BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Baghdad heaped pressure on Iraq s Kurds on Wednesday, demanding they cancel their overwhelming vote for independence while parliament urged the Iraqi central government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields held by Kurdish forces. Stepping up efforts to isolate autonomous Kurdish-held northern Iraq, whose people endorsed secession in a referendum on Monday that angered neighboring countries, Baghdad demanded that foreign governments close their diplomatic missions in the Kurdish capital Erbil. Final results released on Wednesday showed nearly 93 percent in favor of independence, and 7.3 percent against. More than 3.3 million people, or 72 percent of eligible voters, took part in Monday s ballot, according to the electoral commission. The referendum has stirred fears of a new regional conflict. An Iraqi armed forces delegation headed to neighboring Iran to coordinate military efforts, apparently as part of retaliatory measures taken by the government in Baghdad following the vote. Iran and Turkey also oppose any move toward Kurdish secession and their armies have started joint exercises near their borders with Iraqi Kurdistan in recent days. Iraq and Turkey have also held joint military drills. Foreign airlines began suspending flights to Kurdish airports after the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday that international flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya would be suspended from 1500 GMT. Kurdish authorities rejected Baghdad s demands that they should annul the referendum as a condition for dialogue and hand over control of their international airports. On Wednesday evening, Kurdish Rudaw TV reported that the Kurdistan Regional Government had offered to hold talks with Baghdad about hosting Iraqi observers at Erbil and Sulaimaniya airports to help defuse the crisis. Turkey, which has threatened to impose sanctions on the Kurds, said its border with northern Iraq remained open, although it may not remain so. The number of trucks passing through had however decreased. Home to the region s largest Kurdish population, Turkey has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its largely Kurdish southeast and fears the referendum will inflame separatist tension at home. For their part, Kurdish leaders in neighboring Syria said the KRG referendum could bolster their cause for autonomy in negotiations with the Damascus government. Two meetings so far on the matter had gone nowhere, they told Reuters. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have stressed the need for Iraq s borders to remain unchanged, will meet in Ankara on Thursday. Russia s interest in the region is growing. Oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) is increasing investment in Kurdistan and the Kurds have been developing strong ties with Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Iraq and the Kurds against taking any steps that might destabilize the Middle East after the referendum.  The Kurds consider Monday s referendum to be an historic step in a generations-old quest for a state of their own. Iraq considers the vote unconstitutional, especially as it was held not only within official KRG territory itself but also on disputed territory held by Kurds elsewhere in northern Iraq. The United States, major European countries and nearby Turkey and Iran strongly opposed the referendum, which they described as destabilizing at a time when all sides are still fighting against Islamic State (IS) militants. Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani announced on Tuesday evening that the  yes  vote had won.  The outcome has caused anger in Baghdad, where parliament, in a session boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers, asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk to take control of its oilfields. Kurdish Peshmerga forces took Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region, in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled in the face of IS which overran about a third of Iraq. The Kurds prevented Kirkuk s huge oil resources from falling into the militants  hands.  The government has to bring back the oilfields of Kirkuk under the control of the oil ministry,  the resolution backed by parliament in Baghdad said.     The area, long claimed by the Kurds, is also home to Turkmen and Arab communities, who opposed the independence vote, although the KRG included the area in the referendum. Barzani, who is KRG president, has said the vote is not binding, but meant to provide a mandate for negotiations with Baghdad and neighboring countries over the peaceful secession of the region from Iraq. Baghdad has rejected talks. Abadi, a moderate from Iraq s Shi ite Arab majority, is under pressure to take punitive measures against the Kurds. Hardline Iranian-backed Shi ite groups have already threatened to march on Kirkuk. The Kurds were left without a state of their own when the Ottoman Empire crumbled a century ago. Around 30 million are scattered through northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria and Iran. The autonomous region they control in Iraq is the closest the Kurds have come in modern times to a state. It has flourished, largely remaining at peace while the rest of Iraq has been in a continuous state of civil war for 14 years. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, they have had to carefully balance their ambitions for full independence with the threat of a backlash from their neighbors and the reluctance of Washington to redraw borders. In the past four years they achieved a measure of economic independence by opening a route to sell oil through pipelines to a port in Turkey. But that still leaves them at the mercy of Ankara, which draws a firm line at formal independence. The Kurds say the referendum acknowledges their contribution in confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army. Iraq s Kurds have been close allies of the United States since Washington secured their protection from Saddam in 1991. But the United States has long encouraged the Kurds to avoid unilateral steps so as not to jeopardize the stability of Iraq or antagonize Turkey.  The U.S. State Department said it was  deeply disappointed  by the decision to conduct the referendum, while the European Union regretted that the Kurds had failed to heed its call not to hold the vote.

Summary: बगदाद ने इराकी कुर्दों पर भारी स्वतंत्रता मतदान को उलटने के लिए दबाव डाला


GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea called on Friday for a halt to what it called “brutal sanctions”, saying the measures - imposed after its latest nuclear test - constituted genocide. “Today the U.S.-led racket of brutal sanctions and pressure against the DPRK constitutes contemporary human rights violation and genocide,” the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement. The sanctions regime “threatens and impedes the enjoyment by the people of DPRK of their human rights in all sectors”, it said. The call for an immediate end to the sanctions comes as U.S. President Donald Trump sets off on a trip to Asia - including China, South Korea and Japan - looking for help to pressure North Korea to stand down from the nuclear crisis.  The global community has been ramping up the pressure on the isolated country after it conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test so far, on Sept. 3.  Last month the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities over what it called serious human rights abuses, including forced labor. In September the U.N. Security Council strengthened its sanctions, including export bans as well as asset freezes and travel bans on various officials, North Korea’s response follows a U.N. expert last month saying international sanctions may be hurting key economic sectors and hampering the human rights of Pyongyang’s citizens. The sanctions meant that “some unprincipled countries have blocked the delivery of medical equipment and medicines”, the North Korean mission said on Friday, with the supplies destined for children and mothers in the country. “All types of anti-human rights and inhumane sanctions against the DPRK should be terminated immediately and thoroughly,” it said.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया ने 'क्रूर' प्रतिबंधों को रोकने का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of a U.S. Senate cyber security subcommittee said on Friday he planned to introduce sanctions legislation over “Russia’s cyber criminals” after Washington accused Russia of political cyber attacks ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Republican Senator Cory Gardner said his legislation would require the Obama administration to investigate those who have engaged in significant actions undermining cyber security and aggressively pursue sanctions when appropriate. Gardner is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद हैकिंग के आरोपों के बाद रूस पर साइबर प्रतिबंध चाहते हैं


BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military staged bombing drills with South Korea over the Korean peninsula and Russia and China began naval exercises ahead of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Tuesday where North Korea s nuclear threat is likely to loom large. The flurry of military drills came after Pyongyang fired another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday and the reclusive North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 in defiance of United Nations sanctions and other international pressure. A pair of U.S. B-1B bombers and four F-35 jets flew from Guam and Japan and joined four South Korean F-15K fighters in the latest drill, South Korea s defense ministry said. The joint drills were being conducted  two to three times a month these days , Defence Minister Song Young-moo told a parliamentary hearing on Monday. In Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said China and Russia began naval drills off the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, not far from the Russia-North Korea border. Those drills were being conducted between Peter the Great Bay, near Vladivostok, and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, to the north of Japan, it said. The drills are the second part of China-Russian naval exercises this year, the first part of which was staged in the Baltic in July. Xinhua did not directly link the drills to current tension over North Korea. China and Russia have repeatedly called for a peaceful solution and talks to resolve the issue. On Sunday, however, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.N. Security Council had run out of options on containing North Korea s nuclear program and the United States might have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the most pressing task was for all parties to enforce the latest U.N. resolutions on North Korea fully, rather than  deliberately complicating the issue . Military threats from various parties have not promoted a resolution to the issue, he said.  This is not beneficial to a final resolution to the peninsula nuclear issue,  Lu told a daily news briefing.  U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed that North Korea will never be able to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile.  Asked about Trump s warning last month that the North Korean threat to the United States would be met with  fire and fury , Haley said:  It was not an empty threat.  Washington has also asked China to do more to rein in its neighbor and ally, while Beijing has urged the United States to refrain from making threats against the North.   The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a U.S.-drafted resolution a week ago mandating tougher new sanctions against Pyongyang that included banning textile imports and capping crude and petrol supply. North Korea on Monday called the resolution  the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of hostility to physically exterminate  its people, system and government.  The increased moves of the U.S. and its vassal forces to impose sanctions and pressure... will only increase our pace toward the ultimate completion of the state nuclear force,  the North s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency. Gasoline and diesel prices in the North have surged since the latest nuclear test in anticipation of a possible oil ban, according to market data analyzed by Reuters on Monday. The international community must remain united and enforce sanctions against North Korea after its repeated launch of ballistic missiles, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an editorial in the New York Times on Sunday. Such tests were in violation of Security Council resolutions and showed that North Korea could now target the United States or Europe, he wrote. Abe also said diplomacy and dialogue would not work with North Korea and concerted pressure by the entire international community was essential to tackle the threats posed by the north and its leader, Kim Jong Un. However, the official China Daily argued on Monday that sanctions should be given time to bite and that the door must be left open to talks.  With its Friday missile launch, Pyongyang wanted to give the impression that sanctions will not work,  it said in an editorial.  Some people have fallen for that and immediately echoed the suggestion, pointing to the failure of past sanctions to achieve their purpose.  But that past sanctions did not work does not mean they will not. It is too early to claim failure because the latest sanctions have hardly begun to take effect. Giving the sanctions time to bite is the best way to make Pyongyang reconsider,  the newspaper said.  Pyongyang has launched dozens of missiles as it accelerates a weapons program designed to provide the ability to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile. It says such programs are needed as a deterrent against invasion by the United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. On Saturday, it said it aimed to reach an  equilibrium  of military force with the United States. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

Summary: कोरियाई प्रायद्वीप ने उत्तर कोरिया के खिलाफ बल का प्रदर्शन करते हुए कई सैन्य अभ्यास किए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea s Kim Jong Un  will be tested like never before,  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday as the two leaders continued to trade insults and Pyongyang threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.  Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before,  Trump tweeted, one day after announcing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के नेता किम जोंग उन की परीक्षा पहले कभी नहीं ली जाएगीः ट्रंप


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged warring parties in Yemen to stop all ground and air assaults and called for a resumption of all commercial imports into the country because  millions of children, women and men risk mass hunger, disease and death.  A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen s capital, Sanaa, local media said, lending support to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh after he signaled he was abandoning his support of the Iran-aligned Houthis - a shift that could pave the way to end three years of war.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र प्रमुख ने यमन में हवाई, जमीनी हमले बंद करने का आग्रह किया


PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday questioned some of Saudi Arabia s recent moves in the Middle East, suggesting it should consider its actions more carefully, a rare rebuke when Washington s own policies in the region are under fire.   Publicly, U.S. President Donald Trump, his top aides and senior Saudi officials have hailed what they say is a major improvement in U.S.-Saudi ties compared with relations under former President Barack Obama, who upset the Saudis by sealing a nuclear deal with their arch-foe Iran. However, U.S. diplomats and intelligence analysts privately express anxiety over some of the more hawkish actions by Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, especially towards Yemen, Qatar and Lebanon, as Saudi Arabia seeks to contain Iranian influence.  With respect to Saudi Arabia s engagement with Qatar, how they re handling the Yemen war that they re engaged in, the Lebanon situation, we would encourage them to be a bit more measured and a bit more thoughtful in those actions to, I think, fully consider the consequences,  Tillerson told a news conference alongside his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. In Yemen, Riyadh is leading an Arab military coalition against the Houthi movement that controls the capital. In recent weeks it imposed a blockade of ports, threatening to worsen what the United Nations says could become one of the worst famines in modern times. Saudi Arabia has also led neighboring Gulf Arab countries this year in cutting off trade and diplomatic ties with their neighbor Qatar, which Riyadh says supports terrorism. Qatar is an important American ally and home to a big U.S. air base. A month ago, the prime minister of Lebanon announced he was resigning while on a visit to Saudi Arabia. He returned home two weeks later and withdrew his resignation last week, drawing a line under the episode. Tillerson s comments were the latest sign of U.S. concern over aspects of the kingdom s foreign policy after Trump on Wednesday issued a one-paragraph statement demanding the Saudis allow immediate humanitarian aid to reach the Yemeni people. Although the blockade showed signs of breaking this week, Yemen s situation remains dire. About 8 million people are on the brink of famine with outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria.  We have called for a complete end of the blockade in Yemen and the opening of all ports. We are asking Saudi Arabia to allow that access,  Tillerson said. Tillerson s comments appear to be the first time the United States had publicly linked Saudi Arabia to the political crisis that broke out in Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation last month in Riyadh.  I think as to Lebanon, things have worked out in a very positive way,  Tillerson said.  Perhaps even more positive than before, because there have been very strong statements of affirmation for Lebanon, which will only be helpful.  Tillerson s rebuke comes at a time when Washington needs support from its major Arab ally, after Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel earlier this week.  When asked whether there was room for Palestinians also to achieve their goal of having part of Jerusalem as their capital, Tillerson emphasized that Trump s move was not intended to shut down their demands over the city.  In fact, he was very clear, I think, the final status of Jerusalem, including the borders, would be left to the parties to negotiate and decide,  Tillerson said.

Summary: टिलरसन ने सऊदी अरब से मध्य पूर्व में 'अधिक विचारशील' होने का आह्वान किया


ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The European Union, United Nations and African Union have agreed to an emergency plan to dismantle people-smuggling networks and repatriate stranded migrants, in an effort to ease a human rights disaster in Libya, officials said.  Images broadcast by CNN earlier this month appeared to show migrants being auctioned off as slaves by Libyan traffickers, sparking outrage in Europe and anger in Africa. It forced the issue of abuse of African migrants heading for Europe to the top of the agenda of a summit meant to focus on Africa s youth.  European Council President Donald Tusk called the slavery reports  horrifying  during the opening ceremony of the African Union-European Union summit on Wednesday.  French President Emmanuel Macron said the plan included the establishment of an  operational task-force  composed of European and African police and intelligence services.  The goal will be in very short order to be able to arrest identified traffickers, dismantle these networks and their financing which goes through banks and payments that in the region contribute ... to sustaining terrorism,  he said late on Wednesday.  France would use its military presence in the region to help break up trafficking networks, but the plan would not involve sending French troops into Libya, Macron said at a press conference in Ghana on Thursday.   On Libyan soil, it is now up to the Libyan government to decide in connection with the African Union,  he said.  It is important to preserve the sovereignty of Libya.     The plan, the details of which emerged on Thursday, came from a meeting of UN officials, EU leaders and government representatives from Chad, Niger, Morocco, Congo and Libya that was called by France on Wednesday. The European Union, African Union and United Nations agreed to freeze assets and impose financial sanctions against known smugglers.  Libya s government, which has promised to investigate  reports of slave auctions, said it would grant U.N. agencies access to migrant camps in areas under its control, German officials said.  EU countries, meanwhile, will finance the repatriation of migrants from Libya, a process that is already being organized by the International Organization for Migration, they said.  Allowing Africans to come to Europe on a temporary basis for three of four years of training or schooling was also discussed, according to European government officials.  Circular migration  could be key to easing illegal migration, experts have said.     Regional governments have also agreed to educate Africans about the dangers of migration, and there will be stronger coordination between security services across North, West and Central Africa to eradicate smuggling.  Vulnerable migrants who might eventually qualify for asylum will be brought to Chad or Niger before being relocated to a third country either in Europe or another region.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ, संयुक्त राष्ट्र, अफ्रीकी नेताओं ने लीबिया में प्रवासियों के लिए आपातकालीन योजना तैयार की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative John Conyers is stepping down as senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, while lawmakers investigate allegations of sexual harassment against him, Conyers said in an emailed statement on Sunday.  Conyers said that while he denied the allegations, his presence during a congressional ethics review of the matter was a distraction. “I cannot in good conscience allow these charges to undermine my colleagues in the Democratic Caucus, and my friends on both sides of the aisle in the Judiciary Committee,” Conyers said.  Conyers, 88, from Michigan, is the longest-serving House lawmaker and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. The House Ethics Committee said last week it was investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Conyers, who said his office had resolved a harassment case with a payment but no admission of guilt. The allegations against Conyers came to light as Congress reviews policies on how to handle sexual harassment complaints. They followed a string of such complaints against prominent figures in the U.S. media, Hollywood and politics.  “In this case, I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me and continue to do so,” said Conyers. Twelve women who said they previously worked for Conyers told reporters in a statement on Sunday that he “was a gentleman and never behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner in our presence.” The group said it supported letting the ethics probe run its course. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called for “zero tolerance” on sexual harassment in a statement released after Conyers’ email. “We are at a watershed moment on this issue, and no matter how great an individual’s legacy, it is not a license for harassment.”

Summary: सांसद द्वारा उत्पीड़न के आरोपों की जांच के दौरान प्रतिनिधि कॉनयर्स ने समिति से इस्तीफा दे दिया


PARIS (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale on Wednesday rejected the far-right National Front s accusations that it had acted to  suffocate  the party by closing accounts.   Societe Generale group s decisions on whether to open or close a bank account depend purely on banking reasons and in respect of all regulatory requirements, without taking into account any political consideration,  it said in a statement.  Regarding the opening of an account at Credit du Nord, a financial representative of Front National asked the Bank of France for the right to have a bank account as an individual. Credit du Nord responded to the Bank of France s requirements and offered the services required within the right s regulatory framework.  Credit du Nord is part of the French retail banking network of SocGen.

Summary: सॉकजेन का कहना है कि नेशनल फ्रंट के खातों को संभालने में कोई गलत काम नहीं हुआ है


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand bade a final goodbye to its beloved late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday in a ceremony steeped in ancient rituals, processions and Buddhist rites that drew hundreds of thousands of mourners. Despite heavy downpours, black-clad mourners crowded Bangkok s historic quarter where the king s cremation took place. The $90 million funeral marks the end of an era for many Thais who had only ever known King Bhumibol as their monarch. It ushers in the reign of the late king s son King Maha Vajiralongkorn, or Rama X, who ascended the throne last year but whose coronation can only take place after his father s funeral. King Vajiralongkorn has overseen sweeping changes to the royal household, including the running of palace finances. Earlier in the day members of the Thai royal family, visiting dignitaries and government officials placed sandalwood flowers at the royal funeral pyre. The cremation of King Bhumibol began with Buddhist religious rites and ceremonial candle-lighting by saffron-robed monks. Many of those lining the Thai capital s streets had slept overnight on pavements near the Grand Palace to capture vantage spots for the funeral procession that wended past buildings draped in yellow marigolds.  This is the last goodbye,  said one tearful visitor, Pimsupak Suthin, 42, who traveled from the northern province of Nan to attend the function.  I really love and miss him. It is very difficult to describe.  King Bhumibol, also known as King Rama IX, died last October aged 88 after ruling for seven decades. He played a pivotal role in maintaining stability during years of political upheaval and rapid development. At the start of the ceremony, officials dressed in blue and orange removed a symbolic golden urn from the Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall and carried it through the streets to a 50-metre (165-foot) -high royal crematorium in a nearby square.  The king s body was moved to the cremation area on Wednesday night from the palace, where it had been lying in state since his death.  New King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided over religious chanting in the afternoon prior to the cremation at the royal crematorium, which features nine spires to mark the reign of his father, the ninth member of Thailand s Chakri Dynasty. One of the late king s daughters, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, lit candles inside the crematorium. Thailand s supreme patriarch, Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong, led the religious ceremony, urging Thais to follow Buddhist teachings and  look beyond sadness . Royals from Bhutan, Britain, Japan, Lesotho, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, among others, attended the funeral ceremony on Thursday. Performances   including the Thai Khon masked dance   punctuated the evening and added a festive air to an otherwise somber day.  Officials in charge of the ceremony said about 110,000 people had gathered near the cremation area, with 200,000 more nearby. The realisation of the king s departure was now sinking in, said funeral ceremony volunteer Petchpailin Jaidee, 60.   The cremation makes it real,  she added.  I feel like he is truly gone, and it feels like the sky is falling.  A sum of $90 million has been set aside for the funeral, the likes of which has never been seen in Thailand, officials have said, even though King Bhumibol was portrayed as a frugal man despite being one of the world s wealthiest monarchs. Elsewhere in the Thai capital and around the country, 85 smaller replicas of the royal crematorium and more than 870 pavilions were built for mourners to lay sandalwood flowers and pay their final respects. Sites to offer sandalwood flowers were also set up in 94 countries to give overseas Thais a chance to say good-bye. Some onlookers clutched pictures of the late king and several prostrated themselves as the urn passed by.  I was very fortunate to have been born under the reign of King Rama IX,  said Piyamat Potsopho, 38, adding that she had waited for the funeral procession since Wednesday night. In Nonthaburi province north of Bangkok, a long queue of black-clad mourners waited to place sandalwood flowers in a mark of respect, as volunteers handed out food. Analysts say the king s death has left a large vacuum in the Thai psyche. King Bhumibol is often referred to as  father  by Thais and is credited with reviving the popularity of the monarchy. Days of heavy rain failed to deter mourners, many of whom pitched tents to secure the best access to the funeral. Many businesses around the Southeast Asian nation were shut, while Bangkok s old quarter was draped in garlands of flowers. Some government buildings placed potted marigolds around the  portraits of the king. King Bhumibol was born on a Monday, a day that Thais associate with the color yellow. The king s ashes and bones will be collected in an early morning ceremony on Friday. (For a graphic on 'Thai King's Funeral' click tmsnrt.rs/2leWzcQ)

Summary: दिवंगत राजा के अंतिम संस्कार में हजारों की भीड़ के रूप में बैंकॉक में काला सागर


BERLIN (Reuters) - Another German couple is believed to have been detained in Turkey this weekend and one of the individuals remains in police custody, while the other has been barred from leaving the country, a German foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. Spokesman Martin Schaefer told a news conference that Germany had no official information on the arrests that occurred on Sunday in Istanbul, but said the random nature of continued detentions by Ankara was cause for  the utmost concern .  The nightmare continues that is facing so many German citizens who wanted to do nothing but spend their vacation in Turkey,  said Schaefer.  It can hit anyone who thinks about entering Turkey. One doesn t believe oneself to be in danger, but suddenly one is in a Turkish prison.  Schaefer said those traveling to Turkey should be aware of the potential dangers, but said Berlin had no immediate plans to issue a formal travel warning.  We will not be drawn into using travel guidance in a political manner,  Schaefer said, adding that continued random arrests by Turkey of German citizens could force Berlin to issue such a warning. That would put Turkey on a par with Libya, Yemen or Syria, he added. The foreign ministry has urged German citizens since July 26 to exercise caution when traveling to Turkey. Before Monday s news of additional arrests, 10 Germans were in detention in Turkey, including German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, who has been held for over 200 days. Schaefer downplayed the relevance of Turkey s warning on Saturday that its citizens should take care when traveling to Germany, saying the warning had  nothing to do with the reality  of 80 million German citizens and ethnic Turks living here. EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, in separate remarks, rejected calls for breaking off discussions with Ankara about its accession to the European Union, saying such a move would only strengthen President Tayyip Erdogan, who is under fire from Brussels over his crackdown on opponents after a failed coup. Last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel, expected to win a fourth term in the Sept. 24 election, infuriated Erdogan s government when she called for a formal halt to Turkey s stalled EU accession talks. Later she conceded that such a move would have to be decided unanimously by the EU. Tensions between Berlin and Ankara have been running high for more than a year, fueled in part by conflicts over lawmaker visits to German troops stationed in Turkey and Ankara s crackdown on alleged supporters of last year s coup.

Summary: तुर्की में और जर्मन हिरासत मेंः जर्मन विदेश मंत्रालय


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump complained on Monday that the United States is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations, but said if the world body reforms how it operates, the investment would be worth it. Trump, who has frequently criticized the cost to the United States of supporting the NATO alliance, took his concerns directly to the ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council, who joined him at the White House for a lunch. “If we do a great job, I care much less about the budget because you’re talking about peanuts compared to the important work you’re doing,” Trump told the 15 council envoys.  The United States is the biggest U.N. contributor, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget. These assessed contributions are agreed by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. Trump said the U.S. share of those budgets was “unfair.”  He has proposed a 28 percent budget cut for diplomacy and foreign aid, which includes an unspecified reduction in funding for the United Nations and its agencies, as well as enforcement of a 25 percent cap on U.S. funding for peacekeeping operations.  “We need the member states to come together to eliminate inefficiency and bloat and make sure that no one nation shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden,” he said.  Trump’s remarks came as the General Assembly prepares to negotiate in the coming months the U.N. regular budget for both 2018 and 2019 and the peacekeeping budget from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met briefly with Trump at the White House on Friday for the first time since both took office earlier this year. The United States currently owes the United Nations $896 million for its core budget, U.N. officials said. The United States is also reviewing 16 U.N. peacekeeping missions as the annual mandates come up for renewal by the Security Council in a bid to cut costs. U.N. agencies such as the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the children’s agency UNICEF, and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), are funded by governments voluntarily. The State Department said this month it was ending funding for UNFPA, the international body’s agency focused on family planning, as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. Guterres warned that the cut could have “devastating effects” on vulnerable women and girls. In 2016, the United States was the top contributor to the UNDP’s core budget, with an $83 million donation; the leading donor to UNICEF’s core budget in 2015 with $132 million; and the fourth-largest donor to the UNFPA, giving $75 million.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी निवेश को सार्थक बनाने के लिए संयुक्त राष्ट्र से सुधार का आग्रह किया


NAIROBI (Reuters) - The U.S. military did not kill any civilians when it accompanied Somali forces on a deadly raid in August, U.S. Africa command said late on Wednesday, the first public statement on the findings from an investigation into the raid. The two-paragraph statement referred to a joint raid by U.S. and Somali troops on the village of Bariire. Eyewitnesses told Reuters that 10 civilians were killed and the military had been drawn into a local clan conflict. The survivors and relatives of the dead said they wanted blood money and an apology.  The U.S. military denied that any civilians were killed, although it did not offer any details on the investigation.  The statement described the dead as  enemy combatants  and the military later said in a Twitter message that they were members of al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda linked insurgency. Africa Command did not provide any proof for their claim.   After a thorough assessment of the Somali National Army-led operation near Bariire, Somalia, on Aug. 25, 2017 and the associated allegations of civilian casualties, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAF) has concluded that the only casualties were those of armed enemy combatants,  the two paragraph statement read.   Before conducting operations with partner forces, SOCAF conducts detailed planning and coordination to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties and to ensure compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict. U.S. Africa Command and the Department of Defense take allegations of civilian casualties very seriously.  Despite promising a public investigation, the embattled Somali government has made no public statement on the raid, and some Somali security officials said privately that it would not, for fear of alienating the powerful clan whose members were killed.  Some Somali security officials have suggested privately that the survivors and relatives had misrepresented the incident to try to get cash and political advantages for their clan.  The United States has stepped up operations in Somalia this year after President Donald Trump loosened restrictions on the military in March. A Navy SEAL was killed there in May, the first U.S. combat casualty there since a Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in 1993.  The United States has also ramped up its use of air strikes, conducting twice as many strikes this year as last year.  Somalia has been riven by civil war since 1991. It now has a weak, internationally-backed government, supported by African peacekeepers.

Summary: अमेरिकी सेना का कहना है कि अगस्त में सोमालिया के हमले में कोई नागरिक नहीं मारा गया


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Republican Donald Trump of aiding Islamic State recruitment, while Trump said she had helped weaken national security as bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey resonated on the U.S. presidential trail. Both candidates for the Nov. 8 election tried to use the weekend attacks to flex their credentials to protect America as world leaders gathered in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Clinton said Trump’s rhetoric against what he calls “radical Islamic terrorism” was helping Islamic State recruit more fighters.  “We know that a lot of the rhetoric we’ve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists,” she told reporters in White Plains, New York. ISIS is an acronym used for Islamic State. Trump fired back by saying Clinton bore some responsibility for the violence by not persuading President Barack Obama to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Obama and the Iraqi government failed to reach agreement at the end of 2011 on extending a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn. Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration. “Her attacks on me are all meant to deflect from her record of unleashing this monster,” Trump told a large crowd in Fort Myers, Florida. The campaigns weighed in after the bomb incidents and a stabbing attack at a mall in central Minnesota. In the most serious incident, a bomb went off in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, injuring 29 people. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb went off in Seaside Park, New Jersey. On Monday, an Afghanistan-born American suspected in some of the incidents was arrested in nearby Linden, New Jersey, after a gunbattle with police. Authorities had said earlier they wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, about the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings.   The incidents, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States’ most populous city on edge. Trump, who has in the past talked of the need for a resumption of harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding for terrorism suspects, said authorities need to “get information” from the bombing suspect “before it comes no longer timely,” but that instead he would probably be coddled. “Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he’ll probably even have room service knowing the way our country is,” he said. At a speech in Philadelphia on Monday, Clinton called for vigilance. “This is a fast-moving situation and a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world,” she said. Trump seized on a government report that said 858 immigrants from countries with which the United States has national security concerns who were pegged for deportation were mistakenly granted citizenship. He said the report showed the need for tighter control over who gets into the United States. “Immigration security is national security,” Trump said in Fort Myers. Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who worked on the National Security Council under Republican President George W. Bush, said Clinton was trying to argue Trump did not pass the commander in chief test. “When bad news happens, she wants to be able to say, this is why you need a steady hand on the tiller,” Feaver said. The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepared for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, east of the city. With world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. conclave, Clinton was expected to meet leaders of Japan, Egypt and Ukraine later on Monday, while Trump was expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State mainly through air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News on Monday morning that he expected more attacks.  “I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country,” he said.

Summary: बम विस्फोटों के बाद, क्लिंटन और ट्रम्प ने राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा पर आरोप लगाया


TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada s indigenous population is growing four times faster than the rest the country, census data showed on Wednesday, marking a dramatic increase in the ranks of people who have long struggled with poverty and marginalization. A growing number of Canadians identifying themselves as indigenous, a higher fertility rate and a higher life expectancy for indigenous people than in the past help explain the rapid growth rate, Statistics Canada said.  Canada s indigenous population grew 42.5 percent in the 10  years to 2016 to 1.7 million people, compared to 11 percent growth for Canada as a whole, Statistics Canada said, in data released from the 2016 census.   The findings show a young population, with an average age of 32.1 years, compared with 40.9 for the non-aboriginal population.  The census, which showed indigenous people accounting for nearly 5 percent of the population overall, also found a younger generation significantly more likely to be raised in foster care. Indigenous children made up 7.7 percent of all Canadians under 5 but more than half of the children were in foster homes, according to the census data. The census also found that one fifth of the indigenous population lives in over-crowded housing, and 44 percent of indigenous people on reserves were living in homes that needed major repairs.  Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had failed its indigenous people. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trudeau acknowledged the dark history of Canada s colonization as one of  humiliation, neglect and abuse  and promised to do more. Statistics Canada estimated that by 2036, indigenous people will comprise one-fifth of the populations of the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan - potentially giving them greater political clout.  Canada s indigenous people come from hundreds of nations and bands, with more than 70 distinct languages. They include First Nations, M tis, people of mixed indigenous and European background, and Inuit, who largely inhabit Canada s north. Population growth between 2006 and 2016 was highest for M tis, at 51.2 percent. That appeared to result, at least in part,  from more people calling themselves M tis rather than from a mushrooming M tis birth rate, Statistics Canada figures suggest. In 2011, M tis women s birth rate was just 12.5 percent higher than that of non-indigenous women.   I think these are people who are kind of dipping their toe into these identity waters,  said Chris Andersen, a professor and dean of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.

Summary: कनाडा की स्वदेशी आबादी में नाटकीय वृद्धि हुईः जनगणना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scandals enveloping U.S. President Donald Trump have left Republican lawmakers and lobbyists increasingly gloomy about the prospects for passing sweeping tax cuts, a rollback of Obamacare  and an ambitious infrastructure program. With the White House and both chambers of the U.S. Congress under Republican control, party leaders and their allies in the business community had expected to get quick traction on their plans, with corporate tax cuts among the top priorities. But four months into Trump’s tenure, only limited progress has been made. The House of Representatives passed a measure to rewrite Obamacare, but the Senate is only in the very early stages of considering the issue. Lawmakers are just beginning their push on tax reform. In addition to congressional probes that are taking place into possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign team and Russia, the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday named former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate the matter. “It’s the elephant in the room right now,” said Republican Representative Pat Tiberi. “The smartest minds in the White House know that, whether it’s tax reform or anything else on the public policy front. It’s hard enough to get things done in the U.S. Capitol under the best of circumstances.” The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on tax reform on Thursday. Key administration and congressional leaders met Wednesday afternoon to discuss a path forward. But they remain a long way from signing a bill into law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that “less drama from the White House” was needed to advance legislative priorities.  Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters on Wednesday that the legislative process had “pretty much ground to a halt” amid the tumult in Washington. Republican Representative Steve Womack said it was important for committees investigating the Russia matter to move forward expeditiously to both ensure that the public gets answers and to clear the way for Congress to move on to other issues. “Any time we get bogged down on these kinds of issues unrelated to the governing agenda, it serves to delay and to sometimes complicate the real job that we have to do for the American people,” Womack said. At a news conference on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged his colleagues to “seize this moment” to pass tax reform. But instead of discussing tax rates and structures, Ryan was faced with a series of questions about James Comey, who Trump fired as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week, and the Russia investigation. Several lobbyists said that in the past week their corporate clients have grown more cautious on the prospects for tax reform but still hope that at least a small package can be approved.  “My worry level has grown considerably,” one lobbyist said. Some lobbyists suggested that Congress could consider focusing on tax breaks and perhaps leave aside the comprehensive overhaul of the tax code that they had originally hoped for.  “When this all started, the thing we heard from the Hill was ‘transformative tax reform,’” said a strategist who consults with major companies focused on tax reform. “I think as time passes, tax reform is going to look much different, that it may be begin to look more like tax cuts than tax reform.”

Summary: रिपब्लिकन को चिंता है कि ट्रम्प घोटाले विधायी एजेंडे को बर्बाद कर सकते हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies launched air strikes against rebels north of the city of Hama on Thursday after recapturing villages lost to the insurgents in an attack earlier in the week, a war monitor said.  A series of strikes after midnight hit areas in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun, Kafr Nabil, Kafr Zeita and Maarat al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.  The offensive by jihadist and other insurgent groups this week was their biggest near Hama since March, but the army late on Wednesday retook the villages it lost in the attack, the Observatory said.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has gained momentum in the six-year war since driving rebels from Aleppo in December. He has been aided by Russia s air force and Iran-backed Shi ite militias including Lebanon s Hezbollah. However, insurgents still hold large, populous areas in northwest and southwest Syria and smaller pockets elsewhere in the country.  Tuesday s attack north of Hama revived hostilities in the northwestern area near the Turkish border that has been relatively calm in recent months as Russian-led diplomacy seeks to shore up ceasefires across western Syria.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना ने हामा के पास विद्रोहियों पर हमला कियाः मॉनिटर


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is less likely to leave the European Union without an agreed exit deal after last week s decision by the European Commission to recommend that talks move on to the next phase, Brexit minister David Davis said on Thursday.  I think no deal has become massively less probable after the decisions of last Friday - and that s a good thing because the best deal is a tariff free, non-tariff barrier-free arrangement,  Davis told parliament. He also said the government would have to think about how to respond to a decision by parliament to hand lawmakers more say over a final exit deal with the EU.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ समझौते के बाद ब्रेक्सिट 'कोई सौदा नहीं' की संभावना काफी कम हैः डेविस


ANKARA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing partial implementation of President Donald Trump’s travel ban has stirred anger and confusion in parts of the Middle East, with would-be visitors  worried about their travel plans and their futures. The blanket 90-day ban on visitors from six Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - and a 120-day ban on all refugees was completely blocked by lower courts after Trump issued it on March 6, saying it was needed to prevent terrorism attacks.  On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled the bans could proceed, though only for foreigners with no “bona fide relationship” with an American entity or person, and it did not specify what that meant. The ruling left some in the Middle East wondering if they would be able to enter the United States. “It’s a big disappointment for me,” said a 52-year-old Sudanese man in the capital Khartoum, who believed he would now be rejected for a visa to visit relatives in the United States. The man, who declined to be identified, said he wouldn’t know the outcome until at least Sunday, when the U.S. Embassy opens again after a string of national holidays. “I’ve traveled to America before and I don’t know why I’m prevented from traveling (now). I didn’t violate American law during my previous visits,” he told Reuters. At the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, where there is normally a queue out the door of people waiting to process visa applications, a Reuters reporter saw few people. Middle East airlines have yet to receive a directive from the United States following the ruling, industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The sources said U.S. flights would continue to operate as normal until guidance is received. Major airlines based in the region include Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways. Iranian nationals attempting to get visas at the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara - Washington does not have an embassy in Iran - also expressed concern.  “What is the reason behind this law? It’s all very unclear,” said Masoud, a 28-year-old engineer who was applying for a student visa after being accepted into a doctoral program at a university in Dallas, Texas. “This is not fair.”  Nearby, another Iranian national, 27-year-old Nima, also said he was hoping to get a visa to pursue an advanced degree in the United States. “I just hope that I can get my visa soon and on time,” he told Reuters. “We don’t know anything about where this may lead, but I wish they would extract Iran from this country list.”

Summary: पुनर्जीवित अमेरिकी यात्रा प्रतिबंध ने मध्य पूर्व में भ्रम, गुस्सा पैदा किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings and President Donald Trump will meet to discuss efforts to lower prescription drug prices on Wednesday, Cummings, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s top Democrat, said in a statement on Tuesday. Trump earlier on Tuesday said he is developing a plan that will encourage competition in the drug industry and bring down prices for medicines.

Summary: दवाओं की कीमतों को लेकर डेमोक्रेटिक सांसद कमिंग्स और ट्रंप करेंगे मुलाकात


(This version of the Sept. 14 story corrects to say that Weiner was defeated in the 2013 mayoral election, did not drop out, in last paragraph) By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner has asked a judge not to sentence him to prison after he admitted to sending sexually explicit messages to a teenage girl, igniting a “sexting” scandal that played a role in last year’s U.S. presidential election. In a filing in Manhattan federal court late on Wednesday, Weiner’s lawyers said Weiner acted out of the “depths of an uncontrolled sickness.” They argued Weiner should be sentenced to probation, including mental health treatment, and perform community service. Weiner, 53, submitted his own letter to the court in which he apologized and said he was continuing to seek treatment. “I don’t know how I will be able to make amends to the young person who I dragged into my sordid mess,” he said. Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, an aide to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, has filed for divorce. She also submitted a letter to the court asking it to consider the impact of the sentence on the couple’s son.  Weiner pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a minor. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, though prosecutors said as part of a plea deal that they would consider a term between 21 and 27 months “fair and appropriate.” The investigation into Weiner’s exchanges with the teenage girl roiled the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in its final days, when authorities found emails on Weiner’s laptop from Abedin. The discovery prompted James Comey, then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to announce in late October that the agency was reviewing the messages to determine whether to reopen its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as U.S. secretary of state. Clinton has said the announcement contributed to her upset loss to Republican Donald Trump, who had accused her of endangering national security by using the private server. Comey testified before Congress in May that the emails found on Weiner’s computer included classified information. Trump fired Comey in May amid the FBI’s probe into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to defeat Clinton, a claim the president has denied. Weiner served parts of New York City for 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before resigning in 2011, when it emerged that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with women. Two years later, he ran for New York City mayor, but was defeated in the Democratic primary after more lewd messages became public.

Summary: Ex-U.S. कांग्रेस सदस्य वेनर किशोर 'सेक्सटिंग' मामले में जेल से बचना चाहते हैं


TEHRAN (Reuters) - All parties to the Iran nuclear deal should adhere to their commitments, Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan said in a joint statement signed on Wednesday. The three countries also agreed to increase cooperation in the oil and gas industry, including in production as well as oil and oil products swaps, the statement said.

Summary: ईरान, रूस और अजरबैजान ने परमाणु समझौते के लिए प्रतिबद्धता का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rancorous political debate over sexual identity unexpectedly prompted the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to reject an energy and water spending bill on Thursday after Democrats attached an amendment to protect the rights of transgender people. The legislation, which would provide funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, failed on a 112-305 vote, with 130 Republicans and 175 Democrats opposing the legislation. The outcome was such a surprise that the House Appropriations Committee initially announced the bill had passed and was forced to retract the statement.  Democrats blamed Republicans for opposing a Democratic amendment to bar federal contractors from government work if they discriminate against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Democrats failed to attach the same measure to a separate House spending bill last week. “In turning against a far-reaching funding bill simply because it affirms protections for LGBT Americans, Republicans have once again lain bare the depths of their bigotry,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. But Republicans accused Democrats of working to sabotage the House appropriations process by voting 6-175 against the bill after they had succeeded in amending it. House Speaker Paul Ryan said his own decision not to keep legislation under tight control had created conditions for “more amendments from both sides of the aisle ... and, yes, more unpredictability.”   “That’s what happened here today. It’s unfortunate, because this is a very good bill,” Ryan said. He vowed to continue pushing the energy and water bill, along with other appropriations measures. Democrats said they opposed two Republican amendments. One would prevent Washington from witholding federal funds from North Carolina over its law on LGBT bathroom use. The other would have stopped the Democrats’ LGBT amendment from affecting religious workplace exemptions. The White House had already threatened to veto the legislation over other provisions that Democrats said would undermine the Clean Water Act.

Summary: लैंगिक पहचान को लेकर कांग्रेस में हंगामा, खर्च विधेयक डूबा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senate leaders, struggling to keep a seven-year promise to end Obamacare, turned their focus on Wednesday to passing a slimmed-down “skinny” repeal measure that would throw the issue into negotiations with the House of Representatives. The last-ditch effort came after senators voted 55-45 against a straight repeal of Obamacare, which would have provided for a two-year delay in implementation to give Congress time to work out a replacement. Seven Republicans opposed the measure. It was the Senate’s second failure in 24 hours to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which expanded health insurance to about 20 million people, many of them low-income. On Tuesday, senators rejected the repeal-and-replace plan Republicans had worked on since May. The failures underscored the party’s deep divisions on the role of government in helping provide access to healthcare as the Senate conducted its second day of a freewheeling debate that could stretch through the week. Republicans said they were still working out what would be in a skinny repeal, which could simply eliminate mandates requiring individuals and employers to obtain or provide health insurance, and abolish a tax on medical device manufacturers. Senator John Thune, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said the party was trying to “figure out what the traffic will bear, in terms of getting 50 of our members to vote for things that will repeal as much of Obamacare as possible.” Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Any Senate legislation would be enough to kick the issue to a special negotiating committee with the House, which passed its own version in May. If that panel can agree on a new bill, the full House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, would again have to approve the legislation - a process that could last months. “I think people would look at it not necessarily based on its content, but as a forcing mechanism to cause the two sides of the building to try to solve it together,” Republican Senator Bob Corker said. “That’s going to be the last chance.” Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters there was growing support for a slimmed-down approach that would kick the can to negotiators. “I think there is plenty of agreement,” he said. President Donald Trump has come down hard on his fellow Republicans for failing to act on Obamacare, something he promised repeatedly to repeal and replace in his election campaign last year. Some Senate Republicans were growing uncomfortable with the chaotic debate. “We’ve got to have a more organized process,” Republican Senator Ron Johnson said, noting the skinny repeal would simply delay acting on the core issue. “We just don’t have the courage and really the intestinal fortitude to suck it up and ... do this right.” Late on Wednesday, only 10 senators voted for a largely symbolic amendment stating lawmakers’ commitment to preserve a part of Obamacare that helped states expand the government’s Medicaid insurance program for the poor to cover a wider net of people.  Democrats refused to approve any amendment to a bill they dislike and the vote primarily highlighted deep divisions among Republicans. The amendment was introduced by Senator Dean Heller, who faces a tough re-election fight in Nevada next year, and supported by Senators Susan Collins, John McCain and other party moderates who have expressed skepticism about the repeal-and-replace process. Trump attacked one of those senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, by name in an early morning tweet on Wednesday. Murkowski, one of two party members who voted on Tuesday against opening debate on a bill to end Obamacare, told MSNBC she was not worried about the political fallout. “Every day shouldn’t be about winning elections. How about just doing a little bit of governing around here?” she said. Healthcare industry organizations are similarly troubled and have urged a more bipartisan effort. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which represents health insurers across the country, said that if the individual mandate is repealed, it must be replaced with incentives for people to buy health insurance and keep it year-round. The mandate is considered critical to helping hold down the cost of premiums, because it means that healthy people as well as the sick, who incur high medical costs, buy insurance. The group also said the government needed to fund subsidies for medical expenses and provide funds to cover high-cost patients. Anthem Inc (ANTM.N), a health insurer with more than 1 million customers in Obamacare individual insurance plans, threatened to further shrink its 2018 market participation because of uncertainty about the government paying for the subsidies that make the plans affordable for millions of Americans.

Summary: अन्य विकल्प विफल होने के कारण सीनेट का लक्ष्य 'दुबले' ओबामाकेयर को निरस्त करना है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran said on Friday it would retaliate against any action targeting its armed forces and accused the United States of violating the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Tehran and six major powers. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected later on Friday to take a major step against the nuclear deal, laying out a more aggressive approach to Iranian activities in the Middle East that risks upsetting U.S. ties with European allies.  Iran will strongly respond to any action against its military forces, including the Revolutionary Guards Corps,  Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by state TV. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that steps Trump is reviewing as part of a broader strategy also include imposing targeted sanctions in response to Iran s ballistic missile tests, cyber espionage and backing of Lebanese Hezbollah and other groups on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. The U.S. administration earlier this year considered, but then put on hold, adding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran s most powerful internal and external security force, to the U.S. list. Qasemi said Iran will continue building up its ballistic missile capability in defiance of Western criticism, with Washington saying the Islamic Republic s stance violates the nuclear deal with the powers.  Iran s missile program is only for defensive purposes ... we are determined and serious about expanding it,  he said. Qasemi also warned about possibility of pulling out of the deal.  Iran always acts based on its interests and will continue to do so. If necessary, we can also withdraw from the deal,  Qasemi said.

Summary: ईरान का कहना है कि वह अपने सैन्य बलों के खिलाफ किसी भी कार्रवाई का कड़ा जवाब देगाः टीवी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected New Zealand-based internet mogul Kim Dotcom s challenge to the U.S. government s bid to seize assets held by him and others involved in the now-defunct streaming website Megaupload. The justices left in place a lower court ruling that the U.S. government could seize up to $40 million in assets held outside the United States as part of a civil forfeiture action being pursued in parallel with criminal charges for alleged copyright violations and money laundering. Dotcom and several other defendants have contested U.S. attempts to extradite them from New Zealand. German-born entrepreneur Dotcom is wanted by U.S. law enforcement authorities on copyright and money-laundering allegations related to Megaupload, which was shut down in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. He was indicted the same year along with fellow Megaupload executives.  It s no surprise because the chance to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court is very slim in general,  Dotcom said in an email to Reuters.  The seizure is also being challenged in courts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, whose authorities have restrained Dotcom s assets at the U.S. government s request. Dotcom s lawyer Ira Rothken said that his team was  cautiously optimistic  about those court proceedings.   Kim Dotcom has never been to the United States, is presumed innocent, and is lawfully opposing extradition...yet the DOJ  (Department of Justice) by merely labeling him as a fugitive gets a judgment to take all of his assets with no due process,  Rothken said in an email. U.S. authorities say Dotcom and his colleagues cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million in profits by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material including movies and TV shows. The U.S. government sought up to $175 million in assets but the defendants say the assets in question are worth only around $40 million. The assets include two houses, luxury cars and bank accounts. A New Zealand court ruled in February that Dotcom and three other New Zealand-based defendants - Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk - could be extradited to the United States to face the charges. Two other indicted Megaupload associates, Sven Echternach and Julius Bencko, who live in Germany and Slovakia respectively, have not been arrested, according to court filings. The defendants contested the U.S. government s forfeiture claims, saying in part that it could not seize property under the jurisdiction of a foreign court. The U.S. government s legal argument, adopted by the appeals court, is that the defendants are fugitives seeking to avoid criminal prosecution in the United States and therefore are not allowed to contest the forfeiture. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Dotcom in August 2016, and he asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.

Summary: अमेरिकी सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने न्यूजीलैंड स्थित इंटरनेट मुगल की अपील को खारिज कर दिया


(Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker has called for a congressional committee to hold a hearing on legislation that would make it easier for law enforcement to identify legal owners of shell companies to curb future abuse. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, made the request in a letter dated April 20 to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas.  The letter, seen by Reuters, came weeks after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists worked with media outlets including The Guardian and BBC to report on 11.5 million leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca.  The documents contained information on about 214,000 offshore companies and showed how individuals and corporations were able to hide assets and avoid taxes. The documents have come to be known as the Panama Papers. Maloney wrote in a letter that data from the leak also “highlight the ease with which criminals and corrupt officials can use anonymous shell companies to hide assets from law enforcement.”  A spokeswoman for Rep. Hensarling did not respond to a request for comment. “It is important to remember that for individuals and companies that have been blacklisted by the U.S. government, anonymous shell companies are one of the only ways for them to effectively move their money around the world - money that is often associated with corruption, drug trafficking, and even terrorist activity,” Maloney said in the letter. In February, Maloney and Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, reintroduced legislation that would require the U.S. Treasury Department to collect information about owners of shell companies, in the event that states are not already doing so. Another version of the bill, sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, would require states to identify and collect information about legal owners of companies formed through state laws. In an April 14 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, Whitehouse also called for a hearing. Neither Maloney nor the Whitehouse have authority to schedule hearings. Earlier versions have been circulating in Congress since at least 2008 when then-Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, sought to crack down on shell company abuse in states with liberal incorporation laws. States have fiercely opposed efforts that would require them to collect identifying information, calling for the Internal Revenue Service to do so instead, among other alternatives. Separately, the Treasury Department inched closer on Friday toward finalizing a rule requiring banks to identify legal owners of shell companies.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसद मुखौटा कंपनी के दुरुपयोग पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए विधेयक पर सुनवाई चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and top Republicans in Congress are about to show how aggressively they intend to cut the corporate tax rate, while trying to avoid the appearance of favoring the wealthy. The “Big Six” team of Republican tax policy makers is expected to release a plan on Wednesday targeting tax cuts for businesses, but offering few clues about how to replace reduced federal revenues, said lobbyists and congressional sources. Under pressure from corporate America, the team is expected to call for a corporate income tax target rate possibly within a range of 18-23 percent, down from the current rate of 35 percent. But the Big Six, which includes top Trump aides and congressional Republican leaders, is expected to refrain from cutting the top individual tax rate of 39.6 percent, in a risky step that many Republicans in the House of Representatives could find hard to swallow. “They’re not going to cut the highest income tax rate. They’re not,” predicted Stephen Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. Moore helped write Trump’s campaign tax plan. Overhauling the tax code was a key pledge for Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign. But after eight months in office, he has made only limited progress. Washington has achieved no major tax overhaul since 1986. Trump portrays lower corporate taxes as a boon to workers, saying they would lead to more jobs and higher salaries. A rate cut on corporate profits could also be used to benefit shareholders and to offer up more executive bonuses, however. “The details leaking out of the Big Six meetings paint a clear picture of an unprecedented tax giveaway for the most fortunate and biggest corporations,” Senator Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said this week. The Big Six — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and two tax committee chairmen — have been working on their plan for months.  But they are still undecided on key issues, including whether to let businesses write off new investments immediately; how to lower tax rates for small businesses; and whether to cut middle-class taxes simply by doubling the standard deduction for individuals and families, according to lobbyists. Resolving such issues will help determine how aggressively Republicans can cut corporate taxes. Lobbyists said they do not expect the Big Six to offer many details about the tax loopholes and deductions that could be eliminated to help pay for tax cuts. “Our expectation is that it will be a bold transformative tax reform. That would mean a dramatic corporate rate cut, an aggressive stripping out of set-asides and special interest carve-outs and simplification,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, a political group backed by billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch. White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom declined to comment on the blueprint. “We have always said that tax reform will include lowering rates, closing loopholes and broadening the base by ending special interest tax breaks. Those priorities will be reflected in the plan,” she said.  The Big Six will likely address the estimated $2.6 trillion in U.S. corporate profits held overseas by requiring companies to bring the money home at rates of 3.5 percent for reinvested profits and 8.75 percent for on cash and equivalents, lobbyists said.  To offset lost revenue, the Trump administration plans to forecast a flood of new tax revenue in coming years, based on aggressive assumptions of tax-fueled economic expansion. But Senate Republicans have shown signs of moving away from such “dynamic” scoring of any tax legislation impact.  Two senators, including a prominent fiscal hawk, agreed this week to a “static” score that could allow tax reform to lose up to $1.5 trillion over the next decade. Senate Republicans also are likely to avoid budget baseline changes to generate savings for tax reform on paper. That could well mean the Big Six plan would balloon the federal budget deficit. “Without those, the price goes up. There’s no other way to look at it,” said John Gimigliano, a former House Ways and Means Committee tax counsel who leads federal legislative and regulatory services at KPMG LLP.

Summary: ट्रम्प, रिपब्लिकन व्यवसायों के लिए कर कटौती का प्रदर्शन करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is likely to maintain a big presence in Syria despite Russian President Vladimir Putin s announcement of a partial military withdrawal, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State insurgent group said on Friday.  I ve seen the announcement that they ... are going to withdraw from Syria, but that remains to be seen,  U.S. envoy Brett McGurk told reporters.  I think they will retain a fairly significant presence.

Summary: अमेरिकी राजदूत का कहना है कि रूस से सीरिया में बड़ी उपस्थिति बनाए रखने की उम्मीद है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican tax law writer in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled new tax legislation on Friday that he said would help people cope with hurricane devastation in Texas, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and other areas. “My bill specifically helps hurricane victims keep more of their paycheck, deduct more of the cost of their...property damage and have more affordable and immediate access to money they have saved for their retirement,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in a statement accompanying the measure.  “The legislation will also encourage even more Americans to donate generously to help those in need,” he added.

Summary: हाउस रिपब्लिकन ने तूफान पीड़ितों की सहायता के लिए कर विधेयक का अनावरण किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton pivoted to a general election match-up against Republican candidate Donald Trump on Thursday, saying he is dangerously unpredictable and not qualified to be president. Confident that she is finally close to defeating U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont for the Democratic nomination, Clinton turned heavy fire on Trump, who has been running about even with her in national polls of voters looking ahead to the Nov. 8 presidential election. On the Republican side, Trump promoted top aide Paul Manafort to serve as campaign manager and chief strategist, the Trump campaign said. Corey Lewandowski, the Trump aide who has been campaign manager, retains that title and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations, the campaign said. In addition, Trump has hired veteran Republican lawyer A.B. Culvahouse to help vet potential vice presidential running mates, a source close to the campaign said. In a CNN interview, Clinton used the example of the apparent downing of an EgyptAir plane from Paris to Cairo to say that Trump would lack the skills to bring together U.S. allies to respond to global threats. “I know how hard this job is and I know we need steadiness, as well as strength and smarts in it, and I have concluded that he is not qualified to be president of the United States,” Clinton said. Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee, has been intensifying his criticism of Clinton by lobbing personal attacks at her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.  Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said she would resolutely refuse to respond to Trump’s goading. “He can say whatever he wants,” she said. But she said the EgyptAir crash reinforces the need for American leadership and that Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States has sent the wrong signal to countries that Washington will need to work with in the fight against Islamic militants. “He says a lot of things that are provocative, that actually make the important task of building this coalition, bringing everybody to the table and defeating terrorism more difficult,” she said. “It sends a message of disrespect and it sends a message that makes the situation inside those countries more difficult.” Clinton suggested the Democratic race was over because of her nearly insurmountable lead in delegates to the nominating convention, despite Sanders’ insistence on staying in the race. “I will be the nominee for my party,” she said. “That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won’t be.” She said Sanders will have to eventually help her unify the Democratic Party after the prolonged nomination fight. “I am absolutely committed to doing my part, more than my part. But Senator Sanders has to do his part,” she said. The Sanders campaign rebuffed Clinton’s nudge to get out of the race, pointing to his recent victories. “In the past three weeks voters in Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon respectfully disagreed with Secretary Clinton. We expect voters in the remaining eight contests also will disagree,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said. Trump stepped up efforts to rally Republican loyalists behind his campaign after winning a divisive primary fight that left the party ruptured. On Capitol Hill, Manafort and other Trump aides met with conservatives in the House of Representatives who are members of the Freedom Caucus group and canvassed them for policy ideas. “Manafort was reaching out for ideas” on policy, and several Freedom Caucus members made suggestions, said Republican Representative Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee. “It went very well, it was encouraging. I think the Trump team recognizes the relevance of the Freedom Caucus, and the influence they have. I think actually, despite some early skepticism by some members, I think the (Freedom Caucus) board received Manafort and his representation of Trump very well,” DesJarlais said. Manafort also met with U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a Tea Party Republican who was a big backer of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for president. Lee has expressed some concerns about Trump’s candidacy.  A spokesman for Lee said U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a key Trump adviser, was also at the meeting.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने ट्रम्प को राष्ट्रपति बनने के लिए बहुत अस्थिर बताया


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is preparing to transfer over 400 million pounds ($527 million) to Iran as it seeks the release of a jailed Iranian-British aid worker, The Telegraph newspaper reported, citing unidentified British sources. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Britain has sought legal advice over whether it could transfer the funds which it owes as a result of a disputed arms deal in the 1970s. Diplomats told the newspaper that any payment should not be linked to the fate of Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters. It operates independently of Reuters News.  A spokesman for Britain s Foreign Office could not be reached for comment out of normal business hours.

Summary: ब्रिटेन ईरान को 40 करोड़ पाउंड हस्तांतरित करने की तैयारी कर रहा है-टेलीग्राफ अखबार


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday a group of experts on freedom of expression will visit Mexico at the end of November to assess the safety of journalists in the country, one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters. David Kaye, U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, and Edison Lanza, who holds the same position at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will visit from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4 after an invitation by the government.  This visit is about the crisis the press is going through in Mexico, the exponential increase in violence,  said Leopoldo Maldonado, the protection and defense program officer in Mexico at Article 19, a freedom of expression advocacy group. The visit comes as Mexico s journalists live through one of the worst waves of violence in recent history, with at least 11 reporters murdered in 2017, the same number killed in 2016. Over the past 17 years, 111 journalists have been killed in Mexico, more than one third of them under the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto. Reporters are also having to contend with other forms of intimidation. In June, activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists filed a criminal complaint after experts found that their smartphones had been infected with advanced spying software sold only to the government. The Mexican government said at the time that there was no proof it was responsible for the spying and that it condemned any attempt to violate the privacy of any person. The rights experts will travel to Mexico City and the states of Guerrero, Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa to meet legislative, executive and judicial authorities plus journalists and representatives of civil society, the U.N. said. Reporters Without Borders ranks Mexico at 147 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index, below Venezuela, South Sudan and Bangladesh, and one place above Russia.{rsf.org/en/ranking#}

Summary: पत्रकार की हत्या के बाद संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार दल मेक्सिको का दौरा करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has launched a 12-city partnership to combat spikes in violent crime as part of President Donald Trump’s vow to support law enforcement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday. The program features a three-year initiative to help coordinate crime-fighting efforts among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors, Sessions said in unveiling the new National Public Safety Partnership. Trump, a Republican, made tough-on-crime rhetoric a focus of his 2016 campaign. The new program stems from an executive order he signed in February mandating that the Justice Department provide support for local law enforcement. “We have a duty to make sure our country does not abandon all the progress we have made against crime over the past few decades,” Sessions said at a national meeting of law enforcement officials. His remarks were released by the Justice Department. Sessions did not disclose any new funding for the initiative, which will focus on gun crime, drug trafficking and gang violence. The federal government will provide help in areas that include training, crime analysis, gun violence, community engagement and investigations. A spike in violent crime in 2015 continued into the first half of last year, with big cities seeing an average increase in murders of almost 22 percent compared with the same period the year before, Sessions said. The dozen cities chosen for the program are Birmingham, Alabama; Indianapolis; Memphis, Tennessee; Toledo, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati; Houston; Jackson, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; and Springfield, Illinois.  Sessions said more communities could be announced for the partnership this year. The 12 cities were picked because they have levels of violence well above the national average and are ready to receive training and aid, Justice Department spokesman Devin O’Malley said. Federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials also helped choose them, he said. Chicago and nine other cities that were in a pilot program called the Violence Reduction Network will also take part in the initiative. Trump had vowed in January to bring federal intervention to bear to quell gun violence in Chicago.

Summary: अमेरिकी अटॉर्नी जनरल ने अपराध से लड़ने के लिए 12 शहरों की साझेदारी का अनावरण किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders on Friday underscored the importance of working together in NATO and chided Russia for its bombing of Syria and failure to implement a Ukrainian peace accord. The White House statement followed a meeting at which Obama sought to reassure his counterparts from Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy and France that his successor Donald Trump would not break up the transatlantic alliance. Trump raised concerns during the campaign when he said he could withhold military aid from NATO allies if they had not met their defense commitments and said he would forge closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “President Obama expressed confidence that, even at a moment of great change, democratic values have done more to advance human freedom and progress than any other system in history, and will continue to do so going forward,” the White House said. The leaders agreed on the need to work together to stabilize the Middle East and North Africa, as well as securing diplomatic resolutions for the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine. European leaders had sought Obama’s support as they prepare to extend sanctions imposed on Russia by Washington and Brussels in 2014 following its intervention in eastern Ukraine, and consider fresh sanctions over Russia’s actions in Syria, where it backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that no decisions had been made about extending the Ukraine sanctions, but actions to implement the Minsk peace accord were not sufficient. Merkel said the leaders discussed their concerns about Syria during their meeting on Friday, but did not talk about imposing Syria-related sanctions against Russia that have been sought by the Syrian opposition. Obama and the EU leaders called for an immediate end to attacks on rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo by Syrian government forces and their allies Russia and Iran that monitoring groups say have killed dozens this week alone. Syrian opposition officials on Friday met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and other officials and urged them to focus on protecting civilians and lifting the siege, said Anas al-Abdah, who heads the Syrian National Coalition. He said he had hoped for stronger words from Obama and the EU leaders, and called for Washington and Brussels to put more “real pressure” on Russia and Iran. U.S. and EU officials have stressed the need for a political solution, including the departure of Assad, but Trump has said he views the fight against Islamic State as a bigger priority. EU leaders are expected to extend sanctions related to Ukraine in December or January. Obama and the European leaders “unanimously agreed on the continued need for Russia to fully meet its commitments under the Minsk agreements and that Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia must remain in place until it does so,” the White House said. They said a durable ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was needed to move forward with free and fair local elections in the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Summary: ओबामा और यूरोपीय संघ के नेता एक साथ रहने और रूस पर सख्त बने रहने पर सहमत हुए


MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines  top police commander on Tuesday said he would not prevent officers involved in the country s bloody war on drugs from seeking church protection and testifying to their alleged abuses, providing they told the truth. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa was reacting to a statement from a senior Catholic prelate expressing  willingness to grant accommodation, shelter, and protection  to police involved in unlawful killings during the 15-month-old crackdown. More than 3,800 people have been killed during President Rodrigo Duterte s ruthless campaign, in what police say are anti-drugs operations during which suspects had violently resisted arrest. Human rights group believe that figure, provided by the Philippine National Police (PNP), misrepresents the scale of the bloodshed, pointing to large numbers of killings by shadowy gunmen. The PNP denies allegations that assassins are operating in league with some of its officers to kill drug users.  The pill may be bitter but we can swallow the bitter pill if that pill is true,  dela Rosa told reporters, adding that he had no information that any PNP members had approached the church and wanted to speak out.  Even if we are at the receiving end, we can take it as long as it is the truth, not just fabricated. The truth is important.  The PNP and Duterte have been on the defensive in recent weeks as scrutiny intensifies over the conduct of mostly plain-clothes officers during what the PNP calls  buy bust  sting operations. Duterte has several times stated that he has never told police to kill, unless in self defense. His critics, however, accuse him of inciting murder in his frequent, truculent speeches. The killings by police of two teenagers during August is the subject of an ongoing Senate inquiry. Opinion polls released in recent days, which were compiled in June, show doubt among Filipinos about police accounts. [nL4N1MD2U8] [nL4N1M82HN] Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), on Monday said some police sought church help and were struggling to come to terms with their actions. He did not identify them, or say how many sought protection. He said the church would gauge their sincerity and honesty and establish their motives for coming forward. Priests would help  within the bounds of church and civil laws , but would not influence them to testify.   Their consciences are troubling them,  Villegas said.  They have expressed their desire to come out in the open about their participating in extrajudicial killings and summary executions.  Some Senators applauded the bishops  move and urged police to testify.  I welcome the willingness of these involved policemen to finally speak about their actual involvement in the extrajudicial killings,  Grace Poe said in a statement.  I laud the church in opening its arms wide to provide sanctuary for them.  Priests are among the most influential dissenters to take on Duterte, having initially been silent when the drugs killings started. Some churches have given sanctuary to drug users and witnesses of killings, while some priests have denounced the bloodshed during sermons and called for bells to be rang nightly in protest. [nL4N1M32IY]

Summary: फिलीपींस के पुलिस प्रमुख का कहना है कि वे पुलिस को चर्च अभयारण्य की तलाश करने से नहीं रोकेंगे


MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court said on Friday it has exchanged a 21-month prison sentence handed to Soccer player Lionel Messi for tax fraud last July for a quarter-of-a-million-euro fine.  The Barcelona player and his father were found guilty by a Catalan court last year of three counts of tax fraud to the tune of 4.1 million euros ($4.68 million) over income earned from image rights.  The father also had his 15-month sentence exchanged for a fine of 180,000 euros, the court said.  Neither Messi or his father would have served time in jail following the original ruling as defendants without a previous conviction are permitted to serve any sentence of under two years on probation.

Summary: फुटबॉल खिलाड़ी मेसी को जुर्माने के बदले जेल की सजा सुनाई गई


ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece must speed up winter preparations at refugee camps on islands in the Aegean Sea where there has been a sharp rise in arrivals, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. Nearly 5,000 refugees, mostly Syrian or Iraqi families, crossed from Turkey in September - a quarter of all arrivals this year, UNHCR data shows.  While that is a fraction of the nearly 1 million who arrived in 2015 - due to a European Union deal with Turkey to block that route - four of the five island camps are hosting two or three times as many people as they were designed for.  UNHCR urges action on the islands to ease overcrowding, improve shelter, and stock and distribute appropriate and sufficient aid items,  said Philippe Leclerc, UNHCR representative in Greece. In the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, one of the main entry points, more than 1,500 people are in makeshift shelters or tents without insulation, flooring or heating, UNHCR said. They include pregnant women, people with disabilities, and very young children. On nearby Samos, about 400 people are living in  very difficult  conditions and another 300, including families and lone children, are sleeping in tents in the woods due to a lack of space in the camp, UNHCR said.  More than 3,000 people on Samos are crammed into facilities designed to hold 700.  In January, refugees in Greece suffered sub-zero temperatures when an icy spell gripped parts of the country and scores of summer tents were weighed down by snow. More than 60,000 refugees and migrants have been trapped in Greece since Balkan countries along the northward overland route to western Europe sealed their borders in March 2016.  UNHCR has been gradually reducing its involvement on the islands since national institutions took over most services in August.

Summary: भीड़भाड़ वाले यूनानी शरणार्थी शिविर सर्दियों के लिए तैयार नहीं हैंः यू. एन. एच. सी. आर.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States believes progress with China on a range of trade issues has become more difficult and Beijing appears on a  trajectory of retrenchment,  a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday. President Donald Trump will insist in upcoming talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that more balance is needed in U.S.-Chinese trade relations, the official said, briefing reporters ahead of Trump s Nov. 3-14 Asia trip that will include a stop in Beijing. Trump s Asia tour is shaping up to be the longest by an American president in 25 years. With tensions aboil over North Korea s nuclear challenge, Trump leaves on Friday on a trip with stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. While in South Korea, Trump will speak to U.S. and South Korea troops, but time constraints will preclude a stop at the demilitarized zone, the border region that separates North and South Korea, another senior official said. The official s remarks on the U.S.-Chinese trade relations could herald some friction in Trump s talks with Xi on a state visit to Beijing that comes just as Xi consolidated power in a Communist Party congress. Trump has repeatedly complained about the U.S. trade deficit with China, which was $347 billion in 2016. But he has shied away from taking major punitive trade actions against China. The official said over the long-term China must provide fair and reciprocal treatment to U.S. and international companies and stop  predatory trade and investment practice.   Progress on a range of bilateral economic issues has become increasingly difficult. We believe this reflects a slowdown and even a retrenchment in China s move toward a market-oriented economy,  the official said. On Monday, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai predicted in a briefing with reporters that  there will be significant outcomes on the economic side  while Trump is in Beijing. Cui said countries cannot look simply at trade balance and imbalance because what is behind those numbers is important and  very complicated.  He called the U.S. trade deficit a  structural problem  that cannot be resolved overnight. While on his trip Trump will also hold his first face-to-face meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asia Nations summit being held in Manila. Despite a history of anti-American rhetoric, one of the administration officials said Trump and Duterte have developed a  warm rapport.

Summary: अमेरिका बाजार अर्थव्यवस्था की ओर बढ़ने पर चीन को 'छंटनी' में देखता हैः अमेरिकी अधिकारी