WASHINGTON/ANNANDALE, Virginia (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton campaigned with potential vice presidential running-mate U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in his home state of Virginia on Thursday, testing whether the person widely seen as the “safe choice” can propel her to the White House in November.  Kaine’s 16-minute introduction of the presumptive Democratic nominee in a community college gymnasium in the Washington suburb of Annandale reflected Clinton’s need to reach out to Hispanic voters with her vice presidential pick. Kaine, a former missionary in Honduras who speaks Spanish, peppered his introduction with Spanish phrases and criticism of Republican Donald Trump’s statements regarding Latinos. “He trash talks Latinos - to him it doesn’t matter if you are a new immigrant or you’re a worker who has been here for a long time or a DREAMer or if you’re a Latina governor of New Mexico or a federal judge,” Kaine said to applause. Kaine was referring to statements Trump has made about young immigrants brought to the United States by their parents, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and the judge overseeing a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump University. Kaine could help Clinton check a lot of boxes in the list of requirements for a running mate.  The former civil rights lawyer is a Virginian, which could help Clinton win a battleground state in the Nov. 8 race against Trump. Such states are hotly contested because their populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and play a decisive role in presidential elections. Kaine is also affable, savvy about foreign policy and has executive experience as a former governor of Virginia and a former mayor of Richmond, the state’s capital. Though the Clinton campaign is keeping the vice presidential selection process tightly under wraps, many Democrats in Washington see Kaine as the front-runner. Some Democrats in Congress and in outside groups want to see Clinton make a more unconventional pick for her already historic run as the first female presidential nominee of a major party. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a fierce critic of Wall Street, and Julian Castro, a Latino who is the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, are two possibilities mentioned by Democrats who want to see Clinton go with a bold choice before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia July 25-28. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Representative Xavier Becerra of California, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and, more recently, retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis have also been mentioned as possibilities. Asked about Kaine, Artie Blanco, a superdelegate from Nevada, said he would not be her top pick. “Excited, no. OK with, you know, sure,” she said. Blanco said she likes Becerra and Perez as potential picks. She said Warren “would be fantastic” and she likes Brown’s stance on worker issues. Thursday’s event with Kaine gave Clinton an opportunity to gauge whether the 58-year-old, Harvard-educated senator would help her fire up a crowd and make for a comfortable fit on the campaign trail.  Cynthia Smith, a registered nurse from Cleveland, was at the event because her nephew is a volunteer with the campaign. She said she was not familiar with Kaine and would like to hear more from him, but at this point preferred Warren. “I’d like to see two women,” Smith said. Clinton had lunch with Democratic senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday. After the session, the lawmakers were mostly mum. When Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the top Democrat, was asked by a reporter what the takeaway from the lunch was, he responded: “She’s going to be president.” Clinton spoke to the senators about returning the Senate to Democratic control and about how to create jobs in all 50 U.S. states. Some Democratic senators have been rallying around colleague Kaine, while others are holding out for a bolder pick. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Kaine, said in a brief interview: “If you look at the totality of Tim’s life and his work, I think there are elements that would bridge that divide” between progressive Democrats and more establishment Democrats who have fostered Clinton’s drive for the White House.

Summary: वर्जीनिया में, क्लिंटन ने सीनेटर टिम केन को 'सुरक्षित' वीपी पिक के रूप में परीक्षण किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Republican U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen on Wednesday said he will likely vote for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election, citing her experience as secretary of state and former first lady. “In all likelihood, I would say yes,” Cohen who served as defense secretary under former U.S. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, told MSNBC in an interview when asked if she had earned his vote. “I would not feel comfortable,” with Donald Trump, Clinton’s Republican rival and a political novice, having access to the nation’s nuclear codes, Cohen said. “I’d feel more comfortable with Hillary Clinton, certainly,” Cohen told MSNBC.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन पार्टी के पूर्व रक्षा मंत्री कोहेन ने हिलेरी क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent U.S. prosecutor said the Trump administration fired him on Saturday after he refused to step down, adding a discordant note to what is normally a routine changing of top attorneys when a new president takes office. New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s defiant exit, first announced on Twitter, raised questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to fill top jobs throughout his government. Trump has yet to put forward any candidates to serve as the nation’s 93 district attorneys even as his Justice Department asked the 46 who have not yet quit to hand in their resignations on Friday. Key positions at agencies like the State Department and the Defense Department also remain unfilled.  As the federal prosecutor for Manhattan and surrounding areas since 2009, Bharara secured insider-trading settlements from Wall Street firms and won criminal convictions in high-profile corruption and terrorism cases.  He told reporters in November that Trump had asked him to stay in his post, and he refused to resign when asked to do so by the Justice Department on Friday. He said he was fired on Saturday afternoon. “Serving my country as U.S. Attorney here for the past seven years will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life, no matter what else I do or how long I live,” Bharara said in a press statement.  The Justice Department confirmed that Bharara was no longer serving in the position and declined further comment. Like all U.S. attorneys, Bharara is a political appointee who can be replaced when a new president takes office. Previous presidents have often asked outgoing U.S. attorneys to stay on the job until their replacements win confirmation in the U.S. Senate.  The Washington Post, citing two people close to Trump, said the president’s adviser Stephen Bannon and Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted a clean slate of federal prosecutors to assert the administration’s power.  But the decision to replace so many sitting attorneys at once has raised questions about whether the Trump administration’s ability to enforce the nation’s laws would be hindered.  “President Trump’s abrupt and unexplained decision to summarily remove over 40 U.S. attorneys has once again caused chaos in the federal government,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, said.     Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the firings showed “the independence of the Justice Department is at risk under this administration” and that lawmakers had to carefully evaluate Trump’s replacements.       Career attorneys will carry on that work until new U.S. attorneys are put in place, the Justice Department said. Bharara said his deputy, Joon Kim, will serve as his temporary replacement. Marc Mukasey, a defense lawyer whose father served as attorney general under Republican President George W. Bush, has been mentioned as a possible replacement. He did not respond to a request for comment. HIGH-PROFILE OFFICE Bharara’s office handles some of the most critical business and criminal cases passing through the federal judicial system. He has been overseeing a probe into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fundraising. Bharara has successfully prosecuted state and local politicians for corruption, including former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He won a lifetime sentence against the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, and a 25-year sentence for international arms dealer Viktor Bout.  He won a $1.8 billion insider-trading settlement against SAC Capital Advisors, the largest in history, which forced the hedge fund to shut down, and he forced JPMorgan Chase to pay $1.7 billion to settle charges related to its role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. “His firing so early in President Trump’s tenure is somewhat unexpected, but if you had asked me a few months ago whether I expected Preet to still be in that job in March I would have said no,” said Matthew Schwartz, a former prosecutor under Bharara.   Trump has asked two U.S. prosecutors to remain on the job, according to the Justice Department.  U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein of Maryland has been asked to stay on as the Senate considers his nomination to serve as the No. 2 Justice Department official, and U.S. Attorney Dana Boente of Virginia, who is temporarily serving in that position, has also been asked to remain.

Summary: अमेरिकी अभियोजक को ट्रम्प प्रशासन ने किया बर्खास्त


BERLIN (Reuters) - Disputes about climate and immigration policy dominated German media ahead of resumed talks among Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmental Greens about forming a coalition government. Officials from all three political groups traded barbs and insults in a series of media interviews, dimming hopes that next week s talks could result in progress for a so-called Jamaica coalition - a name chosen because the parties  black, yellow and green colors mirror those of the Jamaican flag. Simone Peter, co-leader of the Greens, told Reuters the FDP must agree to honor existing carbon dioxide reduction promises before her party would continue coalition talks. She said her party viewed conservative s insistence on a migrant cap as a  no go . FDP Leader Christian Lindner shot back in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper:  If the Greens don t budge in future talks, Jamaica will remain a castle in the air.  Merkel, whose conservative alliance suffered its worst result in September elections since 1949, is trying to forge a tricky three-way coalition that is untested at a national level. The exploratory talks are to continue Monday after the three sides failed to reach agreement on immigration and climate issues during an 11-hour session on Thursday. A new poll for Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed support for conservatives down one percentage point to 31 percent - its lowest level this year - while support for the Greens and FDP was unchanged at 10 percent and 11 percent. Peter told Reuters it was nonsense to continue talks unless the FDP committed to a 2007 pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.  Before exploratory talks continue, the FDP must accept unconditionally the climate protection goals,  Peter told Reuters in an interview.  Otherwise the talks make no sense.  Deputy FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki told the RND newspaper chain on Friday that no agreement was possible if the Greens insisted on sticking to that target. Lindner blasted the Greens   maximum demands  for ending coal production and giving refugees unlimited rights to bring their families to Germany. He told the Bild am Sonntag such actions would only boost support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which parlayed public frustration to win 12.6 percent of the vote in September. Alexander Dobrindt, a top negotiator for the Bavarian sister party of Merkel s conservatives, told the paper that building a coalition would be  more than difficult  unless the Greens modified their position rejecting limits on migration. Many conservatives want to take a harder line on immigration, blaming the election setback on Merkel s decision to allow in more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016. They insist that an agreement by Merkel s CDU and the CSU on guidelines that would limit annual refugee numbers must form the basis of any coalition accord. The Greens reject such a cap. The right to asylum is guaranteed under Germany s constitution.

Summary: जलवायु, प्रवास विवादों ने जर्मन गठबंधन वार्ता को प्रभावित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The confirmation process for Republican President Donald Trump’s choice to chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be moving forward without any hiccups. Jay Clayton, a lawyer whose specialties include mergers and acquisitions, met privately with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Michael Crapo on Tuesday. They discussed the SEC’s role in facilitating capital formation and ways to reduce “unnecessary burdens” for small companies, Crapo said in a statement that he posted on Twitter. “Had a great conversation,” Crapo added. In recent days, he and other Senate Republicans have issued glowing statements about Clayton’s qualifications and plans to help companies raise capital. While Democrats will probably raise questions about Clayton’s ties to Wall Street at his confirmation hearing, they will not be able to block him without some support from Republicans. Clayton’s hearing has not yet been scheduled but could come as early as the week of Feb. 6, according to several people familiar with the committee’s plans.  Private meetings with senators are typically held in advance of confirmation hearings so that the lawmakers can get a chance to vet the candidate and ask questions. Last week, Clayton met with three other Republican lawmakers on the panel - Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.  He also met separately on Tuesday with Senator David Perdue of Georgia, who wrote on Twitter: “Jay knows capital formation. He wants to create a level playing field & make things fair and efficient. I fully support his nomination.” Clayton is expected to have one-on-one meetings with some of the panel’s Democrats sometime next week, according to one of the sources. Some Democrats on the committee, including Sherrod Brown, the committee’s senior Democrat and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have already expressed reservations about Clayton because of his legal work at Sullivan & Cromwell representing major Wall Street clients such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, where his wife works as a wealth manager. Before Clayton accepted Trump’s nomination, his family decided his wife would step down from her post at the investment bank if he is confirmed, one of the people familiar with the matter said. In the meantime, the SEC’s lone Republican commissioner, Michael Piwowar, is acting as chairman, according to people familiar with the matter. The SEC, typically a five-member commission, is down to two members until Clayton is confirmed.

Summary: सीनेट रिपब्लिकन ने एसईसी उम्मीदवार क्लेटन के लिए मजबूत समर्थन का संकेत दिया


(Reuters) - While many Miami hospitals are shutting down as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, some are offering shelter to their pregnant patients, bracing for the increase in births that often accompanies these large storms. At least three of the city s hospitals have plans in place to care for women with advanced or high-risk pregnancies.  They could be busy. When Houston was hit by Hurricane Harvey, the number of women who gave birth spiked. According to a Memorial Hermann Health System representative, at least five of the not-for-profit system s 11 Houston-area hospitals with labor and delivery units reported increases in the number of deliveries during Hurricane Harvey. In three, deliveries doubled. The reason may have something to do with a drop in barometric pressure that accompanies a hurricane. A 2007 study published in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics noted a causal relationship between low barometric pressure and spontaneous delivery. But overall, the evidence is inconclusive, said Dr. Shannon Clark, an associate professor in the division of maternal fetal medicine at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico.  There s some studies that show an association and some that don t. It s kind of mixed,  Clark said in a telephone interview. Even so, she said,  It s still worth it to forewarn pregnant women in areas that are going to get hit that there could be a potential complication.  In Miami, Jackson Health System alerted women who are at least 34 weeks pregnant or who have a high-risk pregnancy that they may take shelter in one of three of its hospitals, as long as they have registered with the hospital in advance. These women are allowed to bring in one guest, but no pets. Tania Leets, a spokeswoman for the public health system which serves Miami-Dade County, said they offered the same service last year during Hurricane Matthew. Baptist Health South Florida offers shelter to women in Miami who are at least 36 weeks pregnant or who have a high-risk pregnancy in one of its four area hospitals. A pregnant woman and one adult companion can set up camp in a waiting room area; those who come must bring their own food, water and bedding. The shelter opens at 8 a.m. on Saturday and closes when the storm has passed, Baptist Health South said in a statement.  Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach will likewise shelter women who are at least 36 weeks pregnant or those with high-risk pregnancies, according to a statement on its website. At Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital in Houston,  deliveries started to soar two days before Hurricane Harvey arrived, requiring five managers to help with patient care.   We all know in this business - full moons and storms are a problem,  said Kim Kendall, director of the hospital s family birth center. Staff made an effort to close the shades, redirect the conversation and focus on the delivery.  We tried to maximize the experience and minimize the hurricane,  said Kendall.

Summary: मियामी के अस्पताल तूफान इरमा के दौरान जन्मों में वृद्धि की तैयारी कर रहे हैं


TORONTO (Reuters) - Two Canadian groups on Tuesday asked a court to overturn a new Quebec law that bans observant Muslim women from wearing a full-face veil when providing or receiving government services. The National Council for Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Quebec Muslim resident Marie-Michelle Lacoste asked a provincial court to declare the law invalid, arguing that it discriminates against Muslim women and violates equality and freedom of religion protections in the Canadian and Quebec constitutions. The provincial Liberal government that backed the law, passed on Oct. 18, has rejected claims that it targets Muslim women. It argues that the ban on all face coverings was necessary for security reasons and to facility communication and identification of people. Debate has focused on the niqab, a veil worn by a small minority of Muslim women that covers the whole face save for the eyes.  Opponents of the law say it targets a visible minority that has been subject to threats and violence in the primarily French-speaking province. Quebec had about 243,000 Muslims as of 2011, according to Statistics Canada. The government believes the law is constitutional and will defend it in court, Isabelle Marier St-Onge, a spokeswoman for Quebec Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee, said by phone on Tuesday. The law affects teachers, police officers, hospital employees and daycare workers in government agencies, and users of public services, from school to mass transit systems.  Such blatant and unjustified violations of freedom of religion, as well as of the equality guarantees of the Quebec and Canadian Charters, have no place in Quebec or Canada,  the groups  court submission said. The plaintiffs stand a good chance of success, said political scientist Emmett Macfarlane, who has written extensively about Canada s constitution and Supreme Court.      It s a pretty clear case, where we know who s being adversely affected and we know it s a distinct minority,  Macfarlane said. In January a gunman walked into a Quebec City mosque and shot six people to death. A French-Canadian university student has been charged as the sole suspect. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria have imposed restrictions on the wearing of full-face veils in public places. Denmark plans to institute its own ban.

Summary: कनाडाई समूह मुस्लिम घूंघट पर क्यूबेक प्रतिबंध को उलटना चाहते हैं


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Bomb threats forced thousands of people to evacuate Moscow s Bolshoi theater, Metropol hotel, GUM department store on the Red Square and other public places on Sunday, local media reported. A spate of anonymous phone calls have caused disruption at shopping centers, train stations and public buildings across Russia in the past two months. The calls have so far proved to be false alarms and there have been no claims of responsibility. RIA news agency, citing a source in the police, reported that as many as 5,000 people were evacuated from GUM and Metropol hotel. TASS and RIA, also quoting police sources, said the Bolshoi theater was also evacuated. A Reuters witness said police had cordoned off premises of Bolshoi and GUM. TASS said the evacuation was announced from Bolshoi before a performance was due to start at 1600 GMT.  Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB security service said last month the authorities knew the identities of those responsible, saying they four Russian citizens based abroad with  accomplices  inside Russia.

Summary: बम की धमकियों ने मॉस्को के बोल्शोई थिएटर, होटलों को खाली करने के लिए मजबूर कियाः रिपोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate Republican tax bill strongly backed by President Donald Trump faced potential opposition on Monday from two Republican lawmakers who could prevent the sweeping legislation from reaching the Senate floor. Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker, both members of the Senate Budget Committee, said they could vote against the tax package at a Tuesday hearing that Republican leaders hoped would send the legislation to a full Senate vote as early as Thursday. Each senator is seeking different changes to the legislation.  Their opposition could create the first major hurdle for the Republican tax overhaul in the Senate, where political infighting killed the party’s effort to overturn the Obamacare healthcare law earlier this year. Corker, a prominent deficit hawk, said he wants his fellow Republicans to add a backstop measure to prevent tax cuts from ballooning the deficit. Johnson said he wants a bigger tax break for “pass-through” businesses, which include small mom-and-pop enterprises as well as some large, non-corporate businesses. “If we develop a fix prior to committee, I’ll probably support it, but if we don’t, I’ll vote against it,” Johnson’s office quoted him telling reporters in his home state of Wisconsin. Republicans have only a one-vote majority on the 23-member budget committee.  The potential “no” votes surfaced after Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated the Republican bill would expand the $20 trillion national debt by $1.4 trillion over a decade. Republicans have said that economic growth spurred by tax cuts would generate enough new tax revenue to eliminate any new deficit. But Corker said JCT is not expected to release a full macroeconomic analysis of the tax bill ahead of a Senate vote, making a safeguard provision necessary. “I’m not threatening anything. I’m just saying it’s very important for me to know that we’ve got this resolved,” Corker told reporters. Asked if he could vote no on the tax bill at the committee hearing, he replied: “Very possible. Yeah. Sure.” Corker and other Republican deficit hawks, including Senator James Lankford, have been holding talks with Senate tax writers and the administration about adding a provision that would raise tax rates if revenues fall short of expectations.   “We can’t afford to ignore the debt and deficit issues,” Lankford told reporters. “To me, the big issue is how are we dealing with debt and deficit, do we have realistic numbers and is there a backstop in the process just in case we don’t.” Republicans see the tax bill as their last chance to score a significant legislative achievement in 2017 and save face with voters in next year’s congressional midterm elections. Since Trump took office in January, he and his fellow Republicans have passed no major legislation, despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House. The Senate bill would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent after a one-year delay. It would impose a one-time, cut-rate tax on corporations’ foreign profits, while exempting future foreign profits from U.S. taxation. Financial markets have rallied since Trump’s stunning 2016 election victory, partly on hopes of tax cuts for businesses. The Senate bill would deliver these, although its impact on individual Americans and families would be more mixed. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), another nonpartisan research unit of Congress, said the number of Americans with health insurance would fall by 13 million by 2027 under the Republican tax bill, which would repeal an Obamacare federal fine meant to encourage people to buy health insurance. Such a change would shrink the supply of healthy, young people insured and drive up healthcare insurance premiums. The CBO said this would make people with incomes below $30,000 net losers under the bill. Most of those earning more would be net winners, especially those with incomes between $100,000 and $500,000, it said. Democrats, who call the bill a give-away to the rich and corporations, are expected to oppose it in the Senate. The House of Representatives approved a tax bill by a 227-205 vote on Nov. 16. No Democrats voted for it. Thirteen Republicans opposed it. If the Senate Budget Committee approves the tax bill on Tuesday, it will allow Republicans to use a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation to pass the measure on a simple majority in the 100-seat Senate, which they control by a slim 52-48 margin. Without reconciliation, the legislation would need 60 votes, allowing Democrats to prevent its passage.   Senate Republican leaders did not appear on Monday to have enough votes to pass the legislation, with about a half-dozen Republicans viewed as potential “no” votes. But in a positive sign for Trump’s agenda, Republican Senator Rand Paul said on Monday he would support the bill. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has also signaled support.

Summary: ट्रम्प के कर विधेयक को संभावित सीनेट रिपब्लिकन विरोध का सामना करना पड़ सकता है


BERLIN (Reuters) - A man slipped a potentially lethal poison into food, including baby food, on sale in some German supermarkets in an extortion scheme aimed at raising millions of euros, police said on Thursday. No cases of poisoning had been reported so far. Police said the alleged perpetrator had alerted them by e-mail after placing quantities of poison in products for sale in some southern German supermarkets earlier in September, and was now threatening to do so nationwide and elsewhere in Europe unless given a pay-off of many millions.  We are taking the threat very seriously,  Uwe Stuermer, deputy chief of police in the southern lakeside city of Konstanz, told a news conference.  There is no reason for panic or hysteria,  he added, while warning consumers to be on the look-out for packaging that had been tampered with when buying their groceries. Police were looking for a suspect who could be seen in security video footage from one of the supermarkets in a town near Konstanz and appeared to be a man of around 50. The footage was made public to help in the search. Police said they had found some baby food spiked with ethylene glycol, a colorless, odorless liquid used in the manufacture of antifreeze, which can be deadly if consumed. Authorities in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said they would intensify checks of food on sale, but warned that identifying contaminated items would be a challenge.  The case is difficult because the blackmailer did not say which food will be targeted or what poison he will use,  a consumer protection official said.

Summary: जबरन वसूली करने वाला सुपरमार्केट के भोजन में जहर देकर लाखों की मांग कर रहा हैः जर्मन पुलिस


LONDON (Reuters) - British negotiators are still working out a deal with the European Union, Treasury minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday, calling reports that the government has agreed a sum of money to pay the Brexit bill  media speculation . Truss told parliament that  nothing is agreed until everything is agreed  in the talks for Britain to leave the EU, saying it would be wrong of her to cut across the ongoing negotiations in Brussels by commenting on the reports.

Summary: ब्रिटिश वार्ताकार अभी भी ब्रेक्सिट समझौते पर काम कर रहे हैंः वित्त मंत्री


LONDON (Reuters) - British police started to reopen roads around Buckingham Palace in London late on Thursday after investigating a suspicious vehicle.  All road closures are now in the process of being removed,  London s transport authority said.  There s significant congestion in the area but this should now improve.  A police spokesman said road closures were being lifted. Queen Elizabeth is not at Buckingham Palace as she travelled to her Sandringham estate in eastern England earlier on Thursday for the Christmas holiday.

Summary: ब्रिटिश पुलिस का कहना है कि बकिंघम पैलेस के पास सड़क बंद कर दी गई है


(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp is expected to receive Pentagon approval on Thursday to begin production for 200 new heavy cargo helicopters for the U.S. Marines, a Defense Department official said on Tuesday. The long-expected award for the CH-53K King Stallion will cost $87 million on average each and $105 million including spare parts and certain service contracts, said Colonel Hank Vanderborght, who heads the program for the Pentagon. The $27 billion program also includes more than $6 billion in research and development costs. The new helicopter, in development by Lockheed’s Sikorsky helicopter business, can lift 36,000 pounds and would replace the CH-53E Super Stallion, which has operated as the backbone of field logistics for the U.S. Marines since the mid-1980s. The Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board will meet on Thursday and it is expected to approve the beginning of production of the new helicopter, Vanderborght told Reuters. A Lockheed Martin representative declined to comment. The expected approval by the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board would be a major milestone for the largest U.S. defense contractor. Final terms of the production deal still are being finalized, a Defense Department official said. Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson told reporters at the company’s annual media day last week that the 2015 purchase of helicopter maker Sikorsky from United Technologies Corp for $9 billion helped reshape the company.

Summary: लॉकहीड ने पेंटागन के साथ 27 अरब डॉलर का हेलीकॉप्टर सौदा किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel won a fourth term in office on Sunday but will have to build an uneasy coalition to form a German government after her conservatives haemorrhaged support in the face of a surge by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Following are highlights of comments and reactions: CENTRE-RIGHT CDU/CSU BLOC ANGELA MERKEL, CDU party leader, told supporters in Berlin:  Of course we had hoped for a slightly better result. But we mustn t forget that we have just completed an extraordinarily challenging legislative period, so I am happy that we reached the strategic goals of our election campaign,  Merkel said.  We are the strongest party, we have the mandate to build the next government - and there cannot be a coalition government built against us,  Merkel added. Speaking during a television debate of the main parties  top candidates, Merkel said:  Numerically there are still two ways to form a coalition. Numerically SPD and CDU/CSU have enough. The question of the responsibility that everyone has is not just theory but a practical question... I have heard that the SPD is not available for talks, but we can talk about that again tomorrow.   We will sleep on it and then hold some talks... I intend for Germany to have a stable government,  Merkel added. HORST SEEHOFER, CSU leader and Bavarian Prime Minister, told broadcaster ARD:  We had a vacuum on the right side that we need to close now. The best way to do that is with policies that ensure that Germany remains Germany and that we have the immigration and security questions under control.  Seehofer told broadcaster ZDF:  The Christian Democrats will have to get together and explore whether a government is possible; we owe this to our country (...) We don t want (a coalition) with the AfD or with the Left party, but all other democratic forces should at least speak to each other and explore what is can be achieved over the next years. But the CSU will not enter into any false compromises that would cement the division of our country.  ALEXANDER DOBRINDT, a senior CSU member, said:  I believe for everyone in the government this is a bitter election night. But I think it is too early to draw conclusions - like the SPD.  THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, senior CDU member and interior minister, said:  We all have responsibility for the country, we cannot say after six weeks that we need new elections because we didn t manage (to form a coalition)... that would be the worst signal, then the Left and AfD would end up getting even more votes, and that would not be right.  VOLKER KAUDER, parliamentary floor leader of Merkel s conservatives, told ARD television that his party reached its goal to win the election.  We have the mandate to lead the next government,  Kauder said. CENTRE-LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRATS (SPD)    MARTIN SCHULZ, SPD party leader and chancellor candidate, told supporters in Berlin that this election was a  bitter day  for Germany s Social Democrats, adding:  Especially depressing for all of us is the strength of the AfD, which for the first time brings a right-wing party into German parliament in such a strong position. This is a turning point.   The fact that we took in more than 1 million refugees in our country is still dividing in our country. What for some has been an act of humanity and charity is to others menacing, strange and filled with fear. We did not manage to persuade all of our voters that Germany is strong enough not to leave anyone behind,  Schulz said. Schulz told ZDF broadcaster:  We cannot have an extreme right-wing party leading the opposition in Germany, therefore ... we will go into opposition.  He added:  Our role is quite clear: we are the opposition party.  Schulz told ARD broadcaster:  I have the full backing of the party leadership to lead and renew the party... But I will not aim for (parliamentary) floor leadership but fully concentrate on the renewal of the party.  MANUELA SCHWESIG, SPD deputy party leader, told ZDF broadcaster:  That is a really bad result for the SPD. That is a heavy defeat... For us, the grand coalition ends today. For us it s clear that we ll go into opposition as demanded by voters.  THOMAS OPPERMANN, SPD parliamentary floor leader, told ARD broadcaster:  We must of course accept the voters  choice, they (AfD) are a party in parliament now... But I will say very clearly that if there are any racist tones in this parliament, we will object to them, very clearly.  Oppermann told broadcaster ARD, when asked whether Schulz would remain party head:  Martin Schulz started the renewal process of the SPD at the party meeting in March, and he will continue that renewal. We win together and we lose together.  PRO-BUSINESS FREE DEMOCRATS (FDP) CHRISTIAN LINDNER, FDP party leader told ZDF television:  We want to reverse the trend for our country and if it becomes apparent in talks that these goals can be achieved then of course we will be available (for a coalition) but if not, then it would be our task to go into opposition.  Lindner added:  It s about stability now, all parties have to take responsibility. We will not be pushed into a coalition just because the SPD makes a unilateral retreat into the opposition.  WOLFGANG KUBICKI, FDP deputy party leader, told broadcaster ARD:  You cannot force the Greens and us into a coalition just because the SPD bows out.   CEM OZDEMIR, top election candidate for the Greens, said the party would not take part in  anti-European populism  in a possible coalition with the conservatives and the FDP. He told broadcaster ZDF that climate change and social justice policies were requirements for the Greens to form a government.    KATRIN GOERING-ECKARDT, top candidate for the Greens, said:  We have a job to do for the voters. They voted for us as a party that represents a united Europe, as an ecological party that stands for environmental protection, we have a climate pact from Paris and will push for that to be implemented. And we stand for fairness... We will see if there can be cooperation.  FAR-RIGHT ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY (AFD)     ALEXANDER GAULAND, top AFD election candidate, said:  The government, whatever it will look like, should get ready for tough times. We ll chase them. We ll take back our country and our people.  JOERG MEUTHEN, AfD party co-leader, said:  What is happening in our country is a gradual dissolution of our nation. Let us talk about that in a democratic discourse. I accept that some people have a different opinion.  FAR-LEFT LEFT PARTY SAHRA WAGENKNECHT, top election candidate of the Left, blamed the governing parties, Merkel s conservatives and the SPD, for the success of the anti-immigration AfD. She added that her party scored its second-best election result.  I hope that the SPD sticks with its decision of going into the opposition,  Wagenknecht added.  But I also hope that won t be their only decision, that they realize that we need a social democratic party with social democratic policies if we don t want the AfD to keep getting stronger.  THOMAS GITZEL, VP Bank chief economist, said:  The real shocker today is: The SPD wants to go into opposition. The only remaining option is a Jamaica coalition of CDU, FDP and the Greens. Three-party alliances are difficult to form and often unstable.  HOLGER SCHMIEDING, Berenberg Bank chief economist:  The consequences for Germany s economic policies are nearly zero. The positions of (the three parties in) a possible Jamaica coalition are not that far apart.  Schmieding added:  If the FDP were to take over the Finance Ministry, a FDP Finance Minister would not differ significantly from Schaeuble s positions on Europe. I think there won t be major changes regarding Berlin s stance on Europe.

Summary: हाइलाइट्सः जर्मन राष्ट्रीय चुनाव पर प्रतिक्रियाएँ


VIENNA (Reuters) - Munich prosecutors said on Friday they expect to complete their investigations into Airbus s $2 billion sale in 2003 of Eurofighter combat jets to Austria. The deal has been the subject of investigation by Austrian and German prosecutors for years.  Our investigation is about to come to an end. We aim to complete the proceeding soon,  a spokeswoman for Munich prosecutors said, but declined to comment on a report by German weekly Der Spiegel that said the authority would file charges soon. The Munich authority is focusing on whether money supposedly spent on so-called offset deals, which are common in large arms deals to provide business for local firms, was instead used to influence decision-makers on the main sale. Munich prosecutors are investigating 16 people on suspicion of breach of trust, according to the spokeswoman. Airbus, which has repeatedly denied all allegations, said when asked for comment:  Neither the prosecutors  investigations in Munich and Vienna nor our own extensive investigations have led to evidence suggesting bribery in connection with the sale of Eurofighter jets to Austria.      Vienna prosecutors are pursuing a separate investigation into allegations of fraud against Airbus and the Eurofighter industrial consortium based on complaints from the Austrian defense ministry, which is seeking up to 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in compensation. Last month Airbus again denied any wrongdoing in a submission to the Austrian prosecutors and threatened the country s defense minister with legal action. The Munich prosecutors are investigating where millions of euros ended up which Airbus - EADS at the time - paid to a now defunct company between 2005 and 2010, the spokeswoman said.  The Austrian proceedings continue independently of the German investigation, a Vienna prosecutor s spokesman said, adding that he could not say when a decision might be taken on whether to file charges. An Austrian parliamentary inquiry into the Eurofighter deal found no evidence of bribery or that Airbus and its partners illegally influenced Austrian politicians.

Summary: म्यूनिख के अभियोजकों का कहना है कि ऑस्ट्रियाई यूरोफाइटर जांच समाप्त होने वाली है


(Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in federal court on Thursday, seeking records the civil rights group contends provide accounts of hunger strikes at immigration detention facilities. The ACLU said in its filing that in recent weeks there have been a new series of hunger strikes at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in Georgia, Oregon and Washington, adding hunger strikes have previously hit detention centers in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. The suit comes as U.S. Republican President Donald Trump has promised a crackdown on illegal immigration and the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress this month agreed to fund an additional 5,300 detention beds for those suspected of illegally entering the country. “The Trump administration’s plans to expand detention and strip away existing structures for oversight of detention are likely to produce more protests both inside and outside the walls of detention facilities,” the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in an email: “ICE is unable to comment on pending litigation.” The lawsuit said detention center inmates have launched the hunger strikes over the past few years as a non-violent way to bring attention to what they see as a lack of access to bond hearings and inhumane conditions of confinement. The suit also said that some inmates who have previously launched hunger strikes were met with extraordinarily punitive responses. From April 1-22, an average of 36,235 immigrants were in detention per day, according to the most recent statistics provided by ICE. The White House in March requested bringing the total number of beds up to 45,700, saying the additional capacity was necessary to achieve the president’s goal of “enhancing interior enforcement efforts and ending ‘catch and release’ for those apprehended at the border.” The agreement reached in Congress would increase the number of immigration detention beds to 39,324 from 34,000 currently, according to a summary provided by the House Appropriations Committee. In April, hundreds of detainees at an immigration detention center in Washington state began refusing meals in a hunger strike to protest conditions at the facility and delayed immigration hearings, activists said. The Geo Group Inc, the company that operates the Washington state facility and other detention centers around the United States, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Summary: आप्रवासन हिरासत को लेकर नागरिक अधिकार समूह ने अमेरिकी अदालत में मुकदमा दायर किया


(Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday warned Ukraine needs to live up to its promises economic and political reforms or risk seeing the European Union walk away from its sanctions on Russia. “We know that if they give an excuse to the EU, there are at least five countries right now that want to say ‘We want out’” of sanctions against Moscow, Biden said, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Europe imposed sanctions after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. Fighting has continued in the east of the country, despite the so-called Minsk ceasefire agreement, and Western powers fear peace efforts could unravel. In exchange for financial support from the United States and other Western allies, Ukraine promised reforms, but progress has been mixed. Biden’s comments came a day after he met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the United Nations, pushing on reforms in Ukraine’s energy and justice sectors, while saying conditions had been met for a third U.S. sovereign loan guarantee of up to $1 billion. Biden said he has spent two to three hours a week on the phone with Ukrainian leaders since the crisis began, urging them to persist with reforms, while also pressuring Germany, France and Italy to hold fast on sanctions. “There’s an overwhelming instinct in Europe to say, ‘Hey: before [Poroshenko] became president, this was owned by Russia anyway. They had a puppet there. What difference does it make? What the hell’s the difference? Why are you making us engage in these sanctions?’” Biden said. Noting a crisis of “self-doubt” in Europe caused by the United Kingdom’s referendum decision to leave the bloc and the Syrian migration crisis, Biden said he has warned Poroshenko to make sure that the failure of the Minsk deal is not blamed on Ukraine. “I’ve been the guy on the back of Ukrainians - which was a thoroughly corrupt system when they came in - making the case that, ‘You have to understand: everybody’s willing to blame the victim, and you better straighten up and fly right,’” Biden said.

Summary: बाइडन ने यूक्रेन को सुधारों पर चेताया, कहा-रूस पर यूरोपीय संघ के प्रतिबंध खतरे में


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Eleven foreign workers were killed in a landslide at a construction site in northwest Malaysia on Saturday, authorities said. Earlier estimates had put the George Town death toll at 14, but three workers had managed to escape, said Ervin Galen Teruki, deputy operations head of the Fire and Rescue Department in Penang state.     A seventh body was found on Sunday morning. Fire officials earlier identified the victims as foreign workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. The construction site supervisor, a Malaysian, remains missing. The landslide occured on Saturday morning at a site where two 49-storey condominium towers are being built. The cause has yet to be determined. A stop-work order had been issued for the development, pending investigations, according to the Penang Island city council mayor Maimunah Mohammad Sharif.  Several residential and commercial towers are still under construction in the area. Local media reported anger among residents and activists, some of who said they had previously protested against the increasing development of hillslopes around the area.

Summary: मलेशिया में निर्माण स्थल पर भूस्खलन से मरने वालों की संख्या 11 हुई


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian police have seized seven tonnes of cocaine at a banana farm in northern Antioquia province, the defense minister and police said on Friday. The shipment, worth about $200 million, belonged to the Golfo Clan crime gang. Five people were arrested in the operation.  The shipment was being guarded for a later transport to Central America, with the United States as a final destination, camouflaged in legal shipments of banana and fruits,  the defense ministry said in a statement.  The Golfo Clan said this month it would be willing to surrender to the government. The group, also known the Usuga Clan, is accused of operating profitable drug trafficking routes in partnership with Mexican cartels and taking part in illegal gold mining. President Juan Manuel Santos has said the government is looking into the request but will not negotiate with the group.

Summary: कोलंबियाई पुलिस ने केले के खेत में 7 टन कोकीन जब्त की


VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats asked Facebook to disclose the identities of those behind sites which they say are spreading libel in an attempt to clean up a smear campaign scandal ahead of an election on Oct. 15. Kern has pledged to get to the bottom of his party s links to Facebook pages which have made unsusbtantiated allegations against Sebastian Kurz, the head of the main opposition People s Party, who is leading in polls for the forthcoming parliamentary vote. The scandal has already cost Kern s campaign manager his job. The Social Democrats  lawyers wrote to Facebook in Ireland on Tuesday saying the group must, according to EU rules, hand over details about users who operate sites showing potentially libellous content about Kern and Kurz.  We ... ask you to give us all information you have about the persons behind these ... pages, especially names, email-addresses, IP-addresses or other contact details,  Vienna-based law firm Freimueller/Obereder/Pilz said.  Due to the urgency of the matter we ask for your answer within four days,  the lawyers said in the letter obtained by Reuters. Facebook had no immediate comment. The Social Democrats have denied having any connection with two websites making unsubstantiated allegations against 31-year-old Foreign Minister Kurz. But Austrian media reported on Saturday that a former adviser to the Social Democrats who was dismissed this summer was originally behind the sites and that they had been kept in operation. The Social Democrats also sued the as of yet unknown operators of the Facebook pages for libel and for failing to comply with Austria s media law which forbids anonymous publishing.  ($1 = 0.8505 euros)

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के सोशल डेमोक्रेट्स ने फेसबुक से बदनामी अभियान के पीछे के लोगों को बेनकाब करने का आग्रह किया


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey may reciprocate a move by Washington and partially ease issuance of visas for U.S. citizens after the U.S. embassy said it had resumed visa processing on a limited basis, a Turkish government source said on Monday. The U.S. embassy in Ankara announced its decision in an email on Monday, in what could signal a tentative improvement in the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

Summary: अमेरिका द्वारा वीजा प्रतिबंधों में आंशिक रूप से ढील देने के बाद तुर्की भी इसका अनुसरण कर सकता हैः तुर्की सरकार के सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats, seeking to capitalize on growing disclosures about the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, urged a top Republican lawmaker on Tuesday to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns as a matter of national security. It was the second request for Trump’s returns by Senate Democrats in as many weeks, part of a Democratic campaign to pressure Republicans in Congress into obtaining the documents that could reveal conflicts of interest posed by the president’s global business empire. Trump has defied decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns, saying his tax affairs were under federal audit. The Internal Revenue Service has said that is no obstacle to releasing them publicly. In a letter on Tuesday to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, two of the panel’s leading Democrats said Trump’s tax returns should be pursued in light of “critical national security implications” posed by contacts between Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Trump associates, including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “There is no debate that the conflicts in question pose a threat to American national security and the integrity of the government of the United States, and more and more keep coming to light,” wrote Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committee’s top Democrat, and Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady rejected a request for the returns last Wednesday by Senate Democrats, saying congressional actions that target individual tax returns would constitute an abuse of authority and set a dangerous precedent. On Tuesday, a Hatch spokesman said the Utah Republican had no further comment.  The two Democratic lawmakers said national security had long been a focus of the Senate Finance Committee oversight of issues involving trade, Iran and terrorism. They also said the panel previously sought the tax returns of former Enron Corp executives, oil and gas companies and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, as part of its oversight duties. Wyden and Stabenow said they wanted the committee to hold a closed session in which lawmakers could conduct a bipartisan review of Trump’s returns.  They added: “If committee members identify ties or relations to foreign governments within these documents, we will respectfully request the chairman and members of the committee hold a vote to make that information available to the public.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट डेमोक्रेट्स ने ट्रम्प टैक्स रिटर्न को राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा का मुद्दा बनाया


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - New ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday the  Top Six  of South Africa s ruling party comprised politicians from different sides of its ideological divides and he expected the party to emerge from this week s leadership conference stronger. Analysts have warned that the party s top decision-making group could fail to agree on policy, with three politicians apiece drawn from the Ramaphosa camp and that of his rival, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.  The leadership that has been chosen is a unity leadership,  Ramaphosa told reporters at the conference.  It s a leadership that combines different views and approaches that were prevalent in the conference prior to the election.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के रामफोसा का कहना है कि पार्टी के "शीर्ष छह" अलग-अलग विचारों को जोड़ते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans are working on changes to their healthcare overhaul bill to provide more generous tax credits for older Americans and add a work requirement for the Medicaid program for the poor, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Sunday. Ryan said Republican leaders still planned to bring the healthcare bill to a vote on the House of Representatives floor on Thursday. Speaking on the “Fox News Sunday” television program, he said leaders were working to address concerns that had been raised by rank-and-file Republicans to the legislation. Republicans remain deeply divided over the healthcare overhaul, which is President Donald Trump’s first major legislative initiative. It aims to fulfill his campaign pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, the signature healthcare program of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Democrats say the Republican plan could throw millions off health insurance and hurt the elderly, poor and working families while giving tax cuts to the rich. “We think we should be offering even more assistance than the bill currently does” for lower-income people age 50 to 64, Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said of the tax credits for health insurance that are proposed in the legislation. Ryan also said Republicans were working on changes that would allow federal block grants to states for Medicaid and permit states to impose a work requirement for able-bodied Medicaid recipients. Trump told reporters in a brief conversation aboard Air Force One that he had meetings about healthcare reform in Florida at the weekend and that the effort to sell the proposal was going well. He has been wooing lawmakers to vote for the bill and won the backing of a dozen conservative lawmakers on Friday after an Oval Office meeting in which the president endorsed a work requirement and block-grant option for Medicaid. Trump is set to meet Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy special adviser under Obama who helped shape the Affordable Care Acton, at the White House on Monday, along with Ryan and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Block grants would give states a set amount of money to cover people on the Medicaid program and provide flexibility in spending decisions. However, there is no guarantee funding would keep up with future demands. While Ryan said he felt “very good” about the health bill’s prospects in the House, a leading conservative lawmaker, Representative Mark Meadows, told the C-Span “Newsmakers” program that there were currently 40 Republican “no” votes in the House. Republicans hold a majority in the chamber but cannot afford to have more than 21 defections for the measure to pass.  Meadows and two other Republican opponents of the bill, Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday “negotiating with the president’s team, trying to fix this bill,” Cruz told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” North Carolina Republican Meadows said the changes being considered for the Medicaid program would not go far enough if they left it up to states to decide whether to put in place a work requirement. Price acknowledged the tough negotiations, telling ABC’s “This Week”: “It’s a fine needle that needs to be thread, there’s no doubt about it.”   The healthcare bill would face significant challenges in the Senate even if it were to pass the House. Senator Tom Cotton, a conservative Arkansas Republican, said the bill would not reduce premiums for people on the private insurance market. “It’s fixable, but it’s going to take a lot of work,” Cotton said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Moderate Republicans have also expressed concerns about the bill, and their worries are often not the same as that of conservatives. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine worried the bill would harm older Americans, and shift Medicaid costs to states - something critics say a block-grant approach would only make worse. Collins said coverage issues must also be dealt with, citing a report from the Congressional Budget Office that said 14 million people would lose health coverage under the House bill over the next year and 24 million over the next decade. Affordability has been one of the bigger concerns that insurers and hospital groups have raised about the legislation. To the extent that a change in tax credits makes healthcare more affordable for some people, insurers and hospitals could stand to benefit. The BlueCross BlueShield Association emphasized the need for the replacement to be affordable when the draft of the healthcare bill was released earlier this month. The association represents BCBS insurers that cover the vast majority of the roughly 10 million people enrolled in 2017 Obamacare plans.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन ने अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य विधेयक में सुधार किया, वृद्ध अमेरिकियों को लाभ दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Infighting dogged the Democrats on Wednesday as Bernie Sanders’ campaign accused party leaders of bias against him and many Democrats urged Sanders to keep his supporters in check. The tensions after a chaotic weekend convention in Nevada emerged as Republicans begin to rally around their own outsider presidential candidate, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, in the general election. Trump, who has all but secured his party’s nomination, has turned his focus to November, outlining to Reuters on Tuesday  proposals including scrapping financial regulation and the Paris climate accords. On Wednesday, he  released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees. More Democrats urged Sanders on Wednesday to take a stronger stand against his supporters’ uprising in Nevada over the delegate selection process. They said he did not go far enough in condemning the unrest, which included a thrown chair, yelling and threats to convention leaders. “That was the time to have sent a full-throated message to his followers: that we don’t do this kind of thing,” U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said on CNN. Democrat Barbara Boxer, the other U.S. senator from California, was at the Nevada convention and expressed her concern to Sanders in a phone call on Tuesday night.  “I feared for my safety and had a lot of security around me,” she said. “I’ve never had anything like this happen.” Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, in a series of television interviews, accused Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, of bias against Sanders from the beginning and “throwing shade” on his campaign. “There’s a tremendous amount of frustration out there and people want to have a fair process,” Weaver said on CNN. Senior U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Wasserman Schultz on Tuesdsay both also called on Sanders to do more to rein in his supporters. Sanders had said he condemned violence and harassment against individuals but framed Nevada’s incident as a warning to Democratic leaders to treat his supporters with fairness. The U.S. senator from Vermont is determined to fight on against front-runner Clinton in what has become a longer-than-expected and sometimes acrimonious battle. In contests on Tuesday, Clinton narrowly edged out Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she had not been expected to win. Sanders won Oregon, a state that played to his strengths. Democrats are faced with a delicate balancing act as long as Sanders remains in the race, needing to pivot toward Trump without taking Clinton’s nomination for granted and alienating passionate backers of Sanders. Sparring between the Sanders camp and the Democratic Party leaders over the Nevada events threatened party unity before the Democrats’ national convention in July in Philadelphia. “Unaddressed, the toxic relationship between DNC @ @SenSanders campaign, so evident last night, could cast dark cloud over Philly convention,” David Axelrod, a former top strategist for President Barack Obama, said on Twitter. Despite having an almost unassailable lead in the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination, and with the  primary battle heading toward the final contests next month, Clinton will need Sanders supporters on her side in the general election. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey, what played out in Nevada is just a glimpse into the uphill battle Clinton faces in courting them. If Clinton wins the nomination, for every six Democrats who support Sanders, one will switch their allegiance to Trump in the general election and two say they would not support either candidate. Only three of every six say they would support Clinton as the party’s nominee.  Sanders’ campaign has long accused party leaders of favoring Clinton, a former U.S. senator and secretary of state, for the presidential nomination in the face of his unexpectedly strong primary challenge. On Saturday, his supporters in Nevada became angry at the delegate selection process, booing, yelling and hurling insults, and at least one chair, toward the convention leaders. Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman, Roberta Lange, said she and her family, including a 5-year-old grandson, have received death threats and numerous callers have disrupted her workplace. On Wednesday, Lange said she wanted Sanders to acknowledge the threats, and apologize. “His statement was pretty weak,” she said on CNN. “Until you say you’re sorry, until you say what happened in Nevada should not have happened and it was wrong and it was fueled by your senior campaign staff people, then that’s an apology and then I think there’s some responsibility is taken.”

Summary: नेवादा विद्रोह के बाद डेमोक्रेट्स ने सैंडर्स की निंदा की


(Reuters) - Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin plans to call a special legislative session to fill a budget shortfall of $215 million tied to cigarette sales, according to a statement issued by her office on Wednesday.  “I am planning on calling a special session beginning September 25 for legislators to adjust the current fiscal year budget,” she said in a statement.  On Aug. 10, Oklahoma’s State Supreme Court ruled against a measure passed during the last legislative session that created a $1.50 “cessation” fee for cigarette packs. The fee was expected to add about $215 million to state coffers, mostly earmarked for health and human services agencies.  Fallin said in a statement last month that the ruling meant Oklahoma would also miss out on federal matching funds. The fee was passed when lawmakers were attempting to fill an $878 million budget shortfall.  A special session would cost Oklahoma an additional $30,000 per day, according to an August statement by the state’s House Democratic Caucus.  Following Fallin’s announcement Wednesday, House Speaker Charles McCall, in a statement, said House Republicans would consider raising a cigarette tax in a special session “but will send it to a vote of the people if House Democrats again refuse to support the measure.” If passed in special session, the cigarette tax would generate approximately $122 million for fiscal 2018’s budget, the statement said. The balance of money to plug the hole would come from existing budget sources as well as utilizing some of the state’s Rainy Day Fund “The cigarette tax is the only feasible tax option Oklahomans have said they would support,” McCall said. Oklahoma’s fiscal issues stem from tax cuts and structural changes to the state budget, further exacerbated by a decline in energy prices a few years ago, said Robert Dauffenbach, a senior associate dean for economic development and impact at the University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a balanced budget requirement. Its fiscal 2018 budget totaled about $6.8 billion, according to Michael McNutt, a spokesman for Fallin. The yield on Oklahoma 10-year general obligation bonds traded 20 basis points over the benchmark Thomson Reuters Municipal Market Data AAA yield scale at the close on Tuesday. The yield was little changed from the end of May, when the state’s legislative session ended.

Summary: ओकलाहोमा के राज्यपाल ने बजट की कमी को ठीक करने के लिए विशेष सत्र की योजना बनाई


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump has cemented his credentials as Tweeter in Chief since taking office.  Nearly 100 days into his presidency, Trump has posted 489 tweets, or about five per day on average, typically between the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.  Trump is the first U.S. president to use his personal Twitter account @realDonaldTrump. Since his account was created in 2009, Trump has sent out 34,800 tweets. One of the most active politicians on Twitter, Trump has previously expressed his love for Twitter.  In Nov 2012, he tweeted:   The tweet got 5,033 retweets and 5,399 likes.  Trump currently has 28.4 million followers. His predecessor Barack Obama, the first U.S. president to ever have a Twitter account, had 13.5 million followers on his official handle @POTUS. He sent out only 342 tweets as president.  The following is a chart comparing how Trump used Twitter as a president-elect and president:  How frequently @realDonaldTrump tweets: As President-elect: 434 total tweets; Average of 6 tweets per day  As President: 489 total tweets; Average of 5 tweets per day  What hour @realDonaldTrump typically tweets: As President-elect: 8 a.m. EDT / 61 tweets  As President: 8 a.m. EDT/ 74 tweets  Hashtags/topics/handles used the most:  As President-elect: Trump tweeted at news handles the most such as@CNN @FoxNews @nytimes, calling out “fake news” stories but used hashtags celebrating his win like #ThankYouTour2016 #AmericaFirst and promoting his inauguration like #InaugurationDay #Inauguration2017 As President: Trump tweeted the most at news handles such as @nytimes @foxandfriends @CNN about “fake news” reporting but topics changed to promoting his policies like #RepealANDReplace #Obamacare  Most tweeted day and why: As President-elect: Jan. 16: 15 tweets promoting free tickets to Trump’s inauguration-related events  As President: Feb 8: 11 tweets regarding Jeff Sessions’ confirmation and unfair treatment towards daughter Ivanka Trump;  Feb. 15: 11 tweets regarding Russian intelligence probe and intelligence agency leaking  How often @realDonaldTrump retweets versus tweets: As President-elect: 413 tweets, 22 retweets. Trump tweets about 19x more than he RTs  As President: 464 tweets, 24 retweets, Trump tweets about 19x more than he RTs  Followers @realDonaldTrump:  As President-elect: 21 million total net followers  As President: 28 million total net followers  Followers @POTUS:  As President-elect: 14 million total net followers  As President: 17 million total net followers  Most retweeted tweet: As President-elect: Nov. 9, 2016   As President: Jan. 22, 2017      NOTE: Data based on Crimson Hexagon, BrandWatch, Thomson Reuters, Zoomph

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प के पहले 100 दिन


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday intensified his accusations that NATO allies were not spending enough on defense and warned of more attacks like this week’s Manchester bombing unless the alliance did more to stop militants. In unexpectedly abrupt remarks as NATO leaders stood alongside him, Trump said certain member countries owed “massive amounts of money” to the United States and NATO — even though allied contributions are voluntary, with multiple budgets. His scripted comments contrasted with NATO’s choreographed efforts to play up the West’s unity by inviting Trump to unveil a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the new NATO headquarters building in Brussels. “Terrorism must be stopped in its tracks, or the horror you saw in Manchester and so many other places will continue forever,” Trump said, referring to Monday’s suicide bombing in the English city that killed 22 people, including children. “These grave security concerns are the same reason that I have been very, very direct ... in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share,” Trump said. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg defended Trump, saying that although he was “blunt” he had “a very plain and clear message on the expectations” of allies.  But one senior diplomat said Trump, who left the leaders’ dinner before it ended to fly to Italy for Friday’s Group of Seven summit, said the remarks did not go down well at all. “This was not the right place or time,” the diplomat said of the very public harangue. “We are left with nothing else but trying to put a brave face on it.”  In another unexpected twist, Trump called on NATO, an organization founded on collective defense against the Soviet threat, to include limiting immigration in its tasks. And Trump did say that the United States “will never forsake the friends who stood by our side” but NATO leaders had hoped he would more explicitly support the mutual defense rules of a  military alliance’s he called “obsolete” during his campaign.  Instead, he returned to a grievance about Europe’s drop in defense spending since the end of the Cold War and failed to publicly commit to NATO’s founding Article V rule which stipulates that an attack on one ally is an attack against all. “Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying for their defense,” Trump said, standing by a piece of the wreckage of the Twin Towers. “This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States, and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years,” Trump said as the other leaders watched. Nicholas Burns, a former long-time diplomat and ambassador to NATO from 2001-2005, now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said every U.S. president since Harry Truman had pledged support for Article V and that the United States would defend Europe. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump was “100 percent” committed to collective defense. “We are not playing cutesie with this. He is fully committed,” Spicer said. Praise was always going to be in short supply after Trump’s sharp election campaign criticism of the alliance, which he blamed for not doing more to combat terrorism. Last year, Trump threatened to abandon U.S. allies in Europe if they did not spend enough on defense, comments that were particularly unnerving for the ex-Soviet Baltic states on Russia’s border which fear Moscow might try a repeat of its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Although he has since softened his tone in phone calls and meetings with Western leaders, Trump’s sharp words on Thursday recalled his awkward meeting with Angela Merkel in March, when he pressed the German chancellor for Germany to meet NATO’s military spending target. NATO diplomats planned to placate Trump with a pledge on Thursday to agree to national plans by the end of this year showing how NATO allies will meet a promise to spend 2 percent of economic output every year on defense by 2024. But Trump increased the pressure, calling that agreement made at a summit in Wales in 2014 “the bare minimum”. “Even 2 percent of GDP is insufficient ... 2 percent is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats,” Trump said. He also made his presence felt at his first NATO summit, literally, pushing his way past Montenegro’s prime minister, Dusko Markovic, whose country joins the organization next month, in footage that went viral. Spicer said he had not seen the video but assumed the U.S. president was moving to his designated spot. NATO nonetheless strived to impress Trump with allied jets flying overhead and a walk through the new glass headquarters, which replaces a 1960s prefab structure. Trump, a real estate magnate, called the building “beautiful” and joked that he did not dare ask how much it cost.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सीधे नाटो सहयोगियों को डांटा, कहा कि उन पर 'भारी' राशि बकाया है


CHARIKAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan authorities are investigating an incident in which two people were killed and two others wounded when a helicopter appeared to come under fire from guests at a wedding party near Kabul and fired back, local officials said. Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said the circumstances of the incident in Qarbagh district outside the capital Kabul late on Monday were still being investigated and it was unclear if the victims were members of the wedding party or not. Wedding parties and similar gatherings in Afghanistan, where many people outside major city centers carry guns, sometimes feature guests firing into the air in celebration. If confirmed, the deaths would be the latest in a series that has seen at least 24 civilians killed in Afghan and U.S. air strikes over the past week. Afghan officials said the helicopter came from the NATO-led Resolute Support coalition but there was no immediate confirmation from Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul that U.S. or coalition aircraft were involved in the incident.   We are aware of reports, but have no further information at this time,  a spokesman said in an emailed statement. Last week, local officials said at least 13 civilians were killed in an Afghan air force strike in the western province of Heart, while another 11 were killed in a U.S. strike in the eastern Loghar province. [nL4N1LF3TJ] [nL4N1LG4VP] Fears have grown that civilian casualties will rise as a result of an increase in air strikes in Afghanistan following the U.S. decision to step up military action against the Taliban and other insurgents. Already in the first half of the year, United Nations figures showed a 43 percent spike in civilian casualties, with 95 killed and 137 wounded as the pace of air operations increased even before U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new strategy in Afghanistan.

Summary: अफगान अधिकारी हेलीकॉप्टर शादी में हुई मौतों की जांच कर रहे हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish leaders voiced support on Wednesday for a longer-term role for U.S. forces in Syria once Islamic State is defeated, after the United States signalled it would not pull out before there was progress towards a political solution. Comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday have drawn heavy criticism from the Iran-backed Syrian government, which says Washington is making up a new excuse for keeping its  illegal occupation  forces in Syria. Limiting Iranian influence in Syria and Iraq is a key U.S. aim. Syrian Kurdish groups have emerged as the main partner on the ground for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in northern and eastern Syria, areas which the Syrian state and Iran have vowed to take back. Kurdish fighters, with Arab allies, U.S. advisers and coalition jets, have driven Islamic State from swathes of territory including their former headquarters in Raqqa city. The Kurdish YPG militia and its political allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north, and now control nearly a quarter of Syria. Their influence angers neighbour Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers  Party that has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil. The main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, welcomed a longer-term U.S. role in Syria. The U.S. presence should continue until there was a political solution to the Syrian crisis which erupted in 2011, it said.     In a written message to Reuters, the PYD s co-chief, Shahoz Hasan, agreed this would be beneficial.  Without achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and with the continuation of the Turkish and Iranian intervention in Syria, and with the continued presence of al Qaeda groups in Syria, the continued operation of the coalition is better,  Hasan said. Senior Syrian Kurdish politician Fawza Youssef said a U.S. role would be very important for the future.  The United States and the coalition forces played a major role in fighting Daesh, and to reach a fair political settlement, we see a need for international guarantees,  said Youssef, a senior member of the Kurdish-led authority running the cantons in northern Syria. She pointed to an increase in humanitarian aid to northern Syria by Washington and the coalition since the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Raqqa - a sign of a widening U.S. role. Turkey said on Monday the United States had 13 bases in Syria and Russia had five. As all sides in Syria battled Islamic State, the U.S.-backed forces have mostly avoided direct confrontation with the Syrian government, backed by Iran and Russia. But Iranian and Syrian officials are now signalling their intention to take back areas captured from IS by the SDF. Syria s main Kurdish groups say they want a federal system for the whole country, and hope for negotiations with Damascus to shore up their autonomous rule. Their territorial grip has expanded since joining forces with the United States to fight IS, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans. Mattis described this week a role for American troops long after Islamic State militants lose control of all the territory they hold.  Mattis said the U.S. military s longer-term objective would be to prevent the return of an  ISIS 2.0 . But he also suggested that U.S. forces aimed to help set the conditions for a diplomatic solution in Syria.  We re not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction , he said, a reference to U.N.-backed peace talks. The U.S.-led coalition has repeatedly said it does not seek to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s military.  In response to the Mattis comments, the Syrian government said on Tuesday that Washington was presenting a new excuse to keep its forces in Syria by linking this presence to a political settlement, having previously said its goal was to fight IS. Foreign ministry comments affirmed the government s position that the presence of U.S. and other forces in Syria without government approval was an act of aggression.

Summary: सीरियाई कुर्द नेताओं ने सीरिया में अमेरिकी भूमिका को लंबा करने का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Steve King on Monday stood by controversial remarks on immigration and birth rates, in which he said “our civilization” could not be restored with “somebody else’s babies,” drawing condemnation from Democrats and fellow Republicans.  The speaker of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, and the leading Democrat in the chamber, Nancy Pelosi, both took exception to King’s remarks.  The Iowa congressman on Sunday posted a tweet praising Geert Wilders, a nationalist, anti-Islam politician vying to become the Netherlands’ prime minister in a national election on Wednesday. “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” King wrote in a post that drew thousands of “likes.” Pelosi on Monday called on House Republican leaders to condemn King’s comments, saying they “must decide whether white supremacy is welcome in the GOP ranks.” A spokeswoman for Ryan, AshLee Strong, said, “The speaker clearly disagrees (with King) and believes America’s long history of inclusiveness is one of its great strengths.”  King, an early supporter of Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, defended his tweet in an interview on CNN on Monday. He pointed to Western Europe, where he said low birth rates were harming civilization, culture and values. “I’d like to see an America that is just so homogenous that we look a lot the same,” he said. “I think there’s far too much focus on race, especially in the last eight years. I want to see that put behind us.” Pressed on birth rates for different groups of Americans, King said: “They contribute differently to our culture and civilization.” Some of King’s House colleagues appeared to take his tweet personally. “What exactly do you mean?,” tweeted Republican U.S. Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida. “Do I qualify as ‘somebody else’s baby?’ #concernedGOPcolleague.” Democratic Representative Ted Lieu, who immigrated to the United States at age 3, tweeted a picture of his two sons, writing: “Dear Representative Steve King: These are my two babies — Representative Ted Lieu.” Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said, “America is a nation of immigrants,” and added that King’s sentiment “doesn’t reflect our shared history or values.” Bush was one of Trump’s Republican rivals for the White House. The tweet also drew fire from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The head of the civil and human rights law firm, Sherilyn Ifill, said King’s remarks were “an explicit call to return to the shameful period when white supremacy was the norm in American public life.”  Ifill said King’s remarks were “particularly dangerous” at a time when violent hate crimes have reached “dangerous levels.” King is from a rural state where nearly 92 percent of the population is white, compared with 77 percent for the nation as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Jeff Kaufmann, head of the Republican Party in Iowa, said in a statement that he disagreed with King, also calling the United States “a nation of immigrants” and saying that such diversity was its strength.

Summary: आप्रवासन पर अमेरिकी सांसद के विवादास्पद ट्वीट ने आग लगा दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Annual employee surveys released by the FBI on Wednesday show former Director James Comey was highly regarded, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim when he fired Comey this year that he had lost the confidence of the agency’s workers. The voluntary survey conducted in 2017 showed Comey received top marks on all but two of more than 90 questions. He scored high marks for expressing a compelling vision for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and helping morale, with respondents strongly agreeing that they would choose to work with him again. The findings contradict statements made by Trump and White House officials at the time of Comey’s firing on May 9. Trump insisted he fired Comey because of job performance and told a news conference the FBI chief “was very unpopular with most people.” Trump portrayed the FBI under Comey as being a mess. Comey told a Senate panel that White House claims the FBI was in disarray and poorly led were “lies, plain and simple.” Other senior FBI officials praised Comey and said they were proud to have worked with him, but the workplace surveys were the first broad measure of employee sentiment toward him. Trump’s reasons for firing Comey shifted over time, and he told one interviewer the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was on his mind when he made the decision. Comey told lawmakers he thought he was fired because of the Russia investigation. His firing is now part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into ties between Russian officials and Trump’s political campaign.

Summary: सर्वेक्षणों ने ट्रम्प के इस दावे का खंडन किया कि कोमी ने एफ. बी. आई. का विश्वास खो दिया था


VALLETTA (Reuters) - Malta s government said on Saturday it was offering a reward of 1 million euros ($1.2 million) for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the death of prominent journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.  This is a case of extraordinary importance which requires extraordinary measures,  the government said in a statement. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had told parliament on Wednesday the government would offer a  substantial  reward to anyone with information about the crime but did not say how much would be paid. Caruana Galizia, who regularly criticized Muscat in her popular blogs, was killed on Monday by a bomb, which tore apart her car as she was driving away from her home on the southern Mediterranean island. The journalist ran a popular blog in which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged high-level corruption, targeting politicians from across party lines, including Muscat. On Thursday the Caruana Galizia family said they had been informed of the government s plans for a reward but they were refusing to endorse it.  We are not interested in justice without change,  Caruana Galizia s sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul said.   Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for   political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society   replaces the desperate situation we are in,  they said.  They also called on the prime minister to resign and said his last act before doing so should be to replace the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General for failing to act over their mother s claims of corruption.  A group of NGOs called the  Civil Society Network  is planning to hold a national protest against the killing on Sunday.

Summary: माल्टा ने पत्रकार के हत्यारों को खोजने के लिए 10 लाख यूरो का इनाम देने की पेशकश की


NAIROBI (Reuters) - A former lawmaker filed a petition at Kenya s Supreme Court on Monday challenging President Uhuru Kenyatta s victory in last month s presidential election in a last minute move that opens the door to legal scrutiny of the vote. Harun Mwau filed the petition hours before a Monday deadline set by the constitution expired. Earlier in the day, a coalition of civil society groups said they were being targeted by the government in an effort to head off potential legal cases. The Supreme Court has until Nov. 14 to rule on election petitions. If it upholds the result, Kenyatta will be sworn in on Nov. 28.  Kenyatta came to power in 2013 and won a second and final term in August, defeating opposition leader Raila Odinga by 1.4 million votes. The Supreme Court nullified the vote citing procedural irregularities and ordered a second election.  Odinga did not contest the repeat vote on Oct. 26 saying it would be unfair because the election commission had failed to implement reforms. Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote, though opposition supporters staged a boycott and prevented polls from opening in the west of the country.  Kenya is a regional hub for trade, diplomacy and security and its prolonged election season has disrupted its economy.  Rights groups said on Monday the government was trying to prevent them from lodging cases challenging the Oct. 26 result. The government s NGO Board, which monitors civil society organizations, summoned three groups for an audit on Monday, they said.       It is not a coincidence that the NGO Board has decided to come after these organizations. All three have been instrumental in calling for free, fair, and credible elections,  said a statement from Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu, a coalition of civil society groups that monitored the election. The name means My Vote My Voice in Kiswahili. The three organizations, Katiba Institute, Muslims for Human Rights and Inuka Trust, belong to the coalition. The head of Muslims for Human Rights said he had planned to file a court challenge.  Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu deployed 2,000 monitors for last month s vote and said it found multiple cases where results from polling stations differed from results on the forms posted on the election portal.  They are trying to attack everywhere to see who is preparing to go to court so that they stop it,  Tom Oketch, secretary general for the Coalition for Constitutional Implementation, told a news conference. Calls to Fazul Mohamed, the NGO Board s executive director, went unanswered. Mwenda Njoka, a spokesman for the interior ministry, under which the board falls, said only Mohamed could comment.  In a separate case, another organization filed a case against the opposition, seeking to hold them liable for losses incurred because of their demonstrations.

Summary: केन्या की अदालत में केन्याटा की चुनावी जीत को चुनौती देने वाली याचिका दायर की गई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said he could envision Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address - but in a comedy skit. Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, spoke to NBC’s “Today” show in interviews aired on Tuesday hours before Obama was to give the final State of the Union address of his presidency. The Democratic president was asked if he could envision Trump, the billionaire developer known for his bombastic style, making his own State of the Union speech as president. “Well, I can imagine it - in a ‘Saturday Night’ skit,” Obama said, referring to the NBC’s long-running late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live.” “Look, anything’s possible. And I think, you know, we shouldn’t be complacent.” Biden was more wary, not ruling out a Trump victory in November’s U.S. presidential election. “Yes, I think it’s possible,” he said. If that were to happen, Biden said, he hoped Trump would get “a lot more serious about the issues.” “He is divisive – I think he’d have to acknowledge that he’s very divisive – and that’s not healthy,” Biden said. “We always do best when we act as one America. We always do poorly when we appeal to our fears and our differences.” In the interview, which was taped on Monday, Obama said he regretted that he has not realized his goal of unifying Americans, especially in Washington. Still, he said he did not think voters would be swayed by Trump’s divisive approach. “I’m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn’t try to divide is that isn’t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating,” Obama said. Trump frequently uses racially charged rhetoric. He has said he would deport all undocumented immigrants and in December called for an outright ban on Muslims entering the United States. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here)

Summary: ओबामा ने ट्रंप के स्टेट ऑफ द यूनियन संबोधन का मजाक उड़ाया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the head of Bavaria s conservatives, and the leader of the center Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday, his office said on Friday. Steinmeier played a central role in encouraging the SPD to reverse its pledge to go into opposition. Thursday s meeting will include Merkel, SPD leader Martin Schulz and Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party to Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU). Schulz on Friday announced his center party would help form a new government led by Merkel to avert a disruptive repeat election in Europe s economic and political powerhouse, but said party members would have the final say on any deal.

Summary: जर्मन राष्ट्रपति गुरुवार को पार्टी नेताओं से मिलेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would respond harshly to any U.S. measures designed to hurt it, a day after the United States told Moscow to close its San Francisco consulate and buildings in Washington and New York. The warning, from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, came as Russia said it was weighing a response to the U.S. move that will force it to shutter two trade missions in the United States as well as the San Francisco consulate by Sept. 2. “We’ll react as soon as we finish our analysis,” Lavrov told students in Moscow. “We will respond harshly to things that damage us.” Separately, a top Kremlin aide complained the U.S. demarche pushed bilateral ties further into a blind alley and fuelled a spiral of tit-for-tat retaliatory measures. U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, saying he wanted to improve U.S.-Russia ties which were at a post-Cold War low. But since then, ties have frayed further after U.S. intelligence officials said Russia had meddled in the presidential election, something Moscow denies.  Trump, himself battling allegations his associates colluded with Russia, grudgingly signed new sanctions on Moscow into law this month which had been drawn up by Congress. When it became clear those measures would become law, Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people. Lavrov hinted on Friday that Russia might look at ordering further reductions in U.S. embassy staff, suggesting Moscow had been generous last time by allowing Washington to keep “more than 150” extra people. He said Russia had cut the U.S. numbers to tally with the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, but that Moscow had generously included more than 150 Russian staff who work at Russia’s representation office at the United Nations. Lavrov said Moscow still hoped for better relations and blamed Trump’s political foes for the deteriorating situation.       “I want to say that this whole story with exchanging tit-for-tat sanctions was not started by us,” Lavrov said.  “It was started by the Obama administration to undermine U.S.-Russia relations and to not allow Trump to advance constructive ideas or fulfil his pre-election pledges.” Barack Obama, then outgoing president, expelled 35 suspected Russian spies in December and seized two Russian diplomatic compounds. President Vladimir Putin paused before responding, saying he would wait to see how Trump handled Russia.  “We thought this administration could exercise common sense,  but unfortunately the Russophobes in Congress are not allowing it to,” said Lavrov, who complained that the United States had only given Moscow 48 hours to comply with its latest demands.

Summary: रूस, अमेरिकी राजनयिक जवाबी कार्रवाई को पचा रहा है, 'कठोर' प्रतिक्रिया का वादा करता है


MADRID/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spain on Friday issued an arrest warrant on sedition and other charges against Carles Puigdemont, tightening the judicial net around the former Catalan leader who went Brussels after his government was sacked over a declaration of independence. A Madrid High Court judge asked Belgium to arrest Puigdemont and four associates after they ignored a court order to return to Spain on Thursday to answer charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust relating to their secessionist campaign. The judge rejected a request from Puigdemont to testify via video conference from Belgium. In Brussels, a federal prosecutor said Belgian authorities would study the warrant before handing it to a judge.  We will give it to an investigative judge maybe tomorrow or the day after,  Eric Van der Sypt told Reuters. Puigdemont, who is considering standing in a snap election in the region on Dec. 21, has said he did not trust Spanish justice but would cooperate with the Belgian courts.  Embroiled in Spain s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the election when he took control of Catalonia in response to last week s declaration of independence by its parliament. Belgium, where a European arrest warrant can be blocked for several mainly procedural reasons, will have a maximum of three months to decide whether to send Puigdemont back to Spain. On Thursday, nine members of his sacked cabinet were ordered by the High Court to be held in custody pending an investigation and potential trial.  We consider ourselves a legitimate government,  Puigdemont told Belgian state television RTBF on Friday.  There must be a continuity to tell the world what s going on in Spain ... It s not with a government in jail that the elections will be neutral, independent, normal.   ... I am ready to be a candidate ... it s possible to run a campaign from anywhere.  The detention of the secessionist leaders and Puigdemont s journey to Belgium have given a new boost to the secessionist camp after cracks had appeared in its ranks. In protest at the jailings, Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana and Omnium Cultural   whose leaders were imprisoned last month on sedition charges   called for a general strike on Nov. 8 and a mass demonstration on Nov. 11. Another six Catalan leaders are due to testify on Nov. 9 on the same charges. One member of the dismissed cabinet, Santi Vila, was released after paying bail of 50,000 euros ($58,300) on Friday. The other eight could remain in custody for up to four years. Vila stepped down from the Catalan cabinet before the independence declaration. While he remains a supporter of an secession he has advocated a negotiated solution with the central government. He has said he wanted to stand as the leading candidate for Puigdemont s PdeCat (Catalan Democratic party) in the regional election. Thousands of people staged pro-independence protests on Thursday night in several Catalan towns, and parties forming the current coalition Junts Pel Si (Together For Yes) are pushing to run again on a joint ticket at the election. An opinion poll published on Tuesday showed Junts Pel Si would win in December with 35.2 percent if the vote was held immediately and would likely reach a parliamentary majority if it stuck with its current pact with far-left party CUP. The Spanish government said on Friday it would have no option but to open talks within the law with those who held a majority.  We could offer a new dialogue so that we can fulfil Catalans  aspirations for more autonomy and look into reforming the constitution,  Foreign Affairs Minister Alfonso Dastis told French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview.  Some even mention the idea of a federal model so that regions can have more autonomy, including financially.

Summary: स्पेन ने हटाए गए कैटलन नेता के खिलाफ गिरफ्तारी वारंट जारी किया