WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will sign legislation passed by Congress aimed at combating a nationwide epidemic of heroin and other opioid addictions, the White House said on Wednesday. After months of wrangling, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, 92-2, to pass the bill that has also been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure aims to help communities develop treatment and overdose programs at a time when fewer than half the estimated 2.2 million Americans who need help for opioid abuse are receiving it, according to the U.S. Centers for Human and Health Services. The White House said in a statement the bill “falls far short” of the necessary funding, but Obama would sign it “because some action is better than none.” Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a leading proponent of the legislation, said that it marked “the first time that we’ve treated addiction like the disease that it is, which will help put an end to the stigma that has surrounded addiction for too long.” While its passage marked a rare bipartisan effort in this election year, Democrats complained that it does not provide  enough resources to effectively address the drug problem. “This bill is like a Hollywood movie set - something that appears real on the surface but has no substance and no life behind its facade,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat. U.S. deaths from drug overdoses hit a record high in 2014, propelled by abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28,000 people died from opioid overdose in 2014. At least half, HHS said, of those deaths involved a prescription opioid. Among the common prescription drugs are oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl that are used for pain treatment. Heroin-related deaths have also increased sharply, more than tripling since 2010. In 2014, more than 10,500 people died from heroin, the agency said. The bill authorizes $181 million a year for new programs it creates. Democrats said that with disagreements in Congress over next year’s funding for HHS, it was uncertain whether the money contained in the bipartisan bill actually would be delivered.  They called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, to back up this legislation with $600 million in immediate emergency funds. Obama has requested $920 million for opioid treatment programs over two years. The bill, if enacted into law, also would provide new training for emergency personnel in administering drugs to reverse opioid overdoses and help communities purchase those drugs.

Summary: हेरोइन की लत से लड़ने के लिए विधेयक पर हस्ताक्षर करेंगे ओबामा


OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma lawmakers will take up legislation next week aimed at ensuring sex crimes do not go unpunished in the state because the victims were unconscious or intoxicated when they occurred.  In March, Oklahoma’s highest criminal court ruled the state’s rape law addresses sexual assault cases involving people who were either unconscious or intoxicated when they were victims of abuse. But the court ruled that Oklahoma’s forcible sodomy law, which also pertains to oral sex, did not address such cases. The ruling was in response to allegations that a Tulsa teenager sexually assaulted a girl who had passed out after a night of drinking. A lower court judge had dismissed the case last year. Oklahoma Representative Scott Biggs, a Republican, said on Friday he is filing legislation to define forcible sodomy in a way that includes unconscious victims. The bill, which is widely supported, is expected to be heard by the Oklahoma legislature in the coming week, Biggs said. “The judges made a grave error, but if they need more clarification, we are happy to give it to them by fixing the statute,” Biggs said in an interview. The state’s highest criminal appeals court said in its ruling: “Sodomy cannot occur where a victim is so intoxicated as to be completely unconscious at the time of the sexual act of oral copulation.”  It added, “we will not, in order to justify prosecution of a person for an offense, enlarge a statute beyond the fair meaning of its language.” The ruling in March had gone mostly unnoticed until the public interest journalism site Oklahoma Watch reported on it this month, sparking a public outcry. The case from 2014 involved two high school students who were drinking and smoking marijuana with friends. The boy testified the oral sex was consensual but the girl said it was not, according to Oklahoma Watch, which added that the teen’s DNA was found on the girl. “Unfortunately, legal minds often get stuck on questions of semantics, when it is clear to most of us what the intent of the law is,” Biggs said. “I can’t stress enough how sorry I am for the victim and that she was denied justice,” he added.

Summary: ओक्लाहोमा कानून का उद्देश्य यौन अपराधों के लिए सजा सुनिश्चित करना है


(Reuters) - A man who accused former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of sexual abuse filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming the once powerful conservative politician owes him $1.8 million as a part of an agreement between them to compensate him for decades of pain and suffering. The plaintiff, identified as James Doe, filed the lawsuit in Kendall County Circuit Court in northeastern Illinois, claiming Hastert owes him the unpaid portion of a $3.5 million deal they verbally agreed to in 2008. Doe said he was 14 when he was molested by Hastert, a trusted family friend, high school teacher and “beloved coach” of the state champion wrestling team in the town of Yorkville, Illinois. Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty in October to a federal charge in Chicago federal court of “structuring” for evading bank reporting rules by withdrawing large amounts of cash in small increments. He was taking out the funds to make payments to a man identified in court documents by federal prosecutors as Individual A. Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday for the financial crime, and faces up to five years in prison although prosecutors have recommended a maximum of six months. Another Hastert accuser known as Individual D, and the sister of another accuser, who is deceased, are expected to testify at the sentencing hearing. Hastert’s attorney, Thomas Green, had no comment on the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said in an email. Court documents in Hastert’s trial revealed that he was accused of abusing five boys in the 1960s and 1970s, decades before he became one of the country’s most powerful politicians. Doe’s lawsuit claims Hastert sexually molested and abused him in a motel room while they were on a trip to a wrestling camp. “For many years to follow, Plaintiff (Doe) suffered severe panic attacks which lead to periods of unemployment, career changes, bouts of depression, hospitalization, and psychiatric long-term treatment,” the lawsuit said. Hastert admitted in his plea deal that he paid $1.7 million in cash, from June 2010 to December 2014, to someone he had known for decades to compensate for past misconduct. Doe said in his lawsuit that he confronted Hastert in 2008 after learning that Hastert had sexually abused another person. Doe suggested $3.5 million when Hastert asked him how much would compensate him. Hastert agreed to pay the amount and asked for Doe to keep the agreement quiet, the lawsuit said.

Summary: यौन शोषण के आरोपी ने पूर्व हाउस स्पीकर हैस्टर्ट पर 18 लाख डॉलर का मुकदमा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called on President Barack Obama to resign from office because he did not say the words “radical Islam,” in a statement in response to the Orlando massacre where 50 people were killed.  “Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse,” Trump said in a statement. “I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can’t afford to be politically correct anymore.” Trump’s campaign said he will address the attacks in a speech he already had scheduled to deliver on Monday addressing national security and responding to criticism from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Summary: ओरलैंडो गोलीबारी के बाद ट्रंप ने ओबामा से इस्तीफे की मांग की


WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Eighteen U.S. states sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to stop him from scrapping a key component of Obamacare, subsidies to insurers that help millions of low-income people pay medical expenses, even as Trump invited Democratic leaders to negotiate a deal. One day after his administration announced plans to end the payments next week, Trump said he would dismantle Obamacare “step by step.”  His latest action raised concerns about chaos in insurance markets. The subsidies cost $7 billion this year and were estimated at $10 billion for 2018, according to congressional analysts. “As far as the subsidies are concerned, I don’t want to make the insurance companies rich,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re making a fortune by getting that kind of money.” Trump’s action took aim at a critical element of the 2010 law, his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. Frustrated by the failure of his fellow Republicans who control both houses of Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump has taken several steps to chip away at it. Democrats accused Trump of sabotaging the law.  Democratic attorneys general from the 18 states as well as  Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit in federal court in California later on Friday. The states include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state. The states will ask the court to force Trump to make the next payment. Legal experts said the states were likely to face an uphill battle in court.     “His effort to gut these subsidies with no warning or even a plan to contain the fallout is breathtakingly reckless,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. “This is an effort simply to blow up the system.” The new lawsuit would be separate from a case pending before an appeals court in the District of Columbia in which 16 Democratic state attorneys general are defending the legality of the payments. If the subsidies vanish, low-income Americans who obtain insurance through Obamacare online marketplaces where insurers can sell policies would face higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs. It would particularly hurt lower-middle-class families whose incomes are still too high to qualify for certain government assistance. About 10 million people are enrolled in Obamacare through its online marketplaces, and most receive subsidies. Trump’s action came just weeks before the period starting on Nov. 1 when individuals have to begin enrolling for 2018 insurance coverage through the law’s marketplaces. The administration will not make the next payment to insurers, scheduled for Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer expressed optimism about chances for a deal with Republicans to continue the subsidy payments. “We’re going to have a very good opportunity to get this done in a bipartisan way” during negotiations in December on broad federal spending legislation, “if we can’t get it done sooner,” Schumer told reporters. Trump offered an invitation for Democratic leaders to come to the White House, while also lashing out at them. “We’ll negotiate some deal that’s good for everybody. But they’re always a bloc vote against everything. They’re like obstructionists,” Trump told reporters. The Senate failed in both July and September to pass legislation backed by Trump to repeal Obamacare due to opposition by a handful of Republican senators. One of them, Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine who had been contemplating running for governor next year, on Friday said she planned to remain in the Senate and would use her voice in reforming the healthcare system. Hospitals, doctors, health insurers, state insurance commissioners and patient advocates decried Trump’s move, saying consumers will ultimately pay the price. They called on Congress to appropriate the funds needed to keep up the subsidy payments. Shares of U.S. hospital companies and health insurers closed down on Friday after the subsidies announcement. Centene Corp (CNC.N) closed down 3.3 percent and Molina Healthcare (MOH.N) closed down 3.4 percent. Among hospital shares, Tenet Healthcare (THC.N) finished 5.1 percent lower and Community Health Systems (CYH.N) declined 4.0 percent.  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that erasing the subsidies would increase the federal deficit by $194 billion over the next decade because the government still would be obligated under other parts of Obamacare to help lower-income people pay for insurance premiums. Trump, who as a candidate last year promised to roll back the law formally called the Affordable Care Act, received applause for his latest action during an appearance on Friday before a group of conservative voters. “It’s step by step by step, and that was a very big step yesterday,” Trump said. “And one by one, it’s going to come down, and we’re going to have great healthcare in our country.” Earlier on Twitter he called Obamacare “a broken mess” that is “imploding,” and referred to the “pet insurance companies” of Democrats. Republicans for seven years had vowed to get rid of Obamacare, but deep intra-party divisions have scuttled their efforts to get legislation through the Senate, where they hold a slim majority. Since taking office in January, Trump threatened many times to cut the subsidies. Health insurers that planned to stay in the Obamacare market prepared for the move in many states by submitting two sets of premium rates to regulators: with and without the subsidies. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the change would drive up premium costs for consumers by at least 12 to 15 percent in 2018 and cut more than $1 billion in payments to insurers for 2017. The White House announced the cut-off just hours after Trump signed an order intended to allow insurers to sell lower-cost, bare-bones policies with limited benefits and consumer protections. Republicans have called Obamacare an unnecessary government intrusion into the American healthcare system. Democrats have said the law needs some fixes but noted that it had brought insurance to 20 million people.

Summary: अमेरिकी राज्यों ने ट्रम्प ओबामाकेयर सब्सिडी में कटौती को रोकने के लिए मुकदमा दायर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Monday sought to quash speculation that he might emerge as the vice presidential running mate for Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying he still has deep reservations about the billionaire. “He will be best served by a running mate and by surrogates who fully embrace his campaign. As such, I have never sought, will not seek and do not want to be considered for vice president,” Rubio said in a statement. Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate himself, and Trump clashed repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the bitterly contested primary vote in Rubio’s home state of Florida in March. Trump had dismissed Rubio as “little Marco” and won the state handily, dealing a death blow to Rubio’s campaign. Rubio had blasted Trump as a con artist who is not a conservative. “While Republican voters have chosen Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, my previously stated reservations about his campaign and concerns with many of his policies remain unchanged,” Rubio said. GOP, short for Grand Old Party, is an acronym for the Republican Party. A former Trump campaign rival, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is leading Trump’s search for a vice presidential running mate. Trump has said he is considering a variety of his former rivals for the nomination, but some have ruled themselves out or declared they will not support him. Rubio said he plans to focus his attention in the run-up to the Nov. 8 helping Republicans hang on to control of the Senate and “electing principled conservatives across the country.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन रूबियो ने खुद को ट्रम्प वीपी वार्ता से अलग किया


(Corrects a Dec. 19 story to make clear in graf 12 that Russia annexed Ukraine s Crimea, not all of Ukraine) By Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Gwladys Fouche MOSCOW/OSLO (Reuters) - Russia has detained a Norwegian citizen it suspects of spying, his Norwegian lawyer and the RIA news agency said on Tuesday, citing a Moscow court which sanctioned the individual s detention. Media reports said Russia s FSB security service had caught the Norwegian taking secret documents about the Russian Navy from a Russian citizen. The detained man is 62-year-old pensioner Frode Berg, a former guard working on the Norwegian-Russian border who was arrested on Dec. 5, his Norwegian lawyer told Reuters.  His family says the accusations of espionage are inexplicable,  said Berg s lawyer in Oslo, Brynjulf Risnes.   He was on a private visit to meet acquaintances from his former job and the cultural work he does ... The family has known for a while that Frode Berg was arrested. They thought it was a misunderstanding and that it would be clarified soon.  Berg resides in the Norwegian city of Kirkenes, a town some 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the border with Russia. He is active in a cross-border cultural organisation called Girls on the Bridge. Berg posted a picture of a snow-covered Red Square on his Facebook profile page early on Dec. 5, the day of his arrest, with the message  Christmas Time in Moscow! .  The maximum penalty for espionage in Russia is 20 years in prison, while the minimum sentence is 10 years, said Risnes.  The family is struggling as there is very little information available from the Russian authorities,  he said. He said his first priority was to get access to Berg and the second one was to ensure a Russian lawyer who could provide the best possible defence.  Often espionage cases have political undertones,  he said.  So it is important we have a lawyer who fully defends his interests.  NATO-member Norway is part of the coalition of countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia following its 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea. It has been concerned about Russia s ability and willingness to use military means to achieve political goals. Norwegian authorities said they had been able to visit their national in detention.  The Norwegian consular service has visited the citizen that has been arrested in Moscow and is now in detention,  said Frode Overland Andersen, a press spokesman for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added the Norwegian national had legal representation and that the arrest had taken place on Dec. 5. The spokesman declined to comment on the charges.

Summary: रूस ने जासूसी के संदेह में नॉर्वे के नागरिक को हिरासत में लिया


KIEV (Reuters) - Five Ukrainian servicemen were killed when pro-Russian rebels attacked government positions mostly in the Luhansk region on Thursday, the Ukrainian military said. An almost three-year-old peace agreement has failed to stop fighting in eastern Ukraine with each side accusing the other of violating the terms of a ceasefire on a near-daily basis. The Ukrainian military said in a statement they suffered losses during an eight-hour clash near the small village of Krymske, 30 km (20 miles) west of Luhansk. The situation in the Luhansk region had escalated after a conflict between separatist factions controlling the city.

Summary: पूर्वी यूक्रेन में पांच यूक्रेनी सैनिकों की हत्याः सेना


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities issued detention warrants on Monday for 106 people believed to have worked as matchmakers for a network accused of orchestrating last year s failed military coup, a spokesman for the Istanbul police said. Sixty-two of the suspects had been detained in the operation centered in Istanbul and spread over 20 other provinces, he said. Operations to locate the rest were ongoing. The suspects were  marriage officials  for supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Turkish government says was behind the failed July 2016 coup, the spokesman said. Gulen denies any involvement in the coup attempt. They were believed to have helped set up arranged marriages for some of Gulen s followers, he said. Turkish officials say the Gulen network closely monitored the personal and professional lives of some supporters, including their education, careers and marriages.  Turkish police and state intelligence officials identified the suspects in a joint operation using conversations traced on ByLock, an encrypted messaging application commonly used by Gulen s supporters, the spokesman said. Turkey has identified 215,092 users of ByLock and has launched investigations into 23,171 of them, the interior minister said last month. More than 50,000 people, including security officials, military personnel and civil servants, have been detained in the aftermath of the coup. The crackdown has alarmed Turkey s Western allies and rights groups, who say President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent. The government says the measures, taken under emergency rule that was imposed after the coup, are necessary due to the security threats Turkey faces.

Summary: तुर्की ने मौलवी के नेटवर्क में 106 'मैचमेकर्स' के लिए वारंट जारी किया


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China s largely rubber stamp parliament has expelled disgraced senior politician Sun Zhengcai, once considered a contender for top leadership, state media said on Saturday, paving the way for formal criminal charges to be laid against him. The expulsion removes Sun s immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament. The announcement, carried by the official Xinhua news agency, gave no other details.  Sun was abruptly removed from his post as Chongqing party chief in July and replaced by Chen Miner, who is close to President Xi Jinping. Later that month, he was put under investigation and in September, the party announced he would be prosecuted for corruption. Sun was accused of leaking secrets, bribery and abusing his power. Chongqing is perhaps best known outside China for its association with Bo Xilai, its disgraced former party boss. He, too, was once a contender for top leadership. He was jailed for life in 2013 after a dramatic corruption scandal. It has not been possible to reach Sun or a representative for comment since he was put under investigation. It s unclear if he has been allowed to retain a lawyer.

Summary: चीन ने बदनाम वरिष्ठ राजनेता पर मुकदमा चलाने का मार्ग प्रशस्त किया


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired teargas at more than 1,000 opposition supporters marching through the capital Nairobi on Wednesday to demand election reforms, a Reuters witness said.  Police also used teargas to disperse protesters in the western city of Kisumu, a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who on Tuesday announced his withdrawal from a repeat presidential vote scheduled for Oct. 26, citing concerns over fairness. A Reuters witness in Kisumu said the crowd had refused to disperse after being addressed by the county governor.

Summary: केन्याई पुलिस ने चुनाव सुधारों की मांग कर रहे विपक्षी प्रदर्शनकारियों पर आंसू गैस के गोले दागे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has carried out 18 bombing raids and nine strikes with cruise missiles launched from submarines in the last three days targeting Islamic State militants in eastern Syria, RIA news agency cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying on Friday. The ministry said the strikes had helped to support attack raids by Syrian troops, RIA reported.

Summary: रूस ने पूर्वी सीरिया में इस्लामिक स्टेट पर बम हमले, मिसाइल हमले किएः आर. आई. ए.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, took the extraordinary step on Monday of distancing himself from Donald Trump, stirring a backlash from some lawmakers and deepening a crisis over his party’s struggling presidential nominee.         In a conference call with congressional Republicans, Ryan all but conceded that Democrat Hillary Clinton was likely to win the White House on Nov. 8 and said he would put his full energy into preserving Republican majorities in Congress so as not to give her a “blank check.”             Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said he would not defend Trump or campaign for him after the uproar over the New York businessman’s sexually aggressive comments that surfaced on Friday.     Ryan’s announcement added to the party’s worst turmoil in decades and reinforced the growing sense of isolation around  Trump, who has never previously run for public office. Clinton has led Trump in most national opinion polls for months and Trump’s poll numbers have begun to drop further since the emergence on Friday of a video from 2005 showing the former reality TV star bragging crudely about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.   Trump hit back at Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, who has frequently been critical of him.     “Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee,” Trump wrote on Twitter.  Ryan, who had expressed disgust over the tape and canceled a campaign event with Trump over the weekend, did not completely cut ties to Trump. The speaker went back on the Republican conference call later to clarify he was not withdrawing his endorsement. Many Republican members of Congress are concerned that Trump’s chaotic campaign could ruin their chances of holding their majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in the November election and could inflict long-term damage on the party.  During a weekend dominated by criticism of Trump over the lewd remarks, a string of members of Congress, governors and other prominent Republicans called on him to drop out of the race. House Republicans gave Ryan a rough ride on the call, according to some participants. “There was an undeniable opposition to the speaker’s tepid support of our nominee,” said U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais, a Trump supporter, in a comment passed on by an aide.  Many other lawmakers, some of whom did not want to be named publicly criticizing the speaker, said members frequently told Ryan on the call to stand by Trump. Nonetheless, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, Congress members and governors have condemned Trump’s remarks, and roughly one in 10 has called on him to drop out of the race, according to a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus used an afternoon conference call with RNC members to emphasize there was no rift with Trump and that the committee, the party’s leadership and fundraising arm, still backed the nominee, two RNC members who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “Any suggestion that the RNC isn’t fully supporting the Trump-Pence ticket is wrong,” one RNC member said, describing the message. “We are fully on board. We are going to devote every ounce of effort and resource into helping the Trump-Pence ticket win and all the other candidates up and down the ballot.” Any attempt to replace Trump on the ballot this close to Election Day would face huge legal and logistical hurdles. A defiant Trump went on the offensive in a vicious presidential debate on Sunday, saying Clinton, a former secretary of state would go to jail if he were president and attacking her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for his treatment of women. The debate, the second of three before the vote, was remarkable for the brutal nature of the exchanges between the two. Trump stayed on the attack on Monday, describing Bill Clinton as “a predator” and saying: “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them.” “She goes out and says: ‘I love women, I’m going to help women.’ She’s a total hypocrite,” he told supporters in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Clinton accused Trump of brushing off criticism of his comments about women.  “On Friday, the whole world heard him talking about the terrible way he treats women. And last night when he was pressed about how he behaves, he just doubled down on his excuse that it’s just locker room banter,” she told a rally at Wayne State University in Detroit.  The television audience for the debate fell sharply from their first, record-breaking encounter in September.     Nielsen data supplied by CNN for 10 broadcast and cable channels on Monday showed that 63.6 million Americans tuned into the 90-minute debate on Sunday, well below the record 84 million that watched the first face-off.     An NBC News/Wall Street Journal opinion poll released on Monday showed Clinton increasing her lead. The survey, conducted after the video release but before the debate, showed Clinton with 46 percent support among likely voters in a four-way matchup including two minor party candidates, compared with 35 percent for Trump.     The Reuters/Ipsos State of the Nation project released on Monday estimated that Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate or the release of the Friday videotape.

Summary: शीर्ष रिपब्लिकन रेयान ने ट्रम्प व्हाइट हाउस की बोली से खुद को दूर किया


JAKARTA/ISLAMABAD/CAIRO (Reuters) - Many Muslims around the world expressed dismay on Wednesday at Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president, saying they feared it might raise tensions between the West and Islam and contribute to radicalization. While Egypt’s president made an early congratulatory call to Trump, ordinary Muslims were worried that his victory would be a propaganda gift to jihadist groups. Others were apprehensive that the president-elect will implement campaign pledges to clamp down on Muslims entering the United States. “Trump has espoused highly inflammatory rhetoric against Muslims. Voters there will expect him to fulfill his promises. That makes me worry about the impact on Muslims in the U.S. and in the rest of the world,” said Yenny Wahid, a prominent mainstream Muslim figure in Indonesia.      The world’s 1.6 billion Muslims follow a multitude of sects and schools of thought, constitute a majority of the population in countries as varied as Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Albania, and hold a vast array of political views. Yet Trump’s previous comments about Muslims, that those from abroad should be barred entry or intensely scrutinized beforehand, and the presence of vocal anti-Islam activists among his supporters, has alarmed many. During a bitter election campaign, Trump also attacked his opponents for what he characterized as their denial about the threat posed by militant Islam, which he said was “coming to our shores”, adding that he would quickly form a commission on it. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the first world leader to congratulate Trump on the phone, Sisi’s office said. Many other Egyptians also welcomed his victory, saying his opponent Hillary Clinton’s record in office had won her few friends in the most populous Arab country. Clinton, Secretary of State during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, is unpopular with many Egyptians. Many of those who backed the revolt saw her as a long-standing supporter of Hosni Mubarak, the autocrat they toppled from power. But elsewhere, other Muslims saw Trump as a hostile figure. “Whatever happens to America affects everybody and with all these promises of doom by Trump to the blacks, to the Muslims, the minority, so it’s not something we’re happy about,” said Ganiu Olukanga, a Muslim resident of the Nigerian capital Lagos.              Some Muslims, including Wahid, said they feared his election as president might encourage a view that the United States held enmity for Muslims and that this would hinder efforts in Islam to counter radicalization.  “Trump’s victory will be an enormous gift to a failing jihadist movement, that will have now have a renewed rallying cry,” said Ammar Rashid, an academic and member of Pakistan’s Awami Workers Party on Twitter.  “If jihadi ideology has a source of sustenance, it is the image of the US as the evil anti-Muslim crusader. They will milk Trump’s win dry,” he added.  In jihadist social media forums, militants said Trump’s election had merely revealed the true position of the United States toward Muslims. “The masks have slipped,” one wrote.  But some other Muslims were more hopeful, including Umer Daudzai, former Afghan minister of interior, citing the record of Ronald Reagan who was U.S. president from 1981-89. “Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War. I hope Donald Trump will end all wars and become hero of peace in the world,” he told Reuters.  Among some officials, there were also expressions of concern but the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the body that represents Muslim states, issued no statement early on Wednesday.  In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, an official from the faith’s top clerical body there said Trump’s election could create new tension between the United States and the Islamic world.      Trump had made “negative, cynical” comments about Muslims in the past, Din Syamsuddin, a senior official at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), told reporters in Jakarta. “He had forgotten that many Americans are immigrants.”     Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally that is both birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest places, issued a statement that it had congratulated Trump on his election win without making further comment.  However, Awad al-Qirni, one of its most popular clerics with a Twitter following of two million, said in a social media post after the election - but without referring to Trump directly - that “America declines into collapse” and that “its internal crisis will grow severely”.  In Pakistan, Sherry Rehman, a senator and former ambassador to Washington, said Trump’s proposal last year to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. had disturbed many.  “Pakistan obviously cannot rule out engaging with whomever America elects but his anti-Muslim rhetoric may cast a shadow on relations in times of uncertainty,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.  And in Bangladesh, a government official who asked not to be named said: “I can’t think what awaits us. Donald Trump was talking about fighting against Muslims. Are we going to see more wars?” Among private citizens in Dhaka, some said they hoped the pressure of office would temper Trump’s views.  “It is just unbelievable and I am a bit tense. I hope there will be a difference between Donald Trump and President Donald Trump. President Trump will be more mature than individual Trump,” Asif Iqbal, a private sector employee, said.

Summary: जकार्ता से लेकर लागोस तक, कई मुसलमानों ने ट्रम्प की जीत पर निराशा व्यक्त की


SANT’ANNA DI STAZZEMA, Italy (Reuters) - The U.S. will stand up against anyone who commits crimes against humanity, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday, less than a week after Washington launched missile strikes in response to an alleged Syrian chemical attack. “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world,” Tillerson told reporters while commemorating a German Nazi massacre committed in Italy in 1944. The U.S. attacked the Syrian air base in retaliation for what it said was a chemical weapons assault by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that killed dozens of civilians, including many children.

Summary: 'निर्दोषों' के खिलाफ अपराध करने वालों का सामना करेगा अमेरिकाः टिलरसन


BERLIN (Reuters) - In 2008, in a fit of pique over Angela Merkel s cautious response to the global financial crisis, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, lashed out at his German counterpart.  While France is acting, Germany is just thinking about it,  Sarkozy seethed. Nearly a decade later, after an election that has weakened Merkel and vaulted a new far-right party into the German parliament, European fears of a risk-averse, inward-looking Germany are back.  If you are sitting in other European capitals, you are watching nervously,  said Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House think tank in London.  Merkel s room to take conciliatory positions, to play a leadership role and to move Europe forward has narrowed.  Back in 2008, the complexity of the fast-moving financial crisis and an aversion to big stimulus measures made Merkel cautious. This time, domestic politics is the driver. At a time when new French President Emmanuel Macron is pressing Merkel to work with him to reshape Europe and Brexit negotiations with Britain are nearing crunch time, the German chancellor faces months of difficult coalition negotiations that could lead to a dead-end. If she is able to cobble together a three-way coalition with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens   her only option for now   it would almost surely be a less stable construction than her current government. This new coalition would have to cope with a more confrontational opposition in the Bundestag, led by Merkel s bitter outgoing partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), and the disruptive Alternative for Germany (AfD), the first far-right party to sit in parliament in over half a century. The weakness of Merkel s conservative bloc   its score of 32.9 percent was the lowest since 1949   and the strength of the AfD is a result of her decision in 2015 to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany. That has hurt her standing within her own party and spooked her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), who bled support to the AfD in Sunday s vote. The CSU is likely to be an even more difficult partner for Merkel than the FDP and Greens.  Merkel presided over the entry into the Bundestag of an extreme right wing party and that is an indictment of sorts. It has weakened her, without a doubt,  said Niblett. Europe s political establishment entered 2017 concerned that the populist tsunami that led to Brexit in Britain and Donald Trump s election win in United States would sweep over the continent. Instead, the Dutch backed liberal incumbent Mark Rutte over far-right firebrand Geert Wilders and the French chose the unabashedly pro-European centrist Macron over Marine Le Pen. In Germany on Sunday, the political center also held. Parties of the center-right and center-left won over 73 percent against roughly 22 percent for the far-right AfD and hard-left Linke. But the vote was also a reminder to Europe that the populists are not going away. And it exposed cracks in the  pillar of stability  that Germany and Merkel have come to represent in perhaps the most challenging decade for Europe since World War Two.  The German election was a double blow from a European perspective,  said Pascal Lamy, the former head of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  On the one hand, Merkel who has come to exemplify stability, has emerged politically weakened. On the other, anti-European forces have gained.  Some people in Berlin and other capitals are describing the result as the beginning of the end of the Merkel era. Although she pledged on Monday to serve a full four-year term, many expect her to hand over to a successor in two to three years. Carsten Brzeski, chief economist for Germany at ING, said  on Monday that the election result could turn Merkel into a  lame duck  much faster than anyone anticipated. Officials in Paris and other capitals suggested the next big European reform may have to be done without her. Others expressed concern about the direction Germany could take in the post-Merkel era. Those fears are probably overdone. Merkel is a survivor who is at her best when mediating between different camps, as she will have to do over the coming months if she wants to convince disparate parties like the CSU, Greens and FDP to work together. While agreeing a reform of the euro zone with Macron has become more challenging because of the FDP s hardline views, other priorities, such as European defense cooperation, may become easier with the Social Democrats (SPD) out of government, advisers to the French president note. Senior officials at the European Commission say months of German coalition talks could actually provide the space needed for Macron s ideas to gain traction. Still, the negotiations carry risks.  After twelve years in power, Merkel has gained a reputation for smothering her coalition partners. The CSU and the SPD were the victims in Sunday s election. Four years ago it was the FDP, which was booted out of parliament for the first time in the post-war era after serving as her junior partner. This will lead all of her potential partners to push a hard bargain.  Failing to form a stable majority government would probably spell the end of (Merkel s) chancellorship. And, more broadly, it could usher in a new period of political chaos,  former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said in a Project Syndicate commentary on Tuesday.  No one should wish that on Germany   or on Europe.

Summary: यूरोप के लिए नया जोखिमः एक अंतर्मुखी जर्मनी


(Reuters) - In addition to picking the next U.S. president on Tuesday, voters in four states will decide on ballot initiatives related to energy and the environment. The results of the initiatives could offer a gauge of Americans’ feelings about managing carbon dioxide emissions, regulating solar power, and handling local opposition to hydraulic fracturing. Here are descriptions of the various initiatives: Washington state voters will decide whether to adopt a measure to create the country’s first carbon tax. Initiative 732 would slap a $15 price tag on a ton of carbon for utilities and refiners in 2017, with the price rising gradually each year until it reaches $100. The tax would be revenue neutral: money raised would replace old revenue from sales and business taxes. Supporters say the tax would bring down emissions without burdening state residents. But the measure has brought together unlikely allies from industry groups who say it would hurt businesses’ bottom lines and environmental organizations like the Sierra Club who say it does not create new revenue to invest in clean energy and mass transit. Other groups argue it could hurt lower-income communities. Florida’s electric utilities have sponsored a measure that could affect how the state regulates private use of solar energy. A confusingly worded Amendment 1 would alter the state’s constitution to protect the right to own or lease solar equipment, while also ensuring that electricity consumers who do not use solar energy “are not required to subsidize the costs of back-up power and electric grid access to those who do.” Supporters say it enshrines the rights of solar users, but opponents say it is a sneaky way of letting the state block ‘net metering,’ in which a solar user can sell unused energy on the grid at market value. Floridians for Solar Choice say the measure would “choke off” the state’s nascent rooftop solar industry. Colorado voters will vote on a measure that would make it harder to change the state’s constitution by requiring broad support across all state districts for signatories to petitions and a higher percentage threshold  to be approved.  Opponents of hydraulic fracturing, an oil and gas drilling technique they say causes water pollution, claim Amendment 71 would make it harder for local communities to block fracking projects. The amendment was written and funded by oil and gas industry groups but does not directly address the controversial practice. Colorado is one of several U.S. states that has seen a surge in fracking in recent years. Scores of towns across the country, including several in Colorado, have tried to ban it. Nevada voters will decide whether to open up the state’s energy market to competition by giving consumers the option to decide where they buy their power. The measure comes after state regulators last year approved a rate increase for customers with rooftop solar panels, causing solar companies to lay off workers. Currently, Nevada law allows investor-owned utility companies to be monopolies in their service territories. Supported by environmentalists as well as electric carmaker Tesla, MGM Resorts and other companies, the measure would let consumers choose an energy provider and sell the solar electricity they generate themselves. Big companies that want to leave the grid can do so by paying hefty penalties to state regulators. If passed, the measure would direct the Nevada Legislature to pass legislation to create an open, competitive electricity market by mid-2023.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः स्वच्छ ऊर्जा को चार राज्य मतदान पहलों में वोट का सामना करना पड़ता है


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain commissioned a report on Thursday on the economic impact of foreign students, part of an increasingly heated debate over whether they should be included in the government s target of reducing migration to the tens of thousands. Prime Minister Theresa May has been under pressure to drop international students from Britain s immigration figures, which have remained stubbornly high despite her pledge as interior minister seven years ago to reduce them to under 100,000 a year. High rates of immigration into Britain were a major reason for the vote to leave the European Union last year. But many officials argue that foreign students contribute to the economy.  There is no limit to the number of genuine international students who can come to the UK to study, and the fact that we remain the second most popular global destination for those seeking higher education is something to be proud of,  interior minister Amber Rudd said in a statement.  We understand how important students from around the world are to our higher education sector, which is a key export for our country, and that s why we want to have a robust and independent evidence base of their value and the impact they have.  Immigration has long been a sensitive topic in Britain. The expansion of the European Union to take in some eastern European countries saw rates jump, which critics said put pressure on public services such as hospitals. But others argue that immigration helps the economy and a provides a much-needed workforce. By including students in the immigration figures, they say, Britain is failing to acknowledge the contribution they make or that most leave after finishing their studies. International students make up around a quarter of total immigration, according to official figures. Data released on Thursday showed that net migration to Britain in the year to March 2017 fell by 81,000 to 246,000 people. More than half of those who left were EU citizens . In a separate report on  What s happening with international student migration? , the Office for National Statistics said:    There is no evidence of a major issue of non-EU students overstaying their entitlement to stay.  Of the 1.34 million nationals from outside the European Economic Area who held visas that expired in 2016/17, 96.3 percent departed before the visa expired, the ONS said in another report. Another 0.4 percent departed after their visa had expired. Just 3.3 percent were not initially identified as having departed after their leave expired.  We have always been clear that our commitment to reducing net migration to sustainable levels does not detract from our determination to attract international students from around the world,  Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said.  Since 2010 we have clamped down on abuse, while increasing the number of genuine students that come to the UK from around the world.

Summary: अर्थव्यवस्था पर विदेशी छात्रों के प्रभाव का अध्ययन करेगा ब्रिटेन


DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton’s struggle in Iowa to fend off underdog Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, reignited questions about her ability to close the deal with Democratic voters and turned up the pressure on her high-profile White House campaign. The Democratic presidential front-runner, whose campaign ran off the rails in Iowa in 2008 against Barack Obama, was dealt another setback on Monday in the Midwestern state that begins the 2016 race for the presidency. The former secretary of state, Clinton, 68, was pushed to a virtual tie with Sanders, a 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont. Next up is New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 9. Sanders has been leading in opinion polls there and has an advantage because it neighbors his home state. A Clinton loss would start to set off alarm bells with her supporters. “She has had every possible structural and organizational advantage and Sanders fought her to a draw,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. “This is almost a moment by moment rerun of 2008,” Schnur said. “The difference is her competition is not as tough this time.” Clinton insisted at her post-caucus rally that she was the candidate who could unify her party and prevail against a Republican challenger in the Nov. 8 election but the sense of disappointment was palpable. Her subdued, six-minute speech contrasted with the ebullient tone of Sanders’ 16-minute speech.  With no clear victory to announce, Clinton’s campaign scrapped a plan to have her daughter Chelsea and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, introduce her. They stood alongside her instead, with Bill Clinton wearing his campaign logo badge upside-down. Aides removed the TelePrompter at the last minute, supporters at the Drake University rally told Reuters, in a further indication of last-minute changes in plans. While the race in Iowa had tightened in recent weeks, her aides had appeared to draw some confidence from a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg politics poll over the weekend that showed Clinton with a three-percentage-point lead over Sanders among likely caucus-goers. Into the early hours of Tuesday morning, Clinton and Sanders remained separated by less than a single percentage point. The race was so tight that several precincts were forced to decide whether Clinton or Sanders got the winning votes - and one more delegate - by a coin toss, following the state Democratic Party’s advice. The MSNBC television network finally called the race for Clinton at nearly 3 a.m. CST (0900 GMT), and Clinton’s Iowa state director Matt Paul issued a statement declaring victory with “no uncertainty.” Opinion polls show Clinton still faces an enthusiasm gap with Sanders and her Republican rivals, whose race attracted a record turnout in Iowa. Voters have persistent doubts about her honesty and trustworthiness after months of controversy over her use of a private email server for government work while secretary of state. Sanders, who launched his campaign nine months ago with a small, sparsely attended news conference on Capitol Hill, has excited liberal activists with an anti-establishment message that calls for eradicating income inequality, breaking up the big banks and providing free college tuition. Iowa was a good state to test that message, given the heavy liberal bent of the Democratic activists who dominate the caucus process. Entrance polls of Iowa caucus-goers showed 68 percent described themselves as very or somewhat liberal. Fundraising figures reported on Sunday by Sanders underscored the extent to which his campaign has grown into a popular movement. Clinton has raised more than Sanders - her campaign brought in $109 million last year compared to his $73.5 million. But 75 percent of his haul came from donations of $200 or less, in contrast to only 18 percent of Clinton’s, and far more of Clinton’s donors have hit the $2,700 donation limit. Still, Sanders faces significant challenges when the Democratic nominating contest moves to the more diverse states of Nevada and South Carolina before expanding to 11 states on March 1, “Super Tuesday,” including seven in the South where Clinton’s advantage with African-American voters could begin to pay off. “Iowa was built for Bernie Sanders,” said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, who nevertheless said the strong showing by Sanders means “this race goes on longer than Clinton wanted it to.”  (Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Howard Goller) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: वर्चुअल टाई से संदेह पैदा होता हैः क्या हिलेरी क्लिंटन सौदे को पूरा कर सकती हैं?


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Moscow this week to discuss the situation around the Iran nuclear deal, the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian as saying on Tuesday.  Certainly, the focus is on the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in the light of (U.S. President Donald) Trump s statement about his intentions ... and signals that the USA is inclined to supplement this document, to alter it or modify in a direction that suits Washington,  Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

Summary: रूसी, ईरानी राजनयिक इस सप्ताह ईरान परमाणु समझौते पर चर्चा करेंगेः इफैक्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities for  flagrant  human rights abuses, including killings, torture, forced labor and the hunting down of asylum seekers abroad.  Today s sanctions target the North Korean military and regime officials,  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.  We also are targeting North Korean financial facilitators who attempt to keep the regime afloat with foreign currency earned through forced labor operations.  Among those sanctioned were the director and the deputy director of the Military Security Command, the first vice minister of the Ministry of People s Security and the labor minister. North Korea s consul general in Shenyang, China, and a diplomat at its embassy in Vietnam were also sanctioned.  We are especially concerned with the North Korean military, which operates as secret police, punishing all forms of dissent,  the statement said.  Further, the military operates outside of North Korea to hunt down asylum seekers, and brutally detains and forcibly returns North Korean citizens.  The Treasury statement charged that Ku Sung Sop, the consul general in Shenyang, and Kim Min Chol, the diplomat in Vietnam, had participated in the forced repatriation of North Korean asylum seekers.  Scott Busby, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, told a news briefing that Ku s case had been raised with China. He said it was up to China how to react, but the range of possibilities included expelling him from the country. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China does not approve of countries using their own domestic law to enact unilateral sanctions outside of the United Nations framework.  We will maintain normal exchanges and cooperation with North Korea on the basis of complying with U.N. resolutions,  he told a daily news briefing, without elaborating. Busby said North Korean government violations included extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and forced abortions and the aim of the sanctions was to send a message, especially to prison camp managers and mid-level officials, that individuals would be held accountable. The U.S. administration has sought to restrict the income North Korea receives from its export of labor as part of efforts to choke off funds helping to finance the country s nuclear and missile programs, which Pyongyang says are aimed at developing weapons capable of hitting the United States. North Korea routinely denies widespread allegations of rights abuses. The Treasury statement said the Ch olhyo n Overseas Construction Company, which was sanctioned along with the Military Security Command and the External Construction Bureau, had operated in Algeria and was reported to earn foreign currency for North Korea.  Employees of Ch olhyo n are kept in slave-like conditions, including having salaries and passports withheld by (North Korean) security officials assigned as site supervisors, meager food rations, poor living conditions, and severe restrictions on their freedom of movement,  the Treasury statement said. It said the External Construction Bureau had operated in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Summary: मानवाधिकारों के 'घोर' हनन के लिए अमेरिका ने उत्तर कोरियाई लोगों पर प्रतिबंध लगाए


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Thursday welcomed a United Nations report and a U.S. stand on Iran s missile supplies to Yemen s Houthis and demanded immediate action to hold Tehran accountable for its actions, state news agency SPA reported.  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomes the U.N. report that asserted that the hostile Iranian intervention and its support for the terrorist Houthi militia with advanced and dangerous missile capabilities threatens the security and stability of the kingdom and the region,  SPA said. The agency said Saudi Arabia also welcomed the U.S. position  announced by Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who presented pieces of what she said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Iran-aligned Houthi and described them as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions. SPA said the evidence, which emerged after the Houthis fired a missile toward the capital Riyadh last month, was proof of violations of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 2216 and 2231 on Yemen, and 1559 and 1701, which relate to Lebanon.  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia demands the international community to take immediate measures to implement the aforementioned Security Council resolutions and to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its hostile actions,  it said. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of smuggling missiles to the Houthis through ports used to deliver humanitarian aid and food shipments to Yemen. It said the evidence means the United Nations should tighten its inspection and verification regime for vessels allowed into Yemen.

Summary: सऊदी अरब ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र की रिपोर्ट का स्वागत किया, हौथियों को ईरान की मिसाइल आपूर्ति पर अमेरिका का रुखः एजेंसी


CORALVILLE, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said on Monday that the Federal Reserve should approach interest rate increases according to clear rules to make future hikes predictable.  The U.S. senator from Florida commented on Fed policy during a small news conference in between a series of five appearances in eastern Iowa. A few hundred people attended each event.  “There’s too much talk about the Fed, too much attention to the Fed,” he said. “Economic growth is the result of free enterprise.” Rubio, who has been criticized for missing Senate votes, recently made an appearance to support an “Audit the Fed” bill, which is also supported by Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. senator from Vermont. It did not pass.   (Reporting by Emily Flitter; Writing by Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Matthew Lewis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन उम्मीदवार रूबियोः फेड को दरों में वृद्धि के लिए स्पष्ट नियमों की आवश्यकता है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - A military alliance fighting together with the Syrian army said it launched an assault in the east of the country on Saturday to drive Islamic State militants from the border with Iraq.  The alliance of Iran-backed Shi ite militias said the offensive, with Damascus s military support and Russian air cover, began in the southern corner of Deir al-Zor province.  The attack will target Islamic State all the way up to the town of al-Bukamal, where the Euphrates river meets the Iraqi border, it said.  Iraqi armed forces said on Saturday they had started an offensive to dislodge Islamic State from a border area holding some of the militants  last towns in the country.

Summary: दमिश्क समर्थक गठबंधन ने इराक सीमा के पास सीरिया के हमले की घोषणा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Wednesday that Democratic representative John Conyers should resign if the sexual harassment allegations against him are found to be true. “Notwithstanding the credibility of the witnesses, we have a process to determine: were these allegations founded? And if they’re founded, yes, he should resign,” Hoyer said in an interview with MSNBC.

Summary: यदि आरोप 'निराधार' हैं तो वकीलों को इस्तीफा दे देना चाहिएः नंबर 2 हाउस डेमोक्रेट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday the plan for an independence referendum in Iraq s autonomous Kurdistan region this month distracts from efforts to defeat Islamic State and urged Kurdish leaders to call off the vote.  We therefore call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to call off the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad, which the United States has repeatedly indicated it is prepared to facilitate,  the White House said in a statement.

Summary: अमेरिका ने इराक के कुर्दिस्तान से स्वतंत्रता जनमत संग्रह को रद्द करने का आग्रह किया


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Hours after Zimbabwe s Robert Mugabe was forced out after 37 years in power, Uganda s president, another former guerrilla in office for more than three decades, was tweeting about pay rises for civil servants and bright prospects for his army tank crews.  Supporters of long-serving African leaders dismiss parallels with Zimbabwe, where Mugabe s former deputy - sacked during a power struggle with Mugabe s wife - is about to take power with military and public backing. [nL8N1NS0IR] But Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni s tweets, which come amid rising anger at the 73-year-old s attempts to prolong his rule, suggest he is looking south and wondering about his own fate.  Now that the economic situation in Uganda is improving, the government will be able to look into raising of salaries of soldiers, public servants, health workers and teachers and also deal with institutional housing,  Museveni tweeted on Wednesday. It was unclear what improvement he meant. Uganda s faltering economy is growing too slowly to absorb a booming population of 37 million. The number of citizens spending less than a dollar a day has surged to 27 percent, the statistics office reported in September, up from 20 percent five years ago. Museveni s office was not immediately available for comment on the tweets, but John Baptist Nambeshe, a ruling party lawmaker who opposes the president s attempts to have an age limit on his post lifted, said there was no coincidence.  The timing couldn t have been coincidental. It was to underscore his might, that probably the military is still solidly behind him, unlike in Zimbabwe,  Nambeshe told Reuters. Museveni may not be alone. Several African leaders have faced popular opposition in recent years, from Togo, where thousands protested this autumn, to Gabon, where riots broke out last year after President Ali Bongo was re-elected in a disputed vote.  Mugabe s fall has raised hopes among opposition politicians that other long-serving leaders will fall, but also stoked fears that those who replace them may be no better. President since 1986, Museveni is among Africa s longest-serving leaders. They include Equatorial Guinea s Teodoro Obiang, president for 38 years; Cameroon s Paul Biya, president for 35 years; Congo s Denis Sassou Nguesso, president for two stints totaling 33 years. The Gnassingb  family have ruled Togo and the Bongo family have ruled Gabon for half a century, while the Kabila family have run the Democratic Republic of Congo for 20 years. Some countries allow only two presidential terms, but several have rolled back such legislation.  In Cameroon, Biya scrapped term limits and cracked down on the opposition. In Congo, Nguesso jailed an opposition leader this year for protesting against removal of term limits.  Franck Essi, secretary-general of the opposition Cameroon Peoples  Party, said opposition movements were closely watching events in Zimbabwe.  Leaders must put in place mechanisms for a democratic and peaceful transition that will allow new leadership. If not, sooner or later, the people who are suffocating will wake up,  he said.   Some places have already seen change. Burkina Faso s Blaise Compaore was ousted by protests in 2014 as he tried to change the constitution and extend his decades-long rule. In January, Gambia s erratic ruler Yahya Jammeh fled after regional pressure ended his 22-year reign. Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos stepped down this year after four decades in power; his handpicked successor has pushed out some key dos Santos allies.  For many nations, a Zimbabwe-style switch in the loyalties of the armed forces or a rift in the inner circle represents one of the few ways that rulers might be forced from power. Despite Zimbabwe s well-established opposition, change didn t come until Mugabe s inner circle fell out over his succession plans, and the military put him under house arrest.  Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, a top Togolese opposition official, said they had hoped for a Zimbabwean-type change of power where the military came over to their side.   We d wanted the Togolese army to fight alongside us. We were moved seeing that Zimbabwe s army and civilian population were all in the streets dancing. That s what we want in Togo,  she said.  There will be change in Zimbabwe this year and there will be in Togo too.   A slump in commodities prices has deprived some nations of the resources they have traditionally used to muffle protests. In some cases, corruption has also emptied state coffers.  In central Africa, Congo s Kabila has repeatedly postponed elections after refusing to step down at the end of his term last year, sparking deadly protests. Jean-Pierre Kambila, Kabila s deputy chief of staff, tweeted that Zimbabwe s protests were a colonial fantasy.  A fabricated demonstration dreamed up by those who do not accept the liberation of Africa. Other Mugabes will be born. Nothing to worry about,  he wrote.  Uganda, a key Western ally set to begin exporting its substantial oil reserves, removed term limits in 2005 to extend Museveni s rule.  The east African nation has seen far less violence under Museveni than the two dictators who preceded him. But now tensions are rising as social services crumble and parliamentarians attempt to remove a constitutional age cap that would bar Museveni from standing in the next election. Police have used deadly force against protesters, and repeatedly arrested the main opposition leader. Security forces dragged parliamentarians opposing the bill out of the legislature. On Wednesday, police raided a popular newspaper, detaining eight staff. [nL8N1NS3M0] [nL8N1MV20F] Okello Oryem, Uganda s state minister for foreign affairs, dismissed any parallels with Zimbabwe, saying Mugabe s overthrow was the result of Western interference.   The intelligence services of the West have worked day and night to bring down Zimbabwe,  he told Reuters.  Citizen pressure in Zimbabwe can only work if and when the army allows it.  But another Ugandan opposition leader, Asuman Basalirwa, warned that national leaders who refused to step down risked plunging their countries into conflict. Military intervention to end dictatorships ultimately leads to more repression, he said, something that many feared might be in store for Zimbabwe.   It is time for the continent to democratize,  he said.  Those who have not yet experienced what happened in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and now Zimbabwe should just wait for their turn because it will surely come.

Summary: मुगाबे के बाद अफ्रीकी नेता अपने भाग्य पर विचार कर रहे हैं


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, convicted last year of a financial crime, asked on Friday for a delay in his sentencing due to poor health. Hastert pleaded guilty in October to a federal charge of “structuring” - evading bank reporting rules by withdrawing large amounts of cash in smaller increments - in a hush-money case stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct. The 74-year-old, once one of the country’s most powerful politicians, was hospitalized in November and was treated for a spinal infection requiring surgery, a severe blood infection and a stroke, his lawyers said in a motion filed on Friday. The lawyers have not been able to meet with Hastert to prepare for the scheduled Feb. 29 sentencing due to his health problems, the motion said. The lawyers requested a March 7 status hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin. Hastert faces up to five years in prison but prosecutors have recommended a sentence of six months or less, in exchange for his guilty plea. Hastert admitted to paying $1.7 million in cash to an individual he had known for decades to buy that person’s silence and compensate for past misconduct toward that individual. Prosecutors did not spell out the misconduct, but unnamed law enforcement officials have told media that it was sexual and involved someone Hastert knew when he was a high school teacher and coach in his hometown of Yorkville, Illinois, in the 1960s and 1970s.

Summary: सदन के पूर्व अध्यक्ष हेस्टर्ट ने खराब स्वास्थ्य के कारण सजा सुनाने में देरी की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - I am voluntarily providing this statement, submitting documents, and sitting for interviews in order to shed light on issues that have been raised about my role in the Trump for President Campaign and during the transition period. I am not a person who has sought the spotlight. First in my business and now in public service, I have worked on achieving goals, and have left it to others to work on media and public perception. Because there has been a great deal of conjecture, speculation, and inaccurate information about me, I am grateful for the opportunity to set the record straight. My Role in the Trump for President Campaign Before joining the administration, I worked in the private sector, building and managing companies. My experience was in business, not politics, and it was not my initial intent to play a large role in my father-in-law’s campaign when he decided to run for President. However, as the campaign progressed, I was called on to assist with various tasks and aspects of the campaign, and took on more and more responsibility.  Over the course of the primaries and general election campaign, my role continued to evolve. I ultimately worked with the finance, scheduling, communications, speechwriting, polling, data and digital teams, as well as becoming a point of contact for foreign government officials. All of these were tasks that I had never performed on a campaign previously. When I was faced with a new challenge, I would reach out to contacts, ask advice, find the right person to manage the specific challenge, and work with that person to develop and execute a plan of action. I was lucky to work with some incredibly talented people along the way, all of whom made significant contributions toward the campaign’s ultimate success. Our nimble culture allowed us to adjust to the ever-changing circumstances and make changes on the fly as the situation warranted. I share this information because these actions should be viewed through the lens of a fast-paced campaign with thousands of meetings and interactions, some of which were impactful and memorable and many of which were not. It is also important to note that a campaign’s success starts with its message and its messenger. Donald Trump had the right vision for America and delivered his message perfectly. The results speak for themselves. Not only did President Trump defeat sixteen skilled and experienced primary opponents and win the presidency; he did so spending a fraction of what his opponent spent in the general election. He outworked his opponent and ran one of the best campaigns in history using both modern technology and traditional methods to bring his message to the American people. Campaign Contacts with Foreign Persons  When it became apparent that my father-in-law was going to be the Republican nominee for President, as normally happens, a number of officials from foreign countries attempted to reach out to the campaign. My father-in-law asked me to be a point of contact with these foreign countries. These were not contacts that I initiated, but, over the course of the campaign, I had incoming contacts with people from approximately 15 countries. To put these requests in context, I must have received thousands of calls, letters and emails from people looking to talk or meet on a variety of issues and topics, including hundreds from outside the United States. While I could not be responsive to everyone, I tried to be respectful of any foreign government contacts with whom it would be important to maintain an ongoing, productive working relationship were the candidate to prevail. To that end, I called on a variety of people with deep experience, such as Dr. Henry Kissinger, for advice on policy for the candidate, which countries/representatives with which the campaign should engage, and what messaging would resonate. In addition, it was typical for me to receive 200 or more emails a day during the campaign. I did not have the time to read every one, especially long emails from unknown senders or email chains to which I was added at some later point in the exchange. With respect to my contacts with Russia or Russian representatives during the campaign, there were hardly any. The first that I can recall was at the Mayflower Hotel in  Washington, D.C. in April 2016. This was when then candidate Trump was delivering a major foreign policy speech. Doing the event and speech had been my idea, and I oversaw its execution. I arrived at the hotel early to make sure all logistics were in order. After that, I stopped into the reception to thank the host of the event, Dimitri Simes, the publisher of the bi-monthly foreign policy magazine, The National Interest, who had done a great job putting everything together. Mr. Simes and his group had created the guest list and extended the invitations for the event. He introduced me to several guests, among them four ambassadors, including Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. With all the ambassadors, including Mr. Kislyak, we shook hands, exchanged brief pleasantries and I thanked them for attending the event and said I hoped they would like candidate Trump’s speech and his ideas for a fresh approach to America’s foreign policy. The ambassadors also expressed interest in creating a positive relationship should we win the election. Each exchange lasted less than a minute; some gave me their business cards and invited me to lunch at their embassies. I never took them up on any of these invitations and that was the extent of the interactions. Reuters news service has reported that I had two calls with Ambassador Kislyak at some time between April and November of 2016. While I participated in thousands of calls during this period, I do not recall any such calls with the Russian Ambassador. We have reviewed the phone records available to us and have not been able to identify any calls to any number we know to be associated with Ambassador Kislyak and I am highly skeptical these calls took place. A comprehensive review of my land line and cell phone records from the time does not reveal those calls. I had no ongoing relationship with the Ambassador before the election, and had limited knowledge about him then. In fact, on November 9, the day after the election, I could not even remember the name of the Russian Ambassador. When the campaign received an email purporting to be an official note of congratulations from President Putin, I was asked how we could verify it was real. To do so I thought the best way would be to ask the only contact I recalled meeting from the Russian government, which was the Ambassador I had met months earlier, so I sent an email asking Mr. Simes, “What is the name of the Russian ambassador?” Through my lawyer, I have asked Reuters to provide the dates on which the calls supposedly occurred or the phone number at which I supposedly reached, or was reached by, Ambassador Kislyak. The journalist refused to provide any corroborating evidence that they occurred. The only other Russian contact during the campaign is one I did not recall at all until I was reviewing documents and emails in response to congressional requests for information. In June 2016, my brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. asked if I was free to stop by a meeting on June 9 at 3:00 p.m. The campaign was headquartered in the same building as his office in Trump Tower, and it was common for each of us to swing by the other’s meetings when requested. He eventually sent me his own email changing the time of the meeting to 4:00 p.m. That email was on top of a long back and forth that I did not read at the time. As I did with most emails when I was working remotely, I quickly reviewed on my iPhone the relevant message that the meeting would occur at 4:00 PM at his office. Documents confirm my memory that this was calendared as “Meeting: Don Jr.| Jared Kushner.” No one else was mentioned. I arrived at the meeting a little late. When I got there, the person who has since been identified as a Russian attorney was talking about the issue of a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children. I had no idea why that topic was being raised and quickly determined that my time was not well-spent at this meeting. Reviewing emails recently confirmed my memory that the meeting was a waste of our time and that, in looking for a polite way to leave and get back to my work, I actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after I had been there for ten or so minutes and wrote “Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting.” I had not met the attorney before the meeting nor spoken with her since. I thought nothing more of this short meeting until it came to my attention recently. I did not read or recall this email exchange before it was shown to me by my lawyers when reviewing documents for submission to the committees. No part of the meeting I attended included anything about the campaign, there was no follow up to the meeting that I am aware of, I do not recall how many people were there (or their names), and I have no knowledge of any documents being offered or accepted. Finally, after seeing the email, I disclosed this meeting prior to it being reported in the press on a supplement to my security clearance form, even if that was not required as meeting the definitions of the form. There was one more possible contact that I will note. On October 30, 2016, I received a random email from the screenname “Guccifer400.” This email, which I interpreted as a hoax, was an extortion attempt and threatened to reveal candidate Trump’s tax returns and demanded that we send him 52 bitcoins in exchange for not publishing that information. I brought the email to the attention of a U.S. Secret Service agent on the plane we were all traveling on and asked what he thought. He advised me to ignore it and not to reply — which is what I did. The sender never contacted me again. To the best of my recollection, these were the full extent of contacts I had during the campaign with persons who were or appeared to potentially be representatives of the Russian government.  Transition Contacts with Foreign Persons The transition period after the election was even more active than the campaign. Starting on election night, we began to receive an incredible volume of messages and invitations from well-wishers in the United States and abroad. Dozens of messages came from foreign officials seeking to set up foreign leader calls and create lines of communication and relationships with what would be the new administration. During this period, I recall having over fifty contacts with people from over fifteen countries. Two of those meetings were with Russians, neither of which I solicited. On November 16, 2016, my assistant received a request for a meeting from the Russian Ambassador. As I mentioned before, previous to receiving this request, I could not even recall the Russian Ambassador’s name, and had to ask for the name of the individual I had seen at the Mayflower Hotel almost seven months earlier. In addition, far from being urgent, that meeting was not set up for two weeks — on December 1. The meeting occurred in Trump Tower, where we had our transition office, and lasted twenty- thirty minutes. Lt. General Michael Flynn (Ret.), who became the President’s National Security Advisor, also attended. During the meeting, after pleasantries were exchanged, as I had done in many of the meetings I had and would have with foreign officials, I stated our desire for a fresh start in relations. Also, as I had done in other meetings with foreign officials, I asked Ambassador Kislyak if he would identify the best person (whether the Ambassador or someone else) with whom to have direct discussions and who had contact with his President. The fact that I was asking about ways to start a dialogue after Election Day should of course be viewed as strong evidence that I was not aware of one that existed before Election Day. The Ambassador expressed similar sentiments about relations, and then said he especially wanted to address U.S. policy in Syria, and that he wanted to convey information from what he called his “generals.” He said he wanted to provide information that would help inform the new administration. He said the generals could not easily come to the U.S. to convey this information and he asked if there was a secure line in the transition office to conduct a conversation. General Flynn or I explained that there were no such lines. I believed developing a thoughtful approach on Syria was a very high priority given the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and I asked if they had an existing communications channel at his embassy we could use where they would be comfortable transmitting the information they wanted to relay to General Flynn. The Ambassador said that would not be possible and so we all agreed that we would receive this information after the Inauguration. Nothing else occurred. I did not suggest a “secret back channel.” I did not suggest an on-going secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office. I did not raise the possibility of using the embassy or any other Russian facility for any purpose other than this one possible conversation in the transition period. We did not discuss sanctions. Approximately a week later, on December 6, the Embassy asked if I could meet with the Ambassador on December 7. I declined. They then asked if I could meet on December 6; I declined again. They then asked when the earliest was that I could meet. I declined these requests because I was working on many other responsibilities for the transition. He asked if he could meet my assistant instead and, to avoid offending the Ambassador, I agreed. He did so on December 12. My assistant reported that the Ambassador had requested that I meet with a person named Sergey Gorkov who he said was a banker and someone with a direct line to the Russian President who could give insight into how Putin was viewing the new administration and best ways to work together. I agreed to meet Mr. Gorkov because the Ambassador has been so insistent, said he had a direct relationship with the President, and because Mr. Gorkov was only in New York for a couple days. I made room on my schedule for the meeting that occurred the next day, on December 13. The meeting with Mr. Gorkov lasted twenty to twenty-five minutes. He introduced himself and gave me two gifts — one was a piece of art from Nvgorod, the village where my grandparents were from in Belarus, and the other was a bag of dirt from that same village. (Any notion that I tried to conceal this meeting or that I took it thinking it was in my capacity as a businessman is false. In fact, I gave my assistant these gifts to formally register them with the transition office). After that, he told me a little about his bank and made some statements about the Russian economy. He said that he was friendly with President Putin, expressed disappointment with U.S.-Russia relations under President Obama and hopes for a better relationship in the future. As I did at the meeting with Ambassador Kislyak, I expressed the same sentiments I had with other foreign officials I met. There were no specific policies discussed. We had no discussion about the sanctions imposed by the Obama Administration. At no time was there any discussion about my companies, business transactions, real estate projects, loans, banking arrangements or any private business of any kind. At the end of the short meeting, we thanked each other and I went on to other meetings. I did not know or have any contact with Mr. Gorkov before that meeting, and I have had no reason to connect with him since.  To the best of my recollection, these were the only two contacts I had during the transition with persons who were or appeared to potentially be representatives of the Russian government. Disclosure of Contacts on My Security Clearance Form There has been a good deal of misinformation reported about my SF-86 form. As my attorneys and I have previously explained, my SF-86 application was prematurely submitted due to a miscommunication and initially did not list any contacts (not just with Russians) with foreign government officials. Here are some facts about that form and the efforts I have made to supplement it. In the week before the Inauguration, amid the scramble of finalizing the unwinding of my involvement from my company, moving my family to Washington, completing the paper work to divest assets and resign from my outside positions and complete my security and financial disclosure forms, people at my New York office were helping me find the information, organize it, review it and put it into the electronic form. They sent an email to my assistant in Washington, communicating that the changes to one particular section were complete; my assistant interpreted that message as meaning that the entire form was completed. At that point, the form was a rough draft and still had many omissions including not listing any foreign government contacts and even omitted the address of my father-in-law (which was obviously well known). Because of this miscommunication, my assistant submitted the draft on January 18, 2017. That evening, when we realized the form had been submitted prematurely, we informed the transition team that we needed to make changes and additions to the form. The very next day, January 19, 2017, we submitted supplemental information to the transition, which confirmed receipt and said they would immediately transmit it to the FBI. The supplement disclosed that I had “numerous contacts with foreign officials” and that we were going through my records to provide an accurate and complete list. I provided a list of those contacts in the normal course, before my background investigation interview and prior to any inquiries or media reports about my form. It has been reported that my submission omitted only contacts with Russians. That is not the case. In the accidental early submission of the form, all foreign contacts were omitted. The supplemental information later disclosed over one hundred contacts from more than twenty countries that might be responsive to the questions on the form. These included meetings with individuals such as Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Videgaray Caso and many more. All of these had been left off before. Over the last six months, I have made every effort to provide the FBI with whatever information is needed to investigate my background. In addition, my attorneys have explained that the security clearance process is one in which supplements are expected and invited. The form itself instructs that, during the interview, the information in the document can be “update(d), clarif(ied), and explain(ed)” as part of the security clearance process. A good example is the June 9 meeting. For reasons that should be clear from the explanation of that meeting I have provided, I did not remember the meeting and certainly did not remember it as one with anyone who had to be included on an SF-86. When documents reviewed for production in connection with committee requests reminded me that meeting had occurred, and because of the language in the email chain that I then read for the first time, I included that meeting on a supplement. I did so even though my attorneys were unable to conclude that the Russian lawyer was a representative of any foreign country and thus fell outside the scope of the form. This supplemental information was also provided voluntarily, well prior to any media inquiries, reporting or request for this information, and it was done soon after I was reminded of the meeting. As I have said from the very first media inquiry, I am happy to share information with the investigating bodies. I have shown today that I am willing to do so and will continue to cooperate as I have nothing to hide. As I indicated, I know there has been a great deal of speculation and conjecture about my contacts with any officials or people from Russia. I have disclosed these contacts and described them as fully as I can recall. The record and documents I am providing will show that I had perhaps four contacts with Russian representatives out of thousands during the campaign and transition, none of which were impactful in any way to the election or particularly memorable. I am very grateful for the opportunity to set the record straight. I also have tried to provide context for my role in the campaign, and I am proud of the candidate that we supported, of the campaign that we ran, and the victory that we achieved. It has been my practice not to appear in the media or leak information in my own defense. I have tried to focus on the important work at hand and serve this President and this country to the best of my abilities. I hope that through my answers to questions, written statements and documents I have now been able to demonstrate the entirety of my limited contacts with Russian representatives during the campaign and transition. I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest.

Summary: ट्रम्प के दामाद कुशनर का कांग्रेस का बयान


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia’s top diplomat met President Donald Trump on Wednesday and praised the U.S. administration as problem solvers, just as the White House drew criticism over the firing of the FBI director who was leading a probe into Moscow’s alleged interference in U.S. politics.  The talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were the highest-level public contact between Trump and the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Republican took office on Jan. 20.  While not unprecedented, it is a rare privilege for a foreign minister to be received by a U.S. president for a bilateral meeting in the White House. In a stunning development, Trump on Tuesday fired FBI Director James Comey, whose agency is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the possibility Trump associates may have colluded with Moscow. Democrats accused Trump of trying to slow down the investigation by firing the FBI chief. Trump described his talks with Lavrov as “very, very good.” When asked whether the Comey dismissal had affected his meeting, Trump said, “not at all.” He and Lavrov said they discussed the civil war in Syria, where Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad. “We want to see the killing, the horrible killing, stopped in Syria as soon as possible and everyone is working toward that end,” Trump told reporters. Lavrov, who earlier met with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said his discussions with members of the Trump administration had convinced him they were people who wanted to cut deals and solve problems. “The Trump administration, and the president himself, and the secretary of state, I was persuaded of this once again today, are people of action,” Lavrov said. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a January report that Putin had ordered an effort to disrupt the 2016 election that included hacking into Democratic Party emails and leaking them, with the aim of helping Trump. Russia denies the allegations. Blaming “fake information,” Lavrov said: “I believe that politicians are damaging the political system of the U.S., trying to pretend that someone is controlling America from the outside.”  The Trump administration denies claims of collusion with Russia. Earlier, as Tillerson and Lavrov posed for photographs, the Russian sarcastically deflected a reporter’s question about Comey’s dismissal. Asked if the firing would cast a shadow over his talks, Lavrov replied: “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.”              The Russian embassy in Washington tweeted a picture from the Lavrov meeting of Trump shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, a man at the center of the controversy on Russian contacts with associates of Trump. Former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was forced to resign for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Kislyak and then misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said the Oval Office encounter was a photo opportunity for Russia. “President Trump in these pictures, is shaking hands with Russians, and the Kremlin is gleefully tweeting these pictures around the world,” Durbin said on the Senate floor. Wednesday’s meetings followed talks Tillerson held with Putin last month in Moscow. Tensions in the relationship grew following U.S. air strikes against a Syrian airfield in April in response to a chemical weapons attack that Washington blamed on Assad.  Both Trump and Lavrov appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone after both capitals had presented souring views of the relationship recently. The White House said Trump “raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere” and still sought to build a better relationship between the two countries. Lavrov said that despite difficulties “our countries can and should contribute jointly to the settlement of the most urgent issues in international affairs”.     Trump underscored “the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran and Iranian proxies,” the White House said. Lavrov said the meeting mainly focused on ideas of de-escalation zones in Syria. Russia brokered a deal for de-escalation zones with backing from Iran and Syrian opposition supporter Turkey during ceasefire talks in the Kazakh capital Astana last week.

Summary: कोमी विवाद के बीच रूस के विदेश मंत्री से मिले ट्रंप