NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and top challenger Ted Cruz ended a longstanding truce in spectacular fashion on Thursday night with bitter exchanges during what may have been Trump’s strongest debate performance to date. The New York billionaire and the Texas senator appeared to have a split decision by the end of the night, a sign that for all the bluster, little took place that could derail Trump from his lead position with a contest in Iowa on Feb. 1 to begin the search for a Republican presidential nominee. Projections that the debate would be a free-for-all were accurate. Beyond the Trump-Cruz theatrics, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida turned in a pugnacious performance with attacks on Cruz and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Florida Governor Jeb Bush presented himself as a voice of reason against Trump. A Google snap poll showed viewers believed Trump, who in the most recent debates was at times less engaged, won the night with 37.3 percent to Cruz’s 26.6 percent and Rubio’s 12.1 percent. Until the Fox Business Network debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, Trump and Cruz had been friendly because they have both been chasing conservatives of the Tea Party movement and did not want to anger them. With Trump now needing to fend off Cruz’s rise in Iowa, he pushed his charge that Cruz may not be constitutionally qualified to serve as president because he was born in Canada. The U.S. Constitution says only “natural born” citizens can become president of the United States. “Who the hell knows if you can even serve in office?” Trump told Cruz, drawing a scattering of boos in the audience. Born in Calgary, Alberta, to a U.S. citizen mother and a Cuban father, Cruz accused Trump of bringing up his birthplace simply because Cruz was leading some polls in Iowa. Cruz said Trump, who led the movement questioning whether the Hawaiian-born President Barack Obama was really from the United States, had asked his lawyers to look into the issue of Cruz’s birth in September and concluded there were no issues. “Since September, the Constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have,” Cruz said. “And I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are dropping in Iowa, but the facts and the law here are really clear.” Trump said Democrats would sue if Cruz were on the Republican ticket, putting their party’s chances of winning at risk. Cruz shot back that he had spent many years studying constitutional law: “I’m not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump.” The birthright issue has dogged American politics before: 2008 Republican nominee John McCain survived questions about his birth in Panama because he was born on a U.S. military installation there and it was judged to be U.S. soil. In 1967, Republican candidate George Romney faced questions about his birth in Mexico, but his candidacy never advanced far and the issue was abandoned. While Cruz seemed to have parried the attack for now, he was stung by Trump on another issue: Whether people who live in New York City have the same values as other Americans. Cruz has lately begun denouncing “New York values” to connect Trump to the city’s famous liberalism. “Everyone understands that the values of New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay marriage,” Cruz said. Trump, in perhaps his most heartfelt remarks of the night, harked back to New York’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to defend his home city. “The people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death... And it was with us for months, the smell, the air.  “And we rebuilt Downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made,” Trump said. Rubio, in third place behind Trump and Cruz in Iowa and hoping a strong outcome there will help him in the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9, frequently inserted himself into arguments and tried to put pressure on Cruz. He accused Cruz of proposing a value added tax as part of     his tax plan and of being soft on immigration. “That is not consistent conservatism,” he said. “That is political calculation.” He attacked Christie as well, accusing him of have liberal positions on education policy and abortion. Christie interrupted a Rubio-Cruz exchange with this blast: “I’d like to interrupt this debate on the floor of the Senate. You had your chance, Marco you blew it,” he said. Cruz, who has taken the lead in some polls of Iowa Republican voters, did well on social media. Social media monitoring tool Zoomph saw total positive mentions for Cruz climb by more than 150 percent while he sparred with Trump. Trump is far ahead nationally.  A Reuters/Ipsos rolling national poll on Jan. 12 showed Trump had 39 percent of the vote, Cruz 14.5 percent, Bush 10.6 percent, Carson 9.6 percent, while 6.7 percent favored Rubio. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here) (In paragraph 5, corrects to Fox Business Network from Fox Business Channel)

Summary: दोस्ताना संबंध नहीं रहेः ट्रम्प, क्रूज़ रिपब्लिकन बहस में तीखी लड़ाई में फूट पड़े


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are working to build support to temporarily extend the National Security Agency’s expiring internet surveillance program by tucking it into a stop-gap funding measure, lawmakers said. The month-long extension of the surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, would punt a contentious national security issue into the new year in an attempt to buy lawmakers more time to hash out differences over various proposed privacy reforms.  Lawmakers leaving a Republican conference meeting on Wednesday evening said it was not clear whether the stop-gap bill had enough support to avert a partial government shutdown on Saturday, or whether the possible addition of the Section 702 extension would impact its chances for passage. Absent congressional action the law, which allows the NSA to collect vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States, will expire on Dec. 31.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने इंटरनेट जासूसी कार्यक्रम को अस्थायी रूप से बढ़ाने की मांग की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ted Cruz - be careful who you mess with. Never shy in defense of their city, New Yorkers came out swinging - via social and traditional media - on Friday after the Texas Republican’s comments about “New York values” during a  presidential debate. Cruz’s remarks, aimed as a put-down of campaign rival Donald Trump during Thursday evening’s sour-toned Republican debate, sparked a backlash from city and upstate dwellers, politicians and ordinary citizens alike. James Smith, husband of Moira Smith, a New York police officer who was killed on 9/11, wrote in a Facebook post: “I invite you to come to the National 9-11 Memorial and Museum and see for yourself, and perhaps learn something about, the values of New Yorkers and the Heroes who defended American values on September 11th, 2001.” One theme emerged in particular as New Yorkers piled in: the idea that the senator may be less fastidious when it comes to financing his campaign to be his party’s nominee for the November presidential election.  “I’m sure Ted Cruz was very negative about New York money,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan, calling on Cruz to apologize to all New Yorkers. “I’m sure he’s not going to accept any money from any New Yorker. I’m sure if he has, he’s going to return all of those contributions,” said Cuomo, a Democrat. Cruz, top challenger to front-runner Trump in the Republican race, has lately been denouncing “New York values” to try to connect the real estate mogul to the city’s liberalism and to reinforce his own standing as a conservative.  During Thursday evening’s debate, Cruz said on the values issue, “And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.”  Trump responded with an emotional tribute to the resilience his home city showed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. According to Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) data, that exchange between Cruz and Trump was the second-most tweeted moment during the debate. Among tweets shared on Friday was the cover of the New York Daily News, which curtly told Cruz: “Drop Dead, Ted.” Michael Bruno (@MikeJBruno) tweeted on Friday: “@tedcruz you, sir, wouldn’t last 2 minutes in New York. We don’t take kindly to people like you. And that’s our #NewYorkValues.” Nicholas Dyer (@NicholasDDyer), who identifies himself as a Comedy Central producer on Twitter, said: “@tedcruz is the kind of guy who takes his family to the Times Square Applebee’s for dinner. #NewYorkValues.” He was referring scathingly to a chain restaurant that is normally filled with tourists from out of town. “My #NewYorkValues: Tolerance, eccentricity, sleaze, pizza, bagels, dancing, not making eye contact,” tweeted Lindsay Goldwert (@lindsaygoldwert). Many on Twitter perceived Cruz as having targeted the city’s Jewish and gay communities.  Zack Ford (@ZackFord), the LGBT editor at the progressive blog Think Progress, tweeted, “So...#NewYorkValues...Do you just pick a state you know you probably won’t win and belittle everyone from it?” He added, “Cruz knows Trump’s not Jewish, right?” Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) said, “As a Jewish conservative born in Brooklyn, I proudly have #NewYorkValues.  Some local businesses piggybacked the theme to advertise. Drama Book Shop, a theater book store in midtown Manhattan, tweeted: “The #DramaBookShop is proud to have had #NewYorkValues for 99 years.” Others sought to distinguish the politics of the city, which is liberal and overwhelmingly votes Democratic in presidential elections, from the rest of the state. Josephine (@notmyname02) said on Twitter, “Unshackle Upstate New York. We have nothing to do with New York City values. We have mid-West values. #NewYorkValues.” To be sure, some thought the backlash against Cruz was not warranted. Wesley23 (@50th_President) tweeted: “I still think people are overreacting to #TedCruz and his #NewYorkValues line. He clearly meant it was a blue (Democratic) state (and) not very conservative.”  It appeared that neither Cruz nor Trump may have benefited from the exchange. Overall, conversations about the Republican candidates during the debate were negative on social media, according to analytics firm Zoomph.  (Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Burns, Frances Kerry and Andrew Hay) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: न्यूयार्क के भद्दे लोगों ने राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार क्रूज़ पर पलटवार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to China promised on Tuesday to take a firm line with Beijing on issues from North Korea to trade disputes and human rights, and seemed poised for an easy confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said he would use his decades of experience with China to press Beijing to do more to encourage North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions. “There’s other things they can do diplomatically and economically to send a clear signal that they, as well as the United States and other countries in the world, do not tolerate this expansion of nuclear technology and missiles,” Branstad said at his confirmation hearing. Pressed, Branstad said “there may well be” a role for measures such as imposing secondary sanctions on Chinese banks or other entities that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions by doing business with North Korea. He offered few specifics. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated that China was serious about enforcing U.N. resolutions and, referring to the possibility of secondary U.S. sanctions, said China opposed other countries using their law to sanction others or to harm Chinese interests. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called Branstad, 70, an “old friend” after decades of dealings on agricultural trade. But the Republican governor insisted he would take on difficult issues complicating Washington’s relationship with its largest trading partner and major creditor. That would contrast with Trump’s recent warm words for Xi, which have caused some U.S. allies to wonder if Trump’s focus on working with China on North Korea means Washington may not still have their backs. “The fact that the leader of China calls us an old friend, doesn’t mean that I’m going to be at all reluctant or bashful of bringing up issues ... be it human rights or intellectual property rights,” Branstad told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Committee members expressed few concerns about Branstad, signaling he likely will be confirmed easily. They had tough words for China. Senator Bob Corker, the panel’s Republican chairman, blasted China’s actions in the South China Sea, and “cyber theft of intellectual property.” He warned against focusing on short-term goals at the expense of long-term U.S. interests. “There’s no country in the world that we have so many issues with,” Corker said. Branstad took a hard line on the South China Sea, saying, “China cannot be allowed to use its artificial islands to coerce its neighbors or limit freedom of navigation or overflight.” Trump has taken an “America First” approach to trade. Branstad also stressed the importance of opening markets to agricultural goods, protecting intellectual property and addressing China’s “unfair and illegal” sales of low-priced steel.

Summary: चीन के राजदूत के लिए नामित ट्रम्प ने बीजिंग पर दृढ़ रुख रखने का वादा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, a move that could upend decades of American policy and ratchet up Middle East tensions, but is expected to again delay his campaign promise to move the U.S. embassy there, U.S. officials said on Thursday. After months of intense White House deliberations, Trump is likely to make an announcement next week that seeks to strike a balance between domestic political demands and geopolitical pressures over an issue at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict   the status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions. Trump is weighing a plan under which he would declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, the officials said, deviating from White House predecessors who have insisted that it is a matter that must be decided in peace negotiations. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the international community does not recognize Israel s claim on the entire city. Such a move by Trump, which could be carried out through a presidential statement or speech, would anger the Palestinians as well as the broader Arab World and likely undermine the Trump administration s fledgling effort to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It could, however, help satisfy the pro-Israel, right-wing base that helped him win the presidency and also please the Israeli government, a close U.S. ally. Trump is likely to continue his predecessors  policy of signing a six-month waiver overriding a 1995 law requiring that the U.S. Embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the officials said. But among the options under consideration is for Trump to order his aides to develop a longer-term plan for the embassy s relocation to make clear his intent to do so eventually, according to one of the officials. However, the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the plan has yet to be finalized and Trump could still alter parts of it.  No decision has been made on that matter yet,  State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Thursday. Trump pledged on the presidential campaign trail last year that he would move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But Trump in June waived the requirement, saying he wanted to  maximize the chances  for a peace push led by his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.  Those efforts have made little if any progress. The status of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling blocks in achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, a move not recognized internationally.  Palestinian leaders, Arab governments and Western allies have long urged Trump not to proceed with the embassy relocation, which would go against decades of U.S. policy by granting de facto U.S. recognition of Israel s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital. However, if Trump decides to declare Jerusalem as Israel s capital, even without ordering an embassy move, it would be certain to spark an international uproar.  A key question would be whether such a declaration would be enshrined as a formal presidential action or simply be a symbolic statement by Trump. Some of Trump s top aides have privately pushed for him to keep his campaign promise to satisfy a range of supporters, including evangelical Christians, while others have warned of the potential damage to U.S. relations with Muslim countries.

Summary: जेरूसलम को इजरायल की राजधानी के रूप में मान्यता देने पर विचार कर रहे हैं ट्रंपः अधिकारी


DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain will not attend December s summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council if Qatar does not change its policies and Qatar should have its membership in the six-nation group suspended, Bahrain s foreign minister said. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty and rein in its support for reform.   If the situation remains as it is we won t attend this summit,  Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter, referring to the GCC meeting in Kuwait.  The right step to preserve the GCC is to freeze Qatar s membership in the council,  he said. Founded as a bulwark against neighbours Iraq and Iran, the Western-backed GCC is a loose association of the six Gulf Arab countries.  Qatar has pursued policies aimed at the security of member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council ... Qatar has proved that it does not respect the charters, treaties and ties established by the GCC,  Saudi state TV channel quoted Bahrain s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as saying on Monday. Bahrain believes Qatar is fomenting unrest in the island kingdom by supporting protests and even sporadic shooting and bombing attacks aimed at security forces. In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CBS News broadcast on Sunday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said he wanted an end to the dispute and warned against any military escalation.

Summary: बहरीन ने कतर को जी. सी. सी. से बाहर करने का आह्वान किया


TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania will upgrade its road network with one billion euros from private capital over the next four years, and it plans to open an energy exchange in early 2019, an official said. Economic projections show businesses can build the roads first and be repaid over 12 years, Damian Gjiknuri, the infrastructure and energy minister, told Reuters on Tuesday.  One of Europe s poorest countries, Albania has built highways to its major towns and ports, but clogged two-lane roads make up the rest of its system. Gjiknuri said the country wants to build high-speed roads of European standards linking areas with tourism or industrial potential, bringing closer its towns and its Balkan neighbors.  The financing will come from the budget revenue under a normal scenario of economic growth. We do not see big risks affecting the normal growth of Albania,  Gjiknuri said.  These investment will be spread over time, up to 12 years for the payments to be made, but the infrastructure will be ready in three years, four at the most,  he added. Albania s gross domestic product is forecast to grow around four percent in 2017. Its 2018 budget projects four percent growth in 2018 and a decline in public debt by 2.5 percentage points to 68.6 percent of GDP. Similar or higher growth rates are expected in the medium term. The International Monetary Fund has cautioned the government over the way it will account for the debt, spreading it over years rather than treating it as a lump sum at the time a contract is issued.         The other alternative would be to wait until we have all the money, but that means stagnation,  Gjiknuri said. Under the plan, businesses would build roads - those with a feasibility study would get a bonus - and pay the cost. The state would repay them in 10 to 12 years. Sitting between Montenegro and Greece, Albania hopes to build a Blue Highway, linking it to Croatia via Montenegro. A European Union grant is being used for a feasibility study.  A net importer of energy, Albania has written a draft law to create an energy market. Parliament is expected to approve the bill this year or early in 2018. Gjiknuri said Nord Pool Consulting is now advising Albania establishing the market. Neighboring Kosovo and possibly a foreign company may join it.   Our goal is to create a liquid private market in order to stimulate not just the trading but also the production of electrical power,  Gjiknuri said.  To be an optimist, I think it will start working early in 2019. That is our strategic objective,  Gjiknuri said.

Summary: अल्बानिया महत्वाकांक्षी सड़क सुधार, ऊर्जा बाजार की योजना बना रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama formally endorsed fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton for president on Thursday, describing himself as eager to get out and campaign for her, days after she gained the delegates needed to secure the party’s White House nomination. “I don’t think there has ever been someone so qualified to hold this office,” Obama said in a video released by the Clinton campaign.  “I’m with her, I’m fired up and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign with Hillary.”  Obama and Clinton were rivals during the 2008 Democratic primary that Obama won. Clinton went on to serve as Obama’s secretary of state during his first term in office.

Summary: राष्ट्रपति ओबामा ने औपचारिक रूप से राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump came around to the decision to allow for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan only after a prolonged internal debate in which he frequently tangled with his top national security advisers. Trump had repeatedly argued on the campaign trail last year that the long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were a waste of lives and billions of dollars that could be better spent at home. An emotional visit in April to Walter Reed Hospital, where many grievously wounded soldiers are taken for treatment, only served to harden the president’s reluctance to send more troops.  Trump said he did not want to send more young Americans to battle only to see them lose limbs. “What are we doing there?” he asked his national security aides, according to a senior administration official. In a series of interviews, senior administration officials said Trump was hard to persuade but finally - and begrudgingly - agreed to allow for a modest increase in troop numbers, from the current 8,400 to more than 12,000. He first had to be convinced that the approach he was approving was markedly different from the strategies employed by his two immediate predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, since he considered them to have failed, the officials said. In his prime-time speech to the nation on Afghanistan policy on Monday night, Trump conceded that his original instinct on taking office had been to pull out but he was then persuaded of the dangers of a hasty withdrawal. Putting new emphasis on anti-terrorism goals, he said U.S. troops were needed to prevent the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan and again making it a breeding ground for Islamic militants. “This is not about nation-building again. We are killing terrorists,” he said.     In the White House discussions, some of Trump’s advisers appealed to his pride in his negotiating skills by saying he could succeed with the Taliban where Obama had failed, in part because Obama made the mistake of announcing that a surge of additional troops to Afghanistan he approved in late 2009 was temporary.     “The president knows that in order to get the Taliban to the table, he knows that he first has to prove that he’s willing to keep pressure on them for as long as it takes, which Obama failed to do,” said one of the officials. “That doesn’t mean he expects to sit down with them in Qatar tomorrow.” Trump challenged his advisers to provide clear measurements of how progress can be gauged, with the goal of turning the tide in a battle in which the Taliban appears to have gained the upper hand in recent months. “He wants to be shown that we’re winning,” said one official. “They had to develop the metrics for that in advance before he would agree to it. He doesn’t want to be told in two years that it’s just as bad as it was 2017, but not worse. If that happens then we’re really talking about a withdrawal. He made that clear.” While Trump was joined in his skepticism by his chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was fired on Friday after months of power struggles inside the White House, multiple officials said the debate was less about Bannon and more about Trump himself. The argument that White House chief of staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster made was that previous efforts faltered because the Afghan and Pakistani governments did not step up and do what is required of them to help defeat the Taliban and deny terrorists a haven in Afghanistan.     The three - who have all had distinguished military careers - also raised the specter of Iran’s involvement in Afghanistan, an argument that helped given Trump’s desire to block Tehran’s expansionism in the Middle East, officials said. “It was hard to put together for him all the pieces of a complicated puzzle that includes not just the three major regional players, but also India, China, Russia, and Iran,” said one official. “But the idea that he could succeed where his predecessors had failed had a certain appeal. So did the idea of emphasizing this is part of the war against Islamic terrorism, not an effort to rebuild Afghanistan, something he had consistently opposed,” the official added. The new Trump strategy puts greater emphasis on the responsibilities of the Pakistani and Afghan governments. Another important factor, the officials said, was convincing Trump that the withdrawal he had advocated for years would force him to shoulder some of the blame for the Taliban victory that surely would follow.

Summary: अफ़ग़ानिस्तान युद्ध को लेकर बहस ने ट्रम्प को अनिच्छुक बना दिया है


(Reuters) - Hurricane Maria has devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, another blow to its already precarious economic situation. Puerto Rico s government owes $72 billion to bondholders, and an additional $50 billion in pension obligations to teachers and almost all other government employees. In May, it filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The following are responses from multinational companies on how they are dealing with the aftermath of Maria: WAL-MART STORES INC Phillip Keene, Wal-Mart s director of corporate communications, said,  Like many businesses, we are working to assess any damage to our facilities as we are safely able to access them and working to connect with our associates to assess what their needs are so we can support as appropriate. We are planning to open facilities very thoughtfully, starting with limited hours at our Sam s Club near San Juan, perhaps as soon as Sunday. One of our Amigo stores has already reopened under limited hours on the south side of San Juan as of this morning.  Walmart operates 48 retail facilities, a distribution center and a satellite headquarters in Puerto Rico, supported by more than 14,700 associates across the Island. At this time, we are trying to best understand the impacts of Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico, but it s been a slow process due to widespread power outages and communication issues. We have activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Walmart Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, to support our associates in Puerto Rico. The EOC is Walmart s centralized platform for crisis coordination. In the EOC, we work directly with logistics, store operations and other teams within the business to ensure we re aligned on our support plans.  We have been in contact with leaders on the Island and continue to be in regular contact with FEMA and the American Red Cross. Our first priority is, and continues to be, the safety of our associates - taking care of them and their families. We are working rapidly to account for our associates, through store and HR leadership as well as social media, local radio and other channels. These efforts will continue.   Although our normal assessment process has been impeded a bit by road conditions and flooding, we are currently working to identify the status of our facilities on the Island. Our Merchandising, Replenishment, Supply Chain and Logistics teams are working to ensure we have critical supplies and product headed to the island via shipping vessels that are slated to depart as soon as Friday (Sept. 22). This is in addition to the shipment of water that was sent toward the island earlier this week, which is currently staged at sea awaiting clearance to safely enter port. We will continue to assess the right flow and mix of merchandise and supplies to send to Puerto Rico in the coming days and weeks.   Tammy Hull, communications manager at Eli Lilly, said:  Lilly has two manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico as well as an affiliate office and sales team. Safety of our employees is our primary concern. The small team of employees who stayed onsite during the storm are safe. We are still accounting for all employees, which is a slow process due to power and communications loss on the island. We are currently assessing our facilities to determine if any damage occurred. Lilly follows emergency procedures that enable us to maintain adequate inventory at our manufacturing sites around the world to ensure a reliable supply of medicine for patients.   Kristen Davis, senior manager of corporate communications at Amgen, said:  Our first priority is the safety of our colleagues and their families. The vast majority of staff at our Amgen Manufacturing Limited (AML) site in Juncos were sent home prior to Maria making landfall, with only a limited number of colleagues remaining on site to monitor operations. At the moment, we are still working to determine the safety of our people and are hopeful that all will be well. At the same time, we are executing on a comprehensive and well-rehearsed business continuity plan for the site itself. Based on what we know at the moment, we are confident there will be no product supply disruptions for patients around the world. Of course, we will work diligently to ensure drug supply for patients in Puerto Rico and to return our operations in Puerto Rico to normal as quickly as possible.  Michele Meixell, head of external communications and affairs at AstraZeneca, said:  Given the early nature of the disaster, we are still in the process of gathering more information, but I can tell you what we know so far. Our Puerto Rico employee base consists of approximately 250 colleagues. This represents both field-based employees as well as those working in our manufacturing facility located in Canovanas.   Right now our number one priority remains the safety and health of our employees and their families. At this point, it s still early to understand the full impact to our site, but we have started the process to assess our facility. The site does have backup power capabilities and we have a storm crew in limited operation right now until employees are able to safely return to work. In advance of the storm, the facility took appropriate precautions and we have business continuity plans in place to ensure our medicines continue in production.   We do not anticipate interruption in supply at this time. I also want to point out that while our Puerto Rico site is of critical importance to our organization, we have manufacturing facilities all over the globe producing medicines, so in terms of overall business impact, this is important to clarify.  Regarding the safety of our employees, all non-essential employees had been sent home prior to the storm earlier this week. This is a critical time for our employees to be safe and with their families and we will stay in touch with them in various ways that work best for them in this time of need. We stand behind those impacted by Hurricane Maria and AstraZeneca is committed to helping the people and employees affected by all of these recent natural disasters. We will continue to assess the needs of both our employees and those impacted by the storm and once we have more clarity on their needs, provide support and aid however we can.      Pfizer spokeswoman Joan Campion said,  We re continuing to assess the situation in Puerto Rico.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः प्यूर्टो रिको में अमेरिकी बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियां तूफान मारिया का कैसे जवाब दे रही हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The dark vision of America under siege described by Donald Trump in his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination does not mesh with reality, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday. Obama noted that the “birds were chirping and the sun was out” for most Americans after Trump’s Thursday night speech, which expounded on the threats to America from illegal immigrants, Islamic State militants, and race-related violence. “This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse, this vision of violence and chaos everywhere, doesn’t really jibe with the experience of most people,” Obama said at a White House news conference after meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Obama said the violent crime rate in America has been lower during his 7-1/2 years in office than any time during the last three or four decades, despite an “uptick” in murders in some cities this year, and the recent high-profile killings of black men and police officers. The timing of Obama’s quickly arranged short meeting with Pena Nieto presented both leaders with a convenient platform from which to criticize Trump. Just three weeks ago, Obama - who has six months left in the White House - invited the Mexican president to visit one last time before the U.S. president leaves on Jan. 20. Trump has pledged to build a wall at the Mexico border to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, and to force Mexico to pay for it. The New York businessman has also promised to slap tariffs on some U.S. products made in Mexico, and seek radical changes or even discard the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Pena Nieto was first to mention Trump, but said he respected both Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and would work with constructively and in good faith with whoever wins the Nov. 8 election. In March, Pena Nieto likened Trump’s “strident tone” to the ascent of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. But he said on Friday that he had never pointed the finger at any of the candidates, saying that anything he had said had been taken out of context. And he stressed that the two nations’ futures were closely bound. “The closeness between the United States and Mexico is more than a relationship between governments. It’s a solid and unbreakable relationship between millions of people who live in both nations,” Pena Nieto said. Obama said the rate of illegal immigration is down from past decades, and praised Mexico for helping to address a flood of migrants fleeing Central America and for work on drug trafficking. “A Mexico that has a healthy economy, a Mexico that can help us build stability and security in Central America, that’s going to do a lot more to solve any migration crisis or drug trafficking problem than a wall,” Obama said. Obama and Pena Nieto praised the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal as addressing some of the criticisms of NAFTA. Both Trump and Clinton have said they oppose the TPP, which has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Congress. “There are going to be different visions about where we should go as a country,” Obama said, running down a list of economic issues facing the nation. “But we’re not going to make good decisions based on fears that don’t have a basis in fact,” he said.

Summary: ओबामाः ट्रम्प की काली दृष्टि तथ्यों के साथ 'वास्तव में मेल नहीं खाती'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration next week will propose a 1.6 percent pay increase for federal employees, an administration official said on Wednesday. The proposal will be included in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, which is set to be unveiled on Tuesday.  The pay raise would apply to military and civilian personnel, the official said in a statement. Federal government workers received a 1.3 percent pay raise this fiscal year as a part of the government funding package that was passed into law in December.

Summary: ओबामा संघीय सरकारी कर्मचारियों के लिए 1.60 प्रतिशत वेतन वृद्धि की मांग करेंगे


CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian public prosecutor ordered that a suspected Libyan militant and 14 others be held for 15 days pending an investigation of their role in a deadly attack in Egypt s western desert last month, state news MENA reported on Friday. The Interior Ministry said on Thursday that Abdelrahim Mohamed al-Mesmari, from the Libyan city of Derna, was captured by Egyptian forces following an air raid in response to the attack. Security sources initially said at least 52 policemen were killed when militants attacked a patrol, firing rockets and detonating explosives in a remote part of the desert. The Interior Ministry refuted those figures and said 16 were killed. Charges against Mesmari will include premeditated murder of police officers, possession of firearms and joining a terrorist organization, MENA reported.    A new and little-known group called Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the October attack, posing a new threat to Egyptian security forces, which have been battling an Islamic State insurgency in the Sinai peninsula since 2013. The military last month killed 15 militants in an air raid directed at the group it blamed for the desert attack, according to the Interior Ministry, which said that all of those killed had been trained in Derna.  Mesmari escaped the air raid but was later arrested along with 29 Egyptians who had been recruited to join the group, according to the Interior Ministry. (This version of the story corrects final paragraph to clarify that 29 suspects were arrested later, after the air strike in which 15 were killed)

Summary: मिस्र ने रेगिस्तानी हमले के मामले में संदिग्ध लीबिया के आतंकवादी, 14 अन्य को हिरासत में लेने का आदेश दिया


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar urged Muslims in the troubled northwest to cooperate in the search for insurgents, whose coordinated attacks on security posts and an army crackdown have led to one of the deadliest bouts of violence to engulf the Rohingya community in decades. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Aid agencies estimate that about 73,000 Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh from Myanmar since violence erupted last week, Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, told Reuters on Sunday. Hundreds more refugees on Sunday walked through rice paddies from the Naf river separating the two countries into Bangladesh, straining scarce resources of aid groups and local communities already helping tens of thousands.  The clashes and military counter-offensive have killed nearly 400 people during the past week.   Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that violence against Muslims amounted to genocide.      It marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a smaller Rohingya attack on security posts prompted a military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.  Islamic villagers in northern Maungtaw have been urged over loudspeakers to cooperate when security forces search for Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists, and not to pose a threat or brandish weapons when security forces enter their villages,  a report in state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said on Sunday.  ARSA has been declared a terrorist organisation by the government. The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week.  In Maungni village in northern Rakhine, villagers this week caught two ARSA members and handed them over to the authorities, the newspaper added.  The army wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that Rohingya insurgents had set fire to monasteries, images of Buddha as well as schools and houses in northern Rakhine.  More than 200 buildings, including houses and shops, were destroyed across several villages, the army said. While Myanmar officials blamed the ARSA for the burning of homes, Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and human rights watchers say that a campaign of arson and killings by the army is aimed at trying to force out the minority group.  On a Twitter account believed to be linked to the ARSA, the group accused the Myanmar army of  causing terror and destruction to the ethnic Rohingya population . About a hundred protesters gathered in Myanmar s commercial capital Yangon on Sunday, calling for the authorities to step up security measures in northern Rakhine to protect ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.  I want the government to protect the people (from insurgents) without any hesitation,  said Zin Lin Aung, a university student.  More than 11,700  ethnic residents  had been evacuated from northern Rakhine, the government has said, referring to non-Muslims. In Bangladesh, authorities said that at least 53 bodies of Rohingya had either been found floating in the Naf river or washed up on the beach in the past week as tens of thousands continue to try to flee the violence. A senior leader of al Qaeda s Yemeni branch has called for attacks on Myanmar authorities in support of the Rohingya.  Amid mounting anger over the violence against Rohingya in Indonesia, home to the world s biggest Muslim population, a petrol bomb was thrown at the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Sunday, causing a small fire. Separately, hundreds protested in Jakarta, calling on the Indonesian government to take an active role in bringing a halt to human rights violations against the Rohingya.    Former colonial ruler Britain said on Saturday that it hoped Suu Kyi would use her  remarkable qualities  to end the violence.

Summary: म्यांमार ने घातक हिंसा के बीच रोहिंग्या मुसलमानों से विद्रोहियों का शिकार करने में मदद करने का आग्रह किया


ROME (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May should make the EU firm offers by next week to break deadlock in Brexit talks if she wants an orderly withdrawal and transition to a new relationship, the bloc s negotiator said on Thursday. Speaking to the Italian parliament on the eve of a speech that May will deliver in Florence, Michel Barnier said he was wondering why there was still  major uncertainty  on all key issues Brussels wanted settled before opening talks on the transition to a future trade deal it expects her to ask for.  To make progress, we are waiting for clear commitments from the UK on these precise issues,  Barnier said, noting demands for European Union citizens in Britain to have their rights there protected by EU courts and for London to pay a hefty bill before leaving.  We will listen attentively and constructively to Theresa May s important speech tomorrow in Florence,  added Barnier, who holds a new round of Brexit negotiations in Brussels next week.  A rapid agreement on the conditions of the UK s orderly withdrawal, and a transition period, is possible ... For that to happen, we would like the United Kingdom to put on the table, as soon as next week, proposals to overcome the barriers.  An agreement on orderly withdrawal was  a precondition for any constructive and trustworthy discussion on our future relationship with the United Kingdom.  Barnier renewed criticism of Britain s treatment of 3 million EU expatriates in the country, noting deportation letters sent to some recently in error and allegations that May s interior ministry defied a High Court order over an asylum case.  London has rejected EU demands that the European Court of Justice remain the ultimate arbiter for EU citizens in Britain and says its own court system offers sufficient guarantees. But Barnier s position remains that the EU wants its own safeguards. TWO-YEAR TRANSITION? The BBC said after May discussed the Florence speech with her cabinet that she would ask for a two-year transition period after Brexit in March 2019, would refer to  paying our dues  and say that a deal with the EU would be unlike other countries . European capitals expect May to try to break a deadlock in the talks over the coming days by signaling a readiness to pay the EU to stay in the single market for two to three years after Brexit, easing fears of a disruptive break. Barnier recalled that the EU was ready to consider a  short transition period if the British government requests one  but also underlined that would entail accepting EU rules, including on its budget. And he noted that the more benefits Britain wanted the more it would have to accept obligations to the EU. The EU executive estimates Britain may owe something like 60 billion euros ($70 billion) on leaving, while Britain questions whether it has any legal liability. EU officials have said that British payments to the EU during a post-Brexit transition   its current annual payments are about 10 billion euros   cannot be offset against a need to settle a pre-Brexit  divorce bill . However, they acknowledge that the British government might find ways to present the various financial agreements it makes in a way it hopes may limit criticism from hardline Brexit supporters of any divorce settlement and transition payments.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ चाहता है कि मे अब ब्रेक्सिट सौदे के लिए ठोस प्रस्ताव देंः बार्नियर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bill and Hillary Clinton’s charitable foundation hired the security firm FireEye to examine its data systems after seeing indications they might have been hacked, according to two sources familiar with the matter.  So far, no message or document hacked from the New York-based Clinton Foundation has surfaced in public, the sources said.  One of the sources and two U.S. security officials said that like hackers who targeted the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democrats’ congressional fundraising committee, the hackers appear to have used “spear phishing” techniques to gain access to the foundation’s network.  ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS U.S. swimmers trying to return from Rio yanked off flight A desperate country crushes 2,000 guns in public, plans bullet registry These techniques include creating bogus emails or websites in an effort to gain access to Clinton Foundation staffers’ emails and then to the foundation itself.  Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. officials said the hackers used the same techniques Russian intelligence agencies or their proxies employed against the Democratic Party groups, which suggests that Russians also attacked the foundation.  Kremlin officials dismissed as absurd the allegations of Moscow’s involvement, which were made last month amid political party nominating conventions for the Nov. 8 election.  Neither former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, the Clinton Foundation’s principal lawyer, nor a spokeswoman for the foundation responded to requests for comment on the hacking and the precautions the organization has taken.  Officials with FireEye said the company could not discuss its clients.  Although no documents have emerged, the attacks have left some Democrats and Clinton campaign officials worried that the hackers might have obtained emails and voice messages that could be used to reinforce Republican charges that donors to the Clinton Foundation were rewarded with access to Clinton and her aides while she was secretary of state or to her husband, former President Bill Clinton.  Another concern: hackers or outlets such as the anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website could release documents and emails damaging to her presidential campaign, several people familiar with the foundation’s activities said.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee convened a closed-door meeting on Wednesday to discuss best cyber security practices.  The meeting, according to people familiar with it, included a recommendation that staff and lawmakers change their phone numbers and email addresses if that information was published online by hackers believed to be working for or with Russian intelligence agencies.  One of the U.S. officials said, however, that the spear phishing pattern used against several organizations, appears to reinforce the intelligence community’s “preliminary assessment” that the attacks were intended more for espionage than for trying to influence the U.S. presidential election.  So far, said a third U.S. official familiar with the attacks, there is no evidence that the hackers were able to follow any of the hacked emails into the State Department’s classified email systems.  Anxiety in Washington over the possibility that a foreign power might be using hacked information to meddle in the U.S. election has prompted some Democrats and cyber security experts to urge the Obama administration to blame Russia publicly.  Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, said the United States should carry “a big stick” in cyber security matters. “The U.S. government needs to be very clear, very direct, and hold these people accountable.”  Current and former White House and intelligence officials said the Obama administration is unlikely to blame Russia publicly, given the difficulty of attributing the attacks without revealing American sources and methods, the geopolitical concerns at play, and a fear that doing so could risk aggravating cyber conflict.

Summary: क्लिंटन फाउंडेशन ने संदिग्ध हैकिंग के बाद साइबर फर्म को काम पर रखाः सूत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday he hoped a government shutdown would not be necessary over his demand that the U.S. Congress fund his proposed wall along the southern border with Mexico. At a news conference with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Trump also said Mexico may pay for the wall by reimbursement. Mexico has adamantly said it will not pay for the wall. “One way or the other Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” said Trump. Trump also said he would probably need to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement treaty to get what he considers a fair trade deal with U.S. economic partners Mexico and Canada. “I believe that you will at least have to start the termination process before a fair deal can be arrived at,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प को उम्मीद है कि दीवार के वित्तपोषण को लेकर सरकार को बंद करने की आवश्यकता नहीं होगी


FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany s environmentalist Green party polled at its highest level this year in a survey published on Sunday, overtaking Chancellor Angela Merkel s other would-be coalition partner as talks to form a new government continued. An coalition agreement would see Merkel extend her 12-year spell at Germany s helm, during which she has helped avoid a collapse of the euro zone and cemented her country s position as the bloc s economic powerhouse.   Merkel must bring together the Greens, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and her own conservative bloc to secure a majority, with sticking points including immigration caps, whether to end coal production and increasing defense spending. The poll published by German daily Bild put the Greens at 11 percent, up by one percentage point from a week earlier, while the FDP fell by the same amount to 10 percent. It will have no direct bearing on coalition talks, but gives the Greens some bragging rights in terms of their negotiating.  The Greens are calling for abandoning coal as a source of energy in Germany, an objective shared by thousands of demonstrators who marched in the German city of Bonn on Saturday but opposed by the FDP.     If Germany wants to meet its climate protection goals, an exit from coal is necessary,  Anton Hofreiter, one of the leaders of the Green s parliamentary party told Reuters on Sunday. Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian CSU sister party were stable at 31 percent while the Social Democrats, who have said they would not renew their ruling coalition with the conservatives, slipped by one percentage point to 21 percent. Party leaders are slated to meet on Monday evening before the larger negotiating teams launch into more detailed talks. The FDP leader, Christian Lindner, said in an interview published on Sunday his party did not fear new elections if the negotiations failed. But a new vote could see more gains for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which surged into parliament last month after a campaign that channeled public anger at Merkel s 2015 decision to leave Germany s border open to migrants. The euro-sceptic AfD was stable in Sunday s survey at 12 percent while left-wing Die Linke rose by one percentage point to poll to 10 percent. Polling firm Emnid interviewed 1,476 people between 26 and 30 October. A separate survey, carried out by pollster INSA in Bavaria, put Merkel s local ally, the CSU, at 37 percent, down from an already disappointing 38.9 percent at general elections on Sept. 24. CSU leader Horst Seehofer has been fending off calls for his resignation since the vote. Bavaria was the main entry point for migrants to Germany in 2015 and the CSU wants a limit of 200,000 migrants a year. The Bavarian survey, for which 1,033 people were polled on Nov 2-3, is due to appear in the Bild newspaper on Monday.

Summary: जर्मनी के ग्रीन्स ने चुनाव में लिबरल को पीछे छोड़ दिया क्योंकि गठबंधन वार्ता जारी है


LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Friday it would not recognize Catalonia s declaration of independence from Spain.  The UK does not and will not recognize the Unilateral Declaration of Independence made by the Catalan regional parliament,  Prime Minister Theresa May s office said in a statement.  It is based on a vote that was declared illegal by the Spanish courts,  the statement said.  We continue to want to see the rule of law upheld, the Spanish Constitution respected, and Spanish unity preserved.

Summary: ब्रिटेन ने कहा कि वह कैटेलोनिया की स्वतंत्रता की घोषणा को मान्यता नहीं देगा


LONDON, (Reuters) - The chairman of a congressional committee has asked the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explain why its National Cancer Institute (NCI) failed to publish data that showed no links between glyphosate and cancer. In a Tuesday letter seen by Reuters, U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, who chairs the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform (OGR), said he “is concerned about the new revelations” and is “seeking more information” about why the exculpatory results were not published by the NCI. Glyphosate is a key ingredient in Monsanto’s top-selling weedkiller Roundup. Gowdy’s letter to NIH Director Francis Collins follows a June report by Reuters which found that a senior scientist from the NCI knew that fresh data from a large research project known as the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) showed no links between glyphosate and cancer.  Draft scientific papers dating from 2013 containing the data were never published. Consequently, the information was not able to be taken into account during the March 2015 review of the pesticide by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). An NIH spokeswoman told Reuters the NIH had received Gowdy’s letter “and will be responding directly to the committee.” Aaron Blair, the senior scientist at the NCI who knew about the data and also chaired the IARC review, previously told Reuters the data was not published in time because there was too much to fit into one scientific paper. Blair is now retired from the NCI. An NCI spokeswoman told Reuters in June the institute was drafting a manuscript on this topic. It would “explore the effects of glyphosate exposure in greater depth”, she said, and would be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal “in the coming months.”     Gowdy’s letter asked for “a briefing on these issues as soon as possible”. It also asked for information and any documents relating to the unpublished AHS data on glyphosate.     No one at IARC, which is based in Lyon, France, was immediately available for comment late on Tuesday.     IARC concluded in 2015 that glyphosate, is a “probable human carcinogen.” It based its finding on “limited evidence” of carcinogenicity in humans and “sufficient evidence” in experimental animals.      The agency’s assessment is at odds with other international regulators who have said the weedkiller is not a carcinogenic risk to humans.      The OGR has been looking into U.S. taxpayer funding of IARC. It began investigating IARC’s operations in 2016 after several lawmakers raised questions about why U.S. taxpayers were funding an agency that often faces criticism for its work.  A letter by Jason Chaffetz, then chairman of the OGR, in September 2016, also addressed to the NIH director, described IARC as having “a record of controversy, retractions, and inconsistencies” and asked why the NIH continued to fund it.      In previous responses to questions about its assessments of glyphosate and many other substances, IARC has defended them as scientifically sound.  The agency says its “monographs” - the name it gives its classifications of carcinogens - are “widely respected for their scientific rigor, standardized and transparent process and ... freedom from conflicts of interest”.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने मोनसेंटो वीडकिलर की समीक्षा में लापता जानकारी मांगी


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Cyril Ramaphosa may have won the race to be leader of the African National Congress, but he failed to decisively wrest control of South Africa s ruling party from President Jacob Zuma. Zuma s faction retains influence in the ANC s incoming National Executive Committee (NEC) and was felt in conference debates on divisive policies such as land expropriation and nationalization. Ramaphosa s incomplete victory could stymie his chances of tackling entrenched corruption and implementing reforms to kickstart economic growth, tasks which he placed at the center of his campaign for the ANC s top job. It also lessens his chances of ousting Zuma from the state presidency before his second term ends in 2019. That could disappoint investors who have bet heavily that Ramaphosa, a 65-year-old former trade union leader and millionaire businessman, will be able to turn around Africa s most industrialized economy. The rand currency has been volatile since Ramaphosa s election, as investors continue to assess how much clout he wields.  Because Ramaphosa does not have a strong majority in the NEC and because of the lingering presence of Zuma loyalists, he will not be able to drive his own agenda,  said Darias Jonker, director for Africa at Eurasia Group. Zuma s decade in power has badly tarnished the ANC s image at home and abroad as growth slowed to a near-standstill. He has survived several votes of no confidence, and analysts say he has cemented his control over the ANC by using political patronage. The ANC s new NEC, announced in the early hours of Thursday, is split roughly 50-50 between the Ramaphosa and Zuma factions. The party s  top six  most powerful officials, announced on Monday, are also split down the middle. Zuma said on Thursday that  there was no winner or loser in the election of leaders  at the ANC conference. Were Ramaphosa to try to force Zuma from office, he would need to secure the support of the NEC, which includes his main rival in the ANC race, former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma s ex-wife and preferred successor. Others on the NEC include prominent Zuma lieutenants Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and Energy Minister David Mahlobo, who would defend the 75-year-old leader to the bitter end. The two most controversial policy resolutions adopted at the ANC conference on Wednesday called for land expropriation without compensation and nationalization of the central bank. Both those policies were most vociferously backed by Dlamini-Zuma. The expropriation of land from white farmers in neighboring Zimbabwe had a devastating impact on food production and any mention of nationalization in South Africa is enough to spook investors, since left-wing elements of the ANC have also called for mines and banks to be state-owned. A senior ANC source told Reuters the Ramaphosa camp would try to ensure that the shift to full state ownership of the Reserve Bank would go no further than the resolution adopted at the conference.  The Reserve Bank said that changing its ownership structure could raise the level of uncertainty in the economy and would be costly. Land expropriation without compensation is also unlikely to become the norm soon, but the fact that the ANC called for the constitution to be amended as a step in that direction could dent already weak investor confidence.  This kind of rhetoric will now have to inform Ramaphosa s speeches and perpetuate concerns over property rights at a time when the economy needs exactly the opposite signals,  said Anne Fruhauf, an analyst at consultancy Teneo. Land is especially emotive in South Africa, where the ANC is under pressure to address gaping racial inequality more than two decades after the end of white minority rule. The opposition Democratic Alliance on Thursday criticized the ANC s call for land expropriation, saying it failed to address the broader issues of property rights for poor South Africans and government mismanagement of existing land programs. The debate over land was so heated among ANC members on Wednesday that a delegate said a fight broke out, and a party official said it nearly caused the conference to collapse. Jonker at Eurasia Group said ANC policies were always more populist and left-leaning than what was eventually implemented by government.

Summary: एएनसी की दौड़ में दक्षिण अफ्रीका के रामफोसा के लिए कोई क्लीन स्वीप नहीं


ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has canceled its weekly cabinet meeting for the second time since President Muhammadu Buhari returned from three months of medical leave in Britain. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in a statement Wednesday s meeting would not take place  due to inadequate time to prepare the documents . Buhari canceled the first cabinet meeting following his return on Aug. 19, raising concerns that the president, criticized for inertia by his opponents, was returning to his former ways, when he worked from home and missed ministerial meetings. But the 74-year-old president, who has been working from home since his return, last week presided over his first cabinet meeting since taking leave for an unspecified ailment.  The refusal to disclose details of his illness has caused speculation about whether he is well enough to run Africa s most populous country and biggest economy. Mohammed s statement said a two-day public holiday on Friday and Monday to mark the Islamic Eid-el-Kabir celebrations had left little time to prepare for the weekly meeting.

Summary: बुहारी की वापसी के बाद दूसरी बार रद्द हुई नाइजीरिया की कैबिनेट की बैठक


MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont came under pressure from one of his key allies on Friday to declare full independence and ignore a threat of direct rule from the Spanish government. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday night, only to suspend it seconds later and call for negotiations with Madrid. Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given him until Monday to clarify his position - and then until Thursday to change his mind if he insists on a split - threatening to suspend Catalonia s autonomy if he chooses independence.  But far-left Catalan political group CUP called on Puigdemont to make an unequivocal declaration of independence in defiance of the deadlines.  If (the central Madrid government) wants to continue to threaten and gag us, they should do it to the Republic that has already been claimed,  the party said. The CUP only holds 10 seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament. But Puigdemont s minority government relies on its support to push through legislation and cannot win a majority vote in the regional parliament without its backing.  The wealthy region s intention to break away after a referendum has plunged Spain into its worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981 and could hurt economic growth targets for next year, the deputy prime minister said.  If there were no quick solution to this issue we should be forced to lower expectations of economic growth for the year 2018,  Soraya Sainz de Santamaria said on Friday.    Sources close to the Catalan government said Puigdemont and his team were working on an answer to Rajoy though they declined to say what line he would take. The CUP statement echoes the position expressed late on Thursday by influential pro-independence civic group Asamblea Nacional Catalana which said:  Given the negative position of Spain toward dialogue, we ask the regional parliament to raise the suspension (on the declaration of independence).  But the leader of Puigdemont s party, Artur Mas, who served as the region s president until 2016 and is still believed to influence key decisions, said on Friday declaring independence was not the only way forward.  If a state proclaims itself independent and cannot act as such, it s an independence that is merely aesthetic,  he told Catalan television TV3.  The external factor must be taken into account in the decisions that will be made from now on,  he said. The European Union, the United States and most other world powers have made it clear they wanted Catalonia to remain within Spain.  If we allow Catalonia - and it is none of our business - to separate, others will do the same. I do not want that,  Jean Claude Juncker said in a speech at Luxembourg University.

Summary: मित्र राष्ट्रों ने कैटलन नेता पर पूर्ण स्वतंत्रता की घोषणा करने के लिए दबाव डाला, मैड्रिड की समय सीमा को नजरअंदाज किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six U.S. air strikes on an Islamic State desert camp in Libya killed 17 militants and destroyed three vehicles, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the first American strikes in Libya since President Donald Trump took office in January.  U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that strikes on Friday targeted a camp 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Sirte, a city that was once the Islamic State stronghold in Libya. The camp was used to move fighters in and out of Libya, plot attacks and store weapons, the statement said.  ISIS and al-Qaeda have taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Libya to establish sanctuaries for plotting, inspiring and directing terror attacks,  the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were carried out by armed drones. The last-known U.S. strike in Libya was on Jan. 19, a day before Trump s inauguration, when more than 80 Islamic State militants, some believed to be plotting attacks in Europe, died in U.S. air strikes on camps outside Sirte. That strike was led by two B-2 bombers, which dropped about 100 precision-guided munitions on the camps. Islamic State took over Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside the Middle East and attracting large numbers of foreign fighters to the city. The group imposed its hard-line rule on residents and extended its control along about 155 miles (250 km) of Libya s Mediterranean coastline. But it struggled to keep a footing elsewhere in Libya and was forced out of Sirte by last December after a six-month campaign led by brigades from the western city of Misrata and backed by U.S. air strikes. Islamic State militants have shifted to desert valleys and inland hills southeast of Tripoli as they seek to exploit Libya s political divisions after their defeat in Sirte. The statement said the strikes were carried out in coordination with Libya s Government of National Accord. The United Nations launched a road map on Wednesday for a renewed international effort to break a political stalemate in Libya and end the turmoil that followed the country s 2011 uprising. The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord  established under a December 2015 deal never fully materialized in Tripoli, leaving Libya with three competing governments aligned with rival armed alliances.

Summary: लीबिया में अमेरिकी हवाई हमलों में इस्लामिक स्टेट के 17 आतंकवादी मारे गएः अमेरिकी सेना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday vowed an unbreakable U.S. alliance with Israel if he is elected president in November, seeking to clear up confusion over his repeated pledges to remain neutral in any peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Trump’s speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, was part of a daylong effort by the anti-Washington candidate to persuade establishment Republicans to get behind his insurgent candidacy and give up on an effort to deny him the party’s presidential nomination. Describing Israel as ready to negotiate a peace agreement, Trump said the Palestinians would have to be willing to accept that Israel will forever exist as a Jewish state and able to stop attacks on Israelis. “The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable,” the New York billionaire businessman said. Trump has drawn fire for his position on Middle East peace negotiations. He has described himself as extremely pro-Israel, but has said he would take a “neutral” stance in trying to negotiate an elusive peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump’s critics have said he could harm long-standing U.S. support for Israel. Trump’s leading Republican rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, reminded the AIPAC gathering of Trump’s position. “Let me be very, very clear,” Cruz said. “As president I will not be neutral. America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel.” Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, used her AIPAC appearance to attack Trump. “We need steady hands, not a president who says he’s neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who-knows-what on Wednesday because everything’s negotiable,” she said. Clinton also took aim at Trump’s vow that, if elected, he would deport illegal immigrants and bar Muslims temporarily from entering the United States.  “If you see bigotry, oppose it, if you see violence, condemn it, if you see a bully, stand up to him,” she said. In a rarity, Trump delivered his AIPAC speech with the aid of a TelePrompter, abandoning his typical free-wheeling style. Throughout the day, his public remarks lacked their usual bombast, an obvious effort to appear more presidential.  At a news conference, Trump presented himself as Republicans’ best chances of capturing the White House in the Nov. 8 election. He took steps to appear as the nominee-in-waiting, releasing the names of some foreign policy advisers and pledging to name seven to 10 people he would pick for the Supreme Court. Trump said establishment Republicans would be making a mistake if they persuade a high-profile party leader to launch a third-party run to deny him the White House. He said it would “almost certainly” mean the Democrats would win the presidency. “If people want to be smart, they should embrace this movement,” Trump said at the site of a new hotel he is building in Washington. “If they don’t want to be smart, they should do what they’re doing now and the Republicans are going to go down to a massive loss.” Trump laid out some foreign policy priorities in a CNN interview, saying the United States is contributing more than it should to the NATO alliance and that he would continue a U.S. thaw toward Cuba begun by President Barack Obama, who is now in Havana. Trump was in Washington for closed-door talks with a variety of Republicans organized by his top backer in the capital, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. It was his most overt bid yet to seek party unity at a time when many establishment Republicans bitterly oppose him. The meeting, held at the offices of the Jones Day law firm, included some Republican lawmakers and a former Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, and former Congressman Bob Livingston. “We’ve had almost eight years of Mr. Obama, who’s been a disastrous president. We have now an opportunity to change course or have four more years of the same. And I think that Donald Trump is the alternative,” Livingston said after the session. Also at the meeting were Representatives Renee Ellmers of North Carolina and Chris Collins of New York, as well as former Senator Jim DeMint, who is head of the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative Washington think-tank. In a separate session with the Washington Post editorial board, Trump named some members of his foreign policy team. The team included Walid Phares, who Trump called a counter-terrorism expert; George Papadopoulos, an oil and energy consultant; and Joe Schmitz, a former inspector general at the Department of Defense. Trump’s rise has alarmed establishment Republicans who have tried in vain to stop him. Their best hope of derailing his insurgent candidacy is to stretch the contest out and deny him the 1,237 delegates needed to formally win the party’s presidential nomination. Trump has 678 delegates to 423 for Cruz and 143 for Ohio Governor John Kasich, according to the Associated Press.  If Trump does not win the 1,237 delegates, the Republican nominee would be decided at the party’s convention in Cleveland in July.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने इज़राइल के साथ मजबूत अमेरिकी संबंधों का वादा किया, क्लिंटन से आग खींची


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has billed his move to re-open federal lands to new coal leases as a win for miners seeking to expand production. But a review of company filings shows that coal miners with the most to gain already have enough leases in hand to last well over a decade.  Trump will sign a decree on Tuesday to reverse former President Barack Obama’s 2016 ban on new federal coal leases, part of a wide-ranging executive order to sweep away green regulations his administration says have hobbled the drilling and mining industries.  “When we evaluate energy, let’s look at the social cost of not having a job,” Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a Twitter post on Tuesday ahead of the executive order.  But companies focused on coal deposits below federal lands, such as Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Cloud Peak, have enough coal in the ground on existing leases to last an average of more than 17 years at 2015 sales levels, earnings reports show.  That suggests miners could already ramp up production levels immediately if the market demanded more coal. Energy experts say that is unlikely on a large scale due to stiff competition from cheap and abundant natural gas.  “These initiatives prevent things from getting worse for coal, but they won’t help much,” said Charles Dayton, vice president of market analytics at Doyle Trading Consultants in Colorado, which has been tracking reserve levels on public lands.  Shares in Cloud Peak were up about 3 percent in early trading on Tuesday, ahead of the executive order, with Peabody up 1.5 percent and Arch down 0.3 percent.  The current level of reserves appeared to be within historical norms. A decade ago, under Republican President George W. Bush when there were no bans on federal coal leasing, the industry had about 18 years worth of leases on federal lands, according to a Reuters examination of securities filings.  Arch Coal and Peabody confirmed they have substantial reserves on their federal leases already, but nonetheless welcomed Trump’s move.  “Peabody has a comfortable amount of reserves in the Powder River Basin, although we recognize the poor public policy represented by the leasing moratorium put into place by the prior administration,” Peabody spokesman Vic Svec told Reuters in an email.  Arch Coal has “sufficient permitted reserves to sustain our operations on federal lands for a number of years to come,” spokeswoman Logan Bonacorsi said. “But as with all producers we will need to add reserves over time, and the ability to obtain those reserves when needed is important.”  Officials at Peak and Contura did not respond to requests for comment.  Trump’s executive order will also seek to undo Obama-era rules limiting carbon emissions. One example is the Clean Power Plan, a regulation that would have increased pressure on states to replace coal-fired power stations with ones using cleaner fuels like natural gas, wind and solar.  Obama’s administration imposed the temporary ban on new federal coal leases in January 2016 as part of a broad environmental and economic review to ensure royalties from lease deals provide fair returns to taxpayers.  It was not immediately clear whether the royalty review would continue even with the ban on leases lifted. Some analysts said this scenario could trigger a near-term land rush by companies fearing higher royalty rates in the future.  Coal accounts for about a third of U.S. electricity production, down from about half a decade ago. About 40 percent of all U.S. coal comes from federal lands, mainly in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana.  Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association industry group, said he expected Trump’s executive order to have symbolic impact, at least.  “Lifting the moratorium would strengthen the signal to markets that the federal government is not any longer standing in the way of fossil energy,” he said.  He added that re-opening federal lands to new leases could also play into a production upswing if demand ultimately increases. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has forecast a 9 percent increase in western coal production to 443.4 million short tons by 2018, driven mainly by higher natural gas prices.  Others were less optimistic about the U.S. coal industry’s outlook, saying the best Trump could do is slow the sector’s decline. Since 2012, coal production has plunged more than 25 percent to the lowest levels since 1978 due to falling prices. The industry has been hit with massive layoffs and bankruptcies.

Summary: उद्योग को संघीय कोयले के भंडार की पेशकश करेंगे ट्रम्प


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is working together with Saudi Arabia to unify the Syrian opposition, Russia s RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying on Friday. Lavrov was speaking at a meeting with United Nations special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who is visiting Moscow.  De Mistura said a new Syrian constitution will be one of the main items on the agenda for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva next week between opposing sides in the Syria conflict, RIA reported.

Summary: सीरिया के विपक्ष को एकजुट करने के लिए रूस सऊदी अरब के साथ काम कर रहा हैः लावरोव


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee wants Donald Trump Jr. to appear before the panel to answer questions about his meeting last year with a Russian lawyer who he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton, the committee’s top Democrat said on Tuesday. Representative Adam Schiff told reporters the committee also wants to interview everyone connected to the June 2016 meeting, which included Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Summary: हाउस इंटेल कमेटी चाहती है कि ट्रंप जूनियर पैनल के सामने पेश होंः शीर्ष डेमोक्रेट


ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland s putative new foreign minister called on Wednesday for a fresh start to tortuous talks on cementing ties with the European Union, the neutral country s most important trading partner. Parliament elected Ignazio Cassis, 56, as the first minister in 18 years from the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino. He is likely to be named Switzerland s top diplomat when the four-party coalition government allots portfolios on Friday. The polyglot physician and member of the pro-business Liberal Democrats is to replace Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, who announced in June he would resign. Should Cassis get the foreign ministry - Swiss cabinet members get to pick their portfolios by order of seniority - he will be point man in navigating several open political and economic issues with the EU. Brussels wants a comprehensive  framework  treaty to replace the patchwork of more than 100 bilateral accords that now govern ties. But mainstream Swiss parties have got cold feet about the idea ahead of Britain s divorce talks with the EU. Cassis - who raised eyebrows in his acceptance speech by citing Marxist theorist Rosa Luxemburg s comments on respecting people with different opinions - said it was time to abandon a  poisoned  vocabulary in the debate about EU links.  We must have the courage to make a new start,  he told reporters, noting no one knew in detail what a framework treaty would entail as the partners seek to redefine relations.  Words shape reality, and when reality has become poisoned by words then you have to change the words,  he said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have said a new treaty is the price of any more trade deals with Switzerland. Last year, the Alpine state narrowly avoided a clash with the EU over a 2014 referendum vote for EU immigration quotas when parliament enacted a system of giving hiring preference to anyone registered with Swiss unemployment offices. Swiss reluctance to follow through on a new accord in the window before the EU s negotiations with Britain start in earnest threatens to put relations into a deep chill that could stall progress on unresolved trade issues. The eurosceptic Swiss People s Party, the country s largest, has opposed any new treaty that gives the European Court of Justice a role in settling disputes.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ की वार्ता में नए सिरे से शुरुआत करना चाहते हैं नए स्विस विदेश मंत्री


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany on Friday welcomed the Norwegian Nobel Committee s decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).  The government supports the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and congratulates the Nobel Prize committee on this choice,  a government spokeswoman told a regular government news conference in Berlin.

Summary: जर्मनी ने नोबेल शांति पुरस्कार जीतने वाले परमाणु विरोधी अभियान की सराहना की


HOUSTON (Reuters) - Republican Ted Cruz’s hopes of a sweeping nominating victory in his home state of Texas are being eroded as Donald Trump taps into conservative anger over immigration. Polls show Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, is poised to win the state’s nominating contest on Tuesday - the biggest voting day so far in the 2016 race - a result seen as essential to keeping alive his chance of winning his party’s nomination. But he could be stopped short of thresholds required to sweep its 155 delegates to the Republican convention if national front-runner Trump and other rivals win enough of the vote. Cruz needs as resounding a victory as possible to stay competitive on a day when Trump is expected to put in a dominant performance in other states voting on “Super Tuesday”. Interviews with more than two dozen voters in Texas suggest that Trump’s anti-immigration platform - which includes building a Mexico-funded border wall and deporting millions of illegal immigrants - could present Cruz’s biggest weakness against the real estate mogul.  The senator proposes similarly tough policies to prevent illegal immigration, but many Texans credit Trump with vaulting it to a top issue in the election, largely because of his tough, outraged tone rather than policy differences. “Trump has been honest enough to say what we’re all thinking but we’re all scared to say,” said Sharon Neil, 68, of Fort Worth, who is voting for Trump. Republicans in Texas, home to about 1.5 million undocumented immigrants, rank immigration the third most important problem facing the country, compared to seventh overall nationwide, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. And fans of Trump were twice as likely nationwide as Cruz supporters to say immigration was a top issue. Scott Ragno, 39, another Trump supporter from Fort Worth, said Trump’s tone on immigration was attractive. “Is building a fence the right answer? I don’t know about that. But I definitely think he’d do something to curb the problem.”  Cruz has a strong base of support among Texas’s grassroots Tea Party activists, high-profile endorsements including the state’s governor Greg Abbott, and a lead in most recent polls in Texas. He got 42 percent of support in a CBS News poll released on Sunday, compared to 31 percent for Trump. And Cruz led by 39 percent to Trump’s 26 percent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll the same day. Cruz's lead over Trump in Texas has, however, shown signs of decline, according to polls aggregated by Huffington Post since the two launched their campaigns in June. (here#!selected=Cruz,Trump )  Winning a majority of votes in a Texas district allows a candidate to sweep all of the district's delegates. A candidate  gets to sweep an additional category of 47 delegates if he wins a majority of the vote statewide - an outcome that is unlikely for Cruz.(here)  Trump has vented over immigration from the get-go, calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers at his campaign launch in June. At his rallies, he recounts incidents where Americans were killed by illegal immigrants. Cruz has pledged to build a wall too. During a Republican debate on Thursday, he criticized Trump for giving money to politicians who tried to overhaul immigration laws, including by offering new protections to people in the country illegally. Cruz has argued Trump has been inconsistent, criticizing him for hiring foreign workers instead of Americans to work at his Florida hotel. “It is a fact that for four decades Donald Trump has supported open-borders Democrats,” Cruz said Monday in San Antonio. “Nobody who supports open-border Democrats for 40 years can care about securing the borders.”   Trump, who held a rally in Fort Worth on Friday and packed a convention center hall with raucous supporters, has hit back by saying Cruz has toughened his stance on immigration lately mainly because of him. Voters in the Houston and Fort Worth areas described concerns about immigration ranging from overcrowded schools to more crime to cultural change.  “It’s not that we don’t want (immigrants) here,” said Neil, the Trump supporter. But she said she felt immigrants were taking a toll on the public school system - an issue close to her heart because her daughter-in-law is a teacher and her son is studying education.  (Additional reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Stuart Grudgings) 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: ट्रम्प के आप्रवासन आक्रोश ने टेक्सास में क्रूज़ के लिए चुनौती पेश की


RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia lawmakers reached a bipartisan deal on Friday that would rescind the attorney general’s decision to stop honoring permits for concealed weapons issued by 25 states in exchange for concessions from Republican supporters of gun ownership rights. The move last month to undo reciprocity agreements with more than two dozen states with requirements that fall short of Virginia’s infuriated many gun-rights advocates, who argued it infringed the constitutional rights of gun owners. In return for reinstating the agreements, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the leaders of the Republican-dominated legislature had agreed to a requirement to make state police available for voluntary background checks for private sales at all gun shows. The issue of gun control has become heated in recent years after a series of mass shootings at schools, shopping malls and other public venues across the country. Advocates of tighter controls say the government must do more to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, while opponents say new restrictions would violate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Of 77 firearms shows in Virginia last year, state police were present to run voluntary checks at only 42, the governor said. McAuliffe, who supports tighter gun control, pledged to make more money available to expand police background check efforts. He said expanding background checks had always been his primary issue in gun control legislation. The bipartisan compromise would also prohibit individuals with permanent protective orders from possessing a firearm. McAuliffe said it was an effort to remove guns from domestic violence situations. The proposal had previously been a non-starter among Republicans. “The measures we announce here today will save lives,” McAuliffe said, emphasizing that the compromise struck a balance between public safety and individual rights. In a prepared statement, Democratic Attorney General Mark R. Herring expressed approval but he did not attend the press conference at the state Capitol announcing the deal. “I’m encouraged to finally see a bipartisan conversation about how we can reduce gun violence and keep guns away from dangerous individuals,” Herring said. He added that the measure of success for the agreement, when it finally emerges from the legislative process, is whether it makes Virginians safer. William J. Howell, the powerful Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, said the agreement was not about who won and who lost. “Virginia won, and that’s all there is to it,” Howell said, standing behind a podium flanked by Republican and Democratic lawmakers as well as representatives from domestic violence groups.

Summary: वर्जीनिया के सांसदों ने बंदूक के मुद्दों पर द्विदलीय समझौता किया


SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Forensic experts began searching a ravine in central Bosnia on Thursday for the remains of around 60 Bosnian Muslims and Croats killed by Serb forces early in the 1992-95 war. The search began hours after the Bosnian war crimes court ordered the exhumations at Mount Vlasic where between 160 and 220 prisoners of war were shot dead on Aug. 21, 1992. Bosnian Serbs told the prisoners from detention camps for non-Serbs near the town of Prijedor that they would be released in a prisoner exchange but instead drove them away by bus, lined them up by the edge of a ravine and shot them. Only a dozen survived what has become known as the Koricani Cliffs massacre, by tumbling or jumping down the steep ravine. The 1992-95 war claimed 100,000 lives. The killings were part of a wave of ethnic cleansing by rebel Bosnian Serb forces who were trying to create a Serb statelet by removing Bosniaks - Bosnian Muslims - and Croats from the area. The remote site is believed to be a secondary mass grave, meaning the bodies were removed from the execution site to this location some time later in an attempt to hide the crime, Amor Masovic, the head of a regional Commission for Missing Persons, told Reuters. Forensic experts have already unearthed skeletal remains from two other secondary mass graves and have established the identities of 117 victims of the massacre whose bodies were mainly incomplete due to removal. Eleven Bosnian Serb ex-policemen were convicted for the crime at Koricanske Stijene, including Dargo Mrdja who was jailed for 17 years by the Hague-based U.N. war crimes court. The remainder were convicted by the Bosnian war crimes court.

Summary: बोस्नियाई फोरेंसिक विशेषज्ञ 90 के दशक के युद्ध के पीड़ितों के लिए खाई की खोज करते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said he was “very encouraged” following his meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump earlier on Thursday, adding that the process to unify the party would talk time.      “We had a very good and encouraging, productive conversation,” Ryan, the top elected Republican in the United States, told reporters at his weekly news conference.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन के अध्यक्ष रयानः ट्रम्प के साथ बैठक 'उत्साहजनक'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday advanced a compromise gun control plan to stop people on some terrorism watch lists from buying guns, in the wake of the June 12th mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. While the measure, spearheaded by Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, cleared one procedural hurdle, it was not clear if the Senate would move further ahead on it. Passing the bill in the House of Representatives could also be an uphill battle.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने समझौता बंदूक नियंत्रण उपाय को आगे बढ़ाया


(Reuters) - A graffiti artist lampooned Maine Governor Paul LePage in a mural depicting the two-term Republican wearing a Ku Klux Klan cape and hood, two weeks after he left a profane voicemail for a Democratic lawmaker he believed had called him a racist. The mural, which appeared over the weekend in Portland on a wall where graffiti is allowed by law, has been repainted to remove the reference to the white supremacist group, with the hood replaced with Mickey Mouse ears and a new caption “no hate” joining the existing “racist homophobe moron governor,” in which the word “governor” was struck through. Lawmakers from both parties last week contemplated calling a special session to rebuke LePage, whose term extends through 2018, for the message, in which he called a lawmaker a “little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker.” That effort collapsed with the two sides unable to agree on the details of how long the special session would last or what its precise objectives were, with Democrats calling for impeachment, further than Republicans were willing to go. “I think it was a lot of work but I think a lot of people are pretty upset about how things are going,” Falmouth resident Emily Hickey told Maine CBS affiliate WGME as she viewed the mural. Tom Poulin, of Oakland, Maine, said he believed the painting was in poor taste. “You can have your personal thoughts about somebody but to say them like that is a little ridiculous,” he told WGME. Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, a Democrat, said on Twitter that he had asked city officials to take down the mural. “As much as we are all infuriated by the governor’s statements, equating his language to the systemic terrorism and murder Grand Wizards inflicted upon African Americans (and Catholics) trivializes the KKK,” Strimling said. A spokeswoman for LePage did not immediately respond to a request for comment. LePage has faced a flurry of criticism over the past two weeks for saying that members of minority groups from out of state were responsible for the lion’s share of the heroin trade in Maine. He drew further criticism after the widely circulated voicemail.

Summary: भित्ति चित्र में मेन के गवर्नर को क्लैंसमैन, मिकी माउस के रूप में दर्शाया गया है।


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s democracy is one of the most secure in the world and will remain so, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday in response to a question about a suggestion that there may have been foreign interference in the Brexit vote. Opposition lawmaker Ben Bradshaw last week urged the government to look into reports by advocacy group Open Democracy suggesting that the origin of some Brexit campaign funds was unclear. Bradshaw said in parliament the issue should be investigated  given the widespread concern over foreign and particularly Russian interference in Western democracies . At a briefing with reporters, May s spokesman was asked if the prime minister was concerned about the reports.  I am not aware of those concerns,  he said.  More broadly, as we ve always said, the UK democratic system is amongst one of the most secure in the world and will continue to be so.  Open Democracy, which describes itself as an independent media platform aiming to challenge power and encourage debate, had raised questions about the finances of businessman Arron Banks, one of the main financial backers of the Brexit cause.  The only people concerned are those that still can t come to terms with the fact that they lost the referendum so will come up with more and more ludicrous excuses,  Banks said in a statement texted to Reuters by a spokesman. Banks dismissed Open Democracy s report without addressing it in detail and accused Bradshaw of peddling a  tedious myth  about Russian meddling in the Brexit debate. The Electoral Commission, which regulates political finance in Britain, said in April it was investigating campaign spending by Leave.EU, one of the pro-Brexit organizations funded by Banks. It gave no details of what its probe was about.  I m not remotely worried. We did nothing wrong,  Banks said in the text. A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said the investigation was still going on and it would not provide any further information until it was complete. Open Democracy had also raised concerns about a large donation to Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is now propping up May s minority Conservative government. Open Democracy said the origin of the money, which was spent on campaigning for Brexit, was unclear.  The DUP, which was earlier reported to have said the funds came from  an organization in England that wants to see the union (between the UK s constituent parts) kept , did not respond to repeated requests for comment. During a debate in parliament later on Monday, May was asked whether EU leaders had discussed the issue of Russian interference at a summit last week. She said it had not come up.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट में विदेशी हस्तक्षेप पर सवाल के बाद ब्रिटेन ने कहा कि लोकतंत्र सुरक्षित है