BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities are closing in on the people who helped former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra flee the country last month, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Friday. Shinawatra, 50, whose government was ousted by the military in 2014, disappeared from Thailand shortly before a Supreme Court verdict in a negligence case against her. The deputy prime minister told the media that Yingluck left Thailand by crossing to neighboring Cambodia by land via the Aranyaprathet border district in Sa Kaeo province, almost 300 km (186 miles) east of the capital Bangkok. He said authorities had seized a vehicle believed to have been used to take Yingluck to the Cambodian border. The vehicle was found near a house in Nakhon Pathom province, north of Bangkok. Police said the owner, based on the car registration, did not match the person who had the car at the time. Three police officers were questioned on Thursday night. Prawit said the three men admitted to helping drive Yingluck to the border, but no charges have yet been filed.  All three of them gave us useful information. We are working on the investigation and consolidation of the evidence,  deputy national police chief General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul said. A police source who does not wish to be named told Reuters that the ongoing investigation has revealed that a former police chief who has closed relationship with the Shinawatra family  masterminded Yingluck s escape. Yingluck s whereabouts remain unknown. The Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant against Yingluck and rescheduled the verdict for her negligence case to Sept. 27. Yingluck faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of negligence over a costly rice subsidy scheme that helped to bring her to power in a 2011 general election. Yingluck has accused the military government of political persecution. She pleaded innocent to the negligence charge.

Summary: थाई अधिकारी यिंगलुक के भागने वाले साथियों को पकड़ते हैं


ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurds are expected to vote for independence in a referendum on Monday that neighboring countries and Western powers fear could break up the country and stir broader regional ethnic and sectarian conflict. Kurdish flags - a red, white and green tricolor emblazoned with a golden sun - adorn cars and buildings across the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, and billboards announce:  The time is now - say  yes  to a free Kurdistan!  Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region since 2005, has resisted calls by the United Nations, the United States and Britain to delay the referendum. Neighboring Turkey is holding army exercises on the Iraqi border to underline its concerns that the referendum could fuel separatism among its own Kurds. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on live television on Friday the vote posed a threat to Turkey s national security and that Ankara would  do what is necessary  to protect itself. He did not elaborate. But Hoshyar Zebari, a senior advisor to Barzani, struck a defiant tone, telling Reuters:  This is the last five meters of the final sprint and we will be standing our ground.   Many Kurds see the vote, though non-binding, as a historic opportunity to achieve self-determination a century after Britain and France divided the Middle East under the Sykes-Picot agreement. That arrangement left 30 million Kurds scattered over Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Zebari said delaying the vote for negotiations with Baghdad without also securing guarantees that it could then be held on a binding basis would amount to  political suicide for the Kurdish leadership and the Kurdish dream of independence. The referendum raises most risk of ethnic conflict in the oil city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the recognized boundaries of the Kurdish region and is claimed by Baghdad. Its population includes Arabs and Turkmen but it is dominated by Kurds. Turkey has long claimed a special responsibility in protecting ethnic Turkmen. Some of Iraq s Turkmen are Shi ite and affiliated to political parties close to Iran.  We expect those who are against the referendum to cause trouble but we are determined not to engage in any kind of violence, we don t want to give them any excuse to intervene or to question the validity of the vote,  Zebari said. Tensions between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad hinge on oil revenue the Kurds see as the mainstay of a future Kurdish state. The Kurds have long accused Baghdad of withholding budget payments to the region, while Baghdad has opposed oil deals made by the Kurds without its consent.  A regional conflict could threaten oil supply from Kurdish and northern Iraqi fields to world markets, carried through a pipeline to Turkey. Already at least one Kurd has been killed in pre-referendum clashes in Kirkuk, and security checkpoints have been erected across the city to prevent further violence.   The Baghdad government, Iraq s neighbors and Western powers fear the vote could break up a country that has seen devastating sectarian and ethnic conflict since a 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.  For independence we must pay any price needed because we prefer freedom over subordination or oppression,  Barzani told a  rally on Friday in Erbil, adding that Kurdish Peshmerga fighters had earned the right to self-determination by battling Islamic State.  They praise Peshmerga sacrifices but don t let Peshmerga and our martyrs  families decide their destiny,  he said as tens of thousands cheered and waved Kurdish flags.  We reaffirm to the UN Security Council that our fight against terror will continue,  he said, dismissing concerns that  the vote would undermine the drive - which requires cooperation with Arabs - to crush Islamic State militants. The militants have now been driven from their northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul but are still dug in near Kirkuk and are also operating across the border in Syria. Any conflict around Kurdish northern Iraq could have ramifications across the Middle East, not least in Syria, Turkey and Iran. Ankara, Baghdad and Tehran agreed on Thursday to consider counter-measures against the Kurdish plans.  Turkey, which has developed close commercial and political ties with the region, especially in the area of energy, has also threatened to impose sanctions. Condemning the vote as  provocative and destabilizing , the United States has urged renewed negotiations. This followed a week of escalating rhetoric between Kurdish leaders and Baghdad, where the parliament voted to reject the referendum. Though the general mood seems in favor of independence, many, especially non-Kurds, told Reuters they questioned the wisdom of holding a referendum now.  We have always lived peacefully and don t want problems,  said Karima Attiyah, an elderly Arab woman who has spent her whole life in Kirkuk.  I don t support the referendum.  Barzani has been a powerful force for more than two decades where the north has been spared the turmoil that has affected much of the rest of Iraq. Older generations of Iraq s Kurds suffered during Saddam Hussein s 1980s Anfal campaign, and want to see their struggle for national independence come to fruition.  (Our fathers and mothers) think it s a betrayal not to vote  yes ,  said Muhammed, a researcher from Sulaimaniyah who is in his 30s.  Their sons and relatives were killed by the Baghdad government in the past and they think the referendum is one way to [take] revenge.  More than 5.2 million people are registered to vote. The first electronic ballot for Kurds living abroad was cast overseas in China, according to the Kurdistan High Elections and Referendum Commission, which is administering the vote.

Summary: क्षेत्रीय आशंकाओं के बावजूद कुर्दों ने स्वतंत्रता के लिए ऐतिहासिक मतदान किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s foreign ministry has summoned a U.S. diplomat in Moscow to hand him a note of protest over plans to conduct searches in Russia s trade mission complex in Washington, which should soon be closed, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. It said it has summoned Anthony F. Godfrey, a deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The ministry called the planned  illegal inspection  of Russian diplomatic housing an  unprecedented aggressive action , which could be used by the U.S. special services for  anti-Russian provocations  by the way of  planting compromised items . The closure by Sept. 2 of the consulate and buildings in Washington and New York that house Russian trade missions is the latest in tit-for-tat actions by the two countries that have helped push relations to a new post-Cold War low. The Kremlin has said the moves to close the Russian facilities pushed bilateral ties further into a dead end. On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry also said the U.S. special services were prepared for searches in its consulate in San Francisco. Some media reported that a smoke was billowing from a chimney of the building. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the ministry, said it was part of a  mothballing .  In relation to this, the windows could be closed, the light could be turned off, the water could be drained out, the heating appliances could be turned off, the garbage could be thrown away, essential services could be turned off and many other things,  she wrote on social media. Moscow last month ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people to match the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia.

Summary: रूस ने व्यापार मिशन की खोज की योजना पर अमेरिका को विरोध का पत्र सौंपा


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A conflict on the Korean peninsula would have  catastrophic consequences , and Russia s foreign ministry is working  behind the scenes  on finding a political solution to the North Korea crisis, the RIA news agency cited a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday. Cited by RIA, Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the non-proliferation and arms controls department at Russia s foreign ministry, also said the U.S. approach to North Korea was a dead end and the tool of sanctions against the North had almost been exhausted. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. strategic bombers even if they are not in the country s air space.

Summary: रूसी विदेश मंत्रालय उत्तर कोरिया संकट को हल करने के लिए पर्दे के पीछे काम कर रहा हैः आर. आई. ए.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s decision to invite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Washington, saying his cooperation was needed to counter North Korea, even as the administration faced human rights criticism for its overture to Manila. Trump issued the invitation on Saturday night in what the White House said was a “very friendly” phone conversation with Duterte, who is accused by international human rights groups of supporting a campaign of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines. “There is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what’s happening in North Korea,”  White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told ABC’s “This Week” during a weekend in which Trump sought to firm up support in Southeast Asia to help rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. North Korea suggested on Monday it would continue its nuclear weapons tests, saying it will bolster its force “to the maximum” in a “consecutive and successive way at any moment” in the face of what it calls U.S. aggression and hysteria. Priebus insisted the outreach to Duterte “doesn’t mean that human rights don’t matter, but what it does mean is that the issues facing us developing out of North Korea are so serious that we need cooperation at some level with as many partners in the area as we can get to make sure we have our ducks in a row.” Since he came to power last year, Duterte has often sniped at Washington, his country’s longtime ally, has sought to mend relations with China and spoken of improving ties with Russia. Asked on Monday about his invitation from Trump, he was non-committal, telling reporters: “I’m tied up. “I cannot make any definite promise. I am supposed to go to Russia and go to Israel,” he said, referring to already scheduled visits. Foreign Ministry spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said that once a formal letter of invitation came it would be accepted.  The  invitation for Duterte to the visit White House at an unspecified date appeared to be the latest example of the affinity Trump has shown for some foreign leaders with shaky human rights or autocratic reputations. For instance, he expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 presidential campaign, hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the White House and has had warm words for Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom Trump is pressing to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor, North Korea. On Sunday, Trump also extended a White House invitation to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general who heads a military government that took power in a 2014 coup. Prayuth’s administration had strained relations with Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama. “Celebrating a man who boasts of killing his own citizens and inviting him to the White House, while remaining silent on his disgusting human rights record, sends a terrifying message,” said John Sifton, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “By effectively endorsing Duterte’s murderous ‘war on drugs’, Trump has made himself morally complicit in future killings,” he said. A Trump administration official insisted, however, that the invitation was not a reward to Duterte or an endorsement of his policies but a decision that engagement with the Philippines was better than withdrawal which could “intensify bad behavior” by Duterte. “It’s not a ‘thank you’,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s a meeting.” The official denied a New York Times report citing administration officials saying the State Department and the National Security Council were caught off-guard by the invitation to Duterte and were expected to object internally. “We were not surprised. The guys who prepared for the call were unified on this,” the official said. Priebus made clear that North Korea was the top priority. “If we don’t have all of our folks together — whether they’re good folks, bad folks, people we wish would do better in their country, doesn’t matter, we’ve got to be on the same page” on North Korea, Priebus said. But taking a swipe at Trump for his invitation to Duterte,  Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: “We are watching in real time as the American human rights bully pulpit disintegrates into ash.” Thousands of Filipinos have been killed since Duterte unleashed his fierce anti-drugs campaign nearly 10 months ago. Police say they have killed only in self-defense, and the deaths of other drug dealers and users was down to vigilantes or narcotics gangs silencing potential witnesses. Human rights groups say official accounts are implausible and accuse Duterte of backing campaign of systematic extrajudicial killings by police. The government denies that. Duterte was infuriated by the Obama administration’s expressions of concern about extrajudicial killings after he took office last year and threatened to sever the long-standing U.S. defense alliance. Duterte spoke positively about Trump, a fellow populist, after the U.S. presidential election in November, and the new administration has sought ways to mend the alliance. In a summary of Saturday’s phone call between the two leaders, the White House said the two discussed “the fact that the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs, a scourge that affects many countries throughout the world.” The White House statement included no criticism of Duterte’s methods.

Summary: मानवाधिकारों की आलोचना के बावजूद व्हाइट हाउस ने दुतेर्ते को दिए गए ट्रम्प के निमंत्रण का बचाव किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday ruled out Senate confirmation of Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee this year, even if after the November election it appears the next president may pick a liberal who Republicans would like even less. In television interviews, McConnell said Republican senators had no intention of confirming Democrat Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, even if Democrats win the White House in November, putting them in the position to nominate someone more liberal than Garland when the new president takes office in January. “I can’t imagine that a Republican-majority Congress, in a lame-duck session, after the American people have spoken (in the election), would want to confirm (Garland),” McConnell told CNN. “That’s not going to happen,” McConnell told Fox News on Sunday. “The principle is the same, whether it’s before the election or after the election. The principle is the American people are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this Supreme Court nominee.” Nominees to the lifetime Supreme Court post require Senate confirmation. But McConnell says the Republican-run Senate will not hold a hearing or a vote on Garland. Republicans have said they want the next president to make the selection, hoping their party wins November’s election. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Garland, 63, is widely viewed as a moderate, admired by both Democrats and Republicans. Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Jeff Flake last week raised the possibility of Senate action on  Garland late this year if Democrats keep the White House in the Nov. 8 election.  McConnell seemed keen to shut down that idea on Sunday, saying the Republican majority would not want to confirm Garland “even if it were soon to be in the minority.” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told “Meet the Press” that he thought the Republican facade against Garland would break, because some Republican senators already have said they would be willing to meet Garland, and one Republican - Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois - has said there should be a vote. “McConnell is leading his Senate over the cliff. And I am telling everybody that’s watching this, the senators aren’t going to allow that,” Reid said. The White House said it would stand by Obama’s nominee. “We will stand by him from now until he is confirmed and he’s sitting on the Supreme Court,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said on Fox News on Sunday.

Summary: मैककॉनेल ने इस साल उच्च न्यायालय में कार्रवाई से इनकार किया


PARIS (Reuters) - France s overseas territories minister said on Wednesday that at least two people were killed on two of its Caribbean territories, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, as Hurricane Irma hammered the islands.  We re talking about two dead and two seriously injured for now. Obviously the situation can change very quickly,  Annick Girardin told reporters before boarding a plane for the region. She said the government was launching an emergency plan but it was vital to assess the damage because at this stage authorities could not get access to the worst-hit areas.

Summary: फ्रांस के विदेश मंत्री का कहना है कि इरमा के बाद फ्रांसीसी कैरेबियाई द्वीपों में दो लोगों की मौत हो गई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was close to selecting a new FBI director and that former senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman was among the top candidates. Speaking to reporters at the beginning of a meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Trump said: “We’re very close” to picking an FBI director. Asked if Lieberman was one of his top candidates, Trump said: “He is.”

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि वह शीर्ष उम्मीदवारों में नए एफ. बी. आई. निदेशक, लिबरमैन को चुनने के करीब हैं


(Reuters) - Below are the highlights from Reuters’ Oct. 25 exclusive interview with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.  “(Hillary Clinton) has no plan for Syria. Look, with her you’ll end up in World War Three. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, just like with Libya, just like with everything else she’s done. So Syria now is no longer Syria. Syria is Russia and the new Iran that we built through the Iran deal, which is one of the worst negotiated deals I’ve ever seen. So you’re not fighting Syria anymore, you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, alright. Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk.” “I say the first thing we have to do is get rid of ISIS before we start thinking about Syria.”  “(Syrian President Bashar al-)Assad is secondary, to me, to ISIS.” “If Hillary Clinton ended the war and left troops behind, we wouldn’t even be fighting for Mosul right now, OK. She gave them Mosul. She didn’t know what she was doing. The woman is incompetent.” “One of the reasons we were going in was to get the ISIS leaders. But if that’s the case, why didn’t we go in as a surprise attack instead of - you know, with the element of surprise - instead of announcing three months ago that we’re going into Mosul?” “I would hope to have a good relationship with Russia. And I would hope to have a good relationship with Putin. “I’m not friends or enemies with the Russians. I have nothing to do Russia.” “(Clinton) always casts Putin as a bad guy and a bad light. If she won, how is she going to go back and negotiate with this man who she has made to be so evil. He’s not going to want to negotiate with her, number one. Number two, I don’t believe he has any respect for Hillary Clinton whatsoever.  On Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte saying he was against the presence of any foreign troops in his country: “He probably made a deal with China... He’s dealing with China and Russia so he probably made a deal with China and Russia.” “The Philippines are a very important strategic location. He has no respect or liking of Obama ...” “I think it’s a horrible thing that the United States is reduced to being thrown out of a country.” “There’s a big group of people that are in that category (of world leaders who dislike Obama) because Obama wants to focus on his golf game. He doesn’t want to take the time necessary to get along with people. It’s too bad.” Wikileaks on Tuesday released a batch of hacked emails from the account of Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, that shows her Democratic presidential campaign reacting after President Barack Obama said in a television interview that he learned of her private email server through news reports. Trump’s response: “Well, I now see why the president stuck up for Hillary, because he didn’t want to be dragged into it... Because he knew all about her private server.” “This is a big thing. This means that he has to be investigated.” “Thousands of people are standing there to vote. I think those people are very, very disappointed that the leaders (of the Republican Party) aren’t helping us win.” “I know this: If the leaders were helping me, we couldn’t lose this election. It would be an impossibility.” “The media’s rigging the system. It’s never been a pile on like this ... I mean, they’re rigging the polls. The polls are ridiculous. Look at that one poll that came out, ABC/Washington Post. That was a Democratic poll. They’re rigging the system.” An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Sunday showed Clinton leading Trump by 12 percentage points among likely voters.

Summary: डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के साथ रॉयटर्स के विशेष साक्षात्कार की मुख्य बातें


PIRAEUS (Reuters) - Greek authorities on Thursday moved a few hundred asylum-seekers from the island of Lesbos to the mainland in an effort to ease overcrowding in its camps. Thousands of asylum-seekers have become stranded on Lesbos and four other islands close to Turkey since the European Union agreed a deal with Ankara in March 2016 to shut down the route through Greece.  I came to heaven from hell,  said 30-year old Mohammad Firuz, who lived for two months in a state-run camp in Lesbos. Firuz was among 300 people, many of them women and children, aboard a ferry that reached the port of Piraeus early on Thursday morning. The asylum seekers would be taken to camps and apartments in the mainland, authorities said. Lesbos is now hosting some 8,500 asylum-seekers, nearly three times the capacity of state-run facilities.    Violence often breaks out, mainly over delays in asylum procedures and poor living standards. Lesbos residents went on strike earlier this month to protest against European policies they say have turned it into a  prison  for migrants and refugees.

Summary: ग्रीस ने शरण चाहने वालों को लेस्बोस से मुख्य भूमि में स्थानांतरित किया


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The nearly man of South African politics, Cyril Ramaphosa, is at last in with a chance of becoming president after being overlooked for years. Ramaphosa s political abilities have been apparent for decades. Whenever Nelson Mandela needed a breakthrough in talks to end apartheid, he would turn to the then trade union leader with a reputation as a tenacious negotiator. Using skills honed in pay disputes with mining bosses, Ramaphosa steered those talks to a successful conclusion, allowing Mandela to sweep to power in 1994 as head of the African National Congress. Mandela wanted Ramaphosa to be his heir but was pressured into picking Thabo Mbeki by a group of ANC leaders who had fought apartheid from exile. It has taken more than two decades for Ramaphosa, now deputy president, to get another chance to run the country. The 65-year-old is one of the two favorites to become ANC leader at a party vote this weekend. Whoever wins the ANC race will probably be the country s next president because of the ruling party s electoral dominance.  Ramaphosa s ambition for the presidency has been clear through his whole adult life. He was quite clearly wounded by his marginalization in the Mbeki period,  said Anthony Butler, a politics professor who has written a biography of Ramaphosa. The choice between Ramaphosa and his main rival for the ANC s top job, former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will help determine the pace of reform in South Africa and affect how the country gets on with with foreign powers. A trained lawyer with an easygoing manner, Ramaphosa has vowed to fight corruption and revitalise an economy which has slowed to a near-standstill under President Jacob Zuma. That message has gone down well with foreign investors and ANC members who think Zuma s handling of the economy could cost the party dearly in 2019 parliamentary elections. Dlamini-Zuma, who clashed with Western countries while foreign minister, has promised a radical brand of wealth redistribution which is popular with poorer ANC voters who are angry at racial inequality.  While Ramaphosa, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has backed  radical economic transformation , an ANC plan to tackle inequality, he tends to couch his policy pronouncements in more cautious terms. Analysts say the race between Ramaphosa and Dlamini-Zuma, who was previously married to President Zuma, is too close to call. Unlike Zuma or Dlamini-Zuma, Ramaphosa was not driven into exile for opposing apartheid, which some of the party s more hardline members hold against him. He fought the injustices of white minority rule from within South Africa, most prominently by defending the rights of black miners as leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). A member of the relatively small Venda ethnic group, Ramaphosa was able to overcome divisions that sometimes constrained members of the larger Zulu and Xhosa groups. A massive miners  strike led by Ramaphosa s NUM in 1987 taught business that  Cyril was a force to be reckoned with,  said Michael Spicer, a former executive at Anglo American.  He has a shrewd understanding of men and power and knows how to get what he wants from a situation,  Spicer said. The importance of Ramaphosa s contribution to the talks to end apartheid is such that commentators have referred to them in two distinct stages: BC and AC, Before Cyril and After Cyril.  Ramaphosa also played an important role in the drafting of South Africa s post-apartheid constitution.  After missing out on becoming Mandela s deputy, Ramaphosa withdrew from active political life, switching focus to business. His investment vehicle Shanduka - Venda for  change  - grew rapidly and acquired stakes in mining firms, mobile operator MTN and McDonald s South African franchise. Phuti Mahanyele, a former chief executive at Shanduka, recalled that Ramaphosa was a passionate leader who required staff to contribute to charitable projects aimed at improving access to education for the underprivileged. By the time Ramaphosa sold out of Shanduka in 2014, the firm was worth more than 8 billion rand ($584 million in today s money), making Ramaphosa one of South Africa s 20 richest people. To his supporters, Ramaphosa s business success makes him well-suited to the task of turning around an economy grappling with 28 percent unemployment and credit rating downgrades. In the Johannesburg township of Soweto last month, Ramaphosa called for a  new deal  between business and government to spur economic growth. Pravin Gordhan, a respected former finance minister, told Reuters that if Ramaphosa was elected ANC leader,  the whole narrative about South Africa s economy would change for the better within three months . Signs that Ramaphosa has done well in the nominations by ANC branches that precede the leadership vote have driven a rally in the rand in recent weeks. But Ramaphosa has his detractors too. He was a non-executive director at Lonmin when negotiations to halt a violent wildcat strike at its Marikana platinum mine in 2012 ended in police shooting 34 strikers dead.    An inquiry subsequently absolved Ramaphosa of guilt. But some families of the victims still blame him for urging the authorities to intervene.   My conscience is that I participated in trying to stop further deaths from happening,  Ramaphosa said recently about the Marikana deaths.    Others are unconvinced that Ramaphosa, who has been deputy president since 2014, will be as tough on corruption as his campaign rhetoric suggests. Bantu Holomisa, an opposition politician and former ANC member who worked closely with Ramaphosa in the 1990s, said he was by nature cautious.  Cyril has been part of the machinery and has not acted on corruption so far,  Holomisa said.  It is not clear whether he will if he gets elected.  (For a graphic on 'ANC election in South Africa' click here) (For a graphic on 'South African economy' click here)

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के रामफोसा अंत में देश का नेतृत्व कर सकते हैं


(Reuters) - More than 9.2 million U.S. consumers signed up for health insurance using the Healthcare.gov website during the open enrollment period between November and Jan. 31, the U.S. government said on Friday. Enrollment was down from 9.7 million a year ago but the decline was smaller than some had predicted amid President Donald Trump’s push to overturn former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform under which the plans are sold. With several insurers pulling out over rising costs, and Republican congressional efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, the enrollment period was seen as a test of the program’s popularity. HealthCare.gov sells health insurance under the ACA for 39 states. The remaining states run their own exchanges. The total number of plan selections across all states for the entire open enrollment period will be released in March. Average premiums for the second-lowest cost silver plan rose 25 percent compared with the previous year. At the same time the number of insurance providers choosing to participate in the exchanges fell by 28 percent. Of the 9.2 million, about 3 million were new consumers while 6.2 million were returning consumers. The figures include any cancellations that occurred during the period. Trump’s surprise victory in early November as the enrollment period got underway created serious doubts about whether people would sign up for the insurance program. A move by the Trump administration to pull television ads reminding consumers that the enrollment deadline was approaching likely contributed to the dropoff. “This may have cost about 500,000 additional enrollments,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA, in a statement, calling the move an “attempt to sabotage enrollment.” “And despite all that, millions of consumers still got their insurance through the ACA,” Pollack said. Meanwhile, Republican efforts to repeal the healthcare law have stumbled over an inability so far to come up with a comprehensive replacement plan. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee this week said changes to the law would be made in “chunks” and would be better labeled a “repair.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के रद्द करने के दबाव के बीच ओबामाकेयर के लिए 92 लाख से अधिक हस्ताक्षर


BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the United States have created a  miracle  as companies from the world s two largest economies signed deals worth some $253.4 billion over the past two days, China s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at a briefing on Thursday.  This is truly a miracle,  said Zhong on the second day of U.S. President Donald Trump s state visit to China.

Summary: चीन, अमेरिका ने सौदा करने में $253.4 बिलियन के साथ 'चमत्कार' कियाः झोंग


TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The sister of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and five others died when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed on Saturday, the Honduran military said. Hilda Hernandez, 51, was a close advisor to her brother, who is embroiled in political turmoil in the wake of a Nov. 26 presidential election, which remains unresolved. She was previously the government s communications secretary. Two reconnaissance helicopters were sent to comb the missing Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil helicopter s planned flight path from Toncontin international airport in capital city Tegucigalpa to Comayagua, some 50 miles (80 km) northwest, but because of inclement weather conditions land teams were sent in, the Honduran armed forces said in the statement.  The remains of the aircraft were located and no survivors were found,  the armed forces said, adding it would investigate the causes of the crash. A government source, who asked not to be named said:  The six people aboard the aircraft, including Hilda Hernandez have been found dead.  Honduras has been roiled by political instability following the presidential vote, with center-left Salvador Nasralla, a TV star, trailing conservative incumbent Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the official count. The tally has been questioned by the two main opposition parties and a wide swathe of the diplomatic corps.

Summary: होंडुरास हेलीकॉप्टर दुर्घटना में राष्ट्रपति की बहन सहित छह की मौत


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The chairman of European Union leaders said on Monday he was encouraged by the progress of talks on avoiding a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the EU, which brought closer the prospect of starting trade talks with Britain. London wants to start talks on the future trade deal with the EU as soon as possible to provide clarity for companies based in Britain on the terms of business after exiting the EU in March 2019. But the EU said it could only start such talks once sufficient progress is made in negotiations on the terms of the divorce - a financial settlement, citizens  rights and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.  Tell me why I like Mondays! Encouraged after my phone call with Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar) on progress on Brexit issue of Ireland. Getting closer to sufficient progress at December EU summit,  Donald Tusk said on Twitter.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ दिसंबर में ब्रिटेन के साथ व्यापार वार्ता शुरू करने के करीबः टस्क


LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled President Donald Trump’s administration must allow immigrants with initial clearance for legal residency to enter the United States from seven Muslim-majority nations, despite an executive order ban. Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr follows decisions by federal judges in at least four other states that also limited the executive order Trump issued on Friday.  But it goes further, by focusing on a large group of people from the seven nations of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - the countries targeted in the executive order - who are outside the United States and trying to enter.  In the temporary ruling, Birotte ordered U.S. officials to refrain from “removing, detaining or blocking the entry of plaintiffs or any other person ... with a valid immigrant visa” who is arriving from one of the seven nations.   According to the U.S. Department of State, immigrant visas are the first step to becoming a lawful permanent resident, or a green card holder. Birotte’s ruling does not apply to tourists, students or business travelers with non-immigrant visas. The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the order and would have no further comment, a spokeswoman for the agency said in an email.  A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security cited its policy of not commenting on pending litigation.  Trump’s executive order has not only caused consternation for the nations involved but among other Muslim-majority countries, allies such as Germany and Britain and career State Department officials. Attorney Julie Ann Goldberg, who brought the case on behalf of more than two dozen plaintiffs of Yemeni descent, including U.S. citizens, said they sought the ruling after learning of a move by the U.S. State Department to cancel the immigrant visas of people from the seven countries. More than 200 people with immigrant visas who left Yemen and are related to U.S. citizens or legal residents are stranded in Djibouti across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen and were barred from flying to the United States, Goldberg said by telephone from Djibouti. “It’s terrible because I have children here who are without their parents,” she said.  Some other children in the group are U.S. citizens whose parents were traveling with immigrant visas, she added. In Boston, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs on Sunday issued a ruling, to last seven days, that barred the detention and removal of approved refugees, visa holders and permanent U.S. residents who entered from the seven countries. By early Thursday in Djibouti, Goldberg said, no one from the group she represented was being allowed to leave for the United States. She accused the Trump administration of “absolutely ignoring” rulings she believes should allow their departure. In an email, a State Department official confirmed the agency had provisionally revoked “relevant visas as defined” under Trump’s executive order.  The White House said on Wednesday it has issued updated guidance on the order clarifying that green card holders require no waiver to enter the United States.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प प्रशासन को अप्रवासी वीजा धारकों को प्रवेश की अनुमति देने का आदेश दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Front-runner Donald Trump said on Sunday that he will have essentially sealed the Republican U.S. presidential nomination if he wins Tuesday’s contest in Indiana, where he holds a big lead over chief rival Ted Cruz. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist opinion poll showed Trump with a wide lead in Indiana, 49 percent to 34 percent for Cruz and 13 percent for a third candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich. Trump, a 69-year-old billionaire real estate developer, sounded confident in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” when asked whether Indiana would basically end the long-running Republican race in his favor. “Yes, it’s over,” Trump said. “It’s already over.” The poll showed the depth of the challenge facing Cruz, a conservative U.S. senator from Texas who is trying to prevent Trump from winning the 1,237 delegates needed to seal the nomination.  Cruz’s hopes rest on emerging as a consensus alternative to Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18-21. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 68, leads U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 74, of Vermont in the race for the Democratic nomination. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Cruz, 45, was asked several times whether he would support Trump if the New York businessman was the Republican nominee. Cruz evaded the question each time and turned the questions into an attack on broadcast media. “I recognize that many in the media would love to see me surrender to Donald Trump because that means that Hillary wins. The media has given $2 billion in free advertising to Donald Trump,” Cruz said. Cruz said he has momentum in Indiana based on his choice of former candidate Carly Fiorina for his vice president and Friday’s endorsement by Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Americans will elect a successor to President Barack Obama on Nov. 8. Trump, who has amassed 996 delegates, according to an Associated Press count, has momentum behind him and looks increasingly likely to win the nomination outright, without a contested convention, perhaps when California votes on June 7. Indiana has 57 Republican delegates. Three are awarded from each of the state’s nine U.S. congressional districts with the candidate who receives the most votes taking them all. The 30 others are awarded to the candidate who wins the most votes statewide. At a rally in Terre Haute, Indiana, Trump urged Republicans to join his “movement” and turn out for him in big numbers. “The more we can win by in Indiana is so important. It’s a mandate ... a really important mandate. It’s a mandate for change, but not Obama change. Real change. It’s a mandate for genius,” he said. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading Republican critic of Trump, called him the “most unelectable person” the party could nominate. Graham had sought the nomination himself. “Keep fighting Ted,” Graham told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” On the Democratic side, front-runner Clinton told CNN’s “State of the Union” that rival Bernie Sanders has been “helpful” in bringing millions of people into the party’s presidential race, but it was time for him to step aside. “There comes a time when you have to look at the reality,” said Clinton, who won four of the five Northeastern states that voted last Tuesday and who has a big lead in the delegate race ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25-28. But at a news conference in Washington, Sanders refused to get out, saying he believes the Democratic battle will end up in a contested convention. Sanders said it was nearly impossible for Clinton to win the 2,383 delegates needed for nomination without superdelegates, who are unelected and free to support any candidate they wish. “We intend to fight for every vote and delegate remaining,” he said. Clinton has 2,165 to Sanders’ 1,357 delegates, according to an AP count that includes superdelegates who have said whom they support. In his Fox interview, Trump defended at length his views on foreign policy, which he outlined in a speech last week in Washington that drew criticism for sometimes contradictory views. Trump said he would move quickly to destroy Islamic State’s militancy, but would resist interventionist policies in order to focus on nation-building at home. Trump said “every move we made in the Middle East was wrong” over the past 15 years, with lives and money wasted. He said he would resist such policies. Asked whether the United States should return to working with “strongmen” leaders like the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Trump said: “Isn’t it too bad that we knocked him out in the first place?”

Summary: इंडियाना की जीत पर नजर रखते हुए ट्रंप ने कहा, 'यह खत्म हो गया है'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Terry McAuliffe, Virginia’s Democratic governor, said on Tuesday said he was confident that a person at the center of an FBI investigation over contributions to his 2013 campaign was a legitimate donor. “I’m very confident this gentleman had been fully vetted,” McAuliffe told reporters, adding that he was shocked by the news of the investigation on Monday. He said his legal team checked every donor and “they feel ... very confident the guy is a legitimate donor.”

Summary: वर्जीनिया के गवर्नर का कहना है कि आश्वस्त अभियान दाता वैध था


LONDON (Reuters) - North Korea will continue to regularly test missiles and any military action against it by the United States would prompt “all out war”, a senior North Korean official told the BBC on Monday. North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the U.S. mainland. Its latest missile test on Sunday failed a few seconds after launch. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea on Monday that recent U.S. strikes in Syria, one of Pyongyang’s few close allies, and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested. “We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” the BBC quoted Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol as saying in an interview. “If the U.S. is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all out war.” North Korean state media last week warned of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of American aggression,  but the White House said there was no evidence it possessed that capability. The BBC reported Han also said North Korea believed its nuclear weapons protect it from the threat of military action by the United States.

Summary: उत्तर कोरियाई अधिकारी का कहना है कि मिसाइल परीक्षण जारी रहेगाः बीबीसी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators on Thursday raised the possibility they would confirm Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland before the U.S. president leaves office in January if Democrats retain the White House in the Nov. 8 election. Garland began the customary meetings with senators that kick off the confirmation process. He visited the offices of Democrats Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy a day after Obama nominated the appeals court judge and former prosecutor to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. Republicans are concerned that if Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state and the Democratic front-runner, wins the presidential election, she could send the Senate a far more liberal nominee after taking office. Garland, 63, is widely viewed as a moderate acceptable to many Republicans, who also worry they could lose control of the Senate to the Democrats in the November vote. Nominations to the lifetime Supreme Court post require Senate confirmation. Republicans have said they want the next president to make the selection, hoping their party wins November’s election. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, Republican members of the Judiciary Committee that would hold any confirmation hearings, said it was possible the Senate could act on Garland’s nomination in a “lame-duck” session after the election and before a new president and Congress take office in January. “I would choose a less liberal nominee. And this nominee is a less liberal nominee than we would get, I’m quite certain, with Hillary Clinton,” Flake told reporters. Senate Republican leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Obama. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky reiterated that stance on Thursday. Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, said the White House will watch developments over the next several weeks and months but expected Republicans eventually would hold a vote on Garland’s nomination. Any Democratic appointee to the high court, now with four liberals and four conservatives following Scalia’s death, could tip it to the left for the first time in decades. That could shape rulings on such issues as abortion, gun rights, religious rights, affirmative action, union powers and political spending.  Flake said while Republican leaders were “fully justified” in delaying action on confirmation, if the Republicans lose the White House race the Senate “ought to look at this nomination in a lame-duck session in November.” Hatch in 1997 backed Garland’s nomination to his current judgeship. “To this day, I think well of Merrick Garland, and I think he’s a fine person,” Hatch told National Public Radio. “I remain convinced that the best way for the Senate to do its job is to conduct the confirmation process after this toxic presidential election season is over.” While McConnell is refusing even to meet with Garland, Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa indicated he was willing. “If I can meet with a dictator in Uganda, I can surely meet with a decent person in America,” Grassley said, according to CNN. Garland met with Nevada’s Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, and Vermont’s Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Garland did not address reporters, but Leahy expressed hope that Republican leaders would change course.  If they followed a normal routine, senators could hold  confirmation hearings and a vote by the Memorial Day holiday in late May, Leahy said. Reid pledged to keep up the pressure on Republicans to confirm Garland. “Do it now. Why wait?” Reid said when asked about a lame-duck confirmation scenario. “To hold up a nomination so that Donald Trump can give a nomination? That should scare everybody.”

Summary: सीनेटरों का कहना है कि वे चुनाव के बाद ओबामा के उच्च न्यायालय के चयन की पुष्टि कर सकते हैं


(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers, operatives and donors grappled with whether to support Donald Trump, who effectively clinched his party’s presidential nomination this week after his two remaining rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, dropped out of the White House race. As Trump sought to rally the fractured party behind him, many prominent Republicans got behind the reality TV star and real estate developer, while some weighed their options. Still others said they might vote in the Nov. 8 general election for Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.  Bill Achtmeyer, the Boston-based founder of consulting firm Parthenon Group, was among those considering a possible vote for Clinton, a former secretary of state and former first lady.   “If she is able to move to the center and think as creatively and thoughtfully as her husband (Bill Clinton) did ... boy, I would have a very hard time, based on what I know today, not voting for Hillary versus what Trump is espousing,” said Achtmeyer, who has donated $200,000 to Republicans over the last decade. Another Republican donor, David Beightol, a Washington lobbyist who raised money this year for the presidential bid of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, said he was leaning toward voting for Trump because he could not support Clinton. “I’m not there yet, but I don’t have a lot of choice,” Beightol said.  In most U.S. elections cycles, party insiders quickly coalesce around candidates once they have effectively sewn up the nomination. But Trump’s bombastic rhetoric, unorthodox campaign and his lack of experience in government have left the party divided. The New York billionaire has vowed to deport illegal immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border. He has also said he would temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country as a way to combat terrorism. Republican former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush do not plan to endorse anyone in the White House race this year, their spokesmen told Reuters. The party’s presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, will not attend the Republican National Convention in July, an aide said. The former Massachusetts governor delivered a blistering attack on Trump in March. The party’s 2008 nominee, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, has said he would support the eventual nominee, “who is now presumptively Donald Trump,” said McCain’s Senate campaign spokeswoman, Lorna Romero.  But McCain told supporters in Arizona last month that having Trump at the top of the Republican ticket make his re-election harder, according a recording obtained by Politico. The state has a large Hispanic population. On Wednesday, fresh off the win in Indiana’s primary that drove both his rivals out of the race, Trump pledged to unify the party and said he was getting calls from people who had criticized him in the past but who now wanted to back him.Supporters of Trump, who has never held elective office,  said he could ease concerns about his lack of experience by choosing a well-known running mate. Representatives Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee and Chris Collins of New York both suggested former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  Rice did not respond to a request for comment. Trump told CNBC on Thursday there was a 40 percent chance his vice presidential pick would be a former Republican presidential rival. Backers said Trump could mend ties with allies of Cruz, who had been his strongest challenger and had trumpeted himself as a true conservative, by meeting with lawmakers in person after a heated campaign in which Trump dubbed the U.S. senator from Texas “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz’s supporters on Capitol Hill have ties to conservative activists and the Tea Party, groups that could help Trump raise money and turn out voters. DesJarlais said meeting Trump in person would improve their impressions of him. Representative Raul Labrador, a Cruz backer and conservative leader from Idaho, told a radio station that he saw Trump as favoring the political “establishment” even though he has run as an outsider. But he said Trump would likely appoint a conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court, a priority for many on the political right. “With Clinton, there is no chance,” Labrador said. “In my opinion, there’s just no choice between the two.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के लिए ट्रम्प का समर्थन करना है या नहीं, रिपब्लिकन इस पर उलझन में हैं


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said on Tuesday it would add labels to election-related advertisements and say who is behind each of them, after a threat of regulation from the United States over the lack of disclosure for political spending on social media. Twitter, acting a month after Facebook Inc (FB.O) launched a similar overhaul of political ads, said in a blog post it would start a website so people could see identities of buyers, targeting demographics and total ad spend by election advertisers. Silicon Valley social media firms and the political ads that run on their websites have generally been free of the disclaimers and other regulatory demands that U.S. authorities impose on television, radio and satellite services. Calls for that to change have grown, however, after Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google said in recent weeks that Russian operatives and affiliates bought ads and used fake names on their services to spread divisive messages in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  Russia has denied interfering in the election.  Citing Russia-linked ads, Facebook last month said it for the first time would make it possible for anyone to see any political ads that run on Facebook, no matter whom they target. The attempts at self-regulation by Facebook and Twitter have not satisfied lawmakers.  U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said in a statement that Twitter’s announcement was “no substitute for updating our laws.” A Democrat, she is co-sponsoring legislation that would make disclosures mandatory.  Twitter said its changes would take effect first in the United States and then globally.  The new approach to ads would be visible in people’s Twitter feeds, where election ads would have the label “promoted by political account,” the company said.  “To make it clear when you are seeing or engaging with an electioneering ad, we will now require that electioneering advertisers identify their campaigns as such,” Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager of revenue product, said in the blog post. Twitter said it would limit targeting options for election ads, although it did not say how, and introduce stronger penalties for election advertisers who violate policies.  The company said it would also allow people to see all ads currently running on Twitter, election-related or otherwise.  Twitter’s latest move would not tackle its longstanding problem with fake or abusive accounts that some users and lawmakers also blame for influencing last year’s U.S. election. Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows anonymous accounts and automated accounts, or bots, making the service more difficult to police.  Transparency by itself “is not a solution to the deployment of bots that amplify fake or misleading content or to the successful efforts of online trolls to promote divisive messages,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Twitter said last month it had suspended about 200 Russia-linked accounts as it investigated online efforts to influence last year’s election. The general counsels for Facebook, Google and Twitter are scheduled to testify next week before the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Summary: ट्विटर अमेरिकी नियामक खतरे के बाद चुनावी विज्ञापनों को लेबल करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will attend a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7 and 8, the White House said on Tuesday after Trump spoke by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A statement said Trump spoke to Merkel to congratulate her on the outcome of a closely watched German election in the western state of Saarland, which Merkel’s conservatives won in a boost to her prospects of winning a fourth term in September’s national election. “The two leaders also used the occasion to reflect on the chancellor’s March 17 visit to the White House. The president said he looked forward to visiting Hamburg, Germany for the G20 summit on July 7 and 8,” the White House statement said.

Summary: ट्रम्प जुलाई में हैम्बर्ग में जी20 शिखर सम्मेलन में भाग लेंगे


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago will continue to shrink its structural budget deficit in 2017 and 2018, but faces new pension funding pressures starting in 2020, according to a financial analysis released by the city on Monday. The nation’s third-largest city projects it will end fiscal 2017 on Dec. 31 with a $137.6 million gap in its $3.73 billion operating budget, down from $232.6 million in fiscal 2016. In fiscal 2018, the deficit is expected to fall by 17 percent to $114.2 million. The city’s budget gaps have been declining since hitting a high of $654.7 million in fiscal 2011. “This decrease is a direct result of sustainable and balanced revenue growth coupled with lasting savings and reforms made in the past six budgets,” the city’s analysis said. Chicago has taken big steps in recent years to shore up its four employee retirement systems by hiking property taxes for its police and fire fighter funds, levying a new tax on water and sewer usage for its municipal workers’ fund, and increasing a telephone surcharge for its laborers’ fund. The city is gradually increasing contributions to the systems until it meets requirements for actuarially funding public safety worker pensions in 2020 and for the other two systems in 2022. As a result, Chicago’s pension payments will jump from $1.18 billion in fiscal 2018 to a projected $1.7 billion in fiscal 2020, topping $2 billion in fiscal 2022 when all four systems will be on an actuarially funded path, according to the analysis. At the same time, the city is weaning itself off of one-time revenue fixes, such as so-called scoop and toss restructurings of outstanding bonds to push off debt payments.  Chicago’s base budget forecast indicates gaps of $212.7  million in fiscal 2019 and $330.3 million in 2020, although the projections do not completely account for escalating pension payments. “The city previously secured ongoing and sustainable funding sources to match these growing contributions, and the funding sources for these increased contributions will be determined through our annual budget process,” the analysis said.  The city’s total unfunded pension liability, which climbed to $35.76 billion in fiscal 2016 from $33.8 billion in fiscal 2015, has been a concern of credit rating agencies that currently rate Chicago at the low investment grade to junk levels.

Summary: शिकागो की परियोजनाएं 2017 और 2018 में बजट अंतराल को कम कर रही हैं


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to work together to raise pressure on North Korea, Yasutoshi Nishimura, a deputy chief cabinet secretary, said on Monday. Abe and Trump spoke by telephone after the Japanese premier s ruling coalition scored a big win in an election on Sunday. Nishimura told reporters that Abe and Trump were planning to play golf together on Nov. 5, when Trump makes his first visit to Japan.

Summary: आबे और ट्रंप उत्तर कोरिया पर दबाव बनाने पर सहमतः जापान सरकार


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s police service said five people were killed by mobs on Friday for looting during  unauthorized  processions called to welcome opposition leader Raila Odinga back to the country after a trip abroad. Reuters photographers had earlier counted two bodies with gunshot wounds sustained in the violence as police tried to disperse Odinga s supporters who walked alongside his convoy from the airport.

Summary: विपक्षी जुलूसों में लूटपाट के लिए भीड़ ने केन्या के पांच लोगों की हत्या कर दीः पुलिस


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday it resolutely opposes deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea after South Korea said its defense chiefs have agreed to deploy the system this year. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China’s opposition to the U.S. system at a daily news briefing in Beijing. China has consistently opposed the decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, saying it threatens China’s own security and will do nothing to ease tension on the Korean peninsula. South Korea and the United States say the system is only intended to defend against North Korean aggression.

Summary: चीन ने कहा, दक्षिण कोरिया में थाड की तैनाती का दृढ़ता से विरोध करता है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Iraqi Kurdish vote for independence could bolster Syria s own Kurds if it pushes the Syrian government to negotiate over autonomy, Syrian Kurdish leaders said on Wednesday.  Top Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed told Reuters that officials from Syria s Kurdish-led regions had already met with the Damascus government twice, but the Russian-brokered dialogue went nowhere. Damascus has opposed autonomy plans that have grown during Syria s six-year-old conflict. But this week, the foreign minister said the government is open to talks with Kurds after the fight against Islamic State militants ends.          The impacts, if they continue like (these) comments...then they will be positive,  said Ahmed.  Monday s referendum in Iraq could also drive Kurdish authorities there to open routes with the autonomous regions that Syrian Kurds and their allies have set up in northern Syria, she added.  Iraqi Kurds held their referendum in defiance of their U.S. ally, the Baghdad government, and neighboring Turkey and Iran. The vote delivered a resounding  yes  to split from Iraq, but is not binding. Across the border in Syria, Kurdish leaders say they do not want secession. The Kurdish YPG militia and its allies have carved out cantons in the north since 2011. They have seized vast territory from Islamic State with U.S. help, although Washington opposes their autonomy plans.   With the YPG as a military backbone, the main Syrian Kurdish parties now hold nearly a quarter of the country, and say they seek autonomy as part of a decentralized Syria.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has pledged to take back every inch of the country as his army has captured land from rebels and militants with the help of Russia and Iran.   We have always sent messages... that we are ready for talks,  Ahmed said.  We have informed the Russians that they should convince the regime to negotiate.  At both meetings, Damascus  did not appear serious  about talks over the future of the autonomous regions and the demand for a federal system for Syria, she said.  Autonomy does not mean separation.   Another senior Kurdish politician, Fawza Youssef, said the Iraqi referendum likely had a hand in Damascus adopting a more conciliatory tone toward Syria s large Kurdish population.   This is a positive step. And our struggle in the past six years...our military and political victories  play the major role in pushing the Syrian government to negotiate, she said. Kurds in northern Syria support the Iraqi Kurdish right to decide their own future, but do not look to follow the example of this week s vote, Youssef said.    The reality in Syria and Iraq is not the same,  she said. Still, she added,  if there will be exclusion of the Kurdish people, stripping them of political and cultural rights...of course with time this would lead to secession.   Youssef and Ahmed are both senior members of the Kurdish-led authority running the cantons in northern Syria.  Damascus and the YPG have mostly stayed out of each other s way in the war. But tensions have surfaced as both sides with their allies race to capture Deir al-Zor province in eastern Syria. The YPG has been battling Islamic State under a U.S.-backed alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes Arab and other combatants.  The territory the SDF has captured in Deir al-Zor so far serves as a breadbasket and a route for imports into Syria, said Ahmed, who co-chairs the force s political wing.   So if (Damascus) wants to continue with threats, there will be no benefit from this... But if they understand that dialogue is the right way, that would be the better position.   Tensions in eastern Syria might also fuel a shift in the government stance as Damascus might be wary of opening yet another battlefront, she said.  Kurdish-led authorities held elections in northern Syria last week for local community leaders, part of a process that will culminate with electing a parliament. Syria s Kurdish region borders Turkey and the Kurdish government of northern Iraq, which are both hostile toward the YPG. Ankara views the militia as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers  Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey. Youssef and Ahmed said the vote next door could lead to mending ties with Iraq s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if Iraqi Kurdistan faces more pressure.  Turkey and Iran have threatened to impose a blockade. They warn the referendum will spark regional chaos, and fear the spread of separatism among their own Kurdish populations.   If they shut the roads, (the KRG) will have to open a route,  fix relations, and possibly trade with northern Syria, Ahmed said.  That would be good of course.

Summary: इराक के कुर्द नेताओं का कहना है कि कुर्द वोट से सीरियाई कुर्दों को फायदा हो सकता है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Friday that the Islamic Republic was unmoved by U.S. threats following its missile test launch and that Tehran would never initiate war. “Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. Will never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense,” Zarif wrote. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted early on Friday that “Iran is playing with fire” and “they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” Trump said on Thursday that “nothing is off the table” in dealing with Iran following its launch of a ballistic missile. Fellow Republicans in Congress said they would back him up with new sanctions. Zarif said Iran had no intention to use its military might against any country, except in self-defense. “We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement,” he tweeted.  Iran said on Thursday it would not yield to “useless” U.S. threats from “an inexperienced person” over its missile program.

Summary: ईरानी विदेश मंत्री अमेरिका की "धमकियों से विचलित नहीं"


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - An estimated 270,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two weeks, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, announcing a dramatic jump in numbers fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar s Rakhine State. A rights group said satellite images showed about 450 buildings had been burned down in a Myanmar border town largely inhabited by Rohingya, as part of what the Muslim minority refugees say is a concerted effort to expel them. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the estimated number of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar on Aug. 25 had risen from 164,000 on Thursday, after  aid workers found big groups in border areas.  We have identified more people in different areas that we were not aware of,  said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, while adding that there could be some double-counting.  The numbers are so alarming - it really means that we have to step up our response and that the situation in Myanmar has to be addressed urgently.  The latest flight of Rohingya began two weeks ago after Rohingya insurgents attacked security force posts in Myanmar s Rakhine State. That triggered an army counteroffensive in which at least 400 people died.  The United States, a principle backer of Aung San Suu Kyi s civilian government that came to power in Myanmar last year, said there had been shortcomings on the part of Myanmar security forces and the government in dealing with the situation. Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Washington was calling in talks with Myanmar s military and civilian leaders for urgent restoration of access to Rakhine State for humanitarian assistance and journalists. He said the security forces must respond responsibly to the attacks that began the crisis, telling reporters:  They have a responsibility to carry out those activities in accordance with rule of law and international human rights  Rights groups briefed U.N. Security Council diplomats on the Myanmar violence on Friday. Russia and China did not send any diplomats, according to people at the meeting. Myanmar has said it is was counting on China and Russia to protect it from any Security Council censure.  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Suu Kyi by phone on Wednesday and reiterated his concerns about the situation in Rakhine State, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States was  deeply troubled by continued reports of attacks against innocent civilians and will continue to urge (Myanmar) security forces to respect those civilians as it conducts security operations.  Washington was also calling on Myanmar to ensure that aid reached those in need as quickly as possible,  and that it is delivered in a manner that protects their rights and dignity,  she said in a statement. The wave of refugees, many sick or wounded, has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous waves of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food.  We need to prepare for many more to come, I am afraid,  said Shinni Kubo, Bangladesh country manager for UNHCR.  We need huge financial resources. This is unprecedented. This is dramatic. It will continue for weeks and weeks.  While most refugees are coming on foot, many are braving the sea. At least 300 boats carrying Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh s Cox s Bazar district on Wednesday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Buddhist-majority Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against  terrorists  it blames for the attacks on the security forces, burning homes and civilian deaths.  It says about 30,000 non-Muslims have been displaced. The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar have long complained of persecution. They are denied citizenship and regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. There is very limited access to the north of Rakhine State and few if any independent witnesses, raising fears that a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding among Rohingya still there.  What we know is what people are saying as they come across, and what they re saying now, given this been going on since Aug. 25, is they are in an absolutely desperate state,  said IOM s Leonard Doyle.  They say (they are) living out in (the) open, without protection from the tropical sun with their children, without enough food to eat.   Bangladesh has proposed  safe zones  run by aid groups for Rohingya in Myanmar. But it would seem the plan is unlikely to be accepted there. Human Rights Watch said satellite images taken last Saturday showed hundreds of burned buildings in Maungdaw, a district capital in Rakhine State, in areas primarily inhabited by Rohingya.  If safety cannot even be found in area capitals, then no place may be safe,  said Phil Robertson, the group s deputy Asia director. A Myanmar reporter in the north of the state said he had reports from residents of an area called Rathedaung that six villages there had been torched and that there had also been shooting in the area. It was not clear who was responsible. Critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya and some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked. The United States has been careful to avoid direct criticism of Suu Kyi, and Murphy said Washington was looking to help Myanmar s transition to democracy succeed.  He noted that most authority in Rakhine State lay with the military, which wielded direct power in Myanmar for decades before Suu Kyi s election win. Murphy called for implementation of recommendations of a commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan set up to find solutions for the ethnically and religiously divided Rakhine.  The fact that over a million people inside the country have been devoid of basic rights for generations has been a long-standing issue,  Murphy said.  It needs to be addressed.  Protests against the treatment of the Rohingya were held in several countries, including Muslim-majority Bangladesh,  Indonesia and Malaysia. Others were held outside Myanmar s embassies in Tokyo and Manila. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was considering raising the issue in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump next week. Malaysia s coastguard said it was willing to offer Rohingya  temporary shelter, although it is unlikely refugees would travel hundreds of kilometres south by sea during the monsoon season, which lasts until late November. Thailand has also said it is preparing to receive people fleeing Myanmar, while Singapore said it was ready to help the humanitarian effort.

Summary: बांग्लादेश में रोहिंग्याओं का पलायन 270,000 तक पहुंचा-यू. एन. एच. सी. आर.


TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya s U.N.-backed government agreed with Italy on Saturday to establish a joint operations room for tackling migrant smugglers and traffickers as part of efforts to curb migrant flows toward Europe, according to a statement. Libya is the main gateway for migrants trying to cross to Europe by sea, though numbers have dropped sharply since July as Libyan factions and authorities have begun to block departures under Italian pressure. More than 600,000 have made the journey over the past four years. The agreement to set up the operations room was announced after a meeting in Tripoli between the head of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Seraj, Libyan Interior Minister Aref Khodja, and his Italian counterpart Marco Minniti.  A statement from Seraj s office said the center would consist of  representatives from the coastguard, the illegal migration department, the Libyan attorney general and the intelligence services, along with their Italian counterparts.   No details were given on the location of the center and how it would operate. In the past, migrant smugglers have worked with impunity in western Libya, where the GNA has little authority over armed groups that have real power on the ground.  The Italian navy already has a presence in Tripoli port, providing  technical  assistance to Libya s coastguard, according to Italian and Libyan officials.  The coastguard, which is receiving funding and training from the European Union, has become more assertive in recent months in intercepting migrants and bringing them back to Libya. Activists have criticized the policy, since migrants often face extreme hardship and abuse in Libya, including forced labor. Migrants who are caught trying to cross to Italy are put in severely overcrowded detention centers authorized by the interior ministry. The GNA has said it is investigating reports of migrants being auctioned as slaves in Libya, after CNN broadcast footage appearing to show such auctions.   According to Saturday s statement, Seraj told Minniti that  despite the successes achieved in the migration file, the number of illegal immigrants outside shelters remains large and we need more cooperation, especially in securing the borders of southern Libya through which these migrants flow .

Summary: लीबिया और इटली प्रवासी तस्करी से निपटने के लिए संचालन कक्ष स्थापित करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to confirm Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, one of the U.S. politicians most closely acquainted with China, as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Beijing. One of Branstad’s first challenges will be pushing China to take a harder line against North Korea, which said Monday it successfully tested what it called an intermediate-range ballistic missile, although U.S. officials and experts questioned the extent of the country’s progress. Branstad assured lawmakers during his confirmation hearing he would take a firm line with the Chinese government on issues from North Korea to trade disputes and human rights, despite years working closely with Chinese officials. Branstad said his long ties would help him push Beijing on difficult topics, including North Korea and thorny trade issues. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called Branstad, 70, an “old friend” after decades of dealings on agricultural trade during his long career in politics in Iowa, an important farming state. The vote was 82-13, with all 13 of the votes against the Republican president’s nominee coming from Democrats. Speaking in  Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Branstad had worked hard to push relations between Chinese and U.S. regions and China hoped he could play an even more positive role in increasing understanding and promoting relations once he takes office. The United States has been trying to persuade China to agree to new sanctions on North Korea, which has conducted dozens of missile firings and tested two nuclear bombs since the beginning of 2016. Trump has warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its weapons programs, although U.S. officials say tougher sanctions, not military force, are the preferred option. Branstad’s move to Beijing will end his 22-year-long tenure as Iowa’s governor. The longest serving state governor in U.S. history, Branstad is currently serving his sixth nonconsecutive four-year term. He is due to be replaced in Des Moines by Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, who would be the state’s first woman governor.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने आयोवा के गवर्नर ब्रैनस्टेड को चीन में राजदूत के रूप में नियुक्त करने की पुष्टि की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates said on Monday she warned the White House in January that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had been compromised and could have been vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. Yates testified at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing that focused primarily on Flynn, and did not shed much light on other aspects of investigations of allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election and whether there was collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Yates repeatedly declined to discuss details of the investigation in a public forum. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who also testified, said he stood by past assertions that he had not seen evidence of such collusion but also declined to comment on classified matters. Yates briefly led the U.S. Justice Department until Trump fired her on Jan. 30 for declining to defend his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. She told White House counsel Don McGahn on Jan. 26, less than a week into Trump’s presidency, that Flynn had not been telling the truth about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington. Making her first public statements about the issue, Yates said she feared Moscow could try to blackmail Flynn because it also knew he had not been truthful about conversations he had with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak about U.S. sanctions on Russia. Flynn, a retired general once seen as a potential Trump vice president, has emerged as a central figure in the Russian probes. Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.                  Yates told the hearing she had been concerned that “the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians.” “Logic would tell you that you don’t want the national security adviser to be in a position where the Russians have leverage over him,” she said. Trump, who continued to praise Flynn, waited 18 days after Yates’ warning before Flynn’s forced resignation for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Kislyak and then misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.  Several Democratic senators questioned Trump’s delay. Yates said that in her meetings, McGahn “demonstrated that he understood this was serious. .. If nothing was done, certainly that would be concerning.” During that section of the hearing, Clapper described as accurate a report in the Guardian newspaper that British intelligence officials became aware in late 2015 about suspicious interactions between Trump advisers and Russian agents, and that the information was passed on to U.S. intelligence agencies. “Yes, it is (accurate), and it’s also quite sensitive,” Clapper said. Yates was a holdover from the administration of President Barack Obama. Obama had warned Trump, then president-elect, not to give the post of national security adviser in his administration to Flynn just after the Republican’s surprise victory in the Nov. 8 election, a former Obama aide said.     The warning, first reported by NBC News, came up during a discussion of White House personnel. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Obama had communicated concerns about Flynn. It “shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, given that General Flynn had worked for President Obama, was an outspoken critic of President Obama’s shortcomings,” Spicer said.     Obama pushed Flynn out in 2014 from his job as director of the military’s Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA. Congressional committees began investigating after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered hacking of Democratic political groups to try to sway the election toward Trump. The main investigations are being conducted by congressional Intelligence Committees, although Democrats have clamored for a special prosecutor or independent committee. They argue that congressional committees are too partisan to conduct credible probes. After Monday’s hearing, Trump took to Twitter to bash the media and deny any collusion. “Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows- there is ‘no evidence’ of collusion w/ Russia and Trump,” he said. And in another tweet, the president seemed to denounce the hearings. “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?” he asked. FBI Director James Comey testified in the House on March 20 that the agency was investigating potential links between Trump associates and Moscow’s attempts to tilt the election. Trump had also used Twitter before the hearing to insinuate that Yates had leaked information on Flynn to the media. Yates and Clapper both swore under oath that they had never leaked classified information. Questioning on Monday often broke along party lines.     Some Republicans veered away from Russia to focus on issues such as whether the Obama administration had improperly revealed the names of Trump associates contained in surveillance records.  Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, was one of a handful who grilled Yates about her objections to Trump’s travel ban. Trump fired Yates after she defied the White House on the travel ban, a policy that Trump said would help protect Americans from Islamist militants.

Summary: ट्रम्प के पूर्व सुरक्षा सहायक को रूस से ब्लैकमेल करने का खतरा थाः ex-U.S।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington in early February during a phone call in which they discussed the importance of strengthening the U.S.-Israeli relationship, the White House said on Sunday. In his first call with Netanyahu since taking office on Friday, Trump stressed his “unprecedented commitment to Israel’s security.” “The president and the prime minister agreed to continue to closely consult on a range of regional issues, including addressing the threats posed by Iran,” the White House said in a statement. Trump also said peace between Israel and the Palestinians could only be negotiated between the two parties, but that the United States would work with Israel to achieve that goal. Relations between Israel and the Obama administration ended on a contentious note, when the United States declined to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement-building. The readout from the White House did not include any mention of moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, an action that would likely spark anger in the Arab world. Earlier on Sunday, the White House said it was only in the early stages of talks to fulfill Trump’s campaign pledge to relocate the embassy. “We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement. Aides said no announcement of an embassy move was imminent. Washington’s embassy is in Tel Aviv, as are most foreign diplomatic posts. Israel calls Jerusalem its eternal capital, but Palestinians also lay claim to the city as part of an eventual Palestinian state. Both sides cite biblical, historical and political claims. Any decision to break with the status quo is likely to prompt protests from U.S. allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Washington relies on those countries for help in fighting the Islamic State militant group, which the new U.S. president has said is a priority. The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1995 describing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and saying it should not be divided, but successive Republican and Democratic presidents have used their foreign policy powers to maintain the embassy in Tel Aviv and to back negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem. In early December, then-President Barack Obama renewed the presidential waiver on an embassy move until the beginning of June. It is unclear whether Trump would be able to legally override it and go ahead with relocation of the embassy. U.S. diplomats say that, despite the U.S. legislation, Washington’s foreign policy is in practice broadly aligned with that of the United Nations and other major powers, which do not view Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of Arab East Jerusalem after its capture in the 1967 Middle East war.   Israel approved building permits on Sunday for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements in expectation that Trump will row back on the previous administration’s criticism of such projects.

Summary: ट्रंप ने नेतन्याहू को वाशिंगटन आने का न्योता दियाः व्हाइट हाउस


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said U.S. officials had broken into residences at Russia s consulate in San Francisco, and threatened retaliation over what it called an illegal act. Russian staff left the consulate last month, after Washington ordered Moscow to vacate some of its diplomatic properties, part of a series of tit-for-tat actions during a thorny phase in bilateral relations. Since then, U.S. officials had occupied administrative parts of the compound, but on Monday they entered residential areas that the departing staff had locked, the ministry said in a statement late on Monday.   Despite our warnings, the U.S. authorities did not listen to reason and did not give up their illegal intentions,  it said.  We reserve the right to respond. The principle of reciprocity has always been and remains the cornerstone of diplomacy.   Footage aired repeatedly on Russian state television showed what the broadcaster said were U.S. officials breaking locks that had sealed off parts of the compound and entering the buildings. The  intruders  had taken over the whole premises including the consul general s residence, the ministry said.  Therefore, we understand that Americans, breaking into our diplomatic buildings, have de facto agreed that their missions in Russia may be treated likewise.  A State Department spokeswoman denied on Tuesday that U.S. officials had broken into the residences, saying diplomatic security and representatives of the department s Foreign Missions Office had walked through the spaces to ensure they had been vacated by an Oct. 1 deadline. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States had  graciously  given the Russian government more time to leave the buildings after discovering they had families and individuals  living in this sort of office-type space.   Once we learned that, we then offered them extra time there to pack up their items and leave,  Nauert said.  So we permitted them living in the apartments until Oct. 1. And their time was up.  We did not break locks. No FBI (was) involved,  she added.  This is diplomatic security along with the Foreign Missions Office. What they do is they just walk through, look around. The purpose of that is to make sure that people are no longer living there. And they conducted and they completed it.  In San Francisco, a Department of State Diplomatic Security guard answered the door at the Russian consulate, a six-storey brick building surrounded by a modest security fence and manicured hedges in the city s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The guard declined to comment and left the building in a black SUV. A sign on the front door said the consulate was closed and gave a new mailing address. The State Department guard left the consulate front door open, behind a closed gate, and sounds of activity could be heard inside, but no one responded to repeated calls by a reporter. Russian President Vladimir Putin last month accused Washington of  boorish  treatment of Russia s diplomatic premises on U.S. soil, ordering the Foreign Ministry to take legal action over alleged violations of Russia s property rights. The dispute began late last year when former U.S. president Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats on accusations of Russian meddling in the election that took Donald Trump to the White House. Trump took office in January, saying he wanted to improve ties with Russia, while Putin also spoke favorably of Trump. But the allegations of interference in the vote, which Moscow has denied, have persisted as an investigation by U.S. authorities has widened.  In July, Moscow ordered the United States to cut the number of its diplomatic and technical staff working in Russia by around 60 percent, to 455.

Summary: रूस ने अमेरिकी वाणिज्य दूतावास में 'घुसपैठ' पर जवाबी कार्रवाई की धमकी दी


ATLANTA (Reuters) - The costliest U.S. congressional race in history will be decided on Tuesday in suburban Atlanta, where America’s divisive political climate has been on display in an election seen by some analysts as a political test for President Donald Trump. Days after a lone gunman opened fire on U.S. lawmakers at a baseball team practice in Virginia, a conservative group was running a TV ad in Atlanta that, with no evidence, appears to link the Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, to the shooting spree. Ossoff called the ad “shameful” in a statement. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported that Ossoff’s Republican opponent, Karen Handel, also condemned the ad. It was an ugly, last-minute twist in the Ossoff-Handel contest for the U.S. House of Representatives seat vacated by Tom Price, who resigned after becoming Trump’s secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. Total spending in the Georgia race for all candidates has topped $56 million, including tens of millions by outside groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog in Washington, D.C., easily topping the previous record of $29.5 million set in a 2012 Florida race. Out of the total, $51.9 million has been spent on Handel and Ossoff, the Center for Responsive Politics said. Envelopes containing a white powder turned up last week in the home mailboxes of Handel and a few neighbors, prompting a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Washington Post reported that the powder was only baking soda and both candidates now are traveling with bodyguards. The district spans affluent and increasingly diverse suburbs north of Atlanta. It has elected Republicans for decades, but Trump carried it by only 1 percentage point in 2016. Ossoff, 30, initially drew national attention with the slogan “Make Trump Furious,” inspiring volunteers from as far away as Oregon to knock on doors and make phone calls for him. Handel, a 55-year-old former Georgia secretary of state, has painted Ossoff as an inexperienced tool of national liberal interests who does not live in the district he hopes to represent. Like Ossoff, Handel rarely mentions Trump. Whatever the outcome, the race will not significantly alter the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control the House by a wide margin. But victory could provide a blueprint for Democrats on how to win outside of their urban, coastal strongholds.  Democrats fell short in special House elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, in districts that Trump won by double-digits. Also on Tuesday is a race in South Carolina, which Republicans are expected to win handily, for a replacement for Republican Mick Mulvaney, now Trump’s budget director.

Summary: जॉर्जिया में, सबसे महंगी अमेरिकी हाउस रेस बदसूरत नोट हिट के रूप में चुनाव कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday released a memo restricting Justice Department grants from going to so-called sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration agents.  The announcement came as Sessions is beset by criticism from President Donald Trump. Conservatives who are proponents of Sessions’ hardline immigration policies have defended him.

Summary: सत्रों ने अभयारण्य शहरों के लिए अमेरिकी संघीय वित्त पोषण पर सीमा निर्धारित की


ERBIL (Reuters) - Iraq s security forces retook a border crossing with Syria from Islamic State militants on Friday, according to Iran-backed Shi ite militias who are taking part in the offensive. The road, which runs through al-Qaim in Iraq and Albu-Kamal in Syria, was recaptured after Iraqi forces entered al-Qaim on Friday, one of the last remaining towns in the country still held by the militants.

Summary: शिया मिलिशिया का कहना है कि इराकी बलों ने इस्लामिक स्टेट से सीरिया के साथ लगी सीमा को फिर से हासिल कर लिया है


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it had stopped training peshmerga forces in northern Iraq in response to a Kurdish independence vote there, whose backers had thrown themselves  into the fire . The Kurdish peshmerga have been at the forefront of the campaign against Islamic State and been trained by NATO-member Turkey s military since late 2014. Northern Iraq s main link to the outside world, Turkey views Monday s vote - which final results on Wednesday showed overwhelming in favour of independence from Baghdad - as a clear security threat.  Fearing it will inflame separatism among its own Kurds, Ankara had already threatened military and economic measures in retaliation. Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag reiterated on Thursday any such actions would be coordinated with the Iraqi central government. Bozdag, also a deputy prime minister, told broadcaster TGRT in an interview that more steps would follow the peshmerga decision and that the prime ministers of Turkey and Iraq would meet soon. Turkey, which is home to the region s largest Kurdish population, is battling a three-decade Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, which borders northern Iraq. President Tayyip Erdogan said it was inevitable that the referendum  adventure  in northern Iraq, carried out despite Turkey s warnings, would end in disappointment.  With its independence initiative, the northern Iraq regional government has thrown itself into the fire,  he said in a speech to police officers at his palace in Ankara. Earlier this week, Erdogan said Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if his country halted the flow of trucks and oil across the border, near where Turkish and Iraqi soldiers have been carrying out military exercises this week. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day flow through a pipeline in Turkey from northern Iraq, connecting the region to global oil markets. Erdogan has repeatedly threatened economic sanctions, but has given few details. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would not shy away from giving the harshest response to a national security threat on its border, but that this was not its first choice. Speaking in the central Turkish province of Corum, Yildirim said Turkey, Iran and Iraq were doing their best to overcome the crisis caused by the referendum with the minimum damage. Iraq, including the Kurdish region, was Turkey s third-largest export market in 2016, according to IMF data. Turkish exports to the country totalled $8.6 billion, behind Germany and Britain.

Summary: तुर्की ने स्वतंत्रता मतदान के बाद इराकी कुर्द पेशमर्गा को प्रशिक्षण देना बंद कर दिया