JAKARTA (Reuters) - During the first months of this year, President Joko Widodo was an embattled leader grappling with Indonesia s most serious political and religious tensions in two decades. Now, he has come through the storm looking stronger than ever. His popularity is near record highs and, thanks to deft maneuvers against foes trying to exploit a blasphemy case against one of his allies, Widodo has stamped his authority on the ruling coalition, parliament and the security forces. The quietly spoken former furniture salesman may have proved his political mettle, but his next challenge is an economy that refuses to respond to conventional policies to fire up growth. That could dent his re-election chances in 2019, especially with a budget that won t stretch to lavish government spending. Senior government officials worry that Widodo has been distracted by the battles with political opponents and taken his eye off the economy.  We are suffering from bad policy right now ... if we don t fix it or we don t regain the initiative I could easily see GDP growth going down, and is that a risk you want to take?  said one senior government official, who asked not to be identified. According to a June survey, nearly 60 percent of people polled were satisfied with Widodo s performance, almost an all-time high. But the poll also showed high expectations that he would deliver on promises to revive the lackluster economy.  If he doesn t perform on the economy, that would give ammunition to the opposition to challenge Jokowi in 2019,  said Djayadi Hanan of the Saiful Mujani Research Center, a Jakarta-based pollster, using the president s nickname. Indonesia s GDP growth has shambled at around 5 percent for the past two years, too low to lift the country out of the middle-income trap, largely because domestic consumption - once the engine of the economy - and bank lending have been sluggish. An unexpected cut in interest rates last month highlighted the struggle to lift growth despite government initiatives, including a tax amnesty program, an infrastructure drive, and a series of regulatory tweaks designed to make business easier. The government has little fiscal room to breathe life into the economy: the budget deficit is already close to a legally mandated ceiling of 3 percent of GDP and parliament could impeach Widodo if he allowed the deficit to run past that limit. David Sumual, chief economist at Indonesia s Bank Central Asia, said a hike in electricity tariffs and slow disbursement of subsidies to farmers have weakened the purchasing power of middle- to lower-income households. Meanwhile, higher-income groups are worried that the government is pushing for aggressive tax reform that will leave them less well off.  The problem now is confidence in the prospect of the economy. People don t want to spend,  Sumual said. In his state-of-the-nation address last month, Widodo pledged to tackle income inequality by cutting red tape and making land acquisition easier to accelerate infrastructure projects. And last week he urged his cabinet to focus on attracting investment to boost growth and create jobs. But two officials who spoke to Reuters said they worried he was not matching his rhetoric with bold steps that need to be taken now for growth to be marching higher next year, when campaigning for the 2019 presidential election will begin. On the to-do list remains finding a way to rein in the overbearing dominance of state-owned enterprises on the economy, which was singled out by the World Bank in July as something preventing private funds flowing in. In addition, there is a need to speed up efforts to tackle a tortuous regulatory and licensing regime to lift investment, an area where Widodo said last week, during the launch of a new policy package,  there s so much we have to improve, so much to fix . Just months ago, Widodo appeared to be fighting for his political survival as political opponents joined forces with radical Islamist groups to foment popular fury over alleged blasphemous comments made by Widodo s ally Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the former Christian governor of Jakarta. Amid massive protests in central Jakarta, there were rumors of treason plots and even a military takeover.  Beating the drum of Indonesia s  unity in diversity  motto, Widodo embarked on a frenzy of public appearances at military barracks, the homes of both political rivals and allies, and at moderate Islamic boarding schools - all aimed at projecting an image of unity and control.  He has been busy in the past six to eight months fighting back against destabilizing forces,  said Endy Bayuni, editor-in-chief of the most widely read English daily, the Jakarta Post.  He s showed that he is very much in control of the situation and has become even more mature as a politician.  Widodo s latest move to regain political authority took aim at hardline Islamist groups. By executive decree, he banned Hizb-ut Tahrir, a group that calls for Indonesia to be ruled by Islamic sharia law, saying its ambitions ran counter to the country s secular ideology. Such political dominance could provide Widodo with a false sense of security, the senior government official said.  The dark side of the story is ... the economy,  he said.  I think the biggest threat now, potentially   and it s the flip side of the incredibly strong political position he is in   would be complacency.

Summary: राजनीतिक तूफान के बाद इंडोनेशिया के राष्ट्रपति को आर्थिक बादलों का सामना करना पड़ा


PARACHINAR/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two suspected U.S. drone strikes on Tuesday killed 11 people on the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border, following a strike a day earlier that killed 20, government and militant sources said.  The attacks came days after a Canadian-American couple held hostage by the Taliban were freed from the area in Pakistan s northwest, striking a rare positive note in the country s often-fraught relations with the United States. On Friday, U.S. drones were seen hovering near where American Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, and their three children, all born in captivity, were freed, after having been kidnapped by the Haqqani network while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012.   Four unmanned drones fired six missiles in Monday s attack, and four more were dropped in two strikes on Tuesday,  Baseer Khan Wazir, the top administrative official in the Kurram Agency, part of Pakistan s restive Federally Administered Tribal Areasm, told Reuters. The drones fired missiles on Taliban hideouts, killing at least 31 people over two days, he added, with all three attacks taking place on the Afghan side.   Twenty people were killed yesterday, mostly from the Afghan Taliban, and 11 more were killed in today s attacks,  Wazir told Reuters.  Taliban sources said 18 members of the Pakistan-based Haqqani militants, allied to the Taliban, were killed in Monday s strike and six in one of Tuesday s attacks.  There were some mud-built houses which were being used by the mujahideen (Afghan Taliban fighters),  said a member of the Afghan Taliban, who asked not to be identified. No prominent militants were in the area when the drones targeted two or three different compounds, he added. Another Taliban source said two commanders were killed in Monday s attack, however.  Witnesses said they heard the drones and saw plumes of smoke before seeing 20 makeshift coffins moved out of the area. Residents of the area said the strikes were no more than 300 meters (yards) from the Pakistan side of the border.   There are always drones hovering over this border area, but this was the first time four drones were noticed at the same time,  said Kurram resident Gulab Sher.

Summary: पाकिस्तान-अफगानिस्तान सीमा पर संदिग्ध अमेरिकी ड्रोन हमले में 31 की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday that any tax reform package passed by Congress this year would be retroactive. “If it passes by the end of the year it will be retroactive,” Mulvaney told Fox Business Network when asked whether any changes in law would be retroactive to the start of the year.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के बजट प्रमुख का कहना है कि कोई भी कर पैकेज पूर्वव्यापी होगा


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump acted well within his authority in issuing his executive order on immigration, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told a federal appeals court on Wednesday.  Paxton, a Republican, attached a brief in asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California for permission to argue in support of Trump’s temporary ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Texas is the first state to back Trump in the closely watched litigation. A group of 15 states and the District of Columbia have filed papers with the appeals court in support of Washington state’s challenge to Trump’s Jan. 27 order, saying it harms their educational institutions and economies. Paxton said the full court should reconsider whether a lower court judge was justified in halting the ban.  U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle suspended Trump’s order across the country on Feb. 3. Washington state argued that it violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination. That ruling was upheld by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco last week, raising questions about Trump’s next step. The appeals court will soon vote on whether to reconsider the case with an 11-judge panel. Trump’s directive, which he said was necessary to protect the United States from attacks by Islamist militants, barred people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days. Refugees were banned for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were banned indefinitely. The rulings put the order on hold until the courts can rule on the underlying merits. Ultimately, they will have to address questions about the extent of the president’s power on matters of immigration and national security.   Traditionally, judges have been extremely cautious about stepping on the executive branch’s authority in such matters, legal experts said. In the brief, Paxton said the order had a clear national security goal, to ensure proper vetting of foreigners seeking entry into the United States. It “reflects national-security interests implicated by the ongoing War on Terror against radical Islamic terrorists.” Paxton rejected any claim that the order discriminates against Muslims while favoring Christian minorities. If that argument is accepted, he said, it would jeopardize the government’s ability to help persecuted religious minorities abroad by granting them refugee status.  Texas led the legal fight against President Barack Obama’s plan to protect up to four million immigrants from deportation, joined by 25 other Republican-led states. The challengers won a February 2015 nationwide injunction blocking the program before it was due to go into effect.   In June 2016, the Supreme Court split 4-4 in the case, leaving in place an appeals court ruling in favor of the states.. A major question in that litigation was whether Texas had legal standing to sue, an issue that the Supreme Court did not resolve. In Wednesday’s brief, Texas did not address whether Washington and other states had standing to sue over Trump’s ban.

Summary: टेक्सास के अटॉर्नी जनरल ने यात्रा प्रतिबंध मुकदमे में ट्रम्प का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON/SAN JUAN (Reuters) - As the U.S. Congress drags its feet on a bill to address Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt crisis, it could get kicked into high gear by an unlikely source: the Supreme Court.  The highest U.S. court is due to rule by the end of June on the validity of a Puerto Rico law that would allow the U.S. territory to restructure the chunk of its debt issued by public agencies, more than $20 billion, in a bankruptcy-like process. The court fight is playing out as the Republican-led Congress grapples with legislation that lawmakers hope will prevent the need for a bailout of the territory of 3.5 million U.S. citizens. The legislation is expected to put Puerto Rico’s finances under federal oversight through a control board and let the Caribbean island cut debt through a bankruptcy-like restructuring process. It would preempt the Recovery Act, the local restructuring law that was thrown out in U.S. courts before Puerto Rico asked the Supreme Court to reinstate it. Puerto Rico is not covered by federal bankruptcy laws that U.S. cities and public agencies can use, so some U.S. lawmakers view legislation as the only way to keep the debt crisis from worsening. But drafting the bill has been laborious. Some bondholders, including U.S. hedge funds, and Republicans are seeking to ensure that creditors get paid as much as possible of what they are owed. Congressional Democrats, the Obama administration and Puerto Rico itself are trying to prevent austerity that could threaten services on the island. An early draft of the bill by the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee never made it to a vote, and the panel on Wednesday delayed unveiling the latest draft, citing the need for “a number of refinements.” Some Republicans oppose inclusion of a “cram-down” provision that would let Puerto Rico impose debt cuts on creditors who do not agree to them. A Supreme Court decision on Puerto Rico’s law could come as soon as Monday. The ruling could change the political dynamics for Republicans by resurrecting a law that is viewed as even less palatable to them than the congressional bill, according to congressional sources and experts who follow the debate.  Many of the creditors lobbying conservatives in Congress to oppose the legislation, known as the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), would prefer to keep debt-restructuring talks out of a bankruptcy court, or at least avoid cram-down. That is because in the normal course of business they are entitled to full repayment, but in a bankruptcy proceeding they could be legally made to accept discounts.  If the Supreme Court reinstates the Recovery Act, the congressional legislation might not seem so bad to creditors in comparison, said Melissa Jacoby, a University of North Carolina School of Law bankruptcy expert and professor. “It might alter the lobbying landscape,” Jacoby said. Puerto Rico has already defaulted on some of its debt, most recently the bulk of a $422 million payment owed by its primary government bank. The Recovery Act, if revived, would let the island restructure debt at public utilities like power authority PREPA and water authority PRASA, though the island’s legislature could try to expand it to cover other debts, Jacoby said. The Supreme Court’s March 22 oral arguments indicated the justices could uphold the law. Such a ruling could prompt creditors and Republican lawmakers to embrace the need to pass the PROMESA bill. The legislation is expected to carry more bondholder protections than the Recovery Act, requiring an attempt at consensual restructuring talks as a condition for any debt cuts. “Those very same players who are now blocking our (congressional) legislation will, all of a sudden, encourage the (Republican) majority to pass some legislation” if the Supreme Court revives the Recovery Act, said a Democratic House aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. The island’s moment of truth could strike by June 30. That is the date by which the Supreme Court is expected to rule and a day before Puerto Rico faces a $1.9 billion debt payment that its governor has said it cannot afford. Congress is aiming to pass legislation to address Puerto Rico’s crisis before that payment.   Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, told Reuters the high court’s ruling “could have some effect” on PROMESA’s drafting process “depending on what the Supreme Court says about Puerto Rican authority to do whatever it needs to do.” A source close to major creditors said a ruling reinstating the Recovery Act could encourage Congress to pass legislation for a different reason: creditors would keep litigating different aspects of that law, perpetuating Puerto Rico’s economic uncertainty. Parish Braden, a spokesman for House National Resources Committee Republicans, said Congress ultimately must act regardless of what the Supreme Court does. “The ball is already in Congress’ court,” Braden said.

Summary: अमेरिकी उच्च न्यायालय प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण संकट पर कांग्रेस को प्रेरित कर सकता है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s foreign minister may not attend an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Sunday and a final decision will be taken in the morning, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters on Saturday. The official said Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil wanted to avoid an anticipated confrontation at the meeting with Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies over the regional role of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah. The emergency Arab foreign ministers meeting is being convened at the request of Saudi Arabia with support from the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait  to discuss means of confronting Iranian intervention in the internal affairs of Arab states,  the Egyptian state news agency MENA said. Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government and a political ally of Lebanese President Michel Aoun.  The Sunni Muslim monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Islamist Iran are at loggerheads across the region, and tensions between them have recently escalated in both Lebanon and Yemen. Lebanon was thrust to the forefront of the regional struggle when Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister on Nov. 4 in a surprise announcement from Riyadh. Aoun has accused Saudi Arabia of holding Hariri hostage. Senior Lebanese politicians close to Hariri have also said he had been held in Saudi Arabia against his will and coerced into resigning. Saudi Arabia and Hariri both deny this. After French intervention, Hariri flew to France overnight and met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Saturday. Hariri, speaking in Paris, said he would clarify his position when he returns to Beirut in the coming days. He said he would take part in Lebanese independence day celebrations, which are scheduled for Wednesday. Hariri, long a political ally of Saudi Arabia, cited fear of assassination and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world during his resignation speech.

Summary: लेबनान के विदेश मंत्री अरब लीग की बैठक में शामिल नहीं हो सकते हैं, रविवार को करेंगे फैसलाः लेबनान के वरिष्ठ अधिकारी


RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an order on Friday restoring the voting rights of more than 200,000 convicted felons who have completed their sentences, in a move that could help the Democratic nominee in November’s presidential election. By using his executive powers, the Democratic governor is circumventing the Republican majority in the state General Assembly. Many of the convicts affected by the order are African-Americans or Latinos, two groups that have voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates in the past.  “Virginia will no longer build walls and barriers to the ballot box - we will break them down,” McAuliffe said in a message on his Twitter account. Advocates of restoring voting rights say it is a way of promoting racial justice, as African-Americans are convicted of crimes and sent to prison at about twice the rate of the overall U.S. population. Stephen J. Farnsworth, a political analyst at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, said a majority of the convicted felons who regained their voting rights were likely members of minority groups. Of the 5.8 million Americans banned from voting, 2.2 million are African-American, according to the Sentencing Project, a prison reform advocacy group. In three states - Virginia, Florida and Kentucky - more than a fifth of black residents outside of prison are barred from voting. About 13 percent of the U.S. population is African-American. McAuliffe’s order drew immediate criticism from John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, who said the governor should have excluded those convicted of violent crimes. “His decision to issue a blanket restoration, without regard to the nature of the crimes committed doesn’t speak of mercy. Rather, it speaks of political opportunism,” Whitbeck said in a statement.  Nationwide, restoration of voting rights is an issue that has drawn support from both Democrats and Republicans as a way to improve reintegration of prisoners into society. About two dozen states have eased restrictions on felons casting ballots over the past two decades, according to the Sentencing Project. But the move carries political implications as well. Virginia is considered a key swing state in the 2016 election, and the governor’s order could tip the balance in favor of the Democratic candidate who wins the party’s nomination. While Democrat Barack Obama took Virginia both in the 2008 and 2012 elections, Republican presidential candidates have a history of dominance in the state. Before Obama’s victories, Republicans carried Virginia in every presidential election since 1952 except one. In 1964, Democrat Lyndon Johnson won in Virginia as he defeated Barry Goldwater in a national landslide. The governor, who said on Friday Virginia has had some of the most restrictive laws in the country for restoration of voting and civil rights, has made the issue a high priority during his administration. Previous efforts have resulted in the restoration of voting rights to 18,000 Virginians, he said. The order will restore the rights of every Virginia felon who completed his or her sentence and all other requirements as of April 22, affecting 206,000 people immediately, the governor said in a press release.  Before the order, Virginia felons would have to petition the governor, who had broad discretion in ruling on any request.

Summary: वर्जीनिया के राज्यपाल ने अपराधियों के लिए मतदान अधिकार बहाल करने के आदेश पर हस्ताक्षर किए


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s turnabout on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia has rocked his administration, leading to rising speculation that some top officials may be looking for a way out.  A parade of business executives broke ties with Trump on Wednesday, a day after he blamed white nationalists and counter-protesters in equal measure for the weekend clashes that left one woman dead.  Now, frustrated aides could be next. Trump’s remarks have left some wondering if sticking by the president comes at too high a cost to their reputations.  “A lot of us joined this administration thinking we could bring to it the experience and expertise that the president didn’t have an opportunity to gain in his business career, and to encourage some restraint in what he says publicly and to our allies,” said one senior official who is contemplating whether to resign.  “After yesterday, it’s clear that there is no way for anyone, even a Marine general, to restrain his (Trump’s) impulses or counter what he sees on TV and reads on the web.” It was hoped that retired General John Kelly, Trump’s new chief of staff, could impose some form of discipline on Trump that his predecessor, Reince Priebus, could not.  But Kelly stood with his eyes fixed on the floor when Trump veered off-script at his Manhattan office tower on Tuesday. The president accused the protesters, who rallied against neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, of being “very, very violent.”  In the uproar that followed, chief executives at companies such as Merck & Co Inc , Under Armour Inc , Intel Corp , Campbell Soup Co  and 3M Co  quit advisory councils to the White House. Trump then dissolved the councils.  The exodus of executives sparked talk that Gary Cohn, Trump’s top White House economic adviser and a key liaison to the U.S. business community, might resign in protest as well.  Cohn, who is Jewish, was upset by Trump’s remarks, though he is remaining with the administration for now, sources said. Cohn, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, stood by Trump during his remarks at Trump Tower on Tuesday. Cohn in particular looked self-conscious and uncomfortable. “He just did not want to be in that position ... and he was not good at hiding his body language for that,” said a former administration official who knows Cohn.  Cohn did not comment on the president’s language.  David Shulkin, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs, told reporters on Wednesday that as a Jewish American, he was “outraged” by neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups and felt obligated to speak out against them.  “I am not going to condone in any way the behavior of Nazis. I believe this clearly cannot be tolerated,” Shulkin said when asked about whether it was appropriate to compare the actions of the white nationalists to the protesters opposing them. Shulkin, however, defended Trump’s approach. “I think he’s been clear that this is totally unacceptable,” Shulkin said.  Cohn, who came to the White House from a successful career  at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, is mindful the effect his Trump tenure could have on his professional reputation. “He’s worried about his reputation being trashed, which is much more valuable to him than anything else,” the former administration official said. Cohn has served as a point man on top White House priorities such as tax reform and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, but both of those efforts have been muddled by Trump’s increasingly combative relationship with Congress, one that was strained even further by his comments on Charlottesville. Cohn’s departure would further set back those efforts and perhaps give the upper hand in the White House to a group of advisers seeking to scale back foreign trade, said a Wall Street executive who asked not to be named.  “Gary knows he’s a moderating influence,” the executive said. “It may give you short-term satisfaction to see Gary go, but it may be bad for the country in the long term. The calculation is: What do you think is best for the country versus what’s best for Gary?” Steve Bannon, a White House senior adviser with close ties to far-right groups, told the American Prospect in an interview published Wednesday that he constantly butts heads with Cohn over issues such as trade with China. “That’s a fight I fight every day here,” Bannon said.  Cowan and Company, a financial services firm, said on Wednesday that the departure of the pragmatic and business-friendly Cohn could adversely affect markets.  “For us, the biggest question is what is the tipping point that would cause National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn to quit?” the firm wrote.  Trump thinks highly of Cohn and has spoken often of the financial sacrifices he made to leave Goldman to join the administration. He is widely considered to be a leading candidate to chair the U.S. Federal Reserve should Trump choose not to retain Janet Yellen. That decision would insulate Cohn from the day-to-day drama of the Trump White House, but likely is months away.  In the meantime, Cohn has to decide whether he can stick it out. Another Wall Street executive told Reuters that Trump’s remarks may prove to be too much for him.  “Until yesterday, Cohn did a great job insulating himself from Trump and staying in the economic lane. But all of a sudden he was standing behind him when he goes off on a rampage and the true price of working for him comes home,” the executive said. “What can you do?”

Summary: ट्रम्प के संकट ने व्हाइट हाउस के प्रस्थान की चर्चा को बढ़ावा दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee apologized on Thursday for the way he handled sensitive allegations about U.S. spy agency surveillance of President Donald Trump’s team.     Representative Devin Nunes was criticized by colleagues on Wednesday for calling a news conference to announce that the communications of members of the team that ran Trump’s transition to the presidency were swept up in incidental surveillance targeting foreigners. Democrats were upset that Nunes made the comments to the media and then briefed Trump in the White House without informing them. They questioned whether the intelligence panel could run a credible investigation. A Republican intelligence committee aide said on Thursday that Nunes had apologized to Democrats on the panel. “Yes, he apologized to the minority on the committee today for going public and to the (White House) with his announcement yesterday before sharing the information with the minority. He pledged to work with them on this issue and share information with them about it,” the aide told Reuters. The panel is conducting one of the main congressional investigations over allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election, including claims of ties between Trump’s team and Moscow. Russia denies the allegations. Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat on the panel, said Nunes had apologized “in a generic way.” Asked if Nunes knew whether Trump’s associates were party to these communications or if they could have been communications between two foreigners talking about Trump’s associates, Nunes’ spokesman said: “He (Nunes) said he’ll have to get all the documents he requested from the IC (intelligence community) about this before he knows for sure.”  At a hearing of the committee on Monday, FBI director James Comey confirmed the existence of the investigation for the first time. The top Democrat in the House, Nancy Pelosi, on Thursday described Nunes as “a willing stooge” of Trump who had “committed a stunt at the White House” with his comments. “The necessity of an independent investigation is increasingly being recognized,” she said, referring to the probe involving Russia. The White House had on Wednesday seized on Nunes’ remarks, which had cited anonymous sources, to bolster Trump’s unproven assertion on Twitter this month that President Barack Obama wiretapped his election campaign headquarters in Manhattan’s Trump Tower. Nunes himself has said that the information he had did not support Trump’s allegation. He also said that none of the surveillance he knew about was related to Russia. Democrats said Nunes may have revealed classified information with his comments to reporters but the congressman’s spokesman said that he did not. Nunes, who was a member of Trump’s transition team, seemed contrite on Thursday for the timing and manner of his statement. “There was a lot going on yesterday and it was a judgment call on my part. At the end of the day, sometimes you make the right decisions and sometimes you make the wrong ones but you’ve got to stick by the decisions you make,” he told reporters after the intelligence committee’s regular classified meeting. Another Democrat on the committee, Representative Eric Swalwell, told MSNBC that its members had not yet seen the material referred to by Nunes.  The House committee is investigating whether Russia hacked emails of senior Democrats and released embarrassing information to hurt the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, interfering in the election to benefit Trump.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन नून्स ने ट्रम्प के निगरानी दावे को संभालने के लिए माफी मांगी


NEW YORK (Reuters) - More Republicans now think Democrat Hillary Clinton, rather than Donald Trump, will win the presidency, as their party’s candidate struggles with difficulties including allegations of sexual misconduct and his suggestion he may not honor the outcome of the election. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday and conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24 found that 41 percent of Republicans expected Clinton to win the Nov. 8 election, versus 40 percent who picked Trump. That reflected a sharp decline in confidence from last month, when 58 percent of Republicans said they thought their party’s nominee would win, versus 23 percent who expected Clinton to prevail.  Among Trump’s supporters, 49 percent in the latest poll said they believed Trump would win, down from 67 percent who felt that way at the beginning of the month. “There’s still hope, I guess. I just don’t have a great deal of faith in a good portion of the American public,” said Bert Horsley, 38, of Belgrade, Montana, who said he planned to vote for Trump even though he believed Clinton would win.  Horsley said he felt the country was leaning increasingly socialist and that voters were more inclined to focus on Trump’s problems than on issues facing Clinton, including allegations she mishandled classified emails while secretary of state. “The nation’s willing to overlook certain things in some people and not in others,” he said. Despite the growing pessimism, Trump, who trails Clinton in national opinion polls, still enjoys overwhelming support from members of his party. Some 79 percent of likely Republican voters said they would vote for him. Many said their support was rooted in an expectation he would promote a conservative agenda in Congress and appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.     Democrats appear to be strongly anticipating a Clinton presidency. Some 83 percent of Democrats said in the poll they thought she would win, while only 8 percent predicted Trump would become president. Among Clinton’s supporters, 92 percent expected her to win, up from 83 percent a month earlier. Clinton held a commanding lead in the race to win the Electoral College and claim the presidency, according to results from the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project released on Saturday. Trump, a businessman and former reality television star, has alarmed mainstream Republicans throughout his campaign by routinely bashing the political establishment and making a series of provocative statements.  He aroused criticism for belittling the parents of a U.S. soldier killed in the Iraq war, calling for a ban on admitting Muslims to the country and accusing a judge of bias because of his Hispanic heritage. He has also asserted, without showing evidence, that the U.S. electoral system is rigged. But Republicans remained mostly confident in their candidate’s chances until this month, when a videotape from 2005 was released in which Trump could be heard bragging in vulgar terms about kissing and groping women.  At least 10 women have since accused Trump of making unwanted sexual advances, including groping or kissing, from the early 1980s to 2007, according to reports in various news outlets. Trump has denied the women’s allegations, calling them “totally and absolutely false” and has promised to sue the women after the election. Trump has also deepened divisions within his party by refusing to promise to accept the outcome of the election. “I will keep you in suspense,” he said when asked about the issue  during an Oct. 19 debate with Clinton. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English with American adults in all 50 states. The latest poll included 648 people who identified as Republicans and 771 people who identified as Democrats. It had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 4 percentage points.

Summary: अधिक रिपब्लिकन उम्मीद करते हैं कि ट्रम्प के बजाय क्लिंटन अमेरिकी चुनाव जीतेंगे


(Reuters) - A California deputy attorney general has been charged with possessing child pornography at his San Diego County home following a months-long investigation, according to court records and local media.  Raymond Liddy, 53, was arrested at his home in the resort city of Coronado, California, on Tuesday and accused of owning images that appeared to depict minors under age 12 engaging in sexual acts, court records showed.  The San Diego Union-Tribune, which first reported the case, said Liddy pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in federal court for the Southern District of California, and that he was placed on administrative leave by the attorney general’s office. An attorney for Liddy and a representative of the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Court records showed Judge Jan Adler released Liddy on a $100,000 bond and sentenced him to house arrest. The investigation began in January after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips from an unnamed electronic service provider that a user had allegedly uploaded images of child pornography, court documents said.  Helped by the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children multi-agency task force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officials said they identified Liddy as the suspect in June. The deputy attorney general, who portrayed himself online as a 48-year-old married man with children, told investigators who visited him in July that he would talk about “sexual fantasies” with individuals on the internet, and that he often saved sexual images, according to court records. He told investigators he deleted those images afterward, but may also have forwarded some, court records showed. Numerous images depicting minors engaged in sexual acts were found on a computer and a thumb drive at his home, the records showed. Liddy is due back in court for a preliminary hearing Aug 8.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के उप अटॉर्नी जनरल पर बाल पोर्नोग्राफी का आरोप


SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday sharply questioned a lawyer defending President Donald Trump’s effort to broadly enforce a temporary refugee ban that the Republican president said was necessary for national security. At a hearing in Seattle, a three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel also disputed attempts by Justice Department lawyer Hashim Mooppan to argue that grandparents and other relatives of Americans from six Muslim-majority countries should be temporarily barred from travel to the United States. The latest round in the fight over Trump’s travel ban began after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in June to partially revive it. The high court said the ban could take effect but that people with a “bona fide relationship” to a U.S. person or entity could not be barred. The Trump administration interpreted that language to mean the 90-day travel ban would apply to grandparents and some other family members. It also sought to block entry of up to 24,000 refugees who have a connection to a U.S. resettlement agency, for 120 days, arguing that such a relationship is not close enough to warrant protection from Trump’s order. The state of Hawaii challenged that interpretation, and a judge in Honolulu ruled against the Trump administration. The Justice Department appealed to the 9th Circuit.  While that appeal goes forward, the Supreme Court said grandparents and others could be allowed to enter the United States, but that the refugee limits would remain in effect. About two dozen observers filed into a Seattle courtroom for Monday’s hearing, where 9th Circuit Judge Ronald Gould asked how the government could take the position that a grandmother of a child in the United States does not count as a close relationship. “What universe does that come from?” Gould asked Mooppan. Another 9th Circuit judge, Richard Paez, questioned why a relationship between a refugee and a resettlement agency is not legitimate. The agency has to develop a specific exchange with the person seeking to move to the country, he noted. “They’re not just some random person out there,” Paez said. Mooppan, a deputy assistant attorney general, said the resettlement agency has a relationship with the U.S. government, not the refugee directly. The court did not issue a ruling during the hearing. The rollout of Trump’s current executive order has been more subdued than in January, when Trump first signed a more expansive version. That order sparked protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world.

Summary: अमेरिकी अपील अदालत ने ट्रम्प यात्रा प्रतिबंध के दायरे पर सवाल उठाए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. voters picked climate change advocates in a handful of gubernatorial and state legislature races on Tuesday, providing a potential boost to state-level efforts to fight global warming through carbon trading schemes. Democratic-led state and local governments have already promised to act as a counterweight to the administration of President Donald Trump, which is seeking to unwind climate change regulations it deems too costly, and remove the United States from a global pact to reduce emissions.  Democrat Phil Murphy won his race on Tuesday night to succeed New Jersey’s outgoing Republican Governor Chris Christie. Murphy ran on a platform that included a pledge to “immediately restore New Jersey’s place in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI),” a northeast carbon market from which Christie withdrew in 2011. In Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespe and pledged to carry out outgoing Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s executive directive to reduce carbon emissions and “allow Virginia to become trading-ready.” RGGI Chair Katie Dykes said its officials had been communicating with Virginia as it developed greenhouse gas regulations, and welcomed the “potential dialogue with New Jersey.” In Washington state, a victory by Democrat Manka Dhingra in a state Senate district flipped control of the legislature to Democrats, a boost to Democratic Governor Jay Inslee’s plan to join California, Quebec and Ontario in a carbon trading scheme.  RGGI and the western state carbon market were formed more than a decade ago to help develop market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The addition of Virginia and New Jersey to RGGI would be significant. In 2016, New Jersey emitted 22.1 million short tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) while Virginia emitted 38 million. RGGI’s current nine states emitted 90 million short tons in 2016. RGGI holds quarterly auctions for carbon permits, which have yielded $2.8 billion in proceeds to date, intended for use to finance clean energy and energy efficiency projects. Environmental advocates said state-level developments could help counter the Trump administration, as its seeks to revive the U.S. coal industry and roll back environmental protections enacted by Democratic former President Barack Obama. “We are seeing growing momentum on climate action at the state level,” said Jackson Morris, an official at the Natural Resources Defense Council. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Summary: अमेरिकी राज्य चुनावों में लोकतांत्रिक जीत ने कार्बन व्यापार की उम्मीदों को बढ़ावा दिया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court freed on bail an opposition journalist facing charges of aiding a terrorist organization after he identified the hotel where President Tayyip Erdogan was staying hours before last year s failed military coup. Gokmen Ulu, one of four staff of the opposition newspaper Sozcu whose trial began on Tuesday, told the court he was accused of a  made-up  crime and prosecutors had no evidence against him. He had been in detention for more than five months.  The court has decided to release on bail our friend Gokmen Ulu,  the Sozcu newspaper said on its website, saying he was expected to be freed from Silivri Prison, west of Istanbul, later on Wednesday. Ulu was charged along with video journalist Mediha Olgun, who was held for several months before her release on bail in September, and accountant Yonca Yucekaleli, both of whom deny the accusations against them. Sozcu founder Burak Akbay, who has left the country and is being tried in absentia, is accused of being a leader of a terrorist organization. On the night of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, Erdogan narrowly escaped a team of rogue soldiers who stormed his hotel in a luxury resort in the southwestern Turkish province of Mugla. Forty-two soldiers were found guilty last month of trying to kill him and given life sentences. Prosecutors say Ulu s newspaper article made Erdogan a target for the coup plotters by revealing his location.  The allegations are against conscience and thought. They are unjust. The crime is made up,  Ulu told the court, according to a transcript published by his newspaper.  There is no evidence against me.  Akbay, in a statement read to the court, denied he was a supporter of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkish authorities of orchestrating the abortive coup. Gulen has said he was not involved and has condemned the putsch.  More than 50,000 people, including soldiers, teachers and journalists, have been jailed pending trial in a sweeping crackdown following the coup attempt.  European allies fear Erdogan is using the investigations to stifle opposition and undermine the judiciary. He has responded by saying that the purges are necessary to maintain stability in a pivotal NATO country bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Summary: तुर्की की अदालत ने आतंकवाद के मुकदमे में विपक्षी पत्रकार को जमानत पर रिहा कियाः अखबार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior senators asked the FBI and Justice Department on Wednesday for any information they have on President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that his predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped him during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. In a letter to James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse wrote: “We request that the Department of Justice provide us copies of any warrant applications and court orders ... related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump campaign, or Trump Tower.”  Under U.S. law, presidents cannot direct wiretapping. Instead, the federal government can ask a court to authorize the action, but it must provide justification. Asked at a briefing on Wednesday if Trump was the subject of a probe, White House spokesman Sean Spicer replied: “There is no reason that we have to think that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever.” Critics of Trump in Congress have accused him of issuing the wiretap allegation to try to deflect attention from investigations into his administration’s possible ties to Russia. Some have likened it to Trump’s long-held contention that Obama was not born in the United States and thus did not legitimately hold the office of president - an accusation he did not withdraw until 2016. Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic member of both the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees, told CNN she had not seen any evidence that Obama had tapped Trump’s phone. “It’s all rather shocking to me that a sitting president would make this kind of an allegation about a former president without any proof whatsover,” she said. “I believe it’s patently false.” Graham later told CNN that if the Justice Department does not cooperate with the senators’ request, subpoenas would be issued. “I expect them to come forward as to whether or not a warrant was obtained or sought,” Graham said. He chairs a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism, and Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the panel. On Saturday, Trump accused Obama of phone surveillance, amid a swirl of questions about possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. intelligence agencies have found that Russia tried to influence  the election. An Obama spokesman said on Saturday that neither Obama nor any White House official had ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. The spokesman’s statement did not address the possibility that a wiretap of the Trump campaign could have been sought by the Justice Department. In their letter, Graham and Whitehouse wrote: “We would take any abuse of wiretapping authorities for political purposes very seriously.” The senators added: “We would be equally alarmed to learn that a court found enough evidence of criminal activity or contact with a foreign power to legally authorize a wiretap of President Trump, the Trump campaign, or Trump Tower.” On Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters his panel would consider issuing subpoenas if information being sought on Russia’s possible role influencing the election was not forthcoming. The committee has scheduled a March 20 hearing and Trump’s wiretap allegation is part of that probe. Democrats, questioning the commitment of the Republican-controlled Congress, have been calling for an outside investigation, which so far has been rejected.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटरों ने सरकार से ओबामा द्वारा ट्रम्प के फोन टैप करने का सबूत मांगा


Sydney (Reuters) - Refugees have left one of Australia s offshore detention centers on Sunday for the United States, an asylum seeker and a refugee advocate said, as part of a swap brokered by former U.S. president Barack Obama last year. Refugee Action Coalition s Ian Rintoul told Reuters he had spoken with some of the group by phone and that 22 men were in Port Moresby on Sunday night. Rintoul said the group had been told they would be flown to the United States via the Philippines on Wednesday.  They re happy they re going, and they never want to hear about Australia again,  he said, speaking from Sydney. Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani, who has been held at the Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea, said in a Facebook post that  about 25 men   had left the center around 8am local time. Australia s Department of Immigration and Border Control did not respond to requests for comment on the move on Sunday.  The move comes days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gave the first official timetable for when the 1,250 people in the centers on Manus Island and Nauru would be resettled in the US. Turnbull said Australia would begin resettling several dozen Central American refugees within weeks under the deal that U.S. President Donald Trump described as  dumb  but has nevertheless said Washington will honor.  There will be about 25 from both Manus and Nauru (that) will be going to the United States and I just want to thank again President Trump for continuing with that arrangement,  Turnbull said in a video statement. While Trump has said he would honor the swap agreement, concerns remain about how many asylum-seekers will be resettled from the Australian-run centers.

Summary: अमेरिकी शरणार्थी अदला-बदली समझौते के तहत अपतटीय हिरासत से लिए गए पहले शरणार्थी


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Competing efforts to end South Sudan s civil war allow the government to exploit divisions among international brokers and are unlikely to halt the fighting, a confidential U.N. report said.  South Sudan became the world s newest nation when it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. War broke out in late 2013 and has forced more than a quarter of its 12 million population have fled their homes.   The hostilities in South Sudan continue against a complex backdrop of competing regional and bilateral initiatives to resolve the conflict,  U.N. sanctions monitors said in a report to the Security Council seen by Reuters on Friday.   These efforts suffer from several defects, including inadequate oversight, lack of enforcement and the absence of an integrated, coherent plan for peace.   Among the international bodies involved in trying to bring the warring parties to the table are regional bloc IGAD, the U.N. Security Council, a troika of South Sudan s main Western backers prior to independence, and an African Union panel.  The efforts of these groups are affected by  conflicting interests compounded by underlying rivalries in the region , the panel wrote, in what could refer to the role of leaders such as Uganda s Yoweri Museveni, who deployed troops in 2013 to support the Juba government and opposes an arms embargo.  The government of South Sudan has sought to exploit this division  among the competing efforts, the panel said.  Absent a significant shift toward a more coherent and unified approach  from East African nations, coupled with  broader international support for a single and inclusive political process, current efforts are unlikely to ... halt the violence in South Sudan,  it said. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters in Juba:  There is nothing new in this report.  The leaked report is by a panel mandated to document arms flows and security threats. The proliferation of diplomatic efforts has created an opportunity for parties to  forum shop , the panel wrote, saying this bought the armed groups time to organize military operations and avoid attempts to enforce a settlement.      It noted the military was still able to procure weapons while opposition forces  access to arms  remains limited .  The main opposition figure, Riek Machar, is under house arrest in South Africa and has declined to renounce violence. Kiir continues to buy weapons and government forces continue to attack civilians, the report said.   East African leaders said in June they want the warring sides to recommit to the deal they abandoned more than a year ago. In July, Western donors said the process was no longer viable and froze support for it.  There has been no comment in recent months from IGAD or the African Union about a timeline for resumption of peace talks.  This week the United States imposed sanctions on two senior South Sudanese officials and the former army chief. The Security Council last December vetoed the imposition of an arms embargo recommended by the monitors.

Summary: दक्षिण सूडान के युद्ध को समाप्त करने के लिए प्रतिस्पर्धी प्रयास संघर्ष को बढ़ाते हैंः संयुक्त राष्ट्र पैनल


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians following Donald Trump s decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Rouhani, attending an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, said the U.S. president s move showed the United States lacked any respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation.   Iran is ready to cooperate with all Muslim countries without any precondition to defend the legitimate rights of Palestinians,  Rouhani told the gathering in the Turkish city  Istanbul.  Unity among Muslim countries is very important and Quds (Jerusalem) should become our top priority.  Opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause have been central to Iran s foreign policy since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.  Iran, the leading Shi ite Muslim power, and Sunni Muslim  Saudi Arabia are competing for influence in the Middle East, where they support rival groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Tehran and Riyadh see each other as the paramount threat to regional peace and stability.  Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and the city of Mashhad following Riyadh s execution of a prominent Shi ite cleric. Rouhani said Muslim countries should resolve their disputes through dialogue and he also accused Israel of planting seeds of tension across the Middle East. On his Twitter account, Rouhani said Trump s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital showed that Washington was not  an honest mediator and never will be , adding that it only wanted to  secure the interests of the Zionists . Iran does not recognize Israel and regards Palestine as comprising all of the holy land, including Israeli territory. Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. Tehran backs several militant Islamist groups in their fight against Israel.

Summary: ट्रंप के कदम के बाद ईरान ने मुस्लिम देशों से फिलिस्तीनियों की रक्षा करने का आग्रह किया


MONROVIA (Reuters) - Crammed into tumble-down shacks on a sandspit that the Atlantic Ocean is steadily devouring, the residents of Liberia s most notorious slum have one common desire: an end to their daily struggle with dire poverty. Next month, when the 75,000 inhabitants of the capital Monrovia s West Point neighborhood decide who should be the next leader of Africa s oldest republic, an ex-soccer star or the current vice president, they will not be nostalgic.  The last president didn t give any help to the common people - no improvement, no development,  said Ishmael Campbell, a 26-year-old fisherman born and raised in the shantytown.  We need a president who will be there for us.   While the world has feted President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, for keeping the peace after a prolonged civil war, those living in West Point take a dimmer view of her 12-year tenure. Like most in West Point, Campbell lives in a shack along one of the labyrinthine back alleys where houses are packed so close that residents must squeeze through shoulder-wide paths choked by rotting fish and sewage. On Johnson Sirleaf s watch, an Ebola epidemic saw them placed under quarantine, hemmed in by barbed wire and soldiers who opened fire on protesters challenging the order. Then a global commodities crash dashed the country s hopes of mining riches. The economy quadrupled in size, thanks in large part to the fact that peace prevailed, but Johnson Sirleaf was criticized for failing to curb corruption. The two candidates through to the Nov. 7 runoff election, George Weah, a former FIFA world player of the year, and Vice President Joseph Boakai, must persuade struggling voters across the West African nation that they can make a difference. Though representing the ruling party, Boakai has presented himself as the candidate for change, playing up his humble beginnings in a bid to distance himself from the tinted-windows government elite despised by the poor. Neither he nor Johnson Sirleaf are seen as corrupt, but Boakai has been nicknamed  sleepy Joe  for falling asleep at public functions and few are buying his message in West Point.  He doesn t care about us, he just cares about himself, Campbell said. West Point, where jobs are few and many residents spend the hot afternoons playing checkers or fixing fishing lines in the shade, is a Weah stronghold.  The youth are on the streets, but they want to work,  said Eugene Nyuti, 35.  George Weah is going to empower the youth.  Weah is a senator and has been goodwill ambassador for UNICEF; many Liberians call him  the ambassador . His policies are vague, although he says he wants to improve the country s roads, and critics say he lacks political experience, but he won a clear lead in the first round of the election, with 38 percent of the vote to Boakai s 28 percent. West Point s problems are echoed to varying degrees across Liberia, which has relied heavily on international donor support since the end of the war in 2003.  The state-run Liberia Electricity Corporation struggles to generate enough revenue to erect more power lines. Thousands across Monrovia illegally connect to the grid with crude wires.  Still, West Point stands out. Asked about their most desperate need, residents point to the rubbish-strewn ocean that laps at their homes. Old sand bags and tires have not stopped the problem. Houses regularly slide into the sea. Towards evening as Joseph Myame, 25, watched fishermen roll their wooden canoes onto the beach, he too is praying for a Weah victory.   Maybe he can make a bit of a difference. But whoever wins, the problems are too big.

Summary: लाइबेरिया की झुग्गी बस्ती के निवासियों ने अगले राष्ट्रपति से बदलाव की मांग की


MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservative alliance should avoid making big policy commitments before they start coalition negotiations, potential junior government partners said on Thursday. Germany is set for months of uncertainty after Merkel s CDU/CSU alliance won a fourth term in Sunday s election but bled support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The Christian Social Union (CSU), Merkel s party s Bavarian ally, has signaled it wants a rightward shift, to focus on security and setting a limit on immigration numbers to dampen the appeal of the AfD, a policy firmly opposed by the Greens. This could complicate Merkel s hopes of building a three-way coalition between the conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the pro-immigration, environmentalist Greens.  Nobody should set out maximal demands that could already be seen as ruling it (such a coalition) out,  Greens leader Cem Ozdemir told the Funke newspaper group. Merkel s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and will meet with the CSU on Oct. 8 to seek a common position ahead of negotiations with the other parties. The FDP also warned against making commitments that would undermine coalition prospects.   Even if there s no guarantee of success, it would be wrong to pull down the shutters this early,  party general secretary Nicola Beer told the RND newspaper alliance. Little movement on a coalition is expected before an Oct. 15 vote in the western state of Lower Saxony, currently ruled by the Social Democrats (SPD) - who have said they will go into opposition at the national level - and the Greens. Leading economic institutes said on Thursday that the next government can count on record budget surpluses over the next two years due to a solid upswing, potentially facilitating Merkel s task of building a coalition.

Summary: मर्केल के रूढ़िवादियों ने गठबंधन विकल्पों को बंद नहीं करने की चेतावनी दी


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and China agreed that the North Korean and Syrian crises should be resolved by diplomatic means, Russia s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. It said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counter-part, Wang Yi, discussed the crises during the United Nations General Assembly.

Summary: रूस, चीन सहमत हैं कि उत्तर कोरिया, सीरिया संकट को कूटनीति से हल किया जाना चाहिए


(Reuters) - The head of a G4S-run immigration unit in Britain at the center of allegations of bullying and abuse, has resigned, the outsourcing company said on Friday.  G4S said Ben Saunders, director of the immigration removal center near Gatwick Airport in southeast England, would be replaced on an interim basis by Lee Hanford from Monday, Sept. 25, pending the appointment of a permanent successor.  British lawmakers accused G4S last week of repeated failures of detainee welfare safeguards and whistleblowing mechanisms at the immigration center, after physical and verbal abuse by guards was revealed in a BBC documentary. G4S, contracted by the British government to run the Brook House center, earlier this month suspended 10 members of staff, three of whom have now been sacked, for abusive behavior following the documentary. Police are also investigating. Earlier this year an investigation at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre resulted in allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters. The center is now run by the government s National Offender Management Service.

Summary: दुर्व्यवहार घोटाले के केंद्र में जी4एस आव्रजन इकाई के प्रमुख ने दिया इस्तीफा


HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump took up the mantle of “comforter-in-chief” in a visit to storm-wracked Houston as he played with children and served up food to evacuees from Hurricane Harvey, the first major natural disaster of his eight months in office. In a widely watched test of his presidential mien, Trump comforted victims and thanked volunteers and first responders after being criticized earlier in the week for not showing sufficient empathy to Texas residents during catastrophic flooding. Trump, 71, was joined by his wife, Melania, as he passed out food and hugged, kissed and played with children at the “kid zone” in Houston’s NRG Center, a 700,000-square-foot (65,000 square meter) facility that was turned in to the city’s largest emergency shelter. The day was a rare glimpse into Trump’s interactions with everyday Americans outside his campaign-style rallies. The former real estate magnate appeared relaxed as he posed for photographs with volunteers and chatted with evacuees alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “It has been a wonderful thing,” Trump said of his meetings with the children as he served food to evacuees amid shouts of “Thank you, sir.” Trump, who declared Sunday a national day of prayer, also went to a church in nearby Pearland, where he and his wife helped load half a dozen cars with boxes of supplies for victims. He said the volunteer work was “good exercise.” Trump also visited a neighborhood that had sustained flooding but had dried out to greet residents and praise them for doing “a fantastic job holding it together.” The visit came after a week of historic flooding in the area killed at least 40 people, displaced more than 1 million and dumped as much as 50 inches (127 cm) of rain. Trump asked Congress late on Friday for an initial $7.85 billion for hurricane recovery efforts. The request comes as Washington faces tough budget negotiations. The trip may have political implications for Trump. According to the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll, almost 59 percent of the public disapproves of Trump’s performance as president. Andrew Smith, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said Trump had done well overall in coordinating federal assistance and showing concern on Saturday for those affected by Harvey. But he would likely see little change in his poll numbers due to scrutiny of his administration’s other policies. “You can be as empathetic as you want but if your administration isn’t seen as competent in dealing with the problem, it’s not going to help you,” Smith said. His initial trip to Texas on Tuesday was contrasted unfavorably with the efforts of former President Barack Obama, who became known as “comforter-in-chief” after mass shootings and the Sandy superstorm that hit New Jersey in 2012.  With floodwaters still present, Trump had stayed clear of the Houston area on that trip, saying he did not want to hamper rescue efforts. Instead, he met with Cabinet members, state and local leaders and first responders in the state capital Austin and Corpus Christi, where Harvey first hit, focusing on the logistics of the government response. Trump tweeted that he had seen “first hand the horror & devastation” from Harvey but reporters traveling with him said they saw no damage. “That was reasonable criticism,” said Matt Mackowiak, chairman of the Republican Party in Travis County, Texas, who has praised the Trump administration’s handling of the disaster.  On Saturday, some area residents, even one on the opposite side of the political spectrum, said Trump’s visit was a positive. “It raises the morale,” Kevin Jason Hipolito, who identified himself as a Democrat, told reporters at the convention center. “When he went to Corpus I was like, ‘Man he just forgot about us.’ This shows a lot of support. It perks up morale.” But it remains a difficult task for Trump, a Republican businessman new to politics, to match expectations set by his predecessors of both parties who were widely considered politically deft at displaying solidarity and commitment to those suffering from disasters both natural and man-made. “Is he going to help? Can he help?” Devon Harris, 37, a construction worker, said at the convention center. “I lost my home. My job is gone. My tools are gone. My car is gone. My life is gone. What is Trump going to do?” Trump was cheered at both the convention center and a church he visited and appeared to crack a joke, perhaps at his own expense. While donning gloves to serve food to victims of the disaster in a cafeteria, he commented “my hands are too big,” referencing a meme from the presidential campaign in which the size of the candidate’s hands were linked to his supposed virility by his opponents, including Republican Marco Rubio.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने हार्वे के पीड़ितों को राष्ट्रपति के मियन की परीक्षा में गले लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Ralph Northam won a bitter race for Virginia governor on Tuesday, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump with a decisive victory over a Republican who had adopted some of the president’s combative tactics and issues. Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, overcame a barrage of attack ads by Republican Ed Gillespie that hit the soft-spoken Democrat on divisive issues such as immigration, gang crime and Confederate statues. Trump, who endorsed Gillespie but did not campaign with him, had taken a break from his Asia trip to send tweets and record messages on Tuesday supporting the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. But after the outcome, Trump quickly distanced himself from Gillespie. “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted. “With the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!” At his victory party, Northam told supporters the sweeping Democratic win in Virginia sent a message to the country. “Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry, and to end the politics that have torn this country apart,” Northam said. The Virginia race highlighted a slate of state and local elections that also included a governor’s race in New Jersey, where Democrat Phil Murphy, a former investment banker and ambassador to Germany, defeated Republican Kim Guadagno for the right to succeed Republican Chris Christie. Murphy had promised to be a check on Trump in Democratic-leaning New Jersey. Guadagno, the lieutenant governor, was hampered by her association with the unpopular Christie. Murphy’s win and the Northam victory in Virginia, a state Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, provided a much-needed boost for national Democrats who were desperate to turn grassroots resistance to Trump into election victories. Democrats had already lost four special congressional elections earlier this year. But a strong turnout in the Democratic-leaning northern Virginia suburbs of Washington helped propel Northam, who in the end won relatively easily. With nearly all precincts reporting, he led by a 53 percent to 45 percent margin. Exit polls in Virginia showed that one-third of the voters went to the polls to oppose Trump, and only 17 percent went to support him. Democrats also swept the other top statewide Virginia races, winning the offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general, and gained seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Danica Roem beat a long-time Republican incumbent to become the first transgender person to win a state legislative race.     “This is a comprehensive political victory from statehouse to courthouse. Thank you Donald Trump!” Democratic U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia told Northam’s supporters at a victory party in northern Virginia. In Virginia, Democrats had worried that if Gillespie won, Republicans would see it as a green light to emphasize divisive cultural issues in their campaigns for next year’s elections, when all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 of the U.S. Senate’s 100 seats come up for election. Republicans now control both chambers. Gillespie, speaking to crestfallen supporters in Richmond, Virginia, said he had run a “very policy-focused campaign.” But voters in Arlington County - a suburban Democratic stronghold bordering Washington - said national politics were important to their votes. “Trump talks about draining the swamp, but Gillespie kind of is the swamp,” said Nick Peacemaker, who works in marketing and considered himself a Republican until Trump won the party’s presidential nomination.  Peacemaker said Gillespie seemed to shift closer to Trump’s policies after securing the Republican gubernatorial nomination.  In local races across the country, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York and Marty Walsh in Boston both easily won re-election. Voters were also picking mayors in Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स ने वर्जीनिया के गवर्नर की दौड़ में जीत हासिल की, ट्रम्प को झटका


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is concerned about new U.S. sanctions on Russia that could impact Europe’s energy security and has activated “all diplomatic channels” to resolve the issue. U.S. Republicans and Democrats reached a deal on legislation to allow new sanctions against Russia, which has led to concerns in Europe of “unintended consequences”. “We are following this process with some concern regarding the European Union’s energy independence and our energy security interests. We are activating all diplomatic channels to address these concerns from these U.S. measures with our U.S. counterparts,” a Commission spokesman told a news conference.  “For us, G7 unity regarding sanctions is of key importance as is respect of the implementation of the Minsk agreement. We in the European Union will have interests in these discussions and we expect those interests to be addressed by the free legislative process which is ongoing in the U.S,” the spokesman said.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने रूस पर नए अमेरिकी प्रतिबंधों पर 'सभी राजनयिक चैनलों' को सक्रिय किया


KIEV (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its “coercion and aggression” after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow. Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only after Russia had fully implemented a peace deal on ending a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine and returned control of Crimea. Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, raised the prospect that he would propose offering to end the sanctions imposed over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its role in the rebellion in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal.   Without mentioning Trump, Biden appeared to take issue with the President-elect’s comments made in an interview published in  Monday’s edition of the Times of London.     “The international community must continue to stand as one against Russian coercion and aggression,” he told reporters, standing alongside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden stressed the 2015 deal on ending the rebellion by pro-Russian insurgents which is still continuing, with Washington accusing Moscow of failing to keep its side of the bargain. “Together with our EU and G7 partners, we made it clear that sanctions should remain in place until Russia fully, emphasize fully, implements its commitments under the Minsk agreement,” he said, adding that Crimea-related sanctions must also stay “until Russia returns full control to the people of Ukraine”. U.S. support for Ukraine has contributed to a deterioration in relations with Russia to their worst since the Cold War.  Under President Barack Obama, Washington has invested heavily in helping Kiev make a success of a 2013-2014 uprising which forced a Kremlin-backed leader to flee and installed the pro-Western opposition in power. Trump’s open admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated desire to improve bilateral ties have stoked fears in Kiev that U.S. resolve to hold Russia to account could waver. Biden has mixed support with some tough talking about Ukraine’s patchy efforts in tackling graft, and has previously warned that international help is conditional on Kiev making good on promises to tackle endemic bribe-taking. “You’re fighting ... the cancer of corruption,” Biden, who leaves office on Jan. 20 along with Obama, said on Monday. Poroshenko said Ukraine believed in good cooperation with the new U.S. administration and urged sanctions to stay, without mentioning Trump’s remarks on a deal with Russia. A Kremlin spokesman said it was too early to comment. Biden has been the front man for U.S. policy towards Ukraine, visiting Kiev five times since the change in power and maintaining such regular telephone contact with Ukrainian officials that he has joked he talks to them more than his wife. As Biden left the room, a journalist asked if he thought the Trump administration would give Ukraine the same priority as he had. Biden gave a thumbs up and said: “Hope springs eternal.” Continued Western support is vital for Ukraine. The economy, which has been badly hit by the war in the east, is slowly emerging from two years of recession but remains dependent on external financial help. The United States has so far provided over $3 billion and said it could offer more, provided reform efforts continue. Andy Hunder, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, said Kiev would have to put much time and resources into dealing with the new U.S. administration. “On Jan. 20 Ukraine will be waking up to a new reality,” he told Reuters. “There is a concern in Kiev about how the new relationship will develop. It will require building new bridges to the influencers, the gatekeepers and decision-makers.” Kiev has already taken steps to win the good favor of the those calling the shots in the Trump administration. Days after his election in November, Poroshenko’s office started planning an official visit to Washington in early 2017. The Ukrainian government has hired former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour and his lobbying firm BGR Group to lobby U.S. politicians and arrange meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian officials. This is not to say that Ukraine lacks senior political advocates in the United States.  A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including John McCain and Marco Rubio, said last week they wanted to slap a wide range of sanctions on Russia over its cyber activities and actions in Ukraine and Syria. A sanctions bill with similar provisions is being written in the House of Representatives. “Our job is to make sure this attention on Ukraine does not wane,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaliy said on Wednesday.

Summary: बाइडन ने रूस के प्रतिबंधों को जारी रखने की मांग की क्योंकि ट्रम्प ने सौदे पर विचार किया


(Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who frequently touts his opposition to the Iraq war, appeared to support the idea in a newly unearthed 2002 interview, but said on Thursday he became an opponent by the time the invasion occurred. In the interview before the war began, which was republished by Buzzfeed on Thursday, radio personality Howard Stern asked Trump if he supported invading Iraq. “Yeah I guess so,” Trump said, according to the audio clip. During a town hall event in South Carolina on Thursday, Trump said the interview was not relevant because his views changed before the invasion. “By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly after, I was really against it,” he said.    The billionaire businessman and former reality TV star, who leads the field seeking the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama, has cited his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of his foreign policy credentials. But his criticism of former Republican President George W. Bush’s actions has aggravated some in his party, including in South Carolina, which holds its Republican primary on Saturday. Trump’s comments on Thursday came after a participant at the CNN event said he was “stung” when the real estate mogul in a recent Republican debate accused Bush of lying about the reasons to go to war. He was referring to allegations, later proven false, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.  Trump walked back that criticism, saying the reasons for going to war were unclear. But he said the invasion was not justified and contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East. “Going into Iraq, it may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made, in the history of this country. That’s how bad it is,” Trump said.  (Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Emily Flitter in South Carolina; Editing by Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन ट्रम्प ने 2002 के साक्षात्कार में इराक युद्ध का समर्थन किया, कहा कि विचार बदल गए


BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports Iraq s unity, the country s foreign ministry said on Monday, as voting started in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, ignoring the threats of the Kurds  neighbors. The vote, expected to deliver a comfortable  yes  for independence, is not binding and is meant to give Massoud Barzani s KRG a mandate to negotiate secession of the oil producing region with Baghdad and neighboring states.[nL8N1M60E9] The referendum is being held despite intense international pressure on Barzani to call it off, amid fears that it would spark fresh conflicts with Baghdad and with Iraq s powerful neighbors, Iran and Turkey.  The Chinese government supports Iraq s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing, when asked about the referendum.  We hope the relevant sides can resolve the differences via dialogue, and find an inclusive solution that takes into account history and reality, to jointly protect Iraqi and regional stability,  Lu added. This will help promote Iraq s rebuilding and counter-terrorism efforts and accords with the joint interests of countries in the region and the international community, he said. China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is generally a low-key player in the Middle East despite its reliance on the region for oil, but has been trying to get more involved, for example by appointing a special envoy for the Syrian crisis. China says it adheres to a policy of non-interference in other countries internal affairs, but it generally takes a dim view of independence or secessionist movements around the world. At home, it contends with what it says are separatist movements in its western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and has repeatedly expressed concern that self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as its own, could declare formal independence. However, Beijing has expressed more openness toward independence votes when both sides have agreed to them, such as Scotland s unsuccessful 2014 referendum to leave the United Kingdom, and South Sudan s 2011 vote in favor of independence from Sudan.

Summary: चीन ने जनमत संग्रह में कुर्दों के मतदान के साथ इराक की एकता का समर्थन किया


LONDON (Reuters) - The speaker of Britain’s lower house of parliament said on Monday he would not support any plans for U.S. President Donald Trump to address parliament during a state visit planned for later this year, citing Trump’s temporary immigration ban as a factor. More than 1.8 million people in Britain have signed a petition calling for Trump’s planned visit to be canceled or downgraded to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth, part of a grassroots backlash against his immigration policies. Prime Minister Theresa May has defended the decision to offer a state visit, but more than 150 lawmakers have signed a symbolic motion calling for Trump not to be given the honor of speaking in parliament. Asked by an opposition Labour lawmaker about the possibility of a parliamentary address, House of Commons speaker John Bercow said he shared the concerns. “As far as this place (parliament) is concerned, I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations,” Bercow said, earning a round of applause from lawmakers. Trump’s executive order barring entry to the United States for refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries has prompted worldwide protests, including by thousands of demonstrators in London. The temporary immigration ban faced a legal hurdle on Monday that could determine whether he can push through the most controversial and far reaching policy of his first two weeks in office. As one of the key figures whose approval would be needed for a parliamentary address, Bercow said he would oppose any possible move to invite Trump to speak in either of the two locations which host foreign leaders during state visits. In 2011, Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to address both houses of parliament in Westminster Hall, the oldest building in the parliamentary palace, which has also hosted South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and France’s Charles de Gaulle. “Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall. After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump, I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall,” Bercow said. “An address by a foreign leader to both houses of parliament is not an automatic right; it is an earned honor.”

Summary: ब्रिटेन के स्पीकर ने ट्रंप को संसद को संबोधित करने की अनुमति देने का विरोध किया


(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to exploratory talks on forming a new government starting on Jan. 7, both parties said on Wednesday after informal discussions. The decision, 87 days after a national election that returned a fragmented parliament and complicated coalition arithmetic, brightens prospects for a renewal of the  grand coalition  that governed Germany over the past four years. A repeat coalition is Merkel s best chance of securing a fourth term as chancellor after talks on forming a three-way alliance with two smaller parties broke down, leaving Europe s largest economy in an unprecedented state of uncertainty.  It was a good discussion in a trusting atmosphere,  the parties said in a joint statement after leaders met on Wednesday. They agreed to hold four days of talks from Jan. 7, with the aim of deciding by Jan. 12 whether to open formal coalition negotiations. Even in the most optimistic case, Germany will have smashed 2013 s post-World War Two record of needing 86 days to form a new government after an election. The hiatus highlights that Germany, long Europe s bastion of stability, is not immune to the political fragmentation that has swept the continent. The conservatives and Social Democrats have identified 15 policy areas for exploration, including education, the welfare state and employment law, where the SPD is keen to carve out a distinctive left-wing identity for itself after a disastrous election showing blamed in part on Merkel s dominant stature. The SPD s membership, which tends to be more radical than the party leadership, will have to ratify any decision to repeat a coalition with Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years. (This version of the story corrects the date to Jan. 12 in fourth paragraph)

Summary: जर्मनी के रूढ़िवादी, एस. पी. डी. ने 7 जनवरी को एक और 'भव्य गठबंधन' पर बातचीत शुरू की


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A senator from Cambodia s main opposition party was pardoned on Wednesday from the seven-year jail sentence he had been given over a Facebook posting, in a conciliatory sign from Prime Minister Hun Sen towards his opponents. A crackdown on the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has led to the arrest of party leader Kem Sokha on treason charges and a government push to have it dissolved completely. That has brought protests from Western donors. Senator Hong Sok Hour, 59, was sentenced last year over a fake official document he had posted on Facebook saying that Cambodia and Vietnam had decided to dissolve their border. It is a sensitive subject in Cambodia, where Hun Sen s opponents have long accused him of being a Vietnamese puppet since he was put in his post in 1985 when Vietnam occupied Cambodia after ousting the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Hong Sok Hour was pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni at Hun Sen s request.  He wrote a letter of apology to Samdech Decho and asked him to write to the king to issue a pardon,  Phay Siphan told Reuters, using Hun Sen s official title.  He admitted his fault.  Hun Sen s critics accuse him of trying to turn the country into a one-party state for the ruling Cambodian People s Party (CPP) and to ensure that he wins a general election next year without any effective challenge. The opposition welcomed the pardon.  This is a positive sign and each time there s a royal pardon, the political situation calms down,  said Mu Sochua, a deputy to Kem Sokha who fled into exile fearing that she was about to be arrested, too. However, Hun Sen reiterated on Wednesday that the CNRP would be dissolved and any elected officials who defected from the opposition to his party would be allowed to keep their positions.

Summary: प्रधानमंत्री के अनुरोध पर कंबोडिया के विपक्षी सदस्य को क्षमा कर दिया गया


(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s effort to clarify his position on illegal immigration during visits to both sides of the U.S.-Mexico frontier on Wednesday did little to sway moderate Republicans near the border, a dozen voters in Arizona told Reuters on Thursday. They were either unaware of his whirlwind tour or found that his uncharacteristically diplomatic demeanor during a visit with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City was overshadowed by his return to his usual fiery rhetoric when back on U.S. soil a few hours later. “I hope that he does really, in his heart, have a little more compassion than what he spouts out,” said Dave Mitchell, 58, of Surprise, Arizona, a self-described moderate who says he is begrudgingly planning to vote for Trump. Arizona, a reliably Republican state in past elections, could prove to be a close race in the battle between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, which is based on a national online opinion poll, found Trump leading Clinton by only 3 percentage points in the state as of Aug. 26.  Trump’s last-minute visit on Wednesday to Mexico was designed to appeal to moderate voters, including those most affected by illegal immigration, who are worried that the real estate mogul and former reality TV star lacks the temperament to engage in international diplomacy.  Pena Nieto had on Wednesday afternoon hailed the impromptu meeting with Trump as “open and constructive.” Trump later referred to the Mexican leader as his friend and a “wonderful” president. But only hours after leaving Mexico, Trump delivered a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, in which he again emphasized his desire to build a wall along the southern border and deport millions of people who had entered the United States illegally.  Pena Nieto later rebuked Trump as a threat to his country. Trump launched his campaign last year on a promise to build a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, and accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers into the United States. Clinton’s campaign announced on Wednesday night it would begin running TV commercials in Arizona, a sign it sees a chance of winning there on Nov. 8. For many moderate Republicans in Arizona, Trump’s efforts on Wednesday fell flat. Linda Yaeger, a 62-year-old retired Air Force officer who teaches at a community college in Glendale, said she watched Trump’s appearance in Mexico on her tablet between classes. She said she had hoped Trump would take a more moderate tone after the meeting with the Mexican president, but was disappointed by his speech later that day in her home state. “Being a moderate Republican means (being) an endangered species right now,” Yaeger said, explaining that she felt the party had moved too far to the right.   Lois Pidde, 70, an office manager in Casa Grande, said she agreed with Trump that immigration is a problem, but opposed his proposed solutions, such as the need for a border wall or a suspension of Muslim immigration to shore up national security.  “I used to be able to turn him off when he was on ‘The Apprentice’ and I’d like to keep it that way,” she said, referring to Trump’s reality TV show. She said she was likely to vote for New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. Josh Jensen, 35, a Border Patrol agent from southeastern Arizona, said he thinks Trump’s plan to build a wall is ill-conceived and is voting for Johnson too. “I was thinking maybe Hillary over Trump,” Jensen said. “But I can’t vote for either one of the two candidates.” April Chase, 58, of Arizona, was aware of Trump’s trip to Mexico but did not watch it. A moderate Republican, she plans to write in U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont - who lost the Democratic primary campaign to Clinton. She said she felt Trump was dishonest, “so I kind of steered away from that.”

Summary: सीमा के पास रिपब्लिकन के साथ ट्रम्प की आप्रवासन पिच सपाट हो जाती है


COLOMBO (Reuters) - Fifty couples from China tied the knot in the Sri Lankan capital on Sunday in a mass wedding ceremony, conducted in the island s Buddhist traditions, as the island aims to woo more tourists. The couples included newly-weds as well as already married couples aiming to re-dedicate their marriages, officials said.  Some were dressed in the traditional attire of Sri Lanka s mountainous central region while others wore Chinese or Western clothes at the main ceremony in the central Colombo area.   There ll be many more couples who want to come here and celebrate true marriages from China and other parts of the world,  Tourism Minister John Amaratunga told Reuters.   It ll be an opening to say Sri Lanka is the best destination for foreigners.  Chinese tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka have been rising and now account for around 13 percent of the two million tourists a year who visit the country, second only to the number of Indian visitors, official data show. Tourism accounts for around 5 percent of gross domestic product and arrivals this year have already reached about 2.3 million. China is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Sri Lanka for major infrastructure projects and Colombo is one of the major partners in Beijing s  One Belt One Road  project.  This is a beautiful country. We love the traditional ceremony,  bridegroom Wei Ying Nang, 28, told Reuters after the wedding, standing beside his wife, who was dressed in a white wedding frock while he wore a suit. Alice Wu, dressed in a golden sari from Sri Lanka s mountainous region, said she was interested in the culture since she studied traditional Kandyan dancing in Sri Lanka three years ago. Her husband, 25-year old Henry Liu, wore a traditional red costume resembling the dress of the ancient kings of Sri Lanka.

Summary: श्रीलंका में पचास चीनी जोड़ों ने सामूहिक समारोह में शादी की


ATHENS (Reuters) - Cyprus on Wednesday said it would try to help defuse a crisis in neighboring Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri made an unexpected stopover on the island on Tuesday night. Cyprus announced the move shortly after Hariri shelved a decision to resign at the request of Lebanon s President Michel Aoun, easing an impasse that had stirred tensions around the Middle East. Hariri met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at Larnaca airport for about 45 minutes late on Tuesday on his way back to Lebanon, his first visit home since he unexpectedly announced on Nov. 4 he would resign in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia.   Our common objective is stability in Lebanon, stability in our area. Within this context... the President of the Republic will undertake some initiatives precisely to promote this objective; stability in Lebanon,  Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said. Christodoulides said Anastasiades s initiatives would be directed toward European Union and neighboring states, but was not more specific.  Cyprus is uniquely placed, as a member state of the European Union which also maintains excellent relations with all its neighbors. That (position) is broadly recognized and would allow us to work to achieve stability in Lebanon,  he said. The island, perched on the edge of the Middle East, is broadly considered a neutral safe haven in an otherwise volatile region. It took in thousands of Lebanese fleeing civil war in the 1970s and successfully mediated an end to a 39-day siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem between Israeli forces and suspected Palestinian militants. On Tuesday Anastasiades received an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia, Christodoulides said. It was not immediately clear if it was connected to the crisis, though Cypriot government officials told Reuters the visit had been planned for some time.

Summary: साइप्रस का कहना है कि वह लेबनान के संकट को कम करने में मदद करने की योजना बना रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, said on Friday he believes human activity plays a role in global warming, but measuring that contribution with precision is difficult. Speaking to reporters at the White House a day after President Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States  from the Paris climate accord, Pruitt declined to directly answer questions about whether the president still believed global warming was a hoax, as he had said during the 2016 presidential campaign Pruitt said he had indicated that global warming is occurring, and that “human activity contributes to it in some manner. Measuring with precision, from my perspective, the degree of human contribution is very challenging.”

Summary: अमेरिकी पर्यावरण एजेंसी के प्रमुख का कहना है कि मनुष्य ग्लोबल वार्मिंग में योगदान करते हैं


HOUSTON (Reuters) - Buckeye Partners LP s Yabucoa oil terminal in Puerto Rico remained closed on Friday, the company said, days after Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction and at least 25 people dead across the Caribbean. The U.S. oil storage and transportation company did not say if the tanks at the 4.6-million-barrel terminal were damaged by the storm, which made landfall near Yabucoa, but it said a full assessment of the facility is under way.  We are working to maintain the safety and well-being of our Yabucoa, Puerto Rico employees,  it said in a statement. A larger terminal operated by U.S. NuStar Energy LP on the island of St. Eustatius, with capacity to store up to 13.03 million barrels of oil, also has been unable to reopen after a previous hurricane, Irma, affected several tanks. The closure of oil terminals in the Caribbean and restrictions to load and discharge large vessels in several Texas ports have constrained flows of crude and refined products across the Atlantic in recent weeks. Maria, the second major hurricane to hit the Caribbean this month, lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and pushing several rivers to record flood levels.

Summary: मारिया के बाद बकी पार्टनर्स का प्यूर्टो रिको तेल टर्मिनल अभी भी बंद है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn spoke on the phone to the Russian ambassador to Washington on Dec. 29, the day the United States announced sanctions against Moscow, a Trump official said on Friday. Trump’s team had previously said the phone call happened on Dec. 28. The official said it was their understanding that U.S. retaliation for Russia’s interference in the presidential election did not come up in the conversation between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Two people familiar with the issue said Flynn had several phone conversations with the ambassador on Dec. 29.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सलाहकार फ्लिन ने 29 दिसंबर को रूसी राजदूत से बात कीः ट्रम्प अधिकारी