NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal investigators probing the lobbying work of ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn are focused in part on the role of Bijan Kian, Flynn’s former business partner, according to a person interviewed by the FBI.  Investigators are also looking at whether payments from foreign clients to Flynn and his company, the now-inactive Flynn Intel Group, were lawful, according to two separate sources with knowledge of the broad inquiry into Flynn’s business activities. That includes payments by three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, they said. The FBI’s interest in Kian has not been previously reported. Kian played a central role in securing and overseeing the Inovo contract, two people with knowledge of that project said.  It is not clear whether Kian is a target of the criminal investigation or whether investigators are trying to build a fuller understanding of how Flynn’s company operated. A person recently interviewed by the FBI in connection with the Flynn investigation said agents from the bureau’s criminal division had asked as much about Kian and his work on the project with Alptekin as they had about Flynn.  Kian did not respond to repeated requests for comment, nor did the lawyer he recently hired, Robert Trout. The FBI declined to comment. Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to requests for comment. Alptekin declined to comment for this story but last month told Reuters that he was satisfied with the work done by Flynn Intel Group and denied any wrongdoing.  The FBI has been investigating whether Flynn’s consulting firm lobbied on behalf of Turkey - after being paid $530,000 by Inovo - without making the proper disclosure, Reuters reported earlier this month. The federal investigation is being run by special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller has a mandate to investigate contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign team and any related matters. Flynn was fired by the Trump administration in February after officials said he mischaracterized a series of phone calls with Russia’s ambassador last December.   The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has separately been looking into whether Flynn made false statements in applying for security clearance, said he was also scrutinizing Kian.  “I have an interest in Bijan Kian and his interactions with General Flynn based on specific documents already obtained by the Committee,” Elijah Cummings told Reuters in an email.  Kelner has sought immunity for Flynn in exchange for his testimony, saying his client “certainly has a story to tell.”    In private conversations with potential clients, Kian portrayed himself as a rainmaker for Flynn, tapping into  connections cultivated during a five-year tenure as a director at the U.S. Export-Import Bank, according to one person who worked with the firm. Alptekin told Reuters in May that his firm hired Flynn Intel Group to research Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen’s activities in the United States, which he suspected were “poisoning” relations between the United States and Turkey. Like Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Alptekin blamed a failed coup in Turkey last July on followers of Gulen. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the attempted coup and dismisses Turkey’s allegations that he heads a terrorist organization. Kian oversaw key elements of the project that emerged, including a still-unfinished documentary on Gulen, according to two people involved in the project. Inovo paid Flynn Intel Group a total of $530,000, starting in September, according to a Justice Department filing by the company in March. Flynn Intel Group paid $80,000 to Inovo in “consultancy fees,” according to the filing, which does not provide more detail on why payments were made in both directions. On Sept. 19, Kian and Flynn met in New York with Turkey’s foreign minister and energy minister, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.   In late October, Kian invited staff of the House Homeland Security Committee to Flynn Intel Group’s headquarters in Virginia. The meeting was called to show off new mobile phone security technology, but Kian also used the opportunity to try to get a congressional hearing on Gulen, according to a person at the meeting.  At that point, the Flynn Intel Group had only disclosed its work for Alptekin’s Inovo in a filing with Congress. It had not mentioned Inovo’s ties to Turkey. When Justice Department officials became aware months later that Kian and other Flynn Intel Group officials had met with Turkish officials they insisted on a fuller disclosure, people involved in those discussions said. The Flynn Intel Group made the more detailed disclosure in its March filing with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act that said the work that Flynn and Kian did for Inovo “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.”

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः रूस की जांच में अमेरिकी जांचकर्ता फ्लिन के साथी की भूमिका पर गौर करते हैं


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch politician Geert Wilders questioned the objectivity of the judge hearing his appeal on Tuesday against a conviction last December for inciting discrimination, in a trial he said was politically motivated. On the first day of preliminary hearings Wilders confronted presiding judge Jeanne Gaakeer with her leading role in a foundation that awarded an academic prize in 2016 to someone he called  a left-wing activist .  This concerns me and raises the question whether you are the right person to judge me,  Wilders said, adding that the award winner  has helped organize a large anti-Wilders protest... and represents everything I fight against politically . The judge gave no immediate reaction to Wilders  remarks, but said she would discuss her position with the other members of the three-judge panel after the conclusion of the day s hearings.      Wilders  far right Party for Freedom came second in elections in March, but he was locked out of coalition talks with mainstream parties and now leads the opposition in parliament.     The case against the 54-year-old stemmed from a 2014 campaign rally at which he led chants calling for fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. He was found guilty but received no sentence and was acquitted of a separate count of inciting hatred. The prosecution, which had sought a fine of 5,000 euros without a prison sentence, has also appealed against the verdict. Wilders  lawyer said the verdict had been a  fatal blow  to freedom of speech.   What should have been the trial of the century on the freedom of speech, became an absolute low point , lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said in court. This week judges will hear the grounds for appeal from both parties before the full case commences in May. The hearings are being held at a special high-security courtroom. Wilders has lived in safe houses under 24-hour guard since 2004 to protect him from Islamist militants who threatened to kill him. At the 2014 rally, Wilders led a group of supporters chanting that they wanted  Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!  in reference to the number of people of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands.  There are around 400,000 people of Moroccan origin among the Netherlands  population of 17 million people.  As in other EU states such as Germany and France, anti-immigration sentiment in the Netherlands has risen in recent years. Wilders has called for the borders to be closed to immigrants from Muslim countries and mosques to be shut down.  A previous attempt to prosecute Wilders for anti-Islam remarks, such as likening the religion to Nazism and calling for a ban on the Koran, ended in acquittal in 2011.

Summary: डच धुर-दक्षिणपंथी राजनेता वाइल्डर्स ने भेदभाव के फैसले की अपील की


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asked U.S. President Donald Trump to lift the ban on people from his country traveling to the United States, in the first phone call between the two leaders, the Iraqi government said on Friday. “Mr. Trump stressed the importance of coordination to find a solution to this issue as soon as possible and that he will direct the U.S. State Department in this regard,” the government said in a statement, adding that it was the U.S. president who had initiated the call on Thursday. Trump has said he will keep pushing to reinstate an executive order temporarily banning people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A U.S. judge suspended the order last week and a court refused on Thursday an appeal to reinstate it. Abadi resisted calls from influential pro-Iranian Shi’ite politicians to retaliate against the ban when it was first announced by Trump at the end of January, citing Iraq’s need for U.S. military support in the war on Islamic State. More than 5,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces retake Mosul, the last city in Iraq under the militants’ control. Trump told Abadi: “we will work together to defeat terrorism because Iraq is an ally of ours,” according to the Iraqi statement. “Dr. Abadi confirmed Iraq’s desire to strengthen relations with the U.S. at various levels,” it added.

Summary: इराक के प्रधानमंत्री ने ट्रम्प से फोन पर यात्रा प्रतिबंध हटाने का अनुरोध किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would release all documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy except those with the names and addresses of people who are still alive. “After strict consultation with General Kelly, the CIA and other Agencies, I will be releasing ALL #JFKFiles other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets, referring to his chief of staff John Kelly.

Summary: जे. एफ. के. हत्या की लगभग सभी फाइलों को जारी करेंगेः ट्रम्प


(Reuters) - Maine Governor Paul LePage said on Wednesday he would not resign and was seeking spiritual advice after unleashing an obscenity-laden voicemail message on a political rival, as state lawmakers mulled whether to vote to censure the Republican. The famously combative two-term governor apologized for the second day straight to the people of Maine and to state Representative Drew Gattine after calling the Democrat a “little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker” in a voicemail message that has been widely circulated. “I will not resign,” LePage told reporters in his office in the state capital, Augusta, a day after discussing the possibility in a radio appearance. LePage’s angry voicemail followed an exchange with a newspaper reporter who asked about comments the governor had made blaming black and Hispanic people for the heroin trade in the Northeastern state. The reporter named Gattine as someone who had raised concerns about the comments, although both agree the Democrat never called the governor a racist. The voicemail ended with LePage urging Gattine to share it widely “because I am after you.” After meeting with Gattine on Wednesday, LePage said: “He never called me racist. He said I made racially comments. Maybe in my mind it is semantics but in his mind after talking to him it was clear that there was a real difference.” LePage, whose term runs through 2018, said he “will be seeking spiritual guidance with my wife and my children.” The Republican-led state Senate is still deliberating whether to call a special session to vote to censure LePage, said Majority Leader Michael Thibodeau. “We can’t continue to have the explosiveness that we’ve seen and so we’re in hopes that he’s going to find a way to correct that,” said Thibodeau, who would take over as governor if LePage stepped down. “We live in a time in America when racial tensions are high and we don’t need to be throwing gasoline on that fire.” Republicans in the state’s Democratic-led House of Representatives said they accepted LePage’s apology and were ready to move on. But House Speaker Mark Eves, a Democrat, called for a meeting of lawmakers to discuss LePage’s resignation or removal from office. “The governor’s comments today do nothing to address his increasingly erratic behavior that demonstrates he is unfit to lead,” Eves said in a statement. LePage on Tuesday morning mused on stepping down, saying he was not necessarily committed to finishing his term and adding: “It’s one thing not to have one party behind you, it’s another thing not to have any party behind you.” Hours later, he changed his tune, paraphrasing Mark Twain as he tweeted: “The reports of my political demise are greatly exaggerated,” before trying to change the subject with messages on a visit to a tissue factory. “Maybe my temperament for the poor and the underdog is over the top but I’ll live my life that way. I’m comfortable fighting for the underdog,” LePage said. “I’m just not a very good politician.”

Summary: मेन के गवर्नर ने कहा कि नस्लवाद की आलोचना के बीच इस्तीफा नहीं देंगे


PARIS (Reuters) - Lebanon s Saad al-Hariri can only prove he is free by returning home from Saudi Arabia where he went to announce his resignation as prime minister, Lebanon s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Hariri s abrupt resignation on Nov. 4 threw Lebanon into crisis and put it center stage in a power struggle between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran, whose ally Hezbollah is powerful in Lebanese politics. Hariri said on Tuesday he would return to Lebanon within two days.  We hope to resolve this with the quick and immediate return of Prime Minister Hariri to his country ... where he has the right to do what he wants,  Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.   The only thing that proves he is free is that he returns. Right now he is in a situation that is ambiguous and not normal. We want to return to a normal situation,  he told reporters after the talks about how to end the crisis. France is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and Lebanon s former colonial power. It is also penholder on Lebanon for potential resolutions. There has been some talk that Beirut could go to the U.N. if Hariri did not return this week.  The president (Michel Aoun) spoke of a timeframe of one week from when this diplomatic campaign started to try to find a solution otherwise we would have to go to international laws,   he said. French officials say there is no U.N. action in the works at the moment. Lebanese politicians and bankers say Saudi Arabia intends to do to their country what it did to Qatar - corral Arab allies into enforcing an economic blockade unless its demands are met. Bassil said any Saudi sanctions on his country would hurt Syrian refugees and destabilize the region.   Any (Saudi) measures would not only be targeting Lebanon and its stability, this would be a punishment for the region because any instability in Lebanon would cause instability in the region,  he said.  The first to be affected in this would be Syrians in Lebanon,  he said, adding that sanctions could make it harder for Lebanese population to absorb the Syrian refugees in their midst. Lebanon hosts some 1.5 million Syrian refugees that have fled the neighboring civil war.  In the first such statement by a French official, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday called on Hariri to return to Lebanon. Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is due in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss the crisis and is expected to meet Hariri.

Summary: लेबनान के हरीरी को यह साबित करने के लिए सऊदी से घर लौटना होगा कि वह स्वतंत्र हैः विदेश मंत्री


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is adopting a “wait and see” stance, government officials said on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters he would “renegotiate or terminate” a free trade pact between the two countries.  The won KRW= turned lower against the dollar soon after Trump's comments, trading down 0.2 percent at 1,132.5 to the dollar. South Korea's benchmark share index .KS11 fell, wiping out earlier gains, to stand down 0.03 percent at 2,208.73 points by 0207 GMT (10:07 p.m. ET).     “Talk and actual policy are different,” a high-ranking official at the finance ministry, who declined to be named, as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters. “They have not requested anything from us so we’ll have to wait and see.”     He reiterated comments by Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho the previous day that South Korea had not yet received any official requests on the renegotiation of the pact, which took effect in 2012. The deal was great for South Korea, but “terrible” for the United States, Trump told Reuters in the interview. A senior trade official also told Reuters the ministry would need to coordinate with Washington on the trade deal, but declined to elaborate further, as he needed time to look into the matter. South Korea’s automobile industry body expressed concern over the possible revision of the trade deal. Shares of Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) extended losses, and were down as much as 2.4 percent after Trump’s comments.

Summary: मुक्त व्यापार समझौते को रद्द करने की ट्रम्प की धमकी के बाद दक्षिण कोरिया 'इंतजार करे और देखे'


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has delayed until January an announcement originally set for this week on how he plans to step back from running his business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, his spokesman said on Monday. Among Trump’s holdings are hotels and golf resorts from Panama to Scotland, besides a winery and modeling agency. Legal experts say the only way he could entirely avoid conflicts of interest would be to sell his global holdings. Last month Trump said he would hold a news conference on Thursday to spell out how he would separate himself “in total” from his worldwide business holdings.  “The announcement will be in January,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday, without giving any reason. The Republican president-elect has not held a news conference since winning the Nov. 8 election. After Trump’s victory, his company, the Trump Organization, said it was looking at new business structures with the goal of transferring control to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, three of his children who are involved with the company. In a series of messages on social network Twitter, Trump said he would leave his businesses before taking office on Jan. 20, to focus on the presidency. “Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them,” Trump tweeted late on Monday. “No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office.” The messages did not mention a role for Ivanka Trump in the businesses. Trump added that he would hold a news conference in the “near future” to discuss business matters, his cabinet picks and other topics.     In a series of tweets last month, Trump said, “Legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations.” He did not say what the planned change might mean for ownership of his businesses.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने जनवरी तक अपने व्यवसाय पर घोषणा में देरी की


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Democrats in California’s state Senate announced on Tuesday a series of infrastructure funding bills that would invest billions in roads, bridges, housing and water projects. Infrastructure investment has been at the forefront of political agendas this year, from President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to unveil a massive national infrastructure spending plan to voters’ support of billions of dollars of infrastructure bonds in November’s election. Both Trump and his rival, Hillary Clinton, campaigned promising infrastructure investment. Trump called for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending over 10 years, but it remains unclear how much would come from the federal budget. Democrats in the California Senate proposed five bills on Tuesday, including one that would use $6 billion a year over the next decade to repair roads and bridges and improve transit systems across the state.  According to the proposal, the bulk of the money is to be raised through a phased-in 12 cent per gallon gas tax increase, along with increases to the diesel excise tax and vehicle registration fees. California’s freeway system faces a $59 billion maintenance shortfall over the next decade and local governments face another $78 billion shortfall for local highways and bridges. The need for infrastructure funding is echoed across the country.  “Our transportation infrastructure is in dire condition. The longer we wait to fix it, the more it will cost us,” State Senator Jim Beall of San Jose and sponsor of the transportation bill, said in a statement. Two housing bills raise money for affordable housing, one of them through a $75 fee on real estate transaction documents. California is home to 21 of the 30 most expensive rental housing markets in the country, and many parts of the state face serious housing shortages. Another bill proposes to issue a $3 billion general obligation bond aimed at addressing the housing stock shortage. Senator Toni Atkins of San Diego, sponsor of one of the housing bills, said infrastructure was “at the top of the list” of challenges facing California, and Tuesday’s package of bills would “go a long way toward improving quality of life for Californians and grow our state’s economy.” Another bill would fund state and local parks and water infrastructure through a $3 billion general obligation bond. Despite recent rains, California is in the fifth year of  drought. In 2014, state voters passed a $7.5 billion bond to fund water infrastructure projects throughout California.  Senate leader Kevin de León of Los Angeles, sponsor of Tuesday’s bill, noted that there is still “a high unmet demand for new water and natural resource investment.”

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया डेमोक्रेट्स ने बुनियादी ढांचे के बिलों की श्रृंखला का प्रस्ताव रखा


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali security forces have arrested a former minister and outspoken government critic after clashing with his bodyguards during an overnight raid on his home, the security ministry said on Monday. Abdirahman Abdishakur was a candidate in a February election won by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed whose United Nations-backed government faces growing pressure over its failure to put an end to an Islamist militant insurgency. Abdishakur was arrested for treason, a spokesman for the Internal Security Ministry Abdiasis Ali told reporters at a news conference, without giving more details.  He also declined to comment on reports that five bodyguards were killed and that Abdishakur had  been lightly injured during the raid.  The former minister was legally arrested by decree from the attorney general and internal security minister. He was accused of treason. His guards fought the security forces,  he said. A policeman and a local elder told Reuters earlier that five bodyguards were killed during the raid. The elder, Abdullahi Ali, also said Abdishakur had been injured on the arm by a stray bullet.   At the same news conference on Monday, attorney general Ahmed Ali Dahir described Abdishakur s house as a hub for the opposition and a gathering point for people  who want to collapse the government.   We also warn those who meet at hotels,  he added. Many Somali officials including lawmakers live in fortified hotels for the security they offer. Before Sunday s raid Dahir had accused two other lawmakers of treason, prompting Abdishakur to post an angry response on Facebook.   Let lawmakers be strangled, let their immunity be removed: This is a hopeless attack which portrays despair.  The raid drew condemnation from other politicians.   What the government is doing is against Islam and healthy politics,  lawmaker Mahad Salad told Reuters.  We condemn the government s immoral act. We also order for the release of the ex-minister.  The presidential election in February was praised by Western aid donors as a modest step forward from the previous election but the insurgency is striking with ever larger and more deadly attacks in the capital and major towns.  More than 500 people were killed in twin bomb blasts in Mogadishu in October. Last week a suicide bomber killed at least 18 people at a Mogadishu police academy.  The government is also struggling under political infighting and a very weak central state. Reuters reported last week that the United States is suspending food and fuel aid for most of Somalia s armed forces over corruption concerns, a blow to the military as African peacekeepers start to withdraw this month. [L3N1O64MI]

Summary: सोमाली सुरक्षा बलों ने छापे में पूर्व मंत्री को गिरफ्तार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday he would not cooperate with any request to appear before the panel in its investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election, Politico reported. Citing a source familiar with the matter, Politico said Page also informed the committee that if he was called to testify he would decline to answer questions based on his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. (politi.co/2zcViFP) It is not clear whether the committee has formally asked Page to testify in its probe of Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Page came under scrutiny following media reports he met with associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin last year.   Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for the committee, declined to comment on the Politico report. Page did not respond to a Reuter’s request for comment. Last week, the committee’s chairman, Republican Senator Richard Burr, told reporters the panel had conducted more than 100 interviews in its nine-month-old probe and planned 25 additional interviews this month. Those who have already come before committee members or investigators include the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Russian officials have denied meddling in the U.S. election, and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign or his associates.

Summary: ट्रम्प के पूर्व सलाहकार कार्टर पेज रूस की जांच में गवाही नहीं देंगेः पोलिटिको


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate antitrust panel, sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department on Friday urging that it reject any effort by the White House to inject politics into merger investigations. The letter follows a New York Times report saying that White House advisors battling television news station CNN mulled using a government review of AT&T Inc’s plans to merge with CNN parent Time Warner Inc as leverage. “Any political interference in antitrust enforcement is unacceptable. Even more concerning, in this instance, is that it appears that some advisers to the president may believe that it is appropriate for the government to use its law enforcement authority to alter or censor the press,” Klobuchar wrote in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Both the White House and Justice Department declined comment for this story. Klobuchar, who has herself expressed concern about the $85.4 billion megadeal, noted those concerns but added that the Justice Department’s antitrust review should focus on consumer welfare rather than politics. Klobuchar also asked Sessions to report to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the antitrust subcommittee any White House staffer or presidential adviser who had contacted the Justice Department about the merger.  President Donald Trump has not commented publicly on the deal since the election but during his campaign he said it was an example of a “power structure” that was rigged against him and “too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटर ने डी. ओ. जे. से विलय जांच में व्हाइट हाउस के किसी भी प्रयास को अस्वीकार करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied a report from NBC News that he told his national security advisers in July he wanted to increase the country’s nuclear arsenal by nearly tenfold, saying he argued for its modernization. NBC News said the president called for the increase after he was shown a chart indicating the stockpile of U.S. nuclear weapons had slid from a high of 32,000 in the 1960s. Trump said he wanted to have that same number now, NBC reported. Speaking to reporters at the White House during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump said the report was not true. “I never discussed increasing it. I want it in perfect shape. That was just fake news by NBC,” he said. “We don’t need an increase. But I want modernization and I want total rehabilitation. It’s got to be in tip-top shape.” The president’s denial was buttressed by a statement from his defense chief. “Recent reports that the president called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false.  This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. Although U.S. presidents have modernized weapon stockpiles over the years, any meaningful addition to the nuclear arsenal would violate treaty agreements. The Federation of American Scientists says the United States currently has about 4,000 nuclear warheads earmarked for use in its military stockpile. After the meeting in July, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to Trump as a “moron,” according to NBC. U.S. news reports have painted the relationship between Trump and Tillerson as tense. The NBC report comes during a time of high tension between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, and just ahead of an expected announcement from Trump on whether to decertify the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump told Reuters in February that he wanted to ensure that the U.S. nuclear arsenal was at the “top of the pack.” MSNBC reported in 2016 that as a candidate, Trump asked a foreign policy adviser three times in a one-hour meeting why the United States could not deploy its nuclear weapons.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी परमाणु शस्त्रागार में लगभग दस गुना वृद्धि की मांग से इनकार किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Soccer leagues such as England s Premier League and Germany s Bundesliga won a reprieve on Friday when EU ambassadors agreed to exclude them from the scope of a copyright reform that would help make content more easily available online. The entertainment and sports industries have been fiercely lobbying against the European Commission s proposed reform of EU copyright law to make films and TV program more available across borders, arguing it would undermine the financing model of the whole sector. Films and TV program are often financed by selling exclusive distribution rights on a country-by-country basis. Rights to show sports, such as Premier League soccer matches, can fetch billions of pounds.  The Commission has said it is not seeking to force anyone to make content more available online, but merely to make it easier for broadcasters to obtain the necessary rights. EU member states agreed on Friday to exclude all sports events, TV program co-produced by broadcasters and other third parties, as well as content licensed to a broadcaster by a third party. That means that only content produced and financed entirely by the broadcaster will be able to be shown online across the EU after the rights are obtained in the home country. That mostly includes TV shows made by public broadcasters for home audiences, as opposed to blockbuster TV shows such as  Game of Thrones . At issue is the so-called  country of origin principle , which allows satellite broadcasters to acquire the rights for content in their home country rather than in every country where the program is received by satellite. Under the Commission s proposal broadcasters could choose to make their catch-up TV and live streaming services available online across the EU after securing the rights in their home country. The agreement is not final and means EU member states can enter into negotiations with the European Parliament to strike a final deal. The Parliament had restricted the scope of the reform even further, limiting it to just news and current affairs program. The Commission has pointed to the large number of European citizens living abroad who may want to watch content from their home country online without resorting to piracy. It says 67 percent of all films are only shown in one EU country and that its proposal could help free up over 50 percent of own productions from broadcasters like the BBC, should they choose to make it available.

Summary: खेल क्षेत्र ने यूरोपीय संघ के कॉपीराइट सुधार में राहत हासिल की


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian frigate Admiral Essen fired Kalibr cruise missiles at Islamic State targets near the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday to help a Syrian army offensive in the area, the Russian Defence Ministry said.  The strike, which was launched from the Mediterranean,  destroyed command and communications posts, as well as ammunition depots, a facility to repair armored vehicles, and a large group of militants, the ministry said. The strike had targeted Islamic State fighters from Russia and the former Soviet Union, it added.

Summary: रूसी युद्धपोत ने सीरिया के देइर अल-ज़ोर के पास इस्लामिक स्टेट के ठिकानों पर क्रूज मिसाइलें दागीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump could find Democratic support for a corporate tax reform package if a comprehensive tax code overhaul runs aground over Republican infighting, a Democratic lawmaker told Reuters on Friday. Representative John Yarmuth, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Budget Committee, predicted Trump’s promise to deliver the biggest tax reform since Ronald Reagan would have to be scaled back if the Republican-controlled Senate fails next week to adopt legislation dismantling Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration and Republican congressional leaders are trying to agree in closed-door talks on a comprehensive 2017 tax reform bill that would cut taxes for individuals and businesses and overhaul the U.S. tax code. Their aim is to unveil legislation in September.  But a Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would could ease the path to tax reform, faces difficulties in the Senate, where a healthcare measure is opposed by enough lawmakers to block passage. Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat, said there are also few signs that House and Senate Republicans can unify their fractured caucuses to pass a fiscal 2018 budget resolution, which they must do to enact tax reform without Democratic votes. “Tax reform is going to be really difficult,” Yarmuth said. “If they limited it to corporate tax reform, I think there’s an opportunity to get it home and get it done on a bipartisan basis.” Trump wants to cut business tax rates to 15 percent. Yarmuth said “a fair amount of Democrats” agree that the current 35 percent corporate tax rate is too high and should be more competitive with other countries. A bipartisan package could lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent or 28 percent and include measures to help small businesses, Yarmuth said.    Republicans have thus far balked at the idea of a narrow corporate tax deal. On Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said Republicans would reject tax legislation that left the corporate rate at around 28 percent.   But tax rate targets have eluded Republican efforts to hammer out a deal. Some lawmakers say a defeat for the Senate healthcare bill would make tax reform harder by leaving in place hundreds of billions of dollars in Obamacare taxes Meanwhile, the House Budget Committee hopes to send a budget proposal to the floor next week that would include a procedural path for tax reform to proceed with only Republican votes, panel members said. They warned that any Republican deal within the committee did not ensure speedy passage in the Republican-led House, where conservative Republicans want a budget that includes steep cuts to domestic spending, which more moderate Republicans oppose. Yarmuth said Republicans, at one point, considered using language in a 2018 budget proposal - known as reconciliation instructions - for both tax reform and healthcare, a move that could keep hopes for dismantling Obamacare alive if the Senate fails to pass a bill.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट ने कॉर्पोरेट कर सुधार के लिए द्विदलीय समर्थन देखा


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland, armed with an EU veto and insistent on an open Irish border after Britain leaves the bloc, is hopeful agreement can be reached by mid-December but believes sufficient progress has yet to be made. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday his country needed more clarity from London. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will be the UK s only land frontier with the bloc after its departure, is one of three issues Brussels wants broadly solved before it decides next month on whether to move the talks onto a second phase about trade, as Britain wants.  I am hopeful this can be reached in December, but it is by no means pre-determined... We need a lot more clarity,  Coveney told a parliamentary committee while repeating that with three weeks to go, Dublin has still not received proposals from London to allow talks to move on. Before it can sign off on the first phase of talks, the Irish government wants Britain to spell out in writing how it intends to make good on its commitment that the 500-km (310 mile) border will remain as seamless post-Brexit as it is today. Dublin has said this can be best achieved if London commits, on behalf of Northern Ireland, that there would be no regulatory divergence north and south of the border. Coveney said that includes all areas from agriculture to state aid rules. Speaking to reporters in Paris, Ireland s European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said Dublin would continue to resist the idea expressed by some British ministers that talks need to move onto the trade phase before the border issue can be resolved.  They are asking us to take a leap in the dark and we are not going to take a leap in the dark. We need something more concrete,  McEntee said. The border question is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence over whether Northern Ireland should be part of the UK or Ireland.  Some 3,600 people were killed before the 1998 peace agreement.  We have been very clear in terms of what we re asking for, that hasn t changed for months. What has changed, perhaps, is the expectation that Ireland, maybe when we came under a bit of pressure, that we might back off or accept that this would be deferred into phase two,  Coveney said.  Some people seem to be surprised that that s not happening, maybe they weren t listening when we told them the first time, or the second time or the tenth time but I think people are listening now.

Summary: सीमा पर अडिग, आयरलैंड का कहना है कि अगले महीने ब्रेक्सिट सौदा करने के लिए काम करना है


BEIJING (Reuters) - China wants closer ties with Myanmar s military to help protect regional peace and security, a senior Chinese general told the visiting head of the southeast Asian country s army. China and Myanmar have had close diplomatic and economic ties for years, including increasingly in the strategically important oil and gas sectors, and China has offered its support to its southern neighbor, also known as Burma, throughout a crisis over its treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar s Rakhine State, most to neighboring Bangladesh, since a Myanmar military crackdown in response to attacks on the security forces by Rohingya insurgents in August. The United States on Wednesday for the first time called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya  ethnic cleansing  and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for  horrendous atrocities . Meeting in Beijing, Li Zuocheng, who sits on China s Central Military Commission, which runs its armed forces, told Senior General Min Aung Hlaing that China s development and prosperity were an important opportunity for Myanmar s development, China s Defense Ministry said in a statement.  In the face of a complex and changeable regional security situation, China is willing to maintain strategic communication between the two countries  militaries,  Li was cited as saying in the statement issued late on Wednesday. China wanted greater contacts between the two armed forces and deeper training and technical exchanges and to promote border defense cooperation to ensure peace and stability along their common border, Li added. China has been angered by fighting between Myanmar s military and autonomy-seeking ethnic minority rebels close to the Chinese border in recent years, which has at times forced thousands of villagers to flee into China. The Chinese ministry made no direct mention of the Rohingya issue in the statement. China built close ties with Myanmar s generals during years of military rule, when Western countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar for its suppression of the democracy movement. More recently, their ties have included oil and gas as Myanmar pumps natural gas from the Bay of Bengal to China. A new oil pipeline, opened this year, also feeds Middle East crude through Myanmar to a new refinery in Yunnan, southwest China. This has opened a new oil supply route to China, avoiding the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. The United States and other Western countries have stepped up engagement with Myanmar since the military began handing power to civilians in 2011, and especially since former democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a 2015 election. But an international outcry over Myanmar s violations of the rights of the Rohingya has raised questions in Western countries about that engagement. Rights group Amnesty International has called for a comprehensive arms embargo against Myanmar as well as targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials. China s Defense Ministry cited Min Aung Hlaing as thanking China for its support in helping Myanmar ensure domestic stability.

Summary: चीन ने म्यांमार की सेना से कहा कि वह घनिष्ठ संबंध चाहता है


PARIS (Reuters) - France on Thursday condemned bombings by Syrian government forces and its allies against civilian populations in Idlib and Hama province, and called on Russia to abide by commitments it had made to de-escalate violence in the area.  These acts violate international humanitarian law,  foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement.  France calls on Russia and the allies of the Damascus regime to respect the commitments made in Astana and to prevent these air strikes from continuing,  she added. The Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday denied allegations that Russian and Syrian jets had killed at least 150 civilians in over a week of bombing, saying it had been careful not to hit civilians.

Summary: फ्रांस ने इदलिब हमले की निंदा की, रूस से डी-एस्केलेशन समझौतों का पालन करने का आग्रह किया


ESTCOURT, South Africa (Reuters) - Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to break up crowds hurling insults at a group of men accused of cannibalism in a South African farming town. More than 500 people gathered outside the magistrates court in eastern Kwa-Zulu Natal province on Thursday as the men sat inside, hiding their faces with their hooded tops and their hands. Authorities originally charged seven men after police said one of them had walked into a police station in August with a human leg and a hand. Police spokeswoman Col. Thembeka Mbele told Reuters on Thursday he had confessed that he was tired of eating human flesh. The court acquitted three of the men on Thursday on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, saying there was a lack of evidence. The other four were held in custody and the case adjourned until Oct. 27.  We have not charged them with cannibalism, as no such charge exists as far as I know,  Mbele said.  No one has seen them eating any of the human parts they had in their possession but we are still investigating,  she added. Officers were also investigating the suspects for the offence of possessing human remains, Mbele said.  Police blocked streets outside the court in the town of Estcourt, about 160 km (100 miles) north of Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal s biggest city.  They fired the teargas and grenades to keep the crowds at bay as security officers drove all seven men back to jail - the three acquitted man were released later.  Members of the crowd shouted back at officers.  Where were you when they were eating people?  said one.  Some protesters told local media they feared missing loved ones may have been eaten. Others have linked the deaths with witchcraft, referring to traditional medicines that can be made from a range of ingredients including animal or human body parts.

Summary: भीड़ ने दक्षिण अफ्रीका में नरभक्षण के संदिग्धों के साथ दुर्व्यवहार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the president of Kushner Companies on Thursday seeking information related to concerns that the real estate firm has exploited Jared Kushner’s role as a White House adviser to attract investment through a federal immigration program.  Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of his top advisers, early this year stepped down as chief executive officer of his family’s real estate company. Senator Patrick Leahy and Representatives John Conyers and Zoe Lofgren, in the nine-page letter dated Thursday and sent to Kushner Companies President Laurent Morali, asked for details about the company’s controversial May road show in China, where the developer offered investors a chance to get U.S. visas under the EB-5 program if they put money in a project in New Jersey, One Journal Square. The letter, which was released publicly, also asked Kushner Companies what steps it has taken to ensure its affiliates do not exploit Jared Kushner’s White House role when wooing investors in the future. The lawmakers cited a May 12 Reuters report that a Chinese immigration agency promoting the Kushner Companies project had touted Kushner’s White House connections to assure potential investors that the One Journal Square project would succeed and investors would receive green cards.   Such guarantees are prohibited by the rules of the EB-5 program, which grants foreigners a U.S. green card in exchange for investing $500,000 or more in development projects in low-employment areas of the United States. Kushner Companies did not immediately return calls for comment. Kushner Companies had apologized for Nicole Kushner Meyer’s reference to her brother, Jared Kushner, when pitching One Journal Square in China in May.  The letter by the three Democrats follows a call by the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, last week for a probe into “potentially fraudulent statements and misrepresentations” made by companies promoting investment in the One Journal Square project. Leahy, Conyers, and Lofgren - all members of the House or Senate Judiciary Committees - noted in their letter that they have worked with Republican committee members since 2015 to improve the EB-5 program by enacting tougher anti-fraud measures. Jared Kushner used to be closely involved with groups that lobbied against those reform efforts, according to the letter, including one firm that is marketing the One Journal Square project. The Democratic lawmakers’ letter asked if Kushner Companies had engaged in any lobbying related to EB-5 program reforms or discussed the program with Kushner since Trump took office in January.

Summary: तीन सांसदों ने कुशनर कॉस से व्हाइट हाउस के साथ संबंध को लेकर चिंताओं पर सवाल किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis hinted on Monday about the existence of military options on North Korea that might spare Seoul from a brutal counterattack but declined to say what kind of options he was talking about or whether they involved the use of lethal force. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the U.N. Security Council had run out of options on containing North Korea s nuclear program and that the United States might have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon. Any conflict on the Korean peninsula could easily result in a degree of bloodshed unseen since the 1950-53 Korean War, which claimed the lives of more than 50,000 Americans and millions of Koreans and ended in an armed truce, not a peace treaty. Seoul is within artillery range of North Korea, which beyond nuclear and conventional weapons is also believed to have a sizable chemical and biological arsenal. Asked whether there were any military options the United States could take with North Korea that would not put Seoul at grave risk, Mattis said:  Yes there are. But I will not go into details.    Pressed on whether that might include so-called  kinetic  options that use lethal force, Mattis said:  I don t want to go into that.  Military options available to Trump range from non-lethal actions like a naval blockade aimed at enforcing sanctions to waging cyber attacks and positioning new U.S. weaponry in South Korea, where the United States has 28,500 troops. South Korea has raised the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to the peninsula. Mattis acknowledged discussing that with his South Korean counterpart but declined to say whether that option was under consideration.  We have open dialogue with our allies on any issue that they want to bring up,  he said. U.S. President Donald Trump has hinted that any use of lethal force against North Korea would be overwhelming, using phrases like  fire and fury  that evoke images of nuclear war. The U.S. military said on Monday it had staged bombing drills with South Korea, flying a pair of B-1B bombers and F-35 fighter jets over the Korean peninsula, in a show of force against North Korea. Still, despite heated rhetoric and posturing in the United States and North Korea, there has been no positioning of U.S. military assets to suggest a military conflict is imminent.  Trump has vowed that North Korea will never be allowed to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile, but he has also asked China to do more to rein in its neighbor. China in turn favors an international response to the problem. Mattis told reporters that he believed diplomacy and sanctions were so far succeeding in putting more pressure on Pyongyang.  So, yes, it s working,  he said. Even as tensions rise, the United States and its allies have stuck to a hands-off policy when North Korea test-fires its missiles. Mattis confirmed that policy on Monday, saying it would not shoot down a North Korean missile unless it poses a direct threat to the United States or its allies. He said Pyongyang s calculus appeared to be designed to race forward with its missile program,  without going over some kind of a line in their minds that would make them vulnerable.

Summary: मैटिस ने उत्तर कोरिया पर सैन्य विकल्पों के संकेत दिए लेकिन कोई विवरण नहीं दिया


GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Syria talks in the Kazakh capital Astana on Friday had agreed on a  working group  for the release of detainees, which he said was a commendable first step towards an arrangement between the warring sides.  He also said that Russia s plan to convene a Syrian  congress of national dialogue  in Sochi next month should be assessed by its ability to contribute to and support the U.N.-led Geneva talks on ending the war in Syria.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने सीरिया के बंदियों पर पहले कदम की सराहना की, सोची योजना पर सतर्क


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all Americans support President Barack Obama’s executive actions on gun control, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday, with a majority saying they would support the next president taking additional steps to tighten federal gun laws. Obama, frustrated with inaction from lawmakers, ordered stricter gun rules last week that he can impose without Congress’ help, angering Republicans who say he is overstepping the boundaries of his office. Fifty percent of those surveyed said they supported Obama’s executive actions. More than 80 percent of those from his own party said they were in favor of his steps, while 72 percent of Republicans opposed them and said his successor should try to dismantle them. Guns have become a potent, polarizing issue in U.S. politics. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, a right that is fiercely defended. Congress has not approved major gun-control legislation since the 1990s. Respondents from both parties support more research into the causes of gun violence, the poll showed. Nearly 80 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans said they would support the next president, who takes office next January after the Nov. 8 election, pushing for more research. Republicans are split on efforts to tighten gun control more broadly. Forty-four percent of those polled said the next president should work to tighten federal gun control laws, while 49 percent were opposed. Sixty-three percent of Americans overall said they would like to see the next president push for stricter gun laws. The survey of 1,559 Americans was conducted from Jan. 8 to 12, with a credibility interval of 3.2 percentage points.

Summary: अधिकांश अमेरिकियों ने अगले राष्ट्रपति द्वारा सख्त बंदूक कानूनों को आगे बढ़ाने का समर्थन कियाः सर्वेक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service should resign due to the agency’s inability to improve its defenses against hacks on taxpayer data, a Republican lawmaker said on Friday. Republican Representative Barbara Comstock said new leadership is needed to replace IRS Commissioner John Koskinen due to failures to secure Americans’ sensitive information from malicious intrusions, escalating a line of attack from Republicans who frequently criticize the federal tax collection service. “Commissioner Koskinen has provided little confidence that cyber security is a top priority at the IRS,” Comstock said in a statement shared with Reuters, adding she was concerned the agency apparently has no one in charge of cyber security. The IRS did not immediately comment. More than 700,000 individuals may have had their personal information pilfered by hackers during an intrusion last year, the IRS announced in February. That number has been repeatedly revised upward from initial estimates that were far smaller. Comstock, in her statement, cited a Government Accountability Office report released last month that found the IRS struggling to upgrade its information security plan. The IRS agreed to work toward implementing dozens of outlined recommendations. Koskinen appeared before congressional committees this week and said complying with the GAO recommendations was a priority. The commissioner has been under near-constant fire from Republicans since he took over the agency in 2013 amid controversy over whether the IRS was targeting conservative groups.  More than 60 Republicans have signed on to a resolution introduced in October to impeach Koskinen on charges that he has impeded a congressional investigation into the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups. Comstock is the first lawmaker to call for Koskinen’s resignation solely for cyber security reasons, an aide said. Koskinen is not the first Obama administration official to be targeted by Congress for his handling of cyber security. Last year Katherine Archuleta, head of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned after several lawmakers from both parties called for her ouster following the theft of personal data of more than 21 million individuals. Comstock said Friday that Koskinen should follow the lead of Archuleta and other top executives who have left due to poor handling of hacks “to allow for new and trusted leadership at the IRS.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद ने हैक किए गए डेटा को संभालने के लिए आईआरएस प्रमुख से इस्तीफा देने की मांग की


YANGON (Reuters) - Several more villages were burned down on Saturday in a part of northwest Myanmar where many Rohingya Muslims had been sheltering from violence sweeping the area, two sources monitoring the situation said. The fires, which started on Friday when up to eight villages went up in flames in the ethnically mixed Rathedaung region, have increased concerns that more minority Rohingya will flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Blazes started on Saturday engulfed as many as four more settlements in Rathedaung, likely destroying all the Muslim villages in the area, the sources said.  Slowly, one after another villages are being burnt down - I believe that Rohingyas are already wiped out completely from Rathedaung,  said Chris Lewa of the Rohingya monitoring group, the Arakan Project.  There were 11 Muslim villages (in Rathedaung) and after the past two days all appear to be destroyed.  It was unclear who set fire to the villages, located in a part of northwest Myanmar far from where Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base last month, triggering an army counter-offensive in which at least 400 people have been killed. Independent journalists are not allowed into the area, where Myanmar says its security forces are carrying out clearance operations to defend against  extremist terrorists .  Human rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and ethnic Rakhine vigilantes have unleashed a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population. Some 290,000 people have fled across the Bangladeshi border in less than two weeks, causing a humanitarian crisis. Rathedaung is the furthest Rohingya-inhabited area from the border with Bangladesh and aid workers are concerned that a large number of people were trapped there. The sources said that among the torched villages was the hamlet of Tha Pyay Taw. They were also concerned about the village of Chin Ywa, where many people sheltering from other burnings in the area had been hiding and two other settlements. On Friday, the villages of Ah Htet Nan Yar and Auk Nan Yar, some 65 km (40 miles) north of Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state, were also burned along with four to six other settlements. One source, who has a network of informers in the area, said 300 to 400 Rohingya who had been hiding at Ah Htet Nan Yar were now in the forest or attempting a perilous, days-long journey by foot in the monsoon rain toward the River Naf separating Myanmar and Bangladesh. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday her government was doing its best to protect everyone, but she has drawn criticism for failing to speak out about the violence and the Muslim minority, including calls to revoke her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. The country s Rohingya Muslims have long complained of persecution and are seen by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Summary: म्यांमार के रोहिंग्या क्षेत्र में आग ने और गाँवों को नष्ट कर दियाः सूत्र


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - Dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct toward teenagers, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore cast himself as a staunch ally of President Donald Trump at a rally on the eve of Tuesday’s election in Alabama. Despite Trump’s endorsement for Moore, some polls suggest Democrat Doug Jones, 63, a former U.S. attorney, could pull off an upset victory by becoming the first non-Republican to be sent to the Senate by deeply conservative Alabama in two decades. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and executive at the right-wing Breitbart News site, joined Moore in Midland City for the Monday night rally, labeled a “Drain the Swamp” event, in an echo of Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to get rid of Washington insiders. “I want to make America great again with President Trump,” Moore said. “I want America great, but I want America good, and she can’t be good until we go back to God.” Moore, a 70-year-old conservative Christian and former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, has been accused by several women of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, including one woman who said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Moore has denied any misconduct. Reuters has not independently verified any of the accusations. The Alabama race has divided Trump’s Republican Party. The sexual misconduct accusations prompted many senior Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to distance themselves from Moore. “There’s a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better,” Bannon told the rally, framing the Alabama election as a showdown between establishment elites and populist power. A Fox News Poll conducted on Thursday and released on Monday put Jones ahead of Moore, with Jones potentially taking 50 percent of the vote and Moore 40 percent. Fox said 8 percent of voters were undecided and 2 percent supported another candidate. An average of recent polls by the RealClearPolitics website showed Moore ahead by a slight margin of 2.2 percentage points. Trump taped a “robo-call” that the campaign has rolled out urging voters to back the Republican candidate in order to help support the president’s agenda. Democrats also made robo-calls using two of their party’s own big guns - former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden. Jones has said he wanted to be a “voice for reason” for Alabama and has touted a record that includes prosecuting former Ku Klux Klan members responsible for the 1963 bombing of a black church in Birmingham in which four girls were killed. Jones has spent the past week rallying African-Americans, the most reliably Democratic voters in the state, and hammering Moore in television ads. He has told supporters that his campaign is a chance to be on the “right side of history for the state of Alabama.” If Jones wins on Tuesday, Republicans would control the Senate by a slim 51-49 margin, giving Democrats much-needed momentum ahead of the November 2018 congressional elections, when control of both chambers of Congress will be at stake. Moore’s campaign has cast Jones as a liberal out of step with Alabama voters, seizing on the Democrat’s support of abortion rights. Many Republican officials in Alabama, including Governor Kay Ivey, say they will vote for Moore. But the state’s senior Republican senator, Richard Shelby, said he did not vote for Moore and instead backed a write-in candidate on his absentee ballot, telling CNN that Alabama “deserves better” than Moore. Moore, who was twice removed from the state Supreme Court for refusing to abide by federal law, may find a chilly reception in Washington if he wins. Republican leaders have said Moore could face an ethics investigation if Alabama voters send him to the U.S. Senate. Democrats have signaled they may use Moore’s election to tar Republicans as insensitive to women’s concerns at a time when allegations of sexual harassment have caused many prominent men working in politics, entertainment, media and business to lose their jobs.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन मूर ने अलबामा चुनाव की पूर्व संध्या पर ट्रम्प के संदेश को गले लगाया


CAIRO (Reuters) - Jordan s King Abdullah on Wednesday rejected any attempt to change the status of Jerusalem or its holy sites, and said peace would not come to the region without a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  All violence... is a result of a failure to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue,  he told an emergency summit of Muslim leaders in Turkey. King Abdullah s Hashemite dynasty is custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Amman particularly sensitive to any changes of status after the Trump s administration s decision to recognize it as Israel s capital.

Summary: जॉर्डन के राजा ने यरुशलम, उसके पवित्र स्थलों की स्थिति में बदलाव को खारिज किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said it would probe a Federal Bureau of Investigation decision to announce an inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails shortly before the November presidential election, a move she has blamed as a factor in her defeat. The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said in a statement that its investigation would focus in part on decisions leading up to public statements by FBI Director James Comey regarding the Clinton investigation and whether they may have been based on “improper considerations.” The controversy involved Clinton’s use of a private email server for official correspondence when she was secretary of state under President Barack Obama, including for messages that were later determined to contain classified information.      The office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz said it decided to open the review “in response to requests from numerous chairmen and ranking members of congressional oversight committees, various organizations and members of the public.” Although the FBI ultimately decided not to refer Clinton’s case for prosecution, Democrats said Comey’s announcement damaged her with voters right before the election, and he faced complaints that his moves were politically motivated. Law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, by custom do not disclose information about investigations that do not end in criminal charges.   If the review finds evidence of misconduct, any officials involved would be referred for disciplinary action.  In a statement, Comey said the FBI would cooperate fully and he was “grateful” to Horowitz for the probe.  “He is professional and independent and ... I hope very much he is able to share his conclusions and observations with the public because everyone will benefit from thoughtful evaluation and transparency regarding this matter.” Brian Fallon, Clinton’s spokesman, told MSNBC on Thursday that Comey’s actions “cried out for an independent review.” Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate said Comey’s statements were not “fair, professional or consistent with the policies of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”   President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in Jan. 20, will not have the power to dismiss the probe. But federal law permits U.S. presidents to dismiss inspectors general for federal agencies, as long as the president provides Congress a written justification for the removal 30 days in advance.  Often leading crowds in chants of “lock her up!” during the election campaign, Trump as a candidate repeatedly accused Clinton of illegal conduct over the emails. In a debate in October, he vowed she would “be in jail” over the matter if he became president, but he has since said he would not pursue prosecution. PRE-ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT  Comey publicly announced the status of the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s emails two times in 2016.  In July, Comey held a press conference and testified before Congress to explain why the FBI had decided not to refer Clinton for prosecution, explaining that she was “extremely careless” but should not be charged with gross negligence or any other federal crime.  In October, less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election, Comey sent members of Congress a letter saying the FBI was resuming the investigation because of new emails found on the computer of disgraced former Representative Anthony Weiner, the husband of one of Clinton’s top aides. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had informed Comey the day before he sent the letter that doing so would conflict with official Justice Department guidance that instructs employees to “never select the timing of investigative steps ... for the purpose of affecting any election.” Comey asked whether he was being explicitly directed not to send the letter, and Lynch never gave Comey the order not to do so, a senior government official told Reuters at the time. On Nov. 6, Comey said the investigation into Weiner’s computer produced no new evidence that would incriminate Clinton.     Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Thursday commended Horowitz for opening the probe.  “Conspicuously absent, though, is any specific reference to the attorney general’s failure to recuse herself from the probe, particularly after her meeting with former President (Bill) Clinton,” said Grassley in a statement. That half-hour meeting, which took place in June on board Lynch’s plane while it was parked on the tarmac in Phoenix, drew criticism that Lynch was politically biased and unfit to oversee the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. Critics of Comey’s decisions also said he could be in violation of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that bars government employees from interfering with U.S. elections.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. ने क्लिंटन के ईमेल पर चुनाव पूर्व निर्णयों की जांच की


LONDON (Reuters) - A man accused of being part of a plot to kidnap a British model in Milan should be extradited from Britain to Italy, a London judge ruled on Friday. Model Chloe Ayling, 20, has told Italian police she was lured to a photo shoot in Milan in July, abducted and held captive for six days. Her lawyer said the plot was to sell the model for sex in an online auction unless a ransom was paid. In a ruling at London s Westminster Magistrates  Court, Judge Paul Goldspring said Polish-born Michal Herba, 36, the brother of the model s alleged kidnapper, should be extradited to face charges in Italy.  I find that the request is both proportionate and in compliance with your Convention rights and is not an abuse of process. I therefore order your surrender,  Goldspring said. Herba s lawyer George Hepburne Scott said there was no evidence against his client, who denied any involvement and would appeal against the ruling. The main suspect in the case, Herba s brother Lukasz, 30, was arrested by Italian police in August. British police arrested Michal in central England shortly afterwards. Florence Iveson, the prosecutor acting on behalf of the Italian authorities, said the two brothers were accused of abducting, kidnapping and detaining Ayling between July 11 and 17 and demanding a ransom of 300,000 euros ($352,000).  Since returning to Britain, Ayling has given a number of media interviews in which she said she was drugged, gagged, bound, stuffed into a bag, put into the boot of a car and driven to a village near Turin in northwest Italy. She also denied suggestions the kidnapping was a hoax after it was reported she had gone on a shopping trip with her alleged captor. Herba s lawyer had told the extradition hearing on Monday that there was reason to suspect the case was a publicity stunt.  There were a  unique set  of anomalies in the case which  may lead to the conclusion that the Italian authorities have been duped and that their process had been abused , he said. After the verdict on Friday, the lawyer said Herba had offered to give evidence to Italian investigators via videolink but this had been rejected.  This case has attracted unprecedented media attention is being played out in the media across the globe,  Hepburne Scott said.  The world has become fascinated with the riddle and mystery of this case. To many it is an enigma; to Michael Herba it is simply a nightmare.  Herba has seven days to launch an appeal to London s High Court.

Summary: ब्रिटेन की अदालत इटली में मॉडल अपहरण की साजिश के संदिग्ध के प्रत्यर्पण के लिए सहमत


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will be able to make many of his promised changes in immigration policy unilaterally by exercising the same kind of executive powers he criticized President Barack Obama for using.  But while most of the measures laid out in a ten-point immigration policy plan on Trump’s transition website could be set in motion without legislative approval, fully implementing them would require funding that Congress would have to approve, legal experts said.     Two core pieces of Trump’s plan, for example, involve removing more criminal immigrants who are in the country illegally and ending “catch and release” of those who cross the border illegally and are awaiting court hearings.  Shifting policy on both issues could be accomplished by putting out new enforcement directives to agents in the field from the Department of Homeland Security.      But the changes would be expensive, requiring a dramatic expansion of immigration courts and detention facilities used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said  Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert at Cornell Law School.  More deportations would require more staff at every level of the system to investigate, apprehend and process those targeted. Immigration courts already have a backload of more than 500,000 cases. Detention space is currently stretched to house 41,000 immigrants currently awaiting deportation or hearings and far more holding facilities would be needed if detainees were no longer released while awaiting court dates.   Even then, completely ending the release of immigrants awaiting hearings would be difficult: A recent court decision has prohibited detention longer than 20 days for adults and children migrating together, a demographic that surged to more than 77,000 in fiscal year 2016. Trump’s transition team has not explained how the new president intends to implement his plans.  “The President-elect is very focused on naming his cabinet, building out his administration and preparing to hit the ground running on Inauguration Day,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump transition team. “There will be plenty of time to discuss detailed policy specifics after the swearing-in.” Democratic attorneys general and civil rights groups are already busy preparing legal arguments to try to stop Trump’s executive actions should he implement some of his proposals. The pushback will be similar to the challenges Obama faced from Republican attorneys general and conservative groups when he acted alone to try to shield nearly 5 million immigrants from deportation.      Among the easiest immigration promises for Trump to fulfill will be his vow to reverse Obama’s executive orders. The president-elect could eliminate with a pen-stroke Obama’s 2012 policy allowing immigrants brought here illegally as children to apply for work permits, a program known as DACA that Trump has said he will end.  What would happen next is unclear. More than 740,000 people have been approved for deportation relief under the program, and many worry that their addresses and other identifying information could be used by the new administration to target them for deportation.  Steve Legomsky, former chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said no laws would prevent the Trump administration from using program records for immigration enforcement, but the president-elect has not said he would do so.  Denying visas to people from countries “where adequate screening cannot occur,” another point on Trump’s immigration plan, could also be easily accomplished by the president.  Under current law, the administration can unilaterally suspend visas for any individuals or groups of people deemed “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”  In the past, presidents have chosen to apply this statute narrowly - to keep out particular dictators or to deal with emergencies, for example. But the law is worded very broadly and could theoretically be applied to entire countries, said David Martin, emeritus professor of international law at University of Virginia School of Law. Trump’s promise to make legal immigration better serve America and its domestic workforce would likely focus, at least initially, on temporary employment visas such as the H1-B, which are issued to specialized workers in fields such as technology.  While Congress sets the maximum number of visas that can be issued annually, Trump could ask the Department of Justice to step up investigations of companies using those visas, with a focus on whether they are discriminating against American workers. This could include banning more tech outsourcing firms, which are the largest users of H-1B visas, from the program if they violate the rules, said Ron Hira, a professor at Howard University.  “Employers are going to be caught up in the cross hairs,” said business immigration lawyer Matthew Dunn from the law firm Kramer Levin.

Summary: ट्रंप के पास आव्रजन नीतियों को लागू करने की व्यापक शक्तियां हैंः कानूनी विशेषज्ञ


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian highway police on Wednesday detained Cesare Battisti, an Italian former left-wing guerrilla convicted of murder in his country, as he was attempting to cross the border into Bolivia in a taxi, federal police said. Battisti was apparently trying to leave Brazil after Italy reportedly asked Brazil s government to revoke his asylum status and extradite him to serve his prison sentence. He was stopped by highway police as he was about to cross the border in a Bolivian taxi and was held for possession of a  significant  quantity of undeclared foreign currency, the federal police said in a statement.       Battisti faced life in prison in Italy, where he was convicted of four murders committed in the 1970s, when he belonged to a guerilla group called Armed Proletarians for Communism. He escaped from prison in 1981 and lived in France before fleeing to Brazil to avoid being extradited to Italy. Battisti s lawyer, Igor Sant Anna, told Reuters that he had sought a habeas corpus injunction last week due to the risk that President Michel Temer s government could agree to Italy s request. Habeas corpus is a legal procedure that keeps a government from holding a person without showing cause. The police statement said he was being held for breaking currency rules. O Globo newspaper reported last week that Italy had asked the Temer government to review the status of Battisti, who was granted refugee status by former leftist President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on his last day in office in 2010. Lula had refused an Italian extradition request, a decision that upset relations between the two countries.

Summary: ब्राजील ने भगोड़े इतालवी बतिस्ती को देश छोड़ते हुए हिरासत में लिया


REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland s prime minister said on Saturday the president had accepted his request for a snap parliamentary election, and Nov. 4 had been discussed as a possible date. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson called on Friday for the snap vote after one party in the ruling coalition quit.

Summary: आइसलैंड के राष्ट्रपति ने जल्दी मतदान के अनुरोध को स्वीकार किया, 4 नवंबर की संभावित तारीखः प्रधानमंत्री


KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. investigation into reports that at least 13 civilians were killed during an operation in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz last week found no evidence of any civilian casualties, a statement from the U.S. military in Kabul said on Tuesday.  United States Forces   Afghanistan (USFOR-A) has investigated allegations of civilian casualties in Kunduz province during the period of November 3 and 4; no evidence of civilian casualties has been found,  the statement said. Officials in the Chahardara district outside Kunduz city said 13 people in two villages had been killed by U.S. air strikes in the area, while some reports said as many as 65 people had been killed. However, other Afghan civil and military officials denied the reports and said civilians had been evacuated before a combined operation in the area began. They said dozens of Taliban insurgents had been killed.  We can confirm operations occurred in this area and numerous enemy combatants were killed, as also confirmed by Kunduz Governor Omarkhail and Ministry of Defense Spokesman Major General Dawlat Waziri,  the U.S. statement said.  The USFOR-A investigation was conducted independently and concluded that there were no civilian casualties. Specifically, no hospitals or clinics in the local area indicated treatment of people with wounds from armed conflict,  it said. The issue of civilian casualties has taken on increasing sensitivity as the United States has stepped up air strikes against the Taliban as part of a more robust strategy aimed at breaking the stalemate with the insurgents. United Nations figures from last month showed a 52 percent increase in civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of the year from the previous year, with 205 killed and 261 wounded.

Summary: अमेरिकी जांच में कुंदुज हमले में कोई अफगान नागरिक हताहत नहीं हुआ


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will begin a major push next week to convince the public of the need for tax reform, shifting his focus to fiscal policy in an effort to win a big legislative victory by the end of the year, The Financial Times reported on Friday. Trump would begin the effort next Wednesday with a speech in Missouri, the first in a series of addresses to generate public support on the issue, Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, told the newspaper.  “We are completely engaged in tax reform,” Cohn told the FT in an interview. “Starting next week the president’s agenda and calendar is going to revolve around tax reform. He will start being on the road making major addresses justifying the reasoning for tax reform.” Although Cohn stressed that tax reform would be front and center of Trump’s agenda, the Republican-controlled Congress faces two other pressing issues when it returns from its August recess on Sept. 5.  Lawmakers need to approve an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to allow the federal government to keep borrowing money and paying its bills, including its debt obliterations. Separately they need to pass at least stop-gap spending measures to keep the government operating. Deadlines on both issues will loom within weeks after lawmakers return from their break. Asked by the FT whether the debate over the debt ceiling could derail the tax reform drive, Cohn said that “at the end of the day, Congress has to increase the debt ceiling - that is just the reality.” He added that this would be in September, before tax reform legislation. “The key point is this: tax reform is the White House’s number one focus right now,” he added. Cohn said White House officials had been working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and other leading congressional Republicans on “an outline and skeleton” for the tax reform proposal, “and we have a good skeleton that we have agreed to.” The details Cohn discussed were similar to those mentioned by Ryan at a meeting with Boeing employees on Thursday. Asked whether the focus on tax reform had been complicated by Twitter attacks by the Republican president on McConnell and Ryan, Cohn said the White House officials worked well with the two “and we have made a massive amount of progress” on taxes. Cohn said the House Ways and Means Committee would put more “flesh and bone” on the tax reform plan when lawmakers return from the recess. He said he believed a bill could pass tax committees in both chambers and be passed by both the House and Senate by the end of 2017. In the case of individual taxpayers, Cohn said the president’s reform plan would protect the three big deductions that people can claim on taxes: for home mortgages, charitable giving and retirement savings. Beyond that, it would increase the caps for the standard deduction while eliminating most other personal deductions, Cohn said. The plan also aims to get rid of taxes on estates left when people die. Cohn said for businesses, the administration is proposing to lower corporate tax rates, while eliminating many of the deductions that businesses use to reduce the amount of tax they must pay. Asked whether the corporate tax rate could be cut to 15 percent as previously suggested by Trump, Cohn said, “I would like to get the tax rate as low as possible so that businesses want to create jobs here.” He said the administration would propose going to a system where American companies would not have to pay additional tax when they bring profits earned overseas back to the United States. “Today, they often have to pay extra taxes for bringing profits back to the U.S.,” Cohn said. “Our current system basically creates a penalty for headquartering in the U.S.” He said the administration did envision a one-time low tax rate on all overseas profits.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के सलाहकार ने एफ. टी. को बताया, अगले सप्ताह कर सुधार पर जोर देंगे ट्रंप


RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - Air raids by U.S. coalition warplanes have intensified in recent days as Kurdish and Arab militias seek to drive surrounded Islamic State militants from their last strongholds in Syria s Raqqa   but the toll on civilians has been severe.  Hundreds of civilians fled the city on Thursday, many wounded and malnourished after being trapped for months by fighting between Islamic State and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).  Those who fled said the sheer intensity of the bombardment appeared to have made militants shift their positions, retreat or hide underground, giving civilians a window in which to escape. Abdullah Ali s burns were still raw from an air strike that brought down his building and killed his entire family a week ago in central Raqqa.  My wife, mum, dad, all 14 people in my family were killed. Their bodies are trapped under rubble,  the 24-year-old said, sitting outside a mosque on Raqqa s outskirts. Ali s neighbor Abdo Hussein said more than 50 people were in the building when the air strike hit. Just a handful survived and 13 bodies had been pulled out, he said. The offensive to drive Islamic State out of Raqqa, its de facto Syrian capital which it seized in 2014, has long outlasted initial predictions by SDF officials who said ahead of a final assault in June that it could take just weeks. The SDF said last week the city could be declared captured in the coming days. There are still several hundred militants in the city and thousands of residents, the coalition says, many of them believed to be held hostage by IS in a hospital and nearby stadium.     People had tried to escape before but were shot at by Daesh (Islamic State). I even saw them kill a two-year-old child,  Um Moussa, 38, said, sitting inside the mosque.  This morning they didn t seem to be around, or weren t firing.  My son saw hordes of people leaving so we decided to go for it. I d been sleeping fully dressed   we were ready to flee at the first chance,  she said, wearing black robes and a face veil required under Islamic State s strict laws. But weakening the militants with air power has come at a high cost in civilian lives, she and others said.  Yesterday four entire families were killed in our area. It s strike after strike.  All those who escaped on Thursday came from a district near the stadium. They said many buildings had been hit as Islamic State fighters fired from them.  Each building has dozens of civilians in it, so of course many have died,  said Hussein. Air strikes were precise, often taking out a single building without damaging those next door, but militants often managed to leave before the missiles hit, he said. The coalition says it takes great pains to avoid causing civilian casualties and investigates all reports that it has done so.  Residents described miserable living conditions and lack of food, water and medical aid with the remaining areas Islamic State controls completely cut off.  Daesh have clinics but it s to treat their fighters, not us,  Hussein said. Umm Mousa said she, her husband and eight children had slept in their cellar by night to hide from the bombardment and the militants, but that Islamic State was now deliberately avoiding interaction with residents.  They re suspicious, scared, in case any of the civilian population are informers   they re keeping their distance a bit now,  she said. Local Islamic State fighters have been surrendering in recent weeks, the U.S. coalition and residents say. Outside the mosque, several blindfolded men were brought into an SDF headquarters for questioning. Islamic State foreign fighters are expected to fight to the death, however.  The foreigners, those are the hard core,  said one escaped resident, Ahmed Faraj.  They won t give up.

Summary: सीरिया के रक्का से भाग रहे परिवारों का कहना है कि हवाई हमलों से भारी संख्या में लोगों की मौत हुई है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers sharply criticized President Barack Obama’s administration on Thursday over the disappearance of a former Guantanamo detainee, calling for an end to transfers from the prison because of fears former prisoners could launch attacks on Americans. They also raised concerns about reports that Jihad Diyab, a Syrian among six detainees resettled in Uruguay in December 2014, has disappeared and may now be in Brazil. Obama is working to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where terrorism suspects have been held for 15 years, by transferring detainees not considered security threats to foreign countries. Republican lawmakers worry that the Obama administration is so eager to close the prison before he leaves office in January that it is sending detainees to countries that cannot ensure they will not return to the battlefield by joining militant groups that target Americans and U.S. allies. “You’re talking about detainees who have every intent of killing American families,” Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina said at a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. The administration has considered sending Guantanamo detainees to a prison in South Carolina. The New York Times reported that Diyab said last month he was going on a religious retreat that would last into next week, and would be unreachable by telephone or email. Since then, some Uruguayan officials said they lost track of him and suggested he may have traveled to Brazil, the newspaper reported. “Many countries just aren’t up to the job,” said Republican Representative Ed Royce, the committee’s chairman. “... Yet the administration has sent Guantanamo terrorists to these countries anyway.” Republican and some Democratic committee members sharply questioned Lee Wolosky, the State Department’s special envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention center, and Paul Lewis, his Pentagon counterpart. Representative Jeff Duncan, another South Carolina Republican, said Diyab, charged with forging passports for al Qaeda, could pose a threat to the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, if he were indeed at large in that country. The committee’s ranking Democrat, Representative Eliot Engel, who backs the closure of the detention center in Cuba, said it was important to keep the issue in perspective. “Under no circumstances, in my opinion, is the Obama administration simply opening the gate and releasing dangerous terrorists onto the street,” Engel said.   Lewis and Wolosky said only 5 percent of detainees transferred since Obama became president have been confirmed to have returned to the battlefield. The percentage was higher for the over 500 released under President George W. Bush. There are currently 79 detainees at Guantanamo, of whom 29 are eligible for transfer. Wolosky acknowledged Diyab had been “difficult” from the time he was transferred to Uruguay. According to the Times, Diyab’s friends and supporters say he is off praying and will re-emerge soon. Obama has been trying to make good on his 2009 pledge to close the facility. But Congress has passed laws making it more difficult to do so, chiefly by barring transfers to U.S. prisons. Lawmakers are unlikely to lift those restrictions, especially in an election year. They have proposed even tighter controls on transfers in a fiscal 2017 defense policy bill, one reason Obama has threatened a veto. Guantanamo opponents say holding prisoners for years without charge or trial goes against fundamental U.S. values and since they are Muslims, is a recruiting tool for Islamist militants. Many Republicans insist the prison is an essential tool for handling suspects who threaten the United States. Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive 2016 presidential nominee, has called for the prison’s expansion.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने ग्वांतानामो के पूर्व कैदी को लेकर ओबामा प्रशासन की निंदा की


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian embassy to the United States said on Thursday it was in regular contact with “U.S. partners” after the Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had failed to disclose meetings with Russia’s ambassador. Citing Justice Department officials, the Post said Sessions spoke twice last year with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador, while he was still a U.S. senator. U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called on Sessions to resign over the issue. The question of how much contact there was between the campaign of President Donald Trump and Russia prior to his election has dominated the early days of his presidency along with allegations from U.S. intelligence officials that Moscow ran an influence campaign to try to sway the election’s outcome.   Russia categorically denies meddling and Russian officials say the issue is being deliberately used by Trump’s opponents to derail chances of a swift warming in U.S.-Russia ties. “The embassy doesn’t comment on numerous contacts with local partners, which occur on a daily basis in line with diplomatic practice,” Russian embassy spokesman Nikolai Lakhonin told Russia’s Interfax news agency, when asked to comment on meetings between Sessions and Kislyak.   Sessions has denied discussing details of the U.S. presidential campaign with Russian officials. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired last month after he discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama who has himself met Kislyak, said he was bemused by what he said was the Trump administration’s secrecy about its contacts with Russian officials. “I just don’t get why Trump folks are so secretive about meetings/calls with Russians. If nothing to hide, just tell the truth!,” McFaul said on social media.  Alexey Pushkov, a Russian senator, said the uproar over Sessions showed how paranoid U.S. politicians had become about any links with his country. “Almost the entire U.S. elite is, it turns out, linked to Russia. Including the attorney general,” Pushkov wrote on social media. “Paranoia knows no bounds.”

Summary: रूस ने सत्रों के हंगामे को दरकिनार करते हुए कहा कि वह अमेरिकी भागीदारों के साथ दैनिक संपर्क रखता है


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 60,000 visas were revoked under U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily halting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, the State Department said on Friday, in one of several government communications clarifying how the order is being rolled out. The revocation means the government voided travel visas for people trying to enter the United States but the visas could be restored later without a new application, said William Cocks, a spokesman for consular affairs at the State Department. “We will communicate updates to affected travelers following the 90-day review,” he said.  Earlier news reports, citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing, put the figure at more than 100,000 visas. The government issued over 11 million immigrant and non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015, the State Department said.     The immigration executive order signed by Trump a week ago temporarily halted the U.S. refugee program and imposed a 90-day suspension on people traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump said the measures would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks. Under President Barack Obama, Trump’s predecessor, the United States added those seven countries as “countries of concern” under its visa waiver program, effectively toughening U.S. visa procedures for individuals who visited those places during the past five years. Trump’s executive order was at least in part informed by those restrictions. The new president, who took office on Jan. 20, went further by temporarily barring passport holders from those seven countries.  The State Department first issued the guidance about revoking the visas on Jan. 27, the day Trump signed his executive order, according to a memo filed in a court case in Massachusetts.  But confusion about the roll out of the order sparked protests at airports across the country where people had been detained and led to a wave of lawsuits filed by individuals, states and civil rights groups.  To further clarify how the order should be applied, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent out a letter to all of its employees on Feb. 2, according to a copy of the memo seen by Reuters. The memo said the agency was continuing to process all applications and petitions for people inside the United States regardless of their country of origin. It also said all applications for permanent residency and adjustment of status can move forward. USCIS said they could not discuss internal employee communications.  The Department of Homeland Security had earlier clarified, after some initial back-and-forth, that the order would not apply to green card holders. Also people from the seven countries who hold dual citizenship are allowed to enter the United States on the passport of a non-restricted nation when eligible, according to Feb. 2 guidance posted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s website.

Summary: ट्रम्प के यात्रा प्रतिबंध ने अभी के लिए 60,000 वीजा रद्द कर दिए हैं


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea, the United States and Japan started a two-day missile tracking drill on Tuesday, South Korea s military said, in preparation for any missile or nuclear threats from North Korea. The exercises will be held in waters off the coasts of South Korea and Japan, the South Korean military said in a statement. The drills have been taking place every few months following an agreement made during a Security Consultative Meeting between South Korea and the United States last year.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया, अमेरिका, जापान ने दो दिवसीय मिसाइल ट्रैकिंग अभ्यास शुरू कियाः दक्षिण कोरिया की सेना