WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said if she wins the White House she would go farther than President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration and would propose comprehensive immigration reform legislation within 100 days of taking office. “I will do everything I can to protect the president’s executive actions and go further to bring more people relief and keep families together,” Clinton said in a statement as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case over whether Obama overstepped his authority with his immigration action.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने कहा कि वह आव्रजन पर ओबामा से 'आगे बढ़ेंगी': बयान


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of a massive annual defense bill on Friday, leaving out controversial amendments on transgender troops and climate policy but backing President Donald Trump’s desire for a bigger, stronger military. The vote was 344-81 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets military policy and authorizes up to $696 billion in spending for the Department of Defense. Underscoring bipartisan support for higher defense spending in Congress, 117 Democrats joined 227 Republicans in backing the measure. Only eight Republicans and 73 Democrats voted no. But the measure faces more hurdles before it can become law, notably because it would increase military spending beyond last year’s $619 billion bill, defying “sequestration” caps on government spending set in the 2011 Budget Control Act. Trump wants to pay for a military spending increase by slashing nondefense spending. His fellow Republicans control majorities in both the House and Senate, but they will need support from Senate Democrats, who want to increase military spending, for Trump’s plans to go into effect. The House NDAA also increases spending on missile defense by 25 percent, adds thousands more active-duty troops to the Army, provides five new ships for the Navy and provides a 2.4 percent salary increase for U.S. troops, their largest pay raise in eight years. And it creates a new Space Corps military service, pushed by lawmakers worried about China and Russia’s activities in space, but opposed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The Senate will vote on its version of the NDAA later this year, and the two versions must be reconciled before the measure can be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. Trump has not threatened to veto the bill, but his administration listed several problems with it, including opposition to the proposed Space Corps and its failure to authorize new base realignments and closures. During debate on amendments to the NDAA this week, the House rejected a Republican-sponsored amendment that would have ended the Pentagon’s policy of providing gender-reassignment surgery and other therapy for active-duty transgender service members. Lawmakers also defeated a proposed Republican amendment that would have prevented the Pentagon from implementing climate-change and green energy policies.

Summary: सदन ने रक्षा खर्च में भारी वृद्धि का समर्थन किया


HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean court on Saturday refused to strike down subversion charges against an American citizen who now faces 11 days in a Harare jail until her next court hearing. Martha O Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which describes itself as Zimbabwe s leading producer of political satire, was on Friday charged by police, who also accused her of insulting President Robert Mugabe. Lawyers for O Donovan, who appeared in court in jeans and a checked shirt, argued before magistrate Nomsa Sarabauta that police only informed O Donovan of the more serious charges of attempting to subvert the government hours after her arrest, thereby violating the constitution.  But the magistrate said she was satisfied the officers complied with the law and dismissed the application. The charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail. A U.S. State Department official said on Saturday that the government was  aware of reports that a U.S. citizen was detained in Zimbabwe. We stand ready to provide appropriate consular assistance for U.S. citizens . Lawyer Obey Shava said he would now apply for bail at the High Court on Monday. O Donovan, who denies the charges against her, was not formally charged nor was she asked to plead in court, where she will return on Nov. 15. The case against her centers around a post on Twitter last month in which O Donovan allegedly called 93-year-old Mugabe a  selfish and sick man . Her arrest comes after the creation of a Ministry of Cyber Security last month. Mugabe s government has been particularly uneasy about social media after activists such as pastor Evan Mawarire and his #ThisFlag movement last year used social media to organize a stay-at-home demonstration, the biggest anti-government protest in a decade. A national election is due in 2018.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे की अदालत ने विध्वंस के आरोपी अमेरिकी नागरिक के खिलाफ आरोप बरकरार रखा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a presidential campaign notable for its negativity, the option of “Neither” candidate appears to be an appealing alternative, at least to participants in the Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. Many voters on both sides have been ambivalent in their support for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, complicating the task of the pollsters trying to track the race. That sentiment may help explain an apparent skew that recently emerged in the Reuters/Ipsos poll results. Given the choice, a relatively large group of voters opted for “Neither/Other” candidate compared with other major polls, leading to an underreporting of several percentage points for one or other of the two major contenders at times in the race. As a result, Reuters/Ipsos is amending the wording of the choice and eliminating the word “Neither,” bringing the option in line with other polls.      The amended Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll will be published later Friday, available at polling.reuters.com.  From the beginning of June until the middle of July, the Reuters/Ipsos survey showed consistently lower support for Trump than other polls were capturing. At times, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton with a lead over Trump as wide as about 12 percentage points among registered voters - five percentage points higher than Clinton’s lead in some other comparable polls. To determine the cause, the pollsters examined what made the Reuters/Ipsos poll different. Their conclusion: By giving respondents the option of “Neither/Other,” the survey appears to have captured greater numbers of ambivalent voters unwilling to commit to either candidate than other major polls, which only offer the choice of “Other.” During the period analyzed, the historically high antipathy for both major candidates, paired with the option of selecting “Neither/Other,” meant the Reuters/Ipsos poll probably underreported Trump’s support before the Republican convention, perhaps by 3 to 5 percentage points.  More recently, the “Neither/Other” option appeared to lead to an underreporting of Clinton’s support in the run-up to the Democratic convention, said Cliff Young, pollster and president of Ipsos Public Affairs, which partners with Reuters on the poll. The pollsters estimated the Clinton shortfall at 2 to 4 percentage points. Tom W. Smith, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Society at the University of Chicago, said the earlier Trump numbers in the Reuters/Ipsos poll could have indicated a softness of support for Trump among a relatively small group of conservative voters who had yet to come to terms with his candidacy.  It is plausible that a similar effect among Democratic voters may be hitting Clinton now when presented with the option of “Neither,” he said. And the skews displayed by the “Neither” phenomenon may indicate there is a chance for some gains among alternative party candidates, Smith said. Tim Mclheny, a 47-year-old civil servant from Vermont who describes himself as a moderate Republican, is a case in point. When asked in the Reuters/Ipsos poll who he will vote for in November, he skipped both Trump and Clinton and opted for “Neither/Other.” “It is the lesser of two evils,” Mclheny said. He said he will cast his ballot for the candidate he believes will do the best for civil servants. Ultimately, however, he said he may well grudgingly opt for Trump come November. Here’s how the pollsters reviewed their methodology and decided to drop “Neither.” Ipsos tested three alternate versions of the presidential preference questions on different groups in a survey and compared those results to the outcome of the established version of the tracking poll.  That test found eliminating the word “Neither” from the “Neither/Other” response increased Trump support by between 3 to 5 percentage points on any given day leading up to the Republican convention. It also increased Clinton’s support, but by a smaller margin. spotlight.ipsos-na.com/?p=5574 Since the convention, however, Trump’s support seems to have solidified among wary supporters. Now, the “Neither” issue appears to be affecting Clinton in the survey. On Tuesday, for example, the established tracking poll had the candidates tied at 38 percent each. A 13-point lead for Clinton on July 14 had vanished in two weeks. (polling.reuters.com/#poll/TM651Y15_13/filters/PD1:1/dates/20160701-20160726/type/smallest) But eliminating “Neither” from the “Neither/Other” answer produced a different result. In that case, Clinton was ahead, 40 percent to 36 percent, on Tuesday.  When asked the question in the new way, 11 percent of voters opted for “Other.” By comparison, 14 percent opted for “Neither/Other” in the version of the survey that showed the race tied. The three-point gap suggests the “Neither” phenomenon was now working against Clinton. In the nearly five years Reuters/Ipsos has been offering the “Neither/Other” option to respondents in presidential polling, it has never yielded such a skew. The results highlight how poll designs and methodologies can yield significantly differing results, and how important differences can emerge from the way a question is framed. The Economist/YouGov poll, like the Reuters/Ipsos survey, is conducted online. It uses a similar battery of questions, but does not offer the “Neither/Other” option, just “Other.” In Economist/YouGov’s July 17 poll, Clinton was ahead by 4 percentage points among registered voters, with Trump at 41 percent. The NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll gives three options: Clinton, Trump, or “No Answer,” which more firmly prods respondents to make a choice. In their July 17 poll, Clinton led Trump by one point, 46 to 45, among registered voters. Telephone polls tend to ask voter preference as an open-ended question, or just offer respondents the choice of the Democratic and Republican candidates. Among phone polls, such as the ABC News/Washington Post and NBC/Wall Street Journal surveys, Clinton recently led by four to five points. The CBS/New York Times telephone poll of registered voters had the race tied at 40 percent each. The Reuters/Ipsos presidential-preference poll result and other results in the survey are updated twice a week.

Summary: 'न तो' का वर्षः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस अपने अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति चुनाव को क्यों बदल रहा है


ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey would soon close its border with northern Iraq and shut its air space in response to last week s Kurdish independence referendum. Erdogan, who held talks in Tehran on Wednesday with Iranian leaders, also said Turkey would decide jointly with Iran and Iraq s central government in Baghdad whether to cut oil exports from Kurdish northern Iraq. His comments came 10 days after Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly for independence, alarming Baghdad, Iraq s neighbors and Western powers who fear the vote could trigger further conflict in the Middle East. Turkey tightened controls at its main border crossing into Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the vote and suspended flights to northern Iraq. It has also held joint military exercises with Iraqi troops on the border. But it has not yet implemented threats to impose wider sanctions on the Kurdish region or to cut off the hundreds of thousands of barrels of Kurdish oil exported daily via Turkey to world markets.   Flights to northern Iraq have already been suspended, the air space and borders will also close soon,  Erdogan said in a speech in the Turkish capital, Ankara. He said the decision to hold the referendum showed the  perfect ingratitude  of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq, after years of close commercial and political ties with Turkey. Earlier, Erdogan told Turkish media on his return from Iran that Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad would jointly decide on whether to close the taps on the Kurds  oil export pipeline, adding that it was time for the KRG to take a step back.  The northern Iraqi leadership is drunk with the result of the referendum, it s not aware of what it is doing or what kind of steps it s taking,  he said. Erdogan also criticized the inclusion of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the referendum, saying that Kurds had no legitimacy there and that they were  invaders  in the region. During a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey was considering further measures against northern Iraq, and the two leaders promised to work together against the independence drive. The Kurds are the region s fourth-largest ethnic group, spread across Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. All of those oppose any moves toward a Kurdish state, but the Kurds have been building strong international ties. Last month, Russian oil major Rosneft clinched a gas pipeline deal in Iraq s autonomous Kurdistan to help it become a major exporter of gas to Turkey and Europe. The pipeline will be constructed in 2019 and exports will begin in 2020. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it was in no-one s interest to cut off oil supplies from Iraq s Kurdistan, which would raise oil prices. Erdogan, however, brushed off those concerns, saying the final decision would be made by Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Summary: तुर्की जल्द ही इराक सीमा और हवाई क्षेत्र को बंद कर देगाः एर्दोगन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday that he was “not going anywhere,” denying news reports that he was considering leaving his post. “I’m not going anywhere,” Tillerson told reporters at the State Department. Asked how long he would stay on, Tillerson turned and smiled, saying, “As long as the president lets me.” Asked about his relationship with President Donald Trump, Tillerson said simply, “Good.” The speculation over Tillerson’s remaining in Trump’s cabinet came after days of Trump publicly attacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump said Sessions had “taken a VERY weak position” on investigating his former opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, over her use of a private email server. On Monday, Trump called Sessions “beleaguered.”

Summary: विदेश मंत्री टिलरसन ने कहा कि वह कहीं नहीं जा रहे हैं।


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department released the final batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails on Monday from her time at the agency’s helm, bringing the final tally of emails it says contain classified information to more than 2,000. The department has been regularly releasing batches of her work emails in keeping with a judge’s order. But Monday’s release of the final 1,700 messages does not end the controversy and legal uncertainty dogging Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign since her use of a private email server came to light a year ago. Republican rivals in the battle for the Nov. 8 election have cited the email controversy in saying Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, is unfit for the presidency. Clinton, secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, has said her email arrangement broke no rules and that she will be vindicated. One of the newly released exchanges shows Clinton and Jake Sullivan, one of her closest aides, in a discussion now entirely censored as “secret,” the second-highest level in the government’s three-tier classification system.  The messages, sent on June 7, 2012, bear the subject “Khar - where we are” - likely a reference to Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s foreign minister. The previous day, Pakistan had renewed its insistence that the United States apologize for an air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. All told, classified information appears in 2,093 of the 30,300 work emails and attachments Clinton’s lawyers returned to the department in 2014, including 261 such emails released on Monday. That information is obscured with white boxes in the public copies.  The government forbids sending or storing classified information outside secure, government-controlled channels. The FBI has taken the server and is investigating with U.S. Justice Department attorneys whether laws were broken through the unusual arrangement. The State Department’s inspector general and at least two Republican-led congressional committees are conducting similar inquiries.  The State Department is investigating how much of the information in the more than 2,000 emails marked as classified was classified at the time they were sent. The vast majority of those messages - 2,028 - contain information classified at the “confidential” level, the lowest, including scores sent by Clinton herself. A further 65 contain “secret” information, including at least one written by Clinton, while 22 contain “top-secret” information from U.S. intelligence agencies, which have been entirely withheld from release. Members of the public are still fighting the department in court for access to thousands of public records connected to some of Clinton’s closest aides. Last week, a federal judge granted a request by a conservative group suing the State Department under open records laws to seek sworn testimony from department officials and Clinton aides to see if the arrangement was intended to thwart public access to government records. Clinton’s staff has accused the government of overclassifying, and attribute the large number of emails now marked as classified to an “interagency” dispute between the State Department and intelligence agencies. At most, only a few dozen of the 2,000 classified emails included information from intelligence agencies, according to several people familiar with those agencies’ analyses of the emails. The vast majority of the classified information originated with State Department ambassadors and employees, including Clinton herself. State Department lawyers told a federal judge last week they still did not know who in the government authorized Clinton’s email arrangement or why. Clinton has said the arrangement was for her convenience, but that she now regrets it. The Justice Department, seeking to rebut suggestions that President Barack Obama’s administration may have inappropriate influence on its investigation, has not briefed the White House on its progress, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday.  (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Idrees Ali; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: अमेरिकी विदेश विभाग ने क्लिंटन के ईमेल का अंतिम बैच जारी किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House named a new adviser to President Barack Obama on climate and energy at the National Security Council, a spokesman said on Wednesday. The adviser, John Morton, was previously the chief operating officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.  He replaces Paul Bodnar, who helped push for cooperation between the United States and China on climate and for a global agreement at climate talks in Paris last year. Morton, who began his career at the World Bank, takes the job after the Supreme Court this month put a hold on Obama’s Clean Power Plan to cut emissions from power plants, a major part of the president’s strategy to fight climate change. The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia four days later may have opened a path for the rule’s survival. But the administration’s plan could face other legal hurdles from Republicans and fossil fuel interests during Obama’s last year in office.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा परिषद में नई ऊर्जा, जलवायु सलाहकार का नाम दिया


PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday it was surprised by new U.S. travel restrictions on citizens from Chad, which Paris said was an ally in the fight against terrorist groups, and urged the United States to quickly reverse its decision. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday imposed a new ban on citizens from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, expanding to eight the list of countries covered by his original travel bans that have been derided by critics and challenged in court.  We learnt with surprise of the United States  decision to expand its entry ban on Chadian citizens,  French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said.  Chad is a decisive partner in the fight against terrorism. It has mobilized from the start and paid a heavy price in this battle.  France considers its former colony as its main ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa and the headquarters of its 4,000-strong counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane force is in the Chadian capital N djamena. The United States also has a base in the city.  France hopes that with this in mind the United States and Chad...will find a quick solution that will enable this ban to be lifted,  Romatet-Espagne said.

Summary: फ्रांस ने चाड के सहयोगी पर अमेरिकी यात्रा प्रतिबंध की आलोचना की, इसे वापस लेने का आग्रह किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran s moderate president gave a full-throated defense of his one-time rivals in the Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, as the country s pragmatist and hardline factions rallied together in the face of threats from Donald Trump. The U.S. president is expected to  decertify  Iran s nuclear deal with global powers this week and add its Revolutionary Guards military force to Washington s black list of terrorist groups under a strategy to increase pressure on Tehran. The threat of U.S. action has united the two main factions of Iran s leadership, with the pragmatists led by President Hassan Rouhani who seek greater openness to the West demonstrating their support for the hardline Guards. During a cabinet meeting shown on state television on Wednesday, Rouhani said U.S. action against the Guards would be a  mistake beyond mistakes .  They think that the Guards are a military entity. The Revolutionary Guards are not a military entity. They re in the heart of the people. The Revolutionary Guards, in all the days of danger, have defended our national interests,  he said.  We re one society. We re Iran. There are no differences between different factions in confronting the plots of our enemies,  he added. Rouhani, the architect of Iran s 2015 deal with global powers to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions, won re-election in a landslide five months ago on a platform promising greater openness to the world and reform at home. During an unprecedentedly bitter campaign, he repeatedly spoke out in public against the political influence of the Guards, accusing them of backing his hardline opponent to defend their economic interests. In recent days, however, the threat of new action from Washington has prompted a public display of unity from the rival factions among Iran s rulers.  Today, the president of America has created conditions where Iran is more united than ever. Today, those who oppose the nuclear deal and those who support it are side by side. We all have one voice,  Rouhani said. Newspapers on Tuesday ran pictures of the urbane, U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Javad Zarif laughing and hugging the commander of the guards, Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari. Zarif brief lawmakers on Wednesday about the expected U.S. action and about Iran s plans for a response, according to members of parliament quoted in state media.  In the closed session Zarif emphasized that if the Americans take any steps against the nuclear deal that the Islamic Republic of Iran will give them a more crushing response,  Shahbaz Hassanpour, a lawmaker representing the city of Sirjan, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Lawmakers did not disclose the specific actions that Zarif had discussed as plans for Iranian retaliation. Trump s expected move to decertify the nuclear deal would not by itself withdraw the United States from the agreement, but would pass that decision on to Congress, requiring lawmakers to decide within 60 days whether to re-impose sanctions. The nuclear deal is supported by Washington s European allies Britain, France and Germany, as well as by Russia and China, all of which say Iran has complied so far. Adding the Guards to the terrorism blacklist could have economic consequences, since the elite military force also has a vast business empire in Iran. International banks are required to make sure their clients are not blacklisted. Washington has already blacklisted other entities and individuals for supporting Guards  activities, but has not yet blacklisted the Guards themselves. During the meeting with Zarif, parliament members expressed their support for the Guards, Hassanpour said. Zarif also noted during the session that European countries will continue backing the nuclear deal regardless of what actions the U.S may take, Hassanpour told IRNA.

Summary: ईरान के राष्ट्रपति ने ट्रम्प की उम्मीद में एकता के प्रदर्शन में गार्ड का बचाव किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s conservative chancellor Angela Merkel may have won her fourth consecutive national election, but she faces a huge challenge in trying to forge a three-way alliance between parties far apart on the political spectrum. Despite winning most votes, Merkel s bloc slumped to its worst result since 1949 and, just as significant in terms of government building, her current Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners said they would go into opposition after slumping to 20.7 percent in projections, a post-war low. Merkel herself indicated that she had only one other option to govern.  Jamaica  is the name given to a tie-up between her conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens, from the fact that island s flag is made up of the black, yellow and green colors of the three parties. Projections put the conservatives, comprising Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) on 33.0 percent, the FDP on 10.6 and the Greens on 8.9 - enough for a workable majority. But such an alliance, untested at a federal level, collapsed in January 2012 in the western state of Saarland after little more than two years, although it has been tried again since May in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. On a national level, it would have to overcome deep differences on EU reform, tax, energy and immigration. Both the Greens and FDP, fearing alienating their supporters with the compromises they would have to make, played down the likelihood of such a partnership. The prospect of sharing power in Europe s biggest economy will be a powerful incentive, however. They may also feel a duty to ensure the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric have for many raised uncomfortable echoes of Germany s Nazi past, does not become the main opposition party. Fueled by voter anger over Merkel s decision in 2015 to admit around a million migrants, mostly fleeing conflict in the Middle East, the AfD won 13 percent of the vote to become the third-biggest bloc, and the first far-right party in the national parliament for over half a century.  It will be very difficult but we all have a responsibility to our country. We don t want new elections,  said conservative Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, adding that such a scenario would probably give further momentum to the AfD. An ultimate coalition deal may be more about showing Germany s commitment to democratic values than securing broad agreement on policy, where the pro-business FDP and the left-leaning Greens, in particular, are poles apart.  Greens co-leader Cem Ozdemir said his party would not participate in  anti-European populism  in a coalition with the conservatives and FDP. Although the low-tax, red-tape-cutting FDP is traditionally a pro-European party, its young leader, Christian Lindner, has rejected ideas put by French President Emmanuel Macron for deeper euro zone integration.  We want to reverse the trend for our country and, if it becomes apparent in talks that these goals can be achieved, then of course we will be available, but if not, it would be our task to go into opposition,  said Lindner. He has also said Russia s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 might have to be accepted as a permanent provisional arrangement. It is hard to see how Merkel could swallow that. The Greens emphasize climate policy and want a commitment to phase out coal power by 2030, which would be difficult for the other parties to agree to.  Refugee policy will also be challenging, especially with the FDP and Merkel s Bavarian partners of the CSU taking a much harder line than the Greens on limiting immigration. Berenberg economist Holger Schmieding argued that in the carve-up of ministries under a Jamaica coalition, Wolfgang Schaeuble, conservative finance minister since 2009, may have to yield his post to the FDP.  (That) would tilt the domestic discussion a bit further toward serious income tax cuts,  he said.

Summary: मर्केल के लिए तीन-तरफा 'जमैका' गठबंधन वार्ता में बाधाएं


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrat (SPD) Foreign Minister said on Thursday that his party would not be quick to agree to another grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, as party leaders met with the president in a bid to end political deadlock. Merkel is casting around for a coalition partner after her center-right bloc shed support to the far right in a Sept. 24 election. Her attempts to form a three-way tie-up with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens failed. The SPD, which saw its participation in a Merkel-led coalition government from 2013-17 rewarded with its worst election result in German post-war history, had been strongly opposed to another  grand coalition . But under pressure from Germany s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, SPD leader Martin Schulz has signaled willingness to discuss a way out of the political impasse. SPD Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told broadcaster ZDF no one should expect his party - still ruling with the conservatives in a caretaker government - to immediately agree to join another grand coalition now that talks to form a three-way  Jamaica  alliance have failed.  We re now in a process orchestrated by the president, in which we first need to look at what the possibilities are but no one can expect it to go quickly,  he said, adding that it was up to the conservatives to show what they wanted.  The conservatives, Greens and FDP took months to get nothing off ground so I d ask people not to put pressure on us,  Gabriel said, adding that the conservatives needed to make clear what they wanted. Senior conservative and chancellery chief Peter Altmaier told ZDF the conservatives and SPD had presided over four years of economic prosperity and the SPD needed to decide if it would give that up or reconsider its decision to go into opposition.  We re making the case for that because we think one of our trademarks, alongside  Made in Germany , is  Stability Made in Germany , Altmaier said. He added that many people expected Germany to manage to form a government, adding:  Everyone has to live up to that.  Steinmeier, a former SPD lawmaker and foreign minister, hosted a meeting on Thursday that lasted just over two hours between Merkel, her Bavarian conservative ally Horst Seehofer and Schulz, as part of his efforts to facilitate the formation of a stable government. The parties are all due to hold high-level meetings on Friday to discuss how to proceed. Sources in the SPD said all options would be discussed - ranging from a re-run of the grand coalition with the conservatives to new elections.  Merkel is set to hold a telephone conference with senior party members on Friday to discuss the meeting with Steinmeier but the conservatives do not expect the SPD to agree to official coalition talks until after its party congress next week. Almost two-thirds of Germans, surveyed between Nov.22 and Nov.27, want the SPD to start talks with the conservatives on forming another coalition of the center-right and center-left, an Allensbach poll showed. The atmosphere has been soured by the decision of the conservative agriculture minister to back a European Union proposal to extend the use of a weedkiller for another five years - a measure opposed by the SPD. In reaction, SPD members have called for compensation and set various policy conditions. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a conservative, told reporters a stable government was urgently needed to move ahead on security priorities such as hiring more police.  He told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that the conservatives were trying to form a stable government with the SPD, if the SPD would agree. He added:  Only if this attempt fails do we need to think about other steps - not now.  FDP leader Christian Lindner, who walked out of attempts to form the  Jamaica  alliance, told newspaper Rheinische Post a grand coalition would be  more stable and more advantageous  than a Jamaica tie-up.The business wing of Merkel s Christian Democrats called on Merkel to  seriously consider  a minority government, warning that another grand coalition would only be possible for the price of  even more unaffordable promises  in social policy.

Summary: जर्मनी के सोशल डेमोक्रेट्स ने जल्दी से मर्केल के साथ बिस्तर पर कूदने से इनकार कर दिया


LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil flows through an Iraqi Kurdistan pipeline to Turkey resumed on Monday after a technical stoppage for several hours, a Kurdish shipping source told Reuters. The source said the flows were still reduced at around 200,000-220,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the usual volume of 600,000 bpd. The next cargo to load at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan will be Santa Cruz that will exports volume from the November loading program, the source said.

Summary: तुर्की में तकनीकी ठहराव के बाद कुर्दिश तेल का प्रवाह फिर से शुरू हुआः शिपिंग स्रोत


HOUSTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump is considering Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota for either the interior or energy secretary positions in his Cabinet, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Trump is also considering Joe Manchin, another conservative Democratic senator who represents the coal state of West Virginia, and Gary Cohn, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, for energy secretary, U.S. media reported on Thursday. Reuters previously reported that Trump planned to meet with Heitkamp on Friday, according to his transition team. Trump requested the meeting with Heitkamp, the source said.  In a statement, Heitkamp said she appreciated “the president-elect inviting me for a meeting,” adding she hoped to “work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.”  The statement did not address whether a Cabinet position was being discussed, but Heitkamp’s spokeswoman, Abbie McDonough, said the senator “has a long record of working with both Republicans and Democrats.” Heitkamp, along with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, negotiated a deal in Congress last December to lift the decades-old ban on crude oil exports in exchange for a  multi-year extension of tax credits for wind and solar energy. Heitkamp has been a supporter of domestic energy development, both in fossil fuels and renewable resources.      North Dakota is a major source of crude oil, coal and wind power. Heitkamp is popular in her home state, though not all North Dakota state politicians voiced full support for the senator potentially joining the Trump administration. “I don’t see (Heitkamp) being in any Cabinet position,” Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican and North Dakota’s attorney general, told Reuters.  She was elected to the Senate in 2012 in a close race, putting her up for re-election in two years. Should she join the Cabinet, her Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by North Dakota’s Republican governor. Republicans expect to hold 52 seats in the 100-seat chamber when the new Congress meets in January. Politico, citing unnamed sources, said Manchin was being considered for energy secretary. It quoted one of the sources as saying Manchin “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal.” Politico said Manchin told the website that he and his staff had not been contacted by Trump’s transition team, adding: “If I can do anything that would help my state of West Virginia, and my country, I would be happy to talk to anybody.” Manchin’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Manchin is up for re-election in 2018 in West Virginia, an increasingly Republican state where coal jobs have been threatened by cheaper natural gas prices. His 2012 election campaign stressed his opposition to climate change legislation that would have brought federal incentives for the United States to transition to cleaner-burning energy sources and away from fossil fuels such as coal. Reuters had reported on Wednesday that Goldman’s Cohn was being considered to head the White House budget office or another post in the Trump administration. Citing unnamed sources, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday that Trump was also considering nominating Cohn to head the Energy Department. Cohn met with Trump in New York on Tuesday. Cohn, a former Goldman commodities trader who joined the firm in 1990, has been widely considered to be the heir apparent to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein. Another reported contender for the Energy and Interior positions, Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm, said on Thursday he would recommend that Trump nominate Republican U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, one of the president-elect’s energy advisers, for energy secretary.  “I’ve put his name forward,” Hamm said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” program. “He’d sort of do a better job in that post than me.”

Summary: ट्रंप कैबिनेट के लिए नॉर्थ डकोटा के सीनेटर हेटकैम्प पर विचार कर रहे हैंः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High-income Wall Street financiers could be unintended winners from a section of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax-cut plan that is meant to help mostly small, “mom-and-pop” businesses. Trump called on Wednesday for a new “pass-through” tax rate of 25 percent that could mean big savings for owners of sole proprietorships and partnerships who now pay 39.6 percent. But it could also mean a windfall for partners in private-equity, venture-capital and hedge funds, unless Congress can figure out a way to block them from taking advantage of the new rate. Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, said Democrats supported a pass-through rate for small businesses, such as “a cleaner, a garage, a restaurant.” He said Trump’s plan, however, would create “a whole new set of wealthy individuals being able to dodge their taxes through this new provision.” At issue is the taxation of the roughly 95 percent of American businesses that are not public corporations. Non-public pass-through businesses, such as sole proprietorships, limited liability companies and partnerships, pay no income tax themselves. Instead their profits “pass through” directly to their owners, who pay tax on them at the individual tax rates. A small fraction of those business owners pay the top individual tax rate of 39.6 percent, higher than the current top corporate income tax rate of 35 percent. Those business owners have long complained that the disparity is unfair, especially in view of the fact that many multinationals pay much less than the 35 percent statutory corporate tax rate by exploiting abundant loopholes and tax breaks available to large, global corporations. Republicans have been eager to address the issue. Trump’s plan proposes a new tax rate of 25 percent for the pass-through income of “small and family-owned businesses.” The problem, according to the plan’s critics, is that financial entities such as private-equity, venture-capital and hedge funds are all partnerships whose wealthy partners would see substantial tax savings on large portions of their income unless congressional tax writers find a way to exclude them. ‘GOOD’ VERSUS ‘BAD’ PASS-THROUGH INCOME The White House document that spelled out Trump’s plan signaled that the administration was aware of the potential problem but would leave addressing it up to Congress. The document said: “The framework contemplates that the (congressional tax) committees will adopt measures to prevent the recharacterization of personal income into business income to prevent wealthy individuals from avoiding the top personal tax rate.” Trump’s plan also proposes cutting the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent and cutting the top individual tax rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said two weeks ago that the administration would ensure partners at services firms such as accounting, law and financial firms would not benefit from a new, lower pass-through rate. A Treasury Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the pass-through rate or plans to exempt certain categories of firms. Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, a liberal advocacy group, said the idea that a new pass-through rate would help small business was “simply a hoax.” Tax experts said it would be difficult for congressional tax writers to exempt partners at services firms from using the new pass-through rate. “There has always been talk of how to carve out ‘good’ pass-through income from ‘bad’ pass-through income. The problem is it’s exceedingly hard to do and there is no way to draw clear lines that won’t be manipulated,” said Seth Hanlon with the Center for American Progress, a liberal group. Victor Fleischer, a law professor at the University of San Diego, agreed it would be “challenging.” “Still, I think it can probably be done,” Fleischer said.

Summary: छोटे व्यवसायों के लिए ट्रम्प के प्रस्तावित कर कटौती से अमीर वित्तपोषकों को लाभ हो सकता है


CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chicago will sue the Trump administration on Monday over threats to withhold public safety grant money from so-called sanctuary cities, escalating a pushback against a federal immigration crackdown, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on Sunday. The federal lawsuit comes less than two weeks after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the U.S. Justice Department would bar cities from a certain grant program unless they allow immigration authorities unlimited access to local jails and provide 48 hours’ notice before releasing anyone wanted for immigration violations. “Chicago will not let our police officers become political pawns in a debate,” Emanuel, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “Chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. And Chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city.” Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants provide money to hundreds of cities, and the Trump administration has requested $380 million in funding next year. Chicago, a regular target of Republican President Donald Trump because of its murder rate, expected to receive $3.2 million this year for purchasing equipment. Emanuel said the lawsuit would prevent the Trump administration from setting a precedent that could be used to target other funding. Under Trump and Sessions, the federal government has sought to crack down on sanctuary cities, which generally offer illegal immigrants safe harbor by declining to use municipal resources to enforce federal immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing sanctuary movement. The Justice Department said more Chicagoans were murdered last year than residents of Los Angeles and New York combined, and cited comments by Sessions last week saying sanctuary cities “make all of us less safe.” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a Sunday statement: “It’s especially tragic that the mayor is less concerned with that staggering figure than he is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago’s law enforcement at greater risk.”  Police and city officials in sanctuary cities have said deporting illegal immigrants who are not accused of serious crimes harms public safety by discouraging immigrants from coming forward to report crimes. Chicago’s lawsuit is the first to challenge the department over the Byrne program, though city officials said they are in contact with other cities. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is also considering a similar lawsuit, the Sacramento Bee has reported. The Trump administration has already faced legal battles over its sanctuary city policies. Last month, a U.S. judge refused to revisit a court order that blocked Trump’s January executive order denying broader federal funds to such jurisdictions, in a case filed by San Francisco and the California county of Santa Clara.

Summary: शिकागो अभयारण्य शहर के वित्तपोषण की धमकी पर ट्रम्प प्रशासन पर मुकदमा करेगा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said she would tell fellow European Union leaders on Thursday of  ambitious plans  for progress in Brexit negotiations in the coming weeks. Arriving at the summit in Brussels, she told reporters:  We ll ... be looking at the concrete progress that has been made in our exit negotiations and setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead. I particularly, for example, want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens  rights.  She said she would also pledge continued British cooperation with the EU in areas such as security and defence:  I set out a few weeks ago in Florence a very bold and ambitious agenda and vision for our future partnership between the EU and the UK.   At the heart of that remains cooperation on the key issues and dealing with the shared challenges that we face. That speech ... set out that ambitious vision and I look forward to us being able to progress that in the weeks ahead.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ शिखर सम्मेलन में ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता की प्रगति का आह्वान किया जा सकता है


CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during Pence s visit to the region this month in a snub over the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Saturday. Violence erupted for a third day in Gaza in response to President Donald Trump s announcement on Wednesday, which overturned decades of U.S. policy towards the Middle East. Israeli air strikes killed two Palestinian gunmen on Saturday after militants fired rockets from the enclave into Israel on Friday, which had been declared a  day of rage  by Palestinian factions.    Trump s recognition of Jerusalem has infuriated the Arab world and upset Western allies, who say it is a blow to peace efforts and risks sparking more violence in the region. Late on Saturday, Arab foreign ministers urged the United States to abandon its decision and said the move would spur violence throughout the region. The Arab League, in a statement issued after an emergency session in Cairo, called Trump s announcement a  dangerous violation of international law  which had no legal impact and was void. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to critics in a statement before meetings in Paris on Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron to be followed by a meeting with European foreign ministers in Brussels.  I hear (from Europe) voices of condemnation over President Trump s historic announcement but I have not heard any condemnation for the rocket firing against Israel that has come (after the announcement) and the awful incitement against us,  Netanyahu said. Israel maintains that all of Jerusalem is its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.  Most countries consider East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in a 1967 war, to be occupied territory, and say the status of the city should be left to be decided at future Israeli-Palestinian talks. The Trump administration says it is still committed to Palestinian-Israeli talks, that Israel s capital would be in Jerusalem under any serious peace plan, and that it has not taken a position on the city s borders. It says the moribund negotiations can be revived only by ditching outdated policies. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said the Palestinians will be looking for a new peace talks broker instead of the United States and would seek a United Nations Security Council resolution over Trump s decision.      We will seek a new mediator from our Arab brothers and the international community,  Maliki told reporters in Cairo before the Arab League meeting on Trump s Jerusalem decision. A Turkish presidential source said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron will work together to try to persuade the United States to reconsider the move.  A possible meeting with Pence has also been turned down by Egypt s Coptic Church, MENA state news agency reported.  White House and U.S. State Department officials did not respond to requests for comment. Palestinian officials said Pence had been due to meet Abbas on Dec. 19.  Trump s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is leading efforts to restart negotiations, though his bid has shown little public progress so far. Palestinian militants launched at least three rockets towards Israeli towns from Gaza after dark on Friday and Israel said it responded with air strikes that targeted a weapons depot, a military compound and two weapons manufacturing facilities. Hamas, which controls Gaza, confirmed the two men killed in the pre-dawn strikes belonged to the group, which has urged Palestinians to keep up the confrontation with Israeli forces.  However, Palestinian protests on Saturday were less intense than on the previous two days. About 60 Palestinian youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers across the Gaza-Israel border and the health ministry said at least 10 were wounded by Israeli fire.   In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians set fire to tires and threw stones and firebombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and, in a few instances, live fire. The Israeli military said one protester was arrested.  In East Jerusalem about 60 people demonstrated near the walled Old City, where paramilitary border police and officers on horseback tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas. Thirteen demonstrators were arrested and four officers were lightly injured by stones, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.      On Friday, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in protest and two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza border. Scores more were wounded there and in the West Bank. Across the Arab and Muslim worlds, thousands more protesters had gathered to express solidarity. The Turkish presidential source said Erdogan and Macron  agreed during a phone call that Trump s move was worrying for the region and that Turkey and France would make a joint effort to try to reverse the U.S. decision. Erdogan also spoke to the presidents of Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Azerbaijan on Saturday, the source said. On Wednesday, he called an urgent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Turkey next week.  A senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said on Saturday that Trump s move was a  gift to radicalism .    Radicals and extremists will use that to fan the language of hate,  Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said at the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.

Summary: येरुशलम की यात्रा के दौरान पेंस की उपेक्षा करेंगे फिलिस्तीनी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump made a surprise closed-door visit to the Republican National Committee on Thursday after a tumultuous two days on the campaign trail that included a reversal of his pledge to support the party’s nominee. Trump, who is also struggling to contain the fallout from his Wednesday comment that women who have abortions should be punished if the procedure is outlawed, said afterward he had a “nice meeting” to talk about party unity with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “Looking forward to bringing the party together,” Trump said on Twitter. “And it will happen!” Priebus said the meeting was scheduled days ago and included a discussion about the process heading into the party’s July convention in Cleveland. Trump leads the Republican race, but is at risk of falling short of the 1,237 delegates needed to become the party’s nominee in the Nov. 8 election, raising the prospect of a contested convention. “We did talk about unity and working together and making sure when we go to Cleveland, and come out of Cleveland, that we’re working in the same direction,” Priebus told the Fox News Channel. Trump’s relationship with the RNC has been contentious at times, and he recently complained the party was not treating him fairly as it prepared for a possible contested convention. On Tuesday, Trump backed away from the loyalty pledge he signed in September promising to support the party’s eventual nominee and not to run an independent campaign for the White House. The RNC pledge has unraveled as Trump’s remaining rivals, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich, also indicated they were unlikely to observe the pledge if Trump was the nominee. Priebus refused to say if the discarded loyalty pledge was discussed at the meeting with Trump, which lasted just under an hour. The billionaire businessman was in Washington for a morning gathering of his newly established foreign policy team. A source who attended said the group discussed threats from Islamic State militants, nuclear proliferation, homeland security assessments and European security levels. Trump’s campaign also announced it was setting up a Washington office to run its convention and delegate operations and work with the RNC and Congress. The campaign has been busy trying to dig out from under an avalanche of criticism over Trump’s abortion comment, even though he quickly reversed his stance. Trump pulled back from his initial comments within an hour, first in a statement saying that U.S. states should handle abortion issues and later saying doctors who perform abortions are the ones who should be held responsible. “You have a presidential candidate that clarified the record not once but twice,” Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN, calling the initial comments a “simple misspeak.” She said Trump was “pro-life with exceptions” and said his statements after the comments in an MSNBC interview were an accurate depiction of his views. “We shouldn’t make this a 24-hour headline when we have things like terrorism going on in the world.” Trump’s latest controversy threatened to further erode his standing with women voters, many of whom have been offended by his use of vulgarities and insulting language to describe women during the campaign. The abortion flap erupted as Trump campaigned in Wisconsin ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday. The primary will be particularly important because all 42 delegates will be awarded to the winner of the popular vote, rather than distributed proportionate to the vote. Two opinion polls released in the last two days showed Cruz moving ahead of Trump by 10 percentage points in Wisconsin. Trump’s meetings with his new foreign policy advisers follow several controversial statements on national security issues, prompting critics to question his suitability to be commander in chief. Trump has declared NATO obsolete, said Saudi Arabia is too dependent on the United States and said Japan and South Korea may need to develop their own nuclear programs because the U.S. security umbrella is too costly to maintain. In the same MSNBC town hall where he made the abortion comments, Trump refused to rule out the potential use of nuclear weapons in Europe or the Middle East to combat Islamic State militants. “I would never take any of my cards off the table,” he said. Trump told the Fox News Channel that the nuclear issue was discussed at his foreign policy meeting “and everybody agrees with me. You don’t take it off the table.” Many establishment Republicans have labored to block Trump from getting the nomination at the July convention, worried that he will lead the party to an overwhelming defeat in November. Trump’s Republican rivals said his abortion comments were just another example that raises questions about his suitability for the White House. “It just shows that he’s really not prepared to be president of the United States,” Kasich told reporters at a New York news conference, adding that the president should not be constantly rowing back on a series of “wild-eyed suggestions.”  “I have to tell you that as commander in chief and leader of the free world, you don’t get do-overs. You need to be able to get it right the first time,” he said.

Summary: ट्रंप ने रिपब्लिकन नेतृत्व से की मुलाकात, पार्टी की एकता पर हुई चर्चा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will host South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House on June 29-30 to advance economic cooperation and discuss ways of strengthening the two countries’ “ironclad” alliance, the White House said on Tuesday. “The leaders will also coordinate on North Korea-related issues, including countering the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats,” it said in a statement.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया के राष्ट्रपति जून 29-30 की मेजबानी करेंगे ट्रम्पः व्हाइट हाउस


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers struck a police station in Damascus on Monday, with at least 10 people reported dead, in the first such attack to hit the Syrian capital since July. The interior minister said the blasts killed  a number of policemen and civilians  in the al-Midan neighborhood, but did not say how many.  At least 10 people were killed and 20 more injured when four armed men assaulted the station, the pro-Damascus television channel al-Mayadeen reported. Russian news agency RIA put the toll at 15.  Militants targeted the al-Midan police station and clashed with police officers there, Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar said on state television from the station.  One man blew himself up at the main entrance and another detonated his explosive device on the first floor, he said.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Footage on state TV showed bodies in shrouds on the floor of the station and fire fighters putting out flames.     The capital has enjoyed relative security as Syria s six-year civil war has raged on nearby and across the country. But several such attacks have hit Damascus in recent years, including a car bomb that killed 20 people in July. A bomb blast had also hit the same police station in al-Midan late last year. Islamic State and the Tahrir al-Sham alliance - led by fighters formerly linked to al-Qaeda - have each claimed separate suicide attacks that killed scores of people in Damascus in the past.  Monday s attack came as a response to  the major victories that our armed forces are achieving on Syrian land,  the interior minister said.     With the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, the government has pushed back rebels in western Syria, shoring up its rule over the main urban centres. In recent months, it has also marched eastwards against Islamic State.   It s natural to expect that the terrorists will resort to acts like this ... but they are all desperate acts,  Shaar said.  Such operations are thwarted on a daily basis.  Syrian troops and allied forces have captured several suburbs of Damascus from rebel factions over the past year. The army and its allies are currently fighting insurgents in the Jobar and Ain Tarma districts on the capital s eastern outskirts.

Summary: दमास्कस पुलिस स्टेशन में आत्मघाती हमला


(Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott has warned that Hurricane Irma, which was barreling toward Florida on Friday, could be more damaging than 1992 s Hurricane Andrew which caused more than $26 billion in devastation in the state. Following are some facts about hurricanes Irma and Andrew: - In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blasted the southern part of Florida as it moved from east to west, spending about four hours over the state. By comparison, Scott warned this week that Irma was wider than all of Florida and could swamp it from coast to coast, during a northward push through the state.  Remember, Hurricane Andrew is one of the worst storms in the history of Florida,  Scott said at a news conference.  This is much worse and more devastating on its current path.  - Hurricane Irma could hit the Florida Keys as a Category 5, which is the highest ranking for a storm s severity, with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour (258 km per hour). Andrew made landfall as a Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h), according to the National Weather Service. - Hurricane Andrew directly caused 15 deaths in Florida and another 29 indirect deaths, from causes such as fires, electrocutions and cleanup accidents, according to the National Weather Service. It directly killed eight people in Louisiana, and indirectly killed nine more in the Southern state. - Andrew damaged or destroyed 126,000 single-family houses and ripped apart 9,000 mobile homes, according to the National Weather Service. It also caused property damage in Louisiana after sweeping through the Gulf of Mexico.     Irma is larger than Andrew and it could leave 100,000 people without shelter, Federal Emergency Management Agency  Administrator Brock Long warned at a news conference. - In Homestead, Hurricane Andrew destroyed 1,167 mobile homes, which amounted to 99 percent of all the mobile homes in that South Florida town, according to the National Weather Service. After Andrew, the federal government imposed more stringent regulations for those types of homes.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः इरमा बनाम एंड्रयूः कैसे 2017 के बड़े तूफान की तुलना 1992 से की जाती है


(Reuters) - A populist politician whose party could emerge as a kingmaker at this month s New Zealand election has called for an inquiry into whether a member of the ruling National Party government has been working for China s intelligence services.  Earlier this week the Financial Times reported that National Party member Jian Yang spent a decade at elite Chinese military academies and has been under investigation by New Zealand s national intelligence agency. Winston Peters, whose New Zealand First party is widely expected to form a ruling coalition with either the National or Labour parties, said that New Zealanders should be  very concerned .  National must act now and a full inquiry is required.  Peters said on his official Twitter account.  There must be proof Dr Yang is not a risk. Meanwhile, Dr Yang must step aside.   Yang who is 55, had lived in China until he was 32, the Financial Times said. No information about his Chinese education or military background was included in his official biographies in New Zealand or those published when he was an academic at Auckland university, it said. Yang, who has been a major fundraiser for the National Party and has pushed for closer ties with Beijing, told media that he was the victim of a  smear campaign  and denied passing on any information to China during his time in New Zealand.  I can understand people can be concerned, because they do not understand Chinese system, but once they understand the system they should be assured this is nothing really you should be concerned about,  he said according to a Newshub report. Prime Minister and National Party leader Bill English said that he was well aware of Yang s background, employment and training in China.   This is a New Zealand citizen. Dr Jian is a New Zealand citizen. The country is happy to have him as a citizen,  English told New Zealand s 1News. English said he had been aware  from early on  that Dr Yang had had  military training, including military intelligence .  He s never tried to hide that background,  English said.  Meanwhile, Labour leader and contender for the premiership Jacinda Ardern declined to comment, saying only it was an  issue for the National Party to respond to,  according to the report.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड के किंगमेकर ने चीन की जासूसी रिपोर्ट की जांच की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Sunday criticized the administration of former President Barack Obama for not taking earlier and tougher action against Russia for its alleged hacks aimed at swaying the Nov. 8 election for Donald Trump. “The Obama administration should have done a lot more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin,” said Representative Adam Schiff on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. The Obama administration imposed sanctions in December on two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking political groups during the election, but those sanctions were too little, too late, Schiff said. Schiff and his Senate counterpart, Dianne Feinstein, issued an unusual public statement in September condemning Russia for the alleged hacks. “We had to vet that with the intelligence community, but we took that step because we weren’t succeeding in getting the administration to do it itself,” Schiff said.

Summary: शीर्ष डेमोक्रेट ने रूसी हैक पर ओबामा प्रशासन की प्रतिक्रिया की निंदा की


BAGHDAD/KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk on Monday, responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country. A convoy of armored vehicles from Iraq s elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Force seized Kirkuk s provincial government headquarters on Monday afternoon, less than a day after the operation began, a Reuters reporter in Kirkuk said. Neither side gave a casualty toll for the operation. But an aid group working in Kirkuk said several Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Iraqi soldiers had been killed in an overnight clash south of the city - the only serious fighting reported.  As Iraqi forces advanced, Kurdish operators briefly shut some 350,000 barrels per day of oil output at two large Kirkuk fields, citing security concerns, oil ministry sources on both sides said. But production resumed shortly thereafter following an Iraqi threat to seize fields under Kurdish management if they did not do so, according to the sources. It was not immediately clear whether or when the Iraqi government would seek to retake control of all Kirkuk oilfields, a vital source of revenue for the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The short suspension in production helped push up world oil prices as the shutdown represented more than half of total Kurdish output.[O/R] A dozen Iraqi armored vehicles arrived at the provincial government headquarters in Kirkuk and took up positions nearby, alongside local police. They pulled down the Kurdish flag and left the Iraqi flag flying. Thousands of Kurdish civilians fled the city of 1 million people for fear of reprisals. A Kurdish father of four who was driving out of Kirkuk towards the Kurdish regional capital Erbil to the north said:  We no longer feel safe. We hope to return to our home but right now we feel it s dangerous for us to stay.  Crowds of ethnic Turkmen who opposed Kurdish control of the city were celebrating. Some drove in convoys with Iraqi flags and fired shots in the air.  This day should become a holiday, we re so happy to have gotten rid of Barzani s party,  said a man celebrating on a motorbike, waving the blue-and-white flag of Iraq s Turkmen, referring to the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that Washington would not take sides in the matter but  we don t like the fact that they re clashing.  We ve had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we ve also been on the side of Iraq, even though we should have never been there in the first place.  U.S. officials called for calm on both sides, seeking to avert an all-out conflict between Baghdad and the Kurds that would open an entirely new front in Iraq s 14-year-old civil war and potentially draw in regional powers such as Turkey and Iran. The Baghdad central government considers the Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum illegal, especially as it was held not just in the autonomous KRG region but in Kirkuk and other adjacent areas that Peshmerga forces occupied after driving out Islamic State militants in 2014. The Peshmerga moved in after Iraqi government forces collapsed in the face of a rapid onslaught by Islamic State, preventing the jihadists from seizing the oilfields. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi ordered that the national flag be hoisted over Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Baghdad described its army s advance as largely unopposed, and urged the Peshmerga to cooperate in keeping the peace. The Peshmerga said Baghdad would be made to pay  a heavy price  for triggering  war on the Kurdistan people . The overnight advance was the most decisive step Baghdad has taken yet to block the independence bid of the Kurds, who have governed an autonomous tract of northern Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and voted three weeks ago to secede. Kirkuk, one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in Iraq, is located just outside the autonomous Kurdish zone. Kurds consider it the heart of their homeland; they say it was cleansed of Kurds and settled with Arabs under Saddam to secure control of the oil that was the source of Iraq s wealth. Washington, which arms and trains both Iraqi federal forces and the Peshmerga to fight Islamic State militants, urged  all parties to immediately cease military action and restore calm , according to a U.S. Embassy statement.  ISIS (Islamic State) remains the true enemy of Iraq, and we urge all parties to remain focused on finishing the liberation of their country from this menace.  U.S. Defense Department spokesman Colonel Robert Manning declined to speculate on whether Washington might cut off military aid and training to Iraqi forces in the event of a major conflict.  I m not going to speculate on that but I will tell you that we re looking at all options for planning considerations ... We encourage dialogue,  he said. State TV said Iraqi forces had also entered Tuz Khurmato, a flashpoint town where there had been clashes between Kurds and mainly Shi ite Muslims of Turkmen ethnicity. The  government of Abadi bears the main responsibility for triggering war on the Kurdistan people, and will be made to pay a heavy price , the Peshmerga command said in a statement, cited by Kurdish leader Barzani s assistant Hemin Hawrami.   The Kurdish secession bid was strongly opposed by neighbors Iran and Turkey. Washington, allied with the Kurds for decades,  pleaded vainly for them to halt a vote that could break up Iraq. There were signs of internal strife among the Kurds, who have been divided for decades into two main factions, the KDP of regional government leader Barzani and the PUK of his longtime rival Jalal Talabani, who served as Iraq s ceremonial president in Baghdad from 2003-2014 and died two weeks ago. Both Kurdish parties control their own Peshmerga units. While Barzani s KDP strongly supported the independence referendum, some PUK figures were more circumspect. Monday s Peshmerga statement accused a group within the PUK of  treason  for allegedly assisting Baghdad s advance.  We regret that some PUK officials helped in this plot,  it said. Talabani s widow, Hero, said the Iraqi operation was carried out with international consent and the PUK was not able to prevent it through talks.  This heroic city was facing an international plan,  she said in a statement.   The past few days have been spent in meetings with American representatives, representatives of the Iraqi government and ... of various other countries in order to prevent today s attack.  It is with great regret that we were not successful on this occasion.    Although Iraqi officials portrayed the Kurds as retreating without a fight, Kurdish officials said Peshmerga had clashed with the  Popular Mobilisation  - Shi ite Muslim forces trained and armed by Iran that operate alongside regular Iraqi troops. Turkey, which had developed a good working relationship with the Iraqi Kurds and let the landlocked region export oil through its pipes, has swung behind Baghdad, furious at a secession move that might ignite similar demands from its own Kurds. Turkey said on Monday it would close its air space to KRG territory and work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the Iraqi central government.

Summary: इराकी बलों ने कुर्द लोगों से तेल शहर किर्कुक पर साहसिक रूप से कब्जा कर लिया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain, France and Australia urged Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday to push for an end to military violence against Rohingya Muslims, while her national security adviser said those who had fled could return but the process had to be discussed. The military response to insurgent attacks last month in the western region of Myanmar sent more than 410,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, escaping what the United Nations has branded as ethnic cleansing.  The government says about 400 people have been killed in the fighting.   We will make sure that everybody who left their home can return to their home but this is a process we have to discuss,  Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters on Monday after a ministerial meeting on the crisis hosted by Britain on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.  We want to make sure that everybody who needs humanitarian assistance gets it, without discrimination. That is one of the things we agreed on,  he said. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of international criticism for not stopping the violence. She is due to speak to the nation on Tuesday about the crisis, which the United States has described as a  defining moment  for Myanmar.  We expect from Mrs Aung Sang Suu Kyi tomorrow a strong statement in this direction,  French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian told reporters in New York.  British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hosted a ministerial meeting to discuss ways to resolve the Rohingya crisis, which included ministers from Canada, Denmark, Turkey, Australia, Indonesia, Sweden, Bangladesh, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and a representative of the European Union.   What we are trying to get everyone to agree is that, number one, the killings have got to stop, and the violence has got to stop. And we look not just to the military but also to Daw Suu to show a lead on that,  Johnson told Reuters before the meeting. In a statement afterwards, Johnson said that while Myanmar had  made encouraging progress towards democracy in the last few years, the situation in Rakhine, the terrible human rights abuses and violence are a stain on the country s reputation.   It is vital that Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government make clear these abuses must stop,  he said. Johnson said he was  encouraged by our discussion and by the participation of the senior Burmese representatives, but we now need to see action to stop the violence and open up immediate humanitarian access.  China, which, like the United States has worked to forge closer ties with Myanmar, a strategically important country in Southeast Asia, will not attend, a Chinese spokesman said, citing  a really packed calendar  for Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters ahead of the British meeting that a lasting political solution needed to be found for the Rohingya in Myanmar. About a million Rohingya lived in Rakhine State until the recent violence. Most face draconian travel restrictions and are denied citizenship in a country where many Buddhists regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Reuters she wanted to hear Suu Kyi offer a solution  to what is a tragedy of enormous proportions.  She said that during the ministerial meeting in New York there  was unanimity in the view that the violence must end and that there be a ceasefire.  And we emphasized the need for humanitarian support to get through and also that the Rohingya must be able to return home,  Bishop said. The United States urged the Myanmar government to end military operations in Rakhine state, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes, Haley said in a statement after the meeting.   People are still at risk of being attacked or killed, humanitarian aid is not reaching the people who need it, and innocent civilians are still fleeing across the border to Bangladesh,  Haley said. Washington has also called for an end to the violence and a restoration of humanitarian aid, and a deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in Myanmar this week.  We urge the (Myanmar) government to act quickly to restore the rule of law, investigate alleged human rights abuses and violations, and to hold security forces and others responsible for abuses and violations fully accountable for their actions,  a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said. U.S.-Myanmar ties improved after the military began withdrawing from government in 2011, and paved the way for a 2015 election won by Suu Kyi s party. But the military retains a strong hand in government and remains responsible for security. A Trump administration official told Reuters last week the violence made it harder to build warmer ties with Myanmar, and there would likely be some  easing  in the short term, but he did not expect a return to sanctions. For years, the United States and Western allies imposed sanctions on Myanmar in support of Suu Kyi s campaign for democracy. Myanmar s response was to forge closer ties with China. Human Rights Watch U.N. director Louis Charbonneau called for  strong U.N. action to compel Myanmar security services to end their ethnic cleansing campaign.   With so many influential leaders gathered in New York, the next step should be work on a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the abuses and a Security Council resolution to impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the commanders leading this brutal campaign  he said.  However, Myanmar earlier this month said it was negotiating with China and Russia, both permanent veto wielding members of the Security Council, to block any bid to censure the country over the violence.

Summary: पश्चिमी शक्तियों ने म्यांमार की सू की से हिंसा को समाप्त करने के लिए जोर देने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Robert Califf as head of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that regulates everything from food and drugs to tobacco, cosmetics and dietary supplements. Califf, 64, a well-regarded cardiologist and researcher, takes the helm at the FDA when lawmakers are pressuring it to speed the approval process for drugs and medical devices and to finalize a proposed rule giving it authority to regulate e-cigarettes. He said one of his first priorities is to strengthen the workforce by reaching out to academic and other centers to attract new talent and create professional “homes” for scientists who work at the FDA. For example, he said in an interview, “we’ve been working to create a coordinated effort to have all our statisticians have an identity and support services that they need.” “For docs like me,” he added, that might mean help with administrative matters such as keeping medical licenses up to date. Another priority for Califf is improving surveillance systems to monitor for safety. “We’re not proposing to do away with the adverse event reporting system that currently exists,” he said, “but we are acutely aware that it is not enough.”  Tools to monitor the safety of medical devices also need to be modernized, he said, and though it will not happen overnight, “we have to do the hard work of making it happen.” He said he thinks medical professions also need to “step up” and be part of the process. And he said getting the authority to regulate e-cigarettes is also a priority. The FDA is also attempting to implement sweeping new regulations to improve food safety and has begun to tackle the approval process for biosimilars, which are cheaper versions of biologic drugs. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which would require the FDA to consider more flexible forms of clinical trials. The Senate is considering similar legislation. The rate of new drug approvals at the FDA is higher than it has been in decades. Last year it approved 45 new drugs, the most since 1996. From 2006 through 2014 it has averaged about 28 new drug approvals per year. Lawmakers and patient groups want the agency to move even faster. Califf has worked on many high-profile clinical studies, and has said he is eager to make the clinical trial process more efficient. Four senators, including Democrat Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, opposed Califf’s nomination. They took the opportunity leading up to the vote to lambaste the FDA for what they said was a lax approach to approving potentially addictive opioid painkillers. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was also among the senators who opposed the nomination, saying Califf’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry made him unfit to regulate it impartially.  Califf joined the FDA as a deputy commissioner a year ago. Previously he held senior positions at Duke University, where he founded a large academic research center that received more than half its funding from the drug industry. He has said the funding never compromised his research. Califf’s confirmation was widely expected. He fills the position left by Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who stepped down after six years as commissioner. Dr. Stephen Ostroff has filled the post on an interim basis.

Summary: सीनेट ने डॉ. रॉबर्ट कैलिफ को एफडीए का नेतृत्व करने की पुष्टि की


HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland did not pay a ransom for the release of a Finnish aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan, the Nordic country s foreign minister said on Thursday.  Finland has not paid, and will not pay ransom in the future. If we did, we would only encourage further kidnappings,  Foreign Minister Timo Soini told a news conference via videolink from Washington. The ministry confirmed earlier on Thursday that the Finnish woman, who was abducted in May and held captive for 118 days, had been released. She was working for a Swedish aid group in Kabul and during her abduction a German colleague and their Afghan guard were killed. The foreign ministry gave no further details about the kidnapping or the release, but said the woman was in Afghanistan and in  good condition in light of the circumstances . Kidnapping is a longstanding problem in Afghanistan, mainly affecting Afghans abducted for ransom. However foreigners have also regularly been targeted, either for ransom or to put pressure on their governments.

Summary: फिनलैंड का कहना है कि काबुल में रिहा किए गए सहायता कार्यकर्ता के लिए कोई फिरौती नहीं दी गई


MOSCOW (Reuters) - General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia s general staff, spent an hour on the phone with U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford discussing Pentagon allegations that Moscow bombed U.S.-backed fighters in Syria, the Kommersant daily said on Sunday. U.S.-backed militias said they came under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters were wounded in the strike. Russia s Defence Ministry on Sunday rejected the allegations, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans. Kommersant, citing unnamed military sources, reported that Gerasimov and Dunford, chairman of the U.S. military s Joint Chiefs of Staff, had spent an hour on Saturday discussing the allegations by phone. It said Moscow routinely gave the United States at least two hours warning of any strikes in Syria and then shared information afterwards about which targets had been struck.

Summary: शीर्ष रूसी और अमेरिकी जनरलों ने सीरिया में बमबारी के आरोपों पर चर्चा कीः कोमरसेंट


(Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will nominate high-frequency trading expert Vincent Viola to be secretary of the Army, a senior transition official said on Monday. Below is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. Senate confirmation is required for all the posts except national security adviser, White House chief of staff, White House director of the National Economic Council and White House strategist. Tillerson, 64, has spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil Corp, where he rose to serve as its chairman and CEO in 2006. A civil engineer by training, the Texan joined the world’s largest energy company in 1975 and led several of its operations in the United States as well as in Yemen, Thailand and Russia. As Exxon’s chief executive, he maintained close ties with Moscow and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. Mnuchin, 53, is a successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. Housing advocacy groups criticized the bank for its foreclosure practices, accusing it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was in 2005 rebuked for saying: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  Zinke, 55, a first-term Republican representative and a member of the House subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public lands. He has taken stances favoring coal, which suffered during the Obama administration. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. Ross, 79, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co and Forbes has pegged his net worth at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization, for causing massive U.S. factory job losses.               Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc [APOLOT.UL], which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board. Puzder, 66, has argued that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close and praises the benefits of automation, so his appointment is likely to antagonize organized labor.  U.S. Representative Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Co. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Perry, 66, adds to the list of oil drilling advocates skeptical about climate change who have been picked for senior positions in Trump’s Cabinet. The selections have worried environmentalists but cheered an oil and gas industry eager for expansion. Perry, who also briefly ran in the 2016 presidential race, would be responsible for U.S. energy policy and oversee the nation’s nuclear weapons program.  DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for expansion of charter schools. The final leadership role of Kelly’s 45-year military career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 66-year-old retired Marine general differed with Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. Recently re-elected to serve as Republican National Committee chairman, Priebus will give up his party post to join Trump in the White House, where the low-key Washington operative could help forge ties with Congress to advance Trump’s agenda. Priebus, 44, was a steadfast supporter of Trump during the presidential campaign even as the party fractured amid the choice. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to stem climate change, Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists. But he fits with the president-elect’s promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top state prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011 and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. U.S. Representative Mick Mulvaney, 49, a South Carolina Republican, is a fiscal conservative. He was an outspoken critic of former House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who resigned in 2015 amid opposition from fellow Republicans who were members of the House Freedom Caucus. Mulvaney was first elected to Congress in 2010. Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former chief executive of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012 and was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. U.S. Representative Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.     Cohn, 56, president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, had widely been considered heir apparent to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Wall Street firm. Trump hammered Goldman and Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class. Retired Lieutenant General Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Viola, 60, is a West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division. He founded high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial Inc and served as  chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he began his financial services career. After the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Viola helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is an owner of the Florida Panthers ice hockey team. CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST, SENIOR COUNSELOR: STEVE BANNON The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump’s campaign chairman in August. A rabble-rousing conservative media figure, he helped shift Breitbart into a forum for the alt-right, a loose confederation of those who reject mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. His hiring signals Trump’s dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. As White House chief of staff, Bannon, 63, will serve as Trump’s gatekeeper and agenda-setter.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रंप ने अपने प्रशासन के लिए शीर्ष पदों को भरा


MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura will visit Moscow on Friday, RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov. Previously, RIA news agency reported that de Mistura was due in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the situation in Syria.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र के डी मिस्टुरा शुक्रवार को मास्को का दौरा करेंगेः आर. आई. ए.


AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Transgender activists and business leaders urged a Texas Senate panel on Friday to scrap legislation that would limit bathroom access for transgender people, saying it was a discriminatory measure that would hurt the state’s economy. More than 250 civil rights activists, executives and others registered to speak to the Republican-dominated Senate as it began consideration of the measure, the most closely watched item on the state’s agenda during a 30-day special session. So-called “bathroom bills” have become a flashpoint of U.S. culture wars, with social conservatives saying they protect public safety and civil rights activists saying the measures allow government-sanctioned bias against transgender people. Ashley Smith, a transgender woman and San Antonio architect, said transgender women suffer more violence than the general public, and a bathroom bill would make her more fearful. “Can’t you see how this legislation would make the very real problem of assault even worse?” she asked members of the Senate Committee on State Affairs. Smith drew wide notice on the internet this week after posting a picture of herself with Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a supporter of the bathroom measure who she suggested had no idea she was transgender. Talk of the bathroom bill has already led to about $66 million in lost convention business, convention officials from Texas’ top cities told the committee. If the measure is enacted, the state could lose about $1.4 billion from lost conventions, sports contests and other events, they said. The main measure under consideration is Senate Bill 3, which says certain restrooms, showers and changing facilities in places such as public schools “must be designated for and used only by persons of the same sex as stated on a person’s birth certificate.” Supporters were few in number on Friday. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Lois Kolkhorst, said SB 3 was about “about much more than bathrooms. “(It) is about finding a balance between the right to declare your gender and the right of a parent to protect their child,” she said.  During the regular session that ended in May, the Texas Senate easily passed such a measure. But it died in the state’s House of Representatives under pressure from pro-business Republicans. Political analysts expect a similar pattern for the special session. A similar law in North Carolina, partially repealed in March, prompted the relocation of major sporting events and economic boycotts that were estimated to have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

Summary: कार्यकर्ताओं, अधिकारियों ने टेक्सास सीनेट से बाथरूम के बिल को हटाने को कहा


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continued to hold meetings in New York on Tuesday, before taking over the White House from President Barack Obama on Friday. The following is a list of confirmed meetings for Tuesday, according to Trump’s transition team: * Fox News Channel journalist, co-host of “Fox and Friends,” for interview  * Legal analyst for Fox News, former New Jersey Superior court judge             * Boeing Co chief executive officer * Trump legal adviser on divestment plans, attorney at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP in Washington * Washington-based reporter and co-founder of new political news website Axios, formerly of political news publication Politico

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रम्प ने बोइंग प्रमुख और अन्य लोगों से मुलाकात की