ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey s nationalist opposition will seek support from the ruling AK Party to lower a 10 percent threshold to enter parliament, a party official said on Thursday, in a sign that a new rival political party could shake up Turkish politics. Former interior minister Meral Aksener broke with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and formed her own Iyi Parti ( Good Party ) last month, posing a challenge to the MHP and to President Tayyip Erdogan s AK Party. Speaking to reporters in Ankara, MHP Deputy Chairman Semih Yalcin said his party, which could fall below the threshold if Iyi Parti s apparent early popularity is sustained, would push to lower the barrier.  The MHP has preparations regarding the (threshold) electoral law, and this will be discussed depending on the offers we receive (from the AK Party),  Yalcin said, a day after MHP leader Devlet Bahceli called the threshold  too harsh . Since 1982, political parties in Turkey have needed to win at least 10 percent of votes to be represented in the 550-seat parliament. The country faces presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019. A recent poll suggested that Aksener s party could overtake the main opposition secular CHP and push the MHP and pro-Kurdish opposition HDP out of parliament by forcing their share of the vote below the current threshold. It would also cut into the AK Party share of the vote. The Islamist-rooted AK Party, led by Erdogan, is a broad organization, counting among its ranks nationalists and religious conservatives.  Will they (Iyi) win 20 percent or one percent? We will see... Everyone will see how they hold up after they stand in front of the people in 2019,  Yalcin said of the Iyi Parti. The MHP won as much as 18 percent of votes in a 1999 parliamentary election but slipped below the threshold at 9.5 percent in 2002. It has exceeded 10 percent since then. Under an executive presidential system approved in an April referendum, the president will be given expanded powers. The number of MPs will be increased from 550 to 600, while the parliament s authority will be reduced. Critics argue that lowering the threshold, and the resulting change in the composition of parliament, would not have any great impact under the new presidential system. The AK Party, founded by Erdogan, has dominated Turkish politics since 2002, holding a majority in parliament for 15 years. After winning almost 50 percent of votes in the latest parliamentary elections in 2015, Erdogan and party officials said they aimed to win more than half the votes in 2019.

Summary: तुर्की राष्ट्रवादी विपक्ष संसदीय भविष्य को सुरक्षित करना चाहता है


VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria s Social Democratic (SPO) Chancellor Christian Kern pledged on Sunday to get to the bottom of his party s connection to a smear campaign against the head of the main opposition People s Party two weeks before a parliamentary election. Austrian newspapers reported on Saturday that Tal Silberstein, a former SPO adviser dismissed this summer, was behind two websites making unsubstantiated allegations against Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, whose People s Party is leading polls ahead of the Oct. 15 parliamentary election.  It matters to me that we gain full transparency on what happened. We decided to set up an internal task force to review what happened in a thorough and transparent way,  Kern told journalists at a press briefing in Vienna. SPO chairman Georg Niedermuehlbichler announced his resignation on Saturday over the matter. Kern said the SPO had stopped working with Silberstein on Aug. 17, including all money transfers, and that it was not clear why the activities attributed to him continued and even intensified after that date.   I am referring to anti-semitic propaganda that I reject with all my heart,  Kern said. Reuters has been unable to reach Silberstein for comment. Kern said he was also very interested in finding out who was behind leaked emails during the campaign that were aimed at harming him. He hinted that other political parties might be involved. The leader of the Green Party, Ulrike Lunacek, said in a statement that if Kern had indications that other parties were involved he should make them public. Herbert Kickl, secretary general of Austria s far-right Freedom Party (FPO), said in a statement Kern had  missed his chance to step down honorably  and was instead trying to present himself as a victim.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के चांसलर ने धब्बा अभियान की तह तक जाने का संकल्प लिया


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday said he would discuss North Korea and Islamist terrorism as threats to regional stability, ahead of his arrival at an East Asia leaders  summit in the Philippines. North Korea was a criminal regime and the single largest threat to the region, Turnbull told a televised news conference in Hong Kong.   They are very cunning operators,  he said, urging a tightening of economic sanctions. Islamist terrorism in the southern Philippines is the other key security issue Turnbull aims to discuss with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila. Australia said in September it would send troops to train Philippines armed forces engaged in a 154-day battle with Islamic State fighters in the southern city of Marawi, in the country s biggest security crisis in decades. Turnbull stressed the importance of help by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in defusing Islamist extremism as the leader of the world s largest Muslim-majority country, which is also a democracy.  He speaks with great authority when he says Islam is compatible with democracy and moderation,  Turnbull added.  He s a powerful voice for moderation in the region.  Australia s embattled prime minister will attend the high-powered regional summit at the same time as a citizenship crisis at home has destroyed the parliamentary majority of his ruling center-right coalition. The constitution bars dual nationals from parliament, and Turnbull s government was thrown into disarray last month by a High Court ruling that five parliamentarians, including his deputy, Barnaby Joyce, were ineligible to be lawmakers. The resignation of another MP on Saturday has left Turnbull as the head of a minority government, with his position guaranteed only by the votes of two independents. Turnbull said he expects Joyce to be returned to Parliament following a Dec. 2 by-election.

Summary: मनीला वार्ता में उत्तर कोरिया और इस्लामी आतंकवाद पर चर्चा करेगा ऑस्ट्रेलिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will recommend on Aug. 24 whether to eliminate or shrink nearly two dozen national monuments, creating the first major test for a 111-year-old law that gives presidents the power to protect swaths of public land. Zinke is expected to recommend that at least some of the national monuments under review - which were all created since 1996 - be rescinded or shrunk in size, responding to an order by President Donald Trump, who believes there should be greater opportunity to increase local resource development and economic opportunities.  Any recommendation of reductions could herald a move into unchartered territory. Under the Antiquities Act, a president can declare certain areas of historic or scientific interest a national monument. However, no president has ever revoked a previous designation. Previous presidents, including Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft did reduce the size of some existing monuments. But this time, environmental groups are prepared to challenge any changes in court - something that has not happened before. Trump has argued that previous administrations “abused” their right to designate federally protected monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act and put millions of acres of land - mainly in western states - off limits to drilling, mining, logging and other activity without adequate input from locals. Under the Antiquities Act, a president can declare certain areas of historic or scientific interest a national monument. Conservation groups, state attorneys general and Native American tribes, including the five tribes which lobbied to create one of the sites under review - Bears Ears National Monument in Utah - have already said they plan to challenge any changes in court. “We told Zinke that all the tribes are willing to go into battle in terms of litigation and we are here to fight for our monument,” said Davis Filfred, a council delegate for the Navajo Nation council. While Zinke has said so far that six monuments of the 27 on the review list should be left intact, he is expected to recommend downsizing some through presidential decree or Congressional action, which could change how future presidents use the 1906 law. Zinke has already said he intends to scale down Bears Ears, which covers 1.35 million acres and was created last December by former President Barack Obama, who said it would protect the cultural legacy of Native American tribes and preserve “scenic and historic landscapes.” Zinke said he believes previous presidents took too many liberties with the Antiquities act. “Clearly the Antiquities Act was designed to protect the smallest area compatible with protection of the object,” Zinke told Reuters in June in Boston, where he met with stakeholders to discuss the Atlantic coast Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine monument. Zinke said that “Congress needs to step to the plate, too,” to take up legislation that could change some monument sizes and create other designations like national recreation and conservation areas.   Molly Block, a spokeswoman for Utah Republican Representative Rob Bishop, chair of the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, said while the House may be able to pass legislation regarding monuments, enactment of a measure would be an uphill battle. “You can get something through the House, but anything we do will face a tough time in the Senate,” she said. Meanwhile, public support for monuments has grown in visibility. Zinke has said Interior has received over 1.2 million public comments on the Regulations.gov website and thousands more via traditional mail. Environmental groups have said more than 2.7 million comments were submitted, mostly in favor of keeping the monuments intact. “The debate has galvanized a lot of different interests beyond traditional environmental groups, including outdoor retailers and hunters and fishers, who are out there mobilizing during this review,” said Sharon Buccino of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Outdoor retailer Patagonia aired its first-ever TV ads on Sunday, featuring a direct appeal to Zinke to leave the monuments intact. The ads will air in Zinke’s home state of Montana, as well as Utah and Nevada, where several monuments are under review.

Summary: प्रमुख भूमि संरक्षण कानून का परीक्षण करने के लिए अमेरिकी राष्ट्रीय स्मारक समीक्षा


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies seized control of nine positions at Syria s border with Jordan, expanding their control at the  southern frontier, a military news outlet run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Saturday. The captured border positions were located to the southeast of Damascus, the report said, adding that militants had been killed and wounded during the attack. It did not identify the insurgents, or say when the positions had been captured. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shi ite group, is fighting in support of the Syrian government, which is making rapid territorial gains against insurgents in southern and eastern Syria.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना, सहयोगियों ने जॉर्डन की सीमा पर अधिक कब्जा कर लियाः रिपोर्ट


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Media outlets such as CNN, Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle could be affected by Russia s new  foreign agents  media law, Andrei Isayev, a senior lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, told RIA news agency on Monday.  Russia s parliament warned last week that some U.S. and other foreign media outlets could be declared  foreign agents  and obliged to regularly declare full details of their funding, finances and staffing.

Summary: सीएनएन, डॉयचे वेले रूस के 'विदेशी एजेंटों' के मीडिया कानून से प्रभावित हो सकते हैंः आरआईए


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday he believed his U.S. colleagues were ready to continue dialogue  with Moscow on complex issues despite bilateral tensions and the imposition of fresh U.S. sanctions against Russia. “We felt the readiness of our U.S. colleagues to continue dialogue. I think there’s no alternative to that,” Lavrov said after what he said was a lengthy meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the sidelines of an international gathering in Manila.

Summary: रूस के लावरोवः हम बातचीत जारी रखने के लिए अमेरिका की तैयारी महसूस करते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker Paul Ryan has told President Donald Trump a report on Thursday that Ryan was considering retiring was not true, the White House said. “The speaker assured the president that those were not accurate reports, and that they look forward to working together for a long time to come,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters at a news briefing. Politico reported that Ryan would like to retire after the November congressional election.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन हाउस के स्पीकर रयान ने ट्रम्प की सेवानिवृत्ति रिपोर्ट को बताया कि अफवाहें सच नहीं थींः व्हाइट हाउस


HELSINKI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Finland s defense ministry said on Tuesday it suspected a Russian aircraft had violated Finnish airspace over the Baltic Sea earlier in the day. The ministry said a Tupolev TU-154, a Russian passenger and transport plane, had been detected south of Porvoo and that the border guard was investigating the matter. A ministry spokesman declined to say whether Finland had scrambled jets to identify the plane. The Russian defense ministry was not immediately available to comment. Finland, which is preparing to celebrate 100 years of independence on Wednesday, has accused Moscow of several airspace violations since the Ukraine crisis began in 2014. Last year, Estonia and Finland blamed Russia for entering their airspace as Finland was signing a defense pact with the United States. In a separate incident, two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea. Finland was part of the Russian Empire and won independence during the 1917 Russian revolution, then nearly lost it fighting the Soviet Union in World War Two. It is now an EU member state which does not belong to NATO military alliance.

Summary: फिनलैंड को संदेह है कि रूसी विमानों ने हवाई क्षेत्र का उल्लंघन किया है


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s opposition is shifting its focus to forthcoming state elections as protests aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro have subsided following the installation of an all-powerful, pro-government legislative body. Four months of violent demonstrations in which at least 125 people were killed have all but stopped due to fatigue among protesters and disillusionment at seeing the ruling Socialist Party cement vast powers despite the concerted opposition push.  Most opposition leaders say October s elections for governors in all the country s 23 states now represent the best means to keep pressuring Maduro, providing a chance to win some of the governorships at stake and an opportunity for a protest vote to demonstrate the president s unpopularity. The opposition, which boycotted the elections for the Constituent Assembly, accused electoral authorities of inflating turn-out figures for the July 30 vote. There are few options available for adversaries of Maduro, who maintains control over the OPEC nation despite widespread public anger about triple-digit inflation and chronic shortages of basic goods.  Venezuelans are fighting against a continued rupture of the constitutional order,  said opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who is governor of Miranda state but who is not running in next month s election and who is barred from holding public office once his term expires. Nevertheless he urged Venezuelans to vote in the elections.  If you abstain, then it s more difficult to bring about the political change that all Venezuelans want,  Capriles told reporters. Capriles has called his own barring from office - because of alleged irregularities in managing public funds - a Socialist Party move to sideline him. Governorships provide little in the way of a platform to directly challenge Maduro. But they are coveted by politicians because they offer launching pads for political careers and the possibility to channel state resources toward political allies.  The opposition s participation in next month s poll ensures it will have witnesses at voting stations and at the election council headquarters. Opposition coalition leaders say that should allow them to quickly identify any attempt to alter results. However, some who spent months on the streets with the encouragement of opposition leaders, especially young members of a self-styled  Resistance  movement, feel betrayed. They say turning attention so quickly to the election legitimizes what they view as Maduro s authoritarianism and insults the memory of slain protesters. They also see a contradiction with the opposition s decision to boycott July s  vote for the Constituent Assembly. Maduro pushed for the creation of the assembly, which is meant to rewrite the constitution but which has no formal check on its powers, saying it would restore stability to a country in turmoil over the widespread anti-government protests.  It has broadly supplanted the Congress, which the opposition won control of in a 2015 landslide vote. Small opposition party Vente Venezuela and its founder Maria Corina Machado, who has a high profile in the media but limited influence, broke with the opposition s Democratic Unity coalition over its decision to join next month s vote.  The main opposition parties have nominated candidates and opinion polls show that in a free and fair vote they would likely take a majority, compared to just three governorships they won in 2012. But the Socialist Party-controlled Constituent Assembly may bar some of them from running or from holding office if they win.  Last week, the assembly said it would seek the prosecution of opposition leaders for treason for attempting to block international financing for Maduro s government and for allegedly seeking a military intervention against him. Government leaders say the end of the protests is evidence the Constituent Assembly has brought peace to the country. They add that the opposition s decision to register candidates is a sign they believe in the electoral system despite their complaints of fraud.  The Constituent Assembly has calmed the country,  said assembly president Delcy Rodriguez.  As soon as it was inaugurated, Venezuela returned to tranquility.   Maduro says the country is a victim of an  economic war  by the opposition, and insists the assembly is a symbol of Venezuela s vibrant democracy. The opposition took to the streets in late March to protest a Supreme Court ruling that briefly allowed it to assume the powers of Congress, and maintained near daily rallies until the end of July. By then, street mobilizations were in decline and what had initially been massive marches steadily gave way to violent clashes between security forces and small groups of hooded demonstrators throwing rocks and at times vandalizing property. Recent opposition rallies have attracted only a few hundred people. U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on top ruling Socialist Party officials, in some cases for their participation in the Constituent Assembly, while the European Union and most Latin American nations condemned the body. Maduro has acquired the reputation as a dictator around the world, said opposition leader Freddy Guevara in an interview in August broadcast on the Internet, adding that street protests were crucial in shifting public opinion.  I m convinced that we have to confront the dictatorship in any situation that we can,  said Guevara.

Summary: वेनेजुएला में विरोध प्रदर्शनों के विफल होने से विपक्ष को चुनाव की उम्मीद


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S.	 House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Thursday they want Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign, to hand over more documents as they investigate Russia and the 2016 election. “We’re putting him on notice that he’s got to comply with the subpoena,” Republican Representative Mike Conaway, who is leading the committee investigation, told reporters. Page met with members of the committee on Thursday for about seven hours, after the panel subpoenaed him to testify. Committee members leaving the session said Page had answered their questions during the long session, but that he had declined to hand over all the documents they wanted. Asked after the meeting if he would comply with the subpoena, Page told reporters: “I’m working to help and provide everything that I possibly can.” He met with the committee behind closed doors, but the panel has said it will release a transcript of his testimony publicly in three days. The Senate Intelligence committee has also issued a subpoena to Page in its investigation of how Russia might have influenced the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, and whether there was any collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Russia denies such activity, and Trump has said repeatedly there was no collusion.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन समिति ने ट्रम्प के पूर्व सहयोगी पेज से दस्तावेज मांगे


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Neighbors say when three men kicked down the doors and burgled the home of a North Korean diplomat in Islamabad last month, it took them more than three hours to lug out their booty: thousands of bottles of Scotch whisky, beer and French wine.  The robbers came prepared. Police and witnesses said they brought three cars and a small truck to plunder Hyon Ki Yong s trove of alcoholic drinks, which is worth more than $150,000 on the black market in a country where it is illegal for Muslims to consume alcohol.  The police, who recovered much of the stash soon after the Oct. 3 burglary, say that the three robbers were police officers and have issued arrest warrants for them and for a member of a well-known bootlegging family. They have also arrested Hyon s housekeeper.  Senior police and customs officials say the discovery of such a large amount of liquor has led them to conclude that some North Korean diplomats are involved in selling alcohol either to make money for themselves or to provide funds for the cash-starved regime in Pyongyang.  The North Korean government is facing increasingly tough United Nations-backed economic sanctions because of its nuclear weapons and missile development programs.   This North Korean was involved in liquor selling,  said a senior police official in Islamabad who is familiar with the investigation, in reference to Hyon.  The officer said North Korean diplomats in Pakistan had been doing this for years, though he didn t provide direct evidence of such sales.  Reuters could not independently verify that Hyon had been selling alcohol.  A diplomat from the North Korean embassy declined to comment on Hyon s case, or the wider allegations about alcohol sales.   It has been discussed between the embassy and MOFA (Pakistan s ministry of foreign affairs),  said the diplomat, who put the phone down before identifying himself. He did not respond to subsequent calls.  Reuters was unable to reach Hyon for comment.  The investigating police officer, Ishtiaq Hussain, said that the housekeeper, Boota Masih, had  confessed  to his role in the crime and had provided all the details.  Masih is in custody and he could not be reached for comment. Reuters couldn t determine if he has a lawyer.  One of the officers being sought by police, Malik Asif, told Reuters when contacted by phone that he denies being involved in the burglary. He said he is currently in hiding.    He said he had no doubt that North Koreans were involved in the alcohol smuggling business.   They have been doing this business for a long time,  he added.       Some foreign diplomats in Islamabad have long-held suspicions that North Korean diplomats in Pakistan are involved in bootlegging.  They say they believe Pakistan has turned a blind eye to bootlegging by North Koreans, perhaps out of courtesy to the historic ties between the two countries. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist lionized as the father of Pakistan s atomic bomb, in 2004 said he had sold nuclear secrets to North Korea.  Pakistan denies being lax in policing such behavior by North Korean diplomats.  No such activity has ever been, or shall ever be tolerated,  foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told Reuters.  When asked about this particular case, Faisal said:  Pakistan is actively investigating the case and any indiscretion, if proven, will be punished as per national and international laws.   Pakistan has also always denied helping North Korea with its nuclear program.  This summer, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad along with South Korean and Japanese counterparts lodged a complaint with Pakistan s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the size of the North Korean mission in Pakistan, because they wanted to reduce its ability to raise funds for Pyongyang by reselling imported alcohol, according to diplomatic sources in Islamabad and Seoul.  The Japanese and South Koreans had been making such requests for more than a year, according to a source in Seoul. A Japanese foreign ministry source has denied knowledge of the demarche.  The source in Seoul estimates North Korea has 12-14 diplomats in Pakistan, split between Islamabad and Karachi, prompting some diplomats to wonder why Pyongyang needs so many representatives when   according to Pakistan central bank data - its official trade with Pakistan has ceased since August 2016.  Washington has been tightening the diplomatic and economic noose around North Korea, seeking to cut its foreign sources of funding amid fears the world s most isolated regime is on the cusp of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to American shores.  The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan declined to comment.  Japan s foreign ministry declined to comment.  The South Korean foreign ministry said:  Our government is closely monitoring any movement concerning illegal activities of North Korea but we cannot officially confirm this case.   Pakistan s foreign ministry didn t respond to questions about the pressure it faced from other nations over the size of North Korea s mission.  When Hyon discovered the robbery on Oct. 4 after returning to Islamabad from a trip to China,  the diplomat rushed to the nearby police station to report the crime.   He was angry and upset,  said Hussain, the police officer who interviewed Hyon in Islamabad s Kohsar police station.  And very worried.   Hyon told the police the robbers had fled with 1,200 bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, 200 cases of wine, 60 cartons of beer, dozens of bottles of tequila, two diamonds and $3,000 in cash, according to a police document reviewed by Reuters. On the black market, the whisky alone is worth $80 per bottle, or a total $96,000.  Hyon and the North Korean embassy told police the alcohol was imported legally and presented documents to back up its case. Police declined to make the documents available.  A week after the robbery, North Korea s ambassador to Pakistan met the foreign ministry s chief of protocol and requested Hyon s missing items be returned, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry document seen by Reuters.  It is unclear whether Hyon, who would have diplomatic immunity, is himself under investigation.  Documents reviewed by Reuters showing four separate alcohol import orders by North Korea s embassy between March-December 2016 paint a picture of a mission importing alcoholic drinks that would be far above any reasonable personal needs of its diplomats.  During the nine-month period, the embassy imported 10,542 bottles of French Bordeaux wine through Truebell, a United Arab Emirates-based company. The four orders, billed by Truebell at $72,867, also included a total of 17,322 cans of Heineken and Carlsberg beer, as well as 646 bottles of champagne.  A person who answered the phone on Truebell s Sharjah, UAE number told Reuters that the company no longer has any dealing with North Korea, but did not elaborate, and would not answer any more questions.       Alcohol is a sensitive issue in Pakistan.  Muslims, by law, are not allowed to consume alcohol but many among the Westernized elite drink.  Non-Muslims such as Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, accounting for about 3 percent of the population between them, are allowed to drink alcohol but obtaining high-quality imported liquor and wine is almost impossible through legal means.  This has spawned a lucrative black market. Alcohol is smuggled across borders and through sea ports, while several diplomats from poorer countries told Reuters they had been offered thousands of dollars by bootleggers to buy their quarterly  alcohol quotas.    I ve been approached five times, usually at diplomatic receptions,  said one non-Western diplomat.  Under Pakistan s rules, Hyon, who has the first secretary rank at the North Korean embassy, would every three months be allowed to import a consignment of alcohol. Under one of the allowed formulas that would mean 120 liters of various spirits, 18 liters of wine and 240 liters of beer   only a fraction of the amount he reported missing.

Summary: पाकिस्तान में, उत्तर कोरियाई राजनयिक के शराब रखने से शराब तस्करी का संदेह पैदा होता है


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club decided to play Sunday s game against Las Palmas behind closed doors to show opposition to police violence against voters in Catalonia s independence referendum and not over safety concerns. La Liga leaders Barca s 3-0 win at an empty Nou Camp came on the day Catalan officials said that more than 760 people were injured in clashes between police and people trying to vote in the referendum, which the national government declared illegal. Barca tried to have the game postponed but were told by La Liga that there were no grounds to do so in the interests of safety. If Barcelona, who have won their opening seven league games of the season, had postponed the match without the league s consent they would have been docked six points.  This (playing without fans) was a measure to show our rejection of what took place today,  Bartomeu told television network BeIn Sports.  This is not a security issue, the police gave us permission to play, but we wanted to show that this game was different because of everything that is happening in Catalonia and the lack of liberty we have been suffering from.  We decided that instead of postponing the game, which is what we wanted, we d play behind closed doors. That way we show our concern for the situation and send our support to those who have been unable to exercise the right to freedom of expression.  Police hit people with batons, fired rubber bullets into crowds and forcibly removed would-be voters from polling stations in actions that were condemned internationally but described by the government as  proportionate . The referendum has pitched the country into its deepest constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a centuries-old rift between Madrid and Barcelona.  If we hadn t played we d have lost six points, three for the result and three as a punishment,  added Bartomeu.  There was no reason for us to lose points, all our fans should appreciate that we showed our disagreement with what happened.  Barca are five points clear at the top of La Liga. Barcelona defender Gerard Pique broke down in tears in a post-match interview and indicated he did not want to play after Sunday s events in Catalonia.  The board tried to postpone the game through every means possible and came down to the dressing room to take a decision with us,  Pique said.  Today has been a very tough day, probably the hardest since I ve been a professional. My opinion counts for little and in the end we all agreed to play.  La Liga and Las Palmas wanted to play, and we had to think about the points, but I understand everyone who has criticised us for playing.  Pique was also critical of the Spanish government and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for their handling of the referendum.  The government s policies are some of the worst we have seen for 40 or 50 years. All they have done is separate Catalonia and Spain ever more. I m sure there will be consequences,  said Pique.

Summary: बार्सिलोना ने कैटलन मतदाताओं का समर्थन करने के लिए फुटबॉल स्टेडियम बंद कर दियाः बार्टोमेउ


BEREA, Ohio (Reuters) - After a critical win on his home turf, Ohio Governor John Kasich begins a new phase of his long-shot presidential campaign that his aides hope will ultimately propel him past Republican front-runner Donald Trump by triggering a rare contested convention. Kasich’s victory in Ohio’s primary on Tuesday, along with the departure from the race of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, makes him the party establishment’s last hope of stopping the New York billionaire businessman from winning the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Trump and his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, are deeply unpopular among Republican insiders. “I want you to know, the campaign goes on,” Kasich, 63, told a victory rally near Cleveland. In a reference to Trump’s fiery campaign rhetoric, Kasich added: “I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land.” Trump, 69, notched wins in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina on Tuesday and was projected by MSNBC to win a close race with Cruz in Missouri. But losing Ohio’s winner-take-all contest for 66 delegates complicates his attempt to clinch the 1,237 delegates needed to win his party’s nomination before the party’s July convention in Cleveland. With most of the remaining states allocating delegates proportionally, Kasich’s aides believe he could prevail at a convention at which no candidate enters with a majority. “The plan is to win Ohio, and some other states, and if that happens, nobody is going to have enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot,” said John Weaver, Kasich’s chief campaign strategist, who also worked on Republican Senator John McCain’s losing presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008. Kasich’s plan, according to aides, is to leverage the momentum to gather more endorsements from mainstream party insiders and Republican donors.  With the wind at his back, he hopes to score more victories in upcoming primaries including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Connecticut and California, where he believes the terrain is friendlier to his brand of Republican moderation. To become the nominee who faces Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders — in the November election — a Republican needs to win a majority of the 2,472 Republican delegates. After last night’s contests, excluding Missouri’s, Trump leads with 619 delegates, followed by Cruz with 394. Kasich has 136. If no candidate reaches that threshold by the close of the last primary on June 7, the convention will almost certainly be contested — a recent historical rarity that would signal deep party rifts. No convention, by either party, has gone beyond a first ballot since 1952.  Kasich has almost no hope of winning enough delegates to secure the nomination outright. Ohio is the lone state he has  won. But if he can succeed in blocking Trump from getting a majority, he can make a case to convention delegates that he is more electable than Trump or Cruz, 45, a conservative evangelical and, to date, Trump’s most successful Republican rival. Signs of the Republican establishment rallying behind Kasich were on show this week. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 who recently blasted Trump as a “fraud” in a scathing speech, campaigned with Kasich in Ohio on Monday. “He has the kind of record that you want in Washington,” Romney said in North Canton, Ohio, on a stage next to Kasich, who spent 18 years as a Republican congressman and six as Ohio governor. “You look at this guy, and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record.” On Wednesday, Kasich heads to a campaign event in Pennsylvania and then holds three events in Utah on Friday — where Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is popular with Republicans. Utah, with 40 delegates, votes on March 27. Pennsylvania is one of five states voting on April 26. Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who has stayed neutral in this year’s nominating fight, said Kasich’s victory should earn him more help from party insiders. “There are really just two options left: Either Trump gets enough delegates, or nobody does,” O’Connell said. “Kasich’s win in Ohio means Trump must now win roughly 60 percent of the remaining delegates before the convention. I would say we now have a 50-50 chance of a brokered convention.” O’Connell said that under Republican party rules, a candidate must receive a clear majority of primary votes overall to become the nominee.  The history of Republican nominating fights is littered with candidates who received a plurality of the votes, but not a majority, and never became the nominee. Kasich’s aides are looking to history as a guide, particularly Wendell Willkie’s path to the 1940 Republican nomination. That year, three leading candidates – Robert Taft, Thomas Dewey and Arthur Vandenberg – each arrived at the convention without enough delegates to win. Willkie - a businessman and former Democrat who had never before run for public office - opposed the Republican Party’s isolationists and was a supporter of Britain’s war efforts. His cause gained momentum after the Nazi blitzkrieg in Europe in May 1940. After six ballots at the convention, delegates in Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan deserted other candidates and switched to Willkie, giving him victory. Trump, Cruz and Kasich could face the same scenario this year, which would force to them to lobby delegates on the convention floor until one emerged with a majority. “A lot of people who do not want Trump have been sitting back to see how Kasich and Rubio do in their home states on Tuesday,” said Republican strategist Charlie Black, who signed up on Tuesday night as a Kasich adviser.

Summary: महत्वपूर्ण जीत के बाद, कासिच रिपब्लिकन नामांकन का रास्ता देखते हैं


TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday for the second consecutive week against government corruption and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under criminal investigation over allegations of abuse of office. Police estimated the number of demonstrators at about 10,000 and they followed last Saturday s demonstration, which was by far the largest of the recent weekly anti-corruption protests when an estimated 20,000 people participated. The protests have been sparked by corruption allegations against Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing. The four-term leader is suspected of involvement in two cases.  The first involves receiving gifts from wealthy businessmen and the second involves negotiating a deal with a newspaper owner for better coverage in return for curbs on a rival daily. If charged, he would come under heavy pressure to resign or could call an election to test whether he still had a mandate to govern. Netanyahu s right-wing Likud party said in a Facebook post that the protest was a left-wing demonstration. It called on all Israelis to back their prime minister as he defends Israel against international criticism following U.S. President Donald Trump s acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel s capital.  Instead of uniting with all the people behind Jerusalem and showing the world a unified front, the left cannot contain itself and it prefers to create division,  part of the statement said. Over weeks of demonstrations, protesters have identified themselves as supporting both left- and right-wing parties. On Saturday they held banners reading:  Neither left, nor right (we demand) integrity,   We are fed up with corrupt (politicians)  and  Sweep the corrupt away.

Summary: नेतन्याहू, भ्रष्टाचार के विरोध में तेल अवीव में हजारों लोगों ने मार्च किया


ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia aims to become a euro zone member within the next seven to eight years, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday.  We don t want to specify the exact dates, but we want Croatia to become a euro zone member within two government terms in office,  Plenkovic told an economic conference devoted to the introduction of the euro in Croatia. The centre-right government came to power a year ago. Plenkovic said Croatia wanted to enter the European exchange rate mechanism II (ERM-2) within the next three years, before the country takes the presidency of the European Union in 2020. EU members that have not yet adopted the euro are expected to participate for at least two years in ERM II, a mechanism aimed to ensure currency stability before joining the euro zone. The Croatian central bank already keeps Croatia s kuna currency in a narrow fluctuation band, roughly at between 7.3 and 7.7 to the euro, occasionally intervening on the local foreign exchange market mostly to ease appreciation pressures. Croatia s major challenge before adopting the euro is expected to be the reduction of public debt which is slightly above 80 percent of gross domestic product.  Our goal is to reduce the public debt to 72 percent of GDP by 2020 ... We are undertaking a major fiscal consolidation and this year the budget gap will be even lower than last year s 0.9 percent of GDP,  Plenkovic said. Central Bank Governor Boris Vujcic said Croatia was the most  euroised  EU country of those that had not yet adopted the euro.  Some 75 percent of local deposits and 67 percent of local debt is denominated in the euro. Some 60 percent of Croatia s trade exchange is related to the euro zone, while 70 percent of tourism receipts comes from the euro zone countries,  Vujcic told the conference. The most important benefits of euro adoption would be the removal of currency risk and lower interest rates, he said. Croatia took an obligation to adopt the euro when it joined the EU in 2013, but without a defined timetable. Vujcic said any fears among the population about prices soaring when the euro is adopted could be tackled by an obligation to display prices in both kunas and euros six months before an agreed euro zone entry date.

Summary: क्रोएशिया 7-8 वर्षों के भीतर यूरो को अपनाना चाहता हैः प्रधानमंत्री


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, on Friday accepted a plea agreement on multiple political corruption charges involving a property deal made while he was a county commissioner in the area, the state’s Attorney General’s office said. Mayor John McNally, a Democrat, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts including unlawful influence of a public official, said Daniel Tierney, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Youngstown is a city of 67,000 people about 65 miles southeast of Cleveland. The plea allows McNally, who was elected mayor in 2014, to stay in office. The conspiracy, bribery and perjury charges stem from his nine years as Mahoning County commissioner starting in 2005 until he was elected mayor.  Under Ohio law, a felony conviction bars anyone from holding most public offices for seven years. Prosecutors said McNally was part of a scheme to inflate the cost of moving the Mahoning County jobs and family services office from a rental property to benefit a local business owner.  McNally had previously been indicted on similar charges in 2010. The charges were dismissed, but the judge ruled they could be filed again at a later date. Former Mahoning County auditor Michael Sciortino and Youngstown attorney Martin Yavorcik along with McNally were part of an 83-count indictment brought in 2014 by the Ohio Attorney General’s office alleging a pattern of corruption.  Sciortino, also a Democrat, pleaded guilty to one felony count and two misdemeanor charges including receiving or soliciting improper compensation.  Sentencing for McNally and Sciortino is scheduled for March 28 in Cuyahoga County courthouse, in downtown Cleveland. McNally faces a maximum 18 months in prison, Sciortino faces a maximum of 2-1/2 years, Tierney said. In addition to the plea in a Cuyahoga County court, Sciortino agreed to plead guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor in Mahoning County court at a later date, Tierney said.  Prosecutors said Sciortino is accused of tampering with records to inflate the cost of moving the county jobs office.  Yavorcik accepted political contributions as a candidate for prosecutor in exchange for a promise to stop investigations into wrongdoing by county officials, according to the indictment. His trial is scheduled for March 14 in Cuyahoga County.

Summary: ओहायो के महापौर ने भ्रष्टाचार के आरोपों को स्वीकार किया, पद पर बने रहे


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is holding more meetings on Monday as he prepares to make high-level appointments, his transition team said. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles as the Republican works to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20, according to Reuters sources and media reports. See end of list for posts already filled. * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman * Jeb Hensarling, Republican U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee * Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc * John Allison, former chief executive officer of BB&T Corp * David McCormick, president of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates LP * Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor  * Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City * David Petraeus, retired U.S. general and former CIA director * John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Republican President George W. Bush * Bob Corker, Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee * Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq * James Mattis, retired Marine Corps general * David Petraeus, former CIA director and retired Army general * Tom Cotton, Republican U.S. senator from Arkansas       * Jon Kyl, former Republican U.S. senator from Arizona * Duncan Hunter, Republican U.S. representative from California and early Trump supporter, member of the House Armed Services Committee * Jim Talent, former Republican U.S. senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee  * Rick Perry, former Republican Texas governor * Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush * Tom Price, Republican U.S. representative from Georgia,  orthopedic surgeon * Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie * Bobby Jindal, former Republican Louisiana governor * Michael McCaul, Republican U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee * David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter  * Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump * Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state * Frances Townsend, homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Republican former President George W. Bush * Jeff Holmstead, energy lawyer, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Leslie Rutledge, Republican Arkansas attorney general * Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management * Scott Pruitt, Republican Oklahoma attorney general * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Kevin Cramer, Republican U.S. representative from North Dakota * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp * James Connaughton, chief executive of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush * Rick Perry, former Republican Texas governor * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee * Jan Brewer, Republican former Arizona governor * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors * Mary Fallin, Republican Oklahoma governor * Ray Washburne, chief executive of investment company Charter Holdings * Cathy McMorris Rodgers, U.S. representative from Washington state and House Republican Conference chair * Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, chairman of Invesco Ltd subsidiary WL Ross & Co * Linda McMahon, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive and two-time Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut * U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency * Ronald Burgess, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief  * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, Republican former U.S. representative from Michigan * Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City  * Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp * Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants * Victoria Lipnic, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner and former Labor Department official during the George W. Bush administration * Elaine Chao, former labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary under Republican Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, respectively. Chao is married to  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell * Harold Ford, Democratic former U.S. Representative from Tennessee * Dr. Ben Carson, former 2016 Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon The Trump transition team confirmed he would choose from a list of 21 names he drew up during his campaign, including Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, and William Pryor, a federal judge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  * Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus * Steve Bannon, former head of the conservative website Breitbart News * Jeff Sessions, Republican U.S. senator from Alabama and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (subject to Senate confirmation) * Republican U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo from Kansas (subject to Senate confirmation) * Michael Flynn, retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency * Nikki Haley, Republican South Carolina governor (subject to Senate confirmation) * Betsy DeVos, Republican donor and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः दावेदार, ट्रम्प प्रशासन में प्रमुख पदों के लिए चयन


ATHENS (Reuters) - A leading member of Greece s most deadly guerrilla group, November 17, began a two-day leave from prison on Thursday under a parole board ruling that triggered a storm of protest and expressions of regret from Britain and the United States. Dimitris Koufodinas is serving several life terms for his role in the Marxist group that operated for almost three decades until Greek authorities arrested its leaders in 2002.  Its targets ranged from businessmen to diplomats. Its first victim was a CIA station chief in 1975, and its last a British embassy defense attache in 2000. Prison authorities granted his request for temporary leave from jail on condition he report to a police station twice a day. It is his first such leave since he was jailed in 2003 and authorities said it was in compliance with regulations applying to all inmates. But the release comes at a sensitive time for the government, which is frequently accused by opposition parties of being soft on anti-establishment groups with roots in leftist radicalism and anarchy. Conservative lawmaker Dora Bakoyannis, whose husband Pavlos Bakoyannis was gunned down by November 17 in 1989, was visibly angry during a live broadcast after his release from jail.  He isn t just any terrorist. He was a leader, the ideological guide, the guy who wrote a book who said that after the murder (of Bakoyannis) he went to a tavern and celebrated. While my children were crying,  she told Skai TV. Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, said in a Tweet the decision was a  dishonor  to the memory of victims and their families. British ambassador Smith said she was  deeply disappointed  and shared the victims  pain. Both envoys carried photos of plaques at their respective embassies commemorating November 17 victims.  Members of November 17 eluded capture for years. The country has a history of political violence and still has urban guerrilla groups, though none as deadly as November 17.  Koufodinas, an amateur beekeeper known as  poison hand  for the precision of his aim, has been kept at a high-security jail in Athens for 15 years. There, he wrote two books, one called  I was Born November 17 , and the second  13 Answers . In a high profile trial in 2003, 15 people, including Koufodinas, were found guilty over the 23 killings and dozens of bomb attacks claimed by the guerrilla group.  A government official said authorities followed procedure.  I am not going to defend the practice, the deeds, nor the ideology of Mr Koufodinas,  he told Real FM radio.  What I can say as a comment is that in this specific case the law was applied to the letter, and the preconditions were met for granting leave.  The group took its name from the date of a 1973 student uprising against the military dictatorship. It is normally marked every Nov. 17 with street protests in Athens.

Summary: यूनानी गुरिल्ला समूह के हत्यारे को जेल की छुट्टी दी गई, जिससे विवाद खड़ा हो गया


WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would end the United States’ “deal” with Cuba unless a better one was made, reflecting his campaign pledge to reverse President Barack Obama’s moves to open relations with the Cold War adversary. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” Trump said in a Twitter post.  Some Cubans are worried Trump will shut down the U.S.-Cuban trade and travel ties that have begun to emerge in the past two years since Obama’s historic decision to end decades of Cold War hostility and open an embassy in Havana. U.S. airlines launched the first regular flights to Havana in more than five decades on Monday. Trump’s tweeted as Cubans commemorated Fidel Castro, the guerrilla leader who led a revolution in 1959 and ruled the Caribbean island for half a century. Castro died on Friday. During Trump’s campaign for the White House he had said he thought restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba was fine but that Obama should have cut a better deal. Newsweek reported that one of his companies had attempted to do business in the Communist-ruled island. Later in the campaign, he toughened his rhetoric, seeking to reassure Cuban-American voters in Florida that he opposed Castro and his brother, Raul, to whom he turned over power in 2008. On Saturday, Trump said in a statement that his administration would “do all it can” once he takes office on Jan. 20 to boost freedom and prosperity for Cubans after Castro’s death. Cuba always has fiercely resisted what it sees as U.S. involvement in its politics. The government has stayed mostly quiet on Trump, waiting to see whether he converts his rhetoric into policy change. The makeup of Trump’s transition team has suggested he could with the inclusion of Mauricio Claver-Carone, a leading advocate for maintaining a tough economic embargo, and Robert Blau, a hard-line anti-communist who was openly hostile toward the Castro government while posted as a diplomat in Havana during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush. Many Cubans are defiant, however, saying their main problem was the U.S. economic embargo. “We have lived for 50 years with the blockade so we are going to continue living the same way with or without Trump,” Teresa Almentero, 52, a cigar roller, said after paying tribute to Castro in Revolution Square. “He doesn’t scare me, nor does he scare any Cuban.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने U.S.-Cuba 'सौदे' को समाप्त करने की कसम खाई जब तक कि हवाना एक बेहतर नहीं बनाता है


(Reuters) - Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser during the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and drove a normalization of relations with China, has died. He was 89. Brzezinski’s daughter Mika, a host on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, said her father died peacefully on Friday. She did not give the cause of death. “He was known to his friends as Zbig, to his grandchildren as Chief and to his wife as the enduring love of her life. I just knew him as the most inspiring, loving and devoted father any girl could ever have,” she said on Instagram.   Brzezinski, the hawkish son of a Polish diplomat, was national security adviser for all four years of the 1977-81 Carter presidency. The period saw tumultuous international events, including the Iranian revolution, the taking of 52 Americans as hostages in Tehran and a failed rescue mission, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Brzezinski was plucked by Carter from the academic world and saw many of the Soviet Union’s foreign policy moves as evidence it could not be trusted. That placed him at odds with two of Carter’s closest  advisers: Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who pushed for a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT-2) with Moscow, and Defense Secretary Harold Brown, who urged a U.S.-Soviet accord to curb conventional forces in Europe. When Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, Brzezinski strongly backed arming Afghan rebels. His hardline stance led Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper, to denounce him as a “foe of detente.” Carter said Brzezinski was brilliant, dedicated and loyal.  “Rosalynn (Carter’s wife) and I are saddened,” he said in a statement. “He was an important part of our lives for more than four decades and was a superb public servant.” Former President Barack Obama called Brzezinski “an accomplished public servant, a powerful intellect, and a passionate advocate for American leadership. “His influence spanned several decades, and I was one of several Presidents who benefited from his wisdom and counsel. You always knew where Zbig stood, and his ideas and advocacy helped shape decades of American national security policy.”  In a joint statement, former President George H. W. Bush and his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, hailed Brzezinski as “a great American ... a good man and a good friend.” While he was skeptical of Soviet motives and objectives, Brzezinski nurtured a diplomatic friendship between the United States and China, which culminated in a trip to Beijing in June 1978 that led to re-establishment of diplomatic ties. Brzezinski’s view of the Soviet Union may have been colored by his childhood experiences. Born in Warsaw, Poland, on March 28, 1928, he was taken as a youngster to Canada where his father served as a diplomat. When the communists took over Poland at the end of World War Two, the family remained in the West. Brzezinski received a doctorate from Harvard University in 1953 and became an American citizen in 1958. He voiced support for U.S. policy in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, and served on the policy planning staff of President Lyndon Johnson’s State Department. Along with David Rockefeller, chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, Brzezinski helped to found the Trilateral Commission, a private group that promoted closer ties between  North America, Western Europe and Japan. Carter had known Brzezinski before his election and asked him to leave Columbia University, where the effects of Soviet communism had been the focus of much of his work. Having regular access to Carter gave Brzezinski vast influence, leading to reports that he and Vance were rivals for the president’s ear. The rivalry lasted until Vance resigned after the aborted mission to rescue American hostages in Iran in April 1980. Before the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, Vance had resisted Brzezinski’s proposal that Washington back a military crackdown against Iran’s radical Islamic forces. Once the embassy was taken by followers of Islamic leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Vance sought Carter’s backing for an attempt to come to terms with Khomeini. Brzezinski characteristically favored military action to free the 52 American hostages and punish Iran. Carter eventually accepted Brzezinski’s proposal for the ill-fated mission, in which eight servicemen died. Brzezinski also took part in negotiations toward the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979, which was seen by many as the major achievement of Carter’s presidency. Despite his lifelong antipathy to Soviet communism, he joined Defense Secretary Brown in spearheading an unsuccessful drive to win Senate approval for the 1979 SALT-2 arms control accord. Although it never cleared the Senate as a result of the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, SALT-2 remained in unofficially effect beyond its original five-year lifespan. After the Carter years, Brzezinski became a consultant on international affairs and a senior adviser at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. He also taught  foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University. He wrote frequent opinion articles for newspapers and published several books. These included “Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power” in 2012. Then Vice President George H.W. Bush, trying to build an image as a tough foreign policy realist, considered it a coup to secure Brzezinski’s support in his 1988 presidential campaign. Brzezinski was at times critical of both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He was sharply critical of Bush’s “war on terror” and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After Donald Trump’s election in November, he observed that the world was watching U.S. political developments “with some stupefaction.” Brzezinski had endorsed Barack Obama in 2007, saying the Democratic presidential candidate recognized the challenge of bringing “a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America’s role in the world.” Brzezinski had three children with his wife Emilie.

Summary: अमेरिका के पूर्व राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार ब्रेज़िंस्की का 89 वर्ष की आयु में निधन हो गया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the southeastern province of Hakkari, killing one soldier, security sources said on Monday. The device was detonated by militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as the vehicle was passing the road near Turkey s border with Iraq, the sources said.  Turkey s largely Kurdish southeast has been rocked by violence following the collapse of a 2-1/2-year ceasefire between the state and the PKK in 2015. The autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms in 1984, and more than 40,000 people have died in the conflict. It is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Summary: दक्षिण-पूर्व में पी. के. के. हमले में तुर्की सैनिक की मौतः सूत्र


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Demonstrators in major U.S. cities took to the streets on Sunday for a fifth straight day to protest President-elect Donald Trump, whose campaign manager said President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton should do more to support a peaceful transition. Following several nights of unrest, crowds of people marched in parks in New York City, San Francisco and Oakland, California, according to social media. A few thousand joined a march at the south end of Manhattan’s Central Park, beginning at a Trump property on Columbus Circle and walking toward the real estate mogul’s skyscraper headquarters less than a mile (1.6 km) away. They chanted: “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcomed here,” and held signs such as “White silence = violence” and “Don’t mourn, organize.”  One protester said demonstrators were reclaiming what the American flag he was holding stood for. “The flag means freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal protection under the law and other values like diversity, respecting differences, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press,” said Daniel Hayman, 31, of Seattle, who was in New York for work. “We’re trying to reclaim the flag and push forward those values.” Thousands in several cities have demonstrated since the results from Tuesday’s election showed Trump, a Republican, lost the popular tally but secured enough votes in the 538-member Electoral College to win the presidency, surprising the world. Largely peaceful demonstrators in urban areas have said Trump threatens their civil and human rights. They have decried Trump’s often inflammatory campaign rhetoric about illegal immigrants, Muslims and women, as well as allegations, which he denies, that the former reality TV star sexually abused women. Dozens have been arrested, including 71 in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday night, according to police, and a handful of police injured. In San Francisco on Sunday, about 1,000 people marched through Golden Gate Park toward a beach where they chanted: “Let’s make waves.” They held signs such as “I resist racism” and “Down with the Trumps.”  Across the bay in Oakland, thousands of protesters joined a festival-like atmosphere, holding peace signs and blowing soap bubbles in the sunshine. Many had brought their children, aiming to hold hands around the 3.4-mile (5.5-km) circumference of Lake Merritt in a popular urban park. Civil rights groups have monitored violence against U.S. minorities since Trump’s win, citing reports of attacks on women in Islamic head scarves, of racist graffiti and of bullying of immigrant children. They have called on Trump to denounce the attacks. Trump said he was ‘so saddened’ to hear of instances of violence by some of his supporters against minorities, according to a transcript released on Sunday of an interview with the CBS program ‘60 Minutes.’ Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, said on Fox News on Sunday that she was sure many of the protesters were paid professionals, although she offered no proof. Suggesting a double standard, Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that if Clinton had won the election and Trump supporters had protested, “people would be freaking out that his supporters were not accepting election results.” “It’s time really for President Obama and Secretary Clinton to say to these protesters: ‘This man is our president,’” she said. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told CNN on Sunday that protests were protected by the First Amendment as long as they were peaceful.  Neither Obama nor Clinton has called for an end to the protests. Obama told Trump at the White House on Thursday that he was going to help Trump succeed, “because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.” Clinton told supporters at a New York hotel on Wednesday: “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” Trump on Sunday attacked the New York Times for coverage he said was “very poor and highly inaccurate.”  “The @nytimes sent a letter to their subscribers apologizing for their BAD coverage of me. I wonder if it will change - doubt it?” Trump wrote on Twitter. The newspaper published a letter in Sunday’s editions from publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Dean Baquet, not apologizing, but thanking readers for their loyalty and asking how news outlets underestimated Trump’s support. The Times plans to “hold power to account, impartially and unflinchingly” during the Trump presidency, they wrote.

Summary: अमेरिकी प्रदर्शनकारियों ने पांचवें दिन भी ट्रम्प के राष्ट्रपति पद के खिलाफ मार्च किया


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Puerto Rico s governor met mayors from around the ravaged island on Saturday after surveying damage to an earthen dam in the northwestern part of the U.S. territory that was threatening to collapse from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Some 70,000 people who live downstream from the compromised dam, which has formed a lake on the rain-swollen Guajataca River, were under orders to evacuate, with the structure in danger of bursting at any time.  We saw directly the damage to the Guajataca dam,  Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a Spanish-language Twitter message on Saturday while reinforcing his request that people leave the area as soon as possible.  The fissure has become a significant rupture,  Rossello said separately at a news conference on Saturday. The U.S. National Weather Service said on its website the dam was still in danger of failing and triggering life-threatening flash floods.   Stay away or be swept away,  it warned.  Meanwhile, people across the island were struggling to dig out from the devastation left by the storm, which killed at least 25 people, including at least 10 in Puerto Rico, as it churned across the Caribbean, according to officials and media reports.  To all Puerto Ricans, please know we will get back up,  the governor tweeted as he met mayors in the territory to identify their most urgent needs.  Together with the mayors, as one government.4Puerto Rico   In a development that could help the recovery effort, the Port of San Juan reopened, according to a Twitter message from the agency that operates it, allowing ships to unload supplies. Severe flooding, structural damage to homes and virtually no electric power were three of the most pressing problems facing Puerto Ricans, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a tour of the island.  It s a terrible immediate situation that requires assistance from the federal government - not just financial assistance,  said Cuomo, whose state is home to millions of people of Puerto Rican descent.   It is a dangerous situation today and it s going to be a long-term reconstruction issue for months,  Cuomo, a Democrat and potential 2020 presidential candidate, told CNN. Maria, the second major hurricane to savage the Caribbean this month and the most powerful storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, carved a path of destruction on Wednesday. It knocked out electricity, apart from emergency generators, on the island of 3.4 million inhabitants. Near the rain-swollen Guajataca River, in the northwest part of the island, floodwater littered with branches and debris engulfed the first floor of a number of homes and swamped vehicles that were left behind.  We lost our house, it was completely flooded,  said  resident Carmen Gloria Lamb.  We lost everything, cars, clothes, everything.  The storm has resulted in 10 confirmed fatalities on the island so far, Rossello s office told CNN on Saturday. The governor s office could not be reached for comment by Reuters. Signs of the strain on Puerto Ricans were evident throughout San Juan, the capital. Drivers had to wait up to seven hours at the few filling stations open on Saturday, according to news reports, and lines of cars snaked for blocks. Hotels warned that guests might have to leave soon without fresh supplies of diesel to keep generators operating. Water rationing also began on Saturday. Signs posted throughout San Juan s Old Town informed residents that service would return for two hours each day, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., until further notice.  Telephone service was also unreliable, with many of the island s cell towers damaged or destroyed.  People swarmed under some of the towers, holding up their devices in the hopes of getting a signal. The governor also extended a nightly curfew on Saturday, the Caribbean Business newspaper reported. At San Juan s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Mary Ann Arciola, her 32-year-old daughter and two young grandchildren slept in a rented van hoping to get a flight home to the United States.  There s nobody at the desks. There s nothing on the screens,  said Arciola, 62.  There s a ton of people. They are starting to fight. It s not good.  Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as the island was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in U.S. history. The storm may have caused an estimated $45 billion in damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.  Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 14 deaths were reported on Dominica, an island nation of 71,000 inhabitants.  Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two people died in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, according to media outlet El Jaya. Maria still had sustained winds of up to 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour) on Saturday, making it a Category 3 hurricane, but was expected to weaken gradually over the next two days as it turned more sharply to the north. Dangerous surf and rip currents driven by the storm were expected along the southeastern coast of the U.S. mainland for several days, the National Hurricane Center said. Maria hit about two weeks after Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. It followed Hurricane Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.

Summary: बांध गिरने की आशंका ने तूफान के बाद प्यूर्टो रिको की दुर्दशा को और बढ़ा दिया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An organization established for U.S. President Donald Trump’s transition to the White House said on Saturday the special counsel investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election had obtained tens of thousands of emails unlawfully. Kory Langhofer, counsel to the transition team known as Trump for America, Inc. (TFA), wrote a letter to congressional committees to say Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team had improperly received the emails from the General Services Administration (GSA), a government agency. Career staff members at the agency “unlawfully produced TFA’s private materials, including privileged communications, to the Special Counsel’s Office,” according to the letter, a copy  of which was seen by Reuters. It said the materials included “tens of thousands of emails.” Trump’s transition team used facilities of the GSA, which helps manage the U.S. government bureaucracy, in the period between the Republican’s November presidential election victory and his inauguration in January.     The Trump team’s accusation adds to the growing friction between the president’s supporters and Mueller’s office as it investigates whether Russia interfered in the election and if Trump or anyone on his team colluded with Moscow. Asked for comment, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “We continue to cooperate fully with the special counsel and expect this process to wrap up soon.” The special counsel’s office waved off the transition team’s complaint. “When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” said Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel’s office. The GSA did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Democrats say there is a wide-ranging effort by the president’s allies on Capitol Hill and in some media outlets to discredit Mueller’s investigation. Trump himself has loudly declared Mueller’s effort a waste of time. “There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven,” Trump told reporters on Friday. Russia denies interfering in the election.  On Friday, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said he fears the committee’s Republican majority intends to close its investigation of the topic prematurely. Some Republicans have argued that Mueller is biased against Trump and should be fired. Langhofer’s letter was sent to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It asked for Congress to act immediately “to protect future presidential transitions from having their private records misappropriated by government agencies, particularly in the context of sensitive investigations intersecting with political motives.” The letter said Mueller’s office obtained the emails despite the fact that it was aware the GSA did not own or control the records. It said the special counsel’s office has “extensively used the materials in question, including portions that are susceptible to claims of privilege” without notifying the Trump for America team. On the transition team were a number of aides who were later caught up in Mueller’s investigation, such as former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty this month to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Langhofer, the Trump transition team lawyer, wrote in his letter that the GSA’s transfer of materials was discovered on Dec. 12 and 13. The FBI had requested the materials from GSA staff on Aug. 23, asking for copies of the emails, laptops, cell phones and other materials associated with nine members of the Trump transition team responsible for national security and policy matters, the letter said. The FBI requested the materials of four additional senior members of the Trump transition team on Aug. 30, it said. Langhofer argued that, while such transition teams are involved in executive functions, they are considered private, non-profit organizations whose records are private and not subject to presidential records laws.

Summary: ट्रम्प के सहयोगियों का कहना है कि मुलर ने गैरकानूनी रूप से हजारों ईमेल प्राप्त किए


XIAMEN, China (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged BRICS nations to deepen coordination on global matters, and push for a more  just  world order, by boosting representation for emerging and developing countries in international bodies.  Reiterating that emerging and developing markets have been the primary engine of global growth, Xi called for a bigger role for BRICS in speeding economic governance reforms and promoting trade, especially as rising risks veil a global recovery.  BRICS countries should push for a more just and reasonable international order,  Xi told a summit of the grouping, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.  We should work together to address global challenges.  In his closing remarks, Xi urged the grouping to battle for more  representation power  for emerging and developing countries, which some analysts say are often under-represented in global institutions such as the World Bank, by comparison with the dominance of the United States and Western Europe.  The summit in the southeastern city of Xiamen has given host China its latest chance to position itself as a bulwark of globalization in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump s  America First  agenda. Xi appeared to rebuke the United States s resistance to international pacts - including the Paris climate accord - in a separate speech earlier on Tuesday to leaders of BRICS and other developing countries.    Multilateral trade negotiations make progress only with great difficulty and the implementation of the Paris Agreement has met with resistance,  Xi said.   Some countries have become more inward-looking, and their desire to participate in global development cooperation has decreased.   In talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trump has sought improved terms for the United States, under threat of leaving the pact, and has said he will withdraw his country from the Paris climate accord. Xi gave $500 million for a South-South cooperation fund to help other developing countries tackle famine, refugees, climate change and public health challenges, besides an earlier $80-million summit pledge to support BRICS cooperation. Egypt, Guinea, Tajikistan, Thailand and Mexico joined the three-day summit as observer nations, and Xi called for a  BRICS Plus  plan to potentially expand the bloc, although no new member has been formally announced. Xi lauded smooth progress in the grouping s cooperation in areas such as anti-terrorism and internet security.  Leaders from the BRICS countries are determined to work toward another  golden decade ,  he added.

Summary: शी ने ब्रिकस समूह से अधिक 'न्यायपूर्ण' अंतर्राष्ट्रीय व्यवस्था पर जोर देने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said Donald Trump’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin was unprecedented and said he was troubled that other Republicans were supporting the Republican presidential candidate’s positions on Russia. “Mr. Trump’s continued flattery of Mr. Putin and the way he appears and the degree to which he appears to model many of his policies and approaches to politics on Mr. Putin is unprecedented in American politics,” Obama said at a White House news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Saying “Mr. Trump rarely surprises me these days,” Obama said he was much more concerned to see support for the candidate’s stance on Putin and Russia from Republican officials who historically had been anti-Russia. Historically, Republican politicians have often taken or appeared to take a harder line on Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, the United States’ Cold War foe. Obama said Russia’s behavior has undermined international norms and said any suggestion that the United States has encroached on Russian interests is wrong. “We think that Russia is a large, important country with a military that is second only to ours and has to be a part of the solution on the world stage rather than part of the problem,” Obama said. “But their behavior has undermined international norms and international rules in ways we have to call them out on,” Obama said, citing “Russian aggression in Ukraine” and other actions. Russia has been internationally condemned for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा कि रूस के राष्ट्रपति को ट्रम्प ने गले लगाना 'अभूतपूर्व' है।


(Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett denied on Monday an allegation by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he, like Trump, had taken “a massive deduction” that allowed him to avoid federal income taxes. Buffett said he paid about $1.85 million in income tax in 2015, and that returns for previous years were similar in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates. Buffett said he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, but had “no problem” releasing his tax information. Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing ongoing audits by the IRS. “I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13,” Buffett said in a statement, adding that “being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.” Buffett, ranked the world’s third-richest person by Forbes magazine, said he had copies of all 72 of his returns “and none uses a carryforward.” Responding to an Oct. 1 New York Times story, Trump acknowledged during the presidential-candidates’ debate on Sunday that he had used investment losses to avoid paying taxes. Trump repeatedly said he was only taking advantage of tax provisions used by wealthy people who support Clinton. “I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett ...”, he said. The Times reported that Trump’s declared loss of $916 million in 1995 was so large that he could legally have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), said his 2015 tax return showed adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. “My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes,” he said. “The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions,” Buffett said. Buffett said he had no problem releasing his tax information while under audit.  “Neither would Mr Trump – at least he would have no legal problem.”

Summary: कर संबंधी टिप्पणियों को लेकर बफेट ने ट्रंप पर पलटवार किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders offered Ukraine closer ties on Friday at a summit meant to cement Kiev s ties with the West, but they declined to promise that the country could one day join the bloc.  As fighting escalated in Ukraine s industrial east, EU leaders held a summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and five other former Soviet republics, part of a tug-of-war with Russia for influence through trade and cooperation. In a summit statement also signed by Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus, EU leaders agreed to  the European aspirations and European choice of the partners  - code for deeper integration without offering membership. Ukraine, which ousted a Russian-backed president in February 2014 in a pro-European uprising, wants the promise of future membership of the EU, the world s biggest trading bloc, as it seeks to overcome entrenched corruption and economic neglect.  A promise of EU membership is important, it s symbolic,  said Ukraine s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk on the margins of the biennial summit.  No other country was willing to pay such a high price as we did,  he told Reuters. Kiev, fighting a Russian-backed insurgency in the east, sees a promise of membership as a morale-boosting next step after agreeing a free-trade accord with the bloc and winning visa-free travel to the EU for its citizens. Some EU leaders are sympathetic to Kiev and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he promised Poroshenko a formal study into how Ukraine might join the EU s customs union. The summit s chairman Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said:  I would have preferred that the wording of the (summit) agreement were more ambitious  without giving details. But other leaders warned Ukraine not to push too hard, in part because governments are seeking to curb immigration and face down far-right political parties at home, and also because Ukraine s fragile economy is not yet ready to meet EU norms.     Stubbornness is good, but the most important thing is not guarantees on entering (the EU), but to be stubborn about reforms,  said Lithuania s President Dalia Grybauskaite.  Any membership is only as valuable as it is beneficial for Ukraine,  she said, referring to the country s need to reform to meet EU business, health and other trade standards. Luxembourg s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel echoed that position, saying it was  not the right moment  to be discussing any future Ukrainian membership of the European Union.  Backed by Washington, the European Union is seeking to  build an outer ring of market democracies from the Caucasus to the Sahara without offering EU membership, a policy that has had limited success so far. Ukraine is also unhappy about being grouped in with Belarus, a Russian ally whose authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, did not attend the summit on Friday despite being invited for the first time.  On leaving the summit, Poroshenko said he expected a breakthrough soon on a stalled 600 million euro ($712 million) loan to the financial sector from the EU that is held up by Ukraine s failure to meet conditions. Danylyuk told Reuters he also saw the next IMF aid tranche coming early next year.  Wary that reforms will slow as Ukraine moves closer to elections in 2019, the EU and IMF governments are using their financial support to push anti-corruption reforms. European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU integration, said it was  ridiculous  that 1.5 million Ukrainians signed up to a wealth declarations register last year but only 100 people had been assessed to date.  Danylyuk countered that he was facing a campaign against his economic reform efforts from powerful business groups that benefited from corruption and legal loopholes.  This is a fight,  he said.  For vested interests, it s like we are taking their money.

Summary: यूक्रेन का यूरोपीय संघ की सदस्यता का वादा मायावी बना हुआ है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators from both parties are close to finalizing a bipartisan deal to shore up the health insurance exchanges created under Obamacare, the chamber’s top Democrat said on Thursday. The move, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said was “on the verge” of completion, would stabilize the market for individuals who buy their own insurance plans on the federal or state-based exchanges. The potential agreement comes after Republicans have repeatedly failed to carry out their years-long pledge to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare overhaul. Schumer said Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Republican, and ranking Democrat Patty Murray had resurrected a bipartisan approach, which had been cast aside amid the latest near-vote on a repeal bill. Alexander and Murray had been working to protect the government payments made to insurers to help reduce medical expenses for low-income Americans enrolled in Obamacare. Alexander also wanted states to have more flexibility to design insurance plans under the program. “They both inform me that they’re on the verge of an agreement, a bipartisan healthcare agreement to stabilize markets and lower premiums,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday.  The pact could buoy health insurance companies, which came out forcefully against the Republican repeal effort and have faced uncertainty since the November election of Republican President Donald Trump, who vowed to sink the law. While the majority of insured Americans receive coverage through their employers or government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, more than 10 million people have individual plans through the online exchanges, and about 11 million are expected to sign up next year.  Most of these consumers receive income-based tax credits and subsidies to reduce costs. Insurers have filed their premium rates for 2018, many of which are expected to rise at least 20 percent because of uncertainty that the government will continue paying some of those subsidies.     Despite those worries, insurers on Wednesday signed contracts with the government that will result in every U.S. county having at least one company selling Obamacare plans. Trump has signaled that his administration would take other action to unwind the law, and on Wednesday said he would sign an order next week allowing people to buy insurance coverage across U.S. state lines. Republican Senator Rand Paul, who has been pushing for the move, says Trump can do this by legalizing nationwide health associations that individuals could then join.

Summary: स्वास्थ्य आदान-प्रदान पर द्विदलीय समझौते के करीब हैं सीनेटरः शूमर


YANGON (Reuters) - At the end of an illustrated book written for children in Myanmar, a much-loved village teacher who has planted many trees and a beautiful garden tells his students that the time has come for him to leave them.  Oh students,  he says.  I won t be here but you will still have the trees to give you fruit and shade and take care of you every year. So you will remember me and not be so sad.  The author of  The Gardener  was Wa Lone, one of two Reuters journalists who were arrested in Yangon last week and accused of violating the country s colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis that has seen some 650,000 Rohingya Muslims flee from a fierce military crackdown on militants in the western state of Rakhine. They have not been seen for a week.   The Gardener  is one of a series published by The Third Story Project, a venture co-founded by Wa Lone that produces books in Burmese, other Myanmar languages and English and distributes them free to children across the country. On the project s website, Wa Lone says the aim was to promote tolerance and harmony in an increasingly multicultural and diverse world.  Lack of understanding has led to conflicts between different communities and finally destroyed peace and stability,  he wrote.  I love every Third Story book because they address important issues for future generations.  In Wa Lone s story, which also carries a message of the importance of protecting the environment, the teacher scatters seeds from his bicycle on the journey to school and years later they have grown into huge trees. He also plants a garden with his students and, there, he tells them stories. He leaves them one day to help another village, where all the trees had been cut down and there was no fruit, water or shelter for the people and animals. The last page of the story shows a figure in the distance and the words:  The teacher said goodbye to his students and rode his old bicycle down the road toward the other village.

Summary: हिरासत में लिए गए रॉयटर्स के पत्रकार ने प्रकृति और अनुपस्थिति पर बच्चों की किताब लिखी


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia turned down on Sunday an offer to take 150 asylum seekers being held in an Australian-run detention center in Papua New Guinea, where U.N. officials have warned a humanitarian emergency is unfolding. About 600 men have barricaded themselves inside the camp on remote Manus island in Papua New Guinea, defying efforts by Australia and PNG to shut it. Food, running water and medical services were cut off by Australia five days ago. Australian authorities want the men moved to a transit center elsewhere on the island at the start of a process the asylum seekers fear will result in them being resettled in PNG or another developing nation. The men also fear violent reprisals from the local community. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday her country was willing to take 150 asylum seekers from among those held on Manus island and another camp on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru. Her Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, however said Canberra preferred to work through an existing refugee swap deal he negotiated with former U.S. President Barack Obama last year. Under that deal, up to 1,250 asylum seekers could be sent to the United States and Australia will in turn accept refugees from Central America.  We want to pursue those, conclude those arrangements, and then in the wake of that obviously we can consider other ones,  Turnbull told Ardern during a media conference in Sydney. Relocating the men on Manus island is designed as a temporary measure, allowing the United States time to complete vetting of asylum seekers.  Ardern acknowledged the two Tasman neighbors faced different immigration problems but said the offer remained open. The camps on Manus island and Nauru have been key parts of Australia s disputed  Sovereign Borders  immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. Australia s offshore detention policies have been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but are backed the center-right government and the Labor opposition. U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news conference in Geneva on Friday about the  unfolding humanitarian emergency  in the Manus island center, where asylum seekers have been reported digging wells to try to find water.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया ने शिविर के अंदर रोके गए शरण चाहने वालों को लेने के न्यूजीलैंड के प्रस्ताव को ठुकरा दिया