BEIRUT/RIYADH (Reuters) - The first hint that something was amiss came in a letter. On Saturday Nov. 4, guests at Riyadh s Ritz Carlton were notified by the opulent hotel that:  Due to unforeseen booking by local authorities which requires an elevated level of security, we are unable to accommodate guests ... until normal operations are restored.  The purge was already under way. Within hours security forces had rounded up dozens of members of Saudi Arabia s political and business elite, mostly in the capital and the coastal city of Jeddah. Among them were 11 princes as well as ministers and wealthy tycoons. Some were invited to meetings where they were detained. Others were arrested at their homes and flown to Riyadh or driven to the Ritz Carlton, which has been turned into a temporary prison. The detainees were allowed a single, brief phone call home, a person familiar with the arrests told Reuters.  They don t receive calls and are kept under tight security. No one can go in or out,  the insider said.  It is obvious that there was a lot of preparation for it.  The purge was ordered by 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Officially next in line to the throne to his father, King Salman, he is now in effect running the country which he has said he will transform into a modern state. To do that - and in an attempt to shore up his own power - he has decided to go after the Saudi elite, including some members of the royal family, on accusations such as taking bribes and inflating the cost of business projects. Those arrested could not be reached for comment. At stake is political stability in the world s largest oil producer. The Crown Prince s ability to rule unchallenged depends on whether the purge is successful. The Crown Prince believes that unless the country changes, the economy will sink into a crisis that could fan unrest. That could threaten the royal family and weaken the country in its regional rivalry with Iran. (See this graphic on the Saudi family and the royal arrests: tmsnrt.rs/2AjCNiQ) Prince Mohammed decided to move on his family, the person familiar with events said, when he realized more relatives opposed him becoming king than he had thought.  The signal was that anyone wavering in their support should watch out,  said the person familiar with the events.  The whole idea of the anti-corruption campaign was targeted towards the family. The rest is window dressing.  King Salman said the purge was in response to  exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their own interests above the public interest, in order to, illicitly, accrue money . Insiders said the accusations were based on evidence gathered by the intelligence service. Government backers have rejected suggestions that the campaign is really about eliminating political enemies. There was no immediate comment from the royal court on this story. Among those now holed up at the Ritz Carlton hotel is Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who is head of the powerful National Guard and Prince Mohammed s cousin. Miteb was in his farm house in Riyadh when he was called to a meeting with the Crown Prince. Such an invitation, even at night, would not be unusual for a senior official and would not have aroused suspicion.   He went to the meeting and never came back,  said a second insider who has connections to some of those who were detained. Others held include Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is chairman of international investment firm Kingdom Holding and a cousin of Prince Mohammed, and Prince Turki bin Abdullah, former governor of Riyadh province and a son of the late King Abdullah. Some royal watchers said tensions were laid bare during family meetings over the summer. One insider said it was widely known to Prince Mohammed that some of the powerful royals, including Miteb, were resentful about his elevation.  Prince Mohammed, who is widely known in Saudi Arabia by his initials MbS, had said openly in interviews that he would investigate the kingdom s endemic corruption and would not hesitate to go after top officials.  The vehicle was an anti-corruption committee created by King Salman, and announced on Nov. 4. The king put the Crown Prince in charge, adding another power to the many he has been given in the past three years.  Saudi authorities have questioned 208 people in the anti-corruption investigation and estimate at least $100 billion has been stolen through graft, the attorney-general said on Thursday. The head of the committee said investigators had been collecting evidence for three years.   By launching a war on corruption, the prince has combined a popular cause with the elimination of an obstacle to acceding to the throne.  MbS used the corruption stick which can reach any one of them,  said Jamal Khashoggi, a former adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal, intelligence chief from 1979 to 2001.  For the first time we Saudis see princes being tried for their corruption.  But Khashoggi, who lives in the United States, said Prince Mohammed was being selective in his purge.  I believe MbS is a nationalist who loves his country and wants it to be the strongest but his problem is that he wants to rule alone,  he said. (See this graphic on Saudi Prince Alwaleed s investments: tmsnrt.rs/2j5fE04) Prince Mohammed was appointed defense minister in 2015 when King Salman became monarch. In June, the King named him heir to the throne, pushing aside his older cousin Mohammed bin Nayef, a veteran head of the security apparatus. The royal family acquiesced and by September the Crown Prince had rounded up and jailed religious and intellectual opponents. The latest detentions are intended to help him push through reforms that promise the greatest change since the reign of King Abdulaziz, founder of the current Saudi state in the 1930s. That state has rested on an enduring accommodation between the royal family and the Wahhabist clerics who control the hardline version of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia. The ruling family promised to give Saudis comfortable lives and a share of the country s oil wealth. In return, their subjects have offered political submission and promised to follow the country s strict religious and social codes. King Abdulaziz, who was also known as Ibn Saud, died in 1953. Since then, Saudi Arabia has been run by the king and below him there has been a group of princes, none of them strong enough to impose his will against the wishes of the others. Decisions have mostly come through consensus. That arrangement has meant social and political change has been glacial although it has also kept the kingdom stable. But in moves that position Prince Mohammed as the new Ibn Saud, the Crown Prince is tearing down pillars of rule that had been eroding under the weight of population growth and low oil prices. Consensus has been replaced by what critics say is one-man rule, opposed by some princes although they would not risk saying so in public. In the past few decades, every Saudi king had one or two of his brothers, sons or nephews by his side advising and sharing in governance. But Prince Mohammed has not appointed any of his brothers or other close family to top positions, instead relying on a team of advisers   mainly Saudis though some are U.S.- or British-trained. King Salman, 82, still has the last word on everything. But he has delegated the running of the kingdom s military, security, economic, foreign and social affairs to Prince Mohammed. There has been speculation for months, denied by court officials, that the king will soon abdicate the throne to MbS. Even the Crown Prince s age is remarkable. The last three kings have reached the throne aged 61, 80 and 79. Prince Mohammed is effectively in charge at 32. Prince Mohammed says he offers a new social contract: A state that functions better than the rigid bureaucracy of the past, opportunities to have fun and an economy that will create jobs that can last, whatever happens in oil markets. In September he announced that Saudi women will be given the right to drive. Just three weeks ago, during a conference for investors at the same Ritz Carlton that now houses the targets of his purge, he unveiled a plan for a $500-billion futuristic city where sexes could mingle and robots outnumber humans. The prince has also drawn up a blueprint to wean Saudi Arabia off its dependence on oil and its subjects off state subsidies and government jobs. The public listing of national  oil company Saudi Aramco, planned next year, is its centerpiece. There are no guarantees the prince s ambitions will succeed. Even some admirers ask whether his reach exceeds his grasp. His top-down approach, brooking no opposition, could scare off investors wanting assurances about rule of law and security. Without huge investor support, he will struggle to meet the aspirations of Saudi youth. War in Yemen, a dispute with the Gulf emirate of Qatar and growing tension with Iran is a concern to investors too. It should help that Prince Mohammed, following the example of Ibn Saud, sees the importance of forging a special bond with the United States. During a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Riyadh to lead an alliance against Iran and its attempt to cut a Shi ite axis through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Soon afterwards, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates blockaded Qatar, accusing its ruling Al Thani dynasty of supporting Iran and Islamist terrorism. Trump gave his backing. After the arrests of the past week, Trump tweeted support, saying those arrested had been  milking their country for years . One insider close to the royal family said the National Guard was unlikely to react strongly to Miteb s removal. He said  there had been no resistance to the ousting of Mohammed bin Nayef at the interior ministry and the National Guard would be no different.

Summary: एक घर विभाजित हैः कैसे सऊदी क्राउन प्रिंस ने शाही परिवार के प्रतिद्वंद्वियों को शुद्ध किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A grand jury has issued subpoenas in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, signaling an investigation is gathering pace into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. The sources added that U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller had convened the grand jury investigation in Washington to help examine allegations of Russian interference in the vote. One of the sources said it was assembled in recent weeks. Russia has loomed large over the first six months of the Trump presidency. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia worked to tilt the presidential election in Trump’s favor. Mueller, who was appointed special counsel in May, is leading the probe, which also examines potential collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia. Moscow denies any meddling and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign, while regularly denouncing the investigations as political witch hunts.   At a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on Thursday night, Trump said: “Most people know there were no Russians in our campaign. ... We didn’t win because of Russia. We won because of you.” Mueller’s use of a grand jury could give him expansive tools to pursue evidence, including issuing subpoenas and compelling witnesses to testify. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported a grand jury was impaneled.  A spokesman for Mueller declined comment. A grand jury is a group of ordinary citizens who, working behind closed doors, considers evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing that a prosecutor is investigating and decides whether charges should be brought. “This is a serious development in the Mueller investigation,” said Paul Callan, a former prosecutor.  “Given that Mueller inherited an investigation that began months ago, it would suggest that he has uncovered information pointing in the direction of criminal charges. But against whom is the real question.”  A lawyer for Trump, Jay Sekulow, appeared to downplay the significance of a grand jury, telling Fox News: “This is not an unusual move.” U.S. stocks and the dollar weakened following the news, while U.S. Treasury securities gained. It was not immediately clear to whom subpoenas were issued and the sources did not elaborate.  Some lawyers said it would put pressure on potential witnesses to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation.  “When someone gets a subpoena to testify, that can drive home the seriousness of the investigation,” said David Sklansky, a professor at Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor.  In 2005, a grand jury convened by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald returned an indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney. “A special counsel can bring an indictment and it has happened before,” said Renato Mariotti, a partner at the law firm Thompson Coburn and a former federal prosecutor. News last month of the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who he was told had damaging information about his father’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, fueled questions about the campaign’s dealings with Moscow.  The Republican president has defended his son’s behavior, saying many people would have taken that meeting. Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting. One of the sources said major Russian efforts to interfere in the election on Trump’s behalf began shortly after the June meeting, making it a focus of Mueller’s investigation. Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he was not aware that Mueller had started using a new grand jury. “Grand jury matters are typically secret,” Cobb said. “The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly. ... The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller.” John Dowd, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, said: “With respect to the news of the grand jury, I can tell you President Trump is not under investigation.” A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment.  Lawyers for Trump Jr. and Kushner did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has questioned Mueller’s impartiality and members of Congress from both parties have expressed concern that Trump might dismiss him. Republican and Democratic senators introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to block Trump from firing Mueller.  Sekulow denied that was Trump’s plan. “The president is not thinking of firing Bob Mueller,” Sekulow said. One source briefed on the matter said Mueller was investigating whether, either at the meeting or afterward, anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign encouraged the Russians to start releasing material they had been collecting on the Clinton campaign since March 2016. Another source familiar with the inquiry said that while the president himself was not now under investigation, Mueller’s investigation was seeking to determine whether he knew of the June 9 meeting in advance or was briefed on it afterward. Reuters earlier reported that Mueller’s team was examining money-laundering accusations against Manafort and hoped to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. It is not known if the grand jury is investigating those potential charges.

Summary: ग्रैंड जूरी ने ट्रम्प जूनियर, रूसी वकील की बैठक के संबंध में सम्मन जारी किएः सूत्र


BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan s state security service said on Saturday it had detained an opposition lawmaker just two weeks before presidential elections, and accused him of planning riots and a violent coup.   The GKNB security service said in a statement that deputy Kanatbek Isayev, a supporter of main opposition presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov, had conspired with criminal groups to orchestrate rioting during and after the Oct.15 vote. The impoverished Central Asian country, which is home to a Russian military airbase, has a reputation for political volatility after two previous presidents were toppled by violent riots. Incumbent leader Almazbek Atambayev, who has drawn Bishkek into Russia s orbit during his six years in power, is preparing to step down as the constitution bars him from seeking a second term at the helm of the nation of 6 million people.   Instead, Atambayev s Social Democratic party, which leads a parliamentary coalition, is backing his ally, former prime minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov. Babanov, also a former prime minister, could not be reached for comment on Saturday. A February-March poll by the United States  International Republican Institute showed Babanov was the most trusted politician in Kyrgyzstan and second only to Atambayev in terms of the proportion of people who viewed him favorably.

Summary: किर्गिस्तान ने विपक्षी सांसद पर दंगों और तख्तापलट की योजना बनाने का आरोप लगाया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to tell him Moscow backs a resumption of talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities, including on the status of Jerusalem, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. No other details on the issue were provided.  Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump told Abbas that he intends to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem amid a growing outcry across the Middle East against any unilateral U.S. decision on the ancient city.

Summary: रूस के पुतिन ने फिलिस्तीनियों के अब्बास से कहा कि वह जेरूसलम पर बातचीत का समर्थन करते हैंः क्रेमलिन


GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. committees for women s and children s rights called on Myanmar s authorities on Wednesday to immediately stop violence in northern Rakhine state, which hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled in the past six weeks.   We are particularly worried about the fate of Rohingya women and children subject to serious violations of their human rights, including killings, rape and forced displacement,  the committees on the elimination of discrimination against women and on the rights of the child said in a statement.  Such violations may amount to crimes against humanity and we are deeply concerned at the state s failure to put an end to these shocking human rights violations being committed at the behest of the military and other security forces.

Summary: महिलाओं और बच्चों के अधिकारों पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के विशेषज्ञों ने म्यांमार के अत्याचारों की निंदा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea would need to clear many conditions before a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be contemplated, the White House said on Monday. After Trump told Bloomberg News he would be honored to meet with Kim, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters the United States would need to see North Korea’s provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately. “Clearly conditions are not there right now,” Spicer said.

Summary: ट्रंप से मुलाकात संभव होने से पहले उत्तर कोरिया को कई शर्तों को स्पष्ट करना होगाः व्हाइट हाउस


ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police found bomb-making equipment and detonators in raids in Athens on Tuesday and were questioning nine people over suspected links to a banned militant group in Turkey ahead of an expected visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan next week. Eight men and a woman thought to hold Turkish citizenship were being detained after morning raids at three different addresses in central Athens. They were expected to appear before an investigating magistrate on Wednesday. Earlier, police officials told Reuters the individuals were being quizzed for alleged links to the leftist militant DHKP/C, an outlawed group blamed for a string of attacks and suicide bombings in Turkey since 1990. At three homes, police found materials available commercially which could potentially be used in making explosives, they said in a statement. They also retrieved digital material, travel documents and a pistol. One of the detainees had been wanted by Greek police in connection with an arms and explosives haul off the Greek island of Chios, close to the Turkish coast, in 2013.    Witnesses saw police experts in hazmat suits and holding suitcases entering one address in Athens. Tests on an unknown substance found in jars were expected to be concluded within the day. Turkey s Erdogan is widely expected to visit Greece in December, although his visit has not been officially announced. It would be the first visit by a Turkish president in more than 50 years. Another official told the semi-official Athens News Agency that the case was unconnected to domestic terror groups or militant Islamists, and described those questioned as being of Turkish origin. DHKP/C, known also as the Revolutionary People s Liberation Party/Front, is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, Turkey and the United States.

Summary: ग्रीक पुलिस के छापे में विस्फोटक मिले, प्रतिबंधित तुर्की समूह से संबंध रखने के आरोप में नौ गिरफ्तार


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will host what it called an  expanded  conference for the Syrian opposition this month, aiming to unify its position ahead of United Nations-backed peace talks, the state news agency SPA reported on Monday. Saudi Arabia backs a grouping of opposition figures called the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) led by Riyad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister under Assad. The HNC has represented the Syrian opposition at previous Geneva talks.  A number of other political opposition groups and figures backed by other countries including Russia and Egypt also exist. It was not clear from SPA s statement which Syrian opposition members would participate in the conference.  The kingdom, a leading backer of Syrian rebels, supports an international agreement on the future of Syria but maintains that President Bashar al-Assad should have no role in any transition to bring the war there to an end. Assad, whose Syrian army forces have been backed by Saudi arch-foes Iran and Hezbollah, has made major gains against opposition forces and Islamic State militants.  Based on the policy of the Kingdom in support of the efforts to establish peace and counter terrorism, and in response to the request of the Syrian opposition, an expanded meeting will be held in the city of Riyadh,  SPA said. Talks set for November 22-24 aim  to bring its parties and platforms closer together and unite its negotiating delegation to resume direct negotiations in Geneva under the auspices of the U.N.  Several rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva between the Damascus government and the opposition have made little progress.

Summary: सऊदी अरब "विस्तारित" सीरियाई विपक्षी सम्मेलन की मेजबानी करेगा


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress (ANC) will elect a new party leader to succeed President Jacob Zuma at a conference in December. The winner will be favorite to become South African president after a 2019 election. The frontrunners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former chair of the African Union and Zuma s ex-wife. Other candidates include ANC Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize and Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu  Below are the main stages of the process by which the ANC will choose its new leader.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः दक्षिण अफ्रीका की एएनसी कैसे जुमा के उत्तराधिकारी का चयन करेगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate said on Tuesday they expected the chamber would vote to override President Barack Obama’s promised veto of a bill allowing relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia. It would be the first override of an Obama veto since he took office in January 2009. The “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act,” known as JASTA, would remove sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Fifteen of the Sept. 11 hijackers who crashed airliners in the 2001 attacks were Saudi nationals. The Saudi government, which strongly denies responsibility, has lobbied against the bill. But some members of Congress have become increasingly restive about relations with Saudi Arabia, long an important player in U.S. Middle East policy. Harry Reid, the Senate’s Democratic leader, said he supported the measure. “They’re not one of my favorite countries,” he said of the Saudis. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said, “We’re all on the record supporting it, so at this point I think it’s a heavy lift for the president to have his veto sustained.” A White House spokesman said in a briefing on Tuesday it had received the bill, but did not offer updates about timing of a veto. The Constitution gives the president 10 days after receiving a bill to veto it before it automatically becomes law.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स को उम्मीद है कि सीनेट सऊदी 9/11 बिल पर ओबामा का विरोध करेगी


NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was sentenced on Monday to serve 10 to 23 months in county jail for leaking confidential grand jury information and then lying about it to investigators. Kane, 50, the first woman and first Democrat ever elected Pennsylvania attorney general, was convicted in August on charges of perjury, false swearing, obstruction of justice, official oppression and conspiracy. She resigned two days after the jury in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas handed down its verdict. In addition, Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy sentenced Kane to eight years of probation. “A lesser sentence will depreciate the seriousness of the crimes of this defendant,” she said.  Kane, who intends to appeal her conviction, had faced a maximum sentence of 24 years in state prison. Her lawyer, Marc Steinberg, was not available to comment after the hearing. Kane was accused of giving information from a grand jury proceeding in 2013 to a Philadelphia Daily News reporter to retaliate against a former state prosecutor, Frank Fina. She believed he had told the Philadelphia Inquirer about her decision to drop prosecution of a case Fina had developed against six black Democratic legislators in Philadelphia. Grand juries play an important role in the U.S. criminal justice system by deciding if a prosecutor has enough evidence to bring charges against a suspect. Secret deliberations encourage witnesses to speak without fear of retaliation and to protect the reputation of suspects when the jury decides against recommending charges. Witnesses for the prosecution said the Kane investigation had brought havoc to the attorney general’s office. “Today is another sad day for the Commonwealth and its citizens,” Bruce Beemer, who replaced Kane, said in a statement after the sentencing.  “The Office of Attorney General is moving forward with steps to restore the public’s confidence in the work that we do and the way that we do it,” he said without specifying his office’s plans. Kane is the second Pennsylvania attorney general in the past quarter-century to be convicted of crimes committed in office. In 1995, Attorney General Ernie Preate pleaded guilty to mail fraud and served a prison sentence. More than 25 friends and members of Kane’s family attended the hearing to show support. Several, including Kane’s son Christopher, 15, testified as character witnesses on her behalf. Frank DeAndrea, a former police chief of Hazleton, told the judge that sending Kane to prison could amount to a death sentence if drug lords she helped convict retaliate.  Demchick-Alloy said Kane had assumed that risk when she decided to commit crimes.

Summary: पेनसिल्वेनिया के पूर्व अटॉर्नी जनरल को लीक मामले में जेल की सजा मिली


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied allegations that its air strikes had killed civilians in Syria s Idlib province, saying that in recent days it had only bombed Islamist militant fighters in the area. Moscow said it was responding to assertions from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which on Monday said six civilians had been killed in the province, including a woman and a child.  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized Moscow on Monday for the same reason, saying that recent Russian bombing in Idlib had killed civilians and moderate rebels and that this would be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited Turkey this week. Putin is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday for talks on Syria. Major-General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Russian and Syrian air forces did not bomb residential areas and accused the observatory of making up allegations and of sympathizing with radical Islamist militants.  In the last few days, after drone reconnaissance and confirmation via other channels, Russian planes struck 10 terrorist targets in Idlib Province,  Konashenkov said.   These were militant bases, ammunition stores, armored vehicles, rocket systems, and workshops fitting out  jihad jeeps  which were located a long way from residential areas,  he said. Konashenkov said Russia had data to confirm the accuracy of its attacks and the ministry on Tuesday published video of the strikes on Idlib to back its assertions that it had only bombed militant targets. The targets struck had taken part in a militant offensive on Sept. 18 which had surrounded 29 Russian military policemen who then had to be broken out in an operation backed by air power, he added.

Summary: रूस ने सीरिया के इदलिब में हवाई हमलों में नागरिकों के मारे जाने की बात से इनकार किया है।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday would not comment on whether a U.S. intelligence report referred to unsubstantiated allegations that Russia had compromising information on President-elect Donald Trump.  But Earnest said the report, presented to President Barack Obama and Trump last week, discussed a number of tactics employed by Moscow in addition to cyber attacks in an attempt to influence the outcome of the Nov. 8 election. “There’s a discussion of this fake news phenomenon in the report as well,” Earnest said at a news briefing. “It’s important to understand that the report that was compiled by the intelligence community goes beyond just the malicious cyber activity that Russia engaged in.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि खुफिया रिपोर्ट में साइबर हमलों से ज्यादा जानकारी दी गई है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian judge has granted conditional release to sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his ministers, and the group is scheduled to appear at court within 15 days, Belgian prosecutors said on Monday. Puigdemont, who turned himself in to Belgian police after Spain issued a European arrest warrant for rebellion and misuse of public funds, is barred from leaving Belgium without a judge s consent.  The next step in the proceedings is the appearance of the five defendants before the Chambre du Conseil within the next 15 days,  prosecutors said in a statement.

Summary: कैटलन के पूर्व नेता पुइग्डेमोंट को बेल्जियम में शर्तों के साथ रिहा कर दिया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Thursday he has “not detected any whiff of interference” by the White House into the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Speaking publicly for the first time since being confirmed as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wray also expressed confidence in Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating whether President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the election. “I can say very confidently that I have not detected any whiff of interference with that investigation,” Wray said during a panel discussion at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington.  Wray was installed as FBI director after his predecessor, James Comey, was fired by Trump in May. In an interview with NBC after Comey’s removal, Trump admitted he was thinking about “this Russia thing” when he decided to fire the then-FBI chief. Comey later told Congress he believed Trump had tried to get him to drop an FBI probe into former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of the broader Russia investigation - testimony that has raised questions about whether Trump was potentially trying to obstruct justice. The White House has repeatedly denied the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the election. Trump’s advisers and allies also have questioned Mueller’s independence and credibility, with some pointing out that he has hired attorneys who have given political donations to Democrats. But Wray said he has “enormous respect” for Mueller, who is also a former FBI director. He stressed that Mueller is running the probe but said the FBI is assisting by dedicating agents and providing other support to the investigation. Wray also reiterated his confidence in a January report compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies which concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election and tried to tilt it in Trump’s favor - a finding Trump has often questioned. Prior to his confirmation as FBI director, Wray had only read a non-classified version of the report. “I have no reason to doubt the conclusions that the hard- working people who put that together came to,” Wray said.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. प्रमुख को रूस की जांच में व्हाइट हाउस के हस्तक्षेप का कोई सबूत नहीं मिला


LONDON (Reuters) - London’s status as a global financial center would probably be affected to some extent if Britain votes to leave the European Union in next month’s referendum, French finance minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday. “The City (of London) is a considerable financial force and I don’t think that (Brexit) would transform all the elements that constitute its strength,” Sapin said through a translator during a visit to London. “But I don’t think that it would be without effects which would have to be seen.” Some French banks had told him Brexit would have consequences for them and that some of their activities based in London might not carry on as they were, he said.

Summary: फ्रांस के सैपिन का कहना है कि ब्रेक्सिट लंदन को वित्त केंद्र के रूप में प्रभावित करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following months of internal wrangling, the U.S. House of Representatives, on Thursday passed legislation creating a federal control board to help Puerto Rico cope with crippling debt that is wreaking havoc throughout the island’s economy. By a vote of 297-127, the House approved the bill, sending it to the Senate for consideration. Some leading Democratic senators have voiced concerns about provisions, including one that potentially could reduce the minimum wage for young Puerto Ricans. But given the overwhelming support in the House and a looming July 1 deadline for Puerto Rico to make a $1.9 billion debt payment, senators may be hesitant to delay or tinker very much with the bill. Following the House vote, the White House in a statement urged the Senate to act promptly “so the president can sign the bill into law ahead of the critical July 1st debt payment deadline.” The legislation was bolstered by rare bipartisan cooperation between the White House and the House’s Republicans and Democrats over the past six months. House Speaker Paul Ryan urged Congress to act quickly on the “Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act” (PROMESA), warning lawmakers of a “deepening crisis” on the island. “Now the island is shutting down,” Ryan said, with “closed schools; hospitals are beginning to close, that’s today. Tomorrow there could be policemen without cars, there could be blackouts at hospitals.” Nevertheless, some lawmakers feared that allowing Puerto Rico to restructure its $70 billion debt in a way that changes the seniority of the creditors - for instance by making them all equal or subordinated to pensioners - would set a bad precedent for other U.S. states with debt problems. Puerto Rico does not enjoy Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, unlike the 50 U.S. states. The territory, which has a 45 percent poverty rate amid high unemployment, is also plagued by a growing migration of residents to the U.S. mainland. Puerto Rico’s debt problems come as its government and healthcare industry struggle to contain the spread of the Zika virus, which is blamed for severe birth defects and other neurological diseases.  On Tuesday, Aeromed, the island’s only active air ambulance company, announced it was suspending its services, blaming the large government debt.     The oversight board would be tasked with working with investors on restructuring the U.S. territory’s $70 billion debt. Before passage, the House approved an amendment giving priority to protecting federal taxpayer investments in Puerto Rico, such as mass transportation assets. Representative Raul Grijalva, like many Democrats, criticized major elements of the bill but argued it was the best possible in the Republican-controlled Congress. “The oversight board is too powerful and is yet another infringement on the sovereignty of the people of Puerto Rico and they are right to find it offensive,” Grijalva said.   Despite its support for the overall bill, the White House noted that minimum wage and other labor provisions “further exacerbate the economic disparities between Puerto Rico and the mainland United States” and “do nothing to address the (debt) crisis.” Supporters praised PROMESA for not using taxpayer funds to help the island reschedule its debt. Failure to pass it, they warned, could put Congress in the difficult position of ultimately overseeing a massive bailout of Puerto Rico. But lawmakers have been buffeted by an opposition lobbying campaign by some hedge funds, which fear losing part of their investments from oversight board decisions.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन ने प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण राहत विधेयक पारित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump supports the tax overhaul bill unveiled on Thursday by Republicans in the House of Representatives, a top White House advisor said. “The bill that the House has delivered today ... is a bill that the president can support,” National Economic Council director Gary Cohn told a gathering of the Economic Club of Washington, adding that he was confident the House would approve a tax overhaul.  “If it delivers middle class tax relief and a 20 percent corporate tax rate and it shows up on his desk I can guarantee he’s going to sign it,” Cohn said. Republicans pushing the tax bill will have to accept the assessments of budget analysts who may not share the White House’s views on how the tax bill could increase some tax revenues by fostering growth in the economy, Cohn said. “We have to accept the score to get the legislation through,” he said. “We will legislate to a bill to get the score that we need to get it through the legislative process.”

Summary: ट्रंप ने रिपब्लिकन कर सुधार विधेयक का समर्थन कियाः सलाहकार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress is expected to approve President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of retired Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as secretary of defense, despite Democratic concerns that it ignores a long tradition of civilian control of the military. For Mattis to be confirmed, the Senate and the House of Representatives both must pass a waiver exempting him from a law written when the Department of Defense was created to ensure that the military is under civilian command.Legislators have granted such a waiver only once, in 1950, when Congress passed an act that allowed General George Marshall, who had retired in 1945, to serve as Pentagon chief.   The 66-year-old Mattis, who is revered by fellow Marines, retired 3-1/2 years ago. The 1947 National Security Act requires a seven-year gap between active duty military service and the Cabinet position, leaving the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff as the Pentagon’s top uniformed military position. Another Marine general, Joseph Dunford, is the current chairman, serving a two-year term that ends in mid-2017. Mattis was once Dunford’s commander. Lawrence Korb, who was an assistant secretary of defense under Republican President Ronald Reagan, said having a military officer as secretary of defense would rob the Pentagon of needed perspective. He noted, for example, that social change in the military - from ending segregation to allowing women in combat - has always been pushed by civilians. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a military person as secretary of defense,” he said Friday in a telephone interview. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. After Trump announced his selection on Thursday, Democrats joined many Republicans, who control majorities in both houses of Congress, to heap praise on Mattis. But a few also raised concerns about having too many generals in the top tiers of the government. Trump’s choice for national security adviser is Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The president-elect is also said to be considering David Petraeus, another retired Army general, as secretary of state, and retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security.  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said on Thursday she would not back a waiver for Mattis.  Chris Murphy, another Senate Democrat, said on Friday he was “deeply fearful” that the precedent of civilian control of the military could wither, although he would talk to Mattis and spoke highly of the military leader. “It would be a really dangerous precedent to break here,” he told a news conference in Connecticut, his home state. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, had high praise for Mattis but said the House should perform a full review, including committee hearings, if it were to consider overriding the prohibition on recent military officers leading the Pentagon. “Civil control of the military is not something to be casually cast aside,” Smith said in a statement.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स की चिंताओं के बावजूद मैटिस के रक्षा मंत्री बनने की संभावना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for another chance to question Wells Fargo & Co’s (WFC.N) leadership about sales practices after the scandal-hit bank said it forced auto insurance on borrowers who did not need it. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee asked its Republican leaders in a letter to summon Wells Fargo Chairman Stephen Sanger and Chief Executive Tim Sloan. That letter accompanied one sent by Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, who wants to know how Wells Fargo wrongly charged roughly 570,000 customers for auto insurance they did not ask for or need, leading to unwarranted delinquencies and car repossessions. Unwanted auto insurance is the latest wrinkle in a months-long scandal over sales practices at Wells Fargo, where employees also created as many as 2.1 million deposit and credit card accounts in customers’ names without their permission. “Members should have the opportunity to question Mr. Sloan about the bank’s progress in addressing the damage it did to its customers,” said the Senate letter, signed by Democrats including ranking member Sherrod Brown. A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo said the bank looked forward to answering questions from Washington. “Wells Fargo understands and is committed to addressing policymaker concerns,” said Jennifer Dunn. “We are committed to fixing these mistakes and earning back trust.” Employees have said they created unauthorized accounts to hit sales goals handed down by management. The creation of fake accounts and misplaced insurance charges went on for years before the bank’s management took action. After Wells Fargo reached a $190 million settlement with regulators over the fake accounts in September, its then-Chairman and CEO John Stumpf appeared before both committees to face questions from lawmakers at heated hearings. He left the bank shortly after, to be replaced by Sloan and Sanger. Whether Stumpf’s successors will be hauled before Congress publicly is uncertain. Only Republicans can summon witnesses, since that party controls Congress. The senate letter urged Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, who chairs the banking panel, to call a Wells Fargo hearing in September. Democrats want to know how the auto insurance and unauthorized accounts practices went on undetected, and Wells Fargo plans to compensate customers who were wrongly charged for insurance, according to the letter.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट वाहन बीमा के बारे में वेल्स फार्गो के अधिकारियों से पूछताछ करना चाहते हैं


(This Sept. 13 story corrects bureau’s name to Federal Bureau of Investigation in paragraph 6, not Federal Bureau of Information) By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two computer technicians declined to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday about the unauthorized private email system that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton used during her tenure as U.S. secretary of state. Paul Combetta and Bill Thornton repeatedly invoked their constitutional right not to incriminate themselves during about 10 minutes of questioning while under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. A third technician, Bryan Pagliano, declined even to appear, despite a subpoena ordering his testimony. The investigation of Clinton’s email system has become a troublesome issue for her presidential campaign, with Republican rival Donald Trump saying a recent finding by federal investigators that she mishandled classified government secrets in her email should disqualify her from office. Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said in a statement it was up to the technicians whether to cooperate, “but we certainly are not prevailing upon anyone to cooperate with this sham of an inquiry.” Clinton has said she regrets using the system in her New York home’s basement for work. Voters have said in surveys the decision contributes to a feeling she is untrustworthy. Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey said in July there was evidence that Clinton and her staff may have broken the law with their “extremely careless” handling of classified government secrets, but concluded there were insufficient grounds to prosecute. Combetta and Thornton work for Platte River Networks, the Denver technology firm that managed Clinton’s email servers soon after she left the State Department in 2013. They repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination to each question from lawmakers. Jason Chaffetz, the committee’s Republican chairman, eventually excused them out of what he called “respect” for their rights. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s most senior Democratic member, expressed sympathy for the technicians, saying the Republicans were only trying to use them to embarrass Clinton. Chaffetz criticized Pagliano, who was paid by Clinton to manage her server while she was the nation’s top diplomat, for not complying with the subpoena and said the committee would decide after the hearing whether to punish him.  Pagliano was given a form of immunity from prosecution in 2015 for cooperating with the FBI as it looked into the mishandling of classified information over the server, but has otherwise cited the Fifth Amendment in declining to provide information to lawmakers. His attorney did not respond to questions. A fourth witness, Justin Cooper, testified for more than two hours about his role setting up the email system in 2009 while he worked a Clinton family aide. Clinton used an AT&T email account while a senator and a presidential candidate in 2008. Cooper said there was “a desire to change her email address because a number of people had received her email address over the course of those activities.” A summary of the FBI’s findings showed Combetta saying he used software called BleachBit to delete an archive of Clinton’s work emails around the same time as a conference call with Clinton’s lawyers, despite lawmakers seeking the records through a subpoena.

Summary: क्लिंटन सर्वर तकनीशियनों ने अमेरिकी कांग्रेस के प्रश्नों को अस्वीकार कर दिया


ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge ruled on Tuesday that a convicted mobster and son of late boss Salvatore  Toto  Riina be detained for a year in a secure labor unit, a judicial source said, less than two weeks after his father died, leaving the Sicilian mafia s future uncertain. Convicted of mafia membership in 2004 and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison before being released on parole, Giuseppe Salvatore Riina, 40, has been under police surveillance in the northern town of Padua. Criminals who are deemed dangerous to society or likely to re-offend can be sent to a secure unit, known as a  workhouse  in Italy, with the aim of rehabilitating them into society through manual labor. In Riina s case, investigators in Rome found that he had contact with drug dealers, prompting a prosecutor in Padua to ask for him to be held under tighter security, the source said.  Riina declined to comment through his lawyer.  A decision has not yet been taken on which of Italy s five workhouses Riina will be sent to, the source said. The judge handed down a one-year term, rather than the three years the Padua prosecutor had requested. On state television last year, Riina said he had been happy during his childhood, when his fugitive father lived under an assumed name. Toto Riina died on Nov. 17 in a hospital in Parma, the Italian city where he had been serving 26 life sentences for murders committed between 1969 and 1992. Nicknamed the  boss of bosses , Toto Riina changed the structure of the Sicilian mafia, concentrating power in his own hands. His savagery prompted hundreds of mobsters to testify against him, allowing magistrates to uncover the secrets of Cosa Nostra and prosecute its leaders.

Summary: सिसिलियन माफिया बॉस के बेटे को एक 'वर्कहाउस' में एक साल का समय मिलता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering a plan to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whose relationship has been strained by the top U.S. diplomat’s softer line on North Korea and other differences, senior administration officials said on Thursday. Tillerson would be replaced within weeks by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist and foreign policy hard-liner, under a White House plan to carry out the most significant staff shake-up so far of the Trump administration.                                 Republican Senator Tom Cotton, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, would be tapped to replace Pompeo at the Central Intelligence Agency, the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear whether Trump had given final approval to the reshuffle, but one of the officials said the president asked for the plan to be put together. Tillerson’s long-rumored departure would end a troubled tenure for the former Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive, who has been increasingly at odds with Trump over issues such as North Korea and under fire for planned cuts at the State Department. Tillerson was reported in October to have privately called Trump a “moron,” something the secretary of state sought to dismiss. That followed a tweet by Trump that Tillerson should not waste his time by seeking negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear and missile program, widely seen as a sign of the secretary of state being marginalized. Trump has soured on Tillerson mostly because of the “moron” report, his less confrontational approach on North Korea and differences over the Qatar crisis, one senior U.S. official said.  His slow approach to filling diplomatic openings at the State Department is also a factor, another official said. Trump asked John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, to develop the transition strategy, and it has been discussed with other officials, one administration source said.  Under the plan, which has been in the works for weeks and was first reported by the New York Times, the reshuffle would happen around the end of the year or shortly afterward, the official said. Asked whether he wanted Tillerson to remain in his job, Trump sidestepped the question, telling reporters at the White House: “He’s here. Rex is here.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Kelly told Tillerson’s chief of staff on Thursday the reports on Tillerson being replaced were not true. Nauert added that Tillerson  “serves at the pleasure of the president.” Asked about Tillerson, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the secretary of state remained in his post. “When the president loses confidence in someone, they will no longer serve here,” she said. Pompeo, a former congressman, has moved to the forefront as he has gained Trump’s trust on national security matters. Tillerson, 65, has spent much of his tenure trying to smooth the rough edges of Trump’s unilateralist “America First” foreign policy, with limited success. On several occasions, the  president publicly undercut his diplomatic initiatives. A source familiar with Tillerson’s thinking said the secretary of state’s original plan when he took the job was to leave in February. If carried out, the staff changes would be the latest in a string of firings or resignations in the Trump administration including the departures of the chief of staff, national security adviser and FBI director. Pompeo, 53, has taken tough foreign policy stands,  especially on Iran, and talked about how his agency is becoming more aggressive and how he has been focusing on deploying more CIA officers overseas.     He has offered effusive praise for Trump despite the president’s criticism of U.S. intelligence agencies, some of which concluded that Russia conducted an influence campaign to boost Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Tillerson has at times put distance between himself and Trump’s positions. At a private dinner of foreign policy veterans last month, a senior White House official criticized Tillerson for failing to support the president’s agenda, according to a person familiar with the matter. Tillerson joined Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in pressing  Trump not to pull the United States out of an agreement with Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.   Tillerson has taken a more hawkish view than Trump on Russia and tried to mediate a dispute after four Arab nations launched a boycott of Qatar. In September in Beijing, Tillerson said Washington was probing North Korea to see whether it was interested in dialogue, and had multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang. The next day, Trump appeared to dismiss those efforts in a tweet, telling Tillerson he was “wasting his time.” Tensions have also run high between Tillerson and veteran diplomats who oppose his proposed staff and budget cuts.

Summary: टिलरसन की जगह सी. आई. ए. प्रमुख को नियुक्त करने की योजना पर विचार कर रहे हैं ट्रम्पः अमेरिकी अधिकारी


(Reuters) - Conservative frontrunner Sebastian Pinera and center-left Alejandro Guillier lead a crowded field of candidates in Chile s presidential election on Sunday, widely seen as a referendum on the reforms of outgoing President Michelle Bachelet. The following are the main policies supported by Pinera and Guillier: - A billionaire businessman who served as president from 2010 to 2014, Pinera has promised to make Chile the first country in Latin America to achieve  developed nation  status in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based club of wealthy nations. - Pinera, the market favorite, would cut corporate taxes to increase investments and said his policies would double economic growth in his term. - Pinera s $14 billion, four-year spending plan includes an overhaul of Bachelet s tax reform that would cost $2.7 billion in new investments in infrastructure and hospitals. Pinera said he would pay for his proposals by cutting  unnecessary  government spending and simplifying the tax code. - Pinera s $3 billion plan to revitalize Chile s pension system, which is criticized as delivering small payouts, includes new subsidies to raise pensions for women and the middle class, as well as incentives to encourage workers to retire later. - To help revive cash-strapped state miner Codelco, the world s No. 1 copper producer, Pinera has committed to overturn a dictatorship-era law that transfers 10 percent of the company s export sales to the military. He also wants Codelco to deploy a  realistic investment plan using existing resources  and to focus on existing assets rather than new projects. - Guillier, a former journalist elected to the Senate in 2013, has pledged to diversify Chile s economy away from the dominant copper industry. He wants to add value to commodities exports by processing more copper at home and give communities outside Santiago a stronger say in decision-making. - Following the lead of ally Bachelet, Guillier has called for rewriting Chile s constitution to formally recognize indigenous communities and to codify the rights of workers to collective bargaining and to strike.  - To boost payouts from the pension system, Guillier has proposed raising fiscal spending on pensions and introducing a new, mandatory contribution from employers. Guillier would also increase regulation and oversight of private pension fund administrators. - Like Pinera, Guillier has called for the repeal of Codelco s mandatory contribution to the military, but wants the state-run miner to stay active abroad to ensure it remains the world s top copper producer. He has also signaled he would seek to maintain Codelco s relations with workers that has spared the company the strikes that have hit private miners under Bachelet.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः जहाँ चिली के शीर्ष राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार सुधारों पर खड़े हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie top Donald Trump’s short list to be his vice presidential running mate, sources said, but the candidate is casting a wide net that also includes several U.S. senators and other governors. With less than three weeks to go until his formal nomination at the Republican National Convention as the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 election, Trump’s search for a No. 2 has intensified. The wealthy businessman, a political neophyte, has said he wants a political veteran to help him navigate the power corridors of Washington.Gingrich and Christie, both loyal to Trump at a time when many Republican colleagues want nothing to do with him, would meet his requirement for experience - but would come with minuses as well as pluses. Other names to watch include U.S. Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Governors Mike Pence of Indiana and Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Republicans close to the campaign said this week.     Trump has set up a meeting with Pence this weekend, a spokesman for the governor said on Friday. The New Yorker has also met with Corker and Fallin. “Mr. Trump is meeting with a number of Republican leaders in the run-up to the convention in Cleveland, and he has a good relationship with Gov. Pence,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in an email response to a question from Reuters. An experienced running mate also could help with fundraising. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, raised more than $40 million for her campaign in June and about $28 million for her party. Trump, who largely self-funded his primary run, has not yet released June fundraising numbers.  Trump is expected to name his running mate close to the July 18-21 convention.  Gingrich, who was speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s and ran for president in 2012, is a popular conservative writer and speaker, and has been an important behind-the-scenes voice in urging Trump to adopt a more presidential demeanor. But because Trump is 70 and Gingrich is 73, they could face difficulty appealing to a younger generation. Christie quickly endorsed Trump after quitting the race early this year. A source said the 53-year-old governor has emerged as a key adviser to Trump and his campaign team. A source said Christie was instrumental in coaxing Trump to be less confrontational with a Mexican-American federal judge overseeing a fraud case involving Trump. One clue to Christie’s rising importance came earlier this week when some campaign supporters held a conference call to discuss strategy and talking points for media appearances. A source said that during the call Christie’s name was raised as someone who might comment on former President Bill Clinton’s meeting earlier this week with Attorney General Loretta Lynch. As a former federal prosecutor, Christie would be a credible voice.  Monday night’s private meeting of Clinton and Lynch, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, has been criticized because Hillary Clinton is under federal investigation for using a private email server when she was Democratic President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. The source said campaign associates made clear Christie was not to be used for this purpose. “They’re saving him for the general election,” the source said. “They don’t want to overexpose him.” Still, many Republicans are waiting to see whether Christie is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 2014 case involving charges that lanes on the George Washington Bridge were closed in New Jersey for political reasons. Corker, 63, offers Trump deep foreign policy experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, like Trump, believes the Republican Party needs shaking up. His stock may have gone down, however, because he has not hesitated to criticize the candidate at times. Ernst, a first-term senator and military veteran, could help improve Trump’s standing with women. She tacitly supported rival Marco Rubio during the Republican nominating campaign, though she has promised to support the party’s nominee. Ernst, who turned 46 on Friday, said earlier this month that the Trump campaign had not contacted her. The same goes for Oklahoma’s Fallin, who was among several Republican governors who met jointly with Trump in June. “It’s an honor to be mentioned for the office of vice president. I have not had any conversation with Mr. Trump about the vice presidency,” Fallin, 61, said in a statement. Some Republicans could be considered even if they have not had recent contact with the campaign. Alice Stewart, a former spokeswoman for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, said the Texan’s running mate, Carly Fiorina, was only told late in the vetting that she might be picked. Trump’s vetting is being conducted by Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse, a longtime fixture in national Republican politics.

Summary: गिंगरिच, क्रिस्टी उपराष्ट्रपति पद के विकल्पों की ट्रम्प की सूची में सबसे आगे


DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - A planned meeting of leaders of the 11 countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been postponed after Canada failed to agree to the terms of a deal that the others had reached, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday. The leaders were set to meet on Friday on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam to discuss how to push ahead with TPP, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not show up, sources told Reuters.  As for TPP 11, a broad agreement has been reached at a ministerial meeting yesterday. But the Canadian side said today they are not yet at the stage where its leader can confirm the agreement reached among ministers,  Abe told reporters.  All the other leaders are already in the stage where their leaders can confirm the ministerial-level agreement,  he said. He did not say when the leaders would meet next.

Summary: कनाडा की असहमति के बाद टी. पी. पी. नेताओं की बैठक स्थगित की गईः जापान के आबे


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican cement maker is ready to lend its services to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to build the wall he wants to erect on the southern border of the United States to curb immigration. “We can’t be choosy,” Enrique Escalante, Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) said in an interview. “We’re an important producer in that area and we have to respect our clients on both sides of the border.” Republican Trump campaigned vowing to build a “big, beautiful, powerful” wall across the 2,000 mile (3,200 km) frontier in order to stop illegal immigrants from Mexico, which he accused of sending rapists and drug traffickers north. The campaign of the New York businessman who has never previously held public office was widely reviled in Mexico. Parts of the border are already divided by high fences, and a huge part of the boundary runs along the Rio Grande river. Based in Chihuahua, a large northern state bordering Texas and New Mexico, GCC is one of the biggest construction materials companies in Mexico. It generates around 70 percent of its sales in the United States, where it also has three plants. Escalante said Trump’s plans to invest in energy and infrastructure in the United States augured well for the firm.     “For the business we’re in, Trump is a candidate that does favor the industry quite a bit,” Escalante said. GCC, whose shares are trading at their highest levels since 2008, is 23 percent owned by Mexican multinational cement company Cemex, which at the end of September announced plans to sell its stake.

Summary: सीमा पर दीवार बनाने में ट्रंप की मदद के लिए तैयार है मैक्सिकन सीमेंट निर्माता


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that  spymania  had been artificially whipped up between Russia and the United States, and that eventually relations between the two countries would get back to normal. He said that contacts between Russian officials and members of U.S. President Donald Trump s team during his election campaign had been routine, but had been twisted by Trump s opponents. Asked by a reporter what he thought about Trump s record in office, Putin said it was not for him to judge, but that he saw significant achievements from the Trump administration.

Summary: रूस के पुतिन ने वाशिंगटन को 'जासूस' बताते हुए शोक व्यक्त किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said Thursday it had withdrawn or removed from active consideration more than 800 proposed regulations that were never finalized during the Obama administration as it works to shrink the federal government’s regulatory footprint. In a report, the Trump administration said it had withdrawn 469 planned actions that had been part of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda published last fall. Officials also reconsidered 391 active regulatory proceedings by reclassifying them as long-term or inactive “allowing for further careful review,” the White House said. The steps to eliminate regulations makes good on a much-repeated Trump campaign promise to promote business-friendly policies. Investors have anticipated the action, helping to push share prices higher on hopes that fewer regulations will boost business growth and lead to higher corporate profits. The Trump administration has identified nearly 300 regulations related to energy production and environmental protection it plans to rescind, review or delay across three agencies – the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior and Energy Departments. Trump had identified several of the regulations as targets in his March executive orders on energy, but they will now undergo a formal rulemaking process to be rescinded or revised. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the administration was addressing “that slow cancer that can come from regulatory burdens that we put on our people.” In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place “regulatory reform” task forces and officers within federal agencies in what may be the most far-reaching effort to pare back U.S. red tape in recent decades. Trump has vowed a sweeping cut in U.S. regulations and previously ordered agencies to repeal two rules for every new one adopted. The Interior Department is reviewing an Obama-era rule that directed companies to reduce venting and flaring and methane leaks from oil and gas production on federal and tribal land, according to a White House semi-annual government-wide regulation report. Representatives of the oil and gas industry cheered.  “We just got through eight years of a regulatory onslaught, aimed at curtailing oil and gas production. So we are very supportive of the administration’s efforts to roll back regulation,” said Kathleen Sgamma, head of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas drillers in Western states. She said membership was particularly pleased about the effort to repeal the methane rule, which the industry estimated would have cost about $50,000 per well. Methane is one of the gases scientists say is driving global climate change.  The U.S. Transportation Department said it would review a number of Obama administration proposals that were close to being finalized including making automobile event data recorders mandatory, requiring sounds for electric cars and updating some crash test dummy standards. The government also said it does not plan to complete a number of airline-related regulatory actions within the next year, including new rules required by Congress generally requiring quick automated refunds for any baggage fees when checked luggage is not delivered. The Energy Department listed dozens of energy efficiency standards for commercial and household appliances that it would review. The White House said the regulatory agenda “represents the beginning of fundamental regulatory reform and a reorientation toward reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on the American people.” But some condemned the plan. “Six months into the administration, the only accomplishments the president has had is to rollback, delay and rescind science-based safeguards,” said Yogin Kothari of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Today’s release of the regulatory agenda confirms just as much. It continues to perpetuate a false narrative that regulations only have costs and no benefits.” Among the labeling requirements pushed back are Agriculture Department rules regarding production labeling on “natural” for meat and poultry as well as the bioengineering disclosure standard. The regulatory agenda calls for the U.S. Labor Department to rescind an Obama-era rule that prohibits restaurants and bars from forcing servers to share their tips with untipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers. That 2011 tip-pooling regulation is also the subject of a legal challenge by the National Restaurant Association, which has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the rule.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने सैकड़ों प्रस्तावित नियमों को हटाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the U.S. presidential election has set off a round of resume-polishing across Washington, as the nation’s federal civil servants prepare for a leader who has promised to freeze hiring and reverse many of the policies they have spent the past eight years putting in place.  While anti-Washington rhetoric is a staple of U.S. politics, more than two dozen federal workers interviewed by Reuters said Trump’s divisive presidential campaign pointed to bigger potential problems than those that would normally come with a routine switch from a Democratic to a Republican administration.     The New York businessman’s lack of political experience and contentious rhetoric have prompted some to assess whether they should leave government before he takes office on Jan. 20.     As the Republican presidential candidate, Trump encouraged his supporters to harass journalists and attack protesters. He vowed to sue news outlets and women who accused him of sexual assault and said he would jail his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump’s conduct has caused some undercover agents to worry that their identities could be made public if they step out of line, said Susan Hennessey, a former attorney at the National Security Agency who has been urging people in government to keep working in Trump’s administration to help resist potential abuses of power. “I can’t and don’t blame anyone who feels they can’t stay,” she said. Other federal workers worry their integrity could be compromised if they work on cases that affect Trump’s vast business interests. Trump’s taxes are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service and the National Labor Relations Board is involved in a labor dispute at his Las Vegas hotel. Changes to tax laws or pollution rules could potentially impact some of his property holdings. “Do I get out or is it all the more important that I stay in to push back on the problematic things?” said one federal worker, who, like others interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation at work. A transfer of power always convulses Washington to some degree, particularly when it comes to the departure and arrival of political appointees in more than 4,000 posts. Those top officials oversee 2.7 million civilian workers, from park rangers to tax lawyers, who are expected to enact the president’s agenda and enforce laws passed by Congress regardless of their personal political views. But several workers told Reuters they’d rather leave government service than carry out orders they don’t agree with, pointing specifically at Trump’s vow to undo President Barack Obama’s policies on trade, immigration, health care and environmental protection.  National security officials have printed out their resignation letters, ready to hand them in if Trump tries to revive policies such as waterboarding or mass surveillance of Americans they oppose on legal or moral grounds, according to  more than 20 military, intelligence and Foreign Service officers, who all spoke on condition of anonymity. Regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency privately say they are looking for new jobs ahead of expected cutbacks at their agency, whose climate-change rules were criticized by Trump on the campaign trail.  One manager is urging employees to stay on the job. “Sometimes democracy surprises you.  And while the election results will no doubt bring many changes over the coming months, our job remains the same,” Sarah Dunham, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Atmospheric Programs, wrote to colleagues two days after the election. Misgivings apparently extend into the nation’s 1.5 million military service members as well. A survey released by the Military Times on Friday found that one in five service members said they will not re-enlist with Trump as Commander-in-chief. During his campaign, Trump promised to rescind two regulations for every new one his administration issues and freeze hiring at agencies that don’t cover public safety, public health or national defense. Republicans in Congress have pushed to erode job protections and scale back benefits. That would be a further blow for federal workers who have weathered furloughs, salary freezes and a three-week government shutdown in recent years. The civilian work force has shrunk by 4 percent since Obama’s first year in office, according to White House figures, and it could shrink further. More than one-third of federal workers will be eligible for retirement next year, according to a 2014 Government Accountability Office report. “This isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to us,” said a scientist who manages a fisheries laboratory in the Pacific Northwest of the expected changes. “It’s kind of continual.” There may be a silver lining for those who are trying to get a job working for Uncle Sam. Trump has promised to increase the number of border-security agents and immigration-enforcement officers as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. And several managers said they were rushing to fill vacancies on their teams before Trump’s promised hiring ban takes effect.  “Everybody seems to be scrambling to fill the positions they have open now,” one said.

Summary: क्या मुझे रहना चाहिए या मुझे जाना चाहिए? अमेरिकी सिविल सेवकों ने ट्रम्प के लिए कमर कस ली


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has approved a three-year budget for its flagship public health program almost 20 percent lower than what the health ministry said was needed, according to sources and previously unreported government documents reviewed by Reuters.  The federal finance ministry in August renewed the National Health Mission with $20 billion of funding between 2017-20, against the health ministry s estimated requirement of $25 billion, the documents showed.  Officials familiar with the plan said the finance ministry reduced planned funding because of other spending priorities and because of state governments  poor track record of spending the health budgets they ve been allotted in the past. The finance and health ministries did not respond to several requests for comment.  The National Health Mission is one of the world s largest health programs and forms the backbone of public services in India. It provides everything from free drugs to immunization services to millions of rural poor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi s government has hiked federal funding for the overall health budget this year as part of a plan to improve care and meet a 2025 goal of raising health expenditure to 2.5 percent of GDP from the current 1.15 percent.  The National Health Mission typically accounts for about half of the federal health budget and officials said the lower spending approval would make achieving the government s 2025 target more difficult.  NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES  After focusing on maternal and child health for years, the program had planned to broaden its priorities to tackle the rising threat of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).  Faced with the lower funding, the health ministry has reduced its three-year allocation to tackle NCDs such as cancer and diabetes to $1.4 billion, close to half of the estimated need of $2.4 billion, the documents showed.  The Lancet, a British medical journal, last week said NCDs caused a disease burden in India  like never before . More than 60 percent of deaths in the country during 2016 were due to non-communicable diseases, up from about 38 percent in 1990, according to the publication.  While funding for such diseases up to 2020 will be higher than in recent years, the lower-than-planned approved funding will slow government efforts to tackle these diseases, two government officials said.  The cutbacks in NCDs (spending) are dangerous ... this can potentially stall the NCD screening and management plan,  said Oommen C. Kurian, a health researcher at the New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation. India this year introduced free NCD screening for patients in 100 districts, with plans to eventually cover the country. Beyond non-communicable diseases, spending on strengthening the health system - such as improving district hospitals and patient transport services - will be an estimated $4.3 billion between 2017-20, a third lower than the ministry s request. Planned funding for immunization will be $2.9 billion versus $3.2 billion requested. The spending breakdown for different schemes will be finalised once the health ministry is allocated funding in India s annual budget.      Modi s government has taken steps to improve public healthcare including a 27 percent budget hike this year to $7 billion, accompanied by cuts to prices of critical medical devices and drugs. Shamika Ravi, a health expert at Brookings India, said Modi s government was also pursuing  fundamental structural reforms  to improve healthcare, such as the ranking of district hospitals and empowering state medical officers.  There is a lot of background work happening,  said Ravi, who is also on Modi s economic advisory council.  However, critics say more needs to be done to address the underfunded and overburdened public health system. Some 900,000 children in India died before turning five in 2016, the highest in the world, The Lancet estimates. In March, health officials faced criticism from other government departments for the National Health Mission s inefficiencies and were asked to rework the renewal proposal for 2017-20 after they drew up spending estimates of $33 billion.  The health ministry revised the cost to nearly $25 billion, but the finance ministry reduced estimates by another $5 billion while approving the plan, the documents showed. The estimates were pared back because Modi s government has other priorities and because the finance ministry wants to control spending as it seeks to balance fiscal deficit targets while boosting growth, several government officials aware of the process said.  It s about political priorities - you have programs on roads, on infrastructure, on ports,  said one of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The government is also concerned states do not have the governance capacity to spend large health budgets efficiently, officials said. A shortage of workers, bureaucratic bungling and slow procurement processes have plagued the states  health systems. More than $1.4 billion in health budgets was unspent by states by 2015-16, India s federal auditor said earlier this year.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः भारत ने महत्वपूर्ण सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य योजना के लिए नियोजित वित्त पोषण को कम किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday said they agreed on a new package of sanctions on North Korea, and that the Senate Banking Committee would act on the legislation next week, while President Donald Trump is on his first trip to Asia since taking office. Among other measures, the “Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act of 2017,” named after a U.S. student who died after he was imprisoned in North Korea, would strengthen and expand existing sanctions and strengthen Congress’ oversight of North Korea sanctions. It would also impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions, such as Chinese banks found to provide services to any individual targeted for North Korea-related sanctions by the U.S. Congress, a presidential executive order or U.N. Security Council resolution. The new sanctions bill would require Trump, or any other U.S. president, to notify congressional committees of any intention to terminate or suspend the sanctions. It would also require the president to submit regular reports on the system for licensing transactions and regular briefings for Congress by the administration. The international community has been working to come up with a response to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programs that does not involve potentially catastrophic military action. Members of the U.S. Congress in particular have called for China, and Chinese banks, to do more to clamp down on Pyongyang. North Korea this year conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and has test-fired a volley of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that, if perfected, could potentially reach the U.S. mainland. The sanctions bill was agreed upon by Republican Senator Mike Crapo, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sherrod Brown, its ranking member, along with panel members Pat Toomey, a Republican, and Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat. “The time has come for the U.S. to take the lead to ensure that all nations work together to isolate the Kim regime until it has no choice but to change its dangerous, belligerent behavior,” Crapo said in a statement.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने उत्तर कोरिया के नए प्रतिबंधों पर सहमति व्यक्त की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives helped pave the way on Thursday for deep tax cuts sought by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders, but barely overcame a revolt within party ranks that could foreshadow trouble ahead. The Republican-controlled House voted 216-212 to pass a budget blueprint for the 2018 fiscal year. The measure will enable the tax legislation, due to be introduced next week, to win congressional approval without any Democratic votes. But House Republican leaders came within two votes of failure. Democrats were unified in their opposition, and 20 Republicans voted against the bill, many expressing disapproval of a provision that would repeal an income tax deduction for state and local taxes. Discord is also looming over a potential provision to scale back a popular tax-deferred U.S. retirement savings program known as a 401(k). Both those provisions are aimed at offsetting revenue losses that would result from the planned sweeping tax cuts, particularly for companies.  Democrats have called the tax plan a giveaway to the rich and corporations that would swell the federal deficit. Republicans are traditionally opposed to letting the deficit grow. But in a stark reversal of that stance, the party’s budget resolution, previously passed by the Senate, called for adding up to $1.5 trillion to federal deficits over the next decade to pay for the tax cuts. Several conservative Republicans voted against it because of deficit concerns. One of them, Representative Justin Amash, wrote on Twitter, “What happened to fiscal conservatism?”   The outline of the Republican plan announced last month would cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, the small business rate to 25 percent from up to 39.6 percent and the top individual rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent. Trump, who promised major tax cuts as a candidate last year, has asked Congress to pass the tax legislation by the end of the year. Even though his fellow Republicans control both the House and Senate, the president has been unable to secure passage of major legislation, having failed to repeal the Obamacare law. Republicans are also looking for a signature achievement as the 2018 congressional election year approaches. “Big News - Budget just passed!” Trump wrote on Twitter. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has said he wants the House to pass the tax overhaul by the Nov. 23 Thanksgiving holiday, said passage of the budget resolution was an “enormous step” toward that goal. But he declined to take a position on the possibility of capping annual tax-free contributions into 401(k) plans, which for four decades have helped millions of Americans save for retirement by offering tax savings.  Trump and Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means committee, reopened the door to the possibility of such caps on Wednesday as Republicans scramble to find sources of revenue to cover the tax cuts.  Brady on Thursday said he was working toward an agreement on the 401(k) issue with Trump and Republicans who want to keep the tax break in place. “They made it clear. They need this problem solved before they vote ‘yes’ on tax reform,” Brady added. Brady said he planned to introduce the tax bill next Wednesday and to begin committee deliberations on it the following week, on Nov. 6. REVOLT FROM HIGH-TAX STATES Eliminating the deduction would hit middle-class voters in high-tax states like California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Republican Representative John Katko of New York, leaving a meeting with Brady, said supporters of the deduction “stood firm, saying ‘no’ as a group today to let them know we’re not kidding.” But one Republican senator warned that his party will have to stick to its commitment to eliminate tax breaks. “If groups see that you’re willing to deal something away if they raise enough Cain, the whole thing’s going to fall apart. We’ve gotta hang tough,” Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on CNBC. The budget plan will enable the 100-seat Senate to pass tax legislation with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote super-majority, hard to reach given Democrats’ opposition. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 margin in the Senate. The White House and congressional Republicans excluded Democrats as they developed the plan. “Right here before our eyes, in this House, the Republicans are replacing the great American ladders of opportunity with the silver spoon of plutocracy and aristocracy,” top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi said during the debate on the budget measure. Independent analysts forecast last month that corporations and the wealthiest Americans would benefit the most and many upper middle-income people would face higher taxes under the tax outline unveiled by the Republicans. The proposal would cut taxes for companies and individuals by up to $6 trillion over the next decade, the analysts said.

Summary: हाउस ने ट्रम्प कर कटौती के लिए मार्ग प्रशस्त करने वाले उपाय को संकीर्ण रूप से पारित किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union s Brexit negotiator praised on Friday the speech of British Prime Minister Theresa May for a  constructive spirit  in divorce talks with the EU, but said he needed more clarity on what some of her declarations meant.  The speech shows a willingness to move forward, as time is of the essence,  Michel Barnier said in a statement.  Prime Minister May s statements are a step forward but they must now be translated into a precise negotiating position of the UK government.  Barnier, who is conducting negotiations on Britain s exit form the EU in March 2019 on behalf of the 27 governments remaining in the bloc, noted May did not address the issue of the future of Northern Ireland s relations with Ireland. He also said he would need to discuss further May s pledge that Britain recognized that no EU country would have to pay more in to the EU budget or receive less from it because of Brexit.  We stand ready to discuss the concrete implications of this pledge. We shall assess, on the basis of the commitments taken by the 28 Member States, whether this assurance covers all commitments made by the United Kingdom as a Member State of the European Union,  he said. He said that Britain s request for a two-year transition period after it leaves the EU, during which London would still be part of the EU s single market, could be discussed as soon as there was agreement on the principles of the divorce.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने मई के भाषण की रचनात्मक भावना की प्रशंसा की, अधिक स्पष्टता चाहता है


GENEVA/YANGON (Reuters) - The United Nations braced on Friday for a possible  further exodus  of Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh six weeks after the world s fastest-developing refugee emergency began, U.N. humanitarian aid chief said. Some 515,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar s western state of Rakhine in an unrelenting movement of people that began after Myanmar security forces responded to Rohingya militant attacks with a brutal crackdown. The United Nations has denounced the Myanmar military offensive as ethnic cleansing but Myanmar insists its forces are fighting  terrorists  who have killed civilians and burnt villages. Rights groups say more than half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine state have been torched in a campaign by the security forces and Buddhist vigilantes to drive out Muslims. Mark Lowcock, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, reiterated an appeal for access to the population in northern Rakhine, saying the situation was  unacceptable . Buddhist-majority Myanmar has blocked most access to the area, although some agencies have offices open in towns there and the International Committee of the Red Cross is helping the Myanmar Red Cross to deliver aid.  This flow of people of Myanmar hasn t stopped yet. Obviously there s into the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still in Myanmar, and we want to be ready in case there is a further exodus,  Lowcock told a news briefing in Geneva.  Lowcock said a senior U.N. official was expected to visit Myanmar in the next few days. An estimated 2,000 Rohingya are arriving in Bangladesh every day, Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration, told a separate briefing. Myanmar officials have said they attempted to reassure groups trying to flee to Bangladesh but could not stop people who were not citizens from leaving. The official Myanmar News Agency said on Friday  large numbers  of Muslims were preparing to cross the border. It cited their reasons as  livelihood difficulties , health problems, a  belief  of insecurity and fear of becoming a minority. RAIN-DRENCHED CAMPS Aid agencies have warned of a malnutrition crisis with about 281,000 people in Bangladesh in urgent need of food, including 145,000 children under five and more than 50,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women. Cholera is a risk, amid fears of disease spreading in the rain-drenched camps where aid workers are trying to install sanitation systems, a spokesman for the World Health Organization said. About 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine are due to arrive this weekend and a vaccination campaign should start on Tuesday. U.N.-led aid bodies have appealed for $434 million over six months to help up to 1.2 million people - including 300,000 Rohingya already in Bangladesh before the latest crisis and 300,000 Bangladeshi villagers in so-called host communities. The Rohingya are regarded as illegal immigrants in Myanmar and most are stateless. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has faced criticism for not doing more to stop the violence, although a military-drafted constitution gives her no power over the security forces. She has condemned rights abuses and said Myanmar was ready to start a process agreed with Bangladesh in 1993 by which anyone verified as a refugee would be accepted back. Lowcock said talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh on a repatriation plan were a useful first step.  But there is clearly a long way to go,  he said. Both the United States and Britain have warned Myanmar the crisis is putting at risk the progress it has made since the military began to loosen its grip on power. China, which built close ties with Myanmar while it was under military rule and Western sanctions, has been supportive. In Washington, U.S. officials said sanctions and the withholding of aid were among the options available to press Myanmar to halt the violence but they had to be careful to avoid worsening the crisis.  We don t want to take actions that exacerbate their suffering. There is that risk in this complicated environment,  Patrick Murphy, a deputy assistant secretary of state, told a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. Murphy said efforts were under way to identify those responsible for rights violations.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र को म्यांमार से मुस्लिम रोहिंग्याओं के 'आगे पलायन' की आशंका


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s repeat presidential election must be held within the 60 days stipulated in the constitution after the Supreme Court nullified the result of a vote held last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday.  Kenyatta also accused the court of reaching its decision without scrutinizing and verifying the forms used to tally the Aug. 8 vote and said the decision could thrust the country into judicial chaos. The Kenyan election board said earlier that it had now rescheduled the election for Oct. 26 after a French firm providing the technology for the polls said it would not be ready in time for Oct. 17, the previous date set for the re-run.

Summary: केन्या के राष्ट्रपति ने कहा कि निर्धारित समय के भीतर चुनाव दोहराया जाना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, on Wednesday described the president’s Twitter attacks on the judiciary as “disheartening and demoralizing,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said. Gorsuch spokesman Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist hired by the White House to help guide the judge’s nomination through the U.S. Senate, confirmed that Gorsuch used those words when he met Blumenthal. Trump took to Twitter over the weekend to condemn the Friday order by Judge James Robart that placed on hold the president’s Jan. 27 temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries and on all refugees.  The administration appealed that ruling to a three-judge federal appeals panel, which is due to decide the issue this week. [nL5N1FP0A9] Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, referred to Robart as a “so-called judge” and said his “ridiculous” opinion “essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country.” In an interview with CNN, Blumenthal said he told Gorsuch that he found Trump’s attacks on the judiciary unacceptable and asked the judge to condemn them. “After some back and forth, he did say that he found them to be disheartening and demoralizing,” said Blumenthal, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, which will hold a confirmation hearing on Gorsuch’s nomination. He said Gorsuch was “non-committal” about publicly criticizing the attacks, “and that’s one reason why I remain deeply concerned about this nomination.” U.S. presidents are usually hesitant to weigh in on judicial matters out of respect for a U.S. Constitution clause ensuring a separation of powers between the executive branch, Congress and the judiciary.  Trump nominated Gorsuch on Jan. 31 to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia on the nine-member court. Scalia died a year ago this month. “As the nominee of a President who has viciously attacked the independence of the judiciary and declared multiple litmus tests for justices, Judge Gorsuch has a special responsibility to reassure the American people that he will be an open-minded and independent jurist,” Blumenthal said in a statement earlier.  “If he wants the American people to believe that he is truly independent, Judge Gorsuch must tell them in no uncertain terms that President Trump’s attacks are not just disappointing – they are abhorrent and destructive to our Constitutional system – and he must condemn them publicly,” Blumenthal said.

Summary: अमेरिकी उच्च न्यायालय के उम्मीदवार ने न्यायपालिका पर ट्रम्प के हमलों को 'हतोत्साहित करने वाला' कहा


SEOUL (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering attending the winter Olympics in South Korea in February despite escalating tension after North Korea s latest missile test on Wednesday, the South s presidential office said. Abe raised the possibility of attending the games during a telephone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which they said they would  no longer tolerate  North Korea s increasing security threats and they would tighten sanctions and pressure against it, Moon s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told a news briefing.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया का कहना है कि जापान के आबे प्योंगचांग ओलंपिक में भाग लेने पर विचार कर रहे हैं