WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - Saddled with the toughest job in American diplomacy, the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea stands between a U.S. president who insists he doesn t want to talk and an enemy who shows no interest in listening. While veteran State Department Asia hand Joseph Yun might be Washington s best diplomatic hope for reducing the risk of a  devastating war on the Korean peninsula, he serves an administration riven by divisions over how to handle Pyongyang.   On the other side, North Korea s young leader, Kim Jong Un,  shows little interest in negotiating either, at least not until he has developed a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Despite the daunting obstacles, South Korean-born Yun has told colleagues and others he hopes his diplomatic efforts can lower the temperature in a dangerous nuclear stand-off, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials and South Korean diplomats. Most were deeply skeptical about his chances.    He s such a dreamer,  a White House official said, with a note of sarcasm.    We don t think this is going anywhere,  said another U.S. official, although he suggested it was still worthwhile to keep engaging at some level with the North Koreans as long as Yun does not appear to be undermining President Donald Trump s public rejection of direct negotiations. Trump has told aides that his military threats will drive North Korea to capitulate and rein in its nuclear and missile programs, four White House officials said, a view not shared among most U.S. intelligence agencies. Yun, however, is quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korean officials at the United Nations and has a mandate to discuss issues beyond the release of U.S. citizens, a senior State Department official told Reuters this week. In June, he secured the release of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who returned to the United States in a coma and died days later.  Trump headed to Asia on Friday as a senior aide warned the world is  running out of time  on the North Korea crisis. Behind the scenes, Yun is trying to keep open a fragile line of communication that could be used to prevent any miscalculation by one side or the other from spiraling into military conflict. Further aggravating tensions, two U.S. strategic bombers conducted drills over South Korea on Thursday. That followed word from South Korea s spy agency that North Korea may be preparing another missile launch. U.S. officials have said privately that intercepting a test missile is among options under consideration, though there is disagreement within the administration about the risks. In the midst of this is Yun, a soft-spoken, 32-year foreign service veteran who took on the job a year ago, near the end of the Obama administration. He is grappling with Trump s strident rhetoric as well as disagreement among the president s top aides over whether saber-rattling will force Kim to capitulate and what the threshold for any military actions should be, according to several U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.  Concern about Yun s difficulties has surfaced in Seoul, where he visits regularly and where Trump will travel next week on the second stop of his Asian tour. Several South Korean officials expressed worry that Yun s diplomatic efforts with North Korea lack any real underpinning of support from the White House.    Things are clearly not easy for him,  one South Korean diplomat said.  Yun is precisely that person (to talk to North Korea), but Trump is killing the whole process.  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters on Sept. 30 the United States was probing for a diplomatic opening, only to be slapped down by Trump, who told him via Twitter this was a waste of time. At the same time, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who regularly briefs Trump on intelligence matters and is considered one of the most hawkish voices on North Korea in the president s inner circle, has apparently gained stature.    Several officials familiar with those discussions say Pompeo is feeding Trump assessments that U.S. military threats will force Kim to bow to U.S. demands for nuclear disarmament, a position that some U.S. intelligence officers privately contest.  The CIA declined comment. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Yun  has become diplomatically  untethered,  not fully connected to a core U.S. approach that is emphasizing economic sanctions and the threat of military action rather than diplomacy.   The one tangible achievement of Yun s diplomatic efforts in the past year was winning the release of 22-year-old Warmbier in secret talks with North Korean officials in Oslo and New York. Yun flew to Pyongyang in June to medically evacuate Warmbier. When Choe Son Hui, head of the North Korean foreign ministry s North America bureau, met Yun in Oslo, she was unaware of how serious Warmbier s condition was, a source in Washington knowledgeable about the matter said.  But once she learned about it she was  shocked  and Yun was summoned urgently to meet a North Korean diplomat in New York, which quickly led to Warmbier s return home, the source said. Warmbier s death complicated Yun s efforts as it contributed to a chilling of U.S.-North Korean contacts around that time, the State Department official said.  Despite Trump s threats of military action against Pyongyang, the State Department official said Yun s view was  the less you engage diplomatically, the more likely you are in the dark.  Even so, Trump s rhetoric has raised questions among allies, and possibly even in North Korea, about how serious, if at all, his administration is about diplomacy and how much of a mandate Yun may have to pursue it.    Trump  personalized  the conflict   deriding Kim as  Little Rocket Man  -  against the advice of his national security and intelligence experts, some of whom warned it could be counterproductive, a senior national security official said.   Another official pointed out, however, that Trump, who in May said he would be honored to meet Kim, had not hurled any fresh insults at Kim in recent days, raising hopes for an altered approach. A South Korean official in Seoul said it was necessary for Washington to have someone in contact with North Korea to help spur future negotiations if they are ever to take hold. But Trump s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, told Japan s NHK television this week:  What we cannot afford to do is enter into these long, drawn-out negotiations that allow North Korea to use these negotiations as cover for continuing their nuclear and missile programs.  Former U.S. negotiators sympathize with Yun, whose authority to negotiate has been undercut by the tug-of-war between a White House breathing fire and a State Department pushing a peaceful solution.  Nobody doubted my authority,  said Wendy Sherman, one of the lead U.S. negotiators who achieved the 2015 deal under which Iran agreed to restrain its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.  All of this undermines our ability to do the job.  Robert Gallucci, who was chief U.S. negotiator during the North Korean nuclear crisis of 1994 and has had recent contact with Yun, said the envoy is  realistic about the challenges of negotiating in the current atmosphere, including the tone set by the president, but he believes in the mission even as his approach is guided by realism.

Summary: 'वह एक ऐसा सपने देखने वाला हैः' संदेहवाद अमेरिकी राजदूत के उत्तर कोरियाई शांति प्रयासों को रोकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four of Washington’s largest business lobby groups urged Congress in a letter on Wednesday to settle their differences on government spending so they can move forward on overhauling the U.S. tax code in the next year.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Businesses penned a joint letter calling for lawmakers to adopt a budget for next year that would allow them to begin work on changing the tax code.      “In our view, given the historic opportunity before Congress, no other reforms under consideration rise to the importance of pro-growth, comprehensive tax reform,” the letter states. The budget process hit a delay this week after conservative Republicans in the House continued to demand billions of dollars in cuts to the spending outline.     Passing a budget is vital to begin the process of rewriting the tax code because it permits a procedural maneuver that will allow Republicans to pass a tax bill without the support of Democrats. President Donald Trump has made tax reform a key goal for this year. Additionally, Congress has become bogged down in trying to repeal Obamacare, a process that was delayed again this week and has been blamed for the inability to move on to tax reform. The joint letter urged Congress not to let other fights, alluding to health care, prevent tax reform from being completed this year.

Summary: व्यापारिक समूहों ने कांग्रेस से कर सुधार की अनुमति देने के लिए विवाद को हल करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis dismissed reports on Thursday that President Donald Trump was considering a plan to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Asked what he made of Tillerson’s reported pending departure, Mattis said: “I make nothing of it. There’s nothing to it.”  He was responding to a shouted question at the beginning of a meeting with the Libyan prime minister at the Pentagon.

Summary: टिलरसन के जाने पर मैटिस ने कहा, 'इसमें कुछ भी नहीं है'


CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Philippines (Reuters) - Australia on Tuesday announced the expansion of its security support to the Philippines, which will involve training in urban counter-terrorism, to fight the rise and spread of Islamist militancy in the region. The announcement follows the end of the 154-day battle for Marawi city which stunned the Philippine s military inexperienced in urban combat, and fueled concerns Islamic State loyalists wanted to use the southern island of Mindanao as a base for Southeast Asia activity. The battle for Marawi ended on Monday. Philippines authorities said 920 militants, 165 troops and police and at least 45 civilians were killed in the conflict, which displaced more than 300,000 people. Australia, along with the United States, Singapore and China, provided weaponry and technical support, including surveillance aircraft.  All nations must learn from the recent Marawi conflict and the Philippines  experience,  said Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne, adding Canberra and Manila will host a post-conflict seminar to learn from the five-month Marawi conflict. About 80 soldiers from Australia s mobile training team will be deployed in local bases in the Philippines to train army and marine units in urban counter-terrorism warfare, said Payne on the sidelines of an ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting in Clark, a former U.S. air force base.  The practical training the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) will provide will ensure the Philippines defense force is better able to counter the brutal tactics being employed by terrorists,  Payne told a news conference.  The spread of Daesh-inspired (Islamic State) terrorism is a direct threat to Australia and its interests and we are committed to working with our partners and allies to ensuring Daesh cannot establish a geographic foothold in the region.  Payne said Australia was concerned with Islamic State fighters returning from Iraq and Syria to home countries in Southeast Asia and was working closely with Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore to monitor militant movements. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in the same briefing the government had been provided by Kurdish intelligence, through Manila s embassy in Baghdad, with a list of Indonesians, Malaysians and a few Filipinos who might return home. Lorenzana said the Philippines and Australia are now reviewing the deployment of surveillance planes, which flew four times a week over Marawi since late June. Apart from urban warfare training, Australia will also  enhance provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, share information and intelligence and strengthen maritime security engagement and bilateral maritime patrols. An increasing number of Australian warships are expected to make visits to Manila. Canberra is also emerging to be the top source of education and training for local troops.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया ने इस्लामी आतंकवादियों से निपटने के लिए फिलीपींस को सुरक्षा सहायता का विस्तार किया


ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will fly to Washington and Ottawa meet U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in April, ahead of a Group of Seven summit in Italy the following month. Gentiloni will meet Trump at the White House on April 20, and Trudeau the next day, a statement from the prime minister’s office said. The trip will allow Gentiloni to discuss the agenda of the annual Group of Seven meeting of major economies in Sicily on May 26-27, which will mark Trump’s first visit to Europe since taking office.

Summary: इटली के प्रधानमंत्री जेंटिलोनी 20 अप्रैल को ट्रम्प से मिलने के लिए अमेरिका के लिए उड़ान भरेंगे-बयान


XIAMEN, China (Reuters) - The leaders of the five emerging market BRICS powers have for the first time named militant groups based in Pakistan as a regional security concern and called for their patrons to be held to account. India welcomed the move   which came at a summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen   as an important step forward in the fight against militant attacks, of which it has been a target. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa make up the BRICS grouping. China has generally been supportive of its ally Pakistan in the past. The group called for an immediate end to violence in Afghanistan.  We, in this regard, express concern on the security situation in the region and violence caused by the Taliban, (Islamic State)..., Al-Qaeda and its affiliates including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizb ut-Tahrir,  the leaders said in the declaration. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a militant group based in Pakistan which India blames for cross-border attacks including the 2008 assault in its financial capital Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.  Jaish-e-Mohammad, another anti-India group based in Pakistan, was blamed for a 2001 attack on parliament. India has long demanded that Pakistan take action against these groups. Islamabad denies any involvement in attacks in India including in the disputed region of Kashmir and said it is itself a victim of attacks.  Indian foreign ministry official Preeti Saran told reporters on the sidelines of the summit that wording in the communiqu  was a  very important development  and that there was recognition that the world cannot have double standards when dealing with militant attacks.  You cannot have good and bad terrorists, and it is a collective action. Members of the BRICS countries have themselves been victims of terrorism, and I would say that what has come of today acknowledges the fact that we must work collectively in handling this.  China is a close ally of Pakistan and has in the past sprung to its defense, especially when India tried to isolate its arch rival in international fora.  India s local media said naming the Pakistan-based groups in the BRICs resolution was an important win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi s administration which at last year s summit called Pakistan the mother ship of terrorism.  There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the BRICs resolution. China, though, has repeatedly blocked India s attempt to get the head of Jaish-e-Mohammad added to a U.N. blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda.

Summary: ब्रिकस ने पाकिस्तान स्थित उग्रवादी समूहों को क्षेत्रीय चिंता का विषय बताया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto recognized their differences on Trump’s plan to build a wall on the southern U.S. border but have agreed to “work these differences out.” “With respect to payment for the border wall, both presidents recognize their clear and very public differences of positions on this issue but have agreed to work these differences out as part of a comprehensive discussion on all aspects of the bilateral relationship,” the White House said in a statement.

Summary: ट्रम्प और मेक्सिको के पेना नीटो दीवार पर मतभेदों को दूर करने के लिए सहमत हुए


PHOENIX (Reuters) - The Arizona sheriff famous for his tough stance on illegal immigration and keeping jail inmates in tents easily won his Republican primary on Tuesday. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is seeking election to a seventh term as the top lawman for the area around Phoenix, won about 66 percent of the vote, well ahead of ex-police chief and three-time opponent Dan Saban, according to unofficial election results posted online by the county. Also on the Republican primary ballot were Wayne Baker, a retired deputy sheriff, and Marsha Ann Hill, an ex-sheriff’s volunteer.  Arpaio is slated to face Democrat Paul Penzone, who was unopposed in his party’s primary, in the general election. Penzone, a former Phoenix police officer who is expected to present a tough challenge to Arpaio in November, lost to the longtime sheriff in 2012 by six percentage points. Arpaio, 84, was expected to win his primary despite a judge’s request that criminal contempt charges be brought against him stemming from a 2007 racial profiling case where he was found to have violated the constitutional rights of Latino motorists.     The investigation and possible prosecution was turned over to the U.S. Justice Department last week. It was not clear when a decision would be made. Arpaio, who styles himself as America’s toughest sheriff, said his looming legal battles apparently had no effect on the primary race.  “I think the people understand that they should not believe everything they hear,” Arpaio told Reuters in a telephone interview. “They support me as they always have and that feels good.”     Saban has called on Arpaio to resign, saying the sheriff has “soiled his badge” and made himself ineffective as a lawman. Saban declined comment on the election results through a spokesman, adding that he would issue a statement on Wednesday morning.      Arpaio, along with three others, could face incarceration and fines if convicted of any criminal charges. Arpaio and his second-in-command, Gerard Sheridan, already have been cited and admitted to civil contempt.     The charges center on unlawful traffic stops and detentions by deputies of Latino drivers for 18 months after the judge ordered them to cease. Opponents also have targeted the profiling lawsuit’s high cost to the county, which will have spent an estimated $54 million on the case by next summer.

Summary: एरिजोना के अनुभवी शेरिफ ने रिपब्लिकन प्राइमरी में तीन को हराया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is seeking to reopen its embassy in Libya pending security conditions, officials said on Tuesday, offering further political support for the Tripoli government struggling to establish control. EU leaders will announce at their summit in Brussels on Oct. 19-20 that they  encourage work underway to rapidly establish a permanent EU presence in Libya , according to their draft joint statement seen by Reuters. But the statement makes clear no such move is imminent as it would be conditional on improving the security situation on the ground. The EU moved its mission to neighboring Tunisia in mid-2014 as security worsened in Libya amid escalating fighting between rival factions since the 2011 fall of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, ousted by rebels during a NATO bombing campaign.  Of 28 EU states, only Italy, Libya s former colonial master and still the most influential European state on the ground, has an embassy in the country, where the United Nations has officially recognized the government of Fayez Seraj. The EU has also engaged increasingly with Seraj, especially as it sought Libya s help in curbing the flow of African refugees and migrants, hundreds of thousands of whom have been boarding smugglers  boats on the coast of the lawless state to cross the Mediterranean for Europe.  The bloc has financed, equipped and trained Libya s border and coast guards, despite rights groups sounding alarm over grave abuses refugees and migrants suffer in Libya.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ का लीबिया में दूतावास फिर से खोलने का लक्ष्य है


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is negotiating with U.S.-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. MH370 vanished three years ago somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people aboard. Its disappearance has become one of the world s greatest aviation mysteries. Malaysia, Australia and China ended a A$200 million ($157 million) deep-sea search for the plane in January without any trace being found. But Malaysia said this week it had received proposals from Ocean Infinity, Dutch firm Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company offering to continue the search.  Yes, we are negotiating with Ocean Infinity but the agreement has not been finalised,  Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi told Reuters.  Ocean Infinity are not yet able to confirm the award of a contract to help in the search for MH370, but good progress has been made,  a spokesman for Ocean Infinity said in a statement.

Summary: मलेशिया एम. एच. 370 की खोज फिर से शुरू करने के लिए अमेरिकी फर्म ओशन इन्फिनिटी के साथ बातचीत कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Budget Committee approved Republicans’ healthcare bill in a 19-17 vote on Thursday that moves the legislation to a final committee before sending it for a full vote before the U.S. House of Representatives. The panel backed the plan pending non-binding changes to the legislation to unwind the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare. After the Budget Committee debates possible changes, it can recommend them to the House Rules Committee that is next to weigh in.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन के बजट पैनल ने रिपब्लिकन स्वास्थ्य सेवा योजना का समर्थन किया


BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Separatists looked set on Friday to regain power in Catalonia after voters rejected Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy s attempt to neuter its independence movement, instead re-igniting the country s biggest political crisis in decades. Spanish markets recoiled at a surprise result that is also a setback for the European Union, which must now brace for more secessionist noise as it grapples with the disruption of Brexit and simmering east European discontent. By risking a parliamentary election in the region, Rajoy appears to have made the same mistake that leaders including Greece s Alexis Tsipras, Britain s David Cameron and Italy s Matteo Renzi have made in recent years: betting that voters would resolve their troublesome domestic conundrums for them. For an interactive graphics package, click tmsnrt.rs/2AGBazV With well over 99 percent of votes from Thursday s election counted, separatist parties had secured a slim majority. Spain s stock market fell around 1 percent and the country s borrowing costs rose as investors bet the ensuing ramp-up in tensions with its richest region will hurt the euro zone s fourth-largest economy. Rajoy ruled out calling national elections over events that have weakened his authority, while both he and exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont said they were open for dialogue.  But they offered no details and such calls in the past have failed to yield any solution.  After several strained months that saw secessionists organize an illegal referendum on Oct. 1, and police confiscate urns to try to prevent it from taking place, the election result has done nothing to resolve the standoff either. The secessionists kept a majority, but it was reduced and they may have difficulty forming a government; and support for unionist party Ciudadanos has surged, but not enough to catapult them into power.  The divisions are huge. It will take time to mend them and that should be the priority for all political actors, reconciliation within the remit of the law,  Rajoy told a news conference at the government s Moncloa headquarters. With Catalonia accounting for a fifth of its economy, Spain had already trimmed growth forecasts for 2018, and the prospect of prolonged uncertainty worries business leaders.   More companies leaving, less economic activity there - and worse for everyone,  said the chief executive of a major listed Spanish company, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the tense climate of the independence debate. More than 3,100 firms have shifted their headquarters out of the region since October s referendum.  Overnight hotel stays rose 2.1 percent in Spain in November but fell 7.3 percent in Catalonia, the National Statistics Institute said.     Rajoy, who called the election after sacking the previous secessionist government, had hoped to mobilise hitherto quiescent supporters of union with Spain and deal separatism a decisive blow. Instead, his own party performed miserably, and the result raises the question of a return to power for Puigdemont, who campaigned from self-imposed exile in Brussels after Rajoy deposed him as Catalan president.  Catalonia is back to square one,  said Marco Protopapa, an analyst at JP Morgan, forecasting that tensions would quickly return between Madrid and an  emboldened pro-independence camp eager to exploit the tactical advantage of a favorable election outcome . While Rajoy dodged questions about whether he would negotiate directly with Puigdemont, the Catalan politician said now was the time for dialogue between the two.  We ve at least won the right to be heard,  Puigdemont said, adding that he was open to returning to Spain if given guarantees that he could take his position as head of a potential new Catalan government. Currently he faces the prospect of arrest for his role in organizing the banned referendum. When the Catalan parliament declared independence after the referendum, Rajoy invoked constitutional powers to impose direct rule from Madrid. He promised to restore Catalonia s autonomy regardless of the election result, but could re-impose it if a new government again pursued secession.     The EU s major powers, Germany and France, have backed his anti-independence stance despite some criticism of his methods at times. Meanwhile, Puigdemont s attempts to gain international support in Brussels have failed so far. He has called the EU a  club of decadent countries  for declining to mediate a solution. A German government spokeswoman on Friday urged reconciliation in Catalonia, adding that the Spanish constitution would have to be respected.  Secessionists say Catalonia pays an unfair share of taxes to Madrid, but investors fear independence would knock the indebted region out of the EU and the euro zone by default.  There is a huge effect on investment from abroad. As there s a lack of stability here, people who were investing here are going to other cities and other regions,  said Rafael Prisco, commercial director in a real estate agent in central Barcelona that deals mostly with foreign clients. Europe now ends the year having struggled to build on the integrationist Emmanuel Macron s victory in the French presidential election in May. Germany faces months of political limbo, Brussels is mired in a nasty dispute with Poland s right-wing government and a far-right party has just entered the government in Austria. In Thursday s vote, Catalonia s separatist parties won 70 of the 135 seats, compared with 72 last time, with Puigdemont s Junts Per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) retaining its position as the largest separatist force. Ciudadanos (Citizens) won the most votes, but other unionist forces   Rajoy s People s Party and the Socialist Party   performed dismally.  It s a bitter victory,  said Paloma Morales, a 27-year-old student at a Ciudadanos rally.  It means four more years of misery.

Summary: कैटलन अलगाववादियों की जीत से स्पेन का संकट फिर से भड़क उठा


BERLIN (Reuters) - One month away from a national election, Germany s Social Democrats are struggling in their efforts to narrow a yawning gap in support behind Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives. The left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD) is languishing on around 24 percent support, polls show, far behind Merkel s conservatives bloc, on some 38 percent. Germans go to the polls on Sept. 24. The SPD is having difficulty in differentiating itself from the conservatives, with whom it rules as junior partner in a  grand coalition  - an alliance the party wants to avoid repeating, but which polls suggest is the only partnership that can guarantee a majority.  We need to get more emotional, to fight and force Merkel to speak in clear terms so that the differences become clear,  SPD Labour Minister Andrea Nahles told business daily Handelsblatt. Nahles accused Merkel, who is campaigning for a fourth term on a platform of economic stability, of trying to cruise through the election without staking out clear positions. Last year, Germany s refugee crisis threatened Merkel. But with the migrant flow now stemmed and unemployment at a record low, she is able to project herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world. Trying to rock her, SPD leader Martin Schulz has grown increasingly critical of Merkel this week, accusing her of blocking his party s efforts in the ruling coalition to win better pay for temporary workers and improve workers  rights. On Thursday, Schulz takes his campaign to Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia that was at the center of Germany s post-war  economic miracle  but which is now a rust-belt. Germany s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia has traditionally been an SPD stronghold but the party lost there in a state election in May - one of three regional votes Merkel s conservatives won earlier this year. Schulz, 61, led the SPD to a brief poll surge after the party selected him as leader at the start of the year. But the revival quickly fizzled as his campaign for  social justice  failed to gain traction. A former European Parliament president, he cannot match the clout of Merkel, 63, gained in 12 years of experience as leader of Europe s biggest economy. Searching for another point of difference, Schulz pledged on Tuesday to have U.S. nuclear weapons withdrawn from German territory if, against the odds, he defeats Merkel.  Schulz s election campaign is jumping around so many areas that it is impossible to discern a theme,  the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote in an editorial. Striking a defeatist note, Schulz said earlier this month he wanted to stay on as SPD leader even if his party loses the election.

Summary: मर्केल को हटाने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे जर्मन एस. पी. डी. ने कहा, 'चलो भावुक हो जाएँ'


(Reuters) - A Trump administration lawyer on Tuesday urged a U.S. appeals court in Manhattan to rule that federal law does not ban discrimination against gay employees. The U.S. Department of Justice is supporting a New York skydiving company, Altitude Express Inc, in a lawsuit brought by former instructor Donald Zarda, who accused the company of firing him after he told a customer he was gay and she complained. Zarda died in a BASE-jumping accident after filing the lawsuit, and his estate took over the case. Judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focused their questions on whether discrimination against gay workers is a form of unlawful sex bias under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That law bans discrimination based on workers’ sex, race, religion and other traits.   Justice Department lawyer Hashim Mooppan told the court that Congress never intended for that law to protect gay workers against bias. And in recent years, he said, lawmakers have repeatedly declined to pass bills that would prohibit employment discrimination against gay workers.  During the Obama administration, the Justice Department had not weighed in on the case. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which appeared at Tuesday’s hearing on behalf of Zarda’s estate, has been arguing for five years that bias against gay workers violates the law. The EEOC is an independent federal agency that enforces Title VII.  So far, only one federal appeals court, in Chicago, has agreed with the commission.  Several 2nd Circuit judges questioned Mooppan about why the Justice Department got involved, and whether it first consulted with the EEOC. Mooppan said it would not be appropriate for him to discuss the department’s internal procedures. Lawyers for Zarda’s estate and the EEOC told the court gay workers are protected by Title VII because sexual orientation is necessarily linked to a person’s sex.  LGBT groups say the case is crucial because a victory for Zarda’s estate would deepen a split among federal appeals courts and increase the chances that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue. Earlier this month, the high court was asked to review a ruling that dismissed a similar case by a former hospital security guard in Georgia. A three-judge 2nd Circuit panel in April had ruled against Zarda’s estate, citing a prior ruling that said discrimination against gay workers is not a form of sex bias. The full court can overturn the prior decision. The case is Zarda v. Altitude Express Inc, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 15-3775.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रशासन ने अदालत से कहा कि कानून समलैंगिक श्रमिकों के खिलाफ पूर्वाग्रह पर प्रतिबंध नहीं लगाता है


BRASILIA (Reuters) - The lower house of Brazil s Congress will delay a vote on a bill trimming social security benefits until Feb. 19, Speaker Rodrigo Maia said on Thursday, pushing a decision on the cornerstone of President Michel Temer s fiscal reforms into an election year. Temer had said he hoped for a vote by next week, but he has struggled to rally lawmaker support for the unpopular pension cuts, which many investors consider essential to reining in Brazil s surging public debt. Brazil s currency, the real, weakened to a seven-month low of 3.34 per U.S. dollar and the benchmark Bovespa stock index fell 0.8 percent after Maia s comments. Investors fear that failure to streamline social security could weaken Brazil s recovery from a deep economic downturn, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates from an all-time low and potentially triggering new sovereign rating downgrades in 2018.  This raises the possibility that the reform will not be approved next year, given political uncertainty surrounding the presidential elections,  said Samar Maziad, a senior analyst at Moody s Investors Service, calling the delay  credit negative.  Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said he plans to meet next week with credit rating agencies to discuss the fate of the legislation, adding that he hoped it could be enacted by March.  The bill would require Brazilians to work longer before retiring and cut generous pensions for public-sector employees. Lawmakers may be more reluctant to back that as elections approach in October, but Maia suggested they would rise to the challenge.  Even though 2018 is an election year, the fiscal crisis is so big that it will be possible to get pension reform approved,  he said. Temer s last-ditch effort to sell the bill this year was cut short on Wednesday, when he had to fly to Sao Paulo for surgery to treat a narrowing of his urethra. His office said the surgery was successful and that he would remain in the hospital until Friday to recover. But it forced Temer to cancel meetings to muster votes. It became clear this week that Temer did not have the three-fifths super majority, or 308 votes, needed to pass the bill in the lower house of Congress. While ministers were still working to gather more votes, the government s chief whip in the Senate stunned the administration on Wednesday by saying the vote had to be put off to February.

Summary: ब्राजील में पेंशन मतदान फरवरी तक के लिए स्थगित


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tapped appellate court judge Merrick Garland to fill an empty Supreme Court seat based solely on qualifications, the White House said on Wednesday. “The president was looking for the very best person for the job, and regardless of age, the president was focused on choosing somebody who has the proper temperament and the unquestioned legal credentials and a commitment to public service to do this job,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a regular news briefing when asked why Obama did not tap someone younger than the 63-year-old judge to help cement his legacy. “The president chose the person that he believes is the best person for the job,” Earnest said.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट का फैसला पूरी तरह से योग्यता पर आधारितः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is unlikely to release a massive report on the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” widely considered torture, a top Democrat on the congressional intelligence committee said on Tuesday. Representative Adam Schiff told reporters it was more likely, before President Barack Obama leaves office next month, that the White House might take action so the report could be released someday via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.  “The most that we might expect this administration to do... is to designate it as some kind of a record that would ultimately lead to its availability through FOIA, subject to redaction,” Schiff said at a breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He said he supported “as much information being shared as possible.” Senator Dianne Feinstein and other congressional Democrats have urged Obama to declassify and release the 6,700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report before Republican President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Feinstein chaired the panel as it researched and wrote the report, and she spearheaded the effort to expose the CIA’s actions. The committee, then led by Democrats, released a 525-page executive summary of its findings in December 2014. But the full report has been seen as too sensitive to release. “I don’t think the incoming administration will have any interest in publishing the greater part of the document,” Schiff said. However, he added that he did not expect that waterboarding would resume. “Within the IC (intelligence community) there would be such massive resistance to this, it just isn’t going to happen,” Schiff said. Trump promised during his campaign that he would not only revive waterboarding, but bring back “a hell of a lot worse” if elected. However, he said more recently that retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, his nominee as secretary of defense, had persuasively argued against it. A White House spokesman said he had nothing to announce about the report, but reiterated Obama’s opposition to torture. Obama ended the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” via executive order just after he took office in January 2009. Led by Republican Senator John McCain and Feinstein, Congress has since passed legislation outlawing their use.

Summary: सी. आई. ए. द्वारा यातना संबंधी विवरण जारी किए जाने की संभावना कमः वरिष्ठ डेमोक्रेट


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s new oil czar vowed on Tuesday to root out corruption in state oil company PDVSA in a combative two-minute speech during his inauguration, without offering clues as to how he plans to handle the company s crippling debt burden. President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday tapped Major General Manuel Quevedo to lead both PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] and the Oil Ministry, giving the already powerful military control of the OPEC nation s dominant industry.  In comments during a two-hour broadcast by Maduro, Quevedo said he would go after  saboteurs  and defeat a  corrupt bureaucracy,  while offering only a brief nod to boosting oil production and improving refinery operations.  We re going to clean up public finances so that those thieves in PDVSA will finally leave,  said Quevedo.  The government s actions have captured many people who had infiltrated the industry. Those who are left should be worried.  Investors are closely watching Quevedo for clues as to whether he will seek to halt payment on PDVSA s bonds, or maintain Maduro s strategy of continuing to service debt despite the country s crippling economic crisis.  Quevedo made no mention of foreign debt on Tuesday. Maduro said this month he would restructure and refinance all future debt payments and that the country would never default on its debt. Quevedo s predecessors, Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino and PDVSA President Nelson Martinez, were both seen as a industry veterans with significant technical expertise who favored continuing to make debt payments.   Sources in the sector said Quevedo s appointment could quicken a white-collar exodus from PDVSA and worsen operational problems at a time when production has already tumbled to near 30-year lows of under 2 million barrels a day. Maduro said on Tuesday he was naming Ysmel Serrano, the head of the trade and supply division, as vice president of PDVSA, which oversees the world s largest crude reserves. He said he would seek to name the country s former energy minister, Ali Rodriguez, as  honorary president  of PDVSA. More military officers are set to be named to senior management posts as part of a shake-up the government says is aimed at fighting corruption, two company sources told Reuters on Monday.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के नए तेल प्रमुख ने भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी अभियान की शपथ ली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators returned to Washington on Monday following a 10-day holiday recess still at odds with one another over legislation President Donald Trump wants passed to repeal major portions of Obamacare. With only three weeks left before a summer recess scheduled to stretch until Sept. 5, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared determined to keep trying to find agreement on a partisan, all-Republican bill. If he cannot, he will be faced with giving up on a seven-year Republican promise to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare - and possibly turning to Democrats for help in fixing problems with U.S. health insurance markets. The Republican legislation would phase out the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid health insurance for the poor and disabled, sharply cut federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025, repeal most of Obamacare’s taxes, end a penalty on Americans who do not obtain insurance and overhaul Obamacare’s subsidies to help people buy insurance with tax credits. Democrats call the Republican legislation a giveaway to the rich that would hurt millions of the most vulnerable Americans. Since the start of 2017, when they took control of the White House, Republicans who also control Congress have been struggling over how to replace former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature legislation - which they see as  government intrusion - with less comprehensive federal healthcare provisions. Conservative Republican Senator Ted Cruz favors offering a choice of cheaper healthcare plans that would not have to meet minimum standards established by Obamacare, such as coverage for maternity care and prescription drugs. Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins dismissed that approach on Monday, telling reporters: “I believe that it would cause further destabilization of the individual (insurance) market, it would erode protections for people with pre-existing conditions” and cause premiums to rise. Earlier on Monday, Trump used Twitter to prod Republican senators to pass a bill, and senior lawmakers, including the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn, said legislation could advance to votes next week in the deeply divided chamber.  “I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” tweeted Trump, who made repealing and replacing Obamacare a central pledge of his 2016 campaign. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved its healthcare bill in May, knowing the Senate would amend it. Republican Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota told reporters he was worried about how rural hospitals would be treated in the Senate bill, which is being assembled in secret. He said lawmakers were awaiting an assessment of a retooled Senate bill from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office before making decisions. Senior Republican Orrin Hatch said he did not yet know whether the minimum 50 Republican senators would come together on a bill, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the potential tiebreaking vote. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote to McConnell urging a bipartisan effort to stabilize the health insurance market, noting that McConnell had been quoted recently as saying Congress would need to shore up that market if lawmakers fail to repeal Obamacare. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued data on Monday showing a 38 percent decrease in applications by insurers to sell health plans in the Obamacare individual market in 2018 compared with this year. Scores of protesters voiced opposition to the legislation outside Republican National Committee headquarters and at the offices of some Republican lawmakers, chanting slogans including “Trumpcare kills” and “Healthcare is a human right.”  U.S. Capitol Police said 80 people were arrested. (For a graphic on who's covered under Medicaid, click bit.ly/2u3O2Mu)

Summary: स्वास्थ्य देखभाल असहमति ने अमेरिकी सीनेट रिपब्लिकन को रौंद दिया


HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama pushed Cuba to improve human rights during his historic visit to the Communist-led island on Monday, publicly sparring with President Raul Castro who showed flashes of anger and hit back at U.S. “double standards”.  Obama praised Castro for openly discussing their differences but he said a “full flowering” of the relationship would happen only with progress on the issue of rights. “In the absence of that, I think it will continue to be a very powerful irritant,” Obama said in a joint news conference with Castro that began with jokes but was tense at times.      “America believes in democracy. We believe that freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and freedom of religion are not just American values but are universal values,” he said. Both men’s remarks were broadcast live on Cuban state television from Cuba’s Palace of the Revolution in a room draped with the Stars and Stripes and the Cuban flag.   Castro countered that no country meets all international rights but appeared uncomfortable as he made the rare step of taking questions from journalists in a country where the media is state controlled. Obama, the first U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years, agreed in 2014 to improve relations with the former Cold War foe but he is under pressure at home to push Castro’s government to allow political dissent and to further open its Soviet-style economy. He said the two sides would hold talks on human rights in Havana later this year.  Opponents say Obama has given away too much as he improves ties, with too little from Castro in return, although the leading Republican candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election, Donald Trump, said on Monday he would likely continue to normalize ties with Cuba if elected.  Castro, an army general who became president when his ailing older brother Fidel retired in 2008, had never before taken questions from foreign reporters on live Cuban television and was clearly irritated when asked about political prisoners in Cuba, demanding the reporter produce a list of those in jail. “Tell me now. What political prisoners? Give me a name, or the names,” Castro said. “And if there are these political prisoners they will be free before nightfall.”    Cuba says it has no political prisoners and that the dozens listed by dissident groups are instead common criminals.  Castro said Cuba has a strong record on rights such as health, access to education and women’s equality. His government criticizes the United States on racism, police violence and the use of torture at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Ben Rhodes, a senior Obama aide, later insisted that Cuba has political prisoners and said the U.S. government had shared lists of them with Cuba. He said Cuba has shifted from long prisons terms to short-term detentions of political opponents. Later in the evening, Castro sat between Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a dinner of rum flavored soup and pork, at a table that also included the leaders’ top advisers. Obama’s ease with reporters’ questions contrasted with Castro’s manner. The tension was palpable as Castro declined to call on a slew of Cuban journalists who yearned for the rare chance to ask him questions. Fumbling with a headset providing translation, the 84-year-old leader scolded reporters when he was asked again about rights, saying he agreed to only take one question. Obama playfully encouraged him to address a second but Castro seemed reluctant as he obliged. “How many countries comply with all 61 human rights? Do you know? I do. None. None,” Castro said.     In another awkward moment, as the news conference ended, Castro lifted Obama’s arm in the air as if to form a victory salute. Obama resisted, letting his hand hang limp rather than form a fist.     As part of the diplomatic breakthrough in 2014, Cuba released 53 prisoners that the U.S. government considered political prisoners. But the dissident Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation says 79 are still behind bars, among about 40 held for peaceful political protest. “This list is here if they want to see it,” commission leader Elizardo Sanchez said on Monday. His list also includes armed anti-government militants, convicted hijackers, army deserters and spies, but Sanchez said they are political because they were denied due process. Castro offered Cuba’s recipe for better relations, saying the United States needs to lift its 54-year-old trade embargo on the island and hand back the Guantanamo Bay base to Cuba. Obama did not respond to the demand on Guantanamo Bay but said he was optimistic about the elimination of sanctions against Cuba. “The embargo’s going to end. When, I can’t be entirely sure,” Obama said.  Obama efforts to encourage Congress to rescind the embargo has been rejected by the Republican leadership. Thwarted, Obama has instead used executive authority to loosen restrictions on trade and travel. Obama said direct flights from the United States would start this year. He said regular tourism to Cuba could happen “very soon,” in comments to U.S. network ABC. A clutch of deals timed to coincide with the visit appeared to show the strategy was bearing commercial fruit, notably U.S. cruise company Carnival’s announcement on Monday that it would sail the first ship from the United States to Cuba in more than 50 years, in a deal that will bring in thousands of U.S. tourists at a time. About a dozen major U.S. brands have stuck deals or are in talks with Cuba. Ahead of the meeting with Castro, Obama said Google would provide more Wi-Fi and broadband access on the island. Google said later its efforts were in the “early stages.”

Summary: ओबामा की क्यूबा की ऐतिहासिक यात्रा में मानवाधिकारों को लेकर कास्त्रो से तीखी नोकझोंक


LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has reservations about granting diplomatic protection to an Iranian-British aid worker jailed in Iran, her husband said on Wednesday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, met Johnson earlier on Wednesday. Ratcliffe said he hoped Johnson, who will travel to Iran within the next few weeks, will bring his wife home in time for Christmas. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters. The Foundation operates independently of Reuters News.

Summary: ब्रिटेन को ईरान में जेल में बंद सहायता कर्मचारी के लिए राजनयिक सुरक्षा के बारे में आपत्ति हैः पति


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans aimed to hold a vote on Thursday on whether to set aside bipartisan compromise gun control legislation that has been under negotiation for several days, Republican Senator Bob Corker told reporters. The Senate was also expected to hold a similar vote on a more conservative Republican measure. It was not clear what the result of the two votes would be.

Summary: बंदूक नियंत्रण विधेयक पर सीनेट में मतदान होगाः कॉर्कर


(Reuters) - Nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since a surge in violence in Myanmar s Rakhine state began on Aug 25. The exodus of refugees, sparked by a fierce military response to a series of Rohingya militant attacks, is the most pressing crisis Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced since becoming leader last year.  She has been the target of criticism from fellow Nobel laureates and religious leaders across the world, for failing to condemn the human rights abuses against the Rohingya.   Here are a selection of quotes about her reticence: AUNG SAN SUU KYI - 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, Myanmar leader "We have to take care of our citizens. We have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens." (Sept 7 - reut.rs/2x1S4Ey) DESMOND TUTU - 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, anti-apartheid leader, addressing Suu Kyi: "My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep." (Sept 7 - bit.ly/2xQIV0P) MALALA YOUSAFZAI - 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, women s rights activist    Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same. "The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting." (Sept 4 - bit.ly/2eRtMZq) NOBEL WOMEN S INITIATIVE - Open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi from five Nobel Peace laureates "How many Rohingya have to die; how many Rohingya women will be raped; how many communities will be razed before you raise your voice in defense of those who have no voice? (Sept 11 - bit.ly/2wWrA7u)   PETITION HOSTED ON CHANGE.ORG - Online petition urging Nobel committee to revoke Suu Kyi s peace prize gathers more than 420,000 signatures. "Until this second, the de facto ruler of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, has done virtually nothing to stop this crime against humanity in her country." (bit.ly/1WBrfjn)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः म्यांमार के रोहिंग्या संकट से सू की के निपटने के बारे में उद्धरण


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday his country reserved the right to respond to Iran s  hostile actions , an apparent reference to a missile fired by Yemen s Houthis who Saudi Arabia says are armed by Iran. Jubeir also said on his Twitter account that Iranian interference in the region harms neighboring countries and international peace and security.

Summary: सऊदी ने कहा कि ईरान की 'शत्रुतापूर्ण कार्रवाइयों' का जवाब देने का अधिकार उसके पास है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday he would reassure U.S. allies during his trip overseas this week that Republican President-elect Donald Trump plans to maintain core U.S. strategic relationships around the world, including with NATO. Obama, speaking ahead of a trip to Europe and Latin America, said one of the most important things he could do during his visit was to reassure U.S. allies who may be concerned following Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton last week. Trump slammed NATO allies during the campaign for not paying enough for their own defense and suggested the United States was paying a disproportionate amount that was too much given the changes in the world. He also told the Washington Post the United States could not fund NATO at current levels. Trump’s comments echoed longstanding U.S. complaints that too many NATO allies do not live up to their pledge to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Only the United States and four other NATO allies - Greece, Britain, Estonia and Poland - met the goal last year. France and Turkey have been close. Despite Trump’s criticism of NATO spending during the campaign, Obama said the president-elect, who takes office Jan. 20, had indicated he was committed to maintaining ties with U.S. allies. “In my conversation with the president-elect, he expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships,” Obama told a news conference before his departure. “So one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance.” “One of the most important functions that I can serve at this stage ... is to let them know that there is no weakening of resolve when it comes to America’s commitment to maintaining a strong and robust NATO relationship and a recognition that those alliances aren’t just good for Europe, they’re good for the United States and they’re vital for the world,” he said. The European Union agreed on a new defense plan on Monday that could see it sending rapid response forces abroad for the first time, a move seen as giving it the ability to act without the United States if necessary. The action appeared to be galvanized in part by Trump’s criticism. Obama is visiting Greece, Germany and Peru on his last trip abroad as president. He is expected to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders in Germany and Greece. In Peru he will see Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Pacific leaders at an economic summit. Obama said U.S. foreign policy remained quite stable despite changes in administration, in part because of the breadth of U.S. government interactions with other nations. “There is enormous continuity beneath the day-to-day news that makes us that indispensable nation when it comes to maintaining order and promoting prosperity around the world. That will continue,” Obama told reporters at the White House.

Summary: ओबामा नाटो के प्रति ट्रम्प की प्रतिबद्धता के बारे में अमेरिकी सहयोगियों को आश्वस्त करेंगे


VIENNA (Reuters) - The leader of Austria s main conservative party, Sebastian Kurz, has reached a deal to form a governing coalition with Heinz-Christian Strache s far-right Freedom Party (FPO). Below are some of the policies that Kurz s People s Party (OVP) and the FPO have already agreed on. For the entire program in German please click [here] ** Oppose deeper political integration among EU members states, seek to have more powers returned to national governments. Oppose Turkey s bid to join the EU. ** Rule out a referendum on Austrian membership of the EU. ** Move some departments that deal with European affairs, including the task force preparing Austria s EU presidency in the second half of 2018, to the chancellery headed by Kurz. (The FPO will take control of the Foreign Ministry). ** Push for more relaxed relationship between West and Russia. ** Introduce tougher minimum sentences for violent and sex crimes. ** Make fighting political Islam a priority. ** Secure Austria s borders nationally to stop illegal immigration until the EU has secured external frontiers. ** Put around 2,100 more policemen on the streets. ** Extend the maximum working day to 12 hours from 10. ** Facilitate immigration only for qualified workers in sectors that are struggling to find suitable Austrian employees. ** Simplify administrative framework in highly federalized Austria. ** Support construction of third runway at Vienna Airport. ** Focus on improving test results in basic skills such as reading, writing and numeracy, allow children to start school only if their German is good enough. ** Cut social benefits for parents who fail to comply with certain requirements, like ensuring attendance and that their child speaks German well enough. ** Cut public spending to fund tax cuts. Kurz and Strache repeatedly said during their campaigns that they planned to cut public spending by around 12 billion euros ($14.1 billion). ** Reduce corporate tax burden, for example by exempting profit reinvested in Austria. ** Not introduce wealth or inheritance taxes. ** Introduce public  debt brake  in the constitution. ** Push, also at a European level, for higher taxes on online transactions with foreign companies. ** Block newcomers from accessing many social services in Austria in their first five years in the country. ** Cap the main basic benefit payment at 1,500 euros a month for families and provide refugees with a  light  version of regular benefits. ** Cut benefits for refugees and turn cash payments into benefits in kind so as to minimize what they say is a  pull factor  attracting immigrants to the country. ** Reform the state pension system to reflect Austria s aging population. ** Give families a tax cut worth 1,500 euros per child per year. ** Merge Austria s 22 public health and other social security funds into five entities to cut administrative costs. ** Produce 100 percent of Austria s power from renewable sources by 2030, compared with roughly 33 percent at present, and keep the national ban on nuclear power plants.  ** Gradual introduction of legislation to allow a referendum to take place if at least 900,000 voters support the issue. ** Rule out referendums on Austrian membership of the EU; support the European-Canadian trade deal CETA. ** Overturn a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants that is due to come into effect in May 2018.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ऑस्ट्रिया के रूढ़िवादी/दूर-दराज़ गठबंधन की प्रमुख नीतियां


(Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a broad bill to reform and repeal portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law next week, according to a top Republican official. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Friday that the House will consider the Financial CHOICE Act in the coming days. The Republican majority is expected to pass the measure. But it faces an uncertain future in the Senate where Democrats are broadly opposed to the legislation and their votes are needed to pass it. “This is a jobs bill for Main Street. It will rein in the overreach of Dodd-Frank that has allowed the big banks to get bigger while small businesses have been unable to get the loans they need to succeed,” said Speaker Paul Ryan in a statement supporting the measure. The bill, authored by Representative Jeb Hensarling, would repeal large portions of Dodd-Frank, while placing significant new restrictions on financial regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It would eliminate new powers granted to regulators after the crisis that allowed them to wind down failing institutions, and allow banks to be exempted from many existing financial rules if they agree to boost their capital reserves.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन अगले सप्ताह रिपब्लिकन डोड-फ्रैंक सुधार विधेयक पर मतदान करेगा


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ramin Forouzandeh had applied to 13 PhD economics programs in the United States, but after President Donald Trump signed his first travel ban in January, the 25-year-old Iranian turned to Canada for other options.  He said he had focused on U.S. schools because they hosted most of the world’s top 20 economics programs. “Before the travel ban, I never really considered other alternatives.”  By late March, U.S. courts had halted two versions of Trump’s travel ban, yet Forouzandeh signed for University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and turned down the University of Minnesota’s prestigious PhD program. His countryman, Mahdi Ebrahimi Kahou, 30, was well into his first year of the Minnesota program when he decided to transfer to the University of British Columbia because of Trump’s executive orders that banned travel from seven and later six Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. “I lost my motivation to work completely,” he said.  A Reuters survey of 19 Canadian universities showed a spike in international applications, most notably from Iran and India. Five top Canadian economics and business PhD programs are getting at least half of their new Iranian students this fall because of the ban, based on interviews with universities and students. Most of those, like Forouzandeh and Ebrahimi Kahou, are opting out of U.S. programs in a field where the United States both dominates and relies on foreign talent. While those programs represent only one field and a fraction of the U.S. student population, they offer early evidence of the direct impact of Trump administration policies. Academics fear they may also be a sign of things to come if the chilling effect of Trump’s “America First” agenda spreads beyond any specific field of study or nationality. “This strikes at the heart of what has made U.S. higher education the envy of the world,” said Mary Sue Coleman, chair of the Association of American Universities.    “It’s this notion that the U.S. is no longer a welcoming place for the best and the brightest.”   Iranians are by far the biggest group among students directly affected by the bans and form a small but notable part of the talent pool in areas such as engineering and economics, where U.S. academic institutions excel. Iranians ranked sixth last year among international students enrolled in U.S. graduate programs, according to the Institute of International Education.  A survey conducted jointly by five U.S. higher education associations in February showed 38 percent of U.S. colleges reporting a drop in foreign applications, with those from the Middle East down the most, while 27 percent saw no change - a significant cool-down after nearly a decade of steady growth. In 2015, at least 35 percent of graduate students at U.S. universities granting graduate degrees in science, engineering and health were foreigners, according to the National Science Foundation.  (For a graphic on U.S. universities, global brains, click tmsnrt.rs/2qLARio ) This year, about 60 percent of graduating PhDs from the top 10 U.S. economics departments come from other countries, a Reuters analysis shows. “You’ve got an issued order that’s been temporarily blocked that applies to six countries. But the destabilization of the whole situation for international students and faculty could not be overstated,” said Rice University President David Leebron. He said that for foreign students everything from getting a visa on time to employment opportunities had been thrown into question. According to Rice’s dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, this year’s PhD programs will have slightly fewer Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern students than expected. More Iranian students declined offers of admission than usual, with several saying that they decided to study in another country because of concerns about getting a U.S. visa.  There is no evidence of a mass exodus of foreigners - indeed, Rice will have more students than expected from Europe and Latin America, offsetting declines elsewhere - but academics cite dozens of examples where Trump’s policies had an impact. At Arizona State University, for example, Iranians would typically make up a fourth of the economics PhD program, but there will be none in the incoming class this fall. Of those already enrolled, two are moving to Canada. One student who visited his family in Iran over the Christmas break still has not been able to return, leaving the university scrambling to cover the classes he was supposed to teach.   “The effects of this are big,” said Gustavo Ventura, ASU’s economics department chair. “These people, not just the ones that come to us - anyone who comes to a PhD program abroad - are the cream of their student population.” The University of Illinois now has 10 Iranians in its PhD program, and while it’s not certain why, none of the Iranians whom it offered admission are among the 22 students from 11 countries entering in the fall.  At Indiana University’s economics program, three Iranians withdrew their applications almost immediately after the travel ban, said Todd Walker, director of the department’s graduate studies. “We also had many more international applicants turn us down this year relative to the last three years,” he said. “I cannot say definitively how much of this is attributable to the travel ban, but I suspect it played a role.” In British Columbia, the Simon Fraser University has admitted 20 percent more international students for the fall term, according to Associate Dean Jeff Derksen. He said queries he had received and an online survey suggested more graduate students were considering alternatives to U.S. programs. “This indicates that the international map of academic knowledge production has changed.” The prestige of the U.S. programs remains a big draw, but those committed to a U.S. career are more aware of risks.  For example, Soheil Ghili, who is getting a PhD in economics from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management this month and will start as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale this summer, is hedging his bets. “Let me put it this way: I will be more careful to not miss networking opportunities with people from Toronto and London.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के यात्रा प्रतिबंध ने कुछ छात्रों को झकझोर दिया, प्रशंसकों को व्यापक ठंड की आशंका


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday heaped praise on visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang for what he said was China s  critical  role in expediting the end of a five-month war with Islamist insurgents in a Philippine town. Duterte credited China with supplying what he said was the rifle that on Oct. 16 killed Islamic State s regional point man, Isnilon Hapilon, and said he would present that weapon to China as a mark of appreciation for its help in the war in Marawi City.  I am going to return to you the rifle so that the Chinese people would know, it was critical, it is a symbol of the critical help,  Duterte told Li, the first Chinese premier to visit the Philippines in a decade. There are doubts, however, about if it really was a Chinese sniper rifle that killed Hapilon, and uncertainty about whether the military has used any of the 6,100 guns Beijing has donated since June.  The Philippine defense minister recently said all those weapons were given to the police. Hapilon was killed by members of the 8th Scout Ranger Company.  Scout Ranger Books , a Facebook page of one of the ranger officers, gave a blow-by-blow account of the operation and said the shot that killed Hapilon came from a gun mounted on an armored vehicle. Members of the unit also told media the shot came from a fixed weapon controlled remotely. Such weapons are typically 50-calibre machine guns.  The arms you gave us, helped abbreviate, shorten the military fight there,  Duterte said. On Friday, he said something similar to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He told him Russia had  helped us turn the tide and to shorten the war  by supplying weapons that Philippine soldiers used to kill militant snipers in Marawi. The Russian arms were actually delivered two days after military operations were declared over. The conflict was the biggest and longest battle in the Philippines since World War Two. More than 1,000 people, most of them rebel gunmen, were killed and 353,000 were displaced. Duterte told Li China s help came at  the crucial moment when we needed most and there was nobody to help us at that time . His remarks may not sit well with the United States and Australia, which from the early stages of the conflict were providing technical support to Philippine forces, including surveillance aircraft to pinpoint locations of militants. Li said China would provide 150 million yuan ($22.7 million) to help with reconstruction in Marawi. He praised Duterte for last year putting aside festering disputes with China and visiting Beijing, a trip he said was an  ice-breaker . Philippine security analyst Renato De Castro said the information Duterte gave to Li was inaccurate, but consistent with his policy of  total appeasement  of China.  I m really surprised, I don t know whether it s flattery or an outright lie,  he told news channel ANC.

Summary: फिलीपींस के दुतेर्ते ने मरावी युद्ध में 'महत्वपूर्ण क्षण' में चीन की मदद की सराहना की


WASHINGTON/SPRING, Tx. (Reuters) - The United States will not make an exception for American companies, including oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, seeking to drill in areas prohibited by U.S. sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday. The unusually direct statement served to clarify that the United States would maintain a tough stance on sanctions against Moscow.  “In consultation with President Donald J. Trump, the Treasury Department will not be issuing waivers to U.S. companies, including Exxon, authorizing drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions,” Mnuchin said in a statement. The United States and European Union imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its annexation of the Crimea region in 2014 and its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions forced Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, to wind down drilling in Russia’s Arctic in 2014. “We understand the statement today by Secretary Mnuchin in consultation with President Trump,” Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said. Exxon had asked for and received in 2015 and 2016 waivers to operate a joint venture with Russian oil producer Rosneft in Russia. European Union sanctions do not keep European oil companies from operating in Russia, a point of annoyance for Exxon. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Exxon had in recent months applied for a Treasury Department waiver to drill with Rosneft. Jeffers said Exxon had not applied for waivers from Treasury since Trump took office. Any such request would have drawn attention because Exxon’s former chief executive, Rex Tillerson, is now U.S. secretary of state. Under his leadership, Exxon lobbied Congress on Russia sanctions, and Tillerson opposed sanctions against Russia in 2014, saying they would be ineffective. U.S. lawmakers are investigating possible ties between some Trump campaign aides and Moscow. Republicans in Congress as well as U.S. allies in Europe are anxious about any sign that the Trump administration might ease some of the sanctions imposed on Russia. During his confirmation hearing in January, Tillerson said he never personally lobbied against sanctions and that he was not aware of Exxon Mobil directly doing so, later acknowledging that he spoke to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew regarding gaps between American and European sanctions on Russia. Tillerson has pledged to recuse himself until the end of this year from any matter involving Exxon Mobil unless he is authorized to participate. He also has until early May to sell his Exxon Mobil stock. U.S. companies frequently file license applications to the Treasury Department asking permission to undertake activities that would otherwise be barred by sanctions. The U.S. government weighs each application based on national security interests, the law and other factors. The refusal is unlikely to affect Exxon Mobil’s bottom line, as it has not been able to operate in Russia for several years, but it does hinder its growth potential. Treasury almost never comments publicly on license applications. Mnuchin’s statement will likely serve to clarify the U.S. stance on sanctions against Russia at a time when American allies are looking for clues to U.S. policy, observers said. “It’s good from a regulatory perspective as it provides clarity to U.S. companies, but it’s also great from a foreign policy perspective,” Edward Fishman, a fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and former State Department official during the Obama administration, said of Mnuchin’s statement. “Any uncertainty about the future of sanctions scares our allies and encourages Russia to prolong its aggression in Ukraine.”

Summary: रूस में अभ्यास करने के लिए एक्सॉन को अनुमति नहीं देगा अमेरिका


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ted Wade hasn’t cared about politics enough to cast a vote in a U.S. presidential election for almost a quarter of a century, back when he supported Ross Perot’s independent candidacy in 1992. But Republican Donald Trump’s 2016 White House bid has motivated Wade to get involved and he plans to support the real estate mogul in Nevada’s nominating caucus next month. Trump is a “non-politician” who can fix the “chaos” in Washington, he says. About one in 10 Americans who plan to cast a vote this election will do so for the first time in years, if ever, and Trump holds a decided edge with them, according to polling by Reuters/Ipsos. (tmsnrt.rs/1SgeLvi) These voters offer Trump a pool of voters who could be decisive either in the Republican primaries or a general election. They could be crucial for Trump in early-voting states such as Iowa and South Carolina, where his nearest rival, Senator Ted Cruz, is putting pressure on Trump and enjoys a strong base of support with more traditionally conservative voters. In Reuters/Ipsos polling from June to December 2015, 27.3 percent of these “new” voters said they would vote for Trump, higher than his poll numbers among independents and Republicans who regularly vote. By way of comparison, Cruz captures just 3.4 percent of these voters. And Senator Marco Rubio of Florida snags only 4 percent. “I’m tired of the chaos between Democrats and Republicans and want to give somebody a try who I think can make a difference,” said Wade of Trump. The 51-year-old has already switched his affiliation from Democrat to Republican and even attended a Trump campaign event in Las Vegas. He has told his three older children to get involved in the elections, although he did not say whether he wanted them to vote for Trump.  Trump, the Republican front-runner, has made targeting “lost” voters such as Wade a focus of his campaign. His anti-immigrant rhetoric and protectionist trade proposals have helped him to fashion a message tailored to reach Americans alienated by the endless enmity between the political parties and who, because of declining economic prospects, may feel like neither party has done much for them. Trump’s strategy is a gamble, given the lack of reliability of many of the voters with whom he is most popular. In interviews, some of those lost voters insist they will show up, saying they are drawn to Trump’s outsider status and his willingness to upend the political system. Tucson, Arizona, resident Renay Cunningham, 56, said she had never paid much attention to politics in the past. She plans to cast her first ever vote for Trump after hearing his proposed policies to curb illegal immigration, which include building a giant wall on the southern border and making Mexico pay for it. “We need a piranha in there, and he’s definitely a piranha,” she said. Trump and his operatives are confident they can do what few of his rivals for the Republican nomination have shown they can do — expand the party’s potential voter pool. But while Democrat Barack Obama did that eight years ago by largely registering new voters, including record levels of minorities, both male and female, in urban centers, Trump’s campaign has instead largely sought out the disaffected, who tend to be overwhelmingly older, white, and less educated than the broader electorate. “My whole campaign has been focused on expanding the number of people who want to, and will, participate in this election cycle,” Trump wrote in a recent op-ed in USA Today. When analyzing “lost” or “new” voters, Reuters compiled poll results from people who haven’t voted in the previous two presidential campaigns and midterm congressional elections. The results focused only on those who said they were nearly certain to vote in the November election. It included responses from 3,440 “new” Republican and independent voters – a sample that has a credibility interval of 2 percentage points. Jan Leighley, an expert on turnout at American University, said it’s too soon to compare Trump’s “new” voters with the disenfranchised voters, especially minorities, who in 2008 turned out in record numbers to elect the first black president. Those voters didn’t find their way to the polls simply because they were inspired to make history, Leighley said. “He also had a kick-ass mobilization structure.” “Obama’s campaign went door-to-door. They canvassed whole neighborhoods. “I don’t know if he (Trump) has the campaign infrastructure to make sure that the folks who are riled up are walked to the polls on Election Day,” she said. Trump’s campaign insists he does have the infrastructure, but won’t provide specifics on how it intends to turn casual supporters into engaged voters. The campaign says it does follow up with the thousands of attendees who jam arenas for Trump’s rallies. That’s one significant advantage the reality star has over the other candidates in the Republican field, as the challenge in reaching voters who have fallen out of the political process often lies in simply locating them. “We’ve identified a lot of people in early primary states who have not participated in the process before,” campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told Reuters. Lewandowski resists the notion that Trump needs to turn out “new” or reluctant voters to win states such as Iowa. Even if the Trump campaign isn’t necessarily counting on them, it may be reassuring that his supporters among “new” voters who responded to the Reuters/Ipsos survey appear motivated to cast a vote for him. At least for the time being. Ronald Thomas, a 49-year-old truck driver and Navy veteran in North Carolina, said he, too, has never voted in a presidential contest. His girlfriend would push him to vote but he would always say “Yeah, but the right one ain’t come along yet,’” Thomas said. Trump is that man. His willingness to take on the government has set him apart as someone who would “actually look out for the people,” said Thomas. Now he wants to know how to register so that he can vote for the billionaire.  And there’s Vince DiSylvester, a retired maintenance worker in Missouri, who, at 73, said has never cast a ballot for president. But Trump has inspired him to rethink that. “He’s a businessman, he knows business, he knows how to get things done,” he said. “And he tells it like it is. If you don’t like it - well, too bad.”  (Editing by Ross Colvin) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: कई 'हारे हुए' मतदाताओं का कहना है कि उन्हें ट्रम्प में अपना उम्मीदवार मिल गया है


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia s leader balked at making a formal declaration of independence from Spain on Tuesday, calling for talks with Madrid over the region s future in a gesture that eased fears of immediate unrest in the heart of the euro zone. In a much-anticipated speech to the Catalan parliament, ringed by thousands of protesters and hundreds of armed police, Carles Puigdemont made only a symbolic declaration, claiming a mandate to launch secession but suspending any formal steps to that end. His remarks disappointed many of his supporters who had gathered outside, waving Catalan flags in the expectation that he would move a formal independence motion to the assembly. But the speech pleased financial markets, boosting the euro on hopes that his gesture would mark a de-escalation of Spain s worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981. Tensions have been climbing in Catalonia since it went ahead on Oct. 1 with an independence referendum that Madrid had deemed unconstitutional. Despite a violent police crackdown, Catalan officials say the result was an overwhelming  yes  vote. But instead of moving a motion in regional parliament on Tuesday, as Spanish unionists had feared, Puigdemont and other regional politicians signed a proclamation of  full sovereignty  for Catalonia. Its legal value was unclear.  I am disappointed. I hoped for a declaration of independence and it didn t happen,  said 18-year-old student Julia Lluch, among a crowd of independence supporters who were rolling up their flags and drifting away from the assembly. In Brussels, though, there was a sense of relief that the euro zone s fourth-largest economy now had at least bought some time to deal with a crisis that was still far from over. One EU official said Puigdemont  seems to have listened to advice not to do something irreversible . However, the prospects for political talks still appeared remote on Tuesday despite Puigdemont s gesture, with Madrid insisting on talks to be held  within the law , a phrase that is widely interpreted as ruling out independence as an option. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria also rejected the Catalan leader s proposal for talks to be conducted by an international mediator.  Neither Mr. Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim ... to impose mediation,  she said. The Spanish government will meet on Wednesday to decide on its response to Puigdemont s declaration. Both Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy s government and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Puigdemont not to proclaim independence. And French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Puigdemont s call for European Union mediation, saying he was confident Madrid could handle the situation. The Catalan government said 90 percent of those who voted backed independence but turnout was only 43 percent as many opponents of independence stayed at home.  Puigdemont told the Barcelona regional parliament that the result provided a popular mandate for independence and he called for talks and reduced tensions.  We aren t criminals, nor crazy, nor coup plotters, nor abducted,  he said.  We are normal people who ask to be allowed to vote and who have been ready for all the dialogue necessary to achieve it in an agreed way.  I assume ... the mandate that Catalonia become an independent state in the form of a republic,  he said to prolonged applause.  I propose suspending the effects of the declaration of independence to undertake talks in the coming weeks without which it is not possible to reach an agreed solution.   After Puigdemont s speech, stocks around the world rose as Wall Street eked out record highs ahead of earnings season, while U.S. Treasury prices pared gains. Some analysts, however, said Puigdemont s stance would prolong the uncertainty and risk from the Catalan impasse. It could also rock his Catalan government, with one far-left party inside his coalition, the pro-independence CUP, saying he may have missed an historic opportunity and giving him one month to find a negotiated solution the CUP doubts will ever come.  You say we are suspending the effects because we are going to negotiation and mediation. Negotiation and mediation with whom? With a Spanish state that continues to harass and persecute us?  CUP leader Anna Gabriel said. The Catalan crisis has deeply divided the northeastern region as well as the Spanish nation. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence. The stakes are high - losing Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, would deprive Spain of a fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of exports. Some of Catalonia s largest companies have moved their head offices out of the region this week and others were set to follow if he had declared independence. Independence supporters watched Puigdemont s speech on large screens outside the 18th-century parliament building. Initially, people chanted  independence , cheered and kissed each other, but as it became clear there would be no formal declaration of independence, some people whistled and shook their heads. Pensioner Marisol Rioja, 65, said:  We would have liked more. But he (Puigdemont) couldn t do it.  Eric Martinez, a 27-year-old manager, also wept as he watched the speech with his girlfriend.  There is no solution through mediation with Spain. Mediation with Spain is useless,  he said.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया ने वार्ता की अनुमति देने के लिए औपचारिक स्वतंत्रता घोषणा का विरोध किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO allies extended Jens Stoltenberg s term as secretary-general of the Western military alliance until late 2020 on Tuesday, giving the former Norwegian prime minister a rare six-year mandate in the top job. Stoltenberg, who took up the post on Oct. 1 2014, will now step down two years later than planned on Sept. 30 2020, after strong support from Germany and the United States, NATO s dominant power, which has welcomed his efforts to increase defense spending in Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May both congratulated Stoltenberg on Tuesday. If he completes his term as the alliance s top civilian, Stoltenberg would be the first NATO chief to serve a six-year term since Germany s Manfred Worner, who died in office in 1994. The post has always gone to a European and at a time when the Trump administration is at odds with many of its allies on a host of foreign policy issues, Stoltenberg is seen by many as a skilful operator and consensus-builder.  Stoltenberg, 58, who visited Donald Trump at the White House in April and hosted the U.S. president in Brussels in May, said transatlantic ties would be a priority for the remainder of his term.    My main task is to maintain that unity,  he told reporters, referring to relations between North America and Europe.   Stoltenberg has also struck a more conciliatory tone towards Moscow than his Danish predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen, even as he has overseen NATO s biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War, prompted by Russia s 2014 seizure of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.  I believe in dialogue with Russia but I am also here to ensure security in Europe,  he said. NATO, seen by some as a Cold War relic until the Crimea annexation, has gained new relevance as the West confronts a resurgent Russia, state-sponsored computer hackers, security threats on its borders and militant attacks on European cities. Stoltenberg has also thrown his weight behind diplomatic efforts to contain the North Korea nuclear crisis, visiting U.S. allies Japan and South Korea in October.

Summary: नाटो प्रमुख स्टोल्टेनबर्ग ने 2020 के अंत तक विस्तारित कार्यकाल जीता


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that shared concern about Iran was driving Israel and many Arab states closer and demanded that Tehran immediately cease military and financial backing of “terrorists and militias”. In stressing threats from Iran, Trump echoed a theme laid out during weekend meetings in Saudi Arabia with Muslim leaders from around the world, many wary of the Islamic Republic’s growing regional influence and financial muscle. Trump has vowed to do whatever necessary to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, dubbing a peace accord “the ultimate deal”. But ahead of his Holy Land visit, he gave little indication of how he could revive talks that collapsed in 2014. Trump will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday and the Palestinian leader said he hoped the meeting could be “useful and fruitful ... (and) will bring results”. But in the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians rallied against Trump and burned his picture and an effigy of him. Trump received a warm welcome in Riyadh from Arab leaders, especially over his tough line on Tehran, which many Sunni Muslim Arab states regard as seeking regional control. In Jerusalem, in public remarks after talks with Israeli leaders on the first day of his two-day visit, he again focused on Iran, pledging he would never let Tehran acquire nuclear arms. “What’s happened with Iran has brought many of the parts of the Middle East toward Israel,” Trump said at a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin. In his comments to Netanyahu, Trump mentioned a growing Iranian influence in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, where it either backs Shi’ite fighters or has sent its own forces. Trump said there were opportunities for cooperation across the Middle East: “That includes advancing prosperity, defeating the evils of terrorism and facing the threat of an Iranian regime that is threatening the region and causing so much violence and suffering.” He also welcomed what he said was Netanyahu’s commitment to pursuing peace and renewed his pledge to achieve a deal.  Netanyahu, in his remarks, did not mention the word “Palestinians”, but spoke of advancing “peace in our region” with Arab partners helping to deliver it. Israel shares the antipathy many Arab states have toward Iran, seeing the Islamic Republic as a threat to its existence.  “I want you to know how much we appreciate the change in American policy on Iran which you enunciated so clearly,” Netanyahu, who had an acrimonious relationship with former U.S. President Barack Obama, told Trump at his official residence. Trump, who is on his maiden foreign trip since taking office in January, urged Iran to cease “its deadly funding, training and equipping of terrorists and militias”. Iran’s newly re-elected, pragmatist president, Hassan Rouhani, said regional stability could not be achieved without Iranian help, and accused Washington of supporting terrorism with its backing for rebels in Syria. He said the summit in Saudi Arabia “had no political value, and will bear no results”. “Who can say the region will experience total stability without Iran? Who fought against the terrorists? It was Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Syria. But who funded the terrorists?” Rouhani noted the contrast between young Iranians dancing in the streets to mark the re-election of a leader seeking detente with the West, and images of Trump meeting with a galaxy of Arab autocrats, some of whose countries have spawned the Sunni militants hostile to Washington and Tehran alike.  He also said Iran would continue a ballistic missile program that has already triggered U.S. sanctions, saying it was for defensive purposes only. Trump’s foreign tour comes in the shadow of difficulties at home, where he is struggling to contain a scandal after firing James Comey as FBI director nearly two weeks ago. The trip ends on Saturday after visits to the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily. In Jerusalem’s walled Old City, Trump toured the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and became the first sitting president to visit the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest place where Israel allows Jews to pray in a city sacred to three religions. Trump will have visited significant centers of Islam, Judaism and Christianity by the end of his trip, a point that his aides say bolsters his argument that the fight against Islamist militancy is a battle between “good and evil”.

Summary: ईरान के इजरायल और अरब देशों को करीब ले जाने की चिंताः ट्रंप


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants a transition period after Brexit to end no later than the last day of 2020, according to the European Commission s negotiating directives agreed on Wednesday. That date, coinciding with the end of the EU s seven-year budget period and 21 months after Britain departs the EU, had long been expected as the target end point of the transition. But this was the first official confirmation that it is the goal of the Union s negotiators. British Prime Minister Theresa May had sought a transition lasting around two years. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, speaking at a news conference after the EU executive had agreed the terms, said the 2020 deadline was logical and would avoid complications in the next 2021-2027 EU budget period.  The four pages of new directives for Barnier were in line with guidelines issued by EU leaders at a summit on Friday and will form the basis of talks on the transition that he hopes to start next month. He has said in the past he hopes a free trade pact could be ready to take effect in January 2021. The directives spell out that Britain will effectively remain in EU institutions, bound by all their rules including new ones, while not having a say in their making.  The EU will also offer Britain a non-voting place at some meetings where decisions may affect specific issues and will set up special arrangements for a UK role in setting annual EU fishing quotas. The directives also spell out more clearly that EU treaties with other countries and international organizations will no longer apply to Britain during the transition period.  However, the document adds:  Where it is in the interest of the Union, the Union may consider whether and how arrangements can be agreed that would maintain the effects of the agreements as regards the United Kingdom during the transition period.      This has been important to Britain since it could mean that it no longer benefits automatically from free trade agreements which the EU has with, say, Canada or South Korea, while it would still have to apply EU trade policy   for example collecting EU customs duty at UK ports. Barnier said he understood that Britain was working with other countries to try to retain the advantages of some of the nearly 750 international agreements to which London is currently party as an EU member. Among elements spelled out more in the directives than in the leaders  guidelines last week was a repetition of a previously agreed EU position that everything applying to Brexit for Britain would also apply to other British territories. Brussels has said the Spanish government must agree any future arrangements with Britain that affect the British territory of Gibraltar on Spain s southern coast. Asked about his previously expressed view that a future trade deal may offer little automatic access for the City of London s financial services firms to the EU market, Barnier repeated that free access would be unprecedented as far as he was aware.  I remind you that I m not aware of any free-trade deal in the past between the European Union and third countries that would have allowed privileged access for financial services,  he told a news conference.  British negotiators have said Britain s size and proximity give it the leverage to negotiate a more ambitious relationship with the EU than any other state. During the transition, Britain will maintain access to the European single market, Barnier added.  Britain will keep all the benefits, but also all the obligations of the single market, the customs union and the common policies,  he said, ruling out  a la carte  terms. Barnier welcomed agreements made earlier this month on issues such as the Irish border, citizens  rights and the divorce settlement.  We are not at the end of the road,  he said.  But it is an important stage of this road towards an orderly withdrawal rather than a disorderly one.

Summary: जनवरी 2021 में पूर्ण ब्रेक्सिट के रूप में यूरोपीय संघ ने संक्रमण की समय सीमा निर्धारित की