PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (Reuters) - Democrat Bernie Sanders endorsed former rival Hillary Clinton for president in a display of party unity on Tuesday, describing her as the best candidate to fix the United States’ problems and beat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. With Clinton nodding in agreement beside him, Sanders put aside their bitter campaign for the Democratic nomination and said she would take up the fight to ease economic inequality, make college more affordable and expand healthcare coverage for all Americans. “This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face, and there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,” he told a raucous crowd in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that included plenty of vocal Sanders supporters. “I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States,” the U.S. senator from Vermont said. His endorsement, five weeks after Clinton became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, brought the most prominent holdout in the party’s liberal wing into her camp. Sanders threw Clinton his support less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she is to be formally nominated. “I can’t help but reflect on how much more enjoyable this election will be now that we are on the same side,” Clinton said of Sanders. “Thank you, Bernie, for your endorsement, but more than that, thank you for your lifetime of fighting injustice.” Trump ridiculed the move in a series of Twitter posts, saying Sanders had abandoned the supporters who flocked to his insurgent campaign to rein in Wall Street and get big money out of politics. “Bernie Sanders endorsing Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs,” Trump said on Twitter.  In a statement, the Trump campaign said Sanders was now officially part of the rigged system the senator had criticized during his long primary battle with Clinton. “Bernie’s endorsement becomes Exhibit A in our rigged system - the Democrat Party is disenfranchising its voters to benefit the select and privileged few,” said Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser to Trump. In a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, Clinton extended her lead over Trump to 13 percentage points, up from 10 points at the end of last week. The former U.S. secretary of state hopes the Portsmouth appearance with Sanders will help her win over his supporters, some of whom held Sanders signs at the rally and chanted his name. In recent Reuters/Ipsos polling, only about 40 percent of Sanders backers said they would back Clinton, and the crowd at Tuesday’s rally made it clear she still had work to do. “I am absolutely certain I will not vote for Hillary Clinton,” said Gale Bailey, a Sanders supporter and an unemployed graphic designer from Rochester, New Hampshire, who attended the rally in a Sanders T-shirt. “She’s a crook, and I’m not going to vote for a crook,” Bailey said, adding that she would write in Sanders’ name on the November ballot. The joint appearance concluded weeks of negotiations between the two camps as Sanders pressed for concessions from Clinton on his liberal policy agenda. It came after Clinton last week adopted elements of Sanders’ plans for free in-state college tuition and expanded affordable healthcare coverage. Sanders also successfully pushed to include an array of liberal policy positions in the Democratic platform, which a committee approved on Saturday. Sanders did not win all of his policy fights, most notably failing to win support for blocking a congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. But he told the Portsmouth rally that “our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratically controlled Senate, a Democratically controlled House and a Hillary Clinton presidency – and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen.” In an email to supporters after the rally, Sanders said he would still push for changes to the party’s nominating process to make it more inclusive. In the months ahead, he will campaign around the country for progressive congressional candidates, he said. Also on Tuesday, a source with knowledge of the process said the Clinton campaign is vetting James Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral, as a potential vice presidential running mate. Stavridis, who served as supreme allied commander at NATO, is currently dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  Top Democrats, including President Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favorite of the party’s liberal wing, have already announced their support for Clinton, leaving Sanders at risk of being left behind in the Democratic battle against Trump. “I think all signs point to the fact that we’re going to have a very united party going into Philadelphia,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on CNN earlier on Tuesday, “and when you compare it to the Republicans, we’re going to be miles ahead of them.”  Trump has struggled to unify the Republican Party after alienating many establishment figures with his stances on immigration, Muslims and women. A number of prominent Republicans are skipping the party’s convention in Cleveland next week.

Summary: पार्टी की एकता के प्रदर्शन में क्लिंटन को सैंडर्स का समर्थन मिला


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Monday suffered another political setback when U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan distanced himself from the Republican presidential candidate’s troubled campaign. Ryan, according to someone familiar with a conference call held by the speaker and House Republican lawmakers, will not campaign with Trump in the run-up to the Nov. 8 elections and will not defend the Republican Party nominee. The source did not say whether Ryan intended to withdraw his support for Trump. But a spokeswoman added that the Wisconsin congressman will focus on maintaining a Republican majority in the House.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन के अध्यक्ष रयान रिपब्लिकन कांग्रेस के बहुमत की रक्षा पर ध्यान केंद्रित करेंगेः प्रवक्ता


ANKARA (Reuters) - A high-level defector from Kurdish-led forces that captured the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State has recanted his account of the city s fall, saying thousands of IS fighters - many more than first reported - left under a secret, U.S.-approved deal. Talal Silo, a former commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the SDF arranged to bus all remaining Islamic State militants out of Raqqa even though it said at the time it was battling diehard foreign jihadists in the city. U.S. officials described Silo s comments as  false and contrived  but a security official in Turkey, where Silo defected three weeks ago, gave a similar account of Islamic State s defeat in its Syrian stronghold. Turkey has been at odds with Washington over U.S. backing for the Kurdish forces who led the fight for Raqqa. Silo was the SDF spokesman and one of the officials who told the media in mid-October - when the deal was reached - that fewer than 300 fighters left Raqqa with their families while others would fight on. However, he told Reuters in an interview that the number of fighters who were allowed to go was far higher and the account of a last-ditch battle was a fiction designed to keep journalists away while the evacuation took place. He said a U.S. official in the international coalition against Islamic State, whom he did not identify, approved the deal at a meeting with an SDF commander.  At the time there were conflicting accounts of whether or not foreign Islamic State fighters had been allowed to leave Raqqa. The BBC later reported that one of the drivers in the exodus described a convoy of up to 7 km (4 miles) long made up of 50 trucks, 13 buses and 100 Islamic State vehicles, packed with fighters and ammunition. The Turkish government has expressed concern that some fighters who left Raqqa could have been smuggled across the border into Turkey and could try to launch attacks there or in the West.  Agreement was reached for the terrorists to leave, about 4,000 people, them and their families,  Silo said, adding that all but about 500 were fighters.  He said they headed east to Islamic State-controlled areas around Deir al-Zor, where the Syrian army and forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad were gaining ground. For three days the SDF banned people from going to Raqqa, saying fighting was in progress to deal with militants who had not given themselves up.  It was all theater,  Silo said.   The announcement was cover for those who left for Deir al-Zor , he said, adding that the agreement was endorsed by the United States which wanted a swift end to the Raqqa battle so the SDF could move on towards Deir al-Zor. It was not clear where the evacuees from Raqqa ended up.  The Syrian Democratic Forces deny that Islamic State fighters were able to leave Raqqa for Deir al-Zor, and the U.S.-led military coalition which backs the SDF said it  does not make deals with terrorists .  The coalition utterly refutes any false accusations from any source that suggests the coalition s collusion with ISIS,  it said in a statement.  However, a Turkish security official said that many more Islamic State personnel left Raqqa than was acknowledged.  Statements that the U.S. or the coalition were engaged in big conflicts in Raqqa are not true,  the official added. He told Reuters Turkey believed those accounts were aimed at diverting attention from the departure of Islamic State members, and complained that Turkey had been kept in the dark. Ankara, a NATO ally of Washington s and a member of the U.S.-led coalition, has disagreed sharply with the United States over its support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters who spearheaded the fight against Islamic State in Raqqa. Turkey says the YPG is an extension of the PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in southeast Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. Silo spoke to Reuters in a secure location on the edge of Ankara in the presence of Turkish security officers. He said the security was for his own protection and he denied SDF assertions that he had been pressured into defecting by Turkey, where his children live. A member of Syria s Turkmen minority, Silo said his decision to speak out now was based on disillusionment with the structure of the SDF, which was dominated by Kurdish YPG fighters at the expense of Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian allies, as well as the outcome in Raqqa, where he said a city had been destroyed but not the enemy.   The Raqqa talks took place between a Kurdish SDF commander, Sahin Cilo, and an intermediary from Islamic State whose brother-in-law was the Islamic State  emir  in Raqqa, Silo said. After they reached agreement Cilo headed to a U.S. military base near the village of Jalabiya.  He came back with the agreement of the U.S. administration for those terrorists to head to Deir al-Zor,  Silo said. The coalition said two weeks ago that one of its leaders was present at the talks but not an active participant in the deal which it said was reached  despite explicit coalition disagreement with letting armed ISIS terrorists leave Raqqa .

Summary: दलबदलू का कहना है कि इस्लामिक स्टेट के हजारों लड़ाकों ने गुप्त सौदे में रक्का छोड़ दिया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has ordered a  special inspection  into past irregularities in billing of expenses at its embassy in Paris, but the ministry said it was not aware of similar problems at other embassies. Walter Lindner, a senior ministry official, disclosed the probe in a letter to Greens lawmaker Franziska Brantner in letter dated Friday, and said it could trigger new recommendations for billing practices at all foreign offices. The letter marked the first confirmation by the ministry of irregularities at the Paris embassy after French daily Le Monde reported that the embassy had set up an undeclared cash fund to pay staff for special events at the embassy for third parties. In the letter, first reported by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, Lindner said the ministry had revamped billing procedures in Paris in spring 2016 after discovering that the previous  form of billing had not met the usual standards.  The changes were triggered after a former butler and head waiter accused the embassy of using fake invoices to channel money into a fund used to give staff undeclared cash for overtime work at events hosted on behalf of private companies such as BMW and Mercedes. Lindner said the changes implemented in Paris ensured  a transparent accounting of the use of the embassy by third parties,  but the thorough review now under way could also trigger recommendations for all foreign missions and embassies. Brantner urged the ministry to hold those accountable for the problematic billing practices in Paris - some of whom still worked for the ministry.   In addition, all foreign offices must be carefully examined to ensure that such practices are not occurring elsewhere,  Brantner said in a statement. She also called for protection of whistleblowers.

Summary: जर्मनी ने पेरिस दूतावास में खर्च की जांच की; कोई अन्य दूतावास प्रभावित नहीं हुआ


FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is under investigation as part of an investigation into mafia bombings in 1993, a judicial source said on Tuesday, confirming newspaper reports. A mob boss jailed for the deadly attacks in Rome, Milan and Florence was recorded talking to his cellmate about the four-times premier, prompting a judge in Florence to reopen a shelved probe into Berlusconi s alleged involvement, the Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica reported.  Berlusconi s lawyer Nicolo Ghedini said a previous investigation had shown his client was not involved in the bombings, which killed 10 people. Ghedini said the case had re-emerged for political reasons ahead of an important regional ballot in Sicily on Sunday and a national election due by next May.  Even speculating that (Berlusconi) could have been in any way involved in the events in question is so absurd as to make any comment unnecessary,  Ghedini said in a statement.  (It is) obvious that the umpteenth investigation can only end in a swift dismissal, as happened in the past.  A previous probe into the 81-year-old media mogul s alleged involvement in the case was shelved in 2011. Berlusconi was due to visit Sicily later on Tuesday to campaign for his Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party ahead of Sunday s regional election. Judges investigating the mafia case, which is raking over arguably the murkiest years in modern Italian history, heard fragmented recordings of conversations mob leader Giuseppe Graviano had last April in jail, the newspapers reported.   1992 he already wanted to get involved (in politics) ... and he wanted everything,  Graviano was reportedly recorded saying, referring to  Berlusca  - a common nickname for Berlusconi.   Berlusca ... asked me this favor ... I was convinced Berlusconi would win the election ... in Sicily ... he wanted to get involved ... but at that time the old guys were around ... he told me we needed a really good thing.  The mafia bombing campaign on mainland Italy stunned the country and helped lead to the collapse of the old political parties, which were riddled with corruption. Berlusconi entered politics in early 1994 and immediately won a national election. Forza Italia said in a statement that 1,296 mafiosi had been arrested during Berlusconi s years in office between 2001-05 and 2008-2011, including 32 of Italy s most wanted mobsters.  It said Berlusconi s administration had toughened prison conditions for mobsters and had seized 25 billion euros ($29.09 billion) of mafia property in its last three years in office. ($1 = 0.8595 euros)

Summary: इटली के बर्लुस्कोनी ने 1993 के घातक माफिया बम विस्फोटों की जांच कीः सूत्र


WASHINGTON/MARIETTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Anti-abortion protesters rallied at scores of Planned Parenthood clinics on Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to strip the health services provider of federal funding, while supporters of the organization staged counter-demonstrations around the United States. With anti-abortion groups expecting protests at up to 225 clinics, Planned Parenthood supporters organized 150 protests of their own at parks, government buildings and other sites, including clinics. At some of those clinics, the counter-demonstrators outnumbered those demanding an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood. All told, rallies and marches were called in 45 states in cities large and small, from Washington and Philadelphia to St. Paul, Minnesota, and Orange, California  As many as 6,000 people turned up for competing demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota, police said, but at other  places, only a few dozen demonstrators turned out. “We expected that tens of thousands of pro-lifers will be out today sending a message that we want Planned Parenthood to be defunded,” Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and one of the national organizers of the anti-abortion rallies, said in a telephone interview. “As long as they are going stay in the abortion business, that is an organization that shouldn’t be getting one red cent of federal tax money,” Miller said. The 100-year-old organization of about 650 health centers provides birth control and other women’s health services in addition to abortion, according to its website. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling but U.S. law prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions. Anti-abortion activists say funding for other purposes acts to subsidize abortions. In some cities, the two sides in the long-simmering issue  positioned themselves along the same street. Initial reports indicate the rallies were vocal and peaceful. In the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups took opposite sides of a four-lane highway, waving signs at traffic and shouting slogans. “Trump is going to hear our trumpet call,” said anti-abortion activist Sandy Prescott, 61, a homemaker from Roswell, Georgia, who was part of a group of about 100 people demanding an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood. At the competing abortion-rights demonstration, about 50 people gathered and held signs that included: “Women’s rights are human rights.” Many wore the pink “pussy hats” that have became an anti-Trump symbol since the Republican’s inauguration on Jan. 20. David Daleiden, an anti-abortion activist who in 2015 targeted Planned Parenthood with surreptitiously filmed videos to try and show it was profiting from the sale of aborted fetal tissue, addressed a rally of nearly 500 people in rain-soaked Orange, a Los Angeles suburb. “I’m confident that together, if we keep the faith, take the next right step, at the end of the day we will soon see a day when there will no longer be a price tag put on human life,” said Daleiden, founder of the Center of Medical Progress. Daleiden and fellow activist Sandra Merritt were indicted in January 2016 for using illegal government identifications to secretly film a Planned Parenthood facility in Texas, but the charges were later dropped. A grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing. Anti-abortion activists have said they are energized by the election of Trump, who has promised to restrict abortions. He selected their long-time ally, Mike Pence, as vice president, and nominated conservative jurist Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Two weeks ago, tens of thousands converged on Washington for the 44th March for Life, where Pence became the most senior government official to speak in person at the annual anti-abortion rally, organizers said. “We finally have someone in the White House who has the power and authority to save and defend lives,” said Margie Sznajder, one of 300 anti-abortion protesters at a rally in her hometown of Aurora, Illinois, outside Chicago. Planned Parenthood leaders say abortions rights supporters also have been energized by Trump’s election, as exemplified by the hundreds of thousands who flooded Washington a day after Trump’s inauguration in favor of women’s rights, including abortion rights. In Denver, hundreds gathered outside the office of U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, urging the Republican not to pursue funding cuts. Some in the energetic but peaceful crowd carried signs with slogans like “I refuse to go back to the 1950s,” and “If it’s not your body, it’s not your decision.” The pro-Planned Parenthood events on Saturday were organized spontaneously, without the group’s initiative, a spokeswoman said. “Saturday, and every day, Planned Parenthood advocates and activists show that they refuse to be intimidated and they won’t back down,” Kelley Robinson, a leader of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Support, said in a statement. Planned Parenthood receives federal funds from Medicaid reimbursements and Title X, a federal program that supports family planning and preventive health services. Planned Parenthood says cutting off those funds would make it more difficult for women to obtain birth control, Pap smears or testing for sexually transmitted diseases. At some points in Washington, Planned Parenthood supporters formed lines to block about 50 people marching from the Supreme Court to a Planned Parenthood clinic but police officers moved them aside. “Abortion, to me, is the greatest evil of our time,” said Delia Tyagi, 36, an accountant who lives in Arlington, Virginia. “Planned Parenthood has wronged women in a lot of ways. I feel like we have the momentum to finally defund them.”

Summary: अमेरिका में गर्भपात पर बहस तेज होने पर प्रदर्शनकारी आमने-सामने


OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government s plan to legalize recreational marijuana by next July could be in jeopardy, with opposition brewing among some in the Senate and concerns that the deadline to pass the bill is rapidly approaching.  The Senate s approval is needed to pass laws though it does not often block bills passed by the elected House of Commons. Some senators say police need more time to prepare and also oppose setting the federal age of legal use at 18. Legalizing marijuana for recreational use was part of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s 2015 election campaign and the government has set a relatively quick deadline to put it in place. Canada would be the first Group of Seven country to allow the drug nationally. The legislation is not expected to reach the upper house until December and some senators have said they will take as long as they need to review it. That could put Trudeau and the upper house of parliament at loggerheads again. Senators, who are not elected, recently delayed the government s budget bill before ultimately passing it.     Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu said he expects implementation will need to be delayed until December 2018 or early 2019 to give police forces enough time to prepare for widespread use of the drug.  I think it s too early,  Boisvenu said on Friday by phone.  What they ve (the police) told us until today is they will not be prepared next July.     Boisvenu said Conservative senators will meet to discuss strategy about delaying the bill if necessary. Member of Parliament Bill Blair, a former police chief and the government s point person on the legislation, said added delays in regulation will put more underage users at risk.   By all means, take the time to do it right, but unnecessary delay is unacceptable,  Blair said by phone.  The potential clash highlights a hurdle Trudeau has partly set up for himself after he expelled all Liberal senators from the party s caucus in 2014 amid an expenses scandal and to curb partisanship.  Although Trudeau has appointed independent senators since then, he has no formal leverage to get the government s legislation passed.  The government, if it had a clear majority in the Senate, could at one point impose party discipline and have its bill voted on. It s not in that situation now,  said Senator Andre Pratte, an independent who was appointed by Trudeau in 2016.

Summary: पॉट कानून को लेकर कनाडा सरकार को सीनेट से विरोध का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - As her reality TV star husband met many of his Western allies for the first time as U.S. president on Thursday, Melania Trump was offered a different take on the surreal by her hosts in Brussels. The first lady, a Slovenian-born former model, toured a museum dedicated to Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte in the company of wives of other national leaders who were attending a summit of the NATO military alliance across town. Famed for works like the 1964 “self-portrait” of a bowler-hatted man whose face is hidden by an apple or the image of a pipe subtitled “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe), Magritte has much to teach the world about questioning outward appearances, and about self-effacement, Belgian organisers said. “You never know,” museum director Michel Draguet said ahead of the first lady’s visit. “Maybe Donald Trump will move from one kind of surrealism to another, thanks to Magritte’s ideas.” The outspoken 70-year-old wealthy businessman and TV celebrity stunned many U.S. allies by entering the White House in January. He has broken a mould among world leaders with a style that offers little evidence of self-doubt and ideas that run counter to received wisdom among Western diplomats.     His 47-year-old third wife was joined by other NATO spouses including the devoutly Muslim wife of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan; Brigitte Trogneux, who met Emmanuel Macron when she taught the new French president in school; and Gauthier Destenay, who is married to Luxembourg’s gay prime minister. Speaking later, curator Draguet said Melania Trump “showed great interest in surrealism’s free spirit and invention”. Trump’s first foreign tour, which has so far taken him to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Rome and will end this weekend at a G7 summit in Sicily, has been presented by aides as reassuring allies that Washington remains a reliable partner under a head of state who faces a series of ethics questions back home. For Charles Michel, the 41-year-old premier whose partner showed the group around Brussels, an itinerary that also took in tea with Belgium’s queen was also a chance to show those close to power a host country keen to punch above its weight.

Summary: ट्रम्प व्हाइट हाउस को भूल जाओ, बेल्जियम मेलानिया को असली दिखाता है


DUBAI (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson flew to Tehran on Saturday to seek the release of a jailed British-Iranian aid worker. The Foreign Office said Johnson spoke  frankly  with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif about  consular cases of dual nationals  such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who Britain says was visiting family on holiday when she was jailed by Iran for attempting to overthrow the government. The case has taken on domestic political importance in Britain, especially since Johnson said last month that Zaghari-Ratcliffe trained journalists, which her employer denies. Johnson later apologized. Opponents have called for him to resign if his comments lead to her serving longer in prison. Johnson is also expected to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, a Foreign Office official said, during just the third visit by a British foreign minister to Iran in the last 14 years. Talks with Zarif were  constructive , Johnson s office said, despite differences between the two countries.  They both spoke frankly about the obstacles in the relationship, including the Foreign Secretary s concerns about the consular cases of British-Iranian dual nationals,  a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said in a statement. The two-day visit takes place against a complex backdrop of historical, regional and bilateral tensions. Johnson stressed Britain s support for Iran s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in the meeting, the spokeswoman said. International sanctions against Iran have only recently been lifted as part of the multilateral nuclear deal to curb Tehran s disputed uranium enrichment program.  That deal is under threat after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to decertify Iran s compliance with its terms. Johnson told Zarif he believed the deal should be fully implemented. Johnson also met Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran s Supreme National Security Council, and parliament speaker Ali Larijani during the first day of his two-day visit, Iran s state news agency IRNA reported. The Foreign Office statement did not mention Zaghari-Ratcliffe by name, although Johnson has vowed to leave  no stone unturned  in Britain s efforts to free her.  A project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is not the only dual national being held in Iran, but has become the most high-profile case. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News. It says Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been on holiday and had not been teaching journalism in Iran. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been told she will appear in court on Dec. 10, her husband Richard has said. The visit is a test of Johnson s ability to navigate a political landscape littered with potential pitfalls. Iran s 1979 Islamic Revolution turned it into a pariah state for most of the West and many Middle Eastern neighbors. Britain has voiced its continued support for the nuclear deal but is one of a number of Western powers voicing concerns about Tehran s  destabilizing  influence in the region.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने ईरान में जेल में बंद सहायता कार्यकर्ता के लिए पैरवी करने के लिए बातचीत की


DUBAI (Reuters) - The Israeli army s chief of staff told an Arabic language online newspaper that Israel was ready to share  intelligence information  with Saudi Arabia, saying their countries had a common interest in standing up to Iran. Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot told the privately Saudi-owned Elaph in what it said was his first interview with an Arabic newspaper that Israel had no plans to attack Lebanon s Hezbollah group. Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up pressure on arch-foe Iran, accusing Tehran of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries, often through proxies including the Lebanese Shi ite Hezbollah group. Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to working together against what they see as a common Iranian threat. Saudi Arabia maintains that any relations with Israel hinge on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.  Asked if Israel had shared any information with Saudi Arabia, Eizenkot said:  We are ready to share information if necessary. There are many shared interests between us.  He said U.S. President Donald Trump s election on a platform that calls for increasing pressure on Iran has provided an opportunity for new alliances in the Middle East. Both Saudi Arabia and Israel view Iran as a main threat to the Middle East.   A major and general strategic plan must be prepared to stop the Iranian danger, and we are ready to exchange expertise with moderate Arab states and exchange intelligence information to face Iran,  he said, according to Elaph, which said the interview was conducted at Eizenkot s office in Tel Aviv by an Israeli Arab journalist. Earlier this month, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation in a surprise move that had plunged Lebanon into a new political crisis. Hariri s resignation thrust Lebanon into the front line of a regional struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran that has also buffeted Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. It also raised speculation about possible military action against Lebanon by Israel, which sees Hezbollah as a strategic threat. Responding to a question on speculation that Israel may launch a military operation against Hezbollah, Eizenkot said:  We do not have any intention initiating any offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and reaching a (state of) war. But we will not accept a strategic threat against Israel.

Summary: इजरायल के सेना प्रमुख ने कहा कि वे सऊदी अरब के साथ जानकारी साझा करने के लिए तैयार हैं


DETROIT (Reuters) - Quality problems prompted two of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s top lawyers to urge that Flint be moved back to the Detroit water system just months after a decision to draw water supply from the Flint River, according to emails released on Friday. Several critics have called for Snyder to resign over concerns about the state’s poor handling of the crisis, and the governor said Friday he felt regret every day.  Flint switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014 in a bid to cut costs when the city was under a state-appointed emergency manager.  While the city switched its water source back to Detroit in October 2015, corrosive water from the river had already leached lead from city pipes, posing a serious threat to public health. Snyder’s aides discussed Flint’s water quality problems as early as autumn 2014, with one calling the situation “downright scary,” about a year before the switch back to the Detroit system was finally made. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News earlier reported about the emails, which were released by the governor’s office. “That’s where I’m kicking myself every day,” Snyder said after signing a $30 million supplemental bill to reimburse Flint residents for their water bills. “I wish I would have asked more questions.”       Snyder, scheduled to testify to Congress on March 17, has repeatedly apologized for the state’s poor handling of the crisis.  Liberal group Progress Michigan again called for Snyder to resign, citing the emails. “There’s no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top adviser to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing,” said executive director Lonnie Scott, who also called for Snyder’s resignation. Valerie Brader, Snyder’s senior policy adviser, addressed problems over the quality of Flint River water in an email to the governor’s chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, and others on Oct. 14, 2014.  She argued Flint should be returned to the Detroit water system, citing bacterial contamination and reduced quality that prompted General Motors to switch away from the river due to rusted car parts. Michael Godola, then the governor’s legal counsel, responded, calling the Flint River as a water source “downright scary.” On Friday, State Representative Sheldon Neeley of Flint asked Attorney General Bill Schuette for his legal opinion on whether an official withholding information that leads to death or harm can be charged criminally.

Summary: मिशिगन के गवर्नर के सहयोगियों ने फ्लिंट नदी से दूर जाने का आग्रह किया


BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - European countries are scrambling to cobble together a package of measures they hope will keep the Iran nuclear deal on track if U.S. President Donald Trump ignores their pleas and decertifies the landmark 2015 agreement this week. The package would include a strong statement backing the deal by European powers, together with efforts to lobby the U.S. Congress and put wider pressure on Iran, officials said. But without strong U.S. support for the deal, senior officials in Berlin, Paris and London say it may be only a matter of time before the pact between Tehran and six world powers unravels, with grave consequences for Middle East security, nonproliferation efforts and transatlantic ties. The two-year-old agreement, under which Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear program for 15 years in exchange for sanctions relief, is viewed in Europe as a rare triumph of international diplomacy in the Middle East. As tensions over North Korea s nuclear activities risk boiling over into all-out war, any move by the United States to undermine the Iran deal is seen in Europe as utter folly. European capitals have been delivering this message to the White House and Congress in one of the most intense lobbying campaigns in recent memory. In the past weeks, European ambassadors have met dozens of U.S. lawmakers. And on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May lobbied Trump by phone. Despite this, Trump is expected declare this week that Iran is not complying with the pact. He is also due to unveil a tough new strategy toward Iran - including designating its Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization - that could sink the deal.  If the feeling is the United States no longer supports the agreement then the political reality is that the deal will be in serious jeopardy and its implementation will be very difficult,  a senior French diplomat told Reuters. A decision by Trump to decertify would not automatically kill the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The expectation is that Trump would kick the ball to Congress, which would then have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions lifted as part of the JCPOA. THREE-PRONGED RESPONSE European officials said they were preparing a three-pronged strategy if this does occur. First, Berlin, London and Paris would issue statements reaffirming their commitment to the deal. Second, they would redouble efforts to lobby Congress, which appears keen to keep the deal, against any rash moves. And third, they would present measures to pressure Iran over its ballistic missile program and destabilizing policies in the Middle East   areas that fall outside the narrowly-focused nuclear deal. French President Emmanuel Macron alluded to this at the United Nations last month. Diplomats said the package was still in the works and they had not yet briefed Brussels on it. With the third step, the Europeans hope to build a bridge to Washington while keeping the JCPOA intact. But a German diplomat said ratcheting up pressure on Tehran was like walking a tightrope: push too hard and the whole deal could fall apart.  We all knew the JCPOA wasn t perfect, but by calling its benefits into question I see us only losing,  said a senior European diplomat who has been involved in negotiations with Iran since 2003, well before Washington joined the talks under President Barack Obama.  If Trump follows through on his threats it will be the second time in four months that he has distanced the United States from a major multilateral agreement despite intense lobbying by partners and members of his own cabinet. But in Europe, the Iran move would be seen as far more damaging than Trump s decision in June to pull out of the Paris climate accord.  The threat from Iran in terms of nuclear proliferation is more immediate. This is far more dangerous,  said Elmar Brok, a veteran foreign policy expert in the European Parliament and party ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. European officials and analysts fear a breakdown of the JCPOA could lead to an arms race in the Middle East, a military conflict between Iran and Israel and an escalation of regional proxy wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia. They fear it would also doom any chances, no matter how slim, for a negotiated deal with North Korea.  At the end of the day it s all about the risk of war,  said Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. There is also the danger of a further deterioration in transatlantic ties, especially if Washington targets European firms that do business in Iran. Were that to happen, the EU ambassador to Washington, David O Sullivan, has said Brussels would revert to a 1990s-era law that shields European companies from extraterritorial sanctions. Even if the EU were to take such a step, the senior French diplomat said European companies could think twice about their Iran commitments. Among firms that have announced big deals in Iran since the JCPOA went into force are planemaker Airbus, French energy group Total and Germany s Siemens.  One of the big difficulties of the agreement is ensuring the economic operators have confidence in the system and key to that is confidence in the United States,  the diplomat said. Any signs that European companies are pulling back could prompt the Iranians to reassess the merits of the nuclear deal.  The agreement with Iran is like a delicate plant,  said Omid Nouripour, an Iranian-born lawmaker with the German Greens party, which is expected to be part of Merkel s next coalition government.  It is a sign of what diplomacy can achieve but it is fragile. The American president doesn t appear to believe in diplomacy. He seems intent on crushing this plant.

Summary: ट्रम्प टारपीडो के डर से, यूरोप ईरान समझौते को बचाने के लिए लड़खड़ा रहा है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific integrity watchdog is reviewing whether EPA chief Scott Pruitt violated the agency’s policies when he said in a television interview he does not believe carbon dioxide is driving global climate change, according to an email seen by Reuters on Friday. Lawyers for environmental group the Sierra Club had asked the EPA’s Office of Inspector General to check whether Pruitt violated policy when he told a CNBC interviewer on March 9, “I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” The EPA Inspector General’s office responded to the Sierra Club on Thursday in an email, saying it had referred the matter to the EPA’s Scientific Integrity Officer, Francesca Grifo, for review. “If after the SIO review, she concludes there is some aspect of the letter itself, or her findings or conclusions that she believes are appropriate for further consideration by the OIG, she will so notify the OIG,” the email stated. A spokeswoman for the EPA defended Pruitt’s comments. “Administrator Pruitt makes no apologies for having a candid dialogue about climate science and commonsense regulations that will protect our environment, without creating unnecessary regulatory burdens that kill jobs,” said Liz Bowman in an emailed statement. “Differing views and opinions on scientific and technical matters is a legitimate and necessary part of EPA’s decision-making process, which is consistent with EPA’s scientific integrity policy that was in place even during the Obama administration,” she added.  The EPA website says its scientific integrity policy requires EPA officials and staff to ensure the agency’s work respects the findings of the broader scientific community. An overwhelming majority of scientists think that carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are a major contributor to global climate change, triggering sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms. The request by Sierra Club ramps up tension between the U.S. environmental movement and the administration of President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax meant to weaken the U.S. economy and has packed his cabinet with people who question the science of climate change. Grifo is a biologist who was hired by former President Barack Obama’s administration. Before she joined the EPA in late 2013, she oversaw scientific integrity at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-partisan group advocating stronger environmental protections.  Pruitt, a former attorney general for Oklahoma, sued the EPA more than a dozen times over its regulations as top prosecutor for the oil and gas producing state.

Summary: ईपीए वैज्ञानिक अखंडता कार्यालय कार्बन पर प्रुइट की टिप्पणियों की समीक्षा कर रहा है


SEOUL, (Reuters) - In 2009, a pop video from North Korea celebrated a new national hero - one that outside experts would later realize was at the heart of the secretive state s banned nuclear and missile programs.  That hero, widely available in factories across the world, was the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine.  Big, grey and boxy, CNC machines use pre-programmed guides to produce intricate parts for everything from automobiles and mobile phones to furniture and clothes. They offer accuracy that human machine tool operators are unable to achieve.  In North Korea, thanks to a combination of homemade technology and reverse engineering, the machines now play a critical role in the weapons programs. They allow Kim Jong Un to build nuclear bombs and missiles without relying as heavily on outside technical aid or imports.  Nuclear weapons experts say this has helped him accelerate missile and nuclear testing despite international sanctions on the transfer of sensitive equipment.  Special Section: North Korea revealed. Interactive: Nuclear North Korea  Interactive: Kim s latest act of defiance  North Korea s centrifuges and new missiles all depend on components made with CNC machine tools,  said Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies at Monterey, California.   (They) are the essential underlying technology for producing missiles and nuclear weapons,  said Lewis.  Since 1996, CNC machines have been included in the Wassenaar Arrangement   an international arms control regime aimed at stopping the proliferation of equipment with both civilian and military uses. North Korea is not a signatory.  The country s celebrations of its CNC technology have been fulsome. Hundreds of dancers in luminous orange and green performed the CNC pop song, titled  Break through the cutting edge,  at a Korean Workers  Party celebration in 2010. In 2012, the year the South Korean hit  Gangnam Style  was released, the North s CNC title was on karaoke machines nationwide, according to Choson Exchange, a Singapore-based company that trains North Koreans in business skills. The official video for the song opens with a long-range North Korean rocket soaring into a blue sky.  North Korea likely started to develop its own CNC machines in the early 1990s as part of a drive to build sophisticated missiles and nuclear weapons, nuclear experts say. It probably learned how to make them by taking apart machines it had imported from the Soviet Union.  Its first homemade CNC machine was introduced in 1995. Former leader Kim Jong Il gave the machine the  Ryonha  brand, according to a 2009 article in the country s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun. That was the first time state media mentioned the technology.  By 2009, the machines had become a mainstay of North Korean propaganda, as Pyongyang launched a nationwide campaign to boost domestic industry. Sanctions were mounting after its second nuclear test and a long-range missile launch that year.  At the time, arms control experts raised concerns about a visit by former leader Kim Jong Il to a North Korean factory where homemade CNC machines appeared to be producing aluminum tubes. These could be used for nuclear centrifuges.   By around 2010, it seemed they were capable of manufacturing various types of CNC machines,  said Kim Heung-gwang, a North Korean defector who taught at Pyongyang s Hamhung Computer Technology University before defecting to South Korea.  But it wasn t until 2013 that the Korea Ryonha Machinery Joint Venture Corporation, which produced the machines, was blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council for supporting the weapons programs.  And it was only in August this year that U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters North Korea likely has the ability to produce its own missile engines themselves. (Full Story)  Now, Kim Heung-gwang estimates, North Korea has about 15,000 CNC machines. He bases this on North Korean state media reports and photos as well as interviews with more than a dozen defectors who were scientists, professors or factory workers.  Pyongyang hailed the homemade machines as a triumph for its governing ideology of  Juche , which champions self-sufficiency. But that wasn t strictly true.  In August 2016, state media released photos of Kim Jong Un visiting a factory using CNC machines with the logo of Swiss engineering firm ABB ABB.UL, one of the leading players in the global CNC machine market. It s not clear when or how the machine reached North Korea.  ABB said the firm respects all applicable trade sanctions against North Korea, and undertakes not to deliver ABB equipment to the country.  That said, we cannot rule out that some of our equipment may have been resold to DPR of Korea without our knowledge or permission,  the company said in response to a Reuters inquiry, using North Korea s official title.  A United Nations panel monitoring sanctions on North Korea said in a report this year that Tengzhou Keyongda CNC Machine Tools Co of China had been a supplier of Pyongyang s new CNC machines. A sales representative for Tengzhou Keyongda told Reuters the company stopped selling CNC machines to North Korea four years ago, and no longer maintains trade relations with the country.  Despite sanctions, CNC machines are commonplace across North Korean manufacturing and can be brought in through China and Russia, said Lee Choon-geun, a senior fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in South Korea.  The biggest loophole has been that while some CNC machines are banned because they can have both military and civilian functions, most serve civilian industry.  Given their dual-use capability, you could even import the machines for other purposes, take them to pieces and use them however you want,  said Lee.  The CNC song highlights this in its opening line:  Whatever it is, once we put our mind to it, there s a program to make it,  it says.

Summary: कैसे एक घर के बने उपकरण ने उत्तर कोरिया के मिसाइल कार्यक्रम में मदद की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea and suggested Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs on its own if need be. The comments, in an interview published on Sunday by the Financial Times, appeared designed to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week. “China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don’t it won’t be good for anyone,” Trump was quoted as saying, according to an edited transcript published by the newspaper. Asked what incentive the United States had to offer China, Trump replied: “Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade.” Asked if he would consider a “grand bargain” in which China pressured Pyongyang in return for a guarantee the United States would later remove troops from the Korean peninsula, the newspaper quoted Trump as saying: “Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.” It is not clear whether Trump’s comments will move China, which has taken steps to increase economic pressure on Pyongyang but has long been unwilling to do anything that may destabilize the North and send millions of refugees across their border. It is also unclear what the United States might do on its own to deflect North Korea from the expansion of its nuclear capabilities and from the development of missiles with ever-longer ranges and the capacity to deliver atomic warheads. Trump’s national security aides have completed a review of U.S. options to try to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs that includes economic and military measures but leans more toward sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its reclusive neighbor, a U.S. official said. Although the option of pre-emptive military strikes on North Korea is not off the table, the review prioritizes less-risky steps and “de-emphasizes direct military action,” the official added, saying it was not immediately known if the National Security Council recommendations had made their way to Trump. The White House declined comment on the recommendations. Trump and Xi are also expected to discuss Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, when they meet on Thursday and Friday. China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waterway. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on Sunday with China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, about Xi’s visit “and other issues of bilateral and regional importance,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday about the call that Yang had described the meeting between Xi and Trump as being of “great significance” for peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. Tillerson told Yang that the United States would do its utmost to ensure that the meeting had “positive results,” the ministry said. Trump’s deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, said there was a “real possibility” North Korea could be capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Trump’s four-year term, the Financial Times reported. McFarland’s estimate appeared more pessimistic than those of many experts. “The typical estimates are that it will take five years or so,” said Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Korea’s nuclear program. Such estimates are notoriously hard to make both because of the scarcity of intelligence about North Korea and uncertainty about how high a success rate Pyongyang might want for such missiles. John Schilling, a contributor to the “38 North” North Korea monitoring project, said Pyongyang might have missiles capable of limited strikes on the U.S. mainland by the end of Trump’s term, but “it will most likely be a bit later than that.” “I doubt that any missile they could put into service by the end of 2020 will be very reliable, but perhaps it doesn’t have to be - one or two successes out of six launches against the U.S. would be a political game-changer to say the least,” Schilling said.

Summary: शी जिनपिंग वार्ता से पहले उत्तर कोरिया पर चीन पर दबाव डालेंगेः ट्रम्प


(Reuters) - Former Vice President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday the formation of a political action committee (PAC), a signal that he is at least considering a possible run for president in 2020, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. Biden’s PAC will be called “American Possibilities” and run by his former aide Greg Schultz, who also worked on President Barack Obama’s two White House campaigns, the paper said. The 74-year-old former vice president considered a run against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016 before bowing out, citing family concerns in the wake of his son’s death. Clinton lost the presidential election to Republican Donald Trump in November.

Summary: पूर्व उपराष्ट्रपति बाइडन राजनीतिक कार्रवाई समिति की घोषणा करेंगे


LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said Britain was now ready to  move on to the next stage of humiliation  after Prime Minister Theresa May agreed the terms of Britain s divorce from the European Union.   A deal in Brussels is good news for Mrs May as we can now move on to the next stage of humiliation,  he said on Twitter.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट प्रचारक फराज का कहना है कि ब्रिटेन 'अपमान के अगले चरण' के लिए तैयार है


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday Japan would do its utmost, in cooperation with the United States, to defend itself against missiles fired by North Korea and to increase its missile defense capabilities. Abe spoke at the start of a meeting of ruling coalition lawmakers a day after North Korea conducted its sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test.

Summary: जापान के प्रधानमंत्री आबे ने कहा कि उनका लक्ष्य मिसाइल रक्षा क्षमताओं को बढ़ाना है


(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set on Tuesday to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, his final year in office.  But since the Republican-controlled Congress controls the purse strings, much of Obama’s plan likely will be shelved. The following are some of the proposals that will be included: The Pentagon will ask for more than $7 billion for the fight against Islamic State, up about 35 percent from the previous year’s budget request to Congress, and wants a fourfold increase for military training and exercises in Europe to support NATO allies. In a long-shot bid to raise $20 billion to expand transit systems and research self-driving cars, Obama will propose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil.  Obama will seek a 20-percent boost for renewable energy research funding to a total of $7.7 billion. Obama will propose a $2.5 billion tax credit over five years for businesses that invest in community college programs and then hire their graduates. The budget will propose a 1.6 percent pay increase for military and civilian federal personnel. Obama will ask for $1.1 billion in new funding to expand treatment for people addicted to heroin and prescription pain killers, a growing epidemic. Obama pledged more than $450 million in aid to Colombia to help with security and integrating rebel combatants into society under a pending peace deal to end Latin America’s longest war. Obama will propose $12 billion over 10 years to supplement food stamps for poor families when school meal programs are closed in the summer, $2 billion in emergency aid for families in crisis, a combined $328 million in education and housing grants to poor neighborhoods, and a $15 million pilot program to help poor families move to better neighborhoods. The budget will include three years of federal funding to 19 state governments that passed up an earlier offer to expand Medicaid coverage for more than 4 million low-income people. Obama will ask for tweaks to a tax on certain health insurance plans that is unpopular with labor unions. The White House will ask for $5.5 billion in incentives for businesses that hire young people and $200 million for apprenticeship programs. Obama will propose $4 billion for states and $100 million for school districts to expand computer science in schools. The budget will include $1 billion over five years to help coal-mining regions with economic development. The White House will ask for $755 million for Vice President Joe Biden’s “moonshot” effort to find new cancer treatments. The budget will include $700 million in agricultural research grants, double the spending level in 2016. Obama has proposed $500 million to boost access to mental healthcare as part of his push to address gun violence. Obama will propose $95 million for a new office responsible for background checks for federal employees. As part of reforms to the criminal justice system, Obama will ask for $24 million for better housing for inmates with serious mental illnesses. Obama will propose tax credits for small businesses offering 401(k) plans or expanding access to retirement savings programs. Obama will seek to expand unemployment insurance to more types of workers, provide wage insurance for workers moving to lower-paid positions, and provide incentives to states for retraining or relocating workers. Obama will ask for funding to hire 200 new ATF staff to enforce gun laws.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ओबामा के अंतिम बजट प्रस्ताव में क्या होगा?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump came under fire on Sunday for criticizing London’s mayor in the aftermath of attacks in the city that killed seven people and injured at least 48 others. In a tweet, Trump seized on comments by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said Britons should not be alarmed to see more police in the streets after three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing others nearby. “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” Trump tweeted. “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse,” Trump said. In response, a spokesperson for the London mayor said Khan “is busy working with the police, emergency services and the government to coordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack.” “He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police - including armed officers - on the streets,” the spokesperson said. Former Vice President Al Gore, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, said he thought Trump’s tweet misrepresented what the mayor had said. “I don’t think that a major terrorist attack like this is the time to be divisive and to criticize a mayor who’s trying to organize his city’s response to this attack,” Gore, a Democrat, said. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that it “troubles” him to see the kinds of tweets Trump has put out in the aftermath of  the London attacks. Trump did not mention the mayor when speaking after a gala event at Washington’s Ford’s Theatre later on Sunday, where he condemned the attacks as an “evil slaughter.”  He said the United States would do everything in its power to assist the UK in bringing those responsible to justice.  “This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end,” Trump said, adding he would “do what is necessary” to prevent the threat from reaching the United States. Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for the London attack. Trump also spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May to  offer condolences and offered Washington’s “full support,” the White House said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Trump cited the London attacks to push his March 6 executive order that would temporarily ban entry into the United States of people from six predominantly Muslim countries. The ban has been blocked in the courts and Trump’s legal team has asked the Supreme Court to reinstate it. Trump has said the travel ban is needed to protect Americans from terrorist attacks. Critics say his reasoning is flawed and assail the ban as discriminatory. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, former Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday: “A travel ban will be cannon fodder to the recruiters. It’s the worst thing we could do.” Republican Senator Susan Collins told the CBS program “Face the Nation” that she thought Trump’s travel ban was “not the right way to go” because it was too broad. The U.S. State Department said it was monitoring the security situation and advised Americans in Britain to heed the advice of local authorities and maintain their security awareness. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement late on Saturday saying: “At this time, we have no information to indicate a specific, credible terror threat in the United States.” Law enforcement officials in major U.S. cities said they were not aware of any threats but were on alert.

Summary: पुल पर हमलों के बाद लंदन के मेयर पर किए गए ट्वीट के लिए ट्रम्प की आलोचना


TUNIS (Reuters) - Algeria is deeply concerned about a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, saying it was a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, state news agency APS said on Wednesday.  Algeria learned with deep concern about the U.S administration s decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital Israel s,  APS said, quoting a foreign ministry statement.

Summary: अल्जीरिया ने कहा कि जेरूसलम की घोषणा संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रस्तावों का 'घोर उल्लंघन' है


SEOUL (Reuters) - The spokesman for the front runner in South Korea’s upcoming presidential election said on Friday that the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense system should be “immediately suspended” and await a decision by the next government. “As stressed again, the issue of THAAD deployment should be handed over to the next (South Korean) government,” Youn Kwan-suk, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks during an interview with Reuters that South Korea should pay for the system.

Summary: अमेरिकी मिसाइल रोधी प्रणाली 'अगली दक्षिण कोरियाई सरकार के लिए निर्णय होना चाहिए'


KARANGASEM, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia kept the airport on Bali closed on Tuesday as ash from an erupting volcano swept the holiday island, leaving thousands of tourists stranded as authorities tried to persuade villagers living nearby to leave their homes. A total of 443 flights, both domestic and international, were affected by the closure of the airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from Mount Agung which is spewing smoke and ash high into the sky.  Aircraft flight channels are covered with volcanic ash,  the transport ministry said in a statement, citing aviation navigation authorities. The airport - the second-biggest in Indonesia - will be closed at least until 7 a.m. on Wednesday (2300 GMT on Tuesday), the ministry said. Frustration at the airport was starting to boil over, with an estimated 2,000 people attempting to get refunds and reschedule tickets.  There are thousands of people stranded here at the airport,  said Nitin Sheth, a tourist from India.  They have to go to some other airport and they are trying to do that, but the government or authorities here are not helping.  Others were more relaxed.  No, there s not a lot of information ... very little. (But) it s all right. We re on holidays so it doesn t matter. We don t know what s going to happen but we can get back to the bar and have another drink,  said Matthew Radix from Perth. The airport operator said 201 international flights and 242 domestic ones had been hit. Ten alternative airports had been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighboring provinces, the operator said, adding it was helping people make alternative bookings and helping stranded travelers. The airport on Lombok island, to the east of Bali, had reopened, authorities said, as wind blew ash westward, towards the southern coast of Java island. Agung towers over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Its last eruption in 1963 killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages. On Tuesday, however, life went on largely as normal in surrounding villages, with residents offering prayers as the volcano sent huge billows of ash and smoke into the sky. Some villagers who fled in September, when the alert was last raised to the highest level, have gone home despite government warnings. On Monday, authorities said 100,000 residents living near the volcano had been ordered to get out of an 8-10 km (5-6 mile) exclusion zone, warning a larger eruption was  imminent .  While the population in the area has been estimated at anywhere between 63,000 and 140,000, just over 29,000 people were registered at emergency centers, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Disaster Mitigation Agency.  Not all people in the danger zone are prepared to take refuge,  he said.  There are still a lot of residents staying in their homes.  Indonesia s Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center has warned that an eruption of a size similar to that seen in 1963 could send rocks bigger than a fist flying a distance of up to 8 km (5 miles), and volcanic gas a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes. Monitoring has shown the northeastern part of Agung s peak had swollen in recent weeks  indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface , the center said. For interactive package on Agung eruptions, click: tmsnrt.rs/2hYdHiq For graphic on the Pacific Ring of Fire, click: tmsnrt.rs/2BjtH6l

Summary: बाली ज्वालामुखी के कारण हवाई अड्डे को बंद रखने से पर्यटकों और अधिकारियों को गर्मी महसूस हो रही है


(This story corrects ninth paragraph to say that refiners want exported ethanol to qualify for renewable credits, not exported fuel blended with ethanol.) By David Shepardson and Jarrett Renshaw WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump sought to ease concerns on Wednesday that his administration would make major alterations to biofuels policy, telling Iowa’s governor he was committed to a decade-old biofuels program even as a top official considers changing it. U.S. law requires fuel companies to add biofuels like ethanol to the country’s fuel supply through the ‘renewable fuel standard,’ adopted in 2005. The Trump administration is considering lowering the mandatory level, a worry for corn-growing states like Iowa.  Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she held separate calls with Trump and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt on Wednesday, in which she urged them not to make that change. “Both of them personally committed to me their continued commitment to the renewable fuel standard,” Reynolds said, adding that the call with Trump was “positive.” However, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration “didn’t make any assurances” on renewable fuel standard (RFS) levels. “No definitive decision was made on RFS,” she said. The biofuels industry has been ratcheting up pressure in Washington in response to actions from the EPA it sees as threatening the program, which was designed to reduce carbon emissions.  Independent oil refiners, meanwhile, have pushed the Trump administration to soften requirements for ethanol use, which costs them hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Some refiners want another change that would ease their cost burden: they want exported ethanol to qualify for credits under the renewable fuel program. The chief executives at four such companies - Valero, PBF Energy, Monroe Energy and HollyFrontier - delivered a letter to the White House on Wednesday urging the change. Two industry sources told Reuters they had received assurances from White House officials that Trump was directing the EPA to allow credits on exports, but to end its efforts to reduce renewable fuel requirements overall. Last month, the EPA said it was looking to cut 2018 biodiesel blending requirements, roiling markets and drawing criticism from the country’s farm belt. In July, it proposed cutting total volumes of all renewable fuels use for next year.     Elected officials from the corn-growing Midwest have said they will not be satisfied with White House reassurances until the EPA publicly agrees not to reduce renewable fuel standards. Several senators met with Pruitt on Tuesday to discuss the issue.  In a statement after the meeting, Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said she had expressed “significant concerns” over the agency’s recent moves to potentially set biodiesel requirements for 2018 and 2019 at “substantially lower volumes.” Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said he told Pruitt during the hour-long meeting “that supporting biofuels isn’t just good policy. It’s also what President Trump promised.” Reynolds, meanwhile, urged Iowans to contact lawmakers and administration officials and said she is meeting next week with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Pruitt in Washington.  A group of 33 senators wrote to Trump this week urging the EPA to maintain levels for 2018 and increase its proposed 2019 biodiesel requirements. Pruitt would not want “to take any steps to undermine the objectives in the statute of the RFS,” said EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman.  Late on Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works postponed a planned hearing for Wednesday to consider the nominations of four EPA officials. Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said she was placing a hold on two EPA nominees over the ethanol issue. Ernst said on Wednesday she was declining to support one of the nominees over concerns about the EPA’s plans for renewable fuels.

Summary: ट्रम्प अमेरिकी अक्षय ईंधन के लिए 'प्रतिबद्ध' हैंः आयोवा गवर्नर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Refugee advocates said on Thursday the Obama administration is sending mixed signals to Central American migrants by deporting families who have fled to the United States while increasing resources in the crime-ridden region for asylum seekers. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday that the United States would work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to expand opportunities for people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to apply for refugee status before coming to the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently conducted raids in the United States on Central American families who had fled the region in an effort to deter others from doing the same. “That frankly leaves us scratching our heads and leaves us wondering how the administration could be talking about the refugee resettlement issue in such different terms,” said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, an advocacy organization for children who enter the U.S. immigration system alone. Young said the families were not given due process before being deported.  The question of what claim Central Americans fleeing violence have to refugee status in the United States comes amid a polarized national debate about the U.S. immigration system. Some congressional Republicans have said migrants, including refugees from Central America and the Middle East, could threaten public health and national security. More than 140 Democrats in the U.S. House wrote a letter to President Barack Obama condemning the deportation raids. Refugee and immigration advocates said the administration’s plan to deport Central Americans from the United States while increasing opportunities for them to seek asylum from their own countries wrongfully assumes that those asking for asylum at the border are a threat. The asylum application process, which can take two years, is unfeasible for families needing to flee violence quickly, said Jen Smyers, associate director of immigration and refugee policy at Church World Service.  Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights and justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said the administration’s “border enforcement approach to this issue has been a mistake from the beginning.” Young said the administration wanted to counter the perception that border is out of control but “I think what they’re going to find out is that the most dangerous political calculation is that the immigrant rights community ... are now all unifying and speaking out in strong opposition to this new policy.”

Summary: मध्य अमेरिकी प्रवासियों के प्रति अमेरिकी प्रतिक्रिया से अधिवक्ता उलझन में हैं


SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korea will never tolerate North Korea as a nuclear state, nor will Seoul have nuclear weapons, President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday, as China pledged to work on denuclearization after setting aside a dispute with Seoul over an anti-missile system. The North Korea nuclear crisis will take center stage when U.S. President Donald Trump begins a trip to Asia at the end of the week and diplomacy has being ramping up ahead of that visit. A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent months has raised fears about an armed conflict. Speaking to parliament, Moon said there can be no military action on the Korean peninsula without the South s consent, adding the government will continue working for peace on the peninsula.  According to the joint denuclearization declaration made by North and South Korea, we cannot tolerate or recognize North Korea as a nuclear state. We too, will not develop nuclear (weapons) or own them,  he said.  Our government was launched in the most serious of times in terms of security. The government is making efforts to stably manage the situation it faces as well as to bring about peace on the Korean peninsula.  China s foreign ministry said Beijing and Seoul will continue to use diplomatic means to address the Korean peninsula issue, after a meeting in Beijing between Lee Do-hoon, South Korea s representatives of stalled six-party nuclear talks, and his Chinese counterpart, Kong Xuanyou.  Moon s remarks and China s statement came a day after China and South Korea agreed to normalize relations to end a year-long standoff over the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.   The installation of THAAD had angered China, which feared its powerful radar could see deep into China. South Korea s tourism, cosmetics and entertainment industries bore the brunt of a Chinese backlash, although Beijing has never specifically linked that to the THAAD deployment. North Korea s state media had no comment on the shift in ties between South Korea and China as of midday on Wednesday. It has not engaged in missile tests since mid-September or any nuclear tests since its biggest one early that month.     A senior Blue House official had said warmer bilateral ties had seemed to come about from better trust in Seoul by Beijing, which has expressed concerns regarding possible additional deployments of a U.S. anti-missile defense system and military cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan.  Earlier this week, South Korea s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa had said South Korea has no intention to join a U.S. missile-defense system in the region and would not host additional THAAD batteries. South Korea would not enter any trilateral military alliance with the United States and Japan, Kang added.  The United States is deciding whether three aircraft carriers currently in the Asia Pacific will carry out an exercise to coincide with Trump s trip to the region, two U.S. officials said. Japan s navy is considering sending one or more ships to the exercise if it is held, a Japanese government source said. Trump s trip includes Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing but he will not go to the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the border of North Korea and South Korea, a senior White House official said. China s top newspaper, the Communist Party s official People s Daily, wrote in a commentary on Wednesday that China expected South Korea to take seriously its responsibility to protect regional peace now that they had set relations back on the correct track.  The appropriate handling of the THAAD issue by China and South Korea can provide an opportunity for both countries to increase cooperation and communication on the peninsula issue,  it said. But influential state-run tabloid the Global Times warned  there would not be an immediate improvement in cultural and business ties, with South Korean firms having to make an effort to win back Chinese customers.  Whether or not Chinese consumers buy South Korean products is not totally up the Chinese government,  it said in an editorial. The rapprochement meant both countries were able to walk away with gains, said John Delury, professor at Seoul s Yonsei University.  It is arguably Moon s first foreign policy breakthrough, giving South Korea s economy a boost and enhancing his geopolitical leverage by strengthening the relationship with China,  said Delury.  But Xi can also claim a victory - he made his point that Seoul needs to factor China s interests more seriously into its security posture, at least when it comes to things like missile defense that can alter the regional balance of power.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया का कहना है कि वह उत्तर कोरिया को परमाणु राष्ट्र के रूप में मान्यता नहीं दे सकता


ATHENS (Reuters) - Europe s top human rights court has faulted Greece for failing to fully investigate the death of a telecoms engineer in 2005 during a scandal over wiretapping of the country s political leadership. Costas Tsalikidis, 38, was found hanged in his apartment in Athens in March 2005, around the time that Vodafone Greece told authorities of widespread wiretapping of much of the government, including the prime minister, via Vodafone s network. Tsalikidis had worked for Vodafone.  On two occasions, Greek judicial authorities ruled out foul play related to Tsalikidis s death. He did not leave a note and his family said he was not suicidal. They took the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).      The Court considers that the national authorities failed to carry out an adequate and effective investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Tsalikidis,  the Strasbourg-based court said in a ruling dated Nov. 16. It ordered Greece to pay Tsalikidis s family 50,000 euros in damages for the state s failure to clarify circumstances surrounding his death.  The Court observes, in particular, that the difficulty in determining whether there was any substance in the applicants  claim that their relative was unlawfully killed rests with the failure of the authorities adequately to investigate the circumstances of the death,  it said.  A Greek prosecutor would investigate whether the case needed to be reopened, Greek court sources told Reuters on Friday. Then Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and the foreign, defense and public order ministers were among about 100 people whose mobile phones were tapped for months around the time of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Unauthorized installed software allowed calls to and from scores of mobile phones to be recorded from June 2004 until March 2005. It stopped when Vodafone discovered the incident and reported it to authorities, Reuters reported at the time. Who was behind the wiretap is unclear. In 2006 and 2007, Vodafone Greece was fined a total of 95 million euros by Greek regulators for breaching privacy rules. A forensic expert contracted by Tsalikidis s family called the initial autopsy probe  grossly inadequate , while a second investigation launched after exhumation in 2012 revealed inconsistencies which should have been investigated further, the ECHR said in its verdict.  (The) Court notably bore in mind that the public prosecutor, during the initial investigation, had mentioned that the death had been causally linked to the wiretapping case. It had therefore been all the more important to take every measure necessary to investigate Costas Tsalikidis  death,  the court said. It noted Tsalikidis s family had at no point contended Greek authorities were responsible for his death or implied Greece was aware he was at risk.

Summary: ईसीएचआर ने ग्रीस को वायरटैप मामले में मौत की जांच के लिए हर्जाने का भुगतान करने का आदेश दिया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned U.S. cruise missile strikes on Syria as illegal on Friday, warning the move would further damage already battered U.S.-Russia relations which Moscow had hoped President Donald Trump would revive. U.S. officials said they had informed Russian forces ahead of the strikes — intended to punish the Syrian government for what they say was a chemical weapons attack earlier this week — and had avoided hitting Russian personnel. Satellite imagery suggests the Shayrat air base that was struck in western Syria is home to Russian special forces and military helicopters, part of the Kremlin’s effort to help the Syrian government fight Islamic State and other militant groups. Russia’s main air base and a naval facility were not hit.  Moscow had been hoping to cooperate with Trump to jointly fight Islamic State in Syria, a move it was banking on to boost U.S.-Russia ties which are at a post-Cold War low. After the U.S. strikes, that task now looks harder. “President Putin views the U.S. strikes on Syria as aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext,” said a Kremlin statement.  “This step by Washington will inflict major damage on U.S.-Russia ties.”  Putin, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was holding a meeting of Russia’s Security Council to discuss the strike on Friday afternoon and the Russian Foreign Ministry called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. A foreign ministry statement said Moscow was suspending a Syrian air safety agreement with the United States originally drawn up to ensure that the two countries’ planes did not collide. “It’s clear to any specialist that the decision to launch a strike was taken in Washington before the events in Idlib (the province where the gas poisoning took place) which were simply used as a pretext for a show of force,” the ministry said. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters the U.S. strikes had been conducted to help rebel groups fighting Assad. Russia would keep military channels of communication open with Washington, but would not exchange any information through them, he added. When asked whether Russia had deactivated its own anti-missile defense systems in Syria before the missile strike, Peskov declined to comment.  U.S.-RUSSIA TIES IN PERIL The Russian Defence Ministry meanwhile mocked the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes, saying only 23 missiles had found their targets. It was unclear where another 36 had landed, it said, promising Syrian air defenses would now be beefed up.  A Russian frigate armed with Kalibr cruise missiles sailed through the Bosphorus en route to the eastern Mediterranean in the early hours of Friday morning, according to pictures taken by Turkish bloggers for their online Bosphorus Naval News project. It was unclear if that was related to the U.S. strikes.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there were no reports of any Russians being hurt in the attack. He said he hoped U.S.-Russia ties would not be irreparably hurt as a result.  Rex Tillerson is due to make his first visit to Moscow next week as U.S. secretary of state, an eagerly awaited event in Russia where politicians have been anxious to try to use the change of administration to reboot relations.   One senior Russian lawmaker, Leonid Slutsky, told the Russia 24 television channel on Friday Moscow should use the Tillerson visit to “try and talk sense into Washington”. Syria, ironically, was one of the few areas where analysts believed Moscow and Washington might be able to find common ground.     The Kremlin says Washington’s allegations that the Syrian army possesses and used chemical weapons are flat out wrong and accuses the West of ignoring rebel use of such weapons. It says scores of Syrians were killed by poison gas on Tuesday because the Syrian air force had struck a militant bomb-making factory which it said contained chemical weapons procured in Iraq. Western countries have dismissed this version of events and say Syrian planes dropped the gas, which Assad denies.  The Kremlin said on Friday the U.S. attack had thrown up a “serious obstacle” to the idea championed by Trump during his election campaign of creating an international coalition against terrorism.  Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the upper house’s international affairs committee, said it looked like Trump may have been pushed into approving military action by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies.  “One way or another, Russian cruise missiles are continuing to strike terrorists and American ones government troops who are heading the war against the terrorists,” Kosachev wrote on social media. “I fear that with these approaches the hoped-for U.S.-Russian anti-terrorism coalition in Syria ... is breathing its last before it is even born.”

Summary: पुतिन ने सीरिया पर अमेरिकी हमलों को अवैध बताया, U.S.-Russia संबंधों को झटका दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Steve Scalise’s condition has improved but remained critical on Thursday, a day after a man who had expressed anger toward President Donald Trump opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice. Trump on Thursday reiterated his call for unity in the aftermath of the shooting in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. But Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, criticized some Republicans who have blamed the shooting on vitriol from the political left. Scalise, a congressman from Louisiana who is the No. 3 House Republican, suffered injuries to internal organs, broken bones and severe bleeding after being shot in the left hip on a baseball field where he and other lawmakers were practicing for a charity baseball game. Scalise underwent a second surgery for internal injuries and a broken leg - his third procedure overall - and remained in critical condition but had shown improvement, MedStar Washington Hospital Center said in a statement on Thursday. Scalise, 51, and three others were wounded when a man identified as James Hodgkinson, 66, from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Illinois, opened fire on the lawmakers. The others wounded were a police officer, a congressional aide and a lobbyist. Hodgkinson, who had a history of posting angry messages against Trump and other Republicans on social media, died after being wounded by police. The U.S. Capitol Police said Hodgkinson used a 9 mm handgun and a 7.62-caliber rifle in the shooting, and traces run by investigators showed he evidently acquired the weapons legally. “Both were purchased by the shooter from federal firearms licensees,” the Capitol Police said in a statement. “We currently have no evidence to suggest that the purchases were not lawful.” The FBI recovered a cellphone, computer and camera from Hodgkinson’s van and was examining them for evidence, the statement said. Trump, who visited Scalise at the hospital on Wednesday, said the congressman was “in some trouble but he’s going to be okay, we hope.”  “It’s been much more difficult than people even thought at the time,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday, adding he also visited the wounded Capitol Police officer at the hospital. Vice President Mike Pence earlier on Thursday said he visited the hospital where Scalise was being treated. Republican members of Congress played their Democratic colleagues in a charity game on Thursday night at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team, with thousands of spectators attending. The lawmakers took the field with many wearing hats to honor Scalise. When the members of the Republican team were announced, mention of Scalise’s name drew a standing ovation throughout the stadium. The shooting has raised questions about lawmakers’ security, renewed the nation’s contentious debate over guns and drawn new attention to the harsh rhetoric that reflects America’s political polarization. Trump, in a video message played at the game, said the event had “a much deeper level of meaning” because of the shooting. “In Washington we have our disagreements, but we all agree that we are here to serve this nation we love and the people who call it home,” Trump said. “That’s the source of unity and more than ever we must embrace it.” Many lawmakers in both parties called for unity after the shooting. But at a news conference, Pelosi bristled at comments made by a few Republicans and conservative activists who blamed heated Democratic rhetoric for the incident. “The comments made by my Republican colleagues are outrageous, beneath the dignity of the job that they hold, beneath the dignity of the respect that we would like Congress to command. How dare they say such a thing,” Pelosi said. She said Republican vitriol and caricatures of her had resulted in “calls to my home constantly, threats in front of my family, really predicated on their comments and their paid ads.” Pelosi also cited past remarks by Trump, saying: “You have a president who says: ‘I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and nobody would care.’” She did not specify which comments by Republicans she objected to. Among others, Republican Representative Steve King wrote on Twitter that “violence is incited by the leading cultural voices of the Left” and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich cited an “increasing hostility on the left.”

Summary: गोलीबारी के बाद अमेरिकी सांसद की हालत में सुधार लेकिन अभी भी गंभीर


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Dozens of mortar bombs landed on the last major rebel stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday, a war monitor and a witness said on Wednesday, despite a 48 hour truce proposed by Russia to coincide with the start of peace talks in Geneva. After a relatively calm morning, shelling picked up later in the day, accompanied by ground attempts to storm the besieged enclave, a witness in the Eastern Ghouta area told Reuters. The Syrian army stepped up bombardment two weeks ago in an effort to recapture Eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held pocket of densely populated agricultural land on the outskirts of the capital under siege since 2012. Scores of people have been killed in air strikes during the offensive, and residents say they are on the verge of starvation after the siege was tightened. Russia had proposed a ceasefire on Monday in the besieged area for Nov. 28-29. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura later said Russia had told him that the Syrian government had accepted the idea, but  we have to see if it happens . The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least one person was killed when dozens of mortars crashed into Eastern Ghouta on Wednesday. Eastern Ghouta is one of several  de-escalation  zones across western Syria where Russia has brokered ceasefire deals between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad s government. But fighting has continued there. On Tuesday, shelling killed three people and injured 15, but was less intense than in previous days, the observatory said. It had reported intense bombardment that killed 41 people over two days from Sunday to Monday.  A two-day truce is not nearly enough for civilians facing grave violations of international law - including bombardment and besiegement - but it is a window of opportunity to save the lives of the most desperately in need of treatment,  said Thomas Garofalo, International Rescue Committee s Middle East Public Affairs Director, in a statement on Wednesday. The Syrian delegation arrived in Geneva to participate in the eighth round of United Nation-sponsored peace talks. It delayed its departure for one day after the opposition repeated its demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down. Nasr Hariri, head of the opposition delegation, told a Geneva news conference on Monday night that he is aiming for Assad s removal as a result of negotiations. The government delegation will be headed by Syria s U.N. ambassador and chief negotiator Bashar al-Ja afari, state-run news agency SANA said. A breakthrough in the talks is seen as unlikely as Assad and his allies push for total military victory in Syria s civil war, now in its seventh year, and his opponents stick by their demand he leaves power.

Summary: दमिश्क के पास विद्रोही क्षेत्र में दो दिवसीय संघर्ष विराम के बावजूद भारी गोलाबारी