AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The Republican-dominated Texas House of Representative approved on Thursday a bill to punish so-called “sanctuary cities” over criticism from Democrats that the measure could lead to unconstitutional racial profiling. The bill comes as Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has made combating illegal immigration a priority. Texas, which has an estimated 1.5 million undocumented immigrants and the longest border with Mexico of any U.S. state, has been at the forefront of the immigration debate. Texas’ Republican leaders have embraced Trump’s calls to punish localities they believe are shielding immigrants in the country illegally. Any anti-sanctuary city measure may face a tough road after a federal judge this week blocked Trump’s executive order seeking to withhold funds from local authorities that do not use their resources to advance federal immigration laws. On a party line vote after about 16 hours of emotional debate, the Texas House approved the bill that would punish local authorities who do not abide by requests to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Police who do not cooperate with immigration authorities could be subject to fines and prosecution for a Class A misdemeanor, which can bring up to a year imprisonment.  The bill also allows police to ask people about their immigration status during a lawful detention, even for minor infractions like jay-walking. The bill will have to be reconciled with another bill approved by the Texas Senate. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said he would sign such a measure into law. “This bill has no effect on illegal immigrants if they have not committed a crime or are hanging out with someone who has,” bill sponsor Republican Charlie Geren told the House. Under questioning, Geren told lawmakers there are no local authorities in Texas at present that he would consider a “sanctuary city.” Rene Oliveira, a Democratic representative from the border city of Brownsville, said the bill has sent a chill through immigrant communities worried that even people in the United States legally can be picked up by police for minor infractions and subject to a process aimed at deportation. As the Texas House debated the measure, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who runs one of the nation’s largest police forces, criticized the bill. “Violent crime is on rise across our Nation & some would rather men & women in blue go after cooks & nannies, instead of hardened criminals,” he wrote on Twitter.

Summary: टेक्सास हाउस ने 'अभयारण्य शहरों' को लक्षित करने वाले एक विधेयक को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that any woman who has felt violated or mistreated by a man has every right to speak up, even if she is accusing President Donald Trump. “Women who accuse anyone should be heard,” Haley said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “They should be heard, and they should be dealt with.” Washington has been roiled by sexual misconduct scandals, with accusations leading to the resignations last week of three members of Congress. The growing wave of women reporting abuse or misconduct has brought down powerful men, from movie producer Harvey Weinstein to popular television personality Matt Lauer. Haley, discussing that cultural shift, applauded the women who have come forward: “I’m proud of their strength. I’m proud of their courage.” Asked how people should assess the accusers of the president, Haley said, it was “the same thing.” More than 10 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct before he was president. While filming a segment of the television program “Access Hollywood,” he talked about kissing and groping women. Trump has denied the misconduct allegations, although he apologized for his comments, which he called “locker room” talk. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Thursday that sexual harassment allegations against Trump were addressed by the American people when they voted him into office in November 2016. Asked whether Trump’s election settled the matter, Haley said: “That’s for the people to decide. I know that he was elected, but women should always feel comfortable coming forward, and we should all be willing to listen to them.” On Tuesday, voters in the heavily Republican state of Alabama will cast their ballots in a race involving Republican Roy Moore, a former state judge, and Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney. Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct toward women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Reuters has not independently verified the accusations, which Moore, a conservative Christian, has denied. Many Republicans, including Alabama’s senior U.S. senator, Richard Shelby, have distanced themselves from Moore. But Trump has endorsed him, saying he wants to see the Senate seat stay in Republicans’ hands.

Summary: महिला दोषियों को सुना जाना चाहिए, भले ही ट्रम्प को निशाना बनाया जाएः हेली


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia s military watchdog has issued a public plea for information regarding rumors of possible war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in July on an alleged cover-up of the killing of an Afghan boy as well as hundreds of pages of leaked defense force documents relating to the secretive operations of the country s special forces. On Friday, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force released a statement saying it was conducting an inquiry  into rumors of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict  by Australian troops in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.  The inquiry would like anyone who has information regarding possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by Australian forces in Afghanistan, or rumors of them, to contact the inquiry,  the statement read.  Australia is not a member of NATO but is a staunch U.S. ally and has had troops in Afghanistan since 2002. As recently as May, Australia recommitted to the 16-year-long, seemingly intractable war against the Taliban and other Islamist militants by sending an additional 30 troops to Afghanistan to join the NATO-led training and assistance mission. That brought Australia s total Afghan deployment to 300 troops.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलियाई सेना अफगानिस्तान में संभावित युद्ध अपराधों की 'अफवाहों' की जांच कर रही है


(Reuters) - Since President Donald Trump’s election, monthly lectures on social justice at the 600-seat Gothic chapel of New York’s Union Theological Seminary have been filled to capacity with crowds three times what they usually draw.  In January, the 181-year-old Upper Manhattan graduate school, whose architecture evokes London’s Westminster Abbey, turned away about 1,000 people from a lecture on mass incarceration. In the nine years that Reverend Serene Jones has served as its president, she has never seen such crowds.  MORE FROM REUTERS More Democrats oppose Trump's Supreme Court pick After healthcare flop, White House looks to Congress for help on tax reform Obamacare exploding? Maybe just a slow burn “The election of Trump has been a clarion call to progressives in the Protestant and Catholic churches in America to move out of a place of primarily professing progressive policies to really taking action,” she said.  Although not as powerful as the religious right, which has been credited with helping elect Republican presidents and boasts well-known leaders such as Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson, the “religious left” is now slowly coming together as a force in U.S. politics.  This disparate group, traditionally seen as lacking clout, has been propelled into political activism by Trump’s policies on immigration, healthcare and social welfare, according to clergy members, activists and academics. A key test will be how well it will be able to translate its mobilization into votes in the 2018 midterm congressional elections.  “It’s one of the dirty little secrets of American politics that there has been a religious left all along and it just hasn’t done a good job of organizing,” said J. Patrick Hornbeck II, chairman of the theology department at Fordham University, a Jesuit school in New York.  “It has taken a crisis, or perceived crisis, like Trump’s election to cause folks on the religious left to really own their religion in the public square,” Hornbeck said.  Religious progressive activism has been part of American history. Religious leaders and their followers played key roles in campaigns to abolish slavery, promote civil rights and end the Vietnam War, among others. The latest upwelling of left-leaning religious activism has accompanied the dawn of the Trump presidency.  Some in the religious left are inspired by Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic leader who has been an outspoken critic of anti-immigrant policies and a champion of helping the needy.  Although support for the religious left is difficult to measure, leaders point to several examples, such as a surge of congregations offering to provide sanctuary to immigrants seeking asylum, churches urging Republicans to reconsider repealing the Obamacare health law and calls to preserve federal spending on foreign aid.  The number of churches volunteering to offer sanctuary to asylum seekers doubled to 800 in 45 of the 50 U.S. states after the election, said the Elkhart, Indiana-based Church World Service, a coalition of Christian denominations which helps refugees settle in the United States - and the number of new churches offering help has grown so quickly that the group has lost count.  “The religious community, the religious left is getting out, hitting the streets, taking action, raising their voices,” said Reverend Noel Anderson, its national grassroots coordinator.  In one well-publicized case, a Quaker church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 14 took in a Honduran woman who has been living illegally in the United States for 25 years and feared she would be targeted for deportation.  Leaders of Faith in Public Life, a progressive policy group, were astounded when 300 clergy members turned out at a January rally at the U.S. Senate attempting to block confirmation of Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, because of his history of controversial statements on race.  “I’ve never seen hundreds of clergy turning up like that to oppose a Cabinet nominee,” said Reverend Jennifer Butler, the group’s chief executive.  The group on Wednesday convened a Capitol Hill rally of hundreds of pastors from as far away as Ohio, North Carolina and Texas to urge Congress to ensure that no people lose their health insurance as a result of a vote to repeal Obamacare.  Financial support is also picking up. Donations to the Christian activist group Sojourners have picked up by 30 percent since Trump’s election, the group said.  But some observers were skeptical that the religious left could equal the religious right politically any time soon.  “It really took decades of activism for the religious right to become the force that it is today,” said Peter Ubertaccio, chairman of the political science department at Stonehill College, a Catholic school outside Boston.  But the power potential of the “religious left” is not negligible. The “Moral Mondays” movement, launched in 2013 by the North Carolina NAACP’s Reverend William Barber, is credited with contributing to last year’s election defeat of Republican Governor Pat McCrory by Democrat Roy Cooper.  The new political climate is also spurring new alliances, with churches, synagogues and mosques speaking out against the recent spike in bias incidents, including threats against mosques and Jewish community centers.  The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, which encourages alliances between Jewish and Muslim women, has tripled its number of U.S. chapters to nearly 170 since November, said founder Sheryl Olitzky.  “This is not about partisanship, but about vulnerable populations who need protection, whether it’s the LGBT community, the refugee community, the undocumented community,” said Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.  More than 1,000 people have already signed up for the center’s annual Washington meeting on political activism, about three times as many as normal, Pesner said.  Leaders of the religious right who supported Trump say they see him delivering on his promises and welcomed plans to defund Planned Parenthood, whose healthcare services for women include abortion, through the proposed repeal of Obamacare.  “We have not seen any policy proposals that run counter to our faith,” said Lance Lemmonds, a spokesman for the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Duluth, Georgia.

Summary: 'धार्मिक वामपंथी' ट्रम्प युग में अमेरिकी राजनीतिक शक्ति के रूप में उभर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Friday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Republican Donald Trump the victory in the 2016 presidential election. Trump won 304 electoral votes compared to 227 garnered by Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, according to the tally announced by Vice President Joe Biden.

Summary: अमेरिकी कांग्रेस ने ट्रम्प की इलेक्टोरल कॉलेज की जीत को प्रमाणित किया


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian court on Thursday overturned the conviction of a dentist couple for the murder of their teenage daughter and the family servant for lack of material evidence, their lawyer said. Aarushi Talwar was found with her throat slit at the family home in the Delhi suburb of Noida in 2008. A day later, the body of the servant, Hemraj, was found on the roof of the house. A trial court convicted the girl s parents, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, after police alleged Rajesh had murdered his daughter and the servant in a rage when he found them in a compromising situation. The couple, both dentists, were jailed for life. But a high court overruled the decision saying it was not satisfied with the evidence and ordered the couple be freed, their lawyer Tanveer Ahmed Mir said.  The court found no forensic or material evidence to prove that the Talwars had killed their daughter,  Mir told reporters outside a packed courtroom in the northern city of Allahabad. Both parents had denied the murder and insisted they were victims of botched investigations and unfair media coverage, damaging their defense. Aarushi s case was labeled as a kind of crime more often associated with rural, conservative parts of India where  honor killings  are not uncommon. Every twist in the investigation was extensively reported by the Indian press, turning the Talwars into household names.  Finally my family can lead a dignified life. The court has upheld the facts and truth,  said Rajesh Talwar s sister, Vandana, after the decision. In 2015, a journalist who covered the murder wrote a book arguing that the couple were innocent. The double murder case and faulty probe were used as a theme for a Bollywood movie the same year.

Summary: भारतीय अदालत ने बेटी की हत्या के मामले में दंत चिकित्सक दंपति को बरी किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Britain’s looming exit from the European Union is another huge setback for negotiations on a massive U.S.-EU free trade deal that were already stalled by deeply entrenched differences and growing anti-trade sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic.  The historic divorce launched by Thursday’s vote will almost certainly further delay substantial progress in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks as the remaining 27 EU states sort out their own new relationship with Britain, trade experts said on Friday.  With French and German officials increasingly voicing skepticism about TTIP’s chances for success, the United Kingdom’s departure from the deal could sink hopes of a deal before President Barack Obama leaves office in January. “This is yet another reason why TTIP will likely be postponed,” said Heather Conley, European program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. “But to be honest, TTIP isn’t going anywhere, I believe, before 2018 at the earliest,” she said. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement on Friday that he was evaluating the UK decision’s impact on TTIP, but would continue to engage with both European and UK counterparts.     “The importance of trade and investment is indisputable in our relationships with both the European Union and the United Kingdom,” Froman said. “The economic and strategic rationale for T-TIP remains strong.” TTIP negotiators are still expected to meet in Brussels in mid-July as scheduled, but those talks were aimed at focusing on less controversial issues while leaving the thorniest disagreements for U.S. and EU political leaders to resolve. And it is unclear when Britain will launch formal separation proceedings, which will take at least two years. But analysts said both sides have been reluctant to put their best offers on the table with a new U.S. president due to take office in January and French and German leadership elections nearing in 2017. The Brexit also will preoccupy EU officials in coming months as they launch their own negotiations with London over the future terms of UK-EU trade, and sort out their post-Brexit priorities, said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, a Brussels-based think tank.     Britain’s departure could leave U.S. negotiators facing a European side that is more dug-in on some issues, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington. “As the UK is part of the coalition of liberal trading economies in the EU, the U.S. is losing one of the more like-minded countries from the group in Brussels sitting on the other side of the negotiating table,” said Bown, a former World Bank economist. However, Lee-Makiyama, who also sees little chance of a deal before 2018, said Britain’s departure could eliminate one source of disagreement because the UK has insisted on a financial services chapter in the trade deal. “The only real proponent of banking regulation in TTIP is the UK. Germany and France are probably willing to let it go,” he said. “It still leaves about 20 outstanding issues at nearly the same level of difficulty.” The TTIP negotiations, which started three years ago, have unable to settle major differences over agriculture, where the EU side has shown little willingness to alter food safety rules that prohibit American beef raised with hormones or genetically modified foods, or open its closely guarded geographical food naming rules, such as for Asiago and feta cheeses. European negotiators have complained that the United States has offered too little to open up its vast federal, state and local government procurement markets to European vendors with “Buy American” preferences in place. Europe also wants access to key U.S. sectors such as maritime transport and aviation, while American negotiators have been frustrated over lack of access to some 200 European sectors ranging from healthcare to education. The two sides also are far apart on how to resolve disputes. The U.S. side favors a traditional binding arbitration approach, while the Europeans want a court-like system that allows for appeals. More progress has been made on harmonizing regulations for things like car seat belt anchors, clothes labeling and pharmaceutical inspections.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के 'लीव' वोट ने U.S.-EU व्यापार सौदे की उम्मीदों को कम किया


HAVANA (Reuters) - President Raul Castro called on Cubans on Monday to unite in swiftly rebuilding the Caribbean nation in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which killed at least 10 people during a devastating three-day rampage along the length of the island. The storm crashed into Cuba late on Friday, with sustained winds of than 157 miles per hour (253 km per hour). It tore along the island s northern shore for some 200 miles (322 km) - lashing tourist resorts on the island s pristine keys - before turning northward to batter Florida. In Havana, people set about removing debris from the streets on Monday and mopping up homes hit by widespread flooding. The hurricane - the first Category 5 storm to make landfall in Cuba since 1932 - tore off roofs, felled trees and downed electricity poles, leaving millions without power and water. State media said on Monday Irma had seriously damaged Cuba s already dilapidated sugar industry, flooding and flattening an extensive area of sugar cane.  Given the immensity of its size, practically no region escaped its impact,  Castro said in a statement published in state-run media, urging Cubans to unite to rebuild the country.  The task we have before us is immense but, with a people like ours, we will win the most important battle: the recovery.  Castro, 86, who has said he will step aside early next year, said authorities had not been able to assess the full extent of damage yet, but the hurricane had impacted housing stock and the power grid, as well as agriculture. The fatalities in Cuba brought the death toll from Irma to 39 in the Caribbean. The hurricane dealt a potentially heavy blow to Cuba s agriculture- and tourism-reliant economy at a difficult moment, with an economic reform program appearing stalled and aid from key ally Venezuela shrinking. Seven of the Cuban dead were in the province of Havana, which only caught the outer reaches of the hurricane but still saw waves of up to 36 feet (12 meters) pummel its historic seafront boulevard on Sunday. The two youngest victims, Mar a del Carmen Arregoit a and  Yolendis Castillo, both 27, died when a balcony crashed down onto their bus in central Havana, infamous for its creaking infrastructure. The oldest, Nieves Mart nez, 89, was found floating in water in front of her home in the Vedado district of Havana in the wake of heavy flooding in the capital, according to a statement from civil defense authorities. Large parts of Havana remained underwater on Monday.  We have absolutely nothing, we lost it all, the fridge, the washing machine, we lost it all here,  said Ayda Herrera, whose home on Havana s seafront boulevard was flooded. Fatalities also were reported in Matanzas, home to the tourist resort of Varadero, and the regions of Ciego de Avila and Camaguey farther east. While many of Cuba s top resorts on the northern islands took a direct hit from the hurricane, Castro said they would be fixed up in time for high tourist season at the end of the year. Many tourists flew home ahead of Irma, but others hunkered down in hotels and shelters.  Tropical paradise turned into hell for us,  said Spanish tourist Michel Munoz, 31, who said he spent the hurricane sheltering in a Havana convent and had struggled to find food on Sunday as most restaurants were closed. Excavators have started the laborious task of removing debris and fallen trees from roads throughout the island and trucks carried drinkable water to the worst-affected areas.  We are working twice as hard as usual to ensure as much bread as possible to the population,  said Alain Alfonso, a worker at a bakery in Central Havana.

Summary: क्यूबा में तूफान इरमा से 10 लोगों की मौत, कास्त्रो ने एकता का आह्वान किया


OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday he doubted whether Donald Trump could undo much of the current administration’s record on the environment because so many green policies have firmly taken hold. Trump, who will take over as president on Jan. 20, has said he does not believe in global warming and will name a climate change skeptic, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The Republican is expected to nominate another climate change skeptic, U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, to head the Interior Department, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday. Democratic President Barack Obama has made the fight against global warming a priority, and Biden said businesses now realized his policies made sense economically. “There is a constituency that crosses party lines. Regardless of whether the next administration is as aggressive as we have been - and I’m not suggesting they intend to  - there is no way to turn back this tide that has begun to roll,” the vice president told a Canadian environmental summit. The Obama administration has lifted vehicle fuel standards, invested heavily in renewable energy, pushed to curb methane gas emissions and adopted a Clean Power Plan that requires states to cut carbon output. Biden said that in some parts of the United States it was now cheaper to use solar or wind power rather than rely on power stations fueled by coal or gas. Company executives were starting to price in carbon emissions reduction while motorists enjoyed not having to refuel their vehicles as often, he said. “Reality has a way of intruding,” he said. “Whatever uncertainly exists around the near-term policy choices of the next president, I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress on this path to a low-carbon future.”  “And that’s because many of the trends I’ve mentioned have taken hold and are no longer dependent on government initiatives. They are market-driven, they are common sense.” Trump has vowed that within his first 100 days in office he will rescind the Clean Power Plan, eliminate “unwarranted restrictions” on hydraulic fracturing oil-drilling technology, cut “outdated” regulations, and pull the country out of a global pact to curb warming of the planet. Biden said, “One of the things the president and I are proudest of accomplishing over the last eight years is debunking the myth that America can’t grow our economy and bring down emissions at the same time.”. Among those in the audience for Biden’s remarks was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is also taking an aggressive stance on climate change.

Summary: बाइडन को नहीं लगता कि ट्रम्प पर्यावरणीय रिकॉर्ड को बहुत हद तक कम कर रहे हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit is expected to grow to $590 billion in fiscal year 2016 due to slower than expected growth in revenues and higher spending for programs including Social Security and Medicare, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. The estimate, which is $56 billion larger than CBO’s forecast in March, shows the deficit increasing in relation to economic output for the first time since 2009. CBO said the deficit is expected to be $152 billion higher than in 2015 and will equal 3.2 percent of economic output. The deficit peaked at $1.4 trillion in 2009 and shrank to $485 billion in 2014. The nonpartisan research agency also said that debt held by the public will amount to nearly 77 percent of gross domestic product by the end of 2016, three percentage points higher than last year and its highest ratio since 1950. The 2016 federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Revenues have increased by less than 1 percent in 2016, while government outlays are predicted to rise by 5 percent as a result of mandatory spending for Social Security and Medicare, the federal retirement and healthcare programs for the elderly.    The CBO said the forecast indicates tepid U.S. economic growth of only 1 percent for the first half of calendar year 2016 but predicted the economy would expand more robustly in coming months and create growth of 2 percent for the year and 2.4 percent for 2017. Faster growth will spur hiring, increase wages and put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates.  But over the next 10 years, CBO said economic output would be restrained by a relatively slow increase in the U.S. labor supply.

Summary: अमेरिकी सी. बी. ओ. का कहना है कि वित्त वर्ष 2016 के लिए बजट घाटा 590 अरब डॉलर तक पहुंच जाएगा


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa said late on Thursday he had been hospitalized in August because he had been poisoned, raising the political temperature in the fight to succeed 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief nicknamed  the Crocodile , is the leading candidate to succeed Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980. He did not say who he believed was responsible for trying to kill him, and his main rival for the top job, First Lady Grace Mugabe, swiftly denied having anything to do with it. Hours earlier, she told a public gathering at a nearby hotel on Thursday night that Mnangagwa and his allies were plotting a power grab that was tantamount to a coup, according to an audio recording of her speech. Mnangagwa was airlifted to Johannesburg after falling ill in August.  At a news conference late on Thursday open only to state media, he said doctors had concluded that poisoning was to blame for his illness, and not inadvertent food poisoning.  The medical doctors who attended to me ruled out food poisoning but confirmed that indeed poisoning had occurred and investigations were in progress,  Mnangagwa said, reading from a statement. He provided no further details or proof. Mnangagwa, 75, became vice-president in 2014, putting him at the front of the pack to succeed Mugabe. However over the last 18 months he has met fierce opposition from Grace and a faction of the ruling party backing her. The first lady denied having anything to do with his illness and accused him of lying about it to get public sympathy.  Why should I kill Mnangagwa? Who is Mnangagwa on this earth?  Grace Mugabe said in footage aired on Friday on state television.  Killing someone who was given a job by my husband? That is nonsensical.  Veterans of Zimbabwe s 1970s independence war have publicly backed Mnangagwa to step into Mugabe s shoes and last year  described the nonagenarian ruler as a dictator, a jolting rebuke that laid bare the fissures within the ruling ZANU-PF party. In her hotel address on Thursday evening, Grace said Mnangagwa was plotting to force ZANU-PF to support him as Mugabe s successor - a scheme she said must be resisted.  We are being threatened day and night that if this one does not become president, we will kill you,  she said without stating the origin of the threats.  No, we will not bow down to that pressure, never. You will have to arrest all of us and throw us in prison before you can rule.  According to a trove of hundreds of documents from inside Zimbabwe s Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) reviewed by Reuters in September, Mnangagwa and other political players have been positioning themselves for the day Mugabe either steps down or dies, with the tacit backing of some of Zimbabwe s military and former colonial power Britain. The ruling party s next leadership congress is due in 2019 and Mugabe, who plans to context next year s elections, has said he is staying put for now.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के उपराष्ट्रपति, मुगाबे के संभावित उत्तराधिकारी का कहना है कि उन्हें जहर दिया गया था


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials on Thursday heaped praise on President Xi Jinping s political ideology, unveiled a day earlier at a key Communist Party Congress, a sign that it could be enshrined in the party s constitution and further cement his power. Some ruling Communist Party officials were moved on Thursday to song, dance and tears in adulation of Xi, a day after he opened the twice-a-decade conclave pledging to build a prosperous  modern socialist country  for a  new era .  Three outgoing members of the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee that Xi heads lauded  Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era , according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Such statements indicate that Xi could cement his power with his new eponymous slogan being incorporated into the party s constitution. Whether the theory is included bearing his name will be a key measure of his status, analysts have said. No other leader has had an eponymous ideology included in the document while in office since Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China.  Xi is poised to begin a second five-year term next week. Party officials hailed Xi as a wise and great  lingxiu , or leader, a reverent honorific bestowed on only two others: Mao and his short-lived successor Hua Guofeng - another sign that Xi has accumulated more power than his immediate predecessors and could revive a party chairmanship as a precursor to staying on in some capacity beyond the end of his second term in 2022.  Xi Jinping... has obtained the heartfelt love and respect of the entire party, army and people, he deserves to be called wise leader,  Beijing party secretary Cai Qi, a Xi ally and one-time colleague, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the city delegation, according to the official Beijing Daily. Officials lavishing praise on the party s top leader at a congress is not unusual, but overt displays of emotion or personal adulation are rare. One female delegate from the southern province of Jiangxi broke into song to praise Xi s treatment of ethnic minorities, while another from Guangdong province said that, listening to Xi s speech, her eyes had brimmed with tears.  I feel that the reason for my country s accomplishments is fundamentally the helmsmanship of Xi Jinping,  said Jing Junhai, Beijing s deputy party chief, invoking a phase often used to describe Mao. The 64-year-old Xi has consolidated power swiftly since assuming the party leadership in 2012, locking up rivals for corruption, tightening controls on civil society, revamping the military and asserting China s rising might on the global stage. Some party officials painted Xi as a saviour.  Because of the Party Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as its core, in five years, the party has been saved, the army has been saved, the country has been saved,  Liu Shiyu, head of China s securities regulator, said on Thursday. Others were more restrained. Hu Chunhua, party chief in Guangdong province and a potential contender for a spot on the new Politburo Standing Committee to be revealed next week, simply referred to Xi as general secretary and did not mention his theory during an open session on Thursday, in contrast with more than a dozen other delegates who spoke. State media reported that he had praised Xi s theory the day before. For an interactive graphic on China s economic report card, click tmsnrt.rs/2kT7Xuv The exact meaning of Xi s new banner term is not yet clear, although it is not unusual for Communist Party leaders to announce lofty slogans and then fill in the details as they go. An ideology named after Xi to guide China and the party would further consolidate his power, said Ryan Manuel, a Chinese politics expert at the University of Hong Kong.  This is a good umbrella for him to just keep saying whatever he wants and the system having to respond and study it,  he said. Xi s immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, have had their ideological concepts enshrined in the constitution, but not their names. The party gave Xi the title of  core  leader a year ago, a strengthening of his position ahead of the congress, adding to speculation that Xi could retain power beyond a customary second term and even revive Mao s chairman title. For a graphic on China s leadership, click tmsnrt.rs/2xKEEQZ

Summary: आंसुओं और गीतों के साथ चीन ने शी का महान, बुद्धिमान नेता के रूप में स्वागत किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -  U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he has invited President Donald Trump to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28. “This will be an opportunity for the people and their representatives to hear directly from our new president about his vision in our shared agenda,” Ryan, leader of the Republican-controlled House, said at a news conference.

Summary: रयान का कहना है कि ट्रम्प 28 फरवरी को कांग्रेस के संयुक्त सत्र को संबोधित करेंगे


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine security forces on Wednesday arrested an Indonesian national suspected to be among the pro-Islamist militants who seized control of parts of the southern city of Marawi in May, military and police officials said. The seizure stoked concerns that the region had become a hub for Islamic State in Southeast Asia, triggering a five-month military effort to eject the militants, comprised of domestic fighters and foreigners such as Indonesians, Malaysians and Middle Easterners.  Community peacekeepers arrested the Indonesian on Wednesday morning, Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the Marawi task force, told reporters. The arrest highlights that  civilian participation is essential in our collective effort to secure our communities from terrorist elements,  Zia Alonto Adiong, a politician who is assisting in rescue and relief, said in a statement. The arrest came a day after a pro-Islamic State militant was gunned down and nine days after the Philippines wrapped up military operations. More than 1,100 people, mostly militants, died in the siege, which drove about 350,000 from their homes. The militant identified himself as Muhammad Ilham Shaputra, 23, from Medan City in North Sumatra, said John Guyguyon, police chief of the province of Lanao del Sur, where Marawi is located. His bag held a mobile phone, a .45-caliber handgun, a fragmentation grenade and Philippine and Indonesian currencies, along with some riyals, while he tried to escape through a lake, Guyguyon added.  Our action is to file a case against him because he is part of the initial siege,  Guyguyon told a news conference.  We are preparing the investigation report so we can file cases of rebellion, terrorism and others,  Guyguyon said, adding that the Indonesian confessed there were several gunmen still  hiding in the main battle area in downtown Marawi. The Indonesian militant arrived in the Philippines in November last year at the invitation of Isnilon Hapilon, the Islamic State s emir in Southeast Asia, who was killed in Marawi last month, Guyguyon said. Thousands of residents have started returning home, only for some to find dwellings ransacked. But the main battle area remains off limits, until possible booby traps and unexploded ordnance have been cleared.

Summary: फिलीपींस ने मरावी में इंडोनेशियाई इस्लाम समर्थक आतंकवादी को गिरफ्तार किया


LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A new Pakistani political party controlled by an Islamist with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head is backing a candidate in a by-election on Sunday, in what a former senior army officer says is a key step in a military-proposed plan to mainstream militant groups. The Milli Muslim League party loyal to Hafiz Saeed - who the United States and India accuse of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people - has little chance of seeing its favored candidate win the seat vacated when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was removed from office by the Supreme Court in July. But the foray into politics by Saeed s Islamist charity is following a blueprint that Sharif himself rejected when the military proposed it last year, retired Lieutenant General Amjad Shuaib told Reuters. Three close Sharif confidants with knowledge of the discussions confirmed that Sharif had opposed the  mainstreaming  plan, which senior military figures and some analysts see as a way of steering ultra-religious groups away from violent jihad.  We have to separate those elements who are peaceful from the elements who are picking up weapons,  Shuaib said. Pakistan s powerful military has long been accused of fostering militant groups as proxy fighters opposing neighboring arch-enemy India, a charge the army denies. Saeed s religious charity launched the Milli Muslim League party within two weeks after the court ousted Sharif over corruption allegations.  Yaqoob Sheikh, the Lahore candidate for Milli Muslim League, is standing as an independent after the Electoral Commission said the party was not yet legally registered.  But Saeed s lieutenants, JUD workers and Milli Muslim League officials are running his campaign and portraits of Saeed adorn every poster promoting Sheikh. Another Islamist designated a terrorist by the United States, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, has told Reuters he too plans to soon form his own party to advocate strict Islamic law.  God willing, we will come into the mainstream - our country right now needs patriotic people,  Khalil said, vowing to turn Pakistan into a state government by strict Islamic law. Saeed s charity and Khalil s Ansar ul-Umma organization are both seen by the United States as fronts for militant groups the army has been accused of sponsoring. The military denies any policy of encouraging radical groups. Both Islamist groups deny their political ambitions were engineered by the military. The official army spokesman was not available for comment after queries were sent to the press wing. Still, hundreds of MML supporters, waving posters of Saeed and demanding his release from house arrest, chanted  Long live Hafiz Saeed! Long live the Pakistan army!  at political rallies during the past week.  Anyone who is India s friend is a traitor, a traitor,  went another campaign slogan, a reference to Sharif s attempts to improve relations with long-time foe India that was a source of tension with the military. Both Saeed and Khalil are proponents of a strict interpretation of Islam and have a history of supporting violence - each man was reportedly a signatory to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden s 1998 fatwa declaring war on the United States. They have since established religious groups that they say are unconnected to violence, though the United States maintains those groups are fronts for funnelling money and fighters to militants targeting India. Analyst Khaled Ahmed, who has researched Saeed s Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity and its connections to the military, says the new political party is clearly an attempt by the generals to pursue an alternative to dismantling its militant proxies.  One thing is the army wants these guys to survive,  Ahmed said.  The other thing is that they want to also balance the politicians who are more and more inclined to normalize relations with India.   The military s Inter-Services Intelligence agency first began pushing the political mainstreaming plan in April 2016, according to retired general Shuaib, a former director of the army s military intelligence wing that is separate from the ISI. He said the proposal was shared with him in writing by the then-ISI chief, adding that he himself had spoken with Khalil as well as Saeed in an unofficial capacity about the plan.  Fazlur Rehman Khalil was very positive. Hafiz Saeed was very positive,  Shuaib said.  My conversation with them was just to confirm those things which I had been told by the ISI and other people.  Saeed has been under house arrest since January at his house in the eastern city of Lahore. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his conviction over the Mumbai attacks. Then-Prime Minister Sharif, however, was strongly against the military s mainstreaming plan, according to Shuaib and three members of Sharif s inner circle, including one who was in some of the tense meetings over the issue. Sharif wanted to completely dismantle groups like JuD. Disagreement on what to do about anti-India proxy fighters was a major source of rancour with the military, according to one of the close Sharif confidants.  In recent weeks several senior figures from the ruling PML-N party have publicly implied that elements of the military - which has run Pakistan for almost half its modern history and previously ousted Sharif in a 1999 coup - had a hand in the court ouster of Sharif, a charge both the army and the court reject. A representative of the PML-N, which last month replaced him as prime minister with close ally Shahid Khaqi Abbasi, said the party was  not aware  of any mainstreaming plan being brought to the table. Some analysts worry that mainstreaming such controversial groups would be a risky strategy for Pakistan.  U.S. President Donald Trump s administration has threatened sanctions against members of Pakistan s military and even raised the specter of declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.  It will send a wrong message,  said analyst Zahid Hussain, who nevertheless thought that Saeed s new party would have a  negligible  effect on Pakistani elections because religious parties have never won more than a few seats in parliament. Others are not so sure. Sheikh, the MML candidate in Sunday s by-election who says he was handpicked by Hafiz Saeed, vowed to establish strict Islamic rule and  break  liberalism and secularism. Analyst Ahmed warned that few existing religious parties  have a charismatic leader like Saeed, and Pakistan may find itself unable to control a rising tide of Islamist sentiment.   If Hafiz Saeed comes into the mainstream, it s not that he is going to be politicized,  he added.  It s that he is going to make politics more religious.

Summary: पाकिस्तानी सेना ने आतंकवादियों से जुड़े समूहों के लिए राजनीतिक भूमिका निभाई


(Reuters) - U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee, who has won praise from technology companies for taking steps to minimize abusive patent litigation, resigned from her position on Tuesday, a spokesman for the agency has confirmed. She joined the agency in 2012 and became interim director in 2013 before being formerly nominated as director by then-President Barack Obama in 2014.  Some inventors and patent licensing companies had opposed Lee, who was previously an in-house lawyer for Alphabet Inc’s Google. The patent office is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce that reviews applications for patents and trademarks. The agency is also empowered to cancel patents it has issued. Lee has been viewed favorably by the technology industry for ushering in more stringent standards for software patents. More than 50 companies, including Facebook Inc and Cisco Systems Inc, sent a letter to President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in April urging them to retain Lee as director of the patent office.  The companies said in the letter that Lee’s efforts at the patent office had led to a decrease in abusive litigation filed by so-called “patent trolls.” The Trump administration has yet to put forth a nominee for the position, which required Senate confirmation.

Summary: अमेरिकी पेटेंट और ट्रेडमार्क कार्यालय की प्रमुख मिशेल ली ने इस्तीफा दे दिया


(Reuters) - Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been accused by some in his Republican Party of being vague on policy specifics and heavy on rhetoric. Here is a look at what the billionaire businessman, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, has said he would do on some of the big issues should he become the nominee and go on to win the Nov. 8 election. The policies are drawn from a review of his website, stump speeches, debates, town halls and televised interviews. Trump has complained that China, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and India are “ripping us off” by devaluing their currencies and keeping out some U.S. exports. He would not sign the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. He has said he favors reaching trade agreements with individual countries as opposed to multilateral accords like the TPP. He would designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties on its exports. He also wants to pursue a World Trade Organization case on Chinese government programs that subsidize exporters. Trump has said he would put activist investor Carl Icahn in charge of negotiating a better trade relationship with China. Icahn has said he is happy to advise Trump, but would not seek a formal position if Trump was elected. Trump has said the United States should raise tariffs on foreign-made goods in response to reductions in interest rates by European Union nations and other countries, which he says could hurt manufacturing jobs at home. Trump has also said he would slap 35 percent tariffs on air conditioners made in Mexico by United Technologies Corp’s Carrier after the company decided to move production there from Indiana, and on Ford Motor Corp vehicles made in Mexico that are sold in the United States. Trump has pledged to cut and simplify taxes. Individuals making less than $25,000 per year and married filers earning less than $50,000 would not pay income tax. There would be three other tax brackets, down from seven currently, with a top marginal income tax rate of 25 percent, and a top rate for long-term capital gains and dividends of 20 percent. The current top marginal income tax rate is 39.6 percent and the current top rate for long-term capital gains is 20 percent. Deductions for charitable giving and mortgage interest would remain unchanged. Other deductions would be trimmed in the highest tax brackets. He would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, the estate tax, and the carried interest tax break that allows investment fund managers and some hedge fund managers to treat income as capital gains. The corporate tax rate would be cut to 15 percent, down from the current level of 35 percent.  Trump would phase in a “reasonable cap” on deductions for business interest expenses and would cut other corporate loopholes. Trump would impose a onetime 10 percent “deemed repatriation” tax on deferred corporate overseas profits and would end deferral of income from foreign subsidiaries. Trump would also move quickly to stop corporate inversions, in which a U.S. company acquires an overseas firm and reduces its tax bill by reincorporating overseas. He has offered no specifics. He has criticized Republicans and Democrats for being unable to halt inversions, saying, “They can’t make a deal because they don’t have leadership.” The Tax Foundation, an independent policy research group, has said Trump’s plan would cost more than $10 trillion over the next decade. His campaign has said the plan is fully paid for. Trump has pledged to get rid of the $19 trillion federal deficit by boosting jobs and cutting government waste, but he has not released a formal policy paper on how he would do this. He has said he would not cut the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for senior citizens and low-income Americans, nor Social Security retirement benefits. He would eliminate the Education Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump has promised to build a high wall at the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out illegal immigrants, which he has said would cost $10 billion to $12 billion. Mexico would pay for the wall or face consequences, his campaign said. Trump would “impound” remittance payments to Mexico from undocumented workers, and increase visa and border crossing fees for Mexican workers, as well as visa fees for Mexican chief executives and diplomats. Applying tariffs on Mexican goods and cutting foreign aid are also “options,” his campaign has said on his website. He would deport the 11 million illegal immigrants living in America and end “birthright citizenship” for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. He has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and would not allow refugees from Syria. Trump would triple the number of border agents and require all businesses to use the E-Verify database to ensure employees are in the country legally. He would increase penalties for overstaying visas and would complete a visa tracking system. He would withhold federal funding from “sanctuary cities” that decline to help the federal government deport illegal immigrants. Trump’s campaign has also said he would “pause” new green cards and require employers to hire American workers first. Trump has said he would seek repeal of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. He would still require insurers to provide coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, a key feature of Obamacare. He would allow prescription drugs to be imported and would turn the Medicaid program for the poor into block grants for the states. His plan also calls for full deduction of health insurance premiums from income tax. He would move to allow insurance companies to sell plans across state lines to spur competition.   He would allow individuals to use tax-free Health Savings Accounts, which he says should be allowed to accumulate and be passed on to a person’s heirs. Currently, Health Savings Accounts, which were created as part of Obamacare, can be used only with high-deductible health plans. They are tax free and can accumulate and be rolled over into a retirement account when a person is ready for Medicare. Trump has said he could save the government $300 billion by negotiating better prices with drug companies. He would require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and organizations like clinics and hospitals, to enable individuals to find the best prices for exams or other procedures. Trump has promised to “knock out” Islamic State quickly and said he is open to working with Russia to do so. He has said he would consider putting 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops on the ground to defeat Islamic State militants and has vowed to complete the mission swiftly and bring troops home to focus on rebuilding the United States. He has said he would “bomb the oil” that helps finance the insurgent group and stop the “back channels of banking” used by the group. He has vowed to bring back the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning and has been banned as torture under U.S. law. He said he also supports other, unspecified techniques “a hell of a lot worse” than waterboarding. He has said he would not order the U.S. military to break international laws on how to treat terrorism suspects , but has also said he would seek to “have those laws broadened.” He would “take out” the family members of Islamic State militants and would like to shut down “areas” of the Internet to try to stop the group from recruiting members. He wants to build a “safe zone” for Syrian refugees in Syria. But Gulf states would have to pay for it. He has said the United States should first deal with Islamic State before addressing the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying, “We have to do one thing at a time.” He has questioned whether the United States should back opposition groups in Syria, saying, “We have no idea who they are.” Trump has said he would increase the size and power of the U.S. military to make it “so strong, so powerful that nobody’s going to mess with us.” He says too much money is wasted buying equipment the military does not want. He wants Japan, Germany, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to bear more of the cost of military aid provided by the United States. “We can no longer defend all of these countries,” he said, citing the deficit. Trump would boost the U.S. military presence in the East and South China seas to “discourage Chinese adventurism,” according to his website.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः एक विशाल दीवार बनाओ, शिक्षा विभाग को काट दो। राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प क्या करेगा


HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thirteen Hong Kong universities and academic institutions accused the Chinese-ruled city s leader of undermining freedom of expression amid a row over pro-independence banners appearing on campuses. Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, is guaranteed freedoms and a high degree of autonomy under a  one country, two systems  arrangement, including freedom of expression. At the start of the academic year, banners advocating independence from China appeared on noticeboards in at least seven universities. Some large black banners were hung across buildings. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam criticized the posters as a violation of China s sovereignty, while urging university administrators to take  appropriate action . Some colleges, including the prestigious Chinese University, described the posters as unconstitutional, but allowed some to remain. But late on Sunday, the 13 institutions issued a statement titled  Arming ourselves in our darkest hour , criticizing Lam and university authorities for  an explicit effort to limit our freedom of expression .  Student unions stress that everyone enjoys the freedom of speech, and this is the line that we shall never compromise ... we are ready to defend our rights and liberty,  it read. Some observers said the controversy could be used to justify another squeeze on the city s freedoms, soon after several young pro-democracy leaders were jailed for helping lead the city s massive  Occupy  pro-democracy civil disobedience movement in late 2014.   The row has also stoked tension between local and mainland students, who now comprise a sizeable part of university admissions, especially in post-graduate studies. Calls for independence, once rare in the financial hub, began to gain traction after the 2014 protests and as disillusionment grew toward China s perceived tightening grip. Late last year, two pro-independence lawmakers were disqualified from office after Beijing s parliament ruled their oath-taking carried digs at China.  Beijing resolutely opposes talk of Hong Kong splitting from China, with the mini-constitution stating the city is an  inalienable  part of the country. The so-called Basic Law also enshrines freedom of expression. Groups of students from both sides have faced off on several occasions, with mainland students putting up anti-independence posters, condemning calls for independence.  One female student from China was filmed and challenged for tearing down some of the pro-independence banners.  If you re talking about democracy, you can put them up (the banners) and I can pull (them) down,  she said in the video.  An official blog run by China s state mouthpiece, the People s Daily, on Sunday published a long editorial saying there were limits to freedom of expression and that Hong Kong laws on public order could be used to jail trouble makers.  It is quite apparent that Beijing and the Hong Kong government would like to use this excuse to impose a political crackdown,  said political commentator Joseph Cheng.  Certainly the pro-Beijing establishment has been asking for rapid legislation of the controversial Article 23 legislation,  Cheng added, referring to proposed national security laws that would criminalize perceived acts of sedition.

Summary: हांगकांग परिसरों में दिखाई देने वाले चीन के स्वतंत्रता समर्थक पोस्टरों ने नए तनाव को जन्म दिया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China defended its right on Thursday to put “necessary military installations” on artificial islands in the South China Sea, after a U.S. think-tank said Beijing appeared to have deployed weapons such as anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, were based on analysis of satellite images of islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries. The United States has previously criticized what it called China’s militarization of its maritime outposts, and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing. China’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website on Thursday that the construction it had carried out on islands and reefs in the disputed Spratlys chain was “mainly for civilian use”. “As for necessary military installations, they are mainly for defence and self-protection and are legitimate and lawful,” it said. “If someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?” The United States has conducted four freedom of navigation patrols, seen as a challenge to China’s extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea, in the past year or so, most recently in October. AMTI said satellite images of islands China has built in the Spratlys showed what appeared to be anti-aircraft guns and what were likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes. Other images showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said. Beijing regards the islands as its sovereign territory, and has often said it is entitled to limited and necessary defensive installations. AMTI director Greg Poling said the think-tank had spent months trying to figure out the purposes of the structures shown in the images. “This is the first time that we’re confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there,” he told Reuters.  “This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it’s only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing that he “did not understand” the situation referred to in the AMTI report. “The Nansha islands are China’s inherent territory. China’s building of facilities and necessary territorial defensive  facilities on its own territory is completely normal,” he said, using China’s name for the Spratlys. “If China’s building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?” The Philippines, one of several countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, said it was still verifying the report. “But if true it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade,” said Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana. “It would mean that the Chinese are militarising the area which is not good.” Lorenzana’s comments were made during a visit to Singapore with President Rodrigo Duterte, where he also said the United States had agreed to sell the Philippine Navy two advanced radar systems to boost its surveillance capability in the South China Sea. Australia too voiced concerns about China’s actions in the disputed waterway. “The building of artificial islands and the possible militarization is creating an environment of tension and mistrust between claimants and other regional states,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a statement. “We urge claimants to refrain from coercive behavior and unilateral actions designed to change the status quo in disputed areas.” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China’s assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama. The State Department said it would not comment on intelligence matters, but spokesman John Kirby added: “We consistently call on China as well as other claimants to commit to peacefully managing and resolving disputes, to refrain from further land reclamation and construction of new facilities and the militarization of disputed features.”

Summary: चीन ने दक्षिण चीन सागर में 'रेडी स्लिंगशॉट' के अपने अधिकार का बचाव किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he felt “somewhat” vindicated by Republican congressman Devin Nunes’ announcement that it was possible that some of Trump’s communications had been picked up by government surveillance. “I somewhat do,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter whether he felt vindicated by Nunes’ statement. Trump said on Twitter on March 4 that he was “wiretapped” by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, an accusation Obama denied through a spokesman.

Summary: निगरानी पर सांसद के बयान से 'कुछ हद तक' पुष्टि हुईः ट्रम्प


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Homeland Security will stop flagging travelers from certain countries targeted by an executive order from President Donald Trump, a spokeswoman said on Saturday, in order to comply with a federal court ruling. The Justice Department intends to file an emergency stay of the order at the earliest possible time, the Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said.

Summary: गृह सुरक्षा विभाग ने कार्यकारी आदेश के तहत झंडे दिखाने वाले यात्रियों को निलंबित कर दिया


HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s nomination of an ambassador to Cuba is welcome but he should still do more to normalize relations between the two countries during his remaining time in office, a senior Cuban government official said on Wednesday. Gustavo Machin, the deputy director for U.S. affairs in the Cuban foreign ministry, told a news conference that Cuba will make those concerns known during a bilateral commission meeting on Friday in Washington. “The Cuban delegation will point out the lack of advances of in the economic, commercial sphere,” Machin said. “We consider the measures adopted by President Obama’s administration are positive but still insufficient and limited.” Obama on Tuesday nominated career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top official at the U.S. Embassy in Havana since relations were restored last year, to be the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba in more than five decades. This was “welcome” news, Machin said. Cuba appointed its ambassador to the U.S. a year ago.  Still, the nomination must be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate, which is seen as a long shot in a presidential election year and given expected strong resistance from Cuban-American senators including Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas. Obama should also use his executive powers, as he has done in the past, to further hollow out the trade embargo imposed on Cuba after its 1959 revolution, Machin said. Only Congress can lift the embargo, and the Republican leadership is not expected to allow such a move anytime soon. “If the president could... allow investment in telecoms, why can’t he authorize investments in other areas?” Machin said.  If he allowed the export of certain Cuban products to the United States, why could he not broaden the export of Cuban products?” Machin asked. Obama’s critics meanwhile accuse him of already making too many concessions towards Cuba without getting enough in return. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said earlier this month that if elected he would seek to reverse the detente unless the leaders there allowed religious freedoms and freed political prisoners. Machin said he hoped the next president would take into account the opinion of the majority of Americans, who agree with the opening to Cuba, according to opinion polls.  Despite the need for more progress still, the two countries have made concrete progress in improving relations over the past four months since a previous commission meeting, Machin said, for example re-launching commercial flights.

Summary: क्यूबा ने राजदूत के नामांकन का स्वागत किया लेकिन कहा कि ओबामा और अधिक कर सकते हैं


(Reuters) - A New Jersey man who worked at the World Trade Center, a young New Yorker, a Belgian mother of two, and five Argentines celebrating their high school graduation 30 years ago were killed in the truck attack on a New York City bike path. Twelve other people were injured in Tuesday’s attack in lower Manhattan by an Uzbek immigrant who allegedly drove the truck onto the path along the Hudson River. It was the deadliest attack in the city since Sept. 11, 2001.  U.S. and foreign officials identified the dead as: - Darren Drake, 32, of New Milford, New Jersey. His father, James Drake, told local news media, that his son was a project manager at Moody’s Investors Service at the World Trade Center, near the scene of the rampage.   - Nicholas Cleves, 23, of New York City. Cleves was a software engineer who lived in a West Village apartment within biking distance of the Hudson, according to a friend who spoke with multiple news media outlets.  Cleves attended Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, known collectively as LREI, from kindergarten through 12th grade. He graduated from the private Manhattan school in 2012 and in recent years worked on its technology staff part-time, the school’s director, Phil Kassen, wrote on its alumni page on Facebook.  “Nicholas was kind, caring, curious, interested, and a great friend,” Kassen wrote. “He always had a kind word when you would pass him in the hall, and the biggest smile, and always offered to help, no matter the situation.” - Anne Laure Decadt, 31, of Staden, Belgium. Decadt was visiting New York with her two sisters and mother. She was cycling on the bike path when the truck hit her from behind, CNN affiliate VTM reported. Her mother and sisters were not hurt.  Decadt “was a fantastic wife and the most beautiful mom to our two sons of 3 months and 3 years old. This loss is unbearable and difficult to understand,” her husband, Alexander Naessens, said in an interview with local Belgium news media.  - The five Argentine men were all from the city of Rosario. Their journey to New York had been organized by Ariel Erlij, whose company, Ivanar SA, distributes steel products. The businessman had helped pay for two of his friends to go on the trip.  The five men were:  - Erlij, 48 - Hernán Diego Mendoza, 48 - Diego Enrique Angelini, 48 - Alejandro Damián Pagnucco, 49 - Hernán Ferruchi, 48

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रक हमले के पीड़ितों में बेल्जियम की दो बच्चों की मां, युवा न्यू यॉर्कर भी शामिल


BERLIN (Reuters) - A group of German women s organizations wrote to Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday demanding more support for their goals of equal participation, equal pay and better monitoring of gender policies after the Sept. 24 election. Merkel was elected as Germany s first female chancellor in 2005, helped by strong support from women voters, but the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) has not made fighting for equal rights a major priority.   Women in Germany have moderated their demands for long enough and repeatedly accepted compromises. Without notable progress,  wrote the 17 groups representing 12.5 million women in professions ranging from medicine to law and engineering.  Now, new, binding milestones with clear targets need to be defined and achieved.  Opinion polls show that Merkel should easily win a fourth term, with women still more likely to vote for the CDU than the SPD, and far more likely to support Merkel   on 60 percent   than her SPD challenger Martin Schulz   on just 20 percent. Merkel was initially opposed to quotas, but her government  has introduced a requirement for women to hold 30 percent of seats on non-executive company boards after it was championed by her junior coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats. Beyond that, however, progress at boosting female representation in both business and politics has been slow. None of Germany s top 30 listed companies has a female CEO and women hold only 7 percent of executive positions in the 160 biggest listed firms, up from 6 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, the percentage of women in the German parliament is expected to fall to 32 percent from a current 36.5 percent after the election due to the likely entry of the male-dominated Free Democrats and Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD). Merkel says she wants half her new cabinet to be female, compared to seven out of 16 posts now, although that will depend on which party she shares power with. She has also warned firms they face tougher regulation if they do not promote more women. The women s groups said they welcomed Merkel s desire for an equal cabinet and for more women in business, but said more was needed to improve participation and equal pay.  The example of the mandatory gender quota for supervisory boards of large companies shows that legal targets are needed to speed up the necessary processes of change and a switch in role models in business and society,  the letter to Merkel said.

Summary: जर्मन महिलाओं ने मतदान के बाद मर्केल से और समर्थन मांगा


BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey summoned Germany s ambassador to its foreign ministry on Monday, Berlin said, amid a mounting row between the two NATO powers. Der Spiegel magazine said Ankara wanted to raise a German parliamentary motion last year that declared the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide - a description that Turkey has long fiercely rejected. There was no immediate comment from Turkish authorities on the summons or the broader dispute, which has been exacerbated by the German parliamentary vote and Berlin s criticism of Ankara s rights record. Germany s foreign ministry said it was the 17th time its envoy Martin Erdmann had been summoned, underlining the divisions at a time when European powers are counting on Turkey to help contain migrant flows, and to confront Islamic State militants over its borders with Iraq and Syria.  Germany has criticized mass arrests carried out in Turkey since last year s failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan and demanded the release of around a dozen German or Turkish-German citizens arrested in recent months. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking re-election on Sunday, has called for Turkey s EU accession talks to be called off. Germany also says it is limiting arms sales to Turkey.  Turkey says Germany has ignored Ankara s requests for the extradition of suspects it believes are linked to the putsch and accused Berlin of using Nazi-like tactics by banning pro-Erdogan rallies on German soil. Turkey, which says the killings of Christian Armenians during World War One do not amount to genocide, already recalled its ambassador to Germany after parliament passed the resolution last year.

Summary: तनाव बढ़ने पर तुर्की ने जर्मन राजदूत को तलब किया


INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday an unnamed foreign leader told him at the United Nations last week that the country would soon announce plans to build or expand five automobile industry factories in the United States. “I just left the United Nations last week and I was told by one of the most powerful leaders of the world that they are going to be announcing in the not too distant future five major factories in the United States, between increasing and new, five,” Trump said in a speech on tax reform in Indianapolis. He added the factories were in the automotive industry.  Trump did not name the country or its leader. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and 12 other leaders in New York at the U.N. General Assembly meeting last week, but did not meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who was in Germany ahead of an election. Automakers in Japan and Germany have both announced investments in the United States this year, with companies coming under pressure from Trump’s bid to curb imports and hire more workers to build cars and trucks in the U.S.  Investments to expand U.S. vehicle production capacity also reflect intensified competition for market share in the world’s most profitable vehicle market. In August, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it would build a $1.6 billion U.S. assembly plant with Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T). Toyota also said this week it was investing nearly $375 million in five U.S. manufacturing plants to support U.S. production of hybrid powertrains. Last week, German automaker Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) said it would spend $1 billion to expand its Mercedes Benz operations near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to produce batteries and electric sport utility vehicles and create more than 600 jobs.    Rival German luxury automaker BMW AG (BMWG.DE) said in June it would expand its U.S. factory in South Carolina, adding 1,000 jobs.  And last month, Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) brand president Herbert Diess said the company expected to bring electric SUV production to the United States and could add production at its Tennessee plant.

Summary: ट्रम्प का कहना है कि अनाम देश की पांच अमेरिकी वाहन संयंत्रों के निर्माण और विस्तार की योजना है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Wednesday, filling a key spot on the Republican’s national security team despite concerns about the former Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive officer’s ties to Russia. The vote, mostly along party lines, was by far the closest in at least half a century.  Fifty-six senators backed Tillerson, and 43 voted no. Every Republican favored Tillerson, along with four members of the Democratic caucus, Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin and Mark Warner as well as Angus King, an independent. Democratic Senator Chris Coons did not vote. Tillerson’s predecessor in the position, John Kerry, was confirmed by 94 to 3. Condoleezza Rice, the last secretary of state nominated by a Republican, was confirmed by 85-13. Senate Democrats had tried, but failed, to delay the vote on Tillerson because of Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries and temporarily halting the entry of refugees. They said they wanted to ask Tillerson more questions about the issue after Trump signed the order on Friday, prompting protests and chaos at airports across the country and uncertainty and disruption for travelers around the world. But Republicans hold a majority of 52 seats in the 100-member Senate, and so far have confirmed all of the six Trump nominees who have come up for votes. Senators had also expressed concerns over Tillerson’s ties to Russia after the executive spent years there working for the oil company. Some faulted him for failing to promise to recuse himself from matters related to Exxon Mobil businesses for his entire term as secretary of state rather than only the one year required by law. Tillerson, 64, retired as chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil at the end of 2016 after a four-decade career at the company.  Republicans and other Tillerson supporters said they thought he would be a strong leader as the country’s top diplomat, citing his experience running a giant corporation operating on six continents. They also said it was important to finalize Trump’s national security team quickly, to address international crises and reassure allies wondering about the new president’s “America First” foreign policy.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेट ने टिलरसन के विदेश मंत्री बनने की पुष्टि की


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Three people died in Somalia on Wednesday in different attacks, one of which targeted a patrol of peacekeepers near the country s capital, Mogadishu, officials told Reuters.  A roadside bomb killed one African Union peacekeeper and wounded another as they patrolled Arbis, a village about 23 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu, according to Wilson Rono, a spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM. A counter-attack by AMISOM killed four al Shabaab fighters, Rono said. Al Shabaab is the Islamist militant group fighting to topple Somalia s western-backed government and replace it with one strictly adhering to Islamic sharia law.  The group also frequently targets AMISOM, which is supporting the central government.  Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab s military spokesman, told Reuters the group had killed four AMISOM soldiers and injured two others in the assault   We have not lost anyone,  Abu Musab said, adding that AMISOM had killed civilian as it responded to the attack. In a second incident late on Wednesday evening, a bomb exploded as it was being prepared in a house in Mogadishu s Karan district, according to Mohamed Osman, a police officer.  It killed one man and injured another,  Osman said. A female police officer was also killed in Mogadishu s Hodan district by gunmen who quickly disappeared, a police official said. Abu Musab told Reuters al Shabaab was also responsible for that attack.

Summary: सोमालिया में बम और बंदूक हमलों में तीन लोगों की मौत


(Reuters) - Melania Trump’s big night at the Republican National Convention failed to draw bumper television audiences despite networks boosting their coverage of the gathering and husband Donald Trump promising a “showbiz” feel to the week. According to Nielsen ratings data on Tuesday from seven leading broadcast and cable networks, an estimated 23 million people watched Monday evening’s highlight during the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. hour when Melania Trump, the wife of Republican White House contender Donald Trump, delivered her speech. The focus of the convention initially shifted on Tuesday from the formal anointing of Trump to accusations that sections of Melania Trump’s speech were strikingly similar to an address by Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention in 2008. The early viewing figures were similar to those for the first night of the Republican convention in 2012, which attracted an audience of 22.3 million, according to Nielsen.  U.S. television networks have boosted coverage of the Republican convention this year after Trump, a New York businessman, drew huge audiences during the 2016 presidential debates during the state nominating contests. Trump, the former star of “The Apprentice” TV show, has promised to throw out traditional political convention scripts and “put some showbiz” into the mix.  Media analysts predicted that viewership for Trump’s acceptance speech this week for the Republican presidential nomination could surpass the record 38 million who watched Barack Obama address the Democratic convention in 2008. In 2012, the Democratic convention generally drew more nightly TV viewers than the Republican gathering, when Mitt Romney was running for the White House. On Monday, the Fox News cable channel, as expected, got the most viewers for its convention coverage, averaging 6.4 million in the 10 p.m. hour. Among the mainstream networks, NBC led with 3.9 million. However, the biggest single program audience of Monday night was for reality show “The Bachelorette,” which was seen by some  6.6 million on ABC. About 3 million people turned off when ABC switched to the convention.

Summary: मेलानिया ट्रम्प के आर. एन. सी. भाषण ने इतने टीवी दर्शकों को जन्म दिया


(Reuters) - Major eastern U.S. railroads CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp are rerouting rail cars and locomotives, holding traffic in yards out of harm s way, relocating workers, and putting repair equipment into place as Hurricane Irma barrels toward Florida. Here are some key rail facilities in the U.S. Southeast that could be impacted by Irma, projected to strike southern Florida on Sunday: The No. 3 U.S. railroad, based in Jacksonville, Florida, has major rail yards in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, on the state s western Gulf Coast. Apart from the major rail yards, Jacksonville and Tampa also have intermodal terminals, transfer terminals for bulk goods, and auto distribution terminals.  Orlando has the major rail yard and auto distribution terminal. It has bulk good transfer terminals in Fort Lauderdale.  CSX serves 12 ports, including Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Jacksonville, Miami, Palm Beach, and Panama City. For Georgia, CSX has major rail yards in Atlanta, coastal Savannah, and Waycross as part of its 2,700 miles (4,345 km) of track. In Atlanta and Savannah, they also have intermodal and bulk transfer operations in addition to the major rail yards. Augusta, about 150 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, is a terminal serving bulk commodities.  In Alabama, CSX has major rail yards in Mobile, Birmingham, and Montgomery. It has bulk freight transfer terminals in Birmingham and Montgomery and an intermodal terminal in Mobile. In South Carolina, it has major rail yards in Charleston, which also has intermodal and bulk commodity terminal operations, and Florence, and has bulk terminals in Spartanburg and Greenville.     The No. 4 U.S. railroad, based in Norfolk, Virginia, has a major rail yard, intermodal and auto distribution facilities and a rail-to-truck transfer facility in Jacksonville, in Florida s northeast.  In Atlanta, Georgia, the railroad has a rail yard, rail-to-truck transfer and auto distribution facilities, and two intermodal facilities. It also has yards in Macon, Augusta, Valdosta, Albany, Rome, Columbus, and Savannah, with rail-to-truck transfer facilities in Augusta, and Dalton.  In Georgia it also has auto distribution facilities in Commerce, Savannah, and Brunswick, and port access points in Savannah and Brunswick, in the state s southwest.     In South Carolina, the railroad has port operations, a rail yard, an intermodal terminal and an auto distribution facility in Charleston, as well as a yard and rail-to-truck transfer facility in Columbia. In the broader area of Greenville, in the state s northwest, it has two rail yards, a rail-to-truck transfer facility and an intermodal terminal.  In Alabama, the company has key intermodal, auto distribution and rail yard facilities in Birmingham, with yards in Selma, Mobile further south, and Sheffield, and Decatur in the north. Mobile also has a rail-to-truck transfer facility and port operations.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः तूफान इरमा के रास्ते में प्रमुख रेल संपत्ति


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will resume the suspended construction of two new nuclear reactors from midnight, its energy ministry said on Tuesday, but has torn up plans to build six more reactors as Seoul seeks to meet pledges to cut reliance on nuclear power. The move will restart work on the two reactors that was frozen after President Moon Jae-in came to power in May on a ticket calling for scaling back nuclear power. It comes after results of a survey unveiled last week found a majority of South Koreans actually backed the projects. The world s fifth-biggest nuclear energy user currently runs 24 nuclear reactors, generating a third of the country s total electricity needs.  Construction work (for the two new nuclear reactors) will begin immediately after midnight,  Paik Un-gyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, told a news briefing in the capital.  But in a bid to press on with Moon s commitment to boost use of natural gas and renewable sources in the nation s energy mix, the ministry said Seoul will also cancel all plans to construct a further six nuclear reactors. The number of nuclear reactors operating in South Korea will be cut to a net 14 by 2038 it said. The ministry said it will use alternative fuels such as solar and wind power to replace the six nuclear reactors with a projected combined capacity of 8.8 gigawatts (GW).     Additionally, the Asia s fourth-largest economy will not allow extending the lifespan of 14 aging nuclear power stations, totaling 12.5 GW of capacity, the statement said. The energy ministry said it will reflect changes in the country s long-term energy mix plan, which is expected to be finalised in November.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया दो नए परमाणु रिएक्टरों का निर्माण फिर से शुरू करेगा, लेकिन 6 अन्य के लिए योजना को रद्द कर देगा


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish prosecutor has issued detention warrants for 53 active sergeants over alleged links to the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating last year s attempted coup, state media said on Tuesday. Twenty of the suspects have so far been detained in the operation across 12 provinces, state run Anadolu Agency said. Thirty-three other soldiers were currently being sought, it said. The interior ministry said on Monday that nearly 700 people had been detained over the previous week on allegations of ties to what Ankara calls the  Gulenist Terror Group . Some 50,000 people have been arrested since the failed putsch in July and around 150,000 dismissed or suspended, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with the movement of U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied the charge and condemned the coup. Rights groups and some Western allies fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to stifle dissent. The government argues the crackdown is necessary due to the gravity of the coup attempt, which killed 240 people on July 15, 2016.

Summary: तुर्की ने गुलेन संबंधों को लेकर 53 सैनिकों को हिरासत में लेने के आदेश जारी किएः अनादोलु


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. derivatives regulator is about to lose its sole Democratic commissioner in the coming months, with Sharon Bowen announcing on Tuesday she intends to step down. Bowen announced her plans at a public meeting on Tuesday, saying she will try to time her departure around when the U.S. Senate confirms another Commodity Futures Trading Commission member nominated by President Donald Trump. Trump has thus far nominated three new Republican members of the CFTC, including its Acting Chairman Chris Giancarlo. He will need to nominate two Democrats to round out the five-member panel.

Summary: सी. एफ. टी. सी. आने वाले महीनों में एकमात्र डेमोक्रेटिक आयुक्त बोवेन को खोने के लिए तैयार है


BANGKOK (Reuters) - An election could be a year away in army-ruled Thailand, but Anutin Charnvirakul is already eyeing a role as a potential kingmaker with ties across the traditional political divide and to the politicized generals. A businessman and amateur pilot whose party came third in the last election, Anutin, 51, has seen his political profile rise as parties start to map out a strategy for an election the junta has promised for the end of next year. Pundits have tipped Anutin as a possible prime minister in a coalition government made more likely by a new voting system expected to weaken the color-coded parties behind more than a decade of turmoil leading to a 2014 coup.  I think it is better to be a kingmaker in this situation rather than an opportunistic prime minister,  Anutin told Reuters in a recent interview. The main support for Anutin s Bhumjaithai party is among farming communities in the lower northeast and he reckoned it could increase its share of seats to 50 out of 500 at the next election, from 34 in the last vote in 2011.  I have never been closer to the doorstep of Government House,  he said, referring to the official prime ministerial offices. Anutin said he had a good personal relationship with both major parties - a rarity in polarized Thailand, where the army took power in a 2014 coup in the name of ending bloody protests. Anutin was once a senior official in the party led by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose  red  populist movement has strong support in the north and among the poor.  It has won every election since 2001 and it was a government led by Thaksin s sister, Yingluck, that was ousted in the most recent coup. But Anutin also has links to Thaksin s rivals, led by the  yellow  Democrat Party which draws support from the south and particularly from Bangkok s elite. Anutin s father - Bhumjaithai s founder - served in the last Democrat government.  There are major ideological differences between political groups and I no longer want to take sides,  Anutin said.   The bottom line is, the country should not return to turmoil plagued by street demonstrations between different camps.  Anutin was identified in 2009 as a close associate of Thailand s then crown prince, who is now King Maha Vajiralongkorn, according to a U.S. embassy cable published by Wikileaks.  Thailand s king plays a powerful role behind the scenes. Anutin did not comment on any relationship. The Democrat Party s deputy leader, Ong-art Klampaiboon, said it was too early to comment on what might happen at the election. Former deputy prime minister Phongthep Thepkanjana of the Shinawatra-linked Pheu Thai Party shared a similar view. Suspicions are rife that junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, or another military-backed candidate, will seek to become prime minister after elections. A new constitution guarantees the army a lasting say. Anutin is the former chairman of Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction Pcl, Thailand s third biggest building firm, which was founded by his father. His fortune has helped finance his political ambitions as well as his hobbies of flying light aircraft and collecting  antique tea sets and Buddha statues.

Summary: चुनाव की साजिश शुरू होते ही थाई राजनेता की नजर किंगमेकर की भूमिका पर


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - The mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, refused on Monday to back off an ordinance that had aimed to expand anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people in the state’s largest city but also sparked a controversial state law. The Republican leaders of North Carolina’s legislature said in a statement late on Sunday they believed their colleagues would support repealing the law that voided the city ordinance - if Charlotte made the first move.    North Carolina’s Republican governor and lawmakers blame Charlotte for spurring the state measure, which has drawn rebuke from major companies and sports organizations since it was passed in March.  The state law, known as House Bill 2, requires transgender people to use publicly owned bathrooms that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate and bars local ordinances protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination. A spokesman for Governor Pat McCrory told local media last week McCrory would call a special session for legislators to consider a repeal of H.B. 2 if Charlotte rescinded its ordinance. But Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, said the city had no plans to reconsider the ordinance at a council meeting Monday night. “We appreciate the state wanting to find a solution to the challenges we are facing and applaud the governor for recognizing the state should overturn H.B. 2, which the state can do at any time without any action from the City of Charlotte,” Roberts said in a statement. Calls for a repeal of the state law mounted last week after the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) pulled a total of 17 championship sporting events from North Carolina in protest of it. Previously, the National Basketball Association relocated its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Entertainers, including Bruce Springsteen, canceled concerts and companies such as Deutsche Bank scrapped plans to add jobs in the state over objections to the law. Senate leader Phil Berger on Monday questioned whether Roberts was seeking to “prolong this debate for political reasons – regardless of the impact on Charlotte and our state’s business community.” LGBT advocates applauded the Charlotte mayor for standing firm, while some business, tourism and hospitality groups urged elected officials to find a compromise to end the economic fallout. An Elon University Poll released on Monday found that almost half of likely voters in the state oppose H.B. 2. But the survey also showed McCrory leading Democratic challenger Roy Cooper by about 49 percent to 46 percent and indicated that some opponents of the law still planned to vote for the incumbent.

Summary: उत्तरी कैरोलिना में बाथरूम कानून को बढ़ावा देने वाले अध्यादेश पर शार्लोट नहीं झुकी


RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis looked to address confusion over a U.S. aircraft carrier group on Wednesday, saying that its schedule had been disclosed earlier to be transparent. “The bottom line is, in our effort to always be open about what we are doing we said that we were going to change the Vinson’s upcoming schedule,” Mattis told reporters, referring to the Carl Vinson strike group. “We don’t generally give out ships schedules in advance but I didn’t want to play a game either and say we were not changing a schedule when in fact we had,” Mattis said.  There had been confusion after U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an “armada” as a warning to North Korea even as the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula. The U.S. military’s Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now “proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered”, it said.

Summary: रक्षा मंत्री मैटिस ने वाहक को लेकर भ्रम को दूर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House leaders have decided against holding a vote on a reworked healthcare system overhaul this week after failing to find the necessary support, congressional aides said on Thursday. White House officials had urged a floor vote on the legislation before President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office on Saturday, hoping to follow through on a campaign promise to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Advocates had hoped to raise enough support for the measure after a group of hard-line Republican conservatives endorsed an amended version on Wednesday. But by Thursday evening Republican leaders still had not collected enough votes from moderate Republicans whose backing was also needed for passage in the House, given united Democratic opposition. “We won’t vote this week,” said one House Republican aide, who asked not to be named. Next week was not ruled out, another indicated. “We’ll call a vote when we have the votes.” Representative Pete Sessions, a senior House Republican, also left the door open to a vote next week. Possibly referring to Trump, Sessions said that a lot of people had tried to rush the legislation to the floor, but House Republican leaders want to “allow the time to do it right. “I said it will find its time and I am satisfied we are moving at a pace, keeping people engaged,” he said at a late night session of the House Rules Committee he chairs. The Republican healthcare bill would replace Obamacare’s income-based tax credit with an age-based credit, roll back an expansion of the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor and repeal most Obamacare taxes. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had estimated 24 million fewer people would have insurance than under the original version.  House leaders brought the bill to the floor last month after Trump demanded a vote, but yanked it after a rebellion by Republican moderates and the party’s most conservative lawmakers, in a major setback for Trump. An amendment drafted by Representative Tom MacArthur won over conservatives in the hardline Freedom Caucus this week, reviving some hopes that the bill could still pass. The amendment would allow states to seek waivers from some provisions. Among these are one mandating that insurers charge those with pre-existing conditions the same as healthy consumers, and that insurers cover so-called essential health benefits, such as maternity care.      But a number of centrist Republicans still opposed the measure. “Protections for those with pre-existing conditions without contingency, and affordable access to coverage for every American, remain my priorities for advancing healthcare reform, and this bill does not satisfy those benchmarks for me,” Representative Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania said in a statement posted on social network Twitter on Thursday. Some outside groups like the American Medical Association weighed in against the legislation, saying it would cost millions their health care coverage. The bill’s future is further clouded in the Senate.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन में इस सप्ताह स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पर कोई मतदान नहीं