BARCELONA (Reuters) - Supporters of Catalan independence began occupying polling stations on Friday, setting up a possible confrontation with police who have been ordered to clear them out by Sunday morning to ensure a referendum cannot go ahead. The central government, which has sent thousands of police reinforcements to stop people voting and has attempted to dismantle the infrastructure needed to conduct the referendum it says is illegal, insisted it would not go ahead. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont told Reuters in an interview, however:  Everything is prepared at the more than 2,000 voting points so they have ballot boxes and voting slips, and have everything people need to express their opinion.   Bands played at a closing rally for the referendum campaign in Barcelona where people constructed the slogan  Referendum is democracy  in big white letters on a stage in front of a cheering crowd, many draped in the red-and-yellow Catalan flag. People preparing to camp out in polling stations in order to defy court orders to close them were also in high spirits. At one Barcelona school, Hector, a 43-year-old local, said five or six families would be spending the night.  We want to make sure the school is open for activities and at night when they might come to clear us out or empty it, there will be families sleeping or people in the street,  he said, adding that they planned to play ping-pong and cook a fideua seafood dish on Saturday. The head of the Catalan regional police ordered officers to evacuate and close polling stations by 6 a.m. on Sunday, before the voting is due to open at 9 a.m.  In an internal memo published by La Vanguardia newspaper, the police chief said force should be used only as a last resort.  At all times, before using force, you must take into account what might be the consequences of this police action and avoid the escalation of this situation, especially when there are children, elderly or other vulnerable people amongst the crowd,  the document, whose authenticity was confirmed by a police spokeswoman, said. So far, the Catalan police, known as the Mossos, a force that is held in affection in the region, particularly after the Islamist attacks in August, have shown a friendly face.  The Mossos have come to see what we are doing and they ve seen we re having a party,  said 45-year-old Ferran Taberner who was at the school with his daughter.  If it gets complicated we ll stay inside peacefully and they won t move us.   Organizers said 60,000 people had registered to participate in the mass school sleepover which they say will show  peaceful resistance , even if they are prevented from voting.  I don t believe there will be anyone who will use violence or who will want to provoke violence that will tarnish the irreproachable image of the Catalan independence movement as pacifist,  Puigdemont said. At a news conference, regional officials displayed one of the white plastic ballot boxes bearing the crest of the regional government. Puigdemont has said more than 6,000 were being kept in a secret place. Police have confiscated thousands of voting slips, and courts have fined and threatened to arrest regional officials. Catalonia s High Court ordered Google (GOOG.O) to delete a smartphone application that the Catalan government was using to spread information about the vote. A company spokeswoman said Google removes content when it receives a court order. Madrid, which claims the authority of a constitution that declares the country to be indivisible, remained implacably opposed to the vote, but also expressed the hope Sunday would be peaceful.  I insist that there will be no referendum on Oct. 1,  government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said, adding that organizers would face criminal charges for trying to hold it. In a sign that large crowds are expected on the streets on Sunday, department store chain El Corte Ingles said it would shut three stores in central Barcelona. The central government said airspace above the city would be partly restricted. Credit rating agency S&P said that while it did not it expect Catalonia, a wealthy region that borders France, to secede from Spain, protracted tensions between Madrid and Barcelona could have a negative impact on the country s economic growth outlook.

Summary: जनमत संग्रह रोकने के मैड्रिड के आदेश की अवहेलना करने के लिए कैटेलन लोगों ने मतदान केंद्रों पर कब्जा कर लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said on Wednesday she opposed President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court and called for Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to require a 60-vote threshold. Trump, a Republican, announced his nomination of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Gorsuch on Tuesday night to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year. “I plan to stand up for individuals over corporations and oppose his nomination, and I will insist that his nomination meet a traditional 60 vote threshold,” Gillibrand said in a statement.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट गिलिब्रैंड ने ट्रम्प के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के उम्मीदवार का विरोध किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - A field commander for the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa said the alliance was carrying out clearing operations against Islamic State and expected to control the city by the end of Monday.  Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish leader who co-chairs the SDF s political wing, said she expected the end of the Raqqa offensive to be announced  within hours or days , but a U.S.-led coalition spokesman said he could not put a timeline on it. (This version of the story clarifies title of leader affiliated with SDF)

Summary: एस. डी. एफ. में फील्ड कमांडर को उम्मीद है कि रक्का लड़ाई सोमवार को समाप्त हो जाएगी।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said he will make a major announcement at 4 p.m. on Wednesday but gave no other details.  Speaking to reporters in Indianapolis, Cruz’s comments come amid reports that the U.S. senator from Texas is vetting former business executive Carly Fiorina as a possible vice presidential pick.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार क्रूज़ शाम 4 बजे घोषणा करेंगे।


SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The U.S. judge overseeing a lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump and his Trump University told both sides they would be wise to settle the case “given all else that’s involved.” Lawyers for the president-elect are squaring off against students who claim they were they were lured by false promises to pay up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors.  Earlier on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel tentatively rejected a bid by Trump to keep a wide range of statements from the presidential campaign out of the fraud trial. Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, the students’ court papers say. The president-elect denies the allegations and has argued that he relied on others to manage the business.  Trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28, and Curiel told lawyers he was not inclined to delay the six-year-old case further. Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said he would ask to put the trial on hold until early next year, in light of the many tasks the magnate has before his inauguration. Curiel said he would allow both sides to file briefs on whether to delay the case. He also indicated they should consider making a deal.  “It would be wise for the plaintiffs, for the defendants, to look closely at trying to resolve this case given all else that’s involved,” Curiel said. Petrocelli told reporters after the hearing that Trump might have to be a “little more flexible” about settling the case now that he is president-elect, although the lawyer wasn’t sure his client would was willing. Curiel said that he would allow Trump to testify via video given his presidential obligations.  In the tentative ruling Curiel, based in San Diego, said Trump’s lawyers can renew objections to specific campaign statements and evidence during trial. Trump’s attorneys had argued that jurors should not hear about statements Trump made during the campaign, including about Curiel himself. Trump attacked the judge as biased against him. He claimed Curiel, who was born in Indiana but is of Mexican descent, could not be impartial because of Trump’s pledge to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.  Trump’s lawyers argued that Curiel should bar from the trial accusations about Trump’s personal conduct including alleged sexual misconduct, his taxes and corporate bankruptcies, along with speeches and tweets. They argued the information is irrelevant to the jury and prejudicial to the case.  In court papers, lawyers for the students claimed that Trump’s statements would help jurors as they weigh the Republican’s credibility. “Defendants have not identified specific evidence that they wish to exclude,” Curiel wrote on Thursday. “Accordingly, the court declines to issue a blanket ruling at this time.” The judge also barred Trump lawyers from telling jurors that the university had a 98 percent approval rate on student evaluations. That rating is irrelevant as to whether Trump University misrepresented itself, Curiel wrote. Curiel is presiding over two cases against Trump and the university. A separate lawsuit by New York’s attorney general is pending.

Summary: न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प विश्वविद्यालय के वादियों से कहा कि वे समझौता करना बुद्धिमानी होगी


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescue crews and ordinary citizens searched through rubble for survivors as night fell on Tuesday on battered cities in central Mexico, including the capital, where the death toll from a major earthquake grew to at least 226. The magnitude 7.1 quake toppled dozens of buildings, broke gas mains and sparked fires less than two weeks after another powerful quake killed at least 98 people in southern Mexico. It also hit just hours after emergency drills marked the anniversary of a temblor that killed thousands in 1985. Millions of people fled into the streets, where they weathered the violent shaking and desperately sought word about the welfare of family and friends. Emergency personnel in Mexico City, a metropolitan region of about 20 million people, searched frantically with picks and shovels for survivors beneath the rubble of what the sprawling city s mayor calculated to be as many as 44 collapsed buildings, including at least one primary school. Mexican President Enrique Pe a Nieto said late on Tuesday more than 20 children and two adults had been found dead at the school, Colegio Enrique Rebsamen, in the neighborhood of Coapa. Another 30 children and 12 adults were missing, he said.  Emergency personnel and equipment were being deployed across affected areas so that  throughout the night we can continue aiding the population and eventually find people beneath the rubble,  Pe a Nieto said in a video posted on Facebook earlier on Tuesday evening. Rescue workers and soldiers toiled around collapsed buildings where heat-sensing equipment suggested survivors could still be trapped. Bystanders joined in where they could, clearing debris with their bare hands or whatever tools they could find nearby.  My wife is there,  said Juan Jesus Garcia, 33, choking back tears outside one building in Mexico City.  I haven t been able to communicate with her. She is not answering, and now they are telling us we have to turn off our cellphones because there is a gas leak.  The quake had killed 49 people in the capital by late Tuesday, according to civil defense chief Luis Felipe Puente. The highest toll, he said, was in Morelos State, just to the south, where 55 people were killed.  Another 13 people were reported killed in the neighboring states of Mexico and Guerrero. Thirty-two deaths had been counted in the central state of Puebla, also to the south, where the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) located the quake s epicenter. As many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities had lost electricity, according to national power company Comisi n Federal de Electricidad. Most of them were in the greater Mexico City area and in the states of Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala. In the capital, ambulances and fire engines confronted gridlock as millions of workers tried to get home, many of them after participating in annual readiness drills that commemorate the previous disaster on this date in 1985. Much of the country was also shaken when an 8.1 magnitude quake, the strongest in more than eight decades, struck southern Mexico on Sept. 7, killing at least 98 people. Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above are regarded as major and are capable of causing widespread heavy damage. Another 11 aftershocks were registered after the initial quake at around lunchtime on Tuesday, the most powerful of which measured 4.9, according to the USGS. In addition to the school, a supermarket and a factory collapsed in the capital. Much of the damage was in the fashionable Condesa and Roma districts near the city center.   On Twitter, relatives posted pleas for news of family members. At least one survivor was pulled from a collapsed building in Condesa and another was rescued from a six-story apartment building nearby. Mexican media showed images of desperate locals forming human chains in search of people still trapped in collapsed buildings after nightfall. With power out in much of the city, the work was carried out in the dark or with flashlights and generators. In Obrera, a central neighborhood in Mexico City, people applauded when rescuers managed to retrieve four people alive, with cheers of  si se puede,  or  yes we can,  ringing out. Volunteers continued arriving throughout the night, following calls from the civil protection agency, the Red Cross and firefighters. In Puebla, university student Jevon Minto, 24, said he had just arrived at class when he felt the shaking.  We were seated when the place started shaking real, real hard ... You can literally feel the fear and the panic in this city.  Banker Jesus Gonzalez Hernandez, 55, said office lamps and furniture swayed when the tremor began. He and colleagues rushed to evacuate.  But while exiting down the stairs, the walls were coming apart,  said Gonzalez Hernandez, who fractured his ankle in the chaos. Mexican stocks and the peso currency dropped on news of the earthquake and Mexico s stock exchange suspended trading. At the same time as the earthquake, Mexico s Popocatepetl volcano had a small eruption. A church collapsed during mass, killing 15 people, in Atzitzihuacan on the slopes of the volcano, Puebla Governor Jose Antonio Gali said. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter:  God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.  For a graphic on earthquake strikes central Mexico, click: here

Summary: मेक्सिको सिटी के पास शक्तिशाली भूकंप से कम से कम 226 लोगों की मौत, बचाव दल ने ढही इमारतों में खुदाई की


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday preventing the renewal of the mandate for a mission that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - was unanimously created by the 15-member U.N. Security Council in 2015 and renewed in 2016 for another year. Its mandate is due to expire in mid-November. The JIM is due to report by Oct. 26 on who was responsible for an attack on April 4 on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, held by the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that killed dozens of people. Russia wanted to discuss the report before voting on the extension of the mandate, and its U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia unsuccessfully asked to postpone the vote.  Don t try to create the impression that the JIM will be a dead letter unless we adopt this resolution today,  Nebenzia said prior to the vote.  We are ready to return to extending the JIM after the publication of the report and after we discuss it after the 26 of October.  A separate OPCW fact-finding mission determined in June that the banned nerve agent sarin had been used in the Khan Sheikhoun attack, which prompted the United States to launch missiles on a Syrian air base.  Russia has once again demonstrated it will do whatever it takes to ensure the barbaric Assad regime never faces consequences for its continued use of chemicals as weapons,  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, traveling in Africa, said in a statement. After the vote, Nebenzia said the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria had nearly finished. In its most recent report late last month, the OPCW said it had verified the destruction of 25 of the 27 chemical weapons production facilities declared by Syria and continued to prepare an inspection to confirm the current condition of the last two. China abstained from Tuesday s vote, while Bolivia joined Russia in voting no. Eleven countries voted in favor of the text.

Summary: रूस ने सीरिया में रासायनिक हथियारों के उपयोग की जांच करने वाले मिशन के विस्तार पर वीटो किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday said Germany should react decisively to Ankara s detention of two further German citizens, amid growing calls for Berlin to issue a formal travel warning for Germans heading to Turkey. Twelve German citizens are now in Turkish detention on political charges, four of them holding dual citizenship. Among these is German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, who will have been in detention 200 days on Friday. Under the circumstances, Merkel said she did not think it was appropriate to carry out further discussions with Ankara about its participation in a European Union customs union.   We must react decisively,  Merkel told a business event in the southern city of Nuremberg, noting that Germany had already fundamentally revamped its relations with Ankara.  Given the latest events, perhaps it is necessary to rethink them ever further.  Germany was not officially informed of the two new detentions, which took place at Antalya airport on Thursday, leaving Berlin s consulate in the coastal city of Izmir to learn of their arrest from  non-state sources , Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr told a news conference. Many European citizens have been detained in Turkey over the past year, accused of involvement in last year s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom many accuse of purging opposition under the cover of a crackdown.  We re trying to establish what they are charged with,  said Adebahr said.  We must assume that it s a political charge, suspicion of terrorism, as with the others.  Diplomats had not been able to contact them, she added, with Friday s public holiday celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid a possible reason for delays in contacting officials. Social Democrat Martin Schulz, Merkel s main challenger in Sept. 24 elections, and other German politicians urged Berlin to issue a formal travel warning for Germans heading to Turkey. The government in July urged German citizens to exercise caution if traveling to Turkey, but stopped short of issuing a formal travel warning. Juergen Hardt, a senior member of Merkel s conservatives, told Die Welt newspaper that a further tightening of the travel guidance  should be seriously considered . Cem Ozdemir, leader of the Greens party, told Bild newspaper he could no longer assure anyone they would be safe in Turkey.  Erdogan is no president, but a hostage-taker,  Ozdemir told the daily newspaper Bild. No comment was immediately available from the foreign ministry about whether it was considering a travel warning. About 3 million people with Turkish heritage or citizenship live in Germany. Such a move could mark a significant setback for Turkey, which already saw the number of foreign visitors drop to its lowest level in nine years last year. Bookings from Germany accounted for some 10 percent of Turkey s tourists this year.

Summary: दो और जर्मन हिरासत में लिए जाने के बाद जर्मनी तुर्की संबंधों पर 'पुनर्विचार' कर सकता हैः मर्केल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said “we’ll see” when asked whether the United States would attack North Korea, as he left a church service.  North Korea said it had tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, setting off a manmade earthquake near the test.  Earlier Sunday, Trump had said on Twitter, “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”

Summary: यह पूछे जाने पर कि क्या अमेरिका उत्तर कोरिया पर हमला करेगा, ट्रम्प ने कहा 'हम देखेंगे'


DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar s defense minister has signed a letter of intent to purchase 24 Typhoon jets from British defense group BAE Systems, in a move that could anger other Gulf countries boycotting Doha. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, suspending air and shipping routes with the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is home to the region s biggest U.S. military base.  The letter of intent includes the ministry s intention to purchase 24 modern Typhoon aircraft with all their equipment,   state news agency QNA reported on Sunday. The agreement was signed by Minister of State for Defence Affairs Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah and his British counterpart Michael Fallon, QNA added.     This will be the first major defense contract with Qatar, one of the UK s strategic partners,  Britain s Ministry of Defence said in a statement, adding that talks over a deal had taken several years.  We also hope that this will help enhance security within the region across all Gulf allies.  The Eurofighter Typhoon is a joint project between BAE, France s Airbus  and Italy s Finmeccanica [SIFIF.UL] and supports an estimated 40,000 jobs in Britain. Neither statement gave the cost of the combat jet deal. BAE had agreed in 2014 to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Typhoon jets in a deal worth 4.43 billion pounds ($6 billion). Fallon told a conference in London, on Saturday, the British government will step up efforts to help BAE Systems to sell more Typhoon jets with government-to-government deals. The Typhoon has attracted fewer orders this year than the rival Rafale built by France s Dassault Aviation , which has agreed deals with Egypt and Qatar. Qatar also signed a deal in June to buy F-15 fighter jets from Boeing Co in the United States for $12 billion and concluded a 5 billion euro ($6 billion) deal with Italy for seven navy vessels. The wealthy Gulf state has been accused by its neighbors of supporting terrorism and meddling with Iran, Saudi Arabia s arch-rival in the region. Qatar denies the accusations. The crisis has put the region on edge and prompted Turkey to send troops to Doha in a sign of support.

Summary: कतर ब्रिटेन के बी. ए. ई. सिस्टम से 24 टाइफून जेट खरीदेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States does not recognize the independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan and urges an end to “threats of reciprocal actions,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on Friday. “The United States does not recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government’s unilateral referendum held on Monday. The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq,” Tillerson said. “We urge calm and an end to vocal recriminations and threats of reciprocal actions,” he added.

Summary: अमेरिका ने इराक में कुर्द स्वतंत्रता जनमत संग्रह को मान्यता नहीं दीः टिलरसन


PARIS (Reuters) - Plans to buy a new presidential jet for France s Emmanuel Macron could be held up because of a controversy sparked by his prime minister, who hired a private plane for 350,000 euros ($416,000) to fly home from Japan. Business paper La Tribune said news of Edouard Philippe s costly Japan-to-Paris charter had come at a bad time, with Macron   who has campaigned against wasteful spending   about to decide on a new presidential plane. France s equivalent of Air Force One is an old Airbus A330 that was bought second-hand 10 years ago and given a luxury refit for use by Nicolas Sarkozy, whose penchant for high-living earned him the nickname  President Bling Bling . At Macron s office, an official played down the jet issue, saying a new purchase was being considered before he took office in May and that the government was waiting for a report on the matter before making a decision.  That will take a few weeks and when it s done we will assess all options for improving travel arrangements for the president and government,  an Elysee official told Reuters. Macron has a similar PR problem to Sarkozy in a country where ostentatious displays of wealth are frowned upon: opinion polls show many voters feel the former investment banker is overly pandering to the rich, pointing to his scrapping of a wealth tax and lowering of subsidies for public housing. Macron, who turned 40 on Thursday, drew criticism early in his presidency after it emerged he had spent 26,000 euros on makeup in his first 100 days in office. There were further brickbats this week after he celebrated his birthday in the grounds of a famed Loire chateau. Aside from the bad timing, the acquisition of a new presidential jet raises another delicate issue. The bill   at least $100 million but possibly double that   is likely to be paid from the defense budget. France s army chief abruptly quit in July following a row over budget cuts, forcing Macron to say the cuts were a one-off and that increases were planned in the years ahead. The plane bought for Sarkozy cost 176 million euros once it was fitted with a presidential bedroom, a soundproofed meeting room, kitchen, scrambled communications technology and various other medical and emergency capabilities. While Airbus declined to comment on any new order, a plane of the kind mooted for Macron, an Airbus A319neo, has a list price of $99.5 million. It could cost more than double that if the refit ordered for Sarkozy is anything to go by.  But it would at least provide the president and seven staff with the ability to fly 12,500 km, or up to 15 hours, non-stop, reaching most of the world s capitals in a single journey.

Summary: मैक्रों की राष्ट्रपति जेट योजना ने खराब प्रचार अशांति को प्रभावित किया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Monday on a draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, diplomats said, a move likely to face a Washington veto. The one-page Egyptian-drafted text, seen by Reuters, does not specifically mention the United States or Trump. Diplomats say it has broad support among the 15-member council, and while it is unlikely to be adopted, the vote will further isolate Trump on the issue.  To pass, a resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China. Trump abruptly reversed decades of U.S. policy this month when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel s capital, generating outrage from Palestinians. Trump also plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has praised Trump s decision as  the just and right thing to do.  The U.S. mission to the United Nations was not immediately available to comment on Sunday.  Arab foreign ministers agreed to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution on the issue. The draft U.N. text expresses  deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.   It  affirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered, the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.  The draft also calls upon all countries to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there.   No vote or debate will change the clear reality that Jerusalem  is the capital of Israel, Danny Danon, Israel s ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement on Saturday.      Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.     The draft council resolution  demands that all states comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem, and not to recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.  A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in December 2016  underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.  That resolution was approved with 14 votes in favor and an abstention by former U.S. President Barack Obama s administration, which defied heavy pressure from longtime ally Israel and Trump, who was then president-elect, for Washington to wield its veto.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र सोमवार को यू. एस. जेरूसलम के फैसले को वापस लेने की मांग पर मतदान करेगा


PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed on Friday that any Iranian vessels that harass the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of the water” if he is elected on Nov. 8. Trump, at a rally before thousands of supporters in Pensacola, Florida, laid out an aggressive national security policy with a beefed-up U.S. military “so strong that nobody’s going to mess with us.” He talked tough about how he would respond to any Iranian harassment of American ships in the Gulf. A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after an Iranian fast-attack craft came within 100 yards (91 meters) of it on Sunday. It was the fourth such incident in the past month. “When they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,” he said. Trump has based his foreign policy beliefs on keeping the United States out of what he called “endless wars” in the Middle East. Visiting a city with a U.S. Navy base and where many military veterans live, Trump said he wants a stronger military to project American power and bolster the United States as the leader of the world. Trump this week laid out a plan to spend many billions of dollars on bolstering the U.S. military, including more ships, planes and troops. “We’re going to put us in a position of leadership of the world again so we can negotiate from a position of great, great strength. But more important than negotiating, we will be secure again,” he said. Trump, who has drawn criticism for his frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also mentioned a recent incident in which a Russian fighter jet came within 10 feet (3 meters) of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane over the Black Sea. “Putin laughs, believe me, he laughs at our leaders. Yesterday he had a plane 10 feet away, taunting us, toying with us, just like Iran,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी नौसेना को परेशान करने वाले ईरानी जहाजों को कड़ी प्रतिक्रिया देने का वादा किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere threatened on Wednesday to take action against EU members who refused to abide by a ruling from the EU s top court which demanded each member state accept their share of refugees.    I now expect the countries concerned to fulfill their obligations ... to accept their allotted number of refugees and ensure that they stay in their respective countries. If that does not happen, then a treaty violation procedure can be used,  he said. The court earlier dismissed complaints by Slovakia and Hungary on the EU s migrant policy.

Summary: जर्मनी के मंत्री ने शरणार्थियों को लेकर यूरोपीय संघ के देशों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई की धमकी दी


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s pro-government legislative superbody ruled on Wednesday that parties who boycotted this month s local elections had lost legitimacy, potentially eliminating the main opposition groups from the 2018 presidential race. The decree by the Constituent Assembly - created in a controversial July vote boycotted by the opposition and widely condemned abroad - infuriated Venezuela s opposition and drew criticism from the United States.   The Venezuelan government and its illegitimate Constituent Assembly are inventing rules as they go along. This is not democracy,  the U.S. Embassy said on Twitter. The Justice First, Democratic Action and Popular Will parties did not run candidates in this month s mayoral polls in protest against what they said was a biased election system designed to perpetuate leftist President Nicolas Maduro s  dictatorship.  Maduro had warned that could cost them participation in future votes and the Constituent Assembly echoed that position on Wednesday, saying the parties had lost their legal status and should re-apply to the National Election Board. Given that the board is pro-Maduro and authorities are constantly throwing up obstacles to the opposition, that could well mean those parties are now effectively unable to run in the presidential election due before the end of 2018. Maduro, 55, is expected to run for re-election despite the disastrous state of the economy in Venezuela, where millions are skipping meals and struggling to survive amid one of the world s highest inflation rates and widespread shortages of basics. Two of his potentially biggest rivals already cannot run against him: Popular Will leader Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest, while Justice First leader Henrique Capriles is prohibited from holding political office.  We alert the world and all democratic governments that banning opposition political parties is yet another measure by the dictatorship that deserves rejection and condemnation,  said Capriles  party colleague Tomas Guanipa. Maduro and his allies say the Constituent Assembly has brought peace to the OPEC nation after months of opposition protests earlier this year in which more than 125 people were killed. Demonstrators said they were fighting for freedom, but the government condemned them as violent subversives.   It s time for the coupsters to face the constitution. Let no one undermine the people s participation and the democratic system,  Constituent Assembly head Delcy Rodriguez said after the passage of Wednesday s measure.

Summary: वेनेजुएला राष्ट्रपति चुनाव में मुख्य विपक्षी दलों पर प्रतिबंध लगा सकता है


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Two former Colombian presidents will back a joint right-wing ticket in elections next year, they said on Friday, focusing their platform on objections to the peace deal signed with the Marxist FARC rebels. Ex-presidents Alvaro Uribe, who is now a senator with his Democratic Center party and Andres Pastrana, who leads the Conservatives, will jointly choose candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency, they said in a statement. The two men have vehemently opposed the peace deal between the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, who will leave office in August 2018, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, who have demobilized and are now a political party.  We will choose one candidate for the presidency and vice-presidency, from candidates chosen by the Democratic Center and the Conservative base led by Andres Pastrana, choosing the candidate with the best chance of winning the presidency,  the statement said. The method for choosing between candidates has yet to be decided, it added. Besides changes to the peace deal, which the two men say is not harsh enough on former rebels and does not require them to pay enough for crimes including murder, kidnapping and displacement, the coalition will focus on improvements to health care and the economy. Uribe, who governed from 2002 and 2010 and managed a U.S.-backed offensive against the FARC, has yet to choose a candidate for his party. Pastrana, who himself attempted a peace process with the FARC during his 1998-2002 term, backs Conservative candidate Marta Lucia Ramirez, who also ran in 2014. Corruption scandals, which have lately touched every major political party, are also expected to be a major theme in the 2018 race.  The country s constitutional court has ruled the peace deal cannot be modified for the next 12 years. Other presidential candidates for next year include former vice-president German Vargas Lleras, former government peace negotiator Humberto de la Calle, ex-governor Sergio Fajardo and former M-19 rebel and mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro.

Summary: कोलंबिया के पूर्व राष्ट्रपति संयुक्त दक्षिणपंथी 2018 के टिकट का समर्थन करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is eager to turn the page on the years-long fight over a crude oil pipeline with Canada and celebrate its close economic and security ties with its northern neighbor, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice said on Wednesday. Trade between the United States and Canada and joint efforts to curb climate change will loom large on the agenda for the meeting between President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Washington on Thursday. It will be followed by a star-studded state dinner meant to recognize the importance of the bilateral relationship, the first state dinner to honor Canada in 19 years. Trudeau’s Liberals came to power in November by ousting right-wing Conservative leader Stephen Harper, whose ties with Washington deteriorated as he hectored Obama over the Keystone XL pipeline. President Barack Obama blocked the project last year, a victory for environmentalists who had campaigned against the pipeline. The spat is in the past, Rice said. “In any bilateral relationship, there are going to be issues of difference and occasional friction,” she told Reuters in an interview.  “The complexity and the breadth and the depth of the U.S-Canada relationship is such that no single issue can overshadow the totality of the relationship,” she said. Obama and Trudeau will discuss the next steps for the “Beyond the Border” initiative, a plan to speed travel and trade, Rice said. “With the longest peaceful border and $2 billion a day in trade in both directions, we have an enormous shared stake in a border that is open for business and open for travel - and safe,” Rice said. Trudeau campaigned to strengthen ties with the United States, but also promised he would pull out six fighter jets from the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Rice said the White House is satisfied with steps that Trudeau took to beef up training, surveillance and other support to the coalition. “Taken as a whole, we view the Canadian stepped-up contribution to the counter-ISIL campaign as being very, very valuable and welcome,” Rice said, using an acronym for Islamic State. The White House has also watched closely as Trudeau welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada in four months. “We’ve seen thus far that Canada is taking very seriously its responsibility to its own citizens and to our common security to be vigilant as it welcomes these new refugees,” Rice said.

Summary: अमेरिका, कनाडा ने अतीत में राज्य रात्रिभोज के साथ पाइपलाइन लड़ाई की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activists vowed on Saturday to defend hard-fought gains in voting rights and criminal justice during the presidency of Donald Trump, kicking off a week of protests ahead of the Republican’s inauguration. About 2,000 mostly black protesters ignored steady rain to march and rally near Washington’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, as speakers urged them to fight for minority rights and President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which Trump has vowed to dismantle. The Rev. Al Sharpton, the rally’s organizer and a veteran civil rights leader, said Democrats in Congress needed to be sent a simple message: “Get some backbone.” “We march in the driving rain because we want the nation to understand that what has been fought for and gained, that you’re going to need more than one election to turn it around,” he said. The rally drew fewer people than organizers had initially expected, but Sharpton said afterwards he was satisfied with the turnout, given the rain and temperatures hovering just above freezing.  “I really didn’t think we’d get those kind of numbers,” he said in a telephone interview.  Trump, a New York real estate developer, won with a populist platform that included promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, restrict immigration from Muslim countries and dismantle Obamacare. His choice of Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, to become attorney general has raised concern among many on the left that Trump could weaken voting rights for minorities and roll back criminal justice reforms. “We will march until hell freezes over, and when it does, we will march on the ice,” said Cornell William Brooks, president and chief executive of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The rally also included the Hispanic group La Raza, politicians, relatives of African-Americans slain by police, the National Urban League, Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights. The rally came hours after Trump blasted U.S. Representative John Lewis after the Georgia Democrat and civil rights campaigner said Russia’s alleged hacking aimed at helping Trump put his legitimacy into question. Trump replied on Twitter that Lewis should focus instead on his Atlanta district. “All talk, talk, talk - no action or results! Sad!,” he wrote. About 30 groups, almost all of them anti-Trump, have gotten permits to protest before, during and after the inauguration.  Thousands of demonstrators have vowed to shut down the inauguration. Washington police and the U.S. Secret Service plan to have some 3,000 extra officers and an additional 5,000 National Guard troops on hand for security. By far the biggest event will be the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration, which organizers say could draw 200,000 people.

Summary: वाशिंगटन के प्रदर्शनकारियों ने ट्रम्प के नेतृत्व में नागरिक अधिकारों के लिए लड़ने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House may appoint a senior policy adviser with hardline views on immigration, who recently sparred with reporters in a televised briefing, as its new communications director, a senior administration official said on Saturday. Stephen Miller, a top aide and speechwriter for President Donald Trump, is a candidate to lead the White House’s communications team after a series of personnel changes in the more than six months that Trump has been president.  The official did not say how many people were on the short list but the Axios news site reported on Saturday that Miller is not the top contender. Last week, Trump ousted White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci over an obscene tirade to a New Yorker magazine writer only 10 days after he was appointed, leaving the position vacant. Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, the new chief of staff who sources said was seeking to impose order on a White House riven with factions and backbiting, is said to have recommended the move.  In June, Mike Dubke resigned from the communications director post and since then, there has been a revolving door, with Sean Spicer serving as acting director until Scaramucci was named.  Miller, who has been a top adviser to Trump since the presidential campaign last year, is a former aide to Jeff Sessions when he was in the Senate. Sessions is now Trump’s attorney general.  He was one of the authors of Trump’s controversial proposed ban on visitors from a half dozen Muslim majority nations, which has triggered protests and a slew of legal challenges. On Thursday, Miller briefed reporters at the White House on Trump’s support for legislation that would overhaul the current immigration system by creating a merit based system for issuing visas, favoring younger immigrants with advanced degrees.  He sparred with a CNN reporter who asked whether such a policy was potentially racist and ran counter to the American values, and accused him of having a “cosmopolitan bias.”

Summary: ट्रंप की नजर संचार निदेशक की भूमिका के लिए शीर्ष नीति सहायक परः अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The New York Times endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for the White House on Saturday, saying she was more qualified than Republican presidential rival Donald Trump to handle the challenges facing the United States. The newspaper described Clinton as “one of the most tenacious politicians of her generation” and said she had displayed a command of policy and diplomatic nuance while building a reputation for grit and bipartisan cooperation. “A lifetime’s commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Hillary Clinton for this job, and the country should put her to work,” the Times said of the former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York. Clinton will face off against Trump on Monday night in the first of three presidential debates, with opinion polls showing her once sizable lead over the New York businessman narrowing amid continued public doubts about her trustworthiness. The Times said Clinton’s mistakes had distorted perceptions of her character, but praised her work restoring U.S. credibility in foreign affairs as secretary of state and on behalf of children, women and families throughout her career. “Mrs. Clinton has shown herself to be a realist who believes America cannot simply withdraw behind oceans and walls, but must engage confidently in the world to protect its interests and be true to its values,” the newspaper said. It said Clinton’s decision to use a private email server for government work as secretary of state deserved the scrutiny it has received in the campaign, but considered alongside the real challenges facing the United States it “looks like a matter for the help desk.” Viewed against those challenges, Trump “shrinks to his true small-screen, reality-show proportions,” the Times said, promising another editorial on Monday explaining “why we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.” The endorsement from the Times editorial board is no surprise. The last Republican the Times backed for the White House was President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. But several newspapers with more conservative editorial boards, including the Dallas Morning News and Cincinnati Enquirer, also have recently endorsed Clinton. The Times said Clinton’s best argument for the White House was her ability to rise to the challenges facing the country. “The 2016 campaign has brought to the surface the despair and rage of poor and middle-class Americans” facing the burdens of recession, technological change, foreign competition and war, it said. “Over 40 years in public life, Hillary Clinton has studied these forces and weighed responses to these problems. Our endorsement is rooted in respect for her intellect, experience, toughness and courage over a career of almost continuous public service, often as the first or only woman in the arena,” the newspaper said.

Summary: एन. वाई. टाइम्स ने व्हाइट हाउस की दौड़ में क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


(This version of the story was corrected to change Waurishuk statement to say “willing” not “happy” in paragraph 10) By Mark Hosenball and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday he does not yet have a foreign policy team, and        three former U.S. military and intelligence officials who have endorsed him are little known in either the Republican Party or the wider foreign policy community. The New York billionaire, who had promised to name his foreign policy and national security advisers last month, told MSNBC that he has met with people but made no decision yet on who to advise him on global affairs. Asked whether he had a team, Trump said on Tuesday: “Yes, there is a team. Well, there’s not a team. I’m going to be forming a team at the appropriate time. I’ve met with far more than three people.”      Trump has given hints of the kind of advisor he would hire to promote his national security policy, much of which is focused on cracking down on Islamic State. He also promises to gut global trade deals and build a wall on the Mexican border to halt illegal immigration. Asked during a debate last week who he trusts on national security, Trump had warm words for three men with world views that differ from one another: former diplomat Richard Haass and retired U.S. Army officers Gen. Jack Keane and Col. Jack Jacobs.                      And on his campaign website last month, Trump announced that he had received endorsements in Florida from two “top national security experts.”  Foreign policy experts say they know little about those Trump supporters.  They are Gary Berntsen, a former senior CIA officer, and retired Colonel James Waurishuk, a one-time deputy chief of intelligence for U.S. Central Command during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who also once served on the National Security Council staff.       “These people are not well known in foreign policy circles...I never heard of any of them,” said Harvard professor and former Kennedy School of Government dean Joseph Nye. Waurishuk said on Tuesday he would have been willing to give advice if asked, by any presidential candidate, including Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Apart from Trump, however, Waurishuk said that the only other candidate he had contact with was Republican Jeb Bush, who he says snubbed him when they met at an event in 2014. Bush “ignored me and walked away,” Waurishuk said.   Former CIA officer Berntsen is perhaps the best known of the three endorsers. A participant in efforts to hunt down Osama bin Laden, he later wrote a book entitled “Jawbreaker, The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.”  According to The Hill newspaper, one of its contributors, J.D. Gordon, has also endorsed Trump. Gordon is a former Navy commander officer and former Pentagon spokesman.  On Tuesday, Trump described U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama, as someone he would consider for his team, adding that he would make a decision “in due time.” Sessions is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and one of the few senior mainstream Republicans to endorse Trump. Sessions is not known as one of the party’s leading foreign policy voices in the Senate. He opposes comprehensive immigration reform and supports tight border security measures.        On Tuesday, Trump, dismissed criticism that his harsh rhetoric would damage America’s standing in the world.     Foreign diplomats from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have expressed alarm to U.S. government officials about Trump, calling his public statements inflammatory and insulting. The businessman shot back, saying diplomats are upset over his tough stance on trade and returning jobs to the United States as he seeks the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. “Every country is ripping us off in trade, and other things. And they know that won’t happen with me. I’m going to bring trade back, I’m going to bring our jobs back,” Trump told Fox News.

Summary: विदेश नीति दल अभी भी तैयार नहीं हैः ट्रंप


LIMA (Reuters) - Brazilian builder Odebrecht transferred $4.8 million to companies linked to Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski between 2004 and 2012, some of which was paid to a company Kuczynski controlled when he held senior government roles, according to a document the company sent to Congress. In a brief recorded message broadcast on local radio program RPP after lawmakers made the contents of the document public on Wednesday, Kuczynski denied wrongdoing but did not deny the transfers took place. Kuczynski s office declined further comment.  Odebrecht [ODBES.UL] declined to comment. A source in the company who spoke on condition of anonymity said the document seen by Reuters was authentic. The transfers shown in the document contradicted Kuczynski s previous denials about his ties to Odebrecht and prompted some lawmakers in the opposition-controlled Congress to call for his resignation. Odebrecht is at the center of Latin America s biggest graft scandal and has admitted to paying about $30 million in bribes to officials in Peru over a decade, including during the 2001-2006 term of ex-President Alejandro Toledo, when Kuczynski was finance minister and prime minister.  After Odebrecht s public acknowledgement a year ago, Kuczynski repeatedly denied ever taking money from Odebrecht or having any professional connections to the company. But on Saturday Kuczynski announced on a local radio program that he once worked as a financial adviser for an Odebrecht project when he did not hold public office; he did not mention the company that paid him. According to the document sent to Congress, Odebrecht made seven transfers totaling about $780,000 to Kuczynski s company Westfield Capital Ltd between 2004 and 2007, including about $60,000 when Kuczynski worked in Toledo s Cabinet and the government awarded several contracts to Odebrecht. Later, between 2008 and 2012, Odebrecht paid about $4 million to First Capital Inversiones Y Asesorias. Kuczynski has previously said that First Capital belongs to his friend and Chilean business partner, Gerardo Sepulveda. Kuczynski was the sole director of Westfield Capital, according to his sworn declaration on the presidency s website.     Kuczynski has not appeared in public since his radio interview on Saturday. He said on RPP on Wednesday that he had decided to heed Congress  repeated calls to explain any connections he had with Odebrecht to an investigative committee.      I ve never favored any company. I m willing to clarify everything that needs to be clarified before Congress and prosecutors because I have nothing to hide,  Kuczynski said on RPP, without taking any questions from journalists. A spokesman for Popular Force, the opposition party that holds a majority of seats in Peru s single-chamber Congress, slammed Kuczynski.   The country, Mr. Kuczynski, is tired of your lies and doesn t want any more explanations. The country hasn t just lost its trust in you, but in your government as well,  Daniel Salaverry, the spokesman, told a news conference. In a televised plenary session late on Wednesday, hardline Popular Force lawmaker Hector Becerril called for Kuczynski to resign, calling the transferred funds  camouflaged bribes.  An independent lawmaker also called for Kuczynski to step down. A source in the attorney general s office said prosecutors investigating Odebrecht in Peru were probing Kuczynski s relationship with the company but could not name him as a suspect until his term and presidential immunity end. Toledo, the former president under whom Kuczynski worked,  has been accused of taking a $20 million bribe from Odebrecht in exchange for help in securing lucrative highway contracts. Toledo has denied the charges. Authorities in Peru are seeking his extradition from the United States.

Summary: ओडेब्रेक्ट ने पेरू के कुजिंस्की से जुड़ी फर्मों को 4.8 लाख डॉलर का भुगतान कियाः दस्तावेज़


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said  that abrupt rejection of the Iran nuclear deal by the incoming Trump administration could create “a crisis” and that he did not expect such an approach. “To tear it up on the front end, in my opinion, is not going to happen. Instead, we will begin to radically enforce it,” Senator Bob Corker told reporters on Friday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He said he expected strong enforcement of the international agreement, announced in July 2015, in which Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Concern about the Iran deal under Trump, who at times has pledged to pull Washington out of it, has led to worries that Tehran would be unable to attract foreign investment and that its economy could collapse. “To me the prudent course of action is to make sure you enforce it, that you hold the UN Security Council accountable,” Corker said. “And in the event the agreement falls apart, it’s someone else that is causing it to fall apart, not a president coming in on day one and ripping up the agreement.” Every Republican in the U.S. Congress, including Corker, objected to the nuclear pact, signed by the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany and Iran. Dozens of Democrats also objected, but there was too much support for it to prevent its implementation last January. At times on the campaign trail, Trump threatened to scrap the agreement, although he said at other times he would seek a better deal. The Obama administration and other supporters of the nuclear pact said Washington’s backing out would upset the U.S. partners that also signed and risk destabilization by allowing Iran to resume its nuclear development. Corker said Washington had a choice, to strictly enforce the deal or come in and tear it up. “And you can create a crisis on the front-end by doing so,” he said. Corker advocated a wait-and-see approach. “In spite of all the flaws in the agreement, nothing bad is going to happen relative to nuclear development in Iran over the next few years. It’s just not,” he said.

Summary: शीर्ष अमेरिकी सीनेटरः ट्रम्प प्रशासन ईरान समझौते को रद्द नहीं करेगा


SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Temporary workers and foreign students previously drawn to New Zealand on the promise of gaining residency will start leaving en masse, migration agents say, as the incoming coalition government promises to cut record migration. The tie-up between the traditionally center-left Labour Party and nationalist New Zealand First represents an abrupt shift in the formerly open door policy that fueled strong economic growth but has also been blamed for soaring house prices and growing inequality.  We are told (foreign) students are working as many hours as possible to make as much quick money as possible on the understanding there is no more path to residency, and they will need to return home,  said Connor Brady, immigration adviser and manager director at agency New Life Global. New Zealand had almost 122,000 international students in 2016, up 40 percent from three years earlier, led by China and India.  New Zealand has developed a particularly close economic relationship with China, signing the OECD s first free-trade deal with Beijing in 2008 and welcoming record Chinese investment and immigration in recent years. But Prime Minister-elect Jacinda Ardern and her coalition partner Winston Peters have found common ground in  fortress New Zealand  type policies that align more with the populist movements across Europe and the United States than Labour s free market predecessors and the outgoing National Party government.    While the coalition government is still being formed and policy detail worked out, the 37-year-old leader made clear she intends to stick with a promised reduction in migration and restrictions on foreign ownership of houses. Labour is planning to cut net immigration by up to 30,000 from the current level of just over 70,000 a year. It also plans to renegotiate certain trade deals to accommodate for a planned ban on foreign ownership of existing homes. There may also be changes to the treatment of large foreign purchases, part of a Chinese-led investment spree that has helped propel the country during a period of otherwise subdued global growth.  It s almost 2020 and you want to take us back to 1980,   Marcus Beveridge, principal at immigration and foreign investment-focused Queen City Law said of the proposals. The Sept. 23 election thrust the country into political limbo for almost a month with neither National or Labour winning enough seats to form a majority. Holding the balance of power, NZ First formed a coalition with Labour on Thursday, while the Greens have offered  confidence and supply . Labour and NZ First campaigned on similar housing policy platforms that included banning foreign investors buying New Zealand homes, introducing measures to dissuade people from quickly buying and selling properties, and increasing housing stock. Jane Lu, head of Australia and New Zealand for international property portal Juwai.com, said there would likely be a rush of foreign property investment to beat any new rules. A similar trend emerged in Vancouver and Sydney when new taxes and restrictions were about to be introduced.  They could cause buyers to front-load activity they already plan for next year,  said Lu.  One premium buyer in Sydney closed his transaction 15 minutes to midnight before the new regime kicked in.  New Zealand s housing crunch has pushed prices up more than 50 percent nationally in the last decade and in Auckland they have almost doubled, placing housing affordable at the center of the recent election campaign. It s unclear what the immediate impact on house prices will be, as there has already been a pullback in foreign investment in New Zealand property from its frothy highs.  At this stage what we know is that the new government has indicated that they will ban foreign purchase of existing houses. Whether there are further restrictions beyond that, there is a lot of uncertainty,  said Christina Leung, principal economist at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.  But I would say that at the moment, it s more the uncertainty itself over what new protectionist measures will be put in place which would weigh on demand for housing.  The election result caps a remarkable rise for Ardern, who only took over the party s top job in August with polls then predicting a resounding victory for the Nationals.  And while the sweeping policy changes are yet to be introduced, the New Zealand dollar has already reacted, with the Kiwi dropping to five month lows on Friday.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड चुनाव परिणाम ने आवास, प्रवास की आशंकाओं को बढ़ा दिया है


BERLIN (Reuters) - German voters should be given the opportunity to reevaluate the political situation after talks to form a government collapsed, Social Democrats (SPD) leader Martin Schulz said on Monday, adding that his party was not afraid of new elections. Schulz said his party was still not available to join Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) in a continuation of their  grand coalition  government after her talks with other parties failed.  In such a situation, the sovereign, that is the voters, must reassess what is going on,  Schulz told reporters, adding that Merkel had yet to contact him and that he would meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday.

Summary: एस. पी. डी. नेता ने कहा कि मतदाताओं को जर्मन राजनीतिक स्थिति का पुनर्मूल्यांकन करना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “sent a very clear signal that our policy of strategic patience is over” with North Korea during his recent visit to China, a White House spokesman said on Monday. Spokesman Sean Spicer made the comment at a news briefing in reply to a question about Tillerson’s reaction to an announcement by North Korea about its latest rocket-engine test on Sunday. Tillerson was in Beijing during his first visit to Asia for talks dominated by concern about Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

Summary: टिलरसन ने संकेत दिया कि उत्तर कोरिया पर अमेरिका की धैर्य की नीति समाप्त हो गई हैः व्हाइट हाउस


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rights groups on Wednesday urged the European Union and Japan to consider halting their funding for the election panel in Cambodia, if the ruling party succeeds in a bid to dissolve the main opposition party ahead of next year s general election. The ruling Cambodia People s Party (CPP) has launched a crackdown on its critics, including politicians, independent media and non-government bodies. Nearly half the opposition members of parliament have fled abroad since September. In a session boycotted by the opposition, Cambodia s parliament voted on Monday to change party laws to re-distribute seats if a party is dissolved. The measure came after the government filed a lawsuit this month seeking to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).  If the government s position to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party succeeds, next year s election will be a joke,  Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at New York-based group Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.  At that point, both the EU and Japan should face reality and terminate their financial and technical assistance to avoid lending credibility to what will be a charade of democracy,  he added, speaking after a news conference in Bangkok. Japan and the EU are the two biggest foreign funders of the 2018 vote. China and the United States have also contributed, with the United States providing trucks and technical support, while Japan has given computers. Japan s embassy in Phnom Penh did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the matter. George Edgar, head of the EU delegation to Cambodia, said the EU remains  ready to support a credible electoral process  but added that the polls should only go ahead with the opposition s involvement. He urged Cambodian authorities not to go ahead with the dissolution of the opposition party.  The EU remains ready to support a credible electoral process up to the National Assembly election in 2018. However we do not believe that a process from which the main opposition party was arbitrarily excluded could be seen as legitimate,  Edgar told Reuters. Cambodia s election commission was not immediately available for comment. The CPP has used  dirty tricks  to jail opposition leaders and force others into exile, Robertson added. CNRP leader Kem Sokha was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with treason after the government said he had conspired with foreign advisers to topple it. Cambodia is relying on a partisan judiciary to silence critics and  dismantle democracy , the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a report on Wednesday.      Old laws are being dusted off and new laws are being created,  Kingsley Abbot, the group s southeast Asia adviser, told reporters.  And all of these have led to a list of seemingly politicized investigations.   In recent months, the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years, has revoked the licenses of about 15 independent radio stations. The Cambodia Daily, an English-language newspaper, was also forced to shut in September following government allegations of non-payment of millions of dollars in taxes.  Hun Sen has the backing of Beijing, which says it supports Cambodia s right to maintain its national security.

Summary: मानवाधिकार समूहों ने यूरोपीय संघ, जापान से कंबोडिया के चुनाव के लिए धन रोकने पर विचार करने का आग्रह किया


CARACAS (Reuters) - Just months ago, with crowds of protesters baying on the streets for the resignation of the  dictator  and  murderer,  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked like a goner.     Global opinion hardened against his socialist government, with Washington the first to impose sanctions. Coup rumors spread amid one of the worst economic implosions in modern Latin American history, and there were two botched mini-uprisings. Yet the unpopular successor to Hugo Chavez has not only survived, he is ending the year on a political high and is even a front-runner for the 2018 presidential election.     The upturn in Maduro s fortunes began with a surprise victory in last month s gubernatorial elections, thanks to abstentionism by disillusioned opposition supporters and election conditions stacked in favor of his Socialist Party.  He then seized the initiative by announcing Venezuela s intention to restructure its more than $120 billion foreign debt. The high-stakes moves allows him to blame a U.S.-led  capitalist conspiracy  for hyperinflation and shortages while potentially freeing hard currency to import food and medicines ahead of next year s vote. Government sources say a buoyant Maduro is now considering driving home his advantage by bringing forward the normally year-end election to February or March. The president, so toxic last month that few gubernatorial candidates wanted to be seen with him, might now be his party s best bet to retain power against an opposition in disarray. Speculation about alternative candidates - from powerful Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello to up-and-coming governor Hector Rodriguez - has quietened in recent days.  For sure Maduro will be the candidate. How can anyone challenge him?  said Dimitris Pantoulas, a Caracas-based consultant who tracks Socialist Party politics.   Look at him on TV: He s bright and happy. He even dances better than before!  Chavismo  has the momentum,  he added, referring to the movement founded by Chavez.  Maduro is taking credit in government circles for pushing through a Constituent Assembly super-body that cemented the socialists  power - albeit in an election boycotted by the opposition and marred by fraud accusations even from the company running the voting machines - and for breaking the opposition coalition. With the main parties within the opposition Democratic Unity coalition boycotting next month s mayoral elections, another win looks likely at the local level. The 55-year-old leader is already touting his potential 2018 campaign theme: No to the  Yankee  sanctions. Some believe that was one motivation behind the proposed debt restructuring: to force creditors into pressuring Washington to ease sanctions because they hinder any refinancing of Venezuela s obligations.  It is also part of Maduro s strategy with the opposition in talks due to start on Dec. 1 in the Dominican Republic.  We must demand the Venezuela opposition reach a pact for 2018 to have presidential elections with economic guarantees, an end to U.S. government sanctions and an end to the financial persecution of Venezuela,  Maduro said recently. The government will also press for the opposition-controlled National Assembly to support debt refinancing, a potential way around sanctions that otherwise prevent U.S. banks from participating. There has been no sign U.S. President Donald Trump would be willing to ease sanctions. On the contrary, a U.S. official told Reuters recently that Washington was weighing new sanctions in response to Maduro s crackdown on the opposition. Though the opposition is trying to rally Venezuelans to oust the socialists once and for all in the 2018 vote, there is no hiding their woeful state. Leaders struggled to explain the October gubernatorial poll defeat, first blaming fraud then admitting they shot themselves in the foot via abstentionism. The coalition openly split over the Dec. 10 municipal elections, with major parties opting for a boycott but others deciding to run candidates. That confused strategy - a far cry from their unity in 2015 parliamentary elections - has undercut western pressure on Maduro. Given that the opposition s most popular candidates are detained or banned from running, Maduro is goading veteran Democratic Action party leader Henry Ramos - a divisive figure, unpopular with many younger voters and hard-line opposition groups - to contest the 2018 poll.  With an unpopular president potentially facing an unconvincing opposition candidate, next year s election would seem to be fertile territory for a middle-ground aspirant.   This is the best time for anyone proposing a different way,  said dissident former  Chavista  Nicmer Evans. Putting his money where his mouth is, Evans is tramping the streets of Caracas to campaign for a mayorship at the Dec. 10 vote with a new party called New Vision For My Country. Many Venezuelans say the best president would be Lorenzo Mendoza, the billionaire head of the Polar brewing and food company, whose ratings dwarf mainstream politicians. He, however, has shown little inclination. Assuming Mendoza remains on the sidelines and no Socialist Party faction displaces a Maduro candidacy, he seems to have a real chance of retaining the presidency despite popularity levels that have been halved during his rule to around 20-25 percent. A bigger threat than the opposition would appear to be social protests at the economic crisis, or a Zimbabwe-style move from within the military. Cliver Alcala, a former  Chavista  general who is now an outspoken critic of Maduro, said rank-and-file soldiers were fed up with personal penury and the politicization of their institution. Even so, he saw little appetite for an uprising and said the military top brass appeared to have a vested interest in supporting Maduro due to the influence he allows them.   There is more possibility of a popular social outburst due to lack of food and medicine, and the constant abuses of authority,  Alcala said.  That, however, is a cycle Venezuelans have lived through over and over in recent years: violent protests and national shutdowns coming at huge cost to life, property and productivity. Through it all, Maduro has hung on - and for now is smiling again.

Summary: वेनेजुएला के मादुरो पुरस्कार पर नजर रखते हैंः 2018 राष्ट्रपति चुनाव


HARARE (Reuters) - Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe s president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot. His former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month prompted the military takeover that forced Mugabe out, will be sworn in as president on Wednesday or Thursday, Patrick Chinamasa, legal secretary of the ruling ZANU-PF party, told Reuters. The 93-year-old Mugabe had clung on for a week after an army takeover, with ZANU-PF urging him to go. He finally resigned moments after parliament began an impeachment process seen as the only legal way to force him out. Wild celebrations broke out at a joint sitting of parliament when Speaker Jacob Mudenda read out Mugabe s brief resignation letter. Mugabe, confined to his Harare residence, did not appear.  People danced in the streets of Harare and car horns blared at the news that the era of Mugabe   who had led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980   was finally over. Some brandished posters of Mnangagwa and army chief General Constantino Chiwenga.   Workers turned the Christmas lights on early in Africa Unity Square and people climbed aboard armored vehicles to pose for photographs with soldiers. Despite the public outpouring of joy, Mugabe s downfall was as much the result of in-fighting among the political elite as a popular uprising, although thousands of people rallied against him in the days after the army intervened last week.     The army seized power after Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa, ZANU-PF s favorite to succeed him, in a bid to smooth a path to the presidency for his wife Grace, 52, known to her critics as  Gucci Grace  for her reputed fondness for luxury shopping. Since the crisis began, Mugabe has been mainly confined to his  Blue Roof  mansion in the capital where Grace is also believed to be. ZANU-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke told Reuters that Mnangagwa would be sworn in within 48 hours and serve the remainder of Mugabe s term until the next election, which must be held by September 2018.      I am very happy with what has happened,  said Maria Sabawu, a supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), outside the hotel where the impeachment process was happening.  I have suffered a lot at the hands of Mugabe s government,  she said, showing her hand with a missing finger that she said was lost in violence during a presidential run-off election between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008. Mugabe had led Zimbabwe since a guerrilla struggle ended white-minority rule in the country formerly known as Rhodesia. He took the once-rich nation to economic ruin, presiding over the forced takeover of white-owned farms at the end of the century, which devastated agricultural foreign exchange earnings and led to hyperinflation. But brandishing his anti-colonial credentials and styling himself the Grand Old Man of African politics, Mugabe retained the admiration of many people across the continent. Amnesty International said that under Mugabe tens of thousands of people were tortured, forcibly disappeared or killed in a culture of impunity that allowed  grotesque crimes to thrive .  The people of Zimbabwe deserve better. The next generation of leaders must commit itself to upholding the constitution, living up to Zimbabwe s international human rights obligations and treating its people with dignity and justice,  the rights group said in a statement.  Mnangagwa, 75, who fled Zimbabwe after his sacking in fear for his safety, was a chief lieutenant to Mugabe for decades and himself stands accused of participating in repression. He was internal security chief in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a North Korean-trained brigade against rebels during which 20,000 civilians were killed, according to rights groups. Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting to succeed Mugabe, with army backing, at the helm of a broad coalition to seek Zimbabwe s re-engagement with the world after decades of isolation from global lenders and donors. Nicknamed  Ngwena , or crocodile in the Shona language, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness, Mnangagwa issued a statement from hiding on Tuesday calling on Zimbabweans to unite to rebuild the country. Opposition politician and former education minister David Coltart said that call gave hope of lifting a shattered economy from its knees, provided Mnangagwa made good on his promise to reach out to other factions.  When we all wake up with hangovers tomorrow, we will be reminded of the dreadful state our nation is in - no money in the banks and businesses collapsing,  Coltart told Reuters.  As Emmerson Mnangagwa said, ZANU-PF is not capable of resolving this issue on its own. I took some comfort from his words. If he translates them into action, the future is positive.  Zimbabwe s Platform for Concerned Citizens, a civil society group, called for a national dialogue and a  transitional authority  to decide the country s future. Theresa May, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, said Mugabe s resignation  provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterized his rule . She said Britain, as  Zimbabwe s oldest friend , would do all it could to support the country.      The U.S. embassy in Harare said Zimbabwe was living  a historic moment .  Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair and inclusive elections,  it said in a statement.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के मुगाबे ने चार दशकों के शासन को समाप्त करते हुए इस्तीफा दे दिया


LONDON (Reuters) - British aid minister Priti Patel is flying back to London after cancelling a planned trip to Africa, the BBC reported on Wednesday, after local media reported she was facing the sack for not fully disclosing meetings during a holiday to Israel. The BBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that she was on a plane. Some on social media suggested she would arrive in London at around 1500 GMT.

Summary: ब्रिटिश सहायता मंत्री पटेल लंदन वापस जा रहे हैंः बीबीसी


CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and other Arab foreign ministers criticized Iran and its Lebanese Shi ite ally Hezbollah at an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday, calling for a united front to counter Iranian interference. Regional tensions have risen in recent weeks between Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Islamist Iran over Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s surprise resignation, and an escalation in Yemen s conflict. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned on Nov. 4 from Riyadh, accusing Iran and Hezbollah of spreading strife. But Lebanese President Michel Aoun and other politicians accused Saudi Arabia of holding Hariri hostage and said he had been coerced into resigning. Saudi Arabia and Hariri both deny that. Hezbollah, both a military force involved in Syria s war and a political movement, is part of a Lebanese government made up of rival factions, and an ally of Aoun. Saudi Arabia also accuses Hezbollah of a role in the launch of a missile towards Riyadh from Yemen this month. Iran denies accusations that it supplies Houthi forces there.   The kingdom will not stand by and will not hesitate to defend its security,  Saudi Arabia s Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told the assembly.  We must stand together.  The emergency Arab foreign ministers  meeting was convened at the request of Saudi Arabia with support from the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait to discuss means of confronting Iranian intervention. In a declaration after the meeting, the Arab League accused Hezbollah of  supporting terrorism and extremist groups in Arab countries with advanced weapons and ballistic missiles.  It said Arab nations would provide details to the U.N. Security Council of Tehran s violations for arming militias in Yemen.  Lebanon s Arab League representative objected to the declaration accusing Hezbollah of terrorism and said it is part of Lebanon s government, the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar television channel reported.  United Arab Emirates  Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter later that the declaration was a  clear message  about joint Arab action against Iran. Yemen s civil war pits the internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, against the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.  Iranian threats have gone beyond all limits and pushed the region into a dangerous abyss,  Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.  Unfortunately countries like the Saudi regime are pursuing divisions and creating differences, and because of this they don t see any results other than divisions,  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian state media on Sunday on the sidelines of a meeting in Antalya. Egypt s foreign minister received a call from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday when they also discussed regional tensions over Lebanon, the foreign ministry said in a statement. After French intervention, Hariri flew to France and met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Saturday. He will arrive in Cairo for a visit on Tuesday, his office said. Speaking in Paris, Hariri said he would clarify his position when he returns to Beirut in the coming days. He said he would take part in Lebanese independence day celebrations, scheduled for Wednesday.

Summary: सऊदी अरब और अरब सहयोगियों ने ईरान के खिलाफ एकता के लिए जोर दिया, हिज़्बुल्लाह हस्तक्षेप कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Sunday said President Donald Trump wants to avoid nuclear war with North Korea and   will do everything we can  to avoid conflict.   I can assure you the president s number one priority is the safety of the American people and our allies,  Mnuchin said on ABC News.  The president doesn t want to be in a nuclear war, and we will do everything we can to make sure that doesn t occur.   Trump has dialed up the rhetoric against North Korea over the weekend, warning the country s foreign minister that he and leader Kim Jong Un  won t be around much longer,  as Pyongyang staged a major anti-U.S. rally.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के साथ परमाणु युद्ध से बचने के लिए ट्रम्प सब कुछ करेंगेः म्नुचिन


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh could die due to a lack of  food, shelter and water, given the huge numbers fleeing violence in Myanmar, an aid agency warned on Sunday, as authorities began moving people to camps to streamline the distribution of help. Nearly 410,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority fled from Myanmar s western Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that the United Nations has branded a  textbook example of ethnic cleansing .  Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water,  Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the Save the Children aid agency said in a statement.  I m particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families can t meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost.  Bangladesh has for decades faced influxes of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the Rohingya are regarded as illegal migrants. Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya before the latest crisis erupted on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army camp in the western state of Rakhine, killing a dozen people. Pierce said the humanitarian response needed to be rapidly scaled up.  That can only be done if the international community steps up funding,  he said. Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes responded to the Aug. 25 insurgent attacks with what they say is a campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population. Myanmar rejects that, saying its security forces are carrying out clearance operations against the insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for the August attacks and similar, smaller, raids in October. The Myanmar government has declared the group a terrorist organization and accused it of setting the fires and attacking civilians. Bangladesh border guards said the flow of refugees leaving Myanmar had eased off over the past day, apparently because bad weather had discouraged people from taking to boats to reach Bangladesh.  Heavy rain has turned roads into mud, with refugees huddling under shelters of bamboo and plastic sheets beside them. Bangladeshi authorities said they had started moving an estimated 100,000 Rohingya living by the roads to camps designated as aid points.  We re not allowing any distribution to anyone from the side of the road,  said district government official Kazi Abdur Rahman.  We want to convince them there s everything in the camp and nothing here.  A big new camp is planned but it is unclear how long it would take to build.  People are living in these muddy, awful conditions. You have to get them to some sort of space where aid can be delivered,  said Chris Lom of the International Organization for Migration.   Clean water and sanitation can only be delivered in a structured environment.  There is no sign that violence has stopped in Myanmar, with smoke, apparently from burning villages, seen as recently as Friday, meaning more refugees are likely to cross. Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya villages had been torched since the violence erupted. Myanmar says more than 430 people have been killed, most of them insurgents, and about 30,000 non-Muslim villagers have been displaced.  Myanmar government leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of criticism from abroad for not stopping the violence. The military remains in full control of security policy and there is little sympathy for the Rohingya in a country where the end of army rule has unleashed old animosities, and the military campaign in Rakhine State is widely supported. Suu Kyi is due to make her first address to the nation on the crisis on Tuesday. Her foreign supporters and Western governments that backed her campaign against military rule, and see her as the best hope for Myanmar s future, will be hoping to see her make a commitment to protect the rights of the Muslim minority. Suu Kyi s supporters at home could be disappointed if she is perceived to be caving in to foreign pressure and taking the side of a Muslim minority blamed for initiating the violence. The United States has called for the protection of civilians and a deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in Myanmar this week. He will travel to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, to meet government officials and representatives of different communities, including Rohingya, but he is not seeking to travel to the conflict zone in northern Rakhine State. The military has called for unity on the issue. The political party founded by retired officers and trounced by Suu Kyi s party in the 2015 election, could be expected to take heart to see her support eroded by the crisis.

Summary: सहायता समूह ने बांग्लादेश में रोहिंग्याओं की मौत की चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama lamented the ease with which extremists can get firearms in the United States as “crazy” and Hillary Clinton said “terrorists” were using assault weapons to kill Americans, as Democrats on Monday renewed an uphill push for gun control after the Orlando massacre. The worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in which 49 people at a gay nightclub were killed and 53 wounded, reignited a debate in Washington over what types of guns should not be easily available and what types of buyers ought to be prohibited. The No. 3 Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, and other Democrats said they would try as early as this week to get votes on a measure preventing people on “terror watch lists” and other “suspected terrorists” from buying firearms or explosives. Senate Democrats are trying to resurrect a proposal that failed to win backing in December, after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, by Islamic State-inspired militants. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, asked by a reporter whether he expected Republicans to oppose the legislation again, said: “Except (Senator Mark) Kirk ... one out of 54 I guess is better than nothing.” Kirk was the lone Republican who voted last December with Democrats.        FBI Director James Comey said the gunman in the Florida attack, New York-born Omar Mateen, had been on a terrorism watch list while he was under FBI investigation for about a year ending in May 2014, but he was taken off when investigators found no incriminating information. The weapons Mateen brought into the packed Orlando club were purchased earlier this month. Speaking to reporters one day after the mass shooting, Obama said the United States was “going to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.” “The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement ... is crazy,” the Democratic president said. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, weighed in during a campaign rally in Cleveland.  “If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn’t be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked,” she said to applause. In a MSNBC interview earlier, she said: “Now that we’re seeing terrorists use these assault weapons, that has to be part of the debate.” Rapid-firing “assault” weapons were used by gunmen in shootings over the past year in Orlando, Florida, San Bernardino, California, and Garland, Texas. Efforts in Congress to curb weapons proliferation have gained some steam following past mass shootings, only to die amid opposition from the National Rifle Association gun lobby. An NRA spokesman did not immediately comment on Monday on the renewed calls for gun curbs. The December 2013 killings of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school prompted a push for expanded background checks on gun sellers and banning assault weapons. The initiative collapsed in April 2014, when the legislation failed to get enough votes in the U.S. Senate to clear a procedural hurdle. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used Sunday’s shooting as an example of why Americans needed guns, and charged that Clinton, his likely opponent in the Nov. 8 election, wanted to leave “only the bad guys and terrorists with guns.” Trump declared in a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, that he would be meeting with the NRA, which has endorsed him, “to discuss how to ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in this age of terror.” Mateen, who was shot and killed by police who stormed the club, had been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for saying he supported two Islamist groups, a statement he later said he made only to disturb his co-workers. He was questioned again in July 2014 for his connection to an American suicide bomber for al-Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot, but the inquiry was dropped after the FBI found only a “casual” relationship between the two men.  U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said additional gun curbs would restrict Americans’ freedoms without necessarily preventing attacks.  “He didn’t commit this terrorist act for a couple years,” after being taken off the watch list, Johnson said on CNN. “The enormous challenge we have, the vexing problem is, what do you do with the not-guilty-yet?”

Summary: डेमोक्रेट बंदूकों को आतंकवाद से जोड़ते हैं, ऑरलैंडो के बाद बंदूक नियंत्रण की ओर रुख करते हैं


STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The EU executive called again on Wednesday for the Spanish government and Catalan authorities to open dialogue to defuse the sometimes violent confrontation over Catalonia s push for independence.  It s time to talk,  the European Commission s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, told the European Parliament during an emergency debate on the crisis in Spain. Reflecting the cautiously balanced tone of a Commission statement on Monday  after images of violent police action against an unauthorized independence referendum, Timmermans endorsed the legal position of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy but also renewed an appeal for dialogue. And despite  saddening  images of Spanish police beating participants in what the Commission says was an illegal vote, Brussels has no plan to accede to calls from the separatist government in Barcelona for direct EU mediation - Spain s democratic systems are quite adequate for that, EU leaders say.  You can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law,  Timmermans said in remarks aimed at Catalan leaders, who appear set on a unilateral declaration of independence in defiance of constitutional court rulings that forbid secession.  Respect for the rule of law is not optional,  added First Vice President Timmermans, who also leads a Commission effort to prevent Poland s right-wing government from changing judiciary regulations that the EU says is a move toward authoritarianism. An EU lawmaker from Poland s ruling party accused the EU of double standards for pressuring Warsaw but not Madrid - and several other eurosceptic and nationalist members also said the EU had not criticized Spanish police action firmly enough. But Timmermans insisted it was not for Brussels to intervene:  The Commission has called on all relevant actors to now move quickly from confrontation to dialogue ...   It s time to talk. To find a way out of the impasse, working within the constitutional order of Spain.  Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish members of the EU parliament traded accusations over whether leaders in Barcelona or Madrid were responsible for the crisis. At one point, one Spanish liberal lawmaker held up a copy of the post-dictatorship constitution, brandishing it at Catalan separatists and saying Catalans voted for it in 1978. In the afternoon debate, leaders of the main parties in the Strasbourg chamber broadly echoed Timmermans  arguments. Few of Europe s leaders want to see the disruption of splitting a major member state nor to encourage separatism in other countries. The center-right leader, the Bavarian Manfred Weber, and the liberal leader, the Flemish Guy Verhofstadt, both referred to their own origins to argue that strong regional identity and autonomy did not mean breaking up existing nation states.  The irresponsible Catalan government is splitting the country,  said Weber, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and of Rajoy. He said the EU had neither the will nor the means to intercede.  Some lawmakers, however, said Brussels could to more to help.  Greens leader Ska Keller, whose group includes pro-independence Catalans, said the Commission could act as  honest broker  to promote compromise.  It is wrong if the Commission shies away and continues to turn a blind eye.  Verhofstadt, a Liberal former prime minister of Belgium where constitutional gymnastics and extreme devolution have prevented his fellow Flemings breaking with their French-speaking neighbors, chided Spaniards for failing to go beyond legal arguments to find genuine dialogue and compromise. He called any declaration of independence  totally irresponsible  and said:  It s not a shame to make compromises.

Summary: 'यह बात करने का समय है': यूरोपीय संघ ने स्पेन में फिर से बातचीत का आग्रह किया