TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Yuriko Koike says she went into politics to be a player, not a bystander. Now Tokyo s first female governor is shaking things up as her new  Party of Hope  challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s ruling bloc in an Oct. 22 poll, called by the Japanese leader to seek a fresh mandate after nearly five years in office. When the Berlin Wall dividing East and West Germany was breached in 1989, Koike was a 37-year-old TV announcer. Three years later, she ran for parliament.  The world was changing immensely, so I went from news presenter to newsmaker. I decided Japanese politics was moving too slowly and rather than be an outside critic, I should become ... a player on the inside,  Koike told Reuters in an interview. Koike, who defied Abe s party last year to run for governor, isn t seeking a seat in parliament s lower house herself, but is the driving force   and public face   of her upstart party. In many ways, Koike is a paradox, interviews with people who know her and a review of her career show. She s a global thinker with a nationalist tinge; an entrepreneurial outsider who climbed the ladder with help from old-boy mentors, and a risk taker who has balked at perhaps her biggest gamble by declining to run in the national election now. Koike has made no secret of her ambition to be Japan s first woman  prime minister   her pet female terrier is nicknamed  So-chan    a diminutive for  sori  or  premier  in Japanese. She has already cracked a few glass ceilings. She became the country s first female defense minister in 2007, although stepped down after 55 days after a tussle with a top bureaucrat. She was also the first woman to run for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party s top leadership post in 2008, but came in a distant third. Koike comes from a business family in western Japan, a background that sets her apart from many Japanese politicians, including Abe, who are scions of blue-blood political dynasties.   Her origins may account for a style that admirers say has more in common with venture capitalists than staid lawmakers.   She s not afraid to take initiatives, which in most of Japan is deeply frowned upon,  said a person who has known her for 25 years and advises on financial reforms.  In Japan, it s subtlety within riddles, but she s blunt.  Koike has a talent for political marketing - critics call it populism - a skill she is using as she tries to differentiate her conservative party from Abe s equally conservative LDP with promises to  break the fetters  of vested interest politics. She calls her party s economic policies   Yurinomics  in contrast to Abe s  Abenomics, and its platform includes  12 Zeroes  it wants to achieve, including  zero hayfever , and  zero euthanasia of unwanted pets . A graduate of Cairo University in 1976 who speaks Arabic and English, Koike in some ways has a global perspective and often sings the praises of diversity.   Like Abe, she advocates opening Japan to more highly skilled foreign workers. Also like Abe, she has visited Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan s past militarism, but told Reuters she would not do so if she became  premier.   Koike also espouses some causes dear to Japan s rightwing, including revising the post-war, pacifist constitution. In the past, she has even suggested Japan should consider acquiring nuclear weapons, breaking a taboo in the only country to suffer a nuclear attack. She also opposes local voting rights for foreign residents, many of whom are of Korean descent.     There is a dark side that doesn t jibe with a more open-minded, dare we say, liberal view,  said her long-time acquaintance. Koike migrated through several parties before joining the LDP in 2002, only to abandon it after becoming governor. She counts among her mentors Ichiro Ozawa, a one-time LDP heavyweight who helped engineer the long-ruling party s ouster in 1993 and again in 2009, as well as popular ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi. Critics say her career reflects an opportunist streak, while allies call it practical.   She wants to make change, but she s also pragmatic   she can make a deal with anyone   Communists or Abe or traditional stakeholders,  said another adviser.  It s a kind of talent.  Despite speculation that she would abandon her job as governor to return to parliament, Koike stuck to her decision not to run. Analysts say that s likely because her party has little chance of defeating Abe s ruling bloc, but may do well enough for her to take the leap in the next poll. But those who know Koike say her desire for the nation s top post remains.  Is she Machiavellian and strategic? The answer is yes. Is she prepared to think for the long run? The answer is yes,  said her long-time acquaintance.  Is her over-riding ambition to be Japan s first female prime minister? That is definitely a goal.

Summary: जापान का कोइकेः एक राजनीतिक विरोधाभास ने चुनाव से पहले चीजों को हिला दिया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Thursday called on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar over violence against Rohingya Muslims until the country s military puts sufficient accountability measures in place.   We cannot be afraid to call the actions of the Burmese authorities what they appear to be - a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority,  Haley told the U.N. Security Council.  It should shame senior Burmese leaders who have sacrificed so much for an open democratic Burma.

Summary: अमेरिका ने कहा कि देशों को म्यांमार को हथियार उपलब्ध कराना बंद कर देना चाहिए


DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar s Arab critics are targeting a new pressure point in their feud with Doha - the tiny country s ruling family - permitting state-linked media outlets to portray two little-known Qatari princes living abroad as distinguished statesmen.  The publicity, in which the two men are lauded by media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as talented decision-makers capable of solving the rift, is widely seen as a dig at the prestige of Doha s current leadership. Despite Saudi Arabia and the UAE insisting they do not seek regime change, the publicity appears aimed at upping pressure on Doha, which they accuse of long meddling in their own domestic affairs. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut political and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and their arch-foe Iran - charges Doha denies. The two men hailing from a branch of the ruling Al-Thani family, silver-haired Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali based in London but now living in Riyadh, and his younger nephew Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim, now feature regularly on Saudi and UAE channels. Praising Saudi King Salman and his powerful son Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, they both called this week to convene a meeting of the Qatari ruling family to  discuss the crisis.    Because of the government s current policy that allowed hateful and bitter people to infiltrate Qatar and to spread their poison everywhere, we have now reached the abyss,  Sheikh Sultan, based in Paris, said in a statement carried by UAE-based Sky News Arabia TV. While the princes do not expressly present themselves as replacements to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, analysts believe their sudden prominence is designed to undermine him - an uphill task for men few Qataris had heard of until recently.  For such a strategy to work, you need to find an alternative that already has a popular base,  said Jean-Marc Rickli, head of global risk and resilience at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.  The move is eye-catching because it appears to test a Gulf taboo: while many Gulf ruling families, including the al-Thani of Qatar, have a record of palace intrigue, fellow dynasties in neighboring states rarely interfere in each other s internal family politics for fear of attracting intrusion in return.  The crisis has pressured Qatar s economy, squeezing company revenues and forcing costly rerouting of trade and air transport that once ran easily through their neighbors  skies and waters. Doha has responded by stepping up trade with Turkey and Iran, handing diplomatic gains to two countries with whom Riyadh and its allies vie for regional influence. Qatar s refusal to accede to 13 demands, including that it shutter popular news channel Al Jazeera, downgrade ties with Tehran and expel Islamist leaders from Doha, may have driven its adversaries to train their sights on the ruling family.  An environment where Qatar becomes a permanent partner for Iran and Turkey would be viewed as highly problematic for the leadership in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi,  said Ayham Kamel of the Eurasia Group consultancy.  The Arab quartet is still focused on pressuring Qatar to concede on parts of the 13 demands, but Qatari intransigence is encouraging these states to consider other options.

Summary: खाड़ी मीडिया प्रवासी कतरी राजघरानों को झगड़ों के रूप में बढ़ावा देता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump named the head of Exxon Mobil Corp, Rex Tillerson, as his choice for U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday and won backing from some Republican foreign policy figures ahead of a possible Senate fight over the oilman’s ties to Russia. The Exxon chief executive potentially faces difficulties getting confirmed in the Republican-controlled Senate. Some lawmakers worry about his links to Moscow and opposition to U.S. sanctions on Russia, which awarded him a friendship medal in 2013.     But several Republican establishment figures, including former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condoleezza Rice, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates vouched for Tillerson, 64, who has spent more than 40 years at the oil company.  Rice and Gates, who have worked for Exxon as consultants, both issued statements of support on Tuesday.      Their backing could be crucial for Tillerson receiving the approval he needs in the Senate, where Republicans will have a slim majority when Trump takes office on Jan 20.     “The fact that Condi Rice, James Baker and Bob Gates are recommending Tillerson carries considerable weight,” said Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By choosing Tillerson, Trump adds another person to his Cabinet and circle of advisers who may favor a soft line toward Moscow, which is under U.S. sanctions for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and at the center of allegations that it launched cyber attacks to disrupt the U.S. presidential election.  Republican foreign policy hawks in the Senate like John McCain and Lindsey Graham are likely to give Tillerson a rough time at a confirmation hearing in early January. “It’s very well known that he has a very close relationship with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” said McCain, the Republican party’s 2008 nominee for president.   Republicans will have a majority of just 52-48 in the Senate, and only a few defections from their ranks would block Tillerson if every Democrat also opposed him.     Trump, on a victory tour of states that backed him in the November election, told supporters in West Allis, Wisconsin, that Tillerson “will be a fierce advocate for American interests around the world.” He called him “a strong man, a tough man.” Trump upset U.S. allies during his campaign by calling for a better relationship with Russia and questioning the usefulness of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U.S.-led military bloc created after World War Two to counter the Soviet Union.  Trump has also pledged to confront China on trade and territorial issues and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, angering many Islamic countries. Tillerson has foreign experience from years of cutting deals with foreign countries for his company, the world’s largest energy firm. In 2012, Tillerson signed a deal with Russian state oil giant Rosneft to jointly develop oil fields in western Siberia. He has been chief executive of Exxon Mobil since 2006     but like Trump he has never held public office. Tillerson said in a statement that he shared the president-elect’s “vision for restoring the credibility of the United States.” Exxon Mobil said its board would meet soon regarding its transition. Trump was also poised to add another figure with close ties to the oil industry to his Cabinet. A source close to the transition said Trump had chosen former Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose state is a leading oil producer, as his nominee for energy secretary, with an announcement expected soon.  Perry met Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Monday, part of a series of meetings that included rapper Kanye West on Tuesday. Trump also has offered the position of interior secretary to Montana first-term Representative Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy SEAL commander who was an early Trump supporter, according to media reports. Trump appointed Stephen Miller, a top policy aide during the campaign, to be his senior adviser for policy. Miller had been an adviser to U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, whom Trump has nominated to be attorney general. In 2013, Putin bestowed a Russian state honor, the Order of Friendship, on Tillerson, citing his work “strengthening cooperation in the energy sector.” There also has been controversy over alleged Russian interference in the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the CIA concluding that Moscow had intervened to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Tillerson’s “cozy ties to Vladimir Putin and Russia would represent an untenable conflict at the State Department,” Representative Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump and Tillerson were “pragmatic people” who could help America and Russia build a mutually beneficial relationship.   A group of U.S. state attorneys general is investigating Exxon for allegedly misleading the public about climate change and some environmental groups are alarmed Exxon’s CEO could be America’s top diplomat. Exxon has said it has acknowledged the reality of climate change for years. Tillerson told a congressional hearing in 2010 he thought humanity contributed to climate change but the science was unclear about the size of the contribution. “It is extremely complicated,” he told the hearing. After Trump’s election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement to combat climate change.        There also are concerns among lawmakers about former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who an adviser to Trump’s transition team said was still under consideration for the deputy secretary of state role.     Bolton has urged Washington to do more to counter China’s assertiveness in East Asia.

Summary: ट्रंप द्वारा एक्सॉन के सी. ई. ओ. को शीर्ष अमेरिकी राजनयिक के रूप में चुने जाने के बाद सीनेट में लड़ाई शुरू हो गई है।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the conservative Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday he believed the chamber would go ahead with a planned evening vote on a bill to begin dismantling Obamacare. “I think we’re moving forward,” RSC Chairman Mark Walker, a bill supporter, told MSNBC. “I remain confident that we will have this vote this evening ... at some point.”

Summary: की हाउस रूढ़िवादी अभी भी गुरुवार को स्वास्थ्य सेवा मतदान की उम्मीद करते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several intriguing scenarios could unfold after Tuesday’s U.S. election to break the deadlock over filling a Supreme Court vacancy that has provoked a bitter nine-month standoff between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans. Obama nominated U.S. appeals court judge Merrick Garland on March 16 to replace long-serving conservative justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. The Republican-led Senate, in a move with little precedent, has refused to consider the nomination, saying the winner of the presidential election should make the pick. If Republican Donald Trump wins, Garland’s nomination would be dead. Trump has already put forth a list of conservative jurists as potential nominees. If Obama’s fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton wins, there are ways Garland could secure Senate confirmation to the lifetime post before Obama leaves office on Jan. 20. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has been adamant that Obama’s successor should select Scalia’s replacement and that he will not consider Garland’s nomination during a post-election “lame duck” session. But McConnell could come under pressure by some Senate Republicans to allow confirmation hearings and a vote on Garland, who has a reputation in Washington as a moderate, out of fear Clinton could instead choose a more liberal nominee. The Senate’s inaction on Garland has made the Supreme Court a potent issue in the election. After many years of leaning conservative, a new Democratic appointment could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades. Scalia’s death left the court split with four liberals and four conservatives. Conservative activists dismiss the notion Garland is a moderate, saying he would vote with the four liberal justices on major, ideologically divisive issues. “Garland is a liberal, not a centrist,” said Carrie Severino, a lawyer with the Judicial Crisis Network. Liberal activists like Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society, said Republicans should move forward on Garland. “He’s got every qualification you could ask for. He’s exactly the type of judge they claimed they wanted,” Fredrickson said. If Democrats win control of the Senate in Tuesday’s election, the new congressional session would begin on Jan. 3, and they could decide to move forward immediately on Garland’s nomination before Obama’s term ends. Clinton would play a major role by deciding whether or not she wanted to stick with Garland, who was named to his current job by her husband Bill Clinton in 1997, or choose her own nominee. “Chief Judge Garland is the most experienced nominee to the Supreme Court in our nation’s history,” White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said. It is time for Republicans to “stop putting politics over the best interest of the country and do their job by giving the president’s nominee to the Supreme Court a hearing and a vote,” she added. Clinton has said Garland should be confirmed this year but has not committed to re-nominating him if she wins. Some Republicans have floated the idea of staunch opposition to any Clinton nominee, raising the possibility of the seat remaining vacant long-term. McConnell has said no Obama nominee will be confirmed this year. There are no signs so far of Republican leaders backing off that position. Garland, 63, and other members of the Washington legal community joined the eight current justices inside the Supreme Court’s ornate courtroom on Friday at an memorial event honoring Scalia, four days before the election that will help decide his fate. There has been little controversy over Garland’s suitability to sit on the Supreme Court as there has been with some past nominees. He is widely respected in the legal community and has won praise from Democrats and Republicans.

Summary: ओबामा के उच्च न्यायालय के उम्मीदवार के लिए अंतिम गणना दृष्टिकोण


CARACAS/MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - One of Venezuela s major opposition parties has decided to run in local elections next month despite a boycott by others, deepening a split in the Democratic Unity coalition to the glee of President Nicolas Maduro and his ruling Socialist Party. Three of the four main groupings in the coalition have vowed not to participate in the Dec. 10 balloting for 335 mayors and one governor because they believe the election system is rigged. But the fourth party, A New Time, based in oil-rich western Zulia state where the governorship is up for grabs, argues Maduro must still be fought at the ballot box to avoid simply handing him more political space.   Manuel Rosales, a former Zulia governor who fled to Peru in 2009 after corruption charges leveled by the government of Maduro s predecessor Hugo Chavez, said on Thursday he would be running again on behalf of A New Time.  I m not going to leave Zulianos alone,  Rosales told supporters. Rosales was jailed in 2015 on his return from exile. Authorities lifted a ban on him running for office just this week. His party s stance has infuriated many anti-Maduro activists. Another opposition leader won the Zulia governorship in elections last month but was prohibited from taking office for refusing to bow to a pro-Maduro legislative superbody.  He s a sellout,  said Juan Carlos Rivero, 34, at an auto repair shop in Zulia state capital Maracaibo. He had voted for Rosales in the past but did not plan to in December. Having failed to oust Maduro via street protests earlier this year - which left at least 125 people dead - and having then performed badly in the Oct. 15 gubernatorial vote, Venezuela s opposition is in its worst crisis of recent years. Though polls show it has majority support, and Venezuelans are angry at Maduro over an unprecedented economic crisis, the opposition has failed to capitalize. Maduro has been exulting in the opposition disarray, saying parties ordering members to abstain next month were behaving undemocratically even as they accuse him of being a  dictator.   When they lose elections, they cry fraud and when they know things are against them, instead of fighting, they withdraw,  Maduro said in a recent speech, adding that Venezuela s elections were clean. There is speculation the government may take advantage of opposition weakness by moving up the expected December 2018 date for Venezuela s next presidential election. Various opposition politicians, including twice-presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, remain banned from standing for office on various charges of corruption or plotting. And rights groups say there are nearly 400 political prisoners, including well-known protest leader Leopoldo Lopez. Authorities deny political persecution, saying all detentions of politicians are for breaking the law. In the latest threats against opposition leaders, Maduro said in a speech on Friday that congress head Julio Borges should be tried for treason after lobbying against his government abroad, including in financial circles. The pro-Maduro Supreme Court, meanwhile, said opposition leader Freddy Guevara - who runs the militant Popular Will party in the absence of its leader Lopez - should be prosecuted for  instigation  and using children in protests. Guevara, who is congress vice president, was prohibited from leaving the country.

Summary: वेनेजुएला में नए मतदान से पहले विपक्षी गठबंधन टूट गया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian militias have taken the historic old city of Raqqa and its ancient mosque as they press their offensive to defeat Islamic State, the U.S.-led coalition said on Monday. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said last week it had captured the final districts in Raqqa s old city from Islamic State. With the help of U.S.-led jets and special forces, the SDF has been battling to capture Raqqa city, which Islamic State used as a base of operations in Syria. The SDF pushed into the city in June after fighting for months to encircle it.  The walled old city lies in the heart of Raqqa, but Islamic State militants still control districts in the west of the city. The SDF says it holds 65 percent of Raqqa in total.  The SDF have made consistent incremental gains in the urban terrain of the city, fighting block by block,  said U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the United States-led coalition against Islamic State.  The statement said the SDF has cleared the Great Mosque of Raqqa, its oldest mosque, describing the advance as  a milestone  in the Raqqa battle.    SDF fighters have waged fierce battles with slow progress against Islamic State in Raqqa s old city since early July, when the U.S. coalition breached its walls with air strikes.  A war monitoring group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said last week that the SDF held more than 90 percent of Raqqa s old city.

Summary: U.S.-backed सीरियाई बलों ने रक्का मस्जिद पर कब्जा कर लियाः गठबंधन


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who gained popularity partly by bashing wealthy donors and vowing to fund his own campaign, raised nearly as much money in June as the campaign of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to federal reports filed on Wednesday. In the first month in which the Trump campaign’s fundraising machine officially cranked up, Trump raised nearly $20 million from individual donors other than himself, as well as $2 million from donors to his joint fundraising committee with the Republican Party. The reports also showed that Trump converted the nearly $50 million in loans he made to his campaign into donations. He has $20 million in cash in the bank.  Clinton’s campaign brought in $24 million from individual donors during the same period, and a further $11.5 million from donors to her joint fundraising committee.  Trump’s new money dash was also evident at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week, where two Trump Super PACs - each dueling for supremacy and boasting a roster of marquee donors - held private events. Those in the donor class backing Trump include investor Foster Friess and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who associates say is considering pouring as much as $100 million into helping Trump get elected.

Summary: एक बार स्व-वित्तपोषित होने के बाद, ट्रम्प की नई धन उगाहने वाली मशीन तेजी से बढ़ती है


HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took her newly energized White House bid on the road on Friday for a tour of crucial “Rust Belt” states Pennsylvania and Ohio, but the campaign’s focus was clouded by a newly disclosed cyber attack. Reuters on Friday reported that the computer network used by Clinton’s campaign, which is based in Brooklyn, had been hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, citing people familiar with the matter. The campaign said a data program maintained by the Democratic National Committee and used by the campaign and other entities was accessed as part of a cyber attack on the DNC. The Clinton campaign said outside experts had found no evidence that its internal systems had been compromised.  On Thursday, Reuters reported that the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives had also been breached, the second such incident after last weekend’s leak of DNC emails. Revelations from the DNC emails gave the Democratic convention a rocky start, threatening a bid to reunify the party after a bitter primary campaign. Even so, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday showed Clinton leading Republican rival Donald Trump by 6 percentage points. Nearly 41 percent of likely voters favor Clinton, 35 percent favor Trump, and 25 percent picked “other,” according to the new July 25-29 online poll of 1,043 likely voters, which overlapped with the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. After a speech Thursday night in which she became the first woman to accept a major party’s presidential nomination, Clinton launched a three-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania, which like other Rust Belt states have been hit by the decline in U.S. manufacturing.  Clinton and her vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, on Friday attended a rally at Philadelphia’s Temple University, toured a factory in Hatfield and ended the day in Harrisburg. They will continue onto Ohio on Saturday and Sunday.  Clinton is likely to face a tough challenge in such states from Trump, a New York businessman who is trying to win white working-class voters with rhetoric blasting free trade and illegal immigration. Clinton and Kaine are using the Rust Belt tour to highlight manufacturing successes and discuss how they plan to boost wages for the middle class. In the process they aim to contrast their vision for the country with the one offered by Trump. “If you’re looking for a kind of pessimistic, downbeat vision of America, we’re not your folks,” Clinton said in Hatfield. “We do not buy into that dark, divisive, image that was presented at the Republican convention last week.” Opinion polls show a potentially tight race in Ohio and Pennsylvania, both of which President Barack Obama won in the 2012 election. “The differences are stark,” Kaine said in Harrisburg. Clinton and Trump are essentially tied in Ohio, where the Republicans held their convention last week, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics. Clinton has a lead of 4.4 percentage points in Pennsylvania, the website’s average of recent polls showed. Ohio and to a lesser extent Pennsylvania are among a handful of competitive states traditionally viewed as decisive in presidential elections, because they do not lean heavily Democratic or Republican. In her speech on Thursday, Clinton, 68, a former first lady and U.S. senator, promised to make the United States a country that works for everyone if she is elected. “We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against. But we are not afraid,” she said. Clinton portrayed Trump as a threat to the country, saying, “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”   Trump, 70, sent out a flurry of comments on Twitter on Friday morning lambasting media coverage of the speech as “a joke,” calling the address “very long and very boring” and accusing Clinton of wanting to shut down “coal mines, steel plants and any other remaining manufacturing.”  He campaigned in another swing state, Colorado, on Friday and was scheduled to visit Ohio next week.  The U.S. television audience for Clinton’s acceptance speech was smaller than the viewership of Trump’s address a week earlier, according to ratings data released on Friday. An estimated 29.8 million people watched Clinton across 10 broadcast and cable networks, Nielsen data showed. Trump drew 32.2 million viewers in his July 21 address at the Republican National Convention.     Economic issues will be crucial as the White House campaign enters its final three-month stretch. The U.S. economy grew by only 1.2 percent in the second quarter, far less than expected, the Commerce Department said on Friday.  During the Rust Belt trip, Clinton will detail her pledge to raise wages and create jobs by unveiling a major infrastructure package within the first 100 days of her presidency, and encouraging companies to invest in workers.    The start of the Democratic convention was overshadowed by the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who quit over leaked emails showing party officials favored Clinton over her primary rival Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator of Vermont. Cyber security experts and U.S. officials said on Monday there was evidence that Russia engineered the release of the  emails in order to influence the election. The Kremlin has denied the accusations. Yet another hack came to light on Thursday, when four people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a cyber attack against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money for Democrats running for the U.S. House of Representatives. The DCCC confirmed on Friday that it had been the target of a cyber security incident.

Summary: क्लिंटन रस्ट बेल्ट यात्रा के साथ प्रचार अभियान में उतरती हैं


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may announce the completion of its nuclear program within a year, South Korea s unification minister said on Tuesday, as the isolated country is moving more faster than expected in developing its weapons arsenal.  Experts think North Korea will take two to three more years but they are developing their nuclear capabilities faster than expected and we cannot rule out the possibility Pyongyang may declare the completion of their nuclear program in a year,  said Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon at a media event in Seoul.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया एक साल के भीतर परमाणु कार्यक्रम पूरा करने की घोषणा कर सकता हैः दक्षिण कोरिया के मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott said on Thursday he would not endorse anyone in the 2016 Republican presidential race, despite the candidacy of a senator from his home state, Marco Rubio. “I trust the voters, so I will not try to tell the Republican voters in Florida how to vote by endorsing a candidate before our primary on March 15. I believed in the voters when I first ran for office, and I still believe in them today,” Scott, a Republican, said in a statement.  (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा के गवर्नर स्कॉट 2016 के रिपब्लिकन राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार का समर्थन नहीं कर रहे हैं


BOSTON (Reuters) - Support for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump among his party’s church-going Catholics has risen since Pope Francis suggested the U.S. businessman was not a real Christian, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. Trump has averaged support among 47.9 percent of Catholic Republicans in the 50 days since the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made the comment on Feb. 18, up from 39.8 percent in the 50 days that preceded it. Their brief tiff is one of a series of controversies that have failed to dent the New York billionaire’s popularity, including his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, his insults to women, and his plans to wall off Mexico if elected president on Nov. 8. The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,117 church-going Catholic Republicans had a credibility interval of 4.8 percentage points. Asked about plans for a wall on the border with Mexico, the pope said in February: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” A papal spokesman later said the pontiff was “in no way” singling out Trump or trying to sway voters. The blunt candidate, after initially saying it was “disgraceful” for the pope to judge another’s faith in God, said Francis was “a nice man” who was probably misinterpreted by the media.  Catholics are a sizable U.S. voting bloc, comprising about a quarter of the electorate, says Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Catholics nearly evenly split their presidential votes between Republicans and Democrats, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.  Part of the increase in Trump’s support among Catholics is likely related to the dwindling number of Republican White House candidates, a field that has dropped from 12 in January to three - the Presbyterian Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Southern Baptist, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, an Anglican. But Mark Gray, a senior research associate at Georgetown, said the results also showed that Catholics who heard the pope’s message about Trump were not swayed. “Many Catholics probably felt that the pope’s comments were not a directive on how they should vote or who they should support, and still others may never have been aware of the pope’s comments to begin with,” he said. While opinion polls have shown few U.S. Catholics think it necessary to agree with the pope on every issue to be a faithful Church member, a Washington Post-ABC poll last September showed the pope had an 86 percent favorability rating. Father William Paul McKane, a Catholic priest in rural Montana who supports Trump, said he felt the pope’s comments had backfired with his flock. “I call it paradoxical, to put it gently, that the pope said that, when he lives behind walls that are about 40 feet high and 40 feet across,” he said, referring to the walls around Vatican City. “That comment hurt his credibility with my parishioners.” McKane said he appreciates Trump’s speaking plainly about issues like security and the economy - issues he said were in line with Christian values of protecting the innocent - even if he dislikes some of the candidate’s more fiery comments. “Trump’s verbiage does not sound compassionate,” McKane said. “I don’t hold him up as a paragon of Christian virtue, but I’m not looking for that in a candidate. I’m looking for someone who is prudent and can make good political decisions.” While support for Trump among ordinary Catholic Republicans is high - roughly equal to that among Republicans as a whole - the small sums of money flowing to the candidates from Christian priests, bishops, pastors and other clergy of all denominations tend to favor the evangelical Cruz. Cruz received $155,500 in contributions from about 380 members of the Christian clergy who each gave above the $200 reporting threshold through February, compared with about $700 from 10 people for Trump and $3,500 from nine people for Kasich. McKane is the only contributor listed in Trump’s campaign finance disclosures who identified himself as a Catholic priest, based on a Reuters review. On the Democratic side, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont - the only Jewish candidate - has received some $85,400 from about 280 people ordained for religious duty in the church, compared with about $192,500 from about 250 individuals for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.     Clinton polls much better among church-going Catholic Democrats, with 67.8 percent support, compared to Sanders’ 29.3 percent, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, despite Sanders’ bid to liken his view to the pope’s, especially on wealth inequality and climate change. Sanders and the pope met briefly on Saturday at the Vatican, where Sanders addressed a conference on social justice.

Summary: पोप के साथ जुबानी जंग ट्रम्प समर्थकों के लिए कोई मुद्दा नहीं हैः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged election authorities to review the results of Sunday s vote in Honduras without undue delay, a State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday.   The United States urges calm and patience as the results are tabulated,  said Spokesperson Heather Nauert.   It s critical that Honduran election authorities be able to work in a free and transparent manner without interference. We urge all candidates to respect the results.

Summary: अमेरिका ने अधिकारियों से होंडुरास चुनाव परिणामों की शीघ्र समीक्षा करने का आग्रह किया


(Advisory: Strong language in paragraph 16 may be offensive to some readers) By Arshad Mohammed and Sarah Marsh WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States on Friday cut its diplomatic presence in Cuba by more than half and warned U.S. citizens not to visit because of mysterious  attacks  that have caused hearing loss, dizziness and fatigue in U.S. embassy personnel. The U.S. embassy in Havana will halt regular visa operations for Cubans seeking to visit the United States and offer only emergency services to U.S. citizens, steps that may further erode the U.S.-Cuban rapprochement begun by former President Barack Obama. The partial evacuation, while depicted as a safety measure, sends a message of U.S. displeasure over Cuba s handling of the matter and delivers another blow to Obama s policies of engagement with Cold War foe Cuba. The Communist Party-run Cuban government was already dealing with several delicate matters - the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, a steep decline in aid from important socialist ally Venezuela and political transition as President Raul Castro steps down next year. Cuba s Foreign Ministry chief for U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal said:  We consider the decision announced today by the U.S. government through the State Department is hasty and will affect bilateral relations.  Vidal, in a briefing on state-run television, said Cuba was still keen to cooperate with U.S. authorities to clarify what happened. Officials in President Donald Trump s administration  stressed the United States was maintaining diplomatic ties with Cuba. Twenty-one U.S. embassy employees in Cuba have been injured and reported symptoms such as hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping, the State Department said.  Until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm,  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a  statement. The Cuban government has denied any role and is  investigating. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into the incidents, a U.S. law enforcement official said, but so far has not determined the cause.  A senior State Department official said neither the U.S. nor Cuban governments had been able to identify who was responsible but stressed that  the government of Cuba is responsible for taking all appropriate steps to prevent attacks on our diplomatic personnel in Cuba.  In a travel warning, the State Department bluntly said  because our personnel s safety is at risk, and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe U.S. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba.  A State Department official said most visa processing had been suspended in Havana.  Cuban applicants for nonimmigrant visas may apply at another U.S. embassy or consulate overseas.  The State Department said the attacks on U.S. embassy personnel had occurred at  U.S. diplomatic residences and hotels frequented by U.S. citizens.  No tourists are known to have been injured in the attacks. Canada said it has no plans to change its travel advice for Cuba or to remove any Canadian staff from its embassy there, though some staff have experienced some unusual symptoms, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday. Diana Rodriguez, 52, who sells handicrafts in Old Havana, said she had a visa appointment in October so she could visit family who live in Florida.  I won t ever go there now,  she said furiously.  This is a really strong blow that affects regular Cubans on the street. It s just unheard of. What is going on with this man? Neither Bush nor his father were such sons of bitches.   Trump in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor, Obama, and called the Cuban government  corrupt and destabilizing  in his address to the United Nations General Assembly this month. Engage Cuba, a Washingon-based lobbying group, said the decision was  puzzling  given that American travelers had not been targeted. It said halting the visa process in Cuba and discouraging Americans from going there  will divide families and harm Cuba s burgeoning private sector, civil society groups and efforts to improve human rights on the island.   I haven t felt in danger at all. The people are very friendly, it s a very safe culture ... I don t feel threatened at all here, I think its a really safe place to be,  American visitor Joey Branch said. U.S. lawmakers took positions on the issue that appeared to reflect their wider perspective on engagement with Havana. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who favors normalization, suggested the attacks may be an attempt to undermine this.  Whoever is doing this obviously is trying to disrupt the normalization process between the United States and Cuba.  Someone or some government is trying to reverse that process,  Leahy said in a statement.  Marco Rubio , a Florida Republican and frequent critic of the Cuban government, called for harsher measures.  Until those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice, the U.S. should immediately expel an equal number of Cuban operatives, downgrade the U.S. embassy in Havana to an interests section, and consider re-listing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism,  Rubio said in a statement. American Tour Operators in Cuba, which counts more than 50 U.S. companies, criticized the travel warning.  The motivation for the U.S. government to issue today s Travel Warning for Cuba is difficult to understand given that the facts and circumstances of these mysterious incidents have never posed a tangible threat to American visitors in Cuba.    American Airlines and United Airlines, both of whom have applied for additional flights to Havana, said the travel warning would not affect their current operations to Cuba. JetBlue Airways said it would waive change and cancellation fees for Cuba flights booked on or before Sept. 29.  Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas said its operations in Cuba would continue. Cuba reported four million arrivals last year, of which 285,000 were Americans.

Summary: अमेरिका ने क्यूबा में रहस्यमय चोटों के कारण कर्मचारियों की कटौती की, यात्रियों को चेतावनी दी


(Reuters) - During a 10-month period starting in November 2015, four firms qualified by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration purchased $1.12 billion in unpaid bills due scores of vendors providing critical goods and services. In return, the firms stood to pocket at least $118 million in state-funded late-payment penalties as of late September. Firm			       Receivables acquired*       Late-payment penalty* Vendor Assistance Program		$707.2 million               	$82.4 million         Illinois Financing Partners  	$275.4 million                  	$18.6 million Vendor Capital Finance LLC  	$145 million                  	$16.9 million Payplant                     	$475,330                        	$39,530 *As of Sept. 28, 2016 Source: Illinois Department of Central Management Services Vendor Assistance Program (VAP) VAP’s February 2014 disclosure, its latest available, identifies six funding sources and 12 owners, including Citibank N.A. and the consulting firm owned by Democratic political strategist Patti Solis Doyle, Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign manager. Another VAP investor listed on that document is Manchester Securities, which is owned by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer and had a 4 percent stake. State records show Singer donated $250,000 to Rauner in September 2014, two months before Rauner’s election and 14 months before the launch of the Rauner administration’s Vendor Support Initiative.  Argentina dubbed an affiliated Singer-owned company a “vulture” investor for its hardball tactics in a decade-plus legal battle with the South American nation over defaulted sovereign debt. At one point, the Singer firm had an Argentine naval training vessel briefly impounded by Ghana in an attempt to extract money from Buenos Aires. Illinois Financing Partners (IFP) Illinois Financing Partners, LLC’s involvement in the program is backed by a $500 million Bank of America commitment, according to an IFP filing with the state in April. IFP’s purchases have consisted entirely of overdue Health Alliance bills. The group’s president, founder and majority investor is Lindsay Trittipoe, who holds a 58 percent stake in the company.  IFP’s minority investors include former two-term Illinois Republican Governor Jim Edgar, who is IFP’s board chairman, and former U.S. Representative Jerry Costello, an Illinois Democrat. Both hold 1 percent stakes in the company. Vendor Capital Finance LLC A February 2014 disclosure to Illinois, the most recent available, lists New York municipal finance consultant Le Chen as VCF’s chief executive officer. LeRose, LLC, of which Chen is identified as the lone member in state business records, reported a 6 percent ownership stake in VCF. With a nearly 94 percent stake, VCF’s largest owner was ER Illinois LLC, based at the same New York address as Richmond Hill Investment Co., LP, VCF’s filing showed. Payplant LLC The Palo Alto, California-based firm was co-founded by Ronjon Nag, an inventor and smartphone pioneer, and Neerav Berry, a computer engineering expert and co-founder of a mobile app store platform acquired by Blackberry. A February 2014 filing with Illinois showed Nag and wife Sally Ann Rudd committing $5 million to Payplant with another $5 million coming from the Berry & Pandey Living Trust. The program targets invoices from contractors providing vital state services 90 or more days overdue. To date, Illinois has designated a variety of vendors, including some that supply state employees and retirees with medical services, feed prison inmates and keep Illinois’ computer systems functioning. The outside groups front unpaid vendors 90 percent of the face value of their receivables. Whenever Illinois eventually pays those bills, vendors keep the remaining 10 percent of what they are owed, then forward the balance and late-payment penalties to the lenders. SOURCES: Illinois Department of Central Management Services

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः कंपनियां इलिनोइस के अवैतनिक बिलों से पैसा कमा रही हैं


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday at the request of eight states on the 15-member body over U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, diplomats said on Wednesday.  The request for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to publicly brief the Security Council meeting was made by France, Bolivia, Egypt, Italy, Senegal, Sweden, Britain and Uruguay, said diplomats.  Trump abruptly reversed decades of U.S. policy on Wednesday, generating outrage from Palestinians and defying warnings of Middle East unrest. Trump also plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.  The U.N. has given Jerusalem a special legal and political status, which the Security Council has called upon the international community to respect. That is why we believe the Council needs to address this issue with urgency,  Deputy Swedish U.N. Ambassador Carl Skau said on Wednesday. A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in December last year  underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.   That resolution was approved with 14 votes in favor and an abstention by former U.S. President Barack Obama s administration, which defied heavy pressure from long-time ally Israel and Trump for Washington to wield its veto. After Trump spoke on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters:  I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians.   In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear: There is no alternative to the two-state solution. There is no Plan B,  he said.  I will do everything in my power to support the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to meaningful negotiations.  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley praised Trump s decision as  the just and right thing to do.

Summary: येरुशलम पर शुक्रवार को होगी संयुक्त राष्ट्र सुरक्षा परिषद की बैठकः राजनयिक


(Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a three-point lead over Republican Donald Trump in the final Bloomberg Politics-Selzer & Co poll released on Monday. The poll showed Clinton leading Trump by 44 percent to 41 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson was at 4 percent and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein was at 2 percent.

Summary: ब्लूमबर्ग/सेल्जर पोलः क्लिंटन ट्रम्प से 3 प्रतिशत अंकों से आगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican political consultant Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, flatly denied allegations of collusion between the president’s associates and Russia during the 2016 U.S. election in a meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday. In a 47-page opening statement seen by Reuters before his appearance before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Stone said he viewed the meeting “as a political proceeding” and accused some committee members of making “provably false” statements to create the impression of collusion with Russia. After spending almost three hours behind closed doors taking questions from committee members, Stone again denied accusations that he had engaged in improper conduct during the 2016 campaign but was much more contentious than in the rambling statement. “I am aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign,” Stone told reporters. The House panel is one of the main congressional committees investigating allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election and probing whether any Trump associates colluded with Moscow. Russia denies any such efforts, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. Stone said he had had a frank exchange with committee members, but described some clashes between Democrats and Republicans. He said he answered all of their questions except for refusing to identify an “opinion journalist” who had acted as a go-between between Stone and Julian Assange. Assange is the publisher of WikiLeaks, which released emails stolen from Democrats that helped Trump’s campaign. After Stone spoke, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Stone had declined to answer one line of questions and the panel might have to subpoena him to return and do so. Schiff declined to say whether those questions were related to Assange. Stone also said he had no prior knowledge about the hacking of emails of John Podesta, chairman of the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, or their release to Wikileaks, even though he referred to Podesta on Twitter just before the group posted the emails. Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican overseeing the committee’s investigation, later said that talk of a subpoena was “premature,” and told ABC News he wanted to give Stone a chance to cooperate. Stone, one of Trump’s closest political advisers in the years before he ran for president, was formerly a partner in a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort, a Trump campaign manager. Manafort has also been scrutinized in the investigations into Russia and the election. In July, FBI agents raided his home. Stone said Manafort’s attorneys had informed his attorneys that federal prosecutors planned to indict Manafort. Stone said he had not heard from Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian involvement in the election and possible collusion, and there were currently no plans for a similar appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Stone said he had spoken to Trump “recently,” but not about his appearance before the committee. In his written statement, Stone accused the committee of cowardice because he was not allowed to testify in an open forum. He said he wanted the transcript of his interview to be released. “I am most interested in correcting a number of falsehoods, misstatements, and misimpressions regarding allegations of collusion between Donald Trump, Trump associates, The Trump Campaign and the Russian state,” Stone said in the statement. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia sought to influence the election to boost Trump’s chances of defeating Clinton. In his statement, Stone acknowledged his reputation as a tough political strategist, but said he did not engage in any illegal activities. “There is one ‘trick’ that is not in my bag and that is treason,” he said.

Summary: ट्रंप के सहयोगी स्टोन ने रूस के साथ मिलीभगत से इनकार किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party is expected to amend its constitution at a key party congress next month, state media said on Monday, in a sign that President Xi Jinping aims to enshrine his guiding ideological doctrine in the charter. Since assuming office almost five years ago, Xi has rapidly consolidated power, with moves such as heading a group leading economic reform and appointing himself military commander-in-chief, although as head of the Central Military Commission he already controls the armed forces. The Politburo, one of the party s elite ruling bodies, deliberated a draft amendment to the constitution to be discussed at the congress that would include  major theoretical viewpoints and major strategic thought , the official Xinhua news agency said.  While the Xinhua report did not elaborate, a key measure of Xi s power will be whether he manages to have his name  crowned  in the constitution, elevating him to the level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. Xi s more recent predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both had the party constitution amended to include their guiding thoughts, but without their names directly attached. Jiang has his  Three Represents,  which embraced private entrepreneurs, written in, while Hu, Xi s immediate predecessor, had his economic doctrine of  scientific development  included. The party has been pushing Xi s  Four Comprehensives,  which refer to China working  comprehensively  to build a moderately prosperous society and strengthen reforms, rule of law and party discipline, but it is not clear yet what wording could be put into the constitution to reflect Xi s thought.  Amending the constitution at the 19th CPC National Congress on the basis of the new situation and tasks would promote the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and Party building,  Xinhua said.  The amendments should include the key theories and strategic thoughts presented by a work report  at the start of the congress, which opens on Oct. 18, it added. The amended constitution should fully represent the latest  sinicisation  of Marxism, new governance concepts and  the fresh experiences in adhering to, and strengthening, Party leadership, and in strict Party governance , Xinhua said.  The amendment should make the Communist Party more vigorous, stronger and enable it to keep a close connection with the people.  The draft amendment will be submitted on Oct. 11 to a party plenary meeting, it added, a smaller scale gathering of about 200 of the most senior leaders to finalize the agenda for the congress.

Summary: चीन अक्टूबर कांग्रेस में पार्टी के संविधान में संशोधन करेगा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spain s economy is expected to be impacted by the political crisis with Catalonia next year, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday.  For 2018, we expect growth of 2.3 percent, which would be 2.7 or 2.8 percent without the Catalan issue,  he told reporters as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts. The government had already lowered the 2018 forecast from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent last month due to Catalonia. (This version of the story corrects quote)

Summary: कैटलन संकट का असर स्पेन के 2018 के विकास पर पड़ेगाः डी गिंडोस


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Official results from Kenya s repeat presidential election on Thursday are likely to take several days to collate, election officials told Reuters, due to changes in the process to try to make it more transparent. The Supreme Court on Sept. 1 ordered a repeat of the election after judges annulled the results of an Aug. 8 poll, pitting incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta against opposition leader Raila Odinga, due to procedural irregularities. Official results said Kenyatta won on Aug. 8 by 1.4 million votes, but Odinga said the vote was rigged. Odinga has refused to participate in Thursday s rerun because he said election officials have not carried out sufficient reforms. Judges criticized the election board for rushing to announce the official results based only on numbers sent from the polling stations, without having the tally forms from all 40,883 polling stations showing the results. The paper forms are a back-up system meant to help prevent rigging. The board has up to a week to announce official results. This time, polling stations will only transmit scanned images of tally forms from polling stations, not numerical results, Andrew Limo, spokesman for the election commission, said on Tuesday. The scanned images will be posted online. The election board will collate and publish results by constituency once all polling stations there have reported. This could take several days in rural constituencies with poor phone networks and far-flung polling stations. There are 290 constituencies. Without Odinga running, Kenyatta is the firm favorite to win. The other six candidates failed to poll more than 1 percent in the August polls; one has since been disqualified for bankruptcy. Odinga has urged supporters to boycott the ballot and opposition leaders have called for protests on the day of the elections.  The key thing to watch in this election will be turnout,  said Murithi Mutiga, a senior regional analyst for the International Crisis Group, a global thinktank.   This will really be a referendum on the legitimacy of Kenyatta s second term.   Just over 79 percent of Kenya s 19.6 million registered voters cast a ballot in the last poll.

Summary: केन्या के अधिकारियों ने चुनाव परिणाम घोषित करने का तरीका बदला


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Progress is being made in talks between Britain and the EU on how to avoid setting up a physical infrastructure on Northern Ireland s border after the United Kingdom leaves the EU in 2019, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.  I think it is fair to say that progress is being made but not that is sufficient at this stage,  Varadkar told parliament.   We are not at a decision point at the moment. Things are changing on a daily basis and are rapidly evolving,  he said.   The EU has named the border as one of three issues on which  sufficient progress  must be made in order to allow progress to talks on a future trade agreement with Britain, crucial for British businesses.

Summary: आयरलैंड के प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि ब्रेक्सिट सीमा वार्ता में प्रगति हो रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday said it would provide revised guidance to the U.S. military “in the near future” after President Donald Trump announced a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. “We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis, referring all questions about Trump’s comments to the White House. “We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future.”

Summary: पेंटागन का कहना है कि ट्रम्प के ट्रांसजेंडर प्रतिबंध के बाद नियमों में संशोधन किया जा रहा है


PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Senior militant commander Asad Afridi has emerged as the favorite to become the new leader of a deadly Pakistani Taliban faction, militant sources said on Friday, days after a U.S. drone strike killed the group s chief. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, has killed hundreds of people in bomb attacks and is considered one of the most dangerous militant groups in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation. The killing of JuA chief Omar Khalid Khorasani was a major boost for Pakistan s anti-militancy campaign and is likely to help ease tension with uneasy ally the United States days ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Two JuA commanders told Reuters Afridi was nominated to take over during a meeting in Afghanistan by the group s shura, or leadership council.  Asad Afridi was close to Omar Khalid, who had declared him his deputy,  said one JuA commander. A second JuA militant, who is a member of the shura, confirmed Afridi was nominated as the new chief.  Khorasani was seen as ruling the group with an iron fist.  Our organization used to be a one-man show. All powers were in the hands of Omar Khalid Khorasani,  the second commander said. Khorasani was killed during a series of U.S. drone attacks this week in which at least 30 people were killed on the Afghan side of the border. His killing follows a slight thaw in relations between Islamabad and Washington, seemingly sparked by the Pakistan army last week freeing a U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children after five years in captivity. The family was held by the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban-allied militant group. Warmer words from Washington have been in stark contrast to threats by U.S. officials that it would cut military aid and impose targeted sanctions if Pakistan did not stop providing a safe havens to the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network. Pakistan denies offering sanctuary to Afghan Taliban fighters and has asked the United States to target Pakistani Taliban militants who cross the porous border and hide in Afghanistan. Pakistan is investing more than $500 million to fence the 2,500-km frontier. But in a sign that relations between the United States and Pakistan are still difficult, the chief of the CIA said on Thursday the U.S.-Canadian couple had been held inside Pakistan for five years, contradicting Pakistan s assertion they were held in Afghanistan. It is not clear if Afridi would change tack if he were to be confirmed as JuA leader, but there are concerns within the group about his power base among the ethnic Pashtun tribes who live along the Afghan border. Afridi is from the Zakha Khel area of Pakistan s Khyber region but Khorasani, and most JuA fighters, are from the Mohmand region to the north.  The organization was basically formed in Mohmand and the majority of the fighters and commanders are from Mohmand therefore people would have wished someone from the same area,  said the first JuA commander. He said Afridi did not have a religious or formal school education but had a history of fighting and had at one point fought U.S. troops in Afghanistan as part of the Taliban. On Friday, a suspected U.S. drone strike killed 12 people in Afghanistan s Paktia province, according to a government official. It was the fourth day this week that drone strikes were reported on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.  Twelve dead bodies have been pulled out of the area where the missiles struck,   Laik Khan, an Afghan government official, told Reuters. The JuA has emerged as the most deadly Pakistani Taliban faction over the past two years. At one point, it allied itself with Islamic State before apparently re-joining the Pakistani Taliban. The group bombed an Easter Sunday gathering at a park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore last year, killing at least 70 people. In August 2016, it bombed a hospital in Quetta targeting the city s most prominent lawyers, killing 74 people. In June this year, JuA targeted the provincial police chief of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, killing 13 people. The attack was also claimed by Islamic State.

Summary: अमेरिकी ड्रोन हमले में पाकिस्तानी नेता के मारे जाने के बाद पाकिस्तानी आतंकवादी समूह को संभावित प्रतिस्थापन मिला


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner announced on Tuesday his veto of a $5 billion income tax rate hike that was the lynchpin of a newly passed bipartisan budget package designed to end the state’s record-setting fiscal impasse, he announced via social media. “I just vetoed Speaker Madigan’s 32 percent permanent income tax increase,” the Republican governor announced in posts to his Facebook and Twitter accounts, referring to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, the package’s main legislative architect. The posts did not disclose whether he had taken similar action on spending and borrowing measures that made up the entire package.

Summary: इलिनोइस के गवर्नर ने 5 अरब डॉलर की कर वृद्धि पर वीटो लगाने की घोषणा की


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the United Nations on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump had made  our rockets  visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable  by calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un  rocket man .   Through such a prolonged and arduous struggle, now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force,  Ri told the annual gathering of world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly.  It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK (North Korea) would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces,  he said.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया ने कहा कि अमेरिका के लिए रॉकेट 'अपरिहार्य' हैं, जब ट्रम्प ने किम को 'रॉकेट मैन' कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delaying or blocking a planned transition of oversight of the Internet’s technical management from the U.S. to a global community of stakeholders would be a “gift to Russia” and other authoritarian regimes, a senior Obama administration official said Wednesday. The comments before a congressional panel came as several Republican lawmakers are attempting to thwart the changeover, due to occur on Oct. 1, arguing it would stifle online freedom and has not been appropriately vetted.     “I urge you: Do not give a gift to Russia and other authoritarian nations by blocking this transition,” Lawrence Strickling, administrator of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told a Senate subcommittee. The plan, announced in March 2014, to transfer oversight of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is expected to go forward unless Congress votes to block the handover.  The California-based corporation operates the database for domain names such as .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses that allow computers to connect. The U.S. Commerce Department currently oversees the Internet’s management largely because it was invented in the United States. Its contract with ICANN will lapse on October 1. Senator John Thune, a senior Republican from South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday he expected lawmakers would add language to delay the Internet transition to a bill to fund the government past the end of September. Strickling’s testimony were an attempt to rebut concerns raised by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who convened and chaired Wednesday’s hearing on the Internet, and other Republicans who have argued in recent weeks that the transition would be a “giveaway” of Internet control to Russia, China, and other governments that censor Internet content. “When ICANN escapes from government authority, ICANN escapes from ... having to worry about protecting your rights or my rights,” Cruz said. ICANN does not have the ability to censor the Internet, the corporation’s CEO Goran Marby said during the hearing. Tech companies, technical experts, academics, have said the transition is overdue and necessary to keep the Internet open and globally oriented, and that the proposal includes safeguards against any potential abuse by any one country. Delaying the transition to the multistakeholder global community may also weaken U.S. credibility in future international negotiations at the United Nations and elsewhere about Internet standards and security, thus empowering countries like Russia and China, experts have said.

Summary: इंटरनेट निगरानी संक्रमण को अवरुद्ध करना रूस के लिए एक 'उपहार' हैः ओबामा प्रशासन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, on his third try at overhauling Obamacare, sent no tweets attacking fellow Republicans, set no  deadlines and issued no public ultimatums. Lawmakers who met with him said he spoke with them, not at them. Some lawmakers and aides in the U.S. House of Representatives were hesitant to credit Trump or his softer approach with Thursday’s 217-213 vote rolling back President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare overhaul. Several aides emphasized the role of House Republican leaders and Vice President Mike Pence in bridging differences between the party’s moderates and hardline conservatives. Others said they saw a different Trump at work this week versus March 24, when he backed a bill that collapsed and again in April when his fellow Republicans failed a second time.  Representative Mark Sanford, a Republican member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Thursday that in March the White House threatened to work against his re-election bid if he balked at supporting the healthcare bill. This time Trump, who took office in January, was “largely absent,” Sanford said, adding: “They got it clear that threats were not going to work with me.” In White House talks with Republican Representatives Fred Upton and Billy Long, Trump helped to nail down critical moderate votes. A senior White House official said Trump worked the phones this time and realized it had been a mistake to set a deadline the first time. Trump spoke with Speaker Paul Ryan, the leading House Republican, during late-night calls. In conversations with lawmakers, Trump kept the focus on meeting a Republican promise from the 2016 election campaign to roll back a federal government healthcare law that they view as too costly and over-reaching. Any plan to overhaul Obamacare faces a tougher battle in the 100-member U.S. Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer majority. While Republicans control both the White House and Congress, senators are traditionally less easily moved by presidential pressure than members of the House. Democrats in both houses remained firmly opposed to a bill they said would deprive millions of Americans of healthcare coverage. “The bill is going nowhere fast in the United States Senate,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITIONS A KEY House Republicans joined an exuberant Trump for a victory lap in the White House Rose Garden after the vote. Turning to Ryan, Trump reminded him of the criticism the speaker faced when the healthcare bill stalled in the House the first time. “For the last week, I’ve been hearing, ‘Paul Ryan doesn’t have it ... Then today, I heard Paul Ryan is a genius,’” Trump said. A key turning point came on Monday, when Upton and four other Republican lawmakers met to discuss how the rollback bill could be changed to better protect people with pre-existing medical conditions, a concern for Republican moderates. No amendment had been hammered out by Tuesday and Upton, an influential moderate, said he opposed the bill, as did Long, a close Trump ally. Trump called them both to the White House. At their meeting on Wednesday, Upton and Long reminded Trump of his promise in a weekend television interview that the Republican plan would protect people with pre-existing medical conditions. They pressed him to stand by that commitment and it worked. Trump endorsed their amendment to add some money to the Republican bill for that purpose.  White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had 15 to 20 meetings or calls with House Republicans ahead of the vote. She said the president was “directly engaged.” If Senate Republicans can pass a bill, a House-Senate panel of negotiators likely would have to iron out the differences and present a compromise version for both chambers to pass. “My only concern is the U.S. Senate,” said Republican Representative Dave Brat, a Freedom Caucus member. “If they come back with any big changes that will make life a little tough.” Brat said Trump’s role will be important. “The new variable is President Trump. If he gets out there and puts a little heat on it,” then a Senate-House compromise is possible.

Summary: अपने दृष्टिकोण को नरम करते हुए, ट्रम्प ने स्वास्थ्य सेवा सौदे पर मुहर लगाने में मदद की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Thursday that a legislative “mess” could have been avoided if Republican congressional leaders had followed his advice to tie debt ceiling legislation to a veterans affairs bill. “I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval,” wrote Trump, referring to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. “Could have been so easy-now a mess!”

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि कर्ज की सीमा 'गड़बड़' से बचा जा सकता थाः ट्विटर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp unit Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co is being awarded a $743.17 million modification to a previously awarded initial production contract for F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, the Pentagon said on Monday. The modification also establishes maximum prices for one F-35A aircraft and one F-35B aircraft for a non-U.S. Department of Defense participant in the F-35 program, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Summary: लॉकहीड मार्टिन ने 74.3 करोड़ डॉलर का अमेरिकी रक्षा अनुबंध जीताः पेंटागन


MOSCOW (Reuters) - It is necessary to prevent new sanctions against Iran and preserve Tehran s nuclear deal with world powers, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि ईरान के खिलाफ नए प्रतिबंधों को रोकने और परमाणु समझौते को बनाए रखने की आवश्यकता हैः आर. आई. ए.


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - When his family of six crossed the monsoon-soaked Mayu mountains last week, Mohammed Ishmail tied his four-year-old daughter to his back with a longyi, or Myanmar sarong. His wife carried their two-year-old the same way.  Some parts were so steep we had to pull ourselves up by tree roots,  said Ishmail, a Rohingya Muslim, in an interview  near the Kutapalong settlement for refugees in Bangladesh, shortly after arriving on Tuesday.  At night, we just cut a clearing in the bush and slept there. We had two umbrellas for shelter.  The trek through the dense bush of the mountains took two days, but the journey from his home in Khin Tha Ma village   which he says was on fire the last time he saw it - took 10. He says it felt like a month. The number of refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar s Rakhine state since militant attacks there on Aug. 25 stands at nearly 150,000.  They have come by land, river and sea. Many have died along the way. Others have found themselves detained by human traffickers, demanding payment for their rescue. Their destination is the Cox s Bazar region of impoverished Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya already live in makeshift camps, reliant on overstretched aid agencies. Once through the mountains, Ishmail s family came across villages in the northern part of the Maungdaw district   the epicenter of violence in the state since October - that had been abandoned. By his count, only about one in 20 houses had survived fires that have swept the area.  Some people are still hiding in the forest on the Maungdaw side but in some villages there s no one,  he said.  There was no one to ask directions.  But then there was. As they reached a canal and were trying to find a way to cross it, he said, two young Myanmar soldiers spotted them and aimed their guns, he said.  I put my hands up and shouted,  We re going to Bangladesh ,  he said. There was a tense silence before the soldiers lowered their weapons.   After that they showed us the best way to cross the canal,  he added. In one village, to escape the rain, Mohammed Ishmail entered a house still standing to find the bodies of five boys, who appeared to be teenagers, their necks hacked and heads nearly severed. The death toll in the conflict is more than 400 and rising. Myanmar says most of those killed have been insurgents, but accounts from new arrivals in Bangladesh suggest reprisals by Myanmar security forces and Buddhists against Rohingya civilians the government says are in cahoots with  extremist Bengali terrorists . Myanmar rejects accusations that its security forces are targeting civilians saying they are fighting  terrorists . Dozens of bodies, including those of women and children, have washed up on the Bangladesh side of a border river, many with bullet or knife wounds, according to Bangladesh border guards. Fishermen report seeing bodies floating in the river. Reuters was shown one cadaver   what looked to be a teenage boy lying face up on the muddy river bank, a gaping wound on his face washed clean by the river.     In Maungdaw, thousands of people are on the move. A Rohingya aid worker, who was in touch with Reuters during his flight, recorded video of the journey on his mobile phone.  It s like something I ve never seen before, not even in any film,  the refugee said after his arrival in Cox s Bazar. The footage appears to show hundreds of people lining up to cross a river in Laung Don village. Some swim across, as two small ferries run back and forth. At one river crossing, the aid worker said, fighters from the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Organization (ARSA) prevented ferries from crossing for half a day, telling civilians to return to their homes.  Campaign group Fortify Rights has documented how ARSA has prevented men and boys from leaving the area. The refugee, who asked not to be identified so he could freely discuss his journey, said the fighters backed down when villagers pleaded with them.     In southern Maungdaw, the military s campaign has driven tens of thousands of people to the coast. Bangladeshi boatmen, in their hundreds, are going to pick them up. Mostly by night, the wooden crescent-shaped boats that normally ply the fishing grounds of the Bay of Bengal, make the  journey across the 5.7-km (3.6 mile) mouth of the Naf river that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh. The 5-metre boats are loaded with as many as 50 people and their belongings. Soon after the conflict blew up, boats began landing at Shah Porir Dwip, a remote island off the southernmost tip of Bangladesh. But after three boats capsized in two days last week, killing 24 women and children, authorities launched a crackdown on boatmen and brokers they call human traffickers.  They bring these stranded people here. If they are not able to pay, the money, they imprison them,  Pronay Chakma, assistant commissioner for land in Teknaf sub-district. More than 50 people have been sentenced to short jail terms as a warning to others not to take advantage of the crisis.  It s mercenary interest, nothing else,  he said.  They tried to profit from stranded women and children.

Summary: भूमि, नदी और समुद्र के रास्ते, रोहिंग्या म्यांमार से भाग जाते हैं


HOUSTON (Reuters) - NuStar Energy LP has shut down operations at its oil terminal in the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irma, the U.S. firm said in a statement on Tuesday. The Statia terminal has capacity to store up to 13.03 million barrels of crude and refined products and has six mooring locations to service oil tankers.  We have activated our hurricane response plan and will continue to monitor the storm to determine our next course of action,  the company said.

Summary: इरमा से पहले सेंट यूस्टेशियस में नुस्टार का स्टेटिया टर्मिनल बंद कर दिया गया


ROME (Reuters) - Italy s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a new electoral law for use in the next national election, due by May 2018. The bill now passes to the upper house for further debate. Here are the main points of the bill. Italy gives Latin names to its electoral laws. This new proposal is called the Rosatellum, named after Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) who helped draft the legislation. The bill envisages that some 36 percent of parliamentarians in both the upper and lower houses will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis, with the rest chosen by pure proportional representation via party lists.  Parties can stand alone or as part of broader coalitions. Single parties need to win at least 3 percent of the vote to gain seats, while coalitions need to take 10 percent.  Unlike the previous Italian electoral law, the Rosatellum does not give an automatic majority to any party or group that wins more than 40 percent of the vote. With opinion polls split three ways between the center-right, the center-left and the maverick 5-Star Movement, there is unlikely to be a clearcut winner in the next election. Voters get two voting slips   one for the Senate and one for the lower house. They can only put one cross on each slip, with that vote counted for both the first-past-the-post and PR segments. Under previous electoral systems, voters were able to split their vote between individual candidates and the parties. Candidates can put their name down for the first-past-the-post ballot in one constituency, and also be on five PR lists in locations of their choosing. There will be two to four names on each party PR list. The party leaders will have a major say in whose names go on the lists.  In the lower house, 232 seats will be reserved for first-past-the-post winners, 386 will be reserved for the PR lists, and 12 will be reserved for overseas constituencies. In the Senate, 102 seats will go to first-past-the-post winners, 207 will go to the PR lists, and 6 will be for the overseas vote. No more than 60 percent of the candidates on any of the lists can be of the same sex.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः इटली का नया चुनावी कानून प्रणालियों का मिश्रण प्रदान करता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday on a measure to block the sale of tanks and other military equipment worth $1.15 billion to Saudi Arabia, but the measure is not expected to pass despite lawmakers’ growing frustration with the longtime U.S. ally. The Senate’s Republican Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Tuesday he would “aggressively” oppose the effort.  “I think it’s important to the United States to maintain as good a relationship with Saudi Arabia as possible, and I hope we’ll defeat the resolution of disapproval of the arms sale,” McConnell told reporters, calling Saudi Arabia a good ally. The Pentagon announced on Aug. 9 that the State Department had approved the potential sale of more than 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armored recovery vehicles and other equipment to Saudi Arabia. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said General Dynamics Corp would be the principal contractor for the sale. A bipartisan group of senators, led by Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Chris Murphy, introduced a joint resolution seeking to block the arms deal, expressing concern that Saudi-led air strikes had killed civilians in Yemen, worries that the deal might fuel a regional arms race and concern that Congress was giving up its power to declare war. “We should be part of the debate over whether or not we go to war. But then we should debate the practicalities of whether or not it’s a good idea to be involved in the war in Yemen,” Paul told Reuters. Paul said the conflict could lead to instability and perhaps the rise of a militant group in Yemen, as Islamic State did in Syria. The resolution also underscores concerns over what many in Congress see as Riyadh’s international promotion of a severe form of Islam they view as hostile to U.S. interests. “We’ve let them get away with it for years and years. And because they’re less bad than other people in the Middle East, we keep giving them weapons,” Paul said. Democratic Representative Ted Lieu and Republican Representative Mick Mulvaney introduced companion legislation on Tuesday seeking to block the sale in the House of Representatives. Lieu in August sent a letter signed by 64 lawmakers asking U.S. President Barack Obama to postpone the sale. Separately, Congress could vote this week to override Obama’s promised veto of a measure allowing relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue the Saudi government.

Summary: सउदी अरब को अमेरिकी हथियारों की बिक्री रोकने के प्रयास का कड़ा विरोध


GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead at least two Palestinians and wounded about 60 with live fire on Friday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said, as protests intensified against Washington s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. A U.N. General Assembly resolution passed on Thursday,  rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump s Dec. 6 Jerusalem declaration, did little to calm Palestinian anger over his reversal of decades-old U.S. policy on the contested holy city. Instead, thousands of Palestinian protesters, many of them throwing rocks, confronted Israeli security forces along the Gaza border fence, in all of occupied West Bank s seven cities and in East Jerusalem.  In Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, smoke from burning tires billowed in the street, just two days before Christmas celebrations. Israeli gunfire killed two Palestinians in a confrontation in the southern Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry said, putting the number of wounded at 120, half of them shot with live ammunition and the rest struck by rubber bullets or hit by tear gas canisters. In a statement, the Israeli military said some 2,000 Palestinians had faced off against the troops at the Gaza border fence. It said the crowd threw stones and rolled burning tires at soldiers, who responded with  riot dispersal  measures and  fired live rounds selectively towards main instigators . Protesters chanted  Trump is a coward. Trump is a fool . Among the wounded was a man dressed as Santa Claus. Palestinian health officials said at least one Palestinian suffered a live bullet wound in the West Bank and some 30 protesters were hit by rubber bullets. The military, putting the number of demonstrators at about 1,700 and the injured at six, said troops faced firebombs, rocks and burning tires. The protests died down after sunset. Demonstrations have been held daily since Trump s announcement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a Christmas message, called the U.S. leader s move  an insult to millions of people worldwide, and also to the city of Jerusalem . Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.  Most countries regard the status of Jerusalem as a matter to be settled in an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, although that process is now stalled.  A total of 128 countries voted for the U.N. resolution. Nine opposed it and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Gaza s dominant Hamas Islamists, called the U.N. vote a defeat for Trump, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the resolution as  preposterous  and branded the U.N. a  house of lies .     But Michael Oren, Israel s deputy minister for diplomacy, seemed to play down the support for the resolution shown by many countries Israel considers friends.  We have an interest in tightening our bilateral relations with a long list of countries in the world, and expect and hope that one day, they will vote with us, or for us in the United Nations,  Oren said on Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM.   But I am not prepared to suspend all cooperation with important countries, such as India,  he said. Netanyahu, who hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July, is due to visit New Delhi next month. Friday s deaths in Gaza raised to 10 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire since Dec. 6, Palestinian health officials said. Gaza militants have also fired rockets into Israel, and two gunmen were killed in an Israeli air strike after one such attack. There have been no Israeli fatalities or significant injuries. Amnesty International on Friday called on Israeli authorities to stop using  excessive force .   The fact that live ammunition has been used during protests in Gaza and the West Bank is particularly shocking,  it said.  In the run-up to the U.N. vote, Trump threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that supported the resolution. His warning appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the document than usually associated with Palestinian-related resolutions. But most of the European Union, Israel s biggest trading partner, and countries such as Greece, Cyprus and India, with which Netanyahu has pursued closer relations and economic ties, backed the resolution.  I prefer we have tight bilateral relations over a situation in which we don t have close bilateral relations, and they vote in our favor in the United Nations,  Oren said, describing India s vote as  certainly disappointing .

Summary: जेरूसलम-गाजा मंत्रालय पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के मतदान के बाद अमेरिका विरोधी प्रदर्शनों में दो फिलिस्तीनियों की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump replaced his beleaguered White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, after only six months on the job on Friday, installing retired General John Kelly in his place in a major shake-up of his top team. Trump announced the move in a tweet a day after his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, accused Priebus of leaking information to reporters in a profanity-laced tirade.  Kelly, 67, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, is currently secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and will assume the chief of staff post on Monday. He was hired with the goal of bringing more discipline to the White House, a senior White House official said. Trump issued his decision just as he landed aboard Air Force One after a visit to Long Island and hours after Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare failed in the Senate. Priebus was on the plane with the Republican president and made no comment. Reporters had noticed no sign of stress from Priebus during the day.Priebus told CNN he had been talking to Trump for some time about exiting the White House, and is the latest in a long line of officials to leave or not take a job at the White House. “The president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it’s time to hit the reset button,” Priebus said in a televised interview from the White House. “He intuitively determined that it was time to do something different, and I think he’s right.” Trump had lost confidence in Priebus, privately questioning his competence after major legislative items failed to pass the U.S. Congress, a Trump confidant said. A source close to Priebus said the former Republican National Committee chairman turned in his resignation on Thursday night, after Scaramucci’s rant against him was published by the New Yorker magazine. A senior White House official said Trump had informed Priebus two weeks ago that he would be replacing him and that the move had no connection to Scaramucci, whose hiring a week ago prompted Sean Spicer, a Priebus ally, to abruptly resign as press secretary. After frequent conversations with Kelly, Trump recently warmed up to the idea of naming Kelly chief of staff to more effectively manage personnel and offered it to him earlier this week, a senior White House official said. Carrying an umbrella, Trump approached reporters as he stepped off Air Force One, with rain storming down. “Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He’s a great, great American. Reince is a good man,” Trump said. Priebus’ 189-day tenure was the shortest in modern history for a White House chief of staff. He had hoped to stay on at least a year but struggled to manage his unpredictable boss and was unable to get a handle on conflicting factions in the White House who have frequently squabbled. In a statement, Priebus said it had been one of the great honors of his life to serve Trump and the country. “I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the president’s agenda and policies. I can’t think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God’s blessings and great success,” he said.    Trump loyalists had chafed at Priebus, feeling he had installed his RNC allies at the White House and overlooked the people close to Trump who helped get him elected president in November. But Priebus allies felt he was an important link to establishment Republicans in Washington as the capital attempted to adjust to the anti-establishment style of the president. “He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately,” House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said of his close friend in a statement. “He has achieved so much, and he has done it all with class. I could not be more proud to call Reince a dear friend.” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she did not think Priebus’ exit would affect the White House’s relationship with the Republican Party. “I think we’ve still got a good relationship. We’re going to continue working with the party and doing what we came here to do,” she said. Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke will become the acting chief of the department on Monday, DHS said in a statement. U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those being considered for Homeland Security secretary, a DHS official said.

Summary: ट्रंप ने चीफ ऑफ स्टाफ प्रीबस की जगह सेवानिवृत्त जनरल केली को नियुक्त किया