JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. presidential trips are an opportunity to project power and burnish statesmanship. But they come with diplomatic dangers and potential pitfalls, too. For Donald Trump, several of those await in Jerusalem and Bethlehem next week. A nine-day tour taking in Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territories, the Vatican and NATO would be a tall order for any president. But for Trump, under siege at home over questions about his administration’s links to Russia and his firing of FBI chief James Comey, it is a particularly demanding itinerary, especially for a first overseas venture. During his campaign, Trump promised to be Israel’s “best friend” if elected, and signaled that it was okay for the Israeli government to go on building settlements on occupied land since he didn’t regard it as an obstacle to peace. Since taking office, however, Trump has shifted tack, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “hold back” on settlements, and praising Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a White House meeting this month, part of an effort to bring the sides together and launch another attempt at Middle East peace. It looks unlikely Trump will manage to get Netanyahu and Abbas to shake hands during his 28-hour visit to the Holy Land, and the prospects of him setting a timetable for a resumption of peace talks also look dim. But that doesn’t mean other diplomatic traps aren’t lying in wait. Perhaps the most sensitive is what Trump ends up saying — or not saying — about a promise he made during the election campaign to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. No country in the world has its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem since the status of the city remains disputed in the eyes of the international community. While Israelis call Jerusalem their “indivisible capital”, Palestinians want the capital of any future state in the east of the city. Only once Jerusalem’s final status is agreed via direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians are foreign countries likely to move their embassies to the city. In the meantime, Trump has appointed as his envoy to Israel David Friedman, a devout Jew who insists the embassy must be moved and plans to work out of Jerusalem some days of the week. When Friedman arrived in Israel this week, his first act was to visit Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, a symbolic departure from usual protocol. Trump intends to visit the Western Wall too, something past presidents have not done because of the political sensitivities. The Wall stands in the Old City in the east of Jerusalem, which Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East war. Officially, the United Nations, the United States and others consider the Old City and East Jerusalem occupied territory and do not recognize Israel’s claim to sovereignty over it. As a result, the U.S. State Department turned down a request for Netanyahu to accompany Trump and his family when they visit the site on Monday. Instead, the president will be accompanied by the rabbi of the Western Wall. “This is the most appropriate way to show the proper deference to such a significant holy site,” a State Department official said. Yet in an interview with Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu paper, Trump said his plans “could still change” and suggested he might ask Netanyahu to join him, a last-minute move that would please Netanyahu but anger the Palestinians. On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to visit Abbas for an hour in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, which lies a few kilometers south of Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  To get there, the president’s convoy will have to pass through Israel’s high-security checkpoint and towering concrete barriers that cut the West Bank off from Jerusalem. Both Palestinians and Israelis will be on alert to see what language Trump uses when he meets Abbas. While the president hasn’t clearly backed a two-state solution — Israel and a Palestinian state — he is expected to voice support for Palestinian “self-determination”, a phrase that nods in the direction of an independent Palestinian state. After negotiating that diplomatic minefield, Trump is scheduled to visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial. He has set aside 15 minutes for the visit, unlike previous presidents who spent an hour or more at the site.

Summary: पवित्र भूमि में 28 घंटों के दौरान ट्रम्प को राजनयिक बाधाओं का सामना करना पड़ता है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday it had not changed its position on Catalonia after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy  announced he would invoke special constitutional powers to fire the regional government and force a new election.  The position is well known. We ve always said we respect the constitutional and legal arrangement of Spain,  a Commission spokesman said. He added that the measures taken were  precisely to be seen within that constitutional context .

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ आयोग का कहना है कि उसने कैटेलोनिया पर अपना रुख नहीं बदला है


(Reuters) - Democratic senators in Missouri were in the 20th hour of filibuster on Tuesday, trying to block a Republican-proposed amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit penalties on religious groups that discriminate against same-sex couples.  The Democratic caucus began the filibuster at 4 p.m. on Monday and members said they planned to continue until Wednesday. A filibuster is a prolonged debate - often around the clock - aimed at blocking progress of an initiative. The proposed amendment in Missouri is the latest in a series of measures introduced around the country by conservatives in reaction to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court legalization of same-sex marriage. The measures seek to protect religious groups and companies from being fined or punished if they decline to provide services such as wedding cakes or flowers to same-sex couples.  “The most offensive thing is that it would put discriminatory language into the constitution of the state. But it would also put general revenue of the state at risk,” Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny, a Democrat, told Reuters. He pointed to a similar Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana that led to groups threatening to cancel conventions in Indianapolis. If the resolution to amend the constitution, SJR 39, passes the Senate, it would go to the state’s House of Representatives and then to Missouri voters for approval. Republicans dominate both houses of Missouri’s General Assembly, with 24 of 34 Senate seats and 116 of 163 House seats. Keaveny said Republicans could respond to the filibuster by forcing a vote on the resolution to amend the constitution, but said that would be an unusual step. They could withdraw the resolution, or put it on an informal calendar to debate at a later date. Republican Senator Bob Onder, who sponsored the resolution, said the resolution does not discriminate, but protects vulnerable religious institutions.  “We are fighting for fairness and the right for people to freely live out their faith while not infringing on the rights of others,” he said.  The language of the proposed amendment says it “prohibits the state from imposing a penalty on a religious organization who acts in accordance with a sincere religious belief concerning same sex marriage, which includes the refusal to perform a same sex marriage ceremony or allow a same sex wedding ceremony to be performed on the religious organization’s property.” Although the amendment does not mention companies, Keaveny said Democrats believe it would allow businesses to claim religious belief as a defense for refusing service to same-sex couples.

Summary: मिसौरी डेमोक्रेट्स फिलिबस्टर ने समलैंगिक भेदभाव संशोधन का प्रस्ताव रखा


LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama declined on Sunday to comment on media reports that senior defense and intelligence officials in his administration had requested the removal of National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers. Obama called Rogers a “terrific patriot” during a news conference at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, adding he did not generally comment on personnel matters.

Summary: ओबामा ने एनएसए प्रमुख को हटाने की खबरों पर टिप्पणी करने से किया इनकार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed an order on Monday that will seek to dramatically reduce federal regulations, but the policy will not apply to most of the financial reform rules introduced by the Obama administration. Trump’s latest executive action will require that agencies cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced and it will set an annual cap on the cost of new regulations. For the rest of fiscal 2017, the cap will require that the cost of any additional regulations be completely offset by undoing existing rules. But, the move does not cover independent agencies that crafted many of the rules required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the White House said.     It also would not apply to rules mandated by statutes.  “There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be normalized control,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office, surrounded by a group of small business owners. During a meeting with the business owners, Trump described the Dodd-Frank law as “a disaster.” He asserted that it was “almost impossible now to start a small business and it’s virtually impossible to expand your existing business because of regulations.” The creation of new U.S. businesses has actually climbed steadily since 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (bit.ly/2jnU32o)  White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday called the executive order a “first step” and said the administration would work with Congress to begin making changes to Dodd-Frank.          Implementing the new regulatory order may be difficult alongside the Trump administration’s push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, said Tom Bulleit, head of the healthcare practice in the Washington D.C. office of law firm Ropes & Gray.  As the Congress passes new legislation on healthcare, there will need to be new rules, Bulleit said.  “There’s a great deal of regulation that is either expressly required by legislation or is necessary to make the legislation work,” he said. Consumer groups and environmentalists criticized the push to peel back regulations, arguing that it would remove important protections for the public.    Major regulations are typically reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before they are issued. That review will continue under this new measure, but agencies will also have to identify what two regulations will be repealed to offset the costs of any new rule. Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman said the new order was “entirely unnecessary,” given similar cost-benefit regulatory directives made by past presidents and existing agency processes for reviewing older rules. “Even it is fairly toothless in the end, it will be a weapon that OMB can use to harass agencies and slow regulation,” Freeman said. The new order does not require that the repeal of the two regulations be done simultaneously with the release of additional rules.  “This vests tremendous power and responsibility in the OMB director to ensure the president’s direction in how we manage this across the government,” a White House official told reporters before the signing. Certain categories of regulations will be exempt from this new policy, including those dealing with the military and national security. The OMB director will also have the ability to waive this policy in certain instances.  Trump has tapped U.S. Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina to lead the OMB.

Summary: व्यापारिक नियमों को लक्षित करने वाले ट्रम्प के आदेश ने प्रमुख नियमों को अछूता छोड़ दिया है।


LONDON (Reuters) - Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said on Sunday he hoped that people in Catalonia would disregard any instruction from the regional leadership if Spain moves to suspend the region s autonomy.  All the government is trying to do, and reluctantly, is to reinstate the legal order, to restore the constitution but also the Catalan rules and proceed from there,  he told the BBC s Andrew Marr Show.  We are going to establish the authorities who are going to rule the day-to-day affairs of Catalonia according to the Catalan laws and norms ... I hope everyone will disregard whatever instructions they will be planning to give because they will not have the legal authority to do that.

Summary: स्पेन को उम्मीद है कि कैटेलन के लोग क्षेत्रीय नेताओं के निर्देशों की अवहेलना करेंगेः मंत्री


PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton will accuse Donald Trump of embracing a brand of U.S. political conservatism associated with white nationalism and nativism when she makes a Nevada campaign stop on Thursday.  Aides said Clinton will link Trump’s statements about immigration and religion to the rise of a political fringe movement in the U.S. known as the “alternative right”, which opposes multiculturalism and immigration. Clinton’s speech is an effort to keep attention focused on what a top aide called Trump’s “divisive and dystopian vision” as he tries to reverse his slumping position in opinion polls in key battleground states before the Nov. 8 presidential election. Her campaign said Trump’s recent installation of a new campaign leadership team was no indicator that he would move away from past statements criticizing the objectivity of an American judge of Mexican heritage or proposing to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. “Trump’s newly installed brain trust,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement, “completes Donald Trump’s disturbing takeover of the Republican Party. “Republicans up and down the ticket are going to have to choose whether they want to be complicit in this lurch toward extremism or stand with voters who can’t stomach it,” he said. Trump’s campaign declined to comment on Clinton’s campaign speech, but at a Mississippi rally on Wednesday, the Republican nominee called Clinton a “bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings.” Trump is set to meet with African-American leaders in New York City on Thursday and said he would unveil an immigration proposal within the next two weeks. In comments broadcast on Fox News on Wednesday night, Trump backed farther away from his hardline stance on deporting millions of illegal immigrants, saying he would be willing to work with those who have abided by U.S. laws while living in the country. When asked by CNN to respond to Trump’s charge that she was a “bigot” on Wednesday evening, Clinton said he was “taking a hate movement mainstream. “He’s brought it into his campaign. He’s bringing it to our communities and our country,” Clinton said. “I will have more to say about this tomorrow.” Her campaign cites Trump’s decision to bring on Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon as his new campaign chief as a sign Trump is strengthening his ties to the alternative right movement. During Bannon’s tenure, Breitbart News increased its coverage of alt-right issues, and Bannon told the magazine Mother Jones during the Republican National Convention last month that the website was “the platform for the alt-right”. The term “alt-right” is used to describe a faction of political conservatives that have used the Internet in recent months to advance views of white supremacism, anti-Semitism and nativism.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने ट्रम्प पर नेटिविस्ट राजनीतिक आंदोलन को अपनाने का आरोप लगाया


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s foreign ministry stressed the Pyeongchang Olympics will be safe from North Korean provocations in a briefing to diplomats and executives at foreign companies in the country on Friday, as concerns persist over tensions with the North. Officials and executives from around 120 embassies and companies in South Korea were hosted by the ministry to explain the government s efforts for a safe Olympic Games scheduled for Feb. 9-25 next year, officials told Reuters.  We will consider it our top priority to ensure the safety and security of each and every national team, the Olympic family, and all the spectators visiting Pyeongchang during the Games,  said Park Enna, a foreign ministry official, in opening remarks at the meeting.  (We) will thoroughly prepare the Pyeongchang Olympics so that it may be regarded as the safest Olympics in history.  Briefing topics included current events regarding North Korea and the Korean peninsula as well as preparations in general for the Pyeongchang Olympics, she added. Officials from the United States, Japan, Russia and China, as well as members of chambers of commerce for Japan, China and Europe were to attend, according to the ministry. An official at the Japanese chamber of commerce in South Korea told Reuters ahead of the meeting they were not specifically aware which companies were planning to attend as the ministry appears to have contacted businesses separately. Park said the UN Olympic Truce Resolution, which has been adopted every two years since 1993 to cease all conflicts during the period of the Truce, will be adopted at the UN General Assembly on Nov. 13 for the Pyeongchang Games. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen in recent months as North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged threats and insults over the North s nuclear and missile development program. Concerns over safety grew in tandem as the Games will take place just 80 km (50 miles) from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, the world s most-heavily armed border.  France s Sports Minister Laura Flessel said last month that if the crisis in the region deepened and athletes  security could not be guaranteed then they would not travel to the Games. Members of France s Winter Olympics team, however, have remained optimistic the country will not boycott. Park said governments reportedly hesitant on participating in the Games have stated their position to partake in and support the coming Olympics. Rattled by rising tensions with North Korea, South Korea has been taking extra measures to try to ensure the safety of the 2018 Winter Games, including setting up a crack cyber defense team and doubling the number of troops, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. North and South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict with a truce and not a peace treaty.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया ने राजनयिकों, कंपनियों को प्योंगचांग ओलंपिक की सुरक्षा पर जोर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday that before the party’s convention in July, he would put out names of possible candidates he might nominate to the Supreme Court if he is elected president. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said would consider “wonderful, conservative, good, solid, brilliant judges in the form of” the late Justice Antonin Scalia. “I’m going to actually lay them out. I’m going to discuss people ... I think before the convention. I want to put 10, 12, 15 names of the type of people that we’d like,” he said. “From that list, I would choose.”

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि वह जुलाई तक सुप्रीम कोर्ट के संभावित उम्मीदवारों के नाम घोषित करेंगेः फॉक्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was dismayed about violence and divisiveness on the U.S. presidential campaign trail and, in a reference to Republican front-runner Donald Trump, called on leaders to clean up the tone of the race. “We have heard vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities, at Americans who don’t look like us or pray like us or vote like we do,” Obama said during an event on Capitol Hill. “We’ve seen misguided attempts to shut down that speech. However offensive it may be, we live in a country where free speech is one of the most important rights that we hold. In response to those attempts, we’ve seen actual violence. And we’ve heard silence from too many of our leaders.” Obama spoke as Americans in five states - Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina - voted in the latest round of primaries to select the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates for the November election. Trump has drawn wide criticism, including from within the Republican establishment, for a campaign that has included calling Mexican immigrants rapists and proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. There have been some clashes in recent days at his rallies between his supporters and protesters. Trump, a New York real estate magnate, has dismissed accusations that he has fueled the violent atmosphere. Obama said this year’s campaign cycle was not an accurate reflection of the United States. “It has to stop,” the Democratic president said, describing the atmosphere of the campaign as “vicious,” and adding that the behavior “can undermine our democracy, our society and even our economy.” Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, told reporters that Trump had called him on Tuesday. “I took the opportunity to recommend to him that no matter who may be triggering these violent expressions or conflicts that we’ve seen in some of these rallies, it might be a good idea to condemn that and discourage it,” McConnell said. He declined to comment on Trump’s response.  U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich are challenging Trump for the nomination. “I suspect that all of us can recall some intemperate words that we regret. Certainly I can,” Obama said. “And while some may be more to blame than others for the current climate, all of us are responsible for reversing it.”

Summary: ओबामा ने चुनाव प्रचार के दौरान 'द्वेषपूर्ण' लहजे और हिंसा को रोकने का आह्वान किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian serviceman in the Caucasus region of Chechnya killed four other servicemen on Monday, then he was killed by the members of an alert unit, TASS news agency cited a Federal National Guard Troops Service spokesman as saying. A man who opened fire was a senior lieutenant of National Guard Troops, TASS reported.

Summary: टी. ए. एस. एस. की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, चेचन्या में रूसी सैनिक ने चार सैनिकों की हत्या कर दी, फिर उनकी हत्या कर दी गई


PARIS (Reuters) - The United Nations  cultural agency selected former French culture minister Audrey Azoulay as its new chief on Friday, handing her the keys to revive UNESCO s fortunes after the United States pulled out.  Azoulay edged Qatar s Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari after the fifth round of voting and the decision will now be put forward for approval to UNESCO s 195 members on Nov. 10. A sudden announcement on Thursday that the United States was quitting over perceived anti-Israel bias meant that whoever wins the top job would inherit a body in turmoil, with huge questions over its future funding and mission.  In this time of crisis we need more than ever to support, strengthen and reform UNESCO and not leave it,  Azoulay told reporters, saying she would modernize the organization.  If I m confirmed...the first thing I will do is to restore its credibility, restore the faith of its members and its efficiency so it can act.  Azoulay, who will replace Irina Bokova, a Bulgarian who has led the body since 2009, will have to try to restore the relevance of an agency born from the ashes of World War Two, but increasingly hobbled by regional rivalries and a lack of money.  Congratulations  France will continue to fight for science, education and culture in the world,  President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.  The 45-year-old, a former minister under President Francois Hollande, has the political background, and knows the cultural and communications  sectors well having dedicated much of her career to them. She also has the ardent backing of Macron, who had lobbied for her actively overseas during the last few months, and has made education one of his top priorities. He has also pushed for more multlilateralism at a time when the United States has pushed back. Officially known as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris-based UNESCO is best known for designating and protecting archaeological and heritage sites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu. Most of its activities are uncontroversial, but when it comes to, say, resolutions about how religious sites should be run in Jerusalem, every word is studied for accusations of bias. The United States is meant to provide a fifth of UNESCO s funding, but had already been withholding that since 2011 when the body admitted Palestine as a full member. It announced its departure on Thursday accusing UNESCO of anti-Israeli bias. Israel itself followed.  Unfortunately, this venue has become politicized, undermining the work of UNESCO across its mandate. It s become a venue for anti-Israel bias, and unfortunately we are taking the decision to withdraw from UNESCO at this time,  U.S. charge d affaires at UNESCO, Chris Hegadorn told Reuters.

Summary: यूनेस्को ने फ्रांस के अजोले को नया प्रमुख चुना


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese academics are publicly broaching the idea that China and the United States should share plans on how to deal with a  potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula, a sign some say of how North Korea s weapons test may be making Beijing more open to the once taboo subject. Chinese officials have rebuffed top U.S. military brass for years in their efforts to share contingencies for war or regime collapse in Pyongyang, suspicious over Washington s intentions and fearful that such engagement could further alienate North Korea, their once steadfast wartime ally. Jia Qingguo, the dean of the School of International Studies at China s elite Peking University and a respected advisor to Chinese leaders, said in an article this week that with the chances of war increasing daily, it might be time for China to  prepare for the worst .  When war becomes a real possibility, China must be prepared. And, with this in mind, China must be more willing to consider talks with concerned countries on contingency plans,  Jia wrote in an article first published on the online East Asia Forum run out of Australian National University. Given recent developments,  Beijing may have no better choice than to start talking with Washington and Seoul , Jia said. Ties between China and North Korea have deteriorated sharply in recent years, to the point some diplomats and experts fear Beijing may become, like Washington, a target of its neighbor s ire. Jia s comments, at the forefront of what is still a sensitive debate in China, were made before North Korea on Friday fired a missile that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean.  That test came after the U.N. Security Council s latest round of sanctions on Monday banning North Korea s textile exports and capping fuel supplies in response to Pyongyang s accelerated effort to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile. Xie Tao, associate dean at the School of English and International Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said Chinese academics in years past would typically only express their opinions on whether China should be sharing plans with Washington behind closed doors.  Now you can get all sorts of people from the left and right and they are allowed to make their views public,  Xie told Reuters.  You could interpret that as a signal that the Chinese government is perhaps willing now to consider, if not actually join up to, contingency plans,  Xie said.  My sense is that there must be some in-depth discussion about what could potentially happen if there is a collapse or internal chaos   how Beijing and Washington should respond to this.  During a trip to China in August, Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended Chinese military drills at China s Northern Theater Command in the city of Shenyang, which covers China s border with North Korea.  Some analysts perceived that as China opening a crack in the door to its own preparations, but neither side are showing their cards to the public. Dunford said in Beijing during that visit that despite Washington s urgings the  conditions aren t set for such a detailed conversation  between the two militaries.  U.S. military officials have privately voiced frustration that previous channels established for direct military communications line are essentially unstaffed on the Chinese side. Dunford said creating a round-the-clock  responsive  communications link that could be used in a crisis was a top priority for military ties.  For a graphic on North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, click: here

Summary: चीनी शिक्षाविदों ने बीजिंग को उत्तर कोरिया की आकस्मिकताओं पर विचार करने के लिए उकसाया


BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is undermining international stability with his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital and move the U.S. embassy there, the leader of Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) said on Wednesday. Affirming his support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, Martin Schulz said Trump s decision, taken despite warnings from a wide range of U.S. allies, risked setting back the peace process in the Middle East. Trump is due to announce later on Wednesday that the United States recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy there, breaking with longtime U.S. policy and possibly stirring unrest.

Summary: जेरूसलम के कदम से ट्रम्प स्थिरता को कमजोर कर रहे हैंः जर्मनी के शुल्ज


ARLINGTON, Va. (Reuters) - Washington has dramatically increased tensions in talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement by proposing that the lifespan of any new deal be limited to five years, people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. The proposal for a so-called sunset clause - just one of a series of U.S. initiatives that are opposed by NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico - only served to increase uncertainty about the future of the deal. Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks described the atmosphere as “horrible” and highly charged. The U.S. side proposed the sunset clause late on Wednesday during the fourth of seven scheduled rounds to update the rules governing one of the world’s biggest trade blocs, said two officials, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The Trump administration says the clause, causing NAFTA to expire every five years unless all three countries agree it should continue, is to ensure the pact stays up to date. But Mexico and Canada insist there is no point updating the pact with such a threat hanging over it, arguing the clause would stunt investment by sowing too much uncertainty about the future of the agreement. “It’s a source of total uncertainty,” said one of the NAFTA government officials. Speaking in Mexico City, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said the government was working on plans to alter tariffs and identify substitute markets in case the NAFTA talks failed. His remarks and the tension around NAFTA helped push the peso down 1 percent against the U.S. dollar to a five-month low. U.S. President Donald Trump says NAFTA, originally signed in 1994, has been a disaster for the United States and has frequently threatened to scrap it unless major changes are made. Business and farm groups say abandoning the 23-year-old pact would wreak economic havoc, disrupting cross-border manufacturing supply chains and slapping high tariffs on agricultural products. Trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico has quadrupled under NAFTA, now topping $1.2 trillion a year. In addition to the sunset clause, the United States wants to boost how much North American content autos must contain to qualify for tax-free status and eliminate a dispute settlement mechanisms that Canada insists must stay. Some trade observers said it is difficult to see how negotiators could reach an agreement given U.S. demands that many see as non-starters. The head of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector labor union, said it was clear the United States did not want a deal. “NAFTA is not going anywhere. This thing is going into the toilet,” Jerry Dias told reporters on Thursday. Despite clear signs of impatience from Canada in particular, U.S. negotiators have yet to submit their proposal on rules of origin for the auto sector. That looked unlikely to come before Friday, another official familiar with the talks said. Trump on Wednesday repeated his warnings that he might terminate the pact and said he was open to doing a bilateral deal with either Canada or Mexico. He was speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who later said Canada was “braced” for Trump’s unpredictability. Negotiators were also set to cover the difficult issue of government procurement on Thursday. Canada and Mexico want their companies to be able to bid on more U.S. federal and state government contracts, but this is at odds with Trump’s “Buy American” agenda. U.S. negotiators have countered with a proposal that would effectively grant the other countries less access, people familiar with the talks say. On automotive rules of origin, NAFTA negotiators face tough new U.S. demands to increase regional vehicle content to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, with 50 percent required from the United States, according to people briefed on the plan.  The rules of origin demands are among several conditions that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has labeled “poison pill proposals” that threaten to torpedo the talks.

Summary: अमेरिका ने 'सूर्यास्त खंड' के आह्वान के साथ नाफ्टा वार्ता में तनाव बढ़ाया


MONROVIA (Reuters) - One of Liberia s leading political parties called for a halt in announcing the result of Tuesday s presidential election, citing irregularities in the vote.  The Liberty Party, whose candidate Charles Brumskine was considered a front-runner to take over from Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, said it would consider taking legal action if the National Elections Commission (NEC) did not act on its demands. The NEC was originally expected to release preliminary results on Thursday.   The Liberty Party is deeply troubled by the discovery of numerous incidents of irregularities and fraud that occurred during the elections,  Liberty Party national chairman Benjamin Sanvee said in a statement.   We are calling on NEC to immediately halt further announcements of election results. If NEC does not cooperate with our request, we will take the appropriate legal action,  he said. He did not give specific evidence of voter fraud and it was unclear what kind of activity could have altered Tuesday s vote.  An NEC spokesman told Reuters that it was unaware of the Liberty Party s complaint and did not say whether the commission believed illegal acts occurred.  On election day, materials including ballot boxes arrived late in some locations and some people struggled to find their names on voter rolls, witnesses said, but there was so far no evidence that this was linked to illicit activity. Any irregularities would taint the results of an election expected to mark the first democratic transfer of power in over seven decades in a country haunted by a civil war that ended nearly 15 years ago. Liberia, Africa s oldest modern republic, was founded by freed U.S. slaves in 1847 but its last democratic power transfer dates back to 1943. Johnson Sirleaf, Africa s first elected female president, won a surprise victory in 2005 following a post-war transition. She was re-elected in 2011 but is barred from seeking another term.

Summary: लाइबेरिया के मुख्य दलों में से एक ने चुनाव परिणामों को रोकने का आह्वान किया


BERN (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday that it would be seen in the next few days whether Brexit talks with Britain had made enough progress to enter a second phase of negotiations.  We are in intense negotiation with the UK to end the first phase of the talks about topics such as citizen rights, the  Ireland problem , the bill that will have to be paid,  Juncker told a news conference during an official visit to Switzerland.  The worst is behind us, but there has not been sufficient progress for me to say that we can enter the second phase of the talks about our relationship in the future. We ll see that within the next few days,  he said.  Asked about a report the UK could pay 45 billion pounds for its Brexit divorce, he said:  I m not crazy enough to give an immediate answer to the question.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के जंकर का कहना है कि 'अगले कुछ दिनों' में देखेंगे कि क्या ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता दूसरे चरण में प्रवेश कर सकती है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov urged U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon to stop destroying Russia-U.S. relations and to start finding a way to resolve their problems, Russia s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.  We called for a stop to the destruction of Russia-U.S. relations and ... to start finding solutions to resolve problems that are mounting through no fault of ours,  a statement said after Ryabkov and Shannon met in Helsinki.

Summary: रूस ने अमेरिका से समस्याओं के समाधान का रास्ता खोजना शुरू करने का आग्रह किया


TUNIS (Reuters) - More than 90 mayors from across Libya s political divides are meeting for the first time in an effort to shore up their role in tackling conflict-linked crises and promote themselves as a unifying movement. Local councils are one of the few parts of the vast North African state still functioning in a country where rival camps have split the government and major institutions as they vie for power and a share of shrunken oil revenues.  When a citizen grumbles or complains about a service, he goes to the municipality. There is no other place for him to go,  said Abdulrahman el-Abbar, mayor of the eastern city of Benghazi, before the three-day meeting that began on Wednesday in Hammamet in neighboring Tunisia - security risks and political schisms make meeting inside Libya difficult.  You need to reinforce (the municipality s) powers so that it can provide the right services to the people.  Despite Libya s oil wealth, public services were weak under Muammar Gaddafi s long rule. As Libya splintered and  lawlessness set in following the 2011 uprising that ousted Gaddafi, services steadily collapsed. A U.N.-backed government has largely replaced a self-declared rival in the capital Tripoli, but a third, almost powerless government, has held out in eastern Libya, aligning itself with military commander Khalifa Haftar. All have overseen a worsening of living conditions, leaving residents seeking local or improvised solutions.  Abdulrahman al-Hamedi, mayor of Tripoli s Abu Salim district, says he has few resources to support residents crushed by rapid inflation, cash shortages and disrupted services. In what used to be one of the region s richest countries, monthly wages are now often worth less than $100 because of the sharp depreciation of the Libyan dinar on the black market, Hamedi said. Abu Salim has been shaken by militia battles from the revolution until earlier this year, and is also home to large numbers of displaced people from other conflict-ridden areas.   Currently the security situation is relatively stable,  said Hamedi.  The economic situation is really terrible, given the lack of basic services that the citizen would normally be provided with, such as electricity or water or gas, or obtaining cash or even food products.  The United Nations relaunched a peace process in September, but the mayors have little hope of quick progress.  The Hammamet meeting, which was facilitated by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based private diplomacy organization, brings elected mayors from the west aligned with the U.N.-backed government together with eastern mayors, some of whom, like Abbar, owe their positions to Haftar.  They are discussing ways to act as a force for reconciliation as well as pressing for devolved powers.    All the Libyan municipalities are in contact from the extreme east to the extreme west and the south; we don t have any problems,  said Yousef Ibderi, mayor of Gharyan, 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, who uses a walking frame after being hit by a sniper s bullet early last year.  In the last three and a half years there has been no strong government, there s been no presence of the governments at all, but the municipalities were active despite a complete lack of budget and means, they were the guardians of stability and peace,  he said.   So we consider decentralization to be a very, very important solution and one that we need to work on.

Summary: देश की मंदी से निपटने के लिए अधिक लाभ के लिए लीबिया के महापौरों की बैठक


BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior member of Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) said her party would start talks next week with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives on forming a governing coalition, a move that could end a political impasse in Europe s largest economy. The SPD voted on Thursday to open discussions with the conservatives despite having earlier pledged to go into opposition after suffering its worst election result in the post-war era in September. The consultations - between Merkel, her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer and SPD leader Martin Schulz, as well as the parliamentary leaders of the three parties - will begin in Berlin on Wednesday evening. The result of the talks remains open and a  grand coalition  between the SPD and conservatives was no foregone conclusion, Andrea Nahles, the SPD s parliamentary leader, told Deutschlandfunk radio on Friday.   It s no more and no less than having talks,  Nahles said.  It s not automatic that we ll end up in a grand coalition - rather tough discussions will be necessary, and I don t know what the conservatives are prepared to work with us on.  Merkel, who has been at the helm in Germany for 12 years, hopes the SPD will agree to a re-run of the grand coalition that has governed Germany for the last four years. She was forced to turn to the SPD after talks with the environmentalist Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on a three-way alliance collapsed. Her conservative bloc has welcomed the SPD s decision to start initial talks. They would still need to decide later whether to proceed to full-blown coalition talks. The majority of Germans (70 percent) expect a grand coalition to form, a Forsa poll for broadcaster ZDF showed on Friday. It found almost half of Germans (47 percent) would be happy with such an alliance. Around a third (36 percent) disapproved of another conservative alliance, which would make the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) the biggest opposition party. The SPD gained two points in the Forsa poll to 23 percent; the conservatives shed a point to 32 percent. Merkel s conservatives and the SPD both saw their vote share shrink in September elections, complicating the coalition arithmetic. Their coalition remains in place as a caretaker government. Nahles said the SPD had not set any conditions for joining a coalition with the conservatives, adding:  You don t go into negotiations with a huge backpack full of red lines.  But she said the SPD had laid out key points, including getting rid of Germany s two-tier public and private health system - an idea the conservatives oppose. Seehofer, leader of Bavaria s arch-conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) - the sister party to Merkel s conservatives - said his party would not agree to that, telling magazine Der Spiegel he could not imagine how such a system could be implemented without causing  profound injustices . Seehofer also rejected Schulz s idea to create a United States of Europe by 2025, saying that would  certainly remain a utopia . On the issue of immigration - which was behind the collapse of the talks between the conservatives, Greens and FDP - Nahles said the SPD needed to  take the bull by the horns . Speaking at the SPD party congress on Friday, she said Germany needed an immigration law but also a realistic recognition of the difficulties that some municipalities face in integrating refugees.

Summary: जर्मन एस. पी. डी. ने कहा कि आसन्न सरकारी वार्ता के लिए परिणाम अनिश्चित है


(Reuters) - Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Federal Election Commission to require transparency for social media advertising after Russians bought U.S. political ads on Facebook Inc (FB.O) in an alleged attempt to influence the 2016 elections. Pressure is mounting on regulators and Silicon Valley companies to open up the opaque world of online political ads and to prevent governments from using them to sway elections or attempt other meddling.  “Social media platforms offer the ability to target millions of users based upon a wealth of highly detailed information,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the election commission.  “As we have seen, the low cost of reaching these users equips hostile foreign actors with a powerful new tool for disruption of our democratic process.”  Some 20 Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives signed the letter.  Facebook, the world’s largest social network, said this month that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of Facebook ads promoting divisive messages before and after last year’s U.S. presidential election.  Russia has denied meddling in the U.S. election, in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. U.S. congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating the allegations.     The Federal Election Commission last week sought public comment on possible regulatory changes, and the commission is considering holding a public hearing, with Facebook and other tech companies as invited witnesses.  Facebook has said it is working with U.S. authorities who are investigating alleged Russian meddling and also taking steps, such as removing fake accounts, to prevent manipulation of its platform.

Summary: रूस समर्थित राजनीतिक विज्ञापनों के बाद डेमोक्रेट ने खुलासा करने की मांग की


BERNE (Reuters) - Neutral Switzerland is prepared to act as a mediator to help resolve the North Korea crisis, including by hosting ministerial talks, Swiss President Doris Leuthard said on Monday. Leuthard said Swiss troops were deployed on the demarcation zone between South Korea and North Korea and noted that her country - along with Sweden - had a long history of neutral and discreet diplomacy. This has included Switzerland representing U.S. interests in both Iran and Cuba.  But China and the United States had to take their share of responsibility, she added, warning against  over-reactions  after the North s sixth and largest nuclear test. Sanctions  did not change many things  in terms of convincing Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs, even though its population had suffered, Leuthard said.  I think it really is time for dialogue,  she told a news conference in Berne.  We are ready to offer our role for good services as a mediator. I think in the upcoming weeks a lot will depend on how the U.S. and China can have an influence in this crisis. That s why I think Switzerland and Sweden can have a role behind the curtain.  Part of the task would be to find a suitable location for officials   perhaps the countries  foreign ministers   to meet, she said.  I think that s our role, to look at what kind of possibilities we find. Because, well, Twitter won t be an adequate instrument... This must be very discreet.  Noting that the Communist Party congress in North Korea s neighbor and ally China was due to take place in October,  Leuthard said the time for such initiatives was not ideal, so  perhaps this was also part of the plan of North Korea.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spent part of his youth in Berne studying under an assumed name. A framework agreement between North Korea and the United States, under the Clinton administration, was clinched in 1994 in Geneva after long negotiations. The deal by which Pyongyang was to freeze construction of its nuclear reactors, suspected of being part of its covert weapons program, in exchange for two light water nuclear reactors, unraveled in 2003.  North Korea is a worrying situation. We are a small country. Perhaps they could meet in Switzerland to find a political solution, not one with arms,  Leuthard said.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया संकट में मध्यस्थता के लिए स्विस तैयार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Washington research firm paid a former British spy’s company $168,000 for work on a dossier outlining Russian financial and personal links to Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, the U.S. firm said in a statement on Wednesday. Although it was public knowledge that Fusion GPS paid for the work, the amount had not been disclosed. Fusion GPS hired former MI6 officer Christopher Steele to collect information about Trump and his advisers. Fusion GPS’ statement said it had told Congress about how  $168,000 was paid last year to Orbis Business Intelligence, Steele’s company. The money paid to Orbis was taken from $1.02 million it received in fees and expenses from the Perkins Coie law firm, the statement said. The law firm represented the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, although initial research by Fusion into Trump and other Republican primary candidates was commissioned by a conservative website. Steele’s reports are central to investigations by a special counsel and congressional committees into U.S. intelligence agency allegations that Russia tried to help Trump’s campaign. Russia had repeatedly denied the allegations. Trump denies any collusion with Moscow officials, calling the probes a witch hunt. In an Oct. 29 message posted on Twitter, President Trump said the dossier had cost as much as $12 million, without providing evidence. “Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),....” Trump tweeted.     Sources familiar with Steele’s work said he began working for Fusion GPS in May 2016 and stopped with the election. Earlier, a Washington-based conservative website backed by a wealthy Republican donor, the Washington Free Beacon, hired Fusion to conduct research on Trump and other Republican candidates. (This version of the story was corrected to say $1.02 million instead of $1.2 million in paragraph 4)

Summary: पूर्व ब्रिटिश जासूस ने ट्रम्प डोजियर के लिए 168,000 डॉलर का भुगतान किया, अमेरिकी फर्म ने खुलासा किया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has not promised to ensure a withdrawal of pro-Iranian forces from Syria, RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Tuesday. The presence of Iran in Syria is legitimate, Lavrov was quoted as saying by another agency, Interfax.

Summary: रूस का कहना है कि उसने सीरिया से ईरान समर्थक बलों की वापसी का वादा नहीं किया था


MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Republican White House contender Marco Rubio struggled at a debate on Saturday at the worst possible time, potentially confounding his bid to emerge as Donald Trump’s chief rival in New Hampshire and giving hope to three rivals desperate for a strong showing.   Under assault from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over his level of experience as a first-term U.S. senator from Florida, Rubio retreated time and again to canned statements from his stump speech and looked uncomfortably rattled for the first time after seamless performances at seven prior debates. “Marco, the thing is this,” Christie said during one heated exchange early in the night, “when you’re president of the United States, when you’re a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn’t solve one problem for one person.”  While Rubio recovered later in the debate, the timing of his performance was terrible, coming three days before New Hampshire Republicans register their choices on Tuesday in the nation’s second nominating contest. The debate at St. Anselm College was the last face-off of the candidates before the vote. Rubio’s tough moments may breathe new life into the campaigns of Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Ohio Governor John Kasich, three experienced politicians who, like Rubio, represent establishment Republicans. All three have suffered from the dominance of front-runner  Trump in the Republican race. They are badly in need of a breakout moment to change the trajectory of the battle in New Hampshire, where the polls show Trump in the lead, Rubio in second and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in third place. Trump did not have his best debate. He looked flustered in a fight with Bush over the use of eminent domain in advancing the interests of public use projects and private industry. But he seemed to do well enough to possibly win on Tuesday in what would represent his first victory of the 2016 race, erasing the pain from a loss in the Iowa caucus last week, where he finished second to Cruz and just ahead of the surging Rubio. A victory in New Hampshire could put Trump on track for more wins in South Carolina on Feb. 20 and beyond on the way to the Nov. 8 election. For the second debate in a row, Bush looked polished and sounded like the candidate many establishment Republicans had pinned their hopes on. His problem is it may be too late. Kasich, likely to end his candidacy if he does not do well on Tuesday, delivered a positive message that could appeal to New Hampshire Republican voters, who famously make up their minds late and never seem in the mood to follow the lead of the Iowa caucuses, won by Cruz. The trouble for Rubio began soon after the debate started when the ABC News moderators asked Christie about Rubio’s experience in the U.S. Senate, and Christie pressed his case. Rubio critics have made much of the fact that his experience is akin to that of much-derided Democratic President Barack Obama, elected in 2008 when a first-term senator.  Rubio’s defense was that his and Obama’s world views are different, not that Obama has simply led the country down the path it is on because of inexperience. “Let’s dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing,” Rubio said. When Rubio repeated the same line again, Christie sought to reinforce the charge that Rubio is so inexperienced that he relies on well-worn talking points and cannot think on his feet. “There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody,” Christie said. Rubio repeated the line enough that someone created a Twitter profile called @RubioGlitch that repeated his line about Obama. Bush attacked Trump for using eminent domain, which allows governments to seize private lands for projects for the public good, to help him build casino complexes in Atlantic City. Eminent domain is a frequent target of criticism from conservative and anti-government groups. “What Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose. That is downright wrong,” he said. Trump said eminent domain was “a good thing” and was necessary to building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. “Certainly, it’s a necessity for our country,” he said. “He wants to be a tough guy, and it doesn’t work very well,” Trump said of Bush, telling the son and brother of former presidents to be quiet. When the crowd booed, Trump said, “that’s all his donors and special interests out there.” Trump, known for his tough stances with calls to ban Muslims from visiting the United States and deport immigrants without the proper documents, also called for a more empathetic view of the Republican call to repeal Obamacare insurance coverage for Americans. “There will be a certain number of people who will be on the street dying, and as a Republican I don’t want that to happen,” he said. Trump captured the biggest share of the conversation on Twitter during the debate, winning 33 percent of the conversation followed by Rubio at 20 percent and Cruz at 15 percent.  (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson and Alana Wise in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland and John Whitesides; Editing by Mary Milliken, Paul Simao and Robert Birsel) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: रूबियो राष्ट्रपति पद की बहस में लड़खड़ा गए, प्रतिद्वंद्वियों को दी उम्मीद


HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, while chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), used an alias for emails with employees and board members because his primary account was jammed with too many messages, the oil company said on Tuesday. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is investigating whether Exxon misled shareholders and the public about climate change, wrote to a judge on Monday accusing Exxon of not previously disclosing the alias and Tillerson’s climate-change communications through it. Exxon denied trying to hide anything.  “This was not an alias used to discuss only climate change,” Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Tuesday. “It was an account used for everyday business by senior executives who needed to reach” Tillerson, who left the company at the end of 2016 to become secretary of state. Tillerson received thousands of emails a day from climate change activists and others at his regular address - Rex.W.Tillerson@ExxonMobil.com - and that made it difficult to parse which messages were important to promptly address Exxon’s business operations, Jeffers said.     Tillerson used the email alias for eight years and sent thousands of messages. Sixty-four of those sent and received met the parameters for Schneiderman’s climate change subpoena and were turned over to New York officials, Jeffers said.  The email alias was Wayne.Tracker@ExxonMobil.com. Wayne is Tillerson’s middle name and “Tracker” is likely a reference to his past involvement in the Boy Scouts of America. Although Trump has vowed to reverse climate-change steps taken by former President Barack Obama, Exxon has said it believes it must address climate change. On Monday, it said: “ExxonMobil believes the risk of climate change is clear and warrants action.” Darren Woods, who succeeded Tillerson as Exxon’s CEO in January, does not use an email alias, nor does any other Exxon employee, Jeffers said. Use of the email alias was seized upon by environmentalists on Tuesday, who said it revealed a pattern of deception.  “If they had nothing to hide, than why the secret email account?” said Jamie Henn of 350.org, an environmental group.      Exxon plans to respond to Schneiderman in a court filing within the next several days, Jeffers said. The case is People of the State of New York v PricewaterhouseCoopers and Exxon Mobil Corporation, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 451962/2016.

Summary: एक्सॉन का कहना है कि टिलरसन का ईमेल उपनाम व्यावसायिक जरूरतों से प्रेरित था


MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will send more state police to Catalonia to block any moves to hold a banned independence referendum, the interior ministry said on Friday. The government in Madrid is facing one of its biggest political crises since the end of the Franco dictatorship and  the return of democracy four decades ago. It has called the referendum an illegal act and taken police and court action to block it. The new officers would monitor public spaces, keep order and  act in case the illegal referendum is maintained,  the ministry said in a statement. Catalonia s regional government said new measures including a ban on police time off were over the top and meant to create a false impression of crisis.  All you need is eyes in your head to see there is no violence,  spokesman Jordi Turull said. Catalan leaders have said they are determined to hold the vote on Oct. 1, defying the central Madrid government and a Constitutional Court ban. They have also said the Catalan assembly would declare independence within 48 hours of a  yes  vote. State police already on the ground carried out unprecedented raids on regional government offices, printers, newspapers and delivery companies, searching for campaign material on Wednesday. Spanish media have said between 3,000 and 4,000 state officers have already arrived or are on their way, though the interior ministry did not give any numbers. The reinforcements will join 5,000 state police already based in the region. The ministry said they would back up Catalonia s separate police force, called Mossos d Esquadra, which would remain in charge. So far the state and local police forces have worked together well, but Spanish government officials say in private the Mossos could do more to block the vote and maintain order. The Catalan interior minister said the new state forces on the ground were one more step toward taking over the local police, a move that is seen as unlikely by most observers because it would be reminiscent of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War, when the force was abolished.  The state is laying the groundwork to take over the Mossos d Esquadra. It s a clear attempt to discredit it,  said Joaquim Forn on Twitter. The Catalan government earlier this week accused the Spanish authorities of effectively taking over its administration after state police raided its offices and arrested officials, and the finance ministry took control of the local finance department. Authorities have had to billet some of the new officers in three ferries rented by the Spanish government and moored in the harbors of Barcelona and Tarragona because of both a shortage of temporary housing and to avoid clashes between protesters and police forces.

Summary: स्पेन ने कैटेलोनिया जनमत संग्रह को रोकने के लिए और पुलिस भेजी


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was taking an indefinite leave from the Weinstein Co, the film production company said on Friday, adding it will conduct an internal investigation into the New York Times’ report of sexual harassment allegations against one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. The Weinstein Company board of representatives said in a statement that it takes “extremely seriously” the accusations made in the Times story that said Weinstein had made eight settlements with women who had accused him of unwanted physical contact and sexual harassment over three decades.  Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and several Democratic politicians including Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Chuck Schumer said Friday they will re-route Weinstein’s political donations to women’s rights groups.  Weinstein Co board representatives called it “essential” to company culture “that all women who work for it or have any dealings with it or any of our executives are treated with respect and have no experience of harassment or discrimination.” The company said it has retained an outside legal firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations. Weinstein, 65, will take an indefinite leave of absence, the company said. His brother Bob, a co-chairman, and chief operating officer David Glasser will lead the company.  “As Harvey has said, it is important for him to get professional help for the problems he has acknowledged. Next steps will depend on Harvey’s therapeutic progress, the outcome of the Board’s independent investigation, and Harvey’s own personal decisions,” the board representatives added. Weinstein initially responded to the Times story on Thursday by apologizing for causing anyone pain, and saying he was taking a leave of absence. His lawyer later threatened to sue the New York Times. Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s best-known figures, has produced or distributed Oscar-winning movies including “Shakespeare in Love” and “Chicago.” He was a prominent donor to Democrats during the 2016 general election campaign. “The DNC will donate over $30,000 in contributions from Weinstein to EMILY’s List, Emerge America and Higher Heights because what we need is more women in power,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement.

Summary: वाइनस्टीन अनिश्चितकालीन छुट्टी पर, कंपनी ने आरोपों की जांच की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Asia experts who served in past Republican administrations said on Monday they would back Hillary Clinton in the presidential race as a Donald Trump presidency would lead to “ruinous marginalization” for the United States in the region. In an open letter, the eight former senior officials said that with global strategic competition growing, including from China, it was “absolutely the wrong time to elect an unstable, ill-prepared amateur with no vision or foresight to meet the manifold challenges of the 21st century.” They said the Republican nominee offered “only bluster or preposterous panaceas” for Asia that would “wreck our country’s credibility, economy, and leadership in very short order.” The signatories to the letter included Michael Green, who served as President George W. Bush’s top Asia adviser at the White House, James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, and Patrick Cronin, a former senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Should Trump get the chance to put his “nostrums” into practice, Asian countries would be forced to shift towards states challenging the United States, most notably China, and some might seek security through nuclear weapons, the former officials said. “In short, if the Trump brand ... becomes America’s brand, we can expect ruinous marginalization in Asia and unwanted compliance with rules which the Chinese and other challengers set,” they said. Their letter was the latest repudiation of Trump’s candidacy by Republican national security specialists. Last week, 50 former Republican national security officials, including a former CIA director, called Trump unqualified to lead and said he would be “the most reckless president in American history.” Trump responded to that statement by deriding the signatories as members of “the failed Washington elite” who “deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place.” Trump has caused alarm in Asia and beyond by saying he would consider letting Japan and South Korea build their own nuclear weapons, rather than have them relying on the United States for protection against North Korea and China. While making U.S. allies anxious, Trump has also irritated Beijing with his comments, such as by comparing the U.S. trade deficit with China to rape. One Chinese state newspaper equated him to Hitler. At the same time, Beijing also sees Trump as a businessmen with whom it could probably negotiate and may also hope he would be less tough on human rights than Clinton.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन एशिया के विशेषज्ञों का कहना है कि ट्रम्प का राष्ट्रपति पद 'विनाशकारी' होगा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium has given a cool welcome to Catalonia s ousted leader and may not offer the safe haven from Spanish justice that it once extended as it grapples with separatist troubles of its own. Carles Puigdemont was not invited by the Belgian government, Prime Minister Charles Michel said in a curt statement, a day after he arrived unannounced following his dismissal by Madrid on charges of rebellion over Catalonia s independence bid.  He will be treated like any other European citizen,  Michel said, noting Puigdemont was entitled to move freely within the EU.  He has the same rights and duties ... no more, no less.  Deputy premier Kris Peeters was even brusquer, saying:  When you declare independence, it s better to stay with your people.  Puigdemont himself told a news conference in Brussels that he was there to engage with the European Union   which has shunned his pleas   and not to exploit Belgium s reputation as a place of political asylum for citizens of other EU states.  Nonetheless, he traveled to a small town in western Flanders on Monday to hire a human rights lawyer with a successful track record of fighting extradition to Spain on behalf of Basque separatist sympathizers. The lawyer, Paul Bekaert warned, however, that EU rules have made it harder. He told Reuters that the European Arrest Warrant system had removed exceptions previously made for extraditions to face  political  charges like sedition in other EU states. Politics, too, may play a part. Eighteen months before the next Belgian federal election, there have already been tensions over Catalonia within the coalition, where Flemish nationalists sympathetic to the Catalans are a major force and Michel, a French-speaking liberal, has lately tried to mollify Madrid. On Tuesday, Spain s High Court called Puigdemont and 13 members of his sacked administration to testify on Thursday. It also said it had started processing rebellion and sedition charges against Puigdemont and other Catalan leaders. Bekaert said Puigdemont, who faces up to 30 years in jail if Spanish prosecutors follow through on plans to charge him with sedition and misuse of public funds, saw no hurry to file for asylum, a simple procedure that would halt any extradition. However, asylum requests from EU citizens are rarely accepted nowadays and are often rejected within days.  As an EU citizen, Puigdemont has to demonstrate that there is a clear risk of prosecution against him, that the sentence he could face could be disproportionate, that he doesn t have a fair trial in Spain,  said Dirk Vanheule, a law professor at Antwerp University and president of Belgium s Refugee Council.  If he fails to demonstrate that from the beginning, the asylum proceeding can be terminated within five days.  Koen Lemmens, a human rights lawyer and professor at Leuven University, said the Belgian asylum agency would not take into account potential diplomatic embarrassment. But it would be up to Puigdemont to prove he would not get a fair trial. The Belgian government looks unwilling to back him up. Michel annoyed Spain by speaking out against police violence as people voted in the Oct. 1 independence referendum. But he also slapped down his Flemish nationalist immigration minister for suggesting at the weekend that Belgium might grant asylum. That did not stop the French-speaking Socialist opposition from accusing Michel of damaging Belgium s credibility abroad. The issue may not fade quickly. Any EU citizen can stay for up to three months without permission. And despite support for Madrid from the Belgian government, judges refused in 1996 and again, under new EU rules, in 2004 to extradite Luis Moreno and Raquel Garcia, whom it accused of aiding Basque militants. The N-VA has soft-pedaled demands for splitting the richer, Dutch-speaking half of Belgium off but with elections looming it must be wary of the small, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang, whose leader attended Puigdemont s Brussels news conference. VB leader Tom Van Grieken called on N-VA ministers to break with Michel s refusal to recognize Catalan independence. Mark Demesmaeker, an N-VA member of the European Parliament, told Reuters he met Puigdemont in Barcelona a month ago and said he did have a case for asylum as the EU  looks the other way .  The fact he is coming here already says plenty enough about the situation in Spain and Catalonia,  Demesmaeker told Reuters.  He has no faith in the Spanish judiciary.

Summary: 'किसी भी यूरोपीय संघ के नागरिक की तरह': बेल्जियम का कैटलन शरण तय


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Omar Mateen entered an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, he wielded a weapon that has been used in massacres from California to Connecticut: a military-inspired semi-automatic rifle. Though so-called assault rifles account for a small fraction of the United States’ 30,000 annual gun deaths, they have been used in at least 10 mass shootings since 2011, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine. The prevalence of these firearms has made them a focal point in the debate over U.S. gun laws as opponents say civilians should not own what they describe as “weapons of war.” Backers say they are simply modern rifles enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans. In December 2012, Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15 to kill 28 children and adults at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut before taking his own life with a Glock pistol. Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook used two assault rifles and two pistols to kill 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015.  James Holmes carried an assault rifle, a shotgun and two pistols when he killed 12 people in a Colorado movie theater in 2012. Law enforcement officials say Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen who was the son of Afghan immigrants, carried an AR-15 style assault rifle and a handgun when he killed 50 people and wounded 53 at a gay nightclub in Orlando. He also had an unidentified device, said Orlando Police Chief John Mina. The AR-15 was developed from the U.S. military’s M-16 rifle, used in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Unlike the military version, the AR-15 is not fully automatic, meaning users must pull the trigger each time they want to fire a shot. Like the military version, many AR-15s combine light weight with a relatively modest recoil. Prominent manufacturers include Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger and Remington Arms Co, which faces a lawsuit from some families of Sandy Hook victims who say the rifle should not be sold to civilians. “It is the gold standard for killing the enemy in battle, just as it has become the gold standard for mass murder of innocent civilians,” said Josh Koskoff, a lawyer involved in the case.   The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun manufacturers, said it would not comment on the Orlando shooting until more facts are known.  The NSSF estimates there are roughly 5 million to 10 million AR-15 rifles owned in the United States, a fraction of the 300 million firearms owned by Americans. Most owners say they use the rifle for target shooting and home defense, although they can be used for hunting as well. Despite their controversial reputation, assault rifles do not often turn up at murder scenes. Handguns accounted for at least 48 percent of all murders between 2010 and 2014, according to FBI data, while rifles - a category that includes more traditional types of long guns - accounted for 2.4 percent. Roughly four times as many people were killed by knives in that period. Still, in the wake of the Orlando shooting several Democratic politicians said Congress should renew a ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines that was in place between 1994 and 2004. “It reminds us once more that weapons of war have no place on our streets,” said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Research is mixed on whether the assault-rifle ban had a significant impact. Gun manufacturers were able to tweak their designs to get around the ban and crime rates have fallen steadily since the early 1990s, whether or not the ban was in place. The number of mass shootings has increased since it expired.  Any effort to renew the ban would face fierce opposition in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans who control both chambers of Congress have staunchly opposed tighter gun laws and groups like the National Rifle Association have been able to mobilize millions of gun owners against other restrictions. Despite strong support from President Barack Obama, the last attempt at new gun legislation failed in the U.S. Senate in 2013. Opinion polls find that Americans are less enthusiastic about banning assault weapons than other types of gun restrictions, such as expanded background checks. Several polls since 2013 have found between 44 percent and 57 percent of Americans back the idea. Six states and the District of Columbia currently ban assault weapons and two more, Minnesota and Virginia, ban possession by people under 18 years old. Experts say it is difficult to tell whether those laws have had an impact since gun buyers can easily find those weapons in other states.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा गोलीबारी में इस्तेमाल की गई असॉल्ट राइफल ने बंदूक नियंत्रण पर बहस छेड़ दी


MADRID (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will not visit Spain until its parties manage to form a government and end over 100 days of political deadlock, delaying a trip that had been under consideration for July. “What (Obama) told me is let’s see if we form a government, because he is keen to visit Spain,” Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters after meeting Obama at a dinner on Friday night for a nuclear security summit. Margallo said Obama had been considering a trip in July, but given Spain could return to the polls the month before, the president would prefer to wait. George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor, was the last U.S. president to visit Spain in 2001.

Summary: सरकार बनने तक स्पेन की यात्रा स्थगित करेंगे ओबामाः विदेश मंत्री


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner wept on Friday as he pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit messages to a teenage girl, capping a “sexting” scandal that played a role in last year’s U.S. presidential election during its waning days. Wearing a navy suit, maroon tie and his wedding band, a tearful Weiner, 52, described his conduct before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in New York City. “I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” Weiner said, apologizing to the 15-year-old girl to whom he sent inappropriate images and messages last year.  Hours after the court hearing, his wife Huma Abedin, a senior aide to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, filed for divorce in a Manhattan court, according to the New York Post. A lawyer for Abedin did not immediately respond to a  request for comment. The charge of transferring obscene material to a minor carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, but Weiner is likely to get less when sentenced on Sept. 8. As part of his plea agreement, federal prosecutors said they would consider a term between 21 months and 27 months “fair and appropriate.” The plea deal appeared to seal the demise of a once-promising political career derailed by a series of scandals, stemming from what Weiner described in court as a compulsive need to seek sexual attention from women on social media. The investigation into his exchanges with the teenage girl also roiled the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign days before Election Day.   While searching Weiner’s laptop, federal agents found a batch of emails from his wife. As a result, James Comey, then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced in late October that the agency was reviewing the messages to determine whether to reopen its investigation into Clinton’s handling of official correspondence. Clinton, who was leading in national polls at the time, has blamed her loss to Republican Donald Trump in part on Comey’s announcement, even though the director said two days before the election in November that the review had uncovered no new evidence. Abedin had announced her separation from Weiner last summer after the latest round of explicit messages emerged, including an image of Weiner’s crotch as he lay in bed with their young son. The controversy over Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was U.S. secretary of state dogged her throughout the campaign. Trump accused Clinton of endangering national security by exposing classified information to potential hacking. In testimony to Congress two weeks ago, Comey said he felt “mildly nauseous” at the suggestion his actions may have swayed the election, but added that he had no regrets. Trump fired Comey days later amid the FBI’s probe into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to defeat Clinton, an allegation the president has denied. Weiner, who served parts of New York City for 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, resigned in 2011 after an explicit photograph was posted on his Twitter account. He initially claimed his account had been hacked but eventually acknowledged he had sent the image as well as inappropriate messages to several women. Two years later, he announced a run for New York City mayor but dropped out of the race when more explicit messages became public. The federal investigation into Weiner came to light last year after the Daily Mail, a British newspaper, published an interview with the North Carolina teen. On Friday, Weiner said he has been receiving “intensive” mental health treatment since then. “These destructive impulses brought great devastation to family and friends, and destroyed my life’s dream of public service,” Weiner said. In a statement, acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Joon Kim said, “Weiner’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime, one for which he is now convicted and will be sentenced.”

Summary: Ex-U.S. कांग्रेसी वेनर ने किशोर 'सेक्सटिंग' मामले में दोषी ठहराया


LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers will debate legislation underpinning the government s plan to leave the European Union this week, the latest stage in an arduous journey through parliament. The first two days of debate in the current stage of the process will be held in parliament on Nov. 14 and 15. A total of eight days of debate are planned during this  Committee Stage , used to make changes to the government s proposed wording of the bill. Formally known as the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, the legislation will then face several more stages of approval in the lower house of parliament, and must also make its way through a multi-stage process in the upper house. Both chambers must agree on the wording before it can become law. What is the bill and what does it do? The legislation serves two main functions: 1. Repealing the 1972 European Communities Act which made Britain a member of the European Communities, forerunner to the European Union. This effectively ends Britain s EU membership. 2. Transferring the existing body of EU law into British law. This is designed to provide legal certainty about the complex process of leaving.  Why is it controversial? The bill has faced criticism from opposition lawmakers, campaign groups and members of May s Conservative Party. Brexit is still divisive in Britain after a referendum in June last year, and many people, including some lawmakers, want to retain as much of the country s current EU membership as possible. Others would like to reverse the vote. May runs a minority government, which has a slim 13-seat working majority in the 650-seat parliament thanks to a deal with a small Northern Irish party.  A rebellion of seven or more Conservative lawmakers could see her lose a vote in parliament and forced into making concessions. The objections are mainly based on two themes: 1. The power for the government to amend EU laws as they are brought onto the British statute book. These are often referred to as  Henry VIII  powers after the 16th century English monarch who ruled by proclamation. The government says it needs to be able to fix the wording of laws to ensure they work correctly after Brexit. For example, where a law refers to an EU institution which will no longer have jurisdiction in Britain, the law must be changed to point to the correct British equivalent.  Critics say the bill gives ministers too much power to make changes, and creates the potential for policy shifts to be implemented without full parliamentary scrutiny. The process through which the government would make the changes already exists and is known as  secondary legislation . It does allow for some degree of scrutiny by lawmakers, but would not submit changes to the full legislative process.  2. The bill does not contain a provision for parliament to vote on the final Brexit deal. The government has promised lawmakers they will get a  meaningful vote  on the outcome of negotiations in Brussels to decide the terms of Britain s exit and its future relationship with the bloc. As it currently stands, this vote will be on whether to accept the terms of the deal, or reject it and walk away without a deal. But critics says the promise of a vote should be written into the bill. Some also say that it should give lawmakers more options than the current  take it or leave it  vote. This could mean an option to send Britain back to the negotiating table. What has happened so far? The bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle in September when, after two days of debate, lawmakers voted 326 to 290 in favor of the principles of the bill.  Although the government won the vote, several Conservatives indicated they were unhappy with the details of it, and said they wanted to see concessions during the next stage.  What happens next? The first two days of the  Committee Stage  have been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday but the remaining six days have not yet been scheduled.  Any lawmaker can submit changes for consideration. So far, 186 pages of so-called  amendments  have been submitted. The list will be scrutinized by parliament s deputy speaker, whittled down and grouped according to subject. The amendments to be considered will be announced at the start of each day s debate. The first two days will focus on the part of the bill that repeals the 1972 European Communities Act, the retention, conversion and interpretation of existing EU laws, and EU rights.   At the end of the debate over each group of amendments, some will be put to a vote. If supported by a majority of lawmakers, the changes will be made to the bill. They can still be reversed. Once all the groups of amendments have been debated, the bill is reprinted to include any amendments passed and it moves on to the next stage in the process. Which is ...? The bill will be subject to several more stages of votes in the lower chamber and the upper chamber of parliament. The entire process will take months to complete, and there is no target end date. Report stage:  Any amendments voted by the house at committee stage will pass to report stage. This is a new opportunity to add amendments. The speaker of the house oversees this process. Third reading:  This takes place immediately after report stage. It usually lasts an hour and is a general discussion of the bill followed by a vote. No amendments can be made. House of Lords:  The bill passes to the unelected upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords. Lords can put forward their own amendments, each of which will be discussed and decided on in turn. If the lords agree to any amendments, the bill passes back to the House of Commons for its approval. Ping Pong: If the bill passes back to the commons, they debate and vote on the lords  amendments. No new amendments can be introduced. In theory the bill can continue passing back and forth between the lords and commons until the final bill is agreed upon. Royal assent: Once the bill has been agreed by both houses of parliament, it is given royal assent, when the queen formally agrees to make the bill into an Act of Parliament.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः विभाजित, विद्रोही ब्रिटेन की संसद ने मई की ब्रेक्सिट योजना को अपनाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to “stop whining” about the Nov. 8 election being rigged, saying no serious person could suggest U.S. elections could be manipulated because of their decentralized nature. “I have never seen in my lifetime, or in modern political history, any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place. It’s unprecedented,” the Democratic president said. “I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining, and go try to make his case to get votes,” Obama said at a joint White House news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Summary: अमेरिकी चुनावों में धांधली के बारे में 'चिल्लाना बंद करें', ओबामा ने ट्रम्प से कहा


ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkey s Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Saturday and agreed to continue to work toward stronger ties and regional security, Erdogan s office said, a day after he lashed out at U.S. authorities for indicting one of his ex-ministers. Ties between the United States and its NATO ally have been strained by Washington s support for the YPG Kurdish fighters in the battle against Islamic State in Syria. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group. Ankara has also been frustrated by what it sees as Washington s reluctance to extradite the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey blames Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 1999, for last year s failed coup.  Noting the strategic partnership between Turkey and the United States, the two leaders emphasized the importance of continuing to work together to further strengthen bilateral relations and increase stability in the region,  the Turkish Presidency said in a statement. The two leaders agreed to meet in New York at the United States General Assembly, scheduled for this month. The call was notable for its timing, coming a day after Erdogan described a U.S. prosecutor s indictment against Turkey s former economy minister as being politically motivated and tantamount to an attack on Ankara. The former minister, Zafer Caglayan, and the ex-head of a state-owned Turkish bank were charged this week with conspiring to violate Iran sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran s behalf. The indictment marked the first time an ex-government member with close ties to Erdogan had been charged in the on-going U.S. investigation, which has strained ties between the two countries.  For the moment, it is impossible to evaluate this within legal logic,  he told reporters on Friday.  I see this step against our former economy minister as a step against the Turkish Republic. He had also called on Washington to re-think the charges.  I hope we ll get a chance to discuss this issue in the United States. You may be a big nation, but being a just nation is something else. Being a just nation requires the legal system to work fairly.

Summary: तनाव के बीच, ट्रम्प और तुर्की के एर्दोगन संबंधों को मजबूत करने पर सहमत हुए


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California federal judge on Friday strongly questioned the U.S. Justice Department over whether to suspend an order by President Donald Trump to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick III questioned the purpose of the president’s order as he heard arguments from two large California counties and the Justice Department in San Francisco federal court. Both counties have asked for a nationwide preliminary injunction to the order.  As part of a larger plan to transform how the United States deals with immigration and national security, Trump in January signed an order targeting cities and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Sanctuary cities in general offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Sanctuary city is not an official designation. Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trump’s plan to withhold federal funds is unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit.  On Friday, the counties described the order as a “weapon to cancel all funding to jurisdictions,” said John Keker, an attorney representing Santa Clara County. “All around the country, including here, people are having to deal with this right now.” Santa Clara County receives roughly $1.7 billion in federal and federally dependent funds annually, about 35 percent of its total revenues. The county argued that every day it is owed millions of dollars of federal funding, and its budgetary planning process had been thrown into disarray by the order. The Justice Department said the counties had taken an overly broad interpretation of the president’s order, which would impact only Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security funds, a fraction of the grant money received by the counties. The government also argued that there had been no enforcement action to date, and it was unclear what actions against the counties would entail. Judge Orrick asked the government what was the purpose of an executive order, if it only impacted a small amount of county funding. Attorneys for the government said the order had highlighted issues that the Trump Administration deeply cared about and a national policy priority. To win a nationwide injunction, local governments must demonstrate a high level of harm, the Justice Department noted in court filings last month.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प के अभयारण्य शहर के आदेश पर सवाल उठाए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said on Wednesday a proposal to add a provision to a Republican healthcare bill repealing essential Obamacare benefits would violate reconciliation rules and thus require 60 votes to pass the chamber. “Repealing the essential health benefits provisions under the Affordable Care Act is a policy change, not budgetary, and thus violates the Byrd Rule,” Schumer’s spokesman, Matt House, said in a statement.  “It will require 60 votes to repeal these protections, and the votes just aren’t there in the Senate,” the statement said.

Summary: शीर्ष सीनेट डेमोक्रेट का कहना है कि आवश्यक लाभों को निरस्त करने के लिए 60 मतों की आवश्यकता होगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday he was elevating the status of the Pentagon’s U.S. Cyber Command to help spur development of cyber weapons to deter attacks and punish intruders. In a statement, Trump said the unit would be ranked at the level of Unified Combatant Command focused on cyberspace operations. Cyber Command’s elevation reflects a push to strengthen U.S. capabilities to interfere with the military programs of adversaries such as North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and Islamic State’s ability to recruit, inspire and direct attacks, three U.S. intelligence officials said this month, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Cyber Command had been subordinate to the U.S. Strategic Command, which is also responsible for military space operations, nuclear weapons and missile defense. Once elevated, Cyber Command would have the same status as U.S. Strategic Command and eight other unified commands that control U.s. military forces and are composed of personnel from multiple branches of the armed services.  The Pentagon did not specify how long the elevation process would take. Current and former officials said a leading candidate to head U.S. Cyber Command was Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville, currently director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Trump also said the defense secretary was also considering separating the U.S. Cyber Command from the National Security Agency (NSA). Cyber Command’s mission is to shut down and, when ordered, counter cyber attacks. The NSA’s role is to gather intelligence and generally favors monitoring enemies’ cyber activities. Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both strong voices on security matters, praised the move and said it would boost the command’s abilities.  Still, McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said more steps were needed to meet the nation’s cyber security challenges. “We must develop a clear policy and strategy for deterring and responding to cyber threats. We must also develop an integrated, whole-of-government approach to protect and defend the United States from cyberattacks,” he said in a statement. The new combatant command will improve U.S. capabilities to punish foreign cyberattacks and discourage attempts to disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure such as financial networks, electric grids, and medical systems. It will establish a cyber version of the nuclear doctrine of “mutual assured destruction” between the United States and the former Soviet Union, the three U.S. officials said The U.S. is more vulnerable to cyber intrusions than its most capable adversaries, including China, Russia, and North Korea, because its economy is more dependent on the internet, two of the officials said. As other nations improve their communications networks, their vulnerability will grow, they added.

Summary: ट्रंप ने साइबर सुरक्षा को बढ़ावा देने के लिए साइबर कमान का दर्जा हटाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey concurred with a Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday that citizenship alone is not a reliable indicator of the “terror threat” a person may pose to the United States, a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from several Muslim-majority countries.  “Most of the people that I talked about that we have open cases on are American citizens,” Comey told a U.S. Senate panel, agreeing with  Senator Patrick Leahy that citizenship does not determine a person’s intentions. Trump’s restrictions on visa issuance to citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia is on hold by federal court order.

Summary: ट्रम्प के यात्रा प्रतिबंध पर एफ. बी. आई. के कोमीः 'केवल नागरिकता' खतरे का संकेत नहीं है


DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates [EMIRA.UL], Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways said on Saturday they will allow passengers barred by President Donald Trump’s executive order to board U.S.-bound flights after a federal judge blocked the move. U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) has advised them they can board travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees who had been banned under the order, the airlines said. “Acceptance will naturally be subject to checks completed by U.S. authorities as existed prior to the issuance of the Executive Order on 27 January,” an Etihad spokesman told Reuters in emailed comments. Emirates and Qatar Airways spokeswomen confirmed the airlines were again accepting all passengers with valid travel documents. Air France, Spain’s Iberia and Germany’s Lufthansa also followed suit after the federal judge’s ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible. Trump’s suspension on the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and all refugees caught airlines off guard, with some carriers forced to re-roster flight crew in order to abide by the order.

Summary: अमीरात, एतिहाद, कतर अमेरिकी उड़ानों में प्रतिबंधित यात्रियों को अनुमति देंगे