BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq on Sunday executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants convicted on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs. The biggest mass execution this year in Iraq came after Sunni suicide attacks killed at least 60 people near the southern city of Nassiriya, a Shi ite area, on Sept. 14, prompting Shi ite demands for tougher judicial action. Amnesty International criticized the move, saying on Monday that  mass execution is a shocking display of the Iraqi authorities  resort to the death penalty to try to show they are responding to security threats .  The death penalty is an irreversible and reprehensible punishment that should not be used in any circumstances and there is no evidence to show that it deters crime more than any other means of punishment,  Amnesty said in a report. The Justice Ministry said on Sunday the 42 had been hanged at a prison in Nassiriya, three months after 14 other militants were executed following convictions for terrorism. Islamic State claimed responsibility for three suicide attacks targeting restaurants and a security checkpoint near Nassiriya. Relatives of victims were invited to witness Sunday s executions, the justice ministry said.  Despite all the pain inside me after losing my two brothers in the suicide attacks, when I saw the terrorists dangling from the rope I felt relief,  said Fadhil Abdul Ameer from Nassiriya. Islamic State s self-declared caliphate, declared in 2014 after it captured wide areas of northern and western Iraq, effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq. But recent deadly bomb attacks in Baghdad and other cities show the jihadists remain capable of guerrilla-style warfare, a tactical shift away from seeking territorial conquest.

Summary: इराक ने आतंकवाद के दोषी 42 सुन्नी आतंकवादियों को फांसी दी


ZURICH (Reuters) - Three people have died in separate avalanche accidents in the Swiss Alps, police said on Monday. A man who was skiing close to the 2,844-metre high Hofathorn, in the southern canton of Wallis, died after being carried away by an avalanche on Monday morning. The 39-year-old from the Wallis region was quickly found and recovered by his friends but was confirmed dead at the scene by emergency services. Police in Graubunden, in the east of Switzerland, said a tourist who went missing on Saturday had also been found dead. The 31-year-old Frenchman had tried to climb the Glattwang mountain alone on Saturday afternoon after skiing with his girlfriend. When he did not return, a search was launched and the man s body was found in a ravine on Sunday morning. Police said he had triggered an avalanche on his descent which carried him more than a kilometre over rocky terrain. Separately, one of three walkers buried by a snow drift in Wallis on Saturday has died, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported, quoting the police.  The group was hiking at a height of 2,700 meters in the St Luc region when the accident happened. One of them managed to get free and make an emergency call which allowed the others to be rescued. All three were flown to hospital, where one, a 29-year-old woman from the Swiss canton of Vaud, died of her injuries on  Sunday evening, SRF said. (This version of the story corrects paragraph four to make clear Graubunden is in the east of Switzerland, not the west)

Summary: स्विस आल्प्स में हिमस्खलन से तीन लोगों की मौत


TOKYO (Reuters) - Every American president has a favorite foreign leader. For Donald Trump, it seems to be Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders toasted their  bromance  on Monday as they wrapped up two days of golf, burgers and serious talks on trade and North Korea. The two men have met face-to-face six times since Trump was elected U.S. president a year ago and had 16 telephone conversations. They ve played golf twice, once at Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and again on Sunday outside Tokyo. Abe recalled how his grandfather, then-premier Nobusuke Kishi, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower began the tradition of U.S.-Japan golf diplomacy 60 years ago.  When you play golf not just once but two times, the person must be your favorite guy,  Abe said ahead of a formal banquet with Trump on Monday. He added that never had two Japanese and American leaders forged such a close bond in just one year. Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his election last November, a win that caught Tokyo off guard after many had expected Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton to win and worried about Trump s  America First  rhetoric.  Trump told the dinner guests that for protocol reasons, he shouldn t have met a foreign leader before his inauguration - but when he tried to call Abe to wave him off, the Japanese premier was already on a plane to New York.  We have to spend more time together because I enjoyed every minute of it even though he (Abe) is a very tough negotiator,  Trump said.  We will be back soon.   Trump and Abe are hardly the only U.S. and Japanese leaders to bond. Ronald Reagan and Yasuhiro Nakasone set the gold-standard for friendly ties between leaders of the two allies back in the 1980s, when they famously called each other by the nicknames  Ron  and  Yasu . George W. Bush and Junichiro Koizumi also bonded during Koizumi s 2001-2006 term as Japanese premier, playing ball, eating BBQ at Bush s Texas ranch, and visiting Elvis Presley s Graceland mansion, where Koizumi crooned Elvis tunes.  Diplomatic experts said the personal chemistry between Abe and Trump appeared real, but also noted that forging warm ties were in a way a diplomatic necessity for Japan, which ultimately relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its security.

Summary: दो दिवसीय शिखर सम्मेलन समाप्त होने पर ट्रम्प और आबे ने 'ब्रोमांस' का स्वाद चखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress are moving to repeal regulations adopted by the Obama administration in October that would have subjected internet service providers to stricter scrutiny than websites to protect customers’ private data. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona introduced a resolution on Tuesday backed by 34 other senators to undo the regulations under a provision that allows Congress to repeal recently approved federal regulations. Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who chairs a House panel on telecommunications, introduced a companion measure on Wednesday. Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Last week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission  temporarily blocked some of the rules from taking effect, a victory for internet providers such as AT&T Inc (T.N), Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N). Consumer advocates opposed the FCC move. Under the rules, which were scheduled to take effect last Thursday, internet providers would need to obtain consumer consent before using precise geo-location, financial information, health information, children’s information and web- browsing history for advertising and internal marketing. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, nominated by Republican President Donald Trump on Tuesday to serve a new five-year term, told a Senate panel on Wednesday that consumers would have privacy protections even without the Obama administration rules. Republican commissioners including Pai said in October the rules unfairly give websites like Facebook Inc (FB.O), Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) or Alphabet Inc’s Google unit (GOOGL.O) the ability to harvest more data than service providers and dominate digital advertising. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized Flake’s proposal to undo the rules. “With this move, Congress is essentially allowing companies like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon to sell consumers’ private information to the highest bidder,” ACLU general counsel Neema Singh Guliani said.

Summary: ओबामा के इंटरनेट गोपनीयता नियमों को पलट सकती है कांग्रेस


TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday accused the news media of ignoring attacks by Islamist militants in Europe. Trump, who has made defeating Islamic State a core goal of his presidency, did not specify which attacks were going unreported, which news media organizations were ignoring them, or offer any details to support his claims. “All over Europe, it’s happening. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported,” he told a group of about 300 U.S. troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. “And, in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that,” he added, without saying what those reasons were. The White House later released a list of 78 attacks around the world from September 2014 to December 2016. “Networks are not devoting to each of them the same level of coverage they once did,” a White House official said. “This cannot be allowed to become the ‘new normal.’”It was Trump’s latest salvo against the news media, a favorite target for derision that he says broadly underestimated his chances during the presidential campaign. He has kept up the attacks since his Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump at one point cited attacks in the French cities of Paris and Nice, which were widely covered. More than 230 people have died in France alone in the past two years at the hands of attackers allied to Islamic State. Al Tompkins at The Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism school, dismissed Trump’s criticism. “To suggest that journalists have some reason not to report ISIS attacks is just outlandish,” Tompkins said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Summary: पूरे यूरोप में आतंकवादी हमले, कुछ रिपोर्ट नहीं किए गएः ट्रम्प


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department, in the face of rising pressure from Capitol Hill, named former FBI chief Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow. The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into uproar after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November’s election in favor of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, whose anger over the allegations has grown in recent weeks, took the news calmly and used it to rally his team to unite, move on and refocus on his stalled agenda, a senior White House official said. “We are all in this together,” Trump told his team, the official said. Trump said in a statement after the Justice Department announcement he looked forward to a quick resolution. “As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know - there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” he said. Mueller said in a statement tweeted by CBS News: “I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.”  Trump, who said in a speech earlier on Wednesday that no  politician in history “has been treated worse or more unfairly,” has long bristled at the notion that Russia played any role in his election victory. The Russia issue has, however, clouded his early months in office. Moscow has denied the conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies that it meddled in the campaign. Pressure on the White House intensified after Trump fired Comey, who had been leading a federal probe into the matter, and allegations that Trump had asked Comey to end the FBI investigation into ties between Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia. That raised questions about whether the president improperly attempted to interfere with a federal investigation. The issue spilled over onto Wall Street on Wednesday, where the S&P 500 and the Dow had their biggest one-day declines since September as investor hopes for tax cuts and other pro-business policies faded amid the political tumult. The Justice Department announcement came after the market close. “My decision (to appoint a special counsel) is not the finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement announcing the special counsel. “I determined that a special counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome,” he said. Trump heard about Mueller’s appointment from his White House lawyer Don McGahn about 25 minutes before it was made public, the senior White House official said. Trump assembled his inner circle in the Oval Office - Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Preibus, economic adviser Gary Cohn, senior strategist Steve Bannon, and others - and gave them a pep talk, dictating the statement that was soon released. Trump told them the appointment would allow them to refer questions to Mueller, giving them space to focus on policies such as tax reform. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill generally welcomed the Justice Department action and praised Mueller for his integrity, but House and Senate Republican leaders said they would go on with their own investigations of the Russia matter. “A special counsel is very much needed in this situation and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein has done the right thing,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said he was confident Mueller “will conduct a thorough and fair investigation.” A discordant note was sounded by Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, who praised Mueller’s credentials but said: “I don’t think they should have appointed someone.” “I have not seen any evidence of actual collusion. Where is the actual crime that they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute,” Chaffetz told Fox News. Mueller, 72, was decorated as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War. A former federal prosecutor, he is known for his tough, no-nonsense managerial style. Appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, he became FBI director one week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was asked by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2011 to stay on for two more years and was replaced by Comey in 2013. Mueller was credited with transforming the FBI, putting more resources into counterterrorism investigations and improving its cooperation with other U.S. government agencies. Although Mueller will serve at the pleasure of Rosenstein, the job comes with independence and autonomy. Some past independent investigations have stretched for years. Kenneth Starr, who investigated former President Bill Clinton, probed allegations surrounding Clinton’s past real estate deals but later expanded the inquiry into his relations with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, leading to Clinton’s impeachment by the House. The White House was conducting interviews on Wednesday of candidates to replace Comey as head of the FBI. A senior administration official said former Democratic vice presidential candidate and Senator Joe Lieberman, one of those interviewed by Trump, was among the leading candidates. Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer, said others being interviewed were acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and former senior FBI official Richard McFeely.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. के पूर्व प्रमुख मुलर को ट्रंप-रूस संबंधों की जांच के लिए नियुक्त किया गया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Michel Aoun held talks on Monday with other Lebanese political leaders over the future of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s government, but gave no sign whether they discussed Hariri s demand the country steer clear of regional turmoil. Aoun s office said the talks were positive and constructive but did not detail steps to address the demands Hariri made after postponing his shock resignation, notably that Lebanese stick by the state policy of staying out of regional conflicts - a reference to Iran-backed Shi ite group Hezbollah. The consultations would continue once Aoun returns on Friday from an official visit to Italy, the statement said.     A senior Lebanese official said the consultations at the presidential palace in Baabda aimed to help Hariri s government  get back on its feet , after weeks of political instability triggered by Hariri s Nov. 4 resignation, announced in Riyadh. Lebanese officials say Saudi Arabia forced Hariri to resign and held him against his will, triggering an intervention by France which led to his return to Beirut last week. Riyadh says Hariri, Lebanon s top Sunni Muslim politician and a long-time Saudi ally, resigned freely and denies holding him.  In his resignation speech, Hariri strongly criticized Iran and its heavily armed Lebanese Shi ite Muslim ally Hezbollah for meddling in the Arab world. Since returning to Beirut, Hariri has said all Lebanese must stick by the state policy of  disassociation , or keeping out of regional conflicts - a reference to Hezbollah. Leading Druze politician Walid Jumblatt, an influential figure in Lebanon, said after meeting Aoun that it was important to talk about  disassociation , and how to achieve it. He said it would be wise not to bring up the question of Hezbollah s weapons in discussions, referring to previous rounds of futile talks on this point. The senior Lebanese official said the  consultations might end with Lebanon reaffirming the ministerial statement that implicitly includes disassociation . The official spoke on condition of anonymity as Aoun s consultations were not over. Hariri said on Saturday he would not accept  Hezbollah stances that affect our Arab brothers or target the security and stability of their countries .

Summary: लेबनान के औन ने हरीरी सरकार पर बातचीत की


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula on Monday and strongly condemned Pyongyang s ignoring of U.N. Security Council resolutions.  It was stressed that such steps contradict the principles of global non-proliferation and create a serious threat to regional peace and security,  the Kremlin said in a statement after the leaders  telephone conversation.   It was confirmed that the settlement of this acute crisis is possible exclusively through political and diplomatic tools, through the restart of the negotiations of all the parties involved,  the Kremlin said, adding that the leaders agreed to continue contacts on the crisis via their foreign ministers.

Summary: रूस, जर्मनी के नेताओं ने उत्तर कोरिया द्वारा संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रस्तावों की अनदेखी की निंदा की


(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday suspended a July 19 ruling by a federal judge that struck down parts of Wisconsin’s voter ID law, the Department of Justice said. Under the ruling by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, Wisconsin voters who did not have photo identification would have been able to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election. A Justice Department statement said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit issued a stay concluding “both that the district court’s decision is likely to be reversed on appeal and that disruption of the state’s electoral system in the interim will cause irreparable injury.” Wisconsin is one of several Republican-led states that have passed voter ID laws in recent years amid fear of fraudulent voting by illegal immigrants and others. The nine states with the strictest laws, insisting on state-issued photo identification for voters, include Texas, Virginia, Indiana and Georgia. Republicans say voter ID laws are needed to prevent voter fraud. But Democrats say the laws are really intended to make it more difficult for poor African-Americans and Latinos, who skew Democratic in their politics, to vote. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, called Wednesday’s appeals court decision “a step in the right direction.” “Voters in Wisconsin support voter ID, and our administration will continue to work to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Walker said in a statement. In a separate but related case, another federal judge on July 29 struck down a string of Wisconsin voting restrictions passed by the Republican-led legislature and ordered the state to revamp its voter identification rules, finding that they disenfranchised minority voters. U.S. District Judge James Peterson, ruling in a legal challenge to the laws by two liberal groups, said he could not overturn the entire voter ID law because a federal appeals court had already found such restrictions to be constitutional.

Summary: अपील अदालत ने विस्कॉन्सिन मतदाता पहचान पत्र कानून के कुछ हिस्सों को खारिज करने के फैसले को निलंबित कर दिया


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - @foxandfriends, we are in record territory in all things having to do with our economy! [0632 EST] - Great, and we should boycott Fake News CNN. Dealing with them is a total waste of time! [0649 EST] - Looks like another great day for the Stock Market. Consumer Confidence is at Record High. I guess somebody likes me (my policies)! [0703 EST] - Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past! [0716 EST] - So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate! [0914 EST] - Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled! [0940 EST] - Economy growing! Excluding hurricane effects, CEA estimates that real GDP growth would have been 3.9% in Q3. Stock market at a new high, unemployment at a low. We are winning and TAX CUTS will shift our economy into high gear! [0949 EST] - Departing @JBA_NAFW for St. Charles, Missouri to help push our plan for HISTORIC TAX CUTS across the finish line. A successful vote in the Senate this week will bring us one giant step closer to delivering an incredible victory for the American people! (link: instagram.com/p/BcFs_kXgTG5/) [1334 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (29 नवंबर)-मैट लॉयर, उत्तर कोरिया, कर कटौती


MANILA (Reuters) - The head of the Philippines  narcotics control body has resigned after just five months in the job, the second successive official to vacate the post for making statements contracting President Rodrigo Duterte. Retired army general Dionisio Santiago on Tuesday said he quit as chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board after receiving a call from Duterte s executive secretary, a few days after he publicly said the construction of a 10,000-bed  mega drug rehab  facility was a mistake. Countering illicit drugs is the centerpiece policy of Duterte s presidency and he has repeatedly threatened to kill dealers and users and said he was willing to be jailed for it. His crackdown has killed thousands of Filipinos, but the administration insists it is committed to arresting dealers and rehabilitating users, citing the new facility and the voluntary surrender of 1.3 million addicts and pushers as a sign of its positive intent.  My rule is the boss is always right and if you think the boss is not right, refer to rule No. 1,  Santiago told Radyo Inquirer, adding he had already submitted a two-sentence resignation letter. Santiago had said the government may have miscalculated with the rehab center and should have pursued a practical community-based rehabilitation program. Fewer than 500 people have been admitted to the facility, which was launched last year amid great fanfare and was funded by a wealthy Chinese businessman. Duterte gave Santiago the job in June after the former head was forced to quit after disputing the president s repeated statements that there were more than four million Filipino drug addicts. Duterte has never disclosed the source of that information and some experts say it is exaggerated. Separately, Duterte s new health minister, Francisco Duque, on Tuesday voiced his approval for using marijuana  only for research purposes  in medicine.  He said he would prefer marijuana in  pharmaceutical form  if the country legalized its use.  If it is in raw form, it is uncontrolled, subject to abuse, addiction,  he said at his first news conference.  That is where, I believe, the risks are more profound.  There is a pending bill in Congress to legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis.

Summary: फिलीपींस के ड्रग्स बोर्ड के प्रमुख ने दुतेर्ते का खंडन करने के बाद दिया इस्तीफा


TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police told a news conference on Sunday that a suspect arrested following Saturday night s attacks in Edmonton was a Somali national with refugee status in Canada.  Police declined to provide his name but said authorities had investigated a complaint in 2015 that he was espousing extremist ideology and had determined that he did not pose a threat at the time.  (This version was corrected officially to change the first paragraph after the police corrected original statement to say suspect is a refugee, rather than seeking refugee status)

Summary: कनाडाई पुलिस का कहना है कि एडमोंटन हमलों का संदिग्ध सोमाली नागरिक है


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he planned to push U.S. President Donald Trump to renew sanctions against Iran during a visit to Washington next month, complaining that Iran had once more tested a ballistic missile. Netanyahu has been harshly critical of the deal that six world powers including the United States under president Barack Obama struck with Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for an end to multilateral sanctions. Iran is Israel’s avowed enemy and Israel argues that the agreement fails to prevent Iranian weapons posing a threat to its very existence. During the U.S. election campaign, Trump called the pact a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated”, though he has also said it would be hard to overturn an agreement enshrined in a U.N. resolution. In a statement on his personal Twitter account, around the same time the White House announced his Feb. 15 visit, Netanyahu said: “Iran again launched a ballistic missile. This is a flagrant violation of a Security Council Resolution.” A U.S. official said on Monday that Iran had test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile on Sunday, which exploded after 630 miles. “In my upcoming meeting with President Trump I intend to bring up the renewal of sanctions against Iran,” Netanyahu said. “Iran’s aggression cannot be left without a response.”  The Obama administration said Iran’s ballistic missile tests had not violated the nuclear agreement, but Trump has said he will stop Tehran’s missile program. Under the U.N. resolution approving the nuclear deal, Iran is “called upon” to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Critics of the deal have said the language is ambiguous and does not make compliance obligatory, while Tehran says the missiles it has tested are not specifically designed to carry nuclear warheads.  This month, Iranian lawmakers approved plans to increase military spending, including expanding the long-range missile program.

Summary: इजरायल के नेतन्याहू का कहना है कि वह ईरान पर प्रतिबंधों को लेकर ट्रम्प पर दबाव डालेंगे


KOSAMBI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police on Friday started questioning the owner of a fireworks factory destroyed in a series of explosions and a fire that killed 47 workers and injured dozens, leaving some with horrific burns covering up to 80 percent of their bodies. In one of Indonesia s worst industrial disasters, many workers were unable to escape the fire at the plant in Tangerang, an industrial and manufacturing hub near Jakarta, on Thursday. Police and residents broke holes in the walls to help trapped workers forced back by the intense heat from the blaze. On Friday, a pile of sacks was still smoldering as forensics experts searched for human remains. The disaster will throw a new focus on safety standards at workplaces in Indonesia, where rules are often poorly enforced.  Police said the owner of the fireworks company, PT Panca Buana Cahaya Sukses, had returned to Indonesia to be questioned, along with seven witnesses, mostly administrative staff at the factory.  When he heard about the incident at the factory he was in Malaysia and he flew back straight away and went straight to Tangerang Police,  Jakarta police spokesman Argo Juwono told Metro TV. Earlier, Tangerang police chief Harry Kurniawan told Reuters the cause of the fire was still being investigated and denied reports that the factory gates were locked.  Responding to a report that underage workers were employed at the plant, Kurniawan said investigations had not shown this to be the case. Hospital records seen by Reuters showed two of the injured were aged 15 and 16.  Tangerang General Hospital is treating 12 patients, some for burns over 40 percent to 80 percent of their bodies, said a spokesman, Yudi Firmansyah.    We are expecting treatment to take a long time,  Firmansyah added.  First there s the life-saving stage, then further treatment to prevent infections, and cosmetic procedures.  Ayani, who goes by one name, wept when she saw her severely burnt daughter, Nuhayati, 35, lying on a hospital bed.  Her skin has been burned off completely,  she said, pointing to her forearms, torso and legs, and adding that her daughter had started working at the plant a month ago.  She only had some hair on her head, but her skin is almost gone.  Officials have warned that the death toll could rise, with police saying three people were still unaccounted for. There were some narrow escapes at the factory, staffed mainly by young women paid about $3 a day. Fitri, 18, told Kompas media she survived by submerging herself in a large tub of water used to clean equipment, along with four workers.  If we stay here, we won t be safe,  she eventually told her friends, before climbing a 3-metre (10-ft) wall beside the tub and breaking through the roof. Then residents used a ladder to help her descend.The report said the fire was thought to have started in a holding area next to the front gate where fireworks were stored.         Victims in orange body bags were taken to a police hospital in East Jakarta for identification by families. Sugeng Priyanto, an official at the Ministry of Manpower, told Metro TV a team was investigating safety standards at the warehouse, which had been operating for a few months. Tangerang Regent Ahmed Zaki said the company had a permit to pack and wrap fireworks, though not produce them at the warehouse, which was close to a school and housing. Earlier he had said it had a manufacturing permit. The disaster illustrated the low safety awareness in Indonesia, Jakarta-based Concord Consulting said in a daily report.   Regulations may be in place officially, but too often are simply ignored, resulting in high levels of complacency,  it said.  (For a graphic on 'Map locating the site of the fireworks factory' click tmsnrt.rs/2gK9thv)

Summary: इंडोनेशिया में भीषण आग लगने के बाद आतिशबाजी कारखाने के मालिक से पूछताछ


VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - North Korea on Thursday pledged to take  powerful counter measures  to respond to U.S. pressure or any new sanctions against it over its missile program, accusing Washington of wanting war.  Pyongyang s pledge, made in a statement by its delegation to an economic forum in Russia s Far East, came after the United States said it wanted the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban the country s exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday.  We will respond to the barbaric plotting around sanctions and pressure by the United States with powerful counter measures of our own,  the statement read. The same statement also accused South Korea and Japan of using the Russian forum to play  dirty politics,  saying the event was meant to be about discussing economic cooperation in the region and not about criticizing its missile program. Russian President Vladimir Putin told the same forum on Thursday he thought the North Korea crisis would not escalate into a large-scale conflict involving nuclear weapons, predicting that common sense would prevail.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया ने U.S.-backed प्रतिबंधों के खिलाफ 'शक्तिशाली जवाबी उपायों' का वादा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy will likely increase its requirement for a 308-ship fleet given the rapidly changing world security situation, including the U.S. battle against Islamic State, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said on Thursday. Richardson said the Navy was reviewing an assessment completed in 2012 and updated in 2014, before Russia’s reemergence as a “global power competitor,” and the start of the U.S.-led campaign to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. “I would bet a paycheck that it’s going to be a number greater than 308 ships, just by virtue of the additive nature of the complexity and the contestants that are confronting us right now,” Richardson told an event hosted by Washington defense consultant Jim McAleese and Credit Suisse. The top U.S. naval officer said the Navy was already increasing its purchases of Virginia-class submarines built by General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., but would also invest in unmanned vessels. The study is due to be completed this summer in time to inform the Navy’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal, according to a Navy official. The Navy’s fleet is currently around 285 ships. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called for an increase in the size of the Navy’s fleet, arguing that the sheer number of threats around the world requires more ships to help the United States “project power.” Others argue that today’s ships are more capable and advanced than in years past, increasing the power and capability of each ship and making the larger fleets of the 1980s unnecessary.

Summary: अमेरिकी नौसेना बेड़े के लिए वर्तमान 308-जहाज लक्ष्य बढ़ा सकती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday set a May hearing on the potential impact of tax reform on U.S. economic growth, the first in what is expected to be a series of sessions as Congress edges toward tax reform legislation. The Republican-controlled panel, which oversees tax policy in the House of Representatives, said in a statement that the hearing will take place on Thursday, May 18 at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) and focus on tax reform policies that Republicans see as most likely to spur economic growth and job creation. The statement did not identify witnesses for the hearing. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady has said he could introduce a tax reform bill sometime in June.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन कर समिति ने कर सुधार पर पहली सुनवाई की


(Reuters) - The Republican-controlled Iowa state senate voted on Thursday to cut Medicaid funding for family planning services to abortion providers including Planned Parenthood.  State senators passed the bill 30-20, advancing it to the Republican-controlled House. The vote was along party lines, with one independent voting in favor of the measure. Republican Governor Terry Branstad has said he supports the bill.  Planned Parenthood draws the ire of many Republicans because it provides abortions, and Republican President Donald Trump has pledged to defund the organization.  “This change will allow Iowa to restrict government funding to family planning services away from organizations that perform abortions that are not medically necessary,” Republican Senator Amy Sinclair, one of the bill’s sponsors, said on Thursday before the vote.   Planned Parenthood denounced the vote.  “The Republican lawmakers who continue to advance this bill should be ashamed of themselves. They are playing political games, with the lives of low-income Iowans at stake,” Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said in a statement. “This bill does nothing to advance their extremist agenda to limit access to abortion. Instead, it blocks access to crucial family planning services for thousands of Iowans – the very services that most effectively prevent abortion. It’s a self-serving, misleading and dangerous political game.” The bill directs the Iowa Department of Human Services to discontinue the Medicaid family planning network waiver on July 1 and replace it with a state family planning services program.  Eligibility requirements for the new network would remain the same, but no funding would be provided to organizations that provide abortions or maintain facilities where abortions are carried out.  Planned Parenthood is Iowa’s largest abortion provider with 12 clinics in the state, but no public money is used for abortions, according to the Des Moines Register.   Branstad has proposed paying for the new state-run program by shifting $2.8 million in funds from services for vulnerable adults, families and children, the newspaper reported.  Planned Parenthood is also facing a funding cut in Texas, where a judge is considering the move, which the organization has challenged in court.

Summary: आयोवा ने नियोजित पितृत्व के लिए चिकित्सा सहायता निधि में कटौती करने का कदम उठाया


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Sunday that his coalition will not share power, two days after the Supreme Court annulled last month s presidential election and ordered a new poll within 60 days.  The court ruled on Friday that the election board had committed irregularities that rendered the Aug. 8 vote invalid, and overturned incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta s victory. The ruling set up a new race between Kenyatta, 55, and veteran opponent Odinga, 72, and tension between the two camps has since been rising.  We will not share power,  Odinga said, speaking in Kiswahili outside a church in Nairobi.  We will not divide the loaf,  he said, a local reference to power.  Odinga, who also contested the presidential election in 2007 and 2013, repeated his statement after Friday s court ruling that the opposition would not participate in the re-run of the poll without changes to the election commission. On Friday he had called for the commission to resign and face criminal prosecution. Speaking at a rally in Nairobi attended by thousands of his supporters, he said:  We have said that you cannot force Kenyans to go to the polls that (are) being supervised by thieves.  We will not accept (this),  he said.  We will only go to the elections when we are sure that the ones organizing the elections are people who will not side with one side or the other.      Kenyatta insists the poll should be re-run with the current electoral board.   Though Kenyatta pledged to respect the court s ruling he has, since Friday, referred to justices as  crooks .

Summary: केन्या के विपक्षी नेता ओडिंगा का कहना है कि वह सत्ता साझा नहीं करेंगे


LUXEMBOURG/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union told Britain on Tuesday it must make more concessions in talks over its departure from the bloc, offering little hope of a breakthrough for Prime Minister Theresa May at a summit later this week. May traveled to Brussels on Monday for dinner with senior EU officials, hoping to nudge the Brexit talks forward to look at future ties which she says will help London make advances on calculating a financial settlement. But hours after the dinner, ministers from EU countries, even those such as the Netherlands that have much to lose if there is no Brexit deal, said May needed to go further on detailing how much Britain will pay when it leaves the bloc. After losing her governing Conservatives  majority in a June election and struggling through the party s annual conference, May has little room for maneuver   unable to increase her offer on the Brexit bill for fear of angering her own party.  We, the 27 together, find it extremely important that substantial progress is made on all three areas,  Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told reporters. But he also said the EU would offer May an olive branch at their summit on Friday by saying they would start preparing among themselves for talks on a post-Brexit transition in order to be able to engage with Britain swiftly after London delivers.  I hope that in the UK the reality comes in that this is a possibility to come to the next stage in December,  Koenders said in Luxembourg where ministers were preparing for the summit this Thursday and Friday. After the Brussels dinner on Monday, May and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the pace of Brexit negotiations should be stepped up after they stalled largely over the size of the divorce bill. The EU s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier struck a note of caution on Tuesday.  It takes two to accelerate,  he told reporters as he arrived to brief EU ministers in Luxembourg.  One step after another... We are not finished with the first step.  Neither side signaled there would be much movement at the EU summit after five rounds of talks, and some EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday said it was hard to negotiate with a prime minister under pressure from Brexit hardliners.  Sometimes it s very difficult to see and understand what Britain really wants from these negotiations,  said Finland s deputy minister, Samuli Virtanen.  It seems that at the moment EU 27 is more unanimous than UK 1.  With only 17 months before Britain leaves, the lack of progress in the talks have prompted companies to get ready not only for London leaving without a deal but also for a prolonged lack of certainty which makes investment decisions difficult. Britain s Brexit minister David Davis said separately that London had no plans to walk away from the negotiations and that he hoped the looming EU summit would  build on the momentum and spirit of cooperation we now have.  At the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, May is due to set out Britain s Brexit position and then leave the room as the other EU leaders discuss the progress of the talks to unravel more than 40 years of union. According to a draft of the conclusions for the summit, the EU are unlikely to agree with May that it is time to move the talks forward, but will instead suggest starting a discussion on transition among themselves. That comes after May also talked on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days, with sources saying both Paris and Berlin rebuffed her advances and stuck to the EU line. Foreign minister Boris Johnson told the British parliament on Tuesday he hoped  our friends and partners  in the EU would discuss the transition period, saying  if we re going to get on to that kind of question, now is the time for them to do so . British officials have increasingly accepted that Friday will not bring the breakthrough they had hoped for, but believe an improved tone may mean that might not be too far off.  The PM is pleased with how the dinner went, it was productive, it was a friendly discussion,  a May spokesman said.  We have been absolutely clear that we can only resolve the financial implications of the UK s withdrawal and other issues as part of the settlement of all the issues.  But members of her party have reduced May s room for maneuver, with some Brexit campaigners saying if there was no progress on Friday, the prime minister should walk away.  It s all about the money and if she ups the bid now, that is a really hard sell politically,  a senior source in May s governing Conservative Party told Reuters.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने ब्रिटिश पीएम मे को खारिज किया, ब्रेक्सिट पर और रियायतों की मांग की


PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Two sons of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli were paid $49 million by Brazilian engineering company Odebrecht through a network of shell companies, Panama s prosecutors office said on Thursday.  The two sons, whose whereabouts are unknown, were paid to facilitate paperwork for contracts that the company had won, prosecutors said in a statement.  Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enriquez Martinelli were paid through accounts in Panama and abroad from 2010 to 2014, they said. Odebrecht agreed in August to pay $220 million in fines to Panama and to cooperate with investigators probing bribes of Panamanian officials. Odebrecht allegedly paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes in association with infrastructure projects in 12 countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and Panama between 2002 and 2016.

Summary: पनामा का कहना है कि ओडेब्रेक्ट ने पूर्व राष्ट्रपति के बेटों को $49 मिलियन का भुगतान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the State of Hawaii to respond by Tuesday at noon to President Donald Trump’s motion to block a judge’s ruling that prevented his travel ban from being applied to grandparents of U.S. citizens and refugees already being processed by resettlement agencies, the court’s public  information office said on Saturday.  In a court filing on Friday, the administration asked the justices to overturn Thursday’s decision by a U.S. district judge in Hawaii, which limited the scope of the administration’s temporary ban on refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. The latest round in the fight over Trump’s March 6 executive order, which he says is needed to prevent terrorism attacks, began when the Supreme Court intervened last month to partially revive the two bans, which had been blocked by lower courts. The Supreme Court said then that the ban could take effect, but that people with a “bona fide relationship” to a U.S. person or entity could not be barred. The administration had narrowly interpreted that language, saying the ban would apply to grandparents and other family members, prompting the state of Hawaii to ask Hawaii-based U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson to expand the definition of who could be admitted. Trump banned travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, and refugees for 120 days. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the fall over whether the ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने हवाई को ट्रम्प के यात्रा प्रतिबंध प्रस्ताव का जवाब देने के लिए मंगलवार तक का समय दिया


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May is being regularly briefed after armed police rushed to an incident at a London underground station on Friday, with local media reporting there had been an explosion on a packed rush-hour commuter train.  The prime minister is receiving regular updates,  a spokesman from May s office said when asked if May was aware of the incident.

Summary: लंदन ट्यूब स्टेशन की घटना पर ब्रिटेन के मई को 'नियमित अपडेट मिल रहे हैं': प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration’s announcement on Sunday that it is issuing new travel restrictions on people entering the United States from eight countries could lead to an upcoming Supreme Court case on its previous more controversial ban ending in a whimper rather than a bang. The new presidential proclamation set restrictions on citizens from eight countries and is set to go into effect on Oct. 18, eight days after the court is due to hear oral arguments over the legality of Trump’s earlier ban. The Trump administration on Sunday night asked the high court to considering hearing new briefing on the case before the oral argument to address “the effects of the proclamation on the issues currently pending before the court in these cases.” Now the nine-justice court could skip deciding the case altogether, legal experts said. The March 6 order under Supreme Court review banned travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and limited refugee admissions. Challengers say the order discriminated against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution. A decision on that issue would be consequential not just for Trump but also future presidents who would be bound by it. But with the challenged policy no longer on the books, the court has various options to resolve the dispute without issuing a ruling. The 90-day travel ban, which covered Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, ran until Sunday. The 120-day refugee ban expires on Oct. 24. Even before Trump’s latest announcement, experienced Supreme Court lawyers and immigration law experts had expressed doubts about whether the nine justices would want to issue a decisive ruling, in part because of a desire to stay out of such a contentious issue.     “If the court can avoid entering into the fray, that may be appealing to them,” said Anil Kalhan, an immigration law professor at Drexel University School of Law. With the travel restrictions expiring, the court has an easy way out because it could simply say that the case is no longer a live issue and therefore, in legal parlance, moot. The Supreme Court has already intervened three times since March in limiting the scope of lower court rulings that struck down the March order. Its most significant act came in June when it allowed both bans to go into effect in a limited fashion. The unsigned decision suggested that the court’s four liberals and two of its conservative majority, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, were keen on a compromise. Three other conservatives, including Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch, said both bans should have been allowed to go into effect in full. The Trump administration has yet to say what it would prefer the court to do, but former Justice Department lawyers say it is likely to request that if the court does dismiss the case, it also throws out the lower court rulings that struck the bans down. The benefit for the administration is that it would wipe out those precedents, including the broad decision by the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said the order discriminated against Muslims. The decision cited Trump’s campaign statements in concluding that the order was motivated by anti-Muslim bias. The Trump administration says the order was needed for national security reasons. “It’s certainly in the government’s interest to get the adverse ... opinions off the books because those decisions constrain executive authority,” said Washington lawyer Pratik Shah, who previously worked at the Justice Department. The March order took effect on June 26, following a Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the scope of lower court rulings. Litigation continued over the summer on who exactly was covered by the bans, culminating in a Supreme Court decision on Sept. 12 that allowed Trump to enforce the refugee ban broadly but kept lower court restrictions that prevent close family members from being denied entry. The March 6 order was itself Trump’s second attempt to impose a travel ban after his original, much broader Jan. 27 plan was blocked by lower court following turmoil at U.S. airports caused by its abrupt rollout.     (THis version of the story has been refiled to change date in dateline)

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट के पास यात्रा प्रतिबंध के फैसले को टालने का विकल्प है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday that actions by the committee’s chairman cast “profound doubt” on its ability to conduct a reliable investigation of potential ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. “This is not how you conduct an investigation. You don’t take information that the committee hasn’t seen and present it orally to the press and to the White House before the committee has a chance to vet whether it’s even significant,” U.S. Representative Adam Schiff told a news conference. Republican Representative Devin Nunes, the committee’s chairman, told reporters earlier on Wednesday that an anonymous source had provided him with information that communications by associates of Trump and possibly Trump himself had been swept up during routine surveillance.

Summary: प्रमुख डेमोक्रेट ने खुफिया समिति ट्रम्प की जांच के बारे में 'गहरे संदेह' का हवाला दिया


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Retired South African cleric and anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged Myanmar leader and fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday to intervene to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing her country. Western critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya, who have been fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, following an army counter-offensive against militant attacks. Tutu said in an open letter to Suu Kyi that:  I am now elderly, decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness about the plight of the Muslim minority in your country, the Rohingya.   My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep ... We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene,  Tutu wrote. Tutu, 85, has been living with prostate cancer for nearly two decades and has largely withdrawn from public life. The Rohingya comprise some 1.1 million people who have long complained of persecution and are seen by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.  We have to take care of our citizens, we have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens,  Suu Kyi said earlier on Thursday in comments to Reuters Television s Indian partner, Asian News International. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 as a champion of democracy, did not refer specifically to the exodus of the minority Rohingya.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के टूटू ने म्यांमार की सू की से रोहिंग्याओं की मदद करने को कहा


JAKARTA (Reuters) - The closure of I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport on the Indonesian island of Bali due to a volcanic eruption has affected 445 flights, including 196 international routes, its operator said on Monday. PT Angkasa Pura, the operator, has prepared five alternative airports for airlines to divert their inbound flights, including ones in neighboring provinces, it said in a statement. Bali airport s official website showed flights operated by Singapore Airlines, Sriwijaya, Garuda Indonesia, Tiger Air, Malaysian Airlines and Jetstar had been canceled.

Summary: ज्वालामुखी के कारण बाली हवाई अड्डे के बंद होने से 445 उड़ानें प्रभावित हुई हैंः संचालक


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s communications regulator on Friday accused U.S. TV channel CNN International of violating Russian media law and said it had summoned the broadcaster s representatives in connection with the matter. The Russian foreign ministry accused Washington on Thursday of putting unwarranted pressure on the U.S operations of Kremlin-backed media outlet RT, and warned that Moscow could take tit-for-tat measures. President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of Russia s Security Council on Friday that Russian media outlets working abroad were facing growing and unacceptable pressure, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement on its website that it would look at warning CNN about the alleged violations, which it said also breached the terms of its broadcast license. It did not say what breaches of Russian laws the U.S. broadcaster had made, adding it would continue its  systematic monitoring  of foreign mass media outlets registered in Russia. Asked if the regulator s move was politically motivated, Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying:  I don t work in a political agency. I work in a regulatory service.   Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday the U.S. authorities were demanding that Russian state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today (RT) be registered as a  foreign agent  in the United States. She said that move endangered the safety of the channel s staff, because it included an obligation to disclose their personal data.  In the atmosphere of a witch hunt unfolding in the United States, this may present a real threat,  she said. Putin, meeting permanent members of his Security Council,  touched upon the issue of ongoing and at times growing pressure on Russian mass media outlets in some foreign countries , Peskov told a conference call with reporters.  It was stressed that such pressure on Russian media is unacceptable,  he added. He did not name the countries where the Kremlin was concerned Russian media were coming under pressure.    The Foreign Ministry s Zakharova said any move made against Russian media working in the United States  will get a tit-for-tat response .  And who it falls on, this should be easy for Washington to work out. The clock is ticking,  she said at a weekly briefing on Thursday.

Summary: रूस ने सीएनएन इंटरनेशनल पर रूसी मीडिया कानून का उल्लंघन करने का आरोप लगाया


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak congratulated U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying the Republican victor had appealed to Americans who wanted to see the United States less embroiled in intervention abroad. “His appeal to Americans who have been left behind – those who want to see their government more focused on their interests and welfare, and less embroiled in foreign interventions that proved to be against US interests – have won Mr Trump the White House,” Najib said in a statement. Najib said he looked forward to continuing a partnership with the United States under Trump’s presidency.

Summary: मलेशियाई प्रधानमंत्री का कहना है कि ट्रम्प ने उन अमेरिकियों से अपील की जो कम विदेशी हस्तक्षेप चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department’s email service has been restored after an approximately half-day outage, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Friday. State Department officials worldwide stopped receiving emails on the agency’s unclassified system around 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT) on Friday, officials said. Service was temporarily restored by the early afternoon, Nauert said. “It has been quite a headache today, our email system has been down,” Nauert said at a news briefing. “It was brought up just a short while ago ... there are some glitches that they’re still working out.” The outage was caused by internal human error and not a cyber attack, an official said.

Summary: वैश्विक आउटेज के बाद अमेरिकी विदेश विभाग का ईमेल बहाल


HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela s former oil czar Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday the government would make one of its  worst political moves  if investigators target him in an anti-corruption purge, which is gaining traction ahead of the country s 2018 presidential election. Friction between Ramirez and President Nicolas Maduro reflect growing rifts in the Socialist Party once firmly united under late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. This comes amid a deep economic recession and financial sanctions imposed by the United States on what it considers a  dictatorship.   Ramirez, who spoke with Reuters from an undisclosed location after being pushed out last week as Venezuela s ambassador to the United Nations, said he is waiting for the right time to return to his country. The 54-year-old engineer also said he has not yet decided if he will launch a run in the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election, in which Maduro is expected to seek another term.  Ramirez, who led state-run oil company PDVSA for a decade under Chavez, said he has not been approached by Venezuelan or U.S. prosecutors investigating corruption cases linked to PDVSA and its subsidiaries. Some of those probes focus on incidents that occurred under his watch as one of Chavez  longest serving officials.  I have not been involved in any act of corruption. I have been very careful to follow internal control mechanisms,  he said. Thus far, the expanding corruption probe by the state prosecutor s office has resulted in authorities accusing over 100 people, including two former PDVSA presidents who also served as oil ministers under Maduro. Ramirez said he is prepared to fight back if investigators target him or his close family, some of whom served as advisors of the Venezuelan government in international arbitration cases.  That scenario would be offbeat. Who aims to attack my family is going to find me,  he said. He added that he trusts Venezuelan institutions will confirm his family members have faithfully served Venezuela, not charging the government for their work.  One of Ramirez s relatives, Diego Salazar, was detained last week under accusations of corruption and money laundering. Still, Ramirez said accusations from corruption scandals should not be taken lightly because they hurt PDVSA s reputation and its ability to recover from a deep production decline. The country s oil output has fallen this year to its lowest level in almost three decades, down 1 million barrels per day from its 2013 level. But he also criticized the government s focus on PDVSA in its corruption accusations, while excluding public institutions that oversaw a long-standing currency control system used to convert and distribute billions of dollars coming from exports.  The company should be investigated without subjecting its  employees to a  moral lynching,  he said.  I will believe that a corruption probe is genuine when it includes the whole Venezuelan economy.  Ramirez in 2014 submitted an economic plan to the government before moving to his position in the United Nations. But no action was taken due to the central government s lack of confidence in him, he said. In the following years, the government s failure to take needed actions, which also has been criticized by analysts and the opposition, have led to a greater financial instability, spiraling inflation and mounting debt, which Maduro is now struggling to restructure.  Economic action has to be taken with urgency,  he said. A lack of motivation among PDVSA s workers, delayed crude output due to infrastructure problems and a very low currency exchange rate impacting PDVSA s cash flow also have to be addressed, he said.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के रामिरेज़ ने उन्हें भ्रष्टाचार से जोड़ने के प्रयासों पर हमला किया


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Silicon Valley joined a swelling backlash against neo-Nazi groups in the United States on Wednesday as more technology companies removed white supremacists from their services in response to weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Social media networks Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and LinkedIn, music service Spotify Ltd and security firm Cloudflare Inc were among the companies cutting off services to hate groups or removing material that they said spread hate.  Earlier in the week, Facebook Inc (FB.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and GoDaddy Inc (GDDY.N) also took steps to block hate groups. The wave of internet crackdowns against white nationalists and neo-Nazis reflected a rapidly changing mindset among Silicon Valley firms on how far they are willing to go to police hate speech. Tech companies have taken down violent propaganda from Islamic State and other militant groups, in part in response to government pressure. But most internet companies have traditionally tried to steer clear of making judgments about content except in cases of illegal activity.  Cloudflare, which protects some 6 million websites from denial-of-service attacks and hacking, on Wednesday afternoon dropped coverage of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer. “I woke up this morning in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the internet,” Cloudflare founder and Chief Executive Matthew Prince said in an email to employees. Cloudflare is well-known for defending even the most distasteful websites, and services like it are essential to the functioning of websites. Daily Stormer helped organize the weekend rally in Charlottesville where a 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 people were injured when a man plowed a car into a crowd protesting the white nationalist gathering.  Daily Stormer has been accessible only intermittently the past few days after domain providers GoDaddy and Google Domains, a unit of Alphabet, said they would not serve the website.  By Wednesday, Daily Stormer had moved to a Russia-based internet domain, with an address ending in .ru. Later in the day, though, the site was no longer accessible at that address.  Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin said on a social network used by many of his supporters, Gab, that his site would be back soon.  “The Cloudflare betrayal adds another layer of super complexity. But we got this,” he said. He could not immediately be reached for further comment.  Prince, the Cloudflare chief executive, said in an interview that despite his decision he was conflicted, because it could become harder to resist pressure from governments to censor. “You don’t have to play this game too many moves out to see how risky this is going to be,” Prince said. “‘What about this site? What about this site?’” Only the biggest companies will be able to navigate the varying laws in different countries, he added. “We’ve lost a lot of the fight for a free and open internet.” Twitter on Wednesday suspended accounts linked to Daily Stormer. The company said it would not discuss individual accounts, but at least three affiliated with the Daily Stormer led to pages saying “account suspended.”  The social network prohibits violent threats, harassment and hateful conduct and “will take action on accounts violating those policies,” the company said in a statement.  Larger rival Facebook Inc (FB.O), which unlike Twitter explicitly prohibits hate speech, has taken down several pages from Facebook and Instagram in recent days that it said were associated with hate speech or hate organizations. It also took down the event page that was used to promote and organize the “Unite the Right” rally. “With the potential for more rallies, we’re watching the situation closely and will take down threats of physical harm,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Wednesday.      Facebook also said it had removed accounts belonging to Chris Cantwell, a web commentator who has described himself as a white nationalist and said on his site that he had attended the Charlottesville rally. Cantwell’s YouTube account also appeared to have been terminated. Cantwell could not immediately be reached for comment. LinkedIn, a unit of Microsoft Corp MSFT.N, suspended a page devoted to Daily Stormer and another page belonging to a man associated with the site, Andrew Auernheimer. LinkedIn declined to comment.  Reddit this week eliminated one of its discussion communities that supported the Unite the Right rally, saying that the company would ban users who incite violence. The company says it has more than 250 million users.  Spotify, based in Sweden, said it was in the process of removing musical acts from its streaming service that had been flagged as racist “hate bands” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Illegal content or material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us,” the company said in a statement, adding that record companies should also be held responsible.

Summary: इंटरनेट कंपनियों ने रुख बदला, श्वेत वर्चस्ववादियों को निर्वासित करने के लिए कदम उठाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Friday it would be “very difficult” to accelerate the end of enrollment in the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, as some conservative members of his Republican Party have proposed. “I think right now that’d be very difficult to do,” McCarthy told a press conference in answer to a question about whether the proposed freeze on Medicaid expansion could be moved up by two years to 2018 in the Republican healthcare proposal now before the House of Representatives.

Summary: सदन के नेताः मेडिकेड विस्तार के अंत में तेजी लाना 'बहुत मुश्किल' है


YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in northeastern Nigeria on Tuesday in an attack on a mosque which bore the hallmarks of a faction of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The bombing in Mubi in Adamawa state was one of the deadliest in Nigeria s northeast since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 pledging to end Boko Haram s eight-year insurgency and attacks by the group on civilian and military targets. It brought to at least 278 the number of people killed in 2017, according to calculations by Reuters. There was no claim of responsibility.  Some of the dead were in pieces beyond recognition,  said Bayi Muhammad, a worshipper who escaped the blast because he was late for early morning prayers. Abubakar Othman, a police spokesman in Adamawa state, said the death toll was at least 50, but added that the tally could rise. Eight people were critically injured and more than 30 others hurt but in stable condition, said Idris Garga, the northeast regional coordinator for Nigeria s national emergency agency. Boko Haram held territory in Adamawa state in 2014. Troops pushed them out in early 2015, and the town of Mubi had itself been relatively peaceful until Tuesday s bombing. In a statement on Tuesday, Nigeria s president said the attack was  very cruel  and gave assurances his government would do  everything required  to secure the state from Boko Haram.  The militant group often mounts suicide attacks in public places such as mosques and markets. Last December, two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 56 people and wounded dozens more at a market in Adamawa. The mosque blast bears the hallmarks of a faction led by Abubakar Shekau, which forces women and girls to carry out suicide bombings. The attacks often leave only the bomber dead. Boko Haram has waged an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 in its attempt to create an Islamic state in the region. It has killed more than 20,000 and forced around 2 million people to flee their homes.  The group split in 2016 and the faction under Shekau is based in the Sambisa forest on the border with Cameroon and Chad and mainly targets civilians with suicide bombers. The other faction is based in the Lake Chad region and led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi. It mainly attacks military forces after quietly building up its strength over the past year. Most attacks focus on Borno state, the birthplace of the insurgency. The group held land around the size of Belgium in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states until early 2015 but was forced out by Nigeria s army and troops from neighboring countries.

Summary: नाइजीरिया की मस्जिद में आत्मघाती हमला, 50 लोगों की मौत


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have very different legal stances over the so-called Brexit bill London should pay as it leaves the bloc, Britain s Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday. After a third round of talks last week, officials said a gulf between the EU and Britain over how much London owes may be the biggest obstacle to a deal on an orderly Brexit in March 2019.  It is clear that the two sides have very different legal stances,  Davis told parliament during an update on the talks.  (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier and I agreed that we do not anticipate making incremental progress on the final shape of the financial deal in every round ... it is also clear there are significant differences to be bridged in this sector.  Davis also said it was still Britain s intention to negotiate a future trade agreement with the EU within the two-year divorce period.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट विधेयक पर ब्रिटेन और यूरोपीय संघ के अलग-अलग कानूनी रुख हैंः ब्रिटिश मंत्री


BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Friday reiterated its stance that it is opposed to any official exchanges between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic ties with China.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a regular press briefing. China considers self-ruled Taiwan a breakaway province. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday in an interview with  Reuters spurned the Taiwanese president’s suggestion that the two leaders hold another phone call, saying he did not want to create problems for Chinese President Xi Jinping when Beijing appears to be helping efforts to rein in North Korea.

Summary: चीन ने अन्य देशों के साथ आधिकारिक ताइवान आदान-प्रदान का विरोध दोहराया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will vote against a U.N. General Assembly resolution on Wednesday calling for the lifting of the decades-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, reversing an abstention by Washington last year. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will vote against the resolution, introduced annually by Havana for 26 years, to underscore President Donald Trump s new Cuba policy, which puts greater emphasis on advancing human rights and democracy, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday. The United States consistently voted against such resolutions for 24 years but abstained for the first time in 2016 as Washington and Havana forged a closer relationship and reopened embassies in both countries in 2015. But tensions have flared recently between the two former Cold War foes. Trump said earlier this month he believed Havana was responsible for a series of alleged incidents that Washington says harmed 24 of its diplomats. Cuban officials investigating the U.S. complaints said last week talk of acoustic strikes was  science fiction.   The resolution on Wednesday is non-binding but can carry political weight. Only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo, put in place more than 50 years ago. The Cuban delegation to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last year, the resolution was adopted by the 193-member General Assembly with 191 votes in favor. Israel joined its ally the United States in abstaining. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, led a group of 10 senators urging Trump on Tuesday to direct the U.S. delegation to once more abstain from voting.

Summary: क्यूबा पर प्रतिबंध समाप्त करने के लिए संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रस्ताव के खिलाफ मतदान करेगा अमेरिका


AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The Republican governor of Texas on Tuesday called for a special state legislative session that could allow lawmakers to adopt a bill to restrict access to bathrooms for transgender people, viewed by critics as discriminatory and economically damaging. Governor Greg Abbott, who sets the agenda for special sessions, told a news conference the session would begin in July and the first item of business would be approving a bill that keeps some state agencies open.  If approved by the Senate, he then would allow for consideration of nearly 20 other items, including a bathroom bill. “At a minimum we need a law that protects the privacy of our children in our public schools,” Abbott said. Political and business analysts said passage of such a bill would put Texas, the most powerful Republican-controlled state, in the spotlight on an issue that has been a flashpoint in U.S. culture wars.   The issue has opened divisions in the Republican party, which dominates Texas politics, pitting the pro-business establishment wing against the powerful socially conservative wing, which says a bathroom law is a common-sense measure needed to protect privacy. A similar law in North Carolina, partially repealed in March, prompted the relocation of sporting events and economic boycotts that were estimated to have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.  The stakes are far higher in Texas, which has an economy larger than Russia’s. The Texas Legislature meets every other year. In March, the Senate passed a bill backed by social conservative Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick that would require people to use restrooms in public schools and buildings that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate, not the gender with which they identify. The Texas Association of Business, the state’s largest employer group, called the legislation, known as Senate Bill 6, discriminatory, and said it would hurt businesses trying to attract talent. It said the state could lose about $5.6 billion through 2026 if enacted.  SB 6 died in the House when the regular session ended in late May. Republican Speaker Joe Straus, seen as representing the party’s business wing, has said the legislation was unnecessary and could cause economic damage. If a tough bathroom bill is enacted, Straus’ San Antonio constituency could lose its rights to host the men’s NCAA Final Four basketball championship next year, an event expected to bring in more than $200 million in revenue.

Summary: टेक्सास के गवर्नर ने विधायी सत्र बुलाया; इसमें बाथरूम का बिल भी शामिल हो सकता है


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities on Monday issued arrest warrants for 107 teachers for suspected ties to the U.S.-based cleric Ankara blames for orchestrating last year s coup, the Dogan news agency said. Fifty-one of the teachers were detained in Ankara after the local prosecutor issued the warrants, Dogan said, adding that operations continued to round-up the remaining teachers.  The teachers were previously suspended from their jobs as part of the ongoing crackdown that followed the attempted coup in July 2016, it said. Turkey blames Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for last year s failed coup. Gulen has denied any involvement and denounced the coup. More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial in the crackdown, while 150,000 people, including military personnel, teachers and public servants, have been sacked or suspended from their jobs. The government dismisses rights groups  concerns about the crackdown, saying only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says infiltrated the judiciary, army, schools and other institutions.

Summary: तुर्की ने तख्तापलट के संदेह में 51 शिक्षकों को हिरासत में लियाः डोगन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump admonished South Korea, a key ally, for what he termed a policy of  appeasement  after North Korea claimed to have tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday.  On Twitter, Trump said:  South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they (North Korea) only understand one thing!  It was the latest signal that Trump is losing patience with the international community s response to the increasingly belligerent regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last week, Trump tweeted that  talking is not the answer  in terms of dealing with Pyongyang.  On Sunday, Trump also tweeted that North Korea s  words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States  and said the regime  has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.  The White House said Trump s national security team was  monitoring this closely  and that the president would convene a meeting of his advisers later on Sunday.   North Korea said it had tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, setting off a manmade earthquake near the test. Japanese and South Korean officials said that tremor was about 10 times more powerful than the one picked up after the nation s last nuclear test a year ago. There was no independent confirmation that the detonation was a hydrogen bomb rather than a less powerful atomic weapon of the kind Pyongyang has tested in the past. In his tweet on Sunday, Trump appeared to be blaming South Korea for a policy it abandoned years ago of trying to soften North Korea s posture through economic aid.  South Korea s new president, Moon Jae-in, has argued for continuing dialogue with its neighbor over its nuclear program, while also supporting international sanctions.  Reports that the United States is considering pulling out of its trade deal with South Korea has also ratcheted up tensions with the country.  Despite Trump s tweets, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested the United States would continue to attempt to pressure North Korea economically.  Mnuchin said on Sunday that he would put together a package of new sanctions to potentially cut off all global trade with Pyongyang.   If countries want to do business with the United States, they obviously will be working with our allies and others to cut off North Korea economically,  Mnuchin said on  Fox News Sunday.  Trump s cabinet has at times tried to show the president s tweets are not shifts in official U.S. policy. Last week, after Trump said that  talking is not the answer,  Defense Secretary James Mattis followed up by saying:  We re never out of diplomatic solutions.  Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has previously suggested that the United States would be open to talks with North Korea if it ceased its missile tests and met other conditions.  Senator Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN s  State of the Union  on Sunday that the United States had no good options when it came to North Korea.  Obviously the test yesterday shows they are further along than everyone figured,  said Flake, a Republican. He said sanctions did not appear to have slowed the advance of North Korea s nuclear program,  but I don t think harsh rhetoric does either.  Often critical of Trump, Flake declined to address his comment about South Korea s  talk of appeasement,  but said:  I think South Korea will be with us whatever we decide.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के बम परीक्षण के बाद ट्रंप ने दी दक्षिण कोरिया को फटकार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday approved four nominees to key posts at the Environmental Protection Agency, including one appointee with ties to the chemical industry who will head the agency’s office of chemical safety. Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the committee, said two of the nominees were of “grave concern”: Bill Wehrum, nominated for assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, and Michael Dourson to head up the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Carper called Dourson “one of the most troubling nominees I have ever considered during my time on this committee.”  Senator James Inhofe of oil-producing Oklahoma, the panel’s senior Republican, praised the passage of the nominees and urged the full Senate to quickly confirm them so they can “improve public health within the scope of the EPA’s authority.” Republicans say the EPA under former President Barack Obama overstepped its authority to regulate. Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump’s EPA administrator, has said the agency had an “activist agenda” under former President Barack Obama. Pruitt has worked to do away with regulations pushed through by the Obama administration, and has proposed scrapping the landmark Clean Power Plan that sought to curb emissions linked to climate change. Pruitt sued the agency more than a dozen times when he was Oklahoma’s attorney general.   Jeff Holmstead, a former head of the EPA air and radiation office under former President George W. Bush, said Wehrum is the “ideal person to shepherd Administrator Pruitt’s reforms through the regulatory process.”  Environmentalists called on the full Senate to reject the nominees. “All four of these nominees, especially Wehrum and Dourson, would accelerate Scott Pruitt’s mission to dismantle the EPA from the inside,” said Sara Chieffo, vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters. The other nominees approved by the panel are Matthew Leopold for assistant administrator for the Office of General Counsel, and David Ross, for the Office of Water.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट पैनल ने विवादास्पद ई. पी. ए. नामांकित व्यक्तियों को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Friday it is suspending action on an Obama administration decision in October to probe a long-time practice by some airlines of preventing various travel websites from showing their fares and whether to require transparency in airline baggage and other fees.  The U.S. Transportation Department said in a notice Friday it is suspending a public comment period on the review of the practices to “allow the president’s appointees the opportunity to review and consider this action.” Airlines generated $3.8 billion in baggage fees in 2015 and the Obama administration said in October it was formally exploring requiring airlines and ticket agents to provide consumers with prices that include service fees for baggage and other services alongside fares at points of sale.  Separately, the Trump administration is also extending the compliance date for a new regulation requiring reporting of data for mishandled baggage and wheelchairs in aircraft cargo compartments for one year - until Jan. 1, 2019. Airlines for America, the industry trade group representing American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O), United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N), Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) and others, praised the decision. “Today’s action is a common sense measure reinforcing that the airline industry is capable of making the decisions that best serve our customers, our employees and the communities we serve,” the airlines’ group chief executive Nicholas Calio said in a statement. The group added the “airline industry operates under 13,000 regulations across 13 agencies, many of which are outdated, obsolete and in need of reform.” President Donald Trump met with airline chief executives last month and asked them to identify regulatory hurdles preventing job growth in the industry. A study commissioned by a travel agencies’ trade group, the Travel Technology Association, in 2014 found that restricting the ability to comparison-shop would result in ticket prices increasing more than 11 percent. Airline shares rose on the news. JPMorgan said in a research note Friday that the “the protections never mattered in the first place - the financial impact of the Obama protections was largely irrelevant, in our view.”  The Obama administration efforts were very modest, JPMorgan said, and did not propose limiting airlines’ ability to pursue ancillary revenue, such as an outright ban on bag fees.  But JPMorgan added: “U.S. airlines appear to increasingly have the ear of a sympathetic, regulatory-averse administration.”

Summary: अमेरिका ने ओबामा एयरलाइन पारदर्शिता समीक्षा को निलंबित किया


VIENNA (Reuters) - A French businessman said he would pay all fines imposed on women wearing a full-face veil in Austria under a law banning it from Oct. 1, an Austrian broadcaster reported. The reported remarks from Rachid Nekkaz, who already pays fines for women who wear Muslim niqabs and burkas despite bans in France and Belgium, provoked criticism from Austria s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz. The Austrian ban makes public wearing of the Arab-style niqab, which leaves the eyes uncovered, and the Afghan-style burqa, which covers the face with a cloth grid, liable to a fine of 150 euros.  I am reaching out to all women in Europe and especially to women in Austria who voluntarily wear the burqa, I will always be there and pay the fines,  Nekkaz was quoted as saying in a Servus TV interview, which will be aired Thursday evening. If one accepts freedom of religion, one also had to accept a religion s visibility, he said. The property dealer with Algerian roots said he had already spent around 300,000 euros  ($360,000) covering relevant fines. Foreign Minister Kurz, who is the conservative front runner for next month s national election with his People s Party, said Austria would not tolerate symbols aimed at establishing a parallel society.    Whoever wears niqab or burka in Austria has to deal with the consequence,  Kurz said. He threatened to fine Nekkaz if he followed through with his plans.

Summary: फ्रांसीसी व्यवसायी ने ऑस्ट्रियाई चेहरे के घूंघट के जुर्माने का भुगतान करने का संकल्प लिया


RABWAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Crammed into buses and mini-vans, more than 10,000 Pakistanis traveled to a mosque on the outskirts of the small Punjabi town of Rabwah, for the sole purpose of denouncing followers of the minority sect based here as  infidels and enemies of the state . For members of the long persecuted Ahmadi community, who are forbidden to call themselves Muslims and face discrimination and violence over accusations their faith insults Islam, the open vitriol on display at the Oct. 20 rally was not new. But this year, they say, anti-Ahmadi rhetoric has also re-entered mainstream Pakistani politics, as politicians seek to shore up support among religiously conservative voters after surprise gains by two new Islamist parties.  We are an easy community to scapegoat for political opponents to target each other,  said Usman Ahmad, who moved to Pakistan from Britain to work as a community activist. With a general election due in 2018, politicians from both the religious fringe and established parties have had the Ahmadis in their sights. In the past six weeks, a row over proposed changes to the election law that would have eased some of the barriers on Ahmadis participating in elections has seen the group denounced on the floor of Pakistan s parliament, while one of the new Islamist parties has held street protests. The government has since taken out ads in major newspapers reaffirming a religious oath requiring elected officials to vow that they do not follow anyone claiming to be a prophet after Mohammad and  nor do I belong to the Qadiani group , using a common derogatory term for Ahmadis. The Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslims, but their recognition of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the sect in British-ruled India in 1889, as a  subordinate prophet  is viewed by many of the Sunni majority as a breach of the Islamic tenet that the Prophet Mohammad was God s last direct messenger.  The Ahmadi sect has 10-20 million followers worldwide who face discrimination in a number of Muslim-majority nations such as Indonesia and Algeria, as well as being ostracized by large parts of the Muslim community in Britain. There are about half a million Ahmadis in Pakistan, local leaders say, though other estimates have put the number at 2-4 million. Ahmadis are some of the most common defendants in criminal charges of blasphemy, which in Pakistan can carry the death penalty. By law they cannot call their place of worship mosques or distribute religious literature, recite the Koran or use traditional Islamic greetings, measures that they say criminalize their daily lives. The legal restrictions began in 1974, when the then-Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto passed a constitutional amendment declaring Ahmadis non-Muslim. A decade later military dictator General Zia ul Haq barred Ahmadis from identifying themselves as Muslim. Community leaders say these moves laid the groundwork for a sectarian divide that has since seen many violent attacks on Ahmadis and birthed multiple militant organizations, including many that are now linked to Islamic State. In the past four years, the Punjab government has also targeted Ahmadis under the country s anti-terrorism laws, filing at least eight cases against Ahmadis on charges of producing hate literature, including the sect s own holy texts. The offices of an Ahmadi magazine in Rabwah were raided in December 2016 by police, who arrested seven people and confiscated papers and hard drives.  They stormed the office, it felt like a group of terrorists had come in,  said Amir Fahim, who worked at the magazine and was held for 65 days.  They said the religious language you use belongs to us and the things you write offend the sensibilities of Muslims.  Community leaders say the use of anti-terrorism laws marks a new phase in the targeting of Ahmadis.  Here, to be an Ahmadi, through state laws, is a crime,  Pakistan s Ahmadi community spokesman Salimuddin said.  There are restrictions on our annual gatherings, our annual games ... If the state did not persecute us, we would not be persecuted.  Punjab government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said the authorities were not using the anti-terrorism laws to target any particular minority group.  The Punjab Government arrested thousands on charges of hate speech during the last three years,  he told Reuters.  Anti-Ahmadi groups were also included in them.  Many Ahmadis in Pakistan say they only truly feel safe in Rabwah, a town of more than 60,000 in eastern Punjab that is 95 percent Ahmadi. Most of the town s infrastructure is maintained on contributions made by the community, including free hostels and food for visitors and a community organized garbage clean-up. But on the edge of Rabwah lies a small settlement and a mosque run by a right-wing Islamist organization that openly professes hatred for Ahmadis. The organization, Khatm-e-Nubuwwat (Finality of the Prophet), built the mosque on land the Punjab government ordered confiscated from Ahmadis in 1975 for low-income housing. Khatm-e-Nubuwwat has been at the forefront of initiating blasphemy allegations against Ahmadis. Every year for 36 years, the group has held an anti-Ahmadi rally at the mosque.  Qadianis are the enemies of the prophet,  said Aziz ur Rehman, an organizer of the Rabwah conference, adding:  A country that was made in the name of the prophet cannot accept Qadianis.  Always volatile, political atmosphere in Pakistan has been especially tense since the Supreme Court removed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office in July over corruption allegations, which he denies. The calculations of the mainstream parties have been complicated by the formation of two new Islamist political groups that garnered more than 10 percent in two recent by-elections and could become spoilers in a close election. One of the new parties, Tehreek-e-Labaik, launched a political furor last month after lawmakers from Sharif s party, which still holds a parliamentary majority, approved apparently small changes to the country s election law. The changes eliminated a requirement for Ahmadi voters to declare they are not Muslim and turned a religious oath for elected officials declaring belief in the Finality of the Prophet and affirming they are not Ahmadi into a simple declaration of belief. Tehreek-e-Labaik quickly termed any concessions to Ahmadis to be blasphemy and threatened mass protests. The government, still controlled by Sharif s party, quickly retreated and reversed the changes. A week later, speaking before Pakistan s National Assembly, Sharif s son-in-law, lawmaker Muhammad Safdar Awan called for Ahmadis to be barred from employment in the government, judiciary, and military. Sharif himself later distanced himself from Safdar s statement. The climbdown did not appease Tehreek-e-Labaik, which last week launched street protests blockading roads into Islamabad and demanding the law minister be sacked. The protests are ongoing and have paralyzed traffic in the capital. Saadia Toor, author of State of Islam said it s likely that anti-Ahmadi rhetoric will continue up to next year s elections, due by the end of August.  Anti-Ahmedi sentiment is widely held across the Pakistani Muslim mainstream, even among moderate Sunnis,  she said.  So using them as scapegoats for political purposes is easy.

Summary: पाकिस्तान के लंबे समय से प्रताड़ित अहमदी अल्पसंख्यकों को चुनावी बलि का बकरा बनने का डर है


ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Clashes along the border of Ethiopia s Oromiya and Somali regions have displaced around 50,000 people, a senior regional official said on Sunday, in violence that has prompted the government to send the military in.  Spokesmen from the two regions told regional news outlets earlier this week that at least 50 people were killed. Each side blames the other.  Lema Megersa, president of Oromiya province, told local journalists on Sunday:  It is not just deaths that occurred. More than 50,000 people were displaced from their homes.    Those responsible should also be held to account,  he added. He did not give a death toll. The area has been plagued by sporadic clashes for decades. A referendum held in 2004 to determine the status of disputed settlements failed to ease tensions.  Unrest in 2015 and 2016 in Oromiya - and to a lesser extent other regions - killed 669 people, according to a parliament-mandated investigation. The clashes are likely to fuel further fears about security in Ethiopia, the region s biggest economy and a staunch Western ally.  Each side gave contradictory explanations about the cause of the clashes. Some officials in Oromiya said it was sparked by the killing of a local district head and raids by a paramilitary force from the Somali region.  Officials from the Somali region denied those claims. Fifty ethnic Somalis were killed in the town of Aweday in Oromiya on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Somali region told local media on Friday. International media were not permitted at the briefing.  On Sunday, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said soldiers deployed to the region to quell the violence would disarm residents and safeguard highways straddling the regions.

Summary: पूर्वी इथियोपिया में एक सप्ताह से चल रहे संघर्षों में 50 लोगों की मौत, 50,000 लोग विस्थापित हुएः अधिकारी