NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday said it is barring legal settlements in federal investigations that include donating funds to community organizations or other third-party groups, rather than paying those directly harmed by the wrongdoing or involved in the cases. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that settlement payments must be directed to victims impacted by the defendants’ actions and then to the federal government.  The change could impact banks and other corporations, and marks the latest action by the Republican Trump administration to end policies from the previous Democratic Obama administration. Such agreements were a feature of several U.S. settlements with banks following the 2008 financial crisis. Under former President Barack Obama, the Justice Department aimed to hold banks accountable for shoddy securities that contributed to the U.S. housing market collapse. From 2013 to 2016, the department reached $46 billion in settlements with U.S. banks that in part directed funds to approved housing aid and other related groups. In Obama’s final weeks in office, the department sued Barclays PLC (BARC.L) over similar claims. “In recent years the Department of Justice has sometimes required or encouraged defendants to make these payments to third parties as a condition of settlement,” Sessions said a statement. “We are ending this practice and ensuring that settlement funds are only used to compensate victims, redress harm, and punish and deter unlawful conduct.” The change could impact banks still under federal investigation over mortgage issues such as Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS.L), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) and HSBC (HSBA.L). Representatives for the banks could not be immediately reached.     Sessions, in a one-page memo dated Monday, told the nation’s 94 U.S. attorneys they could not make any agreements in civil or criminal cases “that directs or provides for a payment or loan to any non-governmental person or entity that is not a party to the dispute.” Sessions’ new policy “is ill-advised and ignores the tens of thousands of families who were helped by housing service providers across the country in the wake of the financial crisis,” said Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman was co-chair of a working group that investigated misconduct in the pooling and sale of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. Sessions cited three exceptions to the new policy: payments or loans that directly aim to address harm such as to the environment or official corruption; legal or other professional services from the case; and restitution, forfeiture and other payments required by law. While the policy affects future deals, it would have impacted cases like the Environmental Protection Agency’s diesel emissions settlement with Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) that required the German automaker to invest $2 billion in zero-emission vehicle efforts over 10 years. Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and a former EPA civil enforcement director, said the new ban could prevent a similar settlement after the Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) last month over excess diesel emissions. The memo could ensure “violators won’t be required to support development of low emission vehicles to compensate for illegal pollution from the dirty engines they designed,” he said. The change could still affect a proposed $12 million Justice Department settlement with Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) that was announced in August but not finalized that includes $3 million to reduce air pollution through a project to replace conventional woodstoves.

Summary: न्याय विभाग ने समूहों के बाहर के वित्तपोषण के निपटान पर रोक लगाई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. report on the number of civilian casualties from American counterterrorism strikes will be issued later on Friday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. President Barack Obama has long promised to increase transparency about his administration’s use of drones. His administration said in March it would publicly release an assessment of combatant and noncombatant casualties from U.S. counterterrorism strikes in areas outside active war zones since 2009. The drone campaign has come under criticism by human rights groups and others who say the strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya have caused civilian casualties. Human rights groups, which accuse the Obama administration of not being forthcoming about the precise guidelines that govern drone strikes, have welcomed the expected report amid their calls for greater transparency about the impact from such strikes.

Summary: नागरिक ड्रोन हताहतों पर अमेरिकी रिपोर्ट शुक्रवार की उम्मीदः व्हाइट हाउस


MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines vigorously defended its human rights record on Friday, accusing the West of bias, hypocrisy and interference after 39 mostly European nations expressed concern about thousands of killings during Manila s ferocious war on drugs. More than 3,800 Filipinos have been killed by police in anti-drug operations since President Rodrigo Duterte came to office 15 months ago and launched what he promised would be a brutal and bloody crackdown on drugs and crime.  Human rights groups say the figure is significantly higher and accuse police of carrying out executions disguised as sting operations, and of colluding with hit men to assassinate drug users. The authorities strenuously reject those claims and Duterte insists he has never incited police to commit murder, despite his frequent and animated speeches about killing drug dealers. During the periodic review on Thursday at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, 38 countries backed a statement by Iceland urging the Philippines to take  all necessary measures to bring these killings to an end .  The signatories were mostly European countries as well as Australia, the United States and Canada. Filipino diplomats in Geneva called it a  sweeping and politicized  statement, adding the country was willing to accept international help, but would not be lectured.  Unfortunately, it still appears that some parties refuse to understand certain aspects of our human rights efforts,  Evan Garcia, head of the Philippine mission, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry on Friday.  There is no culture of impunity in the Philippines.  His deputy Maria Teresa Almojuela also weighed in by  criticizing Western countries that allowed abortion, manufactured and sold arms and, she said, were a source of private militias for wars.  It is ironic that many states joining the statement are the very same states that are the sources of arms, bombs, machines and mercenaries that maim, kill and massacre thousands of people all over the world, not only during their colonial past, but even up to today,  she said. In Washington, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the Iceland-led statement was  based on biased and questionable information .       Instead of engaging us constructively, some western countries would rather criticize and impose conditions as if they can do a better job than the Philippine government in protecting the Filipino people,  he said. Opinion polls show Filipinos are largely supportive of the war on drugs as an antidote to crime the government says is fueled by narcotics. The latest survey by Social Weather Stations, however, suggests that Filipinos are not convinced of the validity of official police accounts of the killings, with about half of 1,200 people polled doubtful that victims were involved in drugs, or had violently resisted arrest as police maintain. John Fisher, Human Rights Watch director in Geneva, said the UNHRC should do more to stop the Philippine killing, now that there was a  growing chorus of condemnation  of Duterte s signature campaign.

Summary: क्रोधित फिलीपींस ने नशीली दवाओं के युद्ध में हत्याओं पर पश्चिम के संयुक्त रुख की निंदा की


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian finance ministry wants to find a solution on how Venezuela will fulfill its debt obligations to Moscow by the end of this year, a senior ministry official said on Friday.     Konstantin Vyshkovsky, head of the state debt department at the finance ministry, told Reuters that Venezuela owed Russia more than $3 billion. Venezuela borrowed from Russia in late 2011 but failed to keep up with payments on the debt in 2016 as the South American state faced a full-blown economic and financial crisis.  For now we consider it to be a liquidity crisis but not a crisis of financial solvency,  Vyshkovsky said. Vyshkovsky said that the finance ministry hoped to agree on new conditions for how Caracas would honor the debt by the end of 2017.   What the conditions would be like and how quickly we would find a compromise remains to be seen. But our partners speak about a strong desire to reach an agreement quickly,  Vyshkovsky said. Vyshkovsky declined to say when he would expect Caracas to pay back its debt. Venezuela s unraveling socialist government is increasingly turning to ally Russia for the cash and credit it needs to survive, according to a Reuters special report published last month.

Summary: रूस को साल के अंत तक वेनेजुएला के साथ ऋण चुकाने पर सहमति बनने की उम्मीद है।


NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Stemerman is winding down his hedge fund firm to explore a run for governor of Connecticut, according to a letter sent to clients of Conatus Capital Management LP on Tuesday. “Connecticut – home to my family and business – is in crisis,” Stemerman wrote in the note, which was viewed by Reuters. “I am deeply concerned that a small number of people in our state are thriving while many are struggling to make ends meet,” the Greenwich-based Republican added. “I do not claim to have all of the answers, but as an outsider with a fresh perspective, I believe that I can bring a different approach.”  The next election for governor in Connecticut is in November 2018. The news was previously reported by Bloomberg News. Conatus started in 2008 with about $2.3 billion in assets under management and followed a classic fundamental stock selection strategy. The firm grew to manage about $3 billion by the start of 2014 but assets dropped to about $1.6 billion today, according to a person familiar with the situation.  Conatus’ main hedge fund gained more than 18 percent this year through August, the person said. Its average annual gain since inception was about 5.4 percent, according to Bloomberg. Stemerman also said in the letter that he planned to give startup money to a new fund planned by Conatus consumer industry head Amir Mokari.

Summary: हेज फंड मैनेजर ने कनेक्टिकट गवर्नर के लिए दौड़ का पता लगाने के लिए फर्म को बंद कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has had the “luxury of being a complete long shot” so far in the race to be the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, President Barack Obama said in an interview published by Politico on Monday. Obama said both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, his former Secretary of State, share similar views on core issues like income inequality, but said Clinton faces the disadvantage of being well-known “in a culture in which new is always better.” “I think Bernie came in with the luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose,” Obama told the political news website. “I think Hillary came in with the both privilege and burden of being perceived as the front-runner.”  Obama, who won the Democratic nomination over Clinton in 2008, lauded her experience, saying it will help her govern if she wins but described her campaign as “cautious.” “Her strengths, which are the fact that she’s extraordinarily experienced, and, you know, wicked smart and knows every policy inside and out, sometimes could make her more cautious and her campaign more prose than poetry,” he said. The interview was the first time Obama discussed in detail the Democratic race and comes just ahead of the first contests to pick a nominee for the November election: Iowa, on Feb. 1, and New Hampshire, on Feb. 9. He did not explicitly endorse a candidate, and mentioned only once in passing former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who trails in polls. Sanders has surged in recent polls in Iowa and leads Clinton in New Hampshire. Still, Clinton holds the edge nationally, with nearly 56 percent support to Sanders’ 36 percent in the most recent Reuters/Ipsos polling.  Still Obama, asked whether Sanders reminded him of himself, told Politico: “I don’t think that’s true.” Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver on Monday also rejected the idea that Sanders is a repeat of Obama, although he pointed to similarities in their campaigns’ momentum and the large crowds their rallies have attracted. “They’re obviously very different people,” Weaver told CNN. Obama said if Sanders wins Iowa or New Hampshire, he will face the intense scrutiny the media has long given Clinton, subjecting him and his policies “to a rigor that hasn’t happened yet.” Obama also said Sanders would need to broaden his message to continue to succeed. “I will say that the longer you go in the process, the more you’re going to have to pass a series of hurdles that the voters are going to put in front of you, because the one thing everybody understands is that [with] this job right here, you don’t have the luxury of just focusing on one thing,” he said.  (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: ओबामाः सैंडर्स के पास डेमोक्रेटिक दौड़ में लंबे समय तक रहने की 'विलासिता' है


DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates, criticized globally for its treatment of migrant workers, issued a law on Tuesday to combat abuse of domestic staff, state news agency WAM said. It includes prohibitions on sexual harassment, forced labor, and the employment of domestic workers under 18. It also stipulates that workers are entitled to one paid day off each week, 30 days of paid vacation per year and up to 30 days of sick leave. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan approved the law, which was praised by human rights organizations when its draft was passed by the country s legislative body in May. The UAE relies heavily on migrant labor with an estimated 8 million workers making up more than 80 percent of its population, according to the International Labour Organization. Many  domestic workers come from southeast Asia. The Gulf Arab state has in the past been sharply criticized by groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for allowing domestic staff to endure long hours, unpaid wages and abuse. The new law covers 19 service work occupations, including guards, parking valet workers, gardeners, domestic workers, cooks, and nannies, as well as private trainers, nurses, and drivers.     It is set to take effect two months after its publication in the official gazette. While welcoming the legal change, rights organizations have voiced concerns about its enforcement and implementation   like how labor inspections will be conducted. Another area of concern is the  kafala  or sponsorship system, which forces foreign workers to seek their employer s consent to change jobs or leave the country, appears set to remain in place.

Summary: संयुक्त अरब अमीरात का कानून यौन उत्पीड़न, जबरन श्रम को लक्षित करता है


YANGON (Reuters) - The Vatican on Wednesday defended Pope Francis s decision not to use the word  Rohingya  in public during his visit to Myanmar, saying his moral authority was unblemished and that his mere presence drew attention to the refugee crisis. But at a news conference, the Holy See s spokesman also acknowledged that Vatican diplomacy was  not infallible  and that others were entitled to their views. The pope leaves on Thursday for Bangladesh, where about 625,000 Muslim Rohingya from predominantly Buddhist Myanmar have fled following a military crackdown in Rakhine state. He is due to meet Rohingya refugees there. Since he arrived in Myanmar, Francis has studiously avoided the highly charged term, following advice of local Church officials. They feared it could set off a diplomatic incident and turn Myanmar s military and government against minority Christians. Even though his calls for justice, human rights and respect were widely seen as applicable to the Rohingya, who are not recognized as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnicity, rights groups such as Amnesty International said they were disappointed.  I think it was pretty clear from the local concerns that the pope was going to take the advice very seriously in public,  Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said at the news conference, which was also  with several Myanmar bishops.  That doesn t take away from anything the pope has said in the past, or from anything he says in private,  Burke said.  The fact of the matter that the pope is here and draws attention to the country itself is an incredibly positive thing.  Scores of Rohingya villages were burnt to the ground, and refugees arriving in Bangladesh told of killings and rapes. Washington said last week that the military s campaign included  horrendous atrocities  aimed at  ethnic cleansing . Myanmar s military has denied accusations of murder, rape and forced displacement. The government blames the crisis on the Rohingya militants, whom it has condemned as terrorists.  Everyone s entitled to their own opinion here. Nobody ever said Vatican diplomacy s infallible,  Burke said when asked if the Vatican had any second thoughts about the decision for the pope not to use the word. He said the aim of Vatican diplomacy was  building bridges  and seek discussions as  brothers, which often take place behind closed doors . This suggested the pope, who has defended Rohingya by name before in Rome, may have used the term in private during meeting in Myanmar. The pope, Burke said, was  not afraid of minefields,  but he could not just  parachute in  to areas to solve crises.  I find it really hard to think that the moral authority of the pope has somehow diminished. People are not expected to solve impossible problems,  Burke said.  The moral of the pope stands. You ll see him go ahead and you can criticize what is said and what is not said, but the pope is not going to lose moral authority on this question,  he said. Asked about the accusations of ethnic cleansing, Bishop John Hsane Hgyi said  I did not see it with my own eyes. I don t know if its true or not . When she came to power in 2016, Nobel peace laureate and longtime champion of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi said her top priority was ending ethnic conflicts that have kept Myanmar in a state of near-perpetual civil war since independence in 1948. That goal remains elusive and, although Suu Kyi remains popular at home, she has faced a barrage of international criticism for expressing doubts about reports of rights abuses against Rohingya and failing to condemn the military. Although Suu Kyi formed Myanmar s first civilian government in half a century, her defenders say she is hamstrung by a constitution written by the military that left the army in control of security and much of the apparatus of the state. The military s power was clear on Monday when its leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, demanded to meet the pope before Sun Kyi, upending the planned schedule, which had her meeting the pontiff first.  I m sure the pope would have preferred meeting the general after he had done the official visits,  Burke said.

Summary: वेटिकन ने म्यांमार में 'रोहिंग्या' शब्द से बचने के पोप के फैसले का बचाव किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s prosecutor began on Monday formal legal proceedings against disgraced senior politician Sun Zhengcai, once considered a contender for top leadership, who has been accused of corruption and other crimes. Sun was abruptly removed from his post as party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing - one of China s most important cities - in July and replaced by Chen Miner, who is close to President Xi Jinping.  Later that month, he was put under investigation and in September, the party announced he would be prosecuted for corruption. Sun was accused of leaking secrets, bribery and abusing his power. In a brief statement, the prosecutor said that it had begun proceedings against Sun for suspected bribery and had approved the taking of  coercive measures  against him, a Chinese legal term that generally refers to detention. The case is proceeding, it added, without giving any other details. Sun was expelled from parliament last month, removing his immunity from prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of that body. Chongqing is perhaps best known outside China for its association with Bo Xilai, another disgraced former party boss of the city. He, too, was once a contender for top leadership. He was jailed for life in 2013 after a dramatic corruption scandal. It has not been possible to reach Sun or a representative for comment since he was put under investigation. It s unclear if he has been allowed to retain a lawyer. The next likely step against Sun will be to put him on trial, where he is certain to be found guilty as the legal system is controlled by the ruling Communist Party which will not challenge the party s accusations against him.

Summary: चीन ने बदनाम वरिष्ठ राजनेता के खिलाफ औपचारिक कानूनी कार्यवाही शुरू की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump has shown a fascination with populist 19th-century U.S. president Andrew Jackson since he has occupied the Oval Office, hanging “Old Hickory’s” portrait in the Oval Office, visiting his plantation in Tennessee and placing a wreath at his tomb. In an interview that aired on Sirius XM satellite radio on Monday, Trump suggested that if Jackson had governed a little later than his 1829-1837 presidency, the American Civil War might have been averted. Trump also questioned why the bloody conflict had to happen. “Had Andrew Jackson been a little later, you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart,” Trump told Sirius XM. He said that although Jackson was a “swashbuckler,” after his wife died, Jackson visited her grave every day. Jackson, a slave owner who was instrumental in the forced removal of Native American tribes from the U.S. Southeast in the so-called Trail of Tears, died nearly 16 years before the start of the Civil War. But Trump told Sirius XM that Jackson “was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War.””He said, ‘There’s no reason for this,’” Trump said. “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War — if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” It was not clear what Trump believed Jackson would have done to avert the 1861-65 conflict, which cost 620,000 lives. In a tweet later on Monday, Trump acknowledged that Jackson had died 16 years before the start of the war but said he “saw it coming and was angry. Would never have let it happen!” The events leading to the Civil War have been extensively researched, with slavery being one of the root causes. Slavery and its legacy have been a source of division in the United States since. By the time of his death, Jackson owned about 150 slaves who lived and worked at his plantation, the Hermitage. During his time in office, Jackson denounced the growing activity of abolitionists seeking an end to slavery. Trump and his supporters have likened his election victory to Jackson’s triumph in 1828, when Jackson became the first U.S. president from what was then the western frontier of Tennessee. The populist Democrat famously opened the White House to all comers after his inauguration, turning the normally dignified executive mansion into a mob scene.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सवाल किया कि अमेरिकी गृहयुद्ध क्यों हुआ


SEATTLE (Reuters) - Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to renegotiate or scrap longstanding global trade deals are not protectionist and are more focused on winning better terms for American businesses, the top executive of United Parcel Service (UPS.N) said on Thursday. “I have to tell you, we don’t consider what we are hearing from the president as protectionist,” Chief Executive Officer David Abney told Reuters in a phone interview after the world’s largest package delivery company reported a higher-than-expected second-quarter net profit. “Protectionist would be ‘we don’t want trade agreements’ and just try to protect the U.S. in that regard,” he added. “It’s much more about having more favorable terms than it is about protectionism.” Abney’s remarks come as the Trump administration nears the August 16 start of talks with Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump has repeatedly called the 1994 trade treaty a “disaster” that has shuttered U.S. factories and sent American jobs to Mexico. UPS has been expanding its services into Mexico. Ahead of NAFTA negotiations, Abney said UPS has told the Trump administration it wants to “take friction” out of border crossings to speed them up and modernize the agreement with language about ecommerce. “I’d be more worried if there were no changes to the deal,” he said, adding that NAFTA needs to be modernized. “We believe that we’ve been listened to.”  In a conference call with analysts earlier on Thursday, Abney praised a free trade pact Japan and the European Union concluded in early July creating the world’s biggest open economic area. The CEO also reiterated UPS’ previous strong support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a desire to see the U.S. enter into trade agreements with its member countries.  The Japan-EU trade deal was interpreted as signaling resistance to what many world leaders see protectionism by Trump. On the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has championed “America First” policy positions on trade, promising new or revised deals to boost American manufacturing.  In January, shortly after taking office, Trump formally withdrew America from the TPP. The 12-nation trade deal was negotiated by former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration. UPS on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly net profit due to rising ecommerce deliveries even as investors worried about the company’s performance in the back-half of the year and shares fell 4.6 percent.

Summary: ट्रंप का 'अमेरिका फर्स्ट' अभियान संरक्षणवादी नहीं हैः यूपीएस सीईओ


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will continue to stress the strategic and economic importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to the United States, trade minister Hiroshige Seko said on Tuesday. He said it would be important for the TPP to have the United States as a member. Seko also said that he would closely monitor the impact on Japanese corporations if there were any changes made to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Summary: जापान के व्यापार मंत्री का कहना है कि वे अमेरिका के लिए टी. पी. पी. के महत्व पर जोर देते रहेंगे।


DAKAR/LIBORE, Niger (Reuters) - Mabingue Ngom, the head of the U.N. Population Fund in West Africa, knows that if he wants to cut birth rates he can t ignore religion. Population experts like Ngom are worried that if West Africa s population continues to grow at its current pace - the region has the highest birth rate in the world - it will drive fiercer competition for scarce water and farmland, and fuel malnutrition, conflict and ever more economic refugees. GRAPHIC-Family planning in West Africa: tmsnrt.rs/2zWftuY West African governments, U.N. agencies and charities also want to cut maternal mortality rates, which are higher in West Africa than anywhere else in the world, according to U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) figures. But imams who follow the puritanical Wahhabist form of Islam and some traditional religious leaders across the region regularly preach against the use of contraception, saying Western nations are pushing birth control because they fear being outnumbered by Africans. Some imams cite a passage in the Koran imploring Muslims to  go forth and multiply , and family planning is seen by many in the region as a Western plot to curb the spread of Islam.  The West s policy is about reducing our numbers,  said Hassane Seck, an imam in Dakar influenced by the Wahhabist tradition.  Because of their perverse promotion of contraception, women in Europe are no longer fertile, but ours are. There are going to be many more of us, and they re afraid. . To counter that message, population experts are trying to co-opt moderate clerics. Which is why, at a meeting in September with half a dozen senior Senegalese clerics, Ngom avoided the issue of overpopulation and focused on values espoused in the Koran: the need for better maternal health and the need to ensure parents have resources to feed and educate their children.  You can come with your Powerpoint and make nice speeches and achieve nothing. People will be even more hostile,  he told Reuters.  If you want to change things, you have to engage them.    After listening to Ngom speak, Bou Mouhamed Kounta, deputy head of Senegal s Islamic Supreme Council, warned that family planning in Senegal was taboo. But, he added:  We are ready to work with you, because I can see that UNFPA respects religion.  For planners worried about growth rates, the starkest case remains Niger, a poor country stretching into the Sahara desert. According to U.N. projections, its population will triple by 2050 to 72 million, yet because of frequent droughts it already struggles to feed its people. The fertility rate in Niger has been the highest in the world for the past decade and has been above 7 children per mother for a quarter of a century, according to U.N. figures. More than one in five women are married by the time they are 19 and for every 100,000 births in Niger, 553 mothers die. In neighboring Chad, the maternal mortality level is 856 per 100,000 births. It is only 12 in the developed world. Attempts by Niger to lower its birth rate have been fiercely resisted by traditional leaders - known as marabouts - and some imams. Measuring the extent of Wahhabist influence in West Africa is hard, but they control many of the region s most strategic mosques, such as the main university houses of worship in Senegal and Niger. On Niger s religious TV stations, preachers promise hellfire for anyone practicing family planning. At a large mosque in the southern city of Maradi, an imam denounces contraception as a  plot by the whites to reduce us , two reproductive health workers based there, who declined to be named, said. When UNFPA and Niger s President Mahamadou Issoufou tried to introduce sex education in schools in 2015, angry mobs burned the text books outside U.N. offices. Three years earlier a bill banning girls being taken out of school for marriage provoked such a backlash it had to be axed. Back then, Ngom wondered whether decades of telling Africans they were having too many babies was counterproductive. He decided the family planning message needed to be nuanced and has held dozens of meetings with moderate imams, always wearing a bubu, the traditional Muslim robe of his native Senegal.  In a world of suspicion, of mistrust, how you put things is more important than the issues themselves,  he told Reuters in Dakar.  You need to know your audience.  Atamo Hassane, head of Niger s family planning unit, agrees.  To  limit  or  reduce  population, those are two words you just can t use,  Hassane told Reuters in Niger s capital Niamey.  If you do, every marabout ... is going to be against you.  He said using family planning to space out births won t be enough to tackle population growth but hopes that once people start to use contraception they will see the benefits, use it more, and birth rates will then start to fall. Other moderate clerics include Sheikh Ali Ben Salah, Niger s former minister of religious affairs.  Islam is clear: you can t just have children without considering how you re going to feed, clothe and educate them,  Salah told Reuters at a conference on child marriage in Dakar.  So family planning is part of Islam. The problem only comes if you want to stop at a certain number.  UNFPA had a breakthrough in July when Chad s highest Islamic authority hosted a symposium with the U.N. agency and 1,200 regional religious leaders - unprecedented for the subject of family planning.  I told them family planning will reduce maternal mortality by a third. Who doesn t want to do that?  Ngom said. Cheikh Abdeldahim Abdoulaye, secretary general of Chad s Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, told Reuters he had backed the U.N. program because the Koran permitted the spacing out births, primarily for the sake of better maternal health.  Aminatou Bakah, a Nigerien aid worker for charity Marie Stopes International, which provides contraception and family planning advice in 37 countries, said they had long struggled to shake off the idea they were a tool of Western interference.  They called us  Marie Stop , because we want to stop people having children,  she said.  We had to explain that, no, we want to help you plan, not just get pregnant by pure chance.  At a pop-up clinic run by the charity in Libore, 20 km (13 miles) outside Niamey, mothers with young children wait for advice on contraceptive methods. In the village of jagged acacia trees, clay houses and a mosque, all nine of the mothers interviewed by Reuters said they didn t want to have fewer children and were using contraception only as a temporary reprieve from child birth.  I would have 15 children if that s what God wants,  said Rahinatou Kadri, 24, a mother of four. Her husband, who is an imam, has two other wives, the oldest of whom has 16 children, she said. Keen not to be outdone, when her husband said he wanted another child, Kadri dutifully came back to have her contraceptive implant removed.  Our religion doesn t permit us to stop having children,  said Mariane Hamadoun, 34, a mother of five. Thanks partly to such views, the birth rate in some African countries has defied predictions that it would fall as the continent gets more prosperous, as has happened in Europe, Asia and the Americas. But attitudes may be changing. Lamodi Soulye, 39, a devout Muslim and worker in a Chinese restaurant in Niamey, was one of 28 siblings from one father and three different mothers. He remembers occasionally going hungry, and dropping out of school with only basic primary education.  My father lacked the resources to keep us,  he said.  I decided not to do the same thing to my children.        He plans to stop at three.

Summary: पश्चिम अफ्रीका के जनसंख्या योजनाकार मुसलमानों के दिलों को लुभाने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s outgoing prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, made a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday despite a deepening crisis back home and a rise in regional tensions triggered by his surprise resignation. Hariri announced his resignation on Saturday during a visit to his ally Saudi Arabia and has not yet returned to Lebanon. He said he believed there was an assassination plot against him and accused Iran, Saudi Arabia s arch-rival, and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. His resignation has thrust Lebanon back into the frontline of the regional rivalry that pits a mostly Sunni bloc led by Saudi Arabia and allied Gulf monarchies against Shi ite Iran and its allies. Hariri s office said he had flown to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and then returned to Riyadh, but it gave no reason for the trip. It also did not say when he would return home. Hariri s Future TV channel said he would also visit Bahrain but gave no reason. Hezbollah has accused Riyadh of forcing Hariri to resign. Riyadh and aides to the Lebanese leader, whose family made their fortune in the Saudi construction industry, have strongly denied reports that he has been detained or was forced to quit. On Monday Riyadh accused Lebanon of declaring war against it because of aggression by Hezbollah, dramatically escalating the crisis and threatening to destabilize Lebanon. On Tuesday Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah remained silent about the escalation in Saudi rhetoric after a series of consultations with President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally.  A rocket fired from Yemen was intercepted on the outskirts of Riyadh hours after Hariri s resignation on Saturday. On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN the rocket  was an Iranian missile launched by Hezbollah .          Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Aoun on Tuesday to discuss developments, telling him that unity among the Lebanese people would ensure that external strife and regional problems could be overcome, Iran s state news agency IRNA reported.  Iran will do all it can to bolster the stability of Lebanon,  IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. Hariri s resignation has triggered the collapse of a national unity government agreed last year in a political deal that united Lebanon s opposing sides. This had led to Lebanon s first budget since 2005 and to agreement on a new law for a parliamentary election, which could now get derailed. Aoun has said he will not accept Hariri s resignation until he returns to Lebanon to explain his thinking   a move widely seen as a stalling tactic. Hezbollah and its allies will struggle to form a government without Hariri or his blessing. The post of prime minister must be filled by a member of Lebanon s Sunni community, among which he is the most influential politician.  The pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday that Hariri  was placed under house arrest hours after arriving in Riyadh last Friday , that a Saudi security team was supervising his movements and that he had only limited access to his phones. Fouad Siniora, a former prime minister and member of Hariri s Future Movement, said he had spoken to him on Monday and added that Hariri would return to Lebanon. The political crisis has alarmed investors. On Tuesday Lebanon s dollar bonds fell and the cost of insuring exposure to its debt reached its highest since late 2008, and Moody s ratings agency warned of damage to its credit rating. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) for Lebanon LBGV5YUSAC=MG jumped 51 basis points from Monday s close to 588 bps, according to IHS Markit data. Lebanon s 2022 issue dollar bond LB055923779= fell 3.4 cents to 92 cents in the dollar, trading at its lowest ever level, Thomson Reuters data showed. The finance minister, central bank governor and head of the banking association all issued statements on Monday stressing Lebanon s financial and monetary stability.

Summary: घरेलू संकट बढ़ने पर लेबनान के हरीरी ने संयुक्त अरब अमीरात का दौरा किया


SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A group of armed men claiming to represent the nation s indigenous Mapuche people hijacked and burned 29 logging trucks in southern Chile on Monday morning as a years-long conflict with forestry companies heated up. The government convened an emergency meeting less than two weeks after a similar hijacking in which 18 trucks were burned, and several high-ranking officials denounced the attack later in the day.  We re going to combat violence and we are not going to allow minoritarian groups, which don t value dialogue, to ruin the great effort all regional actors in the south are doing to promote development and overcome exclusion,  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in televised remarks.  It was not clear to what extent the attacks have broader support among Mapuche communities. Many Mapuche leaders doubt all such attacks are carried out by indigenous people, saying non-indigenous groups with a radical political agenda may be involved. The group Weichan Auka Mapu, or  Fight of the Rebel Territory  in the local Mapudungun tongue, claimed responsibility, national media reported. According to local authorities, at least two people were responsible for the arson attack, although local media reported that as many as seven people were responsible.  Around 600,000 Mapuche live in Chile, concentrated in Araucania and Bio Bio, two lush and hilly provinces roughly 400 miles (645 km) south of Santiago, the nation s capital. Ever since the Chilean army invaded Mapuche territory in a brutal campaign in the late 1800s, relations with the state have been fractious.  The conflict has accelerated in recent years, with armed groups burning houses, churches, trucks, and forest plantations. It has also spread geographically. The Monday attack occurred in the region of Los Rios, south of the traditional conflict zone. The trucks belonged to Sotraser, a subcontractor that  mainly serves subsidiaries of Chilean forestry companies Empresas CMPC and Arauco [ANTCOC.UL].  The company reported $6 million in damages. While that figure is not significant in relation to Chile s larger timber industry, subcontractors have begun to register dozens of attacks annually in recent years, weighing on the sector.

Summary: चिली के स्वदेशी विवाद में सशस्त्र लोगों ने दो दर्जन लकड़ी काटने वाले ट्रकों को नष्ट कर दिया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge threw out a challenge to a North Carolina law that allows government officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages if they cite religious objections, claiming the couples who brought the suit failed to establish they were harmed by the law. The six plaintiffs, who include gay couples, argued in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Asheville that the legislation - Senate Bill 2 - allows magistrates and other officials performing marriages to put their personal beliefs before their sworn constitutional duty.  The plaintiffs said on Wednesday they would appeal the ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn on Tuesday. Cogburn said the plaintiffs had not argued they were being directly injured by the law, but instead said that their tax dollars were not being used according to the constitution.  He said they had not presented enough evidence to prove they had been harmed as taxpayers, although he did add that citizens could potentially suffer “real or emotional harm” as a result of the law because the magistrates decision to opt-out is secret.  North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature passed the law in 2015 as social conservatives nationwide pushed for so-called “religious freedom bills” in response to same-sex marriage becoming legal. State legislators overrode Republican Governor Pat McCrory’s veto of the measure the same month the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the country. Data from September 2015 showed at least 32 magistrates across the state have thus far exempted themselves as have Register of Deeds employees in five counties, according the Campaign for Southern Equality, which supported the suit.   “Senate Bill 2 expressly declares that magistrates religious beliefs are superior to their oath of judicial office,” said attorney Luke Largess from Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, which represented the couples in the case. “The law spends public money to advance those religious beliefs. That is a straightforward violation of the First Amendment.”  The office of North Carolina’s Attorney General declined to comment on the case, according to spokeswoman Noelle Talley. Magistrates who ask to opt out are barred from performing any marriage, gay or heterosexual, for six months.         The nonprofit group the Liberty Counsel, which represented a magistrate as an intervenor in the case, said both the U.S. Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution require accommodation of religious beliefs even for government officials.  North Carolina has come under fire for another law passed earlier this year that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to their biological sex.  Major sports organizations including the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Basketball Association have moved their competitions from the state to protest the so-called bathroom bill.  (Corrects day of judge’s order to Tuesday from Monday)

Summary: न्यायाधीश ने उत्तरी कैरोलिना के समलैंगिक विवाह अप्ट-आउट कानून के खिलाफ मामला खारिज कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is very concerned that North Korea might not be able to be deterred, a senior Trump administration official said on Thursday, drawing a distinction between Washington s view of Pyongyang and its model for dealing with former Cold War foes. The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, also said there was a grave risk that North Korea might  miscalculate  the U.S. response to its behavior and warned Pyongyang not to  under-estimate American will to protect ourselves and our allies.  While U.S. experts are continuing to assess the North Korean nuclear test - its sixth and most powerful - the official that there was no information to contradict Pyongyang s assertion that it detonated a hydrogen bomb.

Summary: अमेरिका को यकीन नहीं है कि उत्तर कोरिया को रोका जा सकता हैः ट्रम्प प्रशासन के अधिकारी


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed by his advisers late on Thursday on Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, a result that he had argued passionately against during an April visit to London. Obama, who was scheduled to deliver remarks to global entrepreneurs at a conference at Stanford University at 10:45 a.m. PDT (1:45 p.m. ET/1745 GMT), was dining out at an upscale restaurant with a small group of top venture capitalists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as the results for the “leave” campaign began to roll in. The group at San Francisco’s Twenty-Five Lusk included John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman. Obama dined for more than two hours, departing shortly after British networks called the referendum for the “leave” campaign, and markets plunged. A White House official said Obama had been briefed on the returns and would “continue to be updated by his team as the situation warrants.” “We expect the president will have an opportunity to speak to Prime Minister Cameron over the course of the next day, and we will release further comment as soon as appropriate,” the official said in a brief statement to reporters. Obama traveled to London in April at the request of Cameron, whom he calls a friend, exhorting Britons to stay in the EU, an unusual intervention that was denounced as meddling by those in the “leave” campaign. Obama also warned that leaving the EU would put Britain at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal with the United States. Obama’s term in the White House ends on Jan. 20, 2017. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic candidate in the Nov. 8 election, had also said she hoped the UK would stay in the EU. The presumptive Republican nominee - real estate magnate Donald Trump - had taken the opposite stance, saying he thought the UK should leave. Trump, in Scotland on Friday to reopen a golf resort, told reporters that Britons “took back control of their country” by voting to leave the European Union.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के यूरोपीय संघ छोड़ने के पक्ष में मतदान के बाद ओबामा ने दी जानकारी


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was not in a motorcade that was seen leaving his residence in Harare on Saturday, a security source told Reuters. Earlier, crowds booed and jeered as the motorcade left the  Blue Roof  residence.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के मुगाबे अपने आवास से निकले काफिले में नहीं थेः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Congress from both parties on Friday backed President Donald Trump’s cruise missile strikes on Syria, but demanded he develop a strategy for dealing with the broader conflict and consult with Congress on any further action. In the biggest foreign policy decision of his presidency, Trump ordered the firing of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that U.S. officials said was the launching point for a deadly chemical weapons attack against Syrian civilians this week. “The strike was well planned, well executed. It was certainly more than a pinprick, and sends a message ... that using chemical weapons again is not something (Syrian president Bashar al-Assad) can do with impunity,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a news conference. McConnell said Vice President Mike Pence had called him to explain the rationale for the strikes. It was one of a series of calls by administration officials to members of Congress beginning shortly before the strikes and extending until after midnight on Thursday evening. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was called by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump himself. After seeing the devastation in Syria and visiting refugee camps, he said he became emotional when he heard the news. “When I talked to the president last night, I told him how proud I was of our country. And him,” Corker said. Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, had called. “I am hopeful these strikes will convince the Assad regime that such actions should never be repeated,” Warner said in a statement. Partisan debate over how to deal with Syria has been bitter. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama ran into stiff resistance from many Republicans, including McConnell, when he proposed military action to retaliate for a chemical attack that crossed Obama’s red line. Many Democrats, some of whom had paid a political penalty for backing Republican President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, also opposed intervention. Obama’s abrupt decision not to fire missiles and instead work with Russia to remove Assad’s chemical weapons infuriated many Republicans who had backed the Democratic president’s proposal. The conflict in Syria has now dragged on for seven years, devastating the country, destabilizing the region and leaving millions homeless. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he wanted a broader strategy. “I would love to have one yesterday, or the day before. I’d like to have one already but I’d rather them design it correctly than not,” he said, leaving a briefing by General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Most lawmakers insisted Trump should seek Congress’ approval for any additional military action. “Congress must live up to its Constitutional responsibility to debate an Authorization of the Use of Military Force against a sovereign nation,” Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter asking Speaker Paul Ryan to call the House of Representatives back to Washington to debate a formal authorization to use military force. The House is not due to return until late April. Republican Senator Rand Paul, a member of the foreign relations committee, called the Syria strikes illegal. Under the U.S. Constitution, declarations of war require congressional approval. “We’ve had no chance to weigh or weigh in on whether we should do it or not,” Paul told reporters. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, another committee member, said that if Congress does not assert itself now, it risked losing its constitutional right to declare war. “I think it’s devastating to the future role of Congress in foreign affairs. If we don’t authorize this action, I don’t see why any president would ever come to Congress,” Murphy said.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने सीरिया हमलों का समर्थन किया, ट्रम्प से एक योजना की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should prepare to use greater military power and covert action in Syria to help forge a political settlement to end the country’s civil war, according to a bipartisan report to be released on Wednesday.  Produced by a task force led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, and former U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, a Republican, the report amounts to a bipartisan rejection of President Barack Obama’s decision to limit U.S. military engagement in the nearly six-year civil war.  Largely drafted before Republican Donald Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election, the paper, which has not been presented to Trump, makes a case for deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East.  An interview with Madeleine Albright and Stephen Hadley in this week's War College podcast:   “Isolationism is a dangerous illusion,” said the report, which was obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. It calls for outside nations to help wind down conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Yemen and back home-grown reform throughout the region.  Its key recommendation for Syria may be moot when Trump takes office on Jan. 20 if government forces seize eastern Aleppo, the opposition’s most important urban stronghold. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been dramatically strengthened by Russian military support over the past 14 months.  “The United States should be prepared to employ air power, stand-off weapons, covert measures and enhanced support for opposition forces to break the current siege of Aleppo and frustrate Assad’s attempts to consolidate control over western Syria’s population centers,” the report said.  It is unclear what policy Trump will pursue on Syria. In an Oct. 26 interview, he told Reuters a more aggressive military policy advocated by Clinton could “lead to World War Three,” because of the potential for conflict with Russian forces.  Trump also made clear his priority was fighting Islamic State militants rather than unseating the Syrian president, saying: “Assad is secondary, to me, to ISIS.”  The Syrian army and its allies aim to seize all of eastern Aleppo before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, keeping to a Russian-backed timeline after big gains in recent days, a senior official in the military alliance supporting Assad said.  The United States has two main lines of effort in Syria: a covert CIA operation that backs opposition forces trying to oust Assad and a wider military operation that uses air strikes and special forces to target Islamic State and al Qaeda fighters.  The report argues U.S.-backed opposition forces should also be allowed to strike Assad government targets.  Asked whether a greater U.S. military effort might yield a bloodier proxy war rather than a political solution, Hadley told Reuters: “It may not work. But one of the things we know is that what’s now going on isn’t working.”

Summary: अलब्राइट, हैडली ने अमेरिका से सीरिया में अधिक बल का उपयोग करने पर विचार करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York on Tuesday to discuss implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and ways Tehran can use its influence to end Syria’s civil war, U.S. officials said on Monday.  Kerry is expected to raise Tehran’s concerns over difficulties with accessing the global financial system despite the lifting of some U.S. sanctions under the nuclear deal. Iran and six world powers clinched the nuclear agreement in July 2015, which allowed for the easing of some sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. Tehran has called on the United States to do more to remove obstacles to the banking sector so that businesses feel comfortable with investing in Iran without penalties. Current U.S. policy bars foreign banks from clearing dollar-based transactions with Iran through U.S. banks. But U.S. officials have said the Obama administration is considering ways in which non-U.S. companies can use the dollar in some business transactions with Iran. “The secretary is very mindful that topic will come up, that that is very much on Foreign Minister Zarif’s mind,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. “The secretary will be ready to talk to them about it.”   Kerry will press Iran to use its influence over the Syrian government to end Syria’s war, Kirby said, after peace talks in Geneva were halted by the opposition, which accused government forces of breaking a ceasefire in their bid to recapture the northern city of Aleppo.  “The secretary intends to raise ... ways in which Iran can get more helpful going forward in a political process,” said Kirby, adding: “We want them to use that influence in a constructive manner, towards a political solution.”

Summary: अमेरिका ने कहा कि केरी मंगलवार को ईरान के विदेश मंत्री से मिलेंगे


BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Friday jailed the country s number one most wanted fugitive for eight years for graft and taking bribes, state media said. Yang Xiuzhu, a former deputy mayor of Wenzhou city in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, gave herself in to Chinese authorities late last year, returning from the United States after spending 13 years in hiding. China ranked Yang top in a 2015 list of its 100 most wanted graft suspects who were targeted with Interpol red notices. Many on the list had fled to the United States, Canada or Australia. Some 48 have since returned to China. Yang s prison sentence and a fine of 800,000 yuan  ($121,500) was announced by the People s Intermediate Court in Hangzhou, the official Xinhua news agency said on social media. The court gave Yang a reduced sentence as she had expressed regret, pleaded guilty and actively returned her illegal gains, as well returned to China, Xinhua reported. In under three years in her position at the construction bureau, Yang had embezzled nearly 20 million yuan in public funds and had accepted over 7 million yuan in gifts. Just under 27 million yuan of this had been recovered, the court said. It was not possible to reach Yang or a representative for comment. President Xi Jinping s war on graft has spread beyond China s borders with overseas searches dubbed Operation Fox Hunt and Sky Net hunting down officials and business executives who fled overseas with their assets. Wary that suspects might not get a fair trial and that accusations may be politically motivated, some developed nations have been hesitant to comply with Beijing s requests to return people to China. Yang told Reuters in 2015 that she was innocent and called the most-wanted list a political document targeting enemies of the current regime rather than a roster of criminals.

Summary: चीन के मोस्ट वांटेड भगोड़े को भ्रष्टाचार के आरोप में आठ साल की जेल


BERLIN (Reuters) - German civil rights groups are mobilizing against the newly elected far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and other more hardline groups, vowing to avert the even stronger rightward lurch seen in neighboring countries. Thousands of protesters are expected in the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday when the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement  celebrates its third anniversary. PEGIDA - Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West - has seen dwindling crowds since early 2015, with the AfD absorbing some of its supporters. The AfD won almost 13 percent of the vote in the Sept. 24 national election, making it the third largest party in the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, and the first far-right party to win seats in more than half a century. Exit polls showed that 60 percent of AfD voters cast a  protest vote , with many angry at Chancellor Angela Merkel s 2015 decision to allow in over a million mainly Muslim migrants.  Experts say the party s rise is also part of a global trend that has brought right-leaning parties or leaders to power in Poland, Hungary, and most recently, Austria.  Germany s mainstream parties have said they will not work with the AfD at a national level, but activists say they must stake out clear resistance to AfD comments on Islam and other issues in the parliament, and 14 out of 16 state legislatures.  We ve seen a strong and growing movement of people resisting the AfD in recent months in big cities, in small towns, and now we need that movement on a national scale,  said Nora Berneis of Aufstehen gegen Rassismus, or Standing up against Racism. The group is planning a large protest in the northern city of Hanover on Dec. 2 when the AfD meets for a party conference. The party has drawn sharp criticism from a German journalists  group for seeking data on the ethnic backgrounds and political views of journalists who want to cover the conference. Christoph Schott, with the global activist group Avaaz, said more than 500,000 people had signed an open letter to the AfD, rejecting the party s  xenophobic  and  racist  messages. The AfD rails against what it calls the  Islamisation of Europe  and denies it is racist.  Beginning with Allied  re-education  efforts after World War Two, Germany has developed an intense civic education program. The government doubled funding for projects aimed at combating right-wing, left-wing and Islamist extremism to over 100 million euros in 2017 alone. Some credit such policies with keeping support for far-right parties lower than in neighboring countries. But Axel Ruppert with the European Network against Racism said the AfD s aggressive rhetoric was pressing the boundaries of  acceptable  discourse and hate crimes were rising. Police data showed a 14-percent rise in right-wing extremist violent acts in 2016, and anti-Semitic crimes rose 4 percent to 681 in the first eight months of 2017. The AfD s entry into parliament has triggered a long-overdue dialogue about what went wrong during the unification of eastern and western Germany in 1990, said Michaela Glaser with the German Youth Institute, a non-profit research association.  One silver lining ... may be that things that were hidden before have become visible. And only if something has been articulated can it be addressed,  she said.

Summary: जर्मन समूह सुदूर दक्षिणपंथियों के उदय के खिलाफ एकजुट हुए


(Reuters) - Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday slapped a negative outlook on Kansas’ Aa2 credit rating, citing the state’s reliance on one-shot measures to balance its budget. That followed action late last month by Standard & Poor’s, which put Kansas’ AA rating on review for a possible downgrade after the state lowered its revenue estimates for the current and next fiscal year by $228.7 million. Governor Sam Brownback plans to divert $185 million in sales tax revenue from the state’ highway fund to the general fund and delay a $96.5 million fiscal 2016 pension payment to help fill the gap.  “By continuing to balance its budget with unsustainable, nonrecurring resources, including pension underfunding, it is accumulating large and expensive long-term liabilities that it will be paying off for a long time,” Moody’s said in a statement. The credit rating agency also revised the outlook on $2.1 billion of Aa2-rated Kansas highway revenue bonds to negative from stable. The Kansas budget is feeling the effects from action taken by Brownback and the Republican-controlled legislature in recent years to cut corporate and other income taxes to help the state compete with bordering Missouri and other states for business development and jobs.   The state’s fiscal year begins on July 1.

Summary: कान्सास के बजट संकट का असर राज्य की क्रेडिट रेटिंग पर पड़ता है।


SEOUL (Reuters) - Over four decades, Choi Gee-sung, the fourth son of a poor civil servant, worked his way to the top of South Korea s Samsung Group, one of the world s leading business empires, inspiring a legion of salaried workers. On Friday, a Seoul court sentenced Choi to four years in jail for his part in a corruption scandal that toppled the country s president, and handed his billionaire boss, Jay Y. Lee, a five-year jail sentence. Song Wu-cheol, lead defense attorney for Choi, Lee and others, said they would appeal the convictions. Choi s downfall has fueled a sense of disillusionment at a time when the country s biggest conglomerate looks to its army of loyal  Samsung men  to navigate a potential leadership vacuum.  Choi was Lee s mentor and headed up Samsung s Corporate Strategy Office - dubbed the  control tower  - for more than four years before it was disbanded earlier this year after it came under fire for its role in the graft scandal. The office, which oversaw the Samsung group, orchestrating the big decisions on asset sales or arranging support for weakened group affiliates, was closed in February, and Choi stepped down. The Samsung scandal is the latest in a series to mire South Korea s so-called chaebols - the powerful, family-run conglomerates that dominate Asia s fourth-largest economy - which are criticized for their often cozy ties to politicians. The involvement of Choi - who rose as high in a conglomerate as possible for someone from outside the powerful chaebol families - has shocked many Samsung employees who admired his business acumen and work ethic that helped Samsung become a global technology powerhouse.  Choi has been portrayed as a poster child of a successful businessman ... I am dejected and angered by this scandal,  said one Samsung employee who declined to be identified. A Samsung company official said:  It s hard to do a job like that without loyalty. If the previous generation s frame of thinking was loyalty, that s got to change going forward.  Known for his tenacity, attention to detail, and focused drive, Choi took credit for helping Samsung Electronics, the group s crown jewel, overtake Nokia and Apple Inc in mobiles and Sony Corp in television manufacturing. It is also the world s leading chipmaker.  I played a part in today s Samsung standing tall as the No. 1 in semiconductors. We surpassed (mobile firm) Nokia when everyone thought it couldn t be done,  Choi recalled during his trial testimony, as Lee and other charged Samsung executives sat alongside.  The day media reported Samsung surpassed Intel as the No. 1 in semiconductors was the 40th anniversary of my first day at Samsung. It was also the day when the court hearing continued until 2 a.m.,  he said, referring to late July when Samsung reported record earnings on strong chip sales.  I was overwhelmed with feelings of regret, reflection and sadness.   Born into a poor family during the Korean War in 1951, Choi joined Samsung in 1977 to  put food on the table  after studying at the prestigious Seoul National University. Having worked in all Samsung s main businesses - from chips and mobile to display screens - Choi was among the few to rise to the top without an engineering background. He became CEO of Samsung Electronics in 2010.  Some people like me think that the higher up you go, the harder you have to work and the more unjust things you have to deal with,  said a 33-year-old Samsung employee, who declined to be identified.  I think he (Choi) may have agonized, though it was his choice to take the job.  As head of the  control tower , Choi said he accepted greater responsibility than Lee, and the decisions he made over matters related to the scandal were inevitable to  protect  Samsung from political pressure. The chaebols dominate the local economy, providing millions of jobs and defining many people s identity in South Korean society. Salaried workers are expected to serve them with long hours and unquestionable loyalty. That culture puts top executives under pressure to take the blame for their boss, experts say.  It s like Japan s samurai, who sacrifice their lives for the sake of their masters,  said Chung Sun-sup, head of Chaebul.com, a corporate analysis firm.  It s very regrettable, but that s the reality of what s expected from professional managers.  It s a path Choi felt he had little option but to take.  If you were to hold Samsung responsible, please blame me. I am aging and lost judgment ... Others just trusted me and followed my judgment,  he told the court during the trial.

Summary: सैमसंग के पूर्व रणनीति प्रमुख के पतन ने 'वेतनभोगियों' को निराश किया


PARIS (Reuters) - The French Socialist Party plans to put its headquarters in Paris up for sale, the party said on Tuesday, as it tries to reinvent itself after a poor performance in elections earlier this year.  The disappointing performance in the presidential and parliamentary elections split the party, and it will struggle financially. The sale of the Paris mansion, acquired in 1980, will be used in part to cover the shortfall.  This new era that is ahead of us can also open up at a new place,  Jean-Francois Debat, the treasurer of the party told journalists. The number of Socialist seats in the 577-seat assembly plummeted from 280 in 2012 to just 29, the lowest in the post-war Fifth Republic. Parliament s lower house is now dominated by President Emmanuel Macron s centrist Republic on the Move party, which blew apart the traditional two-party system. The crisis facing the Socialists has its roots in a mid-term shift of former president Francois Hollande from being the self-proclaimed  enemy  of bankers and defender of workers to advocate of business-friendly reform. The move split the party, exposing a deep-seated rift between moderates and hard-left lawmakers.

Summary: फ्रांसीसी सोशलिस्ट पार्टी ने अपनी ऐतिहासिक इमारत को बिक्री के लिए रखा


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it would create a new national economic crime center to crack down harder on money laundering by drug dealers and people traffickers who are expected to net 90 billion pounds ($120.3 billion) this year. As a unit of the existing National Crime Agency (NCA), the center will be tasked with coordinating a national response among the agencies that tackle money laundering and fraud and with increasing the confiscation of crime proceeds. Britain s interior minister, Amber Rudd, said the new initiative was part of a package of measures in response to a review of the country s economic crime agencies.    The measures we have announced today will significantly improve our ability to tackle the most serious cases of economic crime by ensuring our agencies have the tools and investment they need to investigate, prosecute and confiscate criminal assets,  Rudd said in a statement. Britain s plan to exit the European Union in 2019 has raised fears of a  bonfire of regulation  that could occur thereafter and result in the City of London losing its top global financial center ranking. Strengthening the integrity of Britain as a financial center will be a top priority under the package, which also includes proposed new laws. These would allow the new center to directly task the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate the worst offenders in a step that will buttress the SFO, whose future as a standalone entity has been in doubt. SFO Director David Green is due to step down next year. Separately on Monday, the Attorney General s Office, a government department, said the SFO would continue to act as an independent organization, supporting the multi-agency response led by the NCA.  We will begin recruitment for the SFO s next director very soon,  the AGO said in a statement. The government estimates that financial fraud costs the country 6.8 billion pounds a year, or more than 100 pounds per person. Rudd will chair a new economic crime strategic board to ensure the right resources are allocated across law enforcement agencies to tackle economic crime, the interior ministry statement said. With only a modest portion of criminal proceeds confiscated, the package announced on Monday makes further commitments to seizing criminal assets through greater use of existing powers by the SFO, the NCA and tax authorities. There will also be a review of existing rules on confiscating proceeds of crime in order to improve the process by which confiscation orders are made and applied. ($1 = 0.7479 pounds)

Summary: ब्रिटेन ने धन शोधन के खिलाफ लड़ाई तेज की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Democrat Hillary Clinton is the only presidential contender scheduled to attend a reception next week organized by a leading political association of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as she seeks to consolidate her support from minority voters.     The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Leadership Network, a nonpartisan group that seeks to get Asian Americans elected to political office, said on Wednesday that it had invited all presidential hopefuls to the event in Washington, but Clinton was the only one to accept. The campaigns of Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders and Republican hopeful Ted Cruz did not commit, and the campaign of Republican front-runner Donald Trump campaign responded that he was unlikely to attend, Floyd Mori, president and chief executive of the leadership network said. Republican John Kasich’s campaign did not respond.     Minority voters have provided a boost to Clinton as she fends off a challenge from Vermont Senator Sanders for the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. African Americans helped her notch key wins in states such as South Carolina and this week in Maryland.      Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are a smaller group,  making up about 5.6 percent of the population, according to U.S. Census data. But in recent years they have been among the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States.     “We are a vote that is becoming increasingly powerful,” said Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat in Congress representing California, who will introduce Clinton at the event. “In this election we are the swing vote in the swing states,” Chu said, pointing to Virginia and Nevada.     Still, challenges remain in building the Asian Americans electorate into a political force, Mori said.     “We are not as good at registering Asian Americans (to vote) as a lot of other populations,” he said. “We need to do better.”

Summary: क्लिंटन एशियाई अमेरिकी मंच में भाग लेने के लिए एकमात्र राष्ट्रपति पद की उम्मीद कर रहे हैं


GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N refugee agency on Friday accused Australia of abandoning hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea s Manus Island and said it must take responsibility for the mess it created with its  offshore processing  system. About 800 refugees are still in a precarious situation on Manus Island, having been forcibly removed from a holding camp last month when Australia decided to close it, UNHCR spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva.   We are talking here about people who have suffered tremendously, extreme trauma, and are now feeling so insecure in the places where they are staying. There are many victims of torture, people who have been deeply traumatised, having no idea what is going to happen next to them,  she said.  In light of the continued perilous situation on Papua New Guinea s Manus Island for refugees and asylum seekers abandoned by Australia, UNHCR has called again this week on the Australian government to live up to its responsibility and urgently find humane and appropriate solutions.       Conditions in the camp, and another on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, have been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups. The two camps have been cornerstones of Australia s contentious immigration policy under which it refuses to allow asylum-seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. The policy, aimed at deterring people from making a perilous sea voyage to Australia, has bipartisan political support. The closure of the Manus Island camp, criticised by the United Nations as  shocking , caused chaos, with the men refusing to leave the compound for fear of being attacked by Manus island residents. [nL3N1NT437] Pouilly said that in the past four weeks, there had been at least five security incidents, including an attempt by three people armed with machetes and an axe to force their way into a site where 150 refugees and asylum seekers have been accommodated since the Australian facility closed. Pouilly said that although Papua New Guinea now had to deal with the situation, the buck should stop with Australia.  What we clearly are saying is that it s Australia s responsibility in the first place,  she said.  Australia is the country that created the situation by putting in place this offshore processing facility. So what we are asking is for Australia to find solutions for these people.

Summary: यू. एन. एच. सी. आर. का कहना है कि ऑस्ट्रेलिया ने शरणार्थियों को छोड़ दिया है, उसे इस गड़बड़ी को दूर करना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A vote by U.S. House Republicans on Monday to strike down a Washington, D.C., law that would allow doctor-assisted suicide has put the conservative Congress on a collision course with the liberal city that hosts it, local officials said. In the District of Columbia, where just 4 percent of the population voted for President Donald Trump, city leaders worry that Republicans will overturn progressive laws on issues like gun control and abortion, to the outrage of locals who have long complained of curtailed rights. One of the most liberal U.S. cities, Washington is unique in that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the option to block its legislative moves. Its 680,000 residents pay federal income taxes but have no voting representative in Congress. “This is yet another attempt by this House committee to trample the autonomy of the D.C. Government and undermine our local control,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who signed the assisted suicide law in December, said in a statement after the signing. Monday’s vote by the House Oversight Committee, headed by Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz, took the first step in overturning the measure letting doctors help terminally ill patients end their lives. The full House and Senate would now have to vote and Trump would have to sign a repeal by Friday, the 30-day deadline for Congress to act. “Congressman Jason Chaffetz has sent a signal to D.C. residents that Congress has zero respect or concern for their will or the will of their elected officials,” Bowser said.  Bowser called the vote a power grab by legislators who espouse states’ right to make their own laws but differ when the heavily Democratic city is involved. The vote was the first in a series of Republican-sponsored measures taking on city laws. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida last month introduced legislation that would bar city lawmakers from passing gun control laws and repeal local firearm registration requirements. Rubio said the measure, aimed at Washington, was needed to protect residents’ constitutional right to bear arms. The House also has approved a bill that would permanently ban the District from using local tax funds for abortions for poor women. Congress granted the 68-square-mile (117-square-km) enclave a mayor and council in the 1970s and has voided only a handful of District laws since then. But Chaffetz has pledged to intensify scrutiny, saying at Monday’s hearing that the assisted suicide law could create “a marketplace for death.” Washington’s city council has passed laws in recent years on issues dear to liberal Democrats nationally. These include a $15-an-hour minimum wage, legalized recreational marijuana and one of the country’s most generous family leave laws. “The District is a progressive jurisdiction in the midst of a conservative Congress,” Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s congressional representative, said in a phone interview. Washington leaders have relied on the Senate, which has long had less appetite than the House to interfere with District laws. The city also had an ally in Democratic President Barack Obama. That protection is gone, Norton said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन कांग्रेस ने स्थानीय आक्रोश के लिए वाशिंगटन, डी. सी., कानूनों को लिया


DUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen said on Wednesday it would allow humanitarian aid access through Yemen s port of Hodeidah and United Nations flights to the capital Sanaa, more than two weeks after blockading the country. The coalition closed air, land and sea access to the Arabian Peninsula country on Nov. 6 to stop the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The action came after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired toward its capital Riyadh. Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with weapons. Soon after the closure, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warned that the blockade could spark  the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims  unless the coalition gave access to humanitarian aid.  The Saudi-led coalition said in a statement on Wednesday that from Nov. 23 the Red Sea port of Hodeidah would be reopened to receive food aid and humanitarian relief, and Sanaa airport would be open for UN flights with humanitarian relief.   We re monitoring these developments,  U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.  If that were to happen that would be a very welcome and critically important development.   We made clear the tremendous amount of needs on the ground,  Haq said.  Earlier this month the coalition said it would allow aid deliveries through the government-held port of Aden. However, around 80 percent of Yemen s food imports arrive through Hodeidah. The United Nations has said some seven million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine and nearly 900,000 have been infected with cholera, a waterborne disease that causes acute diarrhea and dehydration. Aid groups said there also needed to be commercial access to Yemen for food and fuel shipments.  Humanitarian aid alone cannot meet the needs of Yemenis who are unjustly bearing the brunt of this war,  Paolo Cernuschi, Yemen country director at the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement.  Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former U.N. aid chief, posted on Twitter,  We need all ports to open and access for commercial food and supplies to large civilian population. Humanitarian aid alone cannot avert hunger.   The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday that it had evacuated from Sanaa five staff members in need of urgent medical assistance. The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the Houthis since they seized parts of Yemen in 2015, including the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee. The Houthis, drawn mainly from Yemen s Zaidi Shi ite minority and allied with long-serving former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, control much of the country.

Summary: सऊदी के नेतृत्व वाला गठबंधन सहायता के लिए यमन के होदेइदाह बंदरगाह, सना हवाई अड्डे को फिर से खोलेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official filed suit late on Sunday trying to prevent President Donald Trump from naming an acting head of the watchdog agency, but its top lawyer concluded Trump had the power to do so. The moves were the latest dramatic developments in the fight over leadership succession of an agency created in 2011 under Democratic former President Barack Obama to protect consumers from predatory lending practices. Republicans in the White House and Congress have tried to weaken the agency. The leadership of the agency was plunged into confusion on Friday after its outgoing Obama-era director Richard Cordray formally resigned and elevated his former chief of staff, Leandra English, to replace him on an interim basis until the Senate confirms a permanent successor named by Trump. Hours later, the Republican president named Mulvaney — his budget chief and a harsh critic of the agency — as its acting director. CFPB General Counsel Mary McLeod wrote a memo, first reported by Reuters, concurring with the opinion of the U.S. Justice Department that Trump had the power to appoint Mulvaney to the post. “I advise all Bureau personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB,” McLeod’s memo stated. Late on Sunday, English sued in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeking a temporary restraining order blocking Trump from appointing Mulvaney. In the filing, English said Mulvaney had no experience in a consumer protection or financial regulatory role, had sought to get rid of the agency and once described it as a “sad, sick joke.” McLeod’s intervention bolstered Trump’s position and isolated English, 34, who has held multiple jobs at the CFPB since its creation. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration is aware of English’s lawsuit, but said “the law is clear” and that Mulvaney is the acting director. Sanders pointed to McLeod’s conclusion, adding that “there should be no question” that Mulvaney can take the job. “It is unfortunate that Mr. Cordray decided to put his political ambition above the interests of consumers with this stunt. Director Mulvaney will bring a more serious and professional approach to running the CFPB,” Sanders said. Both sides in the battle say they have the law on their side. Democrats have said the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that created the agency stipulated that its deputy director would take over on an interim basis when a director departs until the Senate confirms a permanent director. Cordray named English as deputy director and said she would become the acting director. “It’s a very important fact ... their own general counsel came out with a different conclusion,” said Alan Kaplinsky, head of the Consumer Financial Services Group for law firm Ballard Spahr LLP said. “Now that the thing is in court, I think it is really going to be in the hands of the judge.” Trump administration officials said the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives a president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except for those with multi-member boards, an exemption they said did not apply to the CFPB. “The president’s attempt to install a White House official at the head of independent agency — while allowing that official to simultaneously serve in the White House — is unprecedented,” said English’s lawyer, Deepak Gupta of the law firm Gupta Wessler, adding that “the law is clear” and that English is the acting director. Created after the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has issued rules and imposed steep penalties on banks, auto dealers, student lenders and credit card companies. [L8N1NW0MW]  Future enforcement activities could be stymied while the question of who runs the CFPB is decided.  Republican lawmakers argue that the agency wields too much unchecked power, adding that it burdens banks and credit card companies with unnecessary red tape.  Writing on Twitter, Trump on Saturday called the agency a “total disaster” that had “devastated” financial institutions.

Summary: अमेरिकी उपभोक्ता निगरानी एजेंसी के अधिकारी ने ट्रम्प की पसंद को रोकने के लिए मुकदमा दायर किया


MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge on Thursday issued a European arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four members of his sacked cabinet, now in Belgium, after they failed to appear at a High Court hearing, newspaper La Vanguardia said. A spokeswoman for the High Court could not confirm the warrant had been issued. Spain s state prosecutor had asked the judge to issue such a warrant earlier in the day.

Summary: स्पेन के न्यायाधीश ने हटाए गए कैटलन नेता की गिरफ्तारी का आदेश दियाः ला वैनगार्डिया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is likely to launch a small donor fundraising effort akin to the grassroots one that powered another insurgent presidential contender, Democrat Bernie Sanders, according to two top donors who attended the first official meeting of Trump’s national finance team.  The Trump finance machine kickoff took place at New York City’s Four Seasons Hotel amid growing concerns about the Republican presidential candidate’s lack of a campaign infrastructure heading into a Nov. 8 election battle against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “The pitch to this group in the room was a traditional pitch, but the backroom discussion was, because of this being a populist movement, there’s going to be significant outreach to, you know, those who give $1, $2, $20,” said Trump Texas fundraising co-chairman Gaylord Hughey. “There’s a huge opportunity there.” Sanders, who has effectively lost the 2016 presidential nomination to Clinton, broke fundraising records during his long-shot bid for the presidency, collecting more than $210 million through more than 7.4 million individual contributions, averaging $27 apiece.    Trump could well find his supporters eager to pitch in $1, $5 or $20. For a story in May, Reuters found that nearly all three dozen Trump supporters it interviewed were not only unmoved by Trump’s about-face to accept money from outside donors, they said they would also happily contribute. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment about replicating the fundraising apparatus of Sanders, a democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont. Some donors were fearful of the late start of Thursday’s gathering. Normally such a meeting would take place two years earlier in a candidate’s campaign. But others in attendance said they left assured that Trump would be able to easily plug into the Republican National Committee’s robust infrastructure. Trump, a wealthy businessman, became the presumptive Republican nominee last month after seeing off 16 rivals in a largely self-funded primary campaign. The gathering featured talks by Trump, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, chief strategist Paul Manafort, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, former rival-turned-ally Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Republican fundraisers Ray Washburne and Lew Eisenberg. Trump’s late start on fundraising has raised questions about whether he can achieve his previously stated aim of raising $1 billion before November. On the Democratic side, Clinton’s well-oiled operation is well ahead of schedule. Trump is also pulling back from his earlier statements on his fundraising goal. Campaign manager Lewandowski told Reuters on Wednesday that he sees no need for Trump to raise that sum and that Trump may be able to stick to his low-cost style of campaigning. That includes garnering free media, which is estimated will reach a value of $5 billion by November, according to media analytics firm mediaQuant. That is more than double what Clinton is likely to get, mediaQuant says. While Trump shot to the top of the Republican race with freewheeling rhetoric, insults of rivals and promises to get tough on issues such as illegal immigration, even his biggest donors say they are discouraged by the candidate’s attacks in recent weeks on a Mexican-American judge. In comments that have been widely condemned, Trump has suggested that U.S. Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a case against Trump University, has an inherent bias because of his heritage. “He needs to stop the campaign infighting, shut up and stop calling an American who was born in Indiana a Mexican,” said Texas billionaire Doug Deason.

Summary: ट्रम्प दानदाताओं का कहना है कि बर्नी सैंडर्स-शैली, जमीनी स्तर का प्रयास एक संभावित मॉडल है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will host Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the White House for an official visit and state dinner on Aug. 2, the White House said on Wednesday.

Summary: सिंगापुर के प्रधानमंत्री 2 अगस्त को व्हाइट हाउस का दौरा करेंगे


BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania has put the finishing touches to a plan to overhaul the judiciary that critics say erodes judicial independence and which will have to be discussed with the European Union. When the scheme was first outlined in August, Brussels asked government for more details, expressing concern it may be a step backwards in the country s fight against corruption. The plan, also questioned by the president, magistrates and diplomats, was announced just six months after the Social Democrat-led (PSD) government attempted to weaken a crackdown on graft, triggering Romania s largest street protests in decades. Justice Minister Tudorel Toader gave no details of the new contents of the draft, but the original announcement included giving the minister control over the judicial inspection unit, currently managed by an independent magistrates  watchdog (CSM). Critics say that would mean the minister could put pressure on judges. More than 3,500 magistrates across the country have signed a petition, asking the minister to withdraw the plan. The ministry has finalised the bill. We ve written a  request for an opinion from the Venice Commission ... there will also be a discussion with Frans Timmermans on Oct. 26,  Justice Minister Tudorel Toader told reporters on Wednesday. The Venice Commission is part of the Council of Europe rights body. Timmermans is the European Commission s vice president. Romania is seen as one of the bloc s most corrupt member states and Brussels keeps its justice system under special monitoring together with southern neighbor Bulgaria. In fellow former Communist country Poland, an overhaul of the judiciary, coupled with a government drive to expand its powers in other areas, including control of media, has provoked a crisis in relations with the European Union. Other changes outlined in August in Romania included the way in which chief prosecutors are appointed, so it would be the justice minister naming them rather than the country s president, who is traditionally above party politics.      However, the PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said on Tuesday he would not favor stripping President Klaus Iohannis from the chain of appointing the top prosecutors, suggesting that might be watered down in the final version.  The bill is expected to go to parliament s legal commission for debate.     Last week, the government reshuffled the cabinet after Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said corruption allegations that forced two ministers to quit had created problems for his government with Brussels. Dragnea was himself convicted in a vote-rigging case in 2016 for which he received a suspended jail sentence.  But controversy surrounding the PSD did not stop it from winning the 2016 election with support from voters in the countryside and those nostalgic for the communist-era who are more interested in pensions and wages rather than in a fight against graft.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ द्वारा आलोचना किए गए न्यायिक सुधार के मसौदे को रोमानिया ने अंतिम रूप दिया


KUWAIT (Reuters) - An annual summit of Gulf Arab heads of state will convene in Kuwait on Dec. 5 and 6, Gulf officials said on Wednesday, despite an ongoing dispute between some members of group. A rift between the Gulf Cooperation Council members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on one side, and Qatar on the other has put this year s annual meeting in doubt. A senior Kuwaiti official confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting would take place on Dec. 5 and 6, but said the level of representation was not clear yet. Two Gulf diplomats also said Kuwait, which had led unsuccessful mediation efforts between the two sides, would try again to use the meeting to resolve the rift. The crisis, which began in June, revolve around allegations by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt that Qatar supports terrorism, a charge Doha denies. Qatar says the four countries are trying to force Doha to fall in line with their own foreign policy views. The U.S.-allied council was founded in 1980 as a bulwark against bigger neighbors Iran and Iraq. Bahrain said last month it will not attend the summit if Qatar does not change its policies and Qatar should have its membership in the six-nation group suspended.

Summary: राजनयिकों का कहना है कि कतर विवाद के बावजूद जीसीसी शिखर सम्मेलन आगे बढ़ेगा