(Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas executives bet big on 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush - they donated more to his White House run than to all of his rivals combined, according to a Reuters review of campaign disclosures. But that was last year. Now Bush faces what party strategists and donors view as a make or break moment on Saturday in South Carolina’s Republican primary, or early nominating contest. Polls show him trailing in the single digits. If he fails to do well, there will be pressure on him to quit, strategists say, and the oil money will be looking for a new home. The main beneficiaries in the Republican race would likely be Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida. After Bush, the two candidates received the most contributions from the oil and gas industry, according to the Reuters review. When Bush entered the White House race last year, the petroleum sector saw him as their natural choice: he was the son and brother of former presidents and he came from a West Texas family with historically close ties to the oil industry. “Bush is part of a family that is a friendly face to the oil industry,” said Sarah Emerson, director of Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Boston. He drew more than $2 million from the chief executive officers of companies like Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Halliburton (HAL.N), Kinder Morgan (KMI.N), and Chief Oil & Gas in 2015, making up about 56 percent of all the industry’s contributions to the race so far, according to the review. The review covered contributions from 75 oil and gas companies, their employees, and their political action committees to presidential candidates’ campaigns and allied Super PACs. When counting donations only to Republican candidates’ campaigns, employees favored Cruz among the Republicans, with Bush in second place and Rubio in third. (Click here for a graphic on oil and gas money in the U.S. presidential race: tmsnrt.rs/24cW28e ) Several of Bush’s biggest oil CEO donors have links to his family. Richard Kinder of Kinder Morgan, for example, campaigned for George H.W. Bush’s run for the White House in 1992, and for George W. Bush’s run in 2004. Halliburton’s CEO, David Lesar, meanwhile, succeeded Dick Cheney after George W. Bush nominated him vice president in 2000. “Some of those people may be thinking support can get them a place in Bush-world,” said one Washington D.C.-based oil industry lobbyist, who asked not to be named. “The question is, where does that money go if Bush bleeds out?” Bush is now running in fifth place among seven Republicans in a national Reuters/Ipsos poll. He has just 8 percent support leading into Saturday’s primary, compared with front-runner Donald Trump’s 40 percent. Cruz and Rubio came second and third in the poll with 17 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Donations directly from oil companies and their political action committees or PACs have been practically nil – suggesting that millions of dollars remain on the sidelines of the race that could be deployed once the field of candidates narrows. This year’s election is particularly important to oil and gas executives because of a steep slump in energy prices that has slashed profits and worries that another Democratic president could strengthen curbs on drilling and carbon emissions introduced by President Barack Obama. “There is a pronounced partisan agenda on energy,” said Robert McNally, founder and president of the Washington-based global energy consultancy The Rapidan Group, explaining the two parties have moved farther apart on energy policy. “There’s no middle of the road anymore,” he said. As a group, oil and gas company CEOs have doled out nearly $3.2 million in support of presidential candidates so far – more than three times more than all oil company employees did in the equivalent period of the 2012 race. One million dollars of that went to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out in September. The CEOs are not alone in giving big. Some families that made their cash in the oil industry have also been major donors,  like the Wilks brothers of Texas, who have given Cruz’s Super PAC $15 million. The biggest oil company CEO donations to current candidates have come from the heads of Kinder Morgan and Chief Oil and Gas, at more than $1 million each to Bush’s campaign and his allied Right To Rise USA Super PAC, according to the filings to the Federal Election Commission.  Rubio, meanwhile, took some $38,000 from chief executives at Devon Energy (DVN.N), AGL (AGL.AX), and Atmos (ATO.N). Cruz received no money from energy company CEOs. Individual donations from oil company employees who were not CEOs appeared to favor Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, who took in more than $110,000. Cruz was next with nearly $105,000.  (Editing by Ross Colvin) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: तेल उद्योग ने राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए जेब बुश पर बड़ा दांव लगाया, रॉयटर्स समीक्षा से पता चलता है। अब क्या?


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria s army and allies including Lebanon s Hezbollah have captured the last major Islamic State-held town in Syria, a commander in the military alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday.  The commander added that Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces also took part in the capture of Albu Kamal, located in Syria near the Iraqi border on the Euphrates river.

Summary: सीरिया में इस्लामिक स्टेट का आखिरी शहर सेना के हाथ आयाः कमांडर


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who resigned from his post as Lebanon s prime minister two weeks ago from Saudi Arabia, said on Friday he has been in Saudi for discussions  on the future of the situation in Lebanon and its relations with the surrounding Arab region . Writing on Twitter, Hariri also said information which has been circulating about his stay, his departure and his family are  just rumors .

Summary: हरीरी का कहना है कि उनका सऊदी प्रवास लेबनान के भविष्य पर चर्चा करने के लिए था


BERLIN (Reuters) - Austria s new Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, called for an end to  failed  attempts to achieve a quota system for distributing asylum seekers around the European Union and urged new efforts to help refugees in their country of origin. When he was foreign minister, Kurz, a conservative now governing in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, was a strong critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel s decision to open Germany s borders to more than a million fleeing migrants in 2015. Since becoming Chancellor this week, he has aligned himself with central European neighbors like Hungary and the Czech Republic in opposing German-backed proposals to distribute asylum seekers around EU member states.  Forcing states to take refugees doesn t take Europe any further. The discussion makes no sense,  he told Germany s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.  Migrants who set off for Europe don t want to go to Bulgaria or Hungary. They want to go to Germany, Austria or Sweden.  Instead of doubling down on what he termed a  failed  policy, Kurz called for the EU to support,  perhaps militarily , efforts to help migrants in their countries of origin or in neighboring states.  If that isn t possible, then they should be helped in safe areas on their own continent,  he said.  The EU should support that, perhaps even organize it, and back it militarily.  It was not clear from the interview extracts, published by the newspaper, what kind of military support he envisaged. But European leaders have on occasion suggested the EU contribute to peacekeeping operations to stabilize conflicts in Africa. The question of how to deal with streams of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa also divides Merkel s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) as they prepare for talks on forming a new government. Hard-line members of Merkel s conservative camp demand tight absolute caps on the numbers of refugees allowed to enter Germany each year, while a senior SPD official on Saturday suggested local authorities around Europe be paid to house refugees.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रिया के कुर्ज़ कहते हैं कि शरणार्थियों की मदद करें जहाँ से भी वे आते हैं


(Reuters) - Leading U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday urged quick passage of legislation defeated last year to impose additional gun controls in the wake of the weekend mass shooting in Florida. Four Democratic senators, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, called for immediate passage of a bill preventing people on “terror watch lists” and other “suspected terrorists” from buying firearms or explosives. Last December, Democrats attempted to pass this legislation but were blocked by Republicans, who said the government could mistakenly place innocent people on watch lists. The new push for legislation came after a man with an assault rifle entered a gay nightclub in Orlando and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. The gunman subsequently was killed by law enforcement officers. Federal agents had interviewed the gunman twice in recent years. Joining Schumer in calling for passage of the legislation are Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, Bill Nelson of Florida and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Meanwhile, Democratic President Barack Obama on Monday blamed weak gun laws for allowing disturbed individuals to gain access to powerful weapons. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate to replace Obama in the White House, said people on watch lists should be barred from buying guns and said there should be a debate about possible restrictions on assault weapons. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, took a different approach, repeating his call for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. The Orlando gunman was born in the United States. His parents were Afghan immigrants.

Summary: सीनेट डेमोक्रेट्स ने बंदूक नियंत्रण के नए उपायों पर जोर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s watchdog is expanding a review of administrator Scott Pruitt’s frequent travels to his home state Oklahoma to include more recent trips taken on military and charter flights, according to a memo seen on Friday. The Office of Inspector General had been investigating the “frequency, cost and extent” of Pruitt’s travels to Oklahoma through July 31, and will now expand the “active audit” to include all travel, including the use of private and military flights he has taken up to Sept. 30. The expanded review coincides with heightened scrutiny surrounding the travels of President Donald Trump’s cabinet officials with reports that some have spent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-commercial flights. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last week over his use of costly private charter planes for government business. The Interior Department’s own inspector general last week confirmed it also opened an investigation into travels by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke after receiving numerous complaints about his use of three chartered flights, including one on an aircraft owned by an oil and gas executive. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also used a private charter flight last week, Reuters reported. The flight cost $11,000, according to travel records provided to Reuters by the Department of Energy. The records show that Perry took four non-commercial flights between May and last week totaling nearly $56,000 of taxpayer money. Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hayes said in a statement on Friday that in the “rare instances where government-owned or chartered aircraft have been used, trips were pre-approved by an Ethics officer within the Office of General Counsel.” Separately, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department’s inspector general office could not confirm nor deny whether it is investigating his travels. In addition to investigating the frequency of Pruitt’s travels, the watchdog is also evaluating whether Pruitt followed EPA travel protocols and whether “EPA’s policies and procedures are sufficiently designed to prevent fraud, waste and abuse with the Administrator’s travel.” Pruitt has taken at least four flights that were either not commercial or military-chartered since mid-February, according to government records. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said the four non-commercial flights had been cleared by EPA lawyers. Pruitt had also traveled to Oklahoma on at least 43 of the 92 days of March, April and May, according to copies of his travel records obtained by the Environmental Integrity Project watchdog and reviewed by Reuters last month, which prompted the initial investigation.

Summary: ईपीए वॉचडॉग ने प्रशासक की यात्रा के ऑडिट का विस्तार कियाः ज्ञापन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, have told Trump’s legal team they can no longer discuss a probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, indicating Flynn may be cooperating with the investigation, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Flynn, a retired Army general, is a central figure in a federal investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether Trump aides colluded with Russia to boost his 2016 presidential campaign. The probe has hung over the White House since January, when U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia interfered in the election to try to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton by hacking and releasing embarrassing emails and disseminating propaganda via social media to discredit her. Russia has denied interfering in the U.S. election and Trump has said there was no collusion. Flynn’s lawyer and a spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on Thursday. Jay Sekulow, an attorney for Trump, said: “No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about General Flynn cooperating against the president.” The Times reported that Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Trump’s legal team about the Mueller investigation. Citing four unnamed people involved in the case, the newspaper reported the cooperation agreement had ended. Due to rules that aim to prevent conflicts of interest when lawyers represent clients, the move by Flynn’s lawyers to stop communicating with Trump’s lawyers indicated Flynn was now cooperating with Mueller, the Times said, although adding that in itself was not proof. But the development has led Trump’s lawyers to believe that Flynn has begun discussions with Mueller about cooperating, according to the Times. Flynn served 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser but was fired after it was discovered he had misrepresented his contacts with a Russian diplomat to Vice President Mike Pence. Mueller’s inquiry is looking into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the Nov. 8 presidential election, Reuters reported in June. A lawyer for Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., who worked with his father and is also being investigated by Mueller, according to a person familiar with the matter, declined to comment.

Summary: फ्लिन के वकीलों ने ट्रम्प टीम के साथ बातचीत बंद कर दी, म्यूलर के सहयोग का संकेत दियाः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The battered U.S. coal industry rejoiced after the Senate voted on Thursday to repeal a rule that limited companies from dumping mining waste in streams, saying the move could halt the sector’s decline. The Senate, approving a resolution passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, overturned the Stream Protection Rule as part of a broader move by Republicans to reverse what they see as overregulation by former President Barack Obama’s administration on energy development. The demise of the rule had been expected. The Congressional Review Act allows Congress, controlled by Republicans, to undo rules finalized at the end of a previous administration. “This is one very, very important step to get coal back on its feet and stop the hemorrhaging of jobs that we’ve seen,” said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association.  The coal industry hopes the move is the first step toward a recovery under President Donald Trump, who has vowed to clear away regulation to support more mining. Coal advocates are hoping his administration will overturn a moratorium the Obama administration placed on new coal leases on federal lands, and scrap regulations on carbon dioxide emissions. The coal waste rule was intended to protect 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of streams and large areas of forests over the next two decades, the Interior Department said when it issued the rule in December. It argued the rule would protect drinking water without undermining the economy or energy supply. The coal industry countered that the rule could have reduced the number of direct mining jobs by 30 percent and made 60 percent of its existing reservoirs uneconomic to produce.   Coal companies such as Arch Coal Inc and Peabody Energy Corp - two of the nation’s biggest miners - experienced recent bankruptcies because of a surge in production of natural gas and new regulations curbing carbon dioxide emissions.  Stephanie Weiler, a spokeswoman at Peabody Energy said the company was “pleased” by the elimination of the rule and supported “any actions aimed at reining in unnecessary regulations that don’t improve the environment yet harm the economic and jobs landscape.”  Arch did not immediately comment. Gary Broadbent, a spokesman for private company Murray Energy, said the rule was an attempt to “destroy our nation’s underground coal mines” and put coal miners out of work. Democratic Senator Edward Markey said the coal industry’s request that Republicans kill the rule amounted to saying: “Please protect us from having to protect the public.”

Summary: अमेरिकी कोयला खनिकों ने धारा सुरक्षा को समाप्त करने के लिए रिपब्लिकन की सराहना की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale to Britain of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and accessories with an estimated worth of $1.035 billion, the Pentagon said on Monday. Britain has requested a possible sale of up to 2,747 of the vehicles, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. The principal contractor of this sale will be Oshkosh Corp unit Oshkosh Defense LLC, it said.

Summary: राज्य विभाग ने ब्रिटेन को 1 अरब डॉलर के सैन्य वाहनों की संभावित बिक्री को मंजूरी दी


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday all options, from economic to air and land military measures, were on the table in response to the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum held in northern Iraq on Monday. In a speech made at the presidential palace, Erdogan said Turkey would not hesitate to use the means at its disposal if the road to peace is blocked, adding he hoped the Kurdistan Regional Government would come to its senses.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन ने कहा कि इराकी कुर्द जनमत संग्रह पर सैन्य, आर्थिक विकल्प मेज पर हैं


MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain moved closer on Monday to imposing central rule over Catalonia to thwart its independence push as Madrid s High Court signaled a hardening line by jailing the leaders of two of the largest separatist organizations. In the first imprisonment of senior secessionist figures since Catalonia s Oct. 1 independence referendum, the court ordered the heads of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium held without bail pending an investigation for alleged sedition. Prosecutors say that the ANC s Jordi Sanchez and Omnium s Jordi Cuixart played central roles in orchestrating pro-independence protests that last month trapped national police inside a Barcelona building and destroyed their vehicles. Around 200 people flocked to the Catalan government s headquarters in Barcelona in a peaceful show of support for both men, with some chanting  Freedom  and waving  Democracy  banners.  The ANC, which has organized protests of hundreds of thousands of secessionists in the past, called for further peaceful demonstrations around Catalonia on Tuesday.  Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont commented on Twitter:  Spain jails Catalonia s civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again    an allusion to Spain s military dictatorship under Francisco Franco. The High Court also banned the Catalan police chief, Josep Lluis Trapero, from leaving Spain and seized his passport while he is being investigated over the same incident, though it did not order his arrest. Last Tuesday, Puigdemont stepped back from asking the Catalan parliament to vote on independence, instead making a symbolic declaration and calling for negotiations on the region s future. In a confrontation viewed with mounting alarm in European capitals and financial markets, Puigdemont failed on Monday to respond to Madrid s ultimatum to clarify whether he had declared unilateral independence in a speech last week. He now has until Thursday to back down.  In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy,  Puigdemont gave no direct answer on the independence issue, instead making a  sincere and honest  offer for dialogue over the next two months. In reply, Rajoy said Puigdemont s stance had brought Madrid closer to triggering Article 155 of the constitution, under which it can impose direct rule on any of the country s 17 autonomous communities if they break the law. The Catalan government s campaign to break away from Spain has pitched the country into its worst political crisis since an abortive coup attempt in 1981. On Monday the economy ministry told the EU that it had slashed its economic growth forecasts for next year partly due to the situation. The Catalan government says 90 percent of voters in the referendum backed a breakaway, but turnout was only 43 percent as most opponents of independence in the region boycotted the vote, already declared illegal by Spain s Constitutional Court.  Thousands have demonstrated in Barcelona and other Spanish cities both for and against independence. So far the crisis has been largely violence-free, except for the day of the referendum when national police assaulted voters with batons and rubber bullets. The High Court ruled that Trapero, the Catalan police chief, would have his passport withdrawn but rejected a request from the state prosecutor for him to be held in custody. Trapero is a hero to the secessionists after his force took a much softer stance than national police in enforcing the ban on the referendum. Prosecutors say he failed to give orders to rescue national police trapped inside the Barcelona building. Puigdemont last Tuesday delayed by several weeks a formal declaration of independence from Spain to allow for talks. Madrid has ruled out talks unless Puigdemont gives up the independence demand. It had given him until 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Monday to clarify his position with a  Yes  or  No , and until Thursday to change his mind if he insisted on a split. Following his failure to do so, a regional broadcaster said he also planned to ignore a final deadline on Thursday. Suggesting that Puigdemont and his team were in no mood to follow Rajoy s game plan, Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn said Article 155 would not allow Madrid to remove members of the Catalan government. The article s terms on direct rule, which has never been applied, are vague.  It says Madrid can  adopt any measure  to force a region to meet its constitutional obligations, with the approval of Spain s lower house. The wording suggests this could include anything from taking control of regional police and finances to installing a new governing team or calling a snap election. Underlining the deepening crisis, some of the largest companies in prosperous Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of the Spanish economy, have already shifted head offices elsewhere and others are likely to follow if Puigdemont declares outright independence. Investors say a political split could undermine the economic rebound in Spain, the euro zone s fourth-largest economy.

Summary: स्पेन उच्च न्यायालय ने कैटलन के दो अलगाववादी नेताओं को जांच लंबित रहने तक जेल भेज दिया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China will step up efforts to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday in a speech at the opening of a key Communist Party Congress. Xi said that maintaining national security is in the interests of all people.

Summary: शी ने कहा, चीन आतंकवाद और चरमपंथ से निपटने के प्रयासों को बढ़ावा देगा


BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday offered loans to Djibouti, the site of its first overseas military base, as the Horn of Africa state s leader told President Xi Jinping he considered himself a great friend of the Asian giant.  With a population of less than one million, Djibouti has long punched above its weight, thanks to a strategic location on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world s busiest shipping routes linking Europe to Asia and the Middle East. China formally opened the base, which it calls a logistics facility, on Aug. 1, the 90th birthday of the People s Liberation Army. Djibouti also hosts large U.S. and French bases.  Djibouti was politically stable, Xi told its president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, at a meeting in Beijing s Great Hall of the People.     China sets great store by its relations with Djibouti,  he added.  Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999, said he considered himself a  great friend of China s  and could not count the number of times he had visited.  Djibouti is known for being a country of peace, exchanges and meetings,  Guelleh said.  I would like to recall the geostrategic position of Djibouti and its importance in this part of the world as an island of stability for Asia, Africa and the Middle East.   The two, who did not mention the military base in comments to reporters, later oversaw the signing of a framework pact for preferential loans. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong declined to reveal the amount of loans offered, saying he could not remember.  In this area both countries have always had good cooperation,  Chen told reporters. Xi and Guelleh did discuss the military base, Chen added.  What I want to stress is that China building a logistics base in Djibouti benefits China to even better fulfill its naval protection, peace-keeping, disaster relief and other international work,  he said. The base will be used to resupply navy ships participating in peacekeeping, humanitarian and anti-piracy missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular. China also has deep economic interests in Djibouti.     Last week, China s POLY-GCL Petroleum Group Holdings Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to invest $4 billion in a natural gas project in Djibouti. In January, the government launched construction of a project billed as Africa s largest free trade zone, as part of China s massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative stretching to Asia, Europe and beyond.

Summary: चीन ने विदेशी सैन्य अड्डे के स्थल जिबूती को आर्थिक सहायता प्रदान की


CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump on Sunday of scapegoating the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq, after the Republican nominee took issue with remarks the soldier’s father made at the Democratic National Convention. Trump, in an ABC interview that aired on Sunday, questioned why Ghazala Khan, mother of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, stood quietly by her husband, Khizr Khan, as he took the stage at last week’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Trump suggested the mother might not have been “allowed” to speak. Speaking at a church service, Clinton said Trump had been insulting to a family who had sacrificed so much. She also used the episode to contrast her own religious faith with that of Trump, who has spoken of religion on the campaign trail infrequently. “I don’t begrudge anyone of any other faith or of no faith at all, but I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability,” Clinton said in remarks at the Imani Temple Ministries, an African-American church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  “It’s just not how I was raised, that’s not how I was taught in my church,” said Clinton, who grew up as a Methodist. “Tim Kaine and I are people of faith,” she said, referring to her vice presidential running mate, who is a Catholic. Top Republican lawmakers House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also condemned Trump’s remarks in separate statements, although they did not mention their presidential candidate by name. “Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example,” Ryan said. “His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honored. Period.” he said. Earlier on Sunday, Ghazala Khan took up her own defense in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying her husband had asked her in advance whether she would want to speak at the convention but that she had decided she would be unable to do so on stage because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son. “Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true,” she wrote. “When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant.” In a statement issued on Sunday evening by the Trump campaign, Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, said that he and the Republican nominee “believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero” that his family, like other families of fallen soldiers, “should be cherished by every American.” But Pence added that Captain Khan had died defending the country against terrorism and that Trump’s policies would reduce the likelihood that other families would face the kind of heartbreak the Khans had. Khizr Khan, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim, spoke about his war hero son at the Democratic convention and took issue with Trump’s call for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States. Khizr Khan invited the Republican nominee to read the U.S. Constitution and visit the graves of American soldiers from many backgrounds at Arlington National Cemetery. In the interview aired on Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Trump cast doubt on why Khan’s wife did not speak. “She was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said. Trump on Sunday tweeted that Khan’s son had died 12 years ago: “Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our “leaders” to eradicate it!”  Trump also tweeted that he had been “viciously attacked” by Khan at the convention. “Am I not allowed to respond?” he asked. The candidate also tried to change the subject to the war itself: “Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!” On Twitter, Republican strategist Ana Navarro called Trump’s comments about the Khans “gross” and labeled him a “jerk.” Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, said he sympathizes with the Khan family but that their loss is not the issue at hand. “The issue really is radical Islamic jihad and the risk to the American homeland,” he said on CBS, defending Trump’s proposal to suspend immigration from some geographic regions.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने ट्रंप पर मुस्लिम सैनिक के माता-पिता को बलि का बकरा बनाने का आरोप लगाया


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday U.S. accusations that Russia was responsible for cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations were “nonsense”, Interfax news agency reported. “This is again some kind of nonsense. (Our) website experiences tens of thousands of attacks by hackers every day,” Interfax quoted Peskov as saying.

Summary: क्रेमलिनः रूसी साइबर हमलों के अमेरिकी आरोप 'मूर्खतापूर्ण' हैं-इफैक्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he had “great confidence” that the hacking of Democratic Party officials and institutions were carried out by Russia and at the behest of high-level Russian officials. “The intelligence that I’ve seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the Russians carried out this hack,” Obama said at a White House news conference.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा कि उन्हें 'बहुत विश्वास' है कि हैकिंग के पीछे रूस का हाथ था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker on Wednesday said he was still undecided on whether to support his party’s tax legislation even as congressional Republicans announced a deal on a final plan.  Corker, whose party has a slim majority in the Senate and can only afford to lose two votes, told reporters: “My deficit concerns have not been alleviated, so like in many tough votes around here, you’ve got to make a decision.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर कॉर्कर का कहना है कि वह अभी भी कर विधेयक पर अनिश्चित हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s commission investigating voter fraud may request voter roll data from U.S. states, a federal judge ruled on Monday, in a setback for groups that contend the effort could infringe on privacy rights. The judge said a lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) watchdog did not have grounds for an injunction in part because the collection of data by the commission was not technically an action by a government agency so was not bound by laws that govern what such entities can do.  Washington-based U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also pointed out that the commission was an advisory body that does not have legal authority to compel states to hand over the data. Most state officials who oversee elections and election law experts say that voter fraud is rare in the United States. Trump, who set up the commission by executive order on May 12, has charged without evidence that millions voted unlawfully in the November presidential election.  Republican Trump won the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states and determines the presidential winner. But he lost the popular vote to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. “We look forward to continuing to work with state election leaders to gather information and identify opportunities to improve election integrity,” the commission’s vice chair Kris Kobach said in a statement after Monday’s ruling. Kobach is the secretary of state for Kansas and a high-profile advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have said the commission could lead to new ID requirements and other measures making it harder to vote. The panel, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, met for the first time last week. It ran headlong into controversy when Kobach asked states to turn over voter information. The data included names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories. Some states refused, and others said they needed to study whether they could provide the data.  The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a separate lawsuit against the commission to ensure that it follows open government laws. “The commission’s efforts to gather personal data should not escape judicial review,” EPIC’s senior counsel Alan Butler said in a statement, adding the group would closely watch what the commission does next.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प चुनाव आयोग को मतदान डेटा प्राप्त करने की अनुमति दी


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Friday North Korea s latest launch of a missile over Japan will only result in further diplomatic and economic isolation for the North, and officials said Moon had also warned of possible new threats.  President Moon ordered officials to closely analyze and prepare for new possible North Korean threats like EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) and biochemical attacks,  Moon s spokesman Park Su-hyun told a briefing. North Korea said earlier this month it was developing a hydrogen bomb that can carry out an EMP attack. Experts disagree on whether the North would have the capability to mount such an attack, which would involve setting off a bomb in the atmosphere that could cause major damage to power grids and other infrastructure.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया के मून का कहना है कि उत्तर कोरिया के उकसावे के परिणामस्वरूप अधिक अलगाव होगा


KABUL (Reuters) - At least 12 Afghan police were killed and four wounded when a Humvee packed with explosives drove into their checkpoint in the southern province of Kandahar late on Wednesday, a government official said. Abdul Bari Baryalai, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the attack took place in Maruf district, bordering Pakistan. The attack, in one of the Taliban s heartlands, underlines the threats faced by Afghan security forces, notably police units on the front lines of the battle against insurgents who control or contest about 40 percent of Afghanistan. The incident came on the same day that militants attacked Kabul airport while U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was visiting the Afghan capital.

Summary: आत्मघाती कार बम विस्फोट में कम से कम 12 अफगान पुलिसकर्मी मारे गए


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian troops that took part in war games in neighboring Belarus have returned to their bases, a Russian general said on Saturday.  As for units of Russian forces that took part in a mutual strategic military exercises  Zapad 2017 , they all returned to their permanent disposition,  TASS news agency quoted Major-General Igor Konashenkov as saying.  Zapad  is the Russian word for  west . Konashenkov spoke after Ukraine s Commander-in-Chief Viktor Muzhenko said Russia had left troops behind after staging the war games despite promising not to. Relations between Kiev and Moscow nosedived after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and supported the outbreak of a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people.  Muzhenko told Reuters that Russia had withdrawn only a few units from Belarus and had lied about how many of its soldiers were there in the first place. Konashenkov said Muzhenko s remarks on Russian troops in Belarus were a fantasy. He said the comments were  a reason for an immediate resignation for such an executive officer,  referring to Muzhenko.  A Belarussian defense ministry spokesman said the last train of Russian troops and equipment had left Belarus on Thursday, Sept. 28.

Summary: मास्को यूक्रेन के इस आरोप का खंडन करता है कि उसने बेलारूस में सैनिकों को छोड़ दिया था


BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans in liberal enclaves from New York to San Francisco reacted with shock and despair on Wednesday to Republican businessman Donald Trump’s defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton, with many struggling to explain the result to their children. Trump, who had never before run for public office, won on a broad wave of support both from the Republican U.S. heartland and by flipping previously Democratic states, including Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio, helping his party protect majorities in both chambers of Congress. The victory stunned residents of major cities up and down the East and West coasts, many of whom had trusted opinion polls that had long predicted a Clinton victory but were proven profoundly wrong by Tuesday’s results. “I’m feeling physical pain. I’m shocked. I’m sad,” said Sofia Huizar, 30, as she waited outside the Manhattan hotel where Clinton conceded her loss on Wednesday morning, some eight hours after Trump declared victory. Huizar, a U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico, said she spent much of Tuesday night commiserating with family across the border. “It’s a way to help process the fear,” Huizar said. Trump’s campaign promises have included building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal crossings and to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Others, like Kim Priban, a 38-year-old nurse who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Boston Heights, Ohio, said they had a difficult time breaking the news to their children.  Priban said she had proudly taken her 5-year-old daughter along to vote for Clinton, who would have been the first woman U.S. president, and on Wednesday morning had to discuss the result with her. “I still haven’t quite figured out what to tell my daughter. I’ve been crying all day,” Priban said. “I feel like I have to go out and make my voice heard for women and children.” Priban and Huizar are likely far from alone in the depth of their pain over Clinton’s loss, academic research suggests. A 2015 paper by researchers at Harvard University found that voters who supported Republican Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful White House bid reported sharper spikes in their unhappiness than parents following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre of Connecticut schoolchildren or Boston residents after the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. While many Democrats along the coasts mourned Clinton’s defeat, Trump supporters celebrated the outcome, saying they hoped he would shake up a dysfunctional political system. “The overwhelming majority of Americans want change, and this is a direct result. ... Trump is the disrupter, for better or for worse,” said Kelley Smith, 33, who lives in Chicago and works in software sales. “He’s a little bombastic. I don’t think he’s polished. But I don’t think he’s going to purposefully take our country down.” The divide between the coasts and the heartland, evident not only in the results but also in the social media battles ahead of the election, made the Trump victory more shocking for liberals. Deena Pioli, an attorney from San Francisco, said she had rarely run into people who were not supporting Clinton, and that she now regrets that. “Those of us here in San Francisco and California should not be so safe in our bubble,” she said.   Trump dropped his angry speaking style to take a conciliatory tone when he declared victory early Wednesday morning, saying, “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.” Clinton and Democratic President Barack Obama sounded similarly restrained. But the breadth of Trump’s win left his opponents urging self-examination. “Folks should have deep humility in this moment,” said civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson on Twitter. “We all have things to learn from how Trump happened.” Karen Parnett, a 48-year-old mother of three in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said she had been heartbroken to tell her children about Trump’s win, and said the result illustrated the growing anger of lower-income voters who believe their concerns are being ignored by Washington. “I have too much at stake with three kids to just throw up my hands and weep and say that all is lost,” Parnett said. “There are new realities and we need as a country to reckon with what in the world we are going to do about the disenfranchisement of the white working poor.” (This story has been refiled to fix typo in ninth paragraph)

Summary: ट्रम्प की जीत के बाद अमेरिकी तटों पर निराशा और आत्मनिरीक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress is headed for a seven-week recess without addressing gun violence, the Zika virus outbreak and other pressing issues, amid persistent election-year bickering. Despite recent gun violence, the House of Representatives will not vote this week on a proposal to keep firearms out of the hands of people on terrorism watch lists, that chamber’s Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday. Similarly, President Barack Obama’s request for $1.9 billion in funds to combat the Zika virus and the birth defects it can cause has been stalled in Congress since February. Republicans and Democrats were also at odds over spending bills to keep the government functioning beyond Sept. 30, when current fiscal year funding expires. When Republicans took control of Congress, they vowed to get things done but have had difficulty doing so during this election year, failing to pass a budget or even consider Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. Congress did, however, approve bipartisan legislation helping Puerto Rico out of a crippling debt crisis and is trying to make progress on legislation to improve police relations with local communities in the aftermath of gun violence. With barely four days left before the start of an unusually long recess, a failure to vote on guns would postpone any possible action by the House until at least Sept. 6, when lawmakers return. After that, they will work only for short stints ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential and congressional elections. Mass shootings in Orlando and Dallas, and gun violence in other cities, has again propelled gun control to prominence. But the National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress so far have staved off legislation. Gun control is generally opposed by Republicans and supported by Democrats. Some Republicans have talked about a gun bill possibly moving through Congress in the fall, in the midst of the campaign season, but Democrats were skeptical. “This Congress will do nothing on curbing gun violence,” Representative Xavier Becerra of California, a member of the House Democratic leadership, told reporters. The two sides even disagree on whether House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi talked about a proposal to establish a special committee to study gun violence. Democrats say Pelosi raised the issue with Ryan last week. Ryan’s office says he has never discussed the topic with anyone. Republicans in the House and Senate have signed onto a $1.1 billion Zika funding bill. But Democrats are balking over what they see as “poison pills” attached to the money that would deny funds to women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood and ease some environmental provisions. Democrats, who warn the current legislation will not pass the Senate, said on Tuesday that they offered to accept some Republican provisions. But Senate Republicans insist the bill cannot be altered.  Ryan meanwhile showcased his “A Better Way” agenda, flashing a glossy pamphlet at a press conference listing proposals designed to lure votes in November but do nothing this year legislatively. Republicans have also pushed for new federal probes of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on her use of private emails while secretary of state.

Summary: अमेरिकी कांग्रेस ने गर्मियों की छुट्टियों के करीब आते ही जीका से दूरी बना ली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was keeping interest rates low because of political pressure from the Obama administration, questioning the motives of an institution whose work hinges on maintaining its independence. “Well, it’s (the interest rate) staying at zero because she’s obviously political and she’s doing what Obama wants her to do,” Trump told CNBC in a phone interview, saying Yellen should be “ashamed” of what she was doing to the country. The U.S. central bank has raised interest rates just once since cutting them to zero in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The Fed has indicated it is preparing for a second hike of 0.25 percentage point, although it has signaled the pace of future rate rises will be slower than in the past. “Any increase at all will be a very, very small increase because they want to keep the market up so Obama goes out and let the new guy ... raise interest rates ... and watch what happens in the stock market,” Trump said. He did not specify how the Democratic president had put pressure on Yellen. While Yellen has met with Obama, the Fed as an institution is independent when it comes to raising or lowering rates, and both Yellen and other rate-setters have said the Fed has no view on the Nov. 8 election. The Fed’s Washington-based board had no comment on Trump’s remarks, though regional Federal Reserve bank presidents said during public appearances that politics do not enter into Fed deliberations. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari responded in a later interview on CNBC by denying that politics influenced Fed policymaking. “Politics simply does not come up,” he said. “We look at the economic data and ... everyone around the table is committed to achieving our dual mandate” of maximum employment and stable prices, Kashkari said.   Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, asked about political pressure on the Fed at a National Association for Business Economics conference in Atlanta, said, “I don’t see the world that way.” Trump’s comments mark a back-and-forth by the candidate over whether he feels low rates are good or bad. He has accused the Fed of keeping rates low at Obama’s behest, but at other times has said he felt lower rates were good because higher rates would make the dollar stronger, hurting American exports and manufacturers.  As a businessman, he said, “I love low interest rates,” but said they hurt many people who were living on their savings. Typically, Fed officials steer clear of politics in their public remarks, and argue that doing so is important for the Fed to maintain the independence it needs to set monetary policy. The moments when the line is publicly breached, such as former Chair Alan Greenspan’s endorsement of a Bush administration tax cut, are rare and can provoke a quick backlash.  Though the members of the Fed’s Board of Governor’s are appointed by the president with Senate confirmation, their long, 14-year terms and staggered appointment dates are designed to insulate them from the sort of pressure Trump alleges.  The chair, considered one of the most powerful positions in setting U.S. economic policy, is picked from the board members for a four-year term. Yellen’s would expire in 2018, and Trump has previously said he would consider replacing her. The Fed’s marching orders, however, come from Congress, which has set the central bank’s mandate. The Fed lowered interest rates to near zero in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and has increased them only once since then - in December - given the sluggish pace of the recovery. Fed members and economists have vigorously debated the issue Trump raised - whether easy-money policies have led to an unsustainable rise in asset prices. But there has been even more concern about weak growth, weak inflation, and the need to keep financial conditions loose to try to ensure businesses keep hiring.

Summary: ओबामा के दबाव के कारण फेड ने दरों को कम रखाः ट्रम्प


GAZA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah chaired the first meeting of the Palestinian cabinet in the Gaza Strip for three years on Tuesday, in a move toward reconciliation between the mainstream Fatah party and Islamist group Hamas. Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 in fighting with Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and has ruled the impoverished desert enclave of two million people since.  The cabinet session was the first in Gaza since 2014, Hamdallah told ministers, and a major step in a reconciliation process promoted by neighboring Egypt and other U.S.-allied Arab countries.  Today, we stand before an important historical moment as we begin to get over our wounds, put our differences aside and place the higher national interest above all else,  Hamdallah said.  Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh echoed the optimism, saying:  There might be some difficulties on the road, but we will conclude reconciliation, regardless of the cost.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the  Palestinians against engaging in  bogus reconciliations  and he referred to Iranian funding for Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. In a statement, Netanyahu said any Palestinian administration should  recognize the State of Israel, disband the Hamas military arm, (and) sever the connection with Iran .  Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West, last month disbanded its Gaza shadow government after Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates clamped an economic boycott on its main donor, Qatar. But while Hamas has handed over administrative responsibilities to a unity government originally formed three years ago, its armed wing remains the dominant force in Gaza. A first sign of discontent surfaced on Tuesday with Hamas criticizing Abbas s decision to await the outcome of talks Fatah plans to hold with the group on Oct. 10 before lifting sanctions he has imposed on Gaza.  The government has assumed its responsibilities in Gaza and therefore delay is not justified,  Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.  There is no excuse for delaying or undermining measures that would ease the suffering of Gaza s people.  Abbas halted payments for Israeli-supplied electricity to the enclave in June, a step that has led to long daily blackouts, and cut salaries for Gaza civil servants. Abbas told Egyptian TV station CBC on Monday there could be only  one state, one regime, one law and one weapon  in Gaza, reiterating a long-held position that security should be in the hands of only the Palestinian Authority (PA), which he heads, and that the PA must control border crossing points. In a pre-recorded address to the Palestinian cabinet,   Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged unity.  I assure you we have no time to waste, and that history will hold accountable those who waste the current opportunity to bring about peace,  Sisi said.  Both Israel and Egypt - whose intelligence chief arrived in Gaza to meet Hamas leaders, Hamdallah and officials from other Palestinian factions - maintain a partial blockade of Gaza, citing security concerns. Israeli-Palestinian talks have been frozen since 2014 over issues such as Fatah-Hamas reconciliation and Israeli settlement-building in occupied territory. Visiting the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Netanyahu said  thousands of housing units  would be added to the community of 40,000 people near Jerusalem. He gave no timeframe. Israel has built about 120 settlements in the West Bank. About 350,000 settlers live there and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, among about 2.6 million Palestinians. Most countries consider the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace as they take up territory Palestinians need for a viable state. Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land and security interests.

Summary: हमास के साथ सुलह के लिए गाजा में फिलिस्तीनी मंत्रिमंडल की बैठक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Germany is withdrawing a third diplomat from its embassy in North Korea over increasing concerns about Pyongyang s missile program, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang test fired a new missile. North Korea said on Wednesday it had successfully tested a powerful new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. Berlin strongly condemned the test as a violation of international law.  Speaking in Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Gabriel said he had offered support for taking a tough line towards Pyongyang.   He wants our support for their efforts to pursue a hardline position vis a vis North Korea, and he has it. But it s our job to decide what we will do in diplomatic channels.  Two diplomats had already been withdrawn from the German embassy in Pyongyang, and a third was being pulled out now, Gabriel said. Germany was also demanding North Korea reduce its diplomatic presence in Germany. Gabriel said Washington had not demanded that Germany, one of seven European countries with embassies in North Korea, shut its mission or withdraw its ambassador. It was not Germany s desire to shut down its embassy, he said, but added:  that doesn t mean we are ruling it out.   Gabriel said Germany would discuss North Korea options with fellow European countries to determine  whether it s necessary to further increase the diplomatic pressure.  U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States had called on countries to scale back or cut ties with North Korea as part of an effort to pressure Pyongyang to give up its weapons programs.  If they would be willing to close their missions in North Korea altogether, that is also something we would be supportive of,  she said, while adding that Tillerson had not specifically asked in his meeting with Gabriel for Germany to recall its ambassador. Gabriel also told reporters that he had no information about reports that the White House planned to replace Tillerson, noting that he had already scheduled another meeting with Tillerson for next week. U.S. officials said on Thursday the White House had developed a plan for CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson within weeks.

Summary: जर्मनी ने उत्तर कोरिया से राजनयिक को वापस लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Senate Democrat on Tuesday accused U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions of concealing policy recommendations that could change how the Justice Department enforces laws on illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime. In a letter to Sessions, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said the Justice Department should release recommendations made by the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, noting that the policy changes could end up hurting Americans. “These [Justice Department] decisions could have dramatic and wide-ranging consequences for Americans’ daily lives,” Wyden wrote, noting that the task force’s work could impact everything from marijuana and asset forfeiture policies to hate crimes, immigration and human trafficking. “Yet Americans remain in the dark about the content of the task force’s recommendations.” The Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety was established through an executive order by President Donald Trump in February. Names of those serving on the task force have not been published, and the group was supposed to deliver its recommendations by July 27. In a public statement last week, Sessions said he had received recommendations “on a rolling basis” and he had already “been acting on the task force’s recommendations to set the policy of the department.” A Justice Department spokesman referred to Sessions’ prior statement when asked for comment, saying the department will “make announcements on policy changes as appropriate.” The department has already announced a few policy changes that stem from the task force’s work. Earlier this month, for instance, the department said it plans to reinstate a controversial civil asset forfeiture program that lets local police departments seize cash from people without first charging them with a crime, even if their states do not condone such a policy.  The policy had been rolled back during the Obama administration amid concerns it was allowing the government to take away peoples’ property without due process. In May, the department also undid another Obama-era policy to allow for tougher charges and longer prison sentences.  Wyden, whose state voted to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, said he was particularly concerned about the “secrecy shrouding” recommendations related to the drug. Sessions has previously made critical comments about marijuana use. “It is not the role of the Attorney General to unilaterally undermine the will of Oregon voters,” he wrote.

Summary: सीनेट डेमोक्रेट रॉन विडेन ने न्याय विभाग से अपराध में कमी लाने की नई नीतियां जारी करने की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican senator leading the charge on updating little-known investment rules designed to protect national security said that he will soon introduce a bill aimed at reining in potentially dangerous deals done by China. Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday that he was concerned by China’s attempts to ensure that its military catches up to the U.S. Defense Department in terms of technology. “China is using every tool at its disposal to close the technology gap between the United States and that country, and in the process, to eliminate our military’s technological advantage,” he said in his speech. Cornyn’s office provided Reuters with a copy of the address on Monday. To combat this, Cornyn plans to introduce a bill in Congress that would update the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, an interagency panel led by the Treasury Department that reviews proposed transactions to ensure they do not pose a challenge to national security. The law firm Covington and Burling LLP, which follows CFIUS, said in a note after the speech that it believed that Cornyn’s proposed legislation “may ultimately become law.” “Senator Cornyn is among the most influential members of the Senate, and there appears to be an emerging bipartisan consensus that CFIUS should be strengthened,” the firm said in an analysis on Friday. Cornyn said the legislation would be called the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, and would ensure that CFIUS focuses its investigations on countries which pose the biggest threat to the United States. It would also give CFIUS the authority to look at a broader range of deals, including joint ventures based outside the United States and smaller, minority-position investments which would give the investing companies access to sensitive information, Cornyn said. Cornyn’s office did not respond to a query on Monday regarding when the bill would be introduced. CFIUS already has a reputation for being tough on high-tech deals, and has been known in particular to block transactions that involve sophisticated semiconductors. The bill will not expand the committee, which will disappoint those who had pushed for the Agriculture Department to become a member of the panel.

Summary: प्रमुख अमेरिकी सीनेटर ने विदेशी निवेश नियमों में बदलाव का आग्रह किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - The pace of approvals for nuclear reactor restarts in Japan, where most plants remain shut following the Fukushima disaster, is unlikely to pick up in the coming years, the new head of Japan s nuclear regulator said in an interview on Tuesday. The comments from Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa suggest Japan may not make headway in meeting its electricity generation targets. By 2030, the country was expecting nuclear to power about one-fifth of its generation. However, utilities are having difficulty grappling with tougher rules on protecting reactors from natural disasters in the earthquake-prone country. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the world s worst since Chernobyl in 1986, the NRA was set up in 2012 to draft new safety standards that have been described as among the world s toughest. Since then, 12 reactors at six nuclear plants have passed the safety requirements needed to restart, but only four reactors are currently operating. One more reactor that resumed operations after meeting the requirements has been shut down for scheduled maintenance.  Most of the approvals have been for reactors in western Japan and not on the east coast where Tokyo Electric Power Co s Fukushima Daiichi station was located. The plant suffered multiple reactor meltdowns after an earthquake on the northeast coast caused a tsunami that swamped the site.  We have accumulated experience in safety reviews, but comparatively speaking, many of the plants in eastern Japan that we are reviewing now have difficult natural conditions,  Fuketa, 60, said in the interview.  It s doubtful the pace of approvals would quicken.  A majority of Japanese oppose nuclear power after Fukushima and restarts are a delicate political issue rather than just a matter of meeting technical safety requirements. When asked if he could place a number of how many reactors may be approved for a resumption of operations in the next five years, Fuketa said:  I honestly do not know.  About a dozen other reactors are going through safety checks as part of a relicensing process under the new rules. Fuketa is known for taking tough positions during safety reviews of reactors and has been instrumental in directing the clean-up of the wrecked Fukushima plant. Japan s government set an energy mix plan in 2015 that forecasts relying on nuclear power to generate between 20 to 22 percent of the country s electricity in 2030. That requires having about 30 reactors operating by then. Japan s nine regional power utilities and a wholesaler, Japan Atomic Power Co, have 42 nuclear reactors for commercial use, with a total generating capacity of 41,482 megawatts.

Summary: जापान के परमाणु नियामक का कहना है कि मंजूरी की गति फिर से शुरू होने की संभावना नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Financial lobbyists on Tuesday applauded a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to review the costs of rules before putting them into force, which is part of a broader push from Republicans to reform regulation. The legislation, introduced by Missouri Republican Ann Wagner, the newly minted chair of the financial services oversight subcommittee, is expected to go to the floor of the House on Thursday for a vote.  “The U.S. capital markets are the envy of the world and we believe it is critical to study any economic impact of a proposed rulemaking prior to its completion to protect investors, protect capital formation, and protect our markets,” said the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Wall Street’s primary trade group, in a letter to House leadership. The group added the bill would also require the SEC to periodically review its existing rules and analyze the effectiveness of its regulation.  Also on Thursday, a bill requiring the major derivatives regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to review costs of its proposals is scheduled to come to the House floor. Both bills come as Republicans work toward a broader overhaul of federal regulation. Banks, asset managers and others in the financial sector have said that regulations can often lead to unintended expenses and that there should be a way to understand how regulations from a variety of areas fit together when it comes to compliance costs.   The bills are expected to pass the House, which has approved similar measures that outgoing President Barack Obama, a Democrat, opposed. Currently, there is no companion legislation in the Senate. President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, frequently said on the campaign trail that the costs of complying with federal regulation can hurt companies’ bottom lines. The SEC is already required to weigh the impact of its rules on efficiency, competition and capital formation. It beefed up efforts in recent years and issued new guidance on the subject after business groups including the Chamber of Commerce successfully beat back some rules in federal court. Wagner’s bill would go beyond those requirements in its enhanced cost-benefit analysis and existing rule review. It would also require the SEC to clearly identify the nature of the problems new rules are intended to solve. An SEC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on it.

Summary: विनियमन लागतों के मिलान पर विधेयक को अमेरिकी वित्तीय उद्योग का समर्थन मिला


(Reuters) - A U.S. congressman called on the Department of Homeland Security to address whether foreign students are cheating on the SAT to get into American universities and illegally qualify for U.S. visas.  In a letter dated Wednesday and sent to the Homeland Security department, Representative Matt Salmon cited a March report by Reuters that detailed “the widespread practice of strategic cheating on the SAT by test preparation centers in Asia” and what he termed the “passive approach” of the test’s owner – the College Board – to stop cheating overseas.   Salmon, a Republican from Arizona and a member of a House committee on education, wrote in the letter that “certain foreign students could fraudulently gain the upper-hand in college admissions by high test scores due to being prepared by these dishonest test-prep centers, thus limiting the options of those students who took the test honestly.” Thousands of U.S. colleges use the standardized test to help select applicants. “I am concerned that under-qualified students are being admitted to U.S. schools under false pretenses,” Salmon wrote.  About 761,000 degree-seeking foreign students currently study in the United States, according to the Institute of International Education. “With such a generous foreign student system,” Salmon wrote, “it is important that we take every effort to ensure its integrity.” Homeland Security requires visas for international students to study in the United States.  A prospective student must be admitted to a U.S. school before applying for a student visa, and Salmon asked the department whether it had “any estimates on how many students may have entered the U.S. with faulty test scores.”  In an interview Thursday, Salmon said that he wants to ensure that “we’re not encouraging a bunch of cheats to come and study in our schools.”  The College Board, the New York-based not-for-profit that owns the SAT, did not respond to requests for comment. Gillian Christensen, deputy press secretary for Homeland Security, said the department will respond to Salmon’s letter. In an email, she said the department “is committed to ensuring the integrity of the student visa system, while protecting the freedoms and openness that are the hallmarks of our country.”  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “will aggressively pursue those who seek to exploit and corrupt America’s legal immigration system for personal gain,” Christensen wrote. Reuters reported in March that the College Board has often reused tests overseas after first giving them in America months or years earlier, even after some test questions began circulating online. College Board officials have said they are unable to assess how many test-takers have seen actual exam material before taking the SAT. But Reuters found students who had attended test-preparation centers in China and who said they had seen questions ahead of time from SATs they subsequently took. Reuters identified 14 times since late 2013 when parts of an SAT given internationally had been publicly exposed before the exam was given overseas. A confidential PowerPoint presentation, prepared by College Board officials in June 2013, revealed that parts of nine of 18 exams in the organization’s global inventory had been “compromised.” Even so, College Board officials confirmed that some portions of those tainted tests were later administered overseas.  In his letter to Homeland Security, Salmon wrote: “I was greatly disturbed by recent news reports regarding The College Board’s passive approach to preventing and addressing cheating on the SAT test abroad.”

Summary: सांसद चाहते हैं कि होमलैंड सिक्योरिटी विदेशों में एस. ए. टी. धोखाधड़ी का समाधान करे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that the main question now is finding a solution to the North Korea crisis rather then cutting all ties with Pyongyang. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday called for other countries to sever all ties with Pyongyang, including cutting trade links and expelling North Korean workers.  Cutting all relations would be too simple,  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.

Summary: क्रेमलिन का कहना है कि यू. एस. का विचार N.Korea के साथ सभी संबंधों को सरल बनाने का है


LONDON (Reuters) - A British ship escorted a Russian vessel as it passed near UK territorial waters over Christmas, Britain s defense ministry said on Tuesday, adding that Russian naval activity near Britain had increased in the holiday period. The frigate HMS St Albans departed on Dec. 23 to track the new Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov as it moved through the North Sea. The Royal Navy vessel monitored the Russian ship over Christmas and will return to dock in Portsmouth later on Tuesday. UK defense minister Gavin Williamson said in a statement after the incident that he would  not hesitate in defending our waters or tolerate any form of aggression .  Relations between Britain and Russia are strained, and UK foreign minister Boris Johnson said there was  abundant evidence  of Moscow meddling in foreign elections during a trip to Russia last week. His counterpart Sergei Lavrov said there was no proof for Johnson s claim. While Johnson said he wants to normalize relations with Russia, Moscow blames London for the poor state of relations between the countries. Britain s defense ministry said another ship, HMS Tyne, was called to escort a Russian intelligence-gathering ship through the North Sea and the English Channel on Christmas Eve. A helicopter was subsequently dispatched to monitor two other Russian vessels.

Summary: तनावपूर्ण संबंधों के बीच ब्रिटेन ने राष्ट्रीय जल क्षेत्र के पास रूसी जहाज को एस्कॉर्ट किया


OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso s foreign minister said on Monday it had recalled its ambassador to Libya over a report that black African migrants were being auctioned as slaves there. The decision by the West African nation followed the broadcast by CNN of footage of what it said was an auction of men offered to Libyan buyers as farmhands and sold for $400, a chilling echo of the trans-Saharan slave trade of centuries past.  Libya s ambassador to Burkina Faso said his country was being unfairly blamed for a global problem that all nations affected must come together to solve. Foreign Minister Alpha Barry announced the decision by President Roch Marc Kabore in a news conference.  The president of Burkina Faso has decided to recall the ambassador to Tripoli, General Abraham Traore, for a consultation,  Barry said. He had also  summoned the Libyan charge d affairs in (Burkina Faso s capital) Ouagadougou to express our indignation at these images that belong to other centuries, images of the slave trade .  In a news conference on Wednesday, Libya s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Abdul Rahman Khameda, appealed for help from both the European Union and African Union to help Libya reach a lasting resolution of the migrant crisis.  Libya alone can not solve this problem,  he said.  We call on the international community to intensify efforts to help Libya cope with this danger (illicit migration), which is tearing at its social fabric.    African and European leaders are due to meet next week in Ivory Coast s main city, Abidjan, where migration and Europe s efforts to tackle it by co-opting Libya will be high on the agenda.  Adopting an effective solution will prevent certain parties from exploiting such unfortunate events to tarnish Libya s name,  Khameda said. An agreement between Europe and Africa to stem the flow of migrants coming through Libya to Europe had failed to tackle the severe abuses they face, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein wrote in an article published in September.

Summary: बुर्किना फासो ने 'दास बाजार' की रिपोर्ट पर लीबिया में राजदूत को वापस बुलाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. trade negotiator said late on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is determined to challenge China’s use of unfair subsidies and “non-economic” industrial policy to build up export industries that are costing American jobs. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in a rare media interview, said that the Trump administration would work to hold China’s practices to the rules of the World Trade Organization, an organization that he has criticized for being ineffective in enforcing fair trade. Speaking on the syndicated “Kevin McCullough Radio” conservative talk show, Lighthizer said there was “no question that China has an industrial policy that is designed to create jobs and wealth in China.” “Our objective is not to let that go on in an unfair way.” Lighthizer, a longtime steel industry trade lawyer who served as deputy USTR in the 1980s, said there were many examples of China’s WTO violations, including dumping of products below cost, unfair subsidies for state firms and other “non-economic” policies. “You have to take on their industrial policy one way or another,” Lighthizer said. “For example, they will develop an industry behind a closed market in China. When that industry is developed with subsidies and with protection, they’ll then let it loose on the world.” He said this has happened in steel, aluminum and other products. “If it’s unfair the president’s going to go after it.” Lighthizer’s comments come about a week after senior Trump administration officials at bilateral economic talks failed to secure any concrete commitments from their Chinese counterparts to eliminate excess steel production capacity or to further open the Chinese services industry to foreign competition. News conferences at the conclusion of the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue talks were canceled and there was no joint statement for the first time since the summer bilateral economic meetings were launched in 2006. China later sought to put a more positive spin on the meeting, saying the two sides had agreed to take “active and effective measures” to tackle the global steel overcapacity problem. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said in a Wall Street Journal interview that his administration would take its time in deciding on whether to enact steel tariffs or quotas on national security grounds, saying “we don’t want to do it at this moment.” Trump added that the steel decision could come after debates in Congress on health care, taxes and infrastructure spending Regarding negotiations starting in August to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement, Lighthizer said that Trump wanted to change the 23-year-old trade pact to stop a “basic unfairness” that has allowed U.S. factories and manufacturing jobs to migrate to Mexico. Asked by radio host McCullough if Trump still wanted to scrap NAFTA, Lighthizer said: “Scrapped is too strong but the president wants very substantial changes,” Lighthizer said.

Summary: यू. एस. टी. आर. लाइटहाइज़रः ट्रम्प ने चीन की औद्योगिक नीतियों को चुनौती दी-रेडियो साक्षात्कार


GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office is  appalled  at the hanging of 38 prisoners in Iraq, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday, a day after the executions at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya.  We are deeply shocked and appalled at the mass execution,  the spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva, adding that the human rights office had  huge concerns  about Iraq s use of the death penalty and - not for the first time - urged the government to halt all executions.  Given the flaws of the Iraqi justice system, it also appears extremely doubtful that strict due process and fair trial guarantees were followed in these 38 cases. This raises the prospect of irreversible miscarriages of justice and violations of the right to life.  The 38 male prisoners were convicted by Iraq s judiciary for terrorism-related crimes, she said. She did not have information on their ages or nationalities. In September, Iraq hanged 42 prisoners in a single day, and the U.N. has learned of 106 executions this year, Throssell said. Last year the Ministry of Justice announced 88 executions, but the U.N. believes the number may have been as high as 116. The world body had repeatedly asked the Ministry of Justice for data about prisoners, sentencing and executions but no such information had been provided since 2015, she said. Previously the United Nations had spoken of about 1,200 people being on death row, but it was now impossible to confirm that information, she said.   The Justice Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that all those convicted were members of Islamic State. Officials have said all the appeal options available to the condemned had been exhausted, according to the statement.

Summary: इराक में सामूहिक फांसी पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र स्तब्धः प्रवक्ता


NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday reinstated a global gag rule that bans U.S.-funded groups around the world from discussing abortion, a move that was widely expected but nonetheless dismayed women’s rights advocates. The rule, which affects American non-governmental organizations working abroad, is one that incoming presidents have used to signal their positions on abortion rights. It was created under U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Trump, an abortion opponent, signed the reinstatement directive at a ceremony in the White House on his fourth day in office. Former President Barack Obama had lifted the gag rule in 2009 when he took office. “Women’s health and rights are now one of the first casualties of the Trump administration,” said Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington. “The global gag rule has been associated with an increase in unsafe abortions and we expect that Trump’s global gag rule will cost women their lives,” she said. Reinstatement of the gag rule, formally the Mexico City policy, comes just two days after crowds of people marched in cities around the world in a show of unity for women’s rights, among them abortion access. While no official estimates were available, organizers said nearly five million people participated. The far-reaching gag rule affects groups getting funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, even if they use separate money for abortion services, counseling or referrals, advocates note. “It is appalling to dictate to civil society groups and health care providers how they can spend their own money and force them to withhold from women critical information about and access to the full range of reproductive health care,” said Nancy Northup, president of the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights. The policy puts groups that provide women’s health care in an “untenable position,” said Brian Dixon of Population Connection Action Fund. They can either accept the restriction to keep their funding or they can reject the restriction and lose their funding, Dixon said. “Either choice hurts the women that rely on them.”  Following the rule’s inception in 1984, former President Bill Clinton revoked it when he took office in 1993 and former President George W. Bush reinstated it in 2001. “Life-saving global health funding should not be a political football,” said Ann Starrs, head of the Guttmacher Institute, a leading reproductive rights group.  There is no evidence the rule reduces abortion, she said. “In fact, by targeting funding for overseas family planning programs, it may well have the opposite effect by making it harder for many women to avoid unintended pregnancy, which in turn would increase recourse to unsafe procedures by women who cannot access safe abortion care,” she said.

Summary: ट्रंप ने दुनिया भर में गर्भपात पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के लिए जल्द कदम उठाया


TALLINN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the ideas of French President Emmanuel Macron for reform of the European Union on Thursday and said they could form the basis for intensive Franco-German cooperation. Macron offered a sweeping vision for Europe s future in a speech on Tuesday, calling for the EU to cooperate more closely on defense, immigration, tax and social policy, and for the single currency bloc to have its own budget.  As far as the proposals were concerned, there was a high level of agreement between German and France. We must still discuss the details, but I am of the firm conviction that Europe can t just stay still but must continue to develop,  Merkel told reporters before a meeting with Macron in the Estonian capital Tallinn. Merkel, who was speaking before a gathering of all EU leaders for a summit on Europe s digital economy, said that Europe had an interest in fighting protectionism and was looking to sign free trade agreements with other countries. She also said that Macron had made clear that Germany and France wanted to work closely on harmonizing corporate tax and insolvency law.  I think that s very positive. I see a good basis in the speech of the French president for France and Germany to cooperate intensively in future,  she said.

Summary: मैक्रों के विचार फ्रेंको-जर्मन धुरी को मजबूत कर सकते हैंः मर्केल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday failed to pass a measure to block oil and gas drilling in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, losing to Republicans who believe production  there would provide jobs and wealth.  An amendment blocking the development failed 48-52, mostly along party lines. A lone Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, supported the measure. The only Democrat to vote against it was Joe Manchin from West Virginia. Conservationists and many Democrats treasure the Alaskan reserve, also known as ANWR, as one of the planet’s last paradises. Established by Congress in 1980, it is home to tribes and a habitat for sensitive wildlife including caribou, polar bears and hundreds of species of migratory birds.  Republicans, who now control Congress and the White House, have long wanted to open a portion of ANWR called the 1002 area. Senator Lisa Murkowski, the chair of the Senate energy committee and an Alaskan Republican, called the 1002 portion a “non wilderness area” because the government put it aside decades ago for petroleum exploration. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the area on the Prudhoe Bay in Northern Alaska has up to 12 billion barrels of recoverable crude.  A Senate budget measure introduced this fall instructed Murkowski’s committee to raise $1 billion over 10 years. She hopes some of that money will come from energy company royalties after opening the 1002 area to drilling. Murkowski urged senators to see the “instruction as an opportunity to do something constructive” and focus on boosting energy output from federal lands that have long been off limit.  The failed amendment, sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, would have eliminated the directive from the budget resolution seeking to raise funds. Republicans led a “sneak attack” that turned “public lands over to polluters,” Cantwell said. Senator Jeff Merkley, another Democrat, has said there is “something cynical and sad” about the effort to open ANWR because it would boost oil output from the state feeling the fastest effects of climate change, which a majority of scientists link to carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and development.  The battle is not over. The House of Representatives will next have to pass its version of a plan to raise revenues from the drilling. A final budget package would then be worked out by leaders from the two chambers.  Petroleum interests have long lobbied to explore in the area and say technology advances mean the impact of operations in the reserve would be small. Murkowski said oil companies could use infrared cameras to detect and avoid polar bear dens while exploring for oil and gas. It is uncertain whether energy companies that have faced years of static crude prices  amid a wealth of oil in the continental United States would be willing to increase drilling in the harsh and frigid Arctic.  Environmentalists vowed to keep up their fight. “Congress cannot sneak this through the back door when they think nobody is looking,” said Jamie Williams, president of the Wilderness Society. ANWR “is simply too fragile and special to drill, and we have a moral obligation to protect it for future generations of Americans.”

Summary: डेमोक्रेट आर्कटिक रिजर्व ऑयल ड्रिलिंग को रोकने में विफल रहे


HAMBURG (Reuters) - Many Syrian refugees in Germany have resigned themselves to the reality that there will be no swift return to the land of their birth, where a civil war is nearing the start of its eighth year. They are starting to build new lives in their host country, driving up demand for  Made in Syria  goods there as they seek to soothe homesickness with a precious slice of their old lives. Products popular among the half a million Syrians, who mainly arrived over the last three years, range from nuts, sweets and sesame paste to clothes, vertical spinning grillers used to make shawarma meat in diners and hair removal wax.  People want the very same things they were used to in Syria,  said trader Anas Msouty, sitting in his dim underground office near Hamburg Port as workers sorted out parcels of baklawa sweets and clothes that had just arrived from Syria.  The German market is full of similar products from Turkey, but Syrians want Syrian (goods),  added the father-of-six, who had to abandon his Islamic women s clothing factory outside Damascus when he fled the country. Orders have grown 25-fold since Msouty set up his trading firm Sajeda three months after his arrival in Germany in early 2016. He now imports 25 tonnes of Syrian goods a month. He is not alone in capitalizing on this trend; dozens of Syrian restaurants, stores and supermarkets have sprung up in all major German cities over the past two years, with more opening every month. In Berlin alone, at least half a dozen new Syrian eateries and as many supermarkets have opened this year.  The rise in demand for Syrian goods is contributing to a gradual revival in Syrian exports to Germany, which has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other Western nation. Exports from Syria rose to 15.5 million euros ($17.9 million) in 2016 and totaled 8 million euros in the first five months of this year alone, according to official German data. This is still a far cry from the pre-war level when non-oil Syrian exports to Germany totaled around $100 million a year. More than 5 million Syrians - almost a quarter of the pre-war population - have fled the Middle Eastern nation, according to the United Nations. It is unclear how much support rising demand for Syrian goods among refugee populations in Germany and elsewhere may be having on Syria s shattered economy. Little data is available from the war zone. The revival in trade in Germany nonetheless appears to have coincided with a bottoming out of economic activity in Syria.  The World Bank estimates the country s gross domestic product contracted by an accumulated 61 percent in 2011-2015, but in 2016 it shrunk by only 2 percent, though it mainly puts the improvement down to a slowing in the population exodus. Msouty, who supplies Syrian individuals and businesses in Germany, said he was proud of his contribution to recovering Syrian exports, which he said is providing much-needed income to factory owners and workers in Syria.  We are resuscitating the Syrian economy,  he said.  In Berlin, the boulevard of Sonnenallee - dubbed  Arab Street  for its abundance of Arabic shop signs - has become one of the most popular shopping destinations and hangouts for the capital s Syrian refugees. It boasts three Syrian supermarkets, two Syrian restaurants and one Syrian sweet shop, which have all opened over the past two years.  This is just a smell of home,  said Houda Bayyad, a veiled young mother shopping at one of the supermarkets, which opened in recent weeks.  It doesn t solve our problems like learning German and finding a job. But it makes our life here easier,  said the 20-year-old, holding a jar of Makdous, a Syrian delicacy of baby aubergines stuffed with walnuts, garlic and sun-dried red peppers pickled in olive oil.  Most Syrian goods come from factories in areas under government control mainly in and around Damascus but also from Aleppo. Three companies in Damascus that supply Msouty with goods declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. The products are transported in trucks through relatively safe areas under government control to the port of Latakia in northern Syria and loaded onto container ships bound for Hamburg. Other products come by plane via Beirut. This trade is proving indispensable for Syrians setting up  businesses in Germany.  Sweet shops, and coffee and nut roasters, need specialized machines to make sweet and salty delights such as baklawa and roasted kernels. They prefer to import equipment from Syria as it is cheaper than to buy them in Germany from European or Turkish manufacturers. Restaurateurs depend on specialty raw ingredients to recreate the flavors that Syrians crave. L Amira Falafel, a Syrian restaurant in Hamburg that opened in 2015, has proved so popular that it has now opened at a second location in the northern city.   Our main goal was to make sure that everything we prepare tastes like in Syria,  said Mohammad Abou Saeed, co-owner of the eateries where it is hard to find a table any time of the day.  To do that we needed the same sesame paste, pickles and spices we used in Syria,  he added, gesturing at a waiter to bring baked bread to a couple who had just walked in.   It makes us very happy when diners tell us our food reminds them of Syria.

Summary: 'मेड इन सीरिया': जर्मनी में शरणार्थियों ने घर से निर्यात चलाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday threatened to veto the $1.1 billion approved by the U.S. House of Representatives to fight the Zika virus, blasting the measure for short-changing the administration’s $1.9 billion funding request. The Republican-controlled House approved the funding deal early Thursday morning after reaching a deal with both House and Senate Republicans. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the bill “falls far short” of the amount of money recommended by health officials to address the spread of the Zika virus. “This is a bill that would steal money from other critically important public health priorities,” Schultz told reporters at a briefing. “We urge Republicans to stop turning this into a political football, and to actually get to work to come up with proposals that will serve the American people.” The administration also criticized the bill for limiting contraception access for women seeking to prevent Zika, which can be spread through unprotected sex.  The Senate is expected to vote on funding to combat the Zika virus next week, but the bill faces an uncertain fate in the chamber, where the Democratic minority has more power to stop legislation. Democratic leader Harry Reid has declared his opposition. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan urged the Senate to move on the bill. “It is a responsible plan that assures the administration will continue to have the needed resources to protect the public,” Ryan said. Republicans said the deal included funding for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.  If the Senate approved the bill, a White House veto would likely mean that lawmakers would not take up the issue until the House and Senate return from their July 4 holiday recess - well into the U.S. summer season. The House has already adjourned for holiday and the Senate is expected to start its recess next Friday.       Democrats have been urging Republicans for months to agree to more Zika funding, and the Obama administration has already reprogrammed nearly $600 million that had been set aside to fight Ebola. House Democrats said they could not go along with the deal because of $750 million in budget cuts elsewhere that the Republicans want to use to pay for the Zika spending. Senate Democrats also voiced displeasure, clouding the outlook for it passing. “A narrowly partisan proposal that cuts off women’s access to birth control, shortchanges veterans and rescinds Obamacare funds to cover the cost is not a serious response to the threat from the Zika virus,” Reid said.  According to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, $543 million of the $1.1 billion would come from unspent funds set aside for implementing Obamacare in U.S. territories, while $107 million would come from unused funds to fight another virus, Ebola. Another $100 million would come from unused administrative funds at the Department of Health and Human Services, he said.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने रिपब्लिकनों की जीका फंडिंग योजना पर वीटो करने की धमकी दी