LONDON (Reuters) - A British parliamentary committee has written to Facebook s Mark Zuckerberg asking for information on any paid-for activity by Russian-linked Facebook accounts around the 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 UK election. The request was made by Damian Collins, chair of parliament s Digital, Media and Sport Committee as part of its effort to gather evidence for an inquiry it is conducting into fake news.  Part of this inquiry will focus on the role of foreign actors abusing platforms such as yours to interfere in the political discourse of other nations,  Collins wrote in a letter to Zuckerberg circulated to media by the committee. He asked Facebook to provide examples of all adverts bought by Russian-linked accounts, of all pages set up by Russian-linked accounts, information on the targeting of such adverts and pages and how many times they were viewed.  I believe that the information I have requested is in line with that already supplied to Facebook to several United States Senate Committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election,  wrote Collins. The committee of British lawmakers launched its inquiry into fake news in January but it was suspended when a general election was called for June. The closing date for submitting evidence is Nov. 7. The inquiry aims to shed light on issues such as the impact of fake news on public understanding of the world and response to traditional journalism, the responsibilities of social media platforms and how people can be educated to assess news sources. The issue of whether and how much Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is a huge issue in Washington, where it is the subject of multiple investigations. Facebook said on Oct. 2 that some 10 million people in the United States saw politically divisive ads on its network that were purchased in Russia in the months before and after the presidential election. In Britain, interest in whether Russia also played a part in domestic political processes such as the June 2016 referendum on withdrawing from the European Union and the June 2017 general election has been increasing in recent weeks. Last week, another member of parliament, Ben Bradshaw, called on the government to get to the bottom of reports of opaque funding sources for some elements of the pro-Brexit campaign, citing  widespread concern over foreign and particularly Russian interference . Russia has denied interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के सांसदों ने फेसबुक से रूस से जुड़ी ब्रेक्सिट गतिविधि का कोई सबूत मांगा


NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Britain s Prince Harry and his American fiancee Meghan Markle delighted cheering crowds who braved the cold on Friday to watch the couple on their first official engagement together. Queen Elizabeth s grandson Harry, 33, fifth-in-line to the throne, and U.S. actress Markle, 36, previously best known for her leading role in U.S. legal drama  Suits , announced their engagement on Monday, igniting a transatlantic media frenzy. In the central English city of Nottingham, the pair, both wearing long navy overcoats, greeted hundreds of smiling well-wishers, some waving British and U.S. flags.  We love Harry, and Meghan - she looks beautiful doesn t she?  Betty Parker, 78, told Reuters as she waited to meet the couple.  We re so happy for them both,  Mary Cooper, 60, said.  We always come and see him whenever he comes here and it s lovely that he keeps coming to Nottingham and has sort of adopted this city.  The couple were visiting a charity fair to mark World Aids Day, an event particularly symbolic for Harry whose late mother Princess Diana is credited with playing an important role in breaking down the stigma that was attached to the disease.    The event, held by the Terrence Higgins Trust, remembers lives lost to HIV and marks the progress made in fighting it. Harry has become a prominent campaigner on the issue, following in the footsteps of Diana who opened Britain s first HIV/AIDS unit in London in 1987 and confronted stigma by kissing an AIDS patient during a hospital visit.  They are so wonderful together, and you can clearly see that there is an immense amount of love and adoration for each other from the personal point of view of course but also for the work that each other are involved in,  said HIV campaigner Chris O Hanlon, who met the couple at the event.     Afterwards, the couple went to Nottingham Academy to meet headteachers from local schools and hear about the Full Effect programme, an initiative supported by the charity of Harry, his elder brother Prince William and William s wife Kate, which seeks to deter children from becoming involved in violence. Markle, who has been a campaigner for several causes including work as a U.N women s advocate, is to give up her previous charity roles as she begins life in Britain s royal family, Harry s spokesman said on Tuesday. She was also keen to travel around Britain to get to know the country that will become her home as she intends to become a British citizen, the spokesman added.  The couple, who became engaged earlier this month at the cottage they share in the grounds of Kensington Palace in central London, are to be married next May in St George s Chapel at Windsor Castle, the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years.  This is good. I m excited to have some Americans in the royal family,  U.S. student Mark Arnold, who is studying at Nottingham University, told Reuters.  It s really nice, I m excited.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के राजकुमार हैरी और मंगेतर मार्कल ने पहली आधिकारिक सैर पर भीड़ को खुश किया


CHICAGO (Reuters) - London’s first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, voiced support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday, warning that anti-Muslim views like those espoused by Republican Donald Trump “plays into the hands” of Islamic State. During a stop in Chicago on his first visit to the United States, Khan said he was “a big fan” of Clinton and hoped she would win the presidential election in November. “She’s arguably the most experienced candidate to run to be the president,” Khan told reporters following a speech to more than 250 academics, diplomats and business people. “As the father of two daughters, I think the message it sends when the most powerful politician in the world is a woman is phenomenal, and hope she wins,” said Khan, who as mayor of London is arguably one the most influential member of his faith in western Europe. Immediately after taking office in May, Khan tangled with Trump over his proposed ban on allowing Muslim immigrants and refugees into America, deriding his plan as “ignorant.” During his roughly 45-minute speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Khan did not mention Trump by name but attacked the positions the New York developer has staked, such as tightening Muslim immigration into the United States. “I think to suggest somehow that Muslims aren’t welcome in the U.S.A., to suggest somehow that being a Muslim isn’t compatible with being western, unintentionally plays into the hands of daesh or so-called ISIS,” Khan said. Trump has offered an evolving stance on Muslim immigration into the United States since his original December 2015 call for a ban on Muslims entering the country. Earlier this summer, he voiced support for limiting the ban to only countries with known terrorist links. Last month, he appeared to moderate somewhat on an outright ban by touting the idea of the United States undertaking “extreme vetting” of incoming Muslim immigrants, refugees or visitors.

Summary: लंदन के मुस्लिम मेयर ने अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump discussed with Jordan’s King Abdullah the possibility of establishing safe zones in Syria, the White House said on Thursday. Trump met with King Abdullah briefly in Washington on Thursday morning, the White House said in a statement. Trump said last week he would establish safe zones in Syria for refugees fleeing violence in the war-torn country.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने जॉर्डन के राजा के साथ सीरिया में सुरक्षित क्षेत्रों पर चर्चा कीः व्हाइट हाउस


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday he had urged U.S. President Donald Trump not to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement because it would cause a lot of pain on both sides of the border. The White House said earlier that Trump told the leaders of Canada and Mexico in separate calls on Wednesday that he would not terminate the NAFTA treaty at this stage, but would move quickly to begin renegotiating it with them. Trump, who says NAFTA has been a disaster for American workers, has threatened several times to walk away from the three-nation pact unless major changes are made. Mexico is the third member. “He (said on the call) he was very much thinking about canceling and I highlighted quite frankly ... that a disruption like canceling NAFTA, even if it theoretically eventually might lead to better outcomes, would cause a lot of short and medium-term pain,” said Trudeau. “That’s not something that either one of us would want so we agreed that we could sit down and get to work on looking at ways to improve NAFTA,” Trudeau told a televised news conference in Gray, Saskatchewan. Any move to break up NAFTA would cause great economic damage to Canada, which sends 75 percent of all its exports to the United States. Trump’s administration has yet to formally advise the U.S. Congress of its intention to open negotiations. A Canadian source familiar with the matter said Trudeau had added in his comments to Trump that pulling out of NAFTA would be counter-productive. Canadian officials have so far taken a largely restrained attitude to Trump’s harsh language on NAFTA, describing it as a negotiating tactic ahead of the talks. That said, government ministers have made clear Canada could slap sanctions on the United States if it decided to impose protectionist measures such as a border tariff. Trudeau, asked about possible trade retaliation, said Canada preferred to work with the United States constructively but added: “There’s no question there’s a broad range of options and paths available to us that we’re looking at.” He did not give details but the Trump administration on Monday moved to impose tariffs on imported Canadian lumber that mostly feeds U.S. homebuilding.

Summary: कनाडा के ट्रूडो ने ट्रम्प से कहा कि नाफ्टा से हटना बहुत दर्दनाक होगा


ANKARA (Reuters) - A spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused German politicians on Monday of indulging in populism after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would seek an end to Ankara s European Union membership talks. Merkel, seeking a fourth term in office in Germany s Sept. 24 election, said in a debate on Sunday it was clear that Turkey should not join the European Union, and that she would talk to other EU leaders about ending its stalled accession process.  It is not a coincidence that our president Erdogan was the main topic of the debate,  Erdogan s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted, criticizing what he described as mainstream German politicians   indulgence in populism .  Germany and Europe s attacks on Turkey/Erdogan, by ignoring essential and urgent problems, are reflections of the narrowing of their horizons,  he said.  We hope that the problematic atmosphere that made Turkish-German relations the victim of this narrow political horizon will end . Turkey s ties with Germany and several other EU states have deteriorated sharply this year. Points of dispute have included the barring of Turkish politicians from holding campaign rallies in EU countries ahead of an April referendum, and concerns over the powers granted to Erdogan in the closely fought plebiscite. Turkey has also restricted access for German parliamentarians seeking to visit German troops at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, leading Berlin to announce it was moving those forces out of Turkey. It has also detained several German nationals, including journalist Deniz Yucel. Turkey says it has sent Germany an extradition request for one of the main suspects it says was behind an attempted military coup in July 2016. More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 have been suspended or sacked in a security crackdown since the failed putsch.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ की सदस्यता पर मर्केल के स्थानांतरण के बाद तुर्की ने जर्मन 'लोकलुभावनवाद' की आलोचना की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, who has proposed cuts to an array of government agencies, is asking department heads to offer up plans to operate more efficiently.   Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told reporters on Tuesday he would be instructing agencies to outline how they will comply with the president’s budget, which slashed spending for foreign aid and many domestic programs.   The federal hiring freeze imposed shortly after Trump entered office will be lifted on Wednesday, but agencies will be asked to remain mindful of Trump’s goal to reduce the federal workforce, Mulvaney said during a briefing. Mulvaney acknowledged that the president’s budget would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have balked at some of the drastic reductions. “One of the reasons this is so difficult to do is you just can’t wave a magic wand in the Oval Office and do these things,” Mulvaney said. “There will be certain things for which we will need legislative authority.”     In the bare bones budget issued last month, the White House did not offer many specific details on how the budget cuts would be achieved. Mulvaney will ask departments to fill in some of those blanks. Preliminary plans are due from departments in June, with the final versions expected in September. Not every department gets a cut under Trump’s plan. Mulvaney stressed that some agencies including the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs department will be able to beef up their workforce.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने सरकारी एजेंसियों से खर्च में कटौती करने की योजना मांगी


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering calling a snap election for as early as next month to take advantage of his  improved approval ratings and disarray in the main opposition party, government and ruling party sources said on Sunday. Abe s ratings have recovered to 50 percent in some polls, helped by public jitters over North Korea s missile and nuclear tests and chaos in the opposition Democratic Party, which has been struggling with single-digit support and defections. Abe told executives of his Liberal Democratic Party and its  junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, that he might   dissolve parliament s lower house for a snap poll after the legislature convenes for an extra session from Sept. 28, the sources said.  Top LDP and Komeito officials will meet on Monday to discuss preparations, they added.   Until now, it appeared the election would be next autumn, but ... we must always be ready for battle,  domestic media quoted Komeito party chief Natsuo Yamaguchi as telling reporters on Saturday during a visit to Russia. One option is to hold a snap election on Oct. 22, when three by-elections are scheduled, the sources said. Other possibilities are later in October or after an expected visit by U.S. President Donald Trump in early November. Abe will probably make a decision after returning from a Sept. 18-22 trip to the United States, the sources said.  Abe s ratings had sunk below 30 percent in some surveys in July, battered by suspected cronyism scandals and a perception that he had grown arrogant after more than four years in office. His popularity rebounded somewhat after a cabinet reshuffle in early August and has since been helped by worries over a volatile North Korea, which on Friday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its second such move in less than a month.   If we have a snap election now, we need to explain it to the public, including how we will cope with the threat from North Korea,  Koichi Hagiuda, a senior LDP executive, told NHK.  Given that there is no need for a general election until late 2018, a snap poll could prompt criticism of Abe for creating a political vacuum at a time of rising tensions over regional security. However, an early vote would not only take advantage of Democratic Party disarray but could also dilute a challenge from an embryonic party that allies of popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, an ex-LDP lawmaker, are trying to form.  Abe s coalition would be likely to lose its two-thirds  super majority  in the lower house but keep a simple majority, political sources have said. Loss of the two-thirds grip could dim prospects of Abe achieving his goal of revising Japan s pacifist constitution to clarify the military s role, though members of a new conservative party linked to Koike might back the change. Any constitutional amendment requires approval by two thirds of both chambers and a majority in a public referendum. That risk could make Abe hesitate.  I am skeptical about the consensus that Abe will call a snap election because doing so poses a risk, albeit small, to his agenda of constitutional revision,  said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan.

Summary: जापान के प्रधानमंत्री आबे अक्टूबर में जल्द से जल्द चुनाव कराने पर विचार कर रहे हैंः सूत्र


ZURICH (Reuters) - Neutral Switzerland s embassies in Riyadh and Tehran have signed agreements to represent Iranian interests in Saudi Arabia and Saudi interests in Iran, the Swiss government said on Wednesday. After the Middle Eastern rivals severed relations at the beginning of January 2016, both countries agreed to Switzerland s offer of its traditional policy of good offices to  undertake a protecting power mandate on both sides , Switzerland said. The Swiss government gave its approval to the arrangement at a meeting on Wednesday, with the mandate covering consular services for both nations.  Switzerland has a long history of representing foreign interests whereby it covers partial consular services and sometimes diplomatic tasks for countries that have broken off relations, if requested by the states in question,  the government said.

Summary: प्रतिद्वंद्वियों द्वारा संबंध तोड़ने के बाद ईरान, सऊदी हितों का प्रतिनिधित्व करेगा स्विस


MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish government said on Saturday it would welcome the participation of sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in regional elections to be held in December. Government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told Reuters TV in an interview that if Puigdemont wanted to continue in politics,  which is his right, I think he should prepare for next elections . Puigdemont had earlier on Saturday called for a democratic opposition to Madrid s takeover of the region following its declaration of independence.  I m quite sure that if Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise this democratic opposition . After dissolving the regional parliament and sacking the regional government on Friday, Spain s Prime Minister Rajoy said a new regional election would be held in Catalonia on Dec. 21. Mendez de Vigo also said he was confident that the regional Catalan police would obey the law after the government had sacked regional officers. He said that if Puigdemont refused to abandon his office, the government would react with  intelligence and with common sense . Asked what would happen if Puigdemont had to face prosecution in the courts, Mendez replied that in Spain judicial and political powers were separate and that  no one is above the law.  He did not commit himself further.

Summary: मैड्रिड ने पुइग्डेमोंट से कैटलन चुनावों में भाग लेने का आह्वान किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) over its Mexican-built cars, but the biggest risk from a punitive tariff would be for its compatriot Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), the largest automaker operating in the country. Trump has criticized U.S. companies like General Motors (G.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) which manufacture abroad, accusing them of costing U.S. jobs. On Thursday he took on Toyota, warning the world’s largest automaker that it would face a “big border tax” if it exported Mexico-built cars to the U.S. market. But it is Nissan, Japan’s second-largest automaker, which would be the bigger victim of any tax punishment. Nissan built its first overseas plant in Mexico in 50 years ago and now produces more than 800,000 cars there, mainly its entry-level Versa and Sentra sedans. Nissan’s production dwarfs that of Toyota, Honda Motor Co (7267.T) and Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) in Mexico. It exports roughly half of its output to the United States, where it also has production plants.  Vehicles made in Mexico comprise roughly one-quarter of Nissan’s total U.S. vehicle sales, industry experts say, compared with around 30 percent for smaller rival Mazda, but less than 10 percent for Toyota and Honda.   Japanese automakers together produced around 1.4 million vehicles in Mexico in the year ended March, nearly 40 percent of the country’s total output. According to the Japan External Trade Organization, they plan to ramp up production to 1.9 million by 2019. Current production in Mexico is dwarfed by the number of cars they produce in the United States, their single largest market, where Japan’s top three automakers alone produced around 4 million vehicles in 2015.  Trump has said he plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on cars exported to the United States from Mexico. According to JP Morgan estimates, an increase in tariffs on cars exported from Mexico to the United States to even 10 percent would hit Nissan’s consolidated operating earnings by 10.3 percent, more than 5.5 percent at Mazda. Toyota would see a hit of 0.7 percent, while Honda 2.2 percent. All four Japanese automakers building cars in Mexico said they have no immediate plans to change operations. But Nissan  and Renault SA (RENA.PA) CEO Carlos Ghosn told Reuters he was watching the incoming Trump administration closely and would respond to whatever policies it adopts. “I don’t want to preempt or try to guess what’s going to happen,” Ghosn said in an interview on Thursday, on the sidelines of the CES technology show in Las Vegas, Nevada. “It’s not a question that we are afraid or not afraid, we’re dealing with 160 markets in the world, different powers, different policies, different approaches, so we are used to adapting our strategy to different policies,” he said. One Asian auto executive told Reuters his company long ago made a strategic decision to make Mexico a production hub in North America, and that it is tough to alter its strategy overnight. “We can’t turn back the clock on these decisions,” said the executive, who did not have clearance to speak to media and so declined to be identified. “What we need to explain more clearly (to Trump) is that most automakers are not cutting production capacity or jobs in the United States to make Mexico an additional production hub.” Still, analysts said automakers would likely think twice about expanding production in the country in the coming years. “As long as this administration is in place I suspect (Nissan is) not going consider any additional capacity there,” CLSA analyst Chris Richter said. Trump’s criticisms come just as Japanese automakers are shuffling their production portfolios to boost supply of  popular, higher-margin sport utility vehicles (SUV) and trucks for the U.S. market. Honda last year announced it would expand its U.S. production capacity to build more of its CR-V SUV, while shifting production from Mexico. Toyota has said that its Guanajuato plant under construction in Mexico will produce the entry level Corolla sedan, a vehicle segment currently produced at its plants in Mississippi and Ontario, Canada. Demand for the cars has slumped in recent years as cheap gasoline prices has prompted drivers to buy more SUVs.  “We’re always considering ways to increase production in the United States, regardless of the political situation,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda told reporters on Thursday.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने मेक्सिको पर टोयोटा को निशाना बनाया, निसान को बड़ा खतरा


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s Tayyip Erdogan and France s Emmanuel Macron will work together to try to persuade the United States to reconsider its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a Turkish presidential source said on Saturday. The two leaders agreed during a phone call that the move is worrisome for the region, the source said, adding that Turkey and France would make a joint effort to try to reverse the U.S. decision. Erdogan also spoke on the phone to the presidents of Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Azerbaijan on Saturday regarding the issue, the source said. On Wednesday, he called an urgent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Turkey next week. President Donald Trump s announcement on Wednesday has upset U.S. allies in the West. At the United Nations, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Sweden called on the United States to  bring forward detailed proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement . Palestinians took to the streets following the U.S. decision. Demonstrations also took place in Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Somalia, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia, and outside the U.S. embassy in Berlin. The status of Jerusalem has been one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians for generations. France has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause. In 2014, the French National Assembly passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to recognize Palestine, but the government has not officially done so.  Paris has pointed out in the past its conviction that a two-state solution requires the recognition of Palestine.

Summary: एर्दोगन और मैक्रॉन ने अमेरिका से जेरूसलम के फैसले से पीछे हटने का आग्रह कियाः सूत्र


PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech ANO party leader Andrej Babis said on Tuesday he expected his minority cabinet to take power on Dec. 13 which would enable him to attend a European Union summit as prime minister. After meeting President Milos Zeman, Babis said he had not yet secured backing for his cabinet in the lower house of parliament, where ANO has 78 out of 200 seats and other parties have so far rejected joining or backing Babis s administration. Lacking any direct left-right ideology, Babis won the October election on pledges to cut corruption among mainstream parties, fight immigration and make government more efficient and pro-business.   I convinced Mr President for an earlier date for appointing the cabinet, on Dec.13, because on Dec. 14 and 15 the European Council will take place which will obviously be very important,  Babis told reporters. The progress of negotiations with Great Britain over its departure from the EU will be the main topic of the summit.  Babis said Zeman would appoint him on Dec. 6 as prime minister, and his full cabinet on Dec. 13, from which date the new team will take power regardless whether it has parliamentary majority.  The main sticking point for Babis, a businessman ranked by Forbes as the second richest Czech worth $4 billion, is that police want parliament to lift his immunity so he can be charged with illegal tapping of an EU subsidy a decade ago.  He denies any wrongdoing but the case has made him toxic for most of the other eight parliamentary factions. A parliamentary vote on his immunity is expected in the coming weeks. Lack of mainstream partners has raised the prospect Babis may negotiate support with the anti-NATO, pro-Russian Communist party and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), which wants to quit the EU, NATO and fight what it calls EU-forced islamisation. Babis has repeatedly said he is ready to clash with EU partners over migration but also praised the EU s role as guarantor of peaceful Europe and said he was a pro-European politician.  If the government loses a confidence vote prescribed within a month of its appointment, it must resign but it will stay in office until another solution is found, which can take months.

Summary: चेक चुनाव विजेता बाबिस का कहना है कि उनका मंत्रिमंडल दिसंबर यूरोपीय संघ शिखर सम्मेलन से पहले सत्ता संभाल लेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget office scheduled a call with U.S government agencies on Friday to plan for a government shutdown in case the U.S. Congress fails to pass a short-term funding bill by a deadline next week. “It is our hope that this work will ultimately be unnecessary and that there will be no lapse in appropriations,” a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a statement. The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and Congress must pass a spending measure by then to keep the government open.  In recent years, lawmakers have seldom agreed on a full federal budget and instead have relied on stop-gap measures. On Thursday, Republicans produced a bill which Democrats immediately rejected. The Senate is expected to hold an initial procedural vote on the legislation on Tuesday, according to a senior Republican aide.  The White House was pleased that bill includes funding to fight the Zika virus, but has concerns about other provisions, spokesman Josh Earnest said, noting that it was “too soon to panic” about the bill. “I think it is unclear at best right now whether or not this particular piece of legislation will pass both houses of Congress and make its way to the president’s desk. Even if it were, it’s also unclear at best right now if the president would sign it,” Earnest told reporters. The OMB said there was enough time for Congress to pass a short-term funding bill, but “prudent management requires that the government plan for the possibility of a lapse.” Republicans and Democrats annually fight about spending bills but normally reach a deal to avert a shutdown, particularly during election years. In 2013, the two sides failed to agree, and the government stopped operations for 16 days.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस, सरकारी एजेंसियों ने संभावित बंद पर चर्चा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris said she is not interested in being nominated for the vacancy on the Supreme Court, the San Jose Mercury News reported on Tuesday. “I do not wish to be considered. I am running for the United States Senate,” said Harris, who is running to replaced retiring Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in California.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के अटॉर्नी जनरल हैरिस ने कहा कि उन्हें सुप्रीम कोर्ट की नौकरी में कोई दिलचस्पी नहीं हैः रिपोर्ट


CAIRO (Reuters) - Militant gunmen who killed more than 300 people in an attack on a mosque in Egypt s North Sinai on Friday were carrying an Islamic State flag and were between 25 to 30 in number, the public prosecutor s office said in a statement on Saturday. The gunmen, some wearing masks and military-style uniforms, surrounded the mosque blocking windows and a doorway and opened fire inside with automatic rifles, the statement citing their investigation and interviews with wounded survivors.  They numbered between 25 and 30, carrying the Daesh flag and took up positions in front of the mosque door and its 12 windows with automatic rifles,  the statement said using an Arabic term for Islamic State.

Summary: मिस्र की मस्जिद में आतंकवादी बंदूकधारियों ने 'इस्लामिक स्टेट' का झंडा फहरायाः अभियोजक


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday to update him on events after her efforts to form a three-way coalition government failed, her spokesman said.  The acting chancellor will meet the president at noon today to inform him about how things stand,  spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference. Steinmeier would make a statement to media at 2.30 p.m. (1330 GMT), his office said.

Summary: मर्केल जर्मन राष्ट्रपति से मिलेंगी, जो तब बयान देंगे


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces breached on Tuesday the city limits of Tal Afar, an Islamic State stronghold west of Mosul, military authorities said. Army and counter terrorism units broke into the city from the eastern and southern sides, according to statements from the Iraqi joint operations command.  Security forces launched an offensive to take back the city on Sunday, their latest objective in a U.S.-backed campaign to defeat the Sunni Muslim jihadists, who remain in control of territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria.

Summary: इराकी बलों ने इस्लामिक स्टेट के गढ़ ताल अफार में घुसपैठ कीः बयान


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump agreed on Tuesday that they should work to build relationships through the U.S. transition and meet at the earliest opportunity. Britain has long cherished its “special relationship” with the United States as a central pillar of its foreign policy, but speculation has been widespread in London about how ties would evolve under Trump after a series of perceived snubs from him. “The Prime Minister called the U.S. President-elect this afternoon as part of establishing a regular dialogue between both of them,” May’s Downing Street office said in a statement. “They discussed how the President-elect’s transition plans were progressing and agreed that their teams should continue to build close relationships through this period, including with a meeting of their National Security Advisers in the United States before Christmas,” it said. Trump caused astonishment in London last week when he suggested that Nigel Farage of the opposition UKIP party, a firebrand of the Brexit cause and vitriolic critic of the ruling Conservatives, should be Britain’s ambassador to Washington. The government responded that there was no vacancy, but the suggestion, an unprecedented breach of diplomatic protocol, was embarrassing for Downing Street. Following his election, Trump spoke to nine other world leaders before he spoke to May, which also raised eyebrows in London. In Tuesday’s call, the two leaders also discussed NATO, agreeing on its importance and on the need for more members of the alliance to meet the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.  Britain already meets that commitment, but Trump has repeatedly complained about others falling short, raising concerns in other NATO countries about his intentions toward the organization.

Summary: कथित अस्वीकृति के बाद, ब्रिटेन की मे ने संबंधों को मजबूत करने के लिए ट्रम्प को बुलाया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s president Vladimir Putin is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on his visit to Ankara on Thursday, Kremlin said in a statement on Monday after the presidents spoke by phone. They also discussed the cooperation of Russia and Turkey in Syria, according to the statement.

Summary: पुतिन 28 सितंबर को अंकारा में एर्दोगन से मिलेंगेः क्रेमलिन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday asked the FBI to provide memos related to former FBI Director James Comey’s dealings with his superiors in the Trump and Obama administrations.  It also asked the White House to provide records of interactions with Comey, including those “relating to the FBI’s investigation of alleged ties between President Trump’s associates and Russia, or the Clinton email investigation, including all audio recordings, transcripts, notes, summaries, or memoranda,” according to a statement.

Summary: सीनेट न्यायपालिका समिति ने कोमी से ज्ञापन, संभावित ट्रम्प टेप की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.  U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that as the 2016 presidential campaign progressed, Russian government officials devoted increasing attention to assisting Trump’s effort to win the election, the U.S. official familiar with the finding told Reuters on Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity. The president-elect’s transition office released a statement that exaggerated his margin of victory and attacked the U.S. intelligence community that Trump will soon command, but did not address the analysts’ conclusion. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’” Democrats and some Republicans in Congress are calling for a full investigation into Russia’s election year activities. “Protecting the integrity of our elections is hindered when President-elect Trump and his transition team minimize or dismiss the intelligence assessments themselves,” Representative Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said in a statement issued on Saturday.     Citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter, the Washington Post reported on Friday that intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Friday. Obama’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters the report’s results would be shared with lawmakers and others. “The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process ... and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress,” she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. As summer turned to fall, Russian hackers turned almost all their attention to the Democrats. Virtually all the emails they released publicly were potentially damaging to Clinton and the Democrats, not Republicans, the official told Reuters. “That was a major clue to their intent,” the official said. “If all they wanted to do was discredit our political system, why publicize the failings of just one party, especially when you have a target like Trump?” A second official familiar with the report said the intelligence analysts’ conclusion about Russia’s motives does not mean the intelligence community believes that Moscow’s efforts altered or significantly affected the outcome of the election. Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election. A Central Intelligence Agency spokeswoman said the agency had no comment on the matter. The hacked emails passed to WikiLeaks were a regular source of embarrassment to the Clinton campaign during the race for the presidency. U.S. intelligence analysts have assessed “with high confidence” that at some point in the extended presidential campaign Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government had decided to try to bolster Trump’s chances of winning. The Russians appear to have concluded that Trump had a shot at winning and that he would be much friendlier to Russia than Clinton would be, especially on issues such as maintaining economic sanctions and imposing additional ones, the official said.  Moscow is launching a similar effort to influence the next German election, following an escalating campaign to promote far-right and nationalist political parties and individuals in Europe that began more than a decade ago, the official said. In both cases, said the official, Putin’s campaigns in both Europe and the United States are intended to disrupt and discredit the Western concept of democracy by promoting extremist candidates, parties, and political figures. In October, the U.S. government publicly accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama has said he warned Putin about consequences for the attacks.  “I don’t believe they interfered,” Trump told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. “That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, ‘Oh, Russia interfered.’”

Summary: रूस ने ट्रम्प को चुनाव जीतने में मदद करने के लिए हस्तक्षेप कियाः खुफिया अधिकारी


RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature on Wednesday rejected a bid to repeal a state law restricting bathroom access for transgender people, which has drawn months of protests and boycotts by opponents decrying the measure as discriminatory. A one-day special legislative session ended abruptly after the state Senate voted against abolishing a law that has made North Carolina the latest U.S. battleground over lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. The repeal legislation was rejected 32-16, leaving the bathroom restrictions in place statewide. The rejection followed Republican-led political maneuvering that tied repeal to a second provision that would have temporarily banned cities from affirming transgender bathroom rights. Democratic Senator Jeff Jackson said the repeal effort failed because Republicans reneged on their deal to bring the measure to a floor vote with no strings attached. The moratorium on municipal bathroom regulations, described by Jackson as a “poison pill,” withered Democratic support, and in the end all 16 Senate Democrats joined 16 Republicans in voting against repeal. Another 16 Republicans voted for it. The Senate then adjourned without acting on the temporary municipal ban. The state’s House of Representatives had already called it quits. Democratic Governor-elect Roy Cooper accused Republican leaders of back-peddling on an agreement ironed out in lengthy negotiations. He said both chambers had the votes for a full repeal, but divisions within the Republican Party killed it. “The Republican legislative leaders have broken their word to me, and they have broken their trust with the people of North Carolina,” he said. Senate Republican leader Phil Berger earlier defended the proposal to link repeal with temporary municipal restrictions as a genuine attempt at compromise, citing “the passion and disagreement surrounding this issue.” After the vote, outgoing Republican Governor Pat McCrory blamed “well-funded left-wing interest groups” that he said “sabotaged bipartisan good faith agreements for political purposes.” Earlier in the week, McCrory had called the special session to consider scrapping the law, which passed in March and made North Carolina the first state to bar transgender people from using public restrooms that match their gender identity. Supporters of the statute, known as House Bill 2 (HB 2), have cited traditional values and a need for public safety, while opponents called it mean-spirited, unnecessary and a violation of civil liberties. The national backlash was swift and fierce, leading to boycotts that have been blamed for millions of dollars in economic losses for the state as events, such as business conferences and the National Basketball Association’s 2017 All-Star Game, were moved out of North Carolina. The pushback contributed to McCrory’s razor-thin defeat in a fall re-election bid against Cooper, an opponent of the law.  HB 2 was enacted largely in response to a local measure in Charlotte that protected the rights of transgender people to use public bathrooms of their choice. The Charlotte City Council on Monday repealed its ordinance as a prelude to the state repealing HB 2. Civil liberties and LGBT rights groups condemned the outcome, accusing the legislature of breaking its promise to do away with HB 2. “It is a shame that North Carolina’s General Assembly is refusing to clean up the mess they made,” said James Esseks, an American Civil Liberties Union executive.  The North Carolina Values Coalition hailed the legislature for upholding the law and refusing to give in to “demands of greedy businesses, immoral sports organizations or angry mobs.”

Summary: उत्तरी कैरोलिना ने ट्रांसजेंडर बाथरूम कानून को निरस्त करने से इनकार किया


OSLO (Reuters) - Norway s Liberal Party will launch formal negotiations to join the right-wing cabinet of Prime Minister Erna Solberg, it said on Saturday, although the government would still be ruling in a minority even if the small centrist group is included. Informal talks have taken place since the government won re-election in September, and bringing in the Liberals could give a boost to policies favoring small businesses, the environment and education.  We are going to give ourselves a chance ... to find a common platform we can agree on,  Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande told a meeting of her party in parliament on Saturday, adding it would be a  challenging and difficult  process. Adding the Liberals to the coalition of the Conservatives and the anti-immigration Progress Party could make day-to-day governing easier for Solberg, although she would still require backing from another small party, the Christian Democrats. The prime minister has sought to include both of the small centrist groups, but the Christian Democrats, which back Solberg on fiscal matters, have rejected the offer.

Summary: नॉर्वे की लिबरल पार्टी सरकार में शामिल होना चाहती है


GENEVA (Reuters) - An independent U.N. human rights investigator said on Wednesday that he had information about an inmate being tortured at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention facility, despite Washington banning  enhanced interrogation techniques  almost 10 years ago. The U.S. Department of Defense denied the allegation, saying there was no credible evidence to support it. Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said he had information that Ammar al-Baluchi - accused of being a co-conspirator in the 9/11 attacks on the United States - was being subjected to treatment that is banned under international law.   His torture and ill-treatment are reported to continue,  a statement from the U.N. human rights office said, without giving details of the source of Melzer s information.   In addition to the long-term effects of past torture, noise and vibrations are reportedly still being used against him, resulting in constant sleep deprivation and related physical and mental disorders, for which he allegedly does not receive adequate medical attention,  it said. Major Ben Sakrisson, a Pentagon spokesman, said the allegation was not true.  These claims have been investigated on multiple occasions in the past and no credible evidence has been found to substantiate his claims,  he said. The prison, which was opened by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. His successor Barack Obama ended the use of  enhanced interrogation techniques  via executive order in January 2009, and reduced the inmate population to 41, but fell short of fulfilling his promise to close the jail. President Donald Trump asked Congress earlier this year for funds to upgrade the jail, having said during his electoral campaign that he wanted to  load it up with some bad dudes . Citing a 2014 Senate investigation, the U.N. statement said al-Baluchi was said to have suffered relentless torture for three-and-a-half years in CIA  black sites  before being moved to Guantanamo, where he had been in a severely restricted-access facility at Guantanamo Bay for more than a decade. Al-Baluchi, a Kuwaiti-born Pakistani citizen also known as Abdul Aziz Ali, is the nephew and alleged co-conspirator of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.   Melzer said the ban on torture and ill-treatment was one of the most fundamental norms of international law and could not be justified in any circumstances, and called for prosecution of U.S. officials who had carried out torture.  By failing to prosecute the crime of torture in CIA custody, the U.S. is in clear violation of the Convention against Torture and is sending a dangerous message of complacency and impunity to officials in the U.S. and around the world,  Melzer said in the statement. He said he had renewed a long-standing request to visit Guantanamo Bay to interview inmates, but he and his predecessors in the role had consistently been denied access.  A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said that the U.S. constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and requires humane conditions of confinement, including that of solitary confinement.  We support the work of the U.N. special rapporteurs and the United States has a long history of engaging constructively on matters within mandates of the special rapporteurs,  he said.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र विशेषज्ञ का कहना है कि ग्वांतानामो खाड़ी में यातना जारी है; अमेरिका ने इनकार किया


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Nearly 20 percent of high school and university students in Indonesia support the establishment of a caliphate in the world s largest Muslim-majority country over the current secular government, a new survey showed this week. Indonesia has in recent years seen its long-standing reputation for religious tolerance come under scrutiny as hardline Islamic groups muscle their way into public and political life in the young democracy.     The vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam and the country has sizeable minorities of Hindus, Christians, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs. Religious diversity is enshrined in its constitution.      The survey by a Jakarta-based organization polled over 4,200 Muslim students, mostly in top schools and universities on Java island, home to over half the country s population. Nearly one in four students said they were, to varying degrees, ready to wage jihad to achieve a caliphate.  This indicates that intolerant teachings have already entered top universities and high schools,  pollster Alvara, which carried out the survey, said in its report released Tuesday.  The government and moderate Islamic organizations must start taking tangible steps to anticipate this and be present in student circles with language that is easy for them to understand,  the report added. A presidential spokesman declined to comment on the findings.     Hardline Islamic groups late last year led mass street rallies against Jakarta s former governor, a Christian, whom they believed had insulted Islam. They eventually succeeded in derailing Basuki Tjahaja Purnama s re-election bid in April this year, and he was subsequently jailed for blasphemy. The ruling was criticized globally as unjust.  Groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) call for sharia law to be imposed on the country and believe its leaders should only be Muslim. The survey showed that the vast majority of students disagree with the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and violence.      But authorities have repeatedly warned against the creeping influence of radical Islamic thought among student organizations and in campus activities. President Joko Widodo and his government are trying to contain the rising influence of hairline groups, especially in universities and Islamic boarding schools. A presidential decree banning any civil organizations deemed to go against the country s secular state ideology was approved by parliament last month. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a largely peaceful organization that calls for the establishment of a caliphate in Indonesia, was the first group to be disbanded under the decree.   President Widodo has made several speeches at Islamic boarding schools around the country emphasizing Indonesia s diversity and the importance of national unity. In September, Widodo called at a conference of around 3,000 university rectors  for the promotion of the country s secular ideology,  Pancasila , in education.

Summary: इंडोनेशियाई छात्रों में से पांच में से एक इस्लामी खलीफा का समर्थन करता हैः सर्वेक्षण


TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, is conducting drills with a Japanese warship in waters around Okinawa southwest of the Korean peninsula, Japan s military said on Wednesday. The exercise comes amid heightened tension with North Korea as the U.S. holds air drills in the region with B1-B bombers flown from Guam.  The exercise with the Reagan strike group, which began on Saturday, involves vessels sailing from the Bashi Channel, which separates the Philippines and Taiwan, to seas around Japan s southwest island nearer to North Korea, Japan s Maritime Self Defense Force said in a statement. One Japanese destroyer, the Shimkaze, is accompanying the 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships, the JMSDF said.

Summary: कोरियाई प्रायद्वीप के दक्षिण-पश्चिम में ओकिनावा के आसपास जापानी नौसेना के साथ अमेरिकी वाहक अभ्यास


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore should end harassment of peaceful activists, Human Rights Watch has said, after participants at a candlelight vigil for a man being executed for drug trafficking were stopped from leaving the country. On July 13, around a dozen people, including opponents of the death penalty and relatives Prabagaran Srivijayan, 22, attended the vigil outside Changi Prison in support of the man, who was to be hanged early the next morning. The man, who was executed on July 14, was convicted of trafficking 22.4 grams of heroin into Singapore.  During the vigil, participants said they were approached by police and told that a police report had been filed and that they were to remove the candles.  The police removed the candles and photographs of Prabagaran but the participants say they were not asked to disperse. A police statement on Saturday said 17 people were under investigation relating to whether they had been involved in an illegal assembly. Assemblies and processions for a cause in public places without a permit is a criminal offense in Singapore. Anyone convicted of organizing such an assembly faces penalties of up to S$10,000 ($7,440) in fines and up to six months in jail. The Singapore government has said that the law is required to provide for the individual s rights for political expression without compromising on  order and safety . Among those at the vigil were a journalist, who is an activist against capital punishment, an editor of independent online blog  Online Citizen  and a filmmaker whose most recent work focused on the detention in 1987 of political activists under Singapore s Internal Security Act. The three said in social media postings that they had been prevented from leaving the country, and had been told that they were required to stay in Singapore to assist police with an investigation. Human Rights Watch said the government should respect the right of free speech and assembly.  The government should end its harassment of activists campaigning against capital punishment and respect their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,  the group said in a release on Thursday. None of the three had been arrested or charged, Kirsten Han, the activist and journalist, told Reuters.

Summary: सिंगापुर ने मृत्युदंड विरोधी कार्यकर्ताओं के 'उत्पीड़न' की निंदा की


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s foreign ministry on Wednesday said that China fully and strictly implements U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea and will investigate if there are activities that contravene resolutions. China upholds resolving the North Korean nuclear issue via talks, ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying added, speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing.  U.S. President Donald Trump will ask China to cut its financial links with North Korea and to abide by U.N. sanctions when meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, a senior White House official said on Wednesday. Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon from South Korea for a two-night stop in the Chinese capital as part of his marathon Asia tour.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि अगर उत्तर कोरिया पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रस्तावों का उल्लंघन हुआ तो वह इसकी जांच करेगा


BATON ROUGE, La (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday pledged to stop companies from abusing the visa process for foreign workers in a way that undermines the labor market for Americans. Speaking at a rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Trump said he had spent time during the presidential campaign with workers who were laid off but forced to train foreign hires brought in to replace them. “That’s actually demeaning,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let that happen any more.” Without naming companies, he said firms would withhold severance pay from the workers unless they trained their foreign replacements.     “One of my first executive orders will be to ask the Department of Labor to investigate all visa abuses that undermine jobs and wages to the American worker,” he said.

Summary: अमेरिकी कर्मचारियों को कमजोर करने वाले वीजा दुरुपयोग को रोकने के लिए ट्रम्प कहते हैं


PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama is on track to hit a record level of illegal narcotics seizures this year after authorities over the weekend seized about 2 tonnes of cocaine near the Central American country s border with Colombia, officials said on Monday. The total drug confiscations in full-year 2017 are expected to surpass the previous annual record of 72 tonnes confiscated last year, Security Minister Alexis Bethancourt told reporters, adding that the uptick is due to better coordination among local law enforcement agencies as well as help from  friendly countries.  The weekend drug bust was made in the border province of Darien on a boat from Colombia, the national border agency SENAFRONT said at a press conference. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has previously complained that a peace deal between the Colombian government and the Marxist FARC rebel group has led to a spike in drug trafficking and violence in Panama.

Summary: पनामा में 2017 में अवैध रूप से नशीली दवाओं की बरामदगी रिकॉर्ड स्तर पर पहुंचीः अधिकारी


SEATTLE (Reuters) - Seattle’s city council unanimously passed a pioneering income tax on the city’s highest earners on Monday, a measure that has become a clarion call for Democrats there even though it is likely to face a swift legal challenge over violating state law. The measure created a 2.25 percent tax rate on individuals earning above $250,000 and married couples jointly earning above $500,000. The tax will add roughly $140 million in new annual revenue and affect fewer than 20,000 residents in the city of more than 660,000, supporters say. The proposal has become a rallying cry for Democrats and activists in the liberal-leaning city who used local opposition to Republican President Donald Trump to advance long sought-after local policies. Washington is one of seven U.S. states without a tax on personal income, and no city in the state has an income tax. Supporters of the Seattle proposal, including Mayor Ed Murray, say the current tax code unfairly burdens poor and middle class residents because it relies on “regressive” taxes, such as taxes on property and sales transactions. Proponents say new revenue is needed to offset any potential drop in federal funding under the Trump administration. “Our goal is to replace our regressive tax system with a new formula for fairness, while ensuring Seattle stands up to President Trump’s austere budget that cuts transportation, affordable housing, healthcare, and social services,” Murray said by e-mail after the city council’s 9-0 vote. Earlier on Monday, Murray told a cheering crowd at a rally outside city hall he would sign the measure into law on Friday and welcomed a legal challenge. The campaign for the new tax on Seattle’s richest was launched earlier this year by Trump Proof Seattle, a coalition of community activists and residents. Proceeds from the tax could be used to pay for transit services and affordable housing, Murray said. The city has been grappling with soaring housing prices in recent years, fueled in part by the growth of online retailer Amazon.com, which is headquartered in downtown Seattle. Voters in Olympia, the state capital, rejected a similar tax on its highest earners last year. In 2010, Washington state voters rejected a state income tax at the ballot box. Jason Mercier, a director at the conservative Washington Policy Center, said Seattle’s tax conflicts with state law and court decisions. He said he expects the city to face a swift legal challenge after Murray signs the measure into law. “There’s something fundamentally wrong with elected officials passing a tax they know is against state law and the constitution with the hope of being sued and having a judge overturn prior decisions,” Mercier said.  State law blocks a county or city from levying a tax on “net” income, although net income is not defined in the statute. The Washington state Supreme Court has found that income is treated as property under the constitution and therefore has to be taxed uniformly and at no more than 1 percent of its value, Mercier said.

Summary: सिएटल के सांसदों ने सबसे अधिक कमाई करने वालों पर कर लगाया; मेयर मुकदमा चलाने के लिए उत्सुक


DHAKA (Reuters) - Several small opposition parties in Bangladesh have called for a half-day strike on Thursday against a power tariff increase, which could cause traffic chaos in the congested capital as Pope Francis arrives for a three-day visit. The strike will begin on Thursday morning and end in the early afternoon, after the pope is expected to land in Dhaka following a visit to neighboring Myanmar. Strikes in Bangladesh often involve street protests. The Communist Party of Bangladesh, which is leading the protest against the increase in electricity prices by an average of 5.3 percent from next month, said it had no intention of disrupting the pope s visit but the action was necessary given the  burden  on the people. But police said there would be no problem.  We will be able to control the situation during the strike and there is nothing to worry about,  said police spokeswoman Sahely Ferdous. Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with an average traffic speed of just 7 kph (4.3 mph), slightly faster than an average walking speed, according to the World Bank. Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million working hours per day, it says. (bit.ly/2zkYr6l) Pope Francis  visit will include a mass and meetings with a group of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar.  More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh following violence in Myanmar since late August. [nL8N1NS2HN]

Summary: पोप के आगमन के दिन बिजली की कीमतों में वृद्धि को लेकर बांग्लादेश में हड़ताल का आह्वान


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of the European Parliament s biggest group, the center-right European People s Party, said British Prime Minister Theresa May s speech on Brexit on Thursday did not clarify London s position and had left him more concerned than before.  In substance PM May is bringing no more clarity to London s positions. I am even more concerned now,  Manfred Weber said on Twitter. Prime Minister Theresa May called on Friday for Britain to stay in the European Union s single market during a roughly two-year transition out of the EU as she appealed for a revival of Brexit negotiations.

Summary: मई के ब्रेक्सिट भाषण के बाद 'और भी अधिक चिंतित': यूरोपीय संघ के वरिष्ठ सांसद


UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday targeting the U.S. mainland with its rockets was inevitable after  Mr. Evil President  Donald Trump called Pyongyang s leader  rocket man , further escalating rhetoric over the North s nuclear weapons and missile programs. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho s remarks to the United Nations General Assembly came hours after U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea in a show of force the Pentagon said showed the range of military options available to Trump. Ri s speech capped a week of rising tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, with Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un trading insults. Trump called Kim a  madman  on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a  mentally deranged U.S. dotard.  On Saturday, the mudslinging continued with Ri calling Trump  a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency  who is trying to turn the United Nations into a  gangsters  nest . Ri said Trump himself was on a  suicide mission  after the U.S. president had said Kim was on such a mission.  President Evil  is holding the seat of the U.S. President,  Ri said, warning that Pyongyang was ready to defend itself if the United States showed any sign of conducting a  decapitating operation on our headquarters or military attack against our country .  Now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force,  Ri told the annual gathering of world leaders. He said sanctions would have no effect on Pyongyang s resolve to develop its nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal being  balance of power with the U.S.  Trump announced new U.S. sanctions on Thursday that he said allow targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea.  Earlier this month the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth round of sanctions on Pyongyang to counter its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs. The U.S. bombers  flight was the farthest north of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea that any U.S. fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.  This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat,  said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White.  We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies.  North Korea has launched dozens of missiles this year, several flying over Japan, as it accelerates its program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. Ri met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after delivering his speech. Guterres expressed concern to Ri over the escalating tensions and appealed for de-escalation, the United Nations said in a statement. The Pentagon said the B-1B bombers came from Guam and their U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts came from Okinawa, Japan. Previous shows of force with bombers have stayed south of the demilitarized zone. The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Korea s nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its last one. China s Earthquake Administration said the quake was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural tremor. The CTBTO, or Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors nuclear tests, and officials of the South Korean meteorological agency also said they believed it was a natural quake. The earthquake, which South Korea s Meteorological Agency  put at magnitude 3.0, was detected 49 km from Kilju in North Hamgyong Province, where North Korea s known Punggye-ri nuclear site is located, the official said. All North Korea s nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above. The last registered as a magnitude 6.3. Tensions have continued to rise around the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang carried out its sixth test, prompting a new round of U.N. sanctions. Trump told the United Nations on Tuesday the United States would  totally destroy  North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies. North Korea s nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the first since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons program. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty. The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies. (For graphic on Nuclear North Korea, click tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF)  (For graphic on a tally of nuclear tests, click tmsnrt.rs/2xWf6jA)

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया का कहना है कि अमेरिका के लिए रॉकेट 'अपरिहार्य' हैं क्योंकि अमेरिकी बमवर्षक उत्तर कोरियाई तट से उड़ते हैं


DUBAI (Reuters) - A purge of Saudi Arabia s political and business elites briefly dragged down the kingdom s stock market on Sunday but prices recovered to close higher as some investors bet the crackdown could bolster reforms in the long run. The size of the purge - 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers were detained by a newly created anti-corruption committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - raised questions about the stability and predictability of the Saudi government. For foreigners, a major shock was the detention of flamboyant billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who as a big investor in top Western companies such as Citigroup (C.N) is known as the international face of Saudi business. Local investors, meanwhile, worried about whether a sustained investigation into corruption could turn up scandals in the kingdom s opaque business world, forcing people implicated to sell off their equity holdings. But many bankers and analysts saw the purge, which replaced the head of the National Guard, as a power grab by Prince Mohammed, designed to remove any remaining obstacles to his authority and assure his eventual succession to the throne.  This, they said, could help the economy by making it easier for Prince Mohammed to pursue radical reforms that include slashing the state budget deficit, putting more women into employment, lifting a ban on women driving, and selling $300 billion of state assets.  This is the latest act of concentration of power in Saudi,  said Hasnain Malik, global head of equity research at emerging markets investment bank Exotix.  As unprecedented and controversial as it may be, this centralization might also be a necessary condition for pushing the austerity and transformation agenda, the benefits of which very few investors are pricing in.  After initially tumbling as much as 2.2 percent on Sunday, the Saudi stock index .TASI rebounded to close slightly higher. Shares related to some of the detained people, such as Prince Alwaleed s Kingdom Holding 4280.SE, sank but most banks rose, a sign of economic optimism. The purge may increase Prince Mohammed s grassroots support by tackling corruption, a problem that has long plagued the economy.  It s a populist move that makes sense because a lot of the princes, businessmen and bureaucrats are corrupt, taking kickbacks and being involved in all kinds of shady deals,  said Bernard Haykel, professor of Near East studies at Princeton University. A danger for financial markets, however, is that Prince Mohammed is shaking up business practices and ties that have lasted for decades, a move which could backfire if it triggers an exodus of money and wealthy individuals from the country.  The fact that some of the country s leading business people were arrested will scare the private sector and there might be even more capital flight than before. And most bureaucrats will now be terrified, perhaps justifiably,  Haykel said. Many corporate executives expect Prince Mohammed to persuade or pressure rich Saudis to repatriate some of the billions of dollars which they are believed to have transferred overseas for safe-keeping, and which could now help to kick-start the development projects that he plans.  The corruption crackdown may be an initial step in this effort; the decree creating the committee gave it the right, pending the result of investigations, to seize assets at home or abroad and transfer them to the state Treasury. James Dorsey, senior fellow at Singapore s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, wrote that Prince Mohammed appeared to be reacting to growing opposition within the royal family and the military to his reforms and Riyadh s military intervention in Yemen.  It raises questions about the reform process that increasingly is based on a unilateral rather than a consensual rewriting of the kingdom s social contract.  For many people, however, a unilateral approach is seen as the best chance to push through the reforms. A chief economist at a big regional bank said Prince Mohammed s main motive for acting was frustration that reforms were not moving fast enough.  The privatization program, for example, including the planned sale of 5 percent of national oil giant Saudi Aramco, has been discussed for many months with little action. Now the program may pick up.  The message this should send to foreign investors is it s unwise to bet against MbS,  said Sam Blatteis, chief executive of regional advisory firm The MENA Catalysts, using a common abbreviation of Prince Mohammed s name.  When he wants to get things done, he has proven that he can. This is not a consolidation of power, it s an acceleration. The wheels of policy-making are moving faster.

Summary: सऊदी शुद्धिकरण निवेशकों को चिंतित करता है लेकिन सुधारों को गति दे सकता है


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday evening she did not expect any immediate talks with populist politician Winston Peters, whose party was poised to play kingmaker after the hotly contested national elections.  I don t expect there ll be any conversations for a little while yet,  Ardern told local media as she left her home to drive to the opposition party s function in downtown Auckland. The comments came after 86 percent of the results counted showed Labour on 35.7 percent of the vote and the incumbent center-right National Party on 46.3 percent.  Those results suggested each major party would need nationalist New Zealand First to form the next government. The final tally of all votes would not be released until Oct. 7.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड के लेबर नेता का कहना है कि संभावित चुनाव किंगमेकर के साथ तत्काल कोई बातचीत नहीं हुई है


MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s state prosecutor on Thursday asked a High court judge to issue a European arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after he failed to appear at a court hearing earlier in the day. Puigdemont s lawyer in Belgium, where he has traveled with four members of his sacked cabinet, said the climate in Spain was  not good  and his client wanted to maintain some distance; but he would cooperate with the courts.

Summary: स्पेन के अभियोजक ने हटाए गए कैटलन नेता की गिरफ्तारी की मांग की


DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has provided the capability for ballistic missile attacks launched from Yemen, a senior U.S. Air Force official said on Friday. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander for southwest Asia at the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, also told reporters while on a visit to Dubai that it was important to find diplomatic solutions to tensions surrounding Lebanon instead of going to war.  What we have seen, clearly from the results of the ballistic missile attacks, that there have been Iranian markings on those missiles, that s been demonstrated,  Harrigian said.  To me that connects the dots to Iran in terms of who s providing those missiles and that capability.  Saudi Arabia, part of a coalition carrying out bombings of the Iran-allied armed Houthi movement in Yemen, has frequently intercepted missiles fired from its neighbor. Early this month, Saudi air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen over the capital Riyadh, state news agencies reported. The missile was brought down near King Khaled Airport on the northern outskirts of the city and did not cause casualties, the reports said. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has accused Lebanon and its Shi ite Hezbollah movement of declaring war on it. Riyadh has advised Saudi citizens not to travel to Lebanon, or if already there to leave as soon as possible.  With respect to Lebanon, I think the goal will be to try to find diplomatic solutions,  Harrigian said.  I don t want to speak to specifically how the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will deal with that, but I would like to think we will be able to find a solution to that problem that would allow diplomatic efforts to achieve success versus going to war.

Summary: ईरान ने यमन से मिसाइल हमलों के लिए क्षमता प्रदान कीः अमेरिकी वायु सेना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal officials were focused on Monday on search and rescue operations and restoring power to millions of people after Hurricane Irma tore across the Florida Keys before moving north up the state with high winds and heavy rains, the acting Homeland Security secretary said. Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke told CNN 200,000 people remained in shelters and more than 5 million were without power, but the top priority was search and rescue as daylight revealed the damage from the storm overnight.  Today will be our first time to get a glimpse of it. We do have flying weather and as the sun rises we ll be able to take a look at the Keys especially where we have the most area of concern,  she said.

Summary: खोज और बचाव पर ध्यान दें, इरमा के बाद बिजली बहाल करेंः अमेरिकी अधिकारी


BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded on Wednesday that Kurdish authorities  cancel  the outcome of the independence referendum in northern Iraq, as a condition for dialogue to resolve an escalating crisis. In a speech to parliament, Abadi renewed his ultimatum to Masoud Barzani s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hand over control of international airports by Friday or face a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region. People in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in Monday s non-binding referendum. Any idea of secession is bitterly opposed by the governments in Baghdad, Turkey and Iran. The United States pressed Kurdish leaders to call off the poll.   We won t have a dialogue about the referendum outcome,  Abadi told parliament.  If they want to start talks, they must cancel the referendum and its outcome.   His demand was rejected by KRG Transport Minister Mowlud Murad on Wednesday. He told a news conference in the Kurdish capital Erbil that keeping control of airports and maintaining direct international flights to Erbil was necessary for the fight against Islamic State militants. Kurdish leaders say the referendum was held to give them a mandate to negotiate the peaceful secession of their region with Baghdad and Iraq s powerful neighbours Iran and Turkey.  Murad expressed the hope that the crisis could be resolved by Friday, saying it would damage Kurdistan s economy.   The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority sent a notice on Wednesday to foreign airlines telling them international flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya in the Kurdish region would be suspended on Friday at 1500 GMT and only domestic flights allowed.

Summary: इराकी प्रधानमंत्री ने कुर्दों से स्वतंत्रता जनमत संग्रह के परिणाम को रद्द करने का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration and major U.S. states appear to be headed for a showdown over landmark rules aimed at doubling the fuel efficiency of vehicles sold in the United States. At an Environmental Protection Agency public hearing on Wednesday on the fuel rules in Washington, California air resources board official Annette Hebert warned that the state could withdraw from a nationwide vehicle emissions program if the EPA weakens the regulations or ignores the technical record. New York state also urged the administration not to weaken the rules. “Science doesn’t change based on election results,” Hebert said, referring to the November election of Republican President Donald Trump. In March, Trump ordered a review of U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards from model year 2022 through 2025 established under the Obama administration, and suggested he would reduce regulatory requirements.  “The assault on the American auto industry is over,” he told automakers in Michigan. Automakers want the White House and California to reach agreement on revisions because a legal battle over the rules could result in lengthy uncertainly for the industry. They also want changes in the rules to address lower gas prices and a shift in U.S. consumer preferences to larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles. Federal law prohibits states from setting their own vehicle emissions rules, except for California, which can seek waivers to federal policy under the Clean Air Act. Other states can choose to adopt California’s rules. Julia Rege of Global Automakers, a group representing automakers including Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), said at the hearing that automakers need national rules, and urged U.S. regulators and California to “be as actively involved in the process as before, and work to keep the national program intact.” With just over six months before the 2025 rules must be finalized, there have been no vehicle emission talks between California, automakers and U.S. officials. The White House has held talks with automakers about the review in recent months, Reuters reported last month. In June, New York state’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, and 12 other top state law enforcement officials said they would mount a court challenge to any effort to roll back vehicle emission rules. United Auto Workers legislative director Josh Nassar said at the hearing that the national program should be continued to “prevent chaos, lawsuits, uncertainty.” The Obama administration’s rules, negotiated with automakers in 2011, were aimed at doubling average fleet-wide fuel efficiency to about 50 miles (80 km) per gallon by 2025. The Obama administration said the rules would save motorists $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles but cost the auto industry about $200 billion over 13 years. A number of environmental advocates and retired military leaders at the hearing urged U.S. regulators not to weaken the standards. Automakers want changes. “To keep costs reasonable for buyers and maximize future production levels and fleet turnover, it is vital to clearly focus on consumer preferences and market realities,” said Chris Nevers, an official with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota, Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and others. U.S. regulators disclosed earlier that they may revise fuel efficiency requirements starting with the 2021 model year, a year earlier than Trump announced in March.

Summary: ईंधन नियमों को लेकर ट्रंप प्रशासन और राज्यों के बीच टकराव


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s order halting arrivals of refugees and others from seven Muslim-majority countries may do more to help recruit terrorists than improve U.S. security. “Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism,” they said in a statement, adding that the United States should not stop green card holders “from returning to the country they call home.” “This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security,” said McCain, of Arizona, and Graham, of South Carolina.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटर मैक्केन, ग्राहमः आदेश आतंकवादियों की भर्ती में मदद कर सकता है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thought the latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare had a “very good chance” of passing and said the U.S. Senate eventually would be forced to make a deal on the issue. “I think there’s tremendous support for it. I think it’s actually much better than the previous shot,” Trump told reporters in New York. “I thought that when I won (the election) I would go to the Oval Office, sit down at my desk, and there would be a healthcare bill on my desk, to be honest. And it hasn’t worked out that way. And I think a lot of Republicans are embarrassed by it.” Trump said he hoped the latest effort would succeed. “We think this has a very good chance,” he said, describing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law as dysfunctional. “At some point the Senate is going to be forced to make a deal. They’re just about at that point right now.”

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि नवीनतम ओबामाकेयर निरसन योजना के पास 'बहुत अच्छा मौका' है


CLEVELAND/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At times, the speech was drowned out by the cheering crowds in the arena of the Republican National Convention. Social media crowned a new political star. Some Republicans said they were seeing the U.S. president they longed for.  It was Ivanka Trump’s night.  The eldest daughter of New York businessman-turned-presidential nominee Donald Trump almost stole the show on Thursday night with a speech about her father that roused a packed Cleveland convention hall, broadcast to millions.  READ OUR TOP STORIES:  Verizon emerges as front-runner in Yahoo auction OPINION - Dumb money: How political mega-donors got it wrong Silicon Valley leads avalanche of quarterly reports On Google, there were more searches for Ivanka Trump than for her father.  The 34-year old businesswoman and former model talked about her father’s yearning to improve America, childcare, equal pay for women and other issues close to her heart, with a poise some found befitting of the White House.  “Okay, why isn’t @IvankaTrump running for President?” television actor Anson Mount said in a Twitter post.  “One of the best speeches - if not the best speech - tonight,” said Chris Herrod, a 50-year-old delegate from Utah who had worked for Trump’s vanquished rival Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas.  One of Trump’s five children, Ivanka was chosen to introduce her father, who then officially accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Since Trump announced his intention to run for the White House last year, she has been steadily drawn into her father’s presidential campaign along with her 35-year-old husband Jared Kushner.  The couple both take part in the Trump campaign’s “family meeting” each Monday morning, helping make decisions about spending and strategy, according to a source familiar with the meetings.  Among the children, Ivanka is the one who is often the bridge to women voters and seems to have the mission of selling her father’s softer side. When she is not involved in the campaign, she helps to run the family’s sprawling business empire from its New York City headquarters.  This week in Cleveland she has been everywhere, lobbying for her father with delegates and donors, appearing in television interviews and leaving a trail of picture-taking fans in her wake. One man, a Republican delegate in Cleveland, carried a placard all week around the convention that read: “Ivanka, 2024. First Female President.”  Her star turn in Cleveland was one of the top trending topics on Twitter late on Thursday, with about 121 tweets mentioning her name posted every minute. Overall sentiment on her was more positive than negative by a ratio of 3 to 1, according to analytics firm Zoomph.  Ivanka missed her one chance to date to vote for her father: she had not changed her party registration from Democrat to Republican in time to cast a ballot in the April 19 New York primary election.  She more than compensated on Thursday night, some convention delegates said.  “She gave us enormous insight into him and the kind of man he is,” said retiree Fernando C. deBaca, a 78-year-old New Mexico delegate. “She’s (an) enormously capable young lady, as is her brother. We’re going to see the beginning of a dynasty here.”

Summary: एक विभाजित रिपब्लिकन पार्टीः राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए डोनाल्ड या इवांका?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday the Trump campaign provided the special counsel investigating ties between it and Russia with emails involving George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser who has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials. “I think that Papadopoulos is an example of actually someone doing the wrong thing while the president’s campaign did the right thing,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.  “All of his emails were voluntarily provided to the special counsel by the campaign and that is what led to the process and the place that we’re in right now with the campaign fully cooperating and helping with that,” she told a news briefing.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउसः ट्रम्प अभियान ने विशेष सलाहकार को पापाडोपोलोस के ईमेल दिए


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman blew himself up inside a police training camp in Somalia s capital Mogadishu on Thursday and killed at least 18 officers, officials said. Police spokesman Major Mohamed Hussein said the attacker strapped explosives to his body and infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy during an early morning parade.  Police were preparing for the 74th anniversary of police day. As they wanted to start  exercise, a suicide bomber came in and blew up himself. We lost 18 police officers and 15 others   were injured,  Muktar Hussein Afrah, Somalia s deputy police commander, told reporters at the blast scene.  Police will always continue their work despite death.  Police earlier put the death toll at 15. Reuters witnesses who attempted to visit the site of the blast said police had sealed it off. Hours later when they were allowed in, a witness saw body parts suspected to be from the bomber on the ground in the field where police officers had been training. The witness said the ground nearby had also been washed to remove blood stains and people were burying bodies at the police academy. The militant Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and gave a higher death toll.  We killed 27 police (officers) and injured more,  Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group s military operations spokesman, told Reuters. Al Shabaab carries out frequent bombings in Mogadishu and other towns. The group, which is allied to al Qaeda, is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union allies in a bid to topple the weak administration and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and have since been steadily losing territory to the combined forces of African Union peacekeepers and Somali security forces. On Tuesday, the U.S. Africom said the U.S. military had conducted an air strike on a vehicle they said was strapped with explosives some 65 km southwest of Mogadishu. Thursday s attack comes at a time when the African Union is finalizing plans to trim its peacekeeping mission called AMISOM. The 22,000-strong AU force is scheduled to leave by 2020 and some security experts say al Shabaab could find it easier to stage attacks as the peacekeeping forces are reduced because government forces will find it hard to replicate their work. At the same time, Somalia could become a safe haven for militants linked to al Qaeda currently in Yemen, the experts said. The peacekeepers were deployed to help secure a government that has struggled to establish central control in a country that plunged into civil war in the early 1990s.

Summary: सोमालिया की राजधानी में पुलिस अकादमी में आत्मघाती हमलावर ने कम से कम 18 लोगों की हत्या कर दी


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A draft declaration prepared for a summit of Muslim leaders on Wednesday said they considered Washington s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a sign of U.S. withdrawal from its role as a sponsor of Middle East peace.  The draft statement said leaders, ministers and officials from  more than 50 Muslim countries  declare East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, and invite all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.  A copy of the draft declaration, tweeted by Turkey s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, said the meeting rejected and condemned the U.S. move  in the strongest terms . It described the U.S. decision as  a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus (for) extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security . Wednesday s summit was hosted by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who has bitterly criticized the United States, a NATO ally, for its stance on Jerusalem. The city, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam s third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognized internationally.

Summary: ओ. आई. सी. मसौदा घोषणा में कहा गया है कि ट्रम्प का येरुशलम कदम शांति प्रक्रिया से अमेरिका की वापसी का प्रतीक है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obama administration officials briefed key congressional staffers last week about a secret court order to Yahoo Inc YHOO.O that prompted it to search all users’ incoming emails for a still undisclosed digital signature, but they remain reluctant to discuss the unusual case with a broader audience. Executive branch officials spoke to staff for members of the Senate and House of Representatives committees overseeing intelligence operations and the judiciary, according to people briefed on the events, which followed Reuters’ disclosure of the massive search.[nL2N1C601L] But attempts by other members of Congress and civil society groups to learn more about the Yahoo order are unlikely to meet with success anytime soon, because its details remain a sensitive national security matter, U.S. officials told Reuters. Release of any declassified version of the order is unlikely in the foreseeable future, the officials said. The decision to keep details of the order secret comes amid mounting pressure on the U.S. government to be more transparent about its data-collection activities ahead of a congressional deadline next year to reauthorize some foreign intelligence authorities. On Tuesday, more than 30 advocacy groups will send a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asking for declassification of the Yahoo order that led to the search of emails last year in pursuit of data matching a specific digital symbol. “We believe such a massive scan of the emails of millions of people, particularly if it involves the scanning of email content, could violate (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), the Fourth Amendment, and international human rights law,” the coalition wrote in an advance draft of the letter that was shared with Reuters.  The Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Brennan Center, Human Rights Watch and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers are among the signatories. The groups say that Title I of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which sources said the order was issued, requires a finding that the target of such a wiretap is probably an agent of a foreign power and that the facility to be tapped is probably going to be used for a transmission. An entire service, such as Yahoo, has never publicly been considered to be a “facility” in such a case: instead, the word usually refers to a phone number or an email account. The groups also pressed Clapper, who has pledged to be more transparent in the wake of controversial spying revelations, to explain how much authority the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has to order technical assistance from technology companies. Reuters reported that Yahoo had installed a special program that was hidden inside a Linux kernel module on its mail servers, where security staffers found it. Representative Justin Amash, who does not sit on one of the relevant committees, recently asked that all of Congress be briefed, given the significance of any change in interpreting foreign intelligence laws.  “The briefing should involve all members, because all members will within about a year have to vote on a significant part of FISA,” said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology, which circulated Tuesday’s letter among free speech and privacy advocates. “They should know what occurred so that they can decide whether to outlaw it.”  Also last week, Yahoo itself asked Clapper to declassify the secret order or at least describe it, so that the company could respond to news reports and criticism that it did not do more to protect its users’ communications.  The American Civil Liberties Union meanwhile filed a motion in the surveillance court asking that the Yahoo order and other significant ruling going back a decade be unsealed.

Summary: याहू स्कैनिंग ऑर्डर को सार्वजनिक किए जाने की संभावना नहीं हैः सूत्र