UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The State Department said on Monday it was ending U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the international body’s agency focused on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. In a letter to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, the State Department said it was dropping the funding because the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) “supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” The cut marks U.S. President Donald Trump’s first move to curtail funding for the United Nations and is likely to raise further questions about how deep those cuts will eventually go throughout the organization, where the United States is the top donor.    It comes after Trump in January reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy that withholds U.S. funding for international organizations that perform abortions or provide information about abortion. Known by critics as the “global gag” rule, Trump broadened its scope to include all global health assistance in his Jan. 23 executive order that withholds at least half a billion dollars in U.S. funds. A lack of clarity around the rule, however, has left aid groups scrambling and both Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers seeking clarity. In a statement on its website, UNFPA said it regrets the U.S. decision to end funding, which it said is based on an “erroneous claim” that the agency supports coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China. UNFPA said its mission is “to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.”  “The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises,” the statement said. The cut follows Trump’s proposed 28 percent budget reduction for diplomacy and foreign aid, including an unspecified reduction in financial support for the United Nations and its agencies, announced last month.        U.N. agencies such as the UNFPA are funded by governments voluntarily. The United States was the fourth-largest voluntary donor to UNFPA in 2015, giving $75 million in core budget and earmarked contributions.  U.N. officials have warned that abrupt funding cuts could trigger more global instability and argued that dollars for diplomacy are more effective than military spending in combating terrorism.

Summary: अमेरिका ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र जनसंख्या कोष के लिए धन वापस लिया


(Reuters) - The Alabama Republican Party said on Thursday it supported embattled U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore after allegations of sexual misconduct roiled the race. “Judge Moore has vehemently denied the allegations made against him. He deserves to be presumed innocent of the accusations unless proven otherwise,” it said in a statement. “He will continue to take his case straight to the people of Alabama.”

Summary: अलबामा रिपब्लिकन पार्टी अमेरिकी सीनेट उम्मीदवार मूर के साथ खड़ी है


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union negotiators see no big breakthrough in a new round of Brexit talks from Monday nor when Theresa May attends a summit next week, yet leaders could offer the beleaguered British prime minister a hand, EU officials believe. Talks which began on Monday in Brussels have a thin schedule - British Brexit Secretary David Davis is to meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Tuesday and again on Thursday. But Wednesday is blank on the timetable and officials will not touch on the knottiest outstanding problem - how much Britain pays the EU.  That all but rules out  miracles  on key divorce issues that Barnier s boss says are needed for May s 27 fellow EU leaders to agree to open the talks she wants on a post-Brexit free trade pact when they all meet in Brussels next Thursday and Friday. The prime minister revived an increasingly sour dialogue two weeks ago by offering concessions in a speech in Florence. But talks that followed left big gaps on three core issues on which the EU demands  significant progress  before Barnier can so much as mention what happens after Britain leaves in 18 months time. Yet such is the opposition to compromise that May faces within her own party that many EU diplomats think leaders could give her some hope at the summit to help her face down calls for Britain to simply walk out without a deal - an eventuality that the Europeans are nonetheless preparing for.  My guess is the leaders will try to find some positive elements,  one senior diplomat told Reuters, saying May could be offered hope of a  landing zone  for accords to let the next scheduled summit, in mid-December, approve trade talks. This week could see further movement on agreeing rights for expatriate citizens, where the role of EU judges is in dispute.    But few see much movement on the Irish border or on the money. And with May and the EU batting back and forth assertions that the ball is in the other s court, attention is fast turning from this week s meetings to next week s summit.  Not one of over a dozen senior EU officials and diplomats who spoke to Reuters expect the summit to launch talks on future trade, few rule out that May s counterparts may give her some assurance of doing so soon - and even offer some limited exploration of the transition period she has asked for.  She is in a difficult situation, if she goes out there and there is nothing tangible on our side,  a senior EU official said, saying governments wanted to keep up momentum for a deal that would avoid legal chaos across Europe.  We ll try to be neutral, maybe even offer an encouraging line to stay engaged.  Nonetheless, governments are extremely wary of any attempt by British negotiators to divide their solid display of unity and are anxious not to appear to be going soft on May, despite some sympathy for the balancing act she faces. On Friday, envoys from many of the 27 including heavyweights Germany and France opposed suggestions from Barnier that they might start some preliminary discussion of what exactly will happen in the transition period immediately after Brexit.  This situation is not a reason for the Commission to loosen its guidelines,  a senior official from a big EU power said of May s domestic woes.  I believe she really wants a deal but we can t alter our negotiating stance because of that.  Nonetheless, several diplomats said leaders could soften the stance on transition talks by next week. Leaders say they will not negotiate directly with May and want to channel everything through Barnier. But May s powerful peers may find it hard to sit back and watch her fail, provoking further British turmoil.  The leaders want to lead, they want to make history,  said another senior EU diplomat who said the summiteers could break next week from the advice of their own officials.  Who can say that they won t just say,  OK, let s just get on with it ?

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता लड़खड़ाती है, लेकिन यूरोपीय संघ के नेता मई को विराम दे सकते हैं


(Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies have alleged that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit President Donald Trump. Law enforcement agencies and congressional committees are investigating Russian meddling and possible collusion with members of Trump’s campaign. Here is what is publicly known and not known:   How did the investigations begin? Former President Barack Obama ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to assess whether Russia tried to intervene in the  election after a cyber attack on the Democratic National Committee in July 2016 and the publication of thousands of hacked personal emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in the month before the Nov. 8 election. Obama told intelligence officials to deliver a report on possible foreign interference before he left the White House in January 2017. What did the intelligence agencies find?  The Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency concluded in a report declassified in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system but to affect the outcome. The agencies said Putin and the Russian government had a clear preference for Trump to win the White House. Putin’s  associates hacked information, paid social media “trolls” and backed efforts by Russian government agencies and state-funded media to sway public opinion, the agencies said.  The report stopped short of assessing whether Russia succeeded in swaying the election result. Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election. How many U.S. investigations are there into Russian election meddling? Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the FBI was investigating Moscow’s role in the election, including possible collusion with Trump’s campaign. The Justice Department announced on May 17 that it had appointed Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, as special counsel to lead an independent Russia probe. Mueller would, if the evidence merits, work in tandem with the FBI to handle any related criminal prosecutions. In addition, there are multiple committees in the Senate and House of Representatives investigating various aspects of Russian election meddling. What has Trump said about Russia’s role in the election? He has not taken a clear public position. At a July 2016 news conference, Trump addressed an FBI probe into Clinton’s use of a private email system when she was secretary of state and emails that had possibly been deleted by saying: “I will tell you this, Russia: if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” He subsequently dismissed reports, including from U.S. intelligence officials, that Russia had attempted to intervene in the election on his behalf.    The first time Trump said he accepted the findings of the intelligence agencies was at a Jan. 11 news conference ahead of his inauguration. “As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,” Trump said, although he added: “It could have been others also.” Trump said in May that China may have hacked the emails of Democratic officials to meddle with the election, offering no evidence and countering the view of intelligence officials. Trump has made clear on multiple occasions he believes the Russia investigations have run their course and should be closed. “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?” he wrote on Twitter on May 8. On May 30, Trump tweeted: “Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.” Did the FBI probe continue after Comey’s dismissal? There is no evidence that the FBI ended or paused its investigation after Comey’s departure. Andrew McCabe, who is leading the agency as acting director, promised the Senate Intelligence Committee that Comey’s firing would not affect the investigation and that he will notify the committee of any attempt to delay or derail it.  Trump on June 6 chose former U.S. Justice Department official Christopher Wray, who represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal, to be the next FBI director. Wray will need Senate confirmation. Why was Comey fired? The White House cited a May 9 letter to Trump from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that attached a memo from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, on “Restoring Confidence in the FBI” that recommended Comey’s dismissal. Rosenstein’s memo said Comey erred in July 2016 by announcing the FBI had been examining Clinton’s use of a private email server and that the case should be closed without prosecution. Rosenstein’s view was that Comey’s decision to make a public statement broke with longstanding FBI precedent and should have been handled by the then-U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Trump called Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander” in an interview with NBC News on May 11, saying that he would have fired Comey regardless of Rosenstein’s recommendation. Was Comey’s firing related to the FBI’s Russia probe? Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believes his dismissal was directly related to the FBI’s Russia probe. “I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation, was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that,” Comey said in his June 8 testimony. Trump asked Comey to end the agency’s investigation of Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, and also to make some sort of public statement that he was not personally under investigation in order to clear “the cloud” hanging over his presidency, according Comey’s testimony. Comey said he found it concerning that Trump would ask him to drop the agency’s probe of Flynn and declined to state publicly that Trump himself was not under investigation, in part because it would create a “duty to correct” if that changed. “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,” Trump told Comey at a Jan. 27 dinner, according to Comey. Less than a week before he was fired, Comey told a congressional panel that it made him “mildly nauseous” that he may have affected the outcome of the election by publicly re-opening and then re-closing the Clinton email probe days before the election. In an unorthodox move, Great America Alliance, an offshoot of a pro-Trump super PAC devoted to promoting the White House agenda, developed a television ad called “Showboat” to air as Comey testified. The ad claims Comey was “consumed with election meddling” at the expense of fighting terrorism. Has there been any fallout for Trump associates over contacts with Russia before, during or after the election campaign? Flynn was fired in February. The White House said he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the contacts he had with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, before Trump took office. On May 9, federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas seeking business records from people who worked with Flynn when he was a private citizen. On May 10, the Senate Intelligence Committee issued the first subpoena in its Russia investigation, demanding documents from Flynn. He provided the first batch on June 6. Sessions had to recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related probes at the Justice Department because he had not told Congress of his own contacts with Kislyak in 2016. Rosenstein is handling matters related to Russia and it is he who appointed Mueller as special counsel. Is Trump himself under investigation?  Mueller’s probe has expanded to include examining whether Trump obstructed justice by attempting to curtail the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling, the Washington Post reported on June 14. In the short letter Trump sent to Comey dismissing him from the FBI, he had thanked Comey for informing him that he was not under investigation. Comey has confirmed that Trump was not personally under investigation at any point before his dismissal from the FBI. The Post reported the scope of the probe expanded to include Trump shortly after Comey’s dismissal, citing government officials. Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, denied Trump ever told Comey he needed and expected his loyalty.

Summary: 2016 के चुनाव में रूसी हस्तक्षेप की अमेरिकी जांच के बारे में हम क्या जानते हैं


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday accused his political opponents, “both Democrats and Republicans,” for putting together a dossier of unverified claims linking him to Russia and said the document was probably released by intelligence agencies. “Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans - FAKE NEWS! Russia says nothing exists,” Trump said in a series of posts on Twitter. “Probably released by ‘Intelligence’ even knowing there is no proof, and never will be,” he said. On Wednesday, U.S. spy chief James Clapper said that media leaks of the material had not come from U.S. intelligence agencies and that the agencies had not judged whether the information was reliable.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने आरोपों के लिए 'डेमोक्रेट और रिपब्लिकन दोनों' को दोषी ठहराया


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain wants an outline agreement with the European Union on the transitional arrangements that will apply after it leaves the bloc by the first quarter of 2018, Brexit minister David Davis said on Wednesday.   I would be aiming to get certainly the outlines of it agreed, if we could, in the first quarter (of 2018) ... but it s a negotiation,  Davis told a parliamentary committee.

Summary: ब्रिटेन का लक्ष्य 2018 की पहली तिमाही तक ब्रेक्सिट संक्रमण समझौते की रूपरेखा तैयार करना हैः डेविस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said on Sunday that the Federal Reserve “has been doing a good job” and the Trump administration respects its independence, even if the U.S. central bank raises interest rates this week. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News Sunday that the Trump administration will keep working to reduce barriers to job creation no matter what the Fed does on interest rates.  “The Federal Reserve is an independent agency and they operate as such. They have their economic data, which they look at and they are trying to always modulate economic growth with inflation, with the work force,” Cohn said. “I think the Federal Reserve has been doing a good job in doing that. The Fed will do what they need to do. And we respect the powers of the Fed.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के आर्थिक सलाहकारः फेड 'अच्छा काम' कर रहा है, स्वतंत्रता का सम्मान करता है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey warned its citizens about travel to the United States on Saturday in response to what the foreign ministry called increasingly violent protests against President-elect Donald Trump. “Within the context of risks caused by the incidents and of social tension, our citizens who live in the U.S., or who are considering traveling there, should be cautious,” the ministry said in a statement. Demonstrators planned to gather again on Saturday in U.S. cities nationwide to protest against Trump, whose election they say poses a threat to their civil and human rights, a day after a protester was shot in Portland, Oregon. Last month, the U.S. State Department updated its travel warning on Turkey, ordering family members of consulate employees in Istanbul to leave the country, citing threats against U.S. citizens. There has been growing tension between the two NATO allies after repeated calls from Turkey to extradite U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for a failed coup in July. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday he hoped for an improvement in bilateral ties after Trump’s victory, and again called for Gulen’s extradition.

Summary: ट्रम्प के विरोध के बाद तुर्की ने अमेरिका की यात्रा पर चेतावनी जारी की


BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Armed men blew up a pipeline pumping crude oil to Es Sider port on Tuesday, cutting Libya s output by up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), military and oil sources said. The state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in statement output had been reduced by 70,000-100,000 bpd. The cause of the blast was unclear, it added. The attackers arrived at the site near Marada in two cars and planted explosives on the pipeline, a military source said. Pictures purportedly showing a huge cloud from the blast in central eastern Libya circulated on social media. The damage was still being assessed, one oil source said. Oil prices rose on the report. Islamic State fighters had a presence in the area until government forces expelled them from their main stronghold in Sirte a year ago. The operator of the pipeline is Waha, a subsidiary of the NOC and a joint venture with Hess Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and ConocoPhillips. Waha pumps a total 260,000 barrels a day, its chairman said last month. The North African state s oil production was last put by officials at around one million bpd but exact figures are hard to obtain in a country riven by factional conflict.

Summary: लीबिया की कच्चे तेल की पाइपलाइन पर हमले से उत्पादन में 100,000 बी. पी. डी. तक की कटौती हुई


AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former Democratic U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday in one of his first major speeches since leaving office this year that he would have liked to have been the U.S. president who ended cancer as we know it. Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015, delivered an emotional speech at the South by Southwest technology summit in Austin, Texas, about continuing the work he led under former Democratic President Barack Obama in the so-called “Cancer Moonshot,” an initiative aimed at speeding up research into new cancer therapies. He spoke of the need for prevention, research collaboration and big data to battle cancer. Biden did not mention U.S. Republican President Donald Trump by name but said in the speech before several thousand people he was willing to work with the current administration on the fight against cancer, which kills an estimated 600,000 Americans a year. “The only bipartisan thing left in America is the fight against cancer,” he said. Biden said that just before he made his formal announcement in 2015 not to run, Obama asked him if he had any regrets.  Biden said he told Obama: “I would have loved to have been the president who presided over the end of cancer as we know it.” He said in the months that followed his son’s death, he did not have the stomach to run for president. “No one should ever run for president of the United States unless they are prepared to give every, every ounce of their energy,” he said. He praised Republicans for working with Democrats on the fight against cancer while he was in office. He had one slight dig at the Trump administration by suggesting some “in the new outfit” do not abide by research on global warming. “I shouldn’t have said that but it frustrates me,” he said.

Summary: बाइडन का कहना है कि कैंसर को समाप्त करने वाले अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बनना पसंद करते


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for the fifth time over suspicions of corruption, Israeli media reported. A Reuters cameraman saw police investigators arrive by car late in the day to Netanyahu s official residence, where previous interrogations have taken place.  Officials with the police and Netanyahu s office declined to comment to Reuters on their visit, but Israel media, without citing sources, widely reported he was being questioned again. No charges have been brought against Netanyahu, who has been in power since 2009 and has denied wrongdoing. He is a suspect in two cases, one involving the receipt of gifts from businessmen and the other related to conversations he held with an Israeli newspaper publisher about limiting competition in the news sector in exchange for more positive coverage. Police said earlier this week that a top Netanyahu confidant had been questioned as part of a different investigation into a $2 billion submarine deal with Germany.

Summary: पुलिस ने भ्रष्टाचार के मामले में नेतन्याहू से पांचवीं बार पूछताछ की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People would be able to bring legal, concealed guns into any U.S. state under legislation the House of Representatives approved on Wednesday that would also bolster the national background check system and require a study of the “bump stocks” used in October’s Las Vegas mass shooting. The country’s long-standing fight over gun ownership has grown more heated since a single person killed 58 people and injured more than 500 at a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, the deadliest mass shooting carried out by an individual in U.S. history. Stephen Paddock boosted his firearms with bump stocks to shoot thousands of bullets over 10 minutes. On a vote of 231 to 198, the Republican-led House approved the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would require states to recognize each others’ permits for carrying hidden and loaded firearms while in public. States’ requirements on concealed guns vary widely. Some states deny permits to people who have committed domestic violence or other crimes. Eight do not require permits at all.  Supporters of the bill, which still must be approved by the Senate, say states recognize each others’ drivers licenses and other permits, making concealed-carry permits the exception.  Detractors say the bill tramples states’ rights and that gun permits differ from drivers’ licenses, which are generally uniform across the country. They also say that, under the legislation, gun owners will only have to abide by requirements of the most lenient states. The bill passed eight days before the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting in which 20 children and six adults perished. So far this year, 14,412 people have died and 29,277 have been injured in firearm-related incidents in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. About 8 percent of them were children and teenagers. Bill supporters also pointed to last month’s Texas shooting, where a man fired his rifle on a fleeing gunman who had just killed 26 worshippers at a church. The gunman was later found dead in his car. “We know that citizens who carry a concealed firearm are not only better prepared to act in their own self-defense, but also in the defense of others,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican. The legislation also included a bipartisan measure to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has already begun studying bump stocks, and could soon ban them.

Summary: लोगों को राज्य की सीमाओं के पार छिपी बंदूकें लाने की अनुमति देने वाला विधेयक अमेरिकी सदन में पारित


BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities are investigating reports that asylum seekers in a Berlin refugee camp were forced into prostitution, officials said, adding that they had not been able to confirm that such incidents had taken place. The allegations come amid heightened concern at Germany s ability to integrate the 1.1 million refugees who arrived in 2015 and 2016. The political parties negotiating to form a new national coalition government are arguing over whether to impose a cap on immigration numbers. Broadcaster ZDF reported on Tuesday that employees of a security company that runs several refugee camps in Berlin were luring asylum seekers, some of them minors, into prostitution. Both national government and Berlin city officials said they were investigating the allegations, and Berlin said its staff would be given further training to help them identify such cases.  If the allegations of security staff profiting from and driving refugees into prostitution are true, these would be very serious charges,  said government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.  Exploiting the material hardship in which many refugees and immigrants live is totally unacceptable. Forcing people into prostitution is morally reprehensible,  he said.

Summary: जर्मनी वेश्यावृत्ति में मजबूर शरणार्थियों की रिपोर्टों की जांच कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday criticized as “overreach” former President Barack Obama’s guidelines to public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice, one day after President Donald Trump revoked the guidance. “This issue was a very huge example of the Obama  administration’s overreach - to suggest a one-size-fits-all federal government approach, top-down approach, to issues that are best dealt with and solved at a personal level and a local level,” DeVos said at a gathering of conservatives outside Washington.

Summary: अमेरिकी शिक्षा सचिव ने ओबामा ट्रांसजेंडर दिशानिर्देशों को 'ओवररीच' कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Democratic lawmaker said Sunday he had “no doubt” that Russia was behind recent hacking attempts targeting state election systems, and urged the Obama administration to publicly blame Moscow for trying to undermine confidence in the Nov. 8 presidential contest. The remarks from Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, come amid heightened concerns among U.S. and state officials about the security of voting machines and databases, and unsubstantiated allegations from Republican candidate Donald Trump that the election could be “rigged.” “I have no doubt [this is Russia]. And I don’t think the administration has any doubt,” Schiff said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” Schiff’s call to name and shame the Kremlin came a week after Trump questioned widely held conclusions made privately by the U.S. intelligence community that Russia is responsible for the hacking activity. “It could be Russia, but it could also be China,” Trump said during a televised debate with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said hackers have probed the voting systems of many U.S. states but there is no sign that they have manipulated any voting data. Schiff said he doubted hackers could falsify vote tallies in a way to affect the election outcome. Officials and experts have said the decentralized and outdated nature of U.S. voting technology makes such hacks more unlikely. But cyber attacks on voter registration systems could “sow discord” on election day, Schiff said. He further added that leaks of doctored emails would be difficult to disprove and could “be election altering.” The National Security Agency, FBI and DHS all concluded weeks ago that Russian intelligence agencies conducted, directed or coordinated all the major cyberattacks on U.S. political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, and individuals, a U.S. official who is participating in the investigations said on Sunday.     However, the official said, White House officials have resisted naming the Russians publicly because doing so could result in escalating cyberattacks, and because it is considered impossible to offer public, unclassified proof of the allegation.  Schiff and Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate intelligence committee, said last month they had concluded Russian intelligence agencies were “making a serious and concerted effort to influence the U.S. election.”

Summary: अमेरिकी चुनाव प्रणाली पर हमले के पीछे 'कोई संदेह नहीं' हैः वरिष्ठ डेमोक्रेट


(Reuters) - Thailand s junta needs to show greater flexibility in talks with Malay Muslim insurgents to bring on board the main rebel group that is still fighting and end decades of bloodshed, a senior group member told Reuters.  In a rare interview, Pak Fakih of the secretive Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) said the army s current peace talks with other factions were doomed and the government must drop pre-conditions, show greater respect to the separatists and adopt a more open-minded approach.  It is a mistake to think that we do not want to negotiate. We do, but not under the current circumstances,  said Fakih, 67, who said he had been fighting since he was 15 and lost a son in the conflict seven years ago.  More than 6,500 people have been killed since 2004 alone in the insurgency in the south of mostly Buddhist Thailand. A soldier and a policeman were killed on Thursday and 26 people wounded by roadside bombs which followed a new session of talks in Malaysia between the army and other insurgent factions. The BRN never claims or rejects any specific attack and Fakih said that policy would continue. It is widely seen as the group with the greatest control over combatants in the three southern provinces.   Our attacks are confined to the Deep South and are about sending a signal to the Thai government. We never want to cause widespread harm,  said Fakih, who declined to be photographed.  The government say they are fighting ghosts in the south so we want to show them that we exist and we mean business.  The Thai government made no immediate comment. In April, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha rejected a BRN offer of talks mediated by a neutral third party and said they required no international mediation or observation. The government also sets recognition of Thailand s constitution as a pre-condition - a dealbreaker for the BRN. Until they were annexed in 1909, Thailand s three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were part of an independent Malay Muslim sultanate. Insurgent groups have long emphasized that their struggle is about identity and not a religious war.  We and the people are like fish and water: inseparable,  Fakih said. The BRN had been part of talks before the army seized power in 2014, but stayed out when negotiations restarted under the army in 2015. Talks have taken place between the government and Mara Patani, an umbrella group claiming to represent all major rebel factions. But Fakih disputed its claim to include BRN members too, saying there were only  former members . He said that the Thai government s policy toward the South was also complicated by different factions in the security forces jockeying for power.  They are fighting for control over the budget in administering the region rather than actually listening to what we have to say,  he said.

Summary: प्रमुख दक्षिणी थाईलैंड विद्रोही समूह का कहना है कि वर्तमान वार्ता विफल हो गई है


ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (Reuters) - A court in Alexandria has ordered the detention of leading rights activist Mahienour el-Massry over charges of illegally protesting in June against the Egyptian government s decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. El-Massry was detained in Egypt s second largest city along with activist Moatasim Medhat and both will be held pending their trial for illegal assembly on Dec. 30, the misdemeanour court said. The pair s lawyer, Taher Abo Nasser, said they denied the charges, adding that there was no evidence of a protest taking place.  The decision came as a shock for us but Mahienour is remaining strong and accepting,  Abo Nasser said. The plan to cede the islands to Saudi Arabia was announced last year and has become mired in political protest and legal action. Opponents of the plan say Egypt s sovereignty over the islands dates back to 1906, before Saudi Arabia was founded. Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

Summary: मिस्र के कार्यकर्ताओं को लाल सागर द्वीपों के हस्तांतरण का विरोध करने के लिए अदालत ने हिरासत में लिया


VILNIUS/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied on Friday  interfering with the work of law enforcement bodies investigating corruption and he urged such agencies to refrain from playing politics.  Ukrainian authorities this week have faced accusations of  deliberately sabotaging anti-corruption reforms, which are a key condition for international support for the country as it grapples with a Russian-backed separatist insurgency. Perceived backsliding by Kiev on its reform commitments, including delays in establishing an independent court to handle corruption cases, has held up billions of dollars in loans under Ukraine s $17.5 billion IMF program.  Over the last 2.5 years of activity of the anti-corruption institutions, everybody, including the heads of these institutions, has said there has not been a single instance of interference by the president in their work,  Poroshenko said.  We consider it unacceptable when the leaders of any law enforcement bodies, including anti-corruption, begin to play in the political field,  he told a news conference during a visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.  They must be independent, protected from political influence.   Action by Ukraine s parliament and prosecutors against existing anti-corruption bodies such as the NABU investigative bureau provoked a wave of criticism this week from reformers and Kiev s foreign backers including the IMF. Poroshenko s faction is the largest in parliament and the president also nominates the general prosecutor.  Corrupt Empire Strikes Back  read the headline of the English language newspaper Kyiv Post on Friday.  The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said she had urged Poroshenko during a telephone conversation late on Thursday to speed up the fight against corruption. Lagarde said she and Poroshenko had discussed the need to safeguard the independence of NABU and similar institutions and that they agreed on the urgency of establishing an anti-corruption court. On Friday Poroshenko said he would soon introduce a draft law to set up such a court, taking into account recommendations  by the Venice Commission, a leading European rights watchdog.   The effectiveness of the work of anti-corruption bodies should not be in the number of press conferences (they give), but in the number of corrupt officials who are put behind bars,  he added.  Poroshenko was asked about the current furor surrounding former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili after Ukrainian law enforcement officials twice failed to detain him this week on charges of aiding a criminal organization.  The situation with Saakashvili is not worthy of international attention, because there are specific crimes that were committed and we must ensure transparency of the investigation and absolute openness,  Poroshenko said.   If he flees from the investigation, this undermines his credibility,  he added. Saakashvili became a regional governor in Ukraine in 2015 at Poroshenko s invitation but they later fell out, with the former Georgian leader accusing the president of corruption. Saakashvili denies the charges against him.

Summary: यूक्रेन के राष्ट्रपति ने भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी प्रयासों में बाधा डालने से इनकार किया


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The school collapse this week that killed at least 19 children during an earthquake has prompted many Mexicans to question whether building codes developed after a devastating 1985 temblor are too easily flouted. Stringent codes enacted after a massive temblor killed thousands three decades ago minimized damage this week across the metropolis of 20 million people, even if experts say it is nearly impossible to design structures to withstand any quake.  At least 293 people died in Tuesday s quake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, but the toll could have been far worse. Still, the collapse of some structures built under the new codes, including the Enrique Rebsamen school that became a symbol of this week s tragedy, has sparked concerns over implementation of the rules.  There are still gaps that mean new buildings don t always fully comply,  said Roberto Meli Piralla, a structural engineer and expert on seismic preparedness at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. It is too early to know if code violations, neglect or corruption were factors in the collapse of the school or about 50 other buildings in Mexico City. Yet engineers said that challenges remain in enforcing the codes uniformly and ensuring that builders, inspectors and property owners follow approved plans. Inspectors can be criminally liable if a building they OK proves structurally unsound. The mayor of the district where the school is located said her office has been unable to find documentation to assess its construction and structural history. She blamed problems, including corruption, on a predecessor administration.  When we came into office, there were many files missing,  said Claudia Sheinbaum, the mayor of the Tlalpan district. She said she had no proof that corruption had anything to do with the collapse.  Before the quake, municipal officials were already  discussing revisions to strengthen code oversight, said Piralla, who is part of an engineering group that made recommendations to the city in recent weeks.  One suggestion, according to another engineer involved in the discussions, was to have an independent, third-party review of designs before inspectors sign off on them.         The Secretariat for Housing and Urban Development, the municipal office that oversees the code, could not be reached for comment. Even if compliance were universal, engineers said, there is no way to fully prepare because earthquakes vary widely. Tuesday s temblor generated a different frequency of  shockwave from the 1985 quake and toppled mid-sized buildings of roughly six to eight stories, compared with towers of about 12 to 15 floors in 1985.  It s not possible to say what problems could have been foreseen,  said Antonio Gallardo, a member of the board of architects in Mexico City, a council that upholds professional standards across the capital. Most of the damage on Tuesday happened in central and southern districts where soils are less solid than in northern neighborhoods, and urban development, even after improvements in recent decades, is still patchwork. Although the toppled buildings are still being investigated, some were built after the 1987 code, which has periodically been revised since. At the school, which is in southern Mexico City, the older of two structures remained standing while a newer building collapsed. It was built early last decade and opened in 2004, according to several people familiar with its history. The school is a private facility founded in the 1980s by the family that runs it, according to two adult former students. The principal, a daughter of the founders, lived in an apartment that was part of the collapsed structure. She survived the quake, current and former students said. Neither the principal nor other family members could be reached for comment. But local authorities, neighbors and  parents are demanding answers.  Who could have approved this school?  asked Raul D az, a doctor whose 7-year-old son, Eduardo, died at the school.  The building was poorly built.  If prior quakes are any guide, investigations and a full accounting will take years. But experts said it would be impossible to build structures that could withstand all quakes.  There is always going to be a degree of uncertainty,  said Mary Comerio, a professor of architecture and researcher on disaster recovery at the University of California at Berkeley. She cited the 2011 earthquake that leveled even costly, modern structures in Christchurch, New Zealand. The extent of a phenomenon known as liquefaction, in which solid soil behaves like a liquid, surprised scientists. Notwithstanding architectural advances, many other variables come into play including human error, ground conditions, the location, depth and force of an earthquake.  In 2006, Comerio authored a paper in the journal Science called  Can Buildings Be Made Earthquake-Safe?   The answer is largely no,  she said.

Summary: मेक्सिको में स्कूल ढहने से भूकंप के लिए निर्माण संहिता पर संदेह पैदा हुआ


BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union would not simply carry on as before should Britain vote to leave the bloc, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, pointing to Northern Ireland as one potential trouble spot. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped Britain would vote to stay in the 28-member bloc in a referendum on June 23. “Should the British decide otherwise, then the European Union won’t just carry on as 28 minus one,” Steinmeier told a conference on Europe in his ministry. As an example of one area where old troubles could flare up, he pointed to Northern Ireland and its border with EU member Ireland, which is open and where the situation is largely calm. “At the moment that the United Kingdom leaves (the EU), we have a border again between Ireland and Northern Ireland. That has at least the potential to allow completely calmed conflicts to flare up again,” Steinmeier said. A 1998 peace deal, brokered after more than 3,600 had died, has largely ended the conflict that pitted mostly Catholics, who wanted a united Ireland, against Unionists, mostly Protestants, who wanted it to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Summary: जर्मनी के स्टाइनमायर ने 'ब्रेक्सिट' की स्थिति में यूरोपीय संघ के व्यवधानों की चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Hawaii between Nov. 3-14, the White House said on Monday, amid rising tensions over North Korea s nuclear and missile programs.  Trump will  call on the international community to join together in maximizing pressure on North Korea,  the White House said in a statement, and will meet family members of Japanese citizens who have been abducted by North Korea. During his visit, Trump will emphasize his commitment to U.S. alliances and partnerships, attend events at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang.

Summary: ट्रम्प नवंबर में एशिया की यात्रा करेंगे, उत्तर कोरिया, गठबंधनों पर ध्यान केंद्रित करेंगे


BEIJING (Reuters) - Russia and China were considering linking their national payment system, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday, as he called for a more balanced global finance structure. Noting the rise of China s Unionpay system and Beijing s efforts to internationalize its currency, the yuan, Medvedev told a press conference in Beijing that Russia was developing its own payment system, known as Karta Mir.  At the present moment it is being discussed whether Karta Mir should be linked to Chinese payment systems,  he said, while standing alongside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. That would have  good prospects  and  avoid those problems that sometimes arise when you use American payment systems , Medvedev said, mentioning Visa and Mastercard without elaborating. Russia started to create the Karta Mir system after Western sanctions were imposed on the country in 2014, during the Ukraine crisis. The system is now widely accepted in Russia. After new U.S. sanctions were imposed, Moscow promised to intensify work to cut dependence on Western payment systems further. Among other things, it wants to create more domestic financial services such as its own ratings agency.  I think that the more financial instruments there are in the modern world, the more stable the global financial system will be,  Medvedev said. Visa and MasterCard stopped providing services to clients of one Russian bank after Washington imposed sanctions over Moscow s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Around 14 million Mir cards, which translates as  World  or  Peace , have been issued in Russia, according to the Russian National System of Payment Cards (NSPK), or about 10 percent of the country s population.  NSPK was established in 2014 and is 100 percent owned by the central bank. More than 380 banks working in Russia accept the cards, which are issued by 120 banks. Practically all trade and service points, including cafes, shops, restaurants and petrol stations, accept them.  Mir cards are also welcome in sanctions-hit Crimea where Western banks are banned from operating.

Summary: रूस के मेदवेदेव का कहना है कि दुनिया में एक मुद्रा का वर्चस्व नहीं होना चाहिए


EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - A Somali refugee who had been on a watch list over extremist views faced five counts of attempted murder and terror charges on Sunday after Canadian police said he stabbed a police officer and ran down four pedestrians with a car in Edmonton, Alberta. The suspect, a 30-year-old man whom police did not identify, had been investigated two years ago for promoting extremist ideology but was not deemed a threat, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.  RCMP Assistant Commissioner Marlin Degrand said an  exhaustive investigation  into the man in 2015 did not uncover sufficient evidence to pursue charges. Canadian media identified the suspect as Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, although Reuters was not immediately able to confirm his identity. Police cordoned off an apartment block near downtown Edmonton and plainclothes officers were seen carrying large bags of equipment into the building. The attacks in the western Canadian city began when a Chevy Malibu hit a police officer standing in front of a football stadium at about 8:15 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday (10.15 p.m. ET), sending him flying into the air. The driver got out of the car and stabbed the officer multiple times before fleeing, according to police accounts and surveillance footage of the incident. Police identified the suspect when he was stopped at a checkpoint and his license showed that he was the owner of the Malibu. He fled the checkpoint and was apprehended after a police chase across a downtown street, during which he hit four pedestrians. A flag of the Islamic State militant group was found inside the Malibu, said Rod Knecht, police chief of Edmonton, Alberta s provincial capital. Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson told reporters:  To the best of our knowledge, this was a lone-wolf attack. There s no immediate cause for panic or concern.  U.S. national security agencies strongly leaned toward the conclusion that the suspect acted alone, although they were reviewing the matter, a U.S. official told Reuters.  The police officer, who had stab wounds to the head and face, was released from a hospital on Sunday along with two pedestrians. A third pedestrian was upgraded to stable from critical, while the fourth suffered a fractured skull and had regained consciousness. On Sunday, two women were stabbed to death and their assailant shot dead by a soldier in the southern French port city of Marseille in what officials describe as a  likely terrorist act . Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the Edmonton attack  another example of the hate that we must remain ever vigilant against.  Canada s government said it would keep the terrorist threat level at medium, where it has been since late 2014. The Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council denounced the attack and hundreds attended a Sunday evening rally organized by the group.  These types of acts, whether terrorism or not, seek to divide communities. We have to show that s not going to happen, not in Edmonton,  said group spokesman Aurangzeb Qureshi.  Canada has been dealing in recent months with a surge in illegal border crossings by people seeking refugee status, which has renewed debate over whether it should tighten its borders.  The North American country has not experienced as much violence from extremist attacks as the United States and Western European nations, but there have been several deadly incidents in recent years. In January, a French-Canadian university student was charged with murder after six people were shot and killed inside a Quebec City mosque, in what Trudeau called  a terrorist attack.  In August 2016, Canadian police raided an Ontario home and killed Aaron Driver, who they said was an Islamic State supporter preparing an attack on a Canadian city with a homemade bomb. In 2014, Canada was stunned by two deadly attacks that police said were the work of homegrown radicals and led to tougher new anti-terrorism measures.  A gunman killed a soldier at Ottawa s national war memorial before launching an attack on the Canadian Parliament in October 2014. In the same week, a man ran down two soldiers in Quebec, killing one. In 2015, a videotape attributed to al Shabaab, a Somali-based Islamist militant group behind a deadly 2013 attack on a Kenyan shopping center, threatened North American malls, including the West Edmonton Mall.

Summary: सोमाली शरणार्थियों पर कनाडा में छुरा घोंपने, कार हमलों का आरोप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump fired back at British Prime Minister Theresa May over her criticism of his retweeting of anti-Muslim videos, saying she should focus on terrorism in Britain.  Theresa @theresamay, don t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine,  Trump tweeted. The Twitter handle Trump included in his tweet was not that of the British leader.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने ब्रिटेन के मई पर पलटवार कियाः 'मुझ पर ध्यान केंद्रित न करें'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans expect to introduce bills later this week that would bar states from setting their own rules for self-driving cars and take other steps to remove obstacles to putting such vehicles on the road, a spokeswoman said. The legislative action comes as major automakers are joining forces with auto suppliers and other groups to prod Congress into action. Last month, a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on a Republican draft package of 14 bills that would allow U.S. regulators to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles a year per manufacturer from federal motor vehicle safety rules that prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls. Blair Ellis, a spokeswoman for the committee, said on Monday it was likely that legislation would be introduced this week and a formal hearing on the bills would occur next week.  Republican U.S. Representative Robert Latta said last month he hoped to win committee approval of a bipartisan legislative package by the end of July. The draft measures would bar states from setting self-driving rules and prevent the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from pre-approving self-driving car technologies. Democrats say the NHTSA must play a more aggressive role in mandating self-driving car safety. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a group representing General Motors Co (GM.N), Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and others, and the Association of Global Automakers, representing major foreign automakers including Honda Motor Co (7267.T) and Hyundai Motor Corp (005380.KS), are forming the Coalition for Future Mobility to press Congress to act. The group, which includes the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, National Federation of the Blind and Securing America’s Future Energy, a group of corporate officials and retired military leaders, plans to begin airing radio ads on Tuesday portraying the legislation as “liberating innovation for self-driving vehicles.” GM, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and others have been lobbying Congress to pre-empt rules under consideration in California and other states that could limit self-driving vehicle deployment. The administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama last year unveiled voluntary guidelines on self-driving cars. President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, has said she plans to quickly update those.

Summary: हाउस पैनल जल्द ही स्व-ड्राइविंग कार कानून का अनावरण करेगाः सहायक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s comment that the U.S. Civil War was sparked by a lack of “compromise” drew criticism and reignited a debate over Confederate monuments and the role of slavery. In an interview on Monday night with Fox News, Kelly was asked whether a Virginia church should have removed plaques honoring Confederate General Robert E. Lee and President George Washington, both Virginians. Kelly said figures of the past could not be viewed through the lens of current moral values. “I think it’s just very, very dangerous and it shows you ... how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is,” Kelly said. “I will tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man.” “The lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand,” Kelly added. The comment sparked an immediate backlash, with critics noting that the United States had made a number of compromises on slavery before tensions eventually erupted into the war between the North and the South in 1861. “Notion that Civil War resulted from a lack of compromise is belied by all the compromises made on enslavement from America’s founding,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African-American writer, wrote on Twitter. Others accused Kelly of encouraging white supremacists by saying Lee was honorable. “It’s irresponsible & dangerous, especially when white supremacists feel emboldened, to make fighting to maintain slavery sound courageous,” Bernice King, the daughter of American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in a Twitter post. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, asked on Tuesday about Kelly’s comment, told a news briefing: “General Kelly was simply making the point that just because history isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean that it’s not our history.” Replying to another question about whether figures such as  Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general accused of war crimes and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan, deserved to be honored, Sanders said: “The president has said that those are something that should be left up to state and local governments, and that’s not who I’m here representing today.”  President Donald Trump has said Confederate monuments, many of which have been removed in recent years, should remain in place to preserve the country’s heritage.  He stirred tensions after a deadly rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, by insisting that counterprotesters were also to blame, drawing condemnation from some Republican leaders and praise from white supremacists. Kelly had a distinguished military career and led the Department of Homeland Security before Trump tapped him to be chief of staff.  Kelly is viewed by some as a moderating influence in the turbulent White House, but has also stepped into controversy. Earlier this month, he attacked a Florida congresswoman who had characterized a call between Trump and a military widow who lost her husband in Niger as disrespectful.

Summary: ट्रम्प के चीफ ऑफ स्टाफ की गृहयुद्ध संबंधी टिप्पणी ने आलोचनाओं को जन्म दिया


TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Japan would shoot North Korean missiles  out of the sky  if it bought the U.S. weaponry needed for doing so, suggesting Tokyo take a stance it has avoided until now. North Korea is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan. Trump, speaking after a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, repeated his mantra the  era of strategic patience  with North Korea was over, and said the two countries were working to counter the  dangerous aggressions . Trump also pressed Japan to lower its trade deficit with the United States and buy more U.S. military hardware.  He (Abe) will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States,  Trump said, referring to the North Korean missiles.  The prime minister is going to be purchasing massive amounts of military equipment, as he should. And we make the best military equipment by far.  Abe, for his part, said Tokyo would shoot down missiles  if necessary . Trump was replying to a question that was posed to Abe - namely how he would respond to a quote from Trump from a recent interview in which he said Japan was a  samurai  nation and should have shot down the North Korean missiles. Japan s policy is that it would only shoot down a missile if it were falling on Japanese territory or if it were judged to pose an  existential threat  to Japan because it was aimed at a U.S. target. The U.S. president is on the second day of a 12-day Asian trip that is focusing on North Korea s nuclear missile programs and trade.  Most importantly, we re working to counter the dangerous aggressions of the regime in North Korea,  Trump said, calling  Pyongyang s nuclear tests and recent launches of ballistic missiles over Japan  a threat to the civilized world and to international peace and stability .  Some people said that my rhetoric is very strong. But look what s happened with very weak rhetoric over the last 25 years. Look where we are right now,  he added. North Korea s recent actions have raised the stakes in the most critical international challenge of Trump s presidency. The U.S. leader, who will visit South Korea on the trip, has rattled some allies with his vow to  totally destroy  North Korea if it threatens the United States and with his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a  rocket man  on a suicide mission. Abe, with whom Trump has bonded through multiple summits and phone calls, repeated at the same news conference that Japan backed Trump s stance that  all options  are on the table,  saying it was time to exert maximum pressure on North Korea and the two countries were  100 percent  together on the issue. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying, in  response to Abe s comments, said that the North Korean  situation  was  already extremely complex, sensitive and weak .  We hope that under the present circumstances, all sides  words and actions can help reduce tensions and reestablish mutual trust and getting the North Korean nuclear issue back on the correct track of dialogue and negotiations,  she said. Trump said he was committed to achieving  free, fair, and reciprocal  trade and wants to work with Japan on this issue.  America is also committed to improving our economic relationship with Japan,  Trump said.  As president, I m committed to achieving fair, free, and reciprocal trading relationship. We seek equal and reliable access for American exports to Japan s markets in order to eliminate our chronic trade imbalances and deficits with Japan.  Earlier, speaking to Japanese and U.S. business executives, Trump praised Japan for buying U.S. military hardware. But he added that  many millions of cars are sold by Japan into the United States, whereas virtually no cars go from the United States into Japan . Japan had a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States last year, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The United States was Japan s second biggest trade partner after China, while Japan was the United States  fourth largest goods export market in 2016. Japanese officials have countered U.S. trade complaints by noting Tokyo accounts for a much smaller slice of the U.S. deficit than in the past, while China s imbalance is bigger. In a second round of economic talks in Washington last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as deputy premier, failed to bridge differences on trade issues. The two sides are at odds over how to frame future trade talks, with Tokyo pushing back against U.S. calls to discuss a bilateral free trade agreement. Trump also said earlier that an Indo-Pacific trade framework would produce more in trade that the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact pushed by his predecessor but which he announced Washington would abandon soon after he took office. The 11 remaining nations in the TPP, to which Japan s Abe is firmly committed, are edging closer to sealing a comprehensive free trade pact without the United States. Trump met Emperor Akihito, exchanging a handshake and nodding, before his lunch and talks with Abe. He also met relatives of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago to help train spies, calling the kidnappings a  tremendous disgrace  and pledging to work with Abe to bring the victims  back to Japan where they want to be .  I think it would be a tremendous signal if Kim Jong Un would send them back,  Trump said.  If he would send them back, that would be the start of something, something very special.    Abe has made resolving the emotive abductions issue a keystone of his career. The families hope their talks with Trump - the third U.S. president they have met - will somehow contribute to a breakthrough, although experts say progress is unlikely. Abe also expressed his condolences for the victims of a gunman who massacred at least 26 worshippers at a church in Texas. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump had no plans to change the schedule for his 12-day Asian trip, which will also take him to Seoul, Beijing and Danang, Vietnam. Trump's visit to Asia: tmsnrt.rs/2znSb0v

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि अगर जापान अमेरिकी हथियार खरीदता है तो वह उत्तर कोरियाई मिसाइलों को आसमान से उड़ा देगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate committee approved on Thursday President Barack Obama’s pick to lead U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. Lieutenant General John Nicholson’s approval by the Senate Armed Services Committee came during a hearing with the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Campbell. Nicholson said in testimony to the committee last week that he aimed to review a plan that would cut American troop levels by nearly half by the start of next year, as he acknowledged deteriorating security in the country.

Summary: सीनेट पैनल ने अफगानिस्तान में बलों का नेतृत्व करने के लिए ओबामा के चयन को मंजूरी दी


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson said he was not going to resign, when questioned on Tuesday following reports that he could quit before the weekend if his Brexit demands were not met by Prime Minister Theresa May. May is due to make a speech on Brexit on Friday and the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that close friends of Johnson believe he will have no choice but to walk away if she advocates permanently paying for access to the EU s single market. Speaking in New York, Johnson was asked by reporters if he planned to resign in footage aired by Sky News.  No ... of course not, we re going to deliver a fantastic Brexit,  he said.  We re working together, and the key thing is to make sure Britain can take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit provides.  May later backed Johnson in an interview with Sky News.  Boris is doing good work as Foreign Secretary,  she said, according to a Tweet by Sky News reporter Beth Rigby.  May also said she was confident of getting her whole senior team of ministers to back her Brexit strategy, which she is due to lay out at a specially convened cabinet meeting on Thursday before making her Brexit speech in Florence on Friday.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के विदेश मंत्री जॉनसन ने कहा कि वह इस्तीफा नहीं देंगेः स्काई


MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. authorities telling them that U.S. diplomats will not be allowed to conduct monitoring of future Russian elections, the RIA news agency cited a senior Russian official as saying. The move was Russia’s response to what it says was U.S. obstruction of Russian diplomats seeking to monitor Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election for possible violations, RIA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

Summary: रूस अमेरिकी राजनयिकों को अपने चुनावों की निगरानी करने से रोकेगाः आर. आई. ए.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday said he plans to tap a law professor and a former congressional staffer to serve on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency that polices the derivatives marketplace. The White House said it plans to nominate Chris Brummer, a law professor at Georgetown University and Brian Quintenz, an investment firm founder who previously worked for former Ohio Republican Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. If Brummer and Quintenz are eventually confirmed by the U.S. Senate, it will finally allow the CFTC to fill its two vacant seats on the five-member panel. Democratic CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen left the agency in August 2015, while Republican CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia resigned in July 2014. The CFTC won broad new powers to police the over-the-counter derivatives market in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.  The agency has largely completed writing the new regulations, and in the coming years much of the focus is expected to shift toward enforcing the rules. Debate over how the new derivatives rules will impact farmers and companies that use swaps to hedge their risks, however, has still remained a hot topic. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, whose panel will eventually vote on the two CFTC nominees, said Thursday he wants to make sure that both Brummer and Quintenz are sensitive to these so-called “end-users” who rely on derivatives to hedge against price fluctuations that impact their businesses. “For the CFTC to effectively function for all stakeholders, we must make sure nominees have a solid understanding of agriculture and prioritize the folks who use the futures and derivatives markets to manage risk,” he said in a statement. Brummer has previously worked in a variety of different roles, including some in the regulatory arena. In 2015, he completed a three-year stint serving on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s National Adjudicatory Council, a body that reviews disciplinary proceedings of brokers and brokerage firms. He also served as an academic fellow in the international affairs office of the Securities and Exchange Commission and has taught at a variety of universities. Quintenz, meanwhile, has worked as an analyst and senior associate with Hill-Townsend Capital LLC. He also served as the director of travel and as assistant to the treasurer for the presidential exploratory committee of former Congressman John Kasich.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस सी. एफ. टी. सी. में सेवा के लिए कानून के प्रोफेसर, पूर्व पहाड़ी कर्मचारी को नियुक्त करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, offered to provide briefings to a Russian billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin on the status of the 2016 U.S. presidential election less than two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. “If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,” Manafort wrote in an email to an overseas intermediary between him and aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, the Post reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. The Post said portions of the July 7, 2016, email were read to it, as were other parts of Manafort’s correspondence.   The email was one of tens of thousands of documents turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Post reported, who along with several congressional committees is investigating alleged Russian efforts to tip the 2016 election in Trump’s favor and whether any members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow’s effort. Mueller’s office declined to comment on the Post story. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni told Reuters the emails were an attempt by Manafort to collect unpaid debts. Maloni told the Post that no briefings took place. The Post said there was no evidence Deripaska ever received Manafort’s alleged offer or that any briefings took place. A spokesman for Deripaska told the paper the emails were scheming by “consultants in the notorious ‘beltway bandit’ industry.” Russia has denied it interfered in the U.S. election, and Trump has said there was no collusion with his campaign.

Summary: ट्रम्प अभियान प्रबंधक मैनफोर्ट ने 2016 की दौड़ के दौरान रूसी अरबपति को जानकारी देने की पेशकश कीः वाशिंगटन पोस्ट


BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Two soldiers were killed and three wounded at a military checkpoint in northeastern Libya on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State. A witness said about a dozen armed vehicles had been used in the dawn assault on a checkpoint 60 km (37 miles) south of the city of Ajdabiya run by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). The attackers set fire to the checkpoint and one of the victims was burned inside his car, said Mustafa Boufjara, a spokesman for Ajdabiya s security department. Images of the checkpoint showed charred checkpoint cabins and two burned cars. In a statement carried by Islamic State s Amaq news agency, IS said its militants had seized a vehicle equipped with a machinegun as well as other weapons and ammunition. Islamic State militants have carried out several attacks on LNA checkpoints in recent months.  The jihadists have been trying to regroup from desert bases since losing their stronghold of Sirte, about 390 km (240 miles) west of Ajdabiya, last December.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने लीबिया की चौकी पर घातक हमले का दावा किया


TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japan Airlines (JAL) plane made an emergency landing at Tokyo s Haneda International Airport shortly after takeoff on Tuesday following an apparent bird strike, an airline spokesman said. There were no injuries among any of the 248 people on board, the spokesman said. Video footage appeared to show flames shooting from one engine of the Boeing 777 soon after takeoff. A bird strike was believed to be the cause, although it was still being investigated, the spokesman said. The plane, bound for New York, was carrying 233 passengers and 15 staff.

Summary: जापान एयरलाइंस के विमान की टोक्यो में आपात लैंडिंग


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, facing a tough re-election fight in Illinois, said on Monday the Senate should vote on whomever President Barack Obama nominates to the U.S. Supreme Court, breaking with his party’s leadership. In another defection among Republicans, Senator Susan Collins of Maine called for hearings on the eventual nominee.  A political fight has erupted over filling the court’s vacancy left by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, with many top Republicans threatening to block any nominee put forth by the Democratic president. Obama’s nominee could shift the court to the left for the first time in decades. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the seat should remain vacant until Obama’s successor takes office in January so voters can have a say on the selection when they cast ballots in the November presidential election. Kirk wrote in a Chicago Sun-Times opinion piece that he recognized the right of any president to choose a Supreme Court nominee and he looked forward to Obama picking one for the Senate to consider for confirmation. “I also recognize my duty as a senator to either vote in support or opposition to that nominee following a fair and thorough hearing along with a complete and transparent release of all requested information,” Kirk added. Kirk, who holds Obama’s old Senate seat, said he hoped the president would pick a nominee “who can bridge differences, a nominee who finds common ground and a nominee who does not speak or act in the extreme.” Kirk’s stance illustrates that McConnell may have trouble keeping Senate Republicans fully united over filling Scalia’s seat. Some senators like Kirk are seeking re-election this year in states where Democrats are competitive. Collins, who is not facing re-election until 2020, said on Monday the Senate had an obligation to hold public hearings on Obama’s nominee. “The kind of thorough process that a hearing allows is the best way to evaluate a nominee,” Collins told reporters, according to the Hill newspaper. But it appeared unlikely that enough Republicans would peel away from McConnell to allow a vote on the Senate floor.     Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said on Monday it was up to McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to decide whether to hold confirmation hearings. “I feel like we ought to put it off and get it out of this harsh atmosphere,” Hatch told reporters.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन किर्क ने उच्च न्यायालय की सीट पर अमेरिकी सीनेट के नेताओं के साथ तोड़-फोड़ की


BANGKOK (Reuters) - The only son of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been formally charged with money-laundering, the Department of Special Investigations told Reuters on Wednesday. Panthongtae Shinawatra is accused of receiving a 10 million baht ($300,000) check in 2004 related to an earlier corruption case involving 9.9 billion baht ($296 million) of fraudulent loans extended by the state-owned Krungthai Bank when his father was prime minister. The deputy spokesman of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Woranan Srilum, said Panthongtae had turned himself in on Tuesday but had been released as no arrest warrant for him has been issued. Panthongtae could now gather evidence for his case, Woranan said, while the DSI must decide whether to take the case to the criminal court. Panthongtae was not available for comment. He complained this month of victimization and called for the dropping of the  money-laundering investigation. His lawyer declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Supporters of the Shinawatras say the legal action is the latest bid by authorities in junta-ruled Thailand to squeeze the Shinawatra family out of politics and blunt its influence. Beginning in the late 1980s, former policeman Thaksin built a telecommunications conglomerate that made him one of Thailand s richest and most powerful men. After entering politics, he won landslide election victories, beginning in 2001, with the support of the rural and urban poor who saw him as the first political leader to care for them. But he made powerful enemies, especially in the Bangkok-based establishment, which saw him and his populist ways as a threat. Ousted in a 2006 coup, and later convicted of corruption, which he denies, Thaksin has overseen from self-exile victory for his party in every election since, most recently in 2011, when his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, became prime minister. She was ousted in a 2014 coup. Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced Yingluck to five years in jail in absentia for mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme. Recently, old cases against Thaksin have been revived, including an accusation that he abused power while he was prime minister by ordering the Export-Import Bank of Thailand to give low interest loans to Myanmar in 2006 to further his business interests. In another case, Thaksin was accused of graft and negligence in connection with the approval of a lottery scheme in 2003. Authorities are also looking to charge him with royal insult and computer crime for an interview he gave to South Korean media in 2015. Thaksin, in a message he posted on Twitter this month, denied any thought of ever offending the  royal institution . Watcharapol Prasanrajkit, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, denied any bid to target the Shinawatras saying the cases just happened to be coming up at this time. How Thaksin s political machine performs in an election expected in November 2018 will be keenly watched.

Summary: थाईलैंड के पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री थाकसिन के बेटे पर मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग का आरोप


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee said on Thursday it was investigating Republican Representative Blake Farenthold over allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation involving a former female staff member. The panel said in a statement it was also looking into whether the Corpus Christi, Texas, congressman made inappropriate statements to other members of his official staff. Farenthold, 55, said in a statement he was relieved that the ethics panel was going to look into the allegations. “Once all the facts are released, I’m confident this matter will once and for all be settled and resolved,” he said. Politico reported last week that the U.S. Congress’ Office of Compliance had paid $84,000 from a public fund on behalf of Farenthold for a sexual harassment claim. In 2014, Farenthold’s former communications director Lauren Greene sued him, alleging a hostile work environment, gender discrimination and retaliation, court documents showed. Farenthold and Greene reached a mediated agreement in 2015 to avoid costly litigation, but the settlement’s details were confidential, according to a statement released at the time, where Farenthold denied engaging in any wrongdoing. Farenthold told KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi on Monday that he would return the sum. Capitol Hill has been rocked in recent weeks by allegations of sexual misconduct by lawmakers, and outrage that public money may have been paid to settle harassment suits against members of Congress. Three lawmakers said this week they would resign amid sexual harassment allegations: Democratic Senator Al Franken, Democratic Representative John Conyers and Republican Representative Trent Franks.

Summary: हाउस एथिक्स पैनल उत्पीड़न के आरोपों पर रेप. फैरेंथोल्ड की जांच कर रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will vote next week on new sanctions on Iran s ballistic missile program and on Lebanon s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, senior House Republicans said on Friday, seeking to take a tough line against Iran without immediately moving to undermine the international nuclear deal.  It is Congress  responsibility to work with the executive branch on a clear-eyed strategy to stop Iran s reckless behavior,  Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the number two House Republican, and Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a joint statement emailed to Reuters.  Immediate action towards this goal will come from the House next week as we vote on legislation that furthers sanctions on Hezbollah and Iran s missile proliferation,  they said. President Donald Trump defied both allies and adversaries on Oct. 13 by refusing to certify that Iran is complying with an international agreement on its nuclear program, and threatened that he might ultimately terminate the accord. That threw the fate of the agreement between Iran, the United States and other world powers into the hands of Congress, by opening a 60-day window in which Congress could reimpose, or   snap back,  sanctions on Iran s nuclear program that were lifted under the agreement. However, many of Trump s fellow Republicans - who all opposed the deal reached under former Democratic President Barack Obama - have said they see no immediate need to do so. Congressional aides said that, for now, House lawmakers are focusing on clamping down on Iran in other ways such as the missile and Hezbollah sanctions. In the Senate, a separate effort is under way to amend existing U.S. law to set new conditions for the U.S. role in the pact, although critics said such a plan could violate terms of the deal, formally known as the JCPOA. Britain, France and Germany, European U.S. allies who signed the agreement, are particularly concerned about Trump s action and have lobbied Congress to preserve the nuclear pact. Among other things, the ballistic missiles bill would toughen existing sanctions by going after entities with assets outside the United States if they were found to support Iran s ballistic missile program. It has broad bipartisan support in the House, and also is expected to pass the Senate. The Hezbollah bill is directed at the Shi ite militia s allies in Lebanon s government and asks the Trump administration to estimate and distribute assessments of the net worth of Lebanese politicians. The Senate has already unanimously passed a different version of the Hezbollah sanctions bill.

Summary: अमेरिकी सदन अगले सप्ताह गैर-परमाणु ईरान प्रतिबंधों पर मतदान करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators from both parties this week have criticized the Trump administration’s decision that government agencies do not have to provide information to Democratic lawmakers, saying the step will prevent Congress from carrying out its constitutional duties.  During budget and nomination hearings, senators have pressed current and prospective officials about a Justice Department legal opinion dated May 1. The opinion said information requests to executive agencies from senior Democrats on congressional committees, called ranking members, “do not trigger any obligation to accommodate congressional needs and are not legally enforceable through a subpoena or contempt proceedings.” The opinion, largely unprecedented, says agencies are required to give information to only committee chairs, positions held by members of the majority party in Congress. Currently, Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. Most lawmakers first learned about the guidance in media reports last month. Now, they say agencies under President Donald Trump are becoming less responsive to them, making it harder to check whether the executive branch is correctly carrying out laws, as required by the constitution. Some Republicans also have questioned allowing agencies to ignore requests from Congress. Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who is ranking member of the governmental affairs committee that looks into waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, grew enraged on Wednesday when a nominee for the White House’s budget office would not commit to respond, without reservation, to her inquiries.  The nominee for Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director, Russell Vought, said that if he is confirmed for the post his responses to her would be “subject to the discretion of the director and advice of legal counsel.” He added that he was “merely reflecting the administration’s policy.” Calling the legal guidance “hogwash,” McCaskill cast withholding information from her as the administration’s attempt to hide problems and wrongdoing. “Welcome to the Big Leagues, administration. This is what happens, you get oversight,” she said, adding she has had a “few problems” with receiving information but not to the extent of other Democrats. A Republican on the committee, Ohio’s Rob Portman, said that when he headed the budget office under former President George W. Bush, he found dealing with Congress was often frustrating. “But I felt it was my responsibility to provide information,” he said, adding he hoped Vought would do so if confirmed for the job. (This version of the story corrects to show Senator McCaskill is from Missouri, not Michigan)

Summary: सीनेटरों ने डेमोक्रेट के लिए बंद की गई ट्रम्प की जानकारी की आलोचना की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government took the legal battle over President Donald Trump’s travel ban to a higher court on Friday, saying it would appeal against a federal judge’s decision that struck down parts of the ban on the day it was set to go into effect. The Department of Justice said in a court filing it would appeal against a ruling by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. On Thursday, Chuang issued an emergency halt to the portion of Trump’s March 6 executive order temporarily banning the entry of travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. He left in place the section of the order that barred the entry of refugees to the United States for four months. Another federal judge in Hawaii struck down both sections of the ban in a broader court ruling that prevented Trump’s order from moving forward. In Washington state, where the ban is also being challenged, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart put a stay on proceedings for as long as the Hawaii court’s nationwide temporary restraining order remained in place, to “conserve resources” and avoid inconsistent and duplicate rulings. The decisions came in response to lawsuits brought by states’ attorneys general in Hawaii and refugee resettlement agencies in Maryland who were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center. Detractors argue the ban discriminated against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom. Trump says the measure is necessary for national security to protect the country from terrorist attacks. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told a media briefing the government would “vigorously defend this executive order” and appeal against the “flawed rulings.” The Department of Justice filed a motion late on Friday night seeking clarification of Hawaii’s ruling before appealing to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.  The 9th Circuit court last month upheld a decision by Judge Robart that halted an original, more sweeping travel ban signed by the President on Jan. 27 in response to a lawsuit filed by Washington state.  The new executive order was reissued with the intention of overcoming the legal concerns. Trump has vowed to take the fight all the way to U.S. Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit is known as a more conservative court compared to the 9th Circuit, said Buzz Frahn, an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett who has been tracking the litigation nationwide. “The government is probably thinking that the 4th Circuit ... would lend a friendlier ear to its arguments,” he said.  Judges have said they were willing to look behind the text of the order, which does not mention Islam, to probe the motivation for enacting the ban, Frahn said. Trump promised during the election campaign to ban Muslims from entering the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, with Trump’s pick for the high court  - appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch - still awaiting confirmation. Hans von Spakovsky, from the Washington D.C.-based Heritage Foundation, said the Department of Justice might want to time their appeals to reach the Supreme Court after Gorsuch is confirmed. He said the court would be likely to hear the case. “They will take it because of its national importance,” Spakovsky said.

Summary: अमेरिका ने ट्रम्प के संशोधित यात्रा प्रतिबंध के खिलाफ फैसले पर उच्च न्यायालय में अपील की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans who had cast their votes for the next president early on Tuesday appeared to be worried about the direction of the country, and were looking for a “strong leader who can take the country back from the rich and powerful,” according to an early reading from the Reuters/Ipsos national Election Day poll. The poll of more than 10,000 people who have already cast their ballots in the presidential election showed a majority of voters are worried about their ability to get ahead and have little confidence in political parties or the media to improve their situation. A majority also feel that the economy is rigged to mostly help the wealthy. The poll, which will be updated as additional responses are tallied and votes are counted throughout Tuesday, found: - 75 percent agree that “America needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful.” - 72 percent agree “the American economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful.” - 68 percent agree that “traditional parties and politicians don’t care about people like me.” - 76 percent believe “the mainstream media is more interested in making money than telling the truth.” - 57 percent feel that “more and more, I don’t identify with what America has become.” - 54 percent feel “it is increasingly hard for someone like me to get ahead in America.” The Reuters/Ipsos online opinion poll was conducted on Election Day in English in all 50 states. It includes 10,604 Americans who have already cast their vote in the presidential election and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 1 percentage point.   The poll also includes a variety of questions about the presidential race, which candidate people supported, and why. Those results will be published later in the evening, after most of the votes have been counted and state races have been called.

Summary: अमेरिकी मतदाता चाहते हैं कि नेता अमीर और शक्तिशाली लोगों का लाभ समाप्त करेः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump faces his biggest test as a world leader when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week for a summit that will set the tone for perhaps the most consequential of U.S. foreign relationships. The two leaders are expected to struggle to find common ground on the main issues that divide them when they meet on Thursday and Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The main agenda items are: Perhaps Trump’s most pressing national security challenge. North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. Trump is expected to repeat his call for China to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor and has warned that Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s weapons programs alone if need be. China says it is doing all it can and has said it is up to the United States to de-escalate with Pyongyang. A White House strategy review focuses on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang.  A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but the review “de-emphasizes direct military action,” a senior U.S. official said. Any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops stationed there. TRADE Trade is one of the biggest hot-button issues, given Trump’s charges in his presidential campaign that Chinese trade practices were killing U.S. jobs and his vow to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. The administration has not acted on unilateral tariffs but is targeting a reduction in China’s $347 billion goods trade surplus through tougher enforcement of trade laws and anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has also demanded “reciprocity” in the U.S.-China economic relationship, saying that U.S. companies do not enjoy the same access to China’s vast market as Chinese firms get in the United States.   China says Washington should create better conditions for Chinese investment in the United States if it wants to correct the imbalance. Neither side wants a trade war, but it may be hard to do much more than lower the temperature in Mar-a-Lago. Some analysts believe Xi may bring a package of job-creating Chinese investments and the prospect of a more open services sector that Trump could tweet as tangible achievements. Relations are also clouded by China’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands and installing military facilities on them.  U.S. officials see this as part of a long-term Chinese bid to deny U.S. forces access to the strategic sea, a key global trade route.  They say Washington plans more robust naval operations to challenge Chinese claims and assert the right to freedom of navigation, though months have passed since the last one in October under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. The situation in North Korea has appeared to push the South China Sea onto the back burner for now, but Trump is expected to air U.S. concerns. Trump has repeatedly charged that China manipulates its yuan currency to keep its exports cheap, and he is likely to raise the issue with Xi. But Trump did not make good on his promises to formally declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency. While economists believe China pushed down the value of the yuan in the past, China’s central bank for much of the past two years has been working to prop up the yuan, amid capital outflow pressures, spending more than $1 trillion in the process. This would make it very hard to justify a manipulator designation under the U.S. Treasury’s current foreign exchange analysis, due one week after Xi’s visit. The summit would not be happening if Trump had not reaffirmed the “one China” policy that has underpinned relations for decades. Trump infuriated Beijing when, as president-elect, he took a call from Taiwan’s president and suggested he might not abide by the policy. He backtracked in a call with Xi in February. Xi may now be looking to head off a big new weapons package to Taiwan that U.S. officials have told Reuters is being crafted.  For its part, Taiwan will be watching anxiously for any sign that Trump is using it as a bargaining chip.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः फ्लोरिडा में ट्रम्प-चीन शिखर सम्मेलन में मुद्दे दांव पर


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia s Prime Minister Najib Razak presents the government s 2018 budget on Oct. 27. Below are some items that it could feature, according to analysts  research notes and Malaysian media reports. OCBC Bank expects another year of cash handouts, estimating that the allocation will rise to 7.5 billion ringgit ($1.78 billion) from the 6.8 billion ringgit spent in 2017. The government may consider expanding the scope of the goods and services tax, which was introduced at 6 percent in April 2015, to cover e-commerce transactions, according to a note by UOB. Middle income earners could get tax breaks as Najib looks to soften the blow from rising living costs, according to Nomura economist Brian Tan. The last time the government announced tax cuts was 2014. Najib has said that civil servants can expect  good news  in the 2018 budget. Salaries were last raised between 7 and 13 percent in 2012, and in July 2016 the minimum wage was raised from 832 ringgit to 1,200 ringgit, according to data from HSBC. The government announced in April that minimum wage will be reviewed for a possible adjustment in 2018. The current rate is 1,000 ringgit in the peninsula and 920 ringgit in Sabah and Sarawak. The government is expected to raise its allocation to develop affordable housing for 2018. In this year s budget, 700 million ringgit was allocated to build affordable options such as Rent-To-Own schemes offering properties for as low as 35,000 ringgit to low-income earners.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः मलेशिया 2018 के बजट में नकद सहायता में वृद्धि देखी गई, जिससे जी. एस. टी. में बदलाव आया