JEJU, South Korea (Reuters) - The art of Neapolitan pizza making won world heritage status on Thursday, joining a horse-riding game from Iran and Dutch wind mills on UNESCO s culture list. UNESCO accepted the art of Neapolitan  pizzaiuoli,  or pizza makers, on the world body s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  Congratulations #Italy!  it said in a tweet after a meeting in Jeju, South Korea where the decision was made. Italy argued the practice of the  pizzaiuoli  - preparing and flipping the dough, topping it and baking it in a wood-fired oven - was part of the country s cultural and gastronomic tradition. In Rome, pizzeria owner Romano Fiore celebrated the decision.  I am honored, like all Italians and Neapolitans are...pizza has centuries of history,  he said.  Archetypal Neapolitan pizza has a relatively thin crust with the exception of the rim, which, when baked, bloats like a tiny bicycle tire. It is made in a wood-burning brick oven and has two classic versions: Marinara (tomato, garlic, oregano and oil) and, the most famous, Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, oil and basil), giving it the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag. Tradition holds that the Margherita pizza was created in 1889 by a local chef in honor of Queen Margherita, who was visiting Naples, south of Rome on Italy s Tyrrhenian coast.  As pizza has become a favorite dish around the world, foreign innovations in toppings have often left Italians perplexed and aghast.  Matteo Martino, a customer at Fiore s pizzeria, said before the expected announcement,  I think, and I hope, that this could be the chance to make foreigners understand how pizza is made, without Nutella or pineapple.  UNESCO also accepted Chogan, an Iranian horse-riding game accompanied by music and storytelling, and the craft of millers operating windmills and watermills in the Netherlands. Traditional boat making on the Indonesian island of South Sulawesi, and Nsima, a maize-based culinary tradition from the African country of Malawi, also joined the list. Food culture already on the UNESCO list includes Turkish coffee culture and tradition, the gingerbread craft of northern Croatia and the traditional ancient Georgian method of Qvevri wine-making.

Summary: नेपोलिटन पिज्जा बनाने ने विश्व धरोहर का दर्जा जीता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the hurricane moving toward Florida and Puerto Rico looks to be record-breaking and said a meeting with congressional leaders would show whether they could work out challenges the country faced.  We have many many things that are on the plate. Hopefully we can solve them,  he said during a meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.  Maybe we won t be able to,  he said. Asked if he would accept a three-month debt ceiling increase tied to disaster relief funding, Trump said:  We ll see.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कहा कि तूफान अच्छा नहीं लग रहा है, ऋण सीमा पर बहस पर नजर


RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he and leaders of Southeast Asian countries meeting in a California summit discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea, and agreed that any territorial disputes there should be resolved peacefully and through legal means. “The United States and ASEAN are reaffirming our strong commitment to a regional order where international rules and norms and the rights of all nations, large and small, are upheld,” Obama said at the end of the summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “We discussed the need for tangible steps in the South China Sea to lower tensions including a halt to further reclamation, new construction and militarization of disputed areas,” he said.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा, दक्षिण चीन सागर में तनाव कम करने की आवश्यकता पर चर्चा हुई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Donald Trump’s administration put together its controversial executive order on immigration, it was Steve Bannon – the populist firebrand fast emerging as the president’s right-hand man – pushing a hard line. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interpreted the order to mean that lawful permanent residents - green card holders – who hailed from the seven Muslim-majority countries targeted in the immigration order would not face additional screening when they entered the country.  But they were quickly overruled by Bannon, who is Trump’s chief strategist and oversaw the drafting of the executive order along with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a close ally of Bannon’s, the officials said. “They were in charge of this operation,” one senior DHS official said, adding that the experts were “almost immediately overruled by the White House, which means by Bannon and Miller.” A senior national security official described the pair as a “tag team” pushing Trump’s key policies, including the immigration order which bars the entry of refugees and places a temporary hold on people from seven countries - Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Libya. The inclusion of green card holders from those countries intensified opposition to an executive order that sparked legal challenges, protests at airports and sharp criticism from inside the Republican Party, including from some Trump allies. DHS officials say there was little or no White House consultation with immigration, customs and border security agencies on the immigration policy change, causing widespread confusion over how to implement Trump’s order. A senior administration official said the order went through a review by “key people” at DHS and the White House National Security Council, and that several immigration staff on Capitol Hill were involved in drafting the order.  But officials said Bannon was the driving force throughout. The White House declined to comment on his role. Critics have accused Bannon of harboring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. Under Bannon’s leadership, his Breitbart website presented a number of conspiracy theories about Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides. Bannon has ascribed his interest in populism and American nationalism to a desire to curb what he views as the corrosive effects of globalization. He has rejected what he called the “ethno-nationalist” tendencies of some in the movement. After becoming chief executive of Trump’s election campaign in August, the former Goldman Sachs banker and Navy veteran helped lead him to victory over Clinton. He was then appointed by Trump as senior counselor and chief strategist - jobs not subject to U.S. Senate confirmation. He has been an almost constant presence by Trump’s side in the first 10 days of the administration - in the White House for a meeting with American manufacturers, at CIA headquarters the day after Trump was sworn in, and in the Oval Office during British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit. He appears to have greatly expanded his power in the first 10 days of Trump’s presidency. Trump gave him an unprecedented seat in the NSC’s top-level meetings and potentially narrowed the role played by the director of national intelligence (DNI) and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bannon has also asserted authority over almost all written statements from the White House and the NSC and has sent back documents for rewrites as he sees fit, one NSC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.  Critics, including four senior U.S. intelligence officers, called the decision to formalize Bannon’s role at the NSC meetings a mistake, saying it risks politicizing decisions on national security. White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday defended Bannon’s inclusion in the NSC. Susan Rice, the former national security adviser in former President Barack Obama’s administration, tweeted on Sunday: “This is stone cold crazy. After a week of crazy.”  Bannon and Miller are drowning out the opinions of more moderate advisers like White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, said a senior DHS official and two people in Washington who work closely with the White House on immigration and a range of other issues. One of those people and the DHS official said Priebus felt he had placed enough of his fellow moderate Republicans in key positions at the White House as a counterbalance to Bannon and Miller, but he has been frustrated at their outsized influence so far, especially on issues of immigration and national security.  The White House dismissed the views of the officials as gossip.

Summary: आप्रवासन पर सख्त रुख अपनाते हैं ट्रंप के पसंदीदा व्यक्ति बैनन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday he has placed a hold on President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, claiming he is too close to the pharmaceutical industry to be an impartial regulator. The move by the U.S. senator from Vermont comes one day after Democratic Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts also placed a hold on the nomination until the agency agrees to reform its process for approving opioid painkillers. The nominee, Dr. Robert Califf, is a cardiologist and researcher who joined the FDA a year ago as a deputy commissioner. He previously held senior positions at Duke University, where he founded a large academic research center that received more than half of its funding from the drug industry. “Dr. Califf’s extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry give me no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies,” Sanders said in a statement. A “hold” is a procedure by which a senator can prevent a measure from being voted on by the full Senate. Peter Pitts, a former associate commissioner for external affairs at the FDA who is now president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, said no hold has ever killed a vote on an FDA commissioner and he does not expect it to now. “It would be very undemocratic not to let the other senators have their say,” he said. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted earlier this month to confirm Califf as FDA commissioner, a position open since Dr. Margaret Hamburg stepped down last February. Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, said Califf “is the right person with the right experience to build on the FDA’s unsurpassed record of protecting public health while encouraging innovation and the introduction of new life-saving therapies to the market.” He added: “We would like to see him confirmed as quickly as possible.” On Monday, HHS said that addressing the opioid crisis was “a top priority.” Markey wants opioid approval matters to be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee and believes the committee should consider the risk of addiction and abuse during the approval process. He also wants the agency to rescind approval of OxyContin for children and convene an advisory panel to guide that process. Sanders said he shared Markey’s concerns about the FDA’s approach to opioid painkillers. Too many Americans are dying from what has become an “opioid epidemic,” he said in a statement. U.S. deaths from drug overdoses hit a record in 2014, increasing 6.5 percent to 47,055, propelled by prescription painkiller and heroin abuse, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA does not control drug prices, but Sanders said that “at a time when millions of Americans cannot afford to purchase the prescription drugs they require, we need a leader at the FDA who is prepared to stand up to the drug companies.” Last year, he said, one in five Americans, or 35 million people, could not afford to fill their prescriptions. Sanders has made healthcare a key theme of his campaign to be the Democratic Party’s candidate in the November election. He is competing with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Califf is widely expected to ultimately be confirmed as FDA commissioner. “I don’t think Senator Sanders’ hold will slow the process down,” Pitts said. Califf will need to meet with Sanders and reassure him of the FDA’s independence, Pitts said. “In the meantime,” he added, “He’s made his point.”  (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by David Alexander, Jeffrey Benkoe, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: सैंडर्स ने उद्योग संबंधों का हवाला देते हुए एफडीए का नेतृत्व करने के लिए ओबामा के उम्मीदवार को रोका


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Opponents of President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries again urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject his bid to revive it, saying his administration undermined its own arguments by amending the order last week. In court papers filed with the justices, lawyers for the state of Hawaii and individual plaintiffs in Maryland made note of a June 14 memo by the administration amending the executive order to let the government conduct an internal review of vetting procedures for people entering the country. The order signed by Trump on March 6 called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to give the government time to implement stronger vetting procedures. “This memorandum conclusively severs the already tenuous relationship between the bans and their ostensible rationale by making it clear that the order’s travel and refugee restrictions may begin after the vetting reviews are complete,” Hawaii’s lawyer, Neal Katyal, wrote. The administration has appealed lower court rulings blocking the travel ban to the Supreme Court and made an emergency request that the justices put the order into effect immediately while the legal battle over its legality continues. A decision by the justices on whether to take up the case and grant the emergency request could come as soon as this week.

Summary: यात्रा प्रतिबंध को चुनौती देने वालों ने अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत से ट्रम्प की अपील को खारिज करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a rival-turned-supporter of Donald Trump, overcame his stated qualms about a lack of government experience on Monday to accept the president-elect’s nomination to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Democrats criticized the Republican president-elect’s latest pick for his incoming administration, calling Carson unqualified to take over $48-billion agency that oversees public housing. Carson, a popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, has been a close adviser to Trump since he dropped out of the 2016 Republican presidential primary contest and he is a vice chairman of Trump’s transition team. Trump discussed the job with Carson before the Thanksgiving Day holiday last month, although - despite his own presidential run - Carson had previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in federal government. Picking up that theme, House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Monday, “Dr. Ben Carson is a disconcerting and disturbingly unqualified choice to lead a department as complex and consequential as Housing and Urban Development.” Trump, a real estate magnate who also has no government experience and has never held public office, expressed confidence Carson could do the job, saying in a statement that he “has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.” Carson, 65, is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20 and has been gradually filling out his administration since beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election. Carson said he was honored to accept the post, which requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. “I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need,” he said in the statement. Republicans control the Senate and Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been a sometimes strong critic of Trump, praised Carson in a statement, saying “I’m sure he will be an agent of change in a department that could stand some change.” Carson, a respected neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, had been considered for U.S. surgeon general and head of Health and Human Services Department. His business manager, Armstrong Williams, said last month that Carson had decided not to serve in Trump’s administration because “his life has not prepared him to be a Cabinet secretary.” But Carson said after meeting with Trump he believed he could make a contribution. Like many of the initial field of 17 White House hopefuls who vied for the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination, Carson was a frequent target of Trump attacks during the campaign. But he became one of his most high-profile African-American supporters after Trump secured the nomination. Carson enjoyed a brief surge early in the presidential campaign that took him to the top of the Republican polls in late 2015. But Trump went after him, questioning his mental stability because of childhood incidents in which Carson said he attacked his mother with a hammer and tried to stab another boy. Carson’s campaign sputtered after that and he dropped out of the race in March. He would take over a department whose mission has been to help middle- and low-income people find housing by offering a combination of public housing, rent subsidies and mortgage assistance. The agency oversees mortgage lending and is also responsible for enforcing laws intended to prevent discrimination against those attempting to rent or buy homes. Carson has been critical of HUD efforts under the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama to compel local governments to actively seek to end discrimination, instead of just responding to instances of racial discrimination. In a column he wrote in 2015 for the Washington Times, Carson called the program a “mandated social-engineering scheme.” If confirmed to the post, he could seek to end the Obama program. Other picks by Trump so far for his administration include: Marine Corps General James Mattis as defense secretary, U.S.  Representative Mike Pompeo as CIA director, Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general, retired General Michael Flynn as national security adviser, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as chief of staff and right-wing media executive Steve Bannon as chief White House strategist. Trump is still considering various candidates to fill the post of U.S. secretary of state. Former Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat and a longtime advocate for strong steps to tackle climate change, was scheduled to meet on Monday with Trump’s daughter Ivanka. In the past, Trump has dismissed the idea of man-made climate change as a hoax and he said during the campaign that he would seek to get the United States out of the Paris Agreement to reduce global emissions of fossil fuels. But last month he told the New York Times he had an open mind on this. Meanwhile, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein  filed suit in federal court in Pennsylvania on Monday in an attempt to force a statewide recount of voting there, adding to recounts in Michigan and Wisconsin. Even if the recounts were to proceed in all three states, there is almost no chance that they would overturn Trump’s victory in last month’s election.

Summary: हिचकिचाहट के बाद, कार्सन ने अमेरिकी आवास विभाग का नेतृत्व करने के लिए ट्रम्प के प्रस्ताव को स्वीकार कर लिया


THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A former Bosnian Croat military commander swallowed what he said was poison in a U.N. war crimes courtroom on Wednesday and died shortly after losing an appeal against his 20-year prison term. Slobodan Praljak s apparent courtroom suicide, which was broadcast on a video feed, came in the final minutes of the last judgment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which closes next month after 24 years. The white-bearded Praljak, 72, was taken to hospital after drinking from a flask or glass as an ICTY judge read out appeals rulings against him and five other convicted Bosnian Croat war criminals, tribunal spokesman Nenad Golcevski said.  I just drank poison,  the ex-general told the stunned court.  I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.  After gulping down the drink, he sat back down and slumped in his chair, said a lawyer who was in the courtroom at the time.  Praljak drank a liquid in court and quickly fell ill,  Golcevski said. He was treated by tribunal medical staff, but  passed away today at the HMC hospital in The Hague , he said. Presiding Judge Carmel Agius hastily suspended the hearings and the courtroom was declared a crime scene by Dutch authorities. As a forensic investigation got under way, the chamber was sealed off and the public told to leave.  Don t take away the glass!  Agius said, instructing the guards to lower blinds and block a glass-partition separating the court from the public. In the chaotic moments that followed, guards and paramedics raced in and out of the courtroom, and ambulances sped away. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose country was the patron of separatist Croat forces in Bosnia s 1992-95 war, said he regretted Praljak s death and offered condolences to his family.  His act tells the most about deep ethical injustice toward the six Bosnian Croats and the Croatian people.  The ICTY upheld on appeal Praljak s conviction on charges of crimes against humanity over persecution, murders and expulsions of Bosnian Muslims from territory captured by nationalist Bosnian Croats and the brutal imprisonment of 1,000 Muslims. A reading of the judgment, which was also ruling on appeals against convictions and sentences against five other Bosnian Croat convicts, resumed more than two hours after Praljak drank the apparent poison. The incident upstaged the appeals rulings, which were important for Croatia - it suspended a session of parliament so lawmakers could follow the hearing. In the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, where Bosnian Croats and Muslims fought each other in the war and now co-exist in an uneasy peace, cafes closed to avoid incidents. Praljak was acquitted of some charges of wanton destruction related to the Bosnian Croat militia s shelling of Mostar s iconic, Ottoman-era Old Bridge because the judges ruled that it had been a legitimate military target. About a thousand Bosnian Croats gathered in a Mostar square late on Wednesday to light candles in support of Praljak. A mass in his honor was held in a packed Catholic cathedral, where churchgoers draped themselves in Croatian flags.  I came here to support our generals and pay respect to General Praljak who could not bear injustice and made his final verdict. He is our pride and hero,  said Darko Drmac, a Bosnian Croat war veteran. Fikret Kurtic, a Mostar Muslim who was detained in a Croat-run detention center during the war, said the verdict could not change the past but  may serve as an example for others in this divided country that crimes cannot go unpunished.  Kasim Brkovic, an unemployed Bosnian Muslim war veteran and former prisoner, said:  The same people are in power today and we still live in a camp, it s just they don t beat us anymore.  The ICTY also upheld the convictions of Jadranko Prlic, former political leader of the breakaway Bosnian Croat statelet during the war, along with military and police figures Bruno Stojic, Milivoj Petrovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic. Judges ruled there had been a criminal conspiracy, with the involvement of Croatia s government under then-President Franjo Tudjman - who died in 1999 - aimed at the  ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population  of parts of Bosnia to cement Croat domination there. The defendants on Wednesday received sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years. The decision cannot be appealed. The chairman of post-war Bosnia s shaky, Muslim-Serb-Croat  presidency, Dragan Covic, a Croat, said:  (Praljak) showed before the whole world what kind of sacrifice he is ready to make to prove that he is not a war criminal.  Previously, two defendants awaiting their ICTY trial, both Serbs, committed suicide by hanging themselves in their U.N. cells, according to court documents. Slavko Dogmanovic died in 1998 and Milan Babic was found dead in his locked cell in 2006. The ICTY indicted 161 suspects in all from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo in connection with atrocities in the ethnic wars there during the 1990s. Of the 83 convicted, more than 60 of them were ethnic Serbs. The court s lead suspect, former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, died of a heart attack in March 2006 months before a ruling in his genocide trial. Last week, former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for mass killings and expulsions of Muslims and the siege of Sarajevo, and sentenced to life in prison. Mladic s lawyers tried to delay the verdict mid-reading by saying he was too ill to continue, and Mladic was then removed from the courtroom after shouting that judges were  liars .

Summary: बोस्नियाई क्रोएशियाई युद्ध अपराधों के दोषी की संयुक्त राष्ट्र की अदालत में 'जहर' लेने के बाद मौत हो गई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has been asked by Chinese authorities within the last two years to hand over its source code but refused, the company’s top lawyer told lawmakers on Tuesday in response to U.S. law enforcement criticism of its stance on technology security. The congressional testimony highlighted an issue at the heart of a heated disagreement between Apple and the FBI over unlocking encrypted data from an iPhone linked to last December’s San Bernardino, California shootings - how much private technology companies should cooperate with governments. Law enforcement officials have attempted to portray Apple as possibly complicit in handing over information to China’s government for business reasons while refusing to cooperate with U.S. requests for access to private data in criminal cases. “I want to be very clear on this,” Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell told Tuesday’s hearing under oath. “We have not provided source code to the Chinese government.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, asked about the comments, said she did “not understand” details of the situation. She did not elaborate. China’s Public Security Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Apple has previously denied the accusation as a “smear” originating from the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to force Apple to help unlock the iPhone 5c used by one of the two  San Bernardino killers, who were inspired by Islamist militants. The claim resurfaced in the hearing called by a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to examine potential common ground between law enforcement and the technology sector in the  encryption debate, though more than three hours of testimony yielded little clear agreement. Captain Charles Cohen, commander in the Indiana State Police, repeated the suggestion that Apple has quietly cooperated with Beijing, which strictly regulates technology in exchange for access to its market.  But when pressed by Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, for the source of that claim, Cohen only cited news reports. “That takes my breath away,” a visibly frustrated Eshoo said. “That is a huge allegation.” The Justice Department had argued in the San Bernardino case that it would be willing to demand Apple turn over source code that underlies its products, though at the time it only sought the company’s cooperation in writing new software that would disable the passcode protections on the phone. Technology and security experts have said that if the U.S. government was able to obtain Apple’s source code with a conventional court order, other governments would demand equal rights to do the same thing. After winning a court order in February, the Federal Bureau of Investigation dropped its case against Apple last month when it said it had found a third party entity to help investigators hack into the iPhone used by gunman Rizwan Farook. On Tuesday, Apple and the FBI were making a second appearance in Congress since March to testify over law enforcement access to encrypted devices, a decades-old dispute between Silicon Valley and Washington that gained renewed life from the San Bernardino case. While that standoff underscored national security concerns posed by advances in technology security, the growing use of strong default encryption on mobile devices and communications by criminal suspects is handicapping investigators’ ability to pursue routine cases, law enforcement officials told the hearing. Apple and other companies defend the technology as integral to protecting consumers. The FBI relies heavily on the “services and specialized skills that we can only get through the private industry, and that partnership is critical to our success,” testified FBI technology official Amy Hess. Separately, the tech advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Justice Department in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, seeking to force the disclosure of any secret orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that may have forced companies such as Apple or Google to decrypt communications.   Thomas Galati, chief of intelligence at the New York Police Department, said his investigators had been unable to open 67  Apple devices from October 2015 to March 2016. Those phones were implicated in 44 violent crimes 23 felonies, including 10 homicides, two rapes, and the shooting of an officer, Galati said. The government has redoubled its efforts to use the courts to force Apple’s cooperation in cracking encrypted iPhones by announcing plans to continue with an appeal in a New York drug case. The secrecy surrounding the method used on the San Bernardino phone has prompted criticism from security researchers who said Apple and others should be made aware of the flaw, in accordance with a White House vulnerabilities review process that favors disclosure. But Obama administration sources have told Reuters the group that helped unlock the device has sole ownership of the method, making it highly unlikely the technique would be disclosed by the government to Apple or anyone else. “I don’t think relying on a third party is a good model,”  Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, the committee’s top Democrat, said at the hearing.

Summary: एप्पल ने पिछले दो वर्षों में स्रोत कोड के लिए चीन के अनुरोध को अस्वीकार कर दियाः वकील


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican tax bill being debated in the U.S. House of Representatives would add $1.7 trillion to the federal budget deficit over 10 years, when recent changes put forth by the head of its tax-writing panel and estimated debt service costs are included, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. “By CBO’s estimate, additional debt service would boost the 10-year increase in deficits to $1.7 trillion,” the office said in a letter on Wednesday to Representative Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन कर विधेयक से घाटे में 1.70 खरब डॉलर की वृद्धि होगीः सी. बी. ओ.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in Congress on Tuesday stood by Devin Nunes, the head of the House of Representatives intelligence committee who is under fire over his handling of an investigation into possible Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s election campaign. Democrats and some prominent Republicans have criticized Nunes, a Trump ally, since he announced last week that U.S. security agencies had collected information on Trump’s transition team while conducting legal surveillance on other targets. Democrats see the surveillance accusations, which Nunes said were based on unspecified intelligence reports, as a distraction from the probe into possible Russian influence on last year’s election in Trump’s favor that has cast a shadow over the president’s first two months in office.  They have demanded Nunes step aside from his committee’s investigations into the Russia ties.  House Speaker Paul Ryan, asked at a news conference whether Nunes should step aside from the investigation and if he knew the source of Nunes’ claims about surveillance, said: “No and no.” Trump, at an event in the White House, declined to comment on whether Nunes should step back. Nunes had acknowledged visiting the White House grounds to meet a source and review the intelligence reports before making his announcement that Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection. However, he told ABC News on Tuesday he would not divulge who gave him intelligence reports, even to other members of his panel, saying: “We will never reveal those sources and methods.” Critics say Nunes’ statements were an effort to justify Trump’s unfounded accusations this month that his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, had directed surveillance on Trump Tower during the election campaign. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s role in the election, wants to question Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, about meetings he held with the Russian ambassador and a Russian banker in December. Nunes, who was a member of Trump’s transition team after the Nov. 8 election, told reporters on Tuesday the House panel’s investigation was moving forward. Asked whether he would recuse himself, he said: “The investigation continues.”     Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email that “Speaker Ryan has full confidence that Chairman Nunes is conducting a thorough, fair, and credible investigation.”                   However, Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both influential foreign policy hawks, questioned Nunes’ actions.  “I think he put his objectivity in question, at the very least,” Graham said on NBC’s “Today” show. One Republican lawmaker, Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, went so far as to join Democrats in demanding a special committee to investigate the Russia probe, telling Fox News on Tuesday that Nunes was now “tainted.”

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन के अध्यक्ष ने रूस की जांच में खुफिया समिति के अध्यक्ष का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a crackdown on illegal immigration that has sharply reduced the number of unauthorized border crossings from Mexico, U.S. President Donald Trump is now turning his attention to reducing the number of legal immigrants in the country. The White House is throwing its support behind a bill developed by Republican senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia that would cut legal immigration by 50 percent over 10 years by reducing the kinds of relatives immigrants can bring into the country.  But the legislation faces an uphill climb to get through Congress where some senior Republicans back comprehensive immigration reform, not a tough crackdown. Under the new bill, known as the RAISE Act, the United States would prioritize high-skilled immigrants by setting up a merits-based system similar to those used by Canada and Australia.  Trump and the Republican lawmakers blasted the current immigration system as out of date and argued that it hurts American workers by driving down wages. “This competitive application process will favor applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families and demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy,” Trump said. The Senators said they worked closely with the White House on this latest version of their bill. “This is probably our third or fourth visit to the Oval Office to work with President Trump,” Cotton told reporters. Slashing legal immigration has long been pushed by low-immigration advocacy groups in Washington like NumbersUSA and the ideas have been backed by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is now facing public criticism from Trump. NumbersUSA President Roy Beck hailed the bill and said that it “will do more than any other action to fulfill President Trump’s promises as a candidate.” Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his campaign and signed two executive orders soon after taking office to increase border security and interior enforcement. Cotton and Perdue said their bill does not affect temporary visas for workers in certain tech sectors and seasonal jobs that are popular with many businesses. They stressed that the legislation was narrowly focused, an approach they hoped would be able to get bipartisan support. “We’re not trying to boil the ocean here and change everything about our immigration law,” Cotton said. But other Republican lawmakers said the bill might be going too far. Senator Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, said his state is dependent on immigrant labor to sustain the two biggest sectors of the economy, agriculture and tourism.       Economists have called into the question the benefits of cutting legal immigration. FWD.us, a group that represents the tech industry said that the bill would “severely harm the economy.”       The bill aims to end the diversity visa lottery, which allows 50,000 people from underrepresented countries to obtain green cards.  It also sets a 50,000 annual cap on refugees, instead of a level mandated by the president.  Refugee organizations said permanently limiting number of refugees allowed in the country goes against an American value of offering safe haven to people fleeing violence and oppression.  Trump suggested at an event in New York’s Long Island on Friday, where he spoke out against violence committed by Central American gang members, that immigrants today are different than in previous generations.    “What happened to the old days when people came into this country and they worked and they worked and they worked and they had families and paid taxes and they did all sorts of things and their families got stronger and they were closely knit?” Trump asked the audience of law enforcement officers. “We don’t see that.”

Summary: ट्रम्प और सीनेटर कानूनी आप्रवासन को कम करने की मांग करते हैं


ANKARA/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of homeless Iranians huddled against the cold late on Monday, a day after at least 450 people were killed in Iran s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade, state TV said. Rescue teams kept up search operations for dozens trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed houses in towns and villages in the mountainous area of the western province of Kermanshah that borders Iraq.   Iran s English-language Press TV said more than 450 people were killed and 7,000 were injured when the magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted the country on Sunday. Local officials expected the death toll to climb as search and rescue teams reached remote areas of Iran.  The quake was felt in several provinces of Iran but the hardest hit province was Kermanshah. More than 300 of the victims were in Sarpol-e Zahab county in that province, about 15 km (10 miles) from the Iraq border.  Iranian state television said the quake had caused heavy damage in some villages where houses were made of earthen bricks. The quake also triggered landslides that hindered rescue efforts, officials told state television.  At least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected, Iranian media reported. Iranian media reported that a woman and her baby were pulled out alive from the rubble on Monday in Sarpol-e Zahab, the worst hit area with a population of 85,000. Relief workers said while much aid had been pledged, there was an immediate need for blankets, children s clothes, medicine and large cans to store drinking water. TV aired footage of some people weeping next to corpses shrouded in blankets. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences on Monday, urging all government agencies to do all they could to help those affected. State TV appealed for blood donations. The government announced one day mourning on Tuesday.  Tempers frayed in the quake-hit area as the search went on for survivors amidst the twisted rubble of collapsed buildings. State TV aired footage of damaged buildings, vehicles under rubble and wounded people wrapped in blankets.  We need a shelter,  a middle-aged man in Sarpol-e Zahab told state TV.  Where is the aid? Where is the help?  His family could not spend another night outside in cold weather, he said.     An Iraqi meteorology official put the quake s magnitude at 6.5, with the epicenter in Penjwin in Iraq s Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan region, close to the main border crossing with Iran. Kurdish health officials said at least six people were killed in Iraq and at least 68 injured, adding that in northern Iraq Kurdish districts seven were killed and 325 wounded. Iraq s health and local officials said the worst-hit area was Darbandikham district, near the border with Iran, where at least 10 houses had collapsed and the district s only hospital was severely damaged.  The situation there is very critical,  Kurdish Health Minister Rekawt Hama Rasheed told Reuters. The district s main hospital was damaged and had no power, Rasheed said, so the injured were taken to Sulaimaniyah for treatment. Homes and buildings had extensive structural damage, he said.  The quake was felt as far south as Baghdad, where many residents rushed from their houses and tall buildings when tremors shook the Iraqi capital.  I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air,  said Majida Ameer. who ran out of her building with her three children.   I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming:  Earthquake!  An Iranian local official told state TV that some villages were totally destroyed.   I lost nine members of my family ... they were killed while they slept,  a weeping middle-aged woman told state TV.      Local officials said hundreds of critically wounded people had been transferred to other provinces as Kermanshah s main hospital had been badly damaged.  Iran sits astride major fault lines and is prone to frequent tremors. A magnitude 6.6 quake on Dec. 26, 2003, devastated the historic city of Bam, 1,000 km southeast of Tehran, killing about 31,000 people. Electricity and water was cut off in several Iranian and Iraqi cities, and fears of aftershocks sent thousands of people in both countries out onto the streets and parks in cold weather. Across the area, rescue workers and special teams using sniffer dogs and heat sensors searched wreckage. Blocked roads made it hard for rescue workers to reach some remote villages.  Iranian authorities acknowledged the relief effort was still slow and patchy. More than 70,000 people needed emergency shelter, the head of Iranian Red Crescent said. Hojjat Gharibian, one of hundreds of homeless Iranian survivors, was huddled against the cold with his family in Qasr-e Shirin.   My two children were sleeping when the house started to collapse because of the quake. I took them and ran to the street. We spent hours in the street until aid workers moved us into a school building,  Gharibian told Reuters by telephone.   Iran s police, Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia forces were sent to quake-hit areas overnight, state TV reported. Aid workers handed out water to people, while bulldozers worked to clear the streets in damaged areas.  A local official said aftershocks slowed down erecting tents for homeless people but electricity had been restored in most of the quake-hit areas.    The main problem is sheltering people at this cold weather. We need more tents,  Qasr-e Shririn governor Faramarz Akbari told TV.

Summary: इराक और ईरान में शक्तिशाली भूकंप, 450 से अधिक लोगों की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will be accompanied on his historic visit to Cuba this month by up to 20 members of Congress, and is also considering further measures to ease travel and trade restrictions around the time of the visit, U.S. sources said on Monday. Details were being worked out, but congressional sources told Reuters the White House hoped the delegation would include Republicans as well as Obama’s fellow Democrats, to underscore bipartisan support for his moves toward normal relations with the Communist-ruled country. Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has been one of his party’s leading proponents of easing the embargo restrictions, said there was “a good chance” he would join the trip. A spokesman for Flake later confirmed he would be going. Congressional aides and sources outside the government who were consulted on the matter said timing was still uncertain, but the administration could roll out more changes to travel, trade and banking rules before or during the March 21-22 visit. “They will unveil a regulations package as it gets closer to the trip, further easing of travel, and further commerce and trade (changes),” said one person familiar with the discussions. Obama’s aides are considering regulatory changes to make it easier for individual Americans to visit Cuba as long as they qualify for 12 authorized “people-to-people” categories of travel, the sources said. Until now, most have been allowed to visit Cuba only on group tours or to see family on the island. The White House is also weighing possible revisions and clarifications of how the dollar can be used in trade with Cuba, a person familiar with the discussions said. The White House said on Feb. 18 that Obama would visit Havana on March 21 and 22 in another step toward ending decades of animosity between the former Cold War foes. It will be the first visit to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president since 1928. News of Obama’s trip prompted sharp criticism from some members of the Republican-controlled Congress, where there is strong opposition to normalizing relations with Havana, mostly from Republican lawmakers. Some Republicans want more normal relations with Cuba, as do most Democrats. But the issue is complicated on Capitol Hill because two senators vying for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both Cuban-Americans, strongly oppose Obama’s policy shift.  Obama said the trip would help accelerate changes in Cuba since he and President Raul Castro announced moves to restore ties in late 2014. Administration officials hope it will give Washington more leverage to make progress on opening business opportunities for U.S. companies. Opponents say Obama has demanded too little from Havana, particularly in the area of human rights, to end the embargo imposed in 1960. The administration believes that moves to loosen the embargo would help meet its goal of benefiting the Cuban people. Obama has used his executive powers to ease some trade and travel restrictions since announcing his new Cuba policy 15 months ago. Some major U.S. airlines have begun asking regulators to approve routes to Cuba. So many lawmakers are expected to make the trip that the White House is arranging a separate aircraft to transport them, congressional aides said. “As the president has done on past trips, he has invited a group of senators and House members to join him on his upcoming trip to Cuba. Further details on the members’ travel will be available closer to the departure date,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity. Analysts said establishing U.S.-Cuban business relationships would make it difficult for the next U.S. president to roll back Obama’s policy changes after he leaves office next January, if a Republican opponent of the policy wins the election. Businessman Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate, told the Daily Caller in an interview published in September that he supported the Obama administration’s opening with Cuba. But the embargo cannot be lifted without Congress’ approval and Republicans say that will not happen while Obama is president.

Summary: ओबामा के साथ क्यूबा जाएंगे सांसद, जो और अधिक व्यापारिक कदम उठाने पर विचार कर रहे हैं


BEIJING (Reuters) - China will push for greater international cooperation in the fight against corruption and terrorism when it hosts Interpol s general assembly next week, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the matter, against a backdrop of concerns China is using the body for its own goals. Last year, the global police cooperation agency elected a senior Chinese public security official, Vice Public Security Minister Meng Hongwei, as its president, prompting rights groups to ask whether Beijing could try and use the position to go after dissidents abroad. Beijing has tried for many years to enlist the help of foreign countries to arrest and deport back to China citizens it accuses of crimes including corruption and terrorism. The three Beijing-based sources, who are familiar with the planning for the Interpol meeting, said China is likely to make these two areas its focus for the general assembly. Beijing has faced reluctance, in Western countries in particular, when it asks for the repatriation of those wanted for alleged crimes in China. Governments and judiciary in these countries have been concerned that the Chinese don t produce evidence acceptable for Western courts, and that defendants might be mistreated and won t get a fair trial in China amid concerns that allegations can be politically motivated. Western diplomats familiar with Chinese requests say China sometimes misunderstands that in Western countries it needs to process its demands through the courts.  They re often quite surprised to hear that we can t simply hand them over,  said one diplomat, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.     But China s security officials have been working to understand the legal requirements of developed countries and international bodies so their requests for expedition become more palatable. Beijing has also been attempting to build intelligence sharing relationships with Western countries in the fight against Islamist militants, diplomats say. China is itself battling what it says are Uighur extremists operating in its far Western region of Xinjiang. Speaking last week, Li Shulei, who leads China s efforts to find and return those suspected of corruption who live abroad, called for a strengthened international anti-graft cooperation framework.  We must build a new order to fight international corruption... cut off escape routes for corrupt elements,  he told a meeting in Beijing. China has given few details about Interpol s general assembly, which opens in Beijing on Tuesday with a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping. On the question of Meng s influence in Interpol, the diplomats say that the position is largely ceremonial. The Lyon, France-based Interpol says its Secretary General  J rgen Stock, a German national, is the organization s full-time chief official overseeing the day-to-day work of international police cooperation. In 2014, China issued Interpol  red notices  for its 100 most-wanted corruption suspects who have fled overseas as part of XI s sweeping campaign against corruption. Almost half have come back to China to date, some voluntarily, according to the government. Interpol says  red notices  are requests to provisionally arrest suspects pending extradition, and are not international arrest warrants.  It is up to a member state to act upon an Interpol red notice. They can be ignored if a government decides there is insufficient evidence to act upon them, diplomats say.  There are no figures for how many red notices are ignored. Red notices themselves are often not made publicly available and it is up to the country issuing them to decide if they are publicized or not.  Requests are carefully examined to ensure they comply with Interpol s constitution, which bans  any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character , Interpol said in a statement to Reuters.   Interpol cannot insist or compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. Nor can Interpol require any member country to take any action in response to another member country s request,  it said. China has attracted criticism from rights groups for targeting in particular exiled Uighurs from Xinjiang, and accusing them of terrorism, including Dolkun Isa, the general secretary of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress. China s Ministry of Public Security, which is helping to organise the Beijing meeting, did not respond to requests for comment on concerns about China s role in Interpol.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Interpol operated under the principles of professionalism and neutrality to jointly fight and prevent crime and China respected that. In April, Interpol issued a global  red notice  at Beijing s request for Guo Wengui, a billionaire currently exiled in Manhattan, who has made claims of high-level corruption within the Communist Party. Guo has said the red notice showed China was exerting its influence, given it had the head of Interpol,  to prevent ordinary Chinese people from blowing the whistle on official corruption while overseas . Maya Wang, Hong Kong-based China researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that China s vice police chief heading Interpol can be seen as part of an overall push by Beijing to flex its international muscle.   We have reason to worry that the internal information being shared by Interpol with the police chief may impact on particularly vulnerable minorities like the Uighurs, who have sometimes been involved in terrorism but often are targeted for political disloyalty,  said Wang, who acknowledged that so far there is little concrete evidence that this has happened.

Summary: इंटरपोल की बैठक में भ्रष्टाचार, आतंकवाद पर सहयोग बढ़ाने पर जोर देगा चीन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named his earliest and staunchest supporter in the Senate, conservative Republican Jeff Sessions, to become the next U.S. attorney general, triggering an outcry from civil rights groups as well as some conservatives outside Congress who are uneasy about Sessions’ positions. If approved for the job by a simple majority in the Republican-dominated Senate, Sessions, 69, would lead the Justice Department and the FBI. He brings a record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform that Democrats may target. Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and Trump critic, said on Twitter, “Jeff Sessions, considered too racist to be a judge in the ‘80s, is Trump’s AG.” Holly Harris, executive director of U.S. Justice Action Network, a sentencing reform advocacy group that includes powerful conservative tax reform lobbyist Grover Norquist, said Sessions’ nomination “obviously presents a challenge.” Sessions has opposed lowering mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenders.   Many civil rights and immigration groups also have concerns about Sessions with the American Civil Liberties Union saying his positions on gay rights, capital punishment, abortion rights and presidential authority in times of war should be examined. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told Reuters: “Our nation deserves an attorney general who will be committed to enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws and who will not turn the clock back on progress that has been made.” Trump spokesman Jason Miller defended Sessions against allegations of racism, saying: “When Senator Sessions was U.S. attorney he filed a number of desegregation lawsuits in Alabama, and he also voted in favor of the 30-year extension of the Civil Rights Act... So we feel very confident that Senator Sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation.” Sessions’ office did not respond to a request for comment on his nomination or criticism. Sessions was a federal prosecutor in 1986 when he became only the second nominee in 50 years to be denied confirmation as a federal judge. This came after allegations that he had made racist remarks, including testimony that he had called an African-American prosecutor “boy,” an allegation Sessions denied. Sessions said he was not a racist, but he said at his hearing that groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union could be considered “un-American.” He also acknowledged he had called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.” Sessions, a four-term senator from Alabama, has friends on Capitol Hill. Convivial, with a pixie-like demeanor and soft Southern accent, his gentle manner belies his hard-line positions. No members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold Sessions’ confirmation hearing, had expressed outright opposition to his nomination as of Friday morning, but many Democrats said he would get a thorough and tough confirmation hearing.  “Given some of his past statements and his staunch opposition to immigration reform, I am very concerned about what he would do with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and want to hear what he has to say,” said Charles Schumer, the newly elected Democratic Senate leader. Judiciary Committee member Senator Jeff Flake, a moderate Republican on immigration issues and a long-time critic of Trump, said on Twitter that he will support Sessions, who he said is “well regarded, even by those who don’t always agree with him.” The Justice Department under Democratic President Barack Obama has been criticized for siding with protesters over police in matters of racial profiling or unlawful use of force. His Justice Department opened investigations of 23 police departments around the country for patterns of civil rights violations and Sessions, as attorney general, would have the discretion to drop investigations that are still open. Jim Pasco, the executive director of Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest police union, said police have had a good relationship working with Sessions, especially on policies that allow police to keep assets seized from criminals.  “The door (to Sessions) has been open and we expect it to remain open,” Pasco said.  Sessions’ hard-line and at times inflammatory statements on immigration are similar to Trump’s but have angered other members of Congress. He opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and was an enthusiastic backer of Trump’s promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico. As a senator, Sessions opposed Obama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch as attorney general on the grounds that she would carry out an Obama immigration policy that shielded many undocumented immigrants from deportation. Sessions also has questioned the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to everyone born in the United States, and opposes plans to admit more immigrants from war-torn Middle Eastern countries. As attorney general, Sessions would be able to turn more to state governments to enforce federal immigration laws.  He also could increase enforcement on companies that outsource technology jobs. As a senator, Sessions criticized U.S. companies that brought guest workers to the United States on temporary visas.  Sessions first endorsed Trump’s presidential bid in February, surprising those who had expected him to embrace Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a fellow Southerner and the favorite of the chamber’s most conservative wing. Sessions was Trump’s only backer in the Senate for months and became a powerful member of his inner circle. He has led Trump’s national security committee since March and was named vice chairman of the transition’s executive committee last week. Sessions defended Trump in October when a leaked video showed him bragging about groping women, leading dozens of Republican officials to drop their support.

Summary: रूढ़िवादियों को ट्रम्प के अटॉर्नी जनरल के रूप में सेशंस के बारे में चिंता है


ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq plans to take control of the borders of its autonomous Kurdistan region  in coordination  with Iran and Turkey, the Iraqi Defence Ministry said on Friday. The statement did not give more detail or indicate specifically whether Iraqi forces were planning to move toward the external border posts controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from the Iranian and Turkish side.   The move to seize the border posts is a response to a Kurdish referendum on Monday that produced a vote in favor of secession from Iraq. Following the vote, Iraq, Iran and Turkey demanded that the KRG relinquish control over its external border crossings with Turkey, Iran and Syria. Backed by Ankara and Tehran, the Iraqi government has demanded that the Kurdish leadership cancel the result of the referendum or face the prospect of sanctions, international isolation and possibly a military intervention. Earlier on Friday, a ban imposed by Iraq s central government on international flights to Kurdistan went into effect after the KRG rejected a demand to hand over control of its international airports in Erbil and Sulaimaniya. The KRG also refused to relinquish control of its border crossings, Erbil-based TV Rudaw said on Friday, citing a Kurdish official. The Iraqi Defence Ministry said the implementation of central government decisions to take over management of all the border posts and airports was  going as planned in coordination with the relevant authorities and neighboring countries, and there is no delay in the procedures .  Iraqi state television said an Iraqi military delegation had visited the Kurdistan border from the Iranian side. An Iraqi force is also deployed on the Turkish side of the border as part of joint drills with the Turkish army.

Summary: इराक ईरान, तुर्की के साथ 'समन्वय में' कुर्दिस्तान क्षेत्र की सीमा पर नियंत्रण करने की योजना बना रहा है


LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she took reports of Russian interference in elections seriously, following an ongoing investigation in the United States over alleged Russian meddling in its 2016 presidential vote. Earlier on Wednesday, Britain s electoral commission said it had opened an investigation into funding of the leave campaign in last year s Brexit referendum.  We take very seriously issues of Russian intervention, or Russian attempts to intervene, in electoral processes or in the democratic processes of any country,  May told parliament.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री मे ने रूसी हस्तक्षेप के आरोपों को गंभीरता से लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has declined an invitation to address the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday. The White House did not offer any details on why Trump would not speak to the 108-year-old civil rights group. “My understanding is that the invitation has been declined for this year,” Sanders told reporters at a briefing. She said that while Trump would not speak at the conference, the White House would be happy to have a dialogue with the group.  “We would certainly like to be able to continue to do that,” Sanders said. The NAACP did not immediately respond to request for comment.  Trump had declined to speak at the NAACP convention last year because it coincided with the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where he was formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate. Previous Republican presidential nominees regularly attended the annual meetings of the oldest U.S. civil rights organization. Trump’s most recent predecessors in the White House, Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, both delivered speeches to the NAACP during their time in office.    This year’s NAACP convention begins Saturday in Baltimore. During his campaign, Trump pledged to improve the lives of black Americans, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has been criticized by some groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, for not doing enough to address issues in the African-American community.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने एन. ए. ए. सी. पी. सम्मेलन में बोलने के निमंत्रण को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s call for Congress to toughen the Iran nuclear deal faced opposition on Friday from among the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as from Democrats, narrowing the chances any legislation could pass. As Trump announced that he had chosen not to certify Tehran is complying with the deal but would not immediately withdraw from it, Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton offered an outline of legislation they said would “address flaws” in the accord. If passed, the measure would set stricter restrictions on Iran and immediately revive U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program if Tehran is deemed able to produce a nuclear weapon within a year. “We have provided a route to overcome deficiencies (in the agreement) and to keep the administration in the deal, and actually make it the kind of deal that it should have been in the first place,” Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on a call with journalists. Republicans control Congress, but their four-seat edge in the Senate means any measure would need Democratic support to pass, even if every member of Trump’s party supports it. That is not a given. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he had “serious doubts” about the Corker-Cotton plan. He said he would reserve judgment until the final measure, but preferred that Trump abandon the deal. “Ultimately, leaving the nuclear deal, reimposing suspended sanctions, and having the president impose additional sanctions would serve our national interest better than a decertified deal that leaves sanctions suspended or a new law that leaves major flaws in that agreement in place,” Rubio said in a statement. Most Democrats were strongly opposed. Senator Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said he would only support a measure backed by European allies who had signed the nuclear pact, formally known as the JCPOA. “Anything we do must be consistent with the JCPOA, cannot lead us on a path to violate the JCPOA and must have the support of our European allies,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Cardin said he wanted a full-Senate briefing on the plan from administration officials, and then committee hearings. Corker acknowledged the tough fight ahead, but said he hoped to win over Democrats. He pledged to seek the support of European allies Britain, France and Germany, who had signed the agreement and urged Trump not to decertify.

Summary: ईरान परमाणु समझौते को 'ठीक' करने के लिए अमेरिकी कांग्रेस में चढ़ाई का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shortly after last November’s attacks on Paris by a Brussels-based Islamic State cell, a top U.S. counter-terrorism official traveling in Europe wanted to visit Brussels to learn more about the investigation. When the official tried to arrange meetings, however, his Belgian counterparts were not welcoming, according to U.S. officials familiar with the events. The Belgians indicated it was a bad time to speak to foreign officials as they were too busy with the investigation, said the officials, who asked not to be identified. Belgian officials declined to comment on the incident. The brush-off was one small sign of mounting U.S. frustration over Brussels’ handling of its worsening Islamic militant threat.  Concern that the small European nation’s security and intelligence officials are overwhelmed — and that its coordination with allies falls short — have again come to the fore following the Islamic State-claimed attacks on Tuesday that killed at least 31 people. Several U.S. officials say that security cooperation has been hampered by patchy intelligence–sharing by Brussels and wide differences in the willingness of different agencies to work with foreign countries, even close allies. One U.S. government source said that when American investigators try to contact Belgian agencies for information, they often struggle to find which agency or part of an agency might have relevant information. Belgium has ordered a sharp increase in security budgets following the Paris attacks, despite being under steady pressure to limit its debt levels under euro zone rules. The government has promised to recruit around 2,500 more federal police, who pursue major crimes, to make up for a shortfall of close to a fifth of the full-strength force of 12,500. It also says it thwarted a major attack in January 2015, and is eager to cooperate with European and U.S. counterparts. “These attacks show that more coordination with the United States is clearly desirable,” Guy Rapaille, the president of the committee that provides oversight of Belgium’s security and intelligence services, told Belgium’s state broadcaster RTBF. “But you have to remember that big powers guard their intelligence very closely.”  U.S. officials acknowledge the recent Belgian efforts to step up funding and recruitment. Yet they say Belgian security services are outmatched by the threat in a country that, per capita, has supplied the highest number of foreign fighters to Syria of any European nation. “They’re way behind the ball and they’re paying a terrible price,” Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Reuters. Asked on Wednesday whether Belgium was too complacent over the threat posed by Islamic militancy, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said:  “I want to stay clear of saying that Belgium was somehow caught by surprise or not aware. You know, we collaborate, we work with Belgium closely.”   Some U.S. counter-terrorism officials say much of the gap between Washington and Belgium — and some other European countries — is cultural. Europeans’ deeper commitment to personal privacy sometimes prevents or delays sharing of information such as travel data — that is taken for granted in the United States. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government radically reshaped its counter-terrorism agencies. It broke down walls between law enforcement and intelligence authorities, and created new coordinating institutions such as the Director of National Intelligence and National Counterterrorism Center. Belgium, by contrast, is a patchwork country divided between French and Dutch speakers and with multiple levels of government. Belgian security chiefs have repeatedly complained that they cannot handle up to 900 home-grown Islamist militants, among the highest per-capita rates in Europe. Belgium does not divulge the exact number of personnel in its security services and military intelligence, but security experts say they appear under-resourced compared to European counterparts. “Add to that the problem of two languages (French and Flemish), lack of Arabic speakers, and weak coordination between national and local government, you have a huge discrepancy between threat and response,” said former CIA official and White House advisor Bruce Riedel, now at the Brookings Institution.

Summary: उग्रवादी खतरे के साथ बेल्जियम के संघर्ष पर अमेरिकी हताशा पनप रही है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday vowed to ensure all candidates have an equal chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination after a former party chair accused the committee of rigging the process to aid Hillary Clinton in 2016. DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement the 2020 nominating process would be “unquestionably fair and transparent.” Perez made his comments after former DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile said in an opinion piece in Politico earlier this week that the nomination process had been “rigged” in Clinton’s favor after she signed a fundraising agreement with the DNC in 2015. Clinton, a former U.S. senator and first lady, beat Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination but lost the election to Republican Donald Trump in November 2016. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, told CNN this week that Perez needed to assure Democrats, including supporters of Sanders, that the process was fair and she agreed that the 2016 nominating process was “rigged.” Perez said he is “more committed than ever before to restoring voters’ faith in our democratic process because even the perception of impartiality or an unfair advantage undermines our ability to win. That is unacceptable.” Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN this week he thought the debate schedule was “rigged.” Perez said the party will “decide the debate schedule in advance, instead of negotiating it after all our candidates have entered the race” and “any and all joint fundraising agreements will be transparent.” Leaked emails in 2016 suggested the party had actively favored Clinton over Sanders. Former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook on Friday denied the nomination had been rigged in Clinton’s favor. “Hillary Clinton won this primary with almost 4 million votes,” Mook told CNN. “The idea that the DNC could rig a contest frankly is laughable.” Brazile, who replaced former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz last year after a furor over the contents of the leaked emails, also wrote she contemplated proposing to replace Clinton as the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. The Post said she considered replacing Clinton with then-Vice President Joe Biden after Clinton fainted in September 2016. In a soon-to-be published book, Brazile recounts deliberations as interim DNC chair whether to initiate the process of removing Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine, a Virginia senator, the Post reported, saying she ultimately did not seek to remove them. DNC rules give the party’s chair the ability to call a special meeting to consider replacing a nominee in the event of the death, resignation or disability after a candidate has officially been nominated, but only the full DNC has the power to fill vacancies. Brazile’s book “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House,” is to be released on Tuesday by Hachette Books.

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक नेता ने हंगामे के बाद 2020 में निष्पक्ष नामांकन प्रक्रिया का संकल्प लिया


GAZA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians including hundreds of gunmen rallied in Gaza on Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of Hamas s founding and its chief vowed to reverse U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Earlier in the day, Israel shut its border crossings with Gaza in response to daily rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled enclave since Trump s announcement on Dec. 6, which stirred anger across the Arab and Muslim world and concern among Washington s European allies as well as Russia.  We will knock down Trump s decision. No superpower is capable of offering Jerusalem to Israel, there is no Israel that it should have a capital named Jerusalem. Our souls, our blood, our sons and our homes are a sacrifice for Jerusalem,  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told the rally in Gaza City.  With gunmen from other Palestinian militant groups showing support for Hamas, Haniyeh added,  We are marching towards Jerusalem, sacrificing millions of martyrs along the way,  and the crowd repeated his chants. Israeli aircraft struck three Hamas facilities before dawn after the latest rocket salvo, Israel s military said. It said it targeted training camps and weapons storage compounds. Hamas usually evacuates such facilities when border tensions rise. Two of the rockets fired by militants were intercepted by Israel s Iron Dome anti-missile system and a third exploded in an open area of southern Israel. There were no reports of casualties on either side of the frontier. The military said in a statement that  due to the security events and in accordance with security assessments , Kerem Shalom crossing - the main passage point for goods entering  Gaza - and the Erez pedestrian crossing would be shut as of Thursday. It did not say how long the closure would last. Around 15 rockets have been fired into southern Israel since Trump s announcement. None of the projectiles has caused serious injury or damage. The attacks have drawn Israeli air strikes that have killed two Hamas gunmen. Two other Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with Israeli troops during stone-throwing protests along the border. Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on Israel Radio that while Hamas, which last fought a war with Israel in 2014, was not responsible for the rocket fire, it needed to rein in militants from  breakaway groups  or it would  find itself in a situation where it has to contend  with the Israeli military. In Istanbul on Wednesday, a summit of more than 50 Muslim countries condemned Trump s move and urged the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem, captured by Israel along with the West Bank in a 1967 war, as the capital of Palestine. Palestinians want East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state they seek in Israeli-occupied territory. Trump s declaration has been applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a recognition of political reality and Jews  biblical links to Jerusalem, a city that is also holy to Muslims and Christians. Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, has canceled some Christmas celebrations in protest at Trump s move, officials there said. There was no word from Bethlehem, the Palestinian West Bank town that is Jesus s traditional birthplace, whether it was also weighing a cutback on its celebrations at a crucial time of year for the its tourist trade.

Summary: हमास के नेता ने गाजा रैली में कहा, हमास जेरूसलम में ट्रंप के कदम को पलट देगा


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany regards Friday s joint report on progress made in the negotiations on Britain s departure from the European Union as a step forward but believes much work remains even if the initial stage of Brexit talks is concluded, a spokesman said.  I think everyone understands that there is still much work for negotiators to do even if the European Council decides to move into phase two of Brexit negotiations,  German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference on Friday. He added that the second phase would be  highly complex . The leaders of the other 27 EU countries are due to decide next Friday whether to accept the European Commission s recommendation that sufficient progress has been made on exit talks to begin discussions on Britain s future relationship with the bloc.

Summary: जर्मनीः बातचीत के दूसरे चरण में प्रवेश करने के बावजूद ब्रेक्सिट पर बहुत काम बाकी है


BEIJING (Reuters) - China has shut down or “dealt with” thousands of websites for sharing “harmful” erotic or obscene content since April, the state’s office for combating pornography and illegal publications announced on Thursday. The office said 2,500 websites were prosecuted or shut down and more than 3 million “harmful” posts were deleted in eight months up to December during a drive to “purify” the internet in China and protect youth, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The government has tightening its grip on Chinese cyberspace in recent months, in particular placing new restrictions on the fast-growing live-streaming industry. The state has a zero-tolerance approach to what it considers lewd, smutty or illegal content and has in past crackdowns removed tens of thousands of websites in a single year. Two popular news websites were also punished for spreading “illegal” content, Xinhua reported. It did not elaborate. Aside from live-streaming, the office worked alongside the Ministry of Public Security, the ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China to target cloud storage, chat apps and “vulgar” videos. Social media platforms have become a key tool for spreading illegal content and mobile pay platforms including Alipay and WeChat pay have allowed individuals to make big profits, the office said.

Summary: चीन ने 'हानिकारक', अश्लील सामग्री के लिए हजारों वेबसाइटों पर कार्रवाई की


(Reuters) - State legislators in New Hampshire narrowly blocked a bill on Thursday that would have prohibited discrimination against transgender people, including allowing them to use the public bathrooms that match the gender with which they identify. Transgender rights are a politically charged issue in the United States. Supporters say bills like the one blocked on Thursday protect people who do not conform to their birth gender, while opponents say they could give cover to voyeurs and sexual predators. The 187-179 vote by the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives to table the bill without debate came one day after Governor Chris Sununu, also a Republican, said he had no position on the matter.  Many Democrats had supported the bill. “With Sununu’s support, the bill, which was tabled by a slim margin, would be on its way to the corner office,” said Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “His silence and apathy are a tacit endorsement of discrimination, and he will have to live with the fact that he denied many transgender people the freedom that is granted through equality under the law.” A spokesman for Sununu whose father, John Sununu, was a New Hampshire governor and later White House chief of staff in the first Bush administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This was the latest in a string of defeats for transgender rights this week. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court ruling in favor of a Virginia transgender student after President Donald Trump rescinded a policy put in place last year protecting such youths. A Texas Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would require people to use public restrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates. That measure is similar to one passed last year in North Carolina, which sparked boycotts that are estimated to have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. Due to economic concerns, analysts do not expect the Texas measure to pass the state House. Despite their dominance in New Hampshire’s government, Republicans in the state legislature do not unanimously support the party’s national agenda. Last month state legislators blocked a bill that would have allowed employees in union-represented jobs not to pay dues.

Summary: न्यू हैम्पशायर विधायिका ने ट्रांसजेंडर अधिकारों पर विधेयक को अवरुद्ध कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal government is working on a long-term plan to help Puerto Rico rebuild after Hurricane Maria tore through the island territory three weeks ago, an administration official said on Wednesday. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider on Thursday a $4.9 billion loan for Puerto Rico, proposed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. But the loan is meant to be a short-term measure to help the island pay urgent bills. “The Community Disaster Loan cannot and does not address the recovery, rebuilding, and future of Puerto Rico, which the administration intends to address with a more long-term solution in concert with the Puerto Rican government, oversight board, court and Congress,” the administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको को ट्रम्प का ऋण एक शुरुआत है, लेकिन और मदद आने वाली हैः अधिकारी


SOCHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump had not divulged any secrets during a meeting in Washington with Russian officials and offered to prove it by supplying Congress with a transcript. But a leading U.S. Republican politician said he would have little faith in any notes Putin might supply. Two U.S. officials said on Monday Trump had disclosed classified information about a planned Islamic State operation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they met last week, plunging the White House into a fresh controversy just four months into Trump’s tenure. Trump, whose administration has been dogged by allegations that Russia helped him win the White House and that he and his allies are too cozy with Moscow, has defended his decision to discuss intelligence with the Russians after media reports of the meeting alarmed some U.S. and foreign politicians. President Putin deployed his trademark sarcasm on Wednesday to make clear he thought the accusation that Trump had divulged secrets absurd.  “I spoke to him (Lavrov) today,” a smiling Putin told a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. “I’ll be forced to issue him (Lavrov) with a reprimand because he did not share these secrets with us. Not with me, nor with representatives of Russia’s intelligence services. It was very bad of him.”  Putin, who still hopes Moscow can repair battered ties with the United States despite a deepening political scandal in the United States related to Trump’s purported Russia ties, said Moscow had rated Lavrov’s meeting with Trump highly. If the Trump administration deemed it appropriate, Putin said Russia could hand over a transcript of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov to U.S. lawmakers to reassure them that no secrets were revealed. A Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov, later told reporters that Moscow had a written record of the conversation, not an audio recording. U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio was unimpressed with Putin’s offer and alluded to alleged Russian hacking of Democratic groups during the U.S. presidential election.  “I wouldn’t put much credibility into whatever Putin’s notes are,” Rubio said on Fox News. “And if it comes in an email, I wouldn’t click on the attachment.” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is among those probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, called Putin’s offer “quite amusing.” “The last person Trump needs to vouch for him right now is Vladimir Putin,” Schiff said in an interview with CBS News. “If they want to send something, you know, hats off. Send it our way... It’s credibility would be less than zero.” Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election. Trump is also under pressure over accusations he asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end the agency’s investigation into the Russia ties of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. The allegation stems from a memo written by Comey and seen by a source familiar with the contents of the memo. In Washington, Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they wanted to see the Comey memo. U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger joined a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers who have said they would back some sort of independent investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. “If in fact what was in the memo is true, it’s very concerning and we need to get to the bottom of that,” Kinzinger said on CNN. Complaining about what he said was “political schizophrenia” in the United States, Putin said Trump was not being allowed to do his job properly. “It’s hard to imagine what else these people who generate such nonsense and rubbish can dream up next,” said Putin, referring to unnamed U.S. politicians.  “What surprises me is that they are shaking up the domestic political situation using anti-Russian slogans. Either they don’t understand the damage they’re doing to their own country, in which case they are simply stupid, or they understand everything, in which case they are dangerous and corrupt.”     Russia has repeatedly said that Trump’s opponents are trying to damage him and Moscow by making what it says are false accusations about the billionaire president and the Russian government which initially had high hopes of a rapprochement. Officials have told Reuters Trump’s alleged disclosure of classified information to Russia’s foreign minister is unlikely to stop allies who share intelligence with Washington from cooperating. That view was reinforced on Wednesday when British Prime Minister Theresa May said her government had confidence in its relationship with the United States and would continue to share intelligence with Britain’s most important defense and security ally.

Summary: पुतिन ने यह साबित करने के लिए प्रतिलिपि की पेशकश की कि ट्रम्प ने रूस के रहस्यों को पारित नहीं किया था


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish fishermen could be hit hard by Britain s decision to leave the European Union if it leads to restrictions in their access to British waters, a research report made on request of the Danish government concluded on Wednesday. The Danish fishing lobby has strong clout in Copenhagen and could press the government to adopt a tough stance in Britain s negotiations with the EU on a post-Brexit trade deal. European fishermen want Brussels to use its trump card - continued access to the essential EU market - in negotiations on how to divvy up the seas. Those Danish fishermen that operate the most in British waters could lose more than half of their current catch in the worst of four imagined scenarios, researchers from Copenhagen University concluded in the report. The actual consequences will depend on the negotiations between Britain and the other 27 EU countries, Minister for Fisheries Karen Ellemann said.  We are working with the other affected countries to maintain our fishing opportunities and access to British waters,  she said in a comment on the report. Each of the years from 2012 through to 2016 Danish fishermen have unloaded fish from British waters worth between 700 million  and 1 billion Danish crowns ($109-156 million). That corresponds to 34 percent of the total value of fish uploaded by the Danish fishermen, and 45 percent of the volume. Herring and mackerel would be especially hit, and it would indirectly hurt Denmark s onshore fish processing industry.  The Danish vessels might change behavior in a way which has not been foreseen in the analysis, or other fishing opportunities might become possible, for instance in the Norwegian zone,  the researchers said in the report. Danish fishermen have argued that if the British get free access to sell fish in the EU, then EU fishermen should also get free access to fish in the British fishing zone. Europe imports about 75 percent of the British catch.  Britain has said it plans to allow foreign ships to fish in UK waters after Brexit but claims the right to decide the extent of access. The EU will be seeking to maintain something close to the status quo, industry sources have told Reuters.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट से डेनमार्क के मछुआरे बुरी तरह प्रभावित हो सकते हैंः शोध रिपोर्ट


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he does not yet know how Republicans will amass the votes needed to pass legislation now being crafted to dismantle Obamacare, but expressed some optimism on another top priority, overhauling the tax code. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, McConnell said healthcare and taxes still top the Republican legislative agenda, and he added that he will not reach out to the minority Democrats on either one because differences between the two parties are too stark. McConnell also said he has not asked the White House for input as the Senate devises its own healthcare legislation after the Republican-led House of Representatives passed its version on May 4, but may do so in the future. Excluding Democratic involvement will leave McConnell, a conservative 75-year-old Kentuckian with a reputation as a dealmaker, a narrow path to win passage of these ambitious goals, which are also at the head of Republican President Donald Trump’s policy agenda. A repeal of Obamacare was one of Trump’s leading campaign promises last year. Asked about behind-the-scenes work among Senate Republicans on hammering out the provisions of a healthcare bill, McConnell said, “I don’t know how we get to 50 (votes) at the moment. But that’s the goal. And exactly what the composition of that (bill) is I’m not going to speculate about because it serves no purpose,” McConnell said. Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Republican Vice President Mike Pence would be called upon to cast a tie-breaking vote. McConnell opened the interview by saying, “There’s not a whole lot of news to be made on healthcare.” He declined to discuss what provisions he might want to see in the bill or provide a timetable for producing even a draft to show to rank-and-file Republican senators and gauge their support. On the other hand, he said, prospects for passage of major tax legislation were “pretty good.” While this too will be difficult, McConnell said, it is “not in my view quite as challenging as healthcare.” Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress want to cut tax rates across the board, but a House proposal to use the tax code to boost exports and discourage imports has split the business community and some lawmakers. The House narrowly passed its legislation to overhaul the healthcare system and dismantle major parts of the Obamacare law, formally called the Affordable Care Act, that was Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement, overcoming unified opposition from Democrats. On Wednesday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the House-passed bill would result in 23 million people losing health insurance coverage by 2026, a sobering figure for Senate Republicans as they mull action. The CBO also said federal budget deficits would fall by $119 billion over 10 years under that bill. Asked if he was getting any guidance from the White House on healthcare legislation, McConnell said, “Honestly I haven’t asked for any. I told the president there would be a point at which we might well want him and the vice president to be helpful.” McConnell said Trump and Pence could play an important role when it comes to “whipping” up support for whatever bill is produced. If the Senate passes a healthcare bill, lawmakers would have to work out the differences in the House and Senate versions and pass a compromise bill before it could go to Trump for his signature. With Republicans holding a slim Senate majority, McConnell likely needs the cooperation and support of hard-line conservative Republicans such as Senator Ted Cruz who in the past have been difficult to corral. Cruz is a member of a working group within the Senate in charge of crafting the Senate Obamacare repeal legislation. “I’m grateful that he wants to help us get an outcome here,” McConnell said. Republicans face a tricky balancing act. Because they cannot expect any Democratic support and have a razor-thin majority, they must devise legislation that appeals not only to the most conservative senators but also does not drive off many Republican moderates. Since it became law in 2010, Republicans have railed against Obamacare, arguing that it is too expensive and involves the government too deeply in Americans’ healthcare decisions. They have said they want to replace it with a program that repeals most Obamacare taxes, reduces federal spending in the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and leaves more decisions up to the states. McConnell in the past has promised to undo Obamacare “root and branch.” Now that Republicans are in a position to do so with control of both Congress and the White House, they have struggled to come up with a consensus plan. The Republican leader compared the effort to solving a Rubik’s Cube. Many Senate Republicans have misgivings about the House-passed legislation, which Democrats have said would deprive millions of people of insurance, benefit the wealthy and roll back Obamacare protections such as guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. McConnell made clear that senators are writing their own bill, saying, “We’re working on a separate approach.” In taking a Republican-only approach to healthcare and taxes, McConnell said of Democrats, “They’re not interested in doing what we’re interested in doing.” McConnell expressed optimism two parties can band together to pass legislation funding the federal government in the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. He also noted good prospects for bipartisanship on a bill to expand sanctions against Iran, due for debate in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week, and renewal of a Food and Drug Administration user-fee program that expires later this year.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः मैककॉनेल ने स्वास्थ्य सेवा के बारे में चिंता जताई, कर सुधार पर उम्मीद जताई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Trade Representative said on Tuesday that he believes China substantially manipulated its currency in the past to gain a trade advantage, but it was unclear if Beijing is still doing so. “In the past, it is my judgment that China was a substantial currency manipulator and I think we’ve lost a lot of jobs in the United States because of it,” Robert Lighthizer told senators in his confirmation hearing. “Whether China is manipulating its currency right now, to weaken it, that’s another question,” Lighthizer said, adding that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be the person to make that determination. Trump pledged during his campaign that he declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his administration, a move that would trigger demands for bilateral negotiations over this issue. He has not done so. China in the past year has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves to prop up the value of its yuan in the face of capital outflow pressures.

Summary: यू. एस. टी. आर. नामांकित व्यक्तिः यह स्पष्ट नहीं है कि क्या चीन अभी भी मुद्रा में हेरफेर कर रहा है