WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s eldest son told Senate investigators on Thursday that he had set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because she might have had damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Jr., in a prepared statement to Senate Judiciary Committee investigators for a meeting behind closed doors, said it was important to learn about Clinton’s “fitness” to be president. “To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out,” said the statement, which was seen by Reuters. Trump also said the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others in Trump Tower in New York provided no meaningful information. The New York Times first reported the statement.     Russia has loomed large over the Trump presidency. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Moscow worked to tilt the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor. Several congressional committees and a special counsel are also investigating allegations of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The younger Trump’s testimony is believed to be the first by a member of the president’s family to congressional investigators, much of whose work has been conducted behind closed doors. Moscow denies meddling and Trump denies collusion by his campaign, while regularly denouncing the investigations as political witchhunts. When news of the meeting with the lawyer broke earlier this year, the younger Trump at first said that the main topic at the encounter was child adoption from Russia but then he released emails that showed his reason for attending the meeting was to receive possibly damaging information about Clinton.  His statement on Thursday is further acknowledgment that he was willing to receive potential help from a Russian citizen to help his father’s campaign, when it was still not certain he was going to be the Republican presidential nominee. “The fact that Trump Jr. acknowledges taking the meeting along with two other top campaign officials ... during a time in which the nomination was to be contested at the convention, also highlights how significant the campaign viewed the promise of dirt on their opponent from the Russian government,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a senior White House adviser, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the Trump Tower meeting. Congressional investigators have focused on the June 9, 2016, meeting, and what came of it, if anything, in terms of the relationship between Russians and the Trump campaign or Trump business interests. “As will become clear, I did not collude with any foreign government and do not know of anyone who did,” the statement said, promising to “set forth the sum and substance” of what happened at that meeting. Trump Jr. was questioned by Judiciary Committee staff for five hours. He left without speaking to reporters, and the meeting room entrance was shielded by a special partition that kept news cameras from recording his arrival and departure.  A handful of mostly Democratic senators attended the meeting but said questioning was limited to staff. The session was not classified and Trump Jr. was not under oath. However, it is illegal to provide false information to Congress. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal described the atmosphere in the room as “cordial.” He said the testimony made it clear there was more to discover.  “There certainly are a lot of areas that are opening for future witnesses, and questioning,” he told reporters.     Blumenthal also said he expected Trump Jr. would testify under oath later at a public Judiciary Committee hearing.  Schiff said his panel looked forward to having many questions  answered when he appeared before them.

Summary: क्लिंटन के बारे में जानकारी को नुकसान पहुँचाने के लिए ट्रम्प के बेटे ने रूसी वकील से मुलाकात की


MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday he was hopeful that the freeing of a kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children in Pakistan was a harbinger for closer cooperation in the future.  This is a very positive moment and the Pakistan Army performed well,  Mattis told reporters on board a military plane, adding he hoped this would be  a harbinger for the future.   We intend to work with Pakistan in a collaborative way in the future to stop terrorism and that includes kidnapping,  Mattis added. He declined to comment on any specifics on how the hostages were freed.

Summary: मैटिस को पाकिस्तान में बंधकों को रिहा करने की उम्मीद, सहयोग बढ़ेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned a pledge to support a party presidential nominee other than himself, a sign of increasing friction with chief rival Ted Cruz. “No, I don’t anymore,” Trump replied, when asked at a CNN town hall event whether he still supported a pledge he made last year to support whoever is the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election. Trump’s signing of a loyalty pledge last September was important in helping him gain credibility within the Republican National Committee. The pledge was also signed by all his rivals for the presidential nomination. His aboutface came as he tries to fend off a challenge from Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas who is running second to the New York billionaire in the race for the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination. Trump and Cruz were enmeshed in a fight last week involving their wives, with a Cruz SuperPAC publishing a provocative photo of Trump’s former model wife, Melania, and Trump retaliating by tweeting an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi. Cruz, asked earlier at the CNN town hall whether he also would honor the pledge to support the nominee if it was not himself, declined to give a straight answer. “Let me tell you my solution to that,” Cruz said. “Donald is not going to be the GOP nominee. We’re going to beat him.”  GOP is the acronym for Grand Old Party, a nickname for the Republican Party. Trump said he could do without Cruz’s support. “I watched him tonight and I watched how tormented he was when you asked him that question,” Trump told CNN moderator Anderson Cooper. “I don’t want to have him be tormented. Let me just tell you I don’t want his support, I don’t need his support. I don’t want him to be uncomfortable.” Trump also said he recognized that several of those who have dropped out of the race might harbor ill feelings towards him, mentioning former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Walker endorsed Cruz earlier on Tuesday, with Wisconsin’s primary vote coming up on April 5. “I drove him out of the race,” Trump said of Walker, who abandoned his presidential bid last autumn. “I drove Jeb Bush out of the race, I drove Rand Paul out of the race. I understand why they don’t like me.” A third Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich, was also tentative about honoring the pledge. He told the town hall he had been “disturbed by some of the things I’ve seen” during the campaign, adding, “I want to see how this finishes out.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने खुद के अलावा रिपब्लिकन राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार का समर्थन करने का संकल्प छोड़ दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted down on Monday a measure that would have compelled cell phone carriers to disclose a phone’s location with law enforcement in the event of an emergency, amid a last-minute lobbying effort from privacy advocates opposed to it. Lawmakers voted 229-158 to pass the Kelsey Smith Act, falling short of the two-thirds threshold necessary due to rules invoked to expedite the bill’s vote. The rejection was considered surprising, as House leadership rarely schedules a vote on legislation it is not confident will pass. However, Civil liberties groups aggressively opposed the bill on Monday, arguing that while well intended, it would create a warrant loophole and could lead to expanded government surveillance.  R Street, a libertarian-leaning think tank, said phone companies already possess the authority to share cell phone location data in emergency situations and did so frequently, making the legislation largely unnecessary. The bill is named after a deceased 18-year-old Kansas woman who disappeared following a visit to a local Target store in 2007. Smith was found murdered four days later only after Verizon, her cell phone provider, shared the location of her phone with authorities, according to Representative Kevin Yoder, a Kansas Republican and author of the bill. “While I’m disappointed in tonight’s outcome, I look forward to the bill being brought back to the House floor when a simple majority vote can get it passed.” Yoder said in a statement. Smith’s parents were in attendance in the House chamber during the vote, according to Yoder’s office. More than 20 states have already adopted versions of the law since Smith’s death.

Summary: सदन ने वाहक को फोन स्थान साझा करने की आवश्यकता वाले विधेयक को अस्वीकार कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government and coal companies will be required to pay out healthcare to retired coal miners, guaranteeing benefits to workers even as coal companies face bankruptcy, after Congress on Sunday reached a fiscal spending agreement for 2017.   The provision to secure the United Mine Workers’ healthcare benefits was included in a deal that lawmakers reached late on Sunday for around $1 trillion in federal funding that would avert a government shutdown later this week. Around 22,600 coal miners and their families were on the brink of losing on April 30 their healthcare benefits, which were at risk of default as the industry struggled, with companies trying to recover from bankruptcies. “This permanent solution to protect these benefits is a victory for our miners, their families, and their widows,” said Congressman Evan Jenkins, a West Virginia Republican who represents the state’s coal-producing counties. Members of the UMWA have made several visits to Washington over the last few months to urge lawmakers to protect their benefits, which they say is a government obligation. President Harry Truman in 1946 brokered the Krug-Lewis agreement, which guaranteed health and pension benefits for coal miners. Sunday’s agreement did not address a long-term fix for miners’ pension funds, which are also set to be terminated.    Lawmakers from both parties still hope to pass the Miners Protection Act, which would transfer funds from the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the union’s pension plan to prevent its insolvency. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been working with the UMWA  and Democratic and Republican lawmakers to pass that bill. If Congress cannot transfer those funds, the financially-strained $5 billion federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, an agency that backstops failed private-sector pension programs, would be responsible for covering the plans. Manchin said there is a “sacred bond between worker and country” and that he “is more determined than ever to fulfill our whole obligation and secure retired miners pension benefits as well.”

Summary: अमेरिकी कांग्रेस ने कोयला खनिकों के लिए स्वास्थ्य लाभ सुरक्षित किए


TOKYO (Reuters) - Pledges to spend on education and child care, stay tough on North Korea and revise the pacifist constitution are likely to be pillars of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s campaign in a snap election next month, government sources said on Tuesday. Abe is expected to announce on Monday that he will call a general election on Oct. 22 to take advantage of a rebound in his damaged approval ratings and disarray in the opposition, ruling party and government sources said. The prime minister, whose ratings have recovered from below 30 percent in July, is betting his ruling bloc can at a minimum retain a simple majority in the chamber and at best keep the two-thirds super-majority needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the constitution to clarify the military s role. A solid victory would boost Abe s chances of a third term as ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader in a party election next September, putting him on track to become Japan s longest-serving premier.  That is his biggest goal,  said veteran independent political analyst Minoru Morita.  Abe s support rose 6.5 points to 50.3 percent in a poll conducted over the weekend by the Sankei newspaper and the Fuji News Network, while backing for the LDP was at 38 percent compared to 6.4 percent for the main opposition Democratic Party. Abe wants to go ahead with a planned rise in the nation s sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent and use some of the revenue to create a  social security system for all generations , which would invest in education while decreasing the proportion of sales tax revenue used to pay down government debt, the sources said.  Japan s social welfare system is weighted toward spending on the elderly, with people aged 65 and over accounting for a whopping 27.7 percent of the population according to the latest government data.   You can promise anything you want - make a nod toward a more equitable society, empowering women, work-life balance, welfare for all generations,  said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan.  He s got a strategy that is going to win.  Using less tax revenue to pay down debt, however, would make more difficult an already ambitious pledge to balance the budget - excluding debt-servicing and new bond sales - by the year through March 2021. That could in turn raise concerns about less rigid fiscal discipline.  We have to maintain fiscal discipline, regardless,  Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters when asked about reports of such a shift. Abe has said he will decide on a snap election after he returns from the United States on Friday. The opposition Democrats are struggling not only with single-digit support but also a raft of defections. And while the nascent  Japan First  party, which boasts ties to popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, could attract votes, it has yet to draft a platform, pick candidates or formally register as a party. That means the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito, have a shot at retaining their two-thirds majority in the lower house, political analysts said. However, some analysts believe Abe s electoral base could be undermined by voter distaste over suspected cronyism scandals and concerns about creating a political vacuum even as North Korea raises tensions with its nuclear and missile tests.  I don t dismiss the possibility of the voters giving Abe a nasty surprise,  said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York.

Summary: मध्यावधि चुनाव पर नजर रखते हुए जापान के आबे शिक्षा, सुरक्षा पर ध्यान केंद्रित करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House announced on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump would travel to Florida later this week as the administration continues to monitor the damage from Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.  The president and the entire administration continue to monitor the situation in Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Florida, Texas and all areas affected by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey,  White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in making the announcement.

Summary: तूफान के कारण गुरुवार को फ्लोरिडा का दौरा करेंगे ट्रंपः व्हाइट हाउस


ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - Orlando nightclub killer Omar Mateen had expressed sympathy for a variety of Islamist extremists, including groups in the Middle East that are sworn enemies, the FBI said on Monday, as a picture began to emerge of the angry, violent man who carried out America’s deadliest mass shooting. U.S. authorities said they had found no direct links between Islamic State and Mateen, the U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday.        Mateen, 29, was shot dead by police who stormed the Pulse club with armored cars after a three-hour siege. In 911 calls during his rampage, the killer expressed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.     But Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey  said Mateen had made comments favorable to multiple armed Islamist movements and people, which “adds a little bit to the confusion about his motives.” President Barack Obama said Mateen was likely a homegrown extremist.  “So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network,” Comey told reporters in Washington. “We’re highly confident this killer was radicalized at least in some part through the internet.”     Islamic State, which controls territory in Iraq and Syria, reiterated on Monday a claim of responsibility, although it offered no signs to indicate coordination with the gunman.         In calls to authorities on Sunday, Mateen also mentioned support for the Boston Marathon bombers and a Florida man who became a Nusra Front suicide bomber in Syria, Comey said. Nusra is an al Qaeda offshoot which is at odds with Islamic State in Syria’s civil war.         Co-workers reported Mateen to the FBI in 2013 after he had made “inflammatory and contradictory” statements, including a claim that he had family connections to al Qaeda and membership of Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah, a bitter rival. The FBI’s Miami office investigated Mateen for 10 months and interviewed him twice but found no evidence of a crime or connection with a militant group. Comey said the FBI was also “working to understand what role anti-gay bigotry may have played” in the attack.  The massacre reverberated on the presidential campaign trail, where Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, the two likely opponents in the Nov. 8 election, clashed over how to confront violent Islamist extremists.     Trump proposed suspending immigration to the United States from countries with a history of terrorism against America, Europe or U.S. allies, while Clinton warned against demonizing Muslims and called for tougher gun safety measures. Obama is to visit Orlando on Thursday to pay respects to families of the victims. The Orlando killings followed the massacre of 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last year and raised the question of whether the United States will have to confront jihadist attacks in the homeland for years to come.  Comey said tracking apparent lone wolf attackers like Mateen was like finding “needles in a nationwide haystack” while also trying to work out what kind of people could become radicalized. The Florida shooting spree began early on Sunday when the club was packed with some 350 revelers at a Latin music night. Many fled as the gunman raked the crowd with bullets from an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and a pistol. An initial wave of officers charged into the club and trapped Mateen in a bathroom, Orlando Police Chief John Mina told reporters. That allowed many patrons to flee, although others were trapped in the restroom with Mateen, leading to a standoff. Police negotiated with Mateen for about three hours before breaking a hole in the wall, which allowed hostages to escape. Mateen also emerged from the hole and was shot dead by officers, police said. Some 53 people were wounded and 29 remain hospitalized at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Michael Cheatham, chief trauma surgeon at the hospital, told Fox News he expects all of the survivors in the hospital to survive.  Amanda Alvear’s last Snapchat video post began with a shot of her on the dance floor of the nightclub surrounded by friends. It ended with gunshots ringing out over the music. Alvear, 25, was identified by police as one of those killed at Pulse. Her friend Mercedez Flores, 26, who worked for Target,  was also on the list. Another victim was Edward Sotomayor, 34, a marketing manager at a Florida-based gay-themed travel company. He was a legend in the industry, his boss, Al Ferguson, said.  Pastor Deyni Ventura visited a survivor in the hospital, whom she identified only as Norman, who had taken refuge in a handicapped bathroom stall crammed with 30 people. Norman could hear the shooter laughing loudly as he sprayed gunfire over and under the bathroom stall. “They couldn’t see the shooter but they could hear him laughing,” Ventura said, intimating a loud cackling laugh. Norman, who was shot four times, crawled over the bodies of his friends to safety. Everyone else in the stall died, Ventura said. Most of the people fatally shot were Latino, more than half of them of Puerto Rican origin and at least three of them Mexican citizens. Hundreds of people attended a vigil on Monday night for the dead in downtown Orlando.         Law enforcement officials searched for clues as to whether anyone had worked with Mateen on the attack, said Lee Bentley, the U.S. attorney for the middle district of Florida. But officials said they believed there had been no other attackers and had no evidence of a threat to the public. Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusifiy, described him as mentally unstable and violent toward her. “He would get mad out of nowhere. That’s when I started worrying about my safety and then after a few months he started abusing me physically very often,” she told reporters. The couple split in 2009 after four months of marriage.     When Mateen met with his father the day before the killing, he betrayed nothing of the rage that would soon erupt. “I didn’t notice anything wrong,” Seddique Mateen said in an interview. “He was very slick.” In the close-knit Muslim community of about 100 families in Fort Pierce, Florida, Mateen was known as quiet with few friends. “He wasn’t a people person. He was not extremely friendly but he wasn’t rude either,” said Mohammed Jameel, 54, who worshipped at his mosque.     Mateen was an armed guard at a gated retirement community, and had worked for the global security firm G4S (GFS.L) for nine years..          He told the FBI during its investigation of him that he had made pro-Islamist remarks because he was angry at co-workers who he felt were discriminating against him and teasing him for being a Muslim, Comey said.

Summary: ऑरलैंडो के हत्यारे ने कई इस्लामी समूहों के लिए समर्थन व्यक्त किया


BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq s Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25 despite a vote by Iraq s parliament to reject the move. Earlier the parliament in Baghdad authorized the prime minister to  take all measures  to preserve Iraq s unity. Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the session before the vote and issued statements rejecting the decision. Western powers fear a plebiscite in Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish region - including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk - could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants. Iraq s neighbors - Turkey, Iran and Syria - also oppose the referendum, fearing it could fan separatism among their own ethnic Kurdish populations.  The referendum will be held on time... Dialogue with Baghdad will resume after the referendum,  Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said in a statement on his ruling party s official website after the vote. Barzani told a gathering of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in  Kirkuk that the referendum was  a natural right , according to a tweet from his aide Hemin Hawrami. Barzani also said Kirkuk should have a  special status  in a new, independent Kurdistan. Iraqi lawmakers worry that the referendum will consolidate Kurdish control over several areas claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous KRG in northern Iraq.      This referendum lacks a constitutional basis and thus it is considered unconstitutional,  the parliamentary resolution said, without specifying what measures the central government should take to stop Kurdistan from breaking away. Mohammed al-Karbouli, a Sunni Muslim lawmaker, said:  Kurdish lawmakers walked out of (Tuesday s) session but the decision to reject the referendum was passed by a majority.  A senior Kurdish official dismissed the vote as non-binding though an Iraqi lawmaker said it would be published in the official gazette after approval from the Iraqi presidency. The KRG has said it is up to local councils of disputed regions in northern Iraq to decide whether to join the vote. Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city, voted last month to participate in the referendum, a move that stoked tensions with its Arab and Turkmen residents, as well as with Baghdad. Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of the Kirkuk area and other areas claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds after Islamic State militants overran about a third of Iraq in 2014 and Baghdad s local forces disintegrated. At a news conference on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Kurds were continuing to  illegally export  Kirkuk s oil, and he called for urgent talks.  I call upon the Kurdish leadership to come to Baghdad and conclude a dialogue,  Abadi said. A Kurdish delegation met officials in Baghdad for a first round of talks in August concerning the referendum. An Iraqi delegation was expected to visit the Kurdish capital of Erbil in early September for a second round of talks, but the visit has yet to happen with less than two weeks before the vote. Kurds have sought an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East after the collapse of the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire and left Kurdish-populated territory split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Summary: बरज़ानी ने इराक की संसद की अवहेलना करते हुए कुर्द जनमत संग्रह के साथ आगे बढ़ने की कसम खाई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told several chief executives of large insurance companies on Monday that 2017 will be a “catastrophic” year for the Affordable Care Act as he seeks to make good on a campaign promise to repeal the measure. The Republican president told the insurers they must all work together to save Americans from the law known as Obamacare and try to bring down health care prices. He said he hoped to work with Democrats on a health care plan to repeal the law,  which provided coverage for millions of uninsured Americans.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने बीमाकर्ताओं से मुलाकात की, ओबामाकेयर के लिए विनाशकारी वर्ष का वादा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s memorial service on Saturday provided a brief respite for official Washington from the fierce battle over his succession, with political and legal leaders and many others in attendance. At the blue-domed Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the nation’s largest Catholic church, dozens of priests took part in the funeral mass, led by one of the justice’s nine children, Reverend Paul Scalia. More than 3,000 people looked on, including other family members, the court’s remaining eight justices, lawmakers, Vice President Joseph Biden and former Vice President Dick Cheney. “God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith,” the younger Scalia told the gathering inside the cathedral. “He loved the clarity and coherence of the church’s teachings.” He fondly remembered an outburst one day after his father realized he was waiting for confession at church in a line that would have led him to his son. The justice jumped out of the line. “‘Like heck if I’m confessing to you,’” the father said later to the son, who remarked: “The feeling was mutual.” A staunch conservative and the court’s longest-serving member, Justice Scalia died last Saturday at age 79 at a Texas hunting resort, sparking a political struggle that promises to reshape the 2016 election campaigns. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, was among those at the service. Like other Republicans, he has said that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, should not choose Scalia’s replacement. Rather, Republicans are saying no one should be named until after the presidential election in November, hoping that one of their own will be elected and get to choose the next justice.  Under law, the U.S. president is responsible for nominating Supreme Court justices to their lifetime appointments, subject to Senate review and confirmation. Appointing a justice to the court is one of the biggest decisions a U.S. president can make. Obama has vowed to select a successor to Scalia. If he does so, Senate Republicans have threatened to block any nominee put forward by Obama, a stance likely to become an issue in the presidential race and in election year contests for seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority of Americans believe it should be up to Obama to nominate the next  justice, with opinion divided along ideological party lines. This year the normally nine-justice court is set to decide its first major abortion case in nearly a decade, as well as cases on voting rights, affirmative action and immigration. The new justice’s politics could tilt the court’s balance. After Scalia’s death, it has four conservative and four liberal members. Appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Scalia became known as a brilliant jurist in an era of conservative court dominance. He opposed abortion and same-sex marriage and supported the death penalty and gun rights.

Summary: स्कैलिया के अंतिम संस्कार में, बेटे के नेतृत्व में, अवकाश में अमेरिकी अदालत की लड़ाई


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Friday that enough progress had been made in Brexit negotiations to allow a second phase of talks on future relations to begin. The following is a summary of a joint EU-UK report showing the agreements on three key topics: Refers to British citizens, including spouses and children, living in an EU state and other EU nationals living in Britain on date of its withdrawal. It does not give British citizens a right to move from one EU state to another and retain the same rights, while rights for EU and British citizens lapse if they leave their original host country for five years. Negotiations may continue in the second phase, with Britain looking for  onward movement  rights for its citizens on the continent and the EU interested in citizens keeping permanent residence rights even after longer spells absent from the host country. Citizens with permanent residence documents should get new ones free of charge. Equal treatment will cover rights with respect to social security, health care, employment and education. Benefits will be  exportable  as they are now. Future spouses, children and other core family members can join citizens enjoying protected rights. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the ultimate arbiter of EU law. The agreement states that  UK courts shall therefore have due regard to relevant decisions of the (ECJ) . The EU and Britain have agreed to set up a mechanism enabling UK courts to ask the ECJ to weigh in when necessary during an eight-year period following Brexit. Eight years is enough to build up a body of common jurisprudence, officials say. Even at present, EU courts are not obliged to allow appeals to the ECJ. In Phase Two, the sides will negotiate on how the withdrawal treaty can be enforced - for example, if the EU believes UK courts are systematically misinterpreting EU citizens  rights. Britain promises to preserve the integrity of its own internal market and Northern Ireland s place within it. It says it does not want a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, saying it aims to avoid checks and controls there via a future EU-UK economic relationship. If this is not possible, Britain says it will propose  specific solutions to address the unique circumstances . In the absence of such solutions, Britain will  maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 (Good Friday peace) Agreement.  It pledges to ensure there are  no new regulatory barriers  and  unfettered access  for Northern Ireland s businesses to the rest of Britain. Both parties acknowledge that the 1998 agreement recognizes the birth right of all people of Northern Ireland to be Irish, British or both.  Both Parties have agreed a methodology for the financial settlement ... drawn up and paid in euro.  The settlement will be calculated in terms of a percentage of the budget for 2014-2020, with Britain contributing as if it had stayed in the EU for 2019 and 2020 and including a British rebate. Following its withdrawal from the EU, the UK will continue to participate in the EU programs financed by the 2014-2020 budget until their closure. Beyond then, Britain will remain liable for its share of the EU s contingent liabilities, such as financial assistance or operations managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB):  The UK liability will be limited to decisions on each financial operation adopted prior to the date of withdrawal.  To avoid a disruption to the EIB s operations, Britain will provide a guarantee for an amount equal to its callable capital. This guarantee will decrease over time.  The UK share of the paid-in capital will be reimbursed in 12 annual installments starting at the end of 2019. The first eleven installments will be 300 million euros each and the final one will be 195,903,950 euros.  On the European Central Bank,  the paid-in capital of the UK in the ECB will be reimbursed to the Bank of England (BoE) after the date of withdrawal . British officials said they estimated the final bill at some 40-45 billion euros. The EU, which once estimated the cost at around 60 billion, declined to offer its own estimate, arguing that too much is dependent on future variables, such as whether loan guarantees advanced by the EU end up being exercised. Britain would pay 17-18 billion euros to the EU budget between Brexit and the end of the current EU seven-year budget plan in December 2020, British officials estimate, and a further 21-23 billion after that to settle ongoing commitments, plus 2-4 billion euros on net liabilities, including EU staff pensions.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ब्रेक्सिट तलाक सौदे में क्या है?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced legislation requiring the disclosure of sexual harassment case settlements involving members of Congress and their staffers. The move came amid a snowballing number of revelations about harassment of co-workers and others by members of Congress, as well as high-profile entertainment and media figures’ being accused of workplace improprieties. If the legislation were to become law and such settlements came to light they potentially would have a ripple effect on politicians and elections. Republicans control the House, but it was not clear whether Speaker Paul Ryan would throw his weight behind the legislation. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A House committee hearing on overhauling existing procedures dealing with harassment cases is set for Dec. 7. Ryan called reports that Democratic Representative John Conyers was involved in a settlement over allegations of sexual impropriety “extremely troubling.” An aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi noted that she has indicated she would support legislation such as the bill offered on Wednesday, although it would have to respect the wishes of victims who want to remain anonymous. Under current practice, the names of lawmakers and aides who settle sexual harassment cases at taxpayer expense have not been divulged. The bipartisan “Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Act” was introduced with at least 21 co-sponsors. It would require disclosure within 30 days of all settlement payments, the reason for the payment and nature of the allegation, as well as the lawmakers and staffers implicated. The public disclosure of lawmakers would be retroactive under the bill and any payments as a result of settlements would be the responsibility of members of Congress and staff involved, instead of taxpayers. Over the years, more than $15 million in taxpayer dollars have been paid out in an array of settlement claims, including those involving sexual harassment, noted Representative Ron DeSantis, a Republican and one of the bill’s authors. Separate legislation has been introduced on tightening procedures for Congress handling sexual harassment cases. On Wednesday the full House approved a resolution requiring lawmakers and their aides to take courses aimed at preventing harassment.

Summary: सदन विधेयक का उद्देश्य यौन उत्पीड़न के मामलों में सांसदों की पहचान करना है


(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday: Trump knew for weeks that national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled the White House about his contacts with Russia but did not immediately force him out, an administration spokesman says.  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is playing down any impact that Flynn’s resignation might have on Mattis’ debut trip this week to Europe to meet NATO allies. RUSSIA-UKRAINE Trump has said he expects Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine and reduce violence in Ukraine, White House spokesman Sean Spicer says. Russia’s prospects for better relations with Washington appear to have suffered another setback with the resignation of Trump’s national security adviser being the biggest blow yet. The most consequential legal challenge to Trump’s travel ban will proceed on two tracks in the next few days. Congressional Democrats fail to pressure Republicans into seeking Trump’s tax returns after saying the Flynn scandal made it imperative to find out whether the president has business ties to Russia. The Office of Government Ethics says the White House should investigate a public endorsement of Ivanka Trump products by Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and consider disciplinary action.  Four Republican senators have yet to say if they will support Trump’s nominee to head the Labor Department, Andrew Puzder, creating suspense about whether he will survive an initial confirmation hearing this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparing for a White House meeting with Trump on Wednesday, will work with advisers to align Israeli and U.S. thinking on the Middle East and ensure “no gaps” remain. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, in response to a warning from a congressman to halt international negotiations in the early stages of Trump’s presidency, says the U.S. central bank has the authority to consult with foreign counterparts and does so to benefit the United States. Canadian officials and trade experts say that although Trump says he only wants to tweak trade ties with Canada, his pledge to renegotiate NAFTA to focus on Mexico is almost impossible. Trump will meet on Wednesday with the chief executive officers of eight large retailers, including Target Corp (TGT.N), Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) and J.C. Penney Company Inc (JCP.N), to discuss tax reform and infrastructure improvements, sources say.

Summary: 14 फरवरी को शाम 4:02 बजे ई. एस. टी./2102 जी. एम. टी. पर ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s foreign ministry has warned its citizens traveling to Turkey that they risk arbitrary detention even in tourist areas, revising its travel advice after a spate of arrests of German citizens that it considers politically motivated. The change in travel advice, issued on Tuesday, marks a new low in relations between the NATO allies and is a blow for the tourist sector, which has already been hit by militant attacks and the fall-out from last year s failed coup attempt in Turkey. The trigger for the sharpening of the travel advice was the detention at the coastal Antalya airport last week of two Germans, one of whom has since been released. Berlin believes they, like 11 others, were detained for political reasons.  There is a risk of similar detentions in all parts of Turkey, including in tourist regions,  the new advice reads. It falls short of a formal travel warning, issued for war-afflicted countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Yemen, which would make obtaining travel insurance harder.  We can t take from tourists the decision whether to travel or not,  Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.  But we have described in detail what you should be aware of before you go.  Large numbers of European citizens have been caught up in the crackdown following last year s failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan, in the wake of which tens of thousands of Turks have been imprisoned on  terrorism  charges.  Critics say the crackdown amounts to an undiscriminating purge of Erdogan s opponents.

Summary: गिरफ्तारी के बाद जर्मनी ने तुर्की की यात्रा के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia s ruling party, which came second in a presidential election first round on Oct. 10, has said the poll was marred by irregularities, following similar claims from other parties. Vice President Joseph Boakai, a member of outgoing President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf s Unity Party, won 28.8 percent of votes, versus 38.4 percent for former soccer star George Weah. A run-off vote between the two candidates is scheduled for Nov. 7.  International observers from the European Union, the Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute have said they saw no major problems with the vote, which was meant to usher in Liberia s first democratic transfer of power since 1944.   The Unity Party did not say whether it would petition the election committee for a re-run, as did the Liberty Party of the third-placed candidate, Charles Brumskine, over what it said were  gross irregularities and fraud .  We too have been gathering reports ... pointing to some anomalies and electoral management inefficiencies, which prevented some of our supporters and citizens from exercising their constitutional rights to vote,  the Unity Party said in a statement. It said it was still deciding what action to take  consistent with the laws of Liberia . Another candidate, Alexander Cummings of the Alternative National Congress, has also said there were problems during the polls, including the theft of ballot boxes, but his party has yet to file a complaint.  The communications director of the election commission, Henry Flomo, said the commission would respond to the Unity Party s concerns as quickly as possibly, adding that the party could challenge the commission s findings at the Supreme Court if it is not satisfied.

Summary: लाइबेरिया की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी ने चुनाव अनियमितताओं का आरोप लगाया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest lobbying group for health insurers has asked U.S. lawmakers weighing the fate of Obamacare to push back the due date for 2018 individual insurance submissions to regulators in hopes of obtaining greater clarity on the program’s future later on.  Republican leaders including President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they are keen to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program, the Affordable Care Act, which provides coverage to millions of Americans. The process of repealing and replacing Obamacare could take two to three years, however, according to some senators. How much of the law will change and when is still unclear. Trump has said some aspects of the program are good, such as allowing young adults to stay insured with their parents until age 26.  The trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, has been speaking with senators for the past few weeks, spokeswoman Kristine Grow said on Tuesday. She provided a list of issues under discussion, which touch on the individual exchanges, Medicare and Medicaid. Insurers backed the idea of high-risk pools, saying they can mitigate the risk of adverse selection and deliver effective coverage. Both Trump and his choice to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, advocate for use of the pools to insure the very sick. Two of AHIP’s largest members are Anthem Inc and Cigna Corp, both of which plan to sell Obamacare plans in 2017.   Insurers also asked for funding through Jan. 1, 2019, for cost-sharing programs and making the 2016 reinsurance payments to insurers who qualify for them as planned. And they asked for  elimination of two health insurance taxes, which they said would help slow premium growth. They suggested extending the deadline to file health exchange plans by a few months until the summer of 2017, when there will be less uncertainty and more insurers are likely to submit bids. Insurers are asking senators for limited changes to the Medicaid program during the transition period, and to ensure a transition period for states that have expanded Medicaid, the program for the poor jointly funded by the federal government and states. Republicans are considering changing its funding to block grants, which could cut the total amount. On Medicare, the insurers are seeking changes as soon as February, when the government will propose target rates for 2018 Medicare Advantage plans.

Summary: अमेरिकी बीमाकर्ता लॉबी समूह ने 2018 ओबामाकेयर की समय सीमा में देरी की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson, on Wednesday will voice concerns about Russia’s actions on the world stage and say China must help pressure North Korea to reform. The Trump transition team circulated Tillerson’s opening statement to be delivered during his Senate confirmation hearing. He will explain to some extent why Trump has been in favor of a warmer relationship with Moscow, saying Washington needs an open and frank dialogue with Russia on its ambition in order for the United States to chart its own course. But his rhetoric expressing concern about Russia goes beyond Trump’s own frequent expressions of the need for better ties after what he feels was a bungling of the relationship by outgoing President Barack Obama. “Our NATO allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent Russia,” Tillerson will say. “But it was in the absence of American leadership that this door was left open and unintended signals were sent.” He cited Obama’s failure to act against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people after saying in 2012 that doing so would cross a “red line” as a weak signal to Moscow. “We backtracked on commitments we made to allies. We sent weak or mixed signals with ‘red lines’ that turned into green lights. We did not recognize that Russia does not think like we do,” Tillerson will say. Tillerson, like Trump, will express a dim view of China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea such as its building artificial islands. “China’s island-building in the South China Sea is an illegal taking of disputed areas without regard for international norms,” he will say. As Trump adopts from Obama the challenge of containing North Korea’s nuclear program, Tillerson signaled a move to exert more pressure on China to help. “We cannot continue to accept empty promises like the ones China has made to pressure North Korea to reform, only to shy away from enforcement. Looking the other way when trust is broken only encourages more bad behavior. And it must end,” Tillerson will say. When asked about Tillerson’s comments at a daily briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved regionally. With reference to North Korea, Lu said: “We care more about peace and stability on the Korean peninsula than any other country.” Tillerson will say that challenges posed by Islamic State, China, North Korea and Iran represent new global realities that must be addressed with an assertive United States. “To achieve the stability that is foundational to peace and security in the 21st century, American leadership must not only be renewed, it must be asserted,” he will say. The Wall Street Journal reported that Tillerson, the wealthy former CEO of Exxon-Mobil Corp., plans to use an unusual interpretation of U.S. tax law to spread out taxes owed on his retirement package over the next decade instead of paying more than $70 million immediately. The Journal said the move could save Tillerson more than $10 million if Trump gets through the U.S. Congress a tax reform plan that cuts individual tax rates.

Summary: रूस को जवाबदेह ठहराने के लिए ट्रम्प की पसंद के विदेश मंत्री ने कहा


(Reuters) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday gave $50 million to Houston to help cover costs related to Hurricane Harvey, a move the mayor said will allow the city to avoid a temporary property tax hike that was up for a city council vote in October. Mayor Sylvester Turner, who accepted the money from the Republican governor at a city hall press conference, said he will pull his proposal for a one-year tax increase to cover the city’s share of debris removal expenses and for insurance-related payments. Parts of Houston suffered severe wind and flood damage after Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Aug. 25. It was the strongest hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years. Earlier this week, Abbott rejected Turner’s request for the state to immediately tap its $10 billion rainy day fund to aid its largest city. On Friday, the governor said he had the flexibility to withdraw $50 million from a state disaster relief fund for Houston. “This looked like the best solution at this point,” Abbott told reporters. He added that once the state gets a handle on total hurricane expenses, the Texas legislature will consider tapping into the rainy day fund when its next regular session begins in January 2019 or sooner in a special session.

Summary: टेक्सास ने तूफान हार्वे की लागत के लिए ह्यूस्टन को $50 मिलियन दिए


(In Sept. 13 item, updates to correct spelling of the last name of Michael Beason from Benson, in 19th paragraph and throughout) By Andrew Innerarity and Ricardo Ortiz HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity. The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour). Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states. Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said.  I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,  Scott said in a statement.  This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.  More than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said.  Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,  Randy Katz, a spokesman for Memorial Regional Hospital, told reporters. Memorial Regional is located across the street from the nursing home.  Police were first called to the facility at about 4:30 a.m. but did not arrive until after 6 a.m., officials said. The center had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday.  The building has been sealed off and we are conducting a criminal investigation inside,  Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday.  It was very hot on the second floor.  Florida Power & Light said it had provided power to some parts of the Hollywood nursing home but that the facility was not on a county top tier list for emergency power restoration. Irma caused about $25 billion in insured losses, including $18 billion in the United States and $7 billion in the Caribbean, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co estimated on Wednesday. The Florida Keys were particularly hard hit, with federal officials saying that 25 percent of homes were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage when Irma barreled ashore on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane. Most residents had left by then and police have barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel.  I don t have a house. I don t have a job. I have nothing,  said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked. President Donald Trump is due to visit the region on Thursday. Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where at least 43 people have died. People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday.  Michael Beason, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything.   My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,  said Beason, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife s brother.   But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,  Beason added.  I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him,  If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that s what s left.  Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा के गवर्नर ने इरमा नर्सिंग होम में हुई मौतों की आक्रामक जांच का वादा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio reluctantly backed President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, in a move that all but secures Senate confirmation of the former Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive as the nation’s top diplomat later on Monday.  Rubio said he was troubled by Tillerson’s recent responses before lawmakers regarding Russia as well as other countries, but that he ultimately decided he would vote to approve the nominee in deference to Trump, as well as to fill a critical top job. “Despite my reservations, I will support Mr. Tillerson’s nomination in committee and in the full Senate,” Rubio said in a statement ahead of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s vote on Tillerson.  A vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was expected shortly after the committee vote. Tillerson was expected to win confirmation, despite opposition from Democrats.  Rubio, a onetime rival to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not be so deferential regarding Trump’s other nominees for top State Department posts.   At a confirmation hearing earlier this month, Tillerson’s views appeared to be at odds with Trump’s on key foreign policy issues such as nuclear proliferation, trade deals, climate change and relations with Mexico. The nominee also had a tense exchange with Rubio on whether he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was a war criminal, in reference to Russia’s military actions in support of Syria’s government. Tillerson said he would not use that term.  Tillerson, 64, also sidestepped questions on human rights, declining to condemn countries like Saudi Arabia and the Philippines for rights abuses.    Over the weekend, fellow Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said they would back Tillerson despite their concerns over his relationship with Putin as CEO of one of the world’s largest corporations.     Republican Senator Rob Portman on Monday also voiced his support and said he was reassured by Tillerson’s commitment at the Jan. 11 hearing to support NATO, an organization that Trump has voiced differing opinions about. Earlier on Monday, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, said he would not support Tillerson. “The power of the Secretary of State to call out wrong, to name and shame, and to fight each day on behalf of the American people and freedom-seeking people the world over is an enduring symbol,” Cardin said in a prepared statement.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन रूबियो ने शीर्ष अमेरिकी राजनयिक के रूप में टिलरसन की मंजूरी के लिए रास्ता साफ किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government watchdog has agreed to review how classified information is kept secure at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the agency said on Monday, after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the issue last month. The Government Accountability Office’s review will examine whether Secret Service agents subject Mar-a-Lago guests to any security screening, and evaluate the expenses incurred by government employees who travel with Trump to Mar-a-Lago, according to a letter the agency sent the lawmakers on Friday. The GAO will also check whether Trump has made any payments to the U.S. Treasury from profits at his hotels, the letter said. Trump’s lawyer pledged at a Jan. 11 news conference to donate Trump Hotel profits from foreign governments to the Treasury.  The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump’s handling of U.S. security information at Mar-a-Lago came under congressional scrutiny in February after photos taken by private guests in the club’s public dining area showed Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reviewing documents following a North Korean missile launch. The White House denied afterward that any classified material was present in the dining room. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said on Monday the GAO would be able to conduct an “independent review” of how Trump spends his weekends at the resort, which the Republican president has dubbed his “Winter White House.” In a Feb. 16 letter, Cummings and Democratic Senators Tom  Udall, Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse asked the GAO to assess whether Trump and his staff had violated security protocol when hosting foreign dignitaries and handling classified information at the Florida resort.  Udall said on Monday the American people “deserved to know who has access to the president, how much it’s costing to protect him and whether the Trump Organization is benefiting from that protection.” He introduced a bill on Friday that would require the White House to publish logs of people who meet with Trump there and at other locations.     The GAO is expected to begin the review in a few months.

Summary: अमेरिकी सरकार की निगरानी संस्था मार-ए-लागो यात्राओं, ट्रम्प होटल के मुनाफे की समीक्षा करेगी


ROME (Reuters) - Italy s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement pummeled a center-right coalition to govern Ostia, one of Rome s largest neighborhoods, in a run-off vote that confirms the 5-Star s strength months away from a national election. Five-Star s Giuliana Di Pillo took 60 percent of the vote, doubling her first-round result, against 40 percent for the center-right s Monica Picca in a closely watched contest that comes just months before a national election. The result shows the legal troubles that have plagued the administration of Rome s 5-Star mayor, Virginia Raggi, since her election in June of last year have not dampened the maverick party s popularity in the capital.  There is a Raggi effect and it s positive,  Luigi Di Maio, the 5-Star prime minister candidate, wrote on Twitter.  In Rome we continue to win even against a coalition of five center-right forces.  The 5-Star is Italy s most-popular party ahead of a national vote due between March and May, while the ruling Democratic Party (PD) is a distant second, a poll showed last week.  But a center-right alliance joining Silvio Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!), the anti-immigration Northern League and the far-right Brothers of Italy would pull in the most votes, though it would fall short of a parliamentary majority. The PD failed to make it to Ostia s run-off and the turnout was just 34 percent. The previous center-left administration for the capital s seaside borough, which has more than 230,000 inhabitants, was dissolved two years ago after police said it had fallen under the influence of organized crime. This year s campaign was marred by alleged connections between the neo-fascist Casapound party, which won more than 9 percent in the first round and will have a seat on the local council, and organized crime. Ten days before the runoff, Robert Spada, a brother of an imprisoned mobster, attacked a journalist for RAI state TV who had gone to ask questions about Spada s open support for Casapound.  Italian organized crime groups have long sought control of local governments, and some 450 municipal administrations of different political stripes have been dissolved for mafia infiltration over the past quarter century.

Summary: रोम बीचफ्रंट वोट में इटली के 5-स्टार पम्मेल्स केंद्र-दाएँ


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to step down on Jan. 20, he said on Thursday, a move expected to hand Republicans a 2-1 majority on the panel when Donald Trump takes office as president. Wheeler could have kept the commission at 2-2 until Trump names a new member who needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Last week, two Republican FCC commissioners said the Trump administration should quickly reverse many significant policies set by the telecommunications and cable regulatory body under Democratic President Barack Obama. Unless the U.S. Senate reconfirms Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, she will have to leave at end of the month. Senate Democrats on Thursday held out the possibility that Republicans could put her back on the FCC next year. With the departures of Wheeler and Rosenworcel, the only remaining Democrat on the panel would be Mignon Clyburn, whose term does not expire until June 2017. Trump will get to select the next chairman.  Wheeler, a former cable TV and mobile phone industry lobbyist, repeatedly clashed with companies during his tenure at the FCC, especially over the 2015 order to reclassify broadband internet service providers under a section of communications law that treats them more like public utilities and subjects them to stricter regulation as part of the commission’s “net neutrality” rules. The rules bar broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane” on the information superhighway, to certain services over others. Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, said last week he believed the net neutrality rules’ “days are numbered.” He also said he hoped the commission would eliminate many regulations and propose fewer actions. Wheeler also scrutinized a series of proposed mergers, demanding significant conditions to some and rejecting others. In 2015, Wheeler blocked Comcast Corp’s proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and said the FCC had serious concerns about allowing a tie-up of Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US.    Republican Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said last week that the FCC under Trump needed to “undo the more harmful policies adopted by the current commission.”   O’Rielly criticized the FCC’s decision in October to impose stricter privacy rules on internet service providers than on websites like Facebook Inc or Twitter Inc.   Last month Wheeler dropped plans to push through a proposed reform of the $45 billion business data services market. He also dropped a plan to allow pay TV subscribers to ditch their set-top boxes. Former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a partner at Carlyle Group LP, said Wheeler “fought relentlessly for broadband, competition and consumers, and our country’s innovation economy today is strong and world-leading.”

Summary: एफ. सी. सी. अध्यक्ष पद छोड़ेंगे, जी. ओ. पी. को बहुमत देंगे


LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he had not seen any evidence that Russia had interfered in British elections. Asked whether he believed Russia had played a role in British elections, Johnson said:  No, I haven t seen any (evidence), not a sausage ... As far as I know they have played no role.

Summary: ब्रिटिश वोटों में रूसी हस्तक्षेप का कोई सबूत नहीं हैः ब्रिटेन के विदेश मंत्री


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Pro-independence Scottish lawmakers have presented a motion in their devolved parliament urging international recognition of Catalonia s unilateral declaration of independence from Spain, putting pressure on Scotland s leader to endorse the movement. Scotland s pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has criticized Madrid s handling of the crisis with its northern region but refrained from backing the declaration. The European Union, which she would like to see admitting a future independent Scotland, has backed Spain s central government. According to the website of the Scottish parliament, the lawmakers  motion called on  the international community to recognize the vote of the Catalan parliament for an independent republic of Catalonia . Catalonia declared independence unilaterally last week after holding a vote banned under Spain s constitution. Spain has since sacked the autonomous Catalan government and called regional elections. The motion was signed by 21 of the 63 lawmakers in the Scottish National Party which runs the devolved government in Scotland. It was also signed by one lawmaker from the Scottish Greens but is unlikely to go further as it requires support from three parties to be debated in the Scottish parliament. The move, aimed at drawing attention to the Catalan situation, comes amid nervousness about the future of Scotland s stalled independence drive, which still has the support of around 45 percent of voters, according to polls. Some nationalists last month called on First Minister Sturgeon, who has made comments in support of Catalonia and its right to self-determination, to recognize Catalonia s independence, but to no avail.   We cannot recognize Catalan independence because, much as we would like to be, we are not a sovereign state,  a Scottish government source said at the time. The Times reported on Thursday that the Catalan breakaway government had asked for support from the Scottish government but received no reply. The Scottish government could not immediately be reached for comment. Sturgeon s Scottish National Party lost one third of its seats in a June election for Britain s national party in London, and has blamed the mistiming of a fresh drive for an independence referendum for the result. Scots rejected independence by a 10-percentage point margin in 2014 but Britain s vote to leave the European Union has exposed fresh divisions in the United Kingdom. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, while Wales and England voted to leave.

Summary: स्कॉटलैंड के सांसदों ने कैटलन की स्वतंत्रता के लिए अंतर्राष्ट्रीय मान्यता की मांग की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump are more likely to describe African Americans as “criminal,” “unintelligent,” “lazy” and “violent” than voters who backed some Republican rivals in the primaries or who support Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. Ahead of the Nov. 8 election to replace Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, the poll also showed significant numbers of Americans in both the Republican and Democratic parties view blacks more negatively than whites, harbor anxiety about living in diverse neighborhoods and are concerned that affirmative action policies discriminate against whites. Republicans in the survey expressed these concerns to a greater degree than Democrats, with Trump supporters presenting the most critical views of blacks. The poll, conducted between March and June, interviewed 16,000 Americans and included 21 questions on attitudes about race. It sought responses from voters who support Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and her rival U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. It also surveyed supporters of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, the last two Republican candidates to drop out of the race. “Mr. Trump is an egalitarian who believes in supporting and protecting all people equally,” said Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser, when asked about the poll. “This is a stark contrast to Hillary Clinton, whose policies have been a disaster for African-American and Hispanic citizens.” A spokesman for Hillary Clinton declined to comment on the poll. (Graphic on racial attitudes of presidential candidates' supporters tmsnrt.rs/294chjP) Nearly half of Trump’s supporters described African Americans as more “violent” than whites. The same proportion described African Americans as more “criminal” than whites, while 40 percent described them as more “lazy” than whites. In smaller, but still significant, numbers, Clinton backers also viewed blacks more critically than whites with regard to certain personality traits. Nearly one-third of Clinton supporters described blacks as more “violent” and “criminal” than whites, and one-quarter described them as more “lazy” than whites. Clinton is relying heavily on black voters to help her win the White House, and her victory over Sanders in the early state nominating contests was due in part to her overwhelming lead among African Americans. When asked about where they wanted to live, 36 percent of Trump supporters said, “I prefer to live in a community with people who come from diverse cultures,” compared with 46 percent of Cruz supporters, 55 percent of Kasich supporters and 70 percent of Clinton supporters. Trump’s supporters were more likely to be critical of affirmative action policies that favor minorities in school admissions or in hiring. Some 31 percent of Trump supporters said they “strongly agree” that “social policies, such as affirmative action, discriminate unfairly against white people,” compared with 21 percent of Cruz supporters, 17 percent of Kasich supporters and 16 percent of Clinton supporters. To be sure, not all Trump supporters expressed negative attitudes about blacks. No more than 50 percent of his supporters rated blacks negatively, relative to whites, on any of the six character traits in the poll. Yet when their answers to the poll questions were compared with responses from supporters of other candidates, Trump supporters were always more critical of blacks on personality traits, analysis of the results showed.  The trend was consistent in the data, even when the results were filtered to include only white respondents to remove any impact that a different racial mix between Clinton and Trump supporters might play in the poll. The Trump supporters’ views on affirmative action and neighborhood diversity do not necessarily reflect racial bias alone, said Michael Traugott, a polling expert and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, who is not publicly supporting either Trump or Clinton. Rather, the results could also suggest anxieties about economic insecurity and social standing.  Trump, whose supporters are mostly white, has promised to return manufacturing jobs to the United States, crack down on illegal immigration and pull out of global trade deals that he says have hurt American workers.  “The support for Trump is indicative of the support for the type of policies he is advocating,” said Lawrence Brown, a professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore who writes about racism and has supported Sanders. Obama said in May that U.S. race relations have improved over the last three decades but that significant work still needs to be done.  The issue of race has assumed great political prominence over the past two years, amid countrywide protests over police treatment of African Americans, economic disparity between blacks and whites, and court challenges to affirmative action and voting rights. The Reuters/Ipsos poll asked people to grade whites and blacks on a series of personal traits. The results were then analyzed to compare how each respondent rated whites with how they rated blacks. In nearly every case, Trump supporters were more likely to rate whites higher than blacks when their responses were compared with responses from Clinton supporters.  For example, 32 percent of Trump supporters placed whites closer to the top level of “intelligence” than they did blacks, compared with 22 percent of Clinton supporters who did the same. About 40 percent of Trump supporters placed whites higher on the “hardworking” scale than blacks, while 25 percent of Clinton supporters did the same. And 44 percent of Trump supporters placed whites as more “well mannered” than blacks, compared with 30 percent of Clinton supporters. The online poll, which surveyed people over the age of 18 across the United States, was conducted during two periods in the 2016 election cycle. The first ran three weeks in March and April, while Cruz and Kasich were still competing with Trump for the Republican nomination. The second polling period covered nearly four weeks in May and June, after Kasich and Cruz had dropped out.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रम्प समर्थक अश्वेतों को नकारात्मक रूप से देखने की अधिक संभावना रखते हैं-रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and would keep developing its arsenal despite U.S. pressure to stop. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate a U.N. resolution, which calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such plans. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter the missile test illustrates the weakness of the Iran nuclear deal reached by his predecessor Barack Obama. He also linked the action to recent aggressive moves by North Korea.   Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea,  Trump said on Twitter.  Not much of an agreement we have!    Iran said in its announcement on Saturday that the Khorramshahr missile could carry several warheads. State broadcaster IRIB carried footage of the missile test without giving its time or location. It included video from an on-board camera which it said showed the detachment of the cone that carries multiple warheads.  You are seeing images of the successful test of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km, the latest missile of our country,  state television said, adding this was Iran s third missile with such a range. The Khorramshahr was first displayed at a military parade on Friday, where President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would strengthen its missile capabilities. Britain voiced concerns about the latest test.  Extremely concerned by reports of Iran missile test, which is inconsistent with UN resolution 2231. Call on Iran to halt provocative acts,  British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. France also said it was extremely concerned and called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to carry out a full report on the launch.  France asks that Iran cease all destabilizing activity in the region,  Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement.  (France) will consider with its partners, notably European, the means to obtain from Iran the cessation of its destabilizing ballistic activities.  Trump told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that Iran was building its missile capability and accused it of exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. He also criticized a 2015 pact that the United States and other world powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. Iran s defense minister said on Saturday foreign pressures would not affect Iran s missile program.  On the path to improve our country s defensive capacity we will certainly not be the least affected by any threats and we won t ask anyone s permission,  Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in remarks carried by state television. Iran denies its missile development breaches the U.N. resolution and says its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.  The weight of the Khorramshahr missile s warhead has been announced to be 1,800 kg (4,000 lbs), ... making it Iran s most powerful missile for defense and retaliation against any aggressive enemy,  state television said.

Summary: अमेरिका द्वारा हथियार कार्यक्रम की आलोचना के बाद ईरान ने नई मिसाइल का परीक्षण किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is expected to submit to Congress on Tuesday President Barack Obama’s long-awaited plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, setting up a battle with lawmakers who oppose his efforts. Obama, whose pledge to shut the facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba dates back to the start of his presidency in 2009, is seeking to make good on his promise before he leaves office next January. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the administration intended to meet Tuesday’s deadline to present its detailed proposal for closing the facility. There are still 91 prisoners detained there. “We understand the deadline is tomorrow and it’s our intent to meet it,” Davis told reporters. U.S. officials have said the plan would call for sending to their homelands or third countries detainees who have been cleared for transfer, now numbering 35, and bringing remaining prisoners, possibly several dozen, to U.S. soil to be held in maximum-security prisons. Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011. Another option that will be cited in the administration’s blueprint will be the possibility of sending some prisoners overseas for prosecution and trial, one U.S. official said. The closure plan could also serve as a template for how to deal with future terrorism suspects captured in the fight against the Islamic State militant group. However, the document will not name the alternative U.S. prisons under consideration for housing detainees, U.S. officials said. The administration wants to avoid fueling any political outcry over specific sites during a U.S. presidential election year. Still, Pentagon officials have already surveyed a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Navy brig at Charleston, South Carolina. An effort will also be made to speed up parole-style reviews to determine whether more prisoners can be added to the group cleared for release, officials said. The plan will include costs for upgrading U.S. facilities and housing the inmates there, according to a source familiar with the matter. The White House last year rejected one Pentagon proposal as too expensive, sending it back for revisions. Republicans and some Democrats in Congress largely oppose proposals to move any of the prisoners to the United States. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said on Monday the Obama administration refused to “level with the American people regarding the terrorist activities and affiliations of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated Obama’s view of Guantanamo as a terrorist “recruiting tool” and urged lawmakers to look at the plan “with an open mind,” although he expressed doubt about whether they would do so. The White House has left open the possibility that Obama might resort to executive powers to close the facility. The prison was opened in 2002 by former Republican President George W. Bush to house foreign terrorism suspects rounded up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The United States quickly drew criticism from human rights activists and foreign governments over Guantanamo, where most prisoners have been held for more than a decade without trial.

Summary: पेंटागन ग्वांतानामो जेल को बंद करने के लिए कांग्रेस को योजना प्रस्तुत करेगा


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark s Prince Henrik, the husband of Queen Margrethe, has been diagnosed with dementia, a condition that has affected his behavior and judgment, the palace said on Wednesday. The announcement came weeks after the 83-year-old announced he did not want to be buried next to his wife, saying he was unhappy he had never been acknowledged as her equal.  Following a longer diagnostic process and lately a series of examinations during late summer, a specialist team ... has now concluded that his Royal Highness Prince Henrik suffers from dementia,  the Royal House said in a statement.   The extent of the cognitive failure is ... greater than expected considering the age of The Prince,  it added. Henrik, who married Margrethe in 1967, retired last year and renounced his title of Prince Consort, saying he was disappointed not to be named King Consort. Since then he has participated in very few official duties and spent much of his time at his private vineyard in France.  In Denmark, a princess traditionally becomes queen when her husband takes the throne, but a man does not become king when the roles are reversed. Born Henri Marie Jean Andr  de Laborde de Monpezat in France in 1934, Henrik has two sons with the queen, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim.

Summary: डेनिश रानी के पति प्रिंस हेनरिक को डिमेंशिया का पता चला


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia welcomed the new U.S. policy toward Iran and said lifting sanctions had allowed Iran to develop its ballistic missile program and step up its support for militant groups, state news agency SPA reported on Friday. The kingdom said Iran took advantage of additional financial revenues to support for the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah and the Houthi group in Yemen.

Summary: सऊदी अरब ने ईरान के प्रति अमेरिका की नई रणनीति का स्वागत किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. Senate said on Tuesday he hoped to reach agreement “in the next few days” on a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, saying it was too soon to talk about a short-term fix to avert a government shutdown at midnight on Friday. “We’re hoping to reach an agreement in the next few days on how to process the entire bill through September 30th,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. “I don’t want to speculate about whether that can actually clear this week.”

Summary: सीनेट रिपब्लिकन नेता का कहना है कि अभी भी दीर्घकालिक सरकारी वित्तपोषण विधेयक का लक्ष्य है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress will soon confront a complex challenge for tax reform: how to limit U.S. corporate tax avoidance schemes that take advantage of low tax rates in foreign countries. Congressional and administration staff have begun to examine options to address profit-shifting schemes that include so-called transfer pricing, earnings stripping and tax inversions.  A decision on how to handle these in tax legislation could come before Congress leaves town for its one-week July 4 recess on June 29, officials and lobbyists said. Lawmakers say the current tax code incentivizes profit shifting overseas because of the high 35 percent U.S. corporate income tax rate and rules that allow companies to hold profits abroad tax free until returned to U.S. soil. Without effective measures against tax avoidance, experts and lobbyists said tax legislation could trigger a new exodus of income and assets abroad. Because Trump and Republicans in Congress also want to end U.S. taxes on foreign earnings, companies could eliminate their U.S. tax bills altogether without restrictions.   Tax reduction strategies have been employed for decades by companies including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O). Independent analysts estimate the federal government misses out on more than $100 billion a year in corporate tax revenues as a result of tax reduction maneuvers. That is equal to one-third of the $300 billion in annual corporate tax revenues. Many schemes seek lower corporate tax bills through “transfer pricing” - using transactions between business units to shift income abroad. The shift often coincides with the transfer of intangible assets such as intellectual property to low-tax nations where companies can expect single-digit tax rates.   Last week, Senate Finance Committee Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to leave in place regulations adopted under President Barack Obama to combat earnings stripping and tax inversions. Companies use earnings stripping to shift income abroad as tax-deductible interest payments to foreign affiliates. Inversions are international mergers in which U.S. companies move their headquarters to foreign countries with low taxes, if only on paper, to lower their U.S. tax bills. Companies have accumulated some $2.6 trillion in abroad, equivalent to more than three-quarters of the $3.3 trillion in annual government receipts expected this year. BORDER-ADJUSTMENT TAX But the most effective measures against corporate tax avoidance schemes, including House Speaker Paul Ryan’s controversial border-adjustment tax, or BAT, have proved unpopular, raising the possibility that tax legislation could simply cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent to reduce the advantages offered by foreign tax havens. Aside from BAT, which taxes imports but not exports, tax reform discussions are also looking at a minimum tax on profits from tax havens, a tax on intangible income and other measures to discourage companies from shifting profits to low-tax countries where they do little actual business, according to aides and lobbyists. Lobbyists said none of the options have enjoyed consensus support in Congress. Meanwhile, the idea of a simple rate cut does not sit well with House Republican leaders.   “Even with a low rate, we’ll continue to see U.S. jobs and research and headquarters move overseas,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, a leading BAT proponent. Experts warn that the 15 percent rate sought by Trump is well above a 5 percent effective rate that some corporations pay in countries like Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Brady and Ryan are expected to address the issue in coming weeks with Mnuchin, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. The six are trying to forge legislation that could be unveiled as early as September. Trump has pledged the biggest tax overhaul since Ronald Reagan. But Republican infighting over healthcare has delayed the timetable.

Summary: कॉर्पोरेट कर से बचने के उपायों पर रिपब्लिकन बहस कर रहे हैं


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday invited the United Nations  human rights monitor to set up office in the country and join all anti-narcotic operations, amid growing public and global criticism of his bloody war on drugs.   I will personally through an official channel invite the human rights commission to set up a satellite office here,  Duterte told reporters after attending the wake of a slain policeman, referring to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).  I will tell police station commanders, do not operate without a representative of the U.N. human rights commission and everybody must wear a camera so it will all be transparent.  The comments were a marked change from Duterte s usual disdain for the United Nations, which he once threatened to withdraw from after U.N. human rights experts and rapporteurs expressed concern about the huge death toll in his signature war on drugs. Thousands of people, mostly poor urban Filipinos, have been killed since he took office in June 2016. The OHCHR had no immediate comment on Duterte s remarks. Duterte has also made a public debate with U.N. envoys a prerequisite for any visit or investigation related to the anti-drug campaign. His outreach to the United Nations comes as the Philippine National Police (PNP) comes under heavy criticism over the deaths in August of two teenagers. Police say they were killed in self defense, but activists and political opponents have said it was cold-blooded murder.  Duterte and his allies were chided last week after lawmakers allied with Duterte supported giving the Philippines Commission on Human Rights an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($19.55), which critics at home and abroad said would be tantamount to destroying a constitutional body. The firebrand leader in a speech on Saturday taunted CHR head Chito Gascon by asking him if he was gay, or a pedophile, and if he was  smitten with teenagers , referring to his comments about the latest incident. Duterte on Monday said he had no plan to abolish the CHR. He also said the proposed 678 million peso budget would be used to buy body cameras for the PNP during anti-drug operations, to show transparency. More than 3,800 people have been killed in police anti-drugs operations in the past 15 months and at least 2,100 other homicides were likely drug-related. Police reject allegations by human rights groups that they are executing suspected users and dealers.

Summary: डुटर्टे ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार निकाय को फिलीपींस में कार्यालय खोलने के लिए आमंत्रित किया क्योंकि नशीली दवाओं की हत्याएं बढ़ रही हैं


DOHA (Reuters) - Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Thursday Qatar was ready to sit down with fellow Gulf Arab states to resolve any dispute but he said sovereignty was not subject to compromise. Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting French President Emanual Macron, Tamim also said that Qatar has been committed to fighting terrorism from the beginning, adding that reports being floated had been investigated and were shown to be erroneous.

Summary: कतर के तमीम खाड़ी अरबों के साथ विवाद को हल करने के लिए तैयार, संप्रभुता को पवित्र बताया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers passed bills on Tuesday renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years and imposing new sanctions on Syria, underscoring their determination to play a strong role in Middle East policy no matter who occupies the White House. The House of Representatives voted 419 to one for a 10-year reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act, or ISA, a law first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry and deter Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The House also passed by voice vote a bill that would sanction the government of Syria, and supporters including Russia and Iran, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Iran measure will expire at the end of 2016 if it is not renewed. It must still be passed by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama in order to become law. The Obama administration and other world powers reached an agreement last year in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But lawmakers said they wanted the ISA to stay in effect to send a strong message that the United States will respond to provocations by Iran and give any U.S. president the ability to quickly reinstate sanctions if Tehran violated the nuclear agreement. “Even after a hard-fought election here at home and power changing hands, American leadership on the global stage won’t falter,” said Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a bill sponsor. Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the bill’s lead sponsor, called the ISA “a critical tool.” “Its expiration would compound the damage done by the president’s dangerous nuclear deal and send a message that the United States will no longer oppose the destructive role of Iran in the Middle East,” said Royce. The vote took place one week after Republican Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. Congressional Republicans unanimously opposed the nuclear deal, along with about two dozen Democrats, and Trump has also strongly criticized it. Lawmakers from both parties said they hoped bipartisan support for a tough line against Iran would continue under the new president. There was no immediate word from Senate leaders on when the ISA and the Syria measure might be taken up in that chamber. Many Senate Democrats favor a “clean” renewal of the ISA, like the one that passed in the House. But other lawmakers have pushed to add new sanctions such as some specifically targeting Iran’s ballistic missile tests.

Summary: सदन ने ईरान प्रतिबंध विधेयक को फिर से अधिकृत किया, सीरिया पर प्रतिबंध लगाए


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has reshuffled his cabinet, a statement published in the Royal Gazette said on Friday, the fifth change in his administration since he took power in 2014. Prayuth, a former army chief, seized power in a bloodless May 2014 coup following months of street protests that led to the ousting of Prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her civilian government. Prayuth switched or appointed 18 ministers, deputy ministers and deputy prime ministers, according to a list published in the Royal Gazette, which was endorsed by Thailand s King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The highest-level changes include the country s ministers of commerce, agriculture, energy, labor, and tourism. It was not immediately clear what impact the reshuffle would have. The reshuffle was to improve some ministerial positions for the benefit of the country s administration, the statement said. The reshuffle follows the resignation of a labor minister. The cabinet has 36 members, and the latest changes cut members from the army to nine, including Prayuth, from 12. Laws passed by the government generally come into force after publication in the Royal Gazette, a public journal.  Prayuth last reshuffled his cabinet in December 2016 following one in August 2015 which was carried out to focus on Thailand s troubled economy. The junta has promised a general election in November 2018 to return Thailand to democracy.

Summary: थाई प्रधानमंत्री ने तख्तापलट के बाद पांचवीं बार मंत्रिमंडल में फेरबदल किया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s foreign minister said on Monday that recent Russian bombing in Syria s Idlib had killed civilians and moderate rebels and this would be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits Turkey. The killing of civilians violates the Astana accord, Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with broadcaster A Haber, adding that Moscow needed to be  careful .

Summary: तुर्की के विदेश मंत्री का कहना है कि सीरिया के इदलिब में रूसी बमबारी में नागरिक मारे गए


DUBLIN (Reuters) - A breakthrough on the future of the Irish border once Britain leaves the European Union is  doable  before a key EU summit in two weeks time but the negotiating teams are  not there yet , Ireland s foreign minister said on Friday. Avoiding a so-called  hard border  on the island of Ireland is the last major hurdle before Brexit talks can move to negotiations on Britain s future trade relationship with the EU and a possible two-year Brexit transition deal.  European Council President Donald Tusk last week set an  absolute deadline  of Monday - when British Prime Minister Theresa May meets EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker and his chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier - for London to deliver  sufficient progress  in its divorce offer.  Let s hope we can make more progress in the next few days. I don t think everything needs to be done by next Monday but certainly we need to be in a position by the time EU leaders meet (on Dec. 14), I hope, to have wording that everybody can live with,  Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told reporters.   I think it s doable but I think there s a need for some movement and more flexibility than we ve seen to date. We re not where we need to be today but I do think it is possible to get to where we need to be over the next few days,  he said. If London meets the three key EU conditions on its financial settlement for leaving, the rights of expatriate citizens and the border, then leaders could give a green light to trade talks at the summit on Dec. 14-15. Before it can sign off on the first phase, Dublin wants May to spell out in writing how she intends to make good on a commitment to avoid a hard border and says the best way to do so is to keep regulations the same on both sides of a border that will be the UK s only land frontier with the bloc after Brexit. Coveney said negotiators were working to find  sensible wording , drafts of which were being exchanged. Dublin, he said, will insist  there will be no fudge . He said his government and the pro-Brexit Northern Ireland party propping up May s government agreed on far more than it disagreed on after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) hinted it might withdraw its support for May if she gives too much away. However he warned the DUP that one party does not have a monopoly on the region whose voters sought to stay in the EU and that there were broad and different views among the British province s unionists and Irish nationalist communities.  We can t allow one party to dictate what s acceptable and what s not,  he said.

Summary: आयरलैंड का कहना है कि दिसंबर शिखर सम्मेलन तक ब्रेक्सिट सीमा सफलता 'संभव' है


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has ordered the deportation of two of three Turks who were briefly arrested during Palestinian demonstrations last week after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel s capital, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. The three were detained on Friday on suspicion of assaulting Israeli police near a Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their own future state. An Israeli court freed them without charges on Saturday. An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said one of the men was scheduled for deportation later on Monday and another on Saturday. She said both had entered Israel on Belgian passports. Israeli police had described the three as Turkish tourists. A photograph circulated on social media showed them among a group of fez-wearing men and boys outside Al-Aqsa. One is seen wearing a Turkish flag T-shirt and waving a Palestinian flag, while two hold up pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has been vocal in opposing Trump s Jerusalem move, which reversed decades of U.S. policy over the status of a city whose eastern sector Israel captured in the 1967 war and which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Interior Ministry spokeswoman said she had no information on the third Turk who had been arrested in the case.

Summary: येरुशलम में गिरफ्तारी के बाद इजरायल ने दो तुर्कों को निर्वासित करने का आदेश दिया