MOSCOW (Reuters) - Poised to run for a fourth term, President Vladimir Putin has started clearing out the old Russian political elite and says he s bringing in young people with  fire in their eyes.   But a Reuters analysis shows that he has made limited progress so far.  In the run up to March elections that are expected to hand him a mandate to stay in power until he is 70, Putin says he is promoting a new generation of officials to drive Russia s economic and political future. One fifth of the country s 85 regional governors have been replaced this year and almost half of the lower house of  parliament changed in elections last year after Putin brought in a new chief of staff. The Reuters analysis of political appointments shows, however, that in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration, the pace of change has slowed and the average age is almost three years higher than when he began his third term in 2012. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the findings. He said it would take too long to check the data.  With no change expected at the very top, critics say the lack of fresh blood translates into a dearth of fresh ideas to stimulate politics and the economy.  There are similarities with the era of (Soviet leader Leonid) Brezhnev in that we ve fallen into a malign stability from which there s no way out,  Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent political analyst, told Reuters. Opposition protesters are fond of photoshopping Putin s face onto Brezhnev s torso on placards, implying that Putin and the system he has built is as stagnant as Brezhnev s Soviet Union, a charge the Kremlin rejects.  For Putin there are no risks because the system works and obeys him,  said Oreshkin.  The risks are for the country and the economy. The model of stability is underpinned by a system of loyalty and corruption. Outside Moscow, which is rich, there is stagnation.        Weighed down by Western sanctions for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea and backing for a pro-Russian uprising in east Ukraine, the Russian economy, though recovering, remains fragile and vulnerable to oil fluctuations and new sanctions. Russia's aging political elite: tmsnrt.rs/2zRTpRY Reuters compared the profiles of 784 current regional governors, members of the upper and lower houses of parliament, the government, the Security Council, and the presidential administration   to 768 who were in power in May 2012. It found little sign of renewal in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration.  Of the 784 positions, 314 had changed hands in the last two years, fewer than in May 2012 when that figure was 368. Often when officials left their posts, they showed up in other jobs.   There were fewer changes in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration. The average age of all the officials rose from 52.6 in 2012 to 55.5 now. In the Security Council, which Putin chairs, the average age stands at 60.4. It has seen only two changes in its 12-strong permanent makeup in the last two years.  In the presidential administration, which Putin uses to devise and implement his ideas, the average age is 57 compared to 53.2 in 2012, and in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, the average age has risen to almost 53 from 51 five years ago. This month Putin told 10 governors, that  as a rule  they were being replaced with  young people.   You have probably noticed the fire in their eyes,  he said. Putin has said his aim is to create  a new governors corps of young promising modern people who will think about the future of the region and all of Russia.   Critics say the Kremlin s emphasis on youth is window-dressing designed to create the illusion of political change in a system bereft of real competition. Up to two thirds of Russians want some kind of societal or political change that would raise living standards, some opinion polls show, and turnout in last year s parliamentary election fell to a post-Soviet low.         In the Kremlin, the thinking goes that a fresh face in the governor s seat may reduce the population s unhappiness and increase turnout in the election,  Natalya Zubarevich, an academic, wrote in a paper for the Carnegie Moscow Center. Putin has received a succession of newly-minted regional governors in his Kremlin office live on state TV and hosted two groups of glum-looking ex-governors.  Rotation is a natural and self-evident process,  he told one group of five ex-governors in February. Putin s aides are also touting a program for new leaders.  Applicants must be under 50 years of age and parts of the 9-month training program for top regional officials emphasize fitness and courage. Videos leaked to the RBC online news portal have shown participants leaping from a cliff into a river seven meters below and undergoing weapons and parachute training.     Some Kremlin watchers say the newcomers are all Putin loyalists whom he can easily influence if he exits office in 2024 and assumes a father-of-the-nation role.  He s training up 30- and 40-year olds for whom he ll become a political father,  Sergei Dorenko, the prominent head of a Moscow radio station, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.  He ll smooth their passage and give them the earth.

Summary: रूसी राजनीति को पुनर्जीवित करने की पुतिन की योजना धीमी गति से आगे बढ़ती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will meet on Thursday with retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander of NATO and dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a spokeswoman for Stavridis said on Sunday. “There has been no discussion of a position in the Trump administration,” Stavridis’ spokeswoman, Juli Hanscom said, responding to reports that Trump was interested in Stavridis, once vetted to be the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as a potential secretary of state. (This story has been refiled to fix spelling of spokeswoman’s surname, paragraph two)

Summary: ट्रम्प गुरुवार को सेवानिवृत्त अमेरिकी एडमिरल स्टाव्रिडिस से मुलाकात करेंगे


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand s Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she expected to reach out in the next couple of days to Winston Peters, the leader of the nationalist New Zealand First party that has emerged as the kingmaker after a general election.  While Labour trailed the ruling National party by around 10 points in the election results, it may still be able to form a government if it goes into a coalition with the Green Party, with which it has a working agreement, and Peters  nationalist party New Zealand First. Ardern said Labour shared values with New Zealand First and that they would now have to see if they could form a stable government.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड के लेबर नेता का कहना है कि वे अगले कुछ दिनों में न्यूजीलैंड फर्स्ट से संपर्क करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The budget proposal unveiled by the White House on Tuesday cut all funding to a Department of Homeland Security program known as “countering violent extremism,” which provides grants to communities to counter radicalism through outreach. The program, whose roots go back to the Obama administration, has come under scrutiny by the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans who favor law enforcement, rather than community outreach, to fight what they see as a growing Islamic extremist threat. At the beginning of the administration, some White House and DHS officials considered changing the name of the program to “countering Islamic extremism,” and refocusing the funding only on grants that dealt with the Islamic community,  not other communities that may have extremist views like white supremacists. The Trump administration has frozen $10 million in grants allocated at the end of the Obama administration under the countering violent extremism program and has yet to reallocate the funds.  The funding cuts proposed by the budget would reduce the $50 million currently allocated for the program down to zero for fiscal year 2018.  Congress must vote to pass the budget and it will likely be amended before being enacted.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के बजट ने 'हिंसक चरमपंथ का मुकाबला करने' के लिए अनुदान में कटौती की


ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan s government and rebel groups signed a ceasefire on Thursday in the latest attempt to end a four-year civil war and allow humanitarian groups access to civilians caught in the fighting. The ceasefire aims to revive a 2015 peace deal that collapsed last year after heavy fighting broke out in South Sudan s capital Juba. It was agreed after talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa convened by regional bloc IGAD. A decision by President Salva Kiir to sack his deputy Riek Machar triggered the war in the world s youngest country. The war has been fought largely along ethnic lines between forces loyal to Kiir, who is Dinka, and Machar, who is Nuer. Tens of thousands have died and a third of the population of 12 million have fled their homes. The conflict has since mutated from a two-way fight into one involving multiple parties and this has made it harder to find peace. Representatives of Kiir and Machar were both present at the signing. South Sudan s Information Minister Michael Makuei Leuth told journalists:  The cessation of hostilities will be effective 72 hours from now. As of now, we will send messages to all the commands in the field to abide by this cessation of hostilities.   From now onwards, there will be no more fighting,  he added.  Just talks.   I do hope in signing this agreement, you will try to put an end to this tragedy .... This is an encouraging first phase,  said Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission. Ethiopia s Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu, also present, said:  There is no longer any excuse for the violations of human rights. All parties are obliged to observe cessation of hostilities agreement. Diplomats at the talks told Reuters the next phase of the negotiations would now center on thrashing out a revised power-sharing arrangement leading up to a new date for polls. The United States, Britain and Norway, which form a group that supported a 2005 accord leading to the independence of South Sudan from Sudan, welcomed the agreement.  The troika ... congratulate the parties on their willingness to compromise for the benefit of the people of South Sudan and hope that they immediately take action to make good on that agreement,  they said in a statement issued by the U.S. State Department.

Summary: दक्षिण सूडान सरकार और विद्रोही समूहों ने युद्धविराम पर हस्ताक्षर किए


LONDON (Reuters) - The device used during an incident at a London metro station on Friday did not fully detonate, Sky News reported, citing unnamed sources. Several people were injured at a London underground station after witnesses reported a blast on a packed rush-hour commuter train which police were treating as a terrorism incident.

Summary: लंदन मेट्रो घटना के दौरान इस्तेमाल किए गए उपकरण में पूरी तरह से विस्फोट नहीं हुआः स्काई न्यूज


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined on Wednesday to say whether President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw from the Paris Accord to fight climate change, despite reports indicating that he would pull out of the global deal. Asked whether Trump planned to remove the United States from the Paris Accord or remain in, Spicer said: “When the president has a decision, he’ll make that announcement and he’ll make it clear what the basis of that is.” Asked if that meant Trump had not made a final decision, Spicer said: “I obviously don’t know whether or not he’s made it, but when he’s ready to make an announcement, he’ll make it clear.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने यह कहने से इनकार कर दिया कि क्या ट्रम्प ने जलवायु समझौते पर निर्णय लिया है


MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s government will issue a decree on Friday making it easier for firms to transfer their legal base out of Catalonia, two sources said, in a move that could deal a serious blow to the region s finances as it considers declaring independence. The decree is tailor-made for Spanish lender Caixabank, sources familiar with the matter said, as it would make it possible for the bank to transfer its legal and tax base to another location without having to hold a shareholders  meeting as stated in its statutes.  The government is working on changing the law so that it s no longer need to have a shareholders  meeting, which would delay a change of the legal base in a case of emergency,  one of the sources said. The government and Caixabank declined to comment. The board of Caixabank will meet on Friday to study a possible transfer of its legal base away from Catalonia due to the political uncertainty in the region, a source familiar with the situation said. Caixabank is Catalonia s biggest company by market value and accounts for around 50 percent of the region s banking sector. Another Catalonia-based bank, Sabadell, Spain s fifth-biggest lender, decided on Thursday to move its base from Catalonia to Alicante, on Spain s eastern coast. Catalonia s parliament was planning to declare independence on Monday, after a banned referendum marred by violence last weekend. That plan was cast into doubt on Thursday when Spain s Constitutional Court ordered that Monday s session of the Catalan parliament be suspended. The political crisis was  generating uncertainty that is paralyzing all investment projects in Catalonia,  Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told Reuters on Thursday.  I m convinced that, right now, not one international or national investor will take part in a new investment project until this is cleared up,  he said. Shares in Sabadell and Caixabank have been pummeled this week. Reports they might move caused the stocks to surge on Thursday - Sabadell rose 6 percent and Caixabank 5 percent. Government plans to sell a stake in state-run lender Bankia have also been put off because of the uncertainty, de Guindos said. Madrid will look at the placement again once the Catalan situation had been resolved, he said. However, Catalonia s planned unilateral declaration of independence has not had any impact on Spain s overall economic output, de Guindos said, reiterating that he expected growth of more than 3 percent this year. Financial markets have been shaken this week by fears that secession would undermine the euro zone s fourth-biggest economy, dealing a heavy blow to Spain s finances and sending the Catalan economy into a tailspin. Catalonia is a center of industry and tourism that accounts for a fifth of Spain s economy, a production base for major multinationals from Volkswagen to Nestle, and home to Europe s fastest-growing sea port. News earlier this week that two small listed Catalan companies, Eurona Wireless Telecom and Oryzon Genomics, had decided to shift their head offices improved their share price. Both declined to say whether they were responding to Sunday s vote. Spain s bond and stock markets both staged a recovery on Thursday after the Constitutional Court s decision and a Bloomberg report that Catalan separatists were looking at putting off a declaration of independence to create room for a negotiated settlement with Spain. The nation s borrowing costs hit a seven-month high on Thursday, though investors showed solid interest in a government bond auction. Many Spanish business leaders and foreign companies with operations in Catalonia have expressed concern this week.  As a businessman, as a Spaniard and as a person, I am very worried and I am scared by what s going on (in Catalonia),  said Juan Roig, chairman of Spain s biggest food retailer, Mercadona. The influential Catalan business lobby Cercle d Economia said on Wednesday it was extremely worried by the prospect of Catalonia declaring independence from Spain and called for leaders from both sides to start talks. Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel, which has several plants in Catalonia, said it was monitoring developments.  From a business perspective, we are best served by a stable environment and will adapt when necessary,  said Akzo Nobel spokeswoman Diana Abrahams. German carmaker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) was earlier this week forced to halt production briefly on one of three production lines at the Catalonia plant of its Spanish unit, SEAT, when protests disrupted parts supply. Stoppages also affected production at Nestle s instant coffee plant in Girona. SEAT said on Thursday it was operating its business as usual.  It is too early to make an assessment on what could happen,  a spokesman said.  The company is closely monitoring how the current situation is evolving.

Summary: स्पेन कंपनियों के लिए कैटेलोनिया से आधार स्थानांतरित करना आसान बनाएगा क्योंकि व्यापार चेतावनी गहरी हो गई है


BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe’s destiny lies in its own hands, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday in response to comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who said in a newspaper interview he believed other countries would leave the EU after Britain. “I think we Europeans have our fate in our own hands,” Merkel told a joint news conference with New Zealand’s prime minister. Asked about Trump’s criticism of her migrant policy, Merkel said: “I am personally waiting for the inauguration of the U.S. president. Then of course we will work with him on all levels.”

Summary: मर्केल ने ट्रम्प को जवाब देते हुए कहा कि यूरोप का भाग्य उसके अपने हाथों में है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The email Donald Trump’s campaign sent inviting fans to a rally next week looked familiar: “Meet me in New Jersey!” it urged. But something was different. “You will need to buy a ticket to get into the rally,” it added. The cost: $200. During the months-long battle for the Republican presidential nomination, rallies staged by Trump, the party’s likely candidate in the Nov. 8 election, were free and open to anyone with the stamina to withstand half a day’s wait outside and a heady hour packed into a sports stadium or warehouse. Supporters could buy snacks or hats or T-shirts while they waited, but they never had to pay for admission. The May 19 rally advertised in the email is a fundraiser for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former presidential rival now working for Trump who, according to news reports, needs to retire debt from his own failed campaign. The emailed invitation to supporters said it will be a fundraiser. It was not clear whether Trump will charge for rallies that are not specifically designated as fundraisers.  The New York billionaire has claimed he was self-funding his campaign and did not need donations. He has financed his offensive in the nominating phase of the race for the White House with loans to himself as well as around $12 million in unsolicited donations from fans. Now that Trump is pivoting toward the general election, where conventional estimates put the cost of winning at around $1 billion, things are changing.  The move to charge admission for some appearances was just one harbinger of a new relationship between Trump and his fans, many of whom cited their perception of his financial independence as a major factor behind their support. It will test the loyalty of those who have swelled his rallies to capacity, either transforming huge crowds into cash cows or creating more breathing room in the places where he appears.      When asked whether the format of the Christie fundraiser rally would be repeated in the future, Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, did not comment. “This is a fundraiser for Governor Christie,” she said. Supporters have said Trump’s about-face on fundraising does not bother them. Susan Kihne, a Mandan, North Dakota resident who snagged a ticket to see Trump speak at a petroleum conference later this month decided the $30 it cost her was worth it. “He’s self-funded up until now, so I don’t mind supporting him,” she said.

Summary: ट्रम्प रैली के लिए पहले $200 प्रवेश; और आने वाले हैं?


PARIS (Reuters) - In the modernist but faded headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N. s cultural agency on Paris s elegant Left Bank, more than a few diplomats wandered the corridors on Friday wondering if the organization has a future. The agency, founded in the ashes of World War Two to protect the common cultural inheritance of humanity, was due to elect a new head later in the day. But a sudden announcement that the United States was quitting over anti-Israel bias meant that whoever wins the top job would inherit a body in turmoil, with huge questions over its future funding and mission.  I think it s a catastrophic decision,  said Daniel Rondeau, a former French envoy to the body.  It s a fracture that seriously jeopardizes the very nature of UNESCO - its universal dimension - and the very concept of multilateralism.  Officially known as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO is best known for designating and protecting archaeological and heritage sites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu. Most of its activities are uncontroversial, but when it comes to, say, resolutions about how religious sites should be run in Jerusalem, every word is studied for accusations of bias. For some of its diplomats, Washington s decision to quit represented a corner being turned, and puts even more pressure on whoever is elected to lead it.  This is the most critical election. There can t be four more years like this,  said a Western diplomat, bemoaning the leadership of outgoing director Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose critics say she failed to persuade member states to pay their dues and stop politicizing UNESCO s work. At the heart of its recent problems is a financing crisis since 2011, when UNESCO voted to admit Palestine as a full member state and Washington responded by halting payment of its annual $80 million in dues. The United States and Israel were among just 14 of 194 members to vote against Palestine s membership. Washington says it favors an independent Palestinian state some day, but it must arise from negotiations, and admitting the Palestinians to international bodies beforehand hurts the peace process. Since then, Israel has regularly complained over resolutions about cultural sites in the West Bank and Jerusalem, arguing that they are worded to delegitimize the Jewish state. Israel s foes say it uses U.S. support to deflect bona fide criticism. Without U.S. money, UNESCO, which employs around 2,000 people worldwide, has been forced to cut programs, freeze hiring and fill gaps with voluntary contributions. Its 2017 budget was about $326 million, almost half its 2012 budget.  We need to do less with less. We ve spent too long trying to do too much without the means,  said a UNESCO official, who declined to be identified.  We need to sell ourselves better, but without funding it s difficult to change our image.   Including the United States, which has some $542 million in arrears, the organization is owed almost $650 million, according to figures on its website. At this stage, UNESCO officials still don t know if the United States will make up its arrears before it officially exits on Dec. 31, 2018.  Other major contributors such as Japan, Britain, and Brazil have also yet to pay their dues for 2017, sometimes citing objections to the body s policies.  The fact is that UNESCO was all about solidarity and creating a climate for peace between countries, but nations now use their dues to influence programs,  said a UNESCO-based diplomat.  That needs to change.  Japan, for example, has threatened to withhold dues over the inclusion of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in the body s  Memory of the World  program. Russia and Ukraine have been at odds over Crimea, with Kiev accusing Moscow of trying to legitimize its annexation of the territory through UNESCO.  Whoever takes over at the helm has to tackle this head on. They need to find ways of getting nations to talk these issues through, but if they can t, then the director-general needs to be able to say  no  and kill these texts,  said a second UNESCO-based diplomat. Unlike at the U.N. Security Council, where five powers wield a veto, UNESCO takes decisions based on majority votes, either of its General Secretariat that includes all 195 nations, or of the 58-member Executive Board. Israel says this creates a built-in majority for states that are hostile to it. Big countries like the United States that provide most of the funding say their single votes give them little input into how their money is spent. Prior to Thursday s U.S. decision to withdraw, UNESCO s board had tried to evade confrontation by voting to postpone divisive Israeli-Palestinian texts until April, diplomats said. All the candidates running to head UNESCO have vowed grassroots reforms and efforts to de-politicize the institution. The final candidates are two former culture ministers from France and Qatar. But even the vote on a new boss is tinged with politics, since Egypt, which has also vied for the top post, and Qatar are on opposite sides in a diplomatic dispute in the Arab world.

Summary: बहुत कम नकदी, बहुत अधिक राजनीति, यूनेस्को को जीवन भर के लिए संघर्ष करते हुए छोड़ देता है


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - There is the Democratic convention unfolding onstage in Philadelphia this week, broadcast to millions on television. Then there is a second convention that exists largely hidden from public view in the smartphones of Bernie Sanders’ delegates. Using various messaging apps and secret Facebook groups, many of the delegates pledged to the U.S. senator and runner-up in the party’s presidential nomination contest have been coordinating among themselves in Philadelphia.  This is where they debate how to show their opposition to Hillary Clinton, who will formally accept her nomination on Thursday as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Nov. 8 election but who is viewed by many left-leaning Sanders’ supporters as too moderate. There are arguments, flashes of paranoia and conspiracy as well. The messages often fly around too quickly to track. “It makes your head explode, all these different apps,” said Jessica Chambers, a Sanders delegate from Wyoming. She added one group using the Slack messaging app had more than 600 delegates. She poked at her iPhone, which had overheated and blacked out. The clearest sign of the networks’ power came on Tuesday evening, when at least 100 Sanders delegates quietly walked out in protest at Clinton becoming the nominee, after word of the plan spread through smartphones about an hour in advance. At the time, Chambers was sitting near her Clinton-supporting friend Shelby Read, who said she is amused by the secrecy of the Sanders crew but supportive of their dissent.  “I never know what they’re doing,” Read told her friend later. “I thought people were going out to get food.” Many of the smartphone debates revolve around the question: What Would Bernie Do? But even when Sanders himself has weighed in, sending a mass text and email to his delegates on Monday evening urging against booing and back-turning, it is not always seen as an authoritative answer.     “Ignore that message,” one skeptical recipient wrote in a message. “Bernie did not write it. Express yourselves freely.”  The dissent in Philadelphia was fueled by leaked emails last week that showed the Democratic Party leadership tried to undermine Sanders during the primary campaign. In the streets of Philadelphia, thousands of angry left-wing protesters, including Sanders supporters, have marched, with some burning flags. As hails of boos grew from the convention floor on Monday evening, despite Sanders’ call for decorum, one delegate sent a warning around: “Stop booing and ‘misrepresenting’ Bernie and the campaign,” it read. The replies bristled. “We don’t tell each other what to do,” ran one.         Secrecy is encouraged among the members of the smartphone chat groups, and so delegates who showed messages to Reuters did so on condition of anonymity. They are wary of the party or security officials thwarting their plans. The closest thing to a leadership structure is Coalition of 57, a small group of delegates that came together in the weeks before the convention. Members say they are in contact with officials in the Sanders campaign, but remain independent. Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said he was not in contact with Coalition of 57, but otherwise declined to discuss the delegates’ networks.  Coalition of 57 delegates were among those who, with mixed results, sought to tamp down the boos this week, suggesting instead to withhold cheers and applause, or wordlessly hold up protest signs during certain speakers. “Let the silence be deafening,” Dani Pellett, a coalition member for the Texas delegation, said.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स के बीच, सैंडर्स के प्रशंसकों के फोन में एक और कन्वेंशन गुनगुनाता है


SAN JUAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. senators have drafted a letter to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisting legislation designed to solve Puerto Rico’s debt crisis should include a mechanism for the island to restructure its debt, according to a draft of the letter seen by Reuters.  The move is a challenge to Republicans pushing bills in Congress to bring Puerto Rico’s finances under federal oversight, who are generally opposed to letting the U.S. commonwealth restructure its debt. Democrats have argued that any such oversight should be conditional on allowing Puerto Rico to be governed by federal bankruptcy or debt restructuring laws.  A congressional source familiar with the letter said Senate democrats plan to make it public on Tuesday ahead of a hearing on Puerto Rico by the House Committee on Natural Resources, but timing remains uncertain.  A solution “must allow Puerto Rico to restructure a meaningful portion of its debt,” according to the draft of the letter, which noted that “Puerto Rico was included in Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code until 1984, when Congress inexplicably excluded it from the nationwide approach to resolving municipal insolvency.” Letters such as this are generally aimed at demonstrating party unity and are typically circulated to collect as many signatures as possible to show strength on a given issue. The congressional source said this letter’s authors are expecting signatures from all 44 Democratic senators and 2 independent senators. If such broad support were achieved, it would allow Democrats to block any legislation that did not include a restructuring mechanism - although that is no guarantee that Republicans, who control Congress, would draft a bill that includes one. A restructuring option would be a coup for the island’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who has long said Puerto Rico needs to cut its $70 billion in debt to grow its economy, a stance that has faced resistance from creditors. Aside from its debt load, Puerto Rico faces widespread economic strain, including a 45-percent poverty rate and a shrinking tax base, as a growing number of citizens jump to the mainland United States. The island has begun skipping some debt payments in recent months in order to make others, and now faces lawsuits from insurers of some bonds.  The letter comes weeks after House Speaker Paul Ryan demanded legislation by the end of March to address Puerto Rico’s debt.  “We urge you to match his commitment to act on a responsible solution by the end of the first quarter,” the draft letter says, addressing McConnell.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट प्यूर्टो रिको के लिए पुनर्गठन तंत्र की मांग करेंगेः पत्र


ELKHART, Ind. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the decision to direct public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice was based on the law and the best interests of the children. Speaking at a town hall event broadcast by the PBS television network, Obama, a Democrat, said the federal government waded into the controversial issue after school districts asked the Education Department for guidance. Republicans have blasted the directive as executive branch overreach, and more than a dozen states have sued the Obama administration to block it.     “What happened and what continues to happen is you have transgender kids in schools. And they get bullied. And they get ostracized. And it’s tough for them,” Obama said. “My best interpretation of what our laws and our obligations are is that we should try to accommodate these kids so that they are not in a vulnerable situation,” he said. On May 13, the federal government told public schools they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. The non-binding guidance contained the implicit threat of cuts in federal funding if it was not followed. It relied on an interpretation of Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education initiatives that receive federal financial assistance. The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina battled in federal court over a North Carolina state law approved in March that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. Other states are weighing similar measures. “We should deal with this issue the same way we would want it dealt with if it was our child and that is to try to create an environment of some dignity and kindness for these kids,” Obama said. Obama said there “are a lot of things more pressing” than the transgender bathroom controversy, including Islamic State, the economy and jobs. “Somehow people think I made it an issue. I didn’t make it an issue,” he said.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा कि ट्रांसजेंडरों के लिए शौचालय बनाने का निर्देश कानून पर आधारित है


LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was wrong to have posted anti-Islam videos on Twitter that had originally been published by a leader of Britain First, a fringe, far-right party, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.  It is wrong for the President to have done this,  the spokesman said.  Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions. They cause anxiety to law-abiding people.   British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents: decency tolerance and respect.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के अति-दक्षिणपंथी समूह को रीट्वीट करना ट्रंप की गलती थीः ब्रिटिश पीएम मे के प्रवक्ता


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two of Somalia s highest-ranking military officials have resigned, state outlets said on Thursday, in moves that could deal a blow to the war-torn Horn of Africa country s efforts to fight Islamist militants. Somalia has been at war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other. For a decade, the weak U.N.-backed government has also been fighting alongside African Union troops against Al Shabaab, which aims to topple the government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam.  On Thursday, state-owned Radio Muqdisho said the army s Chief of Defence Forces Ahmed Jimale Gedi had stepped down and Defence Minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed had submitted his resignation to President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo s cabinet.  The Cabinet appointed General Abdiweli Jama Hussein ... after Ahmed Jimale Gedi resigned on Thursday,  the radio station said, adding that Mohamed s bid was also accepted. Radio Muqdishu did not disclose the reasons behind their decisions. Neither the officials themselves nor government spokespeople were immediately available for comment. Al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab was driven out of the capital Mogadishu in 2010, but their deadly attacks remain one of the main obstacles to stability in the chaotic nation, which lies along one of the world s busiest shipping routes. Somalia s rebuilding efforts have also been hampered by clan rivalries. Rival regions still sometimes take up arms against each other.

Summary: सोमालिया के शीर्ष सैन्य प्रमुखों ने दिया इस्तीफा, कोई कारण नहीं बताया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Monday any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem before a final settlement is reached in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would hurt the peace process and heighten regional tensions.  Any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem prior to a final settlement would have a detrimental impact on the peace process and would heighten tensions in the region,  Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman said in a statement.  The kingdom s policy - has been - and remains in support of the Palestinian people, and this has been communicated to the U.S. administration.

Summary: सऊदी का कहना है कि जेरूसलम पर अमेरिकी घोषणा से शांति प्रक्रिया को नुकसान होगा, तनाव बढ़ेगा


TOKYO/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Win or lose, Donald Trump’s campaign has changed the way countries in Asia view their relationships with Washington. Final polling suggests the most likely outcome is a victory for Hillary Clinton. But even Clinton, an architect of the U.S. strategic pivot to Asia, has some work ahead of her in rebuilding trust, analysts and former officials in Asia said. “With or without Trump, this marks the end of U.S. leadership, in particular, moral leadership,” said a former Japanese diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic. “I don’t think it’s a question of Trump as an individual, but a question of the U.S. society that produced this man as the Republican candidate.” Trump upended U.S. democratic traditions during his White House campaign, drawing enthusiastic crowds where people cheered his often provocative and outrageous remarks. Critics labeled him ignorant, uncouth, a racist, hypocrite, demagogue and a sexual predator, all accusations he denied.  He described a dark America, knocked to its knees by China, Mexico and the Islamic state.  Trump’s harnessing of a populist backlash against immigration and global trade has challenged the ideal of benevolent American power that helped shape the global economy - and the forces of globalization - since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Now the United States faces a rising China, long an economic force and now becoming more assertive in geopolitics -  building its military capability and ignoring an international tribunal’s ruling against its claims to most of the South China Sea. TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP  Asia is most worried about trade protectionism - exports make up a quarter of Asia’s GDP and a fifth of them go to the United States. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, championed by Barack Obama in part to increase U.S. influence in Asia, was to be an essential feature of Washington’s strategic pivot to Asia - an “economic NATO”.   It now looks dead in the water. Both Clinton and Trump oppose the deal, which would set up a free trade zone among 12 countries that excludes China. Former Indonesian finance minister Chatib Basri told Reuters the TPP “is an important instrument for the U.S. pivot to Asia”. “There is some kind of a rivalry between America and China, and the way America can get into Asia is with TPP,” said Basri,  now a visiting professor at Australian National University. With U.S. allies such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore among the biggest winners of an open trade regime, a more isolationist and protectionist stance will cost Washington influence in Asia.  Ironically, it would be China, the subject of many of Trump’s tirades, that could emerge the big winner as uncertainty over Washington’s future commitment to Asia pushes countries into dealing more closely with Beijing. “If the U.S. pulls out of TPP, that will certainly increase China’s influence in Asia,” said Kanti Bajpai, Professor of Asian Studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “Already, U.S. criticism of domestic issues in Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia has alienated those countries and caused them to lean towards Beijing. Pulling out of the TPP will help China geopolitically.”       Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been particularly hostile towards Washington over its criticism of his lethal anti-drugs campaign, announcing a “separation” from the United States during last month’s visit to China. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak came back from a visit to China last week with $34 billion worth of deals and an agreement to buy four Chinese naval vessels.        China has long been in Trump’s sights, with promises to declare it a currency manipulator and impose punitive tariffs on imports. But any such moves could also hurt Asian exporters who ship components there for assembly and export to the United States, at a time when global trade is already weakening. Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, said the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea were the emerging Asia economies most vulnerable to a Trump presidency. “Perhaps the biggest risk to the region’s economies, however, stems not from Trump’s trade policies, but from his foreign policy,” Leather said. Trump has created doubts over his commitment to security alliances, suggesting Japan and South Korea need to pay more for a U.S. military presence and that they should even develop their own nuclear capability to counter China and North Korea. Clinton, who was secretary of state when the Obama administration launched its Asia pivot, is expected to maintain Obama’s foreign policy, with some seeing her as being more hawkish. The divisive U.S. presidential campaign has already done a lot of damage to the reputation of the United States in Asia, regardless of the election outcome, according to some analysts. “The broader question is whether the United States can assert global leadership,” said Jesper Koll, CEO at fund manager WisdomTree Japan.  “All my Chinese friends say, ‘We thought we would run the world in 20 years. Now it’s going to be in January’. This is not a joke. It’s the natural state of development,” Koll said

Summary: एशिया ने अमेरिका के बदलते संबंधों को देखा, जो भी जीते


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will not agree to a Democratic demand that subsidies for Obamacare be included in a must-pass spending bill in Congress, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Tuesday. Asked in an interview on CNN if Trump would back putting the Obamacare payments in the legislation to the keep the government open past Friday, Mulvaney said: “No.” He said the White House had offered to include the Obamacare subsidies if Democrats agreed to funding for a wall on the border with Mexico.   “We made it very clear early on that yeah, OK if you want to talk about those payments to the insurance companies, we’ll trade you a dollar for dollar on bricks and mortar for the wall, but they said no to that and we agreed to put that off for another day ...,” he said.

Summary: खर्च बिल में ओबामाकेयर सब्सिडी शामिल करने का ट्रंप ने किया विरोधः मुलवेनी


LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has re-tweeted anti-Islam videos originally posted by Jayda Fransen, a leader of a far-right British party convicted earlier in November of abusing a Muslim woman.  Fransen is deputy leader of the anti-immigrant Britain First group. Here are some details about her organization:  Britain First was founded in 2011 by leader Paul Golding with a membership of three individuals. It describes itself as a “patriotic political party and street movement”, although critics denounce it as a far-right, racist organization. “Britain First is committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage, traditions, customs and values,” it says on its website.   It wants to deport all illegal immigrants, halt all further immigration, and introduce “a comprehensive ban on the religion of Islam” with headscarves being outlawed in public. “Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment,” its policy platform states.   It holds protests across the country, usually attended by a couple of hundred supporters at most, many of whom hold white crosses because the group argues Christianity in Britain is being threatened by immigration and the growth of militant Islam.  Golding was a former senior figure in the far-right British National Party and was elected a local councillor in 2009. In his biography on the group’s website it says he was “sent to prison in 2016 for confronting a Muslim hate preacher who was secretly recorded saying it’s okay for Muslims to keep sex slaves”.  Golding stood for election as London mayor in May 2016, winning 31,372 votes, 1.2 percent of all cast.  Fransen, who was elected deputy leader in 2014, was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2017, and both she and Golding are facing further similar charges.   The group gained prominence in June 2016 when Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot dead on the street by a Nazi-obsessed loner who witnesses said had been shouting “Britain first” during the attack. Fransen told Reuters the killer had nothing to do with her group.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः कौन हैं ब्रिटेन फर्स्ट, जिनके नेता के पोस्ट को ट्रंप ने री-ट्वीट किया?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans pushed ahead on Monday on a U.S. tax code overhaul as a Senate panel considered the issue, but risks lay ahead with major intraparty disputes unsettled and President Donald Trump returning soon from Asia as the debate heats up. While overseas at a leaders conference, Trump tweeted some tax bill suggestions early on Monday that were starkly different from the two Republican plans being considered in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He called on lawmakers to add a highly risky provision to their tax effort: repealing the individual mandate included in the 2010 Obamacare health insurance law that requires Americans to have health coverage or pay a tax to Washington. Neither of the two Republican plans includes such a politically divisive measure. Efforts by Republicans to dismantle Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, collapsed dramatically months ago. Trump has pushed hard for adding the mandate repeal to the tax-cut package. He tweeted the same suggestion on Nov. 3 just before he departed for his multi-nation Asian tour. In his latest tweet, he also urged slashing the top tax rate for high earners to 35 percent from 39.6 percent, despite criticism from Democrats that the Republican tax bills are deficit-expanding giveaways to the rich and corporations. The House retains the existing top tax rate in its bill, while the Senate proposes cutting it slightly to 38.5 percent. Trump is set to return to Washington on Tuesday. A White House aide confirmed that the president would speak to House Republicans on Thursday ahead of their expected tax bill vote. “I am proud of the Rep. House & Senate for working so hard on cutting taxes {& reform.} We’re getting close!” Trump wrote in his Monday Twitter post. “Now, how about ending the unfair & highly unpopular Indiv Mandate in OCare & reducing taxes even further? Cut top rate to 35% w/all of the rest going to middle income cuts?” he added. Since taking office in January, Trump has not scored a major legislative accomplishment, while frequently shifting positions and confusing lawmakers on Capitol Hill on various issues. Many Republicans view a win on overhauling the tax code as crucial to avoiding having to go to the voters in 2018’s congressional elections with no achievements to show for a year in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. The clock is ticking for them. The House is expected to vote soon, perhaps on Thursday, on a tax bill approved last week at the committee level. House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he was confident Republicans had the votes for passage. Brady told reporters in a Capitol hallway that including a repeal of the Obamacare individual healthcare mandate in the tax bill “remains under consideration.”  The Senate tax committee will debate its tax plan all week before heading home for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday. When both chambers return near the end of November, they will have only 12 legislative days before the end of 2017. In that time span, Republicans hope to iron out differences between the two tax plans over the deduction for state and local taxes, the timing of a corporate tax rate cut and the future of the estate tax on inheritances. Each of the Republican tax plans would add about $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, another issue causing dissension among Republicans. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he hoped to have a tax bill ready in the week after Thanksgiving. Between now and then, an army of lobbyists will be pressuring lawmakers to protect favored special-interest tax breaks. On Dec. 8, a three-month extension of the spending authority for the federal government expires, requiring congressional action that could divert lawmakers from the tax overhaul. A lengthy amendment introduced on Monday to the Senate tax plan by Republican Orrin Hatch, chairman of the tax panel, would remove a provision that lets working Americans over 50 make tax-free catch-up contributions to their retirement plans. Democrats have kept up steady criticism of the Republican tax bills and how they were drafted. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate measure was developed in secret by a small group that held no public hearings and ignored Democrats. “And the reason for such reckless haste is all too obvious: the product is a wretched one ... it is focused on the wealthy to the exclusion of the middle class,” he said in a statement.

Summary: अमेरिकी कर दबाव के लिए आगे का जोखिम क्योंकि विवाद बने हुए हैं, ट्रम्प की वापसी


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s Robert Mugabe may have been deposed as president, but some of the ruling party s senior officials are struggling to stop mentioning the man who dominated their country for 37 years. Two government ministers were left embarrassed at a party congress on Friday when they used the name of the veteran leader when referring to the man who replaced him after last month s de facto coup, new president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Energy Minister and ZANU-PF spokesman Simon Khaya-Moyo chanted  Forward with President Mugabe!  in the native Shona language before hastily correcting himself to  Forward with President ED Mnangagwa . Mnangagwa, who was sworn in as president of the southern African country on Nov. 24, initially sat stony-faced before breaking into a smile when another official whispered to him.  Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa also started referring to Mugabe as the party s candidate for elections due in 2018 before correcting himself. Mnangagwa was endorsed as the ZANU-PF leader and candidate for the top job for the vote which he said on Thursday said could be sooner than expected. Mugabe himself was out of the country. Sources said he visited a hospital in Singapore this week, apparently for medical checks.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे कांग्रेस में भूल जाने वाले मंत्रियों ने मुगाबे का नाम जीवित रखा


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump stands united with other NATO countries in defending all members of the Western military alliance, a senior White House official said on Thursday, after Trump made no mention of NATO’s Article V in a speech. “It’s the core of the alliance,” the official said after Trump gave a speech to fellow NATO leaders in Brussels.  NATO’s founding treaty states that an attack on one ally is an attack on all, but Trump questioned that in his election campaign and has not publicly backed the defense commitment set out in Article V.

Summary: ट्रम्प नाटो के सामूहिक रक्षा खंड का समर्थन करते हैंः वरिष्ठ अधिकारी


KANSAS CITY, Mo./BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Reuters) - Donald Trump has called them thugs, professional organizers and supporters of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders. But the protesters who have stepped up their actions against the Republican presidential front-runner are a disparate group from different walks of life, with no national organization to speak of. They assemble through a patchwork of Facebook pages and myriad advocacy groups. After demonstrators swarmed a large Trump rally in Chicago on Friday and forced its cancellation over security concerns, protesters are looking for ways to keep up the momentum as the billionaire businessman seeks in primaries this week to clear a path toward the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Trump has drawn fervent support as well as harsh criticism, including from within his own party, for his calls to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. Kevin Bailey, 25, who helped lead an anti-Trump protest on behalf of the Progressive Youth Organization at the candidate’s Kansas City, Missouri, rally on Saturday, said protesters had two goals - to disrupt proceedings as much as possible and signal their outrage over Trump’s divisive rhetoric. Trump spent a good part of his time on stage shouting down the protesters. Bailey said his group watched a similar protest staged by a sister organization in St. Louis on Friday as well as other protests to see if there were lessons to be learned. “We want to learn what works as far as, especially, going inside and disrupting rallies,” he said. Using smaller groups of protesters to enter rallies and station themselves around the venue, as well as staggering the disruptions to maximize their duration, are some of the strategies that seem to work best, Bailey said. Before Friday’s rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago, organizers used Facebook and worked with student groups on campuses in the Chicago area to encourage them to attend. Inside the stadium, there might have been as many protesters as supporters and a long line of people were waiting to get in when the Trump campaign scrapped the event. Skirmishes broke out between the two camps, making for some tense minutes that received national television coverage and raised security concerns around the Trump campaign.   One organizer, Nathaniel Lewis, a 25-year-old graduate student, said the cancellation was “the last thing we expected to happen. It shows the power of unity.” It happened just days before five nominating primaries on Tuesday in which Trump, 69, is trying to cement his lead over his remaining Republican rivals - U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Trump’s Republican and Democratic rivals accused him of sowing tension with divisive rhetoric. But on Sunday, he said: “I don’t accept responsibility. I do not condone violence in any shape.” He called the protesters professional “disrupters” sent to his events by Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont. “Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday. Trump’s campaign rallies have been boisterous, with the real estate mogul often pausing to scold protesters and ask security officers to take them away. At some events, protesters and journalists have been punched, tackled or hustled out. A 78-year-old man was charged with assault and communicating a threat after he was seen on video punching a young black protester at a North Carolina rally last week. The threat of violence affected Trump personally on Saturday. Secret Service officers rushed on stage to protect Trump when a man broke through a security barrier at a rally in Ohio. Trump said the man “was looking to do harm.” Some in the Trump camp believe the protesters’ actions in  Chicago will benefit their candidate by galvanizing his supporters.  “Some people were energized,” said Michael McKinney, 47, as he attended a Trump rally in Ohio with his family on Sunday. “I watched a lot of videos - all the protesters were throwing the first punch,” he added.     Over the weekend, President Barack Obama made a call for civility in the political process and “resolving our differences without encouraging or resorting to violence.” While young people are a visible contingent among the protesters and some are supporters of Sanders, the demonstrators are a mixed group operating in small clusters.  For a Trump rally in Bloomington, Illinois, on Sunday, Sonny Garcia, a 44-year-old facilities manager, said a loosely organized group called “Dump Trump Illinois” rallied protesters through a “Dump Trump” Facebook page. Some 2,000 people gathered. Forty members of the local chapter of a national anti-hate advocacy group called “Not in Our Town” showed up to protest,  wearing white armbands. High school student Aishwarya Shekara, 16, joined them. “I’m here because Trump stands for everything I don’t,” she said. “He’s the definition of a demagogue.”

Summary: ट्रम्प विरोधी प्रदर्शनकारीः लोगों और फेसबुक पृष्ठों का पैचवर्क


MADRID (Reuters) - Investment projects in the northeastern region of Catalonia  have been paralyzed and the sale of a stake in state-run lender Bankia put on hold because of the current political uncertainty, Spain s economy minister said on Thursday. Catalonia s parliament is set to declare independence on Monday after going ahead with a banned referendum on Oct.1, while heavy-handed tactics employed by Spanish police trying to stop the ballot have been widely criticized.  This is generating uncertainty that is paralyzing all investment projects in Catalonia,  Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told Reuters in an interview.  I m convinced that, right now, not one international or national investor will take part in a new investment project until this is cleared up.   Catalonia is a center of industry and tourism that accounts for one-fifth of Spain s economy. It is a production base for major multi-nationals from Volkswagen to Nestle and home to Europe s fastest-growing sea port. On Thursday, Spain s fifth-largest bank, Sabadell, said it was considering whether to shift its headquarters away from Catalonia in the first major sign that the wealthy region s push for independence from Spain could scare away big business. Caixabank, Spain s third largest lender by market capitalization, is also considering moving its legal base outside Catalonia, a source with knowledge of the situation said. A spokesman for the bank said no decision had been taken on a move. Tensions between Madrid and Barcelona have intensified since the poll, which was overwhelmingly in favor of independence but which nearly 60 percent of Catalan voters boycotted.  Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has said he favors mediation to find a way out of the crisis but that Spain s central government had rejected this. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy s government has meanwhile called on Catalonia to  return to the path of law  before any negotiations.  They know very well that independence, which isn t going to happen, would have very negative consequences,  de Guindos said.    It won t happen because the Spanish government won t let it happen. It s illegal.   De Guindos said the crisis had not yet had any effect on the wider Spanish economy, which he expects to grow more than 3 percent this year.  For the moment, we ve seen absolutely no economic impact. Preliminary indicators have been positive and show that the Spanish economy will continue to show strong growth,  he said. But worries over the situation were growing.  We re starting to see an enormous concern due to the irresponsibility of the Catalan government, and alarm has been growing in the last days and hours,  de Guindos said.  On the government s plans to sell a further stake in Bankia, de Guindos said Madrid would look at the placement again once the Catalan situation had been resolved. De Guindos said in July that Spain would explore selling a further stake in Bankia some time after the summer, estimating the stake sale would be around 7 percent. Spain s bailout fund had an advisor that was looking at different windows of opportunity, he said.   Right now Catalonia is more important, but as I m convinced the Catalan situation will change course and we will fix it, as soon as circumstances and prices improve, we will look at the possibilities (of a share sale),  he said.

Summary: कैटलन की अनिश्चितता क्षेत्रीय निवेश को पंगु बना रही हैः स्पेन के अर्थव्यवस्था मंत्री


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey plans to change the name of the street where the embassy of the United Arab Emirates is located to Fakhreddin Pasha, the historical figure at the center of a diplomatic row caused by a retweet, the state-run Anadolu agency said on Saturday. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan retweeted last week accusations that Ottoman forces led by Fakhreddin Pasha stole money and manuscripts from Medina in 1916 during World War One when the city was under Ottoman rule. Medina is now part of Saudi Arabia. The mayor of the Turkish capital Ankara ordered preparations to change the name of the street where the UAE mission is located to that of the former commander and one-time governor of Medina, Anadolu said. Without naming him, Erdogan suggested on Thursday that the UAE minister was ignorant. The UAE charge d affaires in Ankara was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry over the issue. UAE officials had no immediate comment on dispute. The UAE, a close U.S. ally, sees Erdogan s Islamist-rooted ruling party as a friend of Islamist forces which the UAE opposes across the Arab world. Ties were further strained by Ankara s support for Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on the Gulf nation in June over a dispute in which the Arab states accused Doha of supporting terrorism. Doha denies this.

Summary: तुर्की यूएई के साथ विवाद में दूतावास सड़क का नाम बदलने की योजना बना रहा हैः रिपोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton, under questioning by federal investigators over whether she had been briefed on how to preserve government records as she was about to leave the State Department, said she had suffered a concussion, was working part-time and could not recall every briefing she received. Clinton, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, raised the health scare during her 3-1/2-hour interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department prosecutors on July 2, according to an FBI summary released on Friday. Besides the 11-page interview summary, the FBI also released other details of its investigation into her use of an unauthorized private email system while running the State Department, in which it concluded she mishandled classified information but not in a way that warranted a criminal prosecution. Clinton told investigators she could not recall getting any briefings on how to handle classified information or comply with laws governing the preservation of federal records, the summary of her interview shows. “However, in December of 2012, Clinton suffered a concussion and then around the New Year had a blood clot,” the FBI’s summary said. “Based on her doctor’s advice, she could only work at State for a few hours a day and could not recall every briefing she received.”  A Clinton campaign aide said Clinton only referenced her concussion to explain she was not at work but for a few hours a day at that time, not that she did not remember things from that period.  The concussion was widely reported then, and Republicans have since used it to attack the 68-year-old candidate’s health in a way her staff have said is unfounded. The FBI report, which does not quote Clinton directly, is ambiguous about whether it was her concussion that affected her ability to recall briefings. The FBI declined to provide further comment on the report.   Clinton, who is challenging Republican Donald Trump for the White House in the Nov. 8 election, has been dogged for more than a year by the fallout from her decision to use an unauthorized private email account run from the basement of her Chappaqua, New York, home. Republicans have repeatedly attacked Clinton over the issue, helping drive opinion polls that show many U.S. voters doubt her trustworthiness.  Trump’s campaign issued a statement immediately following the FBI report’s release saying the notes from the interview “reinforce her tremendously bad judgment and dishonesty.”  Clinton has said that in hindsight she regretted using a private email system while secretary of state. According to the report, Clinton told the FBI that she did not set up a private email server to sidestep the law requiring her to keep her business communications a matter of public record.  At least one federal judge is examining whether this was the case as part of a lawsuit against the State Department concerning public access to Clinton’s government records, which the U.S. government said it had no access to in response to requests from members of the public. The documents also show that Clinton contacted former Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2009 to ask about his use of a personal BlackBerry phone.  In his reply to Clinton via email, Powell told Clinton to “be very careful” because the work-related emails she sent on her BlackBerry could become public record. “I got around it all by not saying much and not using systems that captured the data,” Powell said, according to the summary. After her use of a private email system became public knowledge in March 2015, Clinton repeatedly said she did not use it to send or receive classified information. The government forbids handling such information outside secure channels. The FBI has since concluded Clinton was wrong to say that: At least 81 email threads contained information that was classified at the time, although the final number may be more than 2,000, the report said. Some of the emails appear to include discussion of planned future attacks by unmanned U.S. military drones, the FBI report showed. “CLINTON believed the classification level of future drone strikes depended on the context,” the FBI’s interview summary said. The U.S. government requires that military plans be classified. The FBI released its report on Friday afternoon before the Labor Day holiday weekend, a time many Americans are preparing to travel.  State Department spokesman John Kirby said he would not comment on the FBI’s findings because the department “does not have full insight into the FBI’s investigation.” He declined to say whether State Department officials still discussed the planning of future attacks using drones in unclassified emails.  “I’m not going to speak to past email practices,” he said. “We trust State Department employees to use their best judgment when conveying sensitive information, taking into account a range of factors.” The Clinton campaign released a statement welcoming the report’s release.  “While her use of a single email account was clearly a mistake and she has taken responsibility for it, these materials make clear why the Justice Department believed there was no basis to move forward with this case,” Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. Some Republicans saw the files as confirming their belief that the Department of Justice should have prosecuted Clinton. “These documents demonstrate Hillary Clinton’s reckless and downright dangerous handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of state,” Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement. “This is exactly why I have called for her to be denied access to classified information.”

Summary: क्लिंटन ने एफ. बी. आई. को बताया कि वह दस्तावेजों को संरक्षित करने के बारे में सभी विवरणों को याद नहीं कर सकी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germans see U.S. President Donald Trump as a bigger challenge for German foreign policy than authoritarian leaders in North Korea, Russia or Turkey, according to a survey by the Koerber Foundation. Topping the list of foreign policy concerns were refugees, with 26 percent of respondents worried about Germany s ability to cope with inflows of asylum seekers. Relations with Trump and the United States ranked second,  with 19 percent describing them as a major challenge, followed by Turkey at 17 percent, North Korea at 10 percent and Russia at 8 percent. Since entering the White House in January, Trump has unsettled Germans by pulling out of the Paris climate accord, refusing to certify an international agreement on Iran s nuclear programme and criticizing Germany s trade surplus and its contributions to the NATO military alliance. Trump s actions prompted the usually cautious German Chancellor Angela Merkel to say earlier this year that Berlin may not be able to rely on the United States in the future. She also urged Europe to take its fate into its own hands. In the poll of 1,005 Germans of voting age, carried out in October, 56 percent of Germans described the relationship with the United States as bad or very bad. Despite Merkel s pledge, the survey showed deep scepticism in the population about Germany taking a more active role in international crises, with 52 percent of respondents saying the country should continue its post-war policy of restraint. That may reflect the fact that neither Merkel nor her main challengers in the recent election campaign talked much about how Germany should respond to the challenges posed by Trump s disruptive presidency and Britain s looming departure from the European Union. Last week, Norbert Roettgen, a member of Merkel s conservative party and head of the foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag, decried a  deplorable  lack of leadership in educating Germans about the need to invest more in their own defense and security.

Summary: जर्मन लोग ट्रम्प को उत्तर कोरिया या रूस से भी बड़ी समस्या मानते हैं।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered “an influence campaign” in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election with the goal of undermining the democratic process and denigrating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a new, declassified intelligence report said on Friday. “We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report said. “We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” it said.

Summary: अमेरिकी खुफिया रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि पुतिन ने ट्रम्प की मदद करने के उद्देश्य से साइबर अभियान का निर्देशन किया


VIENNA (Reuters) - At least 3,000 people formed a chain of light in Vienna on Wednesday to protest against the formation of a government that includes the far-right Freedom Party. Demonstrators holding flickering candles, torches and  bicycle lamps encircled the capital s government district.      Our republic s most powerful political offices should be exclusively reserved for trustworthy people who are not in the slightest connected to right-wing extremists,  said Alexander Pollak, spokesman for SOS Mitmensch, one of several human rights groups which organized the demonstration.  It was the biggest protest in Austria since coalition talks between the conservative People s Party (OVP) and the Freedom Party (FPO) started two weeks ago. Organizers estimated the number of people taking part at 8,000 to 10,000, the police at around 3,000.  We are here because they (the FPO) feed hatred and want to divide people,  said Brigitte Griesser, holding a candle.      But the protest was far smaller than unrest 17 years ago, when the FPO last formed a government with the OVP and more than 100,000 took to the streets.  (The shift to the right) has become a European trend... it s no longer just an Austrian issue and that s why it is not that controversial any longer,  said protester Juergen Pucher.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया सरकार में सुदूर दक्षिणपंथियों के खिलाफ प्रकाश की 3,000 श्रृंखलाएँ


WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign was hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The latest attack, which was disclosed to Reuters on Friday, follows two other hacks on the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. A Clinton campaign spokesman said in a statement late on Friday that an analytics data program maintained by the DNC and used by the campaign and a number of other entities “was accessed as part of the DNC hack.” “Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised,” said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. Later, a campaign official said hackers had access to the analytics program’s server for approximately five days. The analytics data program is one of many systems the campaign accesses to conduct voter analysis, and does not include social security numbers or credit card numbers, the official said. The U.S. Department of Justice national security division is investigating whether cyber attacks on Democratic political organizations threatened U.S. security, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The involvement of the Justice Department’s national security division is a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that the hacking was sponsored by a state, people with knowledge of the investigation said. While it is unclear exactly what material the hackers may have gained access to, the third such attack on sensitive Democratic targets disclosed in the last six weeks has caused alarm in the party and beyond, just over three months before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Hackers, whom U.S. intelligence officials have concluded were Russian, gained access to the entire network of the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, said people familiar with the matter, detailing the extent of the breach to Reuters for the first time. Cyber security experts and U.S. officials said earlier this week they had concluded, based on analysis of malware and other aspects of the DNC hack, that Russia engineered the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to influence the U.S. presidential election. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it was “aware of media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters.” “The FBI takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,” the agency said in an emailed statement. The hack did not involve the private email system Clinton used while she was secretary of state. Yahoo News reported on Thursday night that the FBI had warned the Clinton campaign last March that it was a target of a cyber attack involving spearphishing and had asked the campaign to turn over sensitive data to help in its investigation, but that campaign lawyers rejected this request as too intrusive. A source familiar with the matter confirmed this account to Reuters.  The new disclosure to Reuters that hackers gained access to the full DCCC network means they would have had access to everything on the network from emails to strategy memos and opposition research prepared to support Democratic candidates in campaigns for the House. The hack of the DCCC, which is based in Washington, was reported first by Reuters on Thursday, ahead of Clinton’s speech in Philadelphia accepting the Democratic party’s nomination. Russian officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Several U.S. officials said the Obama administration has avoided publicly attributing the attacks to Russia as that might undermine Secretary of State John Kerry’s effort to win Russian cooperation in the war on Islamic State in Syria. The officials said the administration fears Russian President Vladimir Putin might respond to a public move by escalating cyber attacks on U.S. targets, increasing military harassment of U.S. and allied aircraft and warships in the Baltic and Black Seas, and making more aggressive moves in Eastern Europe. Some officials question the approach, arguing that responding more forcefully to Russia would be more effective than remaining silent. The Obama administration announced in an April 2015 executive order that it could apply economic sanctions in response to cyber attacks.  The hack on the DNC, made public in June, led to WikiLeaks publishing more than 19,000 emails last weekend, some of them showing favoritism within the DNC for Clinton over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Sunday as a result, creating a rocky start for the party’s convention in Philadelphia this week. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time at the State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. On Thursday, Trump said his remarks were meant as sarcasm. Earlier in the week, Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan had criticized Trump and called the hacking “a national security issue.” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said on Friday the reported breach showed cyber security is “a problem wherever Hillary Clinton goes. Hopefully this time there wasn’t classified or top secret information that puts American lives at risk.” In Washington, the DCCC said early on Friday it had hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. “We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network,” the DCCC said. “We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.” The DCCC had no additional comment late on Friday. Officials at the DNC did not respond to requests for comment.  Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN on Friday she had not heard about the hack of the Clinton campaign. But she said: “It wouldn’t surprise me. I think it should be pretty clear that both campaigns should be aware that there’s a problem out there. Everybody should be cautious.”

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः डेमोक्रेट पर हमलों में क्लिंटन अभियान भी हैक किया गया


MELBOURNE/THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Australia and East Timor have reached a breakthrough agreement on a maritime border, ending a decade-old row between the two nations that has stalled a $40 billion offshore gas project.   The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague announced on Saturday that the neighboring countries had reached an agreement  on the central elements of a maritime boundary delimitation between them in the Timor Sea    but that details would remain confidential until the deal was finalised. Arbitration began last year and the talks, hosted by Denmark, resulted in a deal on Aug. 30. The countries agreed to establish a special regime for the Greater Sunrise field, paving the way for its development and the sharing of the resulting revenue, the court said in a statement.  Until all issues are resolved, the details of the Parties  agreement will remain confidential,  the statement said.  Nevertheless, the Parties agree that the agreement reached on 30 August 2017 marks a significant milestone in relations between them and in the historic friendship between the peoples of Timor-Leste and Australia.  The leader of East Timor s delegation, chief negotiator and former President Xanana Gusm o, hailed the agreement as a historic moment which would mark the beginning of  a new era in Timor-Leste s friendship with Australia .      I thank the Commission for its resolve and skill in bringing the Parties together, through a long and at times difficult process, to help us achieve our dream of full sovereignty and to finally settle our maritime boundaries with Australia,  Gusm o said. Timor, a former Portuguese colony, has struggled to develop as an independent nation since a violent break from occupying forces from Indonesia in 1999. Gas reserves, once claimed by Australia, is a key to its economic future.  The long-running political dispute has led the owners of the Greater Sunrise fields - Woodside Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and Japan s Osaka Gas - to shelve the project.    The fields are estimated to hold 5.1 trillion cubic feet (144 billion cubic meters) of gas and 226 million barrels of condensate, which analysts have estimated could be worth $40 billion. The existing maritime boundary is aligned with Australia s continental shelf, but East Timor has long argued the border should lie half way between it and Australia - placing much of  the Greater Sunrise fields under its control.         Australia had previously resisted renegotiating a permanent border but under pressure from the United Nations has agreed to enter talks with East Timor. Australia Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the agreement was a  landmark day  in the relationship between Timor-Leste and Australia.   This agreement, which supports the national interest of both our nations, further strengthens the long-standing and deep ties between our governments and our people,  Bishop said.     Australia earlier this year agreed to allow East Timor to terminate an oil revenue sharing treaty between the two countries, while earlier treaties that govern production remain in place. East Timor withdrew legal proceedings it launched over the past few years against Australia challenging the validity of the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, to advance the conciliation process, a joint statement said in January. Having reached an agreement, the two countries will continue to meet with the commission in order to finalize talks in October.  The commission said the countries  will now begin to engage with other stakeholders in the Timor Sea regarding the implications of their agreement,  in particular with respect to the Greater Sunrise resource .

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया और पूर्वी तिमोर ने समुद्री सीमा पर समझौता किया


EDISON, N.J. (Reuters) - Phil Murphy, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs investment banker, might seem an unlikely champion of the working and middle classes. But New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor, who leads Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno by double digits in polls, has pushed to increase taxes for corporations and the rich to pay for a plethora of populist policy proposals: tuition-free community college, increased school funding and tax credits for families. His race, one of two gubernatorial campaigns in 2017, offers an early opportunity ahead of next year’s bonanza of congressional and governor’s races for Democrats to weigh how to win in the era of Republican President Donald Trump. With Republican Governor Chris Christie’s record-low approval ratings dragging down Guadagno’s campaign, Murphy, a 60-year-old who has never held office, has pushed a decidedly liberal agenda that would put his state at the center of his party’s resistance to the president’s policies. “A lot of people assumed that after the Democratic primary was over, he would pivot more to the center - we haven’t seen that happen,” said Brigid Callahan Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Guadagno, 58, portrays Murphy as an elitist millionaire - he has spent more than $16 million of his money on his run - and said he has no plan to finance his lofty goals. “I will lower your taxes, and Phil Murphy will raise them,” she said last week at the close of their final debate. Murphy’s stance reflects the national party’s leftward shift, following Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ insurgent primary campaign last year against eventual presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Like Sanders, Murphy has focused his message on a “fairer” economy, vowing to help the middle, not the moneyed, class. He highlights his working-class childhood as proof he understands financial struggle. He has backed a $15 minimum wage, proposed a public bank to provide low-interest loans to residents and promised to force “corporations, hedge funds and the wealthiest among us” to pay their fair share. “He seems like a hardworking guy who can relate to hardworking guys,” said Ed Coryell Jr., a carpenter who attended a union rally in Edison for Murphy earlier this month. “We look for people who are going to create jobs for our members.” Murphy also has woven more traditional Democratic social issues into his campaign, even as he embraces liberal causes such as legalizing marijuana. “Progressive means a lot of things, but I promise you it means at least three things,” Murphy said at a rally on Thursday with former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013. “We will fund Planned Parenthood again,” he said. “We will sign sensible gun safety laws to keep our communities safe. And we will do something about climate change.” Most notably, Murphy has said he would extend protections for illegal immigrants, turning New Jersey into a “sanctuary state.” Guadagno seized on that issue, airing a television commercial that said Murphy “will have the backs of deranged murderers.” “Phil Murphy is even to the left of Bernie Sanders,” Guadagno campaign spokesman Ricky Diaz said. “Phil Murphy is out of touch with middle class families who want to make the state safer and more affordable.” Though he has run to the left, Murphy has strong backing from the Democratic establishment, with Obama, Clinton and former vice presidents Joe Biden and Al Gore all campaigning with him this month. By contrast, Guadagno, who is trailing badly in fundraising, has received minimal support from national Republican leaders. There is little question that Murphy’s liberal positions have been buoyed by the headwinds Guadagno faces, given Christie’s and Trump’s statewide unpopularity. That could mean Murphy’s campaign is not a perfect blueprint for other Democratic candidates, some analysts said. “I think a lot of people will turn to New Jersey and say, ‘Democrats have to go progressive,’” said Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. “But I would be very wary of Democrats trying to take a page out of the Phil Murphy playbook in any other place.”

Summary: न्यू जर्सी के मर्फी ने गवर्नर के लिए डेमोक्रेटिक बोली में सैंडर्स को प्रतिध्वनित किया


HAVANA (Reuters) - Boxy Russian-built Lada automobiles still rattle around Cuba, growing more decrepit by the year, a reminder of vanished Soviet patronage for the Communist-led island. But next month, more than 300 shiny new Ladas are slated to roll onto Havana s potholed streets, the first in more than a decade. Their manufacturer Avtovaz, Russia s biggest carmaker, says it hopes to ramp up exports, thanks to financing from Russian government development bank VEB. Flush with state funding, Avtovaz and other Russian companies are once again increasing sales to the Caribbean isle. It is part of a broader move by Moscow to renew commercial, military and political ties just as the U.S. government is retreating from Cuba under Republican President Donald Trump. Russian exports to Cuba jumped 81 percent on the year to $225 million in the January-September period, official Russian data shows. That is just a quarter of the exports of Cuba s chief merchandise trading partner, China, but growing fast. Russian state oil major Rosneft in May resumed fuel shipments to Cuba for the first time this century. The company s head met with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on Saturday, the latest sign the two countries are readying a major energy agreement. The nations in the past have discussed increased deliveries of Russian oil to the island and development of Cuba s offshore oil fields.  That would be a major assist for Cuba amid slumping shipments of cheap fuel from its troubled socialist ally Venezuela. Last month, private Russian company Sinara delivered the first of 75 locomotives worth $190 million ordered by Cuba in 2016. Russia s largest truck maker KAMAZ has also stepped up exports to Cuba.  Negotiations for rail lines and other infrastructure are in the works.  We can call this period a renaissance,  Aleksandr Bogatyr, Russia s trade representative in Cuba, said in an interview. He forecast bilateral trade could grow to $350 million to $400 million this year, one of its highest levels in nearly two decades, up from $248 million in 2016. Russia s Cuba offensive comes as Trump has halted efforts by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to normalize U.S.-Cuba ties and ease the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. In June, Trump ordered tighter travel and commercial restrictions again, disappointing U.S. businesses that had hoped to capitalize on the detente. In September, his administration slashed U.S. embassy staffing in Cuba. Moscow is seizing on that rollback as a way to undermine U.S. influence in its own backyard, some foreign policy experts say.  Russia sees it as a moment to further its own relationship with Cuba,  said Jason Marczak, Director at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.  The more the Russian footprint increase in Cuba, the more that will reinforce hardened anti-U.S. attitudes and shut out U.S. businesses from eventually doing greater business in Cuba.  Throughout the Cold War, Moscow propped up Fidel Castro s revolutionary government, providing it with billions of dollars worth of cheap grain, machinery and other goods. Those subsidies disappeared with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Trade plunged.  Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, who longs to return his nation to superpower status, Moscow over the past decade has sought to revive relations with Latin America, particularly with countries wary of U.S. influence. The turnaround with Cuba got a boost in 2014 when Russia forgave 90 percent of Cuba s $35 billion Soviet-era debt. It also started providing export financing to Russian companies looking to sell to the cash-strapped island. The help has been cheered in Cuba, where Raul Castro is due to step down next year, marking the departure of the generation that led the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Russia may lie half a world away from Cuba, but traces of its historic ties with the Caribbean s largest island are everywhere. Older generations learned Russian and studied in the Soviet Union. At a recent trade fair in the capital, Cubans spontaneously sung along to the folk music played at the opening of Russia s pavilion. Moskvich and Lada cars, Ural motor-bikes and Kamaz trucks chug along the streets. Most Cuban farm equipment is from the former Soviet Union. That legacy alone has sustained some Russian trade.  We sell spare parts for ground transport, some planes, agriculture, construction,  said Russian businessman Igor Leonov. He set up his import company, Ces Co. Ltd, in Cuba nearly thirty years ago and says there is plenty of demand. The decades-old U.S. trade embargo has also forced Cuba to remain loyal to some Russian manufacturers. The island upgraded its Soviet-era fleet in the 2000s with Russian-built Tupolev, Antonov and Ilyushin planes. Nadezhda Lesova, an executive at the Russian Export Center in Moscow, said her organization regarded Cuba as a  strategic region.  She said the center is providing support for exports to Cuba, including insurance, loans and subsidies, worth around 430 million euros ($508.60 million). Some major deals are under discussion.  State-owned monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) is negotiating to upgrade more than 1000 km of Cuban railroads and install a high-speed link between Havana and the beach resort of Varadero, in what would be Cuba s biggest infrastructure project in decades.  It is expected the deal will be worth 1.9 billion euros  ($2.26 billion) and will be signed by the end of the year,  Oleg Nikolaev, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the RZD subsidiary RZD International, told Reuters. In October, oil firm Rosneft said it was looking at modernizing the island s Cienfuegos oil refinery. But the optimistic talk could be overblown. Venezuela and China have announced investments in Cuba that came to naught, largely due to the complications of doing business in Cuba. Some Russian companies are already smarting from Cuba s cash crunch. Ces Co. Ltd, the parts importer, said Cuba was behind on $9 million in payments. And it is unclear how long Russia will continue to finance exports, with its own economy struggling amid low oil prices and Western sanctions. Russia s economic constraints are one reason analysts are dubious that Moscow will make good on recent proposals to re-open a former base in Cuba. Shuttered in 2001, the so-called Lourdes base was used for electronic surveillance of the United States. Still, U.S. military experts are concerned that Russia could leverage increased economic influence in Cuba to step up its military and espionage activities on the island. Sixteen high-ranking military officers wrote an open letter to the Trump administration in April asking it to continue Obama s opening with Cuba for national security reasons.  If Russia is willing to offset oil supplies from Venezuela and some other things, maybe Cuba doesn t have much of a choice but to let them re-establish political warfare operations there,  retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David L. McGinnis, one of the signatories, said in an interview with Reuters. Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba, sees Russia s renewed interest in Cuba as geostrategic.     It s hard to see a business interest, as Cuba can t pay,  said Hare, who now lectures at Boston University s Pardee School of Global Studies.  The Russians will do just as much as they want to prop up Cuba so as to be a nuisance to the United States.

Summary: क्यूबा ने शीत युद्ध के सहयोगी रूस के साथ व्यापार संबंधों को बढ़ाया क्योंकि अमेरिका पीछे हट गया


LIMA (Reuters) - A ballet dancer in Peru who was caught hiding the leader of the Shining Path in her apartment in 1992 was freed from prison after finishing her 25-year sentence on Monday. Maritza Garrido Lecca, 52, emerged from a prison on the dusty outskirts of Lima smiling. As she stepped in a car, journalists shouted:  Do you regret it?  Garrido Lecca is the latest in a wave of former militants to be freed, and their release has stirred fears of unrest. Raised in an affluent Catholic home in Peru s capital Lima, Garrido Lecca stunned Peru when authorities discovered the country s most wanted man, Abimael Guzman, had been secretly living in the second story of her apartment above the studio where she taught ballet and modern dance. Her story inspired the 2002 John Malkovich-directed film  The Dancer Upstairs  that depicted the kind of patient detectivework that led to Guzman s capture. Guzman launched the Shining Path s attempt to overthrow the state in 1980 in what would become one of Latin America s deadliest internal conflicts. An estimated 69,000 people were killed in the two-decade battle between state security forces and leftist insurgents. The majority of victims were the poor indigenous peasants whom Guzman hoped would embrace his plans for an armed rebellion. Residents of Lima s upscale neighborhood Miraflores waved Peruvian flags in protest as they waited for Garrido Lecca to arrive at her elderly mother s apartment building.  The Shining Path and terrorism are our enemy and we ll be vigilant about combating them,  Justice Minister Marisol Perez told journalists ahead of Garrido Lecca s release. While the Shining Path is no longer a threat to the Peruvian state and the group s political arm, Movadef, has been blocked from forming a party, authorities say former members are fanning conflicts and winning support among young people. Peru s Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio accused former Shining Path inmates of infiltrating a teachers strike that dragged on for more than two months with frequent clashes between police and protesters. Out of some 6,000 inmates who had been convicted of terrorism, the  vast majority  are now free, Peruvian security analyst Pedro Yaranga said. While no former Shining Path member has asked for forgiveness for the group s violent past, Movadef says it is no longer seeking to obtain power with an armed rebellion. After her arrest, Garrido Lecca denied being part of Shining Path s leadership but acknowledged having links to the group and shouted her allegiance to it before news cameras. Peru s former Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano, who lives in the building where Garrido Lecca is expected to stay, said Peru has no choice but live with the former rebels.  I don t like being Garrido Lecca s neighbor, either, but, that s how a state based on the rule of law works,  Cateriano told reporters.

Summary: पेरू के विद्रोही प्रमुख को छिपाने वाला नर्तक 25 साल बाद जेल से रिहा