(Reuters) - Most U.S. states have rejected full compliance with requests for voters’ private information by President Donald Trump’s commission investigating possible election fraud. The following is a rundown of how states responded to the requests for information such as names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories: Alabama: Will release publicly available data if “convinced that the overall effort will produce the necessary results.” Alaska: Will provide public information, not including voters’ dates of birth, Social Security or driver’s license numbers. Arizona: Refused to comply. The secretary of state has “serious privacy concerns.”  Arkansas: Will produce public information, not including Social Security or driver’s license numbers, military or felon status. California: Refused to provide “sensitive voter information.” The Secretary of State called effort “a waste of taxpayer money.” Colorado: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers and full dates of birth. Connecticut: Refused to immediately comply with an “overly broad” request and has asked for clarification on commission’s intent. Delaware: Refused to comply. District of Columbia: Refused to comply. The mayor said commission’s request “serves no legitimate purpose.”  Florida: Will release public information, which does not include Social Security numbers. State records lack felony status.  Georgia: Will provide basics like name, address, polling place and party preference for $250 fee, but not sensitive voter data.  Hawaii: Still awaiting formal request, but based on news reports governor stated, “I don’t think we should share these records.”  Idaho: Reviewing request, but the Secretary of State noted limits to public data, which does not include Social Security numbers. Illinois: Refused to comply. State elections board said law limits the release voter data, which is not generally public. Indiana: Will provide names, addresses and congressional districts, which are publicly available, but not other private information.  Iowa: Willing to supply publicly available information, but highlighted a formal request process needed under state law.  Kansas: Will provide publicly available information, which does not include Social Security numbers, according to local media. The Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, is vice chair of Trump’s commission.  Kentucky: Refused to comply.  Louisiana: Refused to comply, but has limited public information available for purchase. Maine: Refused to comply due to state law protecting data.  Maryland: Refused to comply, found state law prohibited release. Massachusetts: Refused to comply because voter data is not public record. Michigan:  Will supply publicly available information which does not include date of birth, social security or driver’s license numbers. Minnesota:  Refused to comply, said commission “risks becoming a partisan tool to shut out millions of eligible American voters.”  Mississippi:  Refused to comply. The Secretary of State told commission to “go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.”  Missouri:  Will release limited public information, which does not include Social Security numbers, felon or military status. Montana: Will provide public information, does not include birth dates or Social Security numbers.  Nebraska: Reviewing. The Secretary of state will provide public information if law permits and once assured of data security. Nevada: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers and other private data.  New Hampshire: Will produce publicly available information, according to local media reports.  New Jersey: State officials are reviewing the request but say they will not release information that is not public.  New Mexico: Refused to comply. Secretary of State not convinced data is not to be used for “nefarious or unlawful purposes.” New York: Refused to comply. The governor said it would not “perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election.” North Carolina: Will provide public information, including names, addresses, political affiliation and voter history. North Dakota: Refused to comply, because state law does not permit. Only state without voter registration.  Ohio: Will provide publicly information, but not confidential data such as Social Security numbers. Oklahoma: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers. Oregon: Will provide public information for a $500 fee. This does not include Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Pennsylvania: Refused to comply but will supply limited, public data for $20 fee.  Rhode Island:  Will provide public information, not including Social Security numbers and felon status. South Carolina: Refused to comply because the state does not have authority, according to its elections office. The state Republican party chair offered to purchase the data for the commission, according to local media reports.  South Dakota: Refused to comply, local media reported. Tennessee: Refused to comply because state law does not allow. Texas: Will release public voter information, including birth dates and voter history, according to local media reports.  Utah: The state will only provide public information, which does not include Social Security numbers.  Virginia: Refused to comply with request based on “specious and false notion” of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election. Vermont: Refused to comply, after not receiving a response to initial concerns raised about providing publicly information.     Washington: Will provide public information, including birth dates and addresses, but not Social Security numbers.  West Virginia: Will provide public information for a $500 fee, not including sensitive data. Voter history available for another $500. Wisconsin: Will provide public information for $12,500 fee, which does not include birth dates and social security numbers. Wyoming: Refused to comply, concerned about “federal overreach.”  Sources: State elections officers, the National Association of Secretaries of State, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी राज्यों ने ट्रम्प पैनल के मतदाता डेटा अनुरोध पर कैसे प्रतिक्रिया दी


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it had complained to the United States about the signing into law of an act which authorizes the possibility of mutual visits by navy vessels between self-ruled Taiwan and the United States. Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that China was firmly opposed to the Taiwan content in the act.

Summary: चीन ने अमेरिकी रक्षा अधिनियम में ताइवान की सामग्री के बारे में शिकायत की


(Reuters) - An estimated 71.6 million people watched the final debate between White House contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on TV on Wednesday, below the audience for their first encounter but the third-largest total ever recorded.   The data supplied by the Nielsen ratings agency on Thursday covered people who watched Wednesday night’s debate on the four main U.S. broadcast networks plus nine cable and public television channels. The first Clinton-Trump face-off in September attracted a total TV audience of 84 million, the largest in the history of U.S. presidential debates. Last week’s second debate, which was broadcast opposite popular “Sunday Night Football,” was seen by 66.5 million. Wednesday’s audience ranked as the third-highest for a U.S.  presidential debate since Nielsen started collecting TV viewership figures for the encounters in 1976. A 1980 debate between Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Republican challenger Ronald Reagan drew 80.6 million viewers. Nielsen data reflects only those who watched the debate on TV at home and did not include millions more who watched online, through social media or in bars and restaurants. The third debate ahead of the Nov. 8 election was marked by Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the outcome of the election if the Republican candidate loses to his Democratic rival, challenging a cornerstone of American democracy. The presidential election debate, held in Las Vegas, was moderated for the first time by a journalist from Fox News, Chris Wallace. It gave Fox News cable channel  the lead in number of viewers for the debate at 11.2 million, followed by broadcasters ABC and NBC with more than 10 million viewers each. Second and third presidential debates have generally attracted smaller TV audiences because many voters have already made up their minds after a presidential campaign lasting more than a year.

Summary: अंतिम ट्रम्प-क्लिंटन बहस ने लगभग 72 मिलियन दर्शकों को आकर्षित किया, जो अब तक की तीसरी सबसे बड़ी बहस है।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of a House of Representatives probe of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election said they had a “successful” hearing on Thursday, projecting unity after a partisan division had threatened to derail their investigation. Representatives Mike Conaway, the new Republican leader of the House Intelligence Committee probe, and Adam Schiff, the top Democrat, addressed reporters together after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, testified at a classified hearing. “We had a very successful hearing,” Conaway said. Schiff said the witnesses had provided “some additional insights,” and the committee was working together very well.  Neither responded to questions. The committee’s Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, recused himself from the investigation and was replaced by Conaway last month after a dispute caused Democrats to question whether Nunes could credibly lead a probe of possible Russian attempts to influence the election in favor of President Donald Trump. Russia denies the allegations. Nunes had infuriated Democrats by telling reporters, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Trump - before informing committee Democrats - that he had seen documents showing that the communications of Trump associates had been caught up in surveillance. It later emerged that Nunes, a close Trump ally, obtained the information at the White House, after the Republican president pushed back against suspicions that Russia boosted his campaign by making the unsubstantiated accusation that former President Barack Obama had ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower in New York. Schiff and Conaway later issued a joint statement on Thursday’s classified hearing saying they remained committed to working with the FBI as it continues its investigation. They said they are currently sending out invitations for witnesses to testify and requesting documents. They said they were looking forward to the next steps of the investigation, including an open hearing with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and John Brennan, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Obama. Nunes canceled that hearing when it was originally scheduled in late March, frustrating Democrats, but the committee has now promised it will take place at a still undetermined date. Yates and Clapper are due to testify in the Senate on Monday.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन की खुफिया समिति ने रूस की सुनवाई 'सफल' की है


(Reuters) - The Kansas Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to a bill expanding eligibility for Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) even though the measure faces a likely veto by Republican Governor Sam Brownback. The 25-14 Senate vote followed the House’s 81-44 passage of the bill last month, with the vote totals falling short of veto-proof margins in both Republican-controlled chambers. In a tweet on Monday, Melika Willoughby, the governor’s spokeswoman, said instead of addressing the health care needs of vulnerable residents in a sustainable way, the legislature was choosing to expand “a failing entitlement program.” “To expand Obamacare when the program is in a death spiral is not responsible policy,” she tweeted. After legislation to replace and repeal the act championed by former President Barack Obama was pulled in the U.S. House last week, President Donald Trump warned Obamacare would collapse. The replacement bill pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan would have ended the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal and state funded insurance program for the poor and disabled. Kansas was not among the 31 states as of 2016 that had opted to expand Medicaid with the federal government footing much of the cost under Obamacare. With the ACA’s enhanced federal funding, Kansas’ expansion effective Jan. 1, 2018 would cost the state an estimated $31 million in fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, and $67 million in fiscal 2019 with the addition of more than 180,000 recipients, according to estimates cited in a legislative report on the bill. Without enhanced federal matching funds, the state’s costs would balloon to $465 million by fiscal 2019. Kansas is already struggling with a structural budget deficit largely due to tax cuts enacted in 2012. In addition, the state supreme court ruled earlier this month that Kansas was underfunding public schools in violation of a state constitutional requirement for adequacy.

Summary: गवर्नर की आपत्ति के बावजूद कैनसस ने मेडिकेड विस्तार विधेयक पारित किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union must take responsibility for dealing with neighbors Russia, Africa and the Middle East, its commissioner for “neighborhood policy” said on Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. “Europe must shoulder its own share of international responsibility, especially in its neighborhood,” Johannes Hahn said on Twitter, although he also said: “America and Europe have always been strongest when they worked together.” During his campaign, Trump promised radical changes in U.S. policy, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and questioned the cost of U.S. military and other commitments in Europe. The EU faces a more aggressive Russia to the east, conflicts in the Middle East to the south and an increased threat from Islamist militants among others. The conservative leader in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: “The message is clear: it is now up to Europe. We must be more self-confident and assume more responsibility. We do not know what to expect from the USA. “For the political culture in Europe, this is another wake-up call.”

Summary: ट्रंप की जीत के बाद यूरोपीय संघ की नजर अधिक आत्मनिर्भरता पर


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday began coalescing around revised bipartisan legislation to help address Puerto Rico’s unpayable debt burden, which now threatens a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Released close to midnight on Wednesday, the House Natural Resources Committee’s revised bill includes a strong oversight board to direct how and when the island pays its bills and leaves many earlier proposals in place.  Puerto Rico has already defaulted on some of its roughly $70 billion in debt while trying to cope with a 45 percent poverty rate among its 3.5 million U.S. citizens. In addition, it is reeling from a Zika virus outbreak that is hurting its critical tourism industry. Language allowing Puerto Rico to cut repayments to creditors without their consent, known as a “cram-down,” remains. The bill does not prioritize pensioners over bondholders, but the language remains muddied, one analyst surmised. “Tonight, we introduced legislation to responsibly address the crisis in Puerto Rico. The revised bill incorporates technical refinements and input from all stakeholders,” committee Chairman Rob Bishop said in a statement. For a link to a factbox on the bill, click. While both Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives welcomed the bill after several delays, how more conservative Republican lawmakers view the legislation is an open question. A vote on the bill by the House is expected in the first week of June, ahead of a looming $1.9 billion debt payment due on July 1. In recent months, the debt crisis has threatened a deepening humanitarian crisis as hospitals close wards, social services decline and emigration saps more economic activity. “After long bipartisan negotiations, we believe we have achieved a restructuring process that can work,” U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Thursday. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who faces opposition to the bill from within his own Republican ranks, highlighted the bipartisan effort as he will need Democrat votes to get it passed. “Right now, the stability of the U.S. territory is in danger, as the Puerto Rican government continues to default on major loan payments. We have insisted that our response meet basic principles, and first among them is protecting taxpayers from a bailout,” Ryan said in a statement. The bill, formally known as the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), seeks to return the island to solvency, rebuild a base for economic growth and maintain its ability to access capital markets in the future. The White House called the bill an “important first step” in creating a fair process for restructuring Puerto Rico’s debt and economy after a decade of recession. The U.S. territory’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said he was encouraged by the bill but chafed at the oversight board, which he believes undermine the island’s self-governance. Choosing the members of the oversight board has been a sticking point in the talks leading up to the introduction of the bill. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Thursday he was pleased the bill includes “restructuring tools for Puerto Rico that are comprehensive and workable” but expressed disappointment that proposals to promote economic growth were left out of what he called a “tough bipartisan compromise.”        In the early drafts of the bill, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, said he was not satisfied, meaning a potential hurdle for passing the bill could remain. A conservative Tea Party favorite, Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho, said he was reviewing the bill but told Reuters he thought a majority of Republicans would “support it through both houses of Congress.” Many creditors lobbied for a bill that does not create new precedents for how they might be treated in a restructuring which would potentially set up future legal fights on the U.S. mainland that are far away from the island’s current crisis. “The bill, which creates a control board and allows for bankruptcy, is highly controversial and does not definitively protect any creditors. We believe the legislation is more positive for both GO and COFINA creditors than the legislation previously under review,” wrote Heights Securities analyst Daniel Hanson. Hanson said the bill lacks clarity over the treatment of constitutionally protected bondholders versus pensioners. A local bondholder group said it supported the bill. “As imperfect as it may be, the bipartisan bill is the ‘pause’ that is desperately needed so everyone can come together to forge a bright future for all Americans living in Puerto Rico,” said Jorge Irizarry, president of the Backyard Bondholders, which represents more than 60,000 resident bondholders in Puerto Rico.   GO, or General Obligation bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the island and are senior to all debt, while COFINA debt is backed by sales tax revenues. “This territories-clause bill, which will bring all creditors to the table and establish a strong and independent fiscal oversight board, should appeal to conservatives who were concerned about a ‘bailout’ or ‘contagion,’” the COFINA Senior Bondholders Ad Hoc Group said in a statement.  Investors bid up prices on Puerto Rico’s benchmark July 2035 GO debt to 66, a gain of 0.50 point in price to yield 12.797 percent, according to MSRB data.

Summary: द्विदलीय प्यूर्टो रिको संकट विधेयक पेश किया गया, कर्ज बढ़ेगा


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Palestinian cause will stay alive among Arabs until the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the Syrian president s office said on Wednesday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump s Jerusalem decision.   The future of Jerusalem is not determined by a state or a president but is determined by its history and by the will and determination in the Palestinian cause,  President Bashar al-Assad s office said on an official social media feed.

Summary: सीरियाई राष्ट्रपति ने कहा कि जेरूसलम फिलिस्तीन की राजधानी होगी


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police are not cooperating with investigations by a government-funded watchdog into violent deaths that followed last month s election, two sources with direct knowledge of the probes said. The head of the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) told Reuters in mid-August it was fast-tracking investigations of all deaths and injuries for which the police were alleged by rights groups to be responsible following the Aug. 8 national ballot.  Macharia Njeru had attended autopsies of a young girl and a baby and called the probes into those deaths  priority cases . But the sources told Reuters that police had to date not transferred any documents or evidence to IPOA, which is mandated to investigate cases reported by individuals or police or referred to them by human rights organizations.  The big frustration of IPOA is that the police do not share information  critical to investigations into police misconduct, one of the sources said.  ... (But) officers feel IPOA is there to harass them.  The police are required by law to cooperate with the IPOA, which is civilian-run. A spokesman for the force, Charles Owino, did not respond to phone calls on Wednesday afternoon. Interior Minister Fred Matiang i last month denied accusations of police brutality. He said  criminal elements , not legitimate political protesters, had caused trouble after the election that provoked a police response. Protests broke out after the election board announced that incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta had won by 1.4 million votes. Opposition leader Raila Odinga disputed the result and took his case to the Supreme Court, which on Friday scrapped the result and ordered a new poll within 60 days. [L8N1LI1QY]      The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says at least 28 people were killed in shootings in the days after the results were announced. It said it believes the killings were linked to the police. Evidence relevant to the investigations could include documents such as police deployment plans and operational orders as well as internal reports into alleged misconduct by officers or units, one of the sources said. An IPOA spokeswoman said the monitor did not discuss ongoing investigations with the media.  The authority became operational in 2012 and has so far secured the conviction of two police officers in a 2014 murder of a teenage girl in a coastal Kenyan town.  In its annual reports for 2014 to 2016, it listed  suspicion by the police , delays in response to requests for information and lack of cooperation from some officers as factors impeding its operations.

Summary: केन्याई पुलिस चुनाव से संबंधित मौतों पर निगरानीकर्ता के साथ सहयोग नहीं कर रही हैः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee said on Friday it will interview White House adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday as part of its investigation into allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.

Summary: हाउस इंटेलिजेंस पैनल मंगलवार को कुशनर का साक्षात्कार लेगा।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday warned Americans against pointing a finger at one religion or another after a gunman who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group massacred 49 people at a gay night club in Orlando. “The worst thing we can do is engage in trying to point fingers at one group or one form of sectarianism or another or one religion or another. Those are not the values of our country,” Kerry told reporters as he posed for pictures before a meeting with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.

Summary: ऑरलैंडो के बाद केरी ने धर्म पर उंगली उठाने के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday he would seek an emergency appropriation of “multiple billions” of dollars to help Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as they try to cope with the fallout from the war with Islamic State. Graham, who recently returned from a trip to the region, said the three countries are facing severe stresses as a result of the political and refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war and the overrun of parts of Syria and Iraq by Islamic State. “One thing I’m going to talk... about is an emergency appropriation that would help Egypt, Jordan and probably Lebanon to deal with the stresses they’re facing,” said Graham, chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid. He said he also wanted money for Israel to help protect its borders, especially with Syria.  Graham said he expected opposition from budget hawks, mostly his fellow Republicans. He said he expected Democratic support, although he acknowledged deep concern from some, including Senator Patrick Leahy, the party’s leader on his subcommittee, about Egypt’s human rights record. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted former  President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against Mursi’s rule. Sisi then launched a crackdown on dissent, drawing allegations from rights groups of abuse, which his government denies. Sisi initially gained the support of millions of Egyptians, who saw him as a decisive figure who could deliver stability. But that support has thinned as the public has grown frustrated with unemployment and high prices. Graham said Egypt is too crucial an ally, to both the United States and Israel, not to bolster Sisi’s government militarily to fight terrorism, and economically, if he improves on human rights. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Graham said he would ask the Pentagon to approve Egypt’s requests for additional military equipment. “If al-Sisi did something that would be seen by me and others as a real serious move on the rights front, it makes it easier for a guy like me to help,” he said. Longer term, Graham said he wanted a “Marshall Plan” for the region, similar to what Washington provided to Europe after World War Two. “We need to think broadly as a nation about some kind of Marshall Plan for front-line states that would allow Egypt to have access to low-interest loans, preferential trade agreements and bolstering their civil society,” he said.

Summary: सीनेटर लिंडसे ग्राहम मिस्र, जॉर्डन, लेबनान के लिए आपातकालीन निधि में अरबों चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A diplomatic crisis between the United States and Turkey that led them to stop issuing visas to each other s citizens is  overblown  and will likely be resolved soon, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Wednesday. In remarks apparently aimed at defusing tensions between the two countries, Simsek told an event in Washington that Turkey considered the safety and security of U.S. diplomats and employees in Turkey a  top priority  and described the detention of staff at U.S. missions in Turkey as  routine  investigations.  Tensions between the two NATO allies rose in recent days after the detentions of two locally employed staff prompted the United States on Sunday to suspend non-immigrant visa services at its embassy and consulates in Turkey. Hours later, Turkey issued a similar suspension on visas for U.S. citizens.  U.S.-Turkish relations were already strained over U.S. military support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and the United States  unwillingness to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally whom Ankara views as the mastermind behind last year s failed military coup.  We don t want this dispute to last more than a second,  Simsek said of the current visa spat at a briefing on U.S. business opportunities in Turkey at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. He added that Turkey is committed to  safeguarding  U.S. government employees in Turkey. Simsek s remarks contrasted with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s statements on Tuesday that  agents  had infiltrated U.S. missions in Turkey and that Ankara no longer recognized U.S. Ambassador John Bass as a legitimate envoy.  Bass told reporters on Wednesday the U.S. government had still not received any official explanation from the Turkish government for why the employees were arrested in Turkey this year. When a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration worker was detained in Istanbul last week, Erdogan s spokesman said the employee had been in contact with a leading suspect in last July s failed coup. Since the abortive putsch, in which at least 240 people were killed, more than 50,000 people have been detained and 150,000, including teachers, academics, soldiers and journalists, have been suspended from work. Simsek on Wednesday dismissed concerns expressed by some Western allies that the crackdown shows Turkey is slipping into authoritarian rule under Erdogan.  Turkey is not doing arbitrary arrests. There are no political hostages. Give us the benefit of the doubt that Turkey s judicial system will work and is functioning,  he said.

Summary: तुर्की को उम्मीद है कि अमेरिका के साथ वीजा विवाद जल्द ही हल हो जाएगाः उप प्रधानमंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee called on Wednesday for the release of part of a government report on the Sept. 11 attacks, saying this would diminish speculation that the 28 pages contained proof of Saudi involvement. “The release of these pages will not end debate over the issue, but it will quiet rumors over their contents,” Representative Adam Schiff, the intelligence panel’s ranking Democrat, said in a statement. “As is often the case, the reality is less damaging than the uncertainty.” The still-classified section of the official report on the 2001 attacks is central to a dispute over whether Americans should be able to sue the Saudi Arabian government for damages. The Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence is reviewing the material to see whether it can be declassified. Congressional aides said members of the House intelligence committee had seen the report. President Barack Obama, who was visiting Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, said he would not sign legislation making its way through Congress that would allow such lawsuits, if the Saudis were found to have any responsibility. Schiff has repeatedly called for the declassification of the 28-page report section. In his statement on Wednesday, he suggested the release of a redacted version to help address speculation that they contained proof of official Saudi government or senior Saudi officials’ involvement in the attacks. The 9/11 commission investigated those claims and never found sufficient evidence to support them, Schiff said.

Summary: 9/11 रिपोर्ट की 'वास्तविकता' अफवाहों की तुलना में कम हानिकारक हैः अमेरिकी डेमोक्रेट


FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.,/HERSHEY, Pa. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama chastised supporters at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in North Carolina on Friday, as tensions spiked when a supporter of Republican opponent Donald Trump began protesting. But that didn’t stop Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, campaigning a few states away at the time, from telling a completely opposite version of what happened, condemning Obama for screaming at the protester. The incident happened in clear view of reporters covering the rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where a predominantly African American crowd was jammed into a gym at a state university to hear Obama stump for Clinton. Obama had just said Trump was unfit to lead the country when he was interrupted by a white-haired white man in a beret and suit jacket with what appeared to be military patches, who stood up in the stairwell of the bleachers, waving a Trump campaign sign. The crowd turned its attention to the protester, screaming and booing at the man. Obama repeatedly told the irate crowd to “focus” and to “settle down.” “Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second!” Obama said. “You’ve got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate,” he said as the protester was led away. “We live in a country that respects free speech,” he said. “It looks like he might have served in our military – we’ve got to respect that.” In Trump’s version, Obama scolded the protester, not the crowd. “He was talking to the protester, screaming at him, really screaming at him,” Trump said. “By the way, if I spoke the way Obama spoke to that protester they would say, ‘He became unhinged,’” Trump said.

Summary: ओबामा प्रदर्शनकारी के लिए बोलते हैं लेकिन ट्रम्प द्वारा उनका उपहास किया जाता है


HARARE (Reuters) - When Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe sacked his vice-president in front of 12,000 baying party members in 2014, Emmerson Mnangagwa sat quietly in the crowd, a green baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. The man who stood to gain most from the dismissal betrayed nothing through his expression and gentle clapping - a survival tactic honed during five decades of service to the mercurial Mugabe. His cap, however, spoke volumes. Emblazoned across its front, next to a portrait of Mugabe, were four words:  Indigenise, Empower, Develop, Employ  - a slogan of the ruling ZANU-PF party. Speaking at the congress, Mnangagwa reinforced the message from his headgear, announcing revisions to the party s constitution that backed  total ownership and control  of Zimbabwe s natural resources. It was a key insight to the party s direction as it contemplated life beyond Mugabe.  We will remain forever masters of our own destiny,  Mnangagwa said, to cheers from the crowd. With Mugabe, 93, held following Wednesday s military takeover in Harare, questions have arisen about what the future holds for Mnangagwa, whose sacking from the post of vice president last week brought the political crisis to a head.  There are no arguments around his credentials to provide strong leadership and stability, but there are questions over whether he can also be a democrat,  said Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. The whereabouts of Mugabe s wife Grace, 52, whose prospects of succeeding the president appeared to have been helped by Mnangagwa s dismissal, are presently unknown.   With his appointment in 2014 as official deputy to Mugabe, Mnangagwa had appeared well set as the eventual successor to Africa s oldest head of state. The 75-year-old was one of Mugabe s most trusted lieutenants, having been at his side in prison, during wartime and then in government. Along the way, he earned the nickname  Ngwena , Shona for crocodile, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness. Mnangagwa backed Mugabe s economic nationalism, especially a drive to force foreign firms to hand majority stakes to local blacks, suggesting he may not be the pro-market pragmatist many investors were hoping for. He has been in every administration since independence, holding posts as varied as minister of state security, defense and finance, as well as speaker of parliament. Most controversially, he was in charge of internal security in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a crack North Korean-trained brigade against rebels loyal to his rival Joshua Nkomo. Rights groups say 20,000 civilians, mostly from the Ndebele tribe, were killed. Mugabe denies genocide or crimes against humanity but has admitted it was a  moment of madness . Mnangagwa s role remains shrouded in mystery, typical of a political operator trained as a communist guerrilla in China in the 1960s and who always stayed in the shadows behind Mugabe. Secretive and insular, he prefers to operate under the radar, those in his inner circle say, and when pushed into a corner, resorts to jokes and trivia to avoid serious discussion.  I wouldn t say he is deceptive but it s fair to say his default position is to crack jokes and deflect uncomfortable questions by asking endless questions,  one member of parliament close to him said.  He is very conscious that his public image is that of a hard man but he is a much more complex personality - pleasant and an amazing story-teller,  the politician, also from Mnangagwa s Midlands Province, told Reuters. Mnangagwa s appointment as vice president appointment came a day after his predecessor Joice Mujuru was fired for allegedly planning to topple Mugabe. Asked whether the purge would weaken the party, a smiling Mnangagwa said:  The revolution has a way of strengthening itself. It goes through cycles, this is another cycle where it rids itself of elements that had now become inconsistent with the correct line.  Mnangagwa learnt his politics in prison in the 1960s after being sentenced to death for sabotage by British authorities following his capture while in one of the earliest guerrilla units fighting white colonial rule in what was then Rhodesia. He was 19 and only spared the noose by a law prohibiting the execution of convicts under 21. After a decade in prison, often sharing a cell with Mugabe, Mnangagwa became personal assistant to the leader of the liberation struggle, and went on to head the guerrilla movement s feared internal security bureau. In January, a photograph appeared in local media showing Mnangagwa enjoying drinks with a friend. In his hand was a large novelty mug emblazoned with the words:  I M THE BOSS.  To supporters of Mugabe, this bordered on treason. They suspected that Mnangagwa already saw himself in the leader s shoes. When Mugabe fired Mnangagwa as vice president last week for showing  traits of disloyalty , he removed a possible successor who was also one of his last remaining liberation war comrades. But relations had already cooled between the two men after suggestions by Mnangagwa s allies in August that he had been poisoned by ice cream from a dairy owned by the Mugabes.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे की सेना के सत्ता में आने पर 'मगरमच्छ' पर नजर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc and other U.S. multinationals will face new curbs on tax loopholes under a rule imposed by Washington on Thursday, part of a scramble among governments worldwide to bolster their corporate tax bases. Acting shortly after a European Union grab for billions of dollars in back taxes from Apple, the U.S. Treasury said it was tightening restrictions on companies’ use of foreign tax credits to reduce what they owe in U.S. taxes. “We are closing another tax loophole that contributes to the erosion of our tax base,” Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur said in a statement.  The fight for multinational tax revenues escalated on Aug. 30 when the EU ruled Ireland was giving improper state aid to Apple in the form of a deal for low taxes. The EU ordered Apple to pay Ireland 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) in back taxes, prompting U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to express concern the EU ruling could undermine the U.S. tax base. Analysts have speculated whether Apple would be able to cut its U.S. tax bill by claiming foreign tax credits for its extra tax bill in Ireland.  Under normal circumstances, U.S. companies can reduce the taxes they owe the U.S. government by the value of the tax credits they claim for taxes paid abroad on foreign profits. No U.S. tax is due on those profits until they are brought into the United States, or repatriated. The new rule will prevent companies faced with back tax bills from “splitting,” a strategy that allows companies to bring foreign tax credits into the United States without repatriating the income from which they were derived. Apple had no comment on Treasury’s tax notice. The technology giant is not the only U.S. company in the crosshairs of EU state aid investigations. Starbucks Corp has been ordered to pay up to 30 million euros ($33 million) to the Dutch state, while Amazon.com Inc and McDonald’s Corp are under investigation by the EU’s executive arm. The new rule was likely to ratchet up transatlantic tensions over corporate taxes while eliminating one more strategy U.S. companies can use to cushion the blow from increasingly aggressive EU tax collection efforts. The tax notice specifically cited European Union state aid investigations as a risk to U.S. revenues. The Treasury had no comment on whether its notice would have an impact on Apple directly, but a spokesperson said the notice applies to all companies required by a foreign government to pay additional taxes, including those hit by state-aid cases.

Summary: अमेरिकी कर परिहार ऐप्पल के लिए एक संभावित सिरदर्द है


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and Germany agreed on Sunday they remained committed to the nuclear deal with Iran after a U.S. decision to decertify the agreement, a spokeswoman said after a call between Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “They agreed the UK and Germany both remained firmly committed to the deal,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “They also agreed the international community needed to continue to come together to push back against Iran’s destabilizing regional activity, and to explore ways of addressing concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

Summary: ब्रिटेन, जर्मनी ईरान परमाणु समझौते के लिए प्रतिबद्धः मे का कार्यालय


MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that ties with U.S. President Donald Trump s administration were not without problems, but he hoped that mutual interests of Russia and the United States in fighting terrorism would help improve Moscow s relations with Washington.  Some forces are making use of Russian-American relations to resolve internal political problems in the United States,  Putin told an energy forum in Moscow.  I believe that such a person like Trump, with his character, will never be hostage to someone s interests.  Moscow has  lots of friends  in the United States who genuinely want to improve relations with Russia, Putin added.

Summary: पुतिनः Russia-U.S. आतंकवाद के खिलाफ संयुक्त लड़ाई के माध्यम से संबंधों में सुधार हो सकता है


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate wrestling magnate Linda McMahon as his choice to head the Small Business Administration, Trump’s transition team said in a statement on Wednesday.  The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country-store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives’ Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. [L1N1DO0KC] The final leadership role of Kelly’s 45-year career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. Kelly, 66, differed with Democratic President Barack Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to stem climate change, Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists, but he fits with the Republican president-elect’s promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011, and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, and was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.

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


MONROVIA (Reuters) - George Weah has been here before: on the goal line of the Liberian presidency, one run-off vote from victory. Unlike in 2005, however, his support is much wider and many expect him at last to succeed. The 1995 European soccer player of the year won 39 percent of votes in first round presidential polls last week, with 95 percent of votes counted. The final result is due on Wednesday. That was 10 percentage points more than closest rival Vice President Joseph Boakai, and a better score than he had in earlier contests, but short of the 50 percent needed to win.  A run-off between Weah and Boakai will be held in November.  The result shows how support has grown steadily for the former AC Milan striker, who lit up television screens in Liberia in the 1990s with his mazy runs, briefly distracting fans from a 1989-2003 civil war that killed tens of thousands. Now  King George , as his supporters call him, has to persuade the majority that he can run a country as well as he kicks a ball. His rhetoric has been light on policy so far. In an interview on Oct 8 he spoke vaguely about a need for better roads.   We will seek a government of inclusion where everyone can work together and make our country a better one for all of us,  he told Reuters. Weah grew up in Clara Town slum in the capital Monrovia, playing football there and in Cameroon, where manager Arsene Wenger spotted him and took him to Monaco. He went on to play for Milan and Paris St Germain, and later in his career for Chelsea, Manchester City and Marseille. He became the first non-European to win the Ballon d Or in 1995, the same year he picked up the African and world player of the year awards. His rags-to-riches story has inspired supporters from similarly lowly backgrounds.  Weah is grass roots, a son of the soil - he is a star, but he has the country at heart,  said Oliver Myers, an unemployed 39-year-old from the Rehab neighborhood outside Monrovia.  Others are wary of his lack of political experience and education, and question his ability to govern a country that remains 12th from bottom of the U.N. Human Development Index.  Weah s populism and inability to articulate a coherent platform ... are deeply concerning,  said Liberian political analyst Robtel Neajai Pailey in a recent opinion piece for Liberian website The Bush Chicken.  Success at football does not translate into success in the presidency of a traumatized, poorly managed, post-war nation.  Doubts over Weah s experience could still sink his ambitions in next month s run-off, as in 2005, when he won the first round but lost the second to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who went on to rule for 12 years. Weah refused to take part in televised debates attended by most other major candidates, and his choice of running mate Jewel Howard-Taylor - ex-wife of Charles Taylor, the former president and warlord serving 50 years in Britain for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone - has raised eyebrows. Johnson Sirleaf was credited with shoring up peace after the civil war, but criticized for failing to tackle elite graft and doing little to lift most Liberians out of poverty.  Development has been hindered by an Ebola outbreak and a drop in the price of iron ore. Poor roads still leave most of rural Liberia stranded during the rainy season, often without electricity. In Monrovia, where derelict buildings line the main highways, most live on pitted dirt streets with little access to clean water.  Boakai, 72, Sirleaf s deputy for 12 years, has struggled to separate himself from her during his campaign, despite promoting his humble beginnings.  As Weah gained popularity, he was elected to the Liberian senate in 2014, defeating the president s son Robert Sirleaf.  He still plays football every Sunday in Monrovia.  While people have reservations about his lack of education, he is seen as the candidate for change,  a diplomat told Reuters on Monday.   It will take a lot for Boakai to turn this one around.  Thomas Kojo, who played with Weah on the Liberia national team, thinks his former teammate s passion for his country will take him far.   The heart George has for Liberia is unbelievable,  Kojo said in an interview outside Weah s compound in Rehab on Monday.  He made sure the national team was always trying to bring (home) some pride.  Weah paid for the national team s kit when the Football Association couldn t afford it during the war, and gave players up to $600 spending money and similar bonuses if the team won, Kojo said. He once chartered a flight for the team when they were stranded in Ivory Coast without a flight to a game.  The football team was the only good image to come from Liberia when all people saw was the killing,  Kojo said.   He made sure he was there for us.

Summary: पूर्व सॉकर स्टार 'किंग जॉर्ज' लाइबेरिया के राष्ट्रपति पद के लक्ष्य के करीब


SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials interviewing refugees held in an Australian-run offshore detention center left the facility abruptly, three detainees told Reuters on Saturday, throwing further doubt over a plan to resettle many of the detainees in America.  U.S. officials halted screening interviews and departed the Pacific island of Nauru on Friday, two weeks short of their scheduled timetable and a day after Washington said the United States had reached its annual refugee intake cap.  “U.S. (officials) were scheduled to be on Nauru until July 26 but they left on Friday,” one refugee told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he did not want to jeopardize his application for U.S. resettlement.  In the United States, a senior member of the union that represents refugee officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a Department of Homeland Security agency, told Reuters his own trip to Nauru was not going forward as scheduled.  Jason Marks, chief steward of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1924, told Reuters his trip has now been pushed back and it was unclear whether it will actually happen. The USCIS said on Saturday that the program would continue but offered no details.  “We do not discuss the exact dates of USCIS’ circuit rides to adjudicate refugees’ applications. However, we are planning return trips,” the agency said in a statement.   “It is not uncommon for the dates of tentatively planned refugee circuit ride trips worldwide to change due to a wide variety of factors.” The Australian Immigration Department declined to comment on the whereabouts of the U.S. officials or the future of a refugee swap agreement between Australia and the United States that President Donald Trump earlier this year branded a “dumb deal”. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Sunday the deal was progressing as expected, reiterating the government had assurances from the Trump administration. “The quota will roll over again on October 1 as I said, and I expect that the United States will adhere to this agreement, as the president promised,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.  An indefinite postponement of the deal would have significant repercussions for Australia’s pledge to close a second detention center on Papua New Guinea’s Manus island on Oct 31. Only 70 refugees, less than 10 percent of the total detainees held in the camp, have completed U.S. processing. Bishop said she did not believe it was the case only 10 percent of refugees had been processed. “The U.S. deal looks more and more doubtful,” Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said. “The U.S. deal was never the solution the Australian government pretended it to be.” Former U.S. President Barack Obama agreed a deal with Australia late last year to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers, a deal the Trump administration said it would only honor to maintain a strong relationship with Australia and then only on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks. In exchange, Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a center in Costa Rica, where the United States has taken in a larger number of people in recent years. The swap is designed, in part, to help Australia close both Manus and Nauru, which are expensive to run and have been widely criticized by the United Nations and others over treatment of detainees. The U.S. government confirmed on Thursday that its refugee intake cap of 50,000 people had been reached with the new intake year not due to begin until Oct. 1. Exemptions could be made for those who have a “credible claim to a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,” following a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court last month reviving elements of Trump’s travel ban while it considers the legality of the order. Given the risky boat journey the refugees in Manus and Nauru undertook to reach Australia, it is unlikely many of them have strong family ties to the United States, experts said. The majority of the detainees interviewed on both Manus and Nauru by U.S. officials in April are from Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan. Australia’s hardline immigration policy requires asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia to be sent for processing to camps at Manus and on Nauru. They are told they will never be settled in Australia. Trump’s resistance to the refugee deal had strained relations with a key Asia Pacific ally, triggering a fractious phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this year. Trump’s concession and a series of high-level visits by U.S. dignities have since help mend connections between the two countries.  Australia has already offered detainees up to $25,000 to voluntarily return to their home countries, an offer few have taken up.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः Australia-U.S. अधिकारियों के नौरू से बाहर निकलने पर शरणार्थियों की अदला-बदली पर फिर संदेह


Caitlyn Jenner posted a video on Wednesday (April 26) of herself using a women’s bathroom at Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s New York hotel. Published on her Facebook page, Jenner’s video shows her walking along the street, entering the Trump International Hotel and Tower and making her way to the restrooms. The video was spurred on by Trump, who, during an appearance on The Today Show last week, said in an interview that he would not care if Jenner used the women’s room at his properties. His comment came following the trending topic of so-called “bathroom bills,” like the one passed in North Carolina, which prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Summary: जेनर ने ट्रम्प संपत्ति में महिलाओं के शौचालय का उपयोग किया


(Reuters) - The following are five facts about Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, who a senior administration official said on Thursday would replace Rex Tillerson as U.S. secretary of state within weeks under a plan developed by the White House.  * Pompeo, 53, regularly briefs President Donald Trump on intelligence matters, and is considered one of the most hawkish voices on North Korea in Trump’s inner circle. * Pompeo has downplayed the extent of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, saying Moscow has sought to influence American elections for decades. * Like Trump, Pompeo is an outspoken critic of Iran and has called for scrapping the 2015 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. In October, he said Iran was “mounting a ruthless drive to be the hegemonic power in the region.” * Pompeo has supported the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data. In an opinion piece published last year, he called for restarting the bulk collection of domestic telephone metadata and combining it with financial and lifestyle information into one searchable database. * Before taking the reins at the CIA in January, Pompeo was a conservative Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas. He is a retired Army officer and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and Harvard Law School.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः माइक पोम्पिओ के बारे में पांच तथ्य, टिलरसन की जगह लेने की उम्मीद


(Reuters) - Democrats demanding action on gun control turned to Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook’s live video platform to broadcast their “sit-in” on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after the chamber’s cameras shut down. Representative Scott Peters of California told Reuters he downloaded the online video platform Periscope from the House floor after it became clear that chamber cameras were not operating.  “Thanks to them, the American people got to look in on and listen to what is taking place this floor,” U.S. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said in praise of the platform. The protest was the latest move by Democrats to persuade the Republican majority in Congress to take up votes on gun control measures in response to last week’s mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, the deadliest in modern U.S. history. “The speaker (Paul Ryan) controls the cameras,” Peters said. “We noticed that over lunch, he turned them off - allowed them to be turned off.” A spokesman for Twitter said that tweets from Peters’ account containing the Periscope footage had been viewed over 800,000 times as of Wednesday night. Ryan’s spokesman, AshLee Strong, said in a statement:     “The House cannot operate without members following the rules of the institution, so the House has recessed subject to the call of the chair.” At about noon EDT, presiding House officer and Republican Representative Ted Poe declared the House not in order, as Democratic protesters sat at the front of the chamber. Cable news channel C-SPAN, which typically uses the House cameras to broadcast live footage of Congress, broadcast Peters’ Periscope and other lawmakers’ feeds. Other news networks and cable news channels, including MSNBC, FOX and CNN, also ran parts of the footage. C-SPAN communications director Howard Mortman said it was the first time the channel broadcast a live social media feed from the House floor. “The House controls the cameras and that means they control the camera angles, the audio, video, the whole thing,” Mortman said. “We’re using social media platforms to show what’s happening.” “With official broadcasts suspended in the House, we’ve created a channel to follow #NoBillNoBreak on #Periscope live,” Periscope said in a tweet. Peters said about five or six Democratic House members had broadcast live video during the sit-in. Late Wednesday, lawmakers cheered their thanks during one of his feeds that aired on C-SPAN. One representative, Eric Swalwell of California, published live video from the House floor to Facebook. #NoBillNoBreak became a rallying cry for gun control supporters on Twitter and quickly became the top-trending hashtag in the United States on the social media platform. Politicians and average social media users alike used the hashtag as a sign of solidarity with the sit-in. “Nowhere I’d rather spend my bday than the House floor w/ @repjohnlewis for gun control. #NoBillNoBreak #goodtrouble,” tweeted Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is mentioned as a potential running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Summary: हाउस डेमोक्रेट्स ने कैमरे बंद होने के बाद सोशल मीडिया पर 'धरना' प्रसारित किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Advocates fighting to close the U.S. gender pay gap hailed President Barack Obama’s proposal to expand salary reporting requirements but said much more was needed to end wage discrimination.  Under the plan, companies with 100 employees or more must provide data on hours worked and salary ranges, broken down by gender, race and ethnicity, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission each year to help identify and combat pay discrimination.    Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations at the American Association of University Women, said the data would be useful in passing legislation, making companies comply with existing laws and proving the gender pay gap is not a myth. “The wage gap is a persistent, pernicious problem, and it has been around for awhile,” Maatz said in an interview. “We still have a lot to do to change it, but this is an excellent step forward.”  Maatz said other measures, including non-retaliation policies at companies so women can ask about discrepancies in pay and changes in how salaries are determined, would accelerate progress. “Not using salary histories but rather looking at resumes and taking into account experience and paying for what the job is worth to the company will do a lot to help close the gender pay gap,” Maatz added.  Women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes for equal work, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Although the pay gap has narrowed since 1960, when women made about 60 cents for every dollar, the institute calculates that if change continues at the same pace, women will not reach equal pay until 2059. The current situation is worse for black women, at 60 cents, and Latina women, at 55 cents, said Vivien Labaton, co-founder of the non-profit Make It Work campaign for economic security for working families.  Labaton said making salary range data that companies submit to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accessible to their employees would speed up change. “What Make It Work is calling for is a publicly available database that would show what employers pay for different jobs based on sex, race and ethnicity,” she said. The commission issues only aggregated data that does not reveal any particular employer’s or employees’ information. “We do know that the more transparency you have, the smaller the gender pay gap there will be,” said Maatz.

Summary: लैंगिक वेतन अंतर पर ओबामा के कदम को कठिन लड़ाई में पहला कदम माना जा रहा है


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, once one of the country’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 months in federal prison for a financial crime related to sexual abuse of high school wrestlers he coached decades ago. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert a serial sex abuser in handing down the sentence, which was longer than the zero to six months recommended by federal prosecutors. Durkin said the sentence would have been even longer if it weren’t for Hastert’s age, 74, and poor health. Frail and clinging to a walker, Hastert apologized for sexually abusing boys when he was a teacher and coach in his hometown of Yorkville. “I’m sorry to those I hurt and misled. I wanted to apologize for the boys I mistreated,” Hastert told Durkin at the two-hour sentencing hearing in federal court in Chicago. The judge asked him if he acknowledged sexual abuse of his victims and Hastert said he did. Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House speaker in history and a successful international lobbyist who was earning $75,000 a month, pleaded guilty last October to the crime of structuring. That involves withdrawing a large sum of money in small increments to avoid detection. He needed the cash after he reached a secret agreement with one of his five sexual abuse victims to pay him $3.5 million in compensation for pain and suffering. The judge said that even though Hastert could not be charged with sex abuse because the statute of limitations had run out, he could take the conduct into consideration at sentencing. “Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is. The abuse was 40 years ago but the damage lasts today,” Durkin said. Hastert’s defense had asked for a probation-only sentence, arguing that his shame and humiliation were punishment enough. His portrait has been removed from the Capitol, the seat of the U.S. Congress, and his alma mater Wheaton College stripped his name from a public policy center. “Nothing is more stunning than having the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the house’ in the same sentence,” Durkin acknowledged. But he said that an extremely aggravating factor in the sentencing was that Hastert lied to federal agents about the money and falsely claimed that the victim was extorting him. He said Hastert must serve two years of probation and go through sex-offender treatment after release, and also pay a $250,000 fine. Scott Cross, 53, one of Hastert’s victims, and Jolene Burdge, the sister of another victim who is deceased, both spoke during the hearing. “Don’t be a coward, Mr. Hastert,” Burdge said. “Tell the truth. What you did wasn’t misconduct. It was sexual abuse of a minor.” Cross, the first victim to ever speak publicly about the abuse, choked up as he described how Hastert molested him in the wrestling locker room in 1972. “As a 17-year-old boy I was devastated,” he told the judge. “I tried to figure out why Coach Hastert had singled me out. I felt very alone and tremendously embarrassed.” Hastert, a conservative who trumpeted his honesty and small-town values when he was in Washington, D.C., said he did not contest Cross’s statement. But his defense said the former politician had forgotten the incident from 1972 and had even approached Cross’s older brother, Tom Cross, former Illinois House Republican leader, and asked him to write a letter of support to the judge. The sex abuse victim who received money from Hastert has not been named publicly. On Monday, using the name James Doe, he sued Hastert for $1.8 million, saying he had received only $1.7 million of the promised compensation. Hastert had been out on bail pending sentencing. When there is room for him, he will report to a federal prison where he can get medical treatment after suffering a life-threatening blood infection last year.

Summary: हाउस के पूर्व स्पीकर हेस्टर्ट को 15 महीने की सजा, यौन शोषण स्वीकार किया


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s prime minister insisted on Thursday that the Kurdish independence referendum be declared void, an apparent rejection of the Kurdistan region s offer to  freeze  its independence push as part of efforts to resolve the crisis through talks.  We won t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the Constitution,  Haider al-Abadi said in a statement . The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) proposed on Wednesday an immediate ceasefire, a suspension of the referendum result and  starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi Constitution . Baghdad has always considered the Kurdish secession referendum illegal. It responded last week by seizing back the city of Kirkuk, the oil-producing areas around it and other territory that the Kurds had captured from militant group Islamic State. Abadi has ordered his army to recapture all disputed territory and has demanded central control of Iraq s border crossings with Turkey, at Fish-Khabur, located inside the Kurdish autonomous region. Fish-Khabur is strategically vital because oil from both Kurdish and government-held parts of northern Iraq crosses via a pipeline there into Turkey, the main route out of the area for the exports that are crucial to any Kurdish independence bid. The fighting between the central government and the Kurds is particularly tricky for the United States which is a close ally of both sides, arming and training both the Kurds and the central government s army to fight Islamic State.

Summary: इराकी प्रधानमंत्री अबादी ने कुर्द स्वतंत्रता जनमत संग्रह के परिणाम को रद्द करने पर जोर दिया


(Reuters) - A Trump administration aide corrected herself on Friday after being widely criticized for referencing a 2011 “Bowling Green massacre” in Kentucky that never occurred to defend President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Thursday that Trump’s executive order was justified in part by the “Bowling Green massacre” of 2011. She added, “Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”  During the interview Conway told how two Iraqis who came to the United States and were radicalized “were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.” No such event occurred.  Conway corrected herself on Friday in a post on Twitter, saying, “Honest mistakes abound.” The phrase “Bowling Green massacre” was the top trending topic on Twitter on Friday morning as thousands of social media users mocked Conway. “Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack ... or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don’t make up attacks,” tweeted Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) on Friday.  In May 2011, two Iraqi men were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and charged with attempting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq. They admitted to using improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison and 40 years in prison, respectively. Prosecutors at the time said neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States. Conway said on Twitter that she meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists.” She also slammed a network reporter for criticizing her. “NBC reporter texted me at 632am re:a diff story; never asked what I meant on @Hardball b4 slamming me on @TODAYshow Not cool, not journalism,” Conway (@KellyannePolls) wrote. On Inauguration Day, Zeke Miller, a TIME Magazine reporter, incorrectly reported that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s bust was removed from the oval office, causing an uproar on social media. Miller (@ZekeJMiller), tweeted later that evening that the bust “was obscured by an agent and a door” and issued multiple apologies for his error. In a similar reaction to Conway, Trump’s administration responded by ripping the media for spreading fake news, with spokesman Sean Spicer describing his actions as “deliberately false reporting” during his first White House press briefing. As “Bowling Green massacre” swept social media, a website called “The Bowling Green Massacre Fund” carrying a parody of Conway’s comments surfaced on Friday. It read, “We all still carry the vivid memories of what horrors occurred at Bowling Green, but some still relive those moments everyday as they work to rebuild a community torn apart.” Clicking on the “donate now” button on the website leads to a donation site of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU did not return calls seeking comment.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगी ने 'नरसंहार' का हवाला दिया जो अप्रवासी प्रतिबंध का बचाव करने के लिए कभी नहीं हुआ


CREPURIZAO, Brazil (Reuters) - Informal mining in Brazil is seen by many as a scourge polluting the Amazon rainforest, poisoning indigenous tribes and robbing the nation of its wealth.  For others it is a way of life. Brazilian garimpos, or wildcat mines, are operated by small crews of men, often caked in red-brown mud and working with rudimentary pans, shovels and sluice boxes that have been used for centuries. More sophisticated operations use water cannons and boats sucking mud from the bottoms of rivers. Regardless of the method, searching for gold and other minerals like cassiterite and niobium is dirty, dangerous and often illegal.  Looking for gold is like playing in a casino,  said a 48-year-old miner. Miners asked not to be named, saying they feared the police  as much of their work is illegal. He started in the wildcat mines as a teenager in the area around Crepurizao   a ramshackle frontier town of 5,000 with a dirt landing strip that is a gateway for informal mining in the region. Garimpos are in the spotlight as Brazil debates opening an area known as Renca in the northern Amazon forest to mining, which has met with stiff resistance from environmentalists. Mines and Energy Minister Fernando Coelho Filho argues that licensed mining will be an improvement over the estimated 1,000 people currently mining in the reserve illegally. Crepurizao lies hundreds of miles south of Renca, but gives a window into life in the garimpos caught up in the debate. Living in makeshift homes of wood and plastic, miners in the area ship some 60 kilograms (132 lbs) of gold per month, according to traders. That much pure gold is worth millions of dollars on the global market, but high costs and layers of traders in the local market leave most miners living on the brink of poverty. Basic staples can cost four or five times the price in the nearest city, an eight-hour bus ride away.  Fuel stations, a general store, a bar, an evangelical church and prostitutes vie for the income and attention of the miners, known as garimpeiros, when they aren t working or lazing in hammocks. There are 2,113 licensed garimpo sites in Brazil, according to ministry data, but environmental experts and two government officials, who asked not to be named, said far more small-scale mines skip the licensing and ignore regulations altogether. In Crepurizao, where mines often cluster close together, it was unclear which operations were licensed. The total area worked by garimpeiros in Brazil is thought to be small. But chemicals like mercury, which miners in Crepurizao dump to separate gold from grit, can leave a large footprint of contamination. In March last year, a government-backed study of indigenous villages in the northern state of Roraima revealed alarming levels of mercury. One group of villagers had more than double the level of mercury considered to be a serious health risk - such as damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, heart and reproductive process - detected in their hair. The Mining and Energy Ministry said a new oversight agency created in a decree by President Michel Temer, now pending congressional approval, would allow more effective government coordination and inspections to restrict illegal mining. Congressman Leonardo Quintao, who sits on the committee considering the new agency, said it will be able to raise more funding for oversight. He said the regulations target licensed miners, while illegal mining remains a matter for the police. Still, one Ibama enforcement officer, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said the government had left miners like those in Crepurizao in a precarious limbo.  You can t just pull them out of the garimpos and the cities that are living off gold. And the government does not offer them structure and decent conditions,  said the officer.  So they re stranded there without the minimum conditions for survival.  (Click on reut.rs/2f6E5c2 for related photo essay)

Summary: ब्राजील के लोग अवैध अमेज़न खदानों में सोने के लिए मेहनत करते हैं


BEIJING (Reuters) - Troops serving at China s first overseas military base, in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, should help promote peace and stability, President Xi Jinping told them in a video chat, encouraging them to promote a good image. China formally opened the base in August on the same day as the People s Liberation Army marked its 90th birthday. It is China s first overseas naval base, although Beijing officially describes it as a logistics facility. Djibouti s position on the northwestern edge of the Indian Ocean has fueled worry in India that it would become another of China s  string of pearls  military alliances and assets ringing India, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Speaking to China s Djibouti-based forces during a visit to a joint battle command center in Beijing, Xi  got a good understanding  of the base s operations and the lives of the soldiers there, China s Defence Ministry said late on Friday. Xi  encouraged them to establish a good image for China s military and promote international and regional peace and stability , the ministry said. The soldiers responded that they would not let Xi or China down, it said. China began construction of the base in Djibouti last year. It will be used to resupply navy ships taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular. Chinese President Xi Jinping is overseeing an ambitious military modernization program, including developing capabilities for China s forces to operate far from home. During his visit to the command center, Xi also instructed the armed forces to improve their combat capability and readiness for war, the ministry said. Xi said progress in joint operation command systems, especially in efficiency at the regional level, was needed and troops must conduct training under combat conditions. Djibouti, which is about the size of Wales, is at the southern entrance to the Red Sea on the route to the Suez Canal. The tiny, barren nation sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia also hosts U.S., Japanese and French bases. There has been persistent speculation in diplomatic circles that China would build other such bases, in Pakistan for example, but the government has dismissed this.

Summary: शांति को बढ़ावा दें, चीन के शी ने पहले विदेशी अड्डे पर सैनिकों से कहा


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand will get its youngest prime minister in more than 150 years after the small, nationalist New Zealand First Party agreed to form a new government with Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern, ending the National Party s decade in power. The outcome caps a remarkable rise for Ardern, 37, who only took over the party s top job in August, and marks another victory for a youthful global leader promising change, with big implications for the world s 11th most traded currency, the central bank, immigration and foreign investment. Labour had an even chance as National to form a government after inconclusive elections on Sept. 23 gave neither party enough seats to form a majority in parliament.  Their tighter immigration proposals and more restrictive housing policy all suggest economic growth could be a little bit weaker than the Nationals  policy,  Paul Dales, chief Australia and New Zealand economist at Capital Economics, said of Labour.  The chances of a sharper slowdown are higher under Labour.  The announcement of the new government drove the New Zealand dollar down around 1.7 percent to its lowest levels in four and half months, as markets worried about more protectionist policies to come.  Labour has always believed that government should be a partner in ensuring an economy that works and delivers for all New Zealanders,  Ardern told reporters.  Labour said it would stick to its campaign promise to change the central bank s mandate, seek to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and prioritize an effort to ban foreign ownership of certain types of housing. It has said it wants to add employment to the central bank s mandate, which would mark a big change for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand which was the pioneer of the inflation-targeting regime adopted across the world. Record net migration of more than 70,000 annually has fuelled demand for housing in New Zealand, far outstripping supply and pushing house prices prohibitively higher, pricing ordinary New Zealanders out of the housing market.  Far too many New Zealanders have come to view today s capitalism not as their friend, but as their foe,  New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who has been offered the role of deputy prime minister, told reporters.  We ve had to make a choice for a modified status quo, or for change.  Peters said new policy announcements would be up to Ardern, but gave a foretaste of what may come by saying he expected fewer immigrants to be allowed into New Zealand. He had agreed with Labour to build tens of thousands of affordable homes, he added. Labour made tackling what it calls a housing crisis a priority during its election campaign.  This shows that Winston Peters wants to make some radical changes in New Zealand,  said Bryce Edwards, political analyst at Critical Politics in Wellington.  He has always been an anti-establishment MP and he, in what will be his last time in government, wants to be in sync with that global rebellion against the status quo.  Labour made a last minute-gamble when it appointed Ardern as a leader not long before the vote, hoping to ride the global sea of change that drove Britain to vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump to become U.S. president. Her popularity and message of hope have drawn comparisons with the similarly youthful leaders such as France s Emmanuel Macron and Canada s Justin Trudeau.  Markets are concerned about uncertainty. They worry that curbs to migration and trade could hurt two key sources of New Zealand s robust growth in recent years. More restrictive trade and foreign ownership could also hurt New Zealand s reputation as an open economy and antagonize the likes of China, a key trading partner. Trade between the two countries has grown to more than NZ$20 billion ($14.4 billion) a year and Chinese President Xi Jinping called the relationship  unprecedented  in its depth.

Summary: अर्डर्न न्यूजीलैंड की अगली प्रधानमंत्री होंगी, अर्थव्यवस्था, आप्रवासन के लिए वर्तनी में बदलाव


MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - White House hopefuls Donald Trump and Jeb Bush opened political hostilities on Monday as Republican and Democratic candidates stormed across New Hampshire in a final flurry of events before the state’s crucial first-in-the-nation primary. The stage was set for the vote on Tuesday, with New York billionaire Trump enjoying a big lead in opinion polls of the state’s Republican voters and a host of rivals jockeying to emerge as his chief challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in the Nov. 8 election. In the race for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders from neighboring Vermont sought to hang on for a much-needed victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a week after a razor-thin loss to her in the Iowa caucuses. Sanders told a crowd of about 500 people in Nashua that his call to eradicate income inequality and level the economic playing field for lower- and middle-class workers was resonating. “I’m here today to ask your support, to join us in making that political revolution,” he said. Polls showed his big New Hampshire lead tightening but still sizable. Clinton hoped to make the finish close in a feat much like her husband’s, former President Bill Clinton, in 1992 when he declared himself “the ‘Comeback Kid.’”  “For those of you who are still deciding, still shopping, I hope I can close the deal,” Clinton said at Manchester Community College, campaigning with her raspy-voiced husband and daughter Chelsea. Clinton was reported by Politico to be pondering a staff shakeup out of concern at the messaging of her campaign. “I have no idea what they’re talking about or who they are talking to,” Clinton, responding to the report, said on MSNBC. “We’re going to take stock, but it’s going to be the campaign that I’ve got. I’m very confident in the people that I have.”  A snowstorm swept across the state but it did not slow down the last, tense full day of campaigning ahead of the primary. Trump, still rankled that Bush hit him hard at a candidates’ debate in Manchester on Saturday night, peppered his stump speeches with attacks on the former Florida governor at events in Salem and Londonderry. “This stiff, Jeb Bush,” Trump said. “He’s a total stiff. ... If you had a company, you wouldn’t even hire him. He’s like a child, like a spoiled child.” Bush fired off a tweet referring to Trump’s comment last summer that Senator John McCain, the party’s 2008 presidential nominee who spent 5-1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was not a hero because he got captured. “@realDonaldTrump, you aren’t just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out,” Bush said. Senator Marco Rubio’s shaky performance at Saturday’s debate gave hope to his rivals that the Floridian’s rise after a strong third-place finish in Iowa could be blunted.  Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are fighting to finish strongly enough in New Hampshire to justify staying in the race and taking their campaigns to South Carolina, which holds its primary on Feb. 20. As the New Hampshire polls stand now, Trump would win and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who won Iowa; Rubio; Kasich; Bush; and Christie would end right behind him in a tight bunch. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and businesswoman Carly Fiorina are also in the race. Rubio wilted under an attack by Christie at the debate, repeating rehearsed lines from his stump speech in defending himself against criticism that he is not experienced enough to be president. The moment triggered commentary comparing Rubio to a robot, both in the news media and on social media. Rubio’s point was that even though he is a first-term senator, he should not be compared to Democratic President Barack Obama, who was a first-term senator when elected in 2008. He said at the debate that Obama has pushed the country in the wrong direction because of his political beliefs, not from inexperience. “The core of this campaign is that statement, and I am going to continue to say it: Barack Obama is deliberately carrying out a strategy to change America: He wants to redefine this country,” Rubio said on CBS’s “This Morning.”  (Additional reporting by John Whitesides and James Oliphant in New Hampshire and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: महत्वपूर्ण प्राइमरी से एक दिन पहले न्यू हैम्पशायर में ट्रम्प बनाम जेब


ROME (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled 700 boat migrants to safety in the Mediterranean and found 23 bodies during one operation on Friday, an Italian coastguard spokesman said, the second loss of multiple lives recorded in the area so far this week.  After around three years of mass arrivals, the number of migrants reaching Italy has fallen sharply since July, when Rome struck a deal with Libya to block what had become a busy route for people smugglers. A Spanish ship deployed in the European Union s Operation Sophia naval mission recovered the dead, along with 64 survivors, from a sinking rubber boat, the mission said on its Facebook page.   A tough day in the Central Mediterranean Sea,  the Facebook post said, adding the rescues had started in the early morning. Six rescue operations were carried out in total on Friday, the spokesman said, making it one of the busiest days for rescues in recent months. Seven people were found dead and 900 saved on Wednesday. The Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti was heading for the southern port of Reggio Calabria with 764 rescued migrants on board, the ANSA news agency said in a report confirmed by the coast guard spokesman. Diciotti was also carrying eight dead bodies, ANSA said. It was not clear if they had been among those recovered by the Spanish ship. Those rescued were originally from Sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Libya, Bangladesh, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, ANSA said.  In the Aegean Sea on Friday, three people drowned, six were known to be missing and scores of others were rescued while trying to reach Greece.

Summary: भूमध्य सागर में 700 प्रवासियों को बचाया गया, 23 मृत पाए गए


VIENNA (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Bosnian man has been arrested in the Austrian city of Graz on suspicion of planning an attack on its Christmas market, police said on Thursday.     The Muslim man was detained on Dec. 1 at an emergency shelter where others saw him watching videos about last year s attacks in Nice and Berlin on a computer, a force spokesman said. Witnesses heard him talking about Berlin and death, the spokesman added.  He had visited mosques, but it was not yet clear whether he had been radicalized or had any accomplices, police said. A Tunisian man killed 12 people by driving a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin a year ago. The failed asylum seeker had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के ग्राज़ में क्रिसमस बाजार पर हमले की साजिश रचने का बोस्नियाई पर संदेह


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Belgian trial of a key suspect in the November 2015 Islamic State attack on Paris was postponed on Monday for seven weeks, after Saleh Abdeslam s newly appointed lawyer asked for more time to study the case. Granting the request, the judge set a new trial date of Feb. 5. A French national but a lifelong Brussels resident, Abdeslam fled back to Belgium after the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, hiding from police for four months before being detained in March last year. Four days later, on March 22, 2016, Brussels was hit by twin bomb attacks that killed 32 people. Investigators believe that those behind the Paris and Brussels suicide attacks were linked and that Abdeslam, whose elder brother blew himself up at a Paris cafe on Nov. 13, 2015, is one of the few surviving participants. Held facing trial in France, he will be transferred to Belgium to first stand trial there, with an alleged accomplice, for attempted murder as Abdeslam evaded capture during a shootout with Brussels police three days before his arrest. Abdeslam, who was not in court on Monday, appointed a new lawyer only last week and his counsel asked for more time to prepare the defense.

Summary: पेरिस हमले के संदिग्ध के बेल्जियम मुकदमे को 5 फरवरी तक के लिए स्थगित कर दिया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI director and prosecutor Robert Mueller, known for his independence in high-profile government investigations, is taking on a new challenge in the midst of a crisis that threatens the presidency of the United States. Mueller, 72, was named on Wednesday by the Justice Department to probe alleged Russian efforts to sway November’s presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and to investigate whether there was any collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Moscow. President Trump said in a statement there was no collusion between his campaign and “any foreign entity.”  Mueller is known by some as “Bobby Three Sticks” because of his full name - Robert Mueller III - a moniker that belies the formal bearing and no-nonsense style of the former Marine Corps officer who was decorated during the Vietnam War. Democrats and Republicans alike praised his appointment and hailed his integrity and reputation. Mueller was named to the post by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. His investigation will run in parallel to those being carried out by the FBI and the U.S. Congress. It would be difficult to fire Mueller, and past special counsel appointments have shown that the job comes with independence and autonomy. Chicago federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed during the George W. Bush administration in 2003 to a similar role to investigate the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer whose husband had criticized Bush administration policies. Fitzgerald indicted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush granted Libby clemency from a prison sentence before he left office. Robert Luskin, a Washington lawyer who defended Bush political adviser Karl Rove during Fitzgerald’s investigation, praised the choice of Mueller. “I think it’s good across the board,” Luskin told Reuters. He described Mueller as “credible” and “independent” and said his appointment would be “good for the Department of Justice.” Mueller, known for avoiding political controversy, took a stand in 2004 when he and then-deputy attorney general James Comey threatened to resign when the Bush White House sought to reauthorize a domestic wiretapping program that the Justice Department had deemed unconstitutional. In his new role as special counsel, Mueller will have wide latitude to take the investigation wherever he thinks it should go and can use the full range of Justice Department investigative tools, said Jack Sharman, an attorney who served as special counsel during a probe into the Whitewater real-estate investments of President Bill Clinton in 1995. Mueller was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by George W. Bush a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.  He was credited with transforming the FBI after Congress and an independent government commission established that the agency and the CIA had failed to share information before the attacks that could have helped thwart them. At the FBI, Mueller put more resources into counterterrorism investigations and improving its cooperation with other federal agencies. Mueller was chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division before becoming FBI director. Among his most famous cases was the fraud and racketeering indictment of individuals associated with a politically connected Luxembourg bank run out of London and led by bankers from Pakistan and Abu Dhabi. He also oversaw the investigation into the Pan Am airline bombing over Scotland and the drug case against former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Mueller served 10 years as FBI chief under Bush and his  Democratic successor Barack Obama, who then signed legislation to extend Mueller’s FBI term for another two years. He was succeeded as FBI director by Comey, who was fired by Trump last week.  In the wake of his firing, there have been media reports that Trump had asked Comey in February to end an FBI investigation into the president’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The reports cited a memo said to have been written by Comey documenting Trump’s request.  There have been calls for months for a special counsel to oversee the investigation into any ties between Trump’s campaign team and Moscow. Most recently, Mueller had worked at a major Washington law firm, Wilmer Hale, which presents a possible wrinkle for his new assignment. The firm represents Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have taken on White House jobs. It also represents Paul Manafort, a former campaign chairman who had ties to Russia. Mueller left Wilmer Hale this week but faces a Justice Department ethics requirement that could bar him for a year from investigating anyone represented by his former firm. Mueller may be able to obtain a waiver from the Justice Department’s ethics officers or recuse himself from investigating certain individuals, leaving those inquiries to a deputy. Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration who has been a vocal critic of Trump, said Mueller has good grounds to receive such a waiver.

Summary: 'बॉबी थ्री स्टिक्स' म्यूलर रूस-ट्रम्प विवाद की जांच करेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. allegations that Russia is breaking its Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Washington lack evidence and are speculative, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Summary: रूस ने अमेरिका पर परमाणु समझौते का उल्लंघन करने का आरोप लगाया