Russia. And now we are expecting new big vats made in Russia. “We are very proud that we not only make cheese, but we make it using Russian equipment and machinery,” Sirota added. Three years ago Russia’s government banned some Western foodstuffs, including most dairy products, in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.  The cheese festival, in a nod of gratitude to the positive impact of the Russian food embargo, was entitled “Three years of sanctions!” Some food connoisseurs say the Russian cheeses are a poor substitute for their European equivalents, but people at the fair seemed impressed. “All the types of cheese are delicious, they are very similar to the French ones, the Italian ones,” said Anna, a visitor to the fair. “So there are a lot of equivalents which are no worse than the ones I tasted abroad.” The Russian food embargo comes at a price, however. Official statistics show that food prices have increased 1.5 times in the last three years after Russia banned imports of many European foodstuffs.

Summary: प्रतिबंधों से रूसी पनीर उत्पादकों को राहत मिली है