WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has granted waivers to let 872 refugees into the country this week, despite President Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday temporarily banning entry of refugees from any country, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document seen by Reuters.  A Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the waivers, noting that the refugees were considered “in transit” and had already been cleared for resettlement before the ban took effect. Refugees preparing for resettlement typically have severed personal ties and relinquished their possessions, leaving them particularly vulnerable if their plans to depart are suddenly canceled.  The waivers, granted by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), came amid international protests against Trump’s rushed executive order. Critics said the order in some cases was not clearly communicated to the agencies responsible for implementing it. It was not known if additional waivers would be granted, the official said. The document did not give the nationalities of the refugees who will be admitted into the United States.  Over the weekend, non-refugee visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries also targeted in Trump’s executive order were detained, deported and in some cases blocked from boarding flights to the United States. The countries covered by the traveler ban were Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.  The internal DHS document said that between late Friday and early Monday 348 visa holders were prevented from boarding U.S.-bound flights. In addition, more than 200 people landed in the United States but were denied entry, the document showed. More than 735 people were pulled aside for questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in airports, including 394 legal permanent U.S. residents holding green cards, over the same time period.  Trump said the executive order he signed on Friday was designed to protect the United States “from foreign terrorist entry.” The order stopped all refugee admissions for 120 days while government officials determine how to ensure that any refugees admitted do not pose a threat. The 872 refugees to be admitted this week, under the waivers, were screened using Obama administration procedures, which typically take two years and include several interviews and a background check. The DHS said on Sunday night that green card holders would be allowed to board U.S.-bound flights, but would be subjected to additional scrutiny upon arrival.  The public guidance from DHS also said some people from the seven majority-Muslim countries could be allowed entry to the United States on a case-by-case basis.     Congressional Democrats and some foreign countries, including key U.S. allies, put pressure on Trump on Monday over the executive order. Democratic Senators tried to force a vote on a bill to rescind the order, but were blocked by a Republican lawmaker. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said she had 27 co-sponsors for the legislation. But under Senate rules it takes only one member to prevent a vote, and Republican Senator Tom Cotton blocked consideration of the measure. The Democrats’ leader in the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, said he would bring legislation on Monday evening seeking to end the ban, although the measure stood little chance of being passed by the Republican-led Congress.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः ट्रम्प प्रशासन इस सप्ताह अमेरिका में 872 शरणार्थियों को अनुमति देगा-दस्तावेज़


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Tuesday s session of the Catalan parliament at which regional leader Carles Puigdemont could unilaterally declare the region s independence from Spain has been delayed, a parliament spokeswoman said. Organisers of the political parties in the assembly are holding a meeting, she said.  Local media said the delay could be the result of disagreements within the pro-independence coalition on how far Puigdemont s speech should go in declaring a split from Spain.

Summary: पार्टियों के बीच बातचीत के कारण कैटलन संसद का सत्र स्थगित


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to use upcoming talks with top Chinese officials to discuss ways to bring greater pressure to bear on North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. “The outcome that we’re looking for is North Korean agreement to negotiate the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel told reporters. “We have a vastly improved chance of getting that with China’s full cooperation, and we intend to use the (U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue) to game out how we can speed up the outcome that we’re both working to achieve,” he said.

Summary: अमेरिका का कहना है कि चीन वार्ता में उत्तर कोरिया की परमाणु महत्वाकांक्षाएं मेज पर हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican political donor said on Wednesday he would spend “seven figures” on a targeted digital campaign backing two senators who support clean energy policies, which could help tip the balance in their tight November re-election races.  Jay Faison, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based executive of an audio-vision equipment company, said he would endorse Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire for re-election. Portman is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan energy efficiency bill, while Ayotte is one of the only Republican supporters of President Barack Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions. Both are running in swing states. Faison wants to defend conservatives who have led on clean energy issues. He will use what he calls a “digital first” approach focused on direct online marketing, social media and data mining to target swing voters who care about climate issues and tailor political messaging, methods he said Republicans have been slow to adopt. “For right or wrong, the Republican Party is branded as non-environmental, which we want to help fix,” Faison said in an interview. In February, Faison launched a Super PAC that will spend around $5 million to support congressional Republicans who support clean energy and environmental protection. Faison did not say who else he plans to back. The PAC (political action committee) complements the work of Faison’s foundation, ClearPath, which he launched last June with $165 million to shift Republicans’ skeptical view of climate change and clean energy.     “In these races and a handful of other House and Senate races, we’re going to play offense around candidates that take a stand on these issues,” Faison said. Faison said support of clean energy could sway blocks of “persuadable” voters who are growing in influence - millennials and non-whites - in tight races. In a survey conducted by ClearPath of Republican voters, Faison said 73 percent said they want a candidate with a clean energy strategy. “These persuadable voters perceive candidates who check the box and take the party line every single time as someone not necessarily watching out for their best interests,” Faison said.  The digital strategy ClearPath will use will benefit Republican party leaders who have been reluctant to make digital marketing the centerpiece of their campaign spending, Faison said.  “We are going to test that theory. The Democrats are way ahead of us here,” he said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन दाता ने डिजिटल अभियान के साथ स्वच्छ ऊर्जा सीनेटरों का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States welcomes Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s return to Lebanon, a U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday. The United States is also encouraged by Hariri s discussions with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and his statement reaffirming his commitment to the stability of Lebanon, the official said. After returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, Hariri shelved his decision to resign at the request of Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East.

Summary: अमेरिका ने हरीरी की लेबनान वापसी का स्वागत कियाः विदेश विभाग के अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday said it was temporarily waiving a law that limits the availability of cargoes on the U.S. coasts, a step that will ensure enough fuel reaches emergency responders during Hurricane Irma and in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.  The Jones Act mandates the use of U.S.-flagged vessels to transport merchandise between U.S. coasts. The Department of Homeland Security waived the requirement for one week. This will allow oil and gas operators to use often cheaper, tax-free, or more readily available foreign-flagged vessels. Harvey, which hit Texas with record floods, had a wider effect of disrupting fuel distribution across Florida, Georgia and other Southeastern states by shutting refineries and pipelines.  With Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, expected to hit Florida in days, the region will experience  one of the largest mass evacuations in American history  and see historic levels of restoration and response crews, said Elaine Duke, acting secretary of Homeland Security. Waiving the Jones Act will ensure there is fuel to support lifesaving efforts and restore services and infrastructure in the wake of the storm, Duke said.

Summary: अमेरिका ने तूफान उत्तरदाताओं के लिए ईंधन सुरक्षित करने के लिए जोन्स अधिनियम को माफ कर दिया


(Reuters) - Four people were killed on Thursday when a helicopter belonging to utility Hydro One crashed in central Ontario, the company said in a statement. Hydro One did not provide details on its four employees who were killed in the crash, saying names would not be released until next of kin had been notified. The company, which is based in Ontario, said emergency services were on site in the Tweed area of rural central Ontario, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Toronto. It said it had notified the appropriate oversight groups. The Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement that officers responded to the crash shortly after 12:30 pm ET (1730 GMT), and were joined by emergency response services, including a forensic identification unit.  Police said Canada s Transportation Safety Board would investigate. A woman named Kim Clayton tweeted that Hydro One staff had been working on power lines on her property before the crash. On Wednesday a small airplane carrying 22 passengers and three crew members crashed after taking off in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Summary: कनाडा में हेलीकॉप्टर दुर्घटना में चार लोगों की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Saturday moved to begin admitting refugees, including Syrians, as soon as Monday after a federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration temporary ban on refugee admissions.An email from the State Department’s refugee office reviewed by Reuters Saturday said the U.S. government is working with its legal team and interagency and overseas partners to comply with the ruling. Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order had suspended refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees but U.S. Judge James Robart in Seattle on Friday blocked the president’s order. A U.S. State Department official told Reuters on Saturday that officials “expect some refugees to arrive Monday.” The U.S. instructed the International Organization for Migration “to rebook refugees of all nationalities, including Syrians, who were” to schedule to arrive since the Trump’s order was signed, the email said. “We are focusing on booking refugee travel through February 17. We are asking that arrivals resume this Monday, the first normal travel day of the week, if possible.  We are aware that some refugees may not be ready to depart on short notice,” the email said. A United Nations spokesman, Leonard Doyle, told the New York Times about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel. Refugees do not usually enter on weekends, a U.S. official said, as the department hews to a strict set of rules on how their admissions are processed.  Other travelers from seven Muslim majority countries affected by President Donald Trump’s week-old curb on immigration can rework their flights after the judge’s order, as long as they have valid visas.  Refugees fleeing war, hunger and persecution have less autonomy. Advocates working on their behalf urged the government to move quickly on admitting them.       International Refugee Assistance Project Director Becca Heller called for “the instant resumption of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to immediately take the most vulnerable refugees out of harm’s way.” During the week of the ban, the government admitted 843 refugees - but no Syrian refugees, government figures show. Officials previously told Reuters that they were “in transit” and had already been cleared for resettlement before the ban took effect. For refugee families, they are trying to keep expectations in check and hope they do not end up back where they started.  Ayham Oubeid, a Syrian living in Cleveland, has been waiting for over a year for his brother George’s family to come to the United States as refugees. His brother, who has health issues, is living in Dubai on a work visa that covers him, his six-year-old daughter and five-months pregnant wife. George left his job and moved the family out of their apartment when he was told they would be resettled in the United States on Feb. 13. But the family’s plane tickets were canceled when Trump announced the temporary ban. Without George’s job, the family could lose the work visa and be sent back to Syria in the midst of its deadly civil war. Upon hearing of the judge’s ruling from Friday, Oubeid called George. He was careful not to be too hopeful, knowing the judge’s order could be overturned. “I don’t want to get excited. I don’t want my brother to get excited. Because it was hard for him when he lost everything and was told he couldn’t come,” Oubeid said.

Summary: सीरिया सहित शरणार्थियों को फिर से स्वीकार करने के लिए अमेरिका का कदम


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson was accused by cabinet colleagues on Sunday of  backseat driving  on Brexit after setting out his own vision of the country s future outside the European Union. Only days before Prime Minister Theresa May is due to speak in Italy about Britain s planned EU departure, Johnson on Saturday published a 4,300-word newspaper article that roamed well beyond his ministerial brief and, in some cases, the approach set out by the government.  Interior minister Amber Rudd said it was  absolutely fine  for the foreign secretary to intervene publicly but that she did not want him managing the Brexit process.  What we ve got is Theresa May managing that process, she s driving the car,  Rudd told the BBC s Andrew Marr on Sunday. Asked if Johnson was backseat driving, she replied:  Yes, you could call it backseat driving, absolutely.  Johnson s article re-ignited speculation that he would challenge May for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Rudd, however, said she did not think Johnson was laying the groundwork to challenge May.  I think that he, like I, supports the prime minister at this difficult time as we try to conclude the negotiations with the EU,  she said. May s deputy, Damian Green, also weighed in, saying that Johnson had written a  very exuberant  article but it was  absolutely clear to everyone that the driver of the car in this instance is the prime minister .  It is the job of the rest of us in the cabinet to agree on a set of proposals and get behind those proposals and get behind the prime minister,  Green told BBC TV. Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Britain would not pay to access the EU market in the future. Once out of the EU, the country should borrow to invest in infrastructure, reform the tax code and set immigration levels as it sees fit, he said.  Johnson also repeated the Brexit campaign claim that the government would be 350 million pounds ($476 million) a week better off outside the EU.  Government officials criticized Johnson for repeating the claim, saying the figure does not take into account the funding Britain receives back from Brussels. David Norgrove, of the UK Statistics Authority, said he was  surprised and disappointed  that Johnson was still quoting a figure that confused gross and net contributions.  It is a clear misuse of official statistics,  Norgrove said in a letter to Johnson on Sunday.  Johnson said in reply that Norgrove s letter was  based on what appeared to be a wilful distortion of the text of my article  and asked the official to withdraw it. The timing of Johnson s article   published a day after a bomb injured 30 people on a train in London   also drew criticism from some colleagues. Reacting to the furor his article had generated, Johnson tweeted on Saturday:  Looking forward to PM s Florence Speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री बोरिस जॉनसन पर ब्रेक्सिट के लिए 'पीछे की सीट पर गाड़ी चलाने' का आरोप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A divided U.S. Senate on Thursday killed a regulation that had exempted city-run retirement savings plans for low-income workers from strict pension protection laws. Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, the resolution’s sponsor, has said he expects the Senate to soon repeal a related rule on state-operated retirement plans.  That resolution may face a tougher time than the one on municipal plans, which barely passed in a 50-49 vote. States are farther along establishing retirement programs for people who do not have workplace savings plans, and Republicans who advocate for states’ rights are more skeptical of the resolution. The House of Representatives has already passed both resolutions. Thursday’s vote marked the 12th time the Republican-controlled Congress has successfully killed an Obama-era regulation through the use of an obscure 1996 law known as the Congressional Review Act. The law lets Congress repeal a newly minted rule through  simple majority votes in the House and Senate, and a signature from the president. A “substantially similar” rule can never be enacted in its place. The Labor Department rule was finalized after May 2016, putting it into the window of time set by the law when Congress can repeal it. Using the resolutions, Republicans have sent rules spanning a variety of areas to the chopping block in hopes of loosening regulation they say constricts economic growth.  Thursday’s resolution and its near-twin for state plans counters the trend by maintaining regulatory requirements. Toward the end of President Barack Obama’s tenure, his Labor Department exempted both state and city-run retirement plans from the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, a law designed to protect workers’ savings with detailed compliance requirements. Private-sector workers whose employers do not offer 401(k) or other retirement benefits, and who often have low incomes, are automatically enrolled in the plans being launched in states such as California, Illinois and Oregon.  States say the ERISA exemption lets employers pass workers’ money into plans without footing compliance costs. They also say Wall Street wants to block the plans because they create competition. But the Investment Company Institute, a mutual funds trade group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others in financial services say the exemptions shortchange workers from important federal pension protections that other workers receive.

Summary: सीनेट ने श्रम विभाग. नगरपालिका सेवानिवृत्ति योजना नियम को निरस्त किया


KATY, Texas (Reuters) - As Democrats try to win control of the U.S. Congress in next year’s midterm elections, their hopes of picking up a Senate seat in Republican-dominated Texas rest with a telegenic ex-punk rocker who wants to impeach President Donald Trump and legalize marijuana. Beto O’Rourke’s long-shot bid to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz illustrates the tightrope Democrats must walk as they gear up for the November 2018 elections. Democrats will have to win in areas that backed Trump last year in order to gain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate but even in Texas the party’s left-wing base is pressing candidates to stop the president by any means necessary. O’Rourke, who currently represents El Paso in the House, is drawing big crowds across Texas as he calls for universal healthcare and new restrictions on gun ownership. At a recent rally outside Houston, hundreds of supporters stood in line for up to an hour to shake his hand. O’Rourke, 45, said Trump’s surprise victory last year was a big reason he decided to run for the Senate. He said Trump’s racially charged rhetoric and divisive governing style have led him to support impeachment. “I’m now convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that Donald Trump is unfit for that office,” O’Rourke told Reuters in an interview. “This is a moment unlike any other, certainly in my lifetime, I think in this country since the Civil War, where we have to really decide who we are, and there are two very clear paths that we can take,” he said. The end of the path laid out by Trump “is tyranny, it is not democracy,” O’Rourke said. O’Rourke’s unapologetic progressivism stands out among Democrats who are campaigning outside the party’s liberal strongholds in the Northeast and on West Coast. In deeply conservative Alabama, Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones has been running as a pragmatist ahead of a Dec. 12 special election, saying he wants to be a “voice for reason” in Washington. He has run ads attacking Republican opponent Roy Moore over a sex scandal, but has steered clear of harsh anti-Trump rhetoric.  In Virginia, Ralph Northam denounced Trump as a “narcissistic maniac” as he sought the Democratic nomination for governor, but dialed back the rhetoric during the general election, telling voters ahead of his Nov. 7 victory that he would work with Trump when it was in his state’s interest. In Congress, a handful of rank-and-file House Democrats have filed articles of impeachment even though U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is still investigating whether Trump’s campaign worked with Russia in last year’s election. Russia has repeatedly denied meddling and Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt.” Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi said earlier this month that she would not make impeachment a priority if her party won the House next year but Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer has said it is premature to consider impeachment. Even some of O’Rourke’s supporters say impeachment talk is counterproductive as long as Republicans control Congress. “Otherwise, in my view, it’s just chest-beating,” said Nikki Redpath, a Houston-area homemaker and O’Rourke campaign volunteer. O’Rourke is seen as the favorite to win the Democratic nomination in March but analysts say his progressive views could prove a liability as he tries to reverse his party’s long losing streak in the Lone Star State. Trump finished nine percentage points ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton in Texas last year and the state has not elected a Democratic governor or senator since 1994. Democrats have lost recent statewide elections by double-digit margins and have struggled to recruit top-tier candidates for major races. Still, O’Rourke’s anti-Trump message has resonated with oil-industry executive Katherine Stovring, who said she used to vote for candidates from both parties but now has been motivated to work for Democratic candidates as a way to stop Trump.  “I’m looking for ways to engage. This is our democracy at risk,” she said. Texas Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak said he thought O’Rourke would be trounced by Cruz unless voters turn en masse against Trump nationally. “He’s a more interesting candidate than the traditional sacrificial lamb the Democrats put up,” Mackowiak said. “But he’s far too liberal to be elected statewide.” In an era where differences between Republicans and Democrats are stark, candidates like O’Rourke have little incentive to moderate their positions, said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas. At this point there is little downside for O’Rourke to make polarizing statements on impeachment and other issues.     “I think you can expect to hear a lot more of that as the campaign unfolds,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के गढ़ों में, डेमोक्रेट 2018 के चुनावों से पहले कसकर चलते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ten state governors seeking to avoid millions of dollars in federal healthcare cuts under Republican plans to replace Obamacare pressed their case in a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday, according to two people briefed on the talks.     The governors are worried that repealing former President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law without a detailed replacement will take coverage away from millions of Americans and land the states with a large financial hit.  Pressure from governors is just one of the challenges facing President Donald Trump’s administration as it tries to  scrap Obama’s Affordable Care Act, one of the Republican’s signature election campaign promises. During the hour-long meeting, the governors presented Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price with a proposal to reform the Medicaid program for the poor, the sources said.  Under Obamacare, more than 30 states - including about a dozen with Republican governors - expanded Medicaid by allowing those who earned incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level to enroll.   The governors’ plan would allow those states to maintain the Medicaid expansion and enable other states to also expand, according to a copy of the proposal seen by Reuters. States could choose to expand Medicaid to any income level at or below 138 percent and retain enhanced federal funding for the program. The proposal would also give states more flexibility in how they manage their Medicaid programs and cap spending for certain populations.  House Republicans have yet to agree on a single detailed policy proposal and many say it will not be in place before 2019. On Thursday, a draft Obamacare repeal bill by the House Republicans was available for Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to read in a room on Capitol Hill but was not publicly released. It was not clear whether the governors’ demands were addressed in the latest version of the draft bill.  “The President and Vice President have been very clear that governors and states will play a critical role in the repeal and replacement of Obamacare,” said Marc Lotter, a Pence spokesman.  Ohio Governor John Kasich also met with Trump on Friday and briefed him on the governors’ plan. In his address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said that state governors should be given “the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.”  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady met on Thursday with Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee and discussed the Medicaid expansion. “We’re still a long ways off,” Walker said. “The same things they (lawmakers) hear from their members are the same things we hear in the states, is how do you balance states that didn’t take the expansion and states that did. How do we make sure we find a good way?” he said.

Summary: गवर्नरों ने पेंस के साथ ओबामाकेयर प्रतिस्थापन योजना पर मुलाकात की


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Venezuela s democratic opposition was awarded the European Union s human rights award on Thursday and the European Parliament called for a peaceful transition to democracy in the troubled country. The prize, named after Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was awarded to Venezuela s opposition-led National Assembly legislature, which the government has stripped of powers, and all political prisoners, the EU parliament said. Venezuela is suffering from a harsh economic crisis and President Nicolas Maduro s government has clamped down on the opposition, jailing or otherwise barring from office many dissenting leaders and activists.  Today we are supporting a nation s freedom struggle,  European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said.  We also want to launch an appeal for a peaceful transition towards democracy and an opening of a humanitarian corridor to ease the suffering,  he added.     Julio Borges, head of Venezuela s National Assembly, tweeted that it was an honor to receive the award on behalf of the whole of Venezuela, adding:  The international community recognizes our people.  The European Parliament s left-wing group GUE/NGL, which includes parties such as Germany s Die Linke, Ireland s Sinn Fein and Greece s ruling Syriza, said it would boycott the award ceremony, saying the decision was politically charged. Previous winners of the prize, first awarded in 1988, include Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and South African President Nelson Mandela.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने वेनेजुएला के विपक्ष को मानवाधिकार पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers approved economic sanctions, including an arms embargo, on Venezuela on Monday, saying regional elections last month marred by reported irregularities had deepened the country s crisis. Anxious not to push Caracas any closer to economic and political collapse as debt restructuring talks begin, EU governments held back from targeting any individuals. The bloc instead left names for a later stage to try to persuade President Nicholas Maduro to calm the situation.  Everything we do is aimed at seeking dialogue between the government and the opposition to find a democratic and peaceful solution,  Spain s Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told reporters at a meeting with his counterparts where the sanctions decision was made. Venezuelan opposition leaders said last week they would resume efforts to hold a dialogue with Maduro, even though they say he previously used such talks to stall for time instead of implementing serious reform. Over the weekend, Maduro had termed imminent sanctions by the bloc as  stupid.   On Monday, his government said the  illegal  and  absurd  EU measures were a violation of international norms.   The European institutions show their lamentable and shameful subordination to the U.S. government,  it added. Spain has long pushed for sanctions on those close to Maduro, whom Washington accuses of installing a dictatorship and slapped sanctions on in July. But the EU has been divided over whom to target. The arms embargo adds Venezuela to an EU list that includes North Korea and Syria, where European defense companies can no longer do business and to which the sale of any goods deemed as being used for repression are also banned. Britain sold 1.4 million pounds ($1.83 million) worth of arms to Venezuela between May 2010 and March 2017, according to The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which lobbies to end arms sales to repressive governments. In a joint statement, all 28 EU ministers said the legal basis for individual travel bans to the EU and the freezing of any Venezuelan assets in the bloc  will be used in a gradual and flexible manner and can be expanded.  Representatives of Maduro s government were due to meet investors in Caracas on Monday to discuss renegotiating $60 billion in foreign debt. Some EU governments want to give former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the EU s main envoy for Venezuela, another chance to try negotiations despite unsuccessful efforts in 2016. But in the statement, ministers said regional elections held in Venezuela on Oct. 15 were a turning point that had hardened the bloc s position, having taken place amid  reported numerous irregularities.   The results appeared to favor Maduro s ruling Socialists, while polls had suggested the opposition would easily win a majority. In the end it won only a handful of governorships, according to the pro-government electoral board. EU ministers will decide whom to target with sanctions at a later stage, but said they would focus on security forces and government ministers and institutions accused of human rights violations and the non-respect of democratic principles or the rule of law. Experts say individual U.S. sanctions spearheaded by U.S. President Donald Trump, while providing strong symbolism, have had little or no impact on Maduro s policies and that oil-sector and financial sanctions may be the only way to force the Venezuelan government to change.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने वेनेजुएला पर प्रतिबंध लगाने की तैयारी की, हथियारों पर प्रतिबंध को मंजूरी दी


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Kirtland Park, on the shores of Lake Erie near downtown Cleveland, was designated as a place where hundreds of protesters could camp during the Republican National Convention. It is less than a quarter full. One measure of the shortfall: With about 10 transportable toilets on hand Tuesday night and about 15 tents, the city was providing one plastic commode for every two campers.  U.S. political conventions typically are protest magnets, and the Republican National Convention that nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate after a bitter primary campaign had been seen as a major draw. But three days in, the crowds were far smaller than expected.  Activists said deadly attacks on police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas had scared off some would-be protesters. Others saw the presence of “open carry” gun-rights advocates as a threat to their safety. Cleveland’s heavy police presence discouraged others, protest leaders said. “I’m extremely disappointed with turnout,” said Lee Garnett, a 39-year-old tech worker who came from San Francisco to protest Trump’s nomination. As he stood in Kirtland Park on Tuesday night, about two dozen activists listened to a man strum a guitar and sing. Garnett said friends had backed out. “It was fear of violence. Fear of violence from the police and fear of violence from the Trump supporters,” he said, citing Trump’s prediction in March of riots if he were denied the nomination.  City records show three of five officially permitted protests planned for the first three days of the convention did not occur. Either organizers canceled events or supporters failed to take part, city officials said.  The American Civil Liberties Union had won a court battle to reduce the size of the security area around the convention hall, arguing that people needed more space to exercise their free speech rights. But the designated 1.7-square-mile (440-hectare) “event zone” easily accommodated the few hundred protesters on hand at any given time. At rallies, police officers appeared swiftly and often outnumbered the protesters. On Wednesday, police arrested 18 people - the biggest number of the convention so far - after they scuffled with police while trying to set fire to an American flag near the convention entrance. Cleveland has put 500 police officers on the streets, backed by about 3,000 reinforcements from as far away as California and Texas. Hundreds of cops on bicycles, with others on foot and horseback, have directed and controlled crowds.  “It has a chilling effect on the exercise of free speech, which is so critical in a democratic society,” said Terry Gilbert, a veteran Cleveland civil rights lawyer. “That’s dangerous. I think that could change the whole dynamic of protest.” Cleveland police say the events have gone smoothly so far, with little violence and only 23 convention-related arrests through Wednesday. Cleveland activist Art McCoy, founder of civil rights group Black Man’s Army, which often protests against police use of force, said his group is not marching. “We’ve decided to be still and observe,” McCoy said, adding that he doubted convention protests would change relations between minorities and local police. “The convention is just a distraction.” Local activist Rachelle Smith said the Dallas shooting, in which five people were killed, influenced her choice to act as a legal observer and adviser rather than leading protests. “I expected numbers to be bigger – whether from people coming in from out of town or people from Cleveland getting involved,” she said. But Christine Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said Clevelanders have little experience assembling large-scale protests.  “Cleveland is not Chicago or New York,” she said. “We don’t have the activist networks, we don’t have the populations of those cities.” Ann Wright, 70, a member of the antiwar group Code Pink who  traveled from Honolulu, said the same fear that caused some to stay home prompted her to travel to Cleveland.  “People who have privilege - I’m a white woman, I’m a retired lieutenant colonel - have to do this because we can,” said Wright, a former U.S. Army officer and former U.S. diplomat. Protest organizers were not giving up. On Wednesday, a group of immigrant-rights activists donned ponchos with a brick pattern and stood shoulder to shoulder in what they called a human wall. Trump has promised to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. “It’s a beautiful sight,” Ivan Vargas, a 28-year-old business consultant from Atlanta, said as the march kicked off. “These are people who are ready to put their bodies on the line.”  At the end of the event, piles of unworn ponchos remained on the ground.

Summary: उन्होंने क्लीवलैंड में एक सम्मेलन आयोजित किया, और (अब तक) कुछ प्रदर्शनकारी आए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nomination to be ambassador to Singapore of K.T. McFarland, a former security adviser to President Donald Trump, has been delayed due to concerns about her testimony to Congress over communications with Russia, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Tuesday. “Her nomination is frozen for a while until that gets worked out,” Republican Senator Bob Corker told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. Trump earlier this year nominated McFarland, a former deputy national security adviser, to be the U.S. envoy to Singapore.  The foreign relations committee approved the nomination in September despite the opposition of almost every Democratic member, but no vote on McFarland has been scheduled in the full Senate. McFarland said in a written response to a question from Democratic Senator Cory Booker, a foreign relations committee member, that she was “not aware” of communications between Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn and Sergei Kislyak, when Kislyak was ambassador to Russia.  However, the New York Times reported on Monday that it had obtained an email McFarland sent on Dec. 29, 2016, the day former President Barack Obama’s administration authorized new sanctions against Russia, saying Flynn would talk to Kislyak that evening. Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his contacts with Russia, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors delving into the actions of Trump’s inner circle before he took office.

Summary: रूस की चिंताओं के कारण सिंगापुर के राजदूत के रूप में ट्रम्प के पूर्व सहयोगी का नामांकन रुका


(Reuters) - The United Nation s aviation agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Friday condemned North Korea for continued launching of ballistic missiles, which threatened the safety of international civil aviation. The agency urged North Korea to comply with international aviation standards in order to prevent the recurrence of such  potentially hazardous activities .

Summary: आई. सी. ए. ओ. ने उत्तर कोरिया की निंदा की, नियामक अनुपालन का आग्रह किया


BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - The far-right People s Party-Our Slovakia lost Saturday s regional elections, turning the Central European country against the trend of far-right gains in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic in recent months. Right-wing and anti-immigrant parties have been on the rise across Europe after years of slow economic growth and the arrival of more than a million migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa. Slovakia s economy has boomed and the country has seen little immigration, but rising public anger over graft scandals linked to conventional parties has generated support for fringe parties and protest groups. Regional election four years ago saw a surprising first-time victory of People s Party chairman Marian Kotleba as governor in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, and his party won 8 percent of the vote and its first-ever seats in national parliament last year. Support for the party, which has launched a petition to hold a referendum to exit the EU and NATO, has since risen to about 10 percent, making it the third strongest group after leftist Smer and euroskeptic liberals, according to opinion polls. On Saturday, Kotleba lost the reelection bid to an entrepreneur Jan Lunter, a non-partisan endorsed by all parties except the far-right, near-complete results from the Statistics Office showed on Sunday. Kotleba s right hand, the party s deputy chairman Milan Uhrik also lost the governor s race in the southwestern Nitra region. Kotleba and two other lawmakers are facing extremism charges and prosecutors took steps in May to ban the entire party, saying it posed a threat to Slovakia s democratic system. The party, whose members have organized torch-lit marches wearing black uniforms modeled on a World War Two Nazi puppet state, denies any links to fascism. Last year they started patrolling trains, some carrying legally-held weapons, in regions with a strong Roma population. In another upset, Prime Minister Robert Fico s leftist Smer party only won two reelection bids, losing four regions to center-right opposition candidates, a sign of its weakening grip on power in the euro zone country. General elections last year saw Smer s support shrink to 28.3 percent from 44.4 percent in 2012, but it is still the strongest party with double the support of the euroskeptic liberal Freedom and Solidarity party, whose candidate was elected governor of the capital Bratislava region.

Summary: स्लोवाकिया की धुर दक्षिणपंथी पार्टी, सत्तारूढ़ वामपंथी क्षेत्रीय चुनाव हार गए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is crafting a plan for a drawdown of staff from the American embassy in Havana in response to still-unexplained incidents that have harmed the health of some U.S. diplomats there, U.S. and congressional officials said on Thursday. The State Department’s plan, which was being finalized and could be announced within days, would call for the departure of non-essential staff and diplomats’ families, the sources said. But it was unclear whether leaving the island would be voluntary or compulsory, and one U.S. official said some details were still being worked out. U.S. officials say 21 U.S. diplomats and family members have been afflicted by health problems of unknown origin, including hearing loss, dizziness and nausea. Several Canadians have also been affected in Cuba, a Canadian official has said. The Cuban government has denied any role and is conducting an investigation. But it has so far said it has been unable to determine the cause. Proposals for a drawdown have moved forward since  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the case, which has been threatening the already fragile detente between the two former Cold War foes. The State Department is expected to stop short of saying it will close the recently reopened embassy because of the mysterious affair, despite Tillerson having said last week that such a move was under consideration. But a partial evacuation, even one depicted by the Trump administration as a safety measure, would also send a message of U.S. displeasure over Cuba’s handling of the matter and deliver another blow to Obama-era engagement policies with Havana. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Thursday that Tillerson – who is now on his way to Beijing - was reviewing all of his options for “how to best protect our American personnel” in Cuba and that she was not ready to announce any decision. But congressional staffers were briefed on the plan on Thursday, two congressional sources said. Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a harsh critic of the Cuban government, hinted at the State Department’s coming decision. “Any reduction of Americans from @USEmbassyHavana should also require equal number of Castro employees leaving regime’s embassy in U.S.,” he said in a message on Twitter. The State Department declined comment. McClatchy news service was the first to report this week that the United States would soon begin a major withdrawal of Havana staff. Depending on how many diplomats leave, the Havana embassy – the main point of contact for U.S. citizens visiting the island as well as American companies doing business there –  could be left with more of a skeletal staff to handle responsibilities. Though Washington has not cast direct blame on Cuban authorities, the State Department said Tillerson reminded Rodriguez at Tuesday’s meeting of Cuba’s obligation to protect diplomats and their families. In the highest-level U.S.-Cuba meeting since President Donald Trump took office, Rodriguez warned the United States against taking hasty decisions and urged Washington to cooperate with its ongoing investigation. Washington earlier this year expelled two Cuban diplomats over the alleged incidents. The case has brought simmering tensions between the two countries since Trump took office to the boil. Trump, who in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, called the Cuban government “corrupt and destabilizing” in his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week. He said he would not lift the U.S. trade embargo on the Caribbean island until it made “fundamental reforms.” Cuba described his comments as “unacceptable and meddling.”

Summary: अमेरिका हवाना में दूतावास के कर्मचारियों को हटाने की योजना बना रहा हैः सूत्र


YANGON (Reuters) - Human rights monitors on Wednesday urged Myanmar to withdraw a  ban on protests in its largest city, Yangon, amid fears that free speech is under pressure under the government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.  Suu Kyi led efforts to end decades of military rule and won a landmark election in the Buddhist-majority country in 2015, but her civilian government shares power with the military and has no control over the army and police. She has also been roundly criticised in the West for failing to rein in the military over its alleged role in atrocities  against minority Rohingya Muslims which the United Nations has described as textbook ethnic cleansing. The ban on protests, issued this month by a military-controlled ministry, restricts all applications for processions or assemblies in central Yangon in order to avoid  public annoyance and anxiety  and  disturbance of traffic , according to official documents reviewed by Reuters.      The curb came weeks before Pope Francis  visit to Yangon, when he is expected to raise the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled the country after a Myanmar army offensive in August.  It underscores rising concerns over free speech after recent arrests of journalists and activists in Myanmar.   There is no legitimate reason for imposing a ban on all protests in major sections of Burma s largest city,  said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, referring to Myanmar by its old name.   This directive was issued by a military officer and should be seen by the civilian government as a direct challenge to its commitment to basic rights for Burmese citizens. The government needs to reverse this ban and uphold the rule of law and refuse to capitulate to arbitrary actions by the military.  The order, issued by Yangon Region Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Aung Soe Moe, instructs authorities in 11 townships to deny all applications for assemblies. It does not say how long the curb will last.  A senior official from the military-run General Administration Department in Yangon s Ahlone Township confirmed that his office has received the order. He declined to be named as he s not authorized to speak to the media.     Reuters was unable to contact Yangon s police deputy chief by telephone. The office of Yangon s chief minister Phyo Min Thein declined to comment. A Myanmar court last week jailed for two months two journalists along with their interpreter and driver for violating an aircraft law by filming with a drone. Police on Sunday arrested an ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk who has a history of stoking sentiment against the Rohingya.  Since Suu Kyi s government took power last year, 93 people including journalists and activists have been charged or arrested under a controversial law that some worry is used to curb criticism of the authorities, according to advocacy group Research Team for Telecommunications Law.

Summary: मानवाधिकार पर्यवेक्षकों ने सबसे बड़े शहर में विरोध प्रदर्शनों पर म्यांमार के प्रतिबंध की निंदा की


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel s intelligence minister said U.S. President Donald Trump s speech against the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran on Friday was  very significant  and could lead to war given threats that preceded it from Tehran. Israel s Channel 2 TV asked Intelligence Minister Israel Katz whether he saw a risk of war after Trump s speech.  Absolutely, yes. I think that the speech was very significant,  Katz responded.  Iran is the new North Korea. We see where things are goings.

Summary: इजरायल के मंत्री का कहना है कि ट्रम्प के भाषण से ईरान के साथ युद्ध शुरू हो सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines on Friday to reject any new taxes on carbon emissions and oil production. The two non-binding actions were intended to get Republicans on the record opposing higher taxes on fossil fuels amid industry concerns that they could become part of a new tax reform debate in 2017, according to aides and lobbyists. One resolution opposing a carbon tax as detrimental to the U.S. economy, which was led by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and backed by the privately owned Koch Industries Inc, drew support from 237 lawmakers, including 231 Republicans and six Democrats, while 163 Democrats voted against the measure. Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups favor a carbon tax as a way to control emissions. Republican leaders and their industry allies have worried that support for a carbon tax among big oil companies could encourage some Republicans to back such a measure.  A separate resolution against President Barack Obama’s proposed $10-a-barrel oil tax won support from 253 lawmakers, including 230 Republicans and 23 Democrats. One Republican and 143 Democrats voted against the measure. “These taxes would harm businesses and hardworking American families who (are) already struggling with stagnant wages,” Representative Bill Flores, a Texas Republican and former energy industry executive, said in a statement.

Summary: सदन ने प्रतीकात्मक मतों में कार्बन और तेल करों का विरोध किया


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Thursday launched an overhaul of how it handles paid political advertisements, giving a concession to U.S. lawmakers who have threatened to regulate the world s largest social network over secretive ads that run during election campaigns. The company also said it would turn over to congressional investigators the 3,000 political ads that it says were likely purchased by Russian entities during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company, for the first time, would now make it possible for anyone to see any political ads that run on Facebook, no matter whom they target.  Facebook will also demand that political advertisers disclose who is paying for the advertisements, a requirement that under U.S. law applies to political ads on television but not on social media.   We will work with others to create a new standard for transparency in online political ads,  Zuckerberg said.  Zuckerberg, broadcasting live on Facebook from company headquarters in Menlo Park, California, said the changes would help address concerns that governments including Russia are using Facebook ads to meddle in other countries  elections. Earlier this month, Facebook said an internal review had shown that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on 3,000 Facebook ads promoting divisive messages in the months before and after last year s U.S. presidential election. The company initially declined to turn over details on the ads to Congress. U.S. congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller are examining alleged Russian election interference, which Moscow has denied. Investigators are interested in other companies as well. Representatives for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) are set to meet next week with staff from the Senate Intelligence Committee in relation to inquiries into the 2016 election.  Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Thursday that he wants to hear from Facebook, Alphabet Inc s (GOOGL.O) Google, Twitter and others in public hearings.   It will be important for the committee to scrutinize how rigorous Facebook s internal investigation has been, to test its conclusions and to understand why it took as long as it did,  Schiff said in a statement. The political advertising changes represent a retreat for Facebook, which for years has resisted calls from transparency advocates and academics for the regulation of political ads. The company has instead treated them like all commercial ads. In the days after the November 2016 U.S. election, Zuckerberg said it was a  crazy idea  to think that misinformation on Facebook swayed the vote toward President Donald Trump.  Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, this month compared political ads on social media to the  wild, wild West  and said legislation might be needed to address them.  The U.S. Federal Election Commission last week sought public comment on possible regulatory changes to digital ads and considered whether to call Facebook and other tech firms before the commission for a public hearing.  Facebook has grown to be the leading online platform for political ads because of its low costs and tools for targeting messages to narrow audiences.  U.S. political campaigns likely spent $300 million on Facebook ads during the 2016 election cycle, according to Nomura analysts, though the exact amount is unknown.  It remained unclear whether Facebook s voluntary changes would satisfy demands for government action.  Warner and another senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, on Thursday sent a letter to colleagues inviting them to be co-sponsors of legislation they are writing that would formalize and expand the commitments Zuckerberg made.  The legislation, they wrote, would require digital platforms with 1 million or more users to maintain a publicly available file of all election-related ads bought by people who spend more than $10,000, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.  Trevor Potter, president of the pro-transparency Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement that his group would  carefully monitor Facebook s implementation of this new policy.  He said Facebook  helped create the secrecy that gave rise to foreign interference in the 2016 elections.  In the past, Facebook has argued that ad details had to remain confidential unless released by the advertisers. Zuckerberg, who returned to work on Thursday after a month of paternity leave, laid out other steps the company would take to prevent governments from using Facebook to manipulate each other s elections.  He said Facebook would hire 250 additional people; expand partnerships with election commissions around the world; and adapt systems to help deter political bullying.  Facebook has not found an attempt at election-meddling in Germany, Zuckerberg said, but he added that the company would continue to examine fake accounts that it has removed in advance of Sunday s German national election.   I don t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That s not what we stand for,  Zuckerberg said.  Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said in a blog post on Thursday that it was unusual for Facebook to voluntarily turn over information to government authorities, as it was doing by giving U.S. lawmakers copies of ads. The company has long had a rigid policy of refusing to turn over any user information without a court order or other legal process.   But ultimately, Stretch wrote,  We believe the public deserves a full accounting of what happened in the 2016 election.

Summary: अमेरिकी नियमन की धमकी के बाद फेसबुक राजनीतिक विज्ञापनों में बदलाव करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sees value in the New START arms control treaty with Russia, despite Washington’s concerns about Moscow’s track record on arms control and other issues, senior U.S. officials said on Friday. The remarks by the Trump administration officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, suggest the treaty will remain in force and the door remains open to pursuing an extension of the accord, which is set to expire in 2021. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty gives both countries until February 2018 to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550, the lowest level in decades. It also limits deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers. Reuters has reported that President Donald Trump, in his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized the New START treaty, saying it favored Moscow. But one of the Trump administration officials said on Friday the United States was not looking to discard New START. Senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have questioned Russia’s reliability on arms control, citing longstanding U.S. allegations that Russia has violated the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Russia denies treaty violations and accuses the United States of them. The accusations come amid a nosedive in U.S.-Russian relations. U.S. intelligence agencies accuse Russia of meddling in the U.S. presidential election, which Moscow denies, and recent tit-for-tat exchanges between Washington and Moscow include moves to slash each others’ diplomatic presence. The tensions have reached Syria, where the United States and Russia are backing different forces that are scrambling to claim what is left of Islamic State-held territory. Russia warned the United States on Thursday it would target U.S.-backed militias in Syria if Russian troops again came under fire. Still, a second senior Trump administration official said Friday the United States was seeking ways to improve communication with Moscow and build some degree of trust, which the official described as non-existent. Trump took office saying he wanted to improve ties strained since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, which led Washington to impose sanctions on Russia. Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko met Trump on Thursday and said afterward that they had a shared vision of a “new level” of defense cooperation. But the second senior Trump administration official said there had been no decision on whether to provide defensive arms to Ukraine, something Kiev has long wanted.

Summary: तनाव के बावजूद, अमेरिका रूस के साथ न्यू स्टार्ट संधि का महत्व देखता है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described the United Arab Emirates foreign minister as impertinent and spoiled by money on Thursday after he retweeted accusations that Ottoman forces looted the holy city of Medina during World War One. Without naming him, Erdogan said UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan - who shared a tweet accusing Ottoman troops led by Fakhreddin Pasha of stealing money and manuscripts from Medina in 1916 - was ignorant.  Some impertinent man sinks low and goes as far as accusing our ancestors of thievery ... What spoiled this man? He was spoiled by oil, by the money he has,  Erdogan told an awards ceremony at his Ankara palace.  When my ancestors were defending Medina, you impudent (man), where were yours? First, you have to give account for this,  he added.  The United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, sees Erdogan s Islamist-rooted ruling party as a friend of Islamist forces the UAE opposes across the Arab world. Relations were further strained by Ankara s support for Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on the Gulf emirate in June. Two months later, Sheikh Abdullah criticized what he called Turkey and Iran s  colonial  actions in Syria, though Turkey and the UAE have both opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Medina, now part of Saudi Arabia, was under Ottoman rule until the empire s collapse at the end of World War One. On Wednesday, Erdogan said Fakhreddin Pasha, who led the Ottoman forces, had not stolen from Medina or its people but strived to protect the city - where the Prophet Muhammad was buried - and its occupants during a time of war.  Believe me, this man who insulted us, who disrespected us, wouldn t even know what the holy relics are. They are ignorant like this,  Erdogan said.

Summary: तुर्की के राष्ट्रपति ने संयुक्त अरब अमीरात के मंत्री को तुर्क लूट विवाद में अभेद्य बताया


DHAKA (Reuters) - Two journalists from Myanmar, who had been detained in Bangladesh while reporting on the influx of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, have been released on bail, a police official said on Saturday. The journalists, Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat, were detained in early September in the Cox s Bazar border region of Bangladesh, where refugees are arriving from Myanmar to escape a military offensive against insurgents.   A court granted them bail, but they can t go back to their country now,  police official Ranajit Kumar Barua, told Reuters by telephone, adding that the court would decide whether the two could leave the country at a separate hearing which may take place sometime in the next week. The two were arrested for violating immigration laws, but no charge sheet against the two has been filed yet, said Barua, denying reports that the two had been charged with espionage activities.  A lawyer for the two journalists also confirmed their release, but did not provide any further detail.   Bangladesh police had said that the pair were detained for engaging in journalistic work for a German magazine, while on tourist visas. Some 429,000 refugees from Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts triggered a Myanmar army crackdown in response. Germany s GEO magazine, which had assigned Minzayar Oo to cover the Rohingya crisis, said he had traveled to Bangladesh on Sept. 6, and was detained the next day. Minzayar Oo is one of Myanmar s most prominent photographers and has worked for various media outlets, covering the country s emergence from military rule. He has previously worked as a contractor with Reuters.  Hkun Lat is also a well-known photographer in Myanmar and has won prizes for his coverage of conflict in frontier regions.

Summary: बांग्लादेश ने म्यांमार में हिरासत में लिए गए दो पत्रकारों को जमानत दी


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Pro-independence parties may fail to retain an absolute majority of seats in the Catalan parliament in regional elections next month, a poll published on Sunday showed, with pro-unity  parties poised to increase their vote share. Failure to win a majority in the regional parliament would be a blow for Catalan separatists who have billed the Dec. 21 election as a de-facto plebiscite on Madrid s decision to impose direct rule on the wealthy region last month. Following Spain s worst political crisis in decades, the sacking of the secessionist Catalan government in October has  a eased tensions for the moment, although victory for the pro-independence camp in December would plunge the northeast region back into uncertainty. Catalan separatist parties are predicted to win 46 percent of the vote, down slightly from 47.7 percent in a previous election in 2015. Unionist parties combined would account for another 46 percent of votes, up from less than 40 percent last time, according to the poll by Metroscopia. The poll shows pro-independence parties winning 67 seats, one short of the absolute majority they would need to retain control of the regional parliament.  Unionists forces would also fall short a majority in this scenario, although the poll suggests a high number of voters, around 23 percent, remain undecided. The staunchly unionist center-right party Citizens looks set to cement its position as the largest opposition force with 25.3 percent of votes, gaining from the Catalan wing of Prime Minister Rajoy s conservative Popular Party which drops to 5.8 percent and loses five of its 11 seats. Turnout for the election, which former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Saturday would be the most important in the region s history, is predicted to reach a record 80 percent.

Summary: कैटलन चुनाव से पहले अलगाववादियों और संघवादियों ने समर्थन के लिए गठबंधन कियाः सर्वेक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled the names of 11 judges - eight men and three women, all white and all conservative - he would consider, if elected, to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Six of them are judges who were appointed to federal appeals courts around the country by Republican former President George W. Bush. The other five serve on various state supreme courts. Scalia’s replacement could tip the ideological balance of the court, which now is evenly divided with four conservative justices and four liberals. Scalia, who died in February, was one of the court’s most conservative justices. “We’re going to choose from, most likely from this list,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. But Trump said he could deviate from the list and added, “At a minimum we will keep people within this general realm.”  All of Trump’s 11 judges are listed as affiliated with the Federalist Society on the influential conservative legal group’s website. The organization is known as a breeding ground for conservative legal thinkers. It is unusual for a presidential candidate to release names of potential Supreme Court or Cabinet nominees before winning an election. But Trump is working to assure conservatives in his own party that, if elected president on Nov. 8, he would not appoint a liberal or moderate to the court. Trump allies had encouraged him to announce the names of potential court nominees to allay fears among conservatives wary of a Trump presidency. Trump’s list includes: Steven Colloton of Iowa, a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Raymond Gruender of Missouri, also a judge on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. It also includes: Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, a judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals; William Pryor of Alabama, a judge on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The state supreme court jurists include: Allison Eid of Colorado; Joan Larsen of Michigan; Thomas Lee of Utah; David Stras of Minnesota; and Don Willett of Texas. Democratic President Barack Obama in March named centrist appellate court judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy. But the Republican-led Senate has refused to hold confirmation hearings or a vote, insisting that Obama’s successor should get to select Scalia’s replacement.  Trump said in a statement that the 11 judges were “representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value” and said he would use the list as a guide for nominating a justice. Willett in the past year has posted several comments on Twitter mocking Trump, even referring to him as “Darth Trump,” a twist on the “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader. Willett last June posted about imagining Trump selecting a Supreme Court nominee. “The mind reels. *weeps—can’t finish tweet*,” Willett wrote, suggesting he was crying at the idea. Asked to comment on Willett’s Twitter remarks, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, “Mr. Trump’s sole focus is considering the best potential individuals based on their constitutional principles.” Lee is the brother of Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate. “I don’t know everyone on the list, but those I do know would all be great Supreme Court Justices. Of course, I do believe one name on that list stands head and shoulders above the rest,” said Mike Lee, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that would consider any nomination. Sykes is the former wife of conservative Wisconsin radio host Charles Sykes, who posted on Twitter that she would make a great justice but added, “I simply don’t believe Trump.” Several of the judges have ruled against abortion and reproductive rights. Sykes, Colloton and Pryor have ruled against the Obama administration regarding religious objections to the contraception coverage requirement of the Obamacare healthcare law.  White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at his daily briefing that he would be surprised if any Democrat would describe any of Trump’s picks “as a consensus nominee.” “But the individual President Obama has put forward is somebody that Republicans have described as a consensus nominee,” Earnest said of Garland, adding that it would be wise for the Senate to act on Obama’s nominee. Liberal advocacy group People for the American Way said  Trump’s list included “conservative dream justices.” Most of the 11 judges did not respond to requests for comment.  “Joan Larsen is working along with the rest of Michigan’s Supreme Court to provide common-sense, rule-of-law justice. That is her focus and will remain her focus,” her campaign spokesman Stu Sandler said. Larsen was appointed to the post and is running for election to a full term.

Summary: ट्रंप ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट के 11 संभावित उम्मीदवारों की पहचान की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two U.S. Senators representing California said on Friday they will propose a federal task force to investigate the cause and response to the massive natural gas leak near Los Angeles. Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein announced they will introduce an amendment to a national energy bill being debated by the Senate that would direct U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to lead a task force that will recommend how to solve the ongoing methane leak and prevent future incidents. Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility, which sprung a leak in October that has not yet been sealed, has raised alarms about the danger of aging oil and gas infrastructure. There is little oversight of the 400 underground natural gas storage facilities in 30 U.S. states. “We have a responsibility not only to address this leak, but also to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,” Feinstein said in a statement. The amendment is one of nearly 100 that senators have introduced or plan to offer next week, as the Senate works to pass the country’s first major energy bill in over eight years. The bill, which aims to modernize the country’s aging energy infrastructure, is one of the few in Congress to have bipartisan support. Senate Majority Leader McConnell said he expects the legislation to pass late next week, after members vote on the list of amendments. The California senators’ proposal would direct Moniz to lead a six-member intergovernmental task force to study the impacts of the leak on affected communities as well as the environment and issue its findings within six months. Those findings and subsequent updates would help agencies such as the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) help respond to the leak. The task force would recommend whether to continue operations at Aliso Canyon and other facilities in close proximity to densely populated areas. Other amendments the Senate will consider next week include a proposal by Michigan Democrats to deal with another environmental crisis - lead water contamination in Flint. The proposal would also direct $200 million for a research center to focus on the needs of children, and would also require the EPA to warn the public of high lead levels in drinking water if a state fails to do so.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के सीनेटरों ने अमेरिकी ऊर्जा बिल में मीथेन रिसाव कार्य बल की मांग की


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democrats in Illinois’ House of Representatives on Monday offered Republicans a four-year freeze on local property taxes that has been a key sticking point in the state’s historic budget impasse. It was not clear whether the legislation represented a break in the political logjam that has left the country’s fifth-largest state without a full-year operating budget for two fiscal years and threatens to downgrade its credit rating to junk. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-led legislature face a Friday deadline to pass a budget or risk the consequences of a third-straight year of fiscal futility, including the halt of state-funded road projects and a suspension from national lottery programs. A committee hearing is set for Tuesday on a bill, filed Monday by a top Democratic ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan, to freeze property taxes for four years through 2020, except for Chicago.  Under state Representative Michael Zalewski’s plan, debt-service and pension payments would be excluded from the freeze, and cash-strapped school systems that have been placed on a financial watch list by Illinois would be exempt, including Chicago’s struggling public school system. While Senate Democrats passed a two-year tax freeze last month, Rauner and lawmakers from his party have been pushing for a four-year freeze on property taxes. Madigan told reporters on Monday that a House Democratic spending outline would be made public on Tuesday before a planned meeting of the four legislative leaders, but he declined to offer details. “Once that’s in place, the question is: ‘Can we work together to find the revenue to pay for that spending plan?’ That’s where we come up against Governor Rauner’s demands for an extreme-right agenda,” Madigan said. Rauner has also insisted on changes to pensions and the way injured workers are compensated by employers, as well as term limits for certain state officials. Madigan revealed his own demands on Sunday, including a school funding revamp bill already passed both chambers. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin insisted that any tax increase match the duration of a property tax freeze before he would be willing to help secure Republican votes. “We’re looking at four years on both, and nothing more than that,” Durkin told reporters at a news conference in the state capital. Rauner’s office directed an inquiry from Reuters to Durkin’s office. A spokesman for Durkin later declined specific comment on Zalewski’s legislation, saying only it was being reviewed.

Summary: इलिनोइस हाउस डेमोक्रेट्स ने बजट गतिरोध को समाप्त करने के लिए कर फ्रीज को आगे बढ़ाया


LONDON (Reuters) - Half of Britons support a second vote on whether to leave the European Union and a majority think the government may be paying too much money to the EU to open the way to trade talks, according to a new opinion poll.    The poll, published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, found 50 percent of people supported another vote on the final terms of Britain s exit deal, 34 percent rejected another referendum and 16 percent said they did not know. The newspaper said it was the first major opinion poll since last week s media reports that Britain is preparing to pay about 50 billion euros ($59 billion) to help to move on to talks on a future trade pact with the EU. Mike Smithson, an election analyst who runs the www.politicalbetting.com website and a former Liberal Democrat politician, said on Twitter it was  the first time any pollster has recorded backing  for a second Brexit referendum. Since the referendum in 2016, high profile opponents of Britain s exit - from French President Emmanuel Macron, to former British prime minister Tony Blair and billionaire investor George Soros - have suggested Britain could change its mind and avoid what they say will be disastrous for the British economy. Blair said on Sunday he was trying to reverse Brexit because claims by the leave campaign, such as the National Health Service getting an extra 350 million pounds a week once Britain leaves the EU, have been proved false. Blair told the BBC that the government aims in the Brexit negotiations will fail because it wants to leave the single market, but retain all of the benefits, and voters can change their minds.  It s reversible. It s not done until it s done,  he said.  When the facts change, I think people are entitled to change their mind.  Brexit supporters argue any attempt to halt the exit process would be anti-democratic. According to the Survation poll only 11 percent of voters said Britain should pay 50 billion pounds to quit the EU, while 31 percent said the government should not pay anything at all.   The poll also found 35 percent of those surveyed said they would be worse off financially after Brexit, while 14 percent said they would be better off. The online poll, carried out by research firm Survation, interviewed 1,003 adults in Britain between 30 November and 1 December. Survation said it carries out polls for media organizations including the BBC, Sky News, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. The polling agency correctly predicted a narrowing in the vote between the ruling Conservative party and the opposition Labour Party in this summer s general election that resulted in May leading a minority government. ($1 = 0.8411 euros)

Summary: आधे ब्रिटेनियों ने ब्रेक्सिट पर दूसरे मतदान का समर्थन किया, सर्वेक्षण में पाया गया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The collapse of talks on a new German government means that the euro zone s ambitious plans for deeper economic integration could be put on hold, euro zone officials said on Tuesday. German government coalition talks collapsed on Sunday night as the liberal FDP party pulled out after weeks of  exploratory  talks, plunging the euro zone s most important economy into political uncertainty and raising the prospect of new elections. Euro zone leaders are to set a direction for deeper euro zone economic integration at a summit in the middle of December, at which Germany s input is crucial.  As long as Germany does not have a clear position, it will by default not agree to anything. Therefore, delay is the most likely option,  one senior euro zone official involved in the euro zone integration talks said. The summit is to launch six months of work that would lead  decisions in June 2018 on whether or not the single currency area should have a budget, a finance minister and a euro zone assembly in the European Parliament. The deeper integration push, championed by French President Emmanuel Macron, also includes the transformation of the euro zone bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund and the creation of a sovereign insolvency mechanism.  Things will go on hold until there is a formal acting German government,  a second euro zone official said.  At this stage I don t see what steps the leaders could take in December or June for deepening euro zone integration when there is a German government without a mandate,  he said. Some officials said that a potential delay in the euro zone integration talks was not a big issue because they concerned the future architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), now encompassing 19 countries.  There is nothing that makes new decisions on the EMU especially urgent, so I don t believe this to be a real problem,  a third senior euro zone official said.  The June deadline can always be moved, if need be,  the official said. But others noted the initial timing of the talks was to make use of a  window of opportunity  in 2018, when no major euro zone countries, except Italy, or EU institutions had to face elections and were therefore free to focus on euro zone reforms. If the talks were delayed, decisions on key issues, often sensitive politically, could be pushed back toward 2019   a year of elections to the European Parliament, the formation of a new European Commission and choosing new heads of the European Central Bank and the chairman of EU leaders. An official involved in preparations for the December summit said it would go ahead as planned.  National elections happening all the time, all over Europe, are no reason to stop our work,  the official said. But others said they expected the mandate that leaders would give to the Commission for further work on euro zone integration would probably be weaker than it would have otherwise been if no German government is in place by then.

Summary: जर्मन सरकार की कमी ने यूरो क्षेत्र एकीकरण योजनाओं को रोक दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denounced football players who have protested racism by kneeling or locking arms during the playing of the national anthem before games, saying that even though their speech is protected, they should be condemned for showing disrespect to the country. Speaking to an audience at Georgetown Law School, Sessions said athletes who chose to protest during the national anthem were making a “big mistake” with an action that “weakens the commitment we have to this nation.” Sessions was at Georgetown to deliver an address about free speech on college campuses. Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump called on the National Football League to ban players from kneeling in protest while the anthem is played. “The players aren’t subject to any prosecution, but if they take a provocative act, they can expect to be condemned, and the president has the right to condemn them, and I would condemn their actions,” he said. Sessions is the latest member of the Trump administration to jump into the fray over national anthem protests by National Football League teams. Trump has been fueling debate on the issue since Friday, when he spoke at a rally and said that any protesting player was a “son of a bitch” who should be “fired.” He has since kept up the pressure through a series of Twitter messages. But his comments have touched off a series of protests by NFL players, coaches and some owners at football games. The comments may play well with Trump’s conservative base at a time when the Republican president is grappling with North Korea’s nuclear threats, a humanitarian crisis in hurricane-struck Puerto Rico, an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a healthcare struggle in Congress.  Sessions made his remarks about the NFL protests following a speech he gave on free speech, in which he said the Justice Department is going to start taking greater steps to protect the rights of speakers on college campuses whom he fears are being censored by student protesters. When asked during a question and answer session afterwards if he was concerned that President Trump was condemning players for exercising their free speech rights, Sessions said that “the president has free speech rights too.”

Summary: अमेरिकी अटॉर्नी जनरल ने फ्री-स्पीच टॉक में एन. एफ. एल. विरोध प्रदर्शनों पर ट्रम्प का बचाव किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Corruption charges against a union leader and a financier stemming from state and federal investigations that include an examination of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign fundraising practices are casting a cloud over his office and could possibly complicate his re-election bid. The arrests on Wednesday of the head of New York City’s prison guard union and a hedge fund financier accused of orchestrating a bribery scheme involving union retirement and operating funds were the first to emerge from the probes. Although the charges were not linked to de Blasio, who won a landslide victory in 2013, the case is the first major prosecution to emerge from several overlapping state and federal corruption probes examining de Blasio’s fundraising practices, among other avenues of inquiry.  David Birdsell, dean of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs, said on Wednesday the investigations were “keeping him off message,” noting that de Blasio was on occasion having to avoid the press because of incessant questions. On Wednesday his office said the investigations were not distracting the mayor. “New Yorkers will vote for the candidate who gets things done for their families and communities,” said Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for de Blasio. “That person is Mayor de Blasio.” Still, there is evidence that the investigations are affecting the mayor’s standing, Birdsell said.  If they drag on and raise more questions they will not only be a distraction for the mayor but possibly encourage a challenge from his own party.  “Right now people smell some blood in the water,” Birdsell said. He said if the mayor becomes directly implicated in the investigations it would turn a contested Democratic primary mayoral race next year into a certainty from a likelihood. On Wednesday at a public appearance, de Blasio reiterated that he was “absolutely comfortable that we have done things properly.” He has said his administration committed no wrongdoing and is cooperating fully with investigators. In April, de Blasio’s office received subpoenas from state and federal prosecutors pursuing coordinated corruption probes that extended from City Hall to the police department. News of the subpoenas came days after a leaked January report from the state Board of Elections accusing the mayor and others of intentionally evading campaign finance contribution limits in 2014. The mayor’s counsel said at the time de Blasio had not been personally served. The once popular de Blasio, who struck a cord with New Yorkers after 12 years of Michael Bloomberg’s mayoralty, has seen his approval rating fall to a new low in May, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.  De Blasio will be up for re-election in 2017. The latest poll, conducted in the first week of June among 600 likely Democratic mayoral primary voters and published on Wednesday, showed 38 percent believed de Blasio deserved reelection while 43 percent said he did not.   The poll was conducted by NYC Deserves Better, a group formed by Bradley Tusk, a businessman and former campaign manager for Michael Bloomberg who wants a new mayor to be elected. The poll found that in a potential match up, de Blasio was neck-and-neck with City Comptroller Scott Stringer.    However, the poll also found that 51 percent had a ‘very positive’ or ‘somewhat positive’ opinion of the mayor, and 32 percent had a ‘somewhat negative’ or ‘very negative’ opinion. De Blasio brushed off questions about the poll and said he was committed to focusing on the job.  “Polls come and go. They go up. They go down. They don’t always reflect what happens in elections,” he said. “I believe fundamentally that the goal is to do the work, do it well

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क के मेयर जांच जारी रहने के कारण आगे भी बने रहने का प्रयास कर रहे हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said German Chancellor Angela Merkel was wrong to let in thousands of migrants into Germany and that the refugee crisis could trigger revolutions and even the end of Europe. “I think Angela Merkel made a tragic mistake with the migrants,” Trump told French conservative weekly Valeurs Actuelles, which said it was the billionaire’s first in-depth campaign interview with European media. “If you don’t treat the situation competently and firmly, yes, it’s the end of Europe. You could face real revolutions,” Trump was quoted as saying, according to the French translation. The 69-year-old property magnate also said Brussels had become a breeding ground for terrorists and some neighborhoods in Paris and elsewhere in France had become no-go zones. “Unfortunately, France is not what it used to be, and neither is Paris,” he said. He also said tight French gun laws were partly responsible for the killing of dozens of people at the Bataclan concert hall last November by Islamist militants. “I always have a gun with me. Had I been at the Bataclan, I can tell you I would have opened fire,” he said. Trump further said he thought the United States could have very good relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and that nothing could be worse than the current situation where President Barack Obama and Putin scarcely spoke with each other. “He (Putin) said I was brilliant. That proves a certain smartness,” said Trump. The French magazine said the interview was conducted at Trump’s office in New York’s Trump Tower a week before the Iowa caucuses, in which he finished second among candidates seeking the Republican nomination for November’s presidential election.   Trump was widely expected to win Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, which is part of the state-by-state process of picking party nominees for the Nov. 8 election to replace Democratic President Barack Obama.      (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Mark Heinrich) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: प्रवासियों को लेकर ट्रंप ने मर्केल को लताड़ा, कहा-अमेरिका के पुतिन के साथ अच्छे संबंध हो सकते हैं


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Three UCLA men s basketball players were arrested in China for shoplifting on Tuesday, media said, a day before U.S. President Donald Trump arrived on his first official visit. The players arrested were freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, according to USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and ESPN, all of which cited unnamed sources familiar with the incident. Ball is the younger brother of National Basketball Association rookie Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers. Reached by telephone at a hotel in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Wednesday, Ball declined to comment. ESPN said the three had been picked up by police at their hotel on Tuesday  and released on bail early on Wednesday. They were confined to their hotel pending legal proceedings, it said. The University of California, Los Angeles, declined to confirm the arrests but said it was  aware of a situation involving UCLA student-athletes in Hangzhou, China .  The university is cooperating fully with local authorities on this matter, and we have no further comment at this time,  UCLA Athletics said in a statement provided by spokeswoman Shana Wilson. The UCLA team had arrived in China on Sunday with plans to play Georgia Tech in both teams  regular-season opener on Saturday, according to statements from both teams. It traveled to Hangzhou, about three hours by bus from Shanghai, to visit the campus of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), sponsor of the annual Pac-12 games in China. The three players were questioned about stealing from a Louis Vuitton store next to the hotel where the team is staying, ESPN said. UCLA representatives, including coach Steve Alford, were at the police station while they were there, it said, citing an unidentified source. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement the conference was  disappointed by any situation that detracts from the positive student-athlete educational and cultural experience that this week is about.   Whether in the United States or abroad, we expect our student-athletes to uphold the highest standards. We will continue to closely monitor the situation,  he said. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday the Chinese government had reported the case to the U.S. side in accordance with consular agreements.  China is handling this case in accordance with the law and will guarantee the lawful rights in accordance with the law of those involved in this case,  she said. In a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday by Arash Markazi, a senior writer at ESPN, LaVar Ball said his son, LiAngelo, would be fine.  He ll be fine. Everyone s making it a big deal. It ain t that big a deal,  said Ball, the outspoken CEO of athletic apparel maker Big Baller Brand. Chinese President Xi Jinping led Trump on a private tour of the Forbidden City to kick off his visit on Wednesday. White House officials could not be immediately reached for  comment. Alibaba declined to comment, as did the Hangzhou police. A U.S. State Department official said the department was aware of reports of three citizens arrested in China and stood ready to provide assistance but had no further comment due to privacy considerations. Three players from Georgia Tech were questioned by the authorities in China on Tuesday at their hotel in Hangzhou but were later released by police, Georgia Tech athletics spokesman Mike Flynn said in a statement.  During the questioning, it was determined that Georgia Tech student-athletes were not involved in the activities being investigated. They have resumed their scheduled activities,  Flynn said.

Summary: ट्रम्प की यात्रा से पहले चीन में यू. सी. एल. ए. बास्केटबॉल खिलाड़ियों को गिरफ्तार किया गयाः रिपोर्ट


TOKYO (Reuters) - The international community must remain united and enforce sanctions against North Korea after its repeated launch of ballistic missiles, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an editorial published in the New York Times on Sunday. Abe s editorial was published before world leaders gather in New York for a United Nations General Assembly meeting this week, where North Korea s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are expected to loom large over proceedings. North Korea launched a missile over Japan on Friday, its second in the past three weeks, and conducted its sixth and by far most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, in defiance of international pressure. Such tests are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and show that North Korea can now target the United States or Europe, Abe said. Diplomacy and dialogue will not work with North Korea and concerted pressure by the entire international community is essential to tackle the threats posed by North Korea, Abe wrote. A week ago, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth sanctions resolution since 2006 over North Korea s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Summary: जापान के आबे ने उत्तर कोरिया के खिलाफ प्रतिबंधों को लागू करने का आह्वान कियाः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leadership of the largest group of Republican conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday it opposed the deal President Donald Trump struck with Democrats to tie together legislation to provide hurricane aid and both raise the debt ceiling and fund the government into December. In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, first reported by the Axios news outlet, Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker expressed concern the deal could worsen the trajectory on spending without providing for any fiscal reforms.

Summary: हाउस रूढ़िवादी समूह ऋण, खर्च पर ट्रम्प सौदे के खिलाफ खड़ा है


BONN, Germany (Reuters) - China has a chance to assert leadership of a global plan to combat global warming this week at the first U.N. climate talks since U.S. President Donald Trump decided to quit the 195-nation Paris Agreement, delegates say. Government experts are to work on a  rule book  for the 2015 climate pact at the Nov. 6-17 annual meeting in Bonn, Germany. The accord seeks to end the fossil fuel era this century with a shift to wind, solar and other clean energies. Trump once dismissed climate change as a Chinese hoax to harm the U.S. economy and said in June that he would pull out of the agreement and instead promote U.S. coal and oil. A formal U.S. withdrawal will take until 2020. No other nation has followed his lead. U.S. influence is likely to wane compared to other big greenhouse emitters led by China, the European Union and India even though Washington will still have a place at the table in Bonn.  The rest of the world, including all major emerging economies, has made it clear that it is committed to the Paris Agreement,  Maldives Environment Minister Thor Abraham, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (OASIS), told Reuters. China, on track to beat its goal of a peak in carbon emissions in 2030, seems best placed to step up leadership of an agreement largely designed by Washington under former president Barack Obama, many delegates say. The meeting  will be a great free advertisement for China,  one European environment minister said. And Beijing plans to launch a nationwide carbon market this year, albeit delayed from the first half.  The results (in Bonn) will prove that this (Paris) process has certainly not stopped,  China s top climate official, Xi Zhenhua, told a news conference last week. He expressed hopes that Washington will end up staying in the Paris pact. Adding urgency, 2017 is set to be the second warmest on record, behind 2016, according to NASA. And 2017 has had weather extremes of hurricanes, floods and drought-fuelled wildfires. Fiji will preside at the Bonn talks, the first small island nation to do so in more than two decades of U.N. climate negotiations. That may give OASIS, at risk from rising seas, unprecedented influence.      The Paris rule book, including details of how to measure and report emissions, is due to be in place by the end of 2018. Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said governments will face a tougher test in coming years when they have to ratchet up national ambitions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The United Nations says average temperatures will rise about three degrees Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times by 2100 with existing policies, against a Paris goal of keeping them  well below  two degrees (3.6F), ideally 1.5 (2.7F). And on Friday, U.S. scientists released a report saying it was  extremely likely  that human activities are the main source of warming, contradicting Trump s views.  The U.S. has painted itself into a corner,  isolated both from other nations and from mainstream science, Christiana Figures, who was the U.N. climate chief in Paris, told Reuters.

Summary: चीन संयुक्त राष्ट्र में जलवायु नेतृत्व को समझ सकता है. ट्रम्प के हटने के साथ बातचीत