NEW YORK (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday the Iran nuclear deal was not enough given that Tehran had increased its influence in the region and pressed ahead with ballistic missile tests, and offered to mediate between the United States and Iran. Macron, whose country had been one of the toughest negotiators during the talks between Britain, China, Germany Russia, United States and Iran, repeated that it would be an error to scrap the deal.   Is this agreement enough? No. It is not, given the evolution of the regional situation and increasing pressure that Iran is exerting on the region, and given increased activity by Iran on the ballistic level since the accord,  Macron told reporters in New York. Macron said he wanted to discuss possible sanctions over Iran s ballistic missile program, open negotiations immediately on what happens after the limitations to the accord begin to be lifted in 2025 and hold a discussion on the role of Iran in the region.   Let s be honest, the tensions are on the rise, look at the activities of Hezbollah and Iran s pressure on Syria. We need a clear framework to be able to reassure regional countries and the United States,  Macron said, adding that he was ready to mediate between the United States and Iran. Macron said he had not given up on convincing U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the deal  the worst ever , to change his mind.  The French leader said he believed he had managed to at least convince Trump to allow France and the United Nations to play a mediation role between Tehran and Washington with regard to the situation in Syria, where Iran is a core backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  I proposed that we initiate the work of a contact group at P5 level (Britain, China, Germany, France, Russia), which has been done and we will widen it to represent the political forces in Syria and the regional powers without Iran,  Macron said.  The United Nations Secretary General and France will play the role of mediator for Iran so that we have a parallel negotiation, but that will enable us to include Iran in the process,  he said. The foreign ministers of the P5 will meet to discuss the group Thursday morning at the U.N., where leaders are gathered for the world body s annual general assembly. The last major international attempt to resolve the crisis ended in failure when the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which included Iran, was cast aside after Syrian government forces retook the rebel stronghold of Aleppo in 2016. Russia, Turkey and Iran have been negotiating separately for months in Astana to try to reduce the violence on the ground by creating de-escalation zones across the country, although those talks do not cover a long-term political solution. The idea of the French initiative would be to revive U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva and press ahead with implementation of an existing U.N. roadmap.   The process in Geneva has stopped and there is only the Astana process which will lead to tensions between the participants because it is a process that is a mechanical partition of Syria,  Macron said.

Summary: ईरान के क्षेत्रीय व्यवहार का मतलब है कि परमाणु समझौता पर्याप्त नहीं हैः मैक्रों


(This Oct. 9 story corrects para 18 to show that person attending concert was likely not Kim Yo Jong) By Hyonhee Shin and Soyoung Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - The promotion of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un s 28-year-old sister to the country s top decision-making body is a sign he is strengthening his position by drawing his most important people closer to the center of power, experts and officials say. Kim Yo Jong was named as an alternate member of the politburo within the ruling Workers  Party of Korea - the opaque, all-powerful party organ where top state affairs are decided, the North s official media said on Sunday. It makes her only the second woman in patriarchal North Korea to join the exclusive club after Kim Kyong Hui, who held powerful roles when her brother Kim Jong Il ruled the country.  Since she is a female, Kim Jong Un likely does not see her as a threat and a challenge to his leadership,  said Moon Hong-sik, research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy.  As the saying goes  blood is thicker than water,  Kim Jong Un thinks Kim Yo Jong can be trusted.       Unlike her aunt, who was promoted to the politburo in 2012 after serving more than three decades in the party, Kim Yo Jong has risen to power at an unprecedented pace. Kim Kyong Hui has not been seen since her husband, Jang Song Thaek, once regarded as the No.2 leader in Pyongyang, was executed in 2013. South Korea s spy agency believes she is now in a secluded place near Pyongyang undergoing a treatment for an unidentified disease, according to an August briefing to parliament.  Jang and his wife are not the only relatives to fall from Kim Jong Un s favor. Kim Jong Un s estranged half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed with a toxic nerve agent at a Malaysian airport in February. Two women are on trial for the murder, which South Korean and U.S. officials believe Kim Jong Un s regime was behind.  Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in Macau, had criticized his family s dynastic rule and his brother had issued a standing order for his execution, according to some South Korean lawmakers.  The smartly dressed Kim Yo Jong, her hair usually pulled back in a ponytail and mostly seen in black suits and black-heeled shoes, made her first debut on state media in December 2011, seen standing tearfully next to Kim Jong Un at the funeral of their father. Since then, Kim has made several appearances with her brother, giggling at concerts, riding a white horse, smiling as she receives flowers on his behalf at state functions. Her youth and bubbly personality seen in state media are in stark contrast to the usually glum generals and ageing party cadres who follow Kim Jong Un on official duties. Having previously only occasionally appeared in the background, the young heiress has moved to the front and center of media photos more recently, assisting her brother at numerous high-profile state events.  At a massive military parade in April to mark the 105th birth anniversary of founding father Kim Il Sung, she was seen rushing out from behind pillars to bring paperwork to her brother as he prepared to give an address. The same month, she stood alongside him during the unveiling ceremony of a construction project in Pyongyang. In March 2016, she accompanied Kim Jong Un to a field guidance for nuclear scientists, where he claimed successful miniaturization of nuclear warheads.  Kim Yo Jong s official inclusion in the 30-strong exclusive club of North Korea s chief policy makers means her role within the regime will be expanded further,  Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute south of Seoul. Apart from her age, little is known about Kim Yo Jong. In February 2011, South Korean TV station KBS showed a woman it identified as Kim Yo Jong and her other brother, Kim Jong Chol, enjoying an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore. However, a Reuters review of those pictures shows it was most likely a different person.  The three, who all reportedly went to school in Switzerland, are full blood siblings, born to Kim Jong Il s fourth partner, Ko Yong Hui.  Kim Jong Chol, the oldest of Kim Jong Il s sons, does not involve himself in politics, leading a quiet life in Pyongyang where he plays guitar in a band, according to Thae Yong Ho, North Korea s former deputy ambassador in London who defected to the South. In 2014, Kim Yo Jong was made vice director of the Workers  Party s Propaganda and Agitation Department, which handles ideological messaging through the media, arts and culture.  The position led the U.S. Treasury Department to blacklist her along with six other North Korean officials in January for  severe human rights abuses  and censorship that concealed the regime s  inhumane and oppressive behavior . Last year, South Korea s former spy chief said Kim Yo Jong was seen  abusing power , punishing propaganda department executives for  minor mistakes . In a North Korean state media photo in January 2015, she was spotted wearing a ring on her fourth finger during a visit to a child care center. South Korean intelligence officials say Kim might have wed a schoolmate from the prestigious Kim Il Sung University, but there has been no confirmation of whether she is indeed married or to whom.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया की 'राजकुमारी' अब गुप्त राज्य के शीर्ष नीति निर्माताओं में से एक है


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s ambassador to Myanmar was forced to interrupt Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson earlier this year as he tried to recite a nostalgic colonial poem by Rudyard Kipling in public during a visit to the country s most famous Buddhist site. Johnson, who helped lead the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, is caught on camera starting to recite Kipling s poem, Mandalay, after striking a bell at the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon.   The temple bells they say,  Johnson says in television footage by Channel 4.  Come you back, you British soldier.  As Johnson continues with his recitation of the poem which  celebrates a soldier s love affair with a local woman during Britain s colonial rule of what was then known as Burma, the ambassador tenses.  You re on mic. Probably not a good idea,  British ambassador Andrew Patrick said.  What, The Road to Mandalay?  Johnson asked.  No. Not appropriate,  the ambassador said.  Johnson replied  good stuff  and then started to take photographs of the scene with his telephone camera. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office declined to comment.  Prime Minister Theresa May s appointment of Johnson, who in the run-up to Britain s referendum on EU membership compared the goals of the European Union to those of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, caused consternation in European capitals. In recent weeks, Johnson has attempted to set out his vision of Britain outside the European Union.

Summary: म्यांमार में किपलिंग की कविता पर राजदूत ने ब्रिटेन के बोरिस से कहा, 'उचित नहीं'


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - THANK YOU to all of the incredible HEROES in Texas. America is with you! #TexasStrong [1606 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (31 अगस्त)-टेक्सास


WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand will not resettle refugees occupying a shuttered Australian-run detention in Papua New Guinea without Australia s agreement, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday, rejecting a suggestion to deal with PNG directly. More than 400 asylum seekers have shut themselves inside the Australian-run Manus Island Centre for the past 17 days, defying attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to close the camp in a standoff the United Nations describes as a  looming humanitarian crisis .      Australia has rejected New Zealand s offer to take in some of the men, but on Thursday New Zealand Immigration Minister Peter Dutton suggested it could approach PNG directly to arrange it.  But Ardern ruled that option out.  It s clearly up to Australia to take up that offer,  she said in a statement.  Australia holds all the critical information on the refugees in Manus Island so any take-up of refugees has to be organized with Australia s assistance,  she said.     The U.N. refugee agency this week urged Australia to accept New Zealand s offer. But Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday the priority was an existing refugee swap deal he negotiated with former U.S. President Barack Obama last year and that an agreement with New Zealand was  no near-term prospect at all .     Australia s  sovereign borders  immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. The asylum seekers on Manus island have been holed up inside the camp without power or running water since it closed on Oct. 31, saying they fear violent reprisals from the community if they move to transit centers, pending possible resettlement to the United States.  Food and medical supplies for the 421 men were running low and they were reliant on three small wells and rain water for drinking, according to people inside the camp.  Today the refugees are watching clouds to collect some rain,  Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish journalist from Iran who has been detained on Manus island for more than four years told Reuters via text. Papua New Guinea has threatened to forcibly move the men though three deadlines have passed largely without incident. The Papua New Guinea government could not immediately be reached for comment.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड ने ऑस्ट्रेलिया के समर्थन के बिना मनु शरणार्थियों के पुनर्वास से इनकार किया


(Reuters) - Voters in four U.S. cities will decide on Tuesday whether they would like to tax sugary drinks, the latest in a series of such measures as officials and nutritionists seeks ways to address obesity, diabetes and other health epidemics.  The following are some cities and states around the United States that have taxes or are considering imposing them for soft drinks, sugary beverages and sellers of sodas (population sizes are estimates from the U.S. Census): Voters in this small city in the San Francisco Bay area will be voting on a penny-per-ounce soda tax Tuesday. POPULATION: 4.86 million Proponents are pushing for lawmakers in Birmingham to consider a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages to fill a shortfall for Medicaid. POPULATION: 2.98 million The Southern state has levied taxes since 1983 on soft drinks and syrups and related products ranging from 0.16 to 1.56 cents per ounce. Voters in Berkeley voted in favor of a penny-per-ounce soda tax in November 2014. The tax took effect in 2015. Voters in this small city in the San Francisco Bay will be voting on a penny-per-ounce soda tax on Nov. 8. POPULATION: 2.72 million The city taxes people who sell canned or bottled soft drinks, including soda and sports drinks, at 3 percent of the gross receipts of soft drinks sold at retail. POPULATION: 5.24 million Cook County’s Board of Commissioners is expected to vote in mid-November on a proposed penny-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks as part of its fiscal 2017 budget.  POPULATION: 12.86 million Lawmakers in the state, home to 12.9 million people, this year renewed an effort for a penny-per-ounce soda tax. In 2015, the Navajo Nation in the U.S. Southwest passed a 2-percent sales tax on soda and junk food. Voters will decide on penny-per-ounce soda tax on Nov. 8. POPULATION: 1.57 million This month, Philadelphia became the biggest U.S. city to introduce a tax for each ounce of soda and other sweet beverages. It also applies to diet sodas. The law is due to come into effect in 2017, but the American Beverage Association (ABA), which represents soda manufacturers, is fighting it in court. Voters will decide on penny-per-ounce soda tax on Nov. 8. POPULATION: 1.84 million West Virginia has taxed bottled soft drinks, syrups and dry mixtures for decades.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः संयुक्त राज्य भर में सोडा, चीनी कर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 15 percent corporate tax rate backed by President Donald Trump may not be possible, but businesses will see a “competitive” rate as Republicans push their tax reform plan through Congress, the U.S. treasury secretary said on Tuesday. “Ideally, he’d like to get it down to 15 percent. I don’t know if we’ll be able to achieve that given the budget issues, but we’re going to get this down to a very competitive level,” Steven Mnuchin said, speaking at an conference hosted by CNBC.

Summary: ट्रेजरी प्रमुख 'प्रतिस्पर्धी' कॉर्पोरेट कर दर देखते हैंः सीएनबीसी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deal Congress is working to pass this week contains few surprises for the financial services industry, according to documents released by the House Appropriations Committee on Monday. Budget bills primarily lay out how government money can flow, but often also include riders - smaller measures attached to the budget so they can become law. During spending negotiations last week, Democrats said many of the riders would lead them to walk away from any budget deal, dubbing them “poison pills.” The proposal unveiled on Monday was hailed for its bipartisan support. “It is a solid bill that reflects our common values and that will help move our nation forward,” said Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, the Republican chairman of the House appropriations committee. “Overall, the Democrats were successful at keeping the omnibus funding bill from being hijacked by inappropriate policy additions, keeping out over 160 proposed poison pill riders,” said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. The House of Representatives and Senate are expected to pass the $1 trillion spending bill that was unveiled on Monday before Friday.  Many on Capitol Hill and off had anticipated the bill would include a rider on how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded.  Currently, the agency receives its funding from the Federal Reserve, but Republicans have pushed to move the CFPB into the annual congressional budget, saying that would make it more accountable to voters. Instead, the deal was much lighter, only requiring the CFPB to report to Congress when it makes draws from the Fed. Democratic supporters of the CFPB, such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, say receiving funds from the Fed maintains the independence of the agency, created in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to protect individuals from fraud. Warren was former President Barack Obama’s first choice to lead the CFPB, and the party’s “Warren Wing,” which includes the Banking Committee’s senior Democrat, Sherrod Brown, is committed to keeping it intact no matter the cost. “Opponents of the CFPB seem to realize that attempts to weaken the agency through the budget process could potentially derail a deal,” said Rohit Chopra, a senior fellow at Consumer Federation of America and former CFPB official. The deal also maintains a contentious rider from the last budget barring the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring companies to disclose their political donations. Democrats want major corporations to show to which candidates and causes they give money, and last year worked to  block two SEC commissioner nominations when the nominees would not support donation disclosures. Republicans say the disclosures are not material to investors.

Summary: अमेरिकी बजट सौदे में बैंकों, वित्तीय संस्थाओं के लिए कुछ आश्चर्य


LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of children and teenagers, including large numbers of girls, were referred to Britain s often-criticized counter-terrorism program Prevent, new official figures showed on Thursday. Prevent is a key strand of Britain s security strategy which was launched in 2003 to combat extremism after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States. It has grown in prominence since the 2005 suicide attack on London s transport network which killed 52 people and the rise of the Islamic State in recent years.  It has been dogged since its inception by claims that it is used to spy on Muslim communities and a 2015 government edict  instructing public bodies such as schools, health workers and universities to report concerns further exacerbated those fears. The first official Prevent figures from Britain s Home Office (interior ministry) showed that of the 7,631 individuals thought to be at risk of being drawn into terrorism from April 2015 to March 2016, almost a third were children. Of all those referred, only five percent, the 381 assessed to be the most at risk, were eventually deemed to need support from specialist mentors in the voluntary, de-radicalization scheme known as Channel. Some 63 individuals withdrew from the process and the Home Office said there was no data about whether they or any others who had been referred to Prevent or gone through the Channel process had later gone on to be involved in extremism. Two-thirds of Prevent referrals were made over fears of Islamist extremism and 10 percent because of far-right concerns. The vast bulk came from the education sector and police, with 2,127 aged under 15, including 532 girls, and 2,147 aged 15 to 20, with 420 female.  A senior Home Office official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cited the case of a nine-year-old boy who had been referred to Prevent after he stood up in class and said he supported Islamic State.  The boy, who had been bullied at school, had been watching IS execution videos after searching for news coverage after the Paris attacks. After a year of support, his life was turned around, the official said.  In the last two years the number of teenagers has spiked and the number of teenagers that I ve had who are on the autistic spectrum has also spiked,  one of Channel s Islamist mentors, told reporters.   What IS and these groups have understood is young people need narratives and they ve created narratives which make a very complex world seem very simple.  Britain suffered four militant attacks this year that killed 36 people - the deadliest spate since the London  7/7  bombings of 2005.   Britain s Home Secretary has been meeting representatives of leading U.S. tech firms Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter in Washington this week as part of her ongoing effort for them to do more to tackle online extremism. A Prevent coordinator said the proliferation of extremist online content was an accelerant rather than a cause.  It s the petrol going on the fire, but it s not the tinder which sparks the flame in the first place,  he said.

Summary: आंकड़ों से पता चलता है कि हजारों बच्चों ने ब्रिटेन की आतंकवाद-रोधी योजना का उल्लेख किया


DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior leader of al Qaeda s Yemeni branch has called for attacks on Myanmar authorities in support of minority Rohingya Muslims, the SITE monitoring center said on Saturday as thousands fled what they say is a government assault on their villages. Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya pose one of the biggest challenges facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of failing to support the Muslim minority that has long complained of persecution. In a video message released by al Qaeda s al-Malahem media foundation, Khaled Batarfi called on Muslims in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia to support their Rohingya Muslim brethren against the  enemies of Allah.  Batarfi, who was freed from a Yemeni prison in 2015 when Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized the port city of Mukalla, also urged al Qaeda s Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) branch to carry out attacks.  So spare no effort in waging jihad against them and repulsing their attacks, and beware of letting down our brothers in Burma (Myanmar),  Batarfi said, according to the U.S.-based monitoring center. About 58,600 Rohingya have fled into neighboring Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. Myanmar officials accuse the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of burning homes. The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week that prompted clashes and a large army counter-offensive. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is conducting a campaign of arson and killings to drive them out. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries. Bangladesh, where more than 400,000 Rohingya live since they began fleeing Myanmar in the 1990s, is also growing increasingly hostile to the minority. (This version of the story corrects to show Rohingya are a minority, not a majority, in second paragraph)

Summary: यमनी अल कायदा नेता ने म्यांमार के रोहिंग्याओं के समर्थन में हमलों का आह्वान किया


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police arrested a Christian priest and were questioning  members of a seminary after a hardline Hindu group accused them of trying to convert villagers to Christianity by distributing Bibles and singing carols, police said on Saturday. The priest was arrested on Friday after a member of the Bajrang Dal, a powerful Hindu group associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi s ruling party, accused 50 members of a seminary of distributing the Bible, photos of Jesus Christ and singing carols in a village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.  Our members have registered a criminal case because we have proof to show how Christian priests were forcibly converting poor Hindus,  said Abhay Kumar Dhar, a senior member of the Bajrang Dal in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh.   The Bajrang Dal has direct links with Modi s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Madhya Pradesh, governed by the BJP, has strict religious conversion laws. People must give formal notice to local administrators in order to change religion.  We have arrested the priest but have not booked him under the anti-conversion law because the probe into the allegations is still on,  said Rajesh Hingankar, the investigating official in Satna district, where the incident occurred. The Catholic Bishops  Conference of India said they were  shocked, and pained at the unprovoked violence against Catholic priests and seminarians .  We were only singing carols, but the hardline Hindus attacked us and said we were on a mission to make India a Christian nation ... that s not true,  said Anish Emmanuel, a member of the St. Ephrem s Theological College in Satna. Two senior police officials in Bhopal said they had detained six members of the Bajrang Dal who had allegedly torched a car owned by a Christian priest in Satna, 480 km (300 miles) northeast of Bhopal. Religious conversion is a sensitive issue in India, with Hindu groups often accusing Christian missionaries of using cash, kind and marriage to lure poor villagers to convert to their faith. Modi s government has been criticized for failing to do enough to stop attacks on minority Christians and Muslims by hardline Hindu groups. The government rejects the allegation and denies any bias against Christians or Muslims.

Summary: हिंदू समूह की शिकायत के बाद भारतीय पुलिस ने ईसाई पादरी को गिरफ्तार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday there was no indication that Russia wanted a positive relationship with the United States, saying it had chosen to be a strategic competitor. “At this time ... I do not see any indication that Mr. Putin would want a positive relationship with us. That is not to say we can’t get there as we look for common ground,” Mattis told a House Armed Services Committee hearing, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But at this point, he has chosen to be competitive, a strategic competitor with us and we will have to deal with that as we see it,” he said. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that the United States had an adversarial relationship with Russia. Russia and the United States have a number of diverging interests, including in Syria. Russia said on Saturday it had told the United States it was unacceptable for Washington to strike pro-government forces in Syria after the U.S. military carried out air strikes on pro-Syrian government militia. U.S. senators said on Monday they were close to an agreement on legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, including a possible provision that would prevent the White House from easing sanctions without congressional approval. Democrats and Republicans on the Foreign Relations and Banking Committees have been negotiating for about a week on an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill that also would impose sanctions to punish Russia over issues including its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that country’s six-year-long civil war.

Summary: कोई संकेत नहीं है कि रूस अमेरिका के साथ सकारात्मक संबंध चाहता हैः मैटिस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Saturday there would be repercussions for U.S.-Pakistan relations unless Islamabad took action to detain and charge a newly freed Islamist accused of masterminding a 2008 assault in Mumbai, India. A Pakistani court ordered the release on Wednesday of Hafiz Saeed, who was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States. His freedom had also infuriated its arch-foe India. The White House on Saturday urged Pakistan to arrest Saeed, calling for him to be prosecuted over the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including Americans.  If Pakistan does not take action to lawfully detain Saeed and charge him for his crimes, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan s global reputation,  the White House said in a statement. This is the first time the United States has acknowledged that the recent decision could have an impact on relations between the two countries, who are allies but view each other with suspicion.  Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen attacked targets in India s largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a train station in a rampage that lasted several days. The violence brought nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India to the brink of war. The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Members say the JuD is a charity but the United States says it is a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. The White House said Pakistan s failure to charge Saeed sent a  a deeply troubling message about Pakistan s commitment to (combating) international terrorism.  It added that it also was counter to Pakistan s claim that it did not provide sanctuary to militants.  President Donald Trump has accused Pakistan of harboring  agents of chaos  and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Pakistan argues that it has done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down terrorists. U.S. official expressed hope that relations between the two countries could improve after a kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children were freed in Pakistan in October, after the couple was abducted in neighboring Afghanistan. Michael Kugelman, of the Woodrow Wilson Center think tank in Washington, said he did not expect an imminent change in relations between the two countries, but Saeed s release would be a critical point for Washington as it considers it options.  This could move the U.S. closer to adapting a largely symbolic but nonetheless major punitive step - the revocation of Pakistan s non-NATO ally status, which would be a big reputational blow for Pakistan,  Kugelman said. Pakistan won major non-NATO ally status in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the U.S. battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.  Non-NATO ally status is a designation given by the U.S. government to close allies who have a strategic working relationship with U.S. Armed Forces but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Summary: अमेरिका ने रिहा किए गए आतंकवादी पर पाकिस्तान को परिणाम भुगतने की चेतावनी दी


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ted Cruz was recounting to an audience how he had outlasted most of his 16 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination when a plane carrying the man who had won it all, Donald Trump, flew overhead, interrupting him mid-speech. “All right, that was pretty well-orchestrated,” said Cruz, a Republican U.S. senator from Texas who waged a bitter campaign against Trump. Hours later Cruz would take his revenge, refusing to endorse Trump and urging Republicans to vote their conscience during a prime-time speech on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He left the podium to a chorus of boos, and his wife was escorted off the floor as the convention erupted in rancor. Susan Hutchison, chair of the Washington state delegation, said she confronted Cruz after his speech and called him a “traitor to the party.” So much for party unity. Over three days in Cleveland this week, Republican leaders sought to sell a story of unity. They repeatedly said the party was getting ever closer to rallying behind Trump, who is running on the slogan “Make America Great Again!” and whose candidacy has divided many and exposed deep discontent among  Republicans with their leaders.  But in a few minutes on Wednesday night that show of unity was blown apart in spectacular fashion. Cruz’s non-committal speech infuriated Trump supporters among the thousands of delegates cramming the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. But their angry jeers triggered recriminations from other delegates.   “They talk about unity and then they act like that. That is not going to get us to unify,” said Manette Merrill, a Cruz delegate from Washington state.  Trump will get the opportunity to rally the party when he formally accepts its nomination on Thursday night in a speech expected to be watched by millions of Americans, including undecided and independent voters. One of Trump’s key goals going into this week’s convention was to unite the party after a roughly 18-month primary season that was marked by personal attacks on candidates, sometimes violent rallies, and deep disagreement over what it means to be a Republican. In public and in private the Trump campaign tried to win over skeptics who feel the New York businessman and celebrity TV star does not represent the party’s values. It took a harder stance against opponents, for example shutting down a desperate last-minute bid on the convention floor early in the week to stop his nomination.  “It’s like a slow crawl,” former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said of the unity drive as he made the rounds at the convention. “You’re kind of doing it. You’re kind of looking around to see if anyone else is doing it,” he told Reuters.  But almost from the start there were blatant signs of party disunity.  Ohio Governor John Kasich, who lost to Trump in the nomination fight and disagrees with Trump on a host of issues, declined to attend the convention held in his own state. Instead, he greeted his supporters at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame close to the convention arena to the blaring tune of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” with lyrics like, “I don’t need to fight to prove I’m right.” Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told reporters that Kasich was “embarrassing his state” by refusing to get on the Trump train. His remarks were a reminder of the sort of insults that many Republicans had hoped would disappear after a brutal primary season that was characterized by Trump’s often personal attacks on his opponents. The pleas for unity were frequent in Cleveland, led by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top elected Republican, who has been slow in warming to Trump. “What do you say that we unify this party at this crucial moment when unity is everything?” Ryan asked thousands of convention attendees on Tuesday night. It was the biggest applause line of his speech - delegates cheered, clapped and waved signs. But U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, one of the “never Trump” holdouts, is still not convinced.  “Federalism and separation of powers – if he focuses on that, he brings along a lot of conservatives like me who haven’t been sold yet,” Lee told Reuters. “He needs to make that a distinct part of his message.” Trump and his surrogates have offered scant policy details so far at the convention, nor have they been able to put to rest questions about whether they are capable of mounting a sophisticated presidential campaign to take on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The convention has been overshadowed, for example, by controversy surrounding his wife Melania’s convention speech - which included lines uttered by first lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention in 2008 - and the campaign’s initial reluctance to admit the plagiarism. Some Republicans thought it was an unnecessary distraction at a time when the party should be focused on selling itself and its new leader to Americans.  Others said that if Trump was really serious about uniting the party he would reach out to his vanquished foes on the campaign trail, including Cruz and Kasich.   Ken Cope, a Texas delegate who had backed Cruz for president but will vote for Trump, said the New York businessman needs to “swallow his pride” and stress the contributions his 16 defeated rivals made to the primary process instead of belittling them. “He’s a prideful man and he’s proud of what he is but we’re in a general election campaign and it’s going to take all of us pulling on the rope if we’re going to pull the ship to the final line,” Cope said. Still others said Trump needed to be more disciplined. Trump supporter John Whitmer, a delegate from Wichita, Kansas, said Trump made a mistake by going on Fox News on Monday night to rail against Kasich as speakers were lauding his candidacy at the televised convention. “You just stepped on your best act,” Whitmer said. “I get that you want to talk about Kasich, but everybody needed to be watching what was going on there.” After Wednesday night, the best hope for the Republican Party to come together may rest on Clinton, who was frequently vilified at the Cleveland convention this week. She will be formally nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee at her party’s convention in Philadelphia next week. When asked if the party was unified, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and close Trump adviser, Newt Gingrich, replied: “No, but we will be by the end of Philadelphia.” “Trump will get us to 90 percent unity. She’ll get us the rest of the way.”

Summary: "रिपब्लिकनों को फिर से संपूर्ण बनाओ!" एक विभाजित पार्टी ट्रम्प के पीछे रैली करने के लिए संघर्ष करती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top aide to U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his colleague, Kellyanne Conway, after she was widely criticized for her public endorsement of the fashion line of Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, White House aide Stephen Miller said Trump adviser Conway was making a “light-hearted, flippant” comment when she urged Americans to buy Ivanka Trump’s products. Conway’s comments prompted criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as some legal experts who said she may have violated ethics rules that prohibit using a public office to endorse products or advance personal business gains. In comments to the Associated Press last week, Republican Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight committee, said Conway’s statement was “clearly over the line, unacceptable.” Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the same committee, said on Sunday that Miller’s characterization of Conway’s remarks was incorrect. “This was a textbook case of a violation of the law,” he said on “This Week.”  Cummings said he was troubled by the fact that Trump is the authority who will ultimately decide how to punish Conway, if at all, after the Office of Government Ethics issues its recommendation on the matter. Conway made the comments after retailer Nordstrom said it would stop selling Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, a move that had prompted a tweet from the president blasting Nordstrom. Nordstrom said it had made the decision to drop the brand because sales had steadily declined, especially in the last half of 2016, to where carrying the line “didn’t make good business sense.” Nordstrom shares initially fell after the president’s criticism last Wednesday, but closed up 4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange that day. On Saturday, a spokesman for major U.S. retailers Sears and Kmart said they had removed 31 Trump Home items from their online product offerings in order to focus on more profitable merchandise.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगी का कहना है कि इवांका के ब्रांड का विज्ञापन 'हल्का-फुल्का' था


(Reuters) - Attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on the Myanmar security forces in Rakhine State triggered a response by the army and Buddhist vigilantes so brutal a senior U.N. official denounced it as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Days, weeks and months after the Aug. 25 violence, more than 600,000 Rohingya fled to Muslim Bangladesh, trekking over mountains and through forests and rice fields inundated by monsoon rain. Many of the refugees were traumatized, exhausted and hungry, some wounded by bullets, knives or clubs, many with burns. Many women said they had been raped. All of the refugees brought accounts of a campaign of murderous violence and arson by the Myanmar security forces and Buddhist civilians that they believed was aimed at driving them out of the country. Mostly Buddhist Myanmar denies the accusations. (Click on reut.rs/2jc8rZe to view a photo essay on the Rohingya refugee crisis.) Myanmar says the rebels responsible for the Aug. 25 attacks on about 30 security posts and an army camp - the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army - are terrorists and it is they who unleashed most of the violence and arson that reduced hundreds of Rohingya villages nestled in emerald-green rice fields to ash. The Rohingya have long faced discrimination and repression in Rakhine State where bad blood with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, stemming from violence by both sides, goes back generations. Rohingya are not regarded as an indigenous ethnic minority in Myanmar - the government even refuses to recognize the term  Rohingya , instead labeling them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Most have been denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity. They have long lived under apartheid-like conditions, with little access to even the limited opportunities in education and employment open to their Buddhist neighbors in one of Myanmar s poorest regions. About one million Rohingya were believed to have been living in Rakhine State before the latest violence. Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 of them who had fled earlier repression. The new arrivals, many landing by boat after being ferried across a border river, crammed into the existing refugee camps in the Cox s Bazar district, many camping out in the rain - lucky ones able to string up a piece of plastic - beside muddy tracks. Bangladesh, one of the world s poorest and most crowded countries, initially said the Rohingya were not welcome and ordered border guards to push them back. But it quickly changed its stand in the face of the scale of the exodus and began gearing up, with the help of U.N. and other aid agencies, to cope with the fastest-developing refugee crisis the world had seen in years. The crisis has raised grave doubts about Myanmar s transition from military-ruled pariah to budding democracy, and about the commitment to human rights of the democracy leader who struggled to end nearly 50 years of harsh military rule - Aung San Suu Kyi. The generals remain in full charge of security under a constitution they drafted, even though Suu Kyi runs the government. Analysts say Suu Kyi has to avoid angering the army and alienating supporters by being seen to take the side of a Muslim minority that enjoys little sympathy in a country that has seen a surge of Buddhist nationalism. Nevertheless, the failure of the Nobel peace laureate to speak out forcefully in defense of the Rohingya would seem to have irreparably damaged her reputation overseas. The international community is demanding that the Rohingya be allowed to go home in safety, and Bangladesh and Myanmar have begun talks on repatriation, but huge doubts remain about the Rohingya ever being able to return in peace to rebuild their homes and till their fields.

Summary: म्यांमार में हिंसा से प्रताड़ित रोहिंग्या मुसलमान भागे


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday the first group of about 50 men and woman held in two controversial detention centers for asylum-seekers on remote Pacific islands will be resettled in the United States within weeks. The comments mark the first official timetable for when the United States will begin resettling up to 1,250 people held in Australian-run centers on Nauru and Papua New Guinea s Manus island as part of a refugee swap deal struck by former U.S. President Barack Obama late last year. Australia will begin resettling several dozen Central American refugees within weeks under the deal that U.S. President Donald Trump has described as  dumb  but has nevertheless said Washington will honor.  There will be about 25 from both Manus and Nauru will be going to the United States and I just want to thank again President Trump for continuing with that arrangement,  Turnbull said in a video statement. Three sources familiar with the process said about 25 men from countries such as Bangladesh, Sudan, and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar held on Manus island were the first to be told on Wednesday, with a similar number on Nauru to be told Thursday. One Sudanese refugee approved for resettlement told Reuters  he would leave Manus Island in a few days.   It feels like my dreams are coming true. All we want is to go to a safe country,  said the refugee, who declined to be identified for fear of jeopardizing the resettlement. While Trump has said he would honor the swap agreement, concerns remain about how many asylum-seekers will be resettled from the Australian-run centres.  Nearly 2,000 men, women and children are held on Manus island and Nauru, the majority of whom have been awarded refugee status by the two tiny Pacific countries. Refugees and advocates cautioned against assuming the U.S. would take the full allotment, with its processing so far concentrated on individuals with applications that are both easier to verify through background checks and originate from citizens of nations with closer ties to the United States.  Iranians are about a third of the refugees on Manus but are only about 10 percent of the ones interviewed so far,  said Ian Rintol, spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition.  It seems there had been some discriminatory selection.   U.S.-Iran relations have been strained under Trump, who called Tehran a  rogue nation  on Tuesday. As the two have no diplomatic ties, validating refugee claims is prohibitive.     Representatives of Australia s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, refused to comment. Despite their refugee status, many of those on Nauru and Manus island have been held for four years in conditions widely criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups. Australia is under increased pressure to resettle asylum-seekers from Manus Island because that center is due to close on Oct. 31. Australia would need to make alternative arrangements should the bulk of the 800 men still be there by that deadline. Under Canberra s hardline immigration policy, asylum-seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia are sent for processing at the Manus island and Nauru camps. They are told they will never be settled in Australia.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया के प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि अदला-बदली समझौते के तहत अमेरिका में पहले शरणार्थियों को फिर से बसाया जाएगा


LONDON (Reuters) - London s Canary Wharf Docklands Light Railway Station was reopened on Thursday after a temporary closure due to a fire alert, Transport for London (TfL) said on Twitter.  The service has resumed to all destination, TfL said.

Summary: लंदन का कैनरी व्हार्फ डॉकलैंड लाइट रेलवे स्टेशन आग की चेतावनी के बाद फिर से खुला


ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Chamber of Deputies on Thursday gave its final approval to a contested electoral law that is likely to penalize the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in next year s election. The bill, which is supported by the ruling Democratic Party (PD) and mainstream center-right opposition parties, was approved in a secret ballot by 375 votes to 215, and will now move to the upper house Senate for further debate. An election is due by May 2018. Analysts say the new system looks highly unlikely to throw up a clear parliamentary majority, with opinion polls showing the center-left, center-right and 5-Star splitting the vote three ways. The so-called  Rosatellum  law favors parties which group together ahead of the election. The 5-Star refuses to join any alliance and says the reform could cost it at least 50 seats in the next parliament, hobbling its chances of taking power. The party, which tops many opinion polls, has held two days of street protests against what it sees as an attempt by its mainstream rivals to scupper its chances at the election.  You are manipulating the foundations of our democratic system and rigging the rules before the game starts,  5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio told parliament before the vote.   Every single day of the election campaign we will remind people of what you are doing today.  Small left-wing and right-wing parties are also against the bill, which is supported by the center-right Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the right-wing Northern League. Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the PD who has put his name to the reform, said it was the best compromise possible among political adversaries and blamed 5-Star and leftist parties for refusing to join negotiations.  You always said no to everything that we proposed,  he told the Chamber. President Sergio Mattarella has called for new voting rules because he says the current system is too different for the upper and lower houses, meaning it could conceivably throw up conflicting majorities. All previous attempts to harmonize the rules have failed, most recently in June when dissident deputies used a secret vote to up-end part of the proposed legislation. The 5-Star and other opponents of the new rules had hoped that the same would happen in Thursday s final vote in the Chamber, which had already approved the bill in three votes of confidence held with open voting. The package still needs the approval of the upper house Senate, where Gentiloni s government does not have a stable majority. The upper house is expected to begin discussing and voting on the bill next week.

Summary: इटली के निचले सदन ने नया चुनावी कानून पारित किया, सीनेट में गया


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Saddled with economic problems and its own damage from Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico is taking thousands of refugees from the U.S. Virgin Islands whose homes were destroyed by the storm, with a cruise ship carrying up to 2,000 more due to set sail for the U.S. territory on Wednesday.  Visibly shaken residents from St. Martin and the Virgin Islands arrived on Tuesday on U.S. military aircraft, bringing tales of terrifying winds and a breakdown of law and order.  The people of Puerto Rico - what big hearts you guys got because our (local) government did nothing - nothing,  said William Vonfabrice, 61, from St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  People coming at us with machetes, offering bullets and saying  There is more for you,  breaking into houses, hurting people.  Royal Caribbean s  Majesty of the Seas cruise ship was expected to depart the badly damaged St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Wednesday evening bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands commissioner of tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty said. Irma skirted Puerto Rico last week, knocking out power to 70 percent of the island, damaging buildings and killing at least three people, but the destruction was not nearly as bad as elsewhere in the Caribbean. The storm s 185 mph (297 km/h) winds hammered a string of tiny Caribbean islands that are territories of Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States. Homes, hotels, hospitals, marinas and airports were badly damaged and the extent of the chaos seemed to catch the wealthy nations off guard. Britain s government said local authorities had imposed a curfew on the British Virgin islands, where locals complained of widespread looting and violent crime after Irma. U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the islands on Wednesday, calling them a  scene of utter devastation  on Twitter as his government announced  25 billion ($33 billion) in extra aid for its territories. The nations all have launched military relief operations but locals and tourists have criticized the response for being too slow and not reaching everybody evenly. Visiting the French Caribbean on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to quickly rebuild St. Martin, a French territory shared with the Netherlands. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met with security officials in Anguilla. Dutch King Willem-Alexander said the destruction he saw in St. Martin was on a scale he  had never seen before.  Charles Morrison, 89, an evacuee from the Dutch part of the island, Sint Maarten, said one person was killed when the hotel he was staying in was flooded and partially destroyed. Morrison then took shelter in a friend s more secure place.  The fact is, that s the end of Sint Maarten,  he said as he was pushed through San Juan s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in a wheelchair. Puerto Rico has $70 billion in debt, a poverty rate above 46 percent, and near-insolvent pension and health systems, a fact not lost on the arrivals.  God bless Puerto Rico and the hearts because you guys are struggling. And from the hardest struggle, that s where the real people come out,  Vonfabrice said, thanking Puerto Rico for sending food, water and ships to the Virgin Islands. A Puerto Rico government spokeswoman said the financial situation and expected length of stay of the 2,000 refugees due to arrive in San Juan was still unclear, but that expenses would be covered by emergency federal funding.  Puerto Rico has set up a large convention center to house refugees who cannot afford to go to a hotel. Other countries in the region also helped. St. Lucia has agreed to house prisoners from the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands, after the storm damaged the prisons in those British territories. The Cayman Islands has sent police to help reinforce security in the British Virgin Islands after more than 100 prisoners escaped when the storm breached the prison. Mexico s foreign minister Luis Videgaray instructed his diplomats in the Caribbean to offer unspecified help to Puerto Rico and Cuba even as it seeks to cope with the fallout from a massive earthquake. St. Thomas resident Laci Rivers, 33, was waiting on board the Royal Caribbean s Majesty of the Seas, eager to bring her two small children to safety after days of uncertainty.  Everyone is stressed and hungry and confused,  she said. Rivers said her car was broken into with a hammer, items were stolen from the flattened sushi restaurant where she worked, and she saw fights break out in St. Thomas among increasingly desperate people jostling for food and water. She was under no illusions about what would happen to her home in western St. Thomas.  We ve already realized it s going to be looted while we re gone,  she said. ($1 = 0.7571 pounds)

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको ने इरमा के कैरेबियाई अराजकता से शरणार्थियों के लिए हथियार खोले


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of New York City bodegas, grocery stores and restaurants owned by Yemeni Americans closed for hours on Thursday in protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, organizers said.  Loyal patrons who rely on the stores for staples of daily life had to look elsewhere for lunch after more than 1,000 locations shut their doors from noon to 8 p.m. in a move coordinated by groups including the Muslim Community Network and the Yemeni American Community. Bodega, a Spanish word meaning wine shop, is New York City slang for small stores selling everything from deli foods to newspapers and cat litter.  “We want to send the message that we’re here,” said Sulaiman Alaodyi, a 24-year-old cashier at the Best and Tasty deli in the borough of the Bronx, a bodega that is normally open around the clock. This was the first time it closed its doors since it started business nine months ago.  The protests followed the decision by Trump’s administration to put a four-month hold on letting refugees into the United States and to temporarily bar travelers from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. The order, which is being challenged in U.S. courts, left some travelers stranded and others held at airports on arrival. It provoked an outpouring of anger and dismay from immigrants, refugees and supporters. Many store owners and workers who shut up shop were going to rally and hold public sundown prayers outside Brooklyn Borough Hall. “We’re going to go out and support all our brothers and sisters who are detained in airports and in other countries that can’t get back,” Alaodyi said. “This is just not fair.” New York City is home to many immigrants from Yemen, a country of about 24 million in the Arabian Peninsula. Many live in Brooklyn, but some are in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. Golden Deli, a Yemeni-owned bodega in Manhattan, was swelling with customers who picked up early lunches before it closed. Nermin Radoncic, 22, walked up shortly after workers pulled down the shutters at noon.  Radoncic, who lives nearby but is moving to Queens, was disappointed he could not buy a pastrami and Swiss sandwich on his last day in the neighborhood. But he said he supported the protest. “They make the bomb sandwiches,” Radoncic said of Golden Deli. “This is like the best deli out here. Trump is a jerk.”

Summary: यमनी-अमेरिकियों ने यात्रा प्रतिबंध के विरोध में न्यूयॉर्क शहर में सैकड़ों दुकानें बंद कीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday disavowed Donald Trump’s criticism of a Hispanic judge, saying such remarks were the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” Ryan, speaking at an event to unveil U.S. House Republicans’ policy proposals, said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s comments were absolutely unacceptable and indefensible.

Summary: हाउस स्पीकर रयान ने कहा कि हिस्पैनिक जज के बारे में ट्रम्प की टिप्पणी 'नस्लवादी' है


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The pursuit of nuclear weapons will not bring security for North Korea’s government and China’s assistance is vital to bringing Pyongyang’s atomic and missile programs under control, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday. “North Korea may assume that nuclear weapons will ensure the survival of its regime. In truth, nuclear weapons are clearly only leading to greater isolation, ignominy and deprivation,” Tillerson said at the U.N. Security Council.  “If China truly desires to denuclearize the Korean peninsula to promote stability and to avoid conflict in that sensitive region right on its own border, now’s the time to work with the rest of us ... to put the kind of pressure on North Korea that can change its strategic calculations before it’s too late,” he added.

Summary: परमाणु हथियार उत्तर कोरिया के लिए सुरक्षा नहीं लाएगाः टिलरसन


(Reuters) - Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state Assembly voted 59-30 on Thursday to approve a bill that paves the way for a $3 billion incentives package for a proposed liquid-crystal display plant by Taiwan’s Foxconn. The plan still needs to be approved by the joint finance committee, which has members from both the Assembly and the state Senate, as well as the Senate before it can go to the governor. The finance committee and Senate are also controlled by Republicans.  Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW), hopes to open a $10 billion plant in 2020 at a 1,000-acre site in southeastern Wisconsin. Foxconn is a major supplier to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for its iPhones. “We are ready to take advantage of this historic opportunity ... and build a long-lasting relationship with Foxconn,” Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican who helped negotiate the deal, said in a statement. Walker ordered the legislature into special session on Aug. 1 to consider the incentives package, which would award Foxconn $3 billion over 15 years in mostly cash incentives. Foxconn, Walker, President Donald Trump and other leaders announced the deal on the incentives last month in a White House ceremony. The 20-million-square-foot LCD plant would initially employ 3,000 people, but Walker and Foxconn said the company could ultimately employ 13,000 at the site. “We look forward to continuing to work with them to transform Wisconsin’s economy and make it a center of worldwide high-tech manufacturing,” Foxconn said in a statement, referring to the legislature. Proponents have touted the project’s investment potential and job creation, including an expected 22,000 ancillary and 10,000 construction jobs. Critics including some Democrats have attacked the plan as corporate welfare, too expensive, rushed and potentially harmful to the environment. “I think we need more time,” Democratic Representative Jill Billings said. “I want a better deal and more guarantees for my taxpayers.” Thursday’s vote did not follow strict party lines; three Democrats voted in favor and two Republicans voted against.  Early in a debate that lasted several hours, Democrats proposed referring the matter to the finance committee for review, which would have stopped the debate. The Assembly rejected the proposal with a 57-32 vote. The Assembly also voted to ignore three amendments proposed by Democrats.  Wisconsin would not break even on the incentive package for at least 25 years, a legislative analysis released last week said.

Summary: विस्कॉन्सिन बिल फॉक्सकॉन अग्रिमों को $3 बिलियन का प्रोत्साहन दे रहा है


(Reuters) - A Texas judge identified by Donald Trump on Wednesday as one of 11 people he would consider nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly mocked the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on social media.  Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett last month likened Trump to “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader in a Twitter post.  "'We'll rebuild the Death Star. It'll be amazing, believe me. And the rebels will pay for it.' —Darth Trump," Willett tweeted last month with a photo of the Death Star, the giant spherical spaceship built to carry a planet-destroying weapon in the first "Star Wars" movie.  Willett also linked Trump to liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  “Can’t wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Willett posted on Twitter last August.  Last June he mocked Trump’s judgment on picking a nominee to the high court.  “Donald Trump haiku— Who would the Donald Name to #SCOTUS? The mind reels. *weeps—can’t finish tweet*” tweeted Willett (@JusticeWillett) on the same day Trump launched his candidacy. SCOTUS refers to the Supreme Court of the United States.  Asked to comment on Willett’s Twitter remarks, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, “Mr. Trump’s sole focus is considering the best potential individuals based on their constitutional principles.”  Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, a key Trump backer, was asked on Fox News Channel about the judge’s Twitter posts, replying, “I doubt he cares.” Sessions said it was more important to ask whether Willett “follows the Constitution,” is a good scholar, has integrity and meets the high standards expected of a Supreme Court justice.  Willett’s enthusiastic tweeting would be a pivot from the current social media presence of Supreme Court justices. None of the eight sitting justices has a verified Twitter account.  Willett did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Summary: संभावित ट्रम्प उच्च न्यायालय के उम्मीदवार ने ट्विटर पर उनका मजाक उड़ाया


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is considering Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia for energy secretary, Politico reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources close to the discussions. Manchin “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal,” Politico quoted one source as saying.

Summary: ट्रम्प ऊर्जा सचिव के लिए डेमोक्रेटिक सीनेटर मंचिन पर विचार कर रहे हैंः पोलिटिको


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday sought a surge in funding to counter cyber security threats, as his top intelligence official warned Congress that computer attacks were among the most imminent security challenges facing the United States. In his fiscal 2017 budget proposal, Obama asked for $19 billion for cyber security across the U.S. government, an increase of $5 billion over this year  While the White House’s overall fiscal plan faces tough going in the Republican-controlled Congress, increased cyber security funding has won bipartisan support of lawmakers in the past. The request comes as the Obama administration has struggled to address the growing risk posed by criminals and nation states in the digital world. In Congress, Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, warned that cyber threats “could lead to widespread vulnerabilities in civilian infrastructures and U.S. government systems.” The Obama initiative calls for a more than one-third increase from the $14 billion appropriated this year and would include $3.1 billion for technology modernization at various federal agencies. Cyber threats are “among the most urgent dangers to America’s economic and national security,” Obama said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Tuesday.  The request for a cash infusion is the latest signal that the White House intends to make cyber security a priority in the last year of Obama’s presidency.  It follows a series of high-profile hacks against the government and companies like Sony Pictures (6758.T) and Target (TGT.N) that were largely met with legislative inaction and administrative uncertainty on how best to address evolving cyber threats. Those difficulties played out publicly last year when the Office of Personnel Management announced it had fallen victim to a hack that lifted sensitive information on roughly 22 million individuals from its databases.  The White House issued an executive order setting up a presidential commission on cyber security, which would make recommendations for strengthening defenses over the next decade. A new position of federal chief information security officer also would be established.  A government watchdog report last month concluded the government’s cyber defense system, known as Einstein, is ineffective at combating hackers. Obama also signed another executive order creating a permanent Federal Privacy Council, which aims to connect privacy officials across the government to develop comprehensive guidelines for how personal data is collected and stored. The president’s budget proposal also called for $62 million to expand efforts to attract and retain qualified cyber professionals working for the government.

Summary: साइबर खतरे से चिंतित ओबामा ने वित्त पोषण में बड़ी वृद्धि की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday following the latest missile launch by North Korea that he is  more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming.  Speaking to a group that included military personnel at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Trump said North Korea  has once again shown its utter contempt for its neighbors and for the entire world community.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया से निपटने के विकल्प 'भारी' हैंः ट्रंप


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday that its people today enjoy the greatest level of political and civil rights ever, in a report issued just days after the European Union and United States expressed extreme concern over a deterioration in human rights in China. In the last five years, Chinese president Xi Jinping has presided over what rights groups decry as an elevated crackdown on the country s rights activists and lawyers, with dozens arrested and hundreds detained. Ahead of Human Rights Day last Sunday, the European Union and the United States released statements saying they were  extremely concerned  about a deterioration of human rights in China, citing measures such as internet restrictions and detentions of lawyers.  Chinese citizens have never before enjoyed as ample economic, social, cultural, as well as civil and political rights, as they do today,  the State Council, China s cabinet, said in an annual white paper.         The paper heralded a new era where greater legal protection ensures human rights in China, citing as evidence the ruling Communist Party s recent establishment of a central leadership group to guide legal reform. Rights group says the lack of an independent judiciary to keep a check on the ruling party leads to abuse of rights. China rejects criticisms of its human rights record, saying that the critics place too much emphasis on political and civil rights, without recognizing the social and economic freedoms being provided to its citizens. Diplomats from liberal democracies say that the Chinese definition is overly broad and ignores aspects like free speech that are essential to the accepted definition of human rights used by the United Nations. China considers its human rights successes to include, for example, using law to control infringement on the health and property rights of its citizens by closing down polluting companies, according to the report. Controversial legislation on spying, counter-espionage and internet security, as well as others in a series of new laws to bolster China s national security, are also cited as helping to protect citizen s security and property. The paper further says that China is actively working to promote human rights overseas and to build a international legal system to protect them. Up to August 2017, 36,000 Chinese military peacekeepers have been sent abroad to take part in UN peacekeeping operations and now have a standing force of 8,000 troops, the paper said.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि उसके लोगों के पास पहले से कहीं अधिक नागरिक, राजनीतिक अधिकार हैं


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans vote on Sunday in nationwide mayoral polls boycotted by major opposition parties and likely to help leftist President Nicolas Maduro consolidate power ahead of a probable 2018 re-election bid. After withstanding massive street protests, international sanctions and dissent within his ruling Socialist Party, the 55-year-old president saw his candidates win a surprise majority in October gubernatorial elections. Now, with 335 mayorships up for grabs, the socialists seem certain to repeat the feat, helped by opposition abstentionism, which would delight Maduro after the international opprobrium he has faced all year. The crumbling opposition coalition s main parties - Justice First, Popular Will and Democratic Action - have opted out of Sunday s vote, alleging the election system is biased and designed purely to keep a  dictatorship  in power.  It is crazy not to participate,  said political analyst Dimitris Pantoulas.  The government most likely will have one of the best results in its history ... Maduro will be very strong after this election. He has the political momentum.  The socialists already hold more than 70 percent of Venezuela s mayorships, and are forecast to increase that share, extending their grip at a grassroots level just as Maduro mulls standing for a second six-year term in the OPEC nation. Despite presiding over one of the worst economic meltdowns to hit any country in modern history, and with ratings barely half when he was elected, Maduro is enjoying a political upturn after the October gubernatorial vote.  He is the favorite to be the government s candidate at the 2018 presidential election and could win if the opposition does not re-unite and re-enthuse supporters.  Despite the boycott by major parties, moderate opposition supporters were still planning to vote on Sunday, arguing that it was the only way to stop the socialists amassing power.  Some of the smaller parties are fielding candidates, fuelling acrimony and in-fighting within the coalition.   There s huge frustration at everything that has happened this year ... but we cannot throw in the towel,  said one of those candidates, Yon Goicoechea of Progressive Advance party. Just out of jail for allegedly plotting against Maduro, Goicoechea was running for El Hatillo mayorship outside Caracas.  I can t say when we will achieve democracy - maybe months, maybe years - but we have to fight with our only weapon: votes.  The election was taking place at the end of a fourth year of crushing economic recession that has brought hunger, hardship and shortages to Venezuelans. Yet with the opposition in such disarray, Maduro and his allies are buoyant.   We are going to have a great victory!  said Erika Farias running for a Caracas district mayorship.  We are fulfilling the legacy of our  commander  Hugo Chavez.  With many Venezuelans angry at both the government and opposition, some independents have registered for Sunday s mayorship races, though there is still no sign of a third-way presidential candidate.  The country is demanding an alternative. Mine is a protest campaign,  said Nicmer Evans, running against Farias in the capital s Libertador district for his recently-founded party, New Vision For My Country.  As well as the mayoral elections, voters in oil-rich western Zulia state were choosing a new governor.  The opposition took that state in the October gubernatorial race but the election was annulled after winning candidate Juan Pablo Guanipa refused to swear loyalty to a pro-Maduro legislative superbody.   Results were expected to start coming in on Sunday evening.

Summary: विपक्ष के विभाजन के साथ, वेनेजुएला के महापौर का मतदान मादुरो को मजबूत करेगा


RIYADH (Reuters) - Two Saudi guards were shot dead and three others injured on Saturday morning when a man drove up to the gate of the royal palace in Jeddah and began shooting, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news. Royal Guards killed the gunman, who was identified in the statement as Mansour al-Amri, a 28-year-old Saudi national. The attack occurred at a checkpoint outside the western gate to the Peace Palace in Jeddah, where the royal family conducts official business during the summer months. Saudi King Salman is currently outside the kingdom on a state visit to Russia. The statement did not elaborate on the whereabouts of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although recent state news reports have placed him in Jeddah. Security forces seized Kalashnikov rifles and petrol bombs that had been in Amri s possession. Amri did not have a criminal record or any known connection to extremist groups, said Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki, speaking by phone to al-Arabiya television. An investigation was underway to determine his motive for the attack, said Turki.

Summary: बंदूकधारी ने जेद्दा शाही महल के द्वार पर सऊदी सुरक्षा बलों पर हमला किया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An explosion in a storage tank at a Tupras refinery in the western Turkish province of Izmir on Wednesday killed four people but had no impact on production, the company said. Tupras said in a statement that the explosion occurred following maintenance work on Wednesday morning.  Television footage showed black smoke rising from the site of the blast.

Summary: तुर्की में टुप्रास रिफाइनरी में विस्फोट, चार की मौत, उत्पादन प्रभावित नहीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is making it more difficult for skilled foreigners to work in the United States, challenging visa applications more often than at nearly any point in the Obama era, according to data reviewed by Reuters.     The more intense scrutiny of the applications for H-1B visas comes after President Donald Trump called for changes to the visa program so that it benefits the highest-paid workers, though he has not enacted any such reforms.  Data provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, the agency issued 85,000 challenges, or “requests for evidence” (RFEs), to H-1B visa petitions - a 45 percent increase over the same period last year. The total number of H-1B petitions rose by less than 3 percent in the same period.  The challenges, which can slow down the issuance of visas by months, were issued at a greater rate in 2017 than at any time in the Obama administration except for one year, 2009, according to the USCIS data, which has not been previously reported.  The trend is likely to cheer supporters of Trump’s hardline stance on immigration. They say visas for skilled foreigners undercut American workers by replacing them with low-paid employees shipped in from abroad. But major tech companies, universities and hospitals contend the visas allow them to fill highly specialized jobs for which there are sometimes few qualified Americans.  H-1B visas allow foreign workers, generally with bachelor's degrees or higher, to work for three years at a time, often in the technology, healthcare and education sectors. Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), Google (GOOGL.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Intel (INTC.O), Oracle (ORCL.N) and Facebook (FB.O) were heavy users of H-1B visas in 2016, according to USCIS data.  The USCIS inquiries typically challenge the basis of the original petitions and assert that the employers do not qualify for the visas. Employers and their lawyers must then provide further evidence to prove their need and eligibility for the visas.  To be sure, the Obama administration also issued a large number of H-1B challenges – nearly 59,000 - from January through August 2016, and a similar number in 2015.  Immigration attorneys have for years complained about redundant and burdensome challenges to high-skilled employment visas. But they say they are seeing a new trend in the Trump era.  In addition to querying applications more often, the Trump administration is targeting entry-level jobs offered to skilled foreigners. The lawyers say this violates the law governing H-1Bs, because it allows for visa holders to take entry-level jobs.  Several attorneys said they view the increase in challenges and focus on entry-level jobs as a stealth campaign by the administration against the H-1B program in the absence of public regulatory changes or changes passed by Congress, which could be debated and decided in the open.  “One way to have an immigration policy that’s consistent with the policy that’s been articulated by the Trump administration is to put more scrutiny on H-1B cases,” said Cyrus Mehta, a New York-based immigration attorney.  USCIS spokesman Robert C. Langston did not directly address the new trend identified by lawyers or the sharp spike in RFEs this year. In an email, he said the agency is applying “currently existing policy that interprets existing statutory and regulatory requirements to evaluate petitions.”  Partners HealthCare is a healthcare system that includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, two prestigious teaching hospitals for Harvard Medical School. It has received more than 50 RFEs from USCIS so far this year, compared to fewer than 15 all of last year in response to a similar number of H-1B petitions, said Anthony Pawelski, an immigration attorney who handles H-1B applications for Partners.  USCIS questioned the hospitals’ connection to the university even though their applications included proof of their non-profit status, a 1948 agreement between Harvard Medical School and the hospitals and even text from the hospitals’ website referencing a 200-year history with the university, Pawelski said.  “They’re doing anything they can to delay the processing and adjudications and in their mind close any perceived loopholes,” he said.  Langston declined to comment on specific H-1B petitions.  It is still unclear how the increase in challenges will affect the number of visas issued this year. In the 2016 fiscal year, USCIS approved 87 percent of H1-B petitions. By June 30 of this year, the agency had approved 59 percent of H-1B petitions, although that number is incomplete because it does not take into account the last three months of the 2017 fiscal year, when a large portion of H-1B applications are processed.  Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized H-1B visas, because the biggest beneficiaries are outsourcing firms, which critics say use the program to fill lower-level information technology jobs and replace American workers. Members of both parties have introduced legislation this year to reform the visa’s use.  In an April executive order, Trump directed a review of the H1-B program, aimed at ensuring the visas “are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid” applicants. The order itself did not implement changes but directed agencies to suggest reforms.  “What the Trump administration has done for the first time in a very long time is take seriously the fact that companies are misusing the H-1B system,” said Russell Harrison, director of government relations at IEEE-USA, the American branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  The group opposes the H-1B program but supports giving more high-skilled foreigners employment-based permanent residence.  Many of the government challenges for visas for entry-level jobs either say that the salary should be higher because the job is too complex or that the job does not count as a “specialty” occupation, as required by the H-1B program, according to a review of hundreds of RFEs by the American Immigration Lawyers Association provided to Reuters.  Entry-level jobs are positions for fresh university graduates with little or no work experience. Such jobs can pay “Level 1” wages, the lowest of four tiers.  “An RFE may be justified if the wage level is not appropriate for the position,” said Langston, the USCIS spokesman.  The USCIS data did not specify what positions the RFEs challenged or the reasons for the challenges.  Lawyers question the implicit argument advanced by USCIS in the challenges - that specialty jobs cannot be entry-level. They point to young doctors and engineers, for instance, who may not have work experience but have spent years learning technical skills.  Though the challenges can come across all industries, the AILA review showed software developers and computer systems analysts were challenged more often than other jobs.  Silicon Valley tech giants either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on whether they had been receiving more RFEs.  The requests can increase legal fees associated with each H-1B visa by as much as half, attorneys said. Government fees for H-1B visas can run upwards of $2,500, and standard fees paid to lawyers per application can easily reach $2,000 or more.  The increased costs and hassle could discourage employers from hiring such foreign workers especially at junior levels, immigration lawyers said.  Jeffrey Gorsky, an attorney with Berry Appelman & Leiden LLP, one of the largest corporate immigration firms in the country, said one of the firm’s clients, a mid-sized tech company, was hit with six RFEs from USCIS in a single day this year.  Between late 2015 and the end of 2016, the company received just one RFE on an H-1B visa petition, he said.

Summary: डेटा से पता चलता है कि ट्रम्प प्रशासन ने कुशल विदेशियों के लिए वीजा में उलझन पैदा कर दी है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday the intelligence review ordered by President Barack Obama on cyber attacks involving U.S. elections will go beyond the Nov. 8 vote and will include the 2008 election. “What the president asked for is a review to look at malicious cyber activity tied to our presidential election cycle,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said at a news briefing. “It will be broader than just looking at this past election.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि साइबर समीक्षा 2016 के चुनाव से आगे जाएगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday provided a temporary reprieve for President Trump’s order blocking most refugees from entering the United States, putting on hold a lower court’s ruling loosening the prohibition. Kennedy’s action gave the nine justices more time to consider the Justice Department’s challenge filed on Monday to the lower court’s decision allowing entry to refugees from around the world if they had a formal offer from a resettlement agency. The full Supreme Court could act within days. The Justice Department opted not to appeal another part of last Thursday’s ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that related to Trump’s ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations. The 9th Circuit ruling broadened the number of people with exemptions to the ban to include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins of legal U.S. residents. Without Kennedy’s intervention, the appeals court decision would have gone into effect on Tuesday. Kennedy asked refugee ban challengers to file a response to the Trump administration’s filing by noon on Tuesday. Under the 9th U.S. Circuit’s ruling, up to 24,000 additional refugees would become eligible to enter the United States than otherwise would be allowed, according to the administration. Trump’s March 6 order banned travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days and locked out most aspiring refugees for 120 days in a move the Republican president argued was needed to prevent terrorist attacks. The order, which replaced a broader January one that was blocked by federal courts, was one of the most contentious acts of his presidency. Critics called it an unlawful “Muslim ban” that made good on Trump’s promise as a candidate of “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” The broader question of whether the travel ban discriminates against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as lower courts previously ruled, will be argued before the Supreme Court on Oct. 10. The Supreme Court in June partially revived the order after its provisions were blocked by lower courts. But the justices said a ban could be applied only to those without a “bona fide” relationship to people or entities in the United States. New litigation was brought by Hawaii over the meaning of that phrase, including whether written assurances by resettlement agencies obligating them to provide services for specific refugees would count. Hawaii and other Democratic-led states, the American Civil Liberties Union and refugee groups filed legal challenges after Trump signed his order in March. “The Trump administration has ended its odd and ill-advised quest to ban grandmas from the country,” Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin said on Monday. “With respect to the admission to the United States of refugees with formal assurances and the Supreme Court’s temporary stay order, each day matters,” Chin added, promising to respond soon to the administration’s filing. In court papers filed earlier on Monday, the Justice Department said the 9th Circuit refugees decision “will disrupt the status quo and frustrate orderly implementation of the order’s refugee provisions.” Omar Jadwat, an ACLU lawyer, contrasted Trump’s efforts to keep alive his travel ban with the Republican president’s decision last week to rescind a program that protected from deportation people brought to the United States illegally as children, dubbed “Dreamers.” “The extraordinary efforts the administration is taking in pursuit of the Muslim ban stand in stark contrast to its unwillingness to take a single step to protect 800,000 Dreamers,” Jadwat said.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्यायाधीश ने अस्थायी रूप से ट्रम्प शरणार्थी प्रतिबंध को बरकरार रखा


ON BOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force may intensify its strikes in Afghanistan and expand training of the Afghan air force following President Donald Trump’s decision to forge ahead with the 16-year-old war, its top general told Reuters on Tuesday. Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein said, however, he was still examining the matter, as the U.S. military’s top brass had only begun the process of translating Trump’s war strategy into action. Asked whether the Air Force would dedicate more assets to Afghanistan, where the United States has been engaged in its longest military conflict, Goldfein said only: “Possibly.”  “It’s actually too early to tell what this will mean in terms of plus-ups and reductions,” he said in a joint interview with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. Still, he acknowledged that the Air Force was “absolutely” examining the possibility of increasing air power, including to support U.S. ground forces, following Trump’s promise of a stepped-up campaign against Taliban insurgents, who have gained ground against U.S.-backed Afghan government forces.  Goldfein said the same about providing training to Afghan pilots. Wilson, who assumed the Air Force’s top civilian job three months ago, noted the Afghan military had made strides thanks to U.S. training and equipment, but added: “I think there is a long way to go there, very honestly.”  In a speech on Monday night, Trump appeared to answer a call from the top U.S. commander on the ground for thousands of more troops to break a stalemate with Taliban insurgents, on top of the roughly 8,400 now deployed in Afghanistan. Trump said the United States would not disclose troop numbers, but one U.S. official told Reuters they could start moving quickly. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday he would set troop levels following the review by military chiefs. During the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, U.S. military officials privately expressed frustration about their inability to strike at many Taliban targets - including training camps -  unless they could show a direct threat to U.S. forces or major impact on the Afghan state. Wilson said Trump appeared to be giving greater flexibility to strike insurgents.    “Obviously the Joint Chiefs will work through their plans and make proposals, but I think the guidance was pretty clear from the president last night, and we’re going to go on the offensive and destroy these terrorist networks,” Wilson said.  Goldfein said: “I thought that came out very loud and clear in the speech that that’s his priority.” Wilson and Goldfein spoke to Reuters while flying back to the United States after a nine-day trip that included a visit to Afghanistan, where the U.S. military has ramped up its firepower against Islamic State in recent months even as it helps Afghan forces battle the Taliban.   Particularly for the U.S. Air Force, the size of the American commitment to Afghanistan far outweighs the number of airmen deployed there. A network of U.S. installations throughout the Middle East supports the Afghan campaign, including in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.  Still, any substantial increase in U.S. targeting of the Taliban and Islamic State militants would likely require dedicating more U.S. military assets to build intelligence, strike insurgent targets and provide support to U.S. forces in the field. Although the U.S. military is stretched, a string of U.S. coalition-backed victories by Iraqi forces against Islamic State might free up some firepower and intelligence assets for Afghanistan, experts say. Air Force spokesman Brigadier General Edward Thomas declined to speculate on operational planning. But he noted that U.S. air power from the region could be deployed, if needed, including fighter aircraft, bombers and spy planes.    “With the detailed planning that will follow the president’s announcement, the Air Force will be ready to swing any additional airmen and aircraft to the fight as required,”  Thomas said.  Trump ran for the presidency calling for a swift U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which the United States invaded in October 2001, and he acknowledged on Monday that he was going against his instincts in approving the new campaign plan sought by his military advisers. Wilson said Trump’s remarks represented a “strategic correction” in the war effort along with a significant shift in policy on Pakistan. In his speech, Trump delivered a sharp rebuke to Islamabad for allowing Taliban insurgents a safe haven from which launch attacks in Afghanistan, and said it had “much to lose” unless it changed course. Pakistan denies that it harbors militants fighting U.S. and Afghan government forces in Afghanistan. Reuters has reported that the United States has been considering a range of actions, including withholding aid to Pakistan and, perhaps, ramping up drone strikes. Successive U.S. administrations have struggled with how to deal with nuclear-armed Pakistan, and the U.S. military has been dependent in the past on overflight or land routes through Pakistan to resupply its forces in landlocked Afghanistan.   Wilson did not rule out a future U.S. military role against militants in Pakistan should Islamabad fail to act, but she said Trump’s focus appeared to be on diplomatic efforts for now.  “My assumption is that there will be some intense diplomatic pressure,” she said. Goldfein said he was not aware of any changes to U.S.-Pakistani military ties, but acknowledged the military would take its cues from the State Department. “I can tell you that I have a fairly robust dialogue with the Pakistani air chief. I’ve hosted him. He’s hosted me,” Goldfein said. “But that dialogue is always supportive of the diplomatic dialogue.”

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रम्प का अफगान निर्णय अमेरिकी वायु शक्ति, प्रशिक्षण को बढ़ा सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States should use waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques when questioning terror suspects, and renewed his call for tougher U.S. border security after the attacks in Brussels. The billionaire businessman said authorities “should be able to do whatever they have to do” to gain information in an effort to thwart future attacks. “Waterboarding would be fine. If they can expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding,” Trump said on NBC’s “Today” program, adding he believed torture could produce useful leads. “You have to get the information from these people.” Waterboarding, the practice of pouring water over someone’s face to simulate drowning as an interrogation tactic, was banned by President Barack Obama days after he took office in 2009. Critics call it torture.     Trump’s main Republican rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, suggested heightened police scrutiny of neighborhoods with large Muslim populations. “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized,” he said in a statement. Trump also called for increased law enforcement surveillance of mosques in the United States.  “You need surveillance. You have to deal with the mosques, whether we like it or not,” Trump told Fox Business Network. “These attacks ... they’re not done by Swedish people, that I can tell you.” Islamic State claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s suicide bomb attacks on Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital which killed at least 30 people. Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, urged tougher measures to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, particularly Syrian refugees, into America. “As president ... I would be very, very tough on the borders, and I would be not allowing certain people to come into this country without absolute perfect documentation,” said Trump, campaigning to become the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election that will decide on Obama’s successor.     The Brussels attacks brought national security back to the top of the presidential election agenda, possibly sharpening the division between Trump’s isolationist approach to foreign policy and his Republican rivals’ more traditional interventionist outlook. On Monday, Trump expressed skepticism about the U.S. role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and said the United States should significantly cut spending on the defense alliance. Cruz criticized Trump’s NATO proposal. “The way to respond to terrorist attacks is not weakness. It’s not unilateral and preemptive surrender. Abandoning Europe, withdrawing from NATO, as Trump suggests, is preemptive surrender,” Cruz told reporters in Washington. Earlier attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, have pushed security issues to the forefront of the White House campaign debate. When 130 people were killed in Paris in November, the threat of terrorism jumped from fifth to first on a Reuters/Ipsos poll list of the country’s most important problems and remained there until the economy moved back to the top of the list in mid-January. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said U.S. military leaders have found techniques like waterboarding are not effective. “We’ve got to work this through consistent with our values,” she said on NBC, adding officials “do not need to resort to torture, but they are going to need more help.” Clinton’s Democratic rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, backed stronger intelligence-sharing and monitoring of social media in the fight against Islamist militants, but opposed bolstered surveillance of Muslim communities. “That would be unconstitutional, and it would be wrong. We are fighting a terrorist organization, a barbaric organization that is killing innocent people. We are not fighting a religion,” Sanders told reporters. Walid Phares, named by Trump this week as one of his foreign policy experts, told Reuters the Brussels attacks would force Europe and the United States to “reassess” counter-terrorism strategies in “identifying the radicalized elements and also the type of protection soft targets need.” Trump looks to take another step toward winning the Republican presidential nomination in contests in Arizona and Utah on Tuesday, aiming to deal another setback to the party establishment’s flagging stop-Trump movement. He has a big lead in convention delegates who will pick the Republican nominee, defying weeks of attacks from members of the party establishment worried he will lead the Republicans to defeat in November.  In Arizona, one of the U.S. states that borders Mexico, Trump’s hardline immigration message is popular and he leads in polls, while in Utah Trump lags in polls behind Cruz.  In addition to the temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, Trump has called for the building of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border to halt illegal immigration.

Summary: ब्रसेल्स हमलों के बाद ट्रम्प ने वाटरबोर्डिंग और 'बहुत कुछ' का समर्थन किया