AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas will not seek re-election, his office said in a statement on Thursday, in a decision he made after a nude picture of him appeared on the internet earlier this month. Barton’s announcement reverses his Nov. 2 announcement of plans to run for an 18th term in the U.S. House. He was first elected to Congress in 1984 and had been considered a favorite to win re-election in his heavily Republican district until the photo surfaced on Nov. 22. Barton, 68, has told media the nude photograph came when he was separated from his second wife, prior to a divorce, and was part of a consensual sexual relationship. Barton’s genitals were obscured in the version of the photo that was posted on the internet. Barton, who belongs to the party’s right-wing Freedom Caucus, issued the statement saying he would not seek re-election on Thursday shortly after an exclusive interview with the Dallas Morning News in which he went into more detail about his decision. “There are enough people who lost faith in me that it’s time to step aside and let there be a new voice for the 6th district in Washington, so I am not going to run for re-election,” he told the newspaper. The source of the photo and how it appeared on the internet are still unknown. Some Republicans in the state have called for Barton to step down and many criticized him for his behavior. “Ellis County Republicans are deeply grieved and embarrassed by the conduct of Congressman Joe Barton,” Randy Bellomy, the head of the party in the county that borders Dallas and is Barton’s constituency, said in a statement on Wednesday. Barton, vice chairman of the House Energy Committee, has shown strong support for the energy industry and drawn the ire of environmentalists for his dismissive views on climate change. “We’re thankful that Representative Barton chose to not seek re-election after reports of his deeply inappropriate actions and disturbing display of judgment,” Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Crystal Perkins said in a statement. Barton has not been accused of sexual harassment.

Summary: नग्न तस्वीर के कारण टेक्सास के सांसद फिर से चुनाव नहीं लड़ेंगे


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Students at an Islamic school that Indonesian authorities have linked to Islamic State returned home after villagers nearby demanded its closure, a school spokesman said on Sunday. A Reuters investigation published this month found at least eight staff and four students from the Ibnu Mas ud school in Sukajaya, West Java either traveled or tried to travel to Syria to join the jihadist group between 2013 and 2016. Spokesman Jumadi told Reuters the school was empty after the local police chief said failure to comply with the closure demands would lead to a  big demonstration  by residents from five surrounding districts. The school denies it supports IS, or any other militant groups. It also says it does not advocate a violent or extreme version of Islam. Jumadi, who goes by only one name, said the police warning prompted the school to call parents to pick up the roughly 250 students. Police could not be immediately reached for comment. One of the four students, Hatf Saiful Rasul, left for Syria when he was 11 and died fighting with IS a year later in September 2016. His father, imprisoned militant Syaiful Anam, wrote that his son was inspired to travel by teachers and students of the school who had joined IS. During the school s decade of operation in Depok, outside Jakarta, and then at Sukajaya, at least another 18 people with links to it have been convicted or are now under arrest for militant plots and attacks in Indonesia, Reuters reported. They include former students, teachers, parents, founders and donors. During its investigation, Reuters reviewed court documents, deeds of entitlement and interrogation reports, and interviewed counter-terrorism police, donors and former militants. School head Agus Purwoko told reporters last week it only taught pupils  how to read and memorize the Koran.    So Ibnu Mas ud, in a way, is a childcare. There are also parents who send their kids here because they are divorcing, going to jail, or facing other problems.  Sukajaya village chief Wahyudin Sumardi told Reuters in July that residents had been concerned about activities at the school for years. Local resentment ignited when a member of the school s staff allegedly burned a red and white banner in the village celebrating Indonesia s Independence Day on Aug. 17. Irate residents rallied outside the school, according to police, village chief Wahyudin and school spokesman Jumadi. Jumadi agreed the next day to move or close the school in a month. But school head Agus and some rights activists said he signed documents under duress and the school should not be closed on the basis of minor damage to patriotic bunting.  We asked the police to prevent the mass protesters taking the law into their own hands and to separate the activities of the children from allegations of involvement in terrorism,  said Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia. Hamid said the school s closure would increase the students  chances of being radicalized.

Summary: बाल लड़ाकों से जुड़े इंडोनेशियाई इस्लामी स्कूल के छात्रों को घर भेजा गया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives hope to draw the Social Democrats (SPD) into coalition with offers on healthcare and employment, one of her ministers said, but the two camps remain far apart on tax issues. Merkel s CDU/CSU alliance won a national election in September, but she has so far failed to agree terms with other parties on a coalition that would enable her to serve a fourth term. Her best chance now appears to be a reboot of the  grand coalition  with the centre-left SPD that ran Germany from 2013 to 2017 and continues to govern in a caretaker capacity. Peter Altmaier, acting finance minister and Merkel s chancellery chief, told newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung he thought such an alliance was again possible. The SPD had previously said it intended to go into opposition after suffering its worst election result in more than eight decades. But Germany s two biggest political groups are now set to start exploratory coalition talks next month and hope to decide by Jan. 12 whether to open full-blown negotiations. Asked what offers the conservatives would make, Altmaier said:  We ll of course talk with the SPD about problems in hospitals and nursing care, improvements for families and children, broadband expansion, qualification for new jobs and how we can reach full employment.  There is overlap with the SPD on these areas, he said, adding that helping Germany s 900,000 long-term unemployed needed to be a key project - an idea likely to go down well with the SPD. Taxation could be a sticking point, however. Senior SPD member Andrea Nahles told German magazine Der Spiegel her party wanted to press for a higher top rate of tax for individuals and non-listed companies and ensure the wealthy paid more.  The conservatives have rejected the idea of higher taxes for the rich. Altmaier said that while the conservatives would not draw any red lines ahead of the talks, they wanted a coalition treaty to include a pledge not to raise taxes or increase debt. The SPD also wants to scrap Germany s dual healthcare system of premium private care and more widely accessible public care to replace it with a single  citizen s insurance . The conservatives fear that would harm competition. Nahles said employers and employees needed to pay the same amount towards public healthcare and doctors  fees for public and private healthcare systems should be reviewed. While the conservatives have made clear they are keen on another  grand coalition , the SPD has kept the option of tolerating a minority Merkel-led government on the table. The chancellor rejects that idea. Senior SPD member and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Funke newspaper consortium that some of his party colleagues were ready to live with a minority government. But he said he worried about the implications for Europe s stability.  I m rather skeptical,  he said in an interview published on Friday as political crisis gripped Spain, where separatists were set to regain power in Catalonia following regional elections.  A shaky government in Germany would probably lead to an earthquake in Europe - but we need to talk about it.

Summary: मर्केल के रूढ़िवादी स्वास्थ्य सेवा, नौकरियों पर प्रस्ताव के साथ एस. पी. डी. को लुभाते हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two rockets struck near Damascus airport at dawn on Friday, Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen reported, an attack it said had probably been carried out by Israeli warplanes from outside Syria s borders. Al-Mayadeen gave no further details in the report carried in a news flash on screen. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports of the air strike, saying:  We do not respond to such reports.  Earlier this month, the Syrian army reported an Israeli air strike on a military site in Syria s Hama province. Israel says it has hit arms convoys of the Syrian military and its Iranian-backed ally Hezbollah nearly 100 times in the past five years. Israel, which fought a 2006 war with Hezbollah, sees red lines in the shipment to the powerful Shi ite group of anti-aircraft missiles, precision ground-to-ground missiles and chemical weapons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria s civil war, said the attack earlier this month was on a facility of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, an agency which the United States describes as Syria s chemical weapons manufacturer. Syria s government denies using chemical arms. In 2013 it promised to surrender its chemical weapons, which it says it has done.

Summary: इजरायली हमले में दमिश्क हवाईअड्डा क्षेत्र में रॉकेट दागे गएः रिपोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The majority of House Freedom Caucus members will vote for a Republican healthcare bill if changes offered by the White House are included in the legislation, the head of the conservative group of House Republicans said on Thursday.  U.S. Representative Mark Meadows said the group wants to see health insurance coverage waivers related to community rating protections with the exception of gender, essential health benefits and guaranteed issue. “If those offers that were made over the last couple of days actually appear in the legislation, the majority, if not almost all of the Freedom Caucus, will vote for this bill,” he said at a Politico news event.

Summary: हाउस फ्रीडम कॉकस ने बदलावों के साथ स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक के समर्थन का संकेत दिया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - If the United States withdraws from the Iran nuclear  deal, this will have extremely negative consequences, and Iran is likely to quit the agreement as well, the Kremlin said on Friday.  Certainly, this will damage the atmosphere of predictability, security, stability and non-proliferation in the entire world,  President Vladimir Putin s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. He said Russia would continue its policy to ensure the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Summary: अमेरिका के ईरान परमाणु समझौते से बाहर निकलने पर क्रेमलिन को 'बेहद नकारात्मक' परिणाम दिखाई देते हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - Hurricane Irma, described as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, has killed at least six people in the French Caribbean island territory of Saint Martin, a local government official said.  This is not, by far, a definitive number... we have not explored all the parts of the island,  Guadeloupe prefect Eric Maire told reporters, adding the death toll was likely to rise in the next few hours. Hurricane Irma had previously been described as a  potentially catastrophic  storm placed in Category 5, the highest U.S. classification for hurricanes.

Summary: तूफान इरमा ने फ्रांस के सेंट-मार्टिन द्वीप पर कम से कम छह लोगों की जान ले ली


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attended a “Villains and Heroes” costume party at a major donor’s Long Island home on Saturday night, but declined to don any garb that was in keeping with the theme. Trump entered the party hosted by the Mercer family, one of his biggest donors, at their home in the village of Head of the Harbor in St. James, N.Y., wearing a suit and a blue and white checked tie. Security guards at the event however were dressed as biker gang members Hell’s Angels. Trump walked into the home and gave reporters, who were not  allowed inside, the thumbs up and posed briefly for photos, but did not respond to questions except to mouth “me,” pointing to himself when asked who he was dressed as. Trump spoke briefly at the party, thanking the Mercer family, according to a member of his press team, staying for just under two hours. It was his only outing from his Manhattan home on Saturday. Early on Sunday, he slammed the latest “Saturday Night Live” on Twitter, calling it “unwatchable”. “Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad,” Trump wrote about Alec Baldwin’s recurring appearances on the late night sketch show in which the actor portrays Trump. None of Trump’s immediate family members attended the Long Island party, but his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was on hand, dressed as Super Woman. Trump’s designated White House strategist Steve Bannon was also on hand, but appeared not to be in costume. Music by Adele, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Sia and Céline Dion emanated from the Christmas light decorated home. A wifi network set up for the party used the password “HeroesWin!” Robert Mercer, the billionaire at whose mansion on Long Island’s tony North Shore the party was held, is co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund. Daughter Rebekah Mercer sits on Trump’s transition team. Trump is in the midst of choosing cabinet members. Mercer initially supported Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination before putting his support behind Trump in the November presidential election.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने 'विलेन एंड हीरोज' कॉस्ट्यूम पार्टी में भाग लिया... खुद के रूप में तैयार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Donald Trump’s U.S. election prospects dimming and controversy swirling around him, future Republican presidential hopefuls may be weighing whether standing by their man is the savvy move. Party strategists fear voters fleeing Trump will also fail to support Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, possibly costing the party control of Congress. If Trump loses the Nov. 8 presidential election to Democrat Hillary Clinton, his polarizing candidacy may reverberate well past 2016, tarring future Republican White House hopefuls, potentially including House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trump’s vice presidential running mate. Trump was struggling in opinion polls before a 2005 video released last week showed him talking in sexually aggressive terms about seducing women. Afterward came stories in several news outlets alleging Trump had inappropriately touched women.  Trump has angrily denounced the stories, the media and Republicans who have declined to support him. “The brand has already been irrevocably damaged. There’s nothing we can do in the short term,” said Doug Heye, a former top official with the Republican National Committee. Looking to the 2018 U.S. congressional election and the 2020 presidential election, Heye said: “In two to four years, the stain on our party’s soul won’t be washed away.” To be sure, a Trump loss is no guarantee the Republicans would suffer for long. Four years after Barry Goldwater’s massive loss in 1964, Richard Nixon staged a Republican comeback. The conservative Heritage Foundation think thank has said Goldwater launched a shift to the right that would end half a century of liberal dominance in American politics.  For Republicans weighing a run for president in four years, deciding whether to back Trump may be a defining moment equal to what politicians faced in 2002 when they decided whether to back Republican President George Bush’s Iraq invasion. By 2006, public sentiment had turned harshly against the Iraq war, some Republican politicians lost their jobs, and Democrats seized both the House and Senate. Republican presidential hopefuls of the future may be asking: How can I be loyal and stand by Trump while at the same time expand the party’s base to include sectors the candidate has alienated?  More broadly, they may ask: What’s the right side of history? Trump’s candidacy has attracted passionate support from a core group of voters but also driven away some moderates and independents. Republicans such as Heye fear Trump, who already has alienated large populations of Hispanic voters because of his hard line on immigration, will cost the party a generation of women voters as well. Ryan, Rubio and Pence all have, to some degree, sought to distance themselves from Trump. Ryan this week told colleagues he would no longer publicly defend Trump, in essence washing his hands of him. Rubio, who ran against Trump in the Republican primary and is fighting for re-election in his home state of Florida, has criticized Trump’s remarks about women, but has not withdrawn his support. Pence is routinely forced to answer for his running mate’s conduct, but managed at last week’s vice presidential debate to outline policy differences with him. If Trump leads the party to crushing defeat next month, he may for years haunt Republican office-holders who supported him. “I predict a chaotic round of finger pointing after the election, as people try to justify their position,” said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid who witnessed the Democratic wave in 2006 first-hand. Democrats are trying to link vulnerable Senate candidates to Trump at every turn. On Thursday, the advocacy group American Bridge highlighted Trump’s praise of Rubio on local Florida television, even as Rubio has avoided appearing at any Trump events in the state. Clinton on Twitter this week noted that Ryan has not recanted his endorsement of Trump. Strategists say Pence would have the hardest time emerging from Trump’s shadow. “I think for Pence, it’s really tough,” said Republican operative Liz Mair. Pence excited some conservative voters with his debate performance. A Politico/Morning Consult poll taken afterward showed him as the top choice for 2020 among Republicans, at 22 percent. Ryan, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Rubio followed. Cruz, who was Trump’s leading rival for the 2016 Republican nomination, illustrated the perils of trying to respond to Trump’s candidacy. After holding out, Cruz endorsed Trump last month, just before the candidate went into a public-opinion tailspin. Cruz and Rubio, as well as Ryan, have come under fire from some Republicans for appearing to waver on Trump, at times standing by him and at other times criticizing him. “People that waffle are going to have more trouble than people who pick a side,” said Brian Bartlett, a Republican strategist who worked for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. He said Ohio Governor John Kasich, another presidential candidate who consistently refused to endorse Trump, may emerge in the strongest position of all. Other potential 2020 contenders, such as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, may benefit from not being on the ballot this year, thus being spared from being asked constantly about Trump while campaigning. But that assumes the anti-Trump forces in the party hold sway after the election. There will still be a significant chunk of the party who will view Trump’s critics as disloyal, Bartlett warned, which may put some establishment politicians on the spot to explain why they did not do more to support the nominee.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कड़ा रुखः रिपब्लिकन भविष्य की ओर नजर रखते हुए प्रतिक्रिया का वजन करते हैं


MOSCOW (Reuters) - United Nations special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday was  useful , Russia s Interfax news agency reported. He declined additional comments before the end of a Syria s opposition meeting in Riyadh. He also said he planned to discuss Syria with Russia s defense minister later on Friday.

Summary: सीरिया पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के विशेष दूत ने कहा कि रूस के लावरोव के साथ 'उपयोगी' बैठक हुईः इफैक्स


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s state council issued guidelines on Wednesday on improving supervision to curb money laundering, terrorism financing and tax evasion. China will step up monitoring of abnormal cross-border capital movements to crackdown on cross-border financial crimes, the state council said in a statement on its website, adding that it will implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against terrorism financing.

Summary: चीन ने मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग, आतंकवाद के वित्तपोषण और कर चोरी पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए दिशानिर्देश जारी किए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump pressed his unproven claims of voter fraud on Wednesday at the first meeting of a commission he created to study the issue, and implied states that did not share voter data with the panel had something to hide. The panel has faced lacerating criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups that argued it could be a vehicle for changes that would make it harder for lawful voters to cast ballots - and by a number of state governments reluctant to hand over information about their voters to the White House. Despite evidence from state officials from both parties that voter fraud is rare in U.S. elections, Trump has claimed that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the November 2016 election. “Every time voter fraud occurs it cancels out the vote of a lawful citizen,” he told the commission. “Any form of illegal or fraudulent voting, whether by non-citizens or the deceased, and any form of voter suppression or intimidation must be stopped.” Trump won the state-by-state Electoral College tally that decides the presidential race, but he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. He established the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May and assigned Vice President Mike Pence to lead it. The panel will next gather in September, and hold at least four more meetings over nine months. Some members of the panel emphasized that even small numbers of illegal votes could affect the outcome of elections. Bill Gardner, a Democrat who has been involved in almost 500 vote recounts in New Hampshire since becoming its secretary of state in 1976, said he has seen 11 end in a tie, 32 decided by one vote, and 202 by fewer than 10 votes. “I am a witness that every vote matters, and it doesn’t need to be massive voter fraud to sway the outcome,” Gardner said.  Alan King, a Democrat who is a probate judge from Jefferson County in Alabama, said he has not seen evidence of voter fraud - but said local governments need help from Congress to keep up with changing technology. “We can talk about elections a lot, but if people can’t vote because the machines don’t work, we’ve got a massive, massive problem,” said King. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have said the commission could lead to new ID requirements and other measures making it harder to vote. “I can tell you, President Trump, that we will be watching your commission,” said U.S. Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama, an African-American whose district includes the civil rights landmarks Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham, where, she said, “people died, bled and fought for the right to vote.” The panel ran headlong into controversy last month when its vice chair, Kris Kobach, the Republican secretary of state for Kansas and an advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification, asked states to turn over voter information. The data requested by Kobach included names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories. More than 20 states refused outright and others said they needed to study whether they could provide the data.  Trump questioned the states’ refusal, saying, “If any state does not want to share this information, one has to wonder what they’re worried about? ... There’s something, there always is.” Several federal lawsuits have been filed against the voting commission. The American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit alleged that the panel failed to comply with federal transparency laws, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund alleged the commission was formed with the intent to discriminate against voters of color. Other lawsuits, including one from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, raised concerns about Americans’ privacy.

Summary: समिति द्वारा जांच शुरू किए जाने के साथ ही ट्रम्प ने धोखाधड़ी की चिंताओं पर जोर दिया


CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela s powerful former oil czar Rafael Ramirez said on Tuesday he resigned from his job as U.N. envoy on orders of the president, a sign of growing rifts in the Socialist Party once firmly united under late leader Hugo Chavez. Sources told Reuters last week that leftist President Nicolas Maduro fired Ramirez, a political rival who was thought to have presidential ambitions, and summoned him back to Caracas from New York. Several close allies of Ramirez, as well as a relative, have been arrested in Venezuela in recent weeks as part of a purge in the oil sector over graft allegations, sparking questions about whether Ramirez would dare return to Caracas.  Insiders say Maduro is feeling empowered after surviving major political protests this year. He is now moving to strengthen his control of the OPEC member s crucial energy industry and sideline political rivals ahead of presidential elections in 2018.  I have been removed for my opinions,  said Ramirez via Twitter, where he posted a four-page resignation letter.  He has for weeks been writing editorials on a left-wing news site that are harshly critical of Maduro and the state of the oil industry.   By attacking me personally, you are affecting the unity of the revolutionary forces and the legacy of Comandante Chavez,  he added in the letter addressed to Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, referring to Chavez, who governed Venezuela for 14 years before dying of cancer in 2013. Ramirez, a 54-year-old engineer, did not discuss his next moves in the resignation letter, but a source close to him told Reuters on Tuesday that had left the United States. His press representative did not immediately respond to request for comment. The sacking caps a remarkable downfall for Ramirez, who led state oil company PDVSA and the oil ministry for a decade and was one of Chavez  closest confidants. He oversaw vast oil nationalizations and urged workers to wear red shirts in support of Chavez s socialist movement.  Ramirez was disappointed when Chavez picked Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, as his successor, according to sources familiar with his thinking. Maduro then narrowly won an election to become president in 2013 and swiftly demoted Ramirez the following year, first to the Foreign Ministry and then to the United Nations.  Since then, a protracted rivalry between the two men has increased, insiders said.  Ramirez has in recent months openly criticized Venezuela s economy, which has the world s highest inflation and shortages of basic goods. He wrote an article that was perceived as an attack on Maduro himself, one source said.  The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The government said it had appointed Samuel Moncada, a former foreign minister, as U.N. envoy.  Separately, state prosecutor Tarek Saab on Tuesday said Venezuela had ordered the arrests of six oil executives for their alleged role in a 2010 drilling contract with inflated prices.  The announcement comes amid a months-long crackdown on alleged graft in the energy industry that has led to the arrest of some 65 former executives, including two prominent officials who used to lead both the oil ministry and PDVSA. Corruption has long plagued Venezuela, home to the world s biggest crude reserves, but the socialist government usually blamed smear campaigns for accusations of widespread graft. Maduro has recently changed his tack, blaming  thieves  and  traitors  for the country s crisis. PDVSA has already started an arbitration procedure against PetroSaudi, the company that leased the offshore rig in the 2010 contract, to seek damages for what it says was  poor performance.  PetroSaudi declined to comment.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के संयुक्त राष्ट्र दूत का कहना है कि उन्हें मादुरो ने बाहर कर दिया था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Clinton Foundation, the family philanthropy of Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, should shut down or transfer operations to another charity despite its good work to avoid perceptions of “pay-for-play,” The Washington Post and USA Today said in editorials on Wednesday.  Despite plans announced earlier this week to reorganize the Clinton Foundation if Hillary Clinton wins the Nov. 8 election, USA Today said the global charity must close for the Democratic candidate to avoid any appearance of unethical ties.  “The only way to eliminate the odor surrounding the foundation is to wind it down and put it in mothballs, starting today, and transfer its important charitable work to another large American charity such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” the paper’s editorial board wrote.   The Gates Foundation declined to share its thoughts on the idea. “We really can’t speculate about the future of the Clinton Foundation,” Amy Enright, a Gates Foundation spokeswoman, wrote in an email. The newspaper also published an editorial by Donna Shalala, the Clinton Foundation’s president, in which she argued that the foundation helps millions of people, especially in developing countries, and so scaling down its work was not simple. “This suggestion ignores how global philanthropy works, and the reality that there are human beings around the world who would be affected by these decisions,” Shalala wrote. The foundation announced on Monday that it would stop accepting at least some foreign and corporate donations if Clinton wins the presidency and that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would resign from the foundation’s board. The Washington Post said in its editorial that these changes were insufficient and should have happened sooner, before Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. “The foundation undoubtedly does worthwhile work,” the Post’s editorial board wrote. “Should Ms. Clinton win, all of that work and all of the foundation’s assets should be spun off to an organization with no ties to the first family.” The Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea Clinton, remains on the board of the charity, the full name of which is the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The call from two leading U.S. news organizations came as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and other members of his party have taken to calling for a special prosecutor to investigate what they say is corruption. The Clinton campaign has dismissed such calls as groundless political smears. Republicans see attacking Clinton over the organization as a way of unifying conservatives divided over Trump, who has never held elected officer and who often deviates from conservative orthodoxy. Democrats hope the controversy comes too late to make a difference in the election, in which most national public opinion polls show Clinton ahead.  The foundation has said Hillary Clinton was not involved with the group while serving as the nation’s top diplomat. The Clinton campaign denies Clinton ever took any action because of donations to the foundation. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told MSNBC on Wednesday that Clinton does not have a conflict of interest with charitable work, and pointed to her rival’s business interests with Wall Street, China and Russia. “Donald Trump and his bottom line and his networks are directly connected to all kinds of international entities ... and nobody’s asking him to disclose or divest,” Mook said of the New York businessman. Trump has responded by saying it is Clinton, not he, who has close ties to Russia.

Summary: चैरिटेबल फाउंडेशन को बंद करने के लिए क्लिंटन्स के लिए कोरस बढ़ता है


(Reuters) - The following table lists each state’s poll closing time for the U.S. presidential election. Times are shown in U.S. eastern standard time (US EST), Greenwich mean time (GMT), Singapore time and Tokyo time. Several states have two poll closing times because the state straddles two U.S. time zones. In addition, the number of electoral votes (EV) for each state is listed next to its name. To see a map of poll closing times click:  tmsnrt.rs/2eZtIEy

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी चुनाव के लिए राज्य-दर-राज्य मतदान समापन समय


GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to hold a special session on killings, rapes and other crimes committed against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar that have driven more than 600,000 into Bangladesh since August, U.N. sources said on Monday.  There will be a special session on December 5,  a senior United Nations source told Reuters. Council spokesman Rolando Gomez could not confirm the date but said:  There are moves to convene a special session to address the human rights situation in the country.  At least 16 of the 47 member states must request holding a special session of the Council, which are rare. Bangladesh and Muslim-majority countries were expected to back the call. In March, the Council already set up a fact-finding team. The investigators reported after their first mission to Bangladesh last month that Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar had testified that a  consistent, methodical pattern of killings, torture, rape and arson is taking place . The latest Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state to Bangladesh s southern tip began at the end of August, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein has described the army s crackdown in Rakhine state as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement. Amnesty International and other activist groups, in an open letter sent last week to member states, said that a special session was  imperative to launch decisive action and ensure international scrutiny and monitoring of the situation . Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar on Monday on a diplomatically delicate visit for the leader of the Roman Catholic church to the majority-Buddhist country.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार मंच म्यांमार रोहिंग्या पर विशेष सत्र आयोजित करेगा-संयुक्त राष्ट्र सूत्र


LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson had a  constructive  conversation with the husband of Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is jailed in Iran, Sky News reported on Sunday. Citing unnamed sources, Sky said Johnson had spoken on the phone with Richard Ratcliffe. It gave no further details.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने जेल में बंद सहायता कर्मचारी के पति के साथ सकारात्मक बातचीत कीः स्काई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for a renewed fight for a more-inclusive United States despite disappointment over an election loss that laid bare national divisions. In her first public remarks since conceding to Republican Donald Trump last week, Clinton said that many Americans were asking whether his victory meant the United States was still the country they thought it was. “The divisions laid bare by this election run deep, but please listen to me when I say this. America is worth it, our children are worth it,” she said at a Children Defense Fund event honoring scholarship winners. “Believe in our country, fight for our values and never, ever give up.” Although Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman called the nonprofit advocacy group’s event “a love-in for Hillary Rodham Clinton,” the former first lady said it had not been easy for her to attend. “There have been times this past week when all I wanted to do was just to curl up with a good book or our dogs, and never leave the house again,” said Clinton, whose ties to the Children Defense Fund date back to her work there as a young law student. Clinton, a former secretary of state, won the popular vote but lost the crucial electoral college tally to Trump, a New York real estate magnate who has taken a hard line on immigration and has opposed accepting Syrian refugees. “I know many of you are deeply disappointed by the results of the election. I am too, more than I can ever express,” Clinton said. “But as I said last week, our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love, and building an America that is hopeful, inclusive and big hearted.” She said that help for children backed by Republicans and Democrats was a hopeful sign of both parties working together. The federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, for example, now covers 8 million children and its creation had relied on bipartisan support, Clinton said. “For the sake of our children, and our families and our country, I ask you to stay engaged, stay engaged on every level,” Clinton said. She added, “I am as sure of this as anything I have ever known. America is still the greatest country in the world, it is still the place where anyone can beat the odds.”

Summary: क्लिंटन ने नए सिरे से 'मूल्यों के लिए लड़ाई' का आग्रह किया


WEST HARRISON, N.Y. (Reuters) - Looking to lay the groundwork for her presidency if she wins the White House in November, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton named several veterans of President Barack Obama’s administration for her transition team on Tuesday. Ken Salazar, a former interior secretary and U.S. Senator from Colorado, will lead a team of four co-chairs including one-time national security adviser Tom Donilon and Neera Tanden, a former Obama aide who now leads the progressive Center for American Progress think-tank, the Clinton campaign said. The other co-chairs are former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Maggie Williams, director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the campaign said in a statement. The announcement came as Clinton has gained momentum in the opinion polls against Republican rival Donald Trump, whose campaign has struggled after he made a string of controversial remarks since formally winning his party’s nomination last month. Clinton leads Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election by more than 5 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday. The current RealClearPolitics average of polls shows her 6.7 points ahead. Clinton has been a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady and her transition team includes old names from her long tenure in Washington, some of whom have also served Obama. Tanden, who played a key role in shaping Obama’s health care overhaul, is a longtime friend and adviser to Clinton who worked on her Senate campaign. Williams was the 1992 transition director for Clinton when she became first lady, and then her chief of staff in the White House when Bill Clinton was president. Two policy advisers on the campaign, Ed Meier and Ann O’Leary, will also move full time to the transition team.  Heather Boushey, the executive director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will be the chief economist, the campaign said in a statement. Boushey has advised the campaign on economic policy. Transition teams oversee personnel appointments and help develop an administrative framework during the period between the November election and the inauguration in January, to make it easier for a new president to begin implementing policy agendas. Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected office, picked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to head his own transition team in May. More establishment Republicans, alarmed by Trump’s inability or unwillingness to rein in his provocative remarks, have distanced themselves from the candidate in recent weeks. The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial on Monday that he should fix his campaign in the next three weeks or hand over to his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Trump drew heavy criticism after engaging in a prolonged spat with the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq. Last week, he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement critics found alarming but which he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her. Trump also called Obama and Clinton the “co-founders” of Islamic State, a false claim he later said was sarcastic but did not wholly abandon. Despite Clinton’s lead in polls, Obama warned Democrats against over confidence, telling a fundraising gathering on Monday in Massachusetts, “If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake.”

Summary: क्लिंटन ने ओबामा के दिग्गजों को व्हाइट हाउस संक्रमण दल में नामित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday he was offended by claims that the State Department is being hollowed out, saying his agency is functioning well, contrary to scathing criticism from former diplomats. In the latest salvo, two retired senior U.S. diplomats said the agency is being undermined by proposed budget cuts of about 30 percent and is being deliberately taken apart. “President Trump’s draconian budget cuts for the State Department and his dismissive attitude toward our diplomats and diplomacy itself threaten to dismantle a great Foreign Service,” Nicholas Burns and Ryan Crocker wrote in the New York Times on Monday. “This is not about belt tightening. It is a deliberate effort to deconstruct the State Department and the Foreign Service,” Burns, a former No. 3 official at the agency, and Crocker, a six-time U.S. ambassador, added. The forcing out of many senior diplomats, the failure to nominate or to win Senate confirmation for officials to fill many major agency roles, and a perception that Tillerson is inaccessible have eroded morale, according to current officials. Tillerson said, however, the department is running well and that the department budget had grown dramatically. The planned cuts would restore it to historical norms, he said. He also praised officials serving as acting assistant secretaries of state, typically among the agency’s key jobs, saying they have helped to devise approaches on issues from North Korea and Syria to Iran and Ukraine. “There is no hollowing out,” Tillerson said after a speech at a think tank. “I am offended on their behalf when people say, somehow, we don’t have a State Department that functions ... I can tell you, it’s functioning very well from my perspective.” Tillerson said the process of winning Senate confirmation of appointments has been “excruciatingly slow.” However, the Trump administration has failed to nominate people to serve in many key agency slots, leaving the Senate unable to consider them. According to a database compiled by the Washington Post newspaper and the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, there are no nominees for the assistant secretaries of state for African, East Asian, South and Central Asian, Near Eastern or Western Hemisphere affairs.  This means that the top diplomats for major regions do not enjoy status that comes from being chosen by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Summary: विदेश मंत्रालय के खोखले होने के दावों से टिलरसन 'नाराज'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States would maintain sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela until they restore political and religious freedom.  We re confronting rogue regimes from Iran to North Korea and we are challenging the communist dictatorship of Cuba and the socialist oppression of Venezuela,  Trump told a conservative political conference.  And we will not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political and religious freedom for their people.

Summary: स्वतंत्रता बहाल होने तक क्यूबा, वेनेजुएला के प्रतिबंधों को बनाए रखेगा अमेरिकाः ट्रम्प


HARARE (Reuters) - A Catholic priest is mediating a potential political exit for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, although the 93-year-old is insisting he can only be removed via a party leadership vote, political and intelligence sources said on Thursday. Separately, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment outside Zimbabwe, returned to Harare late on Wednesday, a party spokesman said, fuelling speculation about a post-Mugabe political settlement.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के पादरी मुगाबे के बाहर निकलने की संभावना पर मध्यस्थता कर रहे हैंः सूत्र


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A company with ties to an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has won the right to develop a prime piece of Moscow real estate near the Kremlin, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Moscow city government auctioned off the plot, which lies on the bank s of the Moskva river and includes a number of historic buildings, and it was won by a construction company called Gorkapstroy-Garant, according to the city. The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that the firm represents the interests of businessman Gennady Timchenko. Reuters was not able to independently verify that Timchenko, who has been described by the U.S. Treasury Department as a member of Putin s inner circle, has a financial interest.  A spokesman for the Volga Group, which groups together Timchenko s business interests, did not respond to telephone calls or to an emailed request for comment on Thursday. The plot is a few hundred meters from the Kremlin, and some of the buildings on it date back to the 18th century. Under a development plan presented by the Moscow city government in August, the winning bidder will preserve and restore historic buildings, turn one of the buildings into a hotel and convert some of the complex into apartments.           Timchenko has since 2014 been subject to U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.  No contact details are listed for Gorkapstroy-Garant. Its parent company, Gorkapstroy, did not respond to a written request for comment. Staff were unable to connect a Reuters reporter by phone to Gorkapstroy s boss. The site had been used as a training facility for Russia s Strategic Rocket Forces, the arm of the military which operates Russia s nuclear arsenal. It became the property of Moscow city a few years ago.

Summary: पुतिन के सहयोगी ने प्रमुख मॉस्को साजिश विकसित करने का अधिकार हासिल कियाः सूत्र


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict “bone-numbing pain” after its latest nuclear test, and urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbor.  With tension high on the border after the North’s fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots toward what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone.  It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters. The North’s nuclear test angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons. The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea’s foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting because of the nuclear test. It was to have been the country’s first participation in the event in 18 years. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country’s nuclear arsenal, urging the “detonation of more powerful H-bombs”, the North’s state media reported. North Korea said last week it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more “provocations” by the North including “cyber-terrorism” were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. “We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally,” she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China had stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate its nuclear program. China is North Korea’s main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while Beijing’s ties with South Korea have grown closer in recent years. “I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn’t followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North’s fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability,” Park said. “I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further.” Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a “meaningful” new sanctions resolution was needed from the Security Council. “I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution,” he said. In Washington, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said China could and should put more pressure on North Korea. “We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilizing where you have nuclear tests,” he told a news briefing. Rhodes said it was important the United States and its allies developed capabilities to respond and referred to Sunday’s U.S. B-52 bomber flight over South Korea, missile defense and military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. Rhodes also said that President Barack Obama chose not to mention North Korea in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he did not want to give Kim Jong Un the attention. “He likes attention and probably would like nothing more than the president to spend a lot of time to talk about it in the State of the Union,” Rhodes said. “We didn’t particularly feel compelled to give him that attention.” China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s efforts toward a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. “This is in everyone’s interests and is everyone’s responsibility, including China and South Korea,” he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was brought up for a vote only after North Korea’s latest test. “(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule,” said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, it must also pass the U.S. Senate and be signed by Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border. South Korea’s military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped from North Korean hot air balloons. South Korean financial regulators met computer security officials at 16 banks and financial institutions and urged vigilance in the face of possible cyberattacks by North Korea, although none has been detected.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया ने परमाणु परीक्षण के लिए उत्तर कोरिया पर प्रतिबंध लगाने की मांग की


GENEVA (Reuters) - Discriminating against people on the basis of their nationality is illegal, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Twitter on Monday, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on nationals from seven Middle Eastern countries.  “Discrimination on nationality alone is forbidden under #humanrights law,” Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said in a tweet sent by his office. “The U.S. ban is also mean-spirited, and wastes resources needed for proper counter-terrorism.” After a weekend of confusion, protests and worldwide outcry over Trump’s sweeping immigration order, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said late on Sunday that legal permanent residents, holders of so-called green cards, would be admitted, subject to security checks.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार प्रमुख ने कहा कि ट्रम्प का यात्रा प्रतिबंध अवैध है


RAQQA, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Kurdish groups who led the fight against Islamic State in its former capital Raqqa must navigate a complex peace to avoid ethnic tension with the city s Arab majority and to secure critical U.S. aid. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which finally vanquished Islamic State in Raqqa on Tuesday face a big task rebuilding a city left in ruins by months of intense fighting and heavy air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition. The political challenge is no less daunting in a city that falls outside the Kurdish-dominated regions of northern Syria. The fall of Raqqa, where Islamic State staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement s collapsing fortunes. Its self-declared  caliphate  is also crumbling fast in eastern Syria, helping President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies to recapture swathes of territory. Keenly aware of Raqqa s ethnic and tribal sensitivities, the SDF has been working hard to put Arabs at the heart of plans for local government and policing post-Islamic State, analysts say. In the short term, the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC) set up under SDF auspices must urgently provide security, repair infrastructure and supply aid to win the backing of a population exhausted by conflict, and to allow the people of Raqqa to return home.  Longer term, Raqqa s political destiny is tied to the wider fate of the war that has shattered Syria into a patchwork of areas over the last six years, including swathes of the north controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia that leads the SDF.      Ultimately, the Syrian state wants to recover control of this city on the Euphrates River, meaning it may eventually become the arena of a new conflict with Damascus, or a bargaining chip in eventual negotiations over possible Kurdish autonomy.  Whoever leads us, Kurd or Arab, we want them to provide us with services,  said a man from Raqqa, speaking outside the RCC headquarters in Ain Issa, north of the city.  Safety and security is the most important thing,  said the man, a government employee before the war who cited lingering fear of the Syrian state as his reason for staying anonymous. Raqqa was not a target for the YPG earlier in the war but gradually became one as the militia emerged as the main Syrian partner for the U.S.-led coalition.  The U.S.-led coalition says Arab fighters battling under the SDF banner made up the bulk of the force in the Raqqa campaign. But Kurdish commanders and fighters of the well-organised YPG appeared the leading force throughout the four-month campaign.    Syria s main Kurdish party, the PYD, and its allies may hope Raqqa will eventually join a new  federal  system of autonomous regions they are establishing in the north.     But Kurdish leaders say it is too early to discuss that for now, underlining local and international sensitivities surrounding the political project opposed by their U.S. allies and neighbouring Turkey. While Syrian Kurds say they want to remain part of Syria, regional concern over Kurdish separatism has deepened since Iraqi Kurds voted for independence, triggering military action by Iraq and tough measures by Turkey and Iran. Turkey, in particular, views rising Syrian Kurdish power at its border as a threat to its security, and unsuccessfully pressed Washington to abandon its alliance with the YPG in the run up to the Raqqa attack. Turkey plays host to a rival Raqqa civil council which regards the YPG as a foreign occupation force. Kurdish politicians say Raqqa s future is now entirely in the hands of its people.  So far we have not seen any reactions to indicate there will not be acceptance of the SDF, or the RCC,  said Fawza Youssef, a senior Kurdish politician, in an interview.  The ones who will remain in Raqqa will be the internal security forces and the RCC,  she said.  The security forces that are being prepared are all volunteers from Raqqa.  Some YPG fighters quickly began pulling back from the city on Tuesday, handing their positions to non-Kurdish elements of the SDF, a witness and field commanders said. The SDF applied a similar model in the northern Syrian city of Manbij last year after capturing it from Islamic State.      The (RCC) is still closely linked with YPG/PYD power structures, but they have put more time and effort into emphasising inclusivity than we have seen in some other areas,   senior International Crisis Group analyst Noah Bonsey said.  But the risk of unrest would rise if Kurdish groups were perceived to be micro-managing the city.  There is also the risk of covert interference from the outside: IS sleeper cells, and the Syrian regime may see an interest in using loyalist networks to destabilise things. Either of those dynamics could heighten ethnic tension.   Yasser al-Sayyed, a 43-year-old former car salesman from Raqqa, said people are  happy with the SDF now, of course, because they re free from Daesh (Islamic State) .  But this needs to be followed up  with aid, reconstruction and jobs. The United States has deployed a team of diplomats to Syria to work on humanitarian and stabilisation efforts. The U.S. State Department said Washington would take the lead in helping to clear rubble and restore basic services.  We will assist and take, essentially, the lead in bringing back the water, electricity and all of that,  State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing.  But eventually the governance of the country of Syria is something that I think all nations remain very interested in.  But analysts question how long U.S. support will last. A U.S. official involved in post-Raqqa planning said support could not be channelled to a  PYD political project of expansion into this part of the country , and the United States would not support  the PYD project to make an autonomous administration . For example, the official said schools could only get aid if they were teaching a variant of the Syrian state curriculum, rather than an entirely new one.  We re not going to support a separatist entity ... that s cut and dry,  the official said. Though McGurk said nobody living in SDF-held areas wanted a return of Syrian state control, Damascus may be planning to reassert its influence. A Syrian government official forecast trouble ahead for the SDF in Raqqa and other Arab majority areas of Syria.  There is a contradiction,  said one Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity.  The manpower is with the Arabs, but the military power is with the Kurds.

Summary: आईएस पर रक्का में जीत के बाद कुर्दों को मुश्किल शांति का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of the Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) said nothing had been ruled out ahead of talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives on forming a new government, but added that there was no certainty of success.  No options are off the table,  SPD leader Martin Schulz told a news conference at his party s Berlin headquarters on Monday, adding that it was impossible to say where preliminary talks, due to begin on Thursday, would lead.

Summary: सरकार के पास कोई विकल्प नहीं हैः जर्मन एस. पी. डी. नेता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of government employees file in and out of the U.S. agency for auto safety in Washington every working day, investigating potentially dangerous vehicles and managing a $900 million annual budget. But an administrator is not among them - nobody has been nominated to the top job since President Donald Trump took office.  Also missing from the roughly 550 people on the payroll of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, are a permanent chief counsel, director for government affairs, chief financial officer and enforcement chief. While a deputy administrator was appointed last week, slow progress in bringing in senior politically appointed officials has nearly frozen key decision-making at the agency, according to five former NHTSA officials, consumer groups, lawmakers and some business leaders. They said that without leadership in place NHTSA has either pushed back or failed to act on rules setting new standards for improving how buses fare in rollover crashes, a system to remind passengers in rear seats to wear seat belts, and new tire standards. Eight months into Trump’s presidency, senior positions in many government agencies across Washington remain vacant, including roles at the State Department, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and throughout the Transportation Department that oversees NHTSA.  Some of the vacancies are the result of Trump’s efforts to slim down the federal bureaucracy. Others are simply waiting to be filled.  The White House blames Democrats for dragging out the confirmation process for its nominees, and says vetting picks has been more complicated than usual because many come from the business world rather than government. While many companies applaud Trump’s moves to roll back federal bureaucracy, some also complain that delays in bringing aboard political appointees is hindering government decisions that could impact business.  The frustration extends to some U.S. diplomats, private-sector lawyers and others who regularly deal with government agencies, according to interviews. In September, the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association urged Trump in a letter to accelerate his efforts to nominate a NHTSA administrator so the agency can comply with a 2015 road safety law passed by Congress.     The law ordered NHTSA to write regulations setting minimum tire standards for fuel efficiency and traction in wet conditions and create an online database for consumers to check for tire recalls. U.S. manufacturers and consumer groups support the regulations, drawn up in response to vehicle deaths linked to faulty tires, because they will raise standards and make the U.S. market less accessible to poorly made versions. “We don’t want the U.S. to be kind of the dumping group for the really low technology because there isn’t a standard to meet,” said Dan Zielinski, the association’s senior vice president.  Two former NHTSA leaders and consumer groups say the agency is also moving slowly on other regulatory issues, such as improving side impact standards. “This agency is in a stall ... They are not going to do very much without political leadership,” said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator under President Jimmy Carter and a prominent consumer advocate. NHTSA said in a statement Friday that safety is its top priority. The agency is “committed to meeting all obligations as required” by the 2015 law. NHTSA has an ongoing review of all regulatory actions as part of an administration-wide effort. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on NHTSA but said “capable and professional staff” are filling essential positions throughout the government on an acting basis until confirmations go through. Leadership shortages extend beyond the NHTSA. The White House had by Oct. 4 nominated 387 political appointees for civilian positions in the executive branch and 160 have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, according to the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service. Both numbers were well below those in the first eight months under at least the last four presidents. In the same period of Barack Obama’s presidency, 497 candidates were nominated and 337 confirmed. One senior administration official said it aims to have all top positions - those at the level of assistant secretary and above - nominated by year’s end. Still, some political appointee jobs are expected to stay empty, the White House spokeswoman said. “The federal government has grown unrestrained for decades because politicians have been too afraid to ‘drain the swamp’,” she said. Follow Trump's impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The Trump Effect www.reuters.com/trump-effect In many cases, dire warnings from opponents that Trump’s delays in putting forward political nominations for approval would cause chaos have proven overblown.       But there are examples of government slowing down because mid-level employees do not have the authority or are unwilling to make decisions.     At the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which analyzes proposed transactions to ensure they do not harm national security, private-sector lawyers complain of slow decisions on big deals.     “There is an unwillingness for the staff people to make a decision,” said Michael Gershberg, a trade and investment attorney with Fried Frank.  A lobbyist who works on CFIUS deals said some companies have had to refile proposals because CFIUS failed to reach a decision within 75 days. That drives up legal and financing fees and creates uncertainty about the deal.        Deals that have been refiled include a bid by Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to buy MoneyGram (MGI.O) and Zhongwang USA’s $2.33 billion bid for Aleris Corp (ALSD.PK). The Senate last week confirmed Heath Tarbert, who is expected to oversee CFIUS, as an assistant secretary of the Treasury. At the State Department, only six of the top 40 jobs have been filled, and no confirmed officials are in place to run regional bureaus that handle foreign relations. Instead, they are in the hands of career diplomats with limited authority.     The United States does not have an ambassador in place in such key allied countries as South Korea, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.      “We’re pretty much frozen in amber here,” one official said.     A congressional aide said it was hard to determine the precise impact of the vacancies. But he added that U.S. policy in the North Korea missiles crisis would likely be helped by an ambassador in Seoul, a fully empowered assistant secretary of state for East Asia and an active special envoy for North Korea.      “That’s just one example in the region with the most prominent national security crisis, and really one of the most serious in a long time,” he said.     Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, testifying in Congress on Sept. 26, addressed the slow pace of filling posts.     “We’re behind the curve. We should be ahead of the curve. And we’re doing all we can to catch up,” he said. “Our work is getting done. It would be better done if we had those positions filled.”

Summary: मदद चाहिएः ट्रम्प के तहत कर्मचारियों की कमी नीति परिवर्तनों को धीमा करती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some U.S. intelligence officials suspect that Russian hackers who broke into Democratic Party computers may have deliberately left digital fingerprints to show Moscow is a “cyberpower” that Washington should respect.  Three officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said the breaches of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were less sophisticated than other cyber intrusions that have been traced to Russian intelligence agencies or criminals. For example, said one official, the hackers used some Cyrillic characters, worked during Russian government business hours but not on Russian religious or political holidays.”Either these guys were incredibly sloppy, in which case it’s not clear that they could have gotten as far as they did without being detected, or they wanted us to know they were Russian,” said the official. Private sector cyber security experts agreed that the evidence clearly points to Russian hackers but dismissed the idea that they intentionally left evidence of their identities. These experts - who said they have examined the breach in detail - said the Cyrillic characters were buried in metadata and in an error message. Other giveaways, such as a tainted Internet protocol address, also were difficult to find. Russian hacking campaigns have traditionally been harder to track than China’s but not impossible to decipher, private sector experts said. But the Russians have become more aggressive and easier to detect in the past two years, security experts said, especially when they are trying to move quickly. False flags have grown more common, but the government and private experts do not believe that is involved in the DNC case. The two groups of hackers involved are adept at concealing their intrusions, said Laura Galante, head of global threat intelligence at FireEye, whose Mandiant subsidiary conducted forensic analysis of the attack and corroborated the findings of another cyber company, CrowdStrike. Russian officials have dismissed the allegations of Moscow’s involvement as absurd. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in his only response to reporters, said: “I don’t want to use four-letter words.”  While private cyber experts and the government were aware of the political party’s hacking months ago, embarrassing emails were leaked last weekend by the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group just as the Democratic Party prepared to anoint Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 election. DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned after the leaked emails showed party leaders favoring Clinton over her rival in the campaign for the nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The committee is supposed to be neutral. The U.S. intelligence officials conceded that they had  based their views on deductive reasoning and not conclusive evidence, but suggested Russia’s aim probably was much broader than simply undermining Clinton’s campaign. They said the hack fit a pattern of Russian President Vladimir Putin pushing back on what he sees as the United States and its European allies trying to weaken Russia. “Call it the cyber equivalent of buzzing NATO ships and planes using fighters with Russian flags on their tails,” said one official. Two sources familiar with Democratic Party investigations into the hacking said the private email accounts of Democratic Party officials were targeted as well as servers.  They said that the FBI had advised the DNC that it was looking into the hacking of the individual officials’ private accounts. They also said the FBI also requested additional information identifying the personal email accounts of certain party officials. The DNC hired CrowdStrike to investigate the hack. It spent  about six weeks, from late April to about June 11 or 12,  monitoring the systems and watching while the hackers - who they believed were Russian - operated inside the systems, one of the sources said. What actions, if any, the Obama administration will take are unclear and could depend on what diplomatic considerations may ultimately be involved, a former White House cyber security official said. In past cases, administration officials have decided to publicly blame North Korea and indict members of China’s military for hacking because the administration decided that the net benefit of public shaming – and increased awareness brought to cyber security – outweighed potential risks, the former official said. But “the Russia calculation is far more difficult and precarious,” the former official said. “Russia is a much more aggressive, capable foreign actor both in the traditional military sense and in the cyber realm” and that made public attribution or covert retaliation much less likely. The former official, and a source familiar with the Democratic Party investigations, said that they also were unaware of any U.S. intelligence clearly demonstrating that WikiLeaks had received the hacked materials directly from Russians or that WikiLeaks’ release of the materials was in any way directed by Russians.

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी के उल्लंघन पर अमेरिकी सिद्धांतः हैकर्स का मतलब रूस की छाप छोड़ना था


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayors from the largest U.S. cities warned President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday of the potential economic harm he might cause if he wipes out a program that allows young illegal immigrants to remain in the United States. They warned in a letter that as much as $9.9 billion in tax revenue would be lost over four years and $433.4 billion in U.S. gross domestic product would be wiped out over 10 years if he cancels a policy aimed at protecting these people from deportation. DACA, or The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, was created through an executive order in 2012. It allows undocumented young people brought to the United States before the age of 16 to remain without fear of deportation as they pursue a higher education, work or engage in  military service. The deferred action is subject to renewal every two years. The mayors asked for the program to allow for initial applications and renewals to continue until “Congress modernizes our immigration system and provides a more permanent form of relief for these individuals.” As president, Trump would have the authority to undo DACA. “This program helps foster economic growth and enhances public safety and national security,” said the letter, written by the Democratic Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, and signed by mayors of other major U.S. cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. “We are clear as mayors that these are dreamers who are seeking the American Dream, and we should embrace them rather than do a bait-and-switch,” Emanuel said after presenting Trump the letter at a meeting in New York. Trump has called for the deportation of illegal immigrants, an estimated 11 million people, and promised to build a wall on the border with Mexico. According to the letter, which was made available to the press, nearly 742,000 undocumented youths have participated in DACA. DACA is part of the broader immigration issue of municipalities that offer themselves up as “sanctuary cities,” where local law enforcement refuse to report to federal authorities undocumented immigrants they encounter. Trump has threatened to cut off federal funding for those municipalities. While he would have the authority to cut some kinds of funding, mayors of those cities have said they will not be pressured to report migrants to federal agents. Santa Ana city council voted on Tuesday to declare their community in Southern California of 325,000 people, half of whom are foreign born and 80 percent of Hispanic descent, a sanctuary city. In Los Angeles, the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to ask county departments to provide plans for shielding undocumented immigrants from U.S. immigration authorities, said Jessie Gomez, a spokeswoman for Supervisor Hilda Solis.  The board oversees health, law enforcement and social welfare departments that operate county-wide but it does not administer the city of Los Angeles. Nearly one million residents of Los Angeles County are believed to be undocumented immigrants, according to Solis’ office. White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday said he could not address the incoming president’s potential actions but that the current administration was working to ensure Trump’s team understood why Obama pursued the policy.      “The president’s been crystal clear, both in words and deeds, about his view that young people who are American in every way but their papers shouldn’t be deported ... A policy of deporting them would be inconsistent with our values,” Earnest said of DACA.

Summary: अमेरिकी महापौरों ने ट्रम्प से युवा अवैध आप्रवासन नीति बनाए रखने को कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to protect the identities of wealthy individuals and others who make anonymous, or “dark money,” donations to politically active nonprofit groups. The measure, which drew lobbying support from billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, was approved in a 240-180 vote along party lines. It would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from collecting the names and addresses of donors who contribute $5,000 or more to 501(c) organizations, a name that refers to the tax code section that covers them. The action sent the bill on to the Senate. Although the measure would apply to all 501(c) tax-exempt groups, such as universities, hospitals and charities, politically active nonprofits are the intended beneficiaries. Republicans said the legislation would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from targeting conservative groups following 2013 revelations that Tea Party organizations were subjected to extra scrutiny. Political spending by nonprofit groups including the Koch- aligned Americans for Prosperity has grown dramatically since 2010, when the Supreme Court opened the way to unlimited spending on political campaigns by individuals, corporations, unions and other groups in its landmark Citizens United ruling.  The White House on Monday said it opposed the bill, the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act, claiming it would constrain the IRS from enforcing tax laws and reduce transparency among private foundations. Democrats argued that the legislation could make it easier for foreign entities to finance political campaigns inside the United States.  Charity regulators have also warned that the loss of donor information would make it harder to protect the public against charity fraud. The change would reduce available information on a range of organizations, IRS data shows. Republicans said the bill is necessary to protect donors from potential leaks that could subject them to harassment. Donor identities are not supposed to be released to the public, hence the term “dark money.”  But leaks have occurred, including the 2012 release of donors to the conservative National Organization for Marriage that resulted in a settlement requiring the IRS to pay the organization $50,000. Supporters of the legislation also pointed to signs that the IRS may seek to end the disclosure requirement on its own.     Nonprofit groups could spend more than $500 million on this year’s presidential and congressional elections, up from $10 million in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. House Republicans are also pushing to censure and impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for allegedly failing to cooperate with a probe of the IRS scandal.

Summary: 'काला धन' राजनीतिक दानदाताओं की रक्षा के लिए सदन में मतदान


MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - A Democratic member of President Donald Trump’s commission to investigate possible voter fraud defended his participation on the panel on Tuesday while warning that its mission is being threatened by “extreme partisanship.” Dozens of protesters gathered before the second meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity’s in Manchester, New Hampshire, the state that has long held the first nominating primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle. The panel member, Bill Gardner, who is New Hampshire’s secretary of state, had faced calls to resign after commission Vice Chairman Kris Kobach, a Republican, suggested that thousands of people illegally voted in the northeastern state in November. Despite calls by New Hampshire’s four-person, all-Democratic congressional delegation to resign, Gardner said he would not. “New Hampshire people aren’t accustomed to walking away or stepping down from their civic duties,” Gardner said. “I will not either.” He criticized Kobach, who is the Kansas secretary of state, for calling into question the election’s “real and valid” results. Gardner also noted the opposition the commission has faced from its beginning. “The specter of extreme political partisanship already threatens our ability to reach a consensus,” Gardner said. Trump established the commission in May after charging,  without evidence, that millions voted unlawfully in the November presidential election. Most state election officials and election law experts say that U.S. voter fraud is rare. Although Trump handily won the Electoral College vote that ultimately decides the outcome of presidential elections, he lost the popular vote to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Trump has said on Twitter that New Hampshire, which he lost to Clinton by fewer than 2,800 votes, and two other states had “serious voter fraud.” Tuesday’s meeting drew protesters as the panel heard from speakers about voting trends and the extent voter fraud exists, something speakers from conservative groups like Judicial Watch and Heritage Foundation said was real. One speaker, John Lott, an economist known for his writings against gun control laws, proposed making voters go through the same federal background check system used for firearm purchases. In a Breitbart News column on Thursday, Kobach claimed  voter fraud led to the November victory in New Hampshire for U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat and former governor of the state, over incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte by 1,107 votes. Kobach, an advocate of tougher voter identification, also said Clinton may have won New Hampshire due to illegal voting by non-residents. He renewed his views on Tuesday. “This is obviously a subject of concern,” he said. Kobach cited statistics showing 5,313 voters with out-of-state driver’s licenses registered to vote on the day of the election but who did not later obtain New Hampshire licenses. Democrats countered that the data likely reflected college students from out-of-state who were voting.

Summary: न्यू हैम्पशायर डेमोक्रेट ने ट्रम्प मतदान आयोग पर भूमिका का बचाव किया


TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police are investigating the mysterious deaths of pharmaceuticals billionaire Barry Sherman, founder of Apotex Inc, and his wife Honey, whose bodies were found in their Toronto mansion on Friday. Authorities were conducting post-mortem examinations on Saturday and treating the deaths as suspicious. A Toronto Police spokesman said that nothing had been ruled out in the probe. Two Canadian newspapers reported that police were investigating the deaths as a possible murder-suicide, citing unidentified police sources.  The bodies were found hanging from a railing on the edge of a basement swimming pool, the Globe and Mail and Toronto Sun reported, citing police sources. The newspapers reported that investigators were working on the theory that Barry Sherman, 75, killed his wife, hung her body and then hanged himself at the pool s edge.  Apotex released a statement Saturday saying that the Sherman family was disturbed by the reports.  We are shocked and think it s irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory which neither their family, their friends nor their colleagues believe to be true,  said the statement, which was attributed to the family of Barry and Honey Sherman.  We urge the Toronto Police Service to conduct a thorough, intensive and objective criminal investigation, and urge the media to refrain from further reporting as to the cause of these tragic deaths until the investigation is completed,  it said. Toronto Police Constable David Hopkinson said police are awaiting post-mortem results and no determinations have been made as to the cause and manner of deaths.   There s a whole bunch of different scenarios here. We are not ruling anything out,  he said.  About a dozen police officers canvassed neighbors for information on the case Saturday while a forensics photographer took pictures of the snow-covered estate.   The deaths shocked Canada s political, business and philanthropic elite, prompting a flood of condolences from business leaders and politicians including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Barry Sherman was a prominent donor to Canada s ruling Liberal Party, drawing on a fortune that Forbes estimated at $3.2 billion. Canadian advocacy group Democracy Watch criticized him last year for involvement in a fundraiser for the Liberals while registered as a government lobbyist. Sherman founded generic drugmaker Apotex in 1974, building it into one of the world s largest pharmaceutical makers. It has annual sales of more than C$2 billion in more than 45 countries, according to its website. He stepped down as CEO in 2012, but stayed on as chairman. Sherman was involved in a series of lawsuits, including a decade-long battle with cousins seeking compensation over allegations he cut them out of the company that would make him rich. Police found out about the Shermans  deaths at about midday Friday while responding to an emergency call.  Authorities have not said who made the call, though Canadian media reported the couple s bodies were found by a real estate agent helping them sell their home, which was on the market for C$6.9 million ($5.4 million).  The real state agent could not be reached for comment. The Shermans, who had four children, were major donors to hospitals, universities and Jewish organizations. Honey Sherman sat on the boards of several hospital, charitable and Jewish foundations, and last month was awarded a Senate medal for community service.  She immigrated to Canada as a child when Jewish Immigrant Aid Services relocated her family shortly after the Holocaust, according to a profile of the couple on the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto s website.

Summary: कनाडाई पुलिस अरबपति दवा दंपति की रहस्यमय मौत की जांच कर रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prominent Republican senators on Thursday embraced a push to overhaul rules for addressing sexual harassment in the U.S. Congress, signing on to a bill that would protect victims and require lawmakers to pay for their own settlements. The legislation builds on demands to lift the veil of secrecy around sexual harassment and misconduct on Capitol Hill, and has gained steam in recent months as a wave of women have come forward with accusations against prominent American men in politics, media and entertainment. The bipartisan push signaled momentum in the Republican-led U.S. Congress for overhauling a process for handling misconduct allegations that many lawmakers say is antiquated and stacked against victims. The Senate bill, called the Congressional Harassment Reform Act, draws from proposals that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Jackie Speier, both Democrats, have been developing. “Congress is really behind the eight-ball. I think that, in many respects, the private sector has acted more swiftly than we have in terms of addressing sexual harassment,” Speier said in an interview. High-profile Republican senators co-sponsoring the bill include John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican; Ted Cruz; Joni Ernst and Lisa Murkowski. The legislation would require any member of Congress found liable for harassment to pay settlements themselves, rather than with taxpayer funds, as the current process allows. “Congress is not above the laws, and secret settlements with taxpayer money to cover up harassment should no longer be tolerated,” Cruz said in a statement. Settlements would be made public automatically unless victims choose to keep them private. Outrage over sexual misconduct in politics helped to fuel an upset victory by Democrat Doug Jones in the U.S. Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama on Tuesday. Voters rejected the Republican candidate in the race, Roy Moore, who had been accused by multiple women of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, including one woman who said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Moore denied the allegations but many prominent Republicans distanced themselves from Moore, although President Donald Trump backed him. In Washington, allegations of sexual misconduct prompted the resignations last week of three lawmakers - Democratic Senator Al Franken, Democratic Representative John Conyers and Republican Representative Trent Franks. On Tuesday, Republican Representative Blake Farenthold said he would not seek re-election in November. Politico reported that the congressional Office of Compliance had paid $84,000 from a public fund on behalf of Farenthold to settle a sexual harassment claim in 2015. Reuters has been unable to verify the allegations against Farenthold, who has said that the charges were false and has denied wrongdoing. The 1995 law governing the process for complaints in Congress - created in the wake of a harassment scandal - has been criticized as ineffective. The lengthy and cumbersome process requires victims to go through mandatory mediation and requires complete secrecy. “It created a protective blanket around the harasser and left the victim out in the cold,” Speier said. Speier, who has worked on the issue since 2014, came forward in October with her own story of unwanted sexual contact from the chief of staff for the lawmaker she worked for as a congressional aide. “He kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth,” said Speier, who has become a resource from women seeking advice on how to handle similar situations. “When it happened to me, it disgusted me. I kind of recoiled.” Speier’s proposals for reforms have attracted support from more than 100 members, including 19 Republicans. A group of conservative Republicans have championed a separate bill focused on banning the use of taxpayer dollars for settlements, and requiring past settlements to be disclosed and reimbursed. “What we do agree is that taxpayers should not be on the hook for misbehavior and for those settlements that are made,” said Marsha Blackburn, a Republican representative who has advocated for the proposal. “We need to use that to make certain that workplaces are respectful,” Blackburn said in an interview. A House committee is reviewing reforms with an eye to making recommendations in coming weeks. “I think that what we are doing is taking the best of all the ideas out there and putting them into one package,” a senior House Republican aide said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन कांग्रेस में कदाचार के बारे में गोपनीयता हटाने के लिए दबाव में शामिल हुए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers in U.S. Congress on Wednesday rejected two Democratic amendments to provide nearly $1 billion in funding for bipartisan legislation intended to combat America’s opioid epidemic, aides said. The rejection, which came during a meeting of U.S. House of Representatives and Senate negotiators on the measure, could undermine Democratic support for final legislation that could come up for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Friday. The House and Senate each passed its own versions of the legislation in the last few months. House and Senate Democratic lawmakers are now withholding their support for the final version of the bill, according to two Democratic aides. Democratic opposition could prove to be an obstacle, especially in the Senate, where lawmakers need 60 votes to move legislation forward.  Two amendments, from House and Senate Democrats, would have provided $920 million up front to finance program grants for states. Aides said the programs otherwise require completion of a lengthy appropriations process that could stall in a congressional session shortened by this year’s election campaign. Republican aides were not immediately available for comment. But House Republicans are separately considering a health spending measure that would provide more than $581 million to address opioid abuse. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra said on Wednesday it was only the latest instance in which legislation with bipartisan backing fell short on funding. “It’s becoming a bit of a joke to say we’re concerned and want to do something, when the only thing we’ll do is shell of what it actually takes,” he said.

Summary: अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन ने ओपिओइड के लिए डेमोक्रेटिक फंडिंग प्रस्तावों को अस्वीकार कर दिया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken over the phone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, congratulating her on the victory by a loyal bloc of parties in Germany s parliamentary polls, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday.  Both of them underlined their readiness to continue the  mutually advantageous  cooperation between Russia and Germany, the statement said.

Summary: जर्मन चुनाव के बाद पुतिन और मर्केल ने फोन पर बात कीः क्रेमलिन


MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of Russia’s top diplomats said on Monday that government ministries in the United States and Russia should restore direct communications channels with each other as part of a first step to rebuild bilateral ties. U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have both said they would like to try to mend U.S.-Russia relations that slid to a post-Cold War low after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.         Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told the Moscow-based Security Index Journal in an interview published on Monday that restoring inter-ministerial and inter-agency ties between the two countries was now essential. “A reset in contacts between ministries and agencies in one form or another has long been needed,” said Ryabkov, saying contacts had been frozen since 2014. Ryabkov, in the same interview, said a Russian proposal to discuss cyber security issues at an inter-agency level with the United States was still on the table.  U.S. intelligence agencies accused Moscow of sponsoring computer hackers to try to influence last year’s U.S. election in Trump’s favor, allegations Russia denies. Ryabkov said Moscow had many questions on cyber security for U.S. officials, citing hacker attacks on Russian web sites. He also dismissed the idea of Moscow agreeing to make nuclear arms cuts in exchange for sanctions relief.   Trump, in a newspaper interview last month, floated the possibility that U.S. sanctions on Russia imposed over Crimea could be lifted as part of a deal involving nuclear cuts. Ryabkov said the idea was “a non-starter.” “We don’t discuss the sanctions and won’t discuss them,” said Ryabkov.

Summary: अमेरिकी और रूसी मंत्रालयों को सीधे संबंध बहाल करने चाहिएः रूसी राजनयिक


LONDON (Reuters) - British police said they had arrested a woman who was trying to scale the front gates of Queen Elizabeth s Buckingham Palace home in central London on Saturday, saying the incident was not terrorism-related.  The woman, believed to be in her 30s was quickly detained by officers before she gained access to the palace grounds,  police said. She was arrested on suspicion of trespass and is being questioned at a central London police station.  The incident is not being treated as terrorist-related,  police said. British police are on high alert after five attacks blamed on terrorism this year. In August a man wielding a sword outside the palace was charged under terrorism laws. Three police officers suffered minor injuries detaining him. There have been a number of other incidents in recent years in which people have tried to get into the palace grounds. Last October, a 21-year-old man was arrested after scaling a gate of the palace. He was later detained under a hospital order.  In May 2016, a man with a conviction for murder climbed over the wall and walked for about 10 minutes around the grounds of the palace before being arrested. He was jailed for four months.  Four years ago, a man armed with a knife tried to enter through a gate and was later jailed for 16 months. A month earlier, two men were arrested following a break-in at the palace. One of the biggest security breaches at Buckingham Palace happened in 1982 when an intruder, Michael Fagan, climbed a wall and wandered into a room where the queen was in bed.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के बकिंघम पैलेस के गेट पर चढ़ने की कोशिश कर रही महिला गिरफ्तार


CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State has claimed an attack on an Egyptian military airport that killed one officer and wounded two near the town of Arish in North Sinai on Tuesday, the group s Amaq news agency said in a statement. Security sources meanwhile said an army officer and five militants had been killed in clashes as security forces carried out arrest raids near the Arish air base on Wednesday. The Amaq statement said Islamic State fighters used a Kornet anti-tank missile in the Tuesday attack that targeted the interior and defense ministers who were visiting the area. Neither minister was harmed, a security source said. Islamic State s Sinai branch has for years waged attacks against security forces, and in the past year expanded targets to include Christians and other civilians. An attack on a mosque last month which killed more than 300 people, the deadliest in Egypt s modern history, was widely attributed to Islamic State, but the group did not claim it. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered security forces to use heavy force to stamp out the Sinai insurgency within three months after that attack.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने मिस्र के उत्तरी सिनाई में हवाई अड्डे पर हमले का दावा किया