WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress on Wednesday to raise the federal debt limit before lawmakers start  their August recess, to avoid higher interest costs to taxpayers and market uncertainty about a potential default. Maintaining U.S. creditworthiness is of the “utmost importance” and the United States must pay its bills on time, Mnuchin told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “As I’ve suggested in the past, based upon our best estimate at the time, we do have funding through September, but I have urged Congress to take this up before they leave for the recess,” Mnuchin said. However there was little sign Congress would heed Mnuchin’s call, at least for the moment. The House of Representatives is due to start its recess on Friday with no hint of movement on the issue, while the Senate is consumed with trying to pass a healthcare overhaul bill. That could leave the debt limit unaddressed until Congress returns on Sept. 5, perhaps one month before the Treasury runs a real risk of not being able to pay all of its obligations.   The last extension of the federal borrowing limit expired in March with total debt of around $20 trillion, but the Treasury has extended its ability to issue debt by employing extraordinary cash management measures, including deferring reinvestments in federal employee pension funds. But short-term Treasury bill markets have grown nervous about the potential for the Treasury to exhaust its borrowing capacity by mid-October, sending yields higher and crushing demand for a recent 3-month bill auction. The situation is costing taxpayers money and stoking market uncertainty, said Mnuchin, a former banker and Hollywood film financier.  “Right now effectively, as opposed to borrowing in the market at lower rates, we’re borrowing and making our trust funds whole at slightly higher rates, so there is a real cost to doing that,” he said. “There’s also an implied cost of uncertainty into the market. And the longer we wait, that more that uncertainty will be.” Senator James Lankford, a Republican, said at the hearing that his best estimate, derived through working with Treasury officials, was that the use of extraordinary measures would amount to about $2.5 billion, largely because the government would have to cover interest owed to the affected pension funds. Mnuchin did not dispute that estimate. Lawmakers showed varying levels of concern on Capitol Hill this week as the Senate focused on trying to pass a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. “Right now, my focus is Obamacare,” said Senator Ted Cruz when asked on Tuesday if the lack of action on the debt limit was a concern. Cruz led fellow Republicans in 2013 to demand spending cuts as part of a fiscal fight that led to a 16-day partial government shutdown. Another fiscal conservative senator, David Perdue, said however he would prefer that Congress stay in session in August to deal with raising the debt ceiling, adding: “We’ve just got to get it done.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to pass a debt ceiling increase but does not have timing nailed down, a spokesman said.

Summary: अमेरिकी ट्रेजरी के म्नुचिन ने कांग्रेस से अवकाश से पहले ऋण सीमा हटाने का आग्रह किया


RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - U.S.-backed militias in Syria declared victory over Islamic State in its capital Raqqa on Tuesday, raising flags over the last jihadist footholds after a four-month battle. The fighting was over and the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias was clearing the city s stadium of mines and any remaining militants, said Rojda Felat, commander of the Raqqa campaign for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). A formal declaration of victory in Raqqa will soon be made, once the city has been cleared of mines and any possible Islamic State sleeper cells, said SDF spokesman Talal Selo. In Washington, the U.S. military said that about 90 percent of Raqqa had been retaken from Islamic State but it expected the SDF to face pockets of resistance. The fall of Raqqa, where Islamic State staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement s collapsing fortunes.  Islamic State has lost much of its territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul. In Syria, it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert. The SDF, backed by a U.S.-led international alliance, has been fighting since June to take the city which Islamic State used to plan attacks abroad. A Reuters witness said militia fighters celebrated in the streets, chanting slogans from their vehicles. The fighters and commanders clasped their arms round each other, smiling, in a battle-scarred landscape of rubble and ruined buildings around the main square. The flags in the stadium and others waved in the city streets were of the SDF, its strongest militia the Kurdish YPG, and the YPG s female counterpart, the YPJ. Fighters hauled down the black flag of Islamic State, the last still flying over the city, from the National Hospital near the stadium.  We do still know there are still IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and booby traps in and amongst the areas that ISIS once held, so the SDF will continue to clear deliberately through areas,  said Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the coalition. In a sign that the four-month battle for Raqqa had been in its last stages, Dillon said there were no coalition air strikes there on Monday. Speaking with reporters in Washington later on Monday via video conference, Dillon said about 100 Islamic State fighters still remained in Raqqa.  We expect our Syrian Democratic Force partners to hit pockets of resistance as the final parts of the city (are) cleared,  Dillon added. Fatima Hussein, a 58-year-old woman sitting on a pavement smoking a cigarette, said she had emerged from her house after being trapped for months by the fighting. Islamic State had killed her son for helping civilians leave the city, she said.  The fight for Raqqa has shattered much of the city. Houses, apartment blocks and public buildings were flattened by air strikes or holed by shellfire. On Tuesday the international charity Save the Children said many of the 270,000 people who fled the fighting would likely be stuck in aid camps for months or years. Children who fled were haunted by nightmares from the violence they witnessed, including Islamic State beheadings and coalition air strikes, it said. The SDF has said that after the Raqqa battle ends, it would hand over control to a civil council set up by its political allies. It echoes the pattern in other territory the YPG and its allies have taken across northern Syria. The State Department said the United States would help clear rubble and restore basic services in Raqqa.  We will assist and take, essentially, the lead in bringing back the water, electricity and all of that,  State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing.  But eventually the governance of the country of Syria is something that I think all nations remain very interested in.  Kurdish influence in the future of the mainly Arab city has been a sensitive issue for some activists from Raqqa and for Turkey. Ankara views the YPG militia as an extension of the PKK that has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for three decades.         The SDF took the National Hospital after fierce fighting overnight and early on Tuesday, said spokesman Mostafa Bali.   During these clashes, the National Hospital was liberated and cleared from the Daesh mercenaries, and 22 of these foreign mercenaries were killed there,  said Bali, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. An SDF field commander who gave his name as Ager Ozalp said three militiamen had been killed on Monday by mines that have become an Islamic State trademark in its urban battles. Another field commander, who gave his name as Abjal al-Syriani, said SDF fighters had found burned weapons and documents in the stadium. The stadium and hospital became the last major positions held by Islamic State after some of its fighters quit, leaving only foreign jihadists to mount a last stand. The SDF has been supported by a U.S.-led international coalition with air strikes and special forces on the ground since it started the battle for Raqqa city in early June. The final SDF assault began on Sunday after a group of Syrian jihadists evacuated the city under a deal with tribal elders, leaving only a hard core of up to 300 fighters to defend the last positions. Raqqa was the first big city Islamic State captured in early 2014, before its series of rapid victories in Iraq and Syria brought millions of people under the rule of its self-declared caliphate, which passed laws and issued passports and money. It used the city as a planning and operations center for its warfare in the Middle East and its string of attacks overseas, and for a time imprisoned Western hostages there before killing them in slickly produced films distributed online. The SDF advance since Sunday also brought it control over the central city public square, where Islamic State once displayed the severed heads of its enemies, and which became one of its last lines of defense as the battle progressed. The offensive has pushed Islamic State from most of northern Syria, while a rival offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi ite militias, has driven the jihadists from the central desert. On Tuesday, a military media unit run by Lebanon s Hezbollah said the Syrian army, which Hezbollah fights with, had pushed into the last Islamic State districts of Deir al-Zor city. The only populated areas the jihadist group still controls in Syria are the towns and villages downstream of Deir al-Zor city along the Euphrates valley, areas that for the past three years Islamic State ran from Raqqa.

Summary: सीरिया की राजधानी रक्का में इस्लामिक स्टेट की हार


HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam supports U.S. “intervention” in the Asia-Pacific if it helps keep peace and stability, the defense ministry said, in a timely endorsement of a continued U.S. presence amid uncertainty over Washington’s faltering “pivot”. Vice defense minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, met on Monday with Cara Abercrombie, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, and told her Vietnam backed a positive U.S. role. The general’s words of support, conveyed by a normally reclusive defense ministry, come when the United States most needs them, with its “rebalance” - aimed at boosting its Asian foothold and tempering China’s rise - now under strain in the run-up to a U.S. presidential election. Vinh “affirmed that Vietnam will support the U.S and other partners to intervene in the region as long as it brings peace, stability and prosperity”, it said in a statement. At the dialogue, Abercrombie said the United States would not change its rebalance strategy, the statement added. Uncertainty lingers in Asia over changes ahead at the White House and whether a new leadership would give less priority to keeping China in check as it grows increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, a waterway vital to global trade. Washington’s traditional defense alliances in Southeast Asia are currently being tested, with ties with Thailand frosty since a 2014 coup and questions about the future of a tight military relationship with the Philippines under volatile new President Rodrigo Duterte, a staunch U.S. critic. Relations between the United States and Vietnam, in contrast, have warmed substantially in the past two years, much to do with jitters over the South China Sea to which Hanoi has disputes with Beijing. The latest affirmation of those ties came after the full lifting of a U.S. lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in May, allowing closer defense links and some joint military exercises between the former enemies. Two U.S. warships earlier this month made a call at a new international port built at Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay in a brief but symbolic return for U.S. combat vessels. The U.S. ambassador to Vietnam last week admitted the U.S. dynamism once seen in the region had “a little bit diminished”, but said there was still appetite for U.S. involvement. Ted Osius also said a dramatic change in U.S.-Vietnam ties was “not about to happen” because of Philippine leader Duterte’s outreach toward China.

Summary: वियतनाम ने अमेरिकी क्षेत्रीय भूमिका को प्रमुख बाधाओं के रूप में दिया समर्थन


(Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump holds more meetings on Wednesday as he forms his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20.  Trump’s transition team said he was scheduled to meet with the following people: * former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc CEO and former U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut * U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 * former Georgia governor and member of the Bipartisan Policy Center * U.S. senator from Indiana * retired Marine Corps general and former commander of U.S. Southern Command

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रम्प लिंडा मैकमोहन, जनरल जॉन केली, अमेरिकी अभियोजक से मिलेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House sharply criticized Israel on Wednesday over its plan for a new settlement building in the West Bank that the White House says undermines the peace process and contradicts assurances from Jerusalem. “We did receive public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict this announcement,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. “I guess when we’re talking about how good friends treat one another, that’s a source of serious concern as well.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि इज़राइल का नया समझौता आश्वासनों के विपरीत है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union nations except Britain began preparing on Wednesday for a transition period in relations with London and for their future ties after Brexit, with meetings over the next month aimed at drawing up guidelines for EU leaders in December. Brussels envoys from the 27 EU states that will remain in the bloc after Britain exits on March 29, 2019, met for the first time since EU leaders last week decided not enough progress had been made in talks on the terms of the divorce with Britain to start discussions about future relations yet. To encourage stronger efforts, EU leaders said they would start preparing now for talks on a transition period so they are ready if enough progress is made by the next summit in December.  The process will start now, in the sense that we will meet successively... over the coming month,  one EU official involved in the talks said, adding there was likely to be discussion on the subject also during a ministerial meeting on Nov 20.  We will prepare our thinking on the transition, the future relationship, and the possible additional guidelines for the December European Council,  the official said.  The outcome of the work would likely be presented in the December summit conclusions if leaders decide that enough progress was made on the divorce terms, officials said. Britain wants an outline agreement with the European Union in place by the end of March 2018 on the transitional arrangements that will apply temporarily after it leaves the bloc, Brexit minister David Davis said on Wednesday. EU officials said that was a very tough goal, but one that could be achieved if London showed enough willingness.  It s not so much if we can do it by the first quarter, but if we can get the UK to engage in a way that makes that possible,  the official said. Both sides expect a transition period of around two years. The EU s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Tuesday said that would mean preserving the status quo as Britain would stay subject to EU laws and courts during that time. In an interview with Belgium s L Echo newspaper, Barnier said the only difference between full EU membership now and the transition period would be that  the British would no longer take part in decisions on European legislation . EU officials said the extra two years of transition would buy time for talks about a future free trade agreement, but poured cold water on the idea of extending the exit negotiations beyond that period with a view to keeping Britain within the EU.  I don t think anyone foresees an extension of the existing negotiation period,  the EU official said.  We ve already danced around with the UK for so long. First with Cameron. Then their referendum. Now this. It needs to end at some point,  the official said. Businesses in Britain and in Europe are very concerned by the slow progress in Brexit talks. Not knowing what the future trade agreement between Britain and its biggest trading partner, the EU, will be, some have already started moving staff and operations out of Britain to hedge their bets. More could follow should no more clarity be given by the two negotiating sides by the end of the year. Barnier said that Britain could not count on a bespoke trade deal after Brexit and that since it has ruled out following the example of Norway s relations with the EU it would probably have to model its ties on an arrangement the EU has with Canada. Non-EU Norway currently pays for access to the bloc s single market of 500 million people, though it is not part of the same customs union. In exchange, it is also obliged to allow the free movement of people in and out of the EU. Britain wants to leave both the EU s internal market and the customs union, meaning a  Canada +  scenario is more likely. The European bloc s trade deal with Canada, its most ambitious arrangement yet, has just taken effect. Under the deal Canada can still pursue its own bilateral trade agreements elsewhere in the world.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के राजदूतों ने ब्रेक्सिट के बाद लंदन के साथ संबंधों पर चर्चा शुरू की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, said he views former vice president Dick Cheney as a role model for the No. 2 job in the administration. “I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American,” Pence said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that was taped on Saturday and aired on Sunday. “Vice President Cheney had experience in Congress as I do and he was very active in working with members of the House and the Senate,” Pence said. Cheney, vice president to Republican George W. Bush, was known for wielding strong influence in the administration, particularly in Bush’s first term. Cheney was a forceful advocate of the decision to invade Iraq and some aides to Bush have said they believed he wielded too much power. Pence said he had spoken with Trump about areas he would focus on as vice president but said he did not want to discuss their private conversations. Cheney has said he will support Trump in the Nov. 8 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Summary: ट्रम्प के उपराष्ट्रपति पेंस का कहना है कि वह चेनी को एक आदर्श के रूप में देखते हैं


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton does not need to give sworn testimony in a lawsuit brought by a conservative watchdog group over her use of an unauthorized private email system while she was U.S. secretary of state, a judge ruled on Friday. Clinton must instead respond in writing within 30 days to questions submitted by Judicial Watch, a group that has long been critical of her conduct and which is suing the Department of State over Clinton-era records. Judge Emmet Sullivan’s ruling in U.S. District Court in Washington is likely to be a relief to Democrats, who did not welcome the prospect of Clinton having to submit to hours of questioning by lawyers in the middle of her campaign for the Nov. 8 election against Republican Party candidate Donald Trump.  Clinton, who served as the country’s top diplomat from 2009 to 2013, has apologized for her decision to use the unorthodox email set-up, which had the effect of shielding her communications from public-records laws until the arrangement came to light last year. Voters have said in opinion polls that the email server issue contributes to impressions that Clinton is untrustworthy. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded last month there were no grounds to prosecute Clinton for the arrangement following a year-long investigation. Sullivan has allowed Judicial Watch to obtain sworn testimony in sometimes testy exchanges with several Clinton aides in recent months, saying the court needs to establish whether the server was set up to thwart the Freedom of Information Act.  But the judge agreed with Clinton’s lawyers that former high-ranking government officials can be ordered to give sworn testimony only in “exceptional circumstances.” Sullivan also allowed Judicial Watch to get sworn testimony from a former State Department official named John Bentel.  According to a scathing report by the State Department’s inspector general, Bentel, then a technology official in Clinton’s office, told junior staffers to never speak of Clinton’s email server again after they raised concerns. Bentel and his lawyer have declined to comment on the episode. A spokesman for Clinton could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday. Judicial Watch said it was happy with the ruling. “We will move quickly to get these answers,” Tom Fitton, the group’s president, said in a statement. “The decision is a reminder that Hillary Clinton is not above the law.”

Summary: क्लिंटन को ईमेल पर गवाही देने की आवश्यकता नहीं हैः अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller should not be fired or step down, and needs to be allowed to follow his Russia investigation to its end. “We need to let these career professionals do their jobs, see it through...I don’t think he should be stepping down and I don’t think he should be fired,” Ryan said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

Summary: सदन के अध्यक्ष रेयान ने कहा कि विशेष वकील को बर्खास्त नहीं किया जाना चाहिएः फॉक्स न्यूज संडे


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump informed Palestinian President Mahmolud Abbas on Tuesday that he intends to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Abbas s spokesman said. The statement did not say whether Trump elaborated on the  timing of such a move.  President Mahmoud Abbas received a telephone call from U.S. President Donald Trump in which he notified the President (Abbas) of his intention to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,  spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said in a statement. The statement did not say whether Trump elaborated on the  timing of such a move.  President Abbas warned of the dangerous consequences such a decision would have to the peace process and to the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world,  Abu Rdainah said.

Summary: अब्बास के प्रवक्ता ने कहा, ट्रंप ने अब्बास को बताया कि उनका दूतावास यरुशलम में स्थानांतरित करने का इरादा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said the United States remains committed to bringing home Americans held captive overseas and helping their families, a year after the administration promised to overhaul its handling of hostage situations. “We will not stop until we can bring our fellow citizens back to their families,” Obama said in a statement on the anniversary of the White House’s policy review. Obama specifically named journalist Austin Tice who disappeared in Syria in 2012, Caitlan Coleman held in Afghanistan, and retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran more than nine years ago. Earlier this week, the families of four Americans killed by Islamic State urged Obama to do everything possible to bring home Tice, the only U.S. journalist known to be held in war-torn Syria. The parents of the slain hostages criticized Obama for not personally naming Tice in his remarks at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner when Obama said that he would “fight for the release of American hostages held against their will.”  They said Tice’s return would be a test of the of the success of the administration’s new policy. The White House undertook a six-month review of its hostage policies after complaints from families that their initiatives to free relatives captured abroad had been discouraged and sometimes blocked by government officials. As part of the overhaul, Obama named James O’Brien special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department to help coordinate the efforts of law enforcement and diplomats. “But I know our work will not be done until our fellow Americans who are held against their will, and whose families mark their calendars by the days since they’ve held their loved ones, are reunited,” Obama said.

Summary: अमेरिकी बंधकों को घर लाने के लिए अमेरिका प्रतिबद्ध-ओबामा


(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Tuesday that state lawmakers had reached an agreement about the state’s 2017-2018  budget.  Both houses of the state legislature will likely vote on the new budget on Thursday, the constitutional deadline for lawmakers to adopt a budget bill. California’s Department of Finance had not totaled the final budget numbers as of Tuesday morning, according to department spokesperson H.D. Palmer. The budget adds $1.8 billion to the state’s rainy day fund, expands access to California’s Earned Income Tax Credit and boosts funding for schools and infrastructure repairs, according to the governor’s office. It also sends more money to the nation’s largest public pension fund, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), to help reduce the fund’s unfunded liability. “This budget keeps California on a sound fiscal path and continues to support struggling families and make investments in our schools,” Brown said in a statement on Tuesday.  “This budget makes historic investments in healthcare, education, and childcare, and lays down a multi-billion dollar investment to start fixing our roads and infrastructure,” said Senate President pro tem Kevin de León. Brown proposed a state budget in January for the new fiscal year and revised his budget up 2.2 percent to $183.4 billion in May.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के गवर्नर और विधायिका अंतिम बजट पर सहमत


(Reuters) - U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who helped block her party’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act this year, said she planned to remain in her current office rather than run for governor. The four-term incumbent attracted national attention this summer as one of three Republican senators who voted in July against a bill to repeal the law often called Obamacare, a move that angered U.S. President Donald Trump. She said on Friday that remaining in the Senate would allow her to use her powerful voice in reforming the U.S healthcare system. Collins, who like all Republicans in the Senate in 2009 voted against the sweeping healthcare legislation, said she believed urgent action was needed to improve it but criticized the way repeal efforts had been handled over the summer. “When we’re dealing with an issue that affects millions of Americans, we need to understand the consequences of what we are doing, not vote on bills in the middle of the night that have had no substantive hearings,” Collins, 64, told a group of business leaders in Rockland, a city on the state’s midcoast.  “We must stop allowing partisanship to be the pre-existing condition that prevents meaningful healthcare reform.” Urgent action is needed to stabilize the insurance markets, including creating high-risk pools, she said. She wants to require employers to offer healthcare coverage only to people who work 40 hours a week or more, raising the threshold from 30 hours. For weeks, Collins had flirted publicly with the idea of launching a bid to succeed Governor Paul LePage, a fiery conservative first elected in 2010 on a wave of support from the populist Tea Party movement. State laws forbid LePage from seeking a third term. Collins and LePage mark out the two poles of the state’s Republican Party. Collins’ independence makes her an increasingly powerful player in Washington, one veteran Maine political observer said. “She is at the very center of virtually every big policy debate and big vote in the U.S. Senate,” said Mark Brewer, professor of political science at the University of Maine. “She remains an incredibly important player on any issue she wants to focus on.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed the news: “Her decision to remain in the Senate is important not only for the people of Maine, who she serves so well, but for the nation as a whole.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन कॉलिन्स अमेरिकी सीनेट में रहेंगे, स्वास्थ्य सेवा पर ध्यान केंद्रित करेंगे


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police began an operation to detain 121 former foreign ministry staff across the country on Thursday over their alleged links to the U.S.-based cleric who Ankara says orchestrated last year s attempted coup, state-run Anadolu agency said. It said the ministry personnel were previously dismissed over suspected ties to Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. He has denied involvement in the failed putsch in July 2016. Counter-terrorism police squads began simultaneous raids in 30 provinces to capture the suspects, some of whom were believed to be users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app which the government says was used by Gulen s network, Anadolu reported. Under a crackdown since the coup, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over alleged links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the military, public and private sectors. The government dismisses rights groups  concerns about the crackdown, saying only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says infiltrated institutions such as the judiciary, army and schools.

Summary: गुलेन से संबंध रखने के आरोप में विदेश मंत्रालय के 121 पूर्व कर्मचारियों को हिरासत में लेगा तुर्कीः मीडिया


BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania s Defence Minister Adrian Tutuianu said he had resigned on Tuesday after his ministry said it was unable to pay military and defense staff wages in full, only to be contradicted within hours by the finance ministry. The defense ministry said in a statement that it had run out of funds to cover salaries for its staff and would pay them in stages pending a consolidated budget revision planned for September. The finance ministry later contradicted the statement, saying no ministry was facing wage funds shortages.  I have handed in my resignation for the lack of communication,  Tutuianu told private television station Antena3. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose will send the resignation to the president later on Tuesday. The defense minister position carries a lot of responsibility as NATO member Romania has committed to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense every year for the next nine years, a military procurement plan for 2017-2026 showed. Romania, a country of 20 million people, hosts a U.S. ballistic missile defense station and has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Summary: संचार में गड़बड़ी के चलते रोमानिया के रक्षा मंत्री ने दिया इस्तीफा


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s constitutional court said in a ruling late on Tuesday that special justice tribunals outlined in a peace deal between the government and the Marxist FARC rebels are constitutional, ahead of a congressional vote on the subject. The court upheld most of the provisions agreed in the 2016 peace accord for the special courts, which will mete out alternative sentences like landmine removal for ex-guerrilla leaders from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who are convicted of war crimes. Congress is holding debates on a law which would approve the tribunals. The bill has been backed by committees in both the upper and lower houses and is expected to be put to floor votes this week. President Juan Manuel Santos, speaking on television after the court s decision, urged congress to pass the law as quickly as possible. Guerrilla leaders participating in politics as part of the FARC s new political party will still have to comply with sentences from the court, he said, while Colombians, many of whom despise the group, must accept that the deal allows them to run for office.  Colombians, with our votes, will decide if we accept their ideas and proposals or if we reject them. Without a doubt it is better to have the FARC giving speeches than shooting bullets,  Santos said.  The court made several modifications to the law, local media reported, opening the possibility that ex-rebels could be extradited for crimes committed after the peace process ends and that former guerrillas elected to public office could lose their seats if they fail to comply with the tribunal process.

Summary: कोलंबिया की अदालत ने कांग्रेस के मतदान से पहले शांति न्यायाधिकरणों को मंजूरी दी


LONDON (Reuters) - British police said 11 people had been arrested by counter-terrorism officers on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a banned far-right group. The 11 men were arrested across the country on suspicion of offences including preparing terrorist acts, being members of a banned organization and possession of terrorism documents as part of the inquiry into the National Action organization. The neo-Nazi group became the first far-right organization to be outlawed in Britain last year after the murder of member of parliament Jo Cox, whose killing it had praised. Earlier this month, three men, including two soldiers, appeared in court charged with being members of National Action and police said the men held in the latest arrests were part of the same investigation.  Today s arrests are part of coordinated action by the national Counter Terrorism network and UK policing,  said Det. Chief Supt. Martin Snowden, the head of counter-terrorism policing in northeast England.   Those who promote extreme right wing views are looking to divide our communities and spread hatred. This will not be tolerated and those who do so must be brought to justice.  Last month, a senior police chief said the number of referrals to the authorities about suspected right-wing extremists had doubled since the murder of Cox, who was killed in June last year by a loner obsessed with Nazis and white supremacist ideology.

Summary: ब्रिटेन की आतंकवाद-रोधी पुलिस ने दूर-दराज़ जांच में 11 लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tax overhaul pushed by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans is prompting a slew of attack ads by Democrats and progressive groups that say the legislation would lavish benefits on corporations and the rich, while harming the middle class. One ad launched on Tuesday warns that the Republican tax plan would leave Maine residents “lost in the wilderness” as it pans through a dark, deserted forest. The television spot, paid for by the group Not One Penny, urges the state’s Republican senator, Susan Collins, who is undecided on the plan and whose vote could help decide its fate in the Senate, “not to lose her way.” Another Not One Penny ad in Nevada, where Republican Senator Dean Heller faces a tough re-election race next year, says that the Senate plan is “a tax break for billionaires and wealthy corporations, paid for by higher taxes on every day Nevadans.” Republicans are looking to pass tax legislation within the next few weeks. Groups spending millions on the ads are aiming to sway public opinion in the final stretch of debate over the legislation, which would cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, and reduce individual income tax rates. Liberals see criticism of the tax plan as a potent issue for the 2018 U.S. congressional elections, when all 435 House seats are up for re-election, along with 33 in the Senate. The House of Representatives passed its tax bill last week. The Senate plans to vote once lawmakers return to Washington after this week’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Republicans are under pressure to deliver a tax bill to score their first major legislative achievement since taking control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in January. Many Democratic ads focus on Republicans thought to be vulnerable in the 2018 elections. Others target Republicans such as Collins in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim 52-48 majority and can afford to lose just two Republican votes and still pass a tax bill, with Democrats united in opposition. Republicans say their tax plans would provide across-the-board cuts for both businesses and middle-class workers, along with tax code simplifications that would make it easier for individual taxpayers to file. Republican tax writers contend their plan would mean a “typical family of four would see their tax bill drop by nearly 60 percent.” But Democrats say Republicans have used as a model a family with a specific set of tax circumstances, and that other families at similar income levels could end up paying more.  Both the House and Senate plans cut individual tax rates but eliminate popular deductions. In the Senate plan, the tax rate cut for individuals is temporary, while the corporate rate cut is permanent. The Senate plan would repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires individuals to pay a penalty if they do not have health insurance. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that the Senate bill would, beginning in 2021, lead to higher tax bills on average for households earning $10,000 to $30,000 annually. By 2027, most taxpayers earning $75,000 or less annually would be paying more taxes, the JCT said.  Democratic advocacy group Priorities USA on Tuesday increased to $2 million a tax-related digital ad campaign targeting voters in 20 House districts where Republicans voted for the House bill. It also plans ads in states represented by Senate Republicans Collins (Maine), Heller (Nevada), John McCain (Arizona), Bob Corker (Tennessee) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running digital ads in more than 40 Republican-held House districts. The group Save My Care is running digital ads in the districts of 14 House Republicans who voted for the bill, and in Alaska, Arizona and Maine. Republican and conservative groups are running ads of their own. The National Republican Congressional Committee started running spots in multiple districts last week promoting the tax bill. America First Policies, a nonprofit run by former Trump campaign advisers, is spending $135,000 this week for spots on conservative radio programs.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट, वकालत समूहों ने कर योजना पर हमला करने वाले विज्ञापनों की झड़ी लगा दी


NEW York (Reuters) - Muslim immigrants and an advocacy group filed a fresh lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s latest version of a travel ban that placed indefinite restrictions on the entry of citizens from eight countries to the United States. The suit filed late Monday in federal court in Maryland challenges a Sep. 24 Presidential proclamation limiting travel from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. Certain government officials from Venezuela were also barred. Six individual plaintiffs who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents with Iranian relatives who could be blocked from coming to the United States, along with the group Iranian Alliances Across Borders, claim the ban violates an immigration law that prevents discrimination based on nationality.  The complaint says that the majority of the people affected by the ban are Muslim and point to Trump’s campaign promises for “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” The suit says North Korea and Venezuela were added so Trump could “cloak this latest iteration of his Muslim ban in religiously neutral garb by invoking a national security review.”   The latest ban goes fully into effect on Oct. 18 and could affect tens of thousands of potential immigrants and visitors. Trump has argued that the restrictions are necessary to tighten security and prevent terrorist attacks. Department of Justice spokesman Ian Prior said the agency “will continue to vigorously defend the President’s inherent authority to keep this country safe.” Trump’s proclamation followed on two earlier temporary travel bans against some of the same countries, after the government did a global review of information sharing and security screening protocols. The first ban issued soon after Trump took office in January targeted seven countries but was blocked by courts following a hasty implementation and chaotic scenes at airports. The second ban signed in March targeted six countries and was also blocked by lower courts. It was then partially revived by the Supreme Court in June. The third ban, with no clear end date, came out when the temporary measures expired. On Friday the American Civil Liberties Union said it was seeking to amend an existing lawsuit in Maryland federal court filed against the previous March 6 ban to include the latest proclamation.  Legal experts say the new restrictions are likely on more solid footing, in part because they followed a detailed review by federal agencies.

Summary: अधिक समूहों ने अदालत में ट्रम्प के नवीनतम यात्रा प्रतिबंध को चुनौती दी


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thirteen activists were ordered to pay a total of $16 million in compensation on Thursday for shutting down Bangkok s two main international airports during protests in 2008. Thailand s Supreme Court told the leading members of the People s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to pay the money plus interest to the Airports of Thailand operator. Protesters occupied Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi International Airports for more than a week in late 2008, disrupting hundreds of flights and stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers. One of the PAD leaders affected by the ruling, Suriyasai Katasila, told Reuters it might take years for them to find all the money.  If we cannot pay the compensation then the AOT (Airports of Thailand) will have to sue us for bankruptcy,  he said.  I believe what we have done was for the public interest in opposing a corrupt government at the time, it was not motivated by personal interests at all,  he added. PAD was formed 2005 in opposition to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 military coup. It supporters include members of the urban middle class and support the traditional royalist-military elite. A total of 98 PAD protesters, more commonly known as the Yellow Shirts, have also been charged with terrorism and other criminal offences linked to the airports occupation.

Summary: थाई कार्यकर्ताओं ने हवाई अड्डों पर कब्जा करने के लिए $16 मिलियन का भुगतान करने का आदेश दिया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. after his father won the Republican nomination for the 2016 U.S. presidential election counted Russia’s FSB security service among her clients for years, Russian court documents seen by Reuters show. The documents show that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, successfully represented the FSB’s interests in a legal wrangle over ownership of an upscale property in northwest Moscow between 2005 and 2013. The FSB, successor to the Soviet-era KGB service, was headed by Vladimir Putin before he became Russian president. There is no suggestion that Veselnitskaya is an employee of the Russian government or intelligence services, and she has denied having anything to do with the Kremlin. But the fact she represented the FSB in a court case may raise questions among some U.S. politicians. The Obama administration last year sanctioned the FSB for what it said was its role in hacking the election, something Russia flatly denies. Charles Grassley, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has raised concerns about why Veselnitskaya gained entry into the United States. Veselnitskaya represented a Russian client accused by U.S. prosecutors of money laundering in a case that was settled in May this year after four years.  Veselnitskaya did not reply to emailed Reuters questions about her work for the FSB. But she later posted a link to it on her Facebook page on Friday. “Is it all your proof? You disappointed me,” she wrote in a post. “Dig in court databases again! You’ll be surprised to find among my clients Russian businessmen... as well as citizens and companies that had to defend themselves from accusations from the state...”  Veselnitskaya added that she also had U.S. citizens as clients. The FSB did not respond to a request for comment.     Reuters could not find a record of when and by whom the lawsuit - which dates back to at least 2003 - was first lodged. But appeal documents show that Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal government property agency, was involved. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Veselnitskaya and her firm Kamerton Consulting represented “military unit 55002” in the property dispute, the documents show. A public list of Russian legal entities shows the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, founded the military unit whose legal address is behind the FSB’s own headquarters. Reuters was unable to establish if Veselnitskaya did any other work for the FSB or confirm who now occupies the building at the center of the case. President Donald Trump’s eldest son eagerly agreed in June 2016 to meet Veselnitskaya, a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton, according to emails released by Trump Jr. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and has never obtained damaging information about Clinton. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, has said she had “nothing whatsoever to do with us.” Veselnitskaya has also said she is ready to testify to the U.S. Congress to dispel what she called “mass hysteria” about the meeting with Trump Jr. The case in which Veselnitskaya represented the FSB was complex; appeals courts at least twice ruled in favor of private companies which the FSB wanted to evict.   The FSB took over the disputed office building in mid-2008, a person who worked for Atos-Component, a firm that was evicted as a result, told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. The building was privatized after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but the Russian government said in the lawsuit in which Veselnitskaya represented the FSB that the building had been illegally sold to private firms. The businesses were listed in the court documents, but many of them no longer exist and those that do are little-known firms in the electric components business. Elektronintorg, an electronic components supplier, said on its website that it now occupied the building. Elektronintorg is owned by state conglomerate Rostec, run by Sergei Chemezov, who, like Putin, worked for the KGB and served with him in East Germany. When contacted by phone, an unnamed Elektronintorg employee said he was not obliged to speak to Reuters. Rostec, responding to a request for comment, said that Elektronintorg only had a legal address in the building but that its staff were based elsewhere.  When asked which organization was located there, an unidentified man who answered a speakerphone at the main entrance laughed and said: “Congratulations. Ask the city administration.”

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रम्प जूनियर से मिलने वाले मॉस्को के वकील के मुवक्किल के रूप में रूसी जासूसी एजेंसी थी


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s FSB security service said on Monday it had detained members of what it said was an Islamic State sleeper cell in the Moscow region that had been planning to launch a series of high-profile attacks on the country s transport system. A video of the detentions showed masked FSB agents detaining men in a residential apartment where they could be seen finding and confiscating grenades, pistols and explosives.  The FSB said in a statement on its website that the detentions had occurred on Sept. 30 and that the cell included Russian citizens from the North Caucasus region who it said were committed to trying to set up a global Islamic caliphate and were directed by foreign militants. It said the cell had been planning to set off explosives in crowded public places and to target transport infrastructure. The FSB said it had detained all of the cell s members, but did not say how many people it had taken into custody. The question of opening criminal cases against them was being decided, it added. Islamic State, banned in Russia, has threatened to take revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria by shedding blood on Russian soil, and a bomb attack on the St Petersburg metro in April killed 14 people.

Summary: रूसी सुरक्षा सेवा का कहना है कि इस्लामिक स्टेट स्लीपर सेल को नष्ट कर दिया गया है


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s police monitor said on Monday investigations into the alleged killings by police of a girl and a baby in election-related violence were complete, and a spokesman said the case would probably end up in court. Kenyan police frequently face accusations of brutality and extrajudicial killings from civilians and rights groups, but officers are rarely charged and almost never convicted.  Human rights groups say at least 66 people have died in bloodshed associated with the August election, which was later voided by the Supreme Court, and in unrest surrounding the re-run of the presidential vote last month.  Stephanie Moraa, an 8-year-old girl in the Nairobi slum of Mathare, died after being hit by a stray bullet as police fired to disperse protesters on Aug. 12, the day after election results were announced. And the parents of six-month-old Samantha Pendo said she was teargassed and clubbed by police who invaded their home in Kisumu looking for protesters.  On Monday, the government-funded but civilian-run Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) said it had forwarded its findings and recommendations to the director of public prosecutions  for review and direction . Asked on Monday what IPOA had recommended to the prosecutor s office regarding the two deaths, spokesman Dennis Oketch said:  It s a matter which will most likely end up in court. We don t want to give any information that can become prejudicial. We will wait for the [prosecutor s] review.  IPOA s statement did not specify if it had identified suspects in the two deaths. It did not mention any other investigations into election-related violence.  It has however, completed another investigation into alleged police beatings at a demonstration in September at Kenya s oldest university that sparked opposition anger at what they see as a pattern of police brutality.  IPOA said it had recommended to a police service commission that it take  stern disciplinary action against the responsible Commander . It had also forwarded the investigation file to the prosecutor s office, the statement read. Shortly after the August election, IPOA said it was fast-tracking investigations of all deaths and injuries for which the police were alleged by rights groups to be responsible.  Kenyan police dispute those accounts. The National Police Service described a report last month by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on 33 deaths in Nairobi during the crackdown as  totally misleading and based on falsehoods . Despite its history of police brutality, Kenya is an economic and transport hub in East Africa and important Western ally against militant Islam that receives substantial financial support for its security services from international donors, including the United States and Britain. The IPOA was set up in 2011 after the killings of around 1,200 people in violence following the disputed 2007 election. It has received more than 9,000 complaints of police brutality and corruption since then.  Last year, it secured its first conviction, of two police officers sentenced for the death of a 14-year-old girl shot dead during a house raid in 2014. A survey last year by the non-profit International Police Science Association ranked Kenya s police force as the 125th worst-performing out of 127 national police forces studied. Only forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria did worse, measured on factors such as  process  and  legitimacy.

Summary: केन्याई पुलिस द्वारा मतदान से संबंधित हिंसा में लड़की, बच्चे की कथित हत्या अदालत में पहुँचने की संभावनाः अधिकारी


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Monday signed into law a bill to send $600 million to cash-starved state universities and community colleges, calling the measure “a first step toward compromise between Democrats and Republicans.”   An impasse between the Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature has left Illinois without a budget 10 months into fiscal 2016. In bipartisan votes in the House and Senate on Friday, lawmakers approved $600 million, or 34 percent, of the $1.7 billion Democrats had earmarked for higher education spending for the whole fiscal year, which began July 1. “Now is the time to build on this bipartisan momentum and focus on enacting a truly balanced budget for fiscal years 2016-2017 alongside meaningful reforms that create jobs and free up resources for education, social services and infrastructure,” Rauner said in a statement. Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said on Friday that her office would immediately start processing payments for the universities, colleges and for college student grants funded by the legislation.

Summary: इलिनोइस के गवर्नर ने उच्च शिक्षा स्टॉपगैप फंडिंग बिल पर हस्ताक्षर किए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans to change their tax-cut bill to include a repeal of the Obamacare mandate that requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine, the House of Representative’s top tax lawmaker said on Friday. House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to assess Trump’s suggestion and indicated some lawmakers were considering it. Other lawmakers have expressed concern. They said adding such a divisive provision would expose the tax bill to the fierce opposition that doomed Republicans’ efforts in July to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The act was former President Barack Obama’s biggest domestic achievement. It raised taxes on wealthier Americans to fund healthcare benefits for middle- and low-income people, extending coverage to millions of previously uninsured. Democrats have defended it for years from attacks by Republicans, who see it as Washington intruding on Americans’ healthcare. Since Trump took power in January, he has pressed hard to undo much of Obama’s work. So far he has not secured any major legislative accomplishments in Congress, even though Republicans control both the House and the Senate. “The president feels very strongly about including this (the individual mandate repeal) at some step before the final process. He’s told me that twice by phone and once in person,” Brady told an event hosted by the news outlet Politico. “No decisions have been made ... Importing healthcare into a tax reform debate has consequences,” Brady said. Trump broached his idea in a tweet earlier this week, saying it would be “great” to repeal the mandate “and use those savings for further tax cuts.” Some Republican senators, such as Tom Cotton and Rand Paul, also favor this idea. Representative Tom Cole, a senior House Republican, said Friday that adding on a mandate repeal could cost the tax bill votes. “I don’t want to overload the vehicle,” Cole told reporters, adding that including the mandate repeal would probably be a “deal breaker” for Democrats. Brady also said Friday he would offer “substantive improvements” to the tax bill when his committee begins considering the legislation next week. He gave no details. The tax bill released Thursday would cut tax rates for businesses, individuals and families. Republicans hope to pass it through Congress by year’s end. Democrats oppose it as a give-away to the rich and large corporations.

Summary: ट्रंप ने कर विधेयक में ओबामा देखभाल विरोधी प्रावधान जोड़ने का आग्रह कियाः सांसद


GENEVA (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition s blockade of Yemen, which has cut off food imports to a population where 7 million people are on the brink of famine, is  illegal collective punishment  of civilians, a prominent aid official said on Thursday. Major agencies said aid was still blocked a day after the Saudi-led military coalition said it would let humanitarian supplies in. The U.S.-backed coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen said on Wednesday it would allow aid in through the port of Hodeidah, as well as U.N. flights to the capital Sanaa, more than two weeks after blockading the country.  We have not yet had any movement as of now,  said Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance. Jan Egeland, a former U.N. aid chief who now heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, said of the blockade:  In my view this is illegal collective punishment.   Egeland, whose group helps 1 million Yemenis, welcomed the coalition announcement as a  step in the right direction , but added:  We only have it in writing now and haven t seen it happen.  The coalition closed air, land and sea access on Nov. 6 to stop the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The action came after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired toward Riyadh. Iran has denied supplying weapons.  Sending a missile in the direction of Riyadh is really very bad. But those who are suffering from the blockade had nothing to do with this missile,  Egeland told Reuters while in Geneva.   Even if both the flights and humanitarian shipments will go through now, it is not solving the underlying crisis that a country that needs 90 percent of its goods imported is not getting in commercial food or fuel.  Houthi authorities who control the capital Sanaa were also imposing restrictions on access for aid workers, he said. The United Nations says some 7 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine and 945,000 have been infected since April with cholera. More than 2,200 people have died. U.N. officials have submitted requests to the coalition for deliveries via Hodeidah and Sanaa, and the  hope and expectation  was that the vital aid pipelines would re-open on Friday, the U.N. s Laerke said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was vital to get commercial traffic resumed.  Yemenis will need more than aid in order to survive the crisis and ward off famine,  spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said.

Summary: सहायता एजेंसियों का कहना है कि यमन में नाकाबंदी बनी हुई है, एगलैंड ने इसे 'सामूहिक सजा' बताया


(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio aimed to capitalize on rival Ted Cruz’s recent missteps leading up to Tuesday’s Nevada caucus, where a strong finish could bolster his position as the establishment favorite for his party’s nomination. Looming over the tight race between the two first-term Cuban-American U.S. senators is Republican front-runner Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who has won two of the first three state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election and is expected to dominate the field in Nevada. With Trump, a blunt-spoken political outsider, commanding a double-digit lead in a handful of Nevada opinion polls, political strategists in the state said Rubio and Cruz had a more modest goal: a clear win over the other, which could propel them through the busy voting month of March. “They’re playing for second,” said Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston. A recent CNN/ORC poll put Trump ahead by 26 percentage points in Nevada, at 45 percent, followed by Rubio, from Florida, at 19 percent, and Cruz, from Texas, at 17 percent. Lagging behind were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who  stoked controversy on Tuesday by suggesting that Barack Obama, the first African-American U.S. president, was “raised white,” and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Carson was at 7 percent and Kasich was at 5 percent. Kasich, who finished second to Trump in the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, kept his focus on bigger states, including Michigan and Virginia.  Trump took to Twitter as polls opened on Tuesday night to encourage voters to turn out and cast ballots for him, taking a jab at Cruz, whom he has continually described as dishonest. “Make sure you get on the Trump line and are not misled by the Cruz people,” he wrote. “They are bad! BE CAREFUL.” Hoping to gain an edge in Nevada, Cruz spent time engaging rural voters and far-right conservatives. Rubio, the son of former casino workers who spent six years in Nevada as an adolescent, played up his ties to the region. “He’s not pushing it hard, like, ‘I’m really a Nevadan’,” said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada-Reno. “But both he and his surrogates have highlighted he has the best understanding of Nevada because he actually lived here.” The rivalry between Rubio and Cruz, who won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, has intensified as both seek a boost going into the nominating contests in a dozen states on March 1, known as Super Tuesday. Rubio beat Cruz by fewer than 1,000 votes for second place in South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday.  Strategists said Rubio was benefiting from the withdrawal of one-time establishment favorite Jeb Bush, some of whose donors were preparing to shift to Rubio immediately after Bush dropped out on Saturday night. Rubio has picked up endorsements from several Nevada party leaders since then, including U.S. Senator Dean Heller and Nevada Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison. He touted those gains at a campaign rally in Michigan on Tuesday, saying he was “proud” of supporters who had made the switch to him after Bush’s exit. The Cruz campaign, meanwhile, lost a key staffer on Monday when the candidate fired his main spokesman, Rick Tyler, for posting a video that falsely showed Rubio dismissing the Bible. The firing came amid intense criticism of the Cruz campaign for unethical behavior from both Trump and Rubio. Trump, known for his blistering attacks against his rivals, continued to focus his venom on Cruz on Tuesday, writing on Twitter that he “lies like a dog.” Cruz aimed to quiet one of Trump’s most common attacks - that he isn’t eligible to run for president because he was born in Canada - on Tuesday when he asked a federal court in Houston to throw out a class-action lawsuit questioning his eligibility.  (Reporting by Megan Cassella in Washington; Additional reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Peter Cooney, Jonathan Oatis, Leslie Adler and Paul Tait) 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 रूबियो नेवादा में समर्थन चाहते हैं, लेकिन ट्रम्प चुनावों में हावी हैं


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Monday U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are clear on China’s position regarding his telephone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday. “The world is very clear on China’s solemn position. The US side, including president elect Trump’s team, is very clear China’s solemn position on this issue,” said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a regular press briefing in Beijing. Taiwan is the most sensitive issue between China and the United States, he said. He did not elaborate on how China had made its position clear to Trump and his team, and declined to speculate about what was behind the call between Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. The unusual call prompted China to lodge “stern representations” with the “relevant U.S. side” on Saturday. U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence played down the significance of the call with Tsai, saying it was a “courtesy” call, not intended to show a shift in U.S. policy on China. China’s state press on Monday also sought to minimize the telephone call’s importance, saying it merely reflected Trump’s foreign affairs inexperience, not a shift in U.S. policy toward Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province.

Summary: ताइवान की त्साई से बातचीत पर चीन का रुख स्पष्टः मंत्रालय


NEW YORK (Reuters) - After immigration agents detained two Iraqis on Saturday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, their lawyers and two U.S. lawmakers accompanying them tried to cross into a secure area to consult with the men.  Border protection agents held them back, sparking a heated exchange. “Step back! Step back!” the agents shouted. A few minutes later, Heidi Nassauer, chief of passenger operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the airport, was called over.  U.S. Congress members Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez, both  Democrats from New York, wanted clarification on whether an immigration ban issued on Friday by President Donald Trump prevented the Iraqis from consulting with attorneys. Nassauer had no clear answer.  “We are as much in the dark as everybody else,” said the border protection official at one of the largest U.S. airports.  The tense exchange, witnessed by Reuters, was representative of the confusion at airports across the United States and others overseas after Trump abruptly halted immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries and temporarily put a stop to the entry of refugees.  The Trump administration, facing criticism over the executive order’s implementation, on Saturday it would have been “reckless” to give details to government agencies and airports more broadly in advance of launching the security measures, which it says aimed to prevent attacks from foreign groups. But career officials in the Homeland Security and State departments told Reuters that the administration failed to appreciate the complexity of enforcing the order consistently or the need to prepare agencies and airlines. Throughout much of Saturday, government officials and security workers were left to guess who from those countries could enter the United States legally and who could not.  The day ended with U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn issuing an emergency stay that temporarily allowed stranded travelers with valid visas to remain in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union, which sought the stay, said it would help 100 to 200 people with visas or refugee status who found themselves detained in transit or at U.S. airports.  Across the country, more than a dozen similar petitions on behalf of individuals being held at airports had been filed by the end of Saturday, according to a Reuters review of data collected by WestLaw. By Sunday morning, federal judges in three more states - Massachusetts, Washington and Virginia - issued orders blocking authorities from deporting travelers impacted by Trump’s executive orders. A senior administration official said Trump’s order - aimed at citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - needed to be implemented urgently to protect Americans. “There’s a very strong nexus between our immigration and visa programs and terrorist plots and extremist networks inside the United States,” the official told reporters in a briefing. “It would be reckless and irresponsible to ... broadcast to the entire world the exact security measures you’re going to take.” Key figures at the Department of Homeland Security were informed, the official said, declining to elaborate. At the State Department, one of the main agencies dealing with visas and immigration, most officials first heard of the executive order on immigration through the media, according to two department officials.  While some offices were aware an executive order was coming, there was no official communication or consultation from the White House, they said.  “Was there any inter-agency coordination or consultation? No,” said one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Immigration enforcement is among the federal government’s most complex endeavors, involving seven agencies from the U.S. Coast Guard and CBP to the State and Justice Departments. Two senior officials in the Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday that they had not heard of any officials in the relevant agencies - or the congressional committees and subcommittees that oversee them - who had been consulted by anyone who helped draft the president’s order. “If the result is confusion and inconsistency, the responsibility all lies at one address,” said one of the officials, referring to the White House.  The official, like others, requested anonymity to discuss Trump’s order.  Another Homeland Security official told Reuters that the White House worked on the executive orders with “limited department participation.” “It has been a challenge but folks are working through it,” the official said. Affected travelers had varying experiences at different airports, according to nearly 200 accounts gathered by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  Many holding visas told the association they were allowed into the country without a problem despite Trump’s executive order banning them. But some lawful permanent residents – those with so-called green cards – were turned away despite guidance to airlines from the CBP that they should be allowed to travel. At about 10 p.m. on Friday in Seattle, some eight hours after Trump signed the executive order, an Iranian with dual Canadian citizenship from Vancouver was sent back to Canada, the traveler reported to AILA. A half hour later in New York City, an Iranian arrived at JFK and entered the United States on a valid visa without any problems, according to AILA. One of the Iraqis detained at JFK was Hameed Khalid Darweesh, a 53-year-old Kurd who had worked as a U.S. Army translator in Iraq and had been threatened there for helping the Americans.  Visas for him and his family were issued on Jan. 20, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Darweesh and another Iraqi, who had also worked with U.S. military. But as soon as he landed at JFK, he was detained by CBP officers and barred from contacting his attorneys. When his attorneys, from the International Refugee Assistance Project, asked the CBP officers whom they could contact, the agents responded, “Mr. President. Call Mr. Trump,” according to the lawsuit.  Eventually, Darweesh was allowed to leave and met the lawmakers and his lawyers, clutching his passport and weeping with joy. The other Iraqi who was detained, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was also allowed to enter the country.  On Sunday morning, seven more detainees at JFK airport were allowed to enter the United States, said ACLU immigration attorney Andre Segura. The organization knew of at least five others that remained in the custody of border protection officials, Segura told Reuters. Conflicting media and government reports have caused confusion for airlines struggling to deal with the order. CBP informed air carriers about the executive order in a conference call late on Friday, said a person familiar with the agency’s communications. CBP then sent written guidance before noon on Saturday saying that green card holders were “not included” in the ban and could continue to travel to the United States. The source said airlines were allowing travelers with green cards on flights until told otherwise.  The Trump administration official later told reporters that U.S. green card holders traveling outside the United States need to check with a U.S. consulate to see whether they can return. “It’s being cleared on a case-by-case basis,” the official said.  On Sunday morning, the administration addressed the issue again but left questions over how green cards holders would be screened and by what agencies. “The executive order doesn’t affect green card holders moving forward,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus addressed told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He added that they would be subjected to extra questioning by CBP agents when they tried to re-enter the United States.  A senior administration official told Reuters, however, that it had not been determined where and how those screenings would be carried out. The nature of the screening will be up to CBP or the State Department, the official said, and specific guidelines were being drafted. “They could be screened in many different ways and in many different places,” the official said in an interview.

Summary: कैसे ट्रम्प के अचानक आव्रजन प्रतिबंध ने हवाई अड्डों, एजेंसियों में भ्रम पैदा किया


SEOUL (Reuters) - The heir to South Korea s Samsung Group, convicted of bribing the country s former president, appeared in a packed court on Thursday for the first day of arguments in the appeal of his five-year jail term for corruption. The 49-year-old Jay Y. Lee was convicted by a lower court in August of bribing Park Geun-hye, who was dismissed as president in March. The court decided the bribe helped Lee strengthen his control of the crown jewel in the conglomerate, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), one of the world s biggest technology companies. The appellate court hearing the appeal is likely to try to rule on the case by next February, legal experts said. Whichever side loses could take the case to the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal in South Korea. Lee s presence marked his first public appearance since the August ruling. He did not speak during the proceedings other than giving his birth date and address. The lower court in August had ruled that while Lee never asked for Park s help directly, the fact that a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates did help cement Lee s control over Samsung Electronics  implied  he was asking for the president s help to strengthen his control of the firm. Lee, sitting mostly expressionless in a dark suit without tie, listened to hours-long PowerPoint presentations by both sides arguing over the lower court s logic that Lee s actions  implied  solicitation for help from Park by providing financial support for Park s close friend and confidante Choi Soon-sil. On Thursday, the defense strongly challenged that logic.  In order for implied solicitation to exist, there needed to have been a level of wordless understanding between Lee and the former president that transcended speaking,  said Lee In-jae, Jay Y. Lee s lead counsel. The prosecution, which has lodged a cross-appeal against the lower court ruling that found Lee innocent on some charges, said the court s decision to not acknowledge explicit solicitation for Park s help from Samsung despite the evidence found  did not make sense . The defense, which spent much of its time during the initial trial refuting the prosecution s individual charges, said it will focus on a few key arguments in the appeal - including whether there was in fact an  ordinary type of bribery  as defined under South Korean law, which says only civil servants come under the statute. Park s friend Choi was not a civil servant. The lower court found that Samsung s financial support of 7.2 billion won ($6.27 million) to sponsor the equestrian career of Choi s daughter constituted an ordinary type of bribery, as  it can be considered the same as she (Park) herself receiving it.  The defense is expected to strongly challenge this by saying that the prosecution, on whom the burden of proof lies, has not proved collusion between Park and Choi. The appeal hearing continues on Oct 19.

Summary: सैमसंग के वंशज ने कानूनी अपील शुरू होने पर वापस लड़ाई लड़ी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will announce his choice on Wednesday to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, he said in a statement released by the White House. Obama will make the announcement at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), the statement said. “I’ve made my decision: Today, I will announce the person I believe is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court,” Obama wrote. He did not identify his pick in the note.

Summary: ओबामा सुप्रीम कोर्ट के लिए नामित व्यक्ति की घोषणा करेंगे