ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed Mongolia as an “oasis of democracy” sitting in a tough location between Russia and China as he made a rare visit by a cabinet-level U.S. official on Sunday. Arriving from Paris, Kerry made the visit to Mongolia en route to Beijing to attend the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the high-level talks held between the United States and China each year. The Obama administration has sought to cultivate Mongolia as a partner, given its location between two increasingly assertive U.S. rivals – China and Russia, countries Mongolia relies on heavily for trade and energy imports. U.S. officials regularly tout Mongolia, a country of three million people, as an inspirational story of democratic transition since winning independence from the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago. “You really set a great example,” Kerry told Mongolian and American embassy staff at the U.S. ambassador’s residence. “You’ve got China on one side of you, and Russia on the other side of you, and there are always a lot of pressures, and here you are in this oasis of democracy fighting for your own identity.” But Mongolia’s democratic and human rights records have come under scrutiny. The 2015 State Department report on human rights in Mongolia noted “vague laws and a lack of transparency in legislative, executive, and judicial processes” that “undermined government efficiency and public confidence and invited corruption.” Parliamentary elections are to be held this month, and democracy advocates have criticized a rule change by parliament last month that is expected to disadvantage smaller parties. The lack of transparency in business regulations has hampered foreign investment, officials say, badly needed in an economy where growth has all but halted, far from a peak of 17.5 percent in 2011.  Falling prices for its chief exports, coal and copper, and weak demand from China, by far Mongolia’s biggest trading partner, are behind the slowdown. Kerry said it was important the Mongolian government implement a transparency agreement with the United States, which would provide greater business confidence to foreign investors.  The Mongolian and U.S. governments signed the agreement in 2013 after years of negotiations but its final implementation has been mired in red tape.  The agreement would commit Mongolia to publish in English an explanation for proposed regulations, and allow for public comments on those regulations, among other measures. “The implementation of this agreement is really key, a very important step to be able to attract foreign direct investment,” Kerry said.

Summary: केरी ने मंगोलिया को कठिन पड़ोस में 'लोकतंत्र का नखलिस्तान' बताया


HAVANA (Reuters) - Roydis Vald s  dilapidated home on Animas Street in the densely packed center of Old Havana had been declared uninhabitable by Cuba s Communist authorities years ago, his neighbors said. After Hurricane Irma shook the Cuban capital - a crumbling architectural jewel of the Caribbean - Vald s and his brother  were found under a collapsed wall, just two of the seven people killed by falling buildings on the island. Havana s historic center, where baroque Spanish colonial-era palaces butt shoulders with sleek Art Deco apartment buildings, was already crumbling before it took a lashing from Irma - a visible reminder of the hardship caused by a 57-year U.S. trade embargo.  Residents fear the violent storm - the worst to hit the Cuban mainland since 1932 - will accelerate the city s decline. While the eye of the hurricane did not reach the capital, tropical-storm force winds and heavy rains of its outer bands, as well as a storm surge, wrought havoc on its decrepit buildings. Salty water from Irma s heavy rains that has seeped into the brick and mortar of the capital s buildings will worsen corrosion and likely cause a raft of new collapses, residents and architects warn.  Now when the sun comes out, that s when things will really start to fall apart in Havana,  said Berta Rodriguez, a 71-year-old pensioner who lives on Animas Street and knew Vald s and his brother well.  We spent years asking the state to remove them from there,  she said, crying.  The state has to answer for this.      Irma has shone an unwelcome spotlight on the Caribbean nation s housing problems at a tricky time for the government. Already dealing with a cash crunch in the wake of a steep decline in aid from its key ally, Venezuela, Cuba also faces a political transition as President Raul Castro steps down next year, symbolizing the passing of the baton from the generation that led the 1959 Revolution. Rodriguez, who evacuated to her son s sturdier home during the hurricane, says she has been asking the Communist authorities for a new home for more than 20 years, echoing the frustrations of many Havana residents. After the Revolution led by Raul Castro s elder brother Fidel, the Cuban state confiscated many of Havana s grand historic buildings and distributed them to poor and middle-class families who over the years have divided them into ever-smaller units. Maintaining those buildings in a punishing tropical climate, however, fell by the wayside as the Communist government prioritized universal healthcare and education, as well as building infrastructure in the impoverished countryside. With state salaries averaging $30 per month and credit hard to get, Cubans say they do not have the money to fix up buildings themselves.  A builder told me I need to repair the walls that are full of holes, but I couldn t find the cash,  said Rodriguez, who suffers from chronic bronchitis made worse by her badly leaking ceiling. About 4,400 cases of damage to housing were reported in the capital due to Irma, state-run media said on Thursday. Of those, authorities confirmed nearly 1,200 buildings were entirely or partially destroyed. The city is working on restoring damaged roofs and preparing two shelters for families left homeless, the newspaper Granma added. But this will solve only part of a far greater problem. The housing deficit in the nation of 11 million people rose last year by 30,000 to nearly 900,000 units, the government told parliament in July.  In Havana, it estimated a shortage of more than 200,000 homes. The state had built 316,595 homes between 1990 and 2013, an effort that the president of the Construction Commission Santiago Lajes Choy told parliament was still  insufficient.  Litza Penalver, whose sister s family lives in the building on Animas street partially destroyed by Irma, said authorities want to get residents out now.   They want to demolish it, to cover up their errors,  she said.  They want to oblige us to stay in a large shelter and wait (for a new house) but the wait can last 30 years - Cuba doesn t have the resources.  Many Havana residents say they would prefer to stay in their decrepit homes, no matter how dangerous, rather than move to large shelters that offer no privacy. Still, with the rainy season ongoing, many worry that more hurricanes could hit before it ends in November.  While Irma has exacerbated frustration with Cuba s housing problems, even dissidents say it is unlikely to fuel outright opposition to the government.  There might be more spontaneous, isolated expressions of discontent,  said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), one of the island s largest dissident groups.  But not organized protests with clear political aims given the high level of repression at the moment.  Rodriguez, Penalver and others on Animas Street said theirs was not a political problem and noted they were strong supporters of the Revolution that toppled right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and subsequently provided free healthcare and education to ordinary Cubans.  I love my country,  said Penalver, adding she had a Spanish passport but chose to live in Cuba.  I m not looking for political problems. I m looking for solution to the housing issue.

Summary: इरमा ने हिलाई हवाना की घातक ढहती इमारतें


WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that Venezuelan-American executives at refiner Citgo who were arrested in a corruption sweep this week would be tried as  corrupt, thieving traitors  despite a request by the United States to free them.  Five of six executives of U.S.-based refiner Citgo [PDVSAC.UL] who were arrested in Caracas this week are U.S. citizens, according to a source familiar with the matter, possibly complicating Venezuela s corruption sweep of the oil industry.  The six executives included acting Citgo President Jose Pereira, who has Venezuelan citizenship and U.S. permanent residency, the source said. Citgo did not respond to requests for comment.   Late on Wednesday, Maduro tapped Asdrubal Chavez, a former oil minister and cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, to replace Pereira.      Military intelligence agents detained the Texas-based executives during an event at state oil company PDVSA s headquarters in Caracas on Tuesday, two sources told Reuters. U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp (Citgo) is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products.  Maduro said the U.S. embassy had requested that its nationals be freed. He mocked the demand and vowed that the men, who are also Venezuelan, would pay for alleged wrongdoing in a financial deal.   These are people born in Venezuela, they re Venezuelan and they re going to be judged for being corrupt, thieving traitors,  Maduro said in a televised broadcast during which he also sang and danced salsa.   They re properly behind bars, and they should go to the worst prison in Venezuela.  Relations between Caracas and Washington have long been tense. They have further soured under President Donald Trump since his administration imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials including Maduro, and economic sanctions that have impeded the OPEC nation s access to international banks.  Venezuela has defaulted on sovereign debt and bonds issued by PDVSA after failing to make timely payments, a New York-based derivatives group ruled on Thursday. Late on Wednesday, a U.S. State Department official said,  We have seen media reports of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Venezuela. Venezuela is required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to provide consular notification to the U.S. upon request of a detained U.S. citizen, and to provide consular access.   When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we immediately request permission to visit him or her. We have no additional information to offer at this time.      Venezuelan state Prosecutor Tarek Saab has declared a  crusade  against  organized crime  in Venezuela s oil industry. Saab told a news conference on Tuesday that his office had uncovered a roughly $4 billion planned deal with foreign companies, offering the refiner as guarantee in a detrimental deal for Venezuela. According to Saab, the deal was with U.S. investment fund Apollo Global Management LLC and Dubai-based Frontier Management Group LTD, and also included a Swiss-based intermediary, Mangore Sarl. He added there was a  presumed  link between Mangore Sarl and the Citgo executives. Opposition leaders have attributed the arrests to in-fighting among government factions and the cash-strapped government s desire to gain control of money-making companies rather than a genuine desire to root out corruption.  Venezuela has whipped out much of Citgo s top brass at a delicate time for the OPEC nation, which has been declared in selective default after some late payments. But as Venezuela is making efforts to pay, bondholders of some of the world s highest yielding debt have so far been tolerant of the delays.   The five other arrested executives are: Tomeu Vadell, vice president of refining operations; Alirio Zambrano, vice president and general manager of Corpus Christi refinery; Jose Luis Zambrano, vice president of shared services; Gustavo Cardenas, vice president of strategic shareholder relations, government and public affairs; Jorge Toledo, vice president of supply and marketing.

Summary: हिरासत में लिए गए Venezuelan-U.S. सिटगो के अधिकारियों पर 'गद्दारों' के रूप में मुकदमा चलाया जाएगाः मादुरो


CAIRO (Reuters) - Airlines operating at Cairo airport were officially requested on Sunday to prevent U.S. immigration visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries from boarding flights to the United States, Hossam Hussein, an EgyptAir official, said. Hussein, who is responsible for EgyptAir’s daily flight to New York, said authorities there had notified them hours earlier of the new restrictions. He said green card holders from Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia and Libya would be allowed to board as would holders of diplomatic passports or government officials.

Summary: काहिरा में एयरलाइंस को ट्रम्प यात्रा प्रतिबंध लागू करने के लिए कहा गयाः इजिप्टएयर अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White supremacists and neo-Nazis have rarely, if ever, in recent history been so enthusiastic about a presidential appointment as Donald Trump’s choice of Steve Bannon to be his chief White House strategist. Before he took over as chief executive of Trump’s campaign in August and led it to victory last week, Bannon headed Breitbart News, a website and voice for the alt-right movement, a loose right-wing confederation that includes hardcore nationalists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Five days after Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump rewarded Bannon, 62, a former Goldman Sachs banker and a Navy veteran, by appointing him senior counselor and chief strategist - jobs not subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.  Democrats, rights activists and minority groups were outraged and said Trump, himself accused of racism and misogyny during the campaign, had just flung open the White House doors to hatemongers. Many urged him to reconsider. “Bringing Steve Bannon into the White House is an alarming signal that President-elect Trump remains committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Monday. “There must be no sugar-coating the reality that a white nationalist has been named chief strategist for the Trump administration,” Pelosi said. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) also denounced Bannon. Bannon, who grew up in a Democratic family, has a reputation of trying to tear down a Republican Party establishment that he deemed too soft and too entrenched. As a senior adviser to the Republican Trump, Bannon will be expected by far-right groups to champion their views and make sure that Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, keeps such campaign promises as building a wall on the southern U.S. border, cracking down on Muslims entering the country and restricting the influx of Syrian war refugees. “Perhaps ‘The Donald’ is for real,” Rocky Suhayda, chairman of the American Nazi Party, told CNN. David Duke, a longtime leader of Ku Klux Klan movements, and Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who runs the National Policy Institute, were among the leading alt-right figures to praise Bannon’s appointment. In remarks published in the New York Times on Tuesday, Bannon ascribed his interest in populism and American nationalism to a desire to curb what he views as the corrosive effects of globalization. He rejected what he called the “ethno-nationalist” tendencies of some in the movement. “It’s not that some people on the margins, as in any movement, aren’t bad guys - racists, anti-Semites. But that’s irrelevant,” he told the Times. Political commentator Armstrong Willliams, a close associate of former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, said Bannon was “one of the finest and most honorable people I’ve ever met” and not bigoted in any way.  The Trump campaign had been struggling to manage Trump’s unconventional candidacy when Bannon took over. He stayed behind the scenes and devised the strategy for the final days of the campaign that kept Trump on message and enabled him to upset Clinton in crucial states such as Michigan. It was Bannon and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who invited three women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault to attend a presidential debate in hopes of unnerving Hillary Clinton. Bannon, looking typically unkempt with mussed hair and stubbly chin, grinned from the back of the room as Trump and the women held their pre-debate news conference. “Bannon is a legitimately sinister figure,” Ben Shapiro, who had been editor-in-chief of Breitbart under Bannon, wrote in August on the dailywire.com conservative news website which he founded.  “He is a vindictive, nasty figure ... He will attempt to ruin anyone who impedes his unending ambition and he will use anyone bigger than he is - for example, Donald Trump - to get where he wants to go,” Shapiro wrote. ANTI-SEMITISM ACCUSATIONS While Bannon was at Breitbart, it had stories with headlines such as “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy,” “Political correctness protects Muslim rape culture” and “Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage.” The site’s pro-Trump agenda featured speculative stories questioning Hillary Clinton’s health and accusing her close aide Huma Abedin of being a Saudi spy. Bannon was charged with domestic violence and battery in 1996 after his then-wife, Mary Louise Piccard, said he grabbed her by the throat and arm during an argument. The case was dropped when she did not appear in court. In 2007 Piccard said in court documents Bannon did not like the school the girls attended because it had too many “whiny brat” Jewish students. Bannon had a varied and profitable career before joining Breitbart. He earned degrees from Virginia Tech, Georgetown University and Harvard Business School and served four years in the Navy. It was his Navy experience, he said, that led him to shed his family’s Democratic allegiance and become an admirer of Republican Ronald Reagan. He was at Goldman Sachs before starting his own investment firm, which specialized in media. Through negotiating a studio sale, he obtained a stake in the royalties for the popular television show “Seinfeld,” a money-making powerhouse in syndication. He was an executive producer of the feature movies “Titus” and “The Indian Runner” before producing, directing or writing conservative-oriented documentaries such as “Clinton Cash” about the Clinton Foundation, “Generation Zero” about the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 and “The Undefeated” on former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Summary: ट्रम्प प्रशासन में बैनन की भूमिका ने गंभीर तूफान खड़ा कर दिया


(Reuters) - A Texas law that requires voters to show identification before casting ballots was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos came after an appeals court last year said the 2011 law had an outsized impact on minority voters. The court sent the case back to Ramos to determine if lawmakers intentionally wrote the legislation to be discriminatory. Ramos said in a 10-page decision that evidence “establishes that a discriminatory purpose was at least one of the substantial or motivating factors behind passage” of the measure. “The terms of the bill were unduly strict,” she added. Spokesmen for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Jr. and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, could not be reached for comment. In January, after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Paxton said it was a common sense law to prevent voter fraud. The ruling on voter ID comes about a month after two federal judges ruled that Texas lawmakers drew up three U.S. congressional districts to undermine the influence of Hispanic voters. The measure requires voters to present photo identification such as a driver’s license, passport or military ID card. Plaintiffs have argued the law hits elderly and poorer voters, including minorities, hardest because they are less likely to have identification. They contend the measure is used by Republicans to suppress voters who typically align with Democrats. The legislation has been in effect since 2011 despite the legal challenges. Ramos said the law had met criteria set by the U.S. Supreme Court to show intent that included its discriminatory impact, a pattern not explainable on other than racial grounds, Texas’ history of discriminatory practices and the law’s unusually swift passage. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling showed other states that discriminatory laws would not stand up to legal scrutiny. “This is a good ruling that confirms what we have long known, that Texas’ voter ID law stands as one of the most discriminatory voting restrictions of its kind,” she said. In a shift from its stance under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. Justice Department dropped a discrimination claim against the law in February. The department said that the state legislature was considering changing the law in ways that might correct shortcomings.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने पाया कि टेक्सास मतदाता पहचान पत्र कानून का उद्देश्य भेदभाव करना था


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Passage of a long-anticipated U.S. tax overhaul has up-ended the bond market’s favorite trade of the year as yields on some long-dated Treasuries shot to their highest in months, but doubts that the tax cuts will fuel inflation have many investors confident the reversal will be short-lived. The view that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising short-term interest rates, even as inflation remains subdued, has made longer-dated Treasury bonds more appealing to own than short-dated ones. This has made so-called yield curve flattener trades - a bet that the gap between short- and long-dated bond yields will narrow - a profitable bet in the bond market this year. Investors’ appetite for this trade drove the yield curve to its flattest level in a decade earlier this week. However, a sharp reversal got underway as the tax bill’s passage became certain, paving the way for a bigger government deficit and more federal borrowing. “It’s a great time to cash out,” said Brian Reynolds, asset class strategist at New York-based Canaccord Genuity.  Both Republican-controlled Congressional chambers have approved the tax legislation, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign it in the days ahead.    The Treasury market selloff pushed the benchmark 10-year yield up to nearly 2.50 percent, its highest in nine months and the 30-year yield to around 2.87 percent, a five-week peak. Some analysts reckoned the jump in yields reflects investors demanding higher compensation, or term premium, in case the tax cuts stoke inflation and hurt longer-dated bonds. How long this prevails is an open question, though, given previous episodes of curve steepening in the last year have quickly faded. “In other words, sharp term premium moves tend not be permanent,” Cornerstone Macro analysts said in a note on Wednesday. In late afternoon trading, the spread between two-year and 10-year Treasury yields was 63 basis points versus 60 basis points on Tuesday and around 51 earlier in the week. Even with this week’s steepening, the two-to-10-year part of the curve has flattened nearly 63 basis points this year. Curve flatteners are seen as likely to regain popularity in the long run due to a low inflation outlook and sturdy global demand for long-dated U.S. debt. In the short term, however, it may prove a choppy trade as investors gauge the bill’s impact. “It’s hard to predict how the yield curve would behave in the short term. The biggest question is the timing and level of cash flows going to the government after tax reform,” Canaccord’s Reynolds said. One factor is the mountain of corporate cash held overseas. As part of the new tax code, U.S. multinational companies could bring back some of the estimated $2.6 trillion in business profits they have overseas and the Treasury Department could benefit from the taxes on the repatriated money.  Reynolds estimated the Treasury might receive as much as $225 billion in tax receipts in 2018 if the companies bring back all their overseas profits. This means the government could issue fewer two- and three-year Treasury securities, pressuring these yields lower and steepening the yield curve into 2019, he said.  Independent government estimates suggest the tax plan could add at least $1 trillion to the $20 trillion in national debt in 10 years as the Treasury Department would ratchet up borrowing to compensate for shortfalls in tax receipts. The degree to which the bill may spur both business investment and consumer spending, which could lift tax receipts and cap the rise in the deficit, is another key unknown for the shape of the yield curve going forward. Still, the dominant view on Wall Street remains that the cut will provide only a short-term bump up in economic growth, and many analysts expect the longer-term curve-flattening trend to reassert itself in the year ahead. “Accordingly, we maintain our conviction on curve flattening going into 2018,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note on Wednesday.

Summary: अमेरिकी कर योजना ने बांड बाजार में लोकप्रिय दांव लगाया


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering adding a veteran Washington lawyer to the White House counsel’s office to deal with Russia-related issues, people familiar with the matter said. Ty Cobb, a white-collar defense lawyer with the firm of Hogan Lovells and a former federal prosecutor, met with Trump about a week ago, another person said. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the administration had “no announcement at this time.”  Cobb did not respond to requests for comment except to say he was on vacation. Cobb, 66, represented a number of individuals in government investigations during the Clinton administration, including former Democratic National Committee fundraiser John Huang and former White House aide David Watkins. Trump has been seeking a senior-level lawyer to join the office led by White House Counsel Don McGahn to focus on the various Russia investigations, one of the people said. In addition to a probe by special counsel Robert Mueller, several congressional panels are investigating Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential collusion by Trump’s campaign. Moscow has denied any interference and Trump has denied any collusion. The role Cobb met with Trump about is separate from the legal team gathering to represent the president personally. That team, led by New York lawyer Marc Kasowitz, now includes constitutional lawyer and evangelical radio talk show host Jay Sekulow, Washington lawyer John Dowd, and Michael Bowe, a partner at Kasowitz’s firm. According to sources familiar with the matter, lawyers from major firms have turned down joining Trump’s outside legal team, citing conflicts at their firms and concerns Trump would not listen to them.   Others lawyers have also turned down the role for which Cobb is being considered. William Burck, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, and Emmet Flood, a partner at Williams & Connolly, both turned down the opportunity, according to people familiar with the matter. Cobb, a distant relative of the famous baseball player of the same name, graduated from Harvard University and earned his law degree at Georgetown. In the 1980s, he was a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, where he led a regional drug and organized crime task force.  Cobb has some experience with leaks, which Trump has repeatedly complained about in relation to the Russia probes. In 2006, Cobb represented former CIA official Mary McCarthy, who was fired after she was accused of providing classified information to reporters. No charges were brought against McCarthy. (This version of the story has been refiled to add dropped words in paragraph four)

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस में रूस की भूमिका के लिए वकील पर विचार कर रहे हैं ट्रंपः सूत्र


(Reuters) - Florida lawmakers advanced a measure on Wednesday that could make it easier to avoid prosecution in deadly shootings and other use-of-force cases by seeking immunity on self-defense grounds under the state’s pioneering “stand your ground” law. In a 74-39 vote, the state’s House of Representatives passed legislation that shifts the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors when the law is invoked to avoid trial. The measure now returns to the state Senate, which last month approved its own version of the bill. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans. Florida’s “stand your ground” law, passed in 2005, received wide scrutiny and inspired similar laws in other states. It removed the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allowed use deadly force when a person felt greatly threatened. Opponents say the measures will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the law was included in jury instructions. Wednesday’s House vote on changing the law followed party lines. Supporters, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering a civilian’s right to quell an apparent threat. “This bill is trying to put the burden of proof where it belongs, on the state, because all people are innocent before being proven guilty,” said the Republican sponsor of the bill, Representative Bobby Payne. Florida’s law did not specify the process for applying “stand your ground” immunity. State courts established the current protocol, which calls for a pre-trial hearing before a judge and puts the burden of proof on the defendant. Most of those speaking in the House debate were Democrats who said the bill would lead to more violence. “Who will speak for the voiceless victims, silenced by an aggressor who claims he wasn’t an aggressor but is protected by a flawed law?” said Democrat Representative Bobby Dubose. While public defenders support the changes to the law, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association and gun control advocates oppose them.  “Every battery case, every domestic violence case, every use of force case, as a matter of routine, defense attorneys will now request hearings,” said Phil Archer, a state attorney. Archer, a lifetime NRA member who teachers gun owners about “stand your ground,” said of the changes: “This is just going too far.”

Summary: फ्लोरिडा विधायिका 'स्टैंड योर ग्राउंड' कानून को मजबूत करने के लिए तैयार है


PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti started burying some of its dead in mass graves in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, a government official said on Sunday, as cholera spread in the devastated southwest and the death toll from the storm rose to 1,000 people. The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rains that left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. A Reuters tally of numbers from local officials showed that 1,000 people were killed by the storm in Haiti, which has a population of about 10 million and is the poorest country in the Americas. The official death toll from the central civil protection agency is 336, a slower count because officials must visit each village to confirm the numbers. Authorities had to start burying the dead in mass graves in Jeremie because the bodies were starting to decompose, said Kedner Frenel, the most senior central government official in the Grand’Anse region on Haiti’s western peninsula.  Frenel said 522 people were killed in Grand’Anse alone. A tally of deaths reported by mayors from 15 of 18 municipalities in Sud Department on the south side of the peninsula showed 386 people there. In the rest of the country, 92 people were killed, the same tally showed.  Frenel said there was great concern about cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks. Government teams fanned out across the hard-hit southwestern tip of the country over the weekend to repair treatment centers and reach the epicenter of one outbreak.

Summary: हैती में तूफान मैथ्यू से मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर 1,000 हुई, सामूहिक कब्रों में दबे लोग


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party continues to hold talks and maintain contacts with its North Korean counterpart, a senior official said on Saturday, describing the two countries friendship as important for regional stability. While the United States and its allies, and many people in China, believe Beijing should do more to rein in Pyongyang, the acceleration of North Korea s nuclear and missile capabilities has coincided with a near-total breakdown of high-level diplomacy between the two. China, Pyongyang s sole major ally, 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. China accounts for more than 90 percent of world trade with the isolated country.  Guo Yezhou, a deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party s international department, told reporters on the sidelines of a party congress that its exchanges, communication and dialogue with the North s ruling Workers  Party of Korea were continuing.  China and North Korea are neighbours and the two have a traditional friendly cooperative relationship,  Guo said. Maintaining, developing and consolidating those ties not only accord with both sides  interests, they also have  important meaning  for regional peace and stability, he added. Exchanges between the two parties play an important role in developing overall China-North Korea relations, Guo said.  Our party and the Workers  Party of Korea have traditional friendly exchanges. When and at what level these exchanges happen depend on both sides need and both sides  convenience,  he added, without elaborating. Guo did not directly answer a question on when the department s head, Song Tao, last met with any North Koreans. The department is in charge of the party s relations with foreign political parties, and has traditionally served as a conduit for Chinese diplomacy with North Korea. The Workers  Party of Korea on Wednesday congratulated China on its 19th Communist Party Congress despite the increasingly frayed relationships between the allies as China tightens sanctions over Pyongyang s nuclear weapons program. 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 with their military drills. North Korea is likely to be at high on the agenda when U.S. President Donald Trump visits China next month for talks with President Xi Jinping.

Summary: चीन की कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी का कहना है कि अभी भी उत्तर कोरियाई समकक्ष से बात की जा रही है


OSLO (Reuters) - The body of a man who died when a Russian Mi-8 helicopter crashed off the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard on Thursday was found near the crash site at the bottom of the sea, the office of the governor of Svalbard said on Monday. Eight Russian men   five crew and three passengers   died on board a helicopter that crashed on Thursday on its way from the abandoned Pyramiden settlement to the coal mining port of Barentsburg.  The deceased was located by an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) on the ocean floor approximately 130 meters (142 yards) from the helicopter,  the office of the governor of Svalbard said in a statement on its website on Monday. This was the first body located after the crash. The other seven individuals are missing, presumed dead.

Summary: स्वालबार्ड के पास रूसी हेलीकॉप्टर के मलबे के पास एक शव मिला


(Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday it was focusing on getting the lowest corporate rate possible in tax reform legislation being considered on Capitol Hill. “Fifteen (percent) is better than 20, 20 is better than 22 and 22 is better than what we have,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि सबसे कम संभव कॉर्पोरेट कर दर प्राप्त करने पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया गया है


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq hanged 38 Sunni Muslim militants on Thursday after they were sentenced to death on terrorism charges, the justice ministry said in a statement. The mass executions were carried out at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, the statement said quoting the Justice Minister. On Sept. 24, Iraq executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs. The justice ministry said all the convicted were members of Islamic State. Officials have said all the appeal options available to the condemned had been exhausted, according to the statement.

Summary: इराक ने 38 सुन्नी आतंकवादियों को सामूहिक रूप से फांसी दीः न्याय मंत्रालय


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he decided to eliminate the so-called “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy for Cuban immigrants because it no longer made since given growing U.S. engagement with Havana and the opening of travel between the two countries. The White House announced the policy change last week. It had enabled Cubans who fled to the United States to pursue residency if they reached the mainland, but not if they were picked up at sea before reaching land.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा कि क्यूबा के साथ नए संबंधों ने 'वेट-फुट, ड्राई-फुट' नीति को अप्रचलित कर दिया है


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed that more needed to be done to avoid future border disputes, India s foreign secretary said on Tuesday. Modi and Xi on Tuesday met for more than an hour on the sidelines of the BRICS nations summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen, a week after agreeing to end a more than two-month long stand-off along their disputed border.  One of the important points made during the meeting was that peace and tranquility in the border areas was a prerequisite for the further development of our relationship,  S. Jaishankar told reporters.

Summary: सीमा विवाद से बचने के लिए भारत और चीन को और अधिक प्रयास करने की जरूरतः भारत के विदेश सचिव


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Daily Mail agreed on Wednesday to pay Melania Trump an undisclosed sum and issue an apology after it published an article saying the U.S. First Lady had offered “services beyond simply modeling” in her former job.  President Donald Trump’s wife, 46, had sued the publisher of the Daily Mail in Britain and also filed a $150 million (120 million pound) lawsuit against it in New York, claiming the article had cost her millions of dollars in potential business. A person familiar with the situation said the settlement was worth less than $3 million, including legal costs and damages.  The Daily Mail, which runs what it calls the world’s largest English-language newspaper website, apologized for the article on Wednesday and issued a retraction on its home page. “An article on 20th August 2016 about Melania Trump... questioned the nature of her work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modeling,” publisher Associated Newspapers said.  “We accept that these allegations about Mrs Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them .... we have agreed to pay her damages and costs.”  At the High Court in London, Trump’s lawyer said the article, headlined “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump”, was published as a two-page spread and accompanied by an old photo of Melania Trump standing naked with her front against a wall but looking back at the camera.  “Readers of the newspaper that day could not fail to miss the article”, John Kelly told the court. “The article included false and defamatory claims about the claimant which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model.  “The suggestion that such allegations even merit investigation is deeply offensive and has caused a great deal of upset and distress to the claimant,” he said.

Summary: मॉडलिंग के दावों पर ब्रिटेन का डेली मेल मेलानिया ट्रम्प को हर्जाने का भुगतान करेगा


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - It is perhaps  only a matter of time  before Rome is hit by a Barcelona-style attack but security forces are ready in case the Vatican is targeted, the head the Swiss Guard has said. Security has been stepped up at religious sites throughout Italy, including at the Vatican, since last year, when a truck driven by a suspected Islamist militant killed 86 people in the French city of Nice. Barriers and police and army vehicles have been placed around St. Peter s Basilica to make it harder for a vehicle to gather speed in an attack such as the one last week in Barcelona, which killed 13 people. Despite threats from Islamic State, Rome and other Italian cities have so far been spared the kind of vehicle attacks that have also hit Nice, London, and Berlin.  It could perhaps be just a matter of time before there is such an attack in Rome, but we are prepared,  Christoph Graf, the commandant of the Swiss Guard, was quoted as telling the Swiss Catholic website Cath.ch. Graf, referring to the attack in Barcelona, spoke on the sidelines of a religious ceremony in the Swiss city of Solothurn earlier this week. Websites linked to Islamic State militants have made threats against Catholic targets in Rome in recent years. In 2015 in a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, one of the killers said:  Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for ... We will conquer Rome, by the will of Allah.  At about the same time a website used by militants ran a photo montage showing the movement s black flag flying from the obelisk at the center of St Peter s Square. The Swiss Guard has its origins as a papal protection force in the 16th century and numbers about 110 men, all of Swiss nationality. It shares responsibility for the protection of the pope and the Vatican with a police force of about the same size. Italian police are responsible for patrolling the Vatican s external perimeter in Rome. Both Vatican security forces are trained in anti-terrorism tactics and in the use of modern weapons.

Summary: बार्सिलोना की तरह हमले की स्थिति में वेटिकन तैयारः स्विस गार्ड प्रमुख


BERLIN (Reuters) - Senior German politicians on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of trivializing violence by white supremacists in Virginia and called for a clear rejection of their ideology. Governments could only win the fight against hatred, racism and anti-Semitism by rejecting such ideology and the willingness to use violence, said Martin Schulz, the center-left candidate for chancellor, adding that this applies to Germany and the United States. “The trivialization of Nazi violence by the confused utterances of Donald Trump is highly dangerous,” said Schulz, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD). “We should not tolerate the monstrosities coming out of the president’s mouth,” he told the RND newspaper group in an interview. Republican leaders criticized Trump for saying leftist counter-protesters were also to blame for violence last Saturday in Charlottesville that left one person dead and several injured. His comments won praise from white far-right groups. Schulz is the main challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel at a Sept. 24 election. The SPD, junior partner in Merkel’s grand coalition, trails Merkel’s conservatives in polls. Schulz’s comments were echoed by Justice Minister Heiko Maas, another senior member of the SPD. “It is unbearable how Trump is now glossing over the violence of the right-wing hordes from Charlottesville,” Maas said in a statement, reflecting concern across the German political spectrum about the Trump presidency. “No one should trivialize anti-Semitism and racism by neo-Nazis,” said Maas, senior member of the co-governing SPD. Schulz and Maas are the highest-ranking German politicians to criticize Trump’s rhetoric about the violence. The country has tough laws against hate speech and any symbols linked to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who ruled from 1933 until their defeat in 1945.  Merkel told broadcaster Phoenix on Monday that clear and forceful action was required to combat right-wing extremism, noting that Germans had also seen a rise in anti-Semitism and had “quite a lot to do at home ourselves”. Trump has come under increasing pressure over his stance on the violence, with many members of his own Republican party and U.S. business executives distancing themselves from him. Trump on Tuesday said his original reaction was based on facts he had at the time and said both sides were to blame. The violence erupted during a protest by white nationalists against plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army during the American Civil War. Protesters and counter-protesters clashed in scattered street brawls before a car ploughed into the rally’s opponents, killing one woman and injuring 19 other people.

Summary: जर्मन राजनेताओं ने ट्रम्प पर नाजी हिंसा को तुच्छ बनाने का आरोप लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to review the U.S. government’s role in school policy, which supporters cheered as the first step in creating more local control in education and critics worried could lead to lower quality schools in poorer neighborhoods. DeVos has 300 days “to review and, if necessary, modify and repeal regulations and guidance issued by the Department of Education with a clear mandate to identify places where D.C. has overstepped its legal authority,” said Rob Goad, a Department of Education official, according to a transcript of a White House call with reporters. The second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, California’s Kevin McCarthy, said the federal government had in recent years exceeded its legal authority in creating regulations and guidance “Different people in different states and communities will have different goals and ways of achieving those goals. That is something we should celebrate and enable, not try to stop,” he said in a statement. The Democratic National Committee, though, said the order was politically motivated, with Trump wanting something to show in school policy in his first 100 days. The head of the American Federation of Teachers union, Randi Weingarten, said the current education law, Every Student Succeeds Act, already reduces federal power over schools, especially when it comes to standards and teacher assessments. “What the new law doesn’t do is abandon the requirement for the federal government to protect the civil rights of our students, even if those rights run counter to what states and districts want to do,” she said in a statement.

Summary: ट्रम्प नए आदेश के साथ शिक्षा में संघीय भूमिका को कम करना चाहते हैं


LILONGWE (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Monday it has pulled staff out of two districts in southern Malawi where a vampire scare has triggered mob violence in which at least five people have been killed. Belief in witchcraft is widespread in rural Malawi, one of the world s poorest countries, where many aid agencies and NGOs work. A spate of vigilante violence linked to a vampire rumors also erupted in Malawi in 2002.        These districts have severely been affected by the ongoing stories of blood sucking and possible existence of vampires,  the UN Department on Safety and Security (UNDSS) said in a security report on the Phalombe and Mulanje districts that was seen by Reuters. The Acting UN Resident Coordinator, Florence Rolle, said in an emailed response to questions that based on the report that  some UN staff have relocated while others are still in the districts depending on locations of their operations .  UNDSS is continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure all affected UN staff are back in the field as soon as possible,  Rolle said. Rolle did not say how many workers had been relocated. The UNDSS report said at least five people had been killed in the area since mid-September by lynch mobs accusing them of vampirism. It said mobs searching for vampires have been mounting road blocks in the district, raising security concerns. Malawian President Peter Mutharika said the reports were  distressing and agonizing .    This development has been of grave concern to the President and the entire Government,  his office said in a statement. The UNDSS report said the vampirism rumors appear to have originated in neighboring Mozambique, although it was not clear what had sparked them. It recommended the  temporary suspension of U.N. activities in the area until the situation is normalized . It said some NGOs had pulled personnel from the districts and temporarily suspended their programs but did not name the organizations.

Summary: पिशाच के डर ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र को दक्षिणी मलावी से बाहर निकलने के लिए प्रेरित किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s drug control agency disputed on Friday U.S. President Donald Trump s claim that most of the synthetic drug fentanyl at the heart of the U.S. opioid crisis was produced in China. Declaring the crisis a public health emergency, U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he would discuss as a  top priority  stopping the  flood of cheap and deadly  fentanyl  manufactured in China  when he meets President Xi Jinping during his state visit to Beijing next week. Wei Xiaojun, the deputy secretary-general of China s National Narcotics Commission, said China did not  deny or reject  that some fentanyl produced in China had made its way to the United States. But the  intelligence and information exchanged between China and the United States is not enough to say that most of the fentanyl or other opioid substances originate from China , Wei said at a joint news briefing with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Beijing. Opioids include prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic drug 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that 20,000 Americans were killed by fentanyl last year, surpassing common painkillers and heroin for the first time. American law enforcement agencies and drug control experts say most of the fentanyl distributed in the United States, as well as precursor chemicals, originate from China.   While Chinese officials dispute these claims, Beijing has taken steps to crack down on the production and export of synthetic drugs, and has placed fentanyl and 22 other related compounds on its list of controlled substances. It had done so even though fentanyl was not widely abused in China, Wei said, primarily in the spirit of cooperating with the United States and the broader international community.  China and the United States have increased cooperation on drug control in recent years and are holding a bilateral meeting on the issue this week. The DEA opened its second country office in southern Guangzhou in January.  Lance Ho, who heads the DEA s Country Office in Beijing, said the cooperation between the two countries had generated good  momentum  and was focused on improving the real-time sharing of information.   Once China controls a substance it has a dramatic effect on the United States in terms of lives saved,  Ho said.   The U.S. Department of Justice indicted two major Chinese drug traffickers last month on charges of making illegal versions of fentanyl and selling the highly addictive drug to Americans over the internet and through international mail. Wei said it was  regrettable  that the United States decided to announce the case  unilaterally  because it would affect China s ongoing investigations.

Summary: चीन ने संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका में फेंटेनाइल 'बाढ़' के ट्रम्प के दावों का विरोध किया


NEW YORK/FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - For many supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, his decision to bomb a Syrian airfield in retaliation for a poison gas attack was a decisive show of strength and resolve - just what they voted for in November. In interviews with more than a dozen Trump voters, many acknowledged that getting the U.S. military directly involved in the Syrian conflict was a far cry from the “America First” isolationism the Republican candidate espoused during the campaign. Unlike several prominent far-right backers who denounced Thursday’s air strikes in Syria , most of the Trump voters interviewed in Texas, Florida and New York on Friday said the attack was not an abdication of his commitment to put U.S. interests above all others. “Love it, love it, love it, love it. He said from Day One that he’s not going to take any nonsense,” Anthony Calvanese, 28, a construction foreman, told a reporter on a sidewalk in New York City’s Staten Island borough. “He needs to start showing our superiority in the world.” Trump’s order came despite his vow in the 2016 campaign to avoid entanglements in Middle East conflicts. Four years ago, he also admonished his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, to refrain from retaliating after the Syrian government launched a poison gas attack on its own citizens. The apparent ideological inconsistencies angered some of Trump’s staunchest supporters on the far right. Paul Joseph Watson, a London-based editor at Infowars, a U.S. media outlet praised by Trump that promotes unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, declared on Twitter he was “OFF the Trump train.” Self-described white nationalist leader Richard Spencer called Trump’s decision a “betrayal” and the “end of America First.”     By contrast, several Trump voters said they still trusted the president to deliver on his promises. Todd Recknagel, a 53-year-old managing partner of a private equity firm in Panama City Beach, Florida, said the move reinforced his support for Trump because it showed the president is willing to adjust his thinking based on events. “I appreciate the fact that he’s not so inwardly focused that he’s willing to stand up for principle on something like Syria,” he said in a phone interview.  “(Ronald) Reagan wouldn’t allow that stuff either,” he said, referring to the 1980s president revered by Republicans. Some Trump backers said he had no choice but to act given the horror of Tuesday’s poison gas attack.  “If we allowed this to go by, we would be as bad as those who stood by and did nothing as Hitler marched across Europe” in World War 2, Tom Harney, 64, a yacht broker from Lauderhill, Florida, said outside a diner in Fort Lauderdale. That sentiment was echoed by Joseph Mure Jr., a lawyer who practices in Brooklyn. “They murdered innocents: women, babies, children,” he told a reporter after exiting a Staten Island courthouse. “How many bombs did we drop on Syria? I wish we’d dropped twice that amount.” U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at the airfield. Others said Trump, who cultivated a tough image during the campaign and promised to strengthen the American military, was demonstrating that the United States remains the world’s leader. “We’re no longer leading from behind,” said Art Tillberg, 67, of Coral Springs, Florida, referring to a phrase Republicans used to criticize Obama’s 2011 efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Still, not all Trump voters agreed with the missile strike, echoing objections from some on the far right that it ran counter to his campaign promises. Anthony Sage, a 42-year-old retired Army staff sergeant, said the attack undermined Trump’s “America First” message. “The strike is a waste of American time and money,” Sage, who said he served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Friday outside the Fort Hood Army base in Killeen, Texas. “We should be taking care of people here in America first.” Abdi Mohamed, a 23-year-old Somali immigrant from St. Paul, Minnesota, who voted for Trump in November, said the move showed the president was abandoning his outsider instincts in favor of following the advice of the political establishment. “He was against military action in Syria, but now it seems more and more he is becoming a bit of a cog in the system,” Mohamed said in a phone interview. A few Trump voters found themselves torn: wary of the decision to embroil the United States in Syria’s six-year civil war but unwilling to abandon the president they elected. “I’m kind of on the fence,” said Melanie Groves, 39, a small business owner in Louisville, Illinois, who organized a pro-Trump rally last month.  “Best-case scenario, this would be a strong message that this red line has been crossed,” she said in a phone interview. “Worst-case scenario, there are a lot of conspiracy theorists that think we are headed towards World War 3.”

Summary: कई ट्रम्प मतदाताओं ने शक्ति प्रदर्शन के रूप में अमेरिकी हवाई हमलों का स्वागत किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - For weeks, Chancellor Angela Merkel endured taunts and whistles whenever she ventured out on the campaign trail in her home region of eastern Germany. And on Sunday, it was voters in the east, incensed by her decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country, that helped send her conservatives to their worst result since 1949 and vaulted a far-right party into the German parliament. Preliminary results showed the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning 22.9 percent of the vote in the former communist east, well above their national result of roughly 13 percent. The AfD performed especially well with east German men, 26 percent of whom backed the party. Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) scored 27.6 percent   well below their national result of nearly 33 percent   in the five states that became part of a reunified Germany in 1990. Merkel did secure a fourth term on Sunday, but she limped to the finish line and must now cobble together an unwieldy coalition with two other parties   the business friendly Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens   that have diametrically opposed views on many of the big issues. The result suggested that pollsters may have underestimated the lingering impact of the refugee crisis in the election and the outsized influence it would have in the east, where voters continue to behave very differently than their brethren in the west 28 years after the fall of the Wall. Earlier this month, a top aide to Merkel described the east German hecklers as a small minority and suggested the refugee crisis was no longer a negative factor for Merkel. The results on Sunday suggested otherwise.  East German voters are more extreme and less loyal to the traditional parties. This is how it has been ever since the Wall fell,  said Hendrik Traeger, a political scientist in Leipzig. Appearing on German television on Sunday night, Merkel was pressed once again on her decision two years ago to allow thousands of refugees who had set out on foot from the main train station in Budapest, Hungary into Germany. In the months that followed, thousands more made their way across the Aegean Sea to Greece and up the Balkans to Germany, encouraged by scenes of Germans welcoming migrants with food and clothes, and possibly also by selfies that refugees took with Merkel.  We ve gone over and over what happened in the autumn of 2015 and I remain convinced that all the other options that were discussed at the time - perhaps deploying water cannons on the German border and such - were out of the question for me,  Merkel said.  I think this decision was right.  During her campaign appearances, Merkel told her audiences repeatedly that the influx of 2015 would never be repeated. But she was denounced as a  traitor to the people  at numerous campaign events in the east, language that would have been unthinkable before the refugee crisis. Merkel grew up behind the Iron Curtain in the town of Templin north of Berlin. Her father, a Lutheran pastor with socialist leanings, moved the family from west to east shortly after Merkel was born, and before the Berlin Wall was built. In the last German election in 2013, Merkel s conservatives won 38.5 percent of the vote in the east, more than 10 points better than Sunday s result.

Summary: शरणार्थियों से नाराज पूर्वी जर्मनों ने पूर्वी मर्केल को दंडित किया


MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish government will hold a special cabinet meeting at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) to enforce direct rule over Catalonia, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Friday, after the region declared independence from Spain.  Spain is a serious country and a great nation and we will not tolerate that a few people try liquidate our constitution,  Rajoy told journalists after the upper house of parliament allowed him to take control of Catalonia.

Summary: स्पेन की सरकार 1600 जी. एम. टी. पर कैटेलोनिया में बैठक करेगी


HOUSTON (Reuters) - An activist investor in Chevron Corp said on Monday it filed a shareholder resolution that would require the oil producer to report on the feasibility of ending operations in Myanmar, where a crackdown on minority Rohingya Muslims has been decried by the United States as  ethnic cleansing.  The resolution, filed last week by Islamic finance firm Azzad Asset Management, pushes Chevron s board of directors to consider how it could avoid risks  posed by doing business with governments complicit in genocide or crimes against humanity.  Azzad filed a similar resolution at the last Chevron shareholder meeting, garnering support from 6 percent of votes cast. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to southern Bangladesh since the end of August following a campaign by Myanmar security forces in response to attacks by militants in Rakhine State. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and United Nations officials have decried the crackdown as a form of genocide.    Myanmar denies committing atrocities against the Rohingya.  Chevron, the second-largest U.S.-based oil producer, does business in Myanmar through a subsidiary, Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co Ltd. It has projects that include a minority interest in natural gas production and a pipeline, according to the company s website. In a statement to Reuters on Monday, Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie said the company  values the ongoing dialogue with the stockholders on this critical issue of violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar.  We will continue to work with other U.S. companies and the government to promote the value of U.S. investment in Myanmar and the need to foster a business environment that respects human rights.  Chevron has the option of accepting the proposal or asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to block it. If Chevron moves to block, Azzad would have the chance to appeal to the SEC. Chevron s annual meeting is slated for next spring.    The filing comes as two Reuters journalists were arrested by Myanmar officials last week. Government officials accuse the pair of violating the country s colonial-era Officials Secrets Act. The arrests have been criticized by several governments as well as journalists  and human rights groups. Chevron declined to directly comment on the arrests.

Summary: कार्यकर्ता निवेशक ने म्यांमार के अधिकारों की चिंताओं पर शेवरॉन प्रॉक्सी प्रस्ताव दायर किया


HARARE (Reuters) - Robert Mugabe would have rejected the role of World Health Organization goodwill envoy had he been formally asked, his spokesman said on Tuesday, days after state media cheered the Zimbabwean president s appointment. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus named Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador on Wednesday at a conference in Uruguay that both men were attending.  But the appointment was rescinded on Sunday following a backlash from Western donors, rights groups and opposition parties. Last Friday, the state-owned Herald celebrated the largely ceremonial appointment as a  New feather in President s cap , adding that Mugabe, 93, had accepted the role. His spokesman told the same newspaper on Tuesday that Zimbabwe s sole leader since independence from Britain in 1980 had only heard about the appointment via the media.  Had anything been put to the president ... (he) would have found such a request to be an awkward one,  Charamba was quoted as saying, citing Zimbabwe s role as a tobacco producer.  The WHO cannot take back what it never gave in the first place, and as far as he is concerned, all this hullabaloo over a non-appointment is in fact a non-event.  Charamba did not respond to calls seeking further comment. Mugabe s critics were outraged by Tedros  announcement, saying he was rewarding a man whose government had presided over the collapse of Zimbabwe s health system. In Geneva, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a U.N. briefing that there were  no fixed guidelines  for appointing a WHO goodwill ambassador, but that the director-general or his deputies had the power to select them.  On Tedros  decision to rescind Mugabe s appointment, he said:  I think in terms of transparency we were pretty good. A, it was tweeted and B it appeared on the website with the statements immediately.  Charamba said the fact that Zimbabwe was a producer and exporter of tobacco, mostly to China, would have meant Mugabe campaigning against a crop that underpins the economy. Tobacco is Zimbabwe s single largest foreign currency earner, bringing in an average $800 million annually in the last four years, according to official data.  To be seen to be playing goodwill ambassador in respect of an agency which has a well-defined stance on tobacco growing and tobacco selling, that would have been a contradiction,  Charamba said.  In other words, he was not going to oblige the invitation had it come his way anyway.  A Western diplomat in Geneva told Reuters:  It was a mistake, apparently there were no preparations or consultations.   It seems the idea was cooked up in a small group in Uruguay. He acted quickly to rescind it, some would have waited.  But it will be interesting to see what the damage is,  the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Summary: डब्ल्यूएचओ के यू-टर्न के बाद प्रवक्ता ने कहा कि मुगाबे ने डब्ल्यूएचओ की भूमिका को अस्वीकार कर दिया होता


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said there was no place for anti-Semitism in Germany after demonstrators angered by U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel burned Israeli flags in Berlin. On Sunday, about 2,500 people demonstrated in Berlin against Trump s decision and one Israeli flag was burned, police said, adding that investigations into 11 people had been launched, with one of those related to the flag burning. On Friday, hundreds of people gathered outside the U.S. embassy in the German capital for  Day of Rage  protests. Police said later on Twitter that they had detained 10 people during the protest and that 12 criminal charges had been brought - including for burning Israeli flags. Maas told Bild newspaper s Monday edition:  Any kind of anti-Semitism is an attack on everyone. Anti-Semitism must never be allowed to have a place (in society) again.  Anti-Semitism remains a very sensitive issue in Germany more than 70 years after the end of the Nazi-era Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed. Germany regards itself as one of Israel s closest allies. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Bild that while criticism of Trump s decision was understandable, people had no right or reason to burn the Israeli flag, stir up hatred against Jews or question Israel s right to exist. He said whoever did that was  taking a stand not only against Israel but also against the German constitution  and Germany would not tolerate that. Gabriel said Germany only permitted peaceful demonstrations and would not allow conflicts in which people were prepared to use violence to be brought to Germany from other countries.

Summary: इजरायल के झंडे जलाए जाने के बाद मंत्री ने कहा, जर्मनी में यहूदी-विरोधी भावना की कोई जगह नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Fox News anchor and correspondent Heather Nauert will be the new U.S. State Department spokeswoman, the State Department said in a statement on Monday. Nauert was most recently an anchor for Fox News’ morning news show “Fox and Friends,” and previously was a correspondent at ABC News.  “Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world,” the statement said.

Summary: अमेरिकी विदेश विभाग ने फॉक्स न्यूज एंकर को प्रवक्ता नियुक्त किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned Sam Clovis, co-chairman of President Donald Trump’s election campaign, to  determine if Trump or top aides knew of the extent of the campaign team’s contacts with Russia, two sources familiar with the investigation said on Friday. The focus of the questions put to Clovis by Mueller’s team has not been previously reported. “The ultimate question Mueller is after is whether candidate Trump and then President-elect Trump knew of the discussions going on with Russia, and who approved or even directed them,” said one source. “That is still just a question.”   Clovis testified in late October before the grand jury in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He is also cooperating with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating the same issues. Contacted late on Friday, the White House declined to comment. One of the sources described Clovis as “another domino” after former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI over his own contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign.  “The investigators now know what Papadopoulos was doing on the Russian front, which he initially tried to conceal, and who he told that to,” said the other source. “Now [they] want to know whether Clovis and others reported these activities and others related to Russia, and if so, to whom,” this source said.  Attorneys for Clovis did not respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for Papadopoulos had no immediate comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment. According to court documents related to Papadopoulos’ guilty plea, he reported to Clovis in an email on a March 24, 2016, meeting he had in London with a professor later identified as Joseph Mifsud. Mifsud in turn introduced him to a Russian woman and the Russian ambassador in London, and they discussed setting up meetings to talk about U.S.-Russia ties in a Trump presidency. The documents showed Clovis responded to the proposed meetings by saying he would “work it through the campaign.” While he told Papadopoulos not to make a commitment then to set up those meetings, he congratulated him for “great work.” In August 2016, after Trump won the Republican presidential nomination, Clovis encouraged Papadopoulos to “make the trip” when Papadopoulos proposed going to an off-the-record meeting with unnamed Russian officials, the court documents show. Victoria Toensing, one of Clovis’s lawyers, said last week her client “always vigorously opposed any Russian trip for Donald Trump and/or the campaign”. After Papadopoulos’ guilty plea, the White House and former Trump campaign officials dismissed Papadopoulos and Clovis as minor figures in the campaign.  The campaign’s National Security Advisory Committee, which Clovis formed, has become a focus of the investigations by both Mueller and the Senate, sources said. “Sam built the first group of eight,” J.D. Gordon, the director of the campaign foreign policy group, told Reuters, adding that he and then-Senator Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. Attorney General, had “nearly doubled” it in size. However, two other sources familiar with the investigations said investigators have been told the committee Clovis formed did very little, and that other advisers appeared to carry more weight with Trump.

Summary: जांचकर्ता अभियान के रूस सौदों के बारे में ट्रम्प की जानकारी की जांच कर रहे हैंः सूत्र


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A summit of euro zone leaders will go ahead as planned in the middle of December, the chairman of European Union leaders said on Wednesday, dispelling speculation it might be postponed because of the collapse of German coalition talks.  Just to be clear: The December Euro Summit is on. As part of the Leaders  Agenda we need to discuss what, how and when to move forward on the EMU (European Monetary Union) and the Banking Union,  Tusk said on Twitter. He said he discussed the agenda of the meeting over the phone on Wednesday with the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem. German government coalition talks collapsed on Sunday night as the liberal FDP party pulled out after weeks of  exploratory  talks, plunging the euro zone s most important economy into political uncertainty and raising the prospect of new elections. Euro zone leaders are to set a direction for deeper euro zone economic integration at a summit in the middle of December, at which Germany s input is crucial. The summit is to launch six months of work that would lead decisions in June 2018 on whether or not the single currency area should have a budget, a finance minister and a separate euro zone assembly within the European Parliament. The deeper integration push, championed by French President Emmanuel Macron, also includes the transformation of the euro zone bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund and the creation of a sovereign insolvency mechanism.

Summary: जर्मन सरकार नहीं होने के बावजूद दिसंबर में यूरो क्षेत्र के भविष्य पर शिखर सम्मेलन जारीः टस्क


LOME (Reuters) - A bill to limit presidents in Togo to two terms of office will be decided by referendum after it failed on Tuesday to win approval from parliament due to a boycott by opposition lawmakers. The boycott was called because the measure appears to exempt incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, who is already in his third term. Gnassingbe s family has ruled the small West African country for 50 years and frustration over the slow pace of reform there has spilled onto the streets several times since August, involving thousands and prompting U.N. calls for action.  Under the terms of the bill, he would be eligible for two further five-year terms that could leave him in power until 2030.  They voted for a referendum but we don t care. We ll set the streets against their referendum,  said Pedro Amuzun, an official at the main ANC opposition party, which announced more protests on Wednesday and Thursday in the capital Lome. All but one of the 63 lawmakers present in parliament backed the bill, but the boycott meant the vote fell short of the four-fifths majority needed to change the constitution. The referendum was announced by parliament head Drama Dramani, who told lawmakers it would take place in coming days. So far the protests have mostly been peaceful, although two people were killed by security forces in August, while hundreds died in demonstrations that followed the election in 2005 that brought the current president to power after the death of his father. Gnassingbe s opponents have been seeking term limits and other constitutional reforms since then, to align the former French colony wedged between Ghana and Benin with most of its West African neighbors.  With former veteran leaders such as Gambia s Yahya Jammeh and Burkina Faso s Blaise Compaore now living in exile, analysts say Gnassingbe may be getting isolated. However, nearby states have so far stopped short of publicly criticizing Gnassingbe, who currently chairs the 15-member regional West African bloc ECOWAS. Lome has pretensions toward becoming a miniature Singapore and hosts offices of several multinational companies including Ecobank and airline ASKY.

Summary: संसद में गतिरोध के बाद राष्ट्रपति कार्यकाल की सीमा पर मतदान करेंगे टोगोलेस


RIGA (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Baltic leaders on Tuesday not to take seriously comments by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that called into question the U.S. commitment to protect NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression. On a trip to Latvia, Biden suggested Trump, who has never held elected office, did not understand NATO’s mutual defense guarantee, known as Article Five. “I want to make it absolutely clear to all the people in Baltic states: we have pledged our sacred honor, the United States of America ... to the NATO treaty and Article Five,” Biden, a Democrat, said in the Latvian capital. “The fact that you occasionally hear something from a presidential candidate in the other party, it’s ... nothing that should be taken seriously,” Biden said. Biden’s visit comes amid heightened tensions with Russia in the region and some nervousness among allies about Trump, who has suggested he might abandon NATO’s pledge to defend all alliance members automatically if elected. Both Democrats and Republicans supported the NATO pledge, said Biden, who made his remarks during an appearance with the leaders of all three Baltic states in Riga. “There is continued overwhelming bipartisan commitment in the United States of America in both political parties to maintain our commitment to NATO,” he said. Trump is running against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has also affirmed her commitment to NATO. Clinton is ahead in polls.   Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the three Baltic states which regained independence in the early 1990s a half century after being annexed by the Soviet Union, see themselves on the frontline of any potential conflict with Russia. NATO leaders agreed last month to deploy military forces to the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time and increase air and sea patrols to reassure allies in the region worried about the threat from Moscow. “It is important for us that we are ready, all parties, to confirm our strategic partnership ... and we are sure that no matter what changes will be after the elections in (the) United States, their commitments ... to NATO, to (the) Baltic region, will stay,” said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, speaking after Biden.    Russia often depicts NATO as an aggressor whose members are moving troops and military hardware further into former Soviet territory, which it regards as its sphere of influence. On Wednesday, Biden travels to Turkey where he will meet President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim before visiting Sweden to discuss Europe’s asylum crisis.

Summary: बाइडन ने बाल्टिक राज्यों से कहाः ट्रम्प को गंभीरता से न लें


(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced her resignation on Tuesday, one day after a jury convicted her of perjury and other crimes for leaking sealed grand jury material to a news reporter. “I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days,” Kane said in a statement. Her deputy, Bruce Castor, is scheduled to address the media later on Tuesday.

Summary: पेनसिल्वेनिया के अटॉर्नी जनरल ने झूठी गवाही के बाद दिया इस्तीफा


TBILISI (Reuters) - A fire in a hotel in Georgia s Black Sea resort city of Batumi killed 11 people, an official said on Saturday.  Unfortunately, 11 people were killed and 19 were injured in a fire,  Giorgi Gakharia, Georgia s interior minister, told reporters. The fire started late on Friday on one floor of the Leogrand hotel and spread quickly. Batumi is about 360 km from Tbilisi, Georgia s capital.  The hotel has been scheduled to be a venue for the Miss Georgia beauty contest on Sunday. According to officials, no participants of the contest, who were staying at the hotel, were injured in the blaze.

Summary: जॉर्जिया के काला सागर तट पर होटल में आग लगने से 11 लोगों की मौत


LOUISVILLE (Reuters) - Kentucky’s Republican governor on Tuesday called for an investigation into how his Democratic predecessor awarded state contracts and solicited campaign contributions, opening a new round in the feud between the two political families. Governor Matt Bevin said he has asked for the hiring of a law firm to determine whether Steve Beshear’s administration coerced state employees into donating to political campaigns.  The call by Bevin comes just over a week after Beshear’s son Andy, Kentucky’s attorney general, sued Bevin in an effort to block funding cuts to public universities that he said are illegal.  Bevin on Tuesday said his administration also has concerns about contracts, some issued through a no-bid process, that may have rewarded family members of Beshear’s staff. The law firm would have the ability to subpoena witnesses and records, and work closely with the state inspector general, he said. “These discoveries ... raise questions that must be answered in an open and transparent way,” Bevin, who is the just second Republican elected to the state’s highest office since 1971, said at a press conference. “Only then will the citizens of the commonwealth begin to have confidence in their government.” Beshear, who was barred from seeking reelection due to term limits, strongly denied the charges in a Facebook post. “There was never any attempt to pressure employees to make political contributions, and we followed both the spirit and the letter of procurement laws,” he said, adding Bevin’s move was a “pathetic spectacle.” Andy Beshear said Bevin was not properly pursuing the issue. The attorney general said in a statement Tuesday that he agreed issues such as no-bid contracts should be scrutinized, including a pair awarded by Bevin’s administration.       “The governor is once again overstating his authority,” Beshear said, adding that the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission and not the cabinet was the appropriate agency for any such probe. Before taking office in December, Bevin called Steve Beshear’s appointment of his wife to an unpaid seat on the state horse park commission an “embarrassment.” Meanwhile, the former governor has launched a campaign against Bevin’s healthcare initiatives.

Summary: केंटकी के रिपब्लिकन गवर्नर ने डेमोक्रेटिक पूर्ववर्ती की जांच की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee will disclose on Wednesday a sample of Russian-linked content that ran on social media during the 2016 presidential election, the panel’s top Democrat said. Representative Adam Schiff said the committee would show a “representative sample” of Russian advertisements and posts during a hearing on Wednesday at which lawyers from Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet’s Google, were testifying about Russian influence on their networks.

Summary: यूएस हाउस पैनल रूस से जुड़े कुछ फेसबुक विज्ञापनों का खुलासा करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence in the war-torn country. Saying Europe had made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots, Trump told ABC News in an interview: “I don’t want that to happen here.” “I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,” he added, without giving details. According to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department in coming days to craft a plan for setting up the “safe zones,” a move that could risk escalation of U.S. military involvement in Syria’s civil war. The draft executive order awaiting Trump’s signature signaled the new administration was preparing a step that Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, long resisted, fearing the potential for being pulled deeper into the bloody conflict and the threat of clashes between U.S. and Russian warplanes over Syria. “The Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, is directed within 90 days of the date of this order to produce a plan to provide safe areas in Syria and in the surrounding region in which Syrian nationals displaced from their homeland can await firm settlement, such as repatriation or potential third-country resettlement,” the draft order said. Creation of safe zones could ratchet up U.S. military involvement in Syria and mark a major departure from Obama’s more cautious approach. Increased U.S. or allied air power would be required if Trump chooses to enforce “no fly” restrictions, and ground forces might also be needed to protect civilians in those areas.  Still, the document gave no details on what would constitute a safe zone, exactly where they might be set up and who would defend them. Jordan, Turkey and other neighboring countries already host millions of Syrian refugees. The Turkish government had long pressed Obama, without success, for creation of a no-fly zone in Syria on its border with Turkey. The draft raised the possibility of establishing those safe havens in neighboring countries but did not elaborate. Trump’s call for a plan for safe zones is part of a larger directive expected to be signed in coming days that includes a temporary ban on most refugees to the United States and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries deemed to pose a terrorism threat. It represents a modified version of the blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States that Trump initially advocated on the campaign trail last year, sparking criticism from human rights groups and across the U.S. political spectrum. U.S. military officials had long warned that the creation of no-fly zones inside Syria would require a large number of additional resources beyond the fight against Islamic State and it would be difficult to ensure that jihadist insurgents did not infiltrate those areas amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war. Some Republican lawmakers have advocated the creation of such zones, especially to protect civilians fleeing the conflict against attacks by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During and after the presidential campaign, Trump called for no-fly zones to harbor Syrian refugees as an alternative to allowing them into the United States. Trump accused the Obama administration of failing to properly screen Syrian immigrants  entering the United States to ensure they had no militant ties. Obama’s aides have insisted the vetting was meticulous and none of the Syrian refugees allowed in have been implicated in any attacks.  On the campaign trail, Trump gave no details as to how he might go about creating such havens, except to say that he would ask Gulf states to help pay. “All the questions of setting up a safe zone are still there,” a U.S. official said. “If you’re going to declare a safe zone, there’s a lot of other things” that would have to be analyzed and put in place before it becomes feasible. Among the biggest questions would be how to avoid confrontations with Russian forces in Syria helping keep Assad in power.   Under the broader executive order, which the draft document says is intended to “protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals,” Trump would impose a 30-day suspension of the entry of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The temporary halt is aimed at giving the homeland security secretary, the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence enough time to determine what information is needed from each country to ensure visas are not issued to individuals that pose a national security threat, according to the draft. Countries that do not provide adequate information about their nationals will be required to do so within 60 days or risk being blocked from entering the United States. That would exclude diplomatic visas, NATO visas and visas for travel to the United Nations. It would also suspend the overall U.S. refugee program for 120 days so the government can study the process and determine if additional checks are necessary, but that could be waived on a case-by-case basis. It would completely stop refugee processing of Syrians until “I have determined that sufficient changes have been made” to the refugee program to ensure “its alignment with national interest,” the draft said.

Summary: सीरिया के लिए सुरक्षित क्षेत्रों का आदेश देंगेः ट्रंप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico are close to announcing that they have struck a deal on sugar trade, Mexican Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo said in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday. Guajardo told CNBC the agreement would likely be announced at a planned news conference later on Tuesday with U.S.  Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after negotiators worked on minor technicalities overnight.

Summary: अमेरिका, मेक्सिको चीनी पर समझौते के करीबः मेक्सिको के गुआजार्डो


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia s economy is forecast to grow 6.9 percent next year,  compared with a projected 6.8 percent pace in 2017, despite risks including uncertainties over next year s election, the World Bank said on Wednesday. Cambodia s political turbulence has had little impact on economic growth, which has hovered around 7 percent for the past six years. The World Bank said textile exports had moderated and the construction sector showed signs of slowing, but other manufacturing exports had increased and Cambodia was also drawing more tourists - particularly from China.  The outlook remains positive,  it said in a report.  A possible slowdown of the regional economy, especially China, and potential election related uncertainties, however, pose downside risks to the outlook.  China is now Cambodia s biggest aid donor and investor, but Western donors remain important and Cambodia has been increasingly at odds with them in the run-up to the 2018 election. They have condemned the arrest of Prime Minister Hun Sen s main rival, Kem Sokha, the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and a crackdown on civil rights groups and independent media. The government accuses Kem Sokha of plotting to take power with American help and his party of treason - charges the opposition says are politically motivated to ensure Hun Sen keeps his more than three-decade hold on power. Sweden said on Tuesday it was stopping some aid and the United States said it was ending election funding and would take further concrete steps. World Bank senior country economist Miguel Sanchez said uncertainty had affected Cambodia in previous election years, leading to postponed investment decisions and a decline in foreign currency deposits.  It was temporary,  he told a news conference.

Summary: विश्व बैंक ने कंबोडिया के मजबूत विकास में कोई कमी नहीं देखी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s election chief has urged state officials to address vulnerabilities in vote collation software, just weeks before a Sept. 24 election that officials fear could be subject to foreign interference. Germans will vote on paper at polling stations or by mail in advance and the ballots will be counted and entered into a computer system, but two news reports published on Thursday cited concerns about the software, particularly the lack of an authentication step when results are transmitted. Die Zeit said Martin Tschirsich, a 29-year-old computer expert, had been able to find passwords on the internet to gain access to the maintenance program for the  PC-Wahl  (PC-Election) software, which would allow it to be manipulated.  The election is not secure. It can be hacked,  he told the weekly newspaper. Similar concerns were raised by another IT expert in the online version of Der Spiegel magazine. The reports come after repeated warnings from government officials that Russia could try to interfere in the election. French and U.S. intelligence officials say Moscow sought to influence recent votes there.  Russia denies the accusations. Responding to the media reports, Federal Election Director Dieter Sarreither said he was familiar with the problems identified and had asked state officials and the software company, vote-iT, to take steps to shore up security. vote-iT had no immediate comment. The measures Sarreither demanded include the mandatory installation of software patches and the development of new steps aimed at ensuring the authenticity of the election results sent digitally, perhaps through telephone calls. That would ensure that any errors in data transmission are recognized and corrected before preliminary election results are released, Sarreither said, adding that actual results could not be manipulated as they were based on paper ballots. The security of the data was more important than the speed with which results were released, his office said. Germany s federal cyber protection agency, BSI, said it had worked closely with election officials and the software manufacturer to improve the security of election results.  In the future, only information technology based on BSI-certified software should be used for election processes,  BSI chief Arne Schoenbohm said.

Summary: जर्मन चुनाव प्रमुख ने यह सुनिश्चित करने के लिए कार्रवाई करने का आग्रह किया कि वोट सॉफ्टवेयर को हैक नहीं किया जा सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For some Democrats, Donald Trump may seem to be a gift - set to steer Republicans into a trainwreck election in November - but senior Democrat Harry Reid said on Thursday he worried people might be too confident.  “Am I concerned about it? Of course I am,” the U.S. Senate Democratic leader said in a conference call with reporters.  “I think this race could be a debacle for the Republicans,” Reid added. “But I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m not being over confident.” Trump effectively clinched the Republican presidential nomination for the Nov. 8 election this week after a primary battle that angered many - including in his own party’s establishment - for his bombastic style and proposals such as building a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out Mexicans.  Some Democrats believe that divisive style makes him an easier opponent than some of the other 16 Republicans who started out in the race. Trump’s Democratic opponent will likely be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Reid, who is retiring from the Senate after this year, used his position as the Senate’s Democratic leader in 2012 to aggressively attack then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. During a teleconference to discuss Trump and Republican opposition to Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, Reid made clear that he will perform in a similar role against Trump. “By nominating Trump, I guess it’s the natural evolution of a party that’s spent eight years defining itself entirely on what it’s against: anti-immigrant, anti-woman,...anti-Obama, anti-working people,” said the senator from Nevada. Reid, who has called Trump a “monster,” said there should be a closer look at Trump’s business dealings and called on the real estate developer to open up his tax records. Reid recalled some of his own campaigns in his political career that were lost or won by razor-thin margins, adding, “I can speak from personal experience. You cannot be over-confident.”

Summary: अभी खत्म नहीं हुआः रीड ने डेमोक्रेट को चेताया कि वे ट्रम्प की चुनावी लड़ाई का आनंद ले रहे हैं


(Reuters) - The Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, on Friday said Donald Trump has dropped out of the annual event underway outside of Washington. “Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC — his choice sends a clear message to conservatives,” CPAC said on its official Twitter handle. The event is hosted by the American Conservative Union.  (Reporting By Dan Burns) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: सी. पी. ए. सी. का कहना है कि ट्रम्प 'अंतिम समय' में बाहर हो गए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional committee on Monday put off plans to debate legislation on how to address Puerto Rico’s economic crisis, the latest sign of ongoing struggle by lawmakers to find a solution for the American territory’s crippling $70 billion debt. For months the Natural Resources Committee of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has been weighing whether and how to rescue Puerto Rico from a crippling debt without spending any U.S. taxpayer money. A committee spokesman said the panel will unveil a new draft proposal soon and then consider that plan in a work session next week. House Speaker Paul Ryan has rejected any bailout of creditors and instead has been mulling the creation of an oversight board that would reschedule the U.S. territory’s debt payments. The committee repeatedly has had to hold off on such a work session because of a lack of agreement. Some of the panel’s 26 Republicans oppose any debt restructuring, while some of its 18 Democrats want limitations on the oversight board, and object to some side issues included in the bill, such as one having to do with the Caribbean island’s minimum wage law. On May 1, Puerto Rico, which is suffering from a 45 percent poverty rate, defaulted on some of its debt when it missed paying the Government Development Bank around $400 million. It faces another debt payment, of nearly $2 billion, on July 1. The Republican-led U.S. Senate has been awaiting action by the House before debating a Puerto Rico debt bill.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण विधेयक पर विभाजित सांसदों की लड़ाई


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Monday approved building plans for 31 settler homes in Hebron in the West Bank, a spokeswoman said, a first such move in the Israeli-occupied area for some 15 years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has felt increased pressure for settlement expansion from the rightist flank of his coalition, though construction is not imminent as a bureaucratic process must still run its course. His government has made numerous announcements of settlement building recently, angering Palestinians seeking a state on land Israel captured in a 1967 war but no longer eliciting serious U.S. criticism with President Donald Trump in the White House. Still, settlement advocates say that despite a string of announcements for construction of thousands of settler homes in the West Bank, only a fraction might be built eventually. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank with a population of some 216,000. About 1,000 Israeli settlers live in the heart of the city, which for decades has been a focus of religious friction between Muslims and Jews. Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now detailed the project s plans in an area of Hebron where the settlers live and its web site showed a graphic of what the prospective four-storey, stone-clad apartment block would look like. It said that the last time settler homes were built in this area was in 2002. Hadar Horen, a spokeswoman for the Israeli body that runs civilian affairs in the West Bank, could not confirm the details issued by Peace Now and said the planning committee decision would be published later.

Summary: इजरायल ने वेस्ट बैंक के हेब्रोन में 31 बसने वालों के घरों के निर्माण की योजना को मंजूरी दी