WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will further pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping in talks next week to take tougher measures against North Korea, as the United States compiles information for possible new sanctions on Chinese banks working with Pyongyang. Senior administration officials say Trump will try to convince Xi when they meet in Beijing to squeeze North Korea with steps such as limits on oil exports, coal imports and financial transactions. It is the latest attempt by Trump to have China, North Korea’s only major ally, rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons ambitions but it is far from clear if Xi, who has just consolidated his power at a Communist Party congress, will agree. China says its leverage over Pyongyang is exaggerated, and points to its support in the U.N. Security Council for recent sanctions on North Korea as evidence that it is trying to curtail the isolated nation’s nuclear and missile tests.     North Korea this year conducted a powerful nuclear test detonation and has test-fired intercontinental ballistic missiles that, if perfected, could reach the U.S. mainland. Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea gaining that capability. Two U.S. officials said the threat of additional U.N. and other economic sanctions on North Korea is another option to solicit greater cooperation from China, by playing on Beijing’s concerns that deeper poverty in North Korea could prompt an exodus of refugees across its border. The officials said the United States and its allies have been collecting detailed information on Chinese bank transactions with North Korea to try to identify institutions with the “most egregious” records of doing business with Pyongyang. The objective, the officials said, is to craft a proposal for escalating sanctions on Chinese financial and other entities that stops short of sanctioning the People’s Bank of China central bank. Washington so far has mostly held off on new sanctions against Chinese banks and companies doing business with North Korea, given fears of retaliation by Beijing and possibly far-reaching effects on the world economy. In a brief statement on Thursday formally announcing the visit from the Chinese end, the country’s foreign ministry said China was ready to work with the United States to achieve “important results” for Trump’s visit. It did not elaborate.   Trump’s stop in Beijing is part of a Nov. 3-14 tour of five Asian nations in which North Korea will be a major focus. The visit includes U.S. allies Japan and South Korea who have watched with increasing worry as the United States and North Korea have exchanged bellicose rhetoric.     To prepare for his trip, Trump met with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a key player in President Richard Nixon’s opening to China in 1972.  And over lunch last week at the White House, Trump asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for his opinion about North Korea and its unpredictable leader, a participant said. Lee told him that Kim sees his nuclear weapons program as essential to his survival after the U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi’s downfall. “Lee said it’s probably impossible for Kim to become convinced that the United States doesn’t want to overthrow him,” a participant at the lunch said. “They’re super-paranoid.”                     While part of the U.S. strategy on North Korea is to deprive Kim Jong Un’s government of resources, Trump has left open the threat of military force. U.S. officials, while emphasizing they want a diplomatic solution, have highlighted military preparedness to counter a North Korean threat and there are three U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the region. Trump has threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea and has derided Kim as a “Rocket Man” on a suicide mission, to the dismay of some U.S. military and intelligence officials who fear such rhetoric could backfire.      As well as pressuring China, the United States is quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korea, using a “New York channel” to get in contact with diplomats at Pyongyang’s United Nations mission.  Analysts in Asia are skeptical Trump’s pressure on China will work. “I don’t think China will seriously change its existing policy on North Korea simply because of more pressure from the United States,” said Zhao Tong, a North Korea expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing.     China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, told reporters on Monday it will take a broad effort to pressure North Korea and China alone cannot solve the problem. “China has been doing everything we can on the Korean issue,” he said. In Japan, the threat from Pyongyang hit close to home after tests this year in which two ballistic missiles flew over its territory. But there is concern in Tokyo that the Trump administration lacks a clear North Korea strategy. “The biggest worry is that Trump’s grand Asia policy, North Korea policy, is not well defined... but responds to circumstances instead... ,” said Toshihiro Nayakama, a professor at Keio University. “They turn to China to exert pressure but the question is to what extent there is Chinese pressure. I believe this is not yet evaluated by the U.S. administration,” he said. The Trump administration has considered threatening China with trade actions over its resistance to do more on North Korea. While some advisers from outside his administration have  urged Trump to pursue this course, he has been persuaded against it by his own advisers who have warned of a trade war, U.S. officials said.

Summary: बैठक में, ट्रम्प उत्तर कोरिया पर लगाम लगाने के लिए अनिच्छुक शी पर दबाव डालेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist Stephen Bannon, a right-wing political activist credited with driving parts of the Trump policy agenda, with mixed results. Bannon was a top Trump administration critic of the international Paris Climate Agreement, along with Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. They helped persuade Trump to announce in June that the United States would withdraw from the pact struck in 2015 by nearly 200 countries. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who were not fans of Bannon, wanted Washington to stay in the pact. Bannon also opposed government support of green energy, which he called “madness” and a carbon tax on fossil fuels. Bannon was a driving force behind Trump’s travel ban. It   barred U.S. entry by people from several Muslim-majority countries. The ban was announced by Trump, but poorly implemented. It immediately caused nationwide protests and confusion and was challenged in the courts, where it is still tied up, making it so far a partial win for Bannon. Bannon opposed an April military strike ordered by Trump against a Syrian air base in response to what the Trump administration and U.S. allies say was a poison gas attack by Syria’s military in which scores of civilians, including many children, died. Trump has since touted his decision to carry out the strike as a bold one in contrast to former President Barack Obama. In line with Bannon’s position, Trump initially threatened to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement. But then the president backtracked and said he was willing to renegotiate the trade pact with Canada and Mexico. Bannon has long been skeptical of international alliances. Trump alarmed U.S. allies on the campaign trail by calling the NATO security alliance “obsolete” and berating Washington’s western allies for not paying enough for their defense. After massive pressure from the pragmatist wing of Trump’s National Security Council, Trump eventually underscored U.S. commitment to Article 5, a crucial part of the NATO treaty, the mutual defense doctrine. The White House has been mired in a months-long debate over a strategy for South Asia, including Afghanistan. One of the divisions was between Bannon, who favored a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Washington’s longest foreign conflict, versus national security adviser H.R. McMaster and most of the military brass who support a modest troop increase. Trump met with his National Security Team on Friday to try to reach agreement on a strategy for Afghanistan, but made no decision on whether he would commit more troops. Bannon has been a China hawk, urging a tougher line on trade toward Beijing and dismissive of efforts to get China’s help in reining in North Korea. In an interview with The American Prospect magazine published on Wednesday, Bannon said the United States was in an economic war with China and ridiculed suggestions of a military solution to the North Korea issue. Bannon supported a “border adjustment tax,” part of a tax reform package drawn up by senior Republicans in the House of Representatives. The BAT was meant to encourage exports, discourage imports and raise tax revenue. But it divided the business community because it would have raised consumer prices. House Republicans recently dropped the BAT from their proposal, a defeat for Bannon, although he was not a central player in tax policy. Bannon also pushed for tax cuts for the middle class, still not yet delivered.  A major 2016 Trump campaign promise was to build a wall on the Mexican border, a position supported by Bannon. Trump’s vow that Mexico would pay for the wall, which the Mexican government has insisted it will not do, has strained relations between the two neighbors. Work on the wall has not begun.

Summary: पूर्व-ट्रम्प सलाहकार बैनन की नीतिगत जीत और हार क्या थी?


WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he thought Britain would be better off out of the European Union, the opposite stance to that taken by his likely rival Hillary Clinton and by many political leaders around the world. Britons will vote in a referendum on June 23 on whether to leave the 28-member EU, a momentous decision with trade, investment, defense and political ramifications that stretch far beyond Britain’s borders. “I would say that they’re better off without it personally, but I’m not making that as a recommendation - just my feeling,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News television, adding that he wanted Britons to make their own decision. “I think the migration has been a horrible thing for Europe. A lot of that was pushed by the EU,” he said, without providing any specifics. Initial reaction to Trump’s comments, which went further than what he had previously said on the subject, was muted in Britain where the focus was on the incoming results of local and regional elections. Given Trump’s controversial statements and his negative image in the eyes of many Europeans, including Britons, it is not clear whether his endorsement would be good, bad or indifferent for Britain’s “Leave” campaign. A spokesman for the campaign declined to comment. U.S. President Barack Obama made a passionate intervention in the EU debate during a visit to London last month, saying EU membership magnified Britain’s role in the world and made it more prosperous. Obama warned Britons their country would find itself “in the back of the queue” for a trade deal with the United States if they voted to leave the EU. The “Remain” camp, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, has repeatedly said that none of Britain’s significant allies wants it to leave the bloc. On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the latest foreign leader to say it would be better for Britain and its allies if it remained in the European club. After Obama’s intervention, the “Remain” campaign published an advertisement with side-by-side photos of Obama smiling and Trump with a distorted facial expression and a finger in the air.  The slogan read: “Obama thinks the UK is stronger in Europe. Trump thinks the UK should leave Europe. Whose side are you on?” The image suggested that the official “Remain” campaign viewed Trump as repellent to British voters. A spokesman for the campaign had no immediate comment on Friday.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ से बाहर रहने से बेहतर होगा ब्रिटेनः ट्रंप


(Reuters) - A state judge on Friday struck down a Kansas voter registration system that would have prevented people from voting in state and local elections unless they show proof of U.S. citizenship. The judge ruled that the loss of voting rights for more than 18,000 Kansas residents “far outweighs” the risk posed by potential voter fraud, as the state mentioned only about two dozen people who may have attempted to improperly register to vote over the last 13 years. “The right of citizen suffrage forms the foundation of a democratic society,” Larry Hendricks, District Judge in Shawnee County, wrote in a 19-page ruling. “Whenever the laws of a state and the federal government clash with respect to this right, cracks are bound to appear in the framework of democracy.” Kansas has had one of the strictest voter identification statutes in the United States, making the state a symbol for mostly Republican Party supporters who say the rules are meant to prevent voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, say the rules discriminate against minorities. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said by phone on Friday he planned to appeal the ruling adding, “I regard the decision as wrong ... and this decision stands in the way of protecting our elections.” The American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit said the voter registration system established by Kobach violated the state’s constitution and state law and called it “two-tiered.”  “This ruling is a victory for Kansas voters and a stinging rebuke of Secretary Kobach’s repeated efforts to improperly use his authority to obstruct their access to the ballot,” ACLU Voting Rights Project staff attorney Sophia Lakin said in a statement. The ACLU said the system would have denied the right to vote in state and local elections to residents who registered through a federal voter registration form or when they applied for or renewed their driver’s license. Under the rejected system, those people could have voted in federal elections but would have had to show proof of citizenship to vote in state and local ones. The system required registrants to prove their citizenship by providing one of a series of documents, including birth certificates and passports.  Kobach has gained a reputation for pushing a series of voting and anti-immigration measures as a national debate over voting restrictions has accelerated since the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

Summary: कान्सास के न्यायाधीश ने राज्य की दोहरी मतदाता पंजीकरण प्रणाली पर हमला किया


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A topless activist from the feminist group Femen tried to snatch the statue of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St. Peter s Square on Monday but was stopped by police as she grabbed it. A Reuters photographer said the woman jumped over guard rails and rushed onto the larger-than-life Nativity scene shouting  God is woman . She had the same slogan painted on her bare back. A Vatican gendarme stopped her from taking the statue and she was detained. The incident happened about two hours before Pope Francis delivered his Christmas message to some 50,000 people in the square. The group s website identified her as Alisa Vinogradova and called her a  sextremist . It says the goal of the group, which was founded in Ukraine, is  complete victory over patriarchy . A Femen activist staged a similar action on Christmas Day 2014 but managed to take the statue out of the crib before she was arrested. (This version of the story corrects the year in the final paragraph)

Summary: टॉपलेस फेमेन कार्यकर्ता ने वैटिकन के पालना से यीशु की मूर्ति छीनने की कोशिश की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of nonprofit groups on Monday sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to obtain logs of visitors to President Donald Trump’s homes. The lawsuit accused the Secret Service, which maintains the logs, of violating the law by ignoring several requests for lists of visitors to the White House, Trump Tower in Manhattan, and the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Monday’s complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the National Security Archive, and archive researcher Kate Doyle. The plaintiffs had requested the logs under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Similar litigation by CREW in 2009 prompted the Obama administration to disclose White House visitor logs on a delayed basis, and according to the complaint led to the release of 5.99 million records. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service, said the department does not discuss pending litigation. The lawsuit was reported earlier by the Washington Post. The website where White House visitor logs were available went dark after Trump became president. That page now reads: "This page is being updated. It will post records of White House visitors on an ongoing basis, once they become available." (here) Several Democratic lawmakers last month called on Trump, a Republican, to make logs public again. Many FOIA lawsuits against federal agencies are filed in Washington rather than New York. But in August 2013, the federal appeals court in Washington said Congress did not intend to authorize FOIA requesters to obtain records “indirectly” from the Secret Service that they could not obtain directly from the President. That decision involved a request by the conservative group Judicial Watch for records of all White House visitors over seven months. It was written by Chief Judge Merrick Garland, whose Supreme Court nomination by Obama was never acted upon by Congress. Federal judges in Manhattan can use Garland’s opinion for guidance, but need not follow it. The case is Doyle et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-02542.

Summary: समूह व्हाइट हाउस आगंतुक लॉग प्राप्त करने के लिए मुकदमा करते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday added a second case to its docket on a contentious issue that could have major consequences for American elections, agreeing to decide whether Democratic lawmakers in Maryland unlawfully drew a congressional district in a way that would prevent a Republican candidate from winning. The court’s agreement to take up an appeal by Republican voters in Maryland regarding the U.S. House of Representatives district came two months after the justices heard arguments in a high-profile challenge by Democratic voters to Republican-drawn state legislative districts in Wisconsin. Both cases target a practice known as partisan gerrymandering that aims to entrench one party in power and that critics have called a distortion of the democratic process. The justices have not yet issued a ruling in the Wisconsin case. Each case presents a different legal theory as to why limits should be placed on partisan gerrymandering, and the court’s decision to take up a second case on the issue hints that at least some of the nine justices are seriously considering cracking down on it.  Gerrymandering, a practice dating back two centuries in American politics, involves manipulating boundaries of legislative districts to benefit one party and diminish another. Legislative districts around the United States are redrawn every decade after the national census to reflect population changes. The “redistricting” in most states is done by the party in power though some states assign the task to independent commissions. The Supreme Court for decades has been willing to invalidate state electoral maps on the grounds of racial discrimination but never those drawn simply for partisan advantage. In the Maryland case, the Republican voters targeting the Democratic-drawn electoral map appealed a 2-1 ruling in August by a panel of three federal judges sitting in Baltimore rejecting their challenge. Maryland’s sixth congressional district, the focus of the case, was previously held by a Republican and now is held by Democrat John Delaney. When the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Wisconsin case on Oct. 3, the justices appeared closely divided, with conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy likely to cast the deciding vote. The Republican challengers in Maryland take aim at a single electoral district, not the whole state as in the Wisconsin case. They argue that the district should be struck down because it was drawn by Democrats as a form of retaliation on the basis of past party affiliation based on the Constitution’s guaranteed rights of free association and free speech. The challengers in the Wisconsin case argued that the Republican electoral map violated Democratic voters’ rights to equal protection under the law as well as free speech and association. In the Wisconsin case, the legal argument advanced by the Democratic challengers was that an electoral map would be unlawful if the intent was to discriminate against minority party voters, the map had a sizable effect in accomplishing that goal and that there was no other justification for the map. The theory was based in part on measuring the number of “wasted” votes in each district cast for a losing candidate and comparing each party’s total wasted votes on a statewide basis. The results, plaintiffs said, show whether one party’s votes are more likely to be wasted than the other party’s, which would show evidence of unconstitutional extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत ने मैरीलैंड चुनावी जिले को रिपब्लिकन चुनौती दी


SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian soldiers killed a relative of a top Pakistan-based militant in a gunbattle in southern Kashmir, police said on Tuesday, increasing the pressure on the leader whom it wants placed on an international blacklist. India, backed by the United States, has been trying to get Maulana Masood Azhar on a U.N. list of groups and individuals with ties to al Qaeda, blaming his group for a series of attacks in India, including one on its parliament in 2002 and another last year on an airbase. On Monday, soldiers surrounded a village in Pulwama district and killed Talha Rasheed, a nephew of Azhar, along with two associates in the gunfight, police inspector general Muneer Khan said.  They were all members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group. India has long accused Pakistan of harboring militant groups and giving them material support to carry out a 28-year armed revolt in disputed Kashmir. Pakistan denies the allegations and says it is doing more than any other country in fighting militant groups. Masood has become a thorny issue between India and China which has blocked its repeated requests to sanction him under the UN list of terrorists.

Summary: भारतीय बलों ने कश्मीर में आतंकवादी नेता के भतीजे को मार गिराया, पुलिस ने कहा


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces captured the Akkas gas field from Islamic State on Thursday, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad. Iraqi forces launched an offensive last month to oust the militant group from the last area still under its control in Iraq, on the border with Syria, where the field is located. The field hasn t entered production yet. Akkas, which has reserves of 5.6 trillion cubic feet, is operated by Korea Gas Company (KOGAS) and located in western Anbar province near the Syrian border. Development of Iraq s Akkas gas field had been delayed after Islamic State seized large territories in Anbar in May 2014. KOGAS halted operations after multiple attacks by militants against the company s sites in the field. Iraqi oil ministry officials said they plan to send a crew to Akkas to assess damages to the field s energy facilities.  We will make a field visit to write a report about the damages and what we need to bring back the field online as soon as possible,  said engineer Mohammed Ibrahim who is a member of an oil ministry team supervising Akkas. Iraq is planning to contact KOGAS soon to start preparations to resume development works at the field, said Ibrahim.  Security forces are working to clean Akkas from landmines and booby-traps that might be left by Daesh,  said Colonel Saad Hardan from Anbar police.

Summary: इराकी बलों ने इस्लामिक स्टेट से अक्कास गैस क्षेत्र पर कब्जा कर लियाः मंत्री


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, facing Western donor pressure over a crackdown on critics ahead of 2018 elections, will seek more aid and investment from China during a visit this week, his aide said on Wednesday. China is already Cambodia s biggest donor and its support has bolstered Hun Sen in the face of criticism of what his opponents say amounts to the destruction of democracy. The aide, Sry Thamrong, said Hun Sen would attend a special summit from Thursday to Sunday held by the ruling Communist Party on a theme espoused by Chinese President Xi Jinping on turning the world for the better and without interference.  The aim of Hun Sen s meetings to discuss aid and investment with Xi and Chinese investors is to create more jobs in Cambodia, he said.  Especially, we need more bridges on the Mekong River, we also need many more roads, trains, sky train,  Sry Thamrong told reporters at the international airport in Phnom Penh, the capital, before the departure.  These are the things we need in the future.   China has supported Cambodia s crackdown, making no criticism of the government, which is one of Beijing s most important allies in Southeast Asia after more than three decades in power.     The supreme court this month banned the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) at the government s request. That followed the arrest of its leader Kem Sokha for plotting to take power with American help. The United States has stopped election funding ahead of next year s general election and threatened further concrete steps. The European Union has raised a potential threat to Cambodia s duty free access. Washington is working on a review of its ties with Cambodia after the dissolution of the CNRP, William Heidt, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia said.   That is something we are taking very seriously, having a very serious review of our policies towards Cambodia,  he told broadcaster Voice of America in an interview on Wednesday.

Summary: कम्बोडिया के प्रधानमंत्री और अधिक सहायता लेने के लिए चीन के लिए रवाना


LONDON (Reuters) - Theresa May should stay on as British prime minister despite mishaps in her keynote party conference speech, Home Secretary Amber Rudd wrote in The Telegraph newspaper. Under the headline  Theresa May will stay as Prime Minister  and get the job done,  Rudd said the government would deliver Brexit under May s leadership.  She should stay,  Rudd wrote in the article that will appear in the newspaper on Friday. Rudd said May s conference speech was at times a little hard to watch but added that the prime minister dealt with the interruptions with guts and grace.

Summary: थेरेसा मे को ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री के रूप में बने रहना चाहिएः गृह मंत्री


BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - At least 20 countries in the European Union will sign up to a new defense pact next week, promoted by France and Germany, to fund and develop joint military hardware in a show of unity following Britain s decision to quit the bloc. After years of spending cutbacks in Europe and a heavy reliance on the United States through the NATO alliance, France and Germany hope the accord, to be signed on Nov. 13 in Brussels, will tie nations into tighter defense collaboration covering troops and weapons. The Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, could be the biggest leap in EU defense policy in decades and may go some way to matching the bloc s economic and trade prowess with a more powerful military. But differences remain between Paris and Berlin over what countries legally bound by the pact should do, EU diplomats said.  France wanted a core group of governments to bring money and military assets to PESCO as well as a willingness to intervene abroad. Germany has sought to broaden the pact to make it inclusive, which some experts say could make it less effective.   This has to bring about a higher level of commitment if it is going to work,  said a EU official, describing PESCO as a  defense marriage .  The EU already has plenty of forums for discussion,  the official said. So far France, Germany, Italy, Spain and around 16 other EU countries have pledged to join the pact, which could formally be launched when EU leaders meet in December. Some other members,  including Denmark, Portugal, Malta and Ireland, have yet to commit themselves publicly. But it was clear that Britain, which intends to leave the bloc following the Brexit referendum of June 2016, would not participate, officials said. Britain has long sought to block EU defense cooperation, fearing it could result in an EU army. French diplomats said the pact would have several areas where EU governments would agree to work together and pledge funds, including EU military operations, investment and acquiring defense capabilities together as a group. A German official said the initiative won momentum from French President Emmanuel Macron s call for a European intervention force in September and U.S. President Donald Trump s insistence that Europe do more for its security. Proposals for PESCO include work on a European medical command and a network of logistic hubs in Europe, creation of a crisis response center, and joint training of military officers. A key goal is to reduce the numbers of weapons systems and prevent duplication to save money and improve joint operations. It could also serve as an umbrella for projects such as a Franco-German initiative to design a new fighter jet, and existing bilateral military cooperation agreements, such as the close ties between Germany and the Netherlands. Efforts under the pact will be closely coordinated with the U.S.-led NATO alliance to ensure transparency and avoid any redundancies, the German official said. One area where NATO and EU officials see common ground is in the need for a military zone for free movement of troops and equipment, loosely based on the EU s passport-free travel  Schengen  zone.  I welcome integration to the maximum extent practical. We obviously want to avoid duplication and maximize transparency,  U.S. Air Force General Tod Wolters, NATO Allied Air Commander, told Reuters. Under the plans, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would focus on collective defense, while PESCO would ensure a quicker and more efficient EU response to events like the 2014 Ebola crisis in Africa, the official said.  This will not happen in competition with NATO,  the German official said.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ब्रेक्सिट के बाद की एकता के प्रदर्शन में संयुक्त रक्षा समझौते पर हस्ताक्षर करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats said on Wednesday their U.S. Senate victory in Alabama could lead to a sweeping comeback for the party in 2018 elections, while Republicans sought to assess blame for a defeat in one of the country’s most conservative states. Doug Jones, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor, won the special election on Tuesday night after a bitter campaign that drew national attention amid sexual misconduct accusations against conservative Republican candidate Roy Moore. President Donald Trump had endorsed Moore and the loss was a stunning upset for him and fellow Republicans, narrowing their majority in the Senate to 51-49. It also boosted Democrats who hope to retake control of Congress in elections next November. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said the Alabama outcome would not affect his policy agenda. Republicans are rushing to pass a tax overhaul package by the end of the year. Jones is expected to take office in early January after the election results are certified. “Wish we would have gotten the seat,” Trump said. “A lot of Republicans feel differently. They’re very happy with the way it turned out.” At a news conference in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday, Jones said he received congratulatory calls from Trump, as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader.  Some congressional Republicans were quick on Wednesday to slam former Trump strategist Steve Bannon for his steadfast support of Moore, saying it split the party and paved the way for Jones’ shocking victory. Jones, 63, was the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in a quarter-century and the party sees potential nationwide. “This campaign has given a lot of people a reason to believe,” Jones said.  Schumer said the defeat of Moore reflected a distaste among voters for Trump’s policies, which he said help the wealthy and powerful to the detriment of the middle class. “Things are looking good for us,” Schumer told reporters. “If they (Republicans) continue to run the government for the benefit of the few special powerful wealthy interests, there will be many more Alabamas in 2018.” Some Senate Republicans expressed relief that Moore would not be joining their ranks, including Bob Corker, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring next year.   “I know we’re supposed to cheer for our side of the aisle ... but I’m really, really happy with what happened for all of us in our nation, for people serving in the Senate, to not have to deal with what we were likely going to have to deal with should the outcome have been the other way,” Corker said.  Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist, worked hard for Moore as part of his broader campaign against more centrist Republican leaders, and his critics were quick to attack on Wednesday. “This guy does not belong on the national stage,”  Republican Representative Peter King said on CNN. “He’s not representing what I stand for. I consider myself a conservative Republican. ... And he sort of parades himself out there with his weird, alt-right views that he has. And, to me, it’s demeaning the whole governmental and political process.” Moore, a hard-line conservative who was twice removed from his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to abide by federal law, became the Republican candidate by beating incumbent Senator Luther Strange in a primary race earlier this year. Strange had been appointed to fill the seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions when he became Trump’s attorney general. McConnell and other Republican leaders in Congress backed Strange in that race and then pressured Moore to withdraw his candidacy after he faced allegations from several women that he sexually assaulted or pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s Moore, 70, denied the accusations. McConnell, who has been a frequent Bannon target, declined to address Bannon’s role in the race when speaking to reporters on Wednesday. “It was quite an impressive election,” McConnell said. “It was a big turnout and an unusual day.”  Strange had harsh words for Bannon.  “He has accomplished one thing that I don’t think anybody in America thought was possible, and that’s getting a Democrat elected in the state of Alabama,” Strange said on Fox News Channel. Trump backed Strange in the Republican primary but then endorsed Moore and threw his full support behind him even as other party leaders in Washington walked away. Trump tried to minimize the damage to his own credibility on Wednesday. “The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right!” he said on Twitter. “Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!” Some Republicans defended Trump. “It had zero to do with Donald Trump,” Republican Representative Bradley Byrne of Alabama told MSNBC, calling the race “a purely weird, unique election.” As of Wednesday night, Moore had not conceded the race to Jones, saying in a video statement that there are military and provisional ballots still to be counted and that the campaign was waiting for certification by the Secretary of State.    “We are indeed in a struggle to preserve our republic, our civilization, and our religion and to set free a suffering humanity,” he said. “And the battle rages on.”   Jones’ victory was not expected to affect pending votes in Congress on funding the government or the Republican overhaul of the tax code. Republican congressional leaders have vowed to get the tax changes approved before Christmas. The Alabama outcome could push Democrats to make sexual harassment a key election issue at a time when many powerful men in entertainment, the media and politics - including Trump - have faced accusations of misconduct. Such a move could help boost support from women.  The results also highlighted Jones’ success in mobilizing  African-Americans voters, who constituted about 30 percent of those voting on Tuesday and overwhelmingly voted Democratic, according to network exit polls.  Jones also fared surprisingly well in suburban counties outside of cities such as Birmingham and Huntsville, a trend that has Republicans nervous ahead of next year’s elections, when dozens of congressional districts are likely to be highly competitive. Part of the reason for that in Alabama was that many upscale Republican voters did not vote as compared with last year’s presidential election.

Summary: अलबामा की जीत ने डेमोक्रेट को रोमांचित किया क्योंकि रिपब्लिकन ने उंगली उठाई


GENEVA (Reuters) - The Syrian government s delegation returned to Geneva on Sunday for the resumption of talks with United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura after more than a week s absence, but Western diplomats voiced scepticism about its willingness to engage. Bashar al-Ja afari, Syria s ambassador to the U.N. and chief negotiator in talks aimed at finding a political solution to end the nearly seven-year-old war, landed in a snowstorm on a flight from Beirut, a Reuters reporter on board said. Ja afari declined to comment. De Mistura convened an eighth round of separate talks with the government and unified opposition delegations on Nov. 28,  focusing on constitutional reform as well as elections. But Ja afari arrived a day late and left after two days, saying the opposition had  mined the road  to the talks by insisting that President Bashar al-Assad could not play any interim role in Syria s political transition. De Mistura told reporters last Thursday that he would assess this week whether either side is trying to  sabotage  the process.  The opposition has been extremely constructive and willing to get down to it,  a senior Western diplomat said.  They are in a difficult place while being criticized internally and pressured by the fact that the regime is bombing away in eastern Ghouta and other places.  The diplomat told Reuters that the government s failure to return as scheduled on Dec. 5 had been  a clear sign of not being interested in engaging in the political process . Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested holding a Syrian congress in the Russian city of Sochi early in 2018. Diplomats see his plan as a bid to draw a line under the war and celebrate Moscow s role as the power that tipped the balance of the war and became the key player in the peace process.

Summary: सीरियाई सरकार जिनेवा वार्ता में लौटी, पश्चिमी राजदूतों को संदेह


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A relative of Zimbabwean minister Jonathan Moyo, purged from the ruling ZANU-PF party along with President Robert Mugabe, said on Monday that a tweet on his Twitter handle earlier saying that he was outside of the country was the work of a hacker.   While he remains safe, he is not the one who posted that,  the family member told Reuters, adding that Moyo remained in Zimbabwe. The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के मंत्री मोयो का ट्विटर अकाउंट हैकः परिवार के सदस्य


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s plan to loosen some requirements of a visa law spurred by the deadly attacks in Paris met with open resistance from both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. The measure, which went into effect in late January, requires that citizens of 38 countries who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa must now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 1, 2011. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Wednesday said he wanted to add Libya to the list of countries covered by the restrictions. At a hearing of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clamp-down some travelers who visit Iran, including those conducting business.     “Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House,” Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican, said. Lawmakers enacted the visa restrictions on fears that travelers from the mainly European countries in the Visa Waiver Program could easily travel to the United States even if they have, for example, visited countries like Syria, Iran or Iraq, where militants are active. The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris stirred fears about such travel. Some of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people that day held European passports that would have allowed them easy entry to the United States. Representative Bennie Thompson, the Homeland Security Committee’s top Democrat, echoed Republican concerns about Obama’s announced plan to allow visa waivers for foreign business people who travel to Iran. “I have some questions about how the (Department of Homeland Security) would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes,” he said. Administration officials countered that they wanted to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq in particular, from the tougher requirements. Individuals must qualify for the Visa Waiver Program, with background checks against U.S. counter-terrorism and law enforcement databases. State Department counter-terrorism official Hillary Johnson told the committee there are regular reviews of those who are approved. Gil Kerlikowski, U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, told the committee an estimated 500,000 people who come into the country under the waiver program have overstayed their visas. He said he did not know how many of them might have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan. Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries.

Summary: ओबामा की नई अमेरिकी वीजा सीमाओं को आसान बनाने की योजना पर कांग्रेस में संदेह


MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday he would not rule out using the constitutional powers to remove Catalonia s autonomous status if it claimed independence as tens of thousands took to the streets to call for talks. The wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, with its own language and culture, held a referendum on Oct. 1 on independence, in defiance of the Spanish constitutional court which had ruled the vote illegal. Until now, Rajoy has remained vague on whether he would use article 155, the so-called nuclear option, of the constitution which enables him to sack the regional government and call a fresh local election.  In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais on Saturday Rajoy was asked if he was ready to trigger the article 155 of the constitution, and said:  I don t rule out absolutely anything that is within the law ... Ideally, it shouldn t be necessary to implement extreme solutions but for that not to happen things would have to be changed.  Tens of thousands of people gathered across Spain earlier on Saturday as Catalonia prepared to declare independence from the rest of the country, many dressed in white and calling for talks to defuse Spain s worst political crisis for decades. The Catalan authorities say around 90 percent of those who voted supported a split from Spain. Madrid says secession is illegal under the Spain s 1978 constitution. Residents of Catalonia who oppose secession largely boycotted the vote. The crisis is a political test for Rajoy, who has been uncompromising. Some 900 people were injured during the vote when police tried to disrupt voting, firing rubber bullets and charging crowds with truncheons. The political stand-off has divided the country, pushed banks and companies to move their headquarters outside Catalonia and shaken market confidence in the Spanish economy, prompting calls from the European Commission for Catalan and Spanish leaders to find a political solution.  I hope that the Catalonia that makes pacts, is moderate and for many years contributed to Spain s economic growth and improvement in welfare and wealth returns. It can t be in the hands of extremists, the radicals and the (far-left secessionist party) CUP,  he said.  However, Rajoy ruled out using mediators to resolve the crisis and also said the issue would not force a snap national election.   In peaceful protests called across 50 Spanish cities on Saturday morning, thousands gathered dressed in white and carrying banners calling for peace and dialogue between leaders. In Barcelona, protesters chanted  let s talk  in Catalan, while many carried signs criticizing political leaders for not finding a diplomatic solution to the impasse.      This is producing a social rupture in Catalonia and this has to be resolved through dialogue, never via unilateralism,  Jose Manuel Garcia, 61, an economist who attended the protest dressed in white said.  I m very worried. This will end badly and everyone will lose (without dialogue).  While Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said he is open to mediation, Rajoy has demanded he give up the independence campaign before discussions can be held. In Madrid thousands gathered beneath the enormous Spanish flag in Colon Plaza waving their own flags, singing and chanting  Viva Espa a  and  Viva Catalonia .     I ve come because I feel very Spanish and makes me very sad what s happened,  said Rosa Borras, 47, an unemployed secretary who had joined a noisy gathering in central Madrid. Borras, wearing a  Catalonia, we love you  sticker and surrounded by thousands waving Spanish flags, added:  I wanted to be here for unity, because I also feel very Catalan. My family lives in Catalonia.    Rajoy s government mobilized thousands of national police to stop Sunday s vote, leading to clashes with would-be voters as they tried to close polling stations in schools and remove ballot boxes. In the El Pais interview, Rajoy said the around 4,000 extra police shipped in to the region would stay until the conflict had been resolved. The police violence drew widespread condemnation and forced the government to issue an apology on Friday, although tensions continued to rise after reports of plans for the Catalan parliament to vote on a unilateral declaration of independence on Tuesday. The crisis has also caused disquiet among Spain s European Union partners, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has discussed it with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, an EU official told Reuters. [L8N1MI08F] Concern is growing in EU capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish economy, the fourth largest in the euro zone, and on possible spillovers to other economies. European finance ministers, gathering in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for a regular meeting, could discuss the issue, although it is not formally on the agenda, EU officials said. The support given in public statements by EU leaders to Rajoy is combined with concern expressed in private about how the Spanish government s use of police to prevent Catalans from voting last week in the independence referendum could backfire. Some EU states are worried that talk of Catalan independence could fuel secessionist feelings in other parts of Europe.

Summary: स्पेन के प्रधानमंत्री का कहना है कि कैटलन की स्वतंत्रता को अवरुद्ध करने के लिए संविधान का उपयोग किया जा सकता है


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would strike numerous bilateral trade deals, as opposed to multilateral accords like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and they would include clauses to allow a 30-day termination notice. “Believe me, we’re going to have a lot of trade deals,” Trump told a gathering of Republican lawmakers. “If that particular country doesn’t treat us fairly, we send them a 30-day termination, notice of termination.”

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि त्वरित समाप्ति खंडों के साथ कई द्विपक्षीय व्यापार समझौतों की योजना है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran s Revolutionary Guards are ready to help rebuild Syria and bring about a lasting  ceasefire  there, chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, adding that disarming Lebanon s Hezbollah is out of the question, state TV reported on Thursday. Regional tensions have risen in recent weeks between Sunni Muslim monarchy Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran, whose rivalry has wrought upheaval in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia has accused the heavily armed Iran-backed Hezbollah of helping Houthi forces in Yemen and playing a role in a ballistic missile attack on the kingdom earlier this month. Iran and Hezbollah both denied the claims. Iranian state television quoted Jafari as saying:  Hezbollah must be armed to fight against the enemy of the Lebanese nation which is Israel. Naturally they should have the best weapons to protect Lebanon s security. This issue is non-negotiable.  Iran denies giving financial and military support to the Houthis in the struggle for Yemen, blaming the deepening crisis on Riyadh.  Iran only provides advisory and spiritual assistances to Yemen ... and this help will continue,  he said. Jafari also praised the success of Iranian allies across the region, hailing a  resistance front  from Tehran to Beirut and calling on Riyadh to avoid confronting this grouping.  We directly deal with global arrogance and Israel not with their emissaries... That is why we do not want to have direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia,  he said. The term global arrogance refers to the United States. Leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed on Wednesday to help support a full-scale political process in Syria and announced an agreement to sponsor a conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to try to end Syria s civil war.   The guards are ready to play an active role in  establishing a lasting ceasefire in Syria ... and reconstruction of the country,  Jafari said.  Iran has signed large economic contracts with Syria, reaping what appear to be lucrative rewards for helping Tehran s main regional ally President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants.   In meetings with the (Iran) government, it was agreed that the Guards were in a better position to help Syria s reconstruction ... the preliminary talks already have been held with the Syrian government over the issue,  Jafari said Jafari repeated Iran s stance on its disputed ballistic missile work, saying the Islamic Republic s missile program is for defensive purposes and not up for negotiation.  The program was not part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Western powers under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions.  Iran will not negotiate its defensive program ... there will be no talks about it,  he said.  (French president Emmanuel) Macron s remarks over our missile work is because he is young and inexperienced.  Macron said earlier this month that Tehran should be less aggressive in the region and should clarify the strategy around its ballistic missile program.

Summary: ईरान के गार्ड सीरिया के पुनर्निर्माण में मदद करने के लिए तैयार, हिज़्बुल्लाह निरस्त्र नहीं करेगाः टीवी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on the pharmaceutical industry to boost U.S. production and lower prices, while also vowing to speed up approval times for new medicines and appoint a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration leader soon.  Shares of five of the six drug companies at the White House meeting with Trump were up more than 1 percent on average following the president’s remarks, compared with a 0.5 percent drop in the broad S&P 500. The Nasdaq Biotech Index was up 1.1 percent, reversing earlier losses, and the S&P 500 health care index gained 0.7 percent.      Attending the meeting were the CEOs of Novartis AG, Merck & Co Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene Corp, Eli Lilly & Co and Amgen Inc as well as the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America lobbying group. Trump told the drugmakers that pricing had been “astronomical.” “We have to get prices down for a lot of reasons. We have no choice, for Medicare and Medicaid,” Trump said at the meeting, citing the nation’s government insurance programs for the elderly, the poor and the disabled that together are the largest U.S. purchaser of medications.    Trump also said currency devaluation by other countries had increased drugmakers’ outsourcing their production and called on the companies to make more of their products in the United States.  He added that foreign countries must pay fair share for drug development costs.  “We’re going to end global freeloading,” Trump said.  Novartis  CEO Joe Jimenez, who is chairman-elect of the industry lobbying group, said last week that he wanted to talk to Trump about efforts to develop pricing models that would pay for clinical results rather than a flat price per pill, as well as plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, which is popularly known as “Obamacare.” Trump spooked investors in the pharmaceuticals and biotech sectors by saying on Jan. 11, before his inauguration, that drug companies were “getting away with murder” on what they charged the government for medicine and that he would do something about it.  That prompted the pharmaceutical lobbying group to unveil a new TV marketing campaign last week to improve its image by focusing attention on strides in research. Company executives, meanwhile, have tried to tread a careful line in defending their industry while expressing optimism that the United States would continue to reward scientific advances.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने दवा निर्माताओं को कम कीमतों, अधिक अमेरिकी उत्पादन के लिए प्रेरित किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Monday that Lebanon had declared war against it because of attacks against the Kingdom by the Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah. Saudi Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan told Al-Arabiya TV that Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon s prime minister on Saturday, had been told that acts of  aggression  by Hezbollah  were considered acts of a declaration of war against Saudi Arabia by Lebanon and by the Lebanese Party of the Devil .

Summary: सऊदी अरब का कहना है कि लेबनान ने उसके खिलाफ युद्ध की घोषणा कर दी है


ASTANA (Reuters) - Turkey and Iran have agreed to discuss within the UN-led Geneva process Russia s proposal to convene a Syrian national dialogue congress, the three nations  delegations said in a joint statement after talks in Kazakhstan. Diplomats from the three countries will next meet in Astana, the Kazakh capital, in the second half of December, according to the statement.

Summary: तुर्की, ईरान रूस की सीरियाई कांग्रेस के प्रस्ताव पर चर्चा करने के लिए सहमत हुए


(Reuters) - Hawaii lawmaker Beth Fukumoto, ousted last month as Republican leader of the state’s House of Representatives after publicly criticizing President Donald Trump, resigned on Wednesday from her party to seek membership as a Democrat. Fukumoto, 33, the youngest Hawaii legislator to serve as House minority leader, said divisive campaign rhetoric during the 2016 elections convinced her the Republican Party no longer reflected her political values or the interests of her state’s diverse population. “This election, I saw members of my party marginalizing and condemning minorities, ethnic or otherwise, and making demeaning comments towards women,” she said in an open letter of resignation to the Republican Party.  Fukumoto, who is of mixed Japanese and Irish ancestry, said she found Trump’s comments about banning Muslim immigrants and the possibility of establishing a registry of Muslim-Americans to be especially troubling. “I wanted very badly to see the Republican Party denounce his comments, and that didn’t happen,” she told Reuters, saying a Muslim registry struck her as “one step away” from internment camps.  “That for me was the issue that really changed how I felt.” A self-described political moderate, Fukumoto was the first Republican in 26 years to represent the largely middle-class central Oahu district outside Honolulu, capital of the predominantly Democratic state. She said she originally joined the Republicans out of a sense that Democrats were the status quo party, but she grew gradually disillusioned with the Republicans. She recounted a fellow Republican caucus member admonishing her last year that they should be considered the “party of middle America” despite Hawaii’s diverse demographics. Before making the switch, Fukumoto sent out a questionnaire to constituents seeking their opinions. Of those who replied, 76 percent said they would support her regardless, while most of the remainder opposed her changing parties, she said. First elected to the state legislature in 2012, Fukumoto  became leader of the state’s tiny House Republican caucus two years later, only to be removed by her peers in February of this year after she spoke out against Trump during the Women’s March in Hawaii the day after his inauguration. As of Wednesday, Fukumoto, became the lone independent among 45 Democrats and five remaining Republicans in the state’s lower House, as she launches a process of applying for membership in the state’s majority party.

Summary: हवाई के सांसद ने डेमोक्रेट में शामिल होने के लिए रिपब्लिकन पार्टी से दिया इस्तीफा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Seventeen winters ago, the European Union offered a very cold shoulder to a chancellor who brought Austria s far right into government, and some EU leaders even spoke of boycotting Tyrolean ski resorts in protest. On Monday, the strong chance Sebastian Kurz s center-right will invite the Freedom Party back into a Vienna coalition raised barely a murmur in Brussels. That said something about how the FPO has moved from its neo-Nazi past and a lot about how the rest of Europe has shifted rightward, especially on immigration. An Austrian government led by a man who campaigned on tough border policies and featuring the FPO would, two years ago, have been  an earthquake  for Europe, a senior EU official said. Now, following the crisis of 2015-16 in which over a million refugees and others came by sea to Greece and Italy, often then reaching Germany via Austria, critics of open doors have shifted Europe their way. Said another Brussels insider:  They ve built the theater that we are all playing in now.  A hard-nosed deal with Turkey to hold back Syrian refugees, tougher action on detaining and deporting failed asylum seekers, scaling back rescue boats and cooperation with Libyan forces  have contributed to a substantial fall in new arrivals. In Germany, where fellow travelers of the FPO damaged Chancellor Angela Merkel in an election last month, her bold welcome for refugees in 2015 has given way to support for ramped up border defenses. Congratulating the 31-year-old Kurz on Sunday s election victory, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker alluded to concern about a eurosceptic government in Vienna. The Brussels chief executive wished him success in forming a  stable, pro-European government . Juncker s spokesman would not say that the Commission was pressing Kurz to shun the FPO, as EU leaders did when Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel formed a coalition with the party then led by Joerg Haider in 2000. That February, nearly 18 years ago, Juncker as prime minister of Luxembourg was among the 14 EU leaders who barely spoke to Schuessel or his ministers for six months and later revised EU treaties to create powers to suspend renegade member states. There were harsh words. Belgium s foreign minister - father of its current premier Charles Michel - called on people not to take winter holidays in Austria. Yet current Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders was one of many attending an EU meeting who politely congratulated their absent young Austrian colleague and said they looked forward to working with his new government. None so much as mentioned those suspension powers which the EU gave itself after their failure to change Schuessel s mind.  Fellow ministers chorused on Kurz s pro-EU credentials. His party colleague Johannes Hahn, who holds Austria s seat on Juncker s Commission said that whatever government Kurz formed would have  a very pro-European agenda because all the major political parties are very much committed to the European Union . That reflects a shift in the FPO under Heinz-Christian Strache. He has toned down hostility to the EU and distanced the party from anti-Semitism while criticizing Islam. It took the far-left leader in the European Parliament to offer anything but a mild reaction. Gabi Zimmer said the vote should  strike fear into everyone  and accused Kurz of espousing  bigotry and prejudices  to beat a party led by a  neo-Nazi .  But Kurz faces a Europe very different from the one that  ostracized Schuessel. Power has shifted to fellow conservatives, compared to 2000, when governments including those of Germany, France, Britain and Italy were in the hands of the left. EU enlargement to the ex-communist east has brought in many more leaders, such as in Poland and Hungary, who are open in their hostility to immigration, especially by Muslims. Kurz won a particularly warm tribute from his Hungarian counterpart. And more governments - French, Dutch, Nordic and now German - face the problem Schuessel had of a popular far-right party. That has contributed to a reluctance to criticize EU peers over strategies to contain such insurgencies - though leaders will be looking to Kurz to rein in the FPO, as they did when they needed to justify letting Schuessel back into their fold. That lesson, of having to climb down after rushing to the rhetorical barricades but failing to make Schuessel budge, shows up today in a hesitation to suspend Hungary or Poland for failings on democratic values. As one EU official put it:  Austria in 2000 showed us how not to go in without an exit strategy.

Summary: कोई नया स्की बहिष्कार नहींः यूरोपीय संघ ने ऑस्ट्रियाई अधिकार पर धुन बदली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Secret Service, tasked with simultaneously protecting President Barack Obama and some of the Republican and Democratic candidates now running to replace him next year, is facing a manpower shortfall at a time of peak demand, the agency told Congress on Tuesday. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy told a House Appropriations panel the agency is focused on “human capital needs across the organization” and accruing enough agents to ease overtime demands on the existing force. The Secret Service hopes to have 7,600 agents in its ranks by fiscal year 2019, up from the current figure of approximately 6,200, Committee Chairman John Carter of Texas said during Tuesday’s hearing.  While Clancy said the Secret Service was making progress in hiring more agents, “we have yet to see the desired impact on our overall staffing levels due to increased attrition.”  Clancy testified at a hearing to review the agency’s funding needs for the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. Demands of the mission are peaking, he added, with Republican and Democratic presidential nominating conventions slated for this summer, the general elections in November and presidential inaugural events in January.  Carter cited the loss of 19 agents in the last four months and the large amounts of overtime hours agents have had to put in on the president’s detail, on the campaign trail and in the uniformed division. Carter, a Republican, questioned whether the service’s hiring goals were “obtainable” with the agency “losing more agents than they have brought on board.” Clancy responded that the agency is exploring initiatives to lure more applicants and retain current agents.  The Secret Service was rocked in 2012 when it surfaced that some agents working a presidential trip to Colombia were involved with prostitutes. In 2014, agents failed to stop a man who jumped the White House fence, ran across the lawn and made it into the mansion before he was apprehended.  More recently, during a rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in Radford, Virginia, a Time magazine photographer was grabbed by the neck and shoved to the ground by a Secret Service agent. An agency spokeswoman said the service is investigating the incident. Besides protecting the president and presidential candidates, Secret Service agents investigate financial crimes such as counterfeiting of U.S. currency and credit card and fraud.

Summary: अभियानों में तेजी आने से गुप्त सेवा कर्मियों की कमी


GAZA (Reuters) - The Egypt-Gaza border opened under control of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority for the first time since 2007 on Saturday, raising residents  hopes for easier passage in and out of the impoverished enclave. An Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal last month formally restored Palestinian President Abbas s administrative control of Gaza, including its border crossings with Israel and Egypt, after a 10-year schism with Islamist Hamas. Palestinians hope the pact will ease Gaza s economic woes and help them present a united front in their drive for statehood, although the details of implementation of the deal have yet to be worked out fully. Citing security concerns, Egypt and Israel maintain tight restrictions at their Gaza borders. Hamas, regarded by the West as a terrorist group, seized the enclave in 2007 after fighting forces loyal to Abbas. Hamas quit positions at three Gaza crossings and handed them over to Palestinian Authority employees on Nov. 1, in a step seen as vital to encouraging Israel and Egypt to ease their restrictions on the movement of goods and people. Witnesses said at least five buses loaded with passengers crossed over to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Saturday. Hamas-appointed policemen had checked travellers  documents in a separate hall outside Rafah.  Egypt has not yet signaled any change to its present policy under which it opens the border crossing three times a week. Palestinians are hoping the crossing will operate full-time, as it had been doing until 2007. About 30,000 Gazans have applied for entry to Egypt in the past few months, according to the Palestinian Interior Ministry. Egypt will host further talks with Hamas, Fatah and other factions next week on Nov. 21 to discuss major reconciliation issues, including security arrangements and a possible date for Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections. Responsibility for security remains an open issue in Gaza, where Hamas, which still polices the territory, has what analysts say are at least 25,000 well-equipped fighters. The group refuses to disarm, as demanded by Israel and the United States.

Summary: मिस्र-गाजा सीमा एक दशक में पहली बार पीए नियंत्रण में खुली


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Friday that he expected to have most members of his Cabinet announced next week. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles as Trump works to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20, according to Reuters sources and media reports. See the end of list for posts already filled. * Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor  * Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City * Bob Corker, Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee * David Petraeus, retired general and former CIA director who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information that he shared with his biographer, with whom he was having an affair * Michael McCaul, Republican U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee * David Clarke, Milwaukee County sheriff and vocal Trump supporter * Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, former leader of Southern Command  * Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff, after losing his bid for re-election, who campaigned for Trump * Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state * Frances Townsend, who was homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Republican President George W. Bush * Jeff Holmstead, energy lawyer, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Leslie Rutledge, Republican Arkansas attorney general * Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management * Scott Pruitt, Republican Oklahoma attorney general * Kevin Cramer, Republican U.S. representative from North Dakota * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Heidi Heitkamp, Democratic U.S. senator from North Dakota * Joe Manchin, Democratic U.S. senator from West Virginia * Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc * Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp * James Connaughton, chief executive of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush * Rick Perry, former Republican Texas governor * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil * Heidi Heitkamp, Democratic U.S. senator from North Dakota * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors * Cathy McMorris Rodgers, U.S. representative from Washington state and House Republican Conference chair * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee * Jan Brewer, former Republican Arizona governor * Mary Fallin, Republican Oklahoma governor * Ray Washburne, chief executive of investment company Charter Holdings * U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency * Ronald Burgess, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief  * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, former Republican U.S. representative from Michigan * Rudy Giuliani, former Republican mayor of New York City  * Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp * Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants * Lou Barletta, Republican U.S. representative from Pennsylvania * Victoria Lipnic, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member and former Labor Department official during the George W. Bush administration * Dr. Ben Carson, former 2016 Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon * Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc * Mick Mulvaney, Republican U.S. representative from South Carolina * Scott Brown, former Republican U.S. senator from Massachusetts * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee * Jeff Miller, former Republican U.S. representative from Florida who was chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee The Trump transition team confirmed the president-elect would choose from a list of 21 names he drew up during his campaign, including Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah and William Pryor, a federal judge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  * Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus * Steve Bannon, former head of the conservative website Breitbart News * Jeff Sessions, Republican U.S. senator from Alabama and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (subject to Senate confirmation) * Republican U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo from Kansas (subject to Senate confirmation) * Michael Flynn, retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency * Nikki Haley, Republican South Carolina governor (subject to Senate confirmation) * Betsy DeVos, Republican donor and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party (subject to Senate confirmation) * Tom Price, Republican U.S. representative from Georgia,  orthopedic surgeon (subject to Senate confirmation) * Elaine Chao, former labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary under Republican Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, respectively (subject to Senate confirmation). Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman (subject to Senate confirmation) * Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, chairman of Invesco Ltd subsidiary WL Ross & Co (subject to Senate confirmation) * James Mattis, retired Marine Corps general (subject to Senate confirmation)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः दावेदार, ट्रम्प प्रशासन में प्रमुख पदों के लिए चयन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said on Wednesday that Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives had reached a deal on tax reform legislation. Asked by reporters, if an agreement had been reached in negotiations to hammer out differences between two competing tax bills, Hatch said: “We have. I think we have a deal.” Hatch said it was more than just an agreement in principle.

Summary: हाउस और सीनेट ने अमेरिकी कर कानून पर समझौता कियाः हैच


DUBAI (Reuters) - Passengers from six mainly Muslim countries who would have been barred from the United States under President Donald Trump’s latest travel order will be allowed to board U.S.-bound flights on Emirates and Etihad Airways now that a federal judge has blocked it, the Middle East carriers said on Thursday. The executive order banning refugees and nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S. was temporarily halted on Wednesday, hours before it was to go into effect, by a federal judge in Hawaii. Emirates will follow guidance by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, issued after the court’s decision, that citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen would be accepted for travel to the U.S. if they possessed the necessary travel documents, an airline spokeswoman said by email. Etihad Airways “will continue to accept guests of all nationalities for travel to the U.S. provided they have valid travel documents and, if necessary, visas,” an airline spokeswoman said.  The Abu Dhabi-based carrier said it would continue to assist passengers affected by the recent executive orders but was advising them to check with their nearest U.S. mission as “U.S. travel requirements are subject to change.” The Wednesday court ruling is only temporary, until broader arguments in the case can be heard. Trump said it made the United States look weak, and promised to take the case “as far as it needs to go. A notice on Qatar Airways’ website said passengers would still need to have valid travel documents after the executive order was “enjoined.” The revised order, which was less restrictive and removed Iraq from Trump’s original list, was organized in coordination with airlines, industry group IATA has said, unlike the initial ban which came into immediate effect without notice.  Trump signed the new ban on March 6 in a bid to overcome legal problems with the first order in January, which caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before a Washington judge stopped its enforcement in February.

Summary: ट्रम्प के दूसरे यात्रा प्रतिबंध के बाद अमीरात, एतिहाद की बोर्डिंग हमेशा की तरह अवरुद्ध


HARARE (Reuters) - Retired army chief Constantino Chiwenga and veteran politician Kembo Mohadi will be sworn in as Zimbabwe s vice presidents on Thursday, state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said on Wednesday. The pair, appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, were elevated to similar positions in the ruling ZANU-PF party on Saturday.  Chiwenga retired from the military this month. His appointment was expected as a reward for leading a de facto coup in November that ended Robert Mugabe s 37-year rule and brought Mnangagwa to power. It also adds to signs of a consolidation of power for the army since it turned against the 93-year-old Mugabe. Mnangagwa has appointed several senior military officers to his cabinet and the ruling party s top decision-making body, the Politburo.  Mnangagwa is under pressure from opposition parties and the public to implement political reforms.

Summary: पूर्व सेना प्रमुख गुरुवार को जिम्बाब्वे के उपराष्ट्रपति के रूप में शपथ लेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kentucky Senator Rand Paul plans to become the first Republican co-sponsor of legislation to block a pending judicial rule change that would let U.S. judges issue search warrants for remote access to computers located in any jurisdiction, his office told Reuters on Thursday. The bill is expected to be introduced next week. Backing from Paul, a former Republican candidate for president with libertarian leanings, lends bipartisan support to an effort to undo a little-noticed modification to a text governing procedural rules for the U.S. court system that civil liberties groups warn would drastically expand the FBI’s hacking authority. So far, that cause has largely been championed solely by Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and digital privacy advocate. He has vowed to work to stop the rule change on grounds it would allow the government to use one warrant to access and search thousands or millions of computers at once, potentially implicating those suspected of no wrongdoing.  Magistrate judges can normally only order searches within the jurisdiction of their court, which is typically limited to a few counties. But last month the Supreme Court, in a private vote, approved the amendments to Rule 41 of the federal rules of criminal procedure, which would permit judges to issue warrants in cases when a suspect uses anonymizing technology to conceal the location of his or her computer or for an investigation into a network of hacked or infected computers, such as a botnot. Congress has until December 1 to pass legislation that would reject, amend or postpone the changes to Rule 41. If lawmakers do nothing, which is customary in these circumstances, the changes automatically will take effect. The U.S. Justice Department, which is pushing for the rule change, has described it as a procedural tweak needed to modernize the criminal code, and has said it would not permit searches that are not already legal. Alphabet Inc’s Google has warned the change poses a “monumental” threat to the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.  Last year Paul and Wyden worked together to force a temporary expiration of the USA Patriot Act, which led to passage of surveillance reforms that pared backed the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of U.S. call records. Other lawmakers are also examining Rule 41.  Republican Senator Mike Lee is looking at ways to address concerns, a spokesman said, and a small group of lawmakers in the House are weighing introduction of companion legislation, sources said.

Summary: सीनेटर रैंड पॉल एफ. बी. आई. हैकिंग विस्तार को रोकने वाले विधेयक का समर्थन करेंगे


TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - The freeing of a kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children in Pakistan is a positive sign and a recognition of how seriously Islamabad takes the protection of American citizens, a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday.  We are very appreciative for the efforts of the Pakistani military in helping effect the securing of our American hostages that have been held there, and a Canadian citizen, for quite some time,  said General Joseph Votel. As head of U.S. Central Command, Votel oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, including Afghanistan.   It is a positive sign that they (recognized) the importance, they (recognized) the opportunity, they acted quickly and very responsibly to get control of these persons and begin to effect their return,  Votel told reporters. He added that he had spoken with Pakistan s chief of Army Staff on Wednesday. American Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, along with their children born in captivity, were freed nearly five years after the couple was abducted in neighboring Afghanistan by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network, which the United States has long accused Pakistan of failing to fight. In recent days, senior U.S. officials have been more pointed about Islamabad s alleged ties to militant groups, who are battling against U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the 16-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan. When asked what more Pakistan should do to fight militancy, Votel said he would keep conversations with his Pakistani counterparts private, but added that the freeing of the hostages was an example of the Pakistanis paying attention to something important to the United States. Votel said peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan were possible to bring an end to the war.  Our focus is to put military pressure on the Taliban to make that a viable option for them, that they need to come to the table,  he said. Representatives of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States will meet in Oman next week to discuss reviving peace talks with Afghan Taliban militants. It was not clear if Afghan Taliban representatives would join the talks. Taliban sources said they had not yet received an invitation and planned to skip Monday s discussions in Muscat, casting doubt on efforts to revive long-stalled negotiations. The Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led military intervention in 2001, has been gaining territory in recent years as it wages an insurgency to try to topple Afghanistan s Western-backed government and re-establish a fundamentalist Islamic regime. Votel also said he was optimistic about the progress being made in Afghanistan and U.S. forces were already able to embed with their Afghan counterparts at a lower level than before, bringing them closer to the front lines.  Officials have told Reuters that the United States will send 3,500 additional troops to Afghanistan, a boost that would the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 14,500.

Summary: पाकिस्तान में बंधकों को रिहा करना एक 'सकारात्मक संकेत': अमेरिकी जनरल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida over the weekend after the two leaders meet on Friday in Washington, the White House said on Tuesday. “This is a testament to the importance the United States places on the bilateral relationship and the strength of our alliance and the deep economic ties between the United States and Japan,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a White House press briefing.

Summary: ट्रम्प, जापान के आबे फ्लोरिडा में ट्रम्प रिसॉर्ट में समय बिताएंगे. मुलाकात के बादः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last year between the president’s eldest son and a Russian lawyer, according to a source with knowledge of the request. Special counsel Robert Mueller sent a document preservation request to the White House, saying the June 2016 meeting that Donald Trump Jr. had at Trump Tower in New York is relevant to his investigation, the source said on Friday. The White House counsel’s office relayed the request, a routine part of the early phase of any investigation, to other members of the White House staff on Wednesday, the source said. News earlier this month of the meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer whom he was told had damaging information about his father’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, fueled questions about the campaign’s dealings with Moscow. The Republican president has defended his son’s meeting as simple politics. Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting. The Senate Judiciary Committee has called for Trump Jr. and Manafort to testify next Wednesday at a public hearing in its Russia probe. The committee said in a statement late Friday that Trump Jr. and Manafort had agreed to negotiate with the panel over whether they will be interviewed by committee members and over documents it is seeking. The committee said it had not issued subpoenas for them to appear at Wednesday’s hearing but reserved the right to do so. The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said it would interview Kushner on Tuesday. Mueller, appointed by the Justice Department in May, is probing allegations of Russian interference in the election and potential collusion by Trump’s campaign, an issue that has engulfed the six-month-old administration. Trump has long expressed frustration with a probe that he has called a political witch hunt, and he has denied any collusion. Moscow has denied it interfered in the election campaign to try to tilt the November 2016 vote in Trump’s favor. Document requests of the type sent by Mueller generally cover emails, text messages, voicemails, notes or records. The counsel is looking for any indication that the president knew the meeting his son had was planned and might have suggested topics for discussion, the source said. Mueller would also be inquiring into whether Trump was briefed on the meeting afterward, as well as what was discussed, the source said. Mueller would be interested, the source said, in topics such as any discussion of U.S. economic sanctions on Russia, possible Russian investments in the United States or elsewhere, or a possible lifting of a Russian ban on Americans adopting Russian children. Russia imposed the adoption ban to retaliate for the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russian individuals to punish Russia for human rights violations. Russia’s ambassador to Washington was overheard by U.S. spy agencies telling his bosses that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Trump adviser Jeff Sessions last year, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing current and former U.S. officials. Sessions, who was a U.S. senator at the time and is now the attorney general, initially failed to disclose the contacts with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and then said they were not about the campaign. Under pressure over having not disclosed the meetings with Kislyak, Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe in March. The recusal angered Trump, who said in a New York Times interview this week that he would not have chosen Sessions for attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself. [nL1N1KB0UN] Newspaper reports said Trump’s lawyers are reviewing ways to limit or undermine the special counsel.  The Washington Post and The New York Times on Thursday cited unidentified people familiar with the strategy. A Trump attorney contacted by Reuters, John Dowd, denied the reports and praised Mueller. “We think he’s a straight, honest guy,” Dowd said. Dowd said communications with Mueller were productive and “we have confidence he’s going to do the right thing.” Another Trump lawyer, Jay Sekulow, told the Times that addressing possible conflicts of interest in Mueller’s team would be appropriate but declined to comment on specifics. Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway referred on Friday to reports that members of Mueller’s team have made donations to the Democratic Party. “People should know what folks’ paths and motivations and political motivations are,” she said in a Fox News interview. According to the Post, Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the Russia probe. Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers, a second person told the newspaper. Dowd dismissed the pardon report as nonsense. “It’s just not true,” he said. Separately, the spokesman for Trump’s legal team, Mark Corallo, confirmed his resignation on Friday. And lead attorney Marc Kasowitz will take on a reduced role on the outside legal team, according to media reports. Other recent changes included the hiring of veteran Washington lawyer Ty Cobb to a White House job to handle responses to the Russia probe. [nL1N1K60C4]

Summary: विशेष वकील ने व्हाइट हाउस से ट्रम्प जूनियर, रूसी बैठक के दस्तावेजों को बचाने के लिए कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Monday his committee has been conducting “vigorous oversight” of the investigations into election-related cyber attacks and he did not see any benefit in opening more probes. “At this time I do not see any benefit in opening further investigations, which would duplicate current committee oversight efforts and Intelligence Community inquiries,” Representative Devin Nunes said in a statement.

Summary: रूस हैक की नई जांच शुरू करने से कोई फायदा नहीं होगाः हाउस इंटेलिजेंस के अध्यक्ष


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Delegations from Russia and North Korea may meet on the sidelines of an economic forum in the city of Vladivostok in Russia s far east this week, TASS news agency cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday. He said the North Korean delegation was made up of economic officials, TASS reported.

Summary: रूस, उत्तर कोरिया के प्रतिनिधिमंडल व्लादिवोस्तोक में मिल सकते हैंः टीएएसएस ने लावरोव का हवाला दिया


TUNIS (Reuters) - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent son of the former Libyan leader, is in good health and is following the political situation in Libya from his base inside the country, a Gaddafi family lawyer said on Tuesday. Khaled al-Zaidi said he was in personal contact with Saif, but refused to say where in Libya Saif was, or whether he had ever left Zintan, the western town where he was detained after the 2011 revolt in which his father was toppled and killed.  He s working on politics from his base in Libya, with the tribes, with the cities, with the decision makers,  Zaidi told reporters in Tunis.  He s in a good health ... in top condition. His medical and psychological condition are good.  Saif was seen by some as a potential reformist successor to his father in the years before 2011 and remains a key figure for Gaddafi loyalists. Seeking to rebuild their influence, they present Saif as someone who can help reconcile the country s rival factions, though he is sought for alleged war crimes both in his home country and by the International Criminal Court.  The aim is to achieve peace in Libya,  said Zaidi.  He follows Libyan affairs closely every day.  In June, Zaidi said Saif had been freed in Zintan under an amnesty law passed two years ago by a parliament based in eastern Libya.  Earlier reports that Saif had been liberated turned out to be false, and uncertainty about his whereabouts and status have long fueled rumors. Those included speculation during the summer that he was about to re-emerge with a speech or public statement.  No physical evidence of Saif s whereabouts has been offered. He was last seen by an independent international observer in June 2014. A Tripoli court sentenced Saif to death in absentia in 2015 for war crimes, including killing protesters during the revolution. The International Criminal Court, based in the Netherlands, is also seeking his arrest and said in June it was trying to verify the reports of Saif s release.

Summary: गद्दाफी के बेटे की तबीयत ठीक है, वह राजनीति कर रहा हैः पारिवारिक वकील


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday turned the page on years of shaky ties with Canada by staging a lavish White House welcome for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, making clear the new leader is a man after his own heart. Trudeau, 44, the left-leaning Liberal Party leader and son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, took power last November. He already enjoys a closer bond with the Democratic president than his right-of-center predecessor, Stephen Harper of the Conservatives, managed in more than six years of dealing with the Obama administration. “He campaigned on a message of hope and of change. His positive and optimistic vision is inspiring young people,” Obama said after meeting with Trudeau in the Oval Office. “So, from my perspective, what’s not to like?” he added, also noting Trudeau’s commitment to the environment. Keeping good relations with the United States is critical for Canada, which sends 75 percent of its exports to its southern neighbor. Trudeau brought along six Cabinet ministers in a sign of how seriously he took the visit. Obama struck a warm, informal tone from the start and told Trudeau at a state dinner he “may well be the most popular Canadian named Justin.” Singer Justin Bieber is from Canada. The White House dinner was the first for a Canadian leader since 1997. Obama never did the same for Harper, who irritated the administration by insisting it approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Obama blocked the project last year. At an arrival ceremony on Thursday morning, Obama teased Trudeau about the failure in recent years of Canadian hockey teams to win the sport’s top honor. “Where’s the Stanley Cup right now?” he asked. “I’m sorry. Is it in my hometown with the Chicago Blackhawks?”   Trudeau replied there was a high U.S. demand for Canadian exports, including three of the star players who helped the Blackhawks win the National Hockey League championship last year. In Ottawa, Conservative Party foreign affairs spokesman Tony Clement said Trudeau’s visit had little deeper meaning, given that Obama would out of office in January 2017. Even so, the next few months could be crucial for Canada, said Colin Robertson of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a former senior diplomat with two U.S. postings. Encouraged by Obama’s tone, American officials are starting to re-examine important elements of the bilateral relationship in a favorable way, Robertson said. “The next administration is not going to have Canada on their radar,” he said in a phone interview. “But their reference point when they do ... will be this review conducted under the best possible auspices.”

Summary: ट्रूडो के साथ बढ़ती दोस्ती पर ओबामाः 'क्या पसंद नहीं है?'