HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s ruling party will dismiss President Robert Mugabe on Sunday and reinstate Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice-president he fired, two party sources told Reuters on Saturday, as ecstatic crowds celebrated the expected downfall. Mugabe s 37-year rule has been effectively at an end since the army seized control on Wednesday, confining him to his residence, saying it wanted to target the  criminals  around him. State television said Mugabe would meet military commanders on Sunday, quoting Catholic priest Fidelis Mukonori, who has been mediating in negotiations with the president. But hundreds of thousands of people had no need for a formal signal that his time had ended as they flooded the streets of Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers. In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armoured cars and the troops who stepped in this week to oust the only ruler Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980. Others marched towards his lavish  Blue Roof  residence, but were kept away by soldiers. Under house arrest in his compound, the 93-year-old has watched support from his party, security services and people evaporate in less than three days. The sources said a ZANU-PF party central committee meeting scheduled for 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) would also dismiss 93-year-old Mugabe s preferred successor, his wife Grace, from her role as head of the ZANU-PF Women s League. Mugabe s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, speaking from an undisclosed  location in South Africa, told Reuters the leader and his wife were  ready to die for what is correct  rather than step down in order to legitimise what he described as a coup.  Zhuwao also said that only Mugabe, who had hardly slept since the military took over but was otherwise in  good  health, could call a meeting of the central committee. It was not clear from reading the party s constitution who is empowered to call such a meeting - but events appeared to have made the issue irrelevant. On Harare s streets, Zimbabweans spoke of a second liberation for the former British colony, alongside their dreams of political and economic change after two decades of deepening repression and hardship.  These are tears of joy,  said Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, holding aloft the Zimbabwean flag.  I ve been waiting all my life for this day. Free at last. We are free at last.  Mugabe s downfall is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside. The crowds in Harare have so far given a quasi-democratic veneer to the army s intervention, backing its claims that it is merely effecting a constitutional transfer of power, which would help it avoid the diplomatic backlash and opprobrium that normally follows a coup. The military had been prompted to act by Mugabe s decision to sack Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe s main rival to succeed her husband. The next presidential election is due next year.  Zimbabweans abroad were also hailing the end of Mugabe s rule, not least the hundreds living in Britain who gathered outside their embassy in central London.  I m ecstatic to see people give Mugabe a reality check because he has been in his echo chamber for too long, lying to himself that people still want him,  said Ruva Kudambo, 37, who came to study technology and ended up staying. Tasa, a 36-year-old who refused to give his family name, said he had brought his four young children, aged 5 to 9, to the protest  because they are the future of Zimbabwe . NO DIS-GRACE For some Africans, Mugabe remains a nationalist hero, the continent s last independence leader and a symbol of its struggle to throw off the legacy of decades of colonial subjugation. But to many more at home and abroad, he was reviled as a dictator happy to resort to violence to retain power and to run a once-promising economy into the ground. Political sources and intelligence documents seen by Reuters said Mugabe s exit was likely to pave the way for an interim unity government led by Mnangagwa, a life-long Mugabe aide and former security chief known as  The Crocodile . Stabilising the free-falling economy will be the number one priority, the documents said. The United States, a long-time critic of Mugabe, said it was looking forward to a  new era  in Zimbabwe, while President Ian Khama of neighbouring Botswana said Mugabe had no diplomatic support in the region and should resign at once. The Herald, the state newspaper that has served as Mugabe s loyal mouthpiece, said ZANU-PF had called on Friday for him to go. It said ZANU-PF branches in all 10 provinces had also called for the resignation of Grace, the first lady whose ambitions to succeed her husband outraged the military and much of the country. To many Zimbabweans, she is known as  Gucci Grace  on account of her reported dedication to shopping, or - in the wake of an alleged assault in September on a South African model -  Dis-Grace . The scenes in Harare reflect the anger and frustration that has built up among Zimbabwe s 16 million people in nearly two decades of economic mismanagement that started with the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000, the catalyst of a wider collapse. The central bank tried to print its way out of trouble by unleashing a flood of cash but that only made matters worse, leading to hyperinflation that topped out at 500 billion percent in 2008. At least 3 million Zimbabweans emigrated in search of a better life, most of them to neighbouring South Africa. After stabilising briefly when Mugabe was forced to work with the opposition in a 2009-2013 unity government, the economy has collapsed again, this time due to a chronic shortage of dollars. In October, monthly inflation leapt to more than 50 percent, according to some economists, putting basic goods beyond the means of many in a country with 90 percent unemployment.  Mugabe s only public appearance since the military took over was at a university graduation ceremony on Friday morning. Decked out in blue and yellow academic gowns, he appeared tired, at one point falling asleep in his chair. A senior member of ZANU-PF said it was only a matter of time before he agreed to go.  If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday,  the source said.  When that is done, it s impeachment on Tuesday.

Summary: मुगाबे को बर्खास्त करने के लिए पार्टी तैयार, जिम्बाब्वे के लोगों ने अपेक्षित पतन का जश्न मनाया


(Reuters) - Banks and other financial companies expecting big benefits from Republican-led deregulation spent record amounts on lobbying in the last election cycle, according to an advocacy group report released on Wednesday. The financial sector spent $2 billion on political activity from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2016, including $1.2 billion in campaign contributions – more than twice the amount given by any other business sector, according to the study from Americans for Financial Reform. That works out to $3.7 million per member of Congress and is the most ever tracked by the group, which analyzed spending data going back to 1990. Furthermore, the actual amount is probably higher, because it did not include so-called “dark money”: funds donated to political advocacy by nonprofit groups. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) all spent more than $10 million each, the report said. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs released an investment analysis saying that large money center banks stood to profit significantly from the kind of financial deregulation expected from Republican President Donald Trump’s administration and a Republican Congress. As much as $218 billion in excess capital could be returned to shareholders or reinvested in the banks themselves if all the deregulation the industry is seeking comes about. Among senators not running for president, Democrat Charles Schumer, now the minority leader, received the largest amount, with $5.3 million coming from financial firms.  Mike Crapo, the Republican chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and who was also in the top 10 from the Senate, received $2.1 million. Jeb Hensarling, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who favors financial deregulation, received $1.9 million.  The report did not detail donations to presidential campaigns.   Though Trump has called for significant bank deregulation from both the agencies and via a congressional rewrite of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial deregulation law, there will be pushback from Democrats and others. Goldman conceded in its review that it was unlikely that all Dodd-Frank era regulation would be undone. (This story has been refiled to correct figure to $2 billion from $2.8 billion in second paragraph.)

Summary: हाल के चुनावों में बैंकों ने लॉबिंग पर रिकॉर्ड राशि खर्च की


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish national police began to seize ballot boxes and voting papers from Catalan polling stations, the Interior Ministry said, as some voters began casting ballots in Catalonia s disputed independence referendum on Sunday. Riot police clashed with voters outside a Barcelona voting station, where dozens of police used riot shields to push people back, a Reuters witness said. Would-be voters chanted  we are people of peace  and  we are not afraid . Half a dozen armored police vans and an ambulance stood ready nearby, the witness said.  Elsewhere in the northeastern region, some voting stations opened at 9 AM (0700 GMT) and people began to cast ballots.

Summary: स्पेन की पुलिस ने कैटलन जनमत संग्रह में मतपेटियों को जब्त किया


PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The militant Pakistani Taliban group said it carried out an attack on Sunday that killed five people in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Mohammad Khurassani said the militants planted an improvised explosive device  to target security personnel  in the Bajaur Agency area that is part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The blast struck a vehicle in the Mamund area of Bajaur, killing four security personnel and an official from the civilian administration, local government sources said. Bajaur is one of the Pashtun tribal regions near the Afghan border. Security in the region has improved in recent years after the Pakistani military mounted offensives there against the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, which is considered the country s biggest security threat. But militants continue to stage attacks in FATA, which remains off-bounds for foreigners and is considered one of the most volatile parts of the nuclear-armed nation of 208 million people.

Summary: पाकिस्तानी तालिबान का कहना है कि आदिवासी क्षेत्र में हुए घातक विस्फोट के पीछे उसका हाथ है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday said he accepted the snap elections called by Spain s central government in Catalonia and he was not seeking asylum in Belgium at a press conference given in Brussels. Puigdemont said he was not trying to escape from justice after the state prosecutor recommended charges for rebellion and sedition be brought against him. He did not clarify how long he would stay in Belgium, adding he would return to Catalonia when given  guarantees  by the Spanish government.

Summary: बर्खास्त कैटलन नेता पुइग्डेमोंट का कहना है कि उन्होंने मध्यावधि चुनाव स्वीकार कर लिया है, शरण नहीं ली है


BERLIN (Reuters) - A leading candidate to be Germany s next finance minister signaled his willingness on Thursday to seek a compromise with Emmanuel Macron over the French President s plans for deeper euro zone integration. Christian Lindner, who leads the Free Democrats (FDP) party negotiating to be part of Chancellor Angela Merkel s next coalition government, said European policy was one of the most important topics in the talks. Lindner said Macron   who last month called for a joint euro zone budget and joint finance minister among other reforms   had described political progress as a question of finding a balance between carrots and sticks.  Let s take him literally (on this) on the European question,  Lindner said at a book launch.   That means if he wants to get something, he ll have to accept other things - for example an insolvency mechanism for states or for example the binding participation of private investors in any debt restructuring if it should be necessary,  he said.  This would be the bitter thing he would have to swallow to get something sweet - namely additional funds for investments,  Lindner said. Veteran outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, wary of anything that might leave German taxpayers shouldering common euro zone debts, has been generally lukewarm about Macron s reform plans. Lindner may succeed him under the three-way coalition that Merkel is trying to form after her conservatives lost support in a federal election last month. It has been widely speculated that the FDP would demand the top finance post as a price for joining in, though Lindner on Thursday stopped short of claiming the ministry for his party. Earlier this week, he had insisted that Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) should relinquish it. Lindner has repeatedly criticized Schaeuble, a fiscal hawk, as being too soft on Greece and putting loyalty to Merkel ahead of his own political convictions. Asked which characteristics the next German finance minister should have, Lindner said:  Being consistent.

Summary: जर्मनी के एफ. डी. पी. के प्रमुख ने मैक्रों को 'कड़वा' यूरो क्षेत्र सौदा करने की पेशकश की


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand accounting software firm Xero Ltd said on Thursday that its chairman, Chris Liddell, would resign after accepting a position as an assistant to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. The company has appointed Graham Smith, its current director, to replace Liddell. Xero said Liddell had informed them that his new job required him to step down as chairman, a position he held for the past three years. “We wish him all the best in his exciting new role,” Xero Chief Executive Officer Rod Drury said in a written statement. Several New Zealand customers had said on social media this week that they were considering cancelling their subscriptions due to Liddell’s appointment, announced by Trump on Wednesday. Drury had responded in local media that the company had no political view. The changes will take place on Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration. Shares in Xero were trading up 1.4 percent in the wake of the announcement, just below their 8-week high. Xero dominates the market for accounting software for small businesses in New Zealand, where it is headquartered, as well as in Britain. It is currently trying to grow its presence in the United States.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड के ज़ीरो अध्यक्ष ने ट्रंप का पद स्वीकार करने के बाद दिया इस्तीफा


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, on Saturday condemned the government of Myanmar s  policy of repression  against minority Rohingya Muslims.  My country is gravely concerned and condemns the policy of repression and forced displacement carried out by the government of Myanmar against the Rohingya minority,  Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Bangladesh and aid organizations are struggling to help 422,000 Rohingya Muslims who have arrived since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants triggered a Myanmar crackdown that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.

Summary: सऊदी अरब ने म्यांमार सरकार की 'दमन नीति' की निंदा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican and Democratic senators called on Sunday for a special bipartisan panel to investigate cyber attacks against the United States by foreign countries with a focus on Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election. Charles Schumer, who will be Senate Democratic leader in the new U.S. Congress in January, and Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said separately on Sunday a select committee was needed to ensure effective congressional focus on the hacking of Democratic Party emails during the campaign.  “The fact that they’re hacking our political system and trying to influence the outcome, as it seems to be, that is serious, serious stuff,” Schumer of New York told a news conference in New York. He said the panel should also examine hacking by other countries including China and Iran. Two other senators, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, joined Schumer and McCain of Arizona in sending a letter to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell requesting the panel. By having one dedicated committee on the subject, they said, the investigation could be targeted, while avoiding the jurisdictional overlap that would occur if multiple panels started conducting their own reviews. “Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American,” they wrote. “Cybersecurity is the ultimate cross-jurisdictional challenge, and we must take a comprehensive approach to meet this challenge effectively.” A spokesman for McConnell’s office said on Sunday he would review the letter from the four lawmakers. Last week, McConnell said he would support efforts to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia tried to influence the Nov. 8 election by hacking individuals and institutions, including Democratic Party bodies. The matter has angered Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who says he won the vote fairly. Russian officials have denied accusations of interfering in the U.S. election. The U.S. Electoral College is expected to officially vote on Monday for Trump as the country’s next president. At meetings scheduled in every state and the District of Columbia, the institution’s 538 electors, generally chosen by state parties, will cast official ballots for president and vice president. Trump won a majority of Electoral College votes, while the popular vote went to Democrat Hillary Clinton.         U.S. President Barack Obama suggested on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally authorized the Democratic Party email hacks. McCain told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that the U.S. response to the Russian attacks had been “totally paralyzed” and said cyber warfare “is perhaps the only area where our adversaries have an advantage over us.” The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.  John Podesta, Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, said on Sunday it was an “open question” whether Trump’s advisers colluded with Russia to hack into Democratic Party emails to try to sway the election outcome. Leaked emails had revealed details of paid speeches that Clinton gave to Wall Street, party infighting and comments from Clinton top aides who said they were shocked about the extent of her use of a private server to send emails while U.S. secretary of state. The leaks led to embarrassing media coverage and prompted some party officials to resign.  Podesta said there was evidence that Trump associates had contact with a Russian intelligence official and the website WikiLeaks before U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russia of being behind computer attacks of Democratic emails, including Podesta’s. He did not specify what the evidence was.  “It’s very much unknown whether there was collusion. I think Russian diplomats have said post-election that they were talking to the Trump campaign,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “Not what Mr. Trump knew, but what did ‘Trump Inc’ know and when did they know it? Were they in touch with the Russians? I think those are still open questions,” he added. Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, rejected the notion that Trump or his associates were aware of and in touch with the Russians during the hack attack. “Even this question is insane,” Priebus told “Fox News Sunday.” “Of course we don’t interface with the Russians.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने रूस द्वारा किए गए साइबर हमलों की जांच की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, saying it was the only way to keep Republican Donald Trump out of the White House. “I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump,” Brown said in a letter to California Democrats and independents posted online. Brown, a popular Democrat who has steered the nation’s most populous state on a centrist path, praised Clinton’s rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but noted that she had won about 3 million more votes and hundreds more delegates. “In other words, Clinton’s lead is insurmountable and Democrats have shown – by millions of votes – that they want her as their nominee.” California is the biggest prize of the six states that hold presidential nominating contests on June 7, with 475 delegates. Clinton has secured 2,310 delegates, 73 short of the number needed to clinch her party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 election.  As he noted in his letter, Brown himself waged a populist presidential campaign in 1992, losing to then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, with themes similar to many espoused by Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist. Running on the slogan “We the People,” Brown railed against the influence of money in Washington and said politicians were “bought and paid for.” But Brown said Democrats need to stop fighting each other so they can focus on beating Trump, who he said presents a danger to immigrants, the environment and world peace. “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our country faces an existential threat from climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons. A new Cold War is on the horizon,” Brown wrote.  “Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as secretary of state, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one.”

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के गवर्नर ने क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया, ट्रंप को बताया खतरनाक


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump attacked Venezuela s authoritarian government from the podium at the United Nations this week but Latin American leaders say that behind the scenes he listened to them on how best to resolve the delicate regional crisis. Latin American leaders who dined with Trump on Monday on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly said they told him that a military invasion, a threat he casually made last month, would be unacceptable in a region long-sensitive to heavy-handed intervention by Washington. They pressed on him the need for a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela and argued against economic sanctions that would deepen its humanitarian crisis, which has already sent tens of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries.  Trump went to the trouble of asking us how best to solve the Venezuelan situation,  Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, who attended the dinner, told Reuters.  That the United States would consult Latin American counties on what to do is in itself a major step forward.   At the United Nations General Assembly this week, Trump attacked the Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro for destroying a once-wealthy oil-producing nation. He threatened to increase sanctions if Maduro did not move toward restoring democratic rule. But Trump steered clear of repeating the threat of military action he made on Aug. 11 which alarmed Latin Americans. For many, it conjured memories of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama that overthrew dictator Manuel Noriega, who died in May after years in prison in the United States and his own country. At least 125 people were killed in Venezuela during four months of protests this year against Maduro, who has resisted calls to bring forward a presidential election and instead set up a legislative superbody to overrule the opposition-led Congress. While no decisions were taken, the talks between Trump and the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Panama, and the vice president of Argentina put pressure on Maduro to engage in real negotiations with his opponents instead of using talks to gain time, Latin American leaders said. Brazilian President Michel Temer told reporters after the dinner those present had agreed to ramp up pressure on Venezuela without direct intervention. President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama said the dinner with Trump strengthened an initiative by a dozen Latin American countries and Canada to back a new round of negotiations between Maduro and his opponents.  There will be more pressure to convince Maduro to accept free and democratic elections in 2018,  Varela told Reuters.  We think Maduro is getting the message that change must come.  Purchases of crude and refined products from Venezuela represented 7 percent of total U.S. oil imports in the first half of the year, giving Washington some leverage to push for political change in the South American nation.  Yet an oil embargo - which would deprive the Maduro government of its main source of income - was not discussed at the dinner with Trump, several attendees said.   Much of Venezuelan oil is heavy in sulfur and used for heating oil and asphalt, but is also refined into gasoline, mainly by U.S. Gulf refiners. Gulf state senators have urged Trump not to ban imports, which would hurt refineries and push up gasoline prices.   Colombian foreign minister Mar a Angela Holguin said an oil boycott would only extend the suffering of the Venezuelan people, who are facing shortages of food and medicine.  We have to think of the Venezuelans who would suffer even more if the economic crisis deepens,  she said. Formal negotiations with the opposition are due to begin in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo on Sept. 27 and involve observers from Mexico, Chile, Nicaragua and Bolivia. Argentina s Faurie said the Maduro government would have to agree to several conditions for talks to be taken seriously, including a calendar for elections monitored by international observers and the release of political prisoners. Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society, a business forum dedicated to fostering ties between the United States and Latin America, said the talks between Trump and regional leaders sent a clear message to Maduro.  The most important thing that came out of the dinner was the photograph showing the president and the vice president of the United States sitting down with regional leaders to talk about Venezuela,  Farnsworth said.

Summary: बयानबाजी को दरकिनार करते हुए लैटिन अमेरिकी नेताओं का कहना है कि ट्रम्प ने वेनेजुएला के बारे में सुना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged the thanks he received from three UCLA basketball players who had been detained in China for shoplifting and were released after he raised the case with his Chinese counterpart. The players - LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill - have admitted to stealing items from three stores during a team trip to China. Before they thanked Trump on Wednesday for intervening with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Republican president had wondered whether they would express gratitude. “To the three UCLA basketball players I say: You’re welcome, go out and give a big Thank You to President Xi Jinping of China who made your release possible and, HAVE A GREAT LIFE!” Trump said in a tweet. “Be careful, there are many pitfalls on the long and winding road of life!” After the players returned from China on Tuesday, Trump tweeted: “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!” The trio, all freshmen, have been suspended indefinitely from the University of California, Los Angeles, basketball team. They had faced charges after police took them in for questioning in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Nov. 7 over allegations of shoplifting at a Louis Vuitton store. Their team had been in China for a game against Georgia Tech in Shanghai on Saturday, which UCLA won 63-60. The teams had traveled to Hangzhou earlier in the week.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने चीन से रिहा किए गए यू. सी. एल. ए. खिलाड़ियों का आभार व्यक्त किया


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police on Monday used metal cutters to remove five protesters who had chained themselves to the gate of the prime minister s official residence over the treatment of asylum seekers detained in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea police last week expelled about 400 protesting asylum-seekers from a shuttered Australian-run detention camp on Manus Island. The United Nations decried the crackdown as  shocking . The Manus Island detention camp, and another in the South Pacific island nation of Nauru, have been cornerstones of Australia s policy under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. The policy, aimed at deterring people from making a perilous sea voyage to Australia, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. But some people, including some Christian groups, object to it.  It s our hope that as church leaders we can actually respond ... in non-violent ways, in peaceful ways that actually highlight the issue and do justice to the beauty and the courage of the men on Manus Island,  said one of the protesters, Jarod Mckenna, who said he was a Christian pastor. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull does not live in the official residence and he was not there during the three-hour protest which ended when police ordered the five to keep still while the chains were cut from around their necks. They were then taken away in a police vehicle. There were no reports of injuries, police said. Australia says allowing asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores would only encourage people smugglers in Asia and see more people risk their lives trying to reach Australia. Australia closed the Manus Island detention center on Oct. 31, after it was declared illegal by a Papua New Guinea court. The asylum-seekers, who have said they fear for their safety as well as being resettled in Papua New Guinea or another developing country, were taken to transit centers. Australia has rejected an offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 of the men, and is instead aiming to sending up to 1,250 of them to the United States under a swap deal.  So many people feel hopeless,  Kurdish journalist and Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani told Reuters by text message from one of the transit centers.         Papua New Guinea immigration and police officials did not return Reuters  telephone calls or emails.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलियाई पुलिस ने प्रधानमंत्री के आवास पर आव्रजन प्रदर्शनकारियों से जंजीरें काटीं


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s ruling ZANU-PF party will hold a special central committee meeting on Sunday morning to dismiss 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe as its leader, two ZANU-PF sources said on Saturday. The meeting, which is scheduled to start at 1030 am (3.30 a.m. ET) will also reinstate ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa and remove Mugabe s wife, Grace, from the leadership of the ZANU-PF Women s League.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी रविवार को मुगाबे को बर्खास्त करेगीः सूत्र


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Public approval of President Donald Trump has dropped to its lowest level since his inauguration, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, after Trump was accused of mishandling classified information and meddling with an FBI investigation. The May 14-18 opinion poll found that 38 percent of adults approved of Trump while 56 percent disapproved. The remaining 6 percent had “mixed feelings.”  Americans appear to have soured on Trump after a tumultuous week in the White House during which the president fought back a steady drumbeat of critical news reports that ramped up concerns about his administration’s ties to Russia. The week started with revelations that Trump shared highly classified information with Russian diplomats in a private meeting. That was followed by reports that former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, whom Trump recently fired, had written memos expressing concerns that the president had pressured him to stop investigating Trump campaign ties to Russia.  Later in the week, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to oversee an independent probe into contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump has denied colluding with the Russians and called ongoing efforts to investigate him a “witch hunt.” No politician in history, he said, “has been treated worse or more unfairly.”  While Trump remains popular with members of his own party, many rank-and-file Republicans appear to have backed off their support for the president during the past week.  Among Republicans, 23 percent expressed disapproval of Trump in the latest poll, up from 16 percent in the same poll last week. The decline in support from Republicans appears to be a primary reason why Trump’s overall approval rating is now at the lowest level since he took office. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English across the United States. It gathered responses from 1,971 adults, including 721 Republicans and 795 Democrats. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire group and 4 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans. (This version of the story has been refiled to delete link to poll results)

Summary: राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प की स्वीकृति उद्घाटन के बाद से सबसे कम हो गईः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


(Reuters) - Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Thursday shrugged off the political backlash and budget woes stirred by his aggressive tax-cutting policies at home as he looked forward to a new role as the Trump administration’s chief defender of global religious tolerance. The two-term Republican addressed both topics at a news conference in Topeka a day after the White House announced that he would soon be nominated as U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, a State Department post. Brownback, who previously represented his home state in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, was a sponsor of the 1998 law that created the diplomatic post he now aspires to fill. “International religious freedom is going the wrong way. It’s getting worse around the world, not better,” Brownback told reporters. “It affects all faiths, it affects all religions.” One of Brownback’s most notable forays into the realm of faith as governor came in 2015, when he issued an executive order to protect the religious convictions of clergy as Kansas began to comply with the landmark ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage. His gubernatorial legacy, however, has been largely defined by 2012 legislation he championed to roll back tax rates to help stimulate Kansas’ economy. The deep cuts shrank state coffers and caused Kansas to miss revenue targets, turning the state into a cautionary tale of fiscal mismanagement.  “It’s amazed me, too, that a tax cut done in a Midwestern state in 2012 has been the dominant tax discussion in America the last five years,” Brownback said on Thursday. He mostly defended his tax strategy, though conceded some resulting spending cuts could have been carried out “more artfully.”  More than a dozen conservative allies in the state legislature lost their seats in the November election in what was seen as a political repudiation of Brownback’s fiscal policies. Earlier this year, both chambers of the Republican-controlled legislature voted to raise taxes and overrode Brownback’s attempt to veto that measure. Republican state Representative Melissa Rooker, in a separate interview with Reuters, called Brownback’s tax policy “an unmitigated disaster.” Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer, a physician who previously served in the legislature, would succeed Brownback if he resigned to assume the diplomatic post. It was unclear how soon Brownback might move to Washington, D.C. In the meantime, his standing at home is low. Brownback ranks as the second-least popular governor in the United States, with a 66 percent disapproval rating, according to the nonpartisan political research company Morning Consult.

Summary: कंसास के गवर्नर को धार्मिक राजदूत के रूप में चुना गया जो विरासत पर प्रतिबिंबित करता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of Obamacare staged rallies across the country on Thursday denouncing efforts by President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders to repeal the landmark law that has extended medical insurance coverage to some 20 million Americans. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles marking the seventh anniversary of enactment of Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become widely known. Many talked about a very personal stake in the outcome of the healthcare debate roiling Capitol Hill. “I feel sick today, but I came here because I’m terrified,” said Steve Martin, 27, an unemployed Los Angeles resident who was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. “The legislators have the best healthcare in the world, and we deserve the same.” The ACA, considered former Democratic President Barack Obama’s premiere domestic achievement, has drawn unrelenting scorn from Republicans, with promises to repeal and replace it a centerpiece of Trump’s presidential campaign. Thursday’s rallies coincided with planned action in the House of Representatives on a Republican-backed bill to begin dismantling Obamacare, but the vote was indefinitely postponed as Republican leaders and the White House scrambled to muster enough votes for passage. Many moderate Republicans as well as Democrats have raised concerns that repeal-and-replace would leave too many Americans without health coverage. Supporters of the bill say it would lower premiums, but critics counter that those savings would in many cases be more than offset by higher co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs. Obamacare backers also worry about the fate of millions who gained insurance under the bill’s major expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state program providing coverage for the needy, the elderly and the disabled. In the nation’s capital, several hundred chanting protesters gathered at Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, carrying signs with slogans such as “We Fight Back” and “Keep America Healthy.”  Robinette Barmer, 61, a former seamstress and caterer from Baltimore now on a disability pension, said that without Obamacare she could not afford the various medications she takes for ailments such as asthma and high blood pressure. “It’s co-pay this, co-pay that. I can’t pay that. I’m struggling as it is right now,” she said. After the rally, protesters marched a block to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, where several dozen sprawled on the sidewalk in a “die-in” symbolizing the effect of rolling back Obamacare. Some 24 protesters were arrested in front of the White House after they refused get off the ground, organizers said.   Protest organizers said smaller gatherings were also held outside the congressional district offices of various Republican lawmakers around the country.

Summary: ओबामाकेयर समर्थकों ने कांग्रेस के निरसन प्रयासों के खिलाफ रैली निकाली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating Russian meddling in U.S. 2016 election, has asked President Donald Trump’s political organization to hand over all documents going back the campaign’s launch in June 2015, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing two people briefed on the request.  The letter from the Senate panel seeking all documents, emails and telephone records arrived at Trump’s campaign committee last week and was addressed to its treasurer, the Post said. This marked the first time the Trump campaign organization has been drawn into the bipartisan committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election, it said. Dozens of former campaign staffers are expected to be contacted soon to ensure they are aware of the request, the Post said, citing the two people. The letter was signed by Republican Senator Richard Burr, the committee’s chairman, and Senator Mark Warner, its top Democrat, according to the Post, which said representatives for Burr and Warner declined to comment. The Senate panel’s investigation is among several in Congress into Russian interference in the election, and is separate from a probe into the matter being led by a special counsel appointed last week by the Justice Department, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller. Trump’s campaign committee, based at Trump Tower in New York, is now led by Michael Glassner, a former deputy campaign manager, and John Pence, a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence, the Post said. Glassner did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a White House representative had no immediate comment, the Post said. Trump’s administration has been dogged by concerns about its ties to Russia and questions over whether Trump associates may have cooperated with Russians as they sought to meddle in last year’s election on Trump’s behalf. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump’s favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia. Controversy has engulfed Trump since he fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9 as Comey oversaw an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.

Summary: सीनेट की खुफिया समिति ने ट्रंप के प्रचार अभियान के दस्तावेजों का अनुरोध कियाः वाशिंगटन पोस्ट


LONDON (Reuters) - Under the gaze of a life-sized cardboard figure of Donald Trump, some 200 of his supporters gathered at an exclusive club near the Ritz hotel in London to celebrate Friday’s inauguration of America’s 45th president. Bunches of red, white and blue balloons, some of them star-shaped, adorned the walls of the Royal Over-Seas League where Trump’s appearance on the balcony outside the domed U.S. Capitol was greeted with whooping and cheering. As he completed the oath, the room broke into a standing ovation complete with high-five celebrations. Later, Trump’s inaugural speech was punctuated with cheers, especially his pledge to eradicate “radical Islamic terrorism”, while at the end the room chorused along with Trump’s trademark promise to make America great again. “The speech was great - Mr Trump just touched the most important subjects for America,” said Polish-born university professor Victoria Gorska-Rabuck. “His speech was very appropriate, very uplifting and promises a lot. We hope he can deliver what he promised,” she told Reuters. Businessman David Pattinson said he thought Trump would be a successful president. “I think he’ll succeed in cutting government spending although I don’t know whether he will be successful in getting rid of the establishment,” he said. “I wasn’t surprised when he won, I was satisfied,” he added. “I was expecting him to win. It was the same with Brexit in how the polls got it wrong.”

Summary: लंदन में रिपब्लिकन पार्टी ने ट्रम्प के उद्घाटन समारोह का जश्न मनाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s campaign to shrink the “bloated federal bureaucracy” so far has made a small dent in the federal  workforce, and that largely because of a decline in civilian defense jobs. Days after his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump ordered a hiring freeze later replaced with an order for federal agencies to cut staff immediately, and in March he proposed a 2018 budget that sought to shift $54 billion to the military from other departments. However, federal civilian jobs declined around 6,000 in the first nine months of this year, or just 0.3 percent of 2.1 million such jobs tracked by the Office of Personnel Management, according to Reuters calculations based on the latest OPM data published in late October. The White House Office of Management and Budget declined to comment on the overall drop in federal employment or the mix of job gains and losses across agencies. The Office issued in April the order for agencies to start near-term staffing cuts and to submit plans for longer-term reductions by September. Trump has not detailed how much “fat” he aims to cut, but spoke of “billions and billions of dollars” of government waste and his aim to shrink the “bloated federal bureaucracy” while preparing his budget proposals in March. Independent watchdogs agree the federal government could be made more efficient, with Congress’s Government Accountability Office estimating in April that overlap and duplication lead to “tens of billions” of dollars in unnecessary spending.  Before Trump, Democrats Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush have all spearheaded various efforts to streamline government bureaucracy. David Lewis, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, said this year’s numbers showed that Trump’s executive orders had limited power to reshape the federal bureaucracy. Ultimately, the Congress controlled the budgets and had the biggest sway over agencies’ staffing, said Lewis, whose research has largely focused on executive branch politics and public administration. The White House has said agencies’ longer-term workforce reduction plans will serve to develop Trump’s 2019 budget proposal.  The overall decline in federal staffing this year is largely due to a roughly 9,500 drop at the Department of Defense to about 731,000, a 1.3 percent decline, even though Trump’s budget proposal envisaged small increases between 2016 and 2018 in employment measured by hours worked. Pentagon spokesman Dave Eastburn said hiring was slow during the White House-ordered freeze, but exemptions allowed recruitment for mission-critical positions and military readiness was never affected. He described the decrease in staffing this year as “well within historical norms.” In fact, the number of active-duty service personnel, which was exempt from the hiring freeze, grew by about 7,000 in the 12 months through September, according to Defense Department data.  Still, cuts in the civilian staff could push more work onto relatively expensive contractors and military officers, potentially raising costs over time, said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a non-partisan watchdog group.    “If we’re just cutting jobs to cut jobs then mistakes are likely to be made,” Amey said after reviewing Reuters’ calculations of OPM data.  Mallory Barg Bulman, a researcher at the Partnership for Public Service, a non-partisan nonprofit, said targeting the number of jobs in general was not the best way of improving how the bureaucracy works. “A hiring freeze is not the answer to making the government more effective,” said Barg Bulman. Instead, agencies should invest more in training to boost productivity, she said.  The OPM figures, which exclude the postal service and some smaller independent agencies, showed the declines were in part offset by staffing gains - totaling about 9,000 - at the homeland security and veterans affairs departments. Much of the gains were in divisions that control immigration and in medical care for former soldiers, areas Trump has identified as priorities. The Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security said staffing increases owed to revised recruitment strategies as well as temporary hiring for hurricane relief efforts. Some staffing ups and downs at agencies are part of long-standing budget issues or seasonal factors. The Treasury Department lost staff largely due to budget cuts ordered by Congress in past years for its tax collection service, while the departments of interior and agriculture saw increases due to seasonal hiring. (This version of the story has been refiled to clarify description of the Partnership for Public Service in paragraph 15)

Summary: संघीय नौकरियों में कटौती करने के लिए ट्रम्प के दबाव का मामूली प्रभाव पड़ता है, ज्यादातर रक्षा में।


NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan election board should include Ekuru Aukot, who polled less than 1 percent in presidential elections in August, on the ballot in the event of a re-run, the High Court ruled on Wednesday.   I find nothing to bar the petitioner from contesting the fresh election,  said Justice John Mativo.  His ruling means President Uhuru Kenyatta may still have a challenger on Oct. 26, when the re-run is scheduled, despite the withdrawal of top opposition candidate on Raila Odinga over allegations of bias.

Summary: केन्या उच्च न्यायालय ने फैसला सुनाया कि नाबालिग उम्मीदवार को फिर से चुनाव लड़ने के लिए मतपत्र पर होना चाहिए


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will not recognize Catalonia s declaration of independence from Spain, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote in a post on Twitter on Friday evening. The political turmoil in Spain intensified on Friday as the Madrid government dismissed Catalonia s president and parliament hours after the region declared independence. Pena Nieto made it clear he will stand beside Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he confronts the nation s most acute political crisis since it embraced democracy in 1978.  Mexico will not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia,  Pena Nieto wrote.  We hope for a political and peaceful solution.   Nations including France, Germany and the United States have also voiced their support for Spanish unity.   Spain was plunged into uncertainty on Oct. 1 when Catalonia, a prosperous northeastern state that accounts for 20 percent of Spain s gross domestic product, held an independence referendum, though courts had declared the proceedings illegal. Separatists declared victory despite a participation of only 43 percent. Shortly after the referendum, Mexico s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said in a statement that the country favored a unified Spain.

Summary: मेक्सिको कैटेलोनिया की स्वतंत्रता को मान्यता नहीं देगाः राष्ट्रपति


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to toughen sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities, as U.S. lawmakers sought to crack down on Pyongyang for its nuclear tests. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. Differences between the two are expected to be resolved quickly and Senate Democrats said they expected President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law. The White House has not threatened a veto, but a spokesman told reporters he did not have a response to the bill. Lawmakers said they wanted to make Washington’s resolve clear not just to Pyongyang, but to the United Nations and other governments, especially China, North Korea’s lone major ally and main business partner. The Senate vote for the “North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act” was 96-0. Backing for the bill was so strong that two Republicans vying to be their party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both left the campaign trail to vote. Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic contender, missed the vote. “China, the very entity that could do something about this, is blocking the U.N. Security Council’s action toward this being done on a multilateral basis,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It will be much more effective if we can get the international community to support us,” said Senator Ben Cardin, the panel’s top Democrat. He drew parallels to U.S. sanctions that became multilateral regimes against Iran and South Africa. Congress has been clamoring for a clampdown since Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in January. Its weekend satellite launch fueled the calls. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate on Tuesday that North Korea has followed through on plans to re-start a plutonium production reactor and could begin to assemble a plutonium stockpile within months. The Senate bill would sanction anyone who engages in, facilitates or contributes to North Korea’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and the provision of materials for such activities. Penalties include the seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts. Unusually, the measure makes most of the sanctions mandatory, rather than giving the president the option to impose them. He can temporarily waive them by making the case that doing so would threaten national security.

Summary: सीनेट ने सर्वसम्मति से उत्तर कोरिया पर सख्त प्रतिबंधों का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States holds North Korea accountable for its treatment of U.S. student Otto Warmbier and wants three other U.S. citizens detained by Pyongyang to be freed as soon as possible, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. “We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier’s unjust imprisonment,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing. Warmbier died on Monday days after being returned from North Korea in a coma after being imprisoned for 17 months. “We want to see three other Americans who were unjustly detained brought home as soon as possible,” Nauert said.

Summary: विदेश विभाग ने उत्तर कोरिया पर हिरासत में लिए गए अमेरिकियों को रिहा करने का दबाव डाला


PARIS (Reuters) - France will discuss the possible sale of more Rafale aircrafts with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his visit to Paris this week, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday. Under the previous government, France had concluded several major military agreements with Egypt, including the sale of 24 Rafale combat aircraft, a multi-mission frigate and two Mistral warships in contracts worth some 6 billion euros. The 2015 Rafale contract - the first export contract for the jet - included the option of selling another twelve aircrafts.  If there can be new contracts, so much the better. That will be discussed today by the President of the Republic (Macron) and the president (Sisi),  said Le Maire, when asked by Europe 1 radio to comment on reports that the sale of the extra 12 aircrafts was on the table but that his ministry was reluctant because of the payment terms asked for by Egypt.  It is normal that Bercy (the French finance ministry) would want to make sure Egypt should be able to pay its plane orders,  Le Maire said. Sisi is in Paris until Oct 25.  As far as human rights are concerned, of course we ll discuss that. I have no doubt that the President of the Republic will mention the issue of human rights when he has lunch with his Egyptian counterpart,  added Le Maire. Rafale-maker Dassault Aviation declined to comment.  France and Egypt have nurtured closer economic and military ties in recent years, and with Sisi s rise to power that relationship has improved with both sides concerned by the political vacuum in Libya and the threat from jihadist groups in Egypt. But human rights organisations at home and overseas have accused France under Macron of remaining silent in the face of increasing violations of freedoms by Sisi s government, as the 2018 presidential elections approach.

Summary: मिस्र के अल-सिसी के साथ राफेल की संभावित नई बिक्री पर चर्चा करेगा फ्रांसः ले मायर


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, in an apparent policy shift, said on Wednesday he planned to ask China to make clear its intentions in the disputed South China Sea during Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Vietnam. China claims almost the entire strategic waterway where $3 trillion worth of sea-borne goods passes every year, building and militarizing artificial islands. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims.  So, it s about time, either in the bilateral or in the plenary, I should be bringing this important matter to the surface,  Duterte told reporters before leaving for Vietnam. He said China had to make it clear to Southeast Asian countries its intentions in the South China Sea.  You want to control the passage or do we have the free passage?  he said, adding he would not be confrontational.  Since coming to office 16 months ago, the firebrand leader has been conciliatory to Beijing, despite a ruling from an international arbitration court favoring the Philippines in its territorial dispute with China. In the past, Duterte has repeatedly said he will raise the sea dispute at the proper time and avoided the issue when Manila hosted two regional meetings this year. The two countries will also negotiate a military protocol to avoid maritime  miscalculations , Manila s defense minister said on Wednesday following a brief standoff near a Philippine-occupied island in a disputed part of the South China Sea. Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippines tried to put up makeshift structures on a sand bar about 4 km (2.5 miles) off Thitu island in the Spratly archipelago in August, but China objected and sent ships to the area. Duterte sought to defuse tensions by ordering troops to pull out. Construction was stopped.  We intend to sit down with China to draft and agree on a protocol to resolve immediately any incident,  he said, adding he hoped talks could start this year. China-Philippines relations have often been frosty over the South China Sea, but ties have warmed under Duterte, who prefers to not provoke Beijing and wants to tap it for loans and investment.

Summary: फिलीपींस चीन से विवादित समुद्र में अपने इरादों को स्पष्ट करने के लिए कहेगा


ANKARA (Reuters) - Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday in northern Iraq by an improvised explosive device, the Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement. The military also said that eight militants were killed in air raids, which followed a clash between the armed forces and militants. Turkish media previously reported that two soldiers were killed in Turkey s southeastern province of Hakkari, near the Iraqi border.

Summary: उत्तरी इराक में दो तुर्की सैनिकों की हत्याः सैन्य बयान


(This story corrects year to 2001 in paragraph 17 in the February 18 story.) By Jeff Mason MELBOURNE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will interview four candidates for the position of U.S. national security adviser on Sunday and expects to make a decision in the coming days, he told reporters on Saturday. Trump will interview acting adviser Keith Kellogg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “I’ll make a decision over the next couple of days,” Trump told reporters later on Air Force One. He said he was leaning toward one of the candidates he was interviewing on Sunday. Trump, who has been searching for a new national security adviser after firing his first one, Michael Flynn, could add a couple more candidates to the list, Spicer said.  Retired general and former CIA chief David Petraeus is no longer a candidate.  The retired four-star general, who resigned as head of the CIA in 2012 after it was revealed he was having an affair with his biographer, had been on a short list for the job after Flynn was let go. Spicer said Trump’s finalists include Kellogg, Bolton, Caslen, who is the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and McMaster, who holds a senior post with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Former U.S. National Security Agency head Keith Alexander, and former Army chief of staff Ray Odierno were also thought to be in contention for the job. Flynn stepped down early this week after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Finding a replacement has been a challenge for Trump.      Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, the president’s first choice to take over for Flynn, turned down the offer, citing family and financial reasons. A source familiar with the matter said Petraeus, like Harward, wanted control over staffing decisions within the NSC, and Trump was reluctant to grant that authority. Trump is spending the weekend at his properties in Florida. “Will be having many meetings this weekend at The Southern White House,” he wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning. The president spent the morning at the Trump International Golf Club before returning to his Mar-a-Lago resort. He later held a political rally in Melbourne, Florida.  The tumult in Trump’s security team stretched into other areas of the National Security Council, the president’s main forum for decision-making on security and foreign affairs. The White House dismissed Craig Deare, the NSC’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, after receiving reports that he had criticized the president and top aides, Politico reported. An NSC spokesman declined to comment. McMaster is a highly regarded tactician and strategic thinker with a PhD, who as a captain in 1991 commanded a small troop of the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment that destroyed a much larger Iraqi Republican Guard force at a place called 73 Easting, for its map coordinates, in what many consider the biggest tank battle since World War II. Caslen, a West Point graduate, was serving in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and joined others after the attack in rushing into the damaged part of the building to search for survivors. He served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The Pentagon Inspector General found that he and other generals violated Defense Department ethical guidelines by appearing in a video promoting Christian Embassy, a non-profit evangelical group previously known as the Campus Crusade for Christ.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि वह अगले कुछ दिनों में राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार पर फैसला करेंगे


MADRID (Reuters) - The upper house of Spain s parliament on Friday authorized the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to rule Catalonia directly from Madrid, minutes after the restive region declared independence from Spain. Rajoy is now expected to convene his cabinet to adopt the first measures to govern Catalonia. This could include firing the Barcelona government and assuming direct supervision of Catalan police forces.

Summary: स्पेन की संसद ने कैटेलोनिया पर सीधे शासन को मंजूरी दी


VIENNA (Reuters) - The Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has agreed to rule out a referendum on Austria leaving the European Union as part of a coalition deal with conservatives led by Sebastian Kurz, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache said on Saturday. At a joint news conference with Kurz on details of their coalition deal, Strache said the two had agreed to expand direct democracy progressively. Kurz also said Austria s stance on Russian sanctions would not change with the pro-Moscow FPO joining the government.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के धुर दक्षिणपंथी नेता का कहना है कि उन्होंने ब्रेक्सिट-शैली के मतदान को खारिज कर दिया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey on Thursday defended his handling of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s email investigation during the contentious U.S. presidential election, according to a message to FBI staff reported by ABC News. Comey and the Federal Bureau of Investigation came under criticism from Republicans and Democrats amid its investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server while U.S. secretary of state.  “I would be lying if I said the external criticism doesn’t bother me at all, but the truth is, it doesn’t bother me much because of the way we made the decision,” Comey said in the New Year’s message, ABC reported. “At every turn last year, we were faced with choosing among bad options and making decisions we knew would bring a torrent of criticism.” The most furious criticism came after Comey disclosed that the FBI was examining a trove of newly discovered Clinton emails just 11 days before the Nov. 8 vote.  The new trove did not change the FBI’s decision not to recommend criminal charges against Clinton, Comey said a week later. But Clinton cited his decision as a turning point that cost her the election to Republican businessman Donald Trump.

Summary: कोमी ने 'चुनौतीपूर्ण' अमेरिकी चुनाव वर्ष के दौरान की गई कार्रवाइयों का बचाव किया


ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi has suggested a Carabinieri (military police) general could be Italy s next prime minister if his center bloc wins national elections slated for early 2018. Berlusconi, a four-times prime minister, is barred from holding public office because of a 2013 conviction for tax fraud. He is trying to overturn the ban, but is seeking alternative candidates if his legal battle fails.  I have many names, but there is someone who is very capable ... who has had success and is esteemed by everyone, General (Leonardo) Gallitelli,  Berlusconi told a Sunday night chat show on state broadcaster RAI. Gallitelli headed the Carabinieri, a military police force that operates under the control of both the defense and interior ministries, from 2009 to 2015. He is currently head of Italy s anti-doping office. Berlusconi said he had not yet discussed the idea with Gallitelli. He has previously suggested that European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi or the CEO of carmaker Fiat Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, could be his prime ministerial candidate. The billionaire media tycoon was widely written off after he quit as prime minister in 2011 amid a sex scandal. But he has made a remarkable political comeback and his Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party is now the lynchpin of a center coalition that leads in opinion polls ahead of next year s election. Berlusconi, 81, said if his bloc took power he would like to see 12 people from outside the world of politics appointed to the cabinet, with only 8 ministries entrusted to politicians. His allies, the far-right Northern League and Brothers of Italy, are likely to baulk at the suggestion. The three parties have agreed that whichever group gets more votes next year should nominate the prime minister.  Forza Italia is just ahead of the Northern League in the polls, but surveys indicate no one party or bloc will win enough votes to govern alone, meaning a hung parliament looks likely.

Summary: बर्लुस्कोनी का मानना है कि इटली के जनरल अगले प्रधानमंत्री हो सकते हैं


BANGKOK (Reuters) - A $45-billion plan to redevelop Thailand s industrial east will go ahead regardless of whoever takes power after elections, the military government told hundreds of Japanese investors on Monday. The ruling junta, faced with weak exports and sluggish domestic demand, has focused on promoting investment to help revive growth in Southeast Asia s second-largest economy, which lags regional peers. The military government hopes the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development project, worth 1.5 trillion baht ($45 billion), will lift growth to about 5 percent a year by 2020, from the latest government estimate of 3.5 for 2017.  Regardless of which government is in office, or when the election will be held, the EEC plan will continue, with certainty,  Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told a gathering of 570 investors flown in from Japan.   It is law, an act embedded within the 20-year national strategy, and supported by the national development plans.  The junta has branded its 20-year strategy a guide for policymaking long after elections expected next year, at the earliest. The strategy has fueled concern among critics that the army plans to cement its grip on power, whoever wins an election. Japan was Thailand s biggest investor in 2016 with more than 57 billion baht ($1.7 billion), most of it going into the automobile industry. Thailand, known as the  Detroit of Asia,  is a regional base for some of the world s top carmakers, such as Toyota Motor Co. The government now wants to establish its own equivalent of Silicon Valley in the EEC.   The digital innovation created there can go into supporting the automotive industry,  Pichet Durongkaveroj, the Minister of Digital Economy, told Reuters.  We aim to be a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles.

Summary: थाई जुंटा ने जापान के निवेशकों को 45 अरब डॉलर की विकास योजना को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए कहा


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain must strike a strong trade deal with the European Union after Brexit and avoid becoming a subordinate state of the bloc, foreign minister and leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson has told the Sunday Times newspaper. Failure to ditch EU law would make the United Kingdom a  vassal state,  Johnson said in an interview to be published on Sunday. The government must aim to  maximize the benefits of Brexit  by getting divergence from the bloc s rules so that it could do  proper free trade deals  with other countries. Prime Minister Theresa May this week secured an agreement with the EU to move Brexit talks on to trade and a transition pact. But she must now unite her deeply divided cabinet over what trade deal Britain actually wants. [nL8N1OF03W] Separately, in a measure of the difficulty May will face in bringing her side together, finance minister Philip Hammond caused a stir amongst some Brexit supporters because he said that after Britain formally leaves the EU in March 2019, it will seek to replicate the current status quo in a transition period.    [nL4N1OG05L] Former work and pensions minister Ian Duncan Smith criticized Hammond, as did other leading Brexit supporters, for making a statement which he said was  not government policy . Johnson told the Sunday Times he would advance the case for a  liberal Brexit  in a new intervention in the debate this week in which he would play up the advantages of leaving the EU.

Summary: विदेश मंत्री ने चेतावनी दी कि ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ का 'जागीरदार राज्य' नहीं बन सकता


GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura urged Russia on Wednesday to convince its ally the Syrian government of the need to clinch a peace deal to end the nearly seven-year-old war. De Mistura, speaking on Swiss television station RTS, said  failure to make peace quickly through United Nations mediation could lead to  a fragmentation of Syria . Russian President Vladimir Putin during a surprise visit on Monday to Russia s Hmeymim air base in Syria, declared that the work of Russian forces was largely done in backing the Assad government against militants, following the defeat of  the most battle-hardened group of international terrorists.  De Mistura, asked what signal Putin could give from his position of force, said:  Convince the (Syrian) government that there is no time to lose.... You can think you win territory militarily but you have to win the peace.  And to win the peace, you have to have the courage to push the government to accept that there has to be a new constitution and new elections, through the United Nations,  he said. The nearly seven-year civil war in Syria has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes. All previous diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have ended in failure over the opposition s demand that President Bashar al-Assad leave power and his refusal to go. The Kremlin first launched air strikes in Syria in September 2015 in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in Assad s favor.  Now that it regards that mission complete, Putin wants to help broker a peace deal and is keen to organize a special event in Russia - a Syrian Congress on National Dialogue - that Moscow hopes will bring together the Syrian government and opposition and try to hammer out a new constitution. But De Mistura made clear that peace negotiations must be through the United Nations in Geneva, as mandated by the U.N. Security Council, adding:  Otherwise it is not worth it.... This is a complicated war, it is only in Geneva through the U.N.  The U.N. envoy has conducted shuttle diplomacy between the Syrian government delegation led by chief negotiator Bashar al-Ja afari and a unified opposition delegation.  The opposition told me clearly when they arrived here, and again yesterday and this morning too, that they are ready to meet the government right away to have a hard, difficult discussion.  The government is not ready, it has said it is not ready to meet the opposition. That is regrettable but diplomacy has many means,  de Mistura said. A senior Western diplomat said that the government delegation had failed to engage with de Mistura on a new constitution and elections during a round of negotiations due to end on Thursday.  Clearly they did not have any intention to engage in this political process. And clearly they are not under sufficient pressure to do so,  the diplomat told Reuters.  The clear impression is the regime wants to avoid the U.N.-led political process at any cost.

Summary: पुतिन को सीरिया को संयुक्त राष्ट्र शांति समझौते के लिए प्रेरित करना चाहिए, मध्यस्थ ने कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled on Wednesday that the United States could back away from the Minsk agreement to end fighting in Ukraine, telling a congressional hearing the Trump administration does not want to be “handcuffed.” Tillerson said it was possible that the Ukrainian government could come to an agreement with Moscow outside the structure of the 2015 accord. “I think it is important that we be given sufficient flexibility to achieve the Minsk objectives. It is very possible that the government of Ukraine and the government of Russia could come to a satisfactory resolution through some structure other than Minsk,” Tillerson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “My caution is I wouldn’t want to have ourselves handcuffed to Minsk if it turns out the parties decide to settle this through another, a different, agreement,” he said. The Minsk peace agreement, brokered by France and Germany and signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015, calls for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. As Washington focuses on potential Trump administration ties to Russia, lawmakers have been insisting that no sanctions on Russia be lifted until it complies with the agreement. Tillerson was responding to Representative Eliot Engel, the committee’s ranking Democrat, who asked if it was in the U.S. interest to relax sanctions on Russia before it fully complied. Engel said the approach suggested by Tillerson would send the wrong signal to Russia.  “If they think that we’re somehow willing to relax the sanctions on them before they’ve complied with the Minsk framework and left Crimea, I think it just will encourage Putin to continue his bullying,” Engel said.  “And who knows where he’ll strike next.” Tillerson spoke at a wide-ranging budget hearing in which he also discussed Trump’s China policy and said he expected the administration to complete a review of Afghan policy in the coming weeks. Many members of the U.S. Congress, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, disagree sharply with his proposal to slash foreign aid and spending on diplomacy. Trump, who wants sharp increases in military spending, sees the proposed cuts as a way to help balance the budget. His critics say such that approach would pose a threat to the country’s security by weakening so-called “soft power” programs that win international support.

Summary: यूक्रेन समझौते के लिए 'हथकड़ी' नहीं लगाना चाहता अमेरिका


NEW YORK/BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will do all it can to persuade the United States not to abandon the Iranian nuclear agreement, whatever the outcome of German elections on Sunday, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday. Gabriel told reporters any U.S. move to cancel the Iran deal and impose new sanctions on Tehran would discourage powers such as North Korea from negotiating an end to their own nuclear programs. Germany would work with the European Union, France, Britain and where possible China and Russia to press Washington to preserve the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, he said on the sidelines of a U.N. meeting in New York. Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives are poised to win Sunday s elections, but it remains unclear if Gabriel s Social Democrats will play a role in the next coalition government. Gabriel said Germany would maintain its position on the Iran deal, regardless of which parties formed the next government. U.S. President Donald Trump has called the Iran deal  an embarrassment , but Germany and other powers who also negotiated it with Iran fear its collapse could trigger a regional arms race. Trump must decide by Oct. 15 whether to certify that Iran is complying with the pact. If he does not, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the accord.  Now we will all try to convince the Americans in the remaining weeks ... that calling the agreement into question will not increase security,  Gabriel said.  The United States said on Wednesday it was weighing whether the nuclear accord served its security interests. Iran said it did not expect Washington to abandon it.  Gabriel said Germany would have to consider whether to stick to the agreement even if Washington backed out, but said that could prove  very difficult , given that the United States would immediately impose new sanctions against Iran. He said Iran was complying with the deal but businesses had been reluctant to commit to investments and contracts out of concern that the United States could re-impose sanctions under the agreement s  snapback provision . Gabriel said it was  tragic  that the only agreement aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons was being called into question.  In Berlin, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Germany, as one of Iran s most important trading partners in Europe, had a  great interest  in preserving the agreement. German exports to Iran rose 23 percent to 1.4 billion euros in the first half of 2017. The foreign minister said he accepted the U.S. position that Iran s behavior in the Middle East had not improved since the deal - but added there was no hope of it changing its ways if the accord fell. Any collapse would send a  terrible signal  for other diplomatic efforts.  What should motivate countries like North Korea or others to enter into negotiations in the future when the one example of such a deal is being destroyed?  he said.

Summary: जर्मनी ईरान परमाणु समझौते को बचाने का प्रयास करेगाः गैब्रियल


ADU DHABI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is interested in reaching a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington, the U.S. government s energy chief said on Wednesday, a step which would allow American companies to participate in the kingdom s civil nuclear program. Saudi Arabia has invited U.S. firms to take part in developing the kingdom s atomic energy program, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who this week visited Saudi Arabia on his first official trip to the region told Reuters that negotiations between the two allies will start soon to tackle the details of the pact - known as a 123 agreement.   We heard that message that ...  we want the United States to be our partner in this ,  Perry said, referring to discussions he had during his meetings with Falih and the top Saudi leadership. Perry met with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman during his trip. But one potential sticking point could prove to be Riyadh s ambitions to have the ability of one day enriching uranium - the process for producing fissile material which can have military uses. Riyadh has said it wants to tap its own uranium resources for  self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel  and it was not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. But under Article 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, a peaceful cooperation agreement is required for the transfer of nuclear materials, technology and equipment. Washington usually requires a country to sign a pact that blocks it from making nuclear fuel which has potential bomb-making applications. In previous talks Saudi Arabia has refused to sign up to any agreement that would deprive it of the possibility of one day enriching uranium itself. Perry declined to comment whether that issue was raised during his visit to Saudi Arabia.  It is not for me to negotiate the deal but we have agreed to move forward ... We are going to get a negotiating team together going forward and try to hash out any details. But I feel comfortable that progress was made on that front,  he said. The world s top oil exporter says it wants nuclear power to diversify its energy supply mix, enabling it to export more crude rather than burning it to generate electricity. Riyadh sent a request for information to nuclear reactor suppliers in October in a first step towards opening a multi-billion-dollar tender competition for two nuclear power plants, and plans to award the first construction contract in 2018. Riyadh s main reason for leaving the door open to enrichment in the future may be political - to ensure the Sunni Muslim kingdom has the same potential to enrich uranium as Shi ite Muslim Iran, industry sources and analysts say.

Summary: अमेरिकी ऊर्जा प्रमुख ने कहा कि वह रियाद के साथ परमाणु समझौते पर बातचीत शुरू करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There are no signs that a blockade of Yemen s ports by a Saudi-led military coalition has eased to allow aid to reach communities increasingly at risk of starvation, the head of the U.S. government s aid agency said on Tuesday. USAID administrator Mark Green called on the Saudi-led military coalition to open Yemen s ports and for Yemen s Houthis to cease firing to allow food and medical supplies to flow to tens of thousands of Yemenis caught in the fighting. Green was speaking after the U.S. announced another $130 million in emergency food aid for Yemen, bringing U.S. assistance to nearly $768 million since October 2016. The new funds includes nearly $84 million in U.S. food aid and $46 million in emergency disaster assistance.  Unfortunately I can t tell you there has been an easing of the blockade,  Green told Reuters.  We re trying to signal with this announcement that we re ready to respond to this humanitarian catastrophe.  Green said he was  deeply concerned on so many fronts  about the crisis in Yemen, but in particular the failure to get fuel into the country so people have access to clean water.  That means a number of communities are either without clean water or will be very shortly, and in both cases that is a terrible concern from the cholera perspective and the survival perspective,  he added. The U.N. s coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said on Monday the blockade has been eased but the situation remained dire with some 8.4 million people  a step away from famine  in Yemen. A Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement blockaded ports last month after a missile was fired toward Riyadh. Washington last week warned Saudi Arabia that concern in Congress over the humanitarian situation in Yemen could affect U.S. assistance to allies in the Saudi-led coalition, including the U.S. refueling of coalition jets and some intelligence sharing.

Summary: अमेरिकी सहायता प्रमुख का कहना है कि यमन में सहायता की अनुमति देने के लिए बंदरगाह की नाकाबंदी कम करने का कोई संकेत नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry will leave on Thursday for a visit to Saudi Arabia and France, the State Department said. In Hafr al-Batin, Saudi Arabia, Kerry will meet with senior Saudi officials to discuss the crises in Syria and Yemen as well as other security issues, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. On Saturday and Sunday, Kerry will be in Paris to meet with his counterparts from France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the European Union to discuss “a wide range of regional and global issues,” Toner told reporters at a daily briefing.

Summary: विदेश मंत्री केरी सऊदी अरब और फ्रांस की यात्रा पर जाएंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the Senate began a two-week recess on Friday, the White House and its allies sought to turn up the heat on Republicans to reverse course and act on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has pledged not to hold confirmation hearings or a vote on Obama’s nomination on Wednesday of Merrick Garland, a centrist appeals court judge and former prosecutor, to the high court. Not all Senate Republicans want to block a vote on Garland. Senator Mark Kirk, locked in a tough re-election battle in Illinois, told WLS radio in Chicago that senators should “just man up and cast a vote” on the Garland nomination. Kirk broke with McConnell last month, calling for hearings and a vote on Obama’s nominee. Conservative activists, however, vowed to fight in support of Republican leaders who insist that the next president, to be elected on Nov. 8 and take office in January, make the appointment, hoping their party’s candidate wins. The conservative group Judicial Crisis Network said it would start a $2 million, three-week television, radio and digital advertising campaign in six states starting on Monday backing McConnell’s stance. Garland, 63, would replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, on the nine-seat court. His appointment could tip the court leftward for the first time in decades. Liberal groups, including CREDO Action and MoveOn.org Civic Action, said they would rally at various locations on Monday calling on Senate Republicans to “Do Your Job” and put Garland through a full confirmation process.  One rally was planned for outside the Des Moines, Iowa office of Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee that would convene any hearings. The Iowa senator has said he opposes hearings but is open to meeting with Garland. The conservative ad campaign also is targeting Grassley. One senior Senate Republican aide, referring to pressures Grassley faces over the recess, speculated on the possibility he would return to Washington on April 4 more open to holding confirmation hearings. “Two weeks in Iowa with Iowans screaming at him?” the aide said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest indicated Vice President Joe Biden, a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, would lend his voice next week to administration efforts pressing for Garland’s confirmation.  While Earnest said Biden “can be a pretty persuasive advocate,” Republicans have noted that Biden, as Judiciary Committee chairman in 1992, argued for postponing action on Supreme Court nominees during an election year.

Summary: ओबामा के सहयोगी उच्च न्यायालय में नामांकन के लिए रिपब्लिकन पर दबाव डालेंगे


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s parliament approved contentious taxes needed to finance a public sector pay rise on Monday and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri warned the alternative was a collapse of the Lebanese pound in six months.  Without taxes it would have been better in popular terms, but six months later the lira would have collapsed,  Hariri said after the parliament session.   If we carried out the (public sector salary law) without revenues it would be a disaster for the country.   Lebanon has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 148 percent, one of the highest in the world, and recorded a fiscal deficit of $4.9 billion last year.   Parliament approved a $917 million rise in public sector salaries and a series of tax increases to fund it in July.  Despite objections from business and some political groups, President Michel Aoun ratified the laws in late August and people have since begun receiving increased salaries. But in September the constitutional council annulled the tax law after a political party brought a legal challenge and the council referred it back to parliament for amendments. A Lebanese official told Reuters the taxes approved on Monday remained  mostly as they were before being challenged in the Constitutional Council and do not contain any substantive amendments .  A key argument of those opposing increased taxes is that the Lebanese government offers little in return.    The country s infrastructure has been awaiting repair since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990 - roads are clogged with cars, beaches are littered with waste, internet links are slow or patchy and cuts to power and water supplies are frequent.    Sami Gemeyal, leader of the Christian Kataeb party which filed an appeal against the earlier version of the law, said it would do all it could to challenge it again.   We will study it and see if it is possible to contest the law at the constitutional council,  said Gemeyal. Kataeb is the only major political party not part of Lebanon s coalition government. Lebanon expects to hold a general election next year and the public sector pay rises have proved a popular move. But the business community has warned higher taxes could damage Lebanon s fragile economy, which has been battered by conflict in neighboring Syria. Growth fell from 8-9 percent to below 2 percent after war began in 2011. Business leaders say Lebanon instead needs better tax collection, a credible economic plan and a budget to be passed for the first time since 2005. The banking sector, the cornerstone of Lebanon s economy, objected strongly to the law.  The changes raised corporation tax to 17 percent from 15 percent and also applies taxes on bank transactions in a way bankers say amounts to double taxation.   The effective tax rate on banks currently stands at around 15 percent, but would rise to around 50 percent if the proposed tax changes are enacted, Freddie Baz, Group Strategy Director of Bank Audi and board member of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) lobby group, told Reuters.     The laws have provoked a number of street protests, with people asking for pay rises and also protesting hikes which raised value-added tax (VAT) by 1 percentage point to 11 percent. The head of Lebanon s General Labor Union Beshara al-Asmar said before the vote on Monday there would be a  complete strike  which would ground the country to a halt if positive results were not achieved.

Summary: लेबनान ने सार्वजनिक क्षेत्र के वेतन वृद्धि के लिए विवादित कर वृद्धि को पारित किया


(Reuters) - Police in the California city of San Jose, motivated by the political leanings of city officials, allowed an angry mob to assault Donald Trump supporters as they left a rally for the presumptive Republican presidential candidate last month, a lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges. The civil lawsuit, filed by 14 Trump supporters against the city of San Jose, its mayor, police chief and a number of other individuals, says police funneled Trump supporters outside the city’s convention center directly into a crowd of hundreds of “physically violent and aggressive” protesters. The plaintiffs add that city officials directed roughly 250 San Jose police officers not to intervene amid a melee of “violent criminal acts perpetrated by dozens of anti-Trump protesters.” The San Jose City Attorney, Richard Doyle, said he had not yet read the complaint, but that police made many arrests and the city is “committed to first amendment rights and protecting people.” A police department spokesman referred inquiries to Doyle’s office. Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Democrat, said in statement that the city will do “everything necessary” to prosecute those who acted illegally. “The ludicrous accusation that I somehow directed the police department to ‘stand down’ at the rally is utterly false,” Liccardo said. Tense and sometimes violent demonstrations have peppered Trump’s political rallies in New Mexico and California in recent months. Protesters are also expected to converge on the Republican National Convention next week in Cleveland. Hundreds of people in San Jose, many angry over Trump’s statements about immigration, gathered outside his event last month. Members of the crowd waved Mexican flags, chanted anti-Trump slogans, and burned Trump hats along with at least one U.S. flag. The lawsuit alleges Liccardo, police chief Edgardo Garcia, and some 40 other people stripped Trump backers of their rights to free speech and assembly. According to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified compensation, one Trump backer was pelted with eggs and spat on, while another, a 71-year-old woman, had her hair pulled and her glasses broken. At one point, the lawsuit says, a 14-year-old boy was struck in the back of his head as members of the crowd shouted, “Kill him!”  Speaking at a campaign event the day after the events in San Jose, Trump described the rally as “a love fest inside. No problems whatsoever.” But then his supporters “walked out and they got accosted by a bunch of thugs,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प समर्थकों ने 'भीड़' हमले की अनुमति देने के लिए सैन जोस पर मुकदमा दायर किया


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that it is Beijing s unswerving goal to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia and denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Xi made the comments in a phone conversation with Trump, who urged the Chinese leader to exert pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang said it successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Summary: चीन के शी ने ट्रम्प से कहा कि कोरियाई प्रायद्वीप में शांति बनाए रखना चीन का अटूट लक्ष्य है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and China called for restraint on North Korea on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned over the weekend that  only one thing will work  in dealing with Pyongyang, hinting that military action was on his mind.  When asked what Russia made of Trump s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters:  Moscow has called and continues to call on the parties involved in the conflict and on those who have anything to do with this issue to exercise restraint and to avoid any steps that would only worsen the situation.   Commenting on a Trump statement that the United States might withdraw from a nuclear deal with Iran, Peskov said such a move would have  negative consequences.  Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterated a call for all parties involved with the standoff in North Korea to exercise restraint, describing the situation as extremely complex and serious. China hopes all sides do nothing to irritate each other or worsen the problem and speak and act cautiously, she told a daily news briefing. In recent weeks, North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test, all in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and may be fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Trump repeatedly has made clear his distaste for dialogue with North Korea. Last week, he dismissed the idea of talks as a waste of time, a day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington was maintaining open lines of communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un s government.  Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didn t work!  the U.S. president said in a Twitter post on Monday. Trump s comments seemed to further suggest that military action was on his mind. On Saturday, Trump made a similar comment on Twitter about how negotiations have failed for 25 years and said  only one thing will work  with North Korea.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया पर ट्रंप की टिप्पणी के बाद रूस, चीन ने संयम बरतने का आह्वान किया


(Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would overhaul aspects of the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program in an effort to install additional privacy protections. The bill, which will be formally introduced as soon as Thursday, is likely to revive debate in Washington over the balance between security and privacy, amid concerns among some lawmakers in both parties that the U.S. government may be too eager to spy on its own citizens. The legislation, written by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, is seen by civil liberties groups as the best chance in Congress to reform the law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, before its expiration on Dec. 31. Senior U.S. intelligence officials consider Section 702 to be among the most vital tools they have to thwart threats to national security and American allies.  It allows U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on and store vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States. But the program, classified details of which were exposed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, also incidentally scoops up communications of Americans, including if they communicate with a foreign target living overseas. Those communications can then be subject to searches without a warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A discussion draft of the legislation, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, partially restricts the FBI’s ability to access American data collected under Section 702 by requiring the agency to obtain a warrant when seeking evidence of a crime. That limit would not apply, however, to requests of data that involve counterterrorism or counter-espionage. The narrower restriction on what some have called a “backdoor search loophole” has disappointed some civil liberties groups. Several organizations sent a letter this week saying they would not support legislation that did not require a warrant for all queries of American data collected under Section 702. The legislation would also renew the program for six years and codify the National Security Agency’s decision earlier this year to halt the collection of communications that merely mentioned a foreign intelligence target. But that codification would end in six years as well, meaning NSA could potentially resume the activity in 2023.  The spy agency has said it lost some operational capability by ending so-called “about” collection due to privacy compliance issues and has lobbied against a law that would make its termination permanent.  Republican senators introduced a bill earlier this year to renew Section 702 without changes and make it permanent, a position backed by the White House and intelligence agencies. But that effort is expected to face major resistance in the House, where an influential conservative bloc of Republicans earlier this year said it opposed renewal unless major changes were made, reflecting disagreement within the majority party.  Separately, Senators John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein are working on Section 702 legislation that may also be introduced this week and include fewer reforms. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Senator Rand Paul are also planning to introduce a bill that would require a warrant for any query of Section 702 involving data belonging to an American.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद अमेरिकियों पर इंटरनेट निगरानी को प्रतिबंधित करना चाहते हैं