UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn admitted on Friday that he asked Russia to delay a U.N. vote seen as damaging to Israel, but diplomats said it was not the only country he and presidential adviser Jared Kushner lobbied.  In the hours before the vote by the 15-member United Nations Security Council on Dec. 23, Flynn also phoned the U.N. missions of Uruguay and Malaysia, and Kushner spoke with Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to the United States, according to diplomats familiar with the conversations, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The lobbying took place before Republican President Donald Trump, who was known for his pro-Israel campaign rhetoric, took office on Jan. 20. It failed, with the Security Council adopting a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building on land Palestinians want for an independent state. The vote was 14 in favor and one abstention by the United States. The efforts made on Israel’s behalf capped several days of unusual diplomacy. In a surprise Dec. 21 move, Egypt had called for a vote the next day on the draft resolution, prompting both Trump and Israel to urge Washington to veto the text. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Israeli officials contacted Trump’s transition team at a “high level” to ask for help after failing to persuade Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration to veto the draft U.N. resolution. According to court documents made public on Friday, a member of Trump’s presidential transition team, later identified by sources as Trump’s son-in-law Kushner, told Flynn on Dec. 22 to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to convince them to delay the vote or veto the resolution. Flynn spoke with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak that day, and again the following day, according to the court documents.      Also on Dec. 22, Trump discussed the resolution with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt withdrew the text from a council vote the same day. The 1799 Logan Act bars unauthorized private U.S. citizens, which Trump, Flynn, and Kushner all were at the time, from negotiating with foreign governments. However, only two Americans have ever been indicted for allegedly violating it – in 1802 and 1852 – and neither was convicted. Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday about Israel or other issues. A SECOND GO-ROUND After Egypt withdrew the resolution, its co-sponsors, New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Senegal, put it forward again for a Dec. 23 vote.  In Washington, Kushner was in contact with Britain’s Darroch, and Flynn spoke with Kislyak - lobbying to delay the vote or veto the resolution.  A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the council’s five permanent members - China, Britain, France, Russia, and the United States - to be adopted.  Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who died in February, signaled to colleagues behind closed doors on Dec. 23 that he was unhappy with the haste with which the draft resolution was being put to a vote, but he did not ask for the vote to be delayed, diplomats said.  Flynn also tried to speak to Malaysian U.N. Ambassador Ramlan Bin Ibrahim, but Ibrahim did not take the call. He also called the Uruguayan U.N. mission, eventually getting through to Deputy Ambassador Luis Bermudez – who was the charge d’affaires - minutes before the vote.

Summary: फ्लिन, कुशनर ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र की असफल पैरवी में कई राज्यों को निशाना बनायाः राजनयिक


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is hammering out plans to show U.S. President Donald Trump its firms are ready to create U.S. jobs, according to a document whose contents were revealed to Reuters, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares for a summit where automotive trade will be high on the agenda. Abe will visit Washington on Feb. 10 for the talks at which  Trump is expected to seek quick progress toward a two-way trade deal.  An early draft of the document, called “U.S.-Japan Growth and Employment Initiative”, listed five areas including  infrastructure. The document, which was read to Reuters, did not mention automotive trade, which Trump has targeted as “unfair” in an echo of complaints by Washington decades ago. The document left blanks for the numbers of jobs to be created and the scope of investment but a government source said several hundred thousand jobs could result. It also referred to the idea of buying dollar-denominated “infrastructure bonds”, a proposal that has been floated as a way Japan could take part in Trump’s promised upgrade of U.S. infrastructure.  Japanese officials said they were still trying to assess just what Trump wants from Japan. In addition to singling out cars, he has also lumped Japan with China and Mexico as big contributors to America’s trade deficit. However, Japan’s share of the U.S. global trade gap has shrunk to 9 percent from more than half in the early 1990s. Automobiles and car parts account for about three-fourths of the overall U.S.-Japan trade gap, making it an easy target. In a phone call with Abe on Saturday, Trump reiterated his pledge to create jobs in the United States and asked that the Japanese auto industry contribute, the Nikkei business daily reported, quoting unidentified Japanese government officials. Abe is expected to meet Toyoto Motor Corp CEO Akio Toyoda this week, possibly on Friday. “Mr. Trump has made a promise to ‘Buy American, Hire American’,” said one former Japanese diplomat. “Symbolically, autos are a very big player.” The renewed focus on the automotive trade has some Japanese officials and media reminiscing - and not happily - about heated U.S.-Japan auto talks more than 20 years ago. A last-minute deal in June 1995 averted U.S. tariffs on Japanese luxury cars when Japan’s automakers crafted “voluntary plans” to boost purchases of American auto parts and expand U.S. production. That allowed the Japanese government to maintain its opposition to setting official numerical trade targets while letting U.S. negotiators also claim a win. Yoshihiro Sakamoto, the top Japanese trade bureaucrat in those talks two decades ago, said such plans - drafted behind the scenes by the auto industry and trade ministry - could be a model for addressing the situation now. Some experts pointed out, however, the ministry’s clout had waned since those days. “What America wants is investment,” Sakamoto told Reuters. Toyota has come under fire from Trump for plans, announced in 2015, to shift production of its Corolla sedan from Canada to Mexico. Earlier this month, Japan’s top automaker said it would invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, the same as the previous five years. On Monday, Honda Motor Co Ltd and General Motors Co said they would jointly produce pollution-free hydrogen fuel cell power systems in the United States from around 2020. The companies said they would invest $85 million to add a production line at a GM battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, and create 100 jobs. Boosting output in the United States, however, could force Japanese car makers to make tough decisions about reducing production - and jobs - back home. Central Japan Railway Company, or JR Tokai, has given the government estimates of how many jobs would be created by proposed high-speed Shinkansen railways in California and Texas and a high-tech “maglev” railway along the U.S. east coast, a JR Tokai spokeswoman said. She declined to release the figures. Abe, who is close to JR Tokai Chairman emeritus Yoshiyuki Kasai, has touted maglev or magnetic levitation as a “dream technology” that could link New York and Washington in under an hour.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः आबे-ट्रम्प शिखर सम्मेलन से पहले जापान की नजर अमेरिकी नौकरी, निवेश पहल पर


MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. government-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said on Monday Moscow had threatened to brand their Russian language service projects as  foreign agents  in retaliation for what Moscow calls U.S. pressure on a Kremlin-backed TV station. Russian officials have accused Washington of putting unwarranted pressure on the U.S. operations of RT, a Kremlin-funded broadcaster accused by some in Washington of interfering in domestic U.S. politics, which it denies.. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday Moscow could apply  similar measures  to American journalists and media in Russia. She did not identify any specific U.S. media outlets that would be targeted. Current Time, which is produced by RFE/RL in cooperation with the Voice of America and mainly targets audiences in Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, said it had received a warning from the Russian Ministry of Justice, threatening to put restrictions on the network. Two other RFE/RL Russian-language projects, Radio Liberty and Idel. Realias, received the same letters, it said.  According to Russia s competent bodies, your organization s activity falls under the criteria set out in the federal law... for non-commercial organizations - foreign agents. Your organization s activity may be restricted...,  said the letter, seen by Reuters. A justice ministry official confirmed to Reuters that such a letter had been sent, adding:  The principle of reciprocity will further be applied depending on the measures applied to Russian media by the United States.  Responding to the letter, the channel director of Current Time TV, Daisy Sindelar, said in a statement:  We are a journalistic organization, and we trust we will be able to continue our work.   We have no concrete information about any moves being taken against RT in the United States, and have no reason to expect reciprocal action , she added. Late last month, Russia s state communications regulator accused U.S. TV channel CNN International of violating its license to broadcast in Russia and said it had summoned the broadcaster s representatives in connection with the matter.

Summary: रूस ने रेडियो लिबर्टी को 'विदेशी एजेंट' करार देने की धमकी दी


PARIS (Reuters) - France will provide 15 million euros ($17.65 million) in aid for areas liberated by the U.S.-led coalition from Islamic State in Syria, its foreign minister said on Friday.  I have decided to allocate additional funds of 15 million euros up to the end of the year for food, de-mining, displaced people, water and health,  Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement, without saying who would manage the funds.  France also hopes that the governance of these territories will meet the needs and aspirations of the populations and facilitate reconciliation.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट से मुक्त सीरियाई क्षेत्रों के लिए फ्रांस 15 मिलियन यूरो की सहायता देगा


LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign minister Boris Johnson said Britain would appeal to Iran on humanitarian grounds to free a jailed aid worker but expressed reservations that granting her diplomatic protection would help secure her release, her husband said on Wednesday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Johnson came under pressure to resign after comments he made earlier this month that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016. Critics said the comments might have prompted Iran to extend her sentence and he apologized for his remarks on Monday. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been on holiday and had not been teaching journalism in Iran.  On Wednesday, Johnson met her husband Richard Ratcliffe and told him Britain would leave no stone unturned in its bid to free her, saying the British ambassador in Tehran had earlier raised her case again with the Iranian authorities.  Johnson also stressed the importance of an appeal on humanitarian grounds, Ratcliffe told reporters, saying it had been a positive meeting. But officials had questioned whether it would help to grant his wife diplomatic protection - a move that would explicitly make Zaghari-Ratcliffe s fate an issue in state-to-state relations rather than a purely consular case. A legal opinion prepared for the human rights charity Redress on Zaghari-Ratcliffe s case said the British government could grant her diplomatic protection as she is  predominantly  a British citizen who has been denied a fair trial.  I said I thought it would be important and helpful ... The foreign secretary and the Foreign Office expressed reservations,  Ratcliffe said. The Foreign Office said lawyers would meet in the next fortnight to discuss the issue further. Iran s state news agency IRNA also signaled such a move could backfire, citing comments by an unidentified international law expert.   In Iran s view, Zaghari is an Iranian citizen, and was tried, due to her illegal actions, and convicted in Iranian courts; and now she is serving her sentence,  it quoted the expert as saying.   Hence the UK s interference, other than through peaceful paths and humanitarian issues, is considered an intervention in Iran, and will (naturally) trigger Iran s severe reaction.  Ratcliffe said Johnson was  keen  to take him on a trip to Iran planned before the end of the year, which could allow him to see his wife and three-year-old daughter, who is being cared for by relatives in Iran, for the first time in 19 months.   For me it s very important to be going on that trip, to be standing alongside the foreign secretary and I understand that s a big ask. It s reasonably unprecedented, but I think it s important in our circumstances,  he said. Ratcliffe, who said his wife appeared to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown and was due to have further tests after finding lumps on her breasts, said he thought she was being used as a diplomatic bargaining chip.  There are fights that are nothing to do with us ... We re being used as a vehicle for those fights,  he said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने ईरान में जेल में बंद सहायता कार्यकर्ता को मुक्त करने में कोई कसर नहीं छोड़ने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Friday an updated bill dealing with Puerto Rico’s debt will be introduced in “the coming days.” “Right now, we are working with the Natural Resources committee, the administration, and our Democratic counterparts to iron out the final constitutional and legal questions surrounding the legislation,” Ryan said in a statement. “Let me be clear: There will be no taxpayer bailout of Puerto Rico,” he added.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण बिल 'आने वाले दिनों' में देय हैः हाउस स्पीकर रेयान


CODY, Wyo. (Reuters) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s eldest daughter, bouncing back from an aborted 2014 U.S. Senate bid, heads into a crowded primary race next week for Wyoming’s lone seat in the House of Representatives buoyed by big-name Republicans and wealthy out-of-state donors. Liz Cheney, the apparent Republican front-runner, has commanded a level of fund-raising and A-list party support - including two former presidents and onetime Cabinet members - that is rare, if not unheard of, for a relative newcomer to Wyoming politics. Her strength is even more significant in a solidly red state where the Republican primary winner is virtually assured victory in the general election. “She can go to Chicago or New York, and in one fund-raiser pull in more money than the next two closest candidates combined,” said Deb Oakley Simpson, a daughter-in-law of former longtime Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson and a Cody-based civic activist who backs one of Cheney’s primary foes, state Senator Leland Christensen. To date, Cheney, 49, has received individual donations totaling more than $1.1 million, far outpacing the collective campaign receipts of her seven Republican opponents and the two Democrats running in Wyoming’s primary elections on Tuesday. According to the latest opinion poll on the race, conducted during the second week of July, more than half of Wyoming voters were undecided, but Cheney led with 21 percent, more than twice the following of her nearest competitor. Her standing marks a striking turnaround from her first bid for public office, when she returned to her home state three years ago to challenge incumbent Senator Mike Enzi and was branded by some fellow Republicans as a “carpetbagger” backed by deep-pocketed outsiders. Her campaign also suffered from a public feud with her sister Mary Cheney, a lesbian, over Liz Cheney’s opposition to same-sex marriage.  She ended up withdrawing from that race several months later, citing a family health crisis. Cheney and her husband, Phil Perry, an attorney, have five children. Now Cheney, also a lawyer who worked in the State Department while her father was vice president, is leveraging her Washington connections as she runs for the open, at-large House seat in the nation’s least populous state. Campaigning as a “strong conservative voice for Wyoming,” she has vowed to protect the state’s pivotal coal industry, defend gun rights and generally work “to reverse President Obama’s devastating policies.” Among her contributors are a prominent group of her father’s former high-ranking government colleagues, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as former Secretary of State James Baker, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and former White House political adviser Karl Rove. Other prominent donors include New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Colorado oil and entertainment magnate Philip Anschutz, brewing executive Pete Coors, Texas financier T. Boone Pickens, and Chicago real estate and media investor Sam Zell. Cheney’s two closest Republican primary rivals are state Representative Tim Stubson and Christensen, who rank second and third, respectively, in fund-raising and in polls.  They have raised $255,000 combined in individual donations. Cheney, who was on the campaign trail and unavailable for comment, has accepted no political action committee funds, and PAC funding has figured little in the race. She raised the bulk of her campaign money by the end of March, with nearly half of individual contributions meeting the $2,700 limit set by federal election laws. Most came from outside Wyoming. Still, Cheney “has raised more money from more Wyoming donors than any of her opponents,” and contributions from all 50 states, campaign manager Bill Novotny said.  “A national effort is what it’s going to take to stand up to Hillary Clinton” at the top of the Democratic ticket in November, he added.

Summary: लिज़ चेनी का व्योमिंग अभियान बड़े नामों, बड़े धन द्वारा समर्थित है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday he hoped Congress had reached a turning point on efforts to repeal Obamacare and it was time for the parties to work together to stabilize the insurance markets and fix the system’s weaknesses. Schumer, speaking at a news conference, praised the three Republican senators who decided join Democrats in voting against a Senate effort to pass a slimmed-down version of the Republican healthcare bill.  “I hope this is a turning point,” Schumer told reporters. “On healthcare, I hope we can work together to make the system better in a bipartisan way.”

Summary: शीर्ष डेमोक्रेट का कहना है कि उन्हें उम्मीद है कि अमेरिकी सीनेट स्वास्थ्य सेवा को निरस्त करने पर महत्वपूर्ण मोड़ पर है


TOKYO (Reuters) - A court in Japan on Friday ordered Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to pay compensation to a group of former Fukushima residents, the second such ruling following the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster, Japanese media reported. However, the ruling by the Chiba district court, east of Tokyo, did not find the government liable for compensation, in contrast to a March ruling in another court that ordered both the government and Tepco to pay compensation to a separate group of evacuees. Tepco is facing mounting legal claims over the disaster, with about 12,000 former Fukushima residents filing about 30 similar class action lawsuits seeking compensation, media reports said. In the Chiba case, a group of 45 residents sought damages totaling about 2.8 billion yen ($25 million) for the emotional distress of fleeing their homes as radiation spread from the meltdowns at Tepco s Fukushima Daiichi plant after an earthquake and tsunami more than six ago. Tepco was ordered to pay a total of 376 million yen ($3.36 million) for 42 of the evacuees, Kyodo and Jiji reported. Tepco on Friday said it would review the contents of the ruling before making a response. Some 15,000 people died in March 2011 when three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered meltdowns after a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan s northeastern coastline. Tepco has long been criticized for ignoring the threat posed by natural disasters to the Fukushima plant and both the company and government were lambasted for their handling of the crisis.  In December, the government nearly doubled its projections for costs related to the disaster to 21.5 trillion yen ($192 billion), increasing pressure on Tepco to step up reform and improve its performance.

Summary: जापान की अदालत ने फुकुशिमा मामले में टेपको को दोषी ठहरायाः मीडिया


TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Over two dozen people were injured in clashes on Friday between Honduran security forces and protesters demanding a vote recount for last month s contentious and still unresolved presidential election, according to the Red Cross.  Supporters of the center-left Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, led by TV star Salvador Nasralla, set fire to tires across the country, blocking major thoroughfares in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and the second city of San Pedro Sula.  Police and soldiers responded with tear gas to rock-throwing protesters who set fire to a vehicle for carrying soldiers in Tegucigalpa. Near San Pedro Sula, protesters blocked a road leading to the key Puerto Cortes port, before being moved on by security forces. The Honduran branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that 27 people had been injured in the clashes. At least five of those injured in the northern city of Villanueva, near San Pedro Sula, had been shot, it said. Honduras has been roiled by political instability in the wake of the Nov. 26 vote, which remains unresolved. Nasralla trails conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the official count, which has been questioned by the two main opposition parties and a wide swathe of the diplomatic corps. Honduras  electoral tribunal said on Sunday that a partial recount of votes showed broadly the same result as previously, maintaining Hernandez s lead. It has until Dec. 26 to declare a winner. Last week, Honduras  two main opposition parties presented formal requests to annul the results of the election.

Summary: होंडुरास में चुनावी संकट के बीच झड़पों में प्रदर्शनकारी घायल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the House Judiciary Committee are considering filing a “friend of the court” brief in Apple Inc’s [AAPL.O] encryption dispute with the U.S. government to argue that the case should be decided by Congress and not the courts, five sources familiar with the matter said. The sources cautioned that no final agreement had been reached on what would be an unusual intervention by congressmen in a legal proceeding. Any filing would occur after a panel hearing on Tuesday that will include FBI Director James Comey and Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell. The court deadline is Thursday. The filing would argue that the Feb. 16 order from a federal court in California that instructs Apple to write special software to unlock an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooters threatens the constitutional separation of powers, the sources said. They said the brief would come from individual committee members of both Republican and Democratic parties but not the judiciary committee itself. Reuters could not determine which members were likely to be included. Lawmakers could wait until the appeals process before intervening, the sources said. Apple last week formally opposed the order in court, calling the case “unprecedented” and a violation of free speech rights that would override the will of Congress. On Monday, a judge in a related New York case sided with Apple in agreeing that the courts did not have the authority to order Apple to unlock a phone.  The San Bernardino case has come to represent a broader debate over how much authority law enforcement should have to compel companies to assist in monitoring digital communications.    The encryption debate does not divide along party lines, with liberal Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans both supporting Apple’s stance. Many pro-law enforcement lawmakers of both parties, and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, support the government’s position. The unusual Congressional intervention would come on top of a wave of support for Apple among its Silicon Valley brethren. Some two-dozen companies and civil liberties groups are expected to weigh in on Apple’s side. Relatives of some of the shooting victims are planning to back the government’s case, said their lawyer, Stephen Larson.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this month sought and obtained a court order requiring that Apple write new software and take other steps to unlock an iPhone 5C that was used by Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife went on a shooting rampage on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino that killed 14 and wounded 22.  The government has said the attack was inspired by Islamist militants and the FBI wants to read data from the phone to investigate any links the couple might have had with militant groups. Apple is concerned that the order would lead to endless similar requests in the U.S. and overseas and ultimately undermine the security of all Apple phone. A number of large tech firms have publicly said they will file briefs supporting Apple. Google, Facebook and Microsoft are expected to file jointly and be represented by Neal Katyal, a Georgetown law professor and former acting U.S. solicitor general for the Obama administration, according to a source familiar with the companies’ plans. Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, the Mozilla Foundation, and the cloud storage firm Box, along with advocacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, are also expected to support Apple.  Still, some major companies, including IBM, are expected to sit out the fight. Telecom carriers have also been notably reluctant to get involved; Verizon is unlikely to file a friend of the court brief, despite comments from its CEO that the company supports encryption with no backdoors, sources familiar with the matter said.  A Justice Department spokeswoman declined comment on Sunday about what other briefs were expected.   Apple’s high-profile standoff with the U.S. government is being played out as many of the Obama administration’s most senior officials are traveling to San Francisco this week to attend the world’s largest cyber security conference.  U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, National Security Director Michael Rogers and Defense Secretary Ash Carter are all scheduled to speak at RSA conference, where the iPhone fight and encryption more broadly are expected to dominate conversation.

Summary: न्यायिक समिति के सदस्य एप्पल मामले में कानूनी विवरण पर विचार कर रहे हैंः सूत्र


(Reuters) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday called for surveillance of mosques as part of U.S. law enforcement efforts to prevent terrorism, and stood by his remarks on banning Muslim immigrants, which others in his party have criticized. Trump repeated his call for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States after a U.S.-born Muslim, the son of Afghan immigrants, fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early on Sunday. The New York real estate developer said that while the Florida gunman was born in the United States, “his parents weren’t and his ideas weren’t born here.”  “We have to maybe check, respectfully, the mosques and we have to check other places because this is a problem that, if we don’t solve it, it’s going to eat our country alive,” Trump said at a rally in Atlanta. Trump had called for surveillance of mosques in November, as well as a database of Syrian refugees entering the United States. The Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, is believed by authorities to have acted alone, inspired by radical ideology he was exposed to over the internet. “Any kind of extremism and violence is not preached in American mosques,” said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “In fact, research has shown that mosques are a moderating influence on individuals who attend.” Prominent Republicans this week distanced themselves from Trump’s comments about Muslims.  House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he did not think a ban on the entry of Muslims was in U.S. interests. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination and has been a fierce critic since, said that he was “unnerved” by Trump’s response. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said on Wednesday that Trump’s rhetoric had grown “even more inflammatory” in recent days. She said the United States counts on Muslim communities in the U.S. and partners in majority-Muslim countries to help fight terrorism. “Not one of Donald Trump’s reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando,” Clinton said at an event for U.S. military families in Virginia. Trump on Monday proposed that the United States suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is “a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats.” He also said radical Muslims were entering the country amid a flood of refugees and “trying to take over our children.” Trump’s hard-line proposals on immigration have contributed to his popularity among some conservative voters. But they have also triggered condemnation from minority and human rights activists and his political opponents, many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. The New York businessman also said in Atlanta he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if he came to the United States, and he dismissed the controversy he caused in May when he said in a Reuters interview he would be willing to speak to Kim. “If he came here, I’d accept him. But I wouldn’t give a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people  that rip us off,” Trump said.

Summary: बयानबाजी की आलोचना के बावजूद ट्रम्प ने मस्जिदों की निगरानी का समर्थन किया


LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey s crucial tourism sector should see revenues grow to $30 billion in 2018, helped by planned new incentives for tour operators and rising visitor numbers, the country s tourism minister, Numan Kurtulmus, said on Wednesday. Increased security fears following an attempted coup and a series of militant attacks slashed Turkey s tourism revenues in 2016 to $22.11 billion from $31.46 billion in 2015.  But numbers turned around in April, thanks to a surge in Russian tourists following an improvement in relations between Moscow and Ankara. Data for the third quarter of 2017 showed a rebound of nearly 40 percent year-on-year.  We are expecting 31.4 million visitors this year, and from that, revenue of $26 billion,  Kurtulmus told Reuters during a visit to London. In 2018, this would rise to 37 million to 38 million visitors, generating revenue of $30 billion, he said. Turkey s finance ministry in October predicted that tourism would generate $20 billion of revenue in 2017. Tourism has generated significant revenue for the $860 billion economy, which straddles Europe and Asia. In 2016, the government launched a plan to bolster the beleaguered sector. reut.rs/2jbKTa2 Kurtulmus said the cabinet was expected to sign off later this month on proposed new incentives to tour operators, offering them as much as $9,000 for every planeload of tourists they brought to the country, depending on the season. Turkey also hopes to become a greater health and sports tourism destination, he said, and to revive cruise travel, which suffered after concern over security led a number of operators to cancel trips in recent years.  We are working with other countries around the Mediterranean to come up with packages, to attract Westerners, especially visitors from the U.S.,  he said.  We are talking to Greece and others.  Turkey is also trying to attract visitors from Asia to broaden its appeal beyond its usual markets in Europe.  We are trying to open the doors of Far East countries - namely China, India, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia,  Kurtulmus said.  They also have new real middle classes, especially China and India.

Summary: तुर्की की पर्यटन आय 2018 में $30 बिलियन तक पहुँच जाएगी, मंत्री कहते हैं


MASERU (Reuters) - Lesotho has detained a senior army officer in connection with the killing of the country s military leader and two other soldiers, a Defence Ministry official said Wednesday. The shooting took place at an army barracks on Tuesday, but it was not clear what the motivation was.  An army major, whose name was not disclosed, was taken into custody to help police with the investigation, Defence Ministry Principal Secretary Colonel Tanki Mothae said. The kingdom has been subject to several coups and periodic political violence since gaining independence from Britain in 1966, and South Africa called for calm after the shooting.

Summary: लेसोथो ने सैन्य नेता की हत्या के मामले में सेना के मेजर को हिरासत में लिया


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India stood ready to further strengthen ties with the United States, the government said on Friday, after U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson vowed to dramatically expand cooperation as a way to counter China s influence in Asia.  Tillerson, who is visiting India next week as part of a tour to the region, said in a speech the United States had begun to discuss alternatives to Chinese infrastructure financing in Asia that critics say has spawned resentment and fears of a debt trap. He also called for expanding the scope of security cooperation between India, the United States and Japan to include other countries such as Australia, a plan that China has said in the past would be de-stabilising to the region. An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said Tillerson had made an important speech on the future of India-U.S. relations and India looked forward to detailed discussions next week.  We appreciate his positive evaluation of the relationship and share his optimism about its future directions,  the spokesman said. Tillerson did not say what he meant by creating an alternative to Chinese infrastructure financing, which India has also been increasingly concerned about as China seeks to build trade and transport links in Asia. India was the only major country in Asia not to send a representative to a  Belt and Road Initiative  summit in Beijing in May because an economic corridor that China was building in Pakistan ran through territory claimed by India.  India warned that China s plans for a modern-day  Silk Road   could create an  unsustainable debt burden  for countries. The ministry spokesman said India agreed with Tillerson s call for a  rules-based  international order that is seen as under risk from China s assertive posture in Asia. The United States has repeatedly criticized China for disregarding international law with the construction and militarization of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, where neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have claims.  Tillerson has made a significant policy statement on India-U.S. relations and its future. He brought out its various strengths and highlighted our shared commitment to a rule-based international order,  the Indian spokesman said. India, though, has been wary of U.S. calls for a bigger Indian military role including joint patrols in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, worried it would antagonise China further.

Summary: टिलरसन के समर्थन के बाद भारत ने कहा, अमेरिका के साथ मजबूत संबंधों के लिए तैयार


CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday his government was considering the best time to launch a major expansion of its nuclear power fleet, after the finance minister said the country could not afford it. Zuma was responding to a question in parliament by opposition leader Mmusi Maimane who asked why finance minister Malusi Gigaba had said the expansion would be delayed while energy minister David Mahlobo said the opposite.  We have a policy of mixed energy and that includes nuclear,  Zuma said.  We are not saying we have changed policy ... Its a question of timing, when do we do it. We have been discussing that issue all the time in the government.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका परमाणु ऊर्जा विस्तार के लिए सबसे अच्छे समय पर विचार कर रहा हैः जुमा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google have little choice but to rein in internet political ads in the face of growing U.S. government pressure, a panel of advertising consultants and executives said on Monday.  Speaking at a trade conference, the marketers seized on allegations that Russian operatives bought U.S. political ads on Facebook as evidence that the sector cannot go on being unregulated.  “I think there will be more scrutiny, and there better be more self-regulation. Otherwise, I think regulation will be coming,” Brent McGoldrick, a political ad consultant and a Republican, said at Advertising Week New York.  Last week, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg vowed to do more to deter governments from using Facebook to manipulate elections in other countries, after the company disclosed $100,000 in Russian ad purchases in the months before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  The 3,000 ads included some that highlighted support for Democrat Hillary Clinton among Muslim women, as well as others that showed a deep understanding of U.S. social divides, the Washington Post reported on Monday.  Facebook shares ended down 4.5 percent on Monday, closing at $162.87, as some investors worried the tech sector had become too expensive. Zuckerberg has also unveiled sweeping changes to how his company handles political ads, saying it would make them visible to all users regardless of whom the ads target.  Andrew Capone, senior vice president of NCC Media, a cable trade group, joked on Monday’s panel that during the 2016 election campaign, “Facebook took in over 300 million rubles - I’m sorry, dollars.”  McGoldrick said on the panel: “If I were Facebook and Google and everyone else, I would be developing a code of conduct and a set of criteria. They may already exist, but obviously it’s not either robust enough or transparent enough.” Google has said it has no evidence on its ad platform of a Russian propaganda campaign like the one Facebook found. The two Silicon Valley firms are set to take a combined 63 percent of the U.S. market this year, according to research firm eMarketer.  Though Facebook and Google have for years resisted regulation of political ads, congressional investigators and U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller have helped to change the situation, said Jefrey Pollock, president of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.  “Things change with a subpoena,” Pollock, a Democrat, said as part of the panel.

Summary: फेसबुक, गूगल राजनीतिक विज्ञापनों के संचालन को बदलने के लिए बाध्य-विपणन अधिकारी


YANGON/COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday her government was doing its best to protect everyone in the strife-torn state of Rakhine, as the estimated number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh leapt by 18,000 in one day, to 164,000. Suu Kyi did not refer specifically to the exodus of the minority Rohingya, which was sparked by insurgent attacks on Aug. 25 and an army counter-offensive, but said her administration was trying its best to take care of all citizens. Western critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya, some 1.1 million people who have long complained of persecution and are seen by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.  Some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked.  We have to take care of our citizens, we have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens,  Suu Kyi said in comments to Reuters Television s Indian partner, Asian News International.  Of course, our resources are not as complete and adequate as we would like them to be but, still, we try our best and we want to make sure that everyone is entitled to the protection of the law,  she said during a visit by Indian Prime Narendra Modi to Yangon. Suu Kyi on Tuesday blamed  terrorists  for  a huge iceberg of misinformation  on the strife in the northwestern state of Rakhine but made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled. She has come under increasing pressure from countries with Muslim populations, and this week U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region. In Washington, the U.S. State Department on Thursday voiced its concern  following serious allegations of human rights abuses including mass burnings of Rohingya villages and violence conducted by security forces and also armed civilians .  We urge all in Burma including in the Rakhine state to avoid actions that exacerbate tensions there,  State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters. The U.S. ambassador has met Myanmar officials to discuss  allegations of violence conducted by both the security forces and civilians  and access for humanitarian groups, she said. Myanmar has said it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any Security Council censure over the crisis.  Suu Kyi said the situation in Rakhine has been difficult for many decades and so it was  a little unreasonable  to expect her administration, which has been in power for 18 months, to have resolved it already. Myanmar says its forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists responsible for a string of attacks on the police and army since last October. Officials blame Rohingya militants for killing non-Muslims and burning their homes.  We need to wipe out the threat of the terrorism in those regions,  Ko Ko Hlaing, a presidential adviser of the previous government said on Thursday at a forum arranged by military-owned media to discuss the crisis. He said rehabilitation and development are important and the citizenship issue must be settled, but the first priority needed to be  the detoxification of dangerous ideology of extremism .  Suu Kyi s spokesman, Zaw Htay, on Thursday posted what he said were  photos of Bengalis setting fire to their houses . The pictures of several sword-wielding women wearing headscarfs and men in Islamic prayer caps, or  Kufi , setting a house on fire, which were published in one of the country s leading newspapers, were also shared widely by the military.  These photos showing that Bengalis are torching their houses emerge at a time when international media have made groundless accusations of setting fire to Bengali houses by the government security forces and the killings of Bengalis,  said the Eleven Media daily But the photographs sparked controversy on social media with many people who identified themselves as Myanmar Muslims saying they appeared staged.  Rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army has been trying to force them out of Rakhine state with a campaign of arson and killings. Boatloads of exhausted Rohingya continued to arrive in the Cox s Bazar region of neighbouring Bangladesh on Thursday. The latest estimate by U.N. workers operating there put arrivals in just 13 days at 164,000, up from 146,000 from the day before. U.N. officials in Bangladesh now believe the total number of refugees from Myanmar since Aug. 25 could reach 300,000, said Dipayan Bhattacharyya, who is Bangladesh spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP). [nL4N1LN4N3] The surge of refugees - many sick or wounded - has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food.  Many refugees are stranded in no-man s land between the border with Myanmar,  medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement.   Even prior to the most recent influx, many Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh lived in unsafe, overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, with little protection from the elements.  It said more nurses, midwives and doctors had been brought in to tackle violence-related injuries, severely infected wounds and obstetric complications.  (Corrects title of U.N. Secretary General in 8th paragraph, dropping extraneous words  Security Council .)

Summary: सू की का कहना है कि म्यांमार संघर्षग्रस्त राज्य में सभी नागरिकों की रक्षा करने की कोशिश कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, will tell senators on Wednesday he is not “anti-trade” but that the United States should not put up with malicious practices or unfair subsidies from foreign trading partners. “I am not anti-trade. I am pro-trade. But I am pro-sensible trade, not trade that is detrimental to the American worker and to the domestic manufacturing base,” Ross said in a prepared testimony to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that was seen by Reuters. The 79-year-old billionaire investor said in his prepared opening statement that his wide-ranging investments had given him first-hand experience of the unfair trading practices of other countries, including non-tariff barriers to imports and government subsidies for exports to the United States. “I think I’ve probably had more direct experience than any prior Cabinet nominee has had with unfair trade in the steel business, in the textile business, in the auto parts business and other sectors,” Ross said. “I am very well aware of the issues many companies face, and I’m sensitive to both the issues abroad and the issues here at home.” Trump has voiced a hard line on trade with China and Mexico, saying major changes are needed to reduce their chronic trade surpluses with the United States. He has threatened to declare China a currency manipulator and levy tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods, but little is known about his specific plans. Ross, who has been designated the leader of Trump’s trade strategy, will tell the committee that countries should have access to the U.S. market if they “agree to play by our standards of fair trade.” “We should not put up with malicious trading activities, state-owned enterprises or subsidized production,” he said, without naming any specific countries. Like Trump, the outgoing Obama administration has been critical of China’s subsidies for state-owned enterprises and its failure to reduce its industrial overcapacity, filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Chinese aluminum sector subsidies  last week. Ross will also say he was struck in recent meetings with technology executives by how similar their trade problems were to those faced by the more traditional industries in which he has worked. Ross disclosed earlier on Tuesday that he would sell investments valued at up to about $300 million, including his stake in his private equity firm, in order to avoid conflicts of interest as commerce secretary, a position with responsibilities ranging from trade enforcement and economic data production to  telecommunications auctions and weather forecasting.  Reuters also reported that companies run by Ross had shifted some 2,700 U.S. jobs to other countries since 2004, according to Labor Department data.

Summary: ट्रम्प के वाणिज्य उम्मीदवार रॉस ने सीनेटरों से कहाः 'मैं व्यापार विरोधी नहीं हूँ'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the Senate’s vote on sweeping tax legislation, his office confirmed on Tuesday. “The @VP will preside over the historic vote,” Alyssa Farah, a spokeswoman for Pence, said on Twitter. Republicans may need Pence’s vote in favor of the legislation to break a tie.

Summary: पेंस सीनेट कर विधेयक मतदान की अध्यक्षता करेंगे, उनके कार्यालय ने पुष्टि की


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The normally straight-laced Council on American-Islamic Relations tried humor to win over Republicans at their national convention on Monday, handing out packets of a satirical medicine called “Islamophobin,” a treatment for Islamophobia. Islamophobin, which is really just chewing gum in a clever package, promises to treat “blind intolerance, unthinking bigotry, irrational fear of Muslims, (and) U.S. presidential election year scapegoating.” On the first day of the Republican convention to nominate Donald Trump for the Nov. 8 election, CAIR leaders urged the party not to push Muslims voters away. Trump has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. He opposes letting in refugees from the Syrian war, suggesting some may be militants posing as the downtrodden. He has made claims, unsupported to date, that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey openly cheered the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In an interview broadcast Monday on CNN, Trump’s wife Melania, due to speak at the convention later in the day, said of her husband: “He’s not racist, he’s not anti-immigrant,” and added, “He wants to keep America safe.” CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad urged Republicans instead to court Muslims voters, saying they could be crucial in swing states that decide presidential elections. “Too often over the course of this campaign, Republican presidential candidates have pandered to these inner-core Islamophobic leaders and their supporters with proposals like patrolling so-called Muslim neighborhoods, surveilling and shutting down mosques, and openly questioning whether a Muslim can serve as president,” Awad said. As a prescription, Awad offered Islamophobin, a concept borrowed from Muslims in Sweden who created a similar product. CAIR sells a package of 12 sugar-free pieces for $1.99 on amazon.com.  The package says: “Take two and call a Muslim in the morning.” But it comes with a warning. “Those who already believe in religious diversity, tolerance and mutual understanding should not use this product,” the package says.  “Stop taking this product if you begin to develop warm feelings toward Muslims, immigrants or refugees.” Nearby at a separate event, Christian demonstrators tried to eclipse a speech by Rose Hamid, a Muslim woman who was ejected from a Trump rally in South Carolina in January for her silent protest, by standing up wearing her head scarf and a T-shirt reading, “Salam, I come in peace.” As Hamid spoke in favor of a peaceful coexistence at a platform in Public Square set aside for scheduled speeches, the small group behind her hoisted signs such as one saying, “Muhammad is a liar, false-prophet, child-raping pervert.” When they tried to drown out Hamid with a bullhorn, she turned around to see them for the first time and remarked, “Oh, they’re lovely.” Police then removed them from the scene for demonstrating without a permit.

Summary: इस्लामोफोबिया के लिए, इनमें से दो लें और सुबह एक मुसलमान को फोन करें।


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Al Shabaab fighters killed at least 15 soldiers in an attack on a military base near Somalia s capital, Mogadishu, the militant group and Somali officials said on Friday. The militants used guns and car bombs to take control of the base and a nearby town, Barire, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, in an early-morning attack. The fighters also took 11 pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, known as  technicals , said Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab s military operation spokesman.  The other soldiers ran helter-skelter into the woods. We now control the base and the village,  he said. A Somali military officer put the number of dead at 15; al Shabaab said 21 were killed. The government and al Shabaab often give differing accounts of death tolls.  There was a battalion of soldiers but it was a fierce fighting; twin suicide car bombs and hand-to-hand fighting,  Captain Osman Ali told Reuters.  The attacked soldiers were Somali military and the special  forces trained by the U.S. called Danab. There were neither AMISOM nor other foreigners there,  Ali added, referring to African Union peacekeeping troops. Reinforcements were being sent, he said.  Al Shabaab aims to topple the government in Mogadishu and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. Somalia has been at war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The al Qaeda-linked group was driven out of the capital in 2011, but it still carries out frequent attacks on security and government targets and African Union peacekeeping troops. Civilians sometimes get caught in the crossfire.  Ali Nur, the deputy governor of Lower Shabelle region where Barire is situated, confirmed the fighting. So did local residents.  First we heard two huge blasts at the base and then heavy exchange of gunfire followed. Now it looks like the fighting died down,  Ali Farah told Reuters from Barire village. Two weeks ago, al Shabaab attacked an army base at a town near the border with Kenya. Three weeks ago they struck another in the southern port city of Kismayu, killing a total of at least 43 people in the two attacks.

Summary: सोमालिया में आतंकवादियों ने सैन्य अड्डे पर हमला किया, कम से कम 15 की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump visited the Supreme Court on Thursday for the first time since taking office to attend a ceremony for Neil Gorsuch, the justice he appointed, as the court mulls what to do with his blocked ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. The president and first lady Melania Trump were present in the marble-clad courthouse for an investiture ceremony formally welcoming Gorsuch to the top U.S. court. Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as a justice in April and authored his first ruling last week in a debt-collection case. Trump sat near the front of the ornate, burgundy-draped courtroom as Chief Justice John Roberts offered him and the first lady a “warm welcome” in opening remarks. The president sat quietly as Roberts administered the judicial oath to Gorsuch and joined the crowd in applauding Gorsuch, smiling broadly.  In appointing Gorsuch, Trump restored the court’s 5-4 conservative majority. Trump did not speak at the event. Other notable figures at the ceremony included several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and attorneys general during George W. Bush’s presidency, including John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales. Also attending was Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton during his presidency. A special counsel examining whether Trump’s presidential campaign team colluded with Russia in the 2016 election is now investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice. Trump’s travel ban is now before the justices after being blocked by lower courts. In deciding whether to allow the travel ban to go into effect, the justices are set to weigh whether Trump’s election campaign rhetoric can be used as evidence that the March 6 order was intended to discriminate against Muslims in violation of the Constitution. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” The court is currently considering an emergency request from Trump’s administration seeking to put the travel ban into effect while litigation continues. Federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii blocked Trump’s 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Hawaii judge also blocked a 120-day ban on refugees entering the United States. The injunctions blocking the ban were upheld on appeal. Trump was able to make the appointment of Gorsuch only because the Republican-led Senate last year refused to consider former President Barack Obama’s nominee to the court, Merrick Garland.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी सुप्रीम कोर्ट का दौरा किया क्योंकि न्यायाधीशों ने यात्रा प्रतिबंध पर विचार किया


ZURICH (Reuters) - Austria s likely next chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, wants talks over a new government to last no more than two months, he said in a newspaper interview published in Sunday.  Austria s president on Friday gave the green light to conservative leader Kurz, whose People s Party (OVP) secured 31.5 percent of the vote in last week s parliamentary election, to form a government.  The Austrians expect that there is quickly a strong and stable government which takes up work,  Kurz was quoted as saying by Austria s Kronen Zeitung.  That means that negotiations should be concluded in less than 60 days.  Kurz campaigned on a platform that combined a hard line on immigration similar to that of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) with traditional conservative principles like slimming down the state and cutting taxes. To form his coalition, only two of Austria s parliamentary parties, the Social Democrats (SPO) and FPO, have enough seats to give Kurz a majority if they go into coalition with the OVP. Kurz is currently holding an initial round of discussions with the leaders of all parties in parliament, the last of which is his meeting with outgoing Chancellor Christian Kern, the head of the Social Democrats, later on Sunday.  In a separate interview with tabloid Oesterreich, Kurz said his party has common ground with the FPO and that he had already held constructive talks with FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache.  In the conversation with Heinz-Christian Strache, I also had the impression that he has a strong willingness to effect change and creative drive,  Kurz was quoted as saying by OE24.   But now I will conclude these talks on Sunday, and then take up coalition negotiations with a partner.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के अगले चांसलर को 60 दिनों में सरकार बनाने की उम्मीदः पेपर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday scheduled oral arguments in a major dispute on transgender rights for March 28, when the U.S. Senate is set to be in the midst of a political fight over President Donald Trump’s nominee to a vacant seat on the bench. By March, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is likely to be deliberating on whether to approve Neil Gorsuch, a conservative federal appeals court judge from Colorado, to the court. Where Gorsuch stands on social issues like transgender rights is likely to be a much-discussed question during the confirmation process. Republicans are hoping the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and votes on the nomination by late March, paving the way for a vote in the full Senate the first week of April, before the chamber begins a two week spring recess, according to Senate aides. In the transgender case, in which the eight-justice court could be split 4-4 without a ninth vote, a Virginia public school district is fighting to prevent a female-born transgender high school student from using the boys’ bathroom. The dispute involves a transgender student named Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male and sued in 2015 to win the right to use the school’s boys’ bathroom. At the heart of the case is the question of whether transgender people are covered by a ban on gender discrimination in education under federal law. The administration of former President Barack Obama said it was. The Trump administration has not yet weighed in. Until the Senate approves a nominee, the court remains one justice short following the February death of Antonin Scalia, which left it with four conservatives and four liberals. That raises the possibility of a 4-4 ruling that would leave in place the decision favoring Grimm by the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A 4-4 ruling would set no nationwide legal precedent. It is also possible that the court could rehear the case if Gorsuch is confirmed.

Summary: ट्रम्प के उम्मीदवार को लेकर लड़ाई के बीच ट्रांसजेंडर अदालत में सुनवाई शुरू


(Reuters) - Representative Joaquin Castro has decided against running for the U.S. Senate in 2018, a campaign that would have pitted him against Republican Senator Ted Cruz, The New York Times reported on Monday. Castro, 42, made his decision after several months of speculation about a potential primary clash with Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who has already announced his candidacy, the Times reported. Both Castro and O’Rourke are part of the U.S. congressional delegation from Texas. Castro and his brother, Julian, are both considered rising stars in the Democratic party. Julian Castro served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama.

Summary: जोआक्विन कास्त्रो 2018 में क्रूज़ की सीनेट सीट नहीं लेंगेः रिपोर्ट


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists...... [0619 EDT] - ...and people like Ms. Heyer. Such a disgusting lie. He just can’t forget his election trouncing.The people of South Carolina will remember! [0624 EDT] - The public is learning (even more so) how dishonest the Fake News is. They totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc. Shame![0632 EDT] -Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic![0656 EDT] - Many meetings today in Bedminster including with Secretary Linda M and Small Business. Job numbers are looking great!  [0859 EDT] - Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You.....[0907 EDT] - ...can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also... [0915 EDT] - ...the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced! [0921 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (17 अगस्त)-स्टोनवॉल जैक्सन, फेक न्यूज, लिंडसे ग्राहम


BERLIN (Reuters) - German lawmakers have protested after Wolfgang Schaeuble, the new president of the Bundestag, announced a ban on sending tweets from inside the parliament chamber. In a letter published in German media on Thursday, the former finance minister told lawmakers that  using devices to photograph, tweet or send messages from the plenary chamber is inappropriate to the proceedings of the Bundestag . German politicians are far behind other countries  in addressing voters via Twitter s short messaging service, and none comes close to U.S. President Donald Trump - but the measure has not gone unprotested.  This is not going to be the last word on the matter,  tweeted conservative lawmaker Dorothee B r, who with more than 64,000 followers is among the biggest Twitter stars of German politics, proving her adeptness with a winking smiley and a string of hashtags.  You can watch parliamentary sessions live, but we can t tweet from it,  tweeted her liberal colleague Frank Sitta.  Would a handwritten letter from inside be ok? It makes no sense!  It was not clear if either of those tweets had been sent from the parliament chamber. The backlash comes after an election which heard promises to address Germany s relative slowness in adopting the latest digital technologies. Politicians fear the industrial and export titan s strength risks being undermined by more nimble digital upstarts from Silicon Valley. During his decade at the finance ministry, Schaeuble earned a reputation for ruthlessly policing indebted euro zone states  budgets. Lawmakers chose him for his new job in the hope he would ably discipline a parliament that since September s national election is more fragmented than ever before.

Summary: संसदीय ट्विटर प्रतिबंध के खिलाफ जर्मन सांसदों के बीच तीखी नोकझोंक


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Friday that Russia and Egypt were still in talks to decide on the date that Russia would resume regular flights to Egypt, the TASS news agency reported. He said that Russia and Egypt would discuss the date on Friday and sign documents if they reached an agreement, according to TASS.

Summary: रूस और मिस्र अभी भी रूसी उड़ानों को फिर से शुरू करने की तारीख पर बातचीत कर रहे हैं-टीएएसएस


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday dismissed allegations that Moscow had fomented separatist sentiment in Spain s Catalonia as hysteria, the Interfax news agency reported. Spanish ministers said on Monday they believed Russian-based groups used online social media to heavily promote Catalonia s independence referendum last month in an attempt to destabilize Spain.

Summary: रूस के लावरोव ने कैटेलोनिया उन्माद में हस्तक्षेप के आरोपों को कहाः इफैक्स


ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - Congressman Steve Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, was in critical condition on Wednesday night after he and three others were shot as they practiced for a charity baseball game. The gunman, who had posted angry messages against President Donald Trump and other Republicans on social media, opened fire on a group of Republican lawmakers and colleagues at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington. He was wounded in a gunfight with Capitol Hill police at the scene and later died. Scalise was shot in the left hip, suffering broken bones, injuries to internal organs and severe bleeding.  He underwent surgery but would need further operations, the MedStar Washington Hospital Center said. “Rep. Steve Scalise, one of the truly great people, is in very tough shape - but he is a real fighter. Pray for Steve!” Trump said on Twitter after visiting the hospital on Wednesday night. The gunman, identified by police as 66-year-old James Hodgkinson from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Illinois,  fired repeatedly at the men playing on the baseball field on Wednesday morning.  Congressmen at the ballpark described hearing loud noises like the sound of firecrackers and 15 to 20 people lying on the ground and realizing they had only baseball bats to defend themselves against bullets. “When he started shooting, he was shooting to kill people. And thank God he wasn’t a very good shot,” said Representative Joe Barton, the Republican team’s manager. Also wounded were a congressional aide and one former aide who now works as a lobbyist, officials said. One Capitol Hill police officer suffered a gunshot wound and another officer twisted an ankle and was released from a hospital, police said. “It was not only chaotic but it was a combat situation,” Alexandria Police Chief Mike Brown told reporters. While police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was too early to determine whether it was a deliberate political attack, the shooting intensified concerns about the sharp divide and bitter rhetoric in U.S. politics. FBI special agent Tim Slater declined to comment on whether the gunman had a vendetta against Republicans. “We continue to actively investigate the shooter’s motives, acquaintances and whereabouts that led to today’s incidents,”  Slater told reporters. No one else was in custody, he said. The gunman was believed to have been in the Alexandria area since March, Slater said. Investigators believe that the suspect had been living out of his vehicle. Wednesday’s shooting revived debate about gun rights in America. Virginia’s Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, urged gun control measures.  Scalise has been a strong opponent of gun control measures. Hodgkinson had raged against Trump on social media and was a member of anti-Republican groups on Facebook including, “The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans,” “Terminate The Republican Party,” and “Donald Trump is not my President,” a search of his Facebook profile showed. As businessman Trump rose to become the Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election, his brash style and outspoken views on immigration and other policies led to mass protests, including on the weekend of his inauguration in January.  The charity ballgame between a Republican team and a Democratic team will go ahead as scheduled on Thursday at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team. Representative Tim Ryan, who early on Wednesday was practicing for the ballgame with fellow Democrats, told reporters that Washington politicians needed to cool their rhetoric. “We’ve got to get back to ... where things aren’t so personal and we’re so judgmental of each other. It’s got to stop. A member of the U.S. Congress got shot because they didn’t like (his) political views,” Ryan said. Trump, who announced the gunman’s death, called for unity. “We are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good,” he said. In a show of bipartisanship, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said on the floor of the House: “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.” The House’s top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, echoed Ryan’s message. The shooting happened shortly after 7 a.m. There were 20 House members and two senators present, and the shooting lasted about 10 minutes, said Barton. Two lawmakers who were at the scene, Representatives Ron DeSantis and Jeff Duncan, indicated there might have been a political motive in the attack. Duncan said that as he left the field, the man who would later open fire approached him in the parking lot. “He asked me who was practicing this morning, Republicans or Democrats, and I said: ‘That’s the Republicans practicing,’” Duncan told reporters. DeSantis gave a similar account. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who sought the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said he had been told that  Hodgkinson had served as a volunteer with his campaign. “Let me be as clear as I can be: Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms,” Sanders said. Ryan, the House speaker, is reviewing rules on how rank-and-file lawmakers can increase their personal security, according to several lawmakers. “Members get threats on a regular basis and have trouble determining which are real,” House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer told reporters. The shooting took place at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, across the Potomac River from Washington.       Representative Mo Brooks told CNN that during batting practice, he heard a “bam” and then a quick succession of shots and saw the gunman shooting through the holes in a chain link fence. When Scalise was shot, he went down on the infield between first and second base, then dragged himself into the grassy outfield as the incident unfolded, leaving a trail of blood,  Brooks said. Two Capitol police officers who were there to provide security for the lawmakers engaged the gunman with pistols, Brooks said. “But for the Capitol police and the heroism they showed, it could very well have been a large-scale massacre. All we would have had would have been baseball bats versus a rifle. Those aren’t good odds,” Brooks said. Wednesday’s attack was the first shooting of a member of Congress since January 2011, when Democratic Representative Gabby Giffords was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt at a gathering of constituents in Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed. Giffords resigned from Congress and became an activist for gun restrictions.

Summary: बेसबॉल मैदान में बंदूकधारी के हमले के बाद स्कैलिस की हालत गंभीर


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union warned on Wednesday that it was ready to act within days to counter proposed new U.S. sanctions on Russia, saying they would harm the bloc’s energy security. Sanctions legislation overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday has angered EU officials: they see it as breaking transatlantic unity in the West’s response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Brussels also fears the new sanctions will harm European firms with connections to Russia, and oil and gas projects on which the EU is dependent. “The U.S. bill could have unintended unilateral effects that impact the EU’s energy security interests,” EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement issued after a meeting at which European commissioners were united in their views, according to a senior EU official. “If our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days. ‘America First’ cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last,” he said, mentioning President Donald Trump’s guiding slogan. A EU document prepared for the commissioners, seen by Reuters, laid out the EU’s plans to seek “demonstrable reassurances” that the White House would not use the bill to target EU interests. The bloc, it says, will also prepare to use an EU regulation allowing it to defend companies against the application of extraterritorial measures by the United States. If diplomacy fails, Brussels plans to file a complaint at the World Trade Organization. “In addition, the preparation of a substantive response that would deter the U.S. from taking measures against EU companies could be considered,” it says. However, most measures taken by Brussels would require approval from all 28 EU member governments, which could expose potential differences in individual nations’ relations with Moscow and Washington. Despite changes to the U.S. bill that took into account some EU concerns, Brussels said the legislation could still hinder upkeep of the gas pipeline network in Russia that feeds into Ukraine and supplies over a quarter of EU needs. The EU says it could also hamper projects crucial to its energy diversification goals, such as the Baltic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project. The new sanctions target the disputed Nord Stream 2 project for a new pipeline running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. But the EU note says: “the impact would in reality be much wider.” A list prepared by the EU executive, seen by Reuters, shows eight projects including those involving oil majors Anglo-Dutch Shell, BP and Italy’s Eni that risk falling foul of the U.S. measures.  Voicing frustration at the fraying in the joint Western approach to Moscow, Juncker said “close coordination among allies” was key to ensuring that curbs on business with the Russian energy, defense and financial sectors, imposed in July 2014, are effective. EU sources said Juncker told Commissioners the risk to EU interests was collateral damage of a U.S. domestic fight between Trump and U.S. lawmakers. It was unclear how quickly the U.S. bill would reach the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. The bill amounts to a rebuke of Trump by requiring him to obtain lawmakers’ permission before easing any sanctions on Moscow. Rejecting the legislation - which would potentially stymie his wish for improved relations with Moscow - would carry a risk that his veto could be overridden by lawmakers. European energy industry sources voiced alarm at the potentially wide-ranging damage of the new U.S. measures. “This is pretty tough,” one industry source told Reuters. “We are working with EU officials to see what safeguards can be anticipated to protect our investment and give us certainty.”  Five Western firms are partnered with Russia’s Gazprom in Nord Stream 2: German’s Wintershall [WINT.UL] and Uniper, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s Engie.  But EU officials warn the U.S. measures would also hit plans for the LNG plant on the Gulf of Finland in which Shell is partnering with Gazprom. The EU document shows they might jeopardize Eni’s 50 percent stake in the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia to Turkey as well as the CPC pipeline, carrying Kazakh oil to the Black Sea, involving European groups BG Overseas Holdings, Shell and Eni . It further warns that BP would be forced to halt some activities with Russian energy major Rosneft.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने अमेरिका को चेतावनी दी है कि वह रूस पर नए प्रतिबंधों का मुकाबला करने के लिए तेजी से प्रतिक्रिया दे सकता है


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Wednesday he and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto discussed Trump’s proposal for a border wall between the countries but not the New York businessman’s demand that Mexico pay for it. Trump and Pena Nieto emerged from about an hour of talks at the presidential palace in Mexico City to deliver statements to the news media and take questions. “We did discuss the wall, we didn’t discuss payment of the wall, that will be at a later date, this was a very preliminary meeting, it was an excellent meeting,” Trump said. Pena Nieto, in his statement, said the border must be seen as an asset for the region. He said undocumented immigration from Mexico to the United States had dropped considerably since reaching a peak a decade ago.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि उन्होंने, मैक्सिकन नेता ने सीमा की दीवार पर चर्चा की, लेकिन यह नहीं कि कौन भुगतान करता है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Paris climate agreement cannot be renegotiated as U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested it can, European Commissioner for Climate Miguel Arias Canete said on Friday. “The agreement is fit for purpose. The Paris agreement is here to stay and the 29 articles of the Paris agreement are not to be renegotiated,” he told reporters after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart. Trump said during his announcement on Thursday of a U.S. withdrawal from the pact, that his administration would begin negotiations either to re-enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement “on terms that are fair to the United States”. Canete also said that the EU would seek a partnership with U.S. companies or states that supported the Paris agreement.

Summary: पेरिस जलवायु समझौते पर फिर से बातचीत नहीं की जा सकतीः यूरोपीय संघ आयुक्त


PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi s center-right coalition has a narrow lead over the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in Sicilian regional elections held on Sunday, according to exit polls, with the center-left a distant third. The election to pick a new regional governor on the Mediterranean island is widely seen as a test of trends across Italy ahead of parliamentary elections due by next May. RAI state television said Nello Musumeci, backed by center-right parties, including former Prime Minister Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!), would win between 35 percent and 39 percent of the vote. The 5-Star s Giancarlo Cancelleri was seen taking between 33-37 percent. Another exit poll for private broadcaster La 7 put Musumeci on 36-40 percent and Cancelleri on 34-38 percent. The center-left s candidate Fabrizio Micari, backed by the ruling Democratic Party, was seen almost 20 points behind the frontrunner in both polls, followed by Claudio Fava, the candidate of a cluster of left-wing parties. The vote count will not begin until Monday at 8 a.m (0700 GMT) with the full result expected later that day.

Summary: सिसिली क्षेत्रीय मतदान में केंद्र-दक्षिणपंथी मामूली अंतर से आगेः एक्जिट पोल


PARIS (Reuters) - The military campaign against Islamic State in Syria should be completed in February following the end of fighting against the militant group in Iraq, French President Emmanuel Macron said.  On December 9, Iraqi Prime Minister (Haider al-) Abadi announced the end of the war and the victory over Daesh, and I think that by mid- to late February we will have won the war in Syria,  Macron said in a broadcast interview, using the Arab acronym for Islamic State. France would now push for peace talks involving all parties in the six-year-old Syrian conflict, including President Bashar al-Assad, Macron told France 2 televisions, promising  initiatives  early next year. He did not say how any French proposals would relate to existing negotiations being brokered by the United Nations. Despite being a leading backer of the Syrian opposition, France has sought a more pragmatic approach to the Syrian conflict since the arrival of President Emmanuel Macron, saying that the departure of al-Assad was not a pre-condition for talks.  Assad s government has been backed by Russia and Iran. President Vladimir Putin last week announced a significant scaling back of Russian forces in Syria, saying their mission was largely complete.

Summary: मैक्रों ने सीरिया में इस्लामिक स्टेट के खिलाफ लड़ाई के लिए फरवरी का अंत देखा


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The latest U.S. sanctions imposed on five Russians and Chechens  are grotesque and groundless, and Moscow will hit back with tit-for-tat sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed the new sanctions on the five people, including on Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov, for alleged human rights abuses.

Summary: रूसी विदेश मंत्रालय का कहना है कि नवीनतम अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध 'विचित्र' हैं


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump chose not to certify a deal on Iran’s nuclear program that there was no place in international diplomacy for aggressive rhetoric, and such methods were doomed to fail. Trump’s announcement “once again underlines the inadmissibility of using aggressive and threatening rhetoric in international relations,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement “It is a hangover from the past, which does not correspond to modern norms of civilized dealings between countries,” the statement said. “We viewed with regret the decision of the U.S. President not to confirm to Congress that Iran is fulfilling in good faith” the nuclear deal, the statement said. “We expect that this step will not have a direct effect on the progress of implementation of the agreements, although, clearly, it does not correspond to the spirit and letter,” of the nuclear deal. Iran was strictly abiding by the terms of the deal, and the agreement was already making a contribution to making the world safer, it added. “In any event, regardless of the decisions of individual parties to the agreement, it is not possible to return to a situation which previously existed around the Iranian nuclear program,” the statement said. “In particular, there can be no talk of a renewal of sanctions via the U.N. Security Council.” “Russia remains committed to ... (the Iran nuclear deal), wants it to be preserved and will continue to fulfill all its obligations under the deal. We call on all the other participants to do the same,” the ministry said.

Summary: रूस ने कहा कि ईरान पर ट्रम्प का 'आक्रामक' रुख विफल होने वाला है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan did not immediately endorse a Senate bill on Tuesday that would allow Americans to sue the government of Saudi Arabia over the Sept. 11 attacks, saying it should be reviewed to ensure it would not hurt diplomatic relations. With President Barack Obama traveling to Saudi Arabia  Tuesday, lawmakers have been discussing the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act,” which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in January but has not been scheduled for debate in the full Senate or the House of Representatives. “I think we need to review it to make sure that we’re not making mistakes with our allies and that we’re not catching people in this that shouldn’t be caught up in this,” Ryan, a Republican, told reporters. Some U.S. citizens whose relatives were killed in the 2001 attacks want to be able to sue Saudi Arabia because most of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. The al Qaeda militant group, then based in Afghanistan, was blamed and the United States and its allies invaded the country. No U.S. investigation to date has reported finding evidence of Saudi government support for the attacks. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama did not support the legislation and would not sign it. Obama will seek to reassure Gulf allies about Washington’s support on his trip. Some lawyers working with the Sept. 11 victims’ families have insisted that the bill would come up for a vote quickly and easily pass Congress. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said no vote has been scheduled. Senate aides said there was at least one Republican “hold” on the measure. “I’m still looking at it,” McConnell told reporters, calling the measure an “important” bill. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said lawmakers and the Obama administration were trying to resolve concerns about whether individuals should be able to sue foreign governments. “There are some sovereign immunity issues that need to be worked through,” Corker said. He declined to comment on whether he supported the legislation, because the bill has not been finalized. The New York Times reported on Friday that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told U.S. lawmakers his country would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in U.S. assets in response to the bill if it passed. Several members of Congress and senior aides said they were unaware of any such threat, outside of the newspaper’s report. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, a lead bill sponsor said the Saudis had not talked to him about that threat. But he, and other senior Democrats said they wanted the bill to move ahead despite the White House’s objections. “If the Saudi government was complicit in terrorism, and a trial so determines, it would be a real deterrent to other governments not to be complicit in terrorism,” said Schumer, who represents New York, the state hardest hit in the attacks. Corker said he had been in close contact with the administration, but had not discussed the bill with Saudi officials for some time. Ryan said the bill did not come up while he was on a visit to Riyadh. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who supports the bill, said it was tied up  by State Department concerns about sovereign immunity. “I think Americans need some redress when they’re hurt.”

Summary: सदन के नेता 9/11 विधेयक की समीक्षा चाहते हैं जो अमेरिकियों को सऊदी पर मुकदमा करने देगा


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Arms provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Syrian opposition groups frequently ended up in the hands of Islamic State, an arms monitoring group that analyzed weapons found on the battlefield said on Thursday. Conflict Armament Research (CAR) said most Islamic State weapons were looted from the Iraqi and Syrian armies. But some were originally provided by other countries, mainly the United States and Saudi Arabia, to Syrian opposition groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.  These findings are a stark reminder of the contradictions inherent in supplying weapons into armed conflicts in which multiple competing and overlapping non-state armed groups operate,  the group said in a 200-page report. CAR documented at least 12 cases of weaponry purchased by the United States that ended up in Islamic State s hands, either captured on the battlefield or acquired through shifting alliances within the Syrian opposition. Most of these items later ended up in Iraq, the monitor said. In one case, it took only two months for Islamic State fighters in Iraq to get their hands on a guided anti-tank missile the United States bought from a European country and supplied to a Syrian opposition group. All of the items were made in EU states, and in most cases the United States broke contractual clauses prohibiting retransfers by giving the weapons to armed groups in Syria.  Evidence collected by CAR indicates that the United States has repeatedly diverted EU-manufactured weapons and ammunition to opposition forces in the Syrian conflict. IS forces rapidly gained custody of significant quantities of this materiel.  CAR said it similarly traced numerous items used by Islamic State back to exports from Bulgaria to Saudi Arabia, and that these were also subject to non-retransfer clauses that should have barred them from being supplied to Syrian warring parties. Around 90 percent of weapons and ammunition used by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq were made in China, Russia, and Eastern European countries, CAR said, with China and Russia alone accounting for over 50 percent.  These findings support widespread assumptions that the group initially captured much of its military materiel from Iraqi and Syrian government forces,  the report said. Russian-made weapons used by Islamic State in Syria outnumbered Chinese ones,  presumably reflecting Russian supplies to the Syrian regime,  CAR said. Russia is allied with Assad and launched air strikes in Syria in September 2015, its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in his favor. On Saturday Iraq declared final victory over Islamic State, which seized more than a third of the country s territory in 2014. Last week Russia declared victory over the group in Syria. CAR reported last year that Islamic State had been making its own weapons on a scale and with sophistication matching national military forces, and that it had standardized production across its realm. Link to the CAR report: here

Summary: अमेरिका, सऊदी अरब द्वारा आपूर्ति किए गए हथियार इस्लामिक स्टेट के पास गए, शोधकर्ताओं का कहना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Monday that a probe on whether to launch an investigation into China’s intellectual property practices will be one of his office’s “highest priorities.” Lighthizer said in a statement that China’s industrial policies and other practices “reportedly” have forced the transfer of vital U.S. technology to Chinese companies. “We will engage in a thorough investigation and, if needed, take action to preserve the future of U.S. industry,” Lighthizer said. “Thousands of jobs are at stake for our workers and for future generations.”

Summary: लाइटहाइजर ने कहा कि चीन की बौद्धिक संपदा जांच एक उच्च प्राथमिकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on Thursday he believed he still had President Trump’s confidence, a day after the president said he was not happy with Price over reports he had used private planes for official travel. “I think we’ve still got the confidence of the president,” Price told reporters who asked whether he expected to be fired over the matter. “We’re going to work through this,” he said, following a public event in Washington about the flu season. Price has taken at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to taxpayers of about $300,000, according to Politico, which first reported the travel. Trump said on Wednesday he was looking into the matter, as is a U.S. House of Representatives committee. HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said on Wednesday that Price has “heard the criticism and concerns” over his travel, adding, “he takes that very seriously and has taken it to heart.”  She added that Price has initiated an internal departmental review of travel procedures. The HHS inspector general has also announced a review of Price’s travel on chartered aircraft.  Two other senior U.S. officials also face scrutiny over their travels.  The Treasury Department’s Inspector General is reviewing the circumstances of Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s use of a government plane to fly to Kentucky in August for a visit to Louisville and Fort Knox. Mnuchin and his wife viewed the solar eclipse during the trip.  Mnuchin was asked Thursday on the “CBS This Morning” program  if he would promise to ride commercial airlines for the rest of his tenure as Treasury secretary. “I can promise the American taxpayer the only time that I will be using (military) air is when there are issues either for national security or where we have to get various different things (and) there’s no other means,” he said. The frequent travels of Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to Oklahoma are being investigated by that agency’s inspector general. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Pruitt is said to have taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000.

Summary: स्वास्थ्य सचिव प्राइस का मानना है कि उन्हें राष्ट्रपति का विश्वास है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Orders for a Bernie Sanders action figure, complete with the U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful’s signature slouch, open mouth and accusatory pointed finger, were flooding in from fans on Thursday, months ahead of the toy’s delivery date in July. Brooklyn product design company FCTRY created a prototype for the 6-inch (15-cm) tall plastic version of the Vermont senator and started a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $15,000 to fund production. Within 24 hours of the campaign’s debut on Wednesday, FCTRY  had raised about $40,000 from fans snapping up various deals, including a sold-out $20 offer for a single Bernie Sanders action figure called “The Early Bern Special #1.” The company has also sold 20,000 Hillary Clinton action figures depicting the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential hopeful in a sky blue pant suit. It previously sold 200,000 President Barack Obama action figures, said FCTRY Chief Executive Jason Feinberg. “If you buy one of our action figures, whether it’s Hillary or now Bernie, we’ll donate $1 from that sale online to their actual campaign,” Feinberg said. “The idea is to have a way where regular people can sort of easily participate in campaign donations through a small business.” A prototype of the Bernie Sanders action figure was created by Seattle pop-artist Mike Leavitt and will be mass produced overseas, Feinberg said. The figures are expected to be ready in July, the same month as the 2016 Democratic National Convention, when Clinton and Sanders face off as the party chooses its nominee for U.S. president and vice president for the November national election. The company has no plans to turn New York real estate developer Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida or any of the other Republican White House contenders into toys. “In 2008, we were sort of compelled to make a (Senator John) McCain and it’s something I’ve always regretted so there were no Republicans this time,” Feinberg said.  Among the pre-order deals available online is “The Full Ticket,” which includes a single Bernie Sanders action figure plus a single Hillary Clinton action figure. “We’re just sayin. Crazier things have happened,” the Kickstarter site notes. A Sanders spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (This version of the story was refiled to add dropped letter to company name, FCTRY, in paragraph three.)

Summary: बर्नी सैंडर्स एक्शन टॉय स्लौच करता है, अंक देता है और बहुत सारी नकदी जुटाता है