WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran CIA clandestine service officer who ran one of the agency’s “black site” prisons set up after the 9/11 attacks was named deputy director of the U.S. spy agency on Thursday by U.S. President Donald Trump.  Gina Haspel, who will serve under new Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, was the first woman spy to reach the CIA’s second-highest position, and her selection won applause inside the agency’s Virginia headquarters and from many longtime U.S. intelligence professionals. However, Haspel once ran a secret CIA prison in Thailand where two suspected al-Qaeda members were waterboarded, intelligence and congressional officials said on condition of anonymity. She helped carry out an order to destroy videotapes of the waterboarding, which simulates drowning and is considered a form of torture, these people said.  Her promotion, combined with the possibility Trump could seek to reopen black site prisons and has endorsed waterboarding, may be controversial, despite the fact Pompeo and defense secretary James Mattis have rejected so called “enhanced interrogation techniques.” A draft executive order requesting a review of whether the U.S. should reopen CIA prisons in other countries and revisit other interrogation methods not considered torture has been circulating within the White House, but it is not clear if it will be issued, and if it is, whether any nations would agree to host such facilities again, the officials said. “I appreciate Ms. Haspel’s many years of service at the CIA, yet I want some reassurance from her that she intends to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law, like Director Pompeo testified that he would during his confirmation process,” said Democrat Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. Christopher Anders, the deputy director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he was “gravely concerned” about Haspel’s appointment. Haspel has served in a number of overseas posts, including as chief of a major CIA station, and although she was briefly acting head of the National Clandestine Service in 2013, Senator Dianne Feinstein, ranking minority member of the intelligence committee, opposed her permanent promotion to that job. Other veteran officials, though, praised Pompeo for choosing her. “It speaks well of him for picking a seasoned veteran of the agency who is widely and deeply respected by the workforce as well as those outside the agency,” said former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who resigned on January 20 after 50 years of military and intelligence service.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने पूर्व 'ब्लैक साइट' जेल संचालक सी. आई. ए. के उप प्रमुख को नामित किया


AMMAN (Reuters) - Military jets believed to be Russian killed at least 60 civilians trying to flee heavy fighting in the oil rich Deir al Zor province of Syria when their small boats were targeted as they sought to cross the Euphrates River, opposition activists, former residents and a war monitor said late on Wednesday. They said the jets targeted makeshift rubber dinghies and boats carrying dozens of families fleeing the town of al Ashara along the western banks of the Euphrates that lies south of Deir al Zor city, the provincial capital. Islamic State s last major stronghold, the cities, towns and farms in the fertile strip along the Euphrates bordering Iraq are fast becoming the focus of Syria s six-year-long civil war.  Russian jets staged a second wave of strikes on the boats that were fleeing across the river causing more casualties among those who rushed to rescue earlier survivors,  said Abdullah al Akaidat, a tribal figure in northern Syria from Al Ashara who is in contact with relatives in the area.  Russia is throwing military weight behind the Syrian army campaign s to regain the province bordering Iraq, racing with U.S- backed forces to grab territory from Islamic State. U.S. coalition jets last year destroyed bridges that linked villages on the northeast of the Euphrates river with towns on the opposite bank.   Although the goal was to cut militant supply lines, it forced people to use ferries to cross the river and its tributaries and ruptured a major lifeline for civilians, raising prices of goods and food.  Fifteen civilians were killed in air strikes during the last 24 hours on the town of al Quriya, just further north of the town of Ashara along the river, said former residents in touch with relatives. Thousands of residents of the eastern province are fleeing war-torn zones to the safety of towns that have escaped relatively unscathed from the relentless fighting. The Russians built a bridge across the Euphrates near Deir Zor city to move troops and equipment. The militants waged a surprise counter offensive and claimed to have killed dozens of Syrian troops, Russian ground troops and Iranian-backed fighters. They regained some territory back. Islamic State released a video on Tuesday of two injured men it claimed were Russian soldiers captured in Deir al Zor province. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the tape.  The Syrian army is seeking to advance toward Mayadeen, a city in the province 44 km southeast of Deir Zor, where the river flows through it. Mayadeen is a major Islamic State stronghold that has also been targeted by the U.S.-led coalition which had earlier this year also increased bombing of the group in cities and towns along the Euphrates valley. Relentless airstrikes by Russian jets in Deir al Zor province have intensified in recent days according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The war monitor documented the death of at least 185 civilians, including at least 45 woman and children, in five days of aerial strikes.  Russia rejects opposition and human rights groups accusations that the bombing campaign has killed thousands of civilians since its major intervention two years ago that turned the tide in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Scores of hospitals and civil defense centers have been bombed in what the opposition said is a  scorched earth policy  to paralyze life in rebel-held areas. Moscow says it only attacks hardline Islamists.

Summary: सीरियाई विपक्ष का कहना है कि रूसी विमानों ने यूफ्रेट्स के पार भाग रहे नागरिकों को मार डाला


BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump changed tack and agreed to honor the “one China” policy during a phone call with China’s leader Xi Jinping, a major diplomatic boost for Beijing which brooks no criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. Trump angered Beijing in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it.  A White House statement said Trump and Chinese President Xi had a lengthy phone conversation on Thursday night, Washington time.  “President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy,” the statement said.  A spokesman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said in a statement it was in Taiwan’s interest to maintain good relations with the United States and China. The U.S. and Chinese leaders had not spoken by telephone since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Diplomatic sources in Beijing say China had been nervous about Xi being left humiliated in the event a call with Trump went wrong and the details were leaked to the media. Last week, U.S. ties with staunch ally Australia became strained after the Washington Post published details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.     No issue is more sensitive to Beijing than Taiwan. China and the United States also signaled that with the “one China” issue resolved, they could have more normal relations. “Representatives of the United States and China will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest,” the statement said. In a separate statement carried by China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi said China appreciated Trump’s upholding of the “one China” policy. “I believe that the United States and China are cooperative partners, and through joint efforts we can push bilateral relations to a historic new high,” the statement quoted Xi as saying. “The development of China and the United States absolutely can complement each other and advance together. Both sides absolutely can become very good cooperative partners,” Xi said. Taiwan’s top China policymaker, the Mainland Affairs Council, said it hoped for continued support from the United States and called on Beijing to adopt a “positive attitude” and “pragmatic communication” in resolving differences with Taiwan.  China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, whose ruling Democratic Progressive Party espouses the island’s formal independence, a red line for Beijing, and has cut off a formal dialogue mechanism with the island. Tsai says she wants peace with China. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the “one China” principle was the political basis of Sino-U.S. ties. “Ensuring this political basis does not waver is vital for the healthy, stable development of China-U.S. relations,” Lu said. Lawyer James Zimmerman, the former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said Trump should have never raised the “one China” policy in the first place. “There is certainly a way of negotiating with the Chinese, but threats concerning fundamental, core interests are counterproductive from the get-go,” he said in an email. “The end result is that Trump just confirmed to the world that he is a paper tiger, a ‘zhilaohu’ – someone that seems threatening but is wholly ineffectual and unable to stomach a challenge.” Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, said Trump had created a lot of uncertainty but was now back on track. “Trump has reassured people that he will be a responsible president,” he told Reuters. “...This is good news for China, because stable U.S.-China relations are good for China. Now we can do business.” The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, but is also Taiwan’s biggest ally and arms supplier and is bound by legislation to provide the means to help the island defend itself. Defeated Nationalist forces fled from China to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. China wants cooperation with the United States on trade, investment, technology, energy and infrastructure, as well as strengthening coordination on international matters to jointly protect global peace and stability, Xi said in the statement. The White House described the call, which came hours before Trump plays host to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as “extremely cordial”, with both leaders expressing best wishes to their peoples. There was little or no mention in either the Chinese or U.S.  statement of other contentious issues - trade and the disputed South China Sea - and neither matter has gone away. A U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday that a U.S. Navy P-3 plane and a Chinese military aircraft came close to each other over the South China Sea, though the Navy believes the incident was inadvertent. China on Friday reported an initial trade surplus of $51.35 billion for January, more than $21 billion of which was with the   United States.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने रणनीति बदली, शी के साथ बातचीत में 'एक चीन' नीति का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deeply divided Republicans squeezed their U.S. healthcare overhaul, backed by President Donald Trump, through a key House of Representatives panel on Thursday despite defections by three conservatives who consider it too similar to the Obamacare law it is intended to replace. Trump’s first major legislative initiative still faces an uphill battle in the full House and later the Senate despite ongoing efforts by the White House and Republican leaders to satisfy conservative opponents. The Budget Committee vote was 19 to 17, with Republican Representatives David Brat, Gary Palmer and Mark Sanford - all members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus - joining the panel’s Democrats in voting against it. The committee brought provisions approved last week by two other panels into a single bill, helping pave the way for a later vote on the House floor. Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, could not afford to lose more than three from their ranks on the committee for it to pass. “I don’t think we are anywhere near passage,” Brat said after the vote, noting that Republican conservatives as well as moderates had problems with the bill. The 2010 Affordable Care Act, the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama, enabled about 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain medical coverage. About half of those were through the law’s expansion of eligibility and increased funding for the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor.  The close vote illustrated the problems Republican leaders may encounter in corralling enough votes in their party to win passage on the House floor amid unified Democratic opposition. The measure now goes to the Rules Committee before reaching the House floor. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency, forecast on Monday that the legislation would increase the number of Americans without health insurance by 24 million by 2026, while cutting $337 billion from federal budget deficits over the same period. The bill faces opposition from leading healthcare providers, including doctors and hospitals. “We are on track and on schedule,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, who unveiled the legislation last week and is its chief champion in the House, said after the committee’s vote. He added that while the main parts of the bill “are going to stay exactly as they are,” Republicans were making unspecified “improvements and refinements.” Ryan told a news conference that Trump was “deeply involved” and “helping bridge gaps” among Republican lawmakers to get a consensus plan. Conservatives were unmoved. “There’s no natural constituency for this bill,” said Republican Representative Raul Labrador, another Freedom Caucus member. “The Left is really mad about it. The Right is really mad about it. The middle is really mad about it. And so far it just seems to be a constituency of one, which is Washington insiders, people that are just trying to get something passed so they can get to the next issue.”  Trump administration officials and House Republican leaders have said they hope to get the bill to the House floor by the end of the month so it can go to the Senate before lawmakers’ mid-April recess. Conservatives want a quicker end to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which the bill has set for 2020, and want to add work requirements for some Medicaid recipients. They also call the age-based tax credits to help people buy insurance on the open market an unwise new entitlement. The White House said it was discussing changes with House Republican leaders. Trump told a Fox News interviewer on Wednesday that much of the bill would still be negotiated, especially as it moves from the House to the Senate. Conservative advocacy groups praised the Republicans who voted “no.” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said it makes no sense for Ryan and Budget Committee chair Diane Black to force Republicans “to walk the plank and vote for a bad bill that they’ve already admitted needs to be changed.” Black asked fellow Republicans who had doubts not to “cut off the discussion” by voting no. After approving the legislation, the panel adopted four non-binding Republican recommendations for changes before it moves to the House floor, including one by the conservative Palmer on adding work requirements for able-bodied, childless Medicaid recipients. The other recommendations called for no longer encouraging people to sign up for insurance through Medicaid, giving states more flexibility in designing Medicaid programs, and changing the bill’s tax credits to help lower-income people more. Democrats have called the Republicans’ plan a blow to the elderly and the poor while giving tax cuts to the rich. Representative John Yarmuth, the committee’s top Democrat, said the legislation was “not a healthcare bill; it is an ideological document.” He said the bill imagined a “fantasy land where young people don’t get sick, and apparently they don’t grow old either, because they don’t have to worry about being priced out of the market.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन विभाजित, रूढ़िवादी स्वास्थ्य सेवा में बदलाव से नाराज


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Wednesday rowed back statements that women who sought abortions under a proposed ban should be punished. “If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in a statement.  It contradicted an earlier statement during an MSNBC town hall appearance when he said in response to questions from the moderator that woman should face some form of punishment.

Summary: महिलाओं को नहीं, गर्भपात कराने वाले डॉक्टरों को सजा मिलनी चाहिएः ट्रंप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, a Tea Party favorite who often feuded with Republican leaders in the U.S. House, lost his bid for re-election in the party’s primary contest, unofficial state results showed on Wednesday. Huelskamp, who was seeking a fourth term, won just 44 percent of Tuesday’s vote in losing to political newcomer Roger Marshall, a physician who took 57 percent, according to the Kansas secretary of state’s website. Marshall said Huelskamp had become an ineffective player in Washington after losing key committee positions in a stand-off with Republican leaders. Conservative political action committees spent heavily this year to defeat Huelskamp and support Marshall, who also was backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Huelskamp comes from a Kansas farm family and was elected to Congress in 2010 amid a wave of support from the Tea Party movement, which promotes smaller government and reduced federal spending and taxation. He repeatedly tangled with his House Republican leaders in pushing for a more conservative fiscal agenda.  Huelskamp was a prominent member of the Freedom Caucus of House conservatives who have riled House Republican leadership. His battles with former House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner left him stripped of his House Budget and Agriculture Committee memberships, a blow to his farm-rich state. “Voters are looking for results from their Reps, not obstructionism,” the Chamber of Commerce’s political wing said in a tweet after the vote, calling Marshall an “effective conservative.” Huelskamp, in a post on Facebook overnight, said the race showed how big money from “Washington power brokers” had defeated Kansas values.  “It is now perfectly clear,” he wrote, “that the Establishment wing of the Republican party cannot stand conservatives,” he wrote. Marshall will face Libertarian candidate Kerry Burt in the Nov. 8 general election. There is no Democratic candidate, according to the Kansas secretary of state’s website.

Summary: टी पार्टी रिपब्लिकन हुएलस्कैम्प यू. एस. हाउस के लिए फिर से चुनाव की बोली हार गए


TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran opposition battling President Juan Orlando Hernandez over a disputed presidential election proposed on Tuesday that a run-off be held if authorities would not recount the entire vote. TV star Salvador Nasralla, who claimed victory in the Nov. 26 election after early results put him ahead of Hernandez, has been locked in a bitter row over the vote count since the process broke down and suddenly swung in the president s favor. The dispute has sparked deadly protests and a night-time curfew in the poor, violent Central American country.  On Tuesday, Nasralla said the electoral tribunal should review virtually all the voting cards.  If you don t agree with that, let s go to a run-off between (Hernandez) and Salvador Nasralla,  he said on Twitter. Former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup and now backs Nasralla, said that the opposition was seeking a total recount of the vote, or legislation to permit a run-off, which is not used in Honduras. Hernandez, who has been praised by the United States for his crackdown on violent street gangs, indicated later on Tuesday that his party might be willing to check all votes.  We re open to checking, that there s a review of one, two, three, however many,  he said.  They talk about 5,000 (polling stations), of more, of less; there s no problem, but it has to be under the procedures established by Honduran law.   Hernandez has not claimed victory in broadcast comments in recent days, but said on Tuesday that  there will soon be time to celebrate,  and praised his center-right National Party for containing itself during the turmoil that has followed the vote.  That doesn t mean it s not a vigorous party, and when they see it in the street, they ll see something extraordinary they haven t seen yet,  he added, without elaborating. Authorities took a week to count votes in the nation of 9 million people, but the Organization of American States (OAS) said results were marked by irregularities and errors.  The tribunal has not declared an official winner, but the results gave a 1.60 percentage point advantage to Hernandez over Nasralla, who says tally sheets from ballot boxes were altered and has declared himself the rightful winner. On Tuesday, the top official at the electoral tribunal, David Matamoros, invited the opposition to compare their copies of voter tally sheets with the official body s versions. Matamoros also said the tribunal would extend a deadline for legal challenges to Friday from Wednesday.  Street protests in favor of Nasralla that began last week continued on Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of people, including police officers, gathered at the Tegucigalpa headquarters of Honduras  elite police force yelling  Out, JOH,  referring to Hernandez s initials. Some rebel police officers had refused to crack down on demonstrations on Monday, urging the government to resolve the political deadlock. But the police force said on Tuesday it had agreed to a deal under which it will not be asked to  repress  legitimate protest. If demonstrators are caught breaking curfew, their cases will be reviewed, but police officers will also accompany them home, a spokesman said.  Nasralla s center-left Alliance bloc previously demanded a recount of nearly a third of tally sheets, a request that was backed by the OAS and European Union election observers. The Alliance is also expected to formally contest the results.  Early last week, Nasralla, a 64-year-old former sportscaster and game show host, appeared set for an upset victory, gaining a five-point lead with more than half of the ballots tallied. The count halted for more than a day, and began leaning in favor of Hernandez after resuming.

Summary: होंडुरास विपक्ष ने चुनाव की फिर से गिनती या रन-ऑफ का प्रस्ताव रखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aides to U.S. President Donald Trump are urging him not to fire  Attorney General Jeff Sessions despite rifts between the two  men, sources familiar with internal White House conversations  said on Wednesday. Media reports that Sessions offered to resign recently surfaced earlier this week. They added to pressure on Trump as former FBI Director James Comey, who was abruptly fired last month, prepared to testify in Congress on Thursday about his interactions with the president. Trump did not accept Sessions’ resignation offer and is now being advised to keep his attorney general in place, at least for the time being, two sources said.  Political and legal advisers inside the White House have told Trump over the past month that firing Sessions would create another political fire storm and make it more difficult to fill key jobs inside his administration, the sources said on the condition of anonymity. “That’s the advice he’s been given. But he might not listen to that advice,” one of the sources said. A senior White House official confirmed aides have been urging Trump to keep Sessions but said it was because “he’s the best man for the job.” A spokeswoman at the Justice Department declined to comment. Trump has repeatedly shrugged off advice from close aides. Earlier this week, he said the Justice Department led by Sessions was wrong to submit a “watered down, politically correct” version of his proposed travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries to the Supreme Court.”  The outburst weakened government lawyers’ defense that the travel ban, which has been blocked by federal courts, was not intended as a ban on Muslims. Sessions offered to resign because of tensions with Trump over his decision to recuse himself from a federal investigation into ties between Trump’s associates and Russian officials when Russia was allegedly meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to media reports. A former senator, Sessions was one of the first senior Republican lawmakers to endorse Trump as a presidential candidate and played an important role in the campaign.  He recused himself from the Russia investigation in March after he failed to disclose a meeting he had with Russia’s ambassador in Washington. Trump and Sessions were together at the White House on May 17, when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein surprised them both by appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to head the Russia investigation.  After learning the news, Trump lashed out at Sessions, blaming him for recusing himself from the Russia probe and leaving the ability to appoint an outside investigator in Rosenstein’s hands, the sources said.  Trump also complained that Sessions had not warned him about Rosenstein’s decision. The Justice Department said Sessions played no part in the decision.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगियों ने उन्हें सेशंस को अमेरिकी अटॉर्नी जनरल के रूप में रखने के लिए कहाः सूत्र


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. after his father won the Republican nomination for the 2016 U.S. presidential election has said she is ready to testify to the U.S. Congress to dispel what she called “mass hysteria” about the encounter.  President Donald Trump’s eldest son eagerly agreed in June 2016 to meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton, according to emails released by Trump Jr.   Veselnitskaya has previously said she is a private lawyer, that she never obtained damaging information about Clinton, and that she has no ties with the Kremlin. “I’m ready to clarify the situation behind this mass hysteria – but only through lawyers or testifying in the Senate,” Veselnitskaya said in an interview with Russia’s Kremlin-backed RT TV channel released late on Tuesday. In Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters she was not aware of Veselnitskaya’s offer. Feinstein said she had not yet discussed calling Veselnitskaya to testify with committee chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican. Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the presidential campaign to help Trump win the White House. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.  Leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee have said they wanted to speak to everyone who attended the meeting as part of their investigation of Russia and the U.S. election.

Summary: ट्रम्प जूनियर से मिलने वाले रूसी वकील ने कहा कि वे कांग्रेस के सामने गवाही देने के लिए तैयार हैं


BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia s secessionist leader faced increased pressure on Monday to abandon plans to declare independence from Spain, with France and Germany expressing support for the country s unity. The Madrid government, grappling with Spain s biggest political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981, said it would respond immediately to any such unilateral declaration.  A week after a vote on independence which the government did its utmost to thwart, the tension also took its toll on the business climate of Spain s wealthiest region. Three more Catalonia-based companies joined a business exodus from the region that has gathered steam since the Oct. 1 referendum. Property group Inmobiliaria Colonial (COL.MC) and infrastructure firm Abertis (ABE.MC) both decided to relocate their head offices to Madrid and telecoms firm Cellnex (CLNX.MC) said it would do the same for as long as political uncertainty in Catalonia continued. Publishing house Grupo Planeta said it would move its registered office from Barcelona to Madrid if the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence. Spain s finance minister said it was the Catalan government s fault the companies were leaving.  Regional leader Carles Puigdemont is due to address the regional parliament on Tuesday afternoon and Madrid is worried it will vote for a unilateral declaration of independence.   Catalan officials say people voted overwhelmingly for secession in the Oct. 1 referendum, which had been declared illegal by the government. Some 900 people were injured on polling day when police fired rubber bullets and stormed crowds with truncheons to disrupt the voting. The issue has deeply divided the northeastern region as well as the Spanish nation. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against breaking away in Barcelona at the weekend. They say the referendum did not show the true will of the region because those who want to stay in Spain mainly boycotted it. Buoyed by the show of support, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamar a said on Monday:  I m calling on the sensible people in the Catalan government ... don t jump off the edge because you ll take the people with you.    If there is a unilateral declaration of independence there will be decisions made to restore law and democracy,  she told COPE radio station. Underlining conflicting pressures on Puigdemont, the small, anti-capitalist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party, which has an outsized influence on his government, said the outcome of the vote must be applied.  We don t want to hold up the declaration of the Catalan republic,  CUP lawmaker Benet Salellas told a news conference. European heavyweights Germany and France weighed in against a split. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday, stressing her support for Spain s unity but encouraging dialogue, her spokesman said. France said it would not recognize Catalonia if the region unilaterally declared independence. If secession were recognized it would lead to Catalonia s automatic exit from the European Union, a French junior minister said.  This crisis needs to be resolved through dialogue at all levels of Spanish politics,  France s European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said. The European Union has shown no interest in an independent Catalonia, despite an appeal by Puigdemont for Brussels to mediate in the crisis. Under Catalonia s referendum law, deemed unconstitutional by Madrid, a vote for independence in the assembly on Tuesday would start a six-month process envisaging divorce talks with Spain before regional elections and a final act of separation. Rajoy gained some political cover on Monday for the so-called  nuclear option  of removing Catalonia s government and calling new regional elections. Opposition Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said he would  support the response of the rule of law in the face of any attempt to break social harmony , but stopped short of explicitly saying his party would back dissolving the regional parliament. Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau advised Puigdemont against proclaiming independence on the basis of the referendum results and she urged Rajoy to rule out suspending Catalonia s autonomy. Losing Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, would deprive Spain of a fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of exports.  The crisis has reopened old divisions in a nation where the right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco is a living memory easily revived by strong displays of nationalism. A spokesman for the ruling People s Party (PP) invoked the memory of former Catalan leader Lluis Companys, who was arrested for declaring independence in 1934 and later executed.    We hope they don t declare anything tomorrow, because anyone doing so might end up like him 83 years ago, in prison,  Pablo Casado told a news conference in Madrid.  Many moderate Spaniards, including in Catalonia, oppose a breakaway. Regional authorities say about 90 percent of votes in the referendum were for secession, but turnout was only 43 percent. Sunday's anti-independence demonstration helped calm financial markets, as did credit rating agencies Moody's and DBRS which said they expected Spain to remain united. Spanish borrowing costs fell to a one-week low and the main share index .IBEX touched a week high. Puigdemont appeared resolute on Sunday, saying the  referendum law called for a declaration of independence in the event of a  yes  vote.  We will apply what the law says,  he told TV3. Catalonia s High Court asked for more security, specifically drafting in the national police, who were called in to stop the referendum when the Catalan police force failed to act. Puigdemont said on Sunday he had not been in contact with the Madrid government for some time because it refused to discuss independence.   What is happening in Catalonia is real, whether they like it or not. Millions of people have voted, who want to decide. We have to talk about this,  he said. Rajoy has said repeatedly he will not talk to the Catalan leaders unless they drop their plans to declare independence.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया के नेता पर स्वतंत्रता रद्द करने का दबाव


CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Two men were injured in a drive-by shooting at South Africa s Cape Town International Airport, police said on Wednesday. Operations at the airport, the second busiest in the country and a tourism hub, were not affected, police spokesman Vish Naidoo said, adding the motive for the shooting was unknown. The airport is Africa s third busiest and handles around 10 million passengers a year, including tourists and businesspeople commuting to the economic hub Johannesburg.  A man, about 50 years of age, was shot in a drive-by shooting and in the process a bystander, a 30-year-old man, was also hit,  Naidoo said. The shooting took place in the early morning in a public area some distance from the airport s security gates, Naidoo said. Flights had not been affected, the airport s general manager Deon Cloete said in a statement.  The shooting scene has been cordoned off while investigations continue,  Cloete said. Local media reported that the shooting was gang-related, but Naidoo could not confirm that was the motive.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के केप टाउन हवाई अड्डे पर गोलीबारी में दो घायल


(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration’s timetable for tax reform is set to falter following setbacks in negotiations with Congress over healthcare, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Mnuchin told the Financial Times in an interview that the target to get tax reforms through Congress and on President Donald Trump’s desk before August was “highly aggressive to not realistic at this point”. "It is fair to say it is probably delayed a bit because of the healthcare," Mnuchin told the newspaper. (on.ft.com/2oPJlTX) Mnuchin also told the Financial Times he agreed with Trump’s view that the dollar’s strength in the short term was hurting exports, but said he saw the currency’s strength over the long term as a positive. “As the world’s currency, the primary reserve currency, I think that over long periods of time the strength of the dollar is a good thing,” the Financial Times quoted Mnuchin as saying. Trump has signaled he wants to streamline the income tax system, cut federal regulations, reduce corporate income tax and add new taxes to prod companies to keep or move production to the United States. Trump and Republicans in Congress are also trying to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. But efforts to pass a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal and replace Obamacare failed last month, dealing a major setback to the administration.

Summary: स्वास्थ्य सेवा को झटका लगने के बाद म्यूचिन ने कर सुधार में देरी की चेतावनी दीः एफटी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will experience trade difficulties due to Brexit but Britain will suffer more that the remaining European Union members when it leaves the bloc, Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said on Wednesday.  I expect we will of course have problems with trade ... but it will not be so hard for Europe as for Britain,  Zypries told a news conference in Berlin to present updated German government growth forecasts.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ की तुलना में ब्रिटेन को ब्रेक्सिट से अधिक नुकसान होगाः जर्मन मंत्री


COLOMBO/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is in advanced talks with Sri Lanka to operate an airport on the southern tip of the island, where China has invested heavily as part of its Belt and Road initiative, a Sri Lankan minister said. Sri Lanka s civil aviation minister, Nimal Siripala, said the country had been looking for alternative investors in the Hambantota area, where China has built a seaport and is in discussions to build an investment zone and a refinery.  It was during this time India came up with a proposal,  Siripala said Monday.  They were ready for a joint venture with the Airport and Aviation Services Limited,  he said, referring to the state-run company that runs Sri Lanka s main airport in the capital Colombo and the one in the south, in Mattala. The town of Hambantota sits near one of the world s busiest shipping lanes and is an important part of the Belt and Road initiative, aimed at building trade and transport links across Asia and beyond to Europe. China runs the seaport with a 99-year lease and was planning to expand its footprint in the area with the refinery, which would be Sri Lanka s largest, and an investment zone of about 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres).  Beijing s projects, backed by loans extended by the Chinese government and initiated by a previous Sri Lankan government,  have faced widespread opposition in Sri Lanka. Local residents facing eviction to make way for the projects have staged numerous protests. Other critics say the Sri Lankan government signed up for unnecessary and loss-making projects, pushing the country into long-term indebtedness. India has offered to set up a joint venture with Sri Lanka to manage and expand facilities at the loss-making Mattala airport, which sits adjacent to the Hambantota seaport, according to Siripala and an Indian government source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. There was no immediate response from the Indian foreign ministry to a request for comment on the airport deal. The initial investment would be $293 million, of which India will provide 70 percent on a 40-year lease, according to a Sri Lankan cabinet paper reviewed by Reuters that details the Indian plan to make the airport viable. The airport, built at a cost of $253 million by China, which also provided $230 million of funding, gets one flight a day, from Dubai, and has been dubbed the world s emptiest airport for its long, empty corridors. The Indian government source said India had proposed establishing a flying school and a maintenance hub at Mattala to boost airport revenues while it builds up traffic. There are also hopes the airport could be a destination for Indian tourists.  We are trying for a large integration of the Sri Lankan and Indian eco-systems, we want to boost tourism in our two countries,  the source said. China said it was not aware that Sri Lanka was considering allowing India to manage the airport. China also put in a bid to operate the facility, but the two sides failed to agree on financial terms.  China hopes the relevant country does more to play a constructive role in increasing mutual trust and cooperation between nations in the region and promoting regional peace, stability and development,  the Chinese foreign ministry said in response to an email request for comment.  India and Sri Lanka have centuries-old ethnic and cultural bonds, but these frayed amid New Delhi s support for Sri Lanka s Tamil minority during the island s 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009. China was among the first countries that stepped in to help in the post-war reconstruction of Sri Lanka, building roads, power stations and ports. By 2014, Chinese navy submarines were also docking in Colombo, raising alarm in New Delhi and prompting a push by the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to claw back influence in the region. The Indian source said New Delhi would allow Sri Lanka to determine the size of the Indian stake in the airport venture and whether it would involve state or private companies. However, some opposition groups are concerned that turning to India is equally fraught with risk. Dullas Alahapperuma, an opposition member of parliament, said the government was making a mistake by handing over national assets to China and India in Hambantota.  In the end, there could be dangerous consequences,  he  said. On Tuesday, police detained three opposition MPs protesting in Hambantota against the airport lease plan. The three included Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president who signed the construction deal with China. Siripala, the aviation minister, said any deal to give India the right to manage the airport was purely commercial and would not compromise Sri Lanka s security interests.

Summary: भारत की नजर श्रीलंका में चीनी बेल्ट एंड रोड चौकी के पास हवाई अड्डे पर


HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong s highest court granted bail to two prominent young pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, on Tuesday pending an appeal over their jail terms for unlawful assembly linked to the city s mass pro-democracy protests in 2014. Hong Kong s appeals court jailed Wong, 21, Law, 24 and Alex Chow, 27, leaders of the Chinese-ruled city s democracy movement, in August. Their sentencing came as a blow to the youth-led push for universal suffrage and prompted accusations of political interference. The trio helped lead the largely peaceful  Umbrella Movement  that blocked major roads for 79 days in 2014, demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong full democracy. Hong Kong has been governed under a  one country, two systems  formula since its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, allowing freedoms not enjoyed on mainland China that include an independent judiciary. Hong Kong Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma, who heads the Court of Final Appeal, granted Wong and Law bail of HK$50,000 ($6,408) each while they appeal against their respective six-month and eight-month jail terms.  There s no flight risk,  Ma told the court. Chow did not apply for bail.  Ma said a Court of Final Appeal hearing would be held on Nov. 7 to consider the trio s applications for appeal. The next legal steps will likely be scrutinised closely, with the jailings having shaken confidence in Hong Kong s vaunted rule of law. Wong, Chow and Law were sentenced last year to community service for unlawful assembly. However, Reuters reported that Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen had overruled other senior colleagues to re-open the case and push for a harsher sentence that eventually led to their imprisonment. A group of senior international lawyers recently issued a joint letter saying the jailings posed a serious threat to the city s rule of law.  ($1 = 7.8030 Hong Kong dollars)

Summary: हांगकांग के लोकतंत्र कार्यकर्ताओं को जमानत मिल गई क्योंकि वे जेल की सजा के खिलाफ अपील करना चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill extending the  Federal Aviation Administration’s authority to operate and spend federal money and a package of tax relief bills to aid hurricane victims, sending them to President Donald Trump for his signature. Authorization for the FAA was set to expire on Saturday, the end of the budget year. The bill will keep the agency operating for another six months as Congress debates whether to privatize the country’s air traffic control system and considers new airline passenger protections. The Senate passed the bill unanimously followed by the House of Representatives, which adopted the Senate version by unanimous consent. Trump in March proposed handing over control of U.S. air traffic control to a privately-operated board, but has faced resistance among many in Congress and owners of private planes. Major U.S. carriers, including American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines Inc, Southwest Airlines Co and JetBlue Airways Inc, all back the privatization proposal. Republican Senator Jerry Moran predicted on Thursday that the privatization proposal would not pass when the issue comes up next year. The bill now awaiting Trump’s signature also extends three healthcare programs, but would not extend a children’s healthcare program and Community Health Centers, which have authorizations that both expire on Saturday. A version of the hurricane-related tax relief package approved by House lawmakers early Thursday had included Republican-backed flood-insurance provisions aimed at opening the market to lower-cost private insurance plans. But the provisions were stripped out by the Senate after Democrats said they would leave the federal flood insurance program with nearly $25 billion in debt and allow private insurers to focus on lower-risk policies. The legislation should make it easier for people with hurricane losses to write them off on their taxes, however, eliminating a requirement that personal losses must exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income to qualify for a deduction. One provision would also give hurricane victims penalty-free access to retirement funds, and temporarily suspends limitations on the deduction for charitable contributions to hurricane relief made before year-end. The tax relief package provides a tax credit for 40 percent of wages, up to $6,000 per employee, paid by a disaster-affected employer in certain disaster area.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने एफ. ए. ए. के विस्तार और तूफान कर राहत को मंजूरी दी


ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican, at the start of a conference on protecting children from online sexual abuse, pledged on Tuesday to seek the truth about one of its diplomats whom it recalled after he became suspected of possessing child pornography.  This is a very painful episode and a great trial for all involved,  said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican s Secretary of State and number two in the Holy See. Parolin was referring to the case of a monsignor who was recalled to the Holy See from its Washington embassy in August after the U.S. State Department said he may have violated child pornography laws.  We are treating the case with the maximum seriousness, the maximum commitment and the maximum attention,  Parolin told reporters as he arrived to deliver the conference s keynote address. He said the case was under judicial secrecy  to protect the investigation and to protect truth and justice . The Vatican never identified the monsignor, who is also wanted in Canada on suspicion of uploading child pornography from a social networking website in 2016. He is being investigated by Vatican prosecutors and will stand trial in the Vatican if indicted.   In his keynote speech, Parolin said the Catholic Church wanted to  share the experience  it had acquired from dealing with its own scandals concerning priestly sexual abuse of children  so that it may prove useful for an ever greater good . He said all sectors of society, including  companies that promote and drive the development of the digital world,  have a responsibility to protect vulnerable children from forms of sexual abuse on the internet. The conference is also being addressed by Jacqueline Beauchere, the chief online safety officer for Microsoft and Antigone Davis, head of global safety policy for Facebook.  The three-day conference, which will present its findings to Pope Francis on Friday, will discuss themes such as bullying and the preying on children by pedophiles.  The kids aren t alright,  said Baroness Joanna Shields, founder of Britain s WeProtect, an alliance to end child exploitation online.  If a child s first lesson in sexual education is a pornographic video, then this will become their reference point,  she said. Professor Ernesto Caffo, the Italian founder of a 30-year-old hotline to report cases of endangered children, told the conference that 18 million children suffer sexual abuse in Europe and that there were more than 57,000 URLs containing child sexual abuse images. He said that in nearly 25 percent of cases, adult survivors of sexual abuse suffer from psychological problems, including depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and self harm. There was an urgent need to provide specialized training for professionals working in education, Caffo said.

Summary: वैटिकन ने बाल पोर्नोग्राफी मामले में राजनयिक के बारे में सच्चाई जानने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The indictments of two former Trump campaign aides on Monday have nothing to do with President Donald Trump or his campaign and show no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, a White House spokeswoman said. “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a news briefing. “We’ve been saying from day one there’s no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at all,” she added.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउसः अभियान सहयोगियों के आरोपों में मिलीभगत का कोई संकेत नहीं


KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Demanding reparations from Germany for its actions in Poland during World War Two is a matter of honor for Warsaw, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Saturday.  The issue of reparations, revived by Poland s eurosceptic PiS after decades of improving relations with Germany, could escalate tensions between the two European Union members. In September Polish parliamentary legal experts ruled that Warsaw has the right to demand reparations from Germany, although Poland s foreign minister indicated that no immediate claim would be made.  The French were paid, Jews were paid, many other nations were paid for the losses they suffered during World War Two. Poles were not,  Kaczynski said.   It is not only about material funds. It is about our status, our honor ... And this is not theater. This is our demand, a totally serious demand,  added Kaczynski, Poland s de facto leader.  The PiS government, deeply distrustful of Germany, has raised calls for wartime compensation in recent months but Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said further analysis was needed before any claims were lodged. Six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war, and the capital Warsaw was razed to the ground in 1944 after a failed uprising in which 200,000 civilians died.

Summary: पोलैंड के लिए जर्मन युद्ध मुआवजे 'सम्मान की बात'


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he agreed with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs were not permissible. Tillerson, a former oil executive, arrived in Japan late on Wednesday on his first trip to Asia and will also visit South Korea and China. Tillerson told a news conference with Kishida that they had affirmed a “strong and enduring” friendship between their countries, and U.S. commitment to Japan remained unwavering.

Summary: जापान अमेरिका से सहमत है कि उत्तर कोरिया के हथियारों की 'अनुमति नहीं है'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will urge President Xi Jinping to make good on his commitments to pressure North Korea when he visits China next month, a senior White House official said on Monday, stepping up a strategy to have Beijing help rein in Pyongyang. Isolating North Korea further over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests is a key goal for Trump on what will be his longest foreign trip to date. Trump will call on Xi to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang and take other steps to pressure North Korea.  China, North Korea s sole major ally, accounts for more than 90 percent of trade with the isolated country. China has said it will strictly enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions banning imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North.      But a senior White House official who briefed reporters ahead of Trump s trip said China needs to do more to comply with two U.N. Security Council resolutions that were approved unanimously, including with China s support.  We would like to see China follow through on those commitments. We would like to see China do things bilaterally as well that might even go beyond things that are mandated by those U.N. Security Council resolutions,  the official said. Though China has been angered by North Korea s repeated nuclear and missile tests and demanded they stop, Beijing also sees the United States and South Korea sharing responsibility for rising tensions because of military drills they carry out in the region. South Korea, the United States and Japan started a two-day missile tracking drill on Tuesday, South Korea s military said in a statement, in preparation for any missile or nuclear threats from North Korea. The exercises will be held in waters off the coasts of South Korea and Japan, South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with four Aegis combat system-equipped ships from all three countries participating in the drill. China s special envoy for the North Korea nuclear issue, Kong Xuanyou, met his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Yun, in Beijing on Monday, China s Foreign Ministry said, where they had a  deep exchange of views on the Korean peninsula issue . The ministry did not elaborate. Trump, who has threatened to  totally destroy  North Korea, has frequently asked China to help rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But this strategy has so far failed to stop Pyongyang conducting nuclear bomb tests at an underground facility and firing ballistic missile tests into the Pacific Ocean over Japan. The threat from North Korea has grown to a  critical and imminent level  and the United States, Japan and South Korea must address the matter, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in talks on Monday. Onodera s remarks underscored the deep concern in Tokyo about North Korean weapons tests as Pyongyang seeks to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump is looking for a peaceful resolution of the North Korea standoff. Asked by reporters whether an offer by former President Jimmy Carter to serve as a U.S. envoy to North Korea would be accepted, the official said:  There s nothing planned.  Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday he outlined for Trump his country s efforts to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program but also advised the U.S. leader to use talks to help resolve the conflict.  There is no quick and easy solution. Pressure is necessary but so is dialogue. The U.S. will need to work with others, including China, South Korea and Japan and Russia to resolve the issue,  he said. With Xi consolidating power in the wake of a Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Trump believes the Chinese president will have a greater authority to take steps against North Korea, senior administration officials said last week. Trump s Nov. 3-14 trip will include visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Trump will also be tough on trade during talks with Xi as he seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, the White House official said.  We have huge barriers that Americans companies have to surmount to gain access to the Chinese market. The president is intent on rectifying that situation,  the official said.    Despite Trump s fierce criticism of China s trade practices during the presidential campaign, he has mostly held off on any major trade action while his administration works with Beijing on North Korea. China has insisted it is doing all it can, and some Chinese diplomats say the Trump administration has overestimated how much influence Beijing has over its defiant neighbor. Even as China has shown signs of tightening enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, it has stopped short of agreeing to U.S. demands for a fuel embargo and has urged the United States to negotiate with Pyongyang.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया पर चीन पर दबाव डालेंगे ट्रंप, बीजिंग यात्रा पर करेंगे व्यापार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Monday blocked a Republican plan for keeping terrorism suspects from buying weapons by establishing a 72-hour review period for delaying the transactions. The Senate fell seven votes short of clearing the way for approving the measure. The Senate is now set to vote on a more sweeping Democratic proposal to keep guns out of the hands of people on terrorism watch lists.

Summary: सीनेट ने 'निगरानी सूची' बंदूक बिक्री पर रिपब्लिकन योजना को अवरुद्ध किया


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga called on Wednesday for a mass protest on Oct. 26, the date the country is due to hold a presidential vote that he is boycotting.   Demonstrations will continue. October 26 will be the biggest demonstration of them all,  he told a crowd of several thousand cheering supporters in Nairobi.

Summary: केन्या में विपक्ष ने चुनाव की तारीख पर विरोध प्रदर्शन का आह्वान किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran s allies in Lebanon have emerged even stronger from a crisis triggered by Saudi Arabia, which achieved little more than to force the Saudis  main Lebanese ally - Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri - closer to Tehran s friends in Beirut.    Saudi Arabia aimed to hurt Iran in Lebanon by forcing Hariri s resignation on Nov. 4 and torpedoing his coalition deal with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies, using its influence over the Sunni leader to cause trouble for the Shi ite group. Instead, the move backfired as Western states censured Riyadh over a step they feared would destabilize Lebanon, despite their shared concerns over the regional role of the heavily armed Hezbollah. Hariri revoked his resignation on Tuesday, drawing a line under the crisis caused by his announcement from Riyadh. Lebanese officials say he was put under house arrest before French intervention led to his return home. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. But while the crisis has abated, its causes - Hezbollah s growing military influence in the region and Saudi Arabia s determination to counter Iran - seem likely to bring more trouble Lebanon s way sooner or later. Hariri has identified possible Gulf Arab sanctions as a major risk to the Lebanese economy. Analysts also see a risk of another war with Hezbollah s old foe, Israel, which is alarmed by the group s strength in Lebanon and Syria. The episode also leaves big questions over Lebanese politics, long influenced by Saudi Arabia, a patron of the Lebanese Sunni community. One senior Lebanese politician said the experience had  left a big scar  on Hariri, once the  the spiritual son of Saudi Arabia .  After this, it will not be easy to have a normal relationship again.  Meeting on Tuesday for the first time since the resignation, Hariri s government indirectly acknowledged Saudi concerns over Hezbollah s role outside Lebanon. At Hariri s behest, it reaffirmed its policy of staying out of Arab conflicts. A top Lebanese official said Western pressure forced Saudi Arabia to retreat from its Lebanon plan but further Saudi moves could not be ruled out:  Can we restrain Saudi from going toward madness? In my view, no.  A Western diplomat said Saudi measures targeting the Lebanese economy were  a genuine possibility  at some point though the international community would likely try to influence how tough any sanctions would be.   I think the Saudis have understood from the international reaction that Lebanon isn t a pitch on which they are playing alone. There are other players who have interests who don t want to see those undermined,  the diplomat said.  At the same time, the international community s patience isn t unlimited. It will be hard to protect Lebanon indefinitely if there is no tangible progress on rolling back Hezbollah.  Hezbollah was the only group allowed to keep its weapons at the end of Lebanon s 1975-90 civil war to fight Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon. Its militia has been a source of controversy in Lebanon since the Israeli withdrawal of 2000. With Saudi backing, Hariri led a Lebanese political alliance to confront the group, but that resulted in Hezbollah s takeover of Beirut in 2008 during a brief civil war. Hezbollah s stature has grown in the chaos that swept the Arab world after 2011. It has backed President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and helped in the war against Islamic State in Iraq.     But its role in the Yemen conflict is seen as the main factor behind the crisis in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran and Hezbollah of military support for the Iranian-allied Houthis in their war with a Saudi-led coalition. Hariri has repeatedly flagged Yemen as the cause of the latest crisis, and warned that Lebanon s economy is at stake. The economy depends on remittances from expat workers, particularly in the Gulf. Any threat to inflows is seen as a risk to the system that finances the heavily indebted state. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has appeared to recalibrate his rhetoric in response to the crisis. Last month, he denied his group was fighting in Yemen, or sending weapons to the Houthis, or firing rockets at Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory. He also indicated Hezbollah could pull its fighters from Iraq. The remarks on the eve of Hariri s return were seen as  appeasing , a source close to Hariri said. Hariri has twice led coalition governments including Hezbollah despite his enmity toward the group: five Hezbollah members have been charged by a U.N.-backed tribunal with the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik al-Hariri. Hezbollah denies any involvement. Hariri s willingness to compromise with Hezbollah was a factor behind the Saudi move against him and has drawn criticism from within the Sunni community. His status as Lebanon s most influential Sunni will be put to the test in parliamentary elections next year. Ashraf Rifi, a hawkish Sunni politician, said the way Hariri reversed his resignation was a  farce  and a  surrender to the Hezbollah project . The senior politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hezbollah may offer Hariri a  gesture  over its regional role but saw little prospect of the group fundamentally changing course. President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, could pressure the group  a little bit to be cooler on certain issues , the politician said. But Lebanese in Saudi Arabia still had reason to be afraid for their livelihoods:  I think with time the Lebanese will try to disentangle themselves from Saudi Arabia, but this will cost Lebanon a lot because revenues will be reduced.  The Hariri crisis marked an unprecedented intervention in Lebanon, even in a country with a long history of foreign meddling. It also underlined the different priorities of Saudi Arabia and its Western allies in Lebanon - a major recipient of aid to help it host 1.5 million Syrian refugees. On the last day of Hariri s stay in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman summoned him for a meeting and kept him waiting for hours, delaying his departure for France where President Emanuel Macron was waiting for him, the senior politician and a top Lebanese official said.  Macron was calling Saad to find out where he was,  said the senior politician, adding that Macron then called Crown Prince Mohammad to tell him he was expecting Hariri for lunch. Western states want stability in Lebanon, the politician said.  They need Lebanon as a platform for observing the Arab world. They have invested a lot here, and if there is a civil war, (there is the question of) what to do with all the Syrian refugees.

Summary: लेबनान ईरान के साथ संकट से उभरता है, लेकिन जोखिम बना हुआ है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The new prime ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic vowed not to give any ground on the divisive issue of hosting refugees as they arrived in Brussels on Thursday for their first summit of European Union leaders. More than two years after a massive influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa created deep divisions in the EU, members are still feuding over how to share the burden of caring for asylum seekers. The row pits frontline countries Italy and Greece, and rich destination countries like Germany, against four ex-communist states on the EU s eastern edge - Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - that have refused to welcome refugees. Poland s Mateusz Morawiecki and the Czech Republic s Andrej Babis, who both took office this month and said they wanted good and pragmatic ties with the EU, made clear that they would maintain the hard line of their predecessors on migration.  It is worth investing considerable amounts of money in helping refugees in (regions) they are fleeing from. The help on the ground there is much more effective,  said Morawiecki, explaining Warsaw would do that instead of accepting refugees. The four eastern prime ministers offered 35 million euros to Italy on Thursday to support EU-backed migration projects in Libya aimed at curbing immigration to Europe. [L8N1OB30J] Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, arriving at the summit, welcomed the financial contribution but said the four still needed to accept refugees.  I think it was a very important decision,  he said of the money pulled together by the four easterners.  Differences, however, remain. We will continue to insist that a commitment on the relocation of refugees is needed.  Two years after the biggest influx of refugees and migrants into Europe since World War Two, an EU deal with Turkey has shut the main eastern Mediterranean route through Greece and across the Balkans used by more than 1 million people in 2015. The biggest remaining route is from Libya across the Mediterranean to Italy. Hundreds of thousands have been making the trip each year and thousands have died at sea. New efforts to curb smuggling from Libya s coast have reduced the numbers in recent months, but human rights groups say thousands of African migrants are now stuck in squalid conditions in Libyan camps. The southern EU countries where most migrants first arrive, and the wealthier northern countries where many seek asylum, want all EU states to accept at least some refugees. The ex-communist eastern states say this amounts to bullying them to help solve political problems for their wealthier neighbors. All EU leaders will discuss the issue over dinner in Brussels on Thursday, though no decisions are expected, with a French source stressing the controversy would take much more time to untangle. [L8N1OD360].  The dispute reopened this week when Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who now chairs the summits, came out against obligatory relocation quotas, ruffling feathers in many EU states and the bloc s executive Commission.  Divisions on migration...are accompanied by emotions which make it hard to find common ground. We should work even more intensively to keep our unity,  Tusk said ahead of the summit. But his intervention upset Italy, Germany and other proponents of the quotas, who warn they could force the waverers to accept refugees in a majority vote if no compromise is found by June.  It won t happen,  Babis told reporters ahead of the summit, highlighting that any attempt to impose  nonsensical  quotas in a majority vote would only widen the divisions in the EU. Slovakia s Robert Fico also said unanimity must prevail in the EU, especially on such thorny issues.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के नए पूर्वी नेता शरणार्थियों पर बंदूक चलाने पर अड़े हुए हैं


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Britain will leave the European Union, its single market and customs union as one nation, its minister for Northern Ireland said on Sunday, dashing any hope the region could keep such close economic ties to avoid any return of a hard border. At a speech at the Conservative Party s annual conference in Manchester, northern England, James Brokenshire drew applause when he said:  We will leave the European Union in 2019 as one United Kingdom. That includes leaving the single market and the customs union so that we can strike new trade deals with the rest of the world.  Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called last month for the EU and Britain to find  unique solutions  to their Brexit logjam, including a bespoke customs union. That would solve the problem of a hard border in Ireland once Britain has left the EU, something that is of great concern to Dublin.

Summary: ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ के एकल बाजार, सीमा शुल्क संघ को एक राष्ट्र-मंत्री के रूप में छोड़ेगा


BERLIN (Reuters) - International observers documented a range of concerns during November’s U.S. elections, including cyber security risks, disenfranchisement of current and former prisoners, and an opaque campaign finance system, a German newspaper group reported. “The American electoral system is very fragmented and in many places no longer meets international standards,” Michael Link, chief election observer for the 57-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain. A report prepared by a team of OSCE observers who monitored the Nov. 8 presidential and congressional elections cited the need for steps to make the U.S. campaign finance system more transparent and address moves by many U.S. states to ban former and current prisoners from voting, Link said. He said each state had different voting laws and varying usage of new voting technologies.  There were increasing moves across the United States to return to a paper-based voting system after negative experiences with electronic voting machines in recent years, but 15 states used computers that did not allow a manual recount, he said. Link said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies had taken steps to ensure the security of electronic voting machines, but many machines in use across the country were old and did not meet international standards. “This is a security risk,” Link said. Link also criticised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on Friday, for “consciously and repeatedly overstepping the bounds of hate speech.” “That he was successful with this sets a dangerous precedent,” Link said. “The international community expects the United States to provide a good example, also in this area.” No further details of the report were immediately available. The OSCE sent its biggest team ever to the United States for the 2016 election amid charges from Trump that the poll could be “rigged” and concerns by civil rights activists that black voters could face undue obstacles.

Summary: ओ. एस. सी. ई. की रिपोर्ट में अमेरिकी चुनाव प्रणाली के बारे में चिंताओं का हवाला दिया गया हैः जर्मन मीडिया


BEIJING (Reuters) - Cultural exchanges between countries need to consider the  temperature  of popular opinion and how people feel about each other, a senior Chinese official said on Friday, amid a freeze in cultural ties with South Korea over an anti-missile system. China has been angered by Seoul s decision to deploy the U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, saying that its powerful radar harms China s own national security and will do nothing to lessen tensions with North Korea, which THAAD is supposed to defend against. Popular South Korean soap operas have been pulled from streaming sites, K-Pop singers have had concerts canceled and there has been a dramatic drop in Chinese tourists to South Korea. China has not officially linked the moves to the THAAD tensions, but has said relations need to have a  basis in popular opinion . Asked about the prospects for cultural exchanges with South Korea amid the THAAD dispute, deputy media regulator Zhang Hongsen said cultural exchanges were not an  ordinary exchange of goods .  Cultural exchanges relate to where the popular will inclines and to emotional choices,  he said, speaking on the sidelines of a Communist Party Congress.  So what we say is that culture exchanges are an exchange of temperatures, and this temperature comes from popular feeling and emotion,  added Zhang, who is a Vice Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.  When popular sentiments and emotions align, cultural exchanges and cooperation can certainly develop in a positive direction,  he said, without elaborating.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया के जमने के बीच चीन का कहना है कि सांस्कृतिक आदान-प्रदान से तापमान बढ़ रहा है


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland will remain reliant on coal for power generation for now but in future should consider turning to nuclear energy and renewable sources, the new prime minister said on Tuesday in his first policy speech. Mateusz Morawiecki, a Western-educated former banker fluent in German and English, was sworn in on Monday, replacing Beata Szydlo, a coalminer s daughter, who had promised to keep mining jobs when the industry struggled to survive in 2015. Morawiecki s did not signal a major departure for now from the pro-coal policies of his ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), but his comments did suggest the government could give a push to a much-delayed plan to build Poland s first nuclear power plant.  Today coal is the basis of our energy industry and we cannot and do not want to give it up,  Morawiecki said.  For our future generations, I would also like alternative energy sources to develop freely in Poland. Our task is to guarantee Poland the energy independence at low carbon emissions and this is why we look favorably at nuclear energy,  he said. He also said the nation should consider renewable power sources. A project to build a nuclear power plant was announced in 2009, but has been hit by several delays, with financing posing one of the main obstacles. Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski has been pushing to build the nuclear plant but needs cabinet approval for a renewed push. Morawiecki may have given those plans a boost. PiS has long championed Poland s use of coal, a fuel that is falling out of favor in a global push to cut greenhouse gases. But global pressures to shift away from coal and Poland s shrinking deposits are encouraging the country to consider its future plans for power generation, analysts say.

Summary: पोलैंड के नए प्रधानमंत्री ने भविष्य में परमाणु, हरित ऊर्जा का समर्थन किया


BISHKEK (Reuters) - A protege of outgoing pro-Russian leader Almazbek Atambayev looked set for a surprise outright victory in Kyrgyzstan s presidential election on Sunday, despite polls having predicted a close runoff between him and an opposition leader. According to preliminary data published by the central election commission, former prime minister and Atambayev ally Sooronbai Jeenbekov had secured 54.22 percent of the vote based on a count from 97 percent of the polling stations. His main opponent, oil tycoon Omurbek Babanov, trailed well behind with 33.47 percent, according to the same early data. A close ally of Moscow and host to a Russian military base, Kyrgyzstan helps its former Soviet overlord project power across a region where China and the United States also vie for influence. In contrast to other Central Asian states, which are mostly run by autocrats, Kyrgyzstan is a boisterous democracy that produces sometimes chaotic changes of leadership.  After its first two presidents were ousted by riots, the country restyled itself as a parliamentary republic where presidential powers are mostly limited to foreign policy and security matters. But Atambayev strengthened executive powers last year. Constitutionally barred from seeking a second six-year term, he backed Jeenbekov, 58, an experienced apparatchik who served as prime minister until August. In Sunday s election, observers, citing pre-election polls, saw none of the candidates clearing the 50 percent threshold for outright victory, with Jeenbekov and Babanov then competing in a runoff. Babanov s campaign office declined to comment on the preliminary results but said it would do so on Monday. Babanov s next move will be closely watched because allegations of electoral fraud were among the main factors behind violent protests which toppled two Kyrgyz presidents in 2005 and 2010. Atambayev - likely to remain a powerful figure if his preferred candidate Jeenbekov does win - warned on Sunday he would use any violence as an opportunity to  cleanse  the country. Atambayev and Jeenbekov s Social Democratic party is the biggest in parliament and dominates the coalition cabinet. But they faced stiff opposition from Babanov, 47, whose Respublika-Ata Zhurt (Fatherland) party has the second-biggest parliamentary faction and whose poll numbers had suggested he and Jeenbekov would compete in a tight runoff. Babanov, also a former prime minister, has accused the government of abusing its powers to ensure Jeenbekov s victory after the authorities charged some of his campaign supporters with plotting a coup and planning to bribe voters. Babanov has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the charges against his supporters as dirty election tactics. Atambayev and his cabinet have also accused Kazakhstan, a bigger and wealthier neighbor, of backing Babanov - which both Babanov and the Kazakh government deny.  What they (the authorities) are doing is outrageous,  Babanov told reporters on Sunday, adding some of his campaign staff and a reporter for a TV station owned by Babanov had been attacked by unidentified men on the day of the vote. Atambayev on Sunday warned opponents against trying to stage violent protests after the vote.  In fact, if there is unrest, it s going to be a good thing, I would like to cleanse (the country of) them all completely,  he told reporters after casting his ballot. Both Jeenbekov and Babanov have said they consider Russia - where hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz migrant laborers work - a strategic partner. According to preliminary data, voter turnout was 55.93 percent.

Summary: निवर्तमान नेता का आश्रित किर्गिस्तान का राष्ट्रपति चुनाव जीतने के लिए तैयार


SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Reuters) - After the crushing electoral losses that swept Donald Trump into the White House and sealed Republican control of the U.S. Congress, the Democrats’ road to recovery winds through the leafy, well-heeled suburbs of north Atlanta.  Here, Democrats are threatening a stunning special election upset that could signal how well the party can turn Trump’s low approval ratings into political gains. And they appear to have an ally in the April 18 vote: Trump himself.  In the most-watched congressional race so far in the Trump era, a wave of grassroots anti-Trump fervor has positioned Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old political newcomer, to possibly capture a House of Representatives seat held by Republicans for decades, one of 24 seats Democrats need nationwide to reclaim the House.  MORE FROM REUTERS: Russian naval activity in Europe exceeds Cold War levels: U.S. admiralIran chides Gulf ArabsRussian computer programmer arrested in Spain: embassy “The grassroots intensity here is electric, and it’s because folks are concerned that what is happening in Washington doesn’t represent our values,” Ossoff said in an interview. “This is a chance for this community to stand up and make a statement about what we believe.”  With Democrats desperate for signs of hope after Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump, Ossoff’s underdog “Make Trump Furious” campaign has endeared him to national anti-Trump activists and pushed him well ahead of 17 rivals in polls. The documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide raised a jaw-dropping $8.3 million in the first quarter, his campaign said.  “I’ve never seen the Democrats around here so engaged, and it’s Donald Trump who got us so engaged,” said Carolyn Hadaway, 77, a veteran party activist and retired software engineer from Marietta, a city of about 60,000 people in Georgia’s central Cobb County.  Georgia would seem an unlikely venue for a Democratic revival. Trump won it by about 5 percentage points in November. And its voters backed Republican nominees in eight of the last nine presidential contests, including the last six in a row.  But demographic changes are brewing. Growing minority communities and transplants from other regions have made Atlanta’s suburbs increasingly competitive for Democrats. Georgia’s sixth congressional district, the location for April’s special election, exemplifies changes common in booming southern cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville.  The district is white collar, educated and doing well economically, with median household incomes of $80,000 versus $50,000 statewide, and nearly 60 percent of adults holding a college or professional degree, more than twice the statewide average. It is also increasingly diverse, and in recent years became a magnet for well-educated immigrants from India and other parts of Asia.  The district was about 80 percent white at the turn of the century. But since then, the black share of the population has grown from 10 percent to 13 percent, the Hispanic share has doubled to 12.5 percent and Asian representation doubled to more than 10 percent.  About a fifth of the district is now foreign born – twice the statewide average, according to census data.  Though newer immigrants may not be eligible to vote, census data indicate more than 40 percent are naturalized citizens, potentially bringing a different set of views on issues like immigration to the table than the voters in this district who sent Trump adviser and former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to Congress for 10 straight terms.  April’s special election fills the seat vacated by Tom Price, the new secretary of health and human services. It gives both parties a chance to test their messages for election battles next year in suburban districts where Democrats need to make inroads and where Trump’s populist economic message did not sell well in November.  While Price sailed to re-election with 62 percent of the vote, Trump barely beat Clinton in Georgia’s sixth district by one percentage point. In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney beat Democratic President Barack Obama in the district by 23 points.  Republican candidates nationwide will closely watch the result as they calculate whether to embrace the president.  The 11 Republicans in the race have split between those who portray themselves as Trump supporters and establishment candidates who keep a respectful and sometimes wary distance.  “I’m ready to support him,” former state senator Dan Moody, who was endorsed by U.S. Senator David Perdue, said of Trump in an interview. But “I’m not going to jump over a cliff with him.”  Grassroots Democratic groups flood the district’s tidy suburban neighborhoods on the weekends, busing in volunteers from as far away as Maryland to go door to door on Ossoff’s behalf.  The Ossoff momentum worries Republicans, say party officials, and outside help has arrived. A super PAC aligned with House Republican leaders put more than $2 million into ads painting Ossoff as too young and inexperienced.  Ossoff played down the strategic value of a possible upset.  “The national implications here will be about how this affects the political calculus for folks in the Republican conference in the House, not about how Democrats are supposed to run in the midterms,” he said.  In a low turnout special election, getting supporters to the polls is vital, and Democrats have voted early in greater numbers than Republicans so far.  “We aren’t panicking, but there is concern,” said Maggie Holliman, a member of the Republican state executive committee.  Ossoff’s best chance is to win the April 18 vote, a “jungle primary” that features all 18 candidates from both parties on the same ballot. If no one reaches 50 percent, the top two vote getters square off on June 20.  Republicans are confident they can win a one-on-one race with Ossoff, as the party unites with organizational and financial help pouring into the Republican-majority district.  “There is a chance Ossoff can win without a runoff, but that’s his only chance. He’s benefiting from unified Democratic support and Republicans being highly divided,” said Georgia-based Republican strategist Joel McElhannon.  Polls show Ossoff hovering in the low 40s, not enough to avoid a runoff. The leading Republican, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, is well behind.  Handel has been cautious in talking about Trump. She said in an interview she expected to work with him on issues such as tax reform and border security, but “first and foremost” she would be a conservative advocate for her district.  By contrast Republicans Bob Gray, a local business executive, and Bruce LeVell, head of Trump’s national diversity coalition, pledge undivided loyalty to the White House. Gray said he was the Republican in the race who performed the behind-the-scenes political groundwork for Trump in the district.  LeVell pulled out his cellphone and showed a reporter text messages from Trump aides Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and even Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to prove his insider status with the White House.  “If people are looking for someone to help Trump, I’m their guy,” he said.  (This version of the story corrects third paragraph to ‘most-watched congressional race so far’ from ‘first congressional election’)

Summary: जॉर्जिया में, एक डेमोक्रेट के 'मेक ट्रम्प फ्यूरियस' अभियान ने रिपब्लिकन को हिलाकर रख दिया


SANTA CLARA (Reuters) - Cyber attack techniques used by the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State could also be used by other countries, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday. Speaking in California, Carter told reporters that the U.S.-led coalition used electronic techniques to disrupt and degrade the jihadist force’s ability to organize and said an unspecified number of other countries could do the same in other conflicts. “These are not capabilities that only we have,” Carter said at a news conference at the Santa Clara headquarters of Intel Corp’s security wing. “That is why good, strong cyber defenses are essential for us.” The remarks add more detail to a campaign that has only recently been acknowledged. The conference was also attended by the U.S. Secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce. The cabinet secretaries had gathered for a day-long presidential security advisory board meeting that was the first to be held in Silicon Valley since the group’s inception more than 35 years ago. The officials used their remarks at the event to call for greater cooperation between the government and private sector, especially to confront rising cyber security threats. Carter said he was expanding the Pentagon’s technology innovation unit by adding an office in Boston and hiring a recruiter to attract tech company leaders to temporary military jobs. The so-called Defense Innovation Unit Experimental was formed to help get ideas and products from Silicon Valley into the Defense Department quickly. National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers told the group that the government’s largest intelligence workforce had moved from almost exclusively defending Pentagon networks to protecting the civilian government five years ago and was increasingly assisting the Department of Homeland Security in efforts to help safeguard private companies. “The part that frustrates me is, why are we coming in after the fact,” as with the destructive hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp, instead of acting earlier on information gathered about attacks in the works, Rogers said.  Tensions between U.S. technology companies and the government continue to flare over President Barack Obama’s call for encryption that can be pierced at the government’s request.  The three cabinet secretaries stood behind the call for flexible encryption during the press conference. The National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee did not address the subject during its public sessions at Intel on Wednesday. Tech and security company officials and prominent venture capitalists said at the meeting they hoped the government would continue to hasten the adoption of private-sector innovation in such areas as robotics and machine learning and the officials said that they would. White House cyber security policy coordinator Michael Daniel said cooperation was critical to avoid the massive economic, social and intelligence benefit of the Internet for the West becoming a liability.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट पर साइबर हमले दूसरों के पास भी उपकरणों का उपयोग करते हैंः अमेरिकी रक्षा प्रमुख


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday Lebanon s political crisis was  a wake-up call  for Lebanese with different loyalties to put their country ahead of regional issues. Hariri was referring to the crisis ignited by his shock announcement on Nov. 4 that he was resigning. He made it from Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy and regional powerhouse locked in a confrontation with Shi ite Islamist Iran. After returning to Lebanon this week, he shelved the decision on Wednesday at the request of President Michel Aoun.  The period that passed was perhaps like a wake-up call for all of us to look for Lebanon s interests rather than looking at problems around us,  Hariri said at the Annual Arab Banking Conference in Beirut on Thursday.  The problems around us are important, but Lebanon is more important.  Hariri reaffirmed the need for Lebanon to stick by its policy of staying out of regional conflict  not just with words but with action as well .  I want to stress that ... our main concern is stability, and this is what we ll be working on.  Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the head of President Aoun s political party, wrote to the Arab League chief on Thursday, stressing Lebanon s policy of staying out of regional crises, the state news agency reported.  The regional role played by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah political and military movement has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariri s long-time ally. Hezbollah s parliamentary group met on Thursday and said in a statement afterwards that Hariri s return to Lebanon and his  positive statements  signaled a possible return to normality. Hariri said on Wednesday his decision to postpone resigning would lead to  a responsible dialogue ... that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanon s relations with Arab brothers.  Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh forced him to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. Hariri returned to Lebanon after an intervention by France. A leader in Hariri s Future Movement said on Thursday that Hariri s decision to wait instead of officially resigning from his post was a  wise step  that would allow for more dialogue.

Summary: प्रधानमंत्री हरीरी ने लेबनान से देश को पहले रखने का आग्रह किया


(Reuters) - Florida’s Republican lieutenant governor, Carlos Lopez-Cantera, on Wednesday dropped his bid for a U.S. Senate seat shortly after Senator Marco Rubio said he would be entering the race. “I want to congratulate and thank Marco for his decision to pursue re-election to the U.S. Senate,” Lopez-Cantera, a friend of Rubio’s, said in a statement.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा के लेफ्टिनेंट गवर्नर ने सीनेट सीट के लिए बोली समाप्त की


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina s congress on Wednesday passed a law aimed at punishing companies for corruption by fining or blacklisting them from public contracts, a measure that comes as the judiciary reviews high-profile graft cases. The measure also includes a provision for companies to sign leniency agreements lessening their punishments in exchange for providing pertinent information to prosecutors. Fines can be up to five times the amount companies are determined to have obtained by illicit means and firms can be banned from bidding for public contracts for up to 10 years.  President Mauricio Macri has said the law was needed for Argentina to move forward with a corruption investigation involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht SA [ODBES.UL] that has roiled Latin America in recent years. The measure had already passed the Senate and on Wednesday passed the lower house with 144 votes in favor, six against and 31 abstentions.   We are changing! This law promotes corporate ethics and harshly punishes companies that participate in corruption,  Laura Alonso, head of the government s anti-corruption office, said on Twitter. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development had urged Argentina to pass the law in order to comply with its Anti-Bribery Convention. Last week Amado Boudou, who had been former President Cristina Fernandez s economy minister and vice president, was arrested on corruption charges. Fernandez s former planning minister, Julio De Vido, was arrested on Oct. 25, just three days after Macri s  Cambiemos,  or  Let s Change,  coalition swept Argentina s Oct. 22 midterm elections. Boudou and De Vido deny wrongdoing and Fernandez s party has accused Macri of using the judicial system to persecute political opponents.

Summary: अर्जेंटीना कांग्रेस ने कॉर्पोरेट भ्रष्टाचार से लड़ने के लिए कानून पारित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump intends to designate Philip Miscimarra as the chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the White House said on Friday. Miscimarra, who currently serves as the NLRB’s acting chairman, joined the board in 2013.

Summary: राष्ट्रीय श्रम संबंध बोर्ड के अध्यक्ष के रूप में नियुक्त होंगे ट्रंपः व्हाइट हाउस


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants Britain to protect data it has in storage on continental Europeans after Brexit and maintain bans on cheap imitations of locally branded EU produce like cognac or Parma ham. The proposals were among those made in further position papers published by the European Commission s Brexit negotiators on Thursday for consultation with the other 27 EU member states which offered a glimpse of thinking in Brussels about future trade ties with Britain, despite an EU refusal to start talks. The British government has voiced frustration at the refusal of EU negotiators to open discussions on a future free trade pact until London makes concessions on elements that must be settled to avoid legal chaos when Britain leaves in March 2019. However, in spelling out what it wants to happen on some issues on Brexit Day, the Union is having to say what it wants after that point - for example, on the protection of personal data gathered on either side of the English Channel under EU law or on trademarks and other intellectual property. The paper on data protection says Britain may continue to use data gathered before exit day once it has left the EU as long as it continues applying the same level of protection, otherwise it must destroy the data. Britain will also lose access to EU  networks, information systems and databases  on the day it leaves, the paper says. That would include, for example, the information system underpinning the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme. It makes no mention of how data could continue to flow after Brexit, unlike the British paper which sought continued close collaboration with the EU on data protection once Britain quits the bloc. In a separate paper on intellectual property, the EU said Britain must have legislation in place to keep on protecting locally branded produce under the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) scheme. The PGI system identifies products as originating from a particular region, like Cornish pasties or Roquefort cheese, meaning others cannot market imitations with that same name.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने ब्रिटेन से ब्रेक्सिट के बाद डेटा की रक्षा करने या उन्हें हटाने को कहा


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint against a prominent opposition lawmaker on Tuesday, one of Erdogan s lawyers said, after the deputy called the Turkish leader a fascist dictator. In blistering criticism of Erdogan, the spokesman for the main opposition Republican People s Party, Bulent Tezcan, attacked what he said was a  fearful atmosphere  in Turkey. Erdogan s lawyer, Huseyin Aydin, said on Twitter:  We have filed a legal petition concerning Bulent Tezcan with the Ankara chief prosecutor s office for the crime of insulting the president.  Aydin also posted photos of the petition.  The suspect s statements are part of a new campaign against our president and cannot be interpreted as an isolated incident,  the petition said, saying such a campaign had also been launched ahead of last year s attempted coup. In a speech on Monday in the western city of Tekirdag, criticizing local judicial authorities, Tezcan had said:  If you try to scare people and to create a fearful atmosphere by showing legal words as illegal ones we will not be deterred.  His comments appeared to be in defense of the local mayor, a CHP member, who was questioned by authorities this month after he reportedly called Erdogan a  dictator  at a party congress.  I don t know if our mayor said that or not. I, here in Tekirdag, say it now:  Erdogan is a fascist dictator ,  Tezcan said. His comments prompted a swift backlash from Erdogan s office and lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, with Erdogan s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin saying his  hate speech is an example of disgrace for the main opposition . Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey. Lawyers for Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, have filed more than 1,800 cases against people including cartoonists, a former Miss Turkey winner and school children on accusations of insulting him. Following the failed coup of July 15 last year, Erdogan said he would drop outstanding suits, in a one-off gesture. Nonetheless, rights groups and some Western governments have voiced concern that Turkey is sliding toward authoritarianism. Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from their jobs and more than 50,000 jailed pending trial on suspicion of links to the failed coup. Erdogan says such measures are necessary to ensure stability and defend Turkey from multiple security threats.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन ने सांसद द्वारा उन्हें 'फासीवादी तानाशाह' कहने के बाद कानूनी कार्रवाई की