BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria on Thursday said U.S. President Barack Obama could well keep working until his last day in office to end the war in Syria, and Russia did not want to be held responsible for the demolition of eastern Aleppo. “I would never underestimate an outgoing U.S. president as a lame duck,” Staffan de Mistura said in an interview published on Friday in Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “President Obama .... and Secretary of State John Kerry are very motivated to end the greatest humanitarian tragedy of this century that has played out during their time in office. It’s about their legacy,” de Mistura said. De Mistura on Tuesday had expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could launch a “brutal” new offensive to crush rebel-held eastern Aleppo before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. He said his recent meetings in Damascus showed the Syrian regime had been emboldened by Trump’s comments during the campaign about ending support for the Syrian opposition. But he said he reminded Syrian leaders that any U.S. president would face massive public pressure if the situation ended as a human tragedy with 200,000 people starving. De Mistura said he feared eastern Aleppo could be decimated by Christmas if the bombardment continued, which would spur tens of thousands of refugees to flee to Turkey, and could lead to a prolonged guerilla war in rural areas and car bombs in cities. The head of the Syria “White Helmets” volunteer group on Thursday said besieged residents of Aleppo were about ten days from starvation. The U.N. envoy said he believed Russia’s claim that it was not bombing any targets in eastern Aleppo, but added that Moscow was also not stopping Syrian forces from attacking hospitals or other targets in the city. Still, he said he believed Russia was serious about “not wanting to take responsibility for the destruction of eastern Aleppo.” He said it was simply not in the interest of Russia or the Syrian government to be left with a completely destroyed country, five or six years of a “mini-Afghanistan,” and a type of guerrilla war in the rural areas.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र के दूत ने सीरिया युद्ध को समाप्त करने के लिए अमेरिका के निरंतर काम को देखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will delay the release of tax legislation for a day as lawmakers try to overcome differences involving the treatment of retirement savings accounts and state and local taxes, sources said on Tuesday. Two sources knowledgeable about the discussions said the House Republican tax committee is still expected to begin deliberating on tax legislation at hearings set to start on Monday. The bill was initially expected on Wednesday, but the sources said it would be released on Thursday instead.

Summary: हाउस टैक्स बिल जारी करने में गुरुवार तक देरीः सूत्र


HOUSTON (Reuters) - Nustar Energy s oil terminal in the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius suffered damage to several tanks and other equipment due to Hurricane Irma, but all the U.S. firm s employees are safe and no oil spills were registered, it said in a statement. NuStar s Statia terminal has the capacity to store 13.03 million barrels of crude and products. The company also said that no restart date has yet been set, and that it will be working on Thursday to restore power at the facility.  Despite the damage and major clean-up effort, we feel like we fared very well considering the significant power of this storm,  it said.

Summary: नुस्टार का सेंट यूस्टेशियस टर्मिनल इरमा से क्षतिग्रस्त, कोई पुनः आरंभ तिथि निर्धारित नहीं


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it was working to establish the nationality and whereabouts of two people Islamic State said were Russian soldiers who it had captured in Syria, RIA news agency reported. Islamic State released a video on Tuesday that it said showed two soldiers captured by its fighters in the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, where Russia has been backing the Syrian military against militants.

Summary: रूसी बंधकों के बारे में आईएस के दावे की जांच कर रहा है रूसः आरआईए


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s parliament voted on Tuesday on  a formula to halt financial transactions  with the Kurdistan region, in retaliation for last week s independence referendum, Iraqi State TV said, without specifying if vote was binding on the government. The formula would   preserve the interests  of Kurdish citizens, the channel said, hinting that the measures would target the Kurdish leadership.  The channel gave no further details.

Summary: इराक की संसद ने कुर्दिस्तान के साथ लेन-देन रोकने के लिए मतदान कियाः सरकारी टीवी


SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown announced a deal with legislative and labor leaders on Monday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023, saying the nation’s most-populous state would lead the way toward higher pay for the working poor. The proposal, which still must gain support from business-friendly moderate Democrats, would make California the first to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour - the highest in the nation - while giving the governor the right to opt out if the economy falters. “I’m hoping that what happens in California will not just stay in California but will be exported to the rest of the country,” Brown said at a news conference in Sacramento. Raising the minimum wage has cropped up on many Democratic Party candidates’ agendas ahead of the November elections and the issue could help mobilize Democratic voters to the polls. According to the governor’s office, 2.2 million Californians currently earn the state minimum wage of $10 an hour.  The idea of raising the minimum wage, which at the federal level has remained at $7.25 an hour for more than six years, has been opposed by Republicans and some business groups, who say it would harm small businesses and strain government budgets.      If passed, Brown’s plan would commit the state, home to one of the world’s biggest economies, to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 for large businesses and 2023 for smaller firms. It would also head off a pair of competing ballot initiatives championed by labor leaders to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour without allowing the governor to halt increases in bad times, a deal-breaker for Brown.   But passage of the proposal is not guaranteed without support from more moderate members of the Democrat-controlled legislature. Absent from the press conference was Anthony Rendon, speaker of the state Assembly, where the bill was expected to face opposition.  “This deal was placed on my desk over the weekend,” said Rendon, who supports the measure but said he was not involved in negotiations over it. “I don’t know how many folks are in support of the bill or how many are against it.” Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has called for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.  Economic consultant Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics, said increasing the minimum wage would not reduce poverty because low paid workers were most at risk of losing their jobs when employers cut positions. “These are the people that businesses will say, ‘If I’m going to pay $15 bucks an hour, I’m not going to hire them,’” Thornberg said. Fourteen states and several cities began 2016 with minimum wage increases, typically phasing in raises that will ultimately take them to between $10 and $15 an hour.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया सौदा 15 डॉलर न्यूनतम मजदूरी के साथ राज्य को पहले स्थान पर ला सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has started to interview candidates for the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month, National Public Radio reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the process. Among the interviewees are Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; Judge Sri Srinivasan of the same court; Judge Paul Watford of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco; Judge Jane Kelly of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis; and U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves in Washington, D.C., NPR reported.  The first three of these individuals are considered the leading contenders, NPR said. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier on Tuesday asked not to be considered as a nominee, the Justice Department said in a statement. Lynch had been rumored to be under consideration. The process of filling the spot that was held by Scalia,  one of the court’s most conservative justices, has ignited a partisan battle in Washington. Republicans who control the U.S. Senate do not want to see the court shift ideologically to the left and have said they will not hold a vote on Obama’s nominee. All appointees by the president to the Supreme Court are subject to approval by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the winner of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Summary: ओबामा ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट की रिक्तियों के लिए उम्मीदवारों का साक्षात्कार शुरू कियाः एन. पी. आर.


DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates on Sunday denied a report that Yemen s Houthi group had fired a missile toward a nuclear plant in the UAE, state news agency WAM reported on its Twitter account. It quoted the UAE s emergency and crisis management department as saying the UAE possessed a missile defense system that could deal with any such threats and adding the al-Barakah nuclear plant was secure against all eventualities.

Summary: संयुक्त अरब अमीरात ने यमन के हौथियों द्वारा संयुक्त अरब अमीरात की ओर मिसाइल दागे जाने से इनकार किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Country star Garth Brooks is in discussions to perform at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the singer’s representative said on Friday, as organizers of the event denied media reports that they were struggling to find A-list stars to take part. Brooks, 54, one of the world’s best-selling solo artists, performed for Democrat Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, along with a line-up that included Bruce Springsteen, U2, Beyonce, and Stevie Wonder. “Garth has performed for the five living presidents,” his publicist Nancy Seltzer said on Friday. “While rumor has it that he has been asked to perform for President-elect Trump, he has not been able to commit yet.” No celebrities have yet been announced as taking part in the Jan. 20 inauguration. Brooks, a Country Hall of Famer with U.S. sales of more than 135 million albums, is currently in Hawaii as part of a world tour. He is due to perform in Cincinnati, Ohio on Jan. 21 - the day after the inauguration in Washington. Asked on camera by celebrity website TMZ earlier this week if he would sing for Trump, Brooks replied “It’s always about serving. It’s what you do.” Brooks stayed silent during the divisive election in which most stars, including Beyonce, Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Jennifer Lopez, threw their support behind Democrat Hillary Clinton. Hollywood trade publication Variety suggested on Friday that the inaugural committee would have its work cut out trying to match the celebrity turnout for Obama in 2009 given the opposition of much of Hollywood to Trump. Elton John’s spokeswoman last month denied a claim by one member of Trump’s team that the British singer would perform. Boris Epshteyn, communications director for Trump’s inaugural committee, on Friday denied it was having problems assembling talent. “We have world-class talent, world-class entertainers reaching out to us offering their help, offering their services so no struggle, whatsoever,” Epshteyn told ABC television news. The inaugural committee on Friday announced that the theme for the Jan. 20 celebrations would be “Make America Great Again” - the Republican businessman’s campaign slogan. The committee said Trump would attend two official inaugural balls on Jan. 20, down from the 10 attended by Obama. “This is a workman-like inaugural. This is not a coronation,” Epshteyn said. “And you’ve seen some inaugurals in the past that maybe did seem like a coronation. Again, it’s every president’s choice. This president wants to get to work.” (Corrects quote in third para to clarify Brooks has performed for five presidents, not five inaugurations.)

Summary: ट्रम्प के उद्घाटन समारोह के लिए बातचीत में कंट्री स्टार गार्थ ब्रूक्स


ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran has banned the transportation of refined crude oil products by Iranian companies to and from Iraq s Kurdistan region, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Friday, after Tehran vowed to stand by Baghdad following the region s vote for independence.  A directive by the Road and Transportation Organization has temporarily banned carrying oil products from Iran to Iraq s Kurdistan region and vice versa following the latest developments in that region,  Tasnim reported. Iraq s Kurds overwhelmingly backed a call for independence in a referendum on Monday, defying neighboring countries which fear the vote could lead to renewed conflict in the region. A ban on international flights into Iraq s Kurdish region was being imposed on Friday after the Baghdad government retaliated against the vote. Almost all foreign airlines suspended flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya, obeying a notice from the government in Baghdad, which controls Iraqi air space. Iran, which has its own Kurdish minority, had already halted flights to and from Kurdish regions on Sunday.

Summary: ईरान ने इराकी कुर्दिस्तान के साथ तेल रिफाइनरी उत्पादों के यातायात पर प्रतिबंध लगा दियाः रिपोर्ट


(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday: A U.S. federal appeals court in San Francisco unanimously upholds a temporary suspension of President Donald Trump’s order that restricted travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Trump plans to announce the most ambitious tax reform plan since the Reagan era in the next few weeks, the White House says; the dollar and stocks rise after the announcement, despite signals from Congress that the timeline for tax reform is slipping. Nine senators from his own Republican party urge Trump to take a “tough-minded” approach to Russia, joining a growing chorus of lawmakers addressing concerns that he might be too conciliatory toward Moscow. In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, sources say. Considering his comments about Russia, NATO allies are looking for signs that Trump will stick with the U.S. commitment to the alliance made by the Obama administration. Trump disputes bipartisan accounts that his U.S. Supreme Court nominee privately voiced dismay over Trump’s attacks on the judiciary, saying Judge Neil Gorsuch’s comments had been misrepresented. Trump meets with airline executives and then laments what he called an out-of-date U.S. air traffic control system while criticizing current modernization efforts as the “wrong system” and too expensive. A dozen Democratic senators urge the Trump administration to reconsider overhauling and renaming a U.S. government program so it would focus solely on countering Islamist extremism, saying it could jeopardize security and may be illegal. Stephen Feinberg, chief executive of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management [CBS.UL] who backed Trump’s election campaign, is being considered to lead a review of the vast U.S. intelligence operation and whether it can be restructured, current and former officials tell Reuters. Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway draws sharp criticism from a top Republican lawmaker and complaints over the ethics of using her position to urge Americans to buy product lines of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a day after Trump attacked Nordstrom for dropping them. Trump uses the swearing-in ceremony of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to sign three executive orders, including ones targeting transnational drug cartels and those who commit crimes against law enforcement. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will propose new Cabinet-level U.S.-Japan talks on trade, security and macroeconomic issues, including currencies, when he meets Trump on Friday in Washington, a Japanese government official says. Trump and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani discussed opportunities to strengthen ties, security, counterterrorism cooperation and economic development during a telephone call on Thursday, the White House says in a statement.

Summary: हाइलाइट्सः ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी 9 फरवरी को शाम 7.50 बजे ईएसटी


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering increasing energy imports from the United States, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters, as he prepares to meet President Donald Trump, who has complained about Japan’s trade surplus. Japan is putting together a package of plans for Japanese companies to invest in infrastructure and job-creation projects in the United States for Abe to take to the Feb. 10 meeting with Trump in Washington.  Another idea is to offer to increase liquid natural gas (LNG) imports from the United States, a source in the ruling coalition told Reuters. Another option, if Abe determines that Trump is most concerned about the trade gap, is to increase imports of U.S. shale oil or gas on top of the investment package, according to a top executive at a major Japanese corporation who is close to Abe. Japanese officials have been scrambling to respond to Trump’s scattershot comments since he took office.  He has threatened to impose a tax on car imports from Mexico, criticized Japan’s trade gap with the United States and most recently accused Japan, along with China and Germany, of devaluing their currencies to the detriment of U.S. companies. “(Abe) wants to know what’s the most important thing for Trump,” said the executive, who declined to be identified. “If it is the trade surplus that Trump cares the most about, for instance, then we could come up with a few possible solutions,” including importing more U.S. shale oil or gas.  Abe’s approach toward Trump would be “not accommodating, not opposing”, he said. Utilities would be resistant to buying more U.S. shale gas because they have already committed to buying large amounts and Japan’s demand for energy is falling, an executive at a Japanese gas importer told Reuters on condition of anonymity.  Prices for LNG in Asia LNG-AS have fallen by almost a fifth this year amid a supply glut. Japan is the world’s biggest buyer of the gas cooled to liquid form for transport on ships and takes in nearly a third of global shipments. Once seen as a panacea for Japan’s energy crisis after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 led to the shutdown of most reactors in the country, U.S. shale gas is now just one of many options for Japan to meet its needs. Japan took in its first shipment of shale gas in liquid form this month and more shipments are likely to come as more export terminals start shipments this year and next. The Yomiuri newspaper said on Thursday Abe’s growth and jobs initiative would include a plan for Japan and the United States to jointly develop a $450 billion “infrastructure market”, into which the Japanese government and companies would invest $150 billion over 10 years.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः जापान अधिक अमेरिकी ऊर्जा खरीदने पर विचार कर रहा है क्योंकि आबे ट्रम्प से मिलने की तैयारी कर रहे हैं


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish student Ibrahim Halawa was greeted by cheering crowds at Dublin Airport on Tuesday as he arrived home following his acquittal last month in a four-year mass trial. Halawa, who was born and raised in Dublin and is a son of the most senior Muslim cleric in Ireland, was 17 when he was arrested along with hundreds of others in 2013 as part of a crackdown on protests in Egypt.  It still feels like a dream, it s a moment I ve waited for four years. I m a free man. I m hoping I can get my life back, get back to college and get my career,  a smiling Halawa, draped in an Irish flag, told reporters upon his arrival home. Halawa thanked the Irish people, the government and his family for working hard to secure his release. A member of the Irish government, which had lobbied for his return, was among the well-wishers. Halawa and three of his sisters were charged along with nearly 500 others with crimes including breaking into a mosque, killing 44 people, and illegal possession of firearms in violence that followed the military s overthrow of Egypt s Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013. The Halawas said they were on vacation visiting extended family in Egypt and joined a protest against the military s ouster of Mursi while they were there.  The defendants had all faced the death penalty and though none received it, hundreds were given hefty jail sentences. Halawa s sisters were released shortly after their arrests.  This case has been one of the most complex, sensitive and difficult consular cases to which the Irish Government has ever responded. I and all of my colleagues are very pleased Ibrahim s ordeal is now at an end,  Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in a statement. Halawa has said he was regularly tortured during his period in detention. The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied allegations of abuses from rights groups.  They all claim that (torture) and we have often denied (it took place),  a senior Egyptian interior ministry source said.  In the end, there is the prosecution and the court, they are decisive. Anyone who experiences assault in jail must report it to the prosecution or the court...and the prisons are all subjected to inspections.

Summary: मिस्र की जेल में चार साल बिताने वाले छात्र का आयरलैंड ने किया स्वागत


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the repercussions of the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, a statement from the Egyptian presidency said on Wednesday.  Sisi expressed Egypt s rejection of the move and of  any implications resulting from it,  the statement said.

Summary: मिस्र के सिसी ने फिलिस्तीनी राष्ट्रपति अब्बास के साथ अमेरिकी दूतावास के फैसले के नतीजों पर चर्चा कीः राष्ट्रपति का बयान


(Reuters) - Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have allowed ministers and others refuse to marry gay couples because of their religious beliefs. McAuliffe, a Democrat, said the measure approved by the Republican-controlled legislature was unconstitutional and would drive business away from the state. “Although couched as a ‘religious freedom’ bill, this legislation is nothing more than an attempt to stigmatize,” he said in a statement. The Republicans do not have enough votes in the state’s General Assembly to override the veto. The bill would have  granted ministers and others empowered to wed people the right to deny marriage services to same-sex couples if performing them would violate their religious beliefs. McAuliffe’s move comes just days after Georgia’s Republican governor said he would veto a similar bill after the measure drew national criticism.. Similar measures in states such as Indiana and Arkansas sparked criticism last year, forcing many lawmakers to retreat. North Carolina is also seeing protests over anew law that bars transgender people from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Summary: वर्जीनिया के राज्यपाल ने धार्मिक संरक्षण विधेयक पर वीटो लगा दिया है।


MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge ordered nine Catalan secessionist leaders to be held in custody on Thursday pending a potential trial over the region s independence push. The lawyer for ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said a warrant had also been issued for his client s arrest - though the statement was dismissed by a senior official in Spain s High Court. The reason for the differing accounts was not immediately clear. In an short address broadcast by Catalan regional television TV3, Puigdemont called for the release of  the legitimate government of Catalonia , a call echoed by hundreds of people gathered outside the Catalan parliament. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Puigdemont and his government last week, hours after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence - a vote boycotted by the opposition and declared illegal by Spanish courts. Puigdemont later traveled to Belgium with four associates and ignored an order to appear before the High Court to answer charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds relating to the region s secessionist drive.  Mr. Puigdemont will stay here. He has said that he will fully cooperate with Belgian authorities during the procedure,  lawyer Paul Bekaert told Belgian state broadcaster VRT.  He said Puigdemont had told him a European arrest warrant has been issued, though the court source said that would most likely happen on Friday. The detention of the secessionist leaders and Puigdemont s flight to Belgium make it difficult for leading figures from the independence movement to stand in a snap election in the wealthy region called by the Spanish government for Dec. 21. Puigdemont said on Tuesday he would go back to Spain only if given unspecified guarantees by the Spanish government. His flight appears to have cost some support for his cause at home.  President, enough is enough,  the influential Catalan newspaper el Peridico, which has been skeptical of the case for independence, said on its front page on Wednesday. Ebelio Ramos, a pensioner from the pro-independence town of Berga said:  I don t know what they re thinking about but when someone does what he did and declares independence and then flees... A president has to fulfill the law and if he doesn t, it is better that he stays calm, because if he starts doing something outside the law, he is going to lose everything.  Following a tumultuous month, attention is gradually turning to the December vote. Protests taking place in central Barcelona on Thursday to support secessionist leaders as they testified in Madrid failed to attract a big crowd. Several hundred people took part in another protest called after the nine leaders were ordered held in custody, many fewer than the hundreds of thousands who staged several demonstrations for independence over the last two months.  Cracks have appeared within the pro-independence coalition of center-right and far-left parties as well as inside Puigdemont s own PdeCat (Democratic Catalan Party) where some of his allies are now pushing for a negotiated solution with the central government. The struggle has divided Catalonia itself and caused deep resentment across the rest of Spain. In Madrid, 20 secessionist leaders had been summoned by two separate courts to testify over their role in holding a banned Oct. 1 referendum on secession and later proclaiming independence from Spain. With Puigdemont and four others in Belgium, only 15 turned up. All the members of the dismissed Catalan cabinet but one declined to answer questions from the state prosecutor and the High Court judge, who opened an investigation that could take several years before any potential trial.  The defendants have played an active role by propelling the carefully designed secessionist process and overcoming all kinds of obstacles that could make them deviate from their final objective,  the judge said in the ruling that sent the defendants to jail. She said the defendants, who could face jail sentences of up to 50 years, must be held in custody because they were a flight risk and could destroy evidence. One of them, Santi Vila, who stepped down from the Catalan cabinet before a unilateral declaration of independence last Friday and has since then been pushing for a negotiated solution with the government, was granted bail of 50,000 euros ($58,300). A lawyer for several of the jailed Catalan leaders said they would appeal against the judge s decision.  The decision to hold them in custody is absolutely disproportionate as we consider the charges of rebellion and sedition lack any ground, no matter how much the prosecution insists on affirming it,  lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas said. Five senior regional lawmakers and the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, were summoned by the Supreme Court, which handles the cases of people who enjoy parliamentary immunity. The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to give one more week to Forcadell and the Catalan lawmakers to prepare their defense and a new hearing will take place on Nov. 9. The courts have already told the Catalan secessionist leaders to deposit 6.2 million euros ($7.2 million) by Friday to cover potential liabilities.

Summary: स्पेन के न्यायाधीश ने मुकदमा लंबित रहने तक कैटलन नेताओं को हिरासत में लेने का आदेश दिया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that banks doing business in North Korea would not be allowed to also operate in the United States under a new sanctions order aimed at thwarting Pyongyang s nuclear and missiles program.  No bank in any country should be used to facilitate Kim Jong Un s destructive behavior,  Mnuchin told reporters, referring to North Korea s leader.  Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or with North Korea, but not both.  Mnuchin said any sanctions issued under the new executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday would be forward-looking and not target past behavior.

Summary: बैंकों को अमेरिका और उत्तर कोरिया दोनों के साथ व्यापार करने की अनुमति नहीं दी जाएगीः म्नुचिन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged the U.S. media and American public on Friday to examine the “long record” of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and not get distracted by the “spectacle and the circus” aspect of the 2016 election campaign. The Democratic president delivered an indirect swipe at the flamboyant, combative Republican primary campaign run by Trump, a former reality television star, and how media have covered it. “It’s important for us to take seriously the statements he’s made in the past,” Obama said in remarks to reporters. “I just want to emphasize the degree to which we are in serious times and this is a really serious job. “This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.” He said Trump has a long record in public life and that should be closely examined, as should the statements and policy positions of all the candidates. “If they take a position on international issues that could threaten war or has the potential of upending our critical relationships with other countries, or would potential break the financial system - that needs to be reported on,” Obama said. Trump received criticism and angered allies with his comments on rethinking NATO and suggesting Japan and South Korea should consider getting nuclear weapons to defend themselves. He is perceived abroad as pursuing isolationist policies at odds with the current U.S. role in the world. Obama said he would be looking to see the American people are adequately informed about where candidates to replace him in the White House stand on issues, what they believe and whether their budget numbers add up. “What I’m concerned about is the degree to which reporting and information starts emphasizing the spectacle and the circus. Because that’s not something we can afford,” Obama said. “The American people, they’ve got good judgment, they’ve got good instincts - as long as they get good information.”

Summary: ओबामा ने ट्रम्प के रिकॉर्ड की जांच का आग्रह कियाः 'यह मनोरंजन नहीं है'


KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas to disperse supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo s opposition chief on Sunday as they gathered in the capital amid high tensions over election delays keeping President Joseph Kabila in power, a Reuters witness said. Felix Tshisekedi, head of an opposition coalition, is due to fly back to the capital Kinshasa on Sunday after a prolonged absence abroad. Around a dozen supporters had gathered at his family residences in the morning, although there was no sign of violence.  Tshisekedi intends to call for a civil disobedience campaign in order to pressure Kabila, whose mandate expired last year, to step aside. Congolese authorities banned the coalition s planned meeting on Sunday, citing a risk of violence in the Central African country of more than 70 million people.

Summary: पुलिस ने कांगो के विपक्षी नेता के समर्थकों पर आंसू गैस के गोले दागे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he had invited U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to brief lawmakers on efforts over the Zika virus. McConnell, speaking on the Senate floor, said there was an increasing amount of concern about the virus as warmer months approach, and “I think we could all benefit from having a better understanding of what preparations are being made to protect Americans.” He said he had asked Burwell to brief relevant Senate committees and leaders in both parties next week.

Summary: जीका वायरस पर प्रयासों के बारे में सांसदों को जानकारी देंगे अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य सचिव


BNEI BRAK, Israel (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews crammed into the streets of a Tel Aviv suburb on Tuesday to mourn a 104-year-old rabbi who had significantly influenced a succession of Israeli coalition governments. Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman led a council of sages that controlled the small Degel Hatorah lawmakers  faction, part of the United Torah Judaism party, which has often held the balance of power in Israel. In particular, Shteinman broke with tradition by giving tacit consent to the enlistment of religious soldiers in the first ultra-Orthodox unit set up by the Israeli military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government includes ultra-Orthodox political parties, said the Jewish people had  lost a central beacon of spirit, heritage and morality . Special buses and trains ferried mourners to Bnei Brak, a religious town on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Police estimated that several hundred thousand people gathered for the funeral procession, dressed in traditional black ultra-Orthodox garb. Shteinman, born in what is now Belarus, had led his community of Lithuanian-rooted ultra-Orthodox Jews since 2012.

Summary: इज़राइल में लाखों लोग 104 वर्षीय अति-रूढ़िवादी रब्बी का शोक मनाते हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has told jailed Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe that she will appear in court next month accused of spreading propaganda, her husband, Richard, said on Thursday.  She s been told she will appear in court on Dec. 10,  he told Reuters. He said that he understood she would appear in court charged with spreading propaganda. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Zaghari-Ratcliffe s fate become a major political issue in Britain after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made remarks on Nov. 1 that appeared to cast doubt on statements from her employer about what she had been doing in Iran.  The Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News, said she had been on holiday. Johnson told a parliamentary committee he understood she had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016. He later apologized for his remarks. The Thomson Reuters Foundation said she had not been training journalists in Iran. Iranian state television has said Johnson s comments showed Zaghari-Ratcliffe s guilt and that she was involved in spying.

Summary: ईरान ने जेल में बंद ईरानी-ब्रिटिश सहायता कार्यकर्ता के लिए 10 दिसंबर की अदालत की तारीख निर्धारित की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to exert Beijing s pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang said it successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the White House said.  Trump emphasized the need for China to use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization,  the White House said in its statement after the two leaders spoke earlier on Wednesday.

Summary: ट्रंप ने चीन के शी से उत्तर कोरिया को उकसावे बंद करने के लिए मनाने का आग्रह कियाः व्हाइट हाउस


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa has called on  citizens to remain peaceful and desist from any form of  vengeful retribution , days after Robert Mugabe resigned from power. Mnangagwa s supporters were angered by his dismissal early this month, a move that triggered the military to intervene. Some of the supporters have been calling for unspecified action against the G40 group that backed Mugabe and his wife.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के मनांगाग्वा ने किसी भी प्रकार के 'प्रतिशोधपूर्ण प्रतिशोध' के खिलाफ कहा


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged party leaders negotiating a tricky three-way coalition government to show more willingness to compromise, as support for her conservative bloc plunged to the lowest level in more than six years. Merkel s conservatives, who bled support to the far-right Alternative for Germany in a Sept. 24 election, are trying to forge an alliance with the pro-market Free Democrats (FDP) and the left-leaning Greens which is untested at the national level. Despite three weeks of exploratory talks, the unlikely partners still have to overcome differences over climate protection, energy, transport, immigration and euro zone policy. Speaking ahead of a meeting in which party leaders were expected to sum up progress made so far and bridge some gaps, Merkel said all parties had first exchanged their views and then consolidated the approaches by highlighting their differences.  Now in this third phase, the task is to find compromises,  Merkel said, adding that there was still a lot of work to do.  But from my point of view, a solution can be reached with goodwill,  Merkel said.  If this will be achieved, we ll not know before the end of the week, however.  FDP leader Christian Lindner put the onus on Merkel s  Christian Democrats (CDU) and her Bavarian CSU allies, saying his party and the Greens had already given ground.  The Greens and the FDP have moved. Now it s up to the conservatives to show some flexibility. I assume there is goodwill from all sides,  Lindner said. Katrin Goering-Eckardt from the Greens said she wanted to see a leap from the other negotiation partners. But CSU leader Horst Seehofer declined to comment when asked by reporters what compromises he was willing to offer. The Greens made concessions on Tuesday by no longer insisting on fixed dates to ban cars with combustion engines and to shut down coal-fired power stations. The FDP gave ground by accepting more modest income tax cuts than an election campaign pledge of up to 40 billion euros in relief. Lindner also dropped an election manifesto pledge to phase out the ESM euro zone bailout fund. Merkel wants to have an agreement in principle by Nov. 16 on moving ahead to formal coalition negotiations to form a black-yellow-green government   dubbed a  Jamaica coalition  because the parties  colours match those of that country s flag. With less than a week to go, the exploratory coalition talks are not only complicated by the differences between the parties, but also by splits within the political parties themselves   especially within the conservatives and Greens. A breakdown of the talks could mean fresh elections in Germany,  Europe s biggest economy, since the Social Democrats (SPD)   the second biggest party   have made clear they have no appetite for joining another  grand coalition  under Merkel. A survey by Emnid for Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed only 30 percent would vote for Merkel s CDU/CSU bloc if there were a federal election this Sunday, down 1 percentage point. This is the lowest reading for the conservatives in this survey since October 2011 and marks a slump in support since the Sept. 24 election, in which Merkel s bloc won 32.9 percent. Touching on one of the thorniest issues, Merkel said on Saturday that Germany should lead the fight against climate change and cut emissions without destroying industrial jobs. Merkel s comments, made in her weekly podcast and in the middle of talks on limiting global warming attended by about 200 nations in the western German city of Bonn, highlighted the dilemma facing the centre-right leader in the negotiations. While the CDU/CSU and the FDP want to spare companies from additional burdens, the Greens want to spell out which measures the next government will implement for Germany to reach its 2020 goal of lowering emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels. Due to strong economic growth and higher-than-expected immigration, Germany is at risk of missing its emissions target without any additional measures.

Summary: मर्केल ने गठबंधन वार्ता के अंतिम चरण में पहुंचने पर समझौता करने का आग्रह किया


(Reuters) - Four U.S. senators have asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into a deal drugmaker Allergan Plc (AGN.N) struck with a Native American tribe to protect some of its patents from generic challenge, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Democrats Maggie Hassan, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey and Richard Blumenthal in the letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday called Allergan’s deal “a blatantly anti-competitive attempt to shield its patents from review and keep drug prices high.” Allergan said on Sept. 8 that it was transferring patents on its dry eye medication Restasis to upstate New York’s Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which agreed to exclusively license them back to the company in exchange for ongoing payments. Allergan said in an emailed response to a Reuters request for comment that it met last week with the staffs of Senators Brown and Hassan to provide detailed briefings on the agreement. “We would welcome the opportunity to provide additional briefings for these Senators, as well as the opportunity to brief Senators Casey and Blumenthal, and answer any questions they may have,” Allergan said in the email.  The tribe and company have said that the tribe’s sovereign status shields the patents from review by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, an administrative court empowered to invalidate patents. On Friday, the tribe asserted this immunity in an ongoing administrative proceeding brought by generic drugmakers led by Mylan NV (MYL.O), which are seeking to invalidate Allergan’s patents to introduce cheaper versions of Restasis to the market.  Mylan has called Allergan’s deal with the tribe a “sham transaction” and said the tribe should not be allowed to invoke immunity to prevent administrative review. Some patent lawyers have noted that the patent board has recognized the immunity of state entities like public universities, and tribal immunity is considered to be an even stronger shield. Generic drug companies often seek to challenge brand-name drug patents through administrative proceedings, which are cheaper and faster than federal court litigation. Allergan has said it would not invoke the tribe’s immunity in federal court.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने जनजाति के साथ एलर्गन स्थानांतरण समझौते की जांच की मांग कीः पत्र


NEW YORK (Reuters) - About a quarter of U.S. Republicans do not want to see Obamacare repealed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. Trump and his fellow Republicans, who control Congress, have promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, but a majority of Americans, including 25 percent of Republicans polled, do not want it to be repealed. The law has been credited with helping about 20 million people get insurance coverage. Only one in five Americans would repeal the law immediately, the poll found. Republicans were sharply divided, with 25 percent of those polled wanting to keep it intact or fix problem parts. Some 32 percent would repeal it immediately, while 44 percent would wait to repeal it once an alternative plan is ready to go. “There is some recognition, even from Republican supporters, that the underlying goals of the law are worthwhile,” said Jack Hoadley, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. “They still want something done, they don’t want it to disappear.” About 10 percent of Democrats polled would keep the 2010 law as it is and another 70 percent want it to remain intact with some fixes. Some 19 percent of them want the law repealed, including 13 percent who want a replacement passed first. Respondents interviewed by Reuters said they want the U.S. Congress to address problems such as the rising cost of healthcare but even many Republicans who have insurance don’t want it scrapped without a replacement. “I’m afraid if you just repeal, people will lose it,” said Kathy Dugas, a Republican who works as a dietician near Jackson, Mississippi, which has one of the country’s highest obesity rates. “Healthcare should be about people, not about politics,” she said. “There has to be something to take care of people.” Some congressional Republicans have expressed concern about starting a repeal absent clarity about how to replace provisions of the complicated and far-reaching law, but Congress is under pressure from Trump to act quickly. On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a fiscal 2017 budget by a vote of 227-198, nearly along party lines, that establishes a reconciliation procedure to shield an Obamacare repeal from Senate filibusters. The Reuters poll mirrors findings from a poll released in early January by the Kaiser Family Foundation that also found the public divided: Almost half the people in that poll wanted the law repealed but 28 percent of that group want to know the details of the replacement before Obamacare is scrapped. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. The question on Obamacare included responses from 2,232 American adults, including 951 Democrats and 879 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points for the entire group, and 4 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans.

Summary: एक चौथाई रिपब्लिकन ओबामाकेयर रखेंगेः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian-backed Congress of Syrian peoples in the Russian city of Sochi has been postponed until February, Russia s RIA news agency reported on Monday, citing a diplomatic source. The event, called the Syrian Congress on National Dialogue, was initially to be held in November but some opposition groups rejected the idea of the meeting, initially proposed by President Vladimir Putin.

Summary: रूस में सीरियाई कांग्रेस फरवरी तक के लिए स्थगित की गईः आर. आई. ए. ने सूत्र का हवाला दिया


HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong s leader urged an immediate end to independence debates in the Chinese-ruled global financial hub on Tuesday, warning that the issue was harming the city s relationship with Beijing s Communist Party leaders. Insisting that the government did not want to intervene on university campuses, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the campaign was  organized and systematic  rather than simply an issue of freedom of speech.  This has already deviated from the so-called,  Why aren t we able to talk about this?  point of view. It is clearly attacking  one country, two systems  ... and destroying the relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong,  Lam said.  It is not in the interests of Hong Kong s development and must stop.  Lam said the calls  violated  the Basic Law, the constitutional document securing Hong Kong s broad freedoms of speech and assembly after Britain returned its former colony to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under the  one country, two systems  banner. While the Basic Law enshrines far broader civil and commercial freedoms than exist in mainland China, some legal experts warn that a sustained independence campaign could break laws against sedition. Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, have warned that independence discussions are a red line that can t be crossed, saying the city is an inalienable part of China. Some students have placed banners on  democracy walls  on campuses in recent days, sparking anger and counter campaigns from Hong Kong-based mainland students.  Some mainland Chinese students and pro-China patriotic groups have since sought to rip down some posters, sparking heated exchanges with Hong Kong students and free speech advocates. Pro-independence activists should be  killed  and treated without mercy, Junius Ho, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, said during a rally on Sunday, sparking outrage and calls for police to act.    The widening controversy sparked criticism from Chinese state media, as well as a rare joint statement from the heads of Hong Kong universities, declaring that the universities did not support Hong Kong independence. Lam said she believed university management would be able to handle the issue without government action. Asked about Lam s warnings, Chris Patten, Britain s last governor of Hong Kong, urged greater efforts to engage Hong Kong s restive young people.  It s unwise to think that you can simply shut it down by, and I m sure Carrie Lam wouldn t suggest this, by locking students up,  Patten told Reuters.  These aren t people to be frightened of. They are the future. And you ve got to persuade them why they re wrong.  While the students should  back off  counterproductive independence debates, he said, they should continue to push for democracy and the rule of law to secure their freedoms.  This is an extremely moderate community,  Patten later told a meeting at the Foreign Correspondents  Club.  If you give Hong Kong a bit more democracy, you ve got to recognize that it s a moderate place and people will behave responsibly.   Patten was critical, however, of the Hong Kong government s decision to seek a resentencing of democracy activist Joshua Wong and others, calling it a  political decision  that should have been better thought out, given the criticism it provoked. He also mentioned a Reuters report that Hong Kong s Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen had overruled department colleagues in pursuing prison sentences for the democracy activists.  He s a grown-up, he must know   that actions have consequences,  Patten added.   Not to understand what signal that would send to the rest of the world strikes me as being, to be frank, a little na ve.

Summary: हांगकांग के नेता ने स्वतंत्रता वार्ता को समाप्त करने की मांग की, बीजिंग के साथ संबंधों को खतरे में डालने की चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said President Donald Trump did not endorse a proposed border tax system on Tuesday in  his first speech to Congress on Tuesday, despite a vow to level the tax playing field for U.S. companies that export. Ross, speaking to reporters after the speech, said that Trump was merely pointing out an export tax inequity between the United States and many other countries, not specifying how it should be remedied. Trump said he was asking for a change in the way U.S. imports are taxed, saying that other countries “make us pay very high tariffs and taxes,” but the United States charges “nothing or almost nothing” on imports. Trump referred to tariffs of 100 percent by some countries on U.S.-made Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) motorcycles, saying that the company was used to being “mistreated” in foreign markets. “They weren’t even asking for a change, but I am,” Trump told the joint session of Congress. Asked if Trump’s remarks on the topic effectively endorsed a  plan by House of Representatives Republicans to levy a border tax of about 20 percent on imports into the United States, Ross said, “No, he did not.” “What he addressed was the issue that needs to be solved,  which is there’s inequitable treatment of the U.S. Other countries have a value-added tax which they rebate on exports,” Ross said. He said the World Trade Organization has turned down past U.S. requests to allow American companies to deduct income taxes paid on exports. The proposed border tax is under attack from import-heavy businesses but is supported by large exporters, such as manufacturers. “Border advisability, other programs are possible ways of solving that. But I didn’t hear him coming out clearly in favor of any one system,” said Ross, who was sworn in earlier on Tuesday. Trump has not clearly endorse or opposed the border tax proposal, although he spoke favorably of it in a Reuters interview. He has also called the proposal “too complicated.” Asked if WTO compliance was a crucial factor in the solution, Ross, a billionaire investor and corporate turnaround expert, said that the first negotiation over export tax would be with Congress.

Summary: अमेरिकी वाणिज्य सचिव का कहना है कि ट्रम्प ने सीमा कर योजना का समर्थन नहीं किया


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland s president unexpectedly dropped his demands for a greater say in nominating judges on Monday, in an effort to secure broader political support for an overhaul of the judiciary that the European Union fears will harm democracy. Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, conceded that it should ultimately be for parliament to pick Poland s top judges, hours after saying he would seek a constitutional amendment to give himself the final say on such appointments. In July, Duda unexpectedly vetoed the ruling party s own reform proposals following nationwide protests and warnings from Poland s Western allies about politicization of the courts. Earlier on Monday, he made counter-proposals which still envisaged greater political control over the courts but to be exercised by the president as well as by parliament. However, lawmakers from both PiS and opposition parties criticized his plans. After meeting the heads of parliamentary factions, Duda said it was clear he would be unable to win the required parliamentary majority to change the constitution.  The point is not about me, as the president, to have the power to choose, the point is about the choice being a cross-party one,  Duda said after the meeting.  The eurosceptic PiS says reform of the judicial system is needed because the courts are slow, inefficient and steeped in a communist-era mentality. But critics of the government plans said its proposed rules were part of a drive toward authoritarianism. The EU is already at loggerheads with the PiS government over a range of issues and a meeting of the bloc s foreign ministers on Monday was expected to gauge the appetite for taking punitive action against Warsaw. After Duda s U-turn, parliament will still need a three-fifths majority to appoint new top judges - but if lawmakers cannot agree, a special voting mechanism in parliament will decide the issue rather than the president. PiS currently has a parliamentary majority, but not three-fifths. Duda also said the retirement age for Supreme Court judges should be set at 65 and that the president should decide whether they can work longer. Under the vetoed reforms, all current Supreme Court judges would have stepped down immediately unless they had the approval of the justice minister, who is also prosecutor general. Since coming to power, PiS has not only increased government influence over the courts but has also brought prosecutors and state media under direct government control and introduced some restrictions on public gatherings. PiS denies retreating on democracy and argues that it has a broad mandate to implement reforms. It says its plans aim to improve a poorly functioning state, bolster Poland s standing in the global arena, preserve its conservative values and correct mistakes by previous governments that it argues were too dependent on foreign influence.     In proposing his own judiciary reforms, Duda had to weigh their potential impact on his re-election prospects in 2020. Though he remains Poland s most popular politician, with approval ratings of more than 70 percent, Duda may need PiS support to win enough votes. Jaroslaw Flis, a sociologist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, said the rift between Duda and the government was  an internal power struggle  among Poland s conservatives.  Duda knows his legislative proposals need PiS support, but PiS also needs him. They cannot push anything through without the president,  Flis said.

Summary: न्यायिक सुधार विवाद में पोलैंड के राष्ट्रपति पीछे हटे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to calm rising tensions with North Korea, saying “those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.” Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tillerson downplayed messages that President Trump had previously posted on Twitter suggesting Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with “Little Rocket Man,” a derogatory nickname Trump has coined for North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. Trump “has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts,” Tillerson said. Tillerson’s comments Sunday come amid soaring tensions between the United States and North Korea following a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and a war of words between the two countries’ leaders. North Korea has conducted a series of nuclear tests in recent weeks and ago and launched two missiles over Japan. Tillerson has been in talks with China to enlist its help on getting North Korea to back down.  But Trump’s recent Twitter messages appeared to undercut Tillerson’s efforts, prompting the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker to complain that Trump was publicly castrating Tillerson and hurting diplomatic talks. Tillerson downplayed those tweets Sunday, telling CNN that Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping have an extremely close relationship and that China understands the U.S. position. “Rest assured that the Chinese are not confused in any way” about the American policy towards North Korea, he added.

Summary: पहला बम गिराए जाने तक उत्तर कोरिया के साथ अमेरिकी कूटनीति जारी रहेगीः टिलरसन


(Reuters) - If Donald Trump were to challenge the outcome of next month’s presidential election, as he has hinted he might, he would face a difficult and expensive fight, according to election attorneys and a review of voting laws in key battleground states. Trump has said he is worried the Nov. 8 election might be rigged in favor of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and in Wednesday’s debate he refused to say he would accept the outcome. But before any court challenge, Trump probably would have to ask for a recount, said Donald Brey, a Republican election lawyer in Ohio. If the campaign did not pursue out-of-court options first, he said, a judge likely would dismiss the case. Recount rules vary from state to state. North Carolina, for example, doesn’t allow a presidential candidate to request a recount at all if one candidate has a lead of more than 0.5 percent of the total votes cast. In Wisconsin, the challenging candidate must pay the full expense of a recount if the vote in dispute is more than 0.25 percent, and in Colorado if it is more than 0.5 percent. That can be expensive. Officials in one Wisconsin village put the cost of a local recount, in which about 9,000 votes were cast earlier this year, at nearly $13,000, said Michael Maistelman, a Wisconsin election lawyer who represented the unsuccessful candidate. More than 3 million people voted in the 2012 presidential election in Wisconsin. Deciding where to challenge the election would be complicated. Trump, who trailed Clinton by 7 percentage points nationwide in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, is fighting tight battles in some key states. In Ohio, for example, an average of major opinion polls reviewed by the RealClearPolitics website found Trump to be leading by less than 1 percentage point. In Iowa, he is leading by nearly 4 percent. In some other battleground states, polls suggest support for Trump has eroded in recent weeks. According to the RealClearPolitics website’s poll tally, Clinton has substantial leads in Virginia, Colorado and Wisconsin. She leads Trump by more than 6 percentage points in Pennsylvania, nearly 4 points in Florida and more than two points in North Carolina. To maximize his chances of overturning a Clinton win, Trump might need to challenge the results in several states, said Troy McCurry, a former Republican National Committee lawyer who was part of the party’s recount team in 2012. Trump could try to bring a legal claim without first asking for recount by alleging, for instance, that an abuse of power by an election official, said McCurry, who’s law firm represented Ted Cruz in the Republican primary before McCurry joined the practice. But if Trump’s lawyers were unable to muster specific facts to support that premise, he said, a judge would dismiss the lawsuit. Any lawsuit that withstood early challenges would face an uncertain future. With the U.S. Supreme Court split 4-to-4 between liberal and conservative justices, state supreme courts or federal appeals courts could well make the final ruling in any election dispute.  In Pennsylvania, Colorado and Florida, where a majority of both state and federal appeals court judges have Democratic affiliations, Trump might face a more difficult road. Meanwhile, appeals courts in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa are more heavily Republican.  Ohio election attorney Brey, who said he dislikes but will vote for Trump, believes a challenge in Ohio would be a last-ditch effort for the candidate. “Let’s put it this way,” he said. “If Ohio is close, Trump’s already lost.” Trump also might face obstacles from his own party, attorneys said, because it would be reluctant to challenge results in a state where, say, it lost the presidential race but won a close U.S. senate race. Numerous studies have shown U.S. elections, which are decentralized and run by the states, are basically sound. “Mr. Trump never mentions what criteria would be necessary for him to make a decision about a challenge,” said Stephen Zack, an attorney who represented Vice President Al Gore in the case that was brought to the Supreme Court over the election recount in Florida in 2000. “Basically it is left as, ‘I’ll see what it smells like and then I will surprise you,’” Zack said. “There are rule-of-law issues that pertain to elections that separate us from anywhere else in the world.”   Election officials in several states rejected suggestions the balloting might be rigged. Eric Spencer, election director in Arizona, said that while isolated incidents of voter fraud might occur and should be investigated, election workers come from all political parties and work with integrity.  “The notion that the election is rigged is preposterous if not insulting,” Spencer said. Some election watchers question how serious Trump is about a challenge. “A lot of this is just posturing,” McCurry said. “At the end of the day I don’t see how this happens.”

Summary: ट्रंप के लिए चुनाव में हार को चुनौती देना मुश्किल होगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday it is seeking a warrant so it can seize an ancient ring believed to be trafficked by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the militant organization also known as “ISIS.” The department also said it was amending a year-old forfeiture complaint it had filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to add three more antiquities. The ancient ring being sought by the U.S. government is believed to be in the hands of Turkish law enforcement, after it was confiscated from a Syrian antiquities trafficker.

Summary: न्याय विभाग ने आईएसआईएस द्वारा तस्करी की गई प्राचीन अंगूठी को जब्त करने के लिए वारंट मांगा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The now-delayed U.S. Senate healthcare overhaul bill would boost state spending on Medicaid by $565 million in 2022, according to an independent report issued on Wednesday, while credit agencies said it would cause states to face downward pressure on their credit ratings.  Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday postponed the vote on the bill, which they hoped would take place before their July 4 recess. According to credit rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, the legislation would negatively impact states because of changes to the core funding of Medicaid and the phasing out of the Medicaid expansion plan. The Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, issued a report on Wednesday estimating state Medicaid spending  would increase by $565 million in 2022 under the proposed  legislation. It also estimated federal funding for Medicaid, which funds medical care for the poor and indigent, would be $102.2 billion lower in that year. The National Governor’s Association, which on Monday advocated for more time to review the financial impact of the bill, welcomed the delay. Members of the Senate Republicans’ own party resisted the measure, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said would cause 22 million Americans to lose insurance over the next decade and reduce federal outlays for Medicaid by $772 billion over that time. Moody’s senior analyst Genevieve Nolan told Reuters the legislation in its current form would be a credit negative for states, mainly because of reduced federal funding for Medicaid. “Obviously this bill is ACA (Affordable Care Act) repeal and replace, but even more than that, it’s Medicaid repeal and replace. Medicaid is a more than 50-year-old program, a  partnership between states and the federal government, and both the Senate bill and the House bill propose really fundamental restructuring of how that program is funded,” Eric Kim, Fitch’s director of U.S. Public finance, told Reuters. A mix of Republican and Democratic governors criticized or strongly opposed the bill, including Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management said in a report on Tuesday the bill could cost the state about $2.9 billion per year by 2026. The report also said the cap to federal payments would “force” states, including Connecticut, to assume costs, limit benefits, decrease the number of people served or reduce rates to providers. In Virginia, the bill would cost the state’s Medicaid program at least $1.4 billion over seven years, according to  Governor Terry McAuliffe’s office. It would “blow a hole in Virginia’s budget,” McAuliffe said in a statement.

Summary: सीनेट विधेयक के तहत राज्यों का चिकित्सा खर्च बढ़ेगाः रिपोर्ट


VALLETTA (Reuters) - “Our Donald”, or “the other Donald”? European Union leaders meeting in Malta found themselves taking sides, between their summit chairman, “our Donald” Tusk, and the new U.S. president, Donald Trump. But despite declarations of unity, EU states are split on how to respond to policies from a man who has reversed staunch postwar U.S. support for European integration and suggested others follow Britain out of a bloc he has called “a vehicle for Germany”. Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said EU leaders gave him the “our Donald” nickname in Malta. He presented it as a sign of their support, saying before the summit that Trump posed a “threat” to the bloc, alongside Russia, China and violent Islam. “The mood in the room was ‘our Donald’ and ‘the other Donald’,” said one person present at the talks, where Tusk also felt confident enough in his support to confirm he wants a second term as president of the European Council. His political enemies in the Warsaw government publicly disavowed any sense of unanimity behind Tusk, however, calling his criticism of Trump a “gross abuse” and accusing him of “sowing fear” and “seeking confrontation”.  Others, less publicly, said there was wider disquiet that the EU could turn its back on its Transatlantic relationship. Such internal arguments pit historic unease, especially in France, over U.S. influence against fears of weakening a Western front against Russia and, increasingly, China. How they play out will help shape Trump’s hopes, for example, of saving U.S. money spent on NATO and shifting world trade in Americans’ favor. They will also flavor the EU’s Brexit talks with London - where Prime Minister Theresa May sees Britain being a bridge between Washington and Brussels - as well as efforts by some states to tighten cooperation on euro zone economic policies and other areas, notably an independent EU military capability. As a Pole well aware it is U.S. forces that underpin NATO’s security guarantees in eastern Europe, Tusk nuanced his call to Europeans to pull together to defend their independent interests against the “superpowers, the United States, Russia and China” with an appeal to Americans to preserve “the Transatlantic bond without which global order and peace cannot survive”. But some leaders worry Trump’s coolness toward NATO and the exit of well-armed Britain will fuel ambitions for Europeans to loosen that bond - notably in Paris, which has often chafed at “Anglo-American” influence and where officials say Trump shows France has been right to seek “strategic autonomy” for the EU. “The French ... are as usual saying ‘It’s just the European Union now; there’s no such thing as the West’,” said a senior eastern European diplomat, criticizing Paris’s view.  “The Germans are much more cautious. There is a clear issue to be decided on whether we should seek a common ground to engage with the United States, or turn our backs.” As EU leaders prepare to map out a post-Brexit strategy at a 60th anniversary summit in Rome next month, French President Francois Hollande criticized Trump and eastern European governments he accused of raking in EU subsidies but then breaking ranks and undermining the bloc by seeking special favor from Washington. Many in the east are especially alarmed by Trump’s warmer tone toward Russia but some back his entry ban on Muslims, which echoes their own criticisms of EU refugee policies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a less confrontational tone but stressed the need for “multilateralism” - a prod to Trump not to try and circumvent the EU by talking only to national leaders, and to Europeans to speak with a single voice. Whether “the other Donald” gets that message is another matter, given a seemingly hazy grasp on who is who in Brussels. The tycoon-turned-president told an interviewer last month he had spoken to “the head of the European Union” and named his interlocutor as Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU chief executive.  In fact, however, he had spoken to “our Donald”, Tusk.  “Sometimes I have an impression that the new administration does not know the EU in detail,” Juncker said drily on Friday. “But, in Europe, details matter.”

Summary: दो डोनाल्ड की कहानीः ट्रम्प ने यूरोप को विभाजित करने के लिए सिरदर्द दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he wants to see action to fix the flaws he sees in the Iran nuclear deal in a short period of time, adding that he could end the deal instantaneously.  We ll see what happens over the next short period of time and I can do that instantaneously,  Trump told reporters when asked why he did not choose to scrap the deal now.  I like a two-step process much better,  said Trump, who was speaking shortly after he announced he would not certify the 2015 deal, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, in a major shift in U.S. policy.

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि अगर जल्द ही इसे ठीक करने के लिए कोई कार्रवाई नहीं की गई तो वह ईरान समझौते को समाप्त कर सकते हैं


(Reuters) - Donald Trump’s presidential campaign manager was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida on Tuesday in an incident involving a reporter, the latest chapter in a raucous U.S. race marked by threats, insults and physical confrontations. Police in Jupiter, Florida, charged Corey Lewandowski, 42, with intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, when she tried to question Trump at a campaign event on March 8. Republican front-runner Trump repeatedly defended Lewandowski throughout a day of campaigning in Wisconsin. He also rescinded a previous pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee if it is not him. “No, not anymore,” he said when asked if he would honor his previous pledge. At a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, Trump said he would remain loyal to his campaign manager and that Lewandowski would remain on the job even though it might be more convenient on behalf of his campaign to “terminate this man, ruin his life, ruin his family ... ruin his whole everything and say: ‘You’re fired.’” Trump also questioned Fields’ original description of the incident in which she said she was almost yanked to the ground by Lewandowski. He wondered aloud if she had posed a threat to him because she approached him with an ink pen. “She had a pen in her hand that could’ve been a knife,” Trump said. Police released a video of the incident showing Fields walking alongside Trump and trying to question him. Lewandowski is seen grabbing her arm and pulling her backward. Previous videos of the incident had been obscured by people in the crowd. At the time, Lewandowski called Fields “delusional” and said he never touched her. Campaign rallies for Trump, the billionaire businessman who leads the race to become the Republican candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election, are tumultuous at times and have been marked by occasional clashes between protesters and supporters or security personnel. His pugnacious campaign style, which includes personal insults directed at rivals and scathing criticism of protesters, has been criticized for encouraging physical altercations at his rallies. Trump leads rivals Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and Ohio Governor John Kasich in opinion polls and in the number of delegates to the nominating convention, despite a concerted effort to stop him by a Republican establishment worried he will lead the party to defeat in November. Cruz said Trump “of course” should ask for Lewandowski’s resignation. “Look, it shouldn’t be complicated that members of the campaign staff shouldn’t be physically assaulting the press,” Cruz said on the CNN town hall. Kasich said he considered such behavior “totally and completely” inappropriate. “If it was me, if I was in this circumstance, I would take some sort of action, either suspension or firing,” Kasich told reporters in Wisconsin. Cruz picked up the endorsement on Tuesday of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ahead of the state’s primary next week. Walker, who dropped out of the presidential race last year, called Cruz a principled constitutional conservative. “I’m all in,” Walker said in an interview on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, adding he was not endorsing Cruz in an attempt to stop Trump. “I just fundamentally believe if you look at the facts, if you look at the numbers, that Ted Cruz is in the best position by far to both win the nomination of the Republican Party and to then go on and defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall this year,” Walker said, referring to the Democratic front-runner. Walker joins a number of other more establishment  Republicans who have backed Cruz as an alternative to Trump, who has racked up a strong delegate lead but alienated many party leaders with his harsh views on illegal immigration, Muslims and women. On his plane, Trump said Fields had been pursuing him after a news conference and Lewandowski was trying to “get her off me.” He questioned whether Lewandowski had given Fields the bruise on her arm. “How do you know those bruises weren’t there before?” he asked reporters in Wisconsin. Republican strategist Katie Packer, who runs an anti-Trump Super PAC, said the incident and the charges against Lewandowski reflected the candidate’s lack of respect toward women. “He doesn’t have the kind of values and the kind of temperament that we should expect from someone who wants to be commander in chief,” she said. Lewandowski was charged with simple battery, defined under Florida law as intentionally touching or striking a person against their will. For a first offense, it is a misdemeanor in the first degree, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison or a fine of $1,000.     A court date was set for May 4, according to the police report. Jupiter police said Lewandowski turned himself in, and he was issued a notice requiring him to appear in court and then released. He was not booked into the jail.     Lewandowski’s lawyer, Scott Richardson of West Palm Beach, Florida, declined to comment on whether his client would step down as campaign manager. Lewandowski will also be represented by Kendall Coffey, a Miami lawyer, the campaign said.     Fields resigned from Breitbart less than a week after the incident, citing what she said was the online news outlet’s refusal to stand behind her amid the allegations.

Summary: ट्रम्प अभियान प्रबंधक पर रिपोर्टर के खिलाफ दुराचार का आरोप लगाया गया


ZURICH (Reuters) - Prosecutors said on Thursday they had charged three senior  members of a Swiss Muslim group with making and promoting propaganda films for al Qaeda. The indictment targeted three committee members of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS), which describes itself as the country s largest Islamic organization and says it focuses on representing the local population. ICCS spokesman Abdel Azziz Qaasim Illi, who told Reuters he was one of the three men charged, dismissed the case as a  political show trial,  and said authorities had misunderstood the video at the heart of the case. The indictment did not name the suspects, but the ICCS said in a statement the other two were its chairman, Nicolas Blancho, and its cultural production head, Naim Cherni. The Office of the Attorney General said that the Council had made films in Syria in 2015 with a leading al Qaeda member and posted two films on YouTube that were promoted by the three committee members. The state prosecutor said it alleged  that the accused offered the leading al-Qaeda member in question a prominent multilingual multimedia platform from which to advantageously portray and promote both himself and the ideology of al-Qaeda.  Qaasim Illi called the indictments  clearly politically motivated  and said the interview had been with a senior Saudi cleric who denied having links to al Qaeda.  The point of the interview was to counter (Islamic State) propaganda with a credible figure from the moderate Syrian rebel spectrum. The interview itself never concerned al Qaeda,  he added in an email.     The Attorney General s office said the indictments were part of criminal proceedings first launched against the Council in December 2015, after the posting of the videos. The case was launched as Switzerland was in a heightened state of alert after attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.  Switzerland has not seen the kind of Islamist attack that have rocked other Western states, but authorities say they still see a significant threat. The Attorney General s office said it was involved in around 60 criminal proceedings linked to jihadists, most of them related to  to propaganda in support of terrorist organizations .

Summary: स्विस मुस्लिम समूह के तीन सदस्यों पर अल कायदा का प्रचार करने का आरोप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate touching in a story published on Wednesday by the New York Times, claims his spokesman called “fiction” but which may further damage the Republican presidential nominee’s chances of winning the White House just four weeks before the Nov. 8 election. The report was followed by a stream of similar allegations from other women, putting more pressure on the Trump campaign as it lags in national opinion polls and struggles to contain a crisis caused by the candidate’s comments about groping women without their consent which surfaced on Friday. One of the women, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on the New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight to New York in or around 1980. (nyti.ms/2dx8k5R) The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump “kissed me directly on the mouth” in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. Trump’s campaign denied there was any truth to the New York Times accounts. It made public a letter to the newspaper from Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it “libelous,” and threatening legal action if it did not comply. “This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous,” the Trump campaign’s senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement. Reuters could not independently verify the incidents. Leeds and Crooks did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. “We stand by the story, which falls clearly into the realm of public service journalism,” a New York Times spokeswoman said. The report comes just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed one in five Republicans thought Trump’s comments about groping women disqualified him from the presidency, and put him 8 points behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton among likely voters. Within hours, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. (bit.ly/2dTm90D) Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away.  “I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,” Stoynoff said.  The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the People story late on Wednesday. The article included a denial from a Trump spokeswoman who called the story a “politically motivated fictional pile-on.” Around the same time, the Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar a Lago estate as a photographer’s assistant. “There is no truth to this whatsoever,” Trump’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. McGillivray could not be reached for comment. The reports come on the heels of a 2005 video that surfaced on Friday that showed Trump bragging about groping women, kissing them without permission, and trying to seduce a married woman.  “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump is heard saying on the tape. Trump said during the second presidential debate on Sunday that he had not actually done the things he had boasted about, and apologized for his remarks, which he called private “locker room talk.” The bombshell video has jeopardized Trump’s chances of winning on Election Day, and put Republican control of the U.S. Congress in danger. He was chastised by Republican leaders, and some called on him to drop out of the presidential race.  On Wednesday, Trump escalated his attacks on U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan after Ryan said he was no longer going to campaign for or defend Trump. Trump complained to thousands of supporters jammed into a livestock arena in Ocala, Florida, that Ryan and others had not congratulated him on his debate performance on Sunday, and the crowd booed in sympathy. “There is a whole deal going on and we’re going to figure it out. I always figure things out. But there’s a whole sinister deal going on,” Trump said. Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he would vote for Trump in spite of being “disgusted” by his comments, because he wanted to see conservative justices named to the Supreme Court. The interview was taped before the New York Times story was published, but Boehner said he thought it was likely that more negative stories would emerge in the last month of the campaign. “What more could be said in this election cycle than has already been said?” Boehner asked. “It couldn’t be any worse, could it?” A spokeswoman for Clinton said Wednesday’s report was “disturbing.” “These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign.

Summary: दो महिलाओं ने न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स को बताया, ट्रम्प ने हमें अनुचित तरीके से छुआ


YANGON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States are considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders over an offensive that has driven more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the country, officials familiar with the discussions say. Interviews with more than a dozen diplomats and government officials based in Washington, Yangon and Europe revealed that punitive measures aimed specifically at top generals were among a range of options being discussed in response to the crisis. Nothing has yet been decided and Washington and Brussels may decide to hold off for now, the sources said. There are also discussions about increasing aid for violence-riven Rakhine state. The active discussion of sanctions   not even on the table  a month ago   shows how the dramatic exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar s northwest is putting pressure on Western policymakers to take action. While much of the outcry overseas has focused on Nobel laureate and Myanmar s national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, few Western diplomats see an alternative to her leadership. Suu Kyi does not control the military, which still wields considerable power under Myanmar s army-written constitution. The EU Foreign Ministers Council will discuss Myanmar on Oct. 16, although officials do not expect any move on sanctions that soon. Danish minister for development cooperation, Ulla Tornaes, told Reuters that Copenhagen had been working to get the crisis on the agenda,  with the wish to put further pressure on the military . Two Washington-based U.S. officials with knowledge of the Trump administration s Myanmar deliberations said targeted sanctions against commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and several other generals, as well as leaders of ethnic Rakhine Buddhist militias accused of torching Rohingya villages, were under consideration. Such sanctions - if decided on - would likely entail U.S. asset freezes, bans on travel to the United States, prohibitions against Americans doing business with them and other unspecified penalties. Washington was moving cautiously as it consulted with governments in Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia, the U.S. officials said. A senior Yangon-based European diplomat also said Western countries were coordinating their response to the crisis and were in agreement that it was the military, and specifically the commander-in-chief, who needed to be targeted in any punitive action. Any punishment was likely to be symbolic at first to allow room for further talks, Yangon-based diplomats said, giving the example of formally banning the army chief, who over the past year visited Brussels, Berlin and Vienna, from further travel to Europe. Western diplomats admit their leverage is limited: compared with China, whose ties with Myanmar have warmed since Suu Kyi took office 18 months ago, U.S. and European investment and military engagement with the country are small. They are also wary of action that could hurt the wider economy or destabilize already tense ties between Suu Kyi and the army. The United Nations is pressing for increased humanitarian access to other parts of Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya remain. How Myanmar responds to calls for increased aid, the investigation of alleged atrocities or repatriation of refugees would be a key consideration in deciding what action to take, U.S. and EU diplomats in Myanmar said.  We can pile political pressure, look into financing we have in Myanmar. We have humanitarian aid, as well as development aid ... the European Commission won t invest in the development of Myanmar if the conditions, including security, are not there,  said a Brussels-based EU diplomat who follows Myanmar.  There is also the arms trade embargo and we discuss regularly whether we should reward the reforms in Myanmar and look at gradual easing of that, or the opposite.  EU economic sanctions on Myanmar were lifted after the army stepped back from direct rule of the country in 2012, beginning the democratic transition that brought Suu Kyi to power last year, but an arms embargo in force since the 1990s remains. The United States removed most sanctions on Myanmar last autumn. It too has kept an arms embargo in place. One Washington-based U.S. official said that, while there was no firm deadline, Washington hoped to have a plan of action on Myanmar in place by the time President Donald Trump travels to Asia for a series of summits in the first half of November. The administration wanted to send a strong message to Myanmar s military, but was concerned that too drastic action could allow China to expand its growing diplomatic and economic influence in the country, the official said. There is little support in the administration for the re-imposition of broader economic sanctions, the official added. The White House declined comment on internal deliberations on the Rohingya crisis.     In another sign of pressure building on Myanmar, New York-based diplomats said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the U.N. General Assembly was pushing for a human rights resolution on the country. Last year the EU announced that for the first time in 15 years it would not introduce a resolution at the General Assembly s Third Committee, which focuses on human rights, condemning Myanmar s record - rewarding it for progress. The European bloc could revive the resolution in the current session, taking on board the OIC draft and broadening it out beyond the Rohingya crisis, one diplomat in New York said. Diplomats said some members of the U.N. Security Council were exploring whether the 15-member body could agree a formal statement, or even a resolution, calling for an end to the violence, full access for aid and the safe return of refugees. However, Myanmar has said it was negotiating with China and Russia, which have veto powers in the Security Council, to protect it from any possible action. China and Russia have both expressed support for the Myanmar government. Myanmar s relations with the U.N. have grown increasingly testy since the discovery of World Food Programme-branded biscuits at a suspected militant camp in July prompted the government to accuse the U.N. agency of supporting the insurgents, forcing it to shut down its operations in Rakhine.  Myanmar is stalling on accepting a plan by the U.N. to upgrade the U.N. country head to the more powerful rank of Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) when its current top official, who is due to be rotated, is replaced. Thaung Tun, Suu Kyi s National Security Advisor, told Reuters that the U.N.  must treat us equally .  We ll be fine with anybody if all member states have an ASG assigned. Not just us,  he said.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः रोहिंग्या संकट पर म्यांमार के सैन्य नेताओं को दंडित करने की दिशा में पश्चिम-सूत्र


DENVER (Reuters) - Kansas on Tuesday asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate rules requiring proof of U.S. citizenship from people registering to vote, the latest political battle over stringent identification laws enacted in Republican-led states ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The mandate that Kansans present passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship when registering to vote while obtaining driver’s licenses was challenged by a U.S. District Court judge in May. Her ruling restored the right to vote in the Nov. 8 election for thousands of people who were asked if they wanted to register while at motor vehicle offices, but not required to submit the additional documentation. Judge Julie Robinson ordered those people to be re-registered. She said that Kansas could identify only three non-citizens who voted between 2003 and the onset of the law in 2013. Kansas’ law is one of the strictest voter identification statutes in the country, making the state a symbol for mostly Republican Party supporters who say the rules are meant to prevent voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, say they discriminate against minorities. “Every time a noncitizen votes, it effectively cancels out the vote of a citizen,” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in court filings ahead of Tuesday’s oral arguments. In arguments before the Denver-based U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Kobach said, “We don’t need to be authorized by the federal government” to set up rules to manage state and local elections. Arguing for the lower court’s decision to be upheld, the American Civil Liberties Union specifically targeted a portion of Kansas law that deals with people who register to vote at motor vehicle department offices. The ACLU argued that the requirement conflicts with a federal law from 1993 aimed at making it easier for people to register to vote by doing so when they apply for a driver’s license.  Because that law does not require people to bring more documentation than they would need to get a driver’s license, Robinson ruled that about 18,000 people whose registration had been invalidated by the state should be re-registered. Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump, who earlier this month said that voters who opposed his candidacy are “going to vote 10 times,” is asking supporters to volunteer to be election observers at the polls. He routinely calls Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton “crooked” and has said that if he loses, it will be because the system is rigged against him. Led by lawyers from the ACLU, opponents of the voter identification laws have filed lawsuits in several states, successfully overturning or delaying implementation of some statutes.  Last month, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that voters who do not have photo identification will be able to vote in the  presidential election, and the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a North Carolina law requiring voters to bring a photo ID to the polls. Seventeen states have put new voting restrictions in place since the last presidential contest, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Summary: कंसास ने अमेरिकी अपील अदालत से सख्त मतदाता पहचान पत्र नियम को बहाल करने के लिए कहा