RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said on Thursday the kingdom s actions in the Middle East were a response to what he called the  aggression  of Iran. Long-standing arch-rivals, Riyadh and Tehran are waging a contest for power on several fronts across the region, notably in Yemen and Lebanon.  Any way you look at it, they (the Iranians) are the ones who are acting in an aggressive manner. We are reacting to that aggression and saying,  Enough is enough. We re not going to let you do this anymore , Jubeir told Reuters in an interview. He said Saudi Arabia was consulting its allies about what leverage to use against Lebanese Shi ite militant group Hezbollah   an Iranian ally   to end its dominance in the small Mediterranean nation and intervention in other countries.  We will make the decision when the time comes,  he said, declining to detail what options were under consideration. Jubeir said Hezbollah, which he described as a subsidiary of Iran s Revolutionary Guard, must disarm and become a political party for Lebanon to stabilize.  Whenever we see a problem, we see Hezbollah act as an arm or agent of Iran and this has to come to an end,  he said after meeting his French counterpart in Riyadh. Saad al-Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned as Lebanon s prime minister on Nov. 4, citing an assassination plot and accusing Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region.  In Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is involved in a two-year-old war and has been criticized for blocking humanitarian aid, Jubeir accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of besieging civilian areas and preventing supplies from coming in or out.  That s why you have the starvation that s taking place in Yemen and people need to do a more serious job of holding Houthis accountable for this,  he said. Jubeir said domestic anti-corruption investigations which have netted senior princes, officials and businessmen in the past two weeks were ongoing.

Summary: सऊदी विदेश मंत्री ने ईरान को दिया संदेश, कहा-'काफी हो गया'


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition said on Sunday it had postponed plans to swear in its leader Raila Odinga as an alternative president, easing political tensions and opening a window for possible talks with the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta.  Opposition coalition NASA had planned to publicly  inaugurate  Odinga at a rally on Tuesday, Kenyan independence day, in what the attorney general said this week would be an act of treason.     Kenyatta was re-elected as Kenya s president with 98 percent of the vote in a repeat election held on Oct. 26 which Odinga boycotted. He had beaten Odinga in the original poll, held in August, which was nullified by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds following opposition allegations of vote-rigging and other malpractices.  NASA said in a statement it would postpone the swearing-in after  consultations and engagement with a wide range of national and international interlocutors . It did not specifically name any mediators involved in the talks. The coalition said it would be announcing a new date for the swearing in ceremony and the launch of its People s Assembly  as well as a more vigorous and prolonged resistance . The plan to install Odinga as an alternative president had threatened to exacerbate rifts opened by an acrimonious election season that left more than 70 people dead in political violence.  The United States had also urged opposition leaders to work within the law and avoid actions like the proposed  inauguration ceremony.

Summary: केन्या के विपक्ष का कहना है कि वैकल्पिक राष्ट्रपति के 'शपथ ग्रहण' को स्थगित कर दिया गया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet for the first time on Tuesday with Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, to discuss budget priorities and ways to work together this year, the White House said on Friday. The get-together with Ryan, which also will include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will provide a gauge of how much or how little legislative common ground the three leaders share as Obama completes his final year in office. “We certainly believe that there are areas of cooperation for the year ahead,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. It will be Obama’s first formal face-to-face meeting with Ryan since he was elected speaker three months ago.  “While the House is focused on a bold agenda for 2017, the speaker appreciates the opportunity to see if we can find any areas of common ground in the year ahead,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, said. During a closed-door meeting on Thursday with Democratic lawmakers, Obama said he does not expect Congress to get much done this year, according to an aide who was in the room. The White House has said there are only a few items on Obama’s legislative wish-list that have any chance of passing through the Republican-controlled Congress. They include reforming mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses and taking steps to address an epidemic of heroin addiction and prescription drug abuse. Obama also wants Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but he faces resistance from Democratic lawmakers concerned about the TPP’s impact on jobs and the environment. The White House announced on Friday that Obama’s top legislative aide Katie Beirne Fallon, who was popular among Republicans and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill, is leaving after helping Obama secure enough votes for fast-track trade negotiating authority, the Iran nuclear deal and a budget deal. Fallon will be replaced by her deputy Amy Rosenbaum, a former aide to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Obama’s meeting with Republicans comes one week before Obama delivers his final budget proposal to Congress. It also comes as Obama tries to make good on a pledge he made during his 2008 campaign to close the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama is set to deliver a plan to Congress about closing the prison that will include measures to house a small number of detainees in facilities in the United States. Lawmakers strongly oppose that idea.

Summary: ओबामा अगले सप्ताह रिपब्लिकन रेयान, मैककॉनेल से मिलेंगेः व्हाइट हाउस


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has received assurances from the United States that allegations the GCHQ intelligence agency helped former President Barack Obama eavesdrop on Donald Trump will not be repeated, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday. “We’ve made clear to the administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we’ve received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated,” the spokesman told reporters. “We have a close special relationship with the White House and that allows us to raise concerns as and when they arise as was true in this case.”

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जीसीएचक्यू के बारे में अमेरिकी आरोपों को दोहराया नहीं जाएगाः मे के प्रवक्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday he would recommend a “full review” of the nuclear deal with Iran, but he did not call for an outright rejection of the 2015 accord. Speaking in his Senate confirmation hearing, Tillerson also said he did not oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade deal, but said he shares some of President-elect Donald Trump’s views about whether the pact as negotiated reflects all the best interests of the United States.

Summary: टिलरसन ने ईरान परमाणु समझौते की 'पूर्ण समीक्षा' का समर्थन किया


MARACAIBO/CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - The newly elected opposition governor of Venezuela s western Zulia state was dismissed on Thursday by the pro-government local state legislature, adding to disarray among foes of the ruling socialists.  The sacking of Juan Pablo Guanipa, one of five opposition governors in Venezuela s 23 states, came after he refused to swear loyalty to an all-powerful national legislative superbody aligned with President Nicolas Maduro s ruling socialists.   They held a secret, express session to remove him,  Guanipa s spokeswoman Erika Gutierrez told Reuters of the morning meeting of Zulia s state legislature.   Venezuela s opposition Democratic Unity coalition, which groups several dozen anti-Maduro parties, has been in crisis since a surprise defeat at this month s state elections. Despite polls showing it would win a comfortable majority due to widespread public anger over Venezuela s brutal economic crisis, the opposition only took five states compared to 18 for Maduro s Socialist Party candidates. Opposition leaders blamed dirty tricks by the government, including the last-minute moving of many vote centers in opposition areas, along with abstention by supporters disillusioned at the failure of protests earlier this year. Driving home its advantage, the government said only governors who recognize the supremacy of the pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly could take office.  Four opposition governors did that this week, sparking recriminations and bickering within the coalition, but Guanipa said he would never  kneel before the dictatorship.   This is an assault on the will of the people,  he tweeted after his removal on Thursday, denouncing a  coup  in the oil-rich state on the border with Colombia. OPPOSITION IN-FIGHTING Prior to this week, the opposition, along with various major foreign nations including the United States, had refused to recognize the Constituent Assembly.  Elected in July after four months of anti-Maduro protests, the body has overridden the opposition-run national congress.  One major opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, said he would no longer participate in the coalition while Henry Ramos, leader of the Democratic Action party whose four governors swore themselves in before the assembly, was a member. Capriles  Justice First party, and the Popular Will party of detained opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, have called for a complete reformulation of the opposition grouping. Officials from Maduro down have been rubbing their hands in glee at the opposition implosion, and cheekily urging the controversial Ramos - a polarizing figure unpopular among young opposition militants - to stand for president in 2018.  Backstabbing has broken out in the opposition, all against all,  crowed Maduro earlier this week. The Constituent Assembly also announced on Thursday local mayoral elections would be held in December, giving the opposition a short time-frame to develop strategy.  Popular Will has already said it plans to boycott that vote. Young protesters, who saw hundreds of their fellow demonstrators jailed, injured or even killed in anti-Maduro street protests earlier this year, are disgusted by what for them is now a bleak political scenario. More than 125 people, including supporters of both sides plus security officials and bystanders, died in four months of unrest that Maduro said amounted to a U.S.-backed coup attempt.  Let the people continue speaking loud and clear in defense of peace, sovereignty and the sacred right to self-determination,  Constituent Assembly head Delcy Rodriguez said, announcing the December municipal vote that the socialists now expect to win handily given the opposition s disillusionment.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के मदुरो विरोधी गवर्नर को बर्खास्त किया गया, विपक्ष में अराजकता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Huntington Ingalls Inc is being awarded a $2.8 billion cost-plus-incentive fee contract for USS George Washington refueling complex overhaul, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Summary: हंटिंगटन इंगल्स ने जीता 28 करोड़ डॉलर का अमेरिकी रक्षा अनुबंधः पेंटागन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is ramping up his search for a new chief for the U.S. central bank, meeting with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and three others and promising a decision next month. “I’ve had four meetings for Fed chairman and I’ll be making a decision over the next two or three weeks,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn. Trump has previously suggested he may reappoint Fed Chair Janet Yellen to the post. Jerome Powell, one of the current governors on the Fed’s board, also met with Trump earlier this week about the Fed job, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Trump on Friday did not provide details on his meetings.  A new Fed chair would take the helm as the central bank eases well away from crisis-era policies in response to a strengthening economy and falling unemployment, though inflation still lingers below the Fed’s 2-percent goal. Under Yellen, the Fed has raised interest rates and launched a plan to shrink its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. Much of the latter was accumulated through a controversial bond-buying program that Yellen said helped the economy avert an even deeper downturn. Her term as chair expires in February.  Warsh was a Fed governor between 2006 and 2011 and resigned from the board because of his opposition to the bond-buying program. He has called for a revamp of how the Fed makes monetary policy, saying it needs “fresh air” from markets and from the “real economy.”  Treasury yields spurted higher on news of the Trump meetings; Warsh is viewed as more of a hawk than Yellen. “He’s definitely more hawkish on the spectrum. He is quite a contrast to Yellen. It does seem he is the front-runner even though it’s not a sure thing he will be nominated,” Gennadiy Goldberg, interest rates strategist at TD Securities in New York, said of Warsh. As recently as July, Trump had not ruled out reappointing Yellen, telling the Wall Street Journal that he liked her demeanor and desire to keep interest rates low. In addition to Warsh and Powell, Stanford University economist John Taylor’s name also has been floated as a contender. Powell specialized in financial regulatory matters during his five years on the Fed Board of Governors, which is led by the Fed chair. There has also been speculation that Trump could turn to his top economic aide, Gary Cohn, for the Fed chair position. A Fed spokesman declined to comment on the process while Warsh and Taylor did not respond to requests for comment.

Summary: ट्रंप ने फेड अध्यक्ष पद के लिए चार लोगों का साक्षात्कार लिया, दो-तीन सप्ताह में करेंगे फैसला


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With U.S. Congress members focused during their August recess on finding ways to lower the corporate tax rate, industry groups and other sectors of society are gearing up to fight proposed changes to the personal income tax. While tax cuts for business have garnered the most headlines, lobbyists and lawmakers have conceded that rewriting the corporate tax code will be a long slog. Tackling personal tax rates will be easier, many argue. Looking for an easier legislative win ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, most lawmakers in the Republican majority want to cut individual incomes taxes. President Donald Trump has been pushing hard for tax changes this year.     Still, proposed changes to the personal tax code have already stirred opposition from realtors, home builders, mortgage lenders and charities. These groups say proposed changes will hurt home sales and cut charitable contributions. The National Association of Realtors issued an “August Recess Talking Points” circular imploring members to remind lawmakers that “Homeowners must be treated fairly in tax reform” to avoid “another housing crash.” The group cited a report it commissioned from PwC that estimated home values could quickly dive more than 10 percent if the tax plan becomes law.  To simplify the tax code, Republicans have proposed eliminating nearly all tax write-offs including those for state and local taxes, then doubling the standard deduction. This would eliminate the incentive to itemize and should drastically reduce the number of taxpayers who do so. Currently, many taxpayers use itemized deductions, claiming write-offs for things like charitable contributions, interest paid on a mortgage and state and local taxes. If the standard deduction becomes larger, fewer taxpayers will need to itemize, reducing the incentive to hold a mortgage or contribute to charity. Currently, about 30 million taxpayers claim the mortgage interest deduction, with about $70 billion in total claims, according to Robert Dietz, an economist with the National Association of Homebuilders.  Estimates suggest more than half of taxpayers would stop itemizing under the proposed plan, Dietz said, warning that this would create a large ripple effect through the economy. He said people in early years of a mortgage would suffer most, along with prospective home buyers. Home builders are also fighting the proposed tax code changes. “I don’t think I would call that a cakewalk,” said Jerry Howard, the head of the National Home Builders Association, saying the proposal will face fierce resistance from his group, which represents 130,000 builders. He noted that members operate in every congressional district and employ more than 7 million people.  Charitable organizations are not arguing against increasing the standard deduction. But they are asking members of Congress to consider creating a “universal deduction,” so taxpayers taking the standard deduction can get additional credit for donations without itemizing.  Taxpayers claim an estimated $13 billion each year in charitable deductions. Charities fear giving would plummet if the standard deduction were doubled without creating a universal deduction. Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross,  said reducing charitable deductions would be “devastating.”     If lobbyists defeat the reform effort, Congress could try to cut rates without structural tax code changes, said Charles Boustany, a former Republican member of the tax-code writing House Ways and Means Committee who left Congress in January.  “The path of least resistance becomes an old-fashioned tax cut on the individual side,” said Boustany. “The pressure is just going to be relentless as we get later in the fall.”

Summary: अमेरिकी कर परिवर्तन प्रस्ताव बिल्डरों, रियल्टरों, दानदाताओं को क्रोधित करते हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies are fighting to secure a corridor to troops in Deir al-Zor, a day after they smashed through Islamic State lines to break the jihadist siege.  The army reached Deir al-Zor city on Tuesday in a days-long thrust that followed months of steady advances east across the desert, breaking a siege that had lasted three years.  Islamic State counter-attacks lasted through the day, trying to repel the army, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Fierce battles raged around the city, as troops sought to expand the route and allow aid in, the British-based war monitor added.   Work is progressing to secure the route and widen the flanks so as not to be cut or targeted by (Islamic State),  said a commander in the military alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.   The next step is to liberate the city,  the non-Syrian commander said.     It points to a tough battle ahead as the army aims to move from breaching the siege to driving Islamic State militants from their half of the city, the sort of street-by-street warfare in which they excel.         Syrian state news agency SANA said the army had made gains expanding its control near the corridor after heavy artillery and air strikes.  Assad and his allies - Russia, Iran and Shi ite militias including Hezbollah - will follow the relief of Deir al-Zor with an offensive along the Euphrates valley, the commander said.  The Euphrates valley cuts a lush, populous swathe of green about 260 km (160 miles) long and 10 km (6 miles) wide through the Syrian desert from Raqqa to the Iraqi border at al-Bukamal.   The area has been an Islamic State stronghold in Syria but came under attack this year when a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias besieged and assaulted Raqqa.  Rapidly losing territory in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State is falling back on the Euphrates towns downstream of Deir al-Zor, including al-Mayadin and al-Bukamal, where many expect it to make a last stand.  Still, the jihadist group specializes in urban combat, using car bombs, mines, tunnels and drones, and has held out against full-scale attack for months in some towns and cities.  Islamic State has 6,000-8,000 fighters left in Syria, despite losing most of its territory across both Iraq and Syria since September 2014, the United States-led coalition said.  Parallel with their thrust toward Deir al-Zor, the Syrian military and its allies have been fighting Islamic State in its last pocket of ground in central Syria, near the town of al-Salamiya on the Homs-Aleppo highway.  On Wednesday, army advances gained control of four villages there, further tightening the pocket, a military media unit run by Lebanon s Hezbollah said.  In Raqqa, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance says it has taken about 65 percent of Islamic State s former self-declared Syrian capital.  Deir al-Zor lies along the southwest bank of the Euphrates. The government enclave includes the northern half of the city and the Brigade 137 military base to the west.  The army also holds an air base and nearby streets, separated from the rest of the enclave by hundreds of meters of IS-held ground and still cut off from the advancing army.         Government forces will push toward the besieged airbase, the pro-Assad commander said.   Instead of breaking the siege along the main road from Palmyra, stretches of which remain in Islamic State hands, the army reached the Brigade 137 along a narrow salient from the northwest.  The corridor from the west into Brigade 137 was only about 500 meters (yards) wide, the commander said.         The United Nations has estimated that 93,000 civilians were living under IS siege in Deir al-Zor in  extremely difficult  conditions, with some high-altitude air drops supplying them.  Deir al-Zor s provincial governor told state-run television that convoys loaded with food and medicine were on the way, along with ambulances and a mobile clinic. Residents in the enclave had gone years without vegetables, fuel, and other necessities, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said.   Despite all this, the schools kept running,  he said.  Our people in Deir al-Zor have suffered a lot ... and they still held on to their land.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना देइर अल-ज़ोर में गलियारे को सुरक्षित करने के लिए लड़ती है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday named nine U.S. government-sponsored news outlets likely to be labeled  foreign agents  under a new law  that is being rushed through parliament in response to what Moscow says is unacceptable U.S. pressure on Russian media. Russia s lower house of parliament approved the law - allowing Moscow to force foreign media to brand news they provide to Russians as the work of  foreign agents  and to disclose their funding sources - on Wednesday. The legislation needs approval from the upper house of parliament, which is likely to happen next week, and the signature of President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law. The Russian Justice Ministry on Thursday published a list of nine U.S.-backed news outlets that it said could be affected by the changes, which it said in a statement on its website were likely to become law  in the near future.  It said it had written to the U.S. government-sponsored Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), along with seven separate Russian or local-language news outlets run by RFE/RL. One of the seven outlets provides news on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, one on Siberia, and one on the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region. Another covers provincial Russia, one is an online TV station, another covers the mostly Muslim region of Tatarstan, and the other is a news portal that fact-checks the statements of Russian officials. Russia s broadside against U.S. media is part of the fallout from allegations that the Kremlin interfered in the U.S. presidential election last year in favor of Donald Trump. U.S. intelligence officials accuse the Kremlin of using Russian media organizations it finances to influence U.S. voters, and this week Washington required Russian state broadcaster RT to register a U.S.-based affiliate company as a  foreign agent .  The Kremlin denies meddling in the election and has said the restrictions on Russian broadcasters in the United States amount to an attack on free speech. The new media law in Russia is retaliation, it says.  The draft legislation states that Russian authorities can designate foreign media as  foreign agents , making them subject to the same requirements that are applied to foreign-funded non-governmental organizations under a 2012 law. Under that law,  foreign agents  must include in any information they publish or broadcast to Russian audiences a mention of their  foreign agent  designation. They also must apply for inclusion in a government register, submit regular reports on their sources of funding, on their objectives, on how they spend their money, and who their managers are. They can be subject to spot checks by the authorities to make sure they comply with the rules, according to the 2012 law, which has forced some NGOs to close. RFE/RL said in a statement it did not want to speculate what steps Russia might take against it next, and looked forward to continuing its journalistic work. VOA Director Amanda Bennett has said the station remains committed to providing independent news to global audiences.

Summary: रूस ने नौ U.S.-backed समाचार आउटलेट्स के नाम बताए हैं जिन पर 'विदेशी एजेंट' होने की संभावना है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s parliament on Thursday approved the first state budget in 12 years, a vital step towards reforming the fragile economy and preventing rising debt spinning out of control.  Successive governments have failed to pass annual budgets due to a string of political crises since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.  (Passing the budget) is a fundamental step on the state s path to reinstating order in the public finances,  Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil said after the vote.   Passing a budget was a priority for the government of Rafik s son, Saad al-Hariri, which took office in January. Hariri described the 2017 budget as an  historic achievement  and said his government would strive to return the country to financial and political health. A main obstacle to passing the 2017 and previous budgets has been demands from some politicians that an audit of extra-budgetary spending from previous years be carried out. But on Wednesday, parliament approved a law allowing the budget to be passed before such an audit is completed and giving the minister of finance up to a year to carry it out. The budget passed after three days of discussion by 61 votes for and four against. Eight members of parliament abstained.   Lebanon s economic growth has been battered by years of paralysis in government decision-making and six years of war in neighboring Syria. Growth slowed to just over 1 percent a year from an average of 8 percent before the Syrian war. Lebanon s debt has also risen strongly since the war began in 2011. Moody s says the debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio, which indicates a country s ability to pay back its debt, is the world s third highest and will reach almost 140 percent in 2018. Economists have said a budget was vital to reforming public finances, but that more needs to be done to improve growth and investor confidence in the country: reform the heavily subsidized electricity sector, boost tax collection and upgrade crumbling infrastructure.  The government will begin work on the 2018 budget next week, Hariri and Khalil said. Khalil said it will include a vision to develop the country economically and socially as well as  financial and reform measures to reduce the deficit and increase growth .

Summary: लेबनान की संसद ने 2005 के बाद से देश के पहले बजट को मंजूरी दी


AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan plans to convene emergency meetings of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation next Saturday and Sunday on how to face the  dangerous  consequences of U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to move Washington s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the foreign minister said. The kingdom is holding consultations with Arab League members in its capacity as president of the Arab summit and also with Turkey which holds the chairmanship of the OIC, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al Safadi told Reuters.  These meetings will coordinate Arab and Islamic stances toward the (Trump) decision.. Jerusalem is a Palestinian, Jordanian, Islamic, and Christian issue and any attempts to decide its fate unilaterally are null and void,  Safadi said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के येरुशलम कदमों पर अरब लीग, ओ. आई. सी. की बैठकें बुलाएगा जॉर्डनः विदेश मंत्री


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. Constitution protects Sen. Robert Menendez from being prosecuted on bribery charges for talks he held with government officials on behalf of a friend who gave him gifts valued at $1 million, the New Jersey Democrat’s lawyers argued on Monday. The arguments came before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the corruption case against Menendez, who stepped down as the ranking member of the powerful U.S. Foreign Relations Committee when he was indicted in April 2015.  Federal prosecutors charge that he accepted lavish stays at a Caribbean villa, a luxurious visit to a Paris hotel and flights on private jets from Florida ophthalmologist and businessman Solomon Melgen, a longtime friend. Menendez interceded on Melgen’s behalf in an $8.9 million billing dispute with Medicare, and in a dispute with the government of the Dominican Republic over a port security contract held by one of Melgen’s companies, prosecutors say. The hearing on Monday involved an appeal of an earlier ruling dismissing a motion by Menendez’s lawyers to have the case thrown out before it goes to trial. They argued that the discussions with high-level officials centered on government policies rather than Melgen himself. At the time of his indictment, Menendez was the ranking member of the powerful U.S. Foreign Relations Committee, a post that he stepped down from while the charges are pending.  “You have to look at what happened in the room,” defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the three-judge panel hearing the case. “If you look at what happened in the room, the record reflects that there were high level policy discussions occurring.”  The case highlights a seldom-discussed provision of the U.S. Constitution known as the “speech or debate” clause, which gives members of Congress broad protections against prosecution for actions they take in their capacity as legislators. The clause was designed to prevent the executive branch from intimidating members of Congress for legislative actions, but it is commonly cited by the legal teams of members of Congress when they run afoul of U.S. corruption laws. But Circuit Judge Thomas B. Ambro pointed out that not everything a member of Congress does is protected by the clause.  “It looks like he’s doing constituent services, and that doesn’t get you the shield of the speech and debate clause,” Ambro said.  Prosecutors argued that the justices should look at the circumstances surrounding the talks Menendez held with government officials. Peter Koski, the deputy chief of the U.S. Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, pointed to emails between Menendez and his chief of staff in which they discuss whether a meeting with then-U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would get Melgen’s hopes up. “The only way Melgen’s expectations would be raised is if that meeting were about him,” Koski said. Melgen and Menendez have pleaded not guilty, and have challenged the charges against them.  In September, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Walls dismissed some of the charges against the men related to allegations that Melgen passed along $40,000 in bribes with contributions through Menendez’s legal defense fund.

Summary: अदालत ने मेनेंडेज भ्रष्टाचार मामले में फैसले की अपील पर सुनवाई की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday denied a request for Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, to return to the United States to attend a hearing over an unpaid $6 million settlement in an international money laundering case. In an order filed in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge William Pauley said Veselnitskaya’s immigration status was “squarely within the purview of the executive branch.” Veselnitskaya represented Prevezon Holdings Ltd, a Russian-controlled company, which in May agreed to pay nearly $6 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing it of laundering proceeds of a $230 million tax fraud. Her temporary permission from the U.S. Department of Justice to enter the United States while working on the case has expired. Following Pauley’s order on Monday, a U.S. lawyer for Prevezon filed a letter asking that Veselnitskaya be allowed to appear by telephone at the hearing, which is scheduled for Nov. 9. The hearing is expected to focus on whether the settlement payment was due on Oct. 31, as the U.S. government has maintained. Prevezon disputed that in a letter filed on Oct. 31. About half of the settlement money was supposed to come from 3 million euros owed to Prevezon the Netherlands had frozen at the United States’ request, according to the letter. The Netherlands lifted the freeze on Oct. 10, but the same day imposed a new freeze based on a complaint by William Browder, chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management, Prevezon’s letter said. Browder has said that the underlying $230 million tax fraud was uncovered by a former Hermitage auditor, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison in 2009. In its letter, Prevezon asked the court to help obtain temporary U.S. immigration status for Veselnitskaya and its owner, Denis Katsyv, so they could attend hearings. Veselnitskaya met Donald Trump Jr in New York last year. Trump Jr. said in a statement at the time that he and Veselnitskaya “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” after Russia in 2012 banned adoptions of Russian children by Americans in retaliation for sanctions imposed under the U.S. Magnitsky Act. The 2012 law was intended to punish Russian officials responsible for Magnitsky’s death. Trump Jr. has released emails related to the meeting during last year’s election that described Veselnitskaya as a Russian government attorney who could provide information that would “incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”

Summary: न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प जूनियर से मुलाकात करने वाले रूसी वकील द्वारा अमेरिका लौटने के अनुरोध को अस्वीकार कर दिया।


LIMA (Reuters) - Six farmers were shot dead in the Peruvian Amazon by a group of masked men in an apparent dispute over land rights, a police officer and a tribal leader said on Thursday. Five bodies, one with hands and feet bound, had been thrown in a river and a sixth was found by the side of an unpaved road in the jungle region Ucayali, police officer Raul Huari said. The victims were part of a community of peasant farmers that had refused to leave the lands they work on when pressured by oil palm growers, said Robert Guimaraes, the head of an indigenous federation in Ucayali. Witnesses testified that a group of between 30 and 40 men carrying shotguns tried to kill some 20 farmers altogether, Huari said.  They said they showed up, surrounded them and just started shooting. Fortunately, some managed to escape,  he said.  In my 24 years of working I ve never seen anything like this.  Huari said the murders appeared to be linked to a land dispute, and a special police unit and prosecutors were carrying out investigations. The murders occurred on Sept. 1, marking the three-year anniversary of the killing of four indigenous activists who had faced threats from loggers in a different part of Ucayali. After the 2014 murders, which came as Peru was hosting a global environmental summit, the government promised to do more to protect remote Amazonian villages that often lack land titles from violent clashes with squatters. Guimaraes said native communities continue to face violent threats in Ucayali and that no one has been convicted for the 2014 murders. Peru s culture and interior ministries did not respond to requests for comment. The native Shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, which lives near where the farmers killed, has tried to repel oil palm growers from their lands for years, said Guimaraes.

Summary: पेरू के अमेज़न में भूमि विवाद में छह किसानों की मौत


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - A prankster, who has previously targeted U.S President Donald Trump and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, interrupted British Prime Minister Theresa May s keynote speech at her annual conference on Wednesday. British comedian Simon Brodkin, who uses the stage name Lee Nelson, handed a P45 letter, a document given to employees when they leave their job, to May as she gave her speech to Conservative supporters. As he was bundled out of the hall, May briefly stopped speaking before the party faithful stood to applaud and cheer her.  As security agents escorted him out of the conference hall, Brodkin quipped that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson - who is widely believed to have ambitions to be prime minister himself - had told him to hand the P45 to May.  Boris told me to hand her a P45,  he told Reuters.  He didn t tell me why. He wanted me to do it.  Writing on his Twitter feed shortly afterwards, Brodkin said:  Hi @BorisJohnson, I gave Theresa her P45 just like you asked.  The comedian interrupted a media conference by Trump at his Scottish golf course last year by rolling golf balls toward him emblazoned with swastikas and in 2015 showered Blatter with fake paper money at a briefing with reporters.

Summary: प्रैंकस्टर ने ब्रिटिश प्रधानमंत्री मे के मुख्य भाषण को बाधित किया


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two car bombs in separate parts of Somalia s capital Mogadishu killed at least 22 people on Saturday and injured several others, police said. The first explosion - in the city s K5 Junction area which is lined with government offices, hotels, and restaurants - destroyed several buildings and set dozens of vehicles on fire.  We know that at least 20 civilians are dead while dozens of others are wounded,  said Abdullahi Nur, a police officer who was in the area.  The death toll will surely rise. We are still busy transporting casualties,  he said, adding that there were  bodies under the rubble. About two hours later, a second blast took place in the city s Madina district.  It was a car bomb. Two civilians were killed,   Siyad Farah, a police major, told Reuters, adding that a suspect had been caught on suspicion of planting explosives. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Islamist al Shabaab group has carried out regular attacks The al Qaeda-allied group is waging an insurgency to topple the weak U.N.-backed government and its African Union allies and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. They frequently launch gun, grenade and bomb attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government, though in recent years the militants have lost most territory under their control to African Union peacekeepers and government troops.

Summary: सोमालिया की राजधानी मोगादिशु में कार बम विस्फोट, 22 लोगों की मौत


BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. ties, Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, ahead of the one-year anniversary of Trump taking a precedent-breaking call from Taiwan s president. China considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and integral part of its territory, ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island s main source of arms. Trump upset China last December by taking a telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, shortly after he won election, the first call between U.S. and Taiwan leaders since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979. While there was no public mention of Taiwan in comments Xi and Trump made in front of reporters, the official Chinese foreign ministry statement about their talks did not mince its words.  The Taiwan issue is the most important, most sensitive core issue in China-U.S. relations, and concerns the political basis of the China-U.S. relationship,  the ministry paraphrased Xi as telling Trump. China  hopes that the U.S. side continues to scrupulously abide by the  one China  principle, and prevents disturbances to the broader picture of China-U.S. ties , Xi added. Trump told Xi that the United States government upheld and stuck to the  one China  policy, China s official Xinhua news agency reported. In Taipei, Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy minister of Taiwan s China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council, said China should respect Taiwan s people.  We think China should deeply understand and respect Taiwan people s opinions on the growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait,  Chiu told reporters.  We are also willing to work with the other side to find a new, positive model in cross-straits ties that would use dialogue to resolve differences, and to create a proper path for harmonious relations.  China suspects Tsai wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a red line for Beijing. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s democracy and security.  China has pressured Taiwan since Tsai took office last year, suspending a regular dialogue mechanism and slowly peeling away its few remaining diplomatic allies. China is deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions toward Taiwan, and was upset when the United States recently allowed Tsai to transit through Hawaii and Guam on her way to and from diplomatic allies of Taiwan s in the Pacific. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists.

Summary: चीन के शी ने ट्रम्प से कहा, Sino-U.S संबंधों में ताइवान सबसे महत्वपूर्ण मुद्दा


PARIS (Reuters) - The brother of a French Islamist who shot dead seven people in 2012 will face an appeal against his acquittal on charges of conspiracy to murder, Paris prosecutors said on Friday. Abdelkader Merah, the brother of Mohamed Merah, who was killed in a police raid on his Toulouse apartment soon after the attacks, was jailed for 20 years on Thursday for associating with terrorists, but cleared on the conspiracy charge. That verdict was criticized by relatives of the murder victims - three soldiers and four Jews, including three children - as well as prosecutors who allege that Abdelkader was more than just a religious mentor to his younger brother. France s special terrorism court found there was insufficient evidence that he had knowingly aided his brother s eight-day killing spree. Announcing their appeal, prosecutors said the court had failed to  draw the full legal conclusions of the evidence put before it . Such an appeal would typically take years to come to court, but judicial authorities are facing calls to fast-track the case, which is closely watched for the precedent it may set for other terrorism prosecutions.  This is a benchmark terrorism case, particularly for trials of accomplices in the absence of the main perpetrator,  said lawyer Simon Cohen, who represents families of Mohamed Merah s victims.  And there will be more of those.

Summary: टूलूज़ जिहादी के भाई को हत्या के मामले में बरी किए जाने के खिलाफ अपील का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, for decades one of the state’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for collecting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks. U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan federal court said she hoped the penalty would cause “the next corrupt politician to hesitate” before accepting a bribe. The prison term could amount to a life sentence for the 72-year-old Silver, who fought prostate cancer last year. The sentencing capped a stunning fall from power for Silver, a Democrat who represented Manhattan’s Lower East Side and served as speaker of the state Assembly from 1994 to 2015. Silver’s counterpart in the state Senate, former Majority Leader Dean Skelos, was also found guilty of corruption just 10 days after a jury convicted Silver of seven counts in December. The legislative leaders were two of the “three men in a room,” along with the governor, who control virtually all legislation in the state capital of Albany. Their convictions represented the biggest wins in a broad anti-corruption campaign by Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, who has charged numerous politicians with graft. “Today’s stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption,” Bharara said in a statement following the hearing. More than 30 legislators have been forced from office for criminal or ethical issues since 2000, according to the nonprofit watchdog Citizens Union. Prosecutors said Silver awarded $500,000 in secret state grant money to a cancer researcher who, in exchange, funneled patients to Silver’s law firm, allowing the lawmaker to collect millions of dollars in referral fees. He was also accused of steering real estate developers to another law firm in exchange for kickbacks and then throwing his support to rent-control legislation favored by the developers. Silver offered an apology during the hearing, saying: “I’ve let down my family, I’ve let down my colleagues, I’ve let down my constituents, and I am truly, truly sorry for that.” Minutes later, he appeared to have no reaction when Caproni announced the sentence. His lawyers said they plan to appeal his conviction. Steven Molo, one of Silver’s lawyers, had asked Caproni for a “sentence that tempers justice with mercy,” citing Silver’s age, health and what he described as a lifetime of good works for the people of New York. But prosecutors said Silver deserved a sentence longer than that of any other convicted New York public official, given his leadership position and the sheer scope of his misconduct. Caproni agreed, telling Silver that corruption “attacks the very heart of our system of government” before offering a blunt assessment of his behavior. “Mr. Silver, those are not the actions of a basically honest person,” she said after listing some of his crimes. “Those are the actions of a scheming, corrupt politician.”     The judge also ordered Silver to pay a fine of $1.75 million and forfeit more than $5 million in ill-gotten gains. He is scheduled to report to prison on July 1.

Summary: Ex-N.Y. विधायक नेता सिल्वर को 12 साल की जेल की सजा सुनाई गई


PARIS (Reuters) - World powers attempted to shore up Lebanon s stability on Friday by pushing Saudi Arabia and Iran to stop interfering in its politics and urging Hezbollah to rein in its regional activities. Lebanon plunged into crisis on Nov. 4 when Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister while he was in Saudi Arabia, saying he feared assassination and criticizing the Saudis  regional arch-rival Iran along with its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. After international pressure and negotiations between Lebanese political factions, he rescinded his resignation on Tuesday and his coalition government, which includes Hezbollah, reaffirmed a state policy of staying out of conflicts in Arab states. The International Lebanon Support Group (GIS), a body that includes the five members of the U.N. Security Council   Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States   met in  Paris on Friday to try to reinforce Hariri s hand to prevent a new escalation.  Disassociation applies to everyone - inside and outside,  Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a news conference with Hariri after the meeting.  These principles were reaffirmed this morning,  he said, later referring specifically to both Iran and Saudi Arabia. Without naming Hezbollah, he urged all sides not to  import regional tensions  into Lebanon. Hariri said that any breach of the policy of non-interference would drag Lebanon back into the  danger zone .  The disassociation policy is in the overarching interest of Lebanon,  he said.  The meeting had earlier been opened by President Emmanuel Macron. He has invested political capital in the crisis and leveraged France s close relations with both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to secure a deal that saw Hariri travel to Paris and open the door to a resolution of the crisis last month.  (The Group) calls upon all Lebanese parties to implement this tangible policy of disassociation from and non-interference in external conflicts, as an important priority,  the final communique read. Saudi concern over the influence wielded by Shi ite Muslim Iran and Hezbollah in other Arab states had been widely seen as the root cause of the crisis, which raised fears for Lebanon s economic and political stability. The Lebanese policy of  dissociation  was declared in 2012 to keep the deeply divided state out of regional conflicts such as the civil war in neighboring Syria. Despite the policy, Hezbollah is heavily involved there, sending thousands of fighters to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He said that while the diplomatic language for the final declaration would not single out any party, the message was that Saudi Arabia and Iran should not influence Lebanese politics and that Hezbollah should rein in its regional activities.  Friday s meeting isn t anti-Saudi or anti-Iranian, it s pro-Lebanon,  a senior French diplomat said before the meeting.  Highlighting the difficulties of upholding such a policy, Hezbollah backed calls on Thursday for a new Palestinian uprising in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of disputed Jerusalem as Israel s capital.  The stability of Lebanon may seem like a small miracle given the many conflicts that destabilize the region, but it is maintained at the cost of sacrifice, dialogue and compromise,  Hariri said earlier alongside Macron. Those attending Friday s meeting also committed to  strengthening the Lebanese army through a conference in Rome and to support a meeting in Brussels also in 2018 to discuss how to help Lebanon cope with the 1.4 million refugees it hosts. A separate donor conference will also take place in March in Paris to boost the country s economy with a view to stimulating investments once expected legislative elections take place in May.

Summary: विश्व शक्तियों ने लेबनान में हस्तक्षेप बंद करने के लिए सऊदी, ईरान पर दबाव डाला


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Randal Quarles as the Federal Reserve’s top official on regulatory matters, filling a role critical to the Trump Administration’s goal of lightening post-financial crisis regulations.  Quarles was confirmed as the Fed’s vice chair for supervision after the Senate approved him as a member of the Fed board of governors by a vote of 65 to 32. The banking sector widely expects Quarles to play a key part in U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the financial regulatory burden in an effort to spur economic growth.  He will be the leading voice on any modifications to stress tests, living wills, the so-called Volcker Rule banning proprietary bank trading and other major regulatory initiatives that emerged following the 2007-2009 financial crisis.  At his confirmation hearing in July, Quarles said he wanted to look at simplifying rules around many of those projects, arguing doing so would make it easier for banks to comply without reducing their effectiveness. Democratic lawmakers who opposed Quarles pointed to his background and comments in favor of lighter regulations in voting against the pick. Quarles is a former Wall Street lawyer and investor, and served in the U.S. Treasury Department under Republican Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. “Everything we know about Mr. Quarles says he will be fighting hard on behalf of the big banks,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said on the Senate floor on Thursday. He will also join the Fed as a voting member on monetary policy. At his confirmation hearing, Quarles backed away from his prior support for a rules-based approach to setting interest rates, bringing him more in line with the current approach of Fed officials. Speaking at a Reuters Summit on Tuesday, Fed Governor Jerome Powell said he was delighted that Quarles’ appointment was progressing.       “I have known him for 25 years as a close friend, I think he’s a terrific appointment, and I look forward to reuniting with him. We worked together under the Bush Treasury 25 years ago, so I’m pleased about that,” adding that the Fed had been understaffed in recent months.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने ट्रम्प को शीर्ष फेड नियामक अधिकारी के रूप में चुनने की मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum plans to suspend his campaign for the White House later on Wednesday, CNN reported, citing unidentified sources. The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, who won the Iowa Republican caucus in 2012 but did not make headway this election year, plans to endorse another candidate in the 2016 White House race, according to CNN.    (Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: सैंटोरम रिपब्लिकन व्हाइट हाउस की दौड़ से हटेंगेः सीएनएन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump asked lawmakers on Tuesday to cut $3.6 trillion in government spending over the next decade, taking aim at healthcare and food assistance programs for the poor in an austere budget that also boosts the military. Republicans who control the U.S. Congress - and the federal purse strings - will decide whether to make politically sensitive cuts, and the proposal is unlikely to be approved in its current form. Although it is not expected to survive on Capitol Hill, the proposal puts numbers on Trump’s vision of a government that radically cuts assistance to lower-income Americans. The biggest savings would come from cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor, which are embedded in a Republican healthcare bill passed by the House of Representatives. Trump wants lawmakers to cut at least $610 billion from Medicaid and more than $192 billion from food stamps over a decade. He seeks to balance the budget within 10 years.  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan policy organization, said the plan relied on gimmicks, unrealistic cuts and “rosy assumptions” of economic growth that would reach 3 percent annually by the end of Trump’s first term.  The Congressional Budget Office projects the economy to grow at an annual pace of 1.9 percent over that period.  The White House said its proposed tax cuts would help fuel higher growth and pay for themselves by generating an additional $2 trillion in revenue over 10 years. Lawrence Summers, a former economic adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama, said the Trump administration was double-counting that money by saying it would help close budget deficits while also offsetting the revenue lost by cutting tax rates.  “It appears to be the most egregious accounting error in a presidential budget in the nearly 40 years I have been tracking them,” Summers wrote in the Washington Post. Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget office director, said his office made other assumptions that were probably too conservative. “We stand by the numbers,” he said. Federal aid to states would shrink by 3 percent, though the cuts would fall most heavily on states that backed Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. States that voted for Clinton would collectively face a drop of 4.8 percent, while those that backed Trump would see assistance cut by 1.2 percent. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2qhwnLV) There is some new spending in Trump’s plan for fiscal year 2018, which starts in October.       The Pentagon would get a spending hike, and there would be a $1.6 billion down payment to begin building a wall along the border with Mexico, which was a central promise of Trump’s presidential campaign.     Trump’s proposal foresees selling half of the U.S. emergency oil stockpile, created in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo caused fears of price spikes. The announcement surprised oil markets and briefly pulled down U.S. crude prices.    Republicans are under pressure to deliver on promised tax cuts, the cornerstone of the Trump administration’s economic agenda.     But the effort has stalled as the White House grapples with the political fallout from allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Mulvaney said the plan is the first one in a long time to pay attention to taxpayers. “You have to have compassion for folks who are receiving the federal funds, but also you have to have compassion for the folks who are paying it,” he told reporters. Republican leaders in the House said lawmakers would be able to find common ground with the budget plan. Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran a populist campaign during the Democratic presidential primary, said the budget showed that Trump’s campaign promises to stand up for working people was “just cheap and dishonest campaign rhetoric that was meant to get votes,” Sanders told a news conference. While the plan boosts defense spending by $54 billion, it falls short of campaign promises for a “historic” hike in military spending amid plans to rebuild the U.S. Navy. That is only 3 percent more than former President Barack Obama had sought in his long-term budget plan. The president would reduce nearly a third of funding for diplomacy and foreign aid including global health and food aid, peacekeeping and other forms of non-military foreign involvement. “If we implemented this budget, you’d have to retreat from the world or put a lot of people at risk,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. “This budget is not going to go anywhere.” Trump upheld his promise - for the most part - that he would not cut Medicare and Social Security, two expensive safety-net programs that deficit hawks have long targeted for reforms. Those programs may not come out of Capitol Hill unscathed, however. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a fellow Republican, said lawmakers would have to reform both programs to save them. The White House proposed changes that would require more childless people receiving help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, to work. Most government departments would see steep cuts, particularly the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.   Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the budget plan will boost economic growth by fostering capital investment and creating jobs for workers who gave up their job hunts during tough times.        (To view a graphic on 'Trump's budget by state' click here)

Summary: ट्रम्प ने बजट में 3.6 खरब डॉलर के खर्च में कटौती करने की इच्छा जताई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had not obstructed the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by his campaign. “Look, there has been no obstruction, there has been no collusion,” Trump told Fox News Channel in an interview set to air on Friday. Fox provided a partial transctipt of the interview in advance of its airing.

Summary: ट्रंप ने रूस की एफबीआई जांच में बाधा नहीं डालीः फॉक्स न्यूज


AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas and four other states sued the Obama administration on Tuesday over extending its healthcare nondiscrimination law to transgender individuals, saying the move “represents a radical invasion of the federal bureaucracy into a doctor’s medical judgment.” Texas, along with Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kentucky and Kansas sued on behalf three medical organizations, two of which are affiliated with Christian groups.  They argue the medical groups would be forced to violate their religious beliefs “and perform harmful medical transition procedures or else suffer massive financial liability,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, named as a defendant in the suit, was not immediately available for comment. On Sunday, a judge for the same district blocked an Obama administration policy that public schools should allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice, granting a nationwide injunction sought by 13 states, led by Texas. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed in 2010 and included anti-discrimination provisions to prevent insurers from charging customers more or denying coverage based on age or sex. That law left some areas open to interpretation and thousands of consumers complain each year about being discriminated against, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said last year. The U.S. government said in September it would broaden its nondiscrimination law to transgender individuals and require health insurers and medical providers to treat all patients equally, regardless of sex.

Summary: टेक्सास, चार अन्य राज्यों ने अमेरिकी ट्रांसजेंडर स्वास्थ्य नीति पर मुकदमा दायर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump s defense secretary plans this week to become the first Pentagon chief to travel to Mexico for its Independence Day activities, the Defense Department said on Tuesday, in a sign that defense ties are withstanding political tensions between the two countries. U.S.-Mexican relations have been strained by Trump s threats to curtail trade with Latin America s No. 2 economy as well as his demand that Mexico pay for a border wall to keep out immigrants and drug traffickers. Jim Mattis  planned trip on Friday would be only the fifth by a U.S. defense secretary to Mexico, said Pentagon spokesman Army Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis.   Secretary Mattis  visit to Mexico reaffirms our commitment to the bilateral defense relationship and to the North America community,  Davis said. Although Mexico s official Independence Day is on Sept. 16, most celebrations take place on Sept. 15. The event commemorates the launch of Mexico s war of independence from Spain in 1810.  The fact that Mattis would be visiting for such an important national event is itself notable.  Mexicans have a long memory of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, which led to Mexico s loss of almost half its territory to the United States. The war has long made U.S.-Mexican military cooperation a somewhat sensitive subject in Mexico. The visit by Mattis also comes amid signs of improving U.S.-Mexican cooperation in cracking down on the heroin trade. Reuters reported in April that Mexico s army was allowing the United States and the United Nations to observe opium poppy eradication. [nL2N1HE07M] The Mexican army took U.S. military officials on helicopter tours of half a dozen sites in Sinaloa and Chihuahua, two of the three states that along with Durango make up the Golden Triangle where most Mexican opium is produced, one of the sources said at the time.

Summary: सबसे पहले, अमेरिकी रक्षा प्रमुख मैक्सिकन स्वतंत्रता दिवस के कार्यक्रमों में भाग लेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Transgender people will be allowed for the first time to enlist in the U.S. military starting on Monday as ordered by federal courts, the Pentagon said on Friday, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to appeal rulings that blocked his transgender ban. Two federal appeals courts, one in Washington and one in Virginia, last week rejected the administration’s request to put on hold orders by lower court judges requiring the military to begin accepting transgender recruits on Jan. 1. A Justice Department official said the administration will not challenge those rulings. “The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks. So rather than litigate this interim appeal before that occurs, the administration has decided to wait for DOD’s study and will continue to defend the president’s lawful authority in District Court in the meantime,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. In September, the Pentagon said it had created a panel of senior officials to study how to implement a directive by Trump to prohibit transgender individuals from serving. The Defense Department has until Feb. 21 to submit a plan to Trump. Lawyers representing currently-serving transgender service members and aspiring recruits said they had expected the administration to appeal the rulings to the conservative-majority Supreme Court, but were hoping that would not happen. Pentagon spokeswoman Heather Babb said in a statement: “As mandated by court order, the Department of Defense is prepared to begin accessing transgender applicants for military service Jan. 1. All applicants must meet all accession standards.” Jennifer Levi, a lawyer with gay, lesbian and transgender advocacy group GLAD, called the decision not to appeal “great news.” “I’m hoping it means the government has come to see that there is no way to justify a ban and that it’s not good for the military or our country,” Levi said. Both GLAD and the American Civil Liberties Union represent plaintiffs in the lawsuits filed against the administration. In a move that appealed to his hard-line conservative supporters, Trump announced in July that he would prohibit transgender people from serving in the military, reversing Democratic President Barack Obama’s policy of accepting them. Trump said on Twitter at the time that the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” Four federal judges - in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Riverside, California - have issued rulings blocking Trump’s ban while legal challenges to the Republican president’s policy proceed. The judges said the ban would likely violate the right under the U.S. Constitution to equal protection under the law. The Pentagon on Dec. 8 issued guidelines to recruitment personnel in order to enlist transgender applicants by Jan. 1. The memo outlined medical requirements and specified how the applicants’ sex would be identified and even which undergarments they would wear. The Trump administration previously said in legal papers that the armed forces were not prepared to train thousands of personnel on the medical standards needed to process transgender applicants and might have to accept “some individuals who are not medically fit for service.” The Obama administration had set a deadline of July 1, 2017, to begin accepting transgender recruits. But Trump’s defense secretary, James Mattis, postponed that date to Jan. 1, 2018, which the president’s ban then put off indefinitely. Trump has taken other steps aimed at rolling back transgender rights. In October, his administration said a federal law banning gender-based workplace discrimination does not protect transgender employees, reversing another Obama-era position. In February, Trump rescinded guidance issued by the Obama administration saying that public schools should allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

Summary: अमेरिकी सेना सोमवार को ट्रांसजेंडर भर्तियों को स्वीकार करेगीः पेंटागन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of President Donald Trump’s order to ban travelers from six predominantly Muslim nations, blocked by federal courts, may soon be in the hands of the conservative-majority Supreme Court, where his appointee Neil Gorsuch could help settle the matter. After the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Thursday to lift a Maryland federal judge’s injunction halting the temporary ban ordered by Trump on March 6, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the administration would appeal to the Supreme Court. A second regional federal appeals court heard arguments on May 15 in Seattle in the administration’s appeal of a decision by a federal judge in Hawaii also to block the ban. A ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending. The Justice Department has not made clear when the administration would make its formal appeal or whether it would wait for the 9th Circuit ruling before appealing.  If they take it up, the justices would be called upon to decide whether courts should always defer to the president over allowing certain people to enter the country, especially when national security is the stated reason for an action as in this case. They also would have to decide if Trump’s order violated the U.S. Constitution’s bar against the government favoring one religion over another, as the ban’s challengers assert. Gorsuch’s April confirmation by the Republican-led Senate over Democratic opposition restored the court’s 5-4 majority, which means that if all the conservative justices side with the administration the ban would be restored regardless of how the four liberal justices vote. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Gorsuch was questioned about Trump’s criticism of judges who ruled against the ban. Gorsuch avoided commenting on the legal issue, saying only that he would not be “rubber stamp” for any president. While the justices could decide in the coming weeks whether to hear the case, they likely would not hold oral arguments until late in the year, with a ruling sometime after that. A final resolution may not come until perhaps a year after Trump issued the executive order. The justices are not required to hear any case, but this one meets important criteria cited by experts, including that it would be the federal government filing the appeal and that it involves a nationwide injunction.  The administration could file an emergency application seeking to put the order into effect while the litigation on its legality continues. At least five justices must agree for any such request to be granted. While the court could split 5-4 along ideological lines, it also is possible some conservative justices could join the liberals in overturning the travel ban, libertarian law professor Ilya Somin of George Mason University said. “Conservatives in other contexts often take a hard line against any kind of government discrimination (based) on race or religion or the like, even if the motivation may be benign. Also conservatives have concerns about government infringements on religion,” Somin said. The 4th Circuit said the ban’s challengers, including refugee groups, in the case argued by the American Civil Liberties Union were likely to succeed on their claim that the order violated the Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring or disfavoring any religion. In the 10-3 ruling, three Republican-appointed judges dissented. The Republican president’s March 6 order, replacing an earlier Jan. 27 one also blocked by the courts, called for barring people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the government implements stricter visa screening. It also called for suspending all refugee admissions for 120 days. The travel ban’s challengers may take some comfort from the appeals court ruling’s reliance on a concurring opinion in a 2015 Supreme Court immigration case by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes sides with the court’s liberals in big cases. In the 2015 case, Kennedy wrote that in the immigration context, the government’s actions can be questioned if there is evidence of bad faith. “As with any opinion by Justice Kennedy, I think the million-dollar question is just what he meant in his concurrence, and this may be a perfect case to find out,” University of Texas School of Law professor Stephen Vladeck said. In Thursday’s ruling, 4th Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote that the plaintiffs had shown there was “ample evidence” of bad faith, which gave the green light to probe whether there were reasons for the order other than the administration’s stated national security rationale. The administration has argued the temporary travel ban was needed to guard against terrorist attacks. Gregory wrote that the order uses “vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.” Trump during the presidential campaign called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

Summary: ट्रम्प यात्रा प्रतिबंध लड़ाई सुप्रीम कोर्ट के प्रदर्शन की ओर बढ़ रही है


GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday he would not get into an argument with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has described the global trade body as a “disaster” and threatened to quit it. But WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo told a news conference he thought the arguments in favor of global trade needed to be put more forcefully. He said he had warned before Britain’s referendum last month of the risks of leaving the European Union, saying it would require years of complex trade talks to complete, but “sometimes people don’t want to hear the arguments”.  Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on July 24, Trump said U.S. companies that move production to Mexico should be taxed and shrugged off suggestions this would break WTO rules. “We’re going to renegotiate or we’re going to pull out,” he said. “We think trade is so obviously positive for every economy that it’s like trying to argue with a friend that he needs to breathe,” Azevedo said, adding: “I don’t think we do enough in making the case for trade.” Azevedo, who said earlier on Wednesday that he would seek a second four-year term as the head of the WTO, said he was impressed by the number of people who had responded to Trump by speaking up for trade, “sometimes from unexpected quarters”. He declined to comment on what would happen if the United States did withdraw from the 21-year-old trading club, which now boasts 163 members and governs the vast majority of global commerce through a system of mutually agreed rules. Under President Barack Obama, the WTO has been an important arena for the United States to defend its commercial interests against China, India and other major trading powers.  A debate over trade also raged before Britain’s June 23 referendum on leaving the European Union. Britain voted in favor of Brexit despite warnings from Azevedo and others about the risks, and the country now faces years of protracted and complex trade talks to try to extricate itself from the EU. Asked how to improve the quality of debate and help voters understand the issues, Azevedo said people sometimes make decisions “on a basis of things that is completely foreign to the rationale of the issue that you are discussing. It has nothing to do with how trade helps or does not help”.

Summary: डब्ल्यूटीओ प्रमुख ट्रम्प पर बहस नहीं करेंगे, लेकिन व्यापार के समर्थन में रैली करेंगे


PARIS (Reuters) - Youths who torched a police car and attacked the car driver with an iron bar as he fled the flames were sentenced to up to seven years in jail by a French court on Wednesday. Dozens of riot police were deployed outside the Paris courthouse where the judge announced his verdict, after a trial prompted by the most striking episode of ultra-violent street protests last year against labor law reforms. The case grabbed international attention in the run-up to this year s presidential election as politicians traded accusations of being soft on law and order - a flashpoint in a contest that far-right National Front chief Marine Le Pen ultimately lost to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron. It also made headlines due to extensive TV coverage of an incident where a group of protesters mobbed a police car, smashed its windows and threw a flare inside, forcing the car s two occupants to bail out as flames engulfed the vehicle. The driver - dubbed  Kung Fu cop  by French media - became a subject of fascination after taking on one of the protesters who attacked him with an iron bar. He fended off the blows with arm strokes worthy of a martial arts master. His assailant was one of five people tried. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Another protester got seven years but is on the run and believed to be in Switzerland. The incident, in May 2016, was part of a wave of protests where gangs of mostly hooded youths engaged in running battles with riot police in the capital city and cities across France. The protests were sparked by labor law changes which several labor unions and leftist politicians said would damage worker rights and make it easier for employers to fire people. Macron, a former investment banker regarded as a business-friendly centrist, has since taken over but is also introducing further labor law reforms that have put hardline unions back on the warpath, although protests have not so far been on a similar scale to 2016 s demonstrations.

Summary: फ्रांसीसी 'कुंग फू पुलिस' मुकदमे में प्रदर्शनकारियों को जेल की सजा सुनाई गई


DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar has signed 36 worker protection agreements with countries that provide much of its labour force, state media reported on Wednesday, weeks before the International Labour Organisation is to decide whether to investigate it for worker abuse.   Qatar is keen to show it is tackling allegations of worker exploitation as it prepares to host the 2022 soccer World Cup, which the Gulf Arab state has presented as a showcase of its progress and development. State news agency QNA did not provide details of the bilateral agreements, but said they are in addition to five memorandums of understanding, preparations for a minimum wage, and an employment support fund that would help workers faced with overdue wages. Labour and rights groups have attacked the gas-rich state for its  kafala  sponsorship system, which forces the country s 1.6 million mainly Asian foreign workers to seek their employer s consent to change jobs or leave the country - a measure groups say leaves workers open to exploitation. Qatar last year issued changes to this system, allowing workers who have completed contracts to change jobs freely and imposing fines on businesses who confiscate employees  passports, but rights groups have said the new measures do not go far enough. Qatar is expected to present a report by November on implementation of its reforms to the ILO, which will then decide whether to form a commission of inquiry, a rare sanction which the United Nations agency has imposed only about a dozen times since World War Two.

Summary: आई. एल. ओ. ने दुर्व्यवहार की जांच पर लिया फैसला, कतर ने श्रमिकों के अधिकारों को दी मंजूरी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he would work to eliminate the need for offshore tax havens, as Democratic senators accused the Wall Street veteran of using such vehicles to shelter hedge fund money from the government.  In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury was attacked for failing to promptly disclose he was a director of an offshore business vehicle domiciled in the Cayman Islands and owned more than $100 million in real estate. Offshore tax havens used to shield income have become a symbol of the growing divide between rich and average Americans. Democrats seized on the disclosures, made late on Wednesday, to question Mnuchin’s qualifications to revamp the tax code.    “One does not go and create offshore entities at the end of the day other than to avoid, in some form or fashion, the tax laws of the United States. That’s pretty simple,” New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said. “We have to decide whether that’s necessarily the essence of what we want as leadership,” Menendez said. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, hedge fund manager and Hollywood film financier, said he moved his Dune Capital Partners LLC registry to the Caymans to allow for some pension fund clients to invest in his funds, not to avoid taxes. But Mnuchin, 54, added that it “makes no sense” for the U.S. tax code to encourage the use of such entities. “In the hedge fund world these are only set up to make the accountants rich and I would love to work with the IRS to close these tax issues that make no sense.” Among the incoming Trump administration’s top economic priorities is a massive tax reform effort aimed at lowering rates for businesses and individuals and closing many deductions and credits. Mnuchin, who insisted his last-minute disclosures were not intentional but due to the complexity of his holdings, complicated federal forms and a lawyer’s advice that the real estate disclosure was not required, also tried to clarify Trump’s recent market-moving comments on the U.S. dollar. The Republican businessman-turned politician, who will be sworn in on Friday, said in an interview published this week in the Wall Street Journal that the dollar’s strength was “killing us,” prompting the greenback to fall and gold prices to jump. Mnuchin said he believed that Trump’s remarks, which usurped a role normally reserved for Treasury secretaries, referred to a short-term spike in the dollar due to market factors, not its longer-term value. “The long-term strength over long periods of time is important” for the dollar, Mnuchin said.      He also said he would like to see an increase in the U.S. government’s debt ceiling “sooner rather than later” to avoid another standoff with Congress that could upset financial markets. The current debt ceiling extension expires on March 15, but the Treasury would not likely exhaust its borrowing capacity for several more months after that.  Democrats had gone into Mnuchin’s hearing perceiving him as one of the more vulnerable Trump nominees, partly due to his involvement with OneWest Bank, which he ran in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. They hammered him for the 36,000 foreclosures that the bank pursued after Mnuchin struck a lucrative deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to absorb most of the losses from such actions. Critics have described OneWest as a ‘foreclosure machine’ and Senator Ron Wyden, the committee’s top Democrat, criticized the bank’s automated “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents and foreclosing on the widows of reverse mortgage holders. Mnuchin argued that his bank was a “loan modification machine,” offering payment reductions to 101,000 borrowers to try to keep them in their homes, and said his turnaround of the failed IndyMac bank, which became OneWest, saved thousands of jobs and homes.

Summary: अमेरिकी ट्रेजरी नामांकित मनुचिन ने अपतटीय कर पनाहगाहों पर हमला किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said he backed bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that would revamp Wall Street banks by splitting their consumer-lending businesses from their investment arms. The National Economic Council director, also a former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) president, expressed support to lawmakers for a banking system where firms would focus primarily on trading and underwriting securities or issuing loans. Big banks have strongly opposed such a move that would fundamentally overhaul their business. Reinstating the law, which was repealed in 1999, has not attracted significant attention in Congress, but advocates in the White House and both parties now argue it would provide critical safeguards to prevent another financial crisis. Critics of that approach say it lacks nuance and would not have prevented the last financial meltdown.  The fact Cohn, widely viewed as one of Wall Street’s own, was willing to push that position spooked big banks’ representatives in Washington. The White House confirmed Cohn’s remarks in a private meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday. A spokesperson said he was “simply discussing the President’s previously stated position” in favor of a “21st century Glass-Steagall.” Cohn's remarks were first reported by Bloomberg. bloom.bg/2nZK5n1 The Trump administration has indicated support for a return to Glass-Steagall. The White House has stuck by the idea since it was included in the Republican Party platform during the presidential campaign, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed interest in a modernized version of the law. When asked on Thursday when large financial institutions should begin to worry about Glass-Steagall becoming a reality, one industry representative said, “Right now.” However, any legislation establishing such a firewall faces long odds in the current Congress. The heads of the House and Senate banking committees have indicated support for alternative approaches, and efforts to move Glass-Steagall legislation in prior years have garnered little support. “A new Glass-Steagall would require legislation, and it simply isn’t a priority issue in Congress,” wrote Ian Katz, a financial policy analyst for the research firm Capital Alpha Partners, in a note to clients. In the meeting which was arranged by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, Cohn was asked by Senator Elizabeth Warren about Glass-Steagall. Cohn responded favorably, noting that the Republican Party platform supports the idea, according to sources familiar with the meeting. The meeting included lawmakers from both parties and their staff. Bringing back Glass Steagall would likely have a significant impact on banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Citigroup (C.N) that have large highly intertwined commercial lending and investment banking operations, say analysts.  It would impact Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to a lesser degree although, they would likely have to revert to being standalone investment banks and shed their deposit funding.

Summary: वॉल स्ट्रीट के ट्रम्प सलाहकार ने अमेरिकी बैंक विभाजन कानून का समर्थन किया


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that her  party must fight for a Conservative mainstream political agenda, speaking in her address to the annual party conference.  We must come together to fight for this mainstream Conservative agenda. To win the battle of ideas in a new generation all over again,  May said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री मे ने कहाः हमें राजनीतिक मुख्यधारा के लिए लड़ना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he does not see enough support to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership up for a vote in the chamber, adding that the Obama administration must do more to persuade lawmakers to accept the trade deal. “I don’t think the votes are there right now because of the concerns about what’s in the TPP,” Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference.

Summary: सदन के अध्यक्ष रयानः टी. पी. पी. वोट के लिए पर्याप्त समर्थन नहीं


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Militants have crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and killed a Pakistani army officer and a soldier, the Pakistani military said on Monday. The uneasy neighbors, both of which are important U.S. allies, accuse each other of harboring militants on either side of the border, and their two armies have exchanged fire across it during periods of tension over recent years. Four Pakistani soldiers were wounded in the attack on a military post in the northwestern region of Bajaur, the army said.  It did not say when the raid took place but said up to 10 of the attackers were believed to have been killed in Pakistani retaliatory fire. Independent verification was not possible as the area is largely closed off to reporters. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a rugged, porous border of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).  Afghanistan, which does not recognize the border, has lately been angry over a Pakistani plan to build a fence along most of it. The Pakistani army said the absence of Afghan central government s writ on its side of the border facilitated such militant attacks. There was no immediate response from the Afghan government. The attack came a week after unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Pakistani diplomat near his residence in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.

Summary: अफगानिस्तान से आए आतंकवादियों ने दो पाकिस्तानी सैनिकों की हत्या कीः सेना


MOGADISHU/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey opened its biggest overseas military base on Saturday in Somalia s capital, cementing its ties with the volatile but strategic Muslim nation and building a presence in East Africa. More than 10,000 Somali soldiers will be trained by Turkish officers at the base, a senior Turkish official said ahead of a ceremony in Mogadishu attended by Turkish military chief of staff Hulusi Akar. The opening of the $50 million base signals ever-closer ties between Turkey and Somalia. Turkey s relations with the Horn of Africa date back to the Ottoman Empire, but President Tayyip Erdogan s government has become a close ally of the Somali government in recent years. At the opening ceremony on Saturday, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire thanked the Turkish government for opening the training school and said it would help the government  reconstruct  its national force    not based on clan...not from a particular place, but well-trained forces that represent the Somali people.  He noted that the military school was Turkey s biggest overseas. The facility can train and house 1,000 soldiers at a time and also has sports courts and a running track. Erdogan, whose roots are in political Islam, is an outspoken defender of Muslims, particularly those in need of humanitarian aid, such as Syrian refugees and Myanmar s Rohingya.  Analysts say that, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, as Turkey s foreign policy forays close to home have floundered, Ankara has found a willing partner in Somalia.   It s a country where Turkey could make a difference without necessarily having to compete with regional or global powers,  said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Ankara s initial focus on aid, as opposed to security assistance or overt backing of political parties, helped build trust, he added. Turkey s vast aid effort at the height of the 2011 famine endeared it to many Somali people, and it has continued to pour in aid, much of it from private companies. It has built schools, hospitals and infrastructure and provided scholarships for Somalis to study in Turkey. Erdogan has visited Mogadishu twice, and when he made his first trip there in 2011 he became the first non-African leader to visit the war-ravaged nation in 20 years. Rapidly growing trade between the two nations has followed. In 2010, Turkish exports to Somalia totaled just $5.1 million. By last year, they had ballooned to $123 million. In the space of six years Turkey has gone from Somalia s 20th-largest source of imports to its fifth-largest.  Turkey really has won the hearts and minds of Somali people,  Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman told Reuters this month.  Somalia s government has also been a vocal backer of the Erdogan government in its bid to quash Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen s influence abroad. The Somali cabinet immediately ordered schools and a hospital in Mogadishu linked to Gulen to be shut in the aftermath of last year s failed coup, which Erdogan has repeatedly blamed on the cleric. Gulen denies involvement. Somalia s government has a number of foreign backers, including the United Nations, the African Union, and the United States, who are assisting it in building a functional national army capable of taking on the fight against the militant al-Shabaab group. The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2010, but their deadly attacks remain one of the main obstacles to stability in the chaotic Horn of Africa country, which lies along one of the world s busiest shipping routes. The Somali government has praised Turkish investment for improving infrastructure in the country, and the information minister singled out Turkey s new move into security support.  We are very happy they are giving us modern facilities for our security forces,  he said.  This is something that Somalia has never seen even though countries like the U.S. and UK are giving us millions. The difference is the camp Turkey built is an institution that will remain for the next 50 or 100 years.  The Turkish official who spoke to Reuters before the opening said the base was in line with Ankara s priority of expanding its weapons sales  to new markets .

Summary: तुर्की ने सोमाली सैनिकों को प्रशिक्षित करने के लिए मोगादिशु में सैन्य अड्डा खोला


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday said that the FBI director who would replace the fired James Comey, “must be strong and independent.” Feinstein said in a statement that President Donald Trump called her Tuesday afternoon to tell her that Comey was being removed from the top FBI job. When Trump announces a replacement, the nomination would be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee.

Summary: सीनेट डेमोक्रेट फीनस्टीन ने स्वतंत्र एफ. बी. आई. निदेशक की मांग की


MONROVIA (Reuters) - Former Liberian warlord Prince Johnson has endorsed George Weah for president before a Nov. 7 run-off vote between the former soccer star and Vice President Joseph Boakai.  The endorsement should help Weah, who won 38.4 percent of the vote in the first round this month, more than anyone else but shy of the 50.1 percent needed to win outright. It also puts pressure on Boakai to drum up support from other candidates.  Johnson s endorsement of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2011 helped the Nobel Peace Prize winner get re-elected, though his influence has waned since then: he won 8 percent of votes this year, versus 11 percent in 2011.   I am humbled to announce ... my full and unflinching support in collaboration with the Congress for Democratic Change party of Senator George Weah,  Prince Johnson said at his Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction party headquarters.  The announcement follows two weeks of political wrangling, during which the two frontrunners from October s first round sought to gain support from a field of 18 other candidates.  Weah is popular and famous, mainly because of his star performances for Italian and French football clubs during the 1990s. But he lacks political experience, and his policies to alleviate widespread poverty and chronic under-development are vague, making extra support vital.  This is historic and we welcome that,  said CDC chairman Wilson Tarpeh. Johnson is  reading the writing on the wall. It tells you that the people of Liberia are tired of one-party  rule.  Johnson s attempt at playing kingmaker makes many in Liberia uncomfortable, given his role in the civil war that ended in 2003. In 1990, his band of troops took control of parts of the capital Monrovia to oust former president Samuel Doe, and he celebrated as the leader was executed. Still, his supporters are loyal and are expected to listen to his call to vote for Weah.   Johnson s backing will not win the vote alone for Weah, but it will certainly boost his prospects, especially as other candidates are also likely to throw their weight behind the opposition leader, sensing his momentum,  said Roddy Barclay, director at risk-advisory firm Africa Practice.

Summary: लाइबेरिया के पूर्व सरदार ने राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए जॉर्ज वेह का समर्थन किया


SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A military helicopter lands to evacuate people wounded during a police raid against terrorists who took hostages at Sarajevo airport - part of the first joint drill by the EU peacekeeping force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and local army and police.  In the exercise, part of the drill dubbed  Quick Response 2017 , Sarajevo is hit by severe flooding, and EUFOR flies in to help the population. There are also protests across the country and a risk of terrorist groups linked to organized crime rings smuggling arms and fake documents.  This was a realistic exercise and an opportunity to demonstrate that we have capacities, power and determination to quickly and efficiently respond to any security threat,  said Bosnia s Security Minister Dragan Mektic. More than 20 years since the end of its war in the 1990s, Bosnia is still troubled by ethnic politicking and external influences. While separatist aspirations by the Bosnian Serb and Croat nationalists grow stronger, there is also a threat of radicalization among traditionally moderate Bosnian Muslims.  The five-day drill, by the 600- strong EUFOR along with 400 British and NATO troops, also includes reconnaissance and surveillance of wide areas across Bosnia. In 2015, parts of Bosnia were hit by the greatest flooding in a century, leaving thousands without homes and hurting the economy. The same year, two soldiers and a police officer were killed in separate terrorist attacks.  EUFOR was deployed in Bosnia in late 2004, replacing NATO s SFOR force to maintain security after the 1992-95 war. Its mandate has been repeatedly extended.     While Bosnia s central authorities want to join NATO, Bosnian Serbs, who prefer stronger ties with Russia, oppose that and have threatened to hold a referendum on the issue.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के बल ने नाटो समर्थित अभ्यास में आतंकवादियों से लड़ने में बोस्नियाई एजेंसियों की मदद की