MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is concerned that Japan is allowing Washington to use its territory as a base for a U.S. military build-up in north Asia under the pretext of countering North Korea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. His remarks came at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, after talks between the two men in Moscow, and prompted Kono to defend Japan s stance toward North Korea and its ties with the United States. Japan had wanted to focus on resolving a seven-decade old territorial dispute between the countries but Lavrov s comments on North Korea cast a shadow over the meeting.        We are expressing deep concern, with facts to back it up, that Japan along with South Korea is becoming a territory for the deployment of elements of the U.S. global missile defense system which is being rolled out in that region under the pretext of the North Korea threat,  Lavrov said.  We have no problems directly with Japan, we do not see risks there. We see risks because of the proliferation of a global U.S. missile defense system on the territory of countries that neighbor Russia, including Japan.  He said that in the past few weeks the United States had conducted military exercises in the region and adopted additional sanctions despite the absence of provocation from Pyongyang.  We are alarmed that in the last two months when North Korea conducted no tests or rocket launches, it seemed that Washington was not happy about that, and tried to do things that would irritate and provoke Pyongyang,  Lavrov said. Referring to U.S. officials, he said:  It s as if they are hoping that they (the North Koreans) will lash out again, and then it would be possible to engage in military options.   As you know, the U.S. leadership has said many times that all options are on the table, including military options, and we note that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a meeting with President Trump in early November, said that he supports the American position 100 percent,  Lavrov said. Japanese Foreign Minister Kono, after listening to Lavrov s remarks, responded that Japan and its allies were not seeking regime change in North Korea. He said Tokyo had to act to defend itself after Pyongyang test-fired missiles which flew over Japan s territory.  This is unprecedented, the most important and most pressing threat not just to Japan and Russia but to the international community as a whole. It s absolutely unacceptable,  Kono said, speaking through an interpreter.  We believe it s necessary to use all possible means and to increase the pressure on North Korea as much as possible to stop its nuclear program and the rocket launches,  he said.  Japan welcomes the position of the United States, which is that to protect Japan and South Korea, all means of deterrence will be used.  Earlier this year, Japan s Abe expressed hope of a breakthrough in Tokyo s dispute with Moscow over a group of islands in the Pacific, but that prospect has now dimmed. The islands are known in Japan as the northern territories and in Russia as the Kurile islands. At the end of World War Two, Soviet forces took control over the islands from Japan. The island dispute has meant that Moscow and Tokyo have still not signed a formal peace agreement to end war-time hostilities. Lavrov and Kono said at their talks that they had made progress on measures to boost Russian-Japanese economic cooperation on the islands, and to ease access for Japanese people wanting to visit. They offered no details about any progress on resolving the core of the dispute, about who has sovereignty over the islands.

Summary: रूस ने वाशिंगटन के साथ रक्षा गठबंधन को लेकर टोक्यो को घेरा


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday President Robert Mugabe should resign in the interest of the country after the military seized power. Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe s only legitimate ruler and has balked at mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup, sources said on Thursday.  In the interest of the people, Mr. Robert Mugabe must resign and step down immediately,  Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told a news conference, reading from a statement.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के त्सवांगिराई ने मुगाबे से इस्तीफे की मांग की


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities have released high-profile Irish detainee Ibrahim Halawa following his acquittal last month of charges including murder, in a four-year mass trial criticized by human rights groups. Halawa, a student, and three of his sisters were charged along with nearly 500 others with a host of crimes including breaking into a mosque, killing 44 people, and illegal possession of firearms in violence that followed the military s overthrow of Egypt s Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Irish national broadcaster RTE on Friday that Halawa was likely to be able to fly home by Monday following his release late on Thursday.   This is a great moment for Ibrahim and his family   a moment for celebration, and a moment for savoring freedom, and I want to wish Ibrahim Halawa and his family all health and happiness for the future,  Coveney said in a separate statement. Egyptian rights activists say they have faced the worst crackdown in their history under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected president in 2014, a year after as armed forces commander he led the military s toppling of Mursi. Halawa was 17 when he was arrested in 2013 with hundreds of others as part of the crackdown on protests. Since then he had been held in pre-trial detention, where he said he was regularly tortured. The defendants in the case had all faced the death penalty but none received it, though hundreds were given sometimes hefty jail sentences. Rights groups welcomed Halawa s release.  After four years of unjust detention, today Ibrahim Halawa finally walks free. He should never have been jailed in the first place and it is utterly outrageous that he was forced to spend a single minute of his young life behind bars.  said Najia Bounaim, North Africa Campaigns Director at Amnesty International. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Halawa s family for comment on Friday, but his sister Fatima told RTE in a radio interview:  It s beyond description ... It s amazing to finally know that Ibrahim is out and he s released and he s safe.

Summary: आयरिश छात्र इब्राहिम हलावा मिस्र की जेल में चार साल के बाद रिहा हुआ


NAIROBI (Reuters) - A presidential election scheduled for Thursday will take place as the Supreme Court was unable to hear a petition to delay it, said a lawyer for the election commission on Wednesday.   It means elections are on tomorrow. There is no order stopping the election,  lawyer Paul Muite told Kenyan television station Citizen TV.

Summary: केन्या चुनाव बोर्ड के वकीलः दोहराए जाने वाले राष्ट्रपति चुनाव अभी भी जारी हैं


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescuers are unlikely to find any more survivors of Mexico s earthquake still buried in the ruins and will cease operations to find them at the end of Thursday, the emergency services chief said. Tuesday marks one week since the 7.1 magnitude quake struck around lunchtime, killing 331 people, damaging 11,000 homes and leading to a outpouring of civilian volunteers to aid and comfort the victims. Luis Felipe Puente, coordinator of Mexico s Civil Protection agency, told Reuters that rescuers would continue hand-picking through the debris at four sites until Thursday.  I can say that at this time it would be unlikely to find someone alive,  Puente said, considering that specially trained dogs have yet to pick up the scent of survivors. Forty-three people were still missing, including 40 who may have been trapped beneath a collapsed office building in the Roma district of Mexico City, Puente said. One person was believed missing at each of three other sites in the capital. At the office building, relatives protested overnight, increasingly angry with the slow progress recovering their loved ones and an alleged lack of information. Asked how much longer search and rescue operations would continue, the official responded,  As of today (Monday), we have agreed to another 72 hours.  The week began with signs that Mexico was resuming its routine as the streets filled with traffic and more than 44,000 schools in six states reopened.  But in the capital city, only 676 of the more than 8,000 public and private schools resumed classes.  The quake, coming exactly 32 years after a 1985 earthquake killed some 10,000 people, delivered a massive psychological blow that specialists say will take time to overcome.  The children are in crisis and don t want to talk. Some kids didn t even remember their own names,  said Enriqueta Ortuno, 57, a psychotherapist who has been working with victims in the hard-hit Xochimilco district. Much of the nation s attention was focused on a fallen school in Mexico City where 19 children and seven adults died. Later on Tuesday, the top official in the municipality where the school was located was due to reveal documents related to the its construction. That school was one of many buildings that prosecutors will investigate, Puente said. Roughly 10 percent of damaged buildings were constructed after strict building codes were enacted in the wake of the 1985 earthquake.  The Mexico City mayor and the national government have already ordered judicial investigations to determine who was responsible for new construction that did not meet the requirements,  Puente said from Civil Protection headquarters, where a roomful of technicians monitored seismic activity and tropical storms on an array of screens. In Mexico City, 187 people died in 38 buildings that collapsed. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said thousands of families who lost their homes in uninhabitable buildings would be offered 3,000 ($170) pesos monthly in temporary rent assistance. Rescuers pulled 69 people from quake-damaged properties, of whom 37 were still in the hospital as of Monday, 11 of them in grave condition, Puente said. Demolitions of buildings that are beyond repair could begin as soon as Tuesday, he said. Responders from 18 countries came to Mexico to help, but with the search for survivors down to four sites most of them had gone home, with Americans and Israelis among the few to remain, Puente said. The Japanese contingent left on Monday. International aid was now focused on humanitarian needs, Puente said, with China providing large numbers of beds, tents and kitchen and bathroom fixtures for temporary shelters for the  homeless. But the biggest contributions came from Mexicans themselves, who responded with so much food, supplies and volunteer work that officials had difficulty moving largesse from wealthy and accessible neighborhoods to the most needy. Puente recognized some  deficiencies  in coordinating relief efforts, but overall, he said,  The government today is an international benchmark.

Summary: भूकंप से बचे लोगों की तलाश के लिए मेक्सिको में तीन दिन की उलटी गिनती जारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NFL team owners will consider requiring football players to stand for the U.S. national anthem after President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested using tax laws to penalize the league for players who kneel in protest of racial injustice. Trump, a Republican, escalated his feud with the National Football League in a Twitter post asking if the league should get tax breaks while some athletes kneel in protest when the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played at the start of each game. “Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!” Trump wrote on Twitter. The world’s top-grossing sports league gave up its tax-free status two years ago. Its owners are preparing to address the anthem issue at their fall meeting in New York Oct. 17-18, NFL chief spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday. “Everyone at this point is frustrated by the situation,” Lockhart said. “The commissioner and the owners do want the players to stand. We think it is an important part of the game.” The protests, in a league where African-Americans make up the majority of players, have continued through the season, with some players taking a knee when the anthem is played and others standing arm-in-arm in solidarity. Current policy calls for players to stand for the anthem and face the flag, but no player has been disciplined for a protest, Lockhart said. “We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a memo to team owners. The White House supported the idea of asking players to stand, said spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. “We are glad to see the NFL taking positive steps in that direction,” she said at a news briefing. Asked to explain Trump’s comment on the NFL and taxes, Sanders said, “The federal tax law doesn’t apply here, but certainly we know that they receive tax subsidies on a variety of different levels.” The NFL Players Association, when asked for a reaction to possible changes to anthem rules, said in an email “we do not have a response at this time.” Trump last month called on NFL team owners to fire players who kneel during the anthem to protest police violence against black Americans. Critics contend Trump is fanning the controversy to distract from issues including devastation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, tensions with North Korea and difficulties in pushing healthcare and tax overhauls through the U.S. Congress. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, speaking on KRLD-FM in Dallas on Tuesday, reiterated his stance that if any of his players chose to demonstrate during the anthem, they would not play. “If you do not honor and stand for the flag in the way that a lot of our fans feel that you should ... if that’s not the case, then you won’t play,” said Jones. “That’s nothing new as far as that being my wish or the way I want the Cowboys. As far as whether or not I will basically institute or do what I said I would just say. ... I would ask anybody to look at my record relative to what I say I’m going to do.” Vice President Mike Pence walked out of a NFL game on Sunday after some players knelt, an action some critics called a publicity stunt. Trump won the presidency with less support from black voters than any other president in at least four decades. Trump has squared off against the NFL before, having owned a team in the upstart United States Football League in the 1980s. That league folded in 1985 after an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL failed. Trump has refused to disclose his own tax history, departing from a practice of U.S. presidents going back more than 40 years. Trump has said nobody cares about his tax returns, but critics say they could show conflicts of interest.

Summary: एन. एफ. एल. मालिकों ने राष्ट्रगान के नियमों पर विचार किया क्योंकि ट्रम्प ने विरोध की आलोचना की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama’s Oval Office meeting on Thursday with his elected successor, Donald Trump, was an important first step for a smooth transition of power, the White House said. “President Obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence in the commitment of the president-elect to engage in an effective, smooth transition,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing. Trump and Obama did not resolve their differences, Earnest said, but, based on their agreement on the need for an effective transition, “the meeting might have been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected.”

Summary: ओबामा-ट्रंप की मुलाकात कुछ लोगों की उम्मीद से कम अजीबः व्हाइट हाउस


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! [710 EST] - Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED![803 EST] - Wishing all of those celebrating #Hanukkah around the world a happy and healthy eight nights in the company of those they love. 45.wh.gov/XpFsZu [1713 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (12 दिसंबर)-डेमोक्रेट, कर्स्टन गिलिब्रैंड, चक शूमर


NEW YORK (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump and Housing Secretary-designate Ben Carson spoke with entertainer and talk show host Steve Harvey on Friday to discuss an effort by the incoming administration to seek positive changes in U.S. inner cities. “He said he wanted to do something,” Harvey told reporters after the meeting in Trump Tower. “They have a plan for the inner cities but they need some help and so that’s why they called me. So we’ll see what I can do.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी शहरों की मदद करने के बारे में मनोरंजनकर्ता स्टीव हार्वे से बात की


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has set out its goals for an upcoming re-negotiation of the NAFTA trade accord, according to a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday, prioritizing free access for goods and services, greater labor market integration and a strengthening of energy security.  The economy ministry document, circulating in the Mexican senate and dated July, will serve as the basis for Mexico’s position at the upcoming talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement. The talks between Canada, Mexico and the United States are due to start in Washington on Aug. 16. “Our objective is to have an expedited negotiation that maintains the benefits that we have achieved during the lifespan of NAFTA, but which at the same time serves as a platform for the modernization of the treaty,” the document says. Mexico will seek to retain unimpeded access for goods and services in the NAFTA region, promote greater integration of North American labor markets and establish rules of origin to guarantee NAFTA’s regional benefits, the document says. Mexico, which is in the midst of implementing a historic opening of its oil, gas and power sectors, also wants to incorporate measures to reflect the transformation of the region’s energy sector and strengthen regional energy security.  Furthermore, the document says, Mexico wants to bolster the dispute resolution mechanisms of NAFTA - a desire that is sure to raise eyebrows in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has sought to ditch the so-called Chapter 19 tool.   Under Chapter 19, binational panels hear complaints about illegal subsidies and dumping, and then issue binding decisions. The United States has frequently lost such cases since NAFTA came into effect in 1994.  The mechanism has hindered the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against Mexican and Canadian firms, and Canada, in particular, has expressed reservations about eliminating it from a new trade agreement. Last week, Mexico’s Congress backed a non-binding motion urging the government to reject the Trump administration’s proposal to scrap Chapter 19. According to the document, Mexico hopes to unify agricultural, animal and health safety regulations, to protect the intellectual property of domestic content producers and to forge measures for transparency and fighting graft. There will also be a focus on capitalizing and strengthening the North American Development Bank, and efforts to consolidate the digital economy. Mexico also hopes to move ahead with the liberalization for services and investment, and support for small and medium-sized companies.

Summary: मेक्सिको ने फिर से बातचीत से पहले नाफ्टा लक्ष्य निर्धारित किएः दस्तावेज़


TORONTO (Reuters) - Black people in Canada s most populous province spent longer behind bars awaiting trial than white people charged with many of the same categories of crimes in each of the past five years, according to data obtained by Reuters. Between April 2015 and April 2016, the most recent period in which data is available, black people awaiting trial in Ontario jails were there longer, on average, than white people charged with the same crime in 11 of 16 offense categories Reuters examined. There were approximately 6,000 black people and nearly 26,000 white people remanded to pre-trial detention during the period. The data showed similar patterns in the four prior years. (Graphic: Racial disparities in pre-trial detention - tmsnrt.rs/2z18vS7) Among the categories examined, black people spent almost twice as long in remand in 2015-2016 for weapons offenses, equivalent to an additional 38 days. They also spent 46 percent longer for serious violent offenses and 36 percent longer on charges of obstructing justice.   In three categories, white people awaiting trial were held longer in remand during the same period. Those included drug possession, theft and traffic offenses. In two categories, the difference was 1 percent or less. The data also showed black people arrested and held in custody between 2011 and 2016 were more likely than white people to spend more than a year in pre-trial detention. Reuters obtained the previously unreported data through access-to-information requests from Ontario, which asks inmates to indicate their race when they enter jail. Other provinces do not collect this data or categorize it differently. A spokesman for Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said the province  takes systemic racism seriously and is working to address racial inequities,  but declined to comment on the data. The Ontario Crown Attorneys  Association, which represents the province s prosecutors, and the Association of Justices of the Peace, which represents the people who decide most of Ontario s bail cases, declined to comment.  More than a dozen defense lawyers as well as prosecutors, criminologists, and a judge interviewed by Reuters said shortcomings in Canada s bail system appeared to play a role in the racial disparities shown in the data. Unlike the United States, Canada virtually eliminated cash bail almost half a century ago. Instead, courts often require prisoners awaiting trial to secure a surety, meaning a relative or close friend who can appear in court and subsequently monitor them.  A surety needs assets to pledge, a crime-free record and, often, a home where the accused person can live until the case is complete. A surety cannot represent more than one defendant at a time. Current and former prosecutors interviewed for this story said securing a surety can be onerous and the requirement is perhaps relied upon too often; but some said sureties remain the best way to protect the public and ensure defendants show up for trial. Critics of the system say the poor are less likely than middle-class or wealthy people to have connections to provide the assets to pledge or housing to act as a surety. They add that this has an outsized impact on minorities, who are over-represented among Canada s poor.  Surety is a huge issue in Ontario,  said Nicole Myers, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.  If you are from a marginalized community or a criminalized community, it can be very difficult to find a surety the court deems appropriate.  The data did not take into account specifics of each case, the person s criminal record, the frequency of plea deals, whether the person had a bail hearing and why bail may have been denied. Reuters focused on offenses with the largest pre-trial populations when comparing the average periods in remand, to minimize the impact of outliers. Inmates charged in multiple offense categories were counted in only the more serious one; multiple charges could affect someone s chances of getting bail.   Studies, including one published last year by the Ottawa police, have found Ontario s black communities are more heavily policed than white ones. This makes black people more likely to be caught breaching bail and makes it harder to find a surety without a criminal record who is not serving as surety for someone else, said Chris Sewrattan, a defense lawyer who represents many young black men from eastern Toronto. In a ruling this year, Canada s Supreme Court called sureties  one of the most onerous forms of release,  not to be used unless other options have been considered, such as programs that assign a case worker and require the accused to check in regularly with the courts.  The court did not address race in its ruling. At least six provincial governments in Canada, including those of Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba, have said they are reviewing bail practices. An earlier Reuters investigation found inmates awaiting trial are more likely to die behind bars than their sentenced counterparts.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः नया डेटा कनाडा की जमानत प्रणाली में नस्लीय असमानताओं को दर्शाता है


LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May told business leaders that they should treat a two-year transition period after Brexit as assured as she tries to ease company concerns that Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal, a source told Reuters. May met business chiefs from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), Vodafone (VOD.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L) and other major companies on Monday to hear what they want from talks on Britain s relationship with the EU after Brexit. Businesses have become increasingly alarmed by the slow progress of negotiations and the prospect that the country could leave the trading bloc without a new trading arrangement in place in 2019.  From her point of view, the transitional agreement is non-negotiable ... business should think of the two-year period as assured. It will happen,  the source said when asked what May had said during discussions on Monday. A spokeswoman from May s office said she restated her position  that the government s goal is for a smooth, orderly exit in which there is only one set of changes for businesses and people . Almost all business leaders expressed concern about access to talent after Brexit and several told May that the investment cycle means there are decisions coming at the end of 2017 and the start of 2018, the source said. Last week, two sources told Reuters that Japanese carmaker Toyota (7203.T) intended to build the next version of its Auris car at its British car plant on the assumption that the government secures a transitional Brexit deal in a decision due by the end of the year.  Both May and her finance minister, Philip Hammond, acknowledged during Monday s meeting that businesses needed a better sense of Britain s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union.   May said business needs clarity,  the source said.  The chancellor (finance minister) said clarity is more important than perfection.   Business chiefs have previously complained that their voice has been drowned out by disagreement and division in the government, and they have not heard anything to give them the certainty they need to plan and invest in their businesses. May s office said she stressed the importance of engaging with the business community to design the proposed implementation arrangements, and promised to have continued meetings with a wide variety of business voices. May was joined by Hammond, business minister Greg Clark, minister for exiting the EU David Davis and trade minister Liam Fox at the council. Companies attending also included Balfour Beatty (BALF.L), WPP (WPP.L), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Aston Martin and AB Foods (ABF.L), the government said. The meeting came after May s authority was further undermined last week. She had to fend off a challenge from up to 30 of her lawmakers who had been pushing for her to quit following a disastrous snap election in June which saw the ruling Conservatives lose their parliamentary majority.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के पीएम मे ने व्यापार प्रमुखों से कहाः दो साल का ब्रेक्सिट संक्रमण सुनिश्चित है-स्रोत


(Reuters) - Peruvian villagers suing miner Glencore will argue in London s High Court next week that the company should be held liable over their allegations they were abused by Peruvian police, the law firm representing them said on Tuesday. The allegations, to be presented in a 10-day hearing that starts on Monday, illustrates potential legal risks for mining companies that sign pacts with Peruvian police for the provision of security services at their operations. The lawsuit by 22 Peruvians said that Xstrata, acquired by Glencore in 2013, failed to take reasonable steps to prevent abuses by police in deadly protests at the Tintaya copper mine in 2012, said London law firm Leigh Day. Xstrata paid, fed and provided lodging for police and knew or should have known that Peru s police tend to use excessive force, Leigh Day said. Glencore said Xstrata was not responsible for actions taken by the Peruvian National Police (PNP) in policing the protests and noted that the lawsuit does not allege that Xstrata or the mine s private security force harmed anyone. Xstrata  appealed to the PNP to respect the human rights of protesters before and during the protest,  Glencore said in a statement. Like many mining companies in Peru, Xstrata had signed an agreement with Peru s national police for the provision of security services at Tintaya, which stopped operating in 2013. The agreements, which usually include payment for police, have long been criticized by activists who say it creates a police force loyal to companies instead of the broader public.     Defenders of the agreements say that they allow companies to pay for their policing needs in poor, remote regions where they tend to operate alongside villages that lack basic services. Leigh Day law firm said that a Peruvian villager believed to have been shot by police in the 2012 unrest will attend the hearing. The case will be determined under Peruvian law, the firm said.

Summary: पुलिस द्वारा दुर्व्यवहार के आरोपों पर पेरू के लोग ग्लेनकोर को अदालत में ले जाते हैं


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Forensic scientists have identified the remains of 88 Argentine soldiers buried in anonymous graves on the Falkland Islands after the country s 1982 conflict with Britain, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday. The results were presented to Argentine and British delegations, and Argentine authorities would inform the families of the soldiers  directly and confidentially,  the ICRC said in a statement. Scientists analyzed 122 sets of human remains in 121 anonymous graves in the Darwin Cemetery in the South Atlantic,  an ICRC spokeswoman said. One of the graves, which were all marked  Argentine soldier only known to God,  had two bodies. The ICRC has been interviewing families of dead Argentine soldiers since 2012 and 107 have consented to DNA testing. During Britain s two-month war to reclaim the Falklands, which Argentines call the Malvinas, 255 British troops and about 650 Argentine soldiers died. The majority of the Argentines that perished were on a Navy ship that sank.  For us, the process will end when all those who fell are identified,  said Ernesto Alonso, a veteran of the war.  While the South American country still claims the islands, President Mauricio Macri has adopted a softer tone than his predecessor Cristina Fernandez. The two countries signed an agreement last December to try to identify the soldiers and to divide the $1.5 million of related costs. The ICRC forensic scientists, and two experts each from Argentina and Britain, began their efforts in June.

Summary: वैज्ञानिकों ने फ़ॉकलैंड में अर्जेंटीना के 88 सैनिकों के अवशेषों की पहचान की


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations announced on Friday the appointment of Henrietta Fore, an economic development advocate and former U.S. State Department official, as executive director of its Children s Fund, effective Jan. 1. Fore, 69, who currently is the chief executive officer of  manufacturing and investment company Holsman International, will succeed Anthony Lake, U.N. Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres said in a statement. UNICEF provides humanitarian and development assistance to children and mothers in over 190 developing nations and territories, focused primarily on saving children s lives and  defending their rights.  Fore was administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2006 to 2009, the first woman to lead the agency. She also served as undersecretary for management at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration and as director of the U.S. Mint.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने बाल कोष का नेतृत्व करने के लिए अमेरिकी को नियुक्त किया


ST. JOHN S, Newfoundland (Reuters) - Canada on Wednesday indicated it would again put off a decision on contributing troops to a U.N. peace operation in Mali, upsetting allies who said the new delay could undermine Canada s effort to obtain a seat on the Security Council. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year said it would consider sending troops to Mali but has taken months longer than predicted to make up its mind amid fears soldiers would die. Allies had expected an announcement before Canada hosts a peacekeeping conference in November but in a Toronto Star  interview published on Wednesday, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the decision would not be made by then. Unhappy diplomatic sources from three nations said the delay could harm Canada s efforts to expand its influence in the United Nations, a body that the previous Conservative government treated with suspicion.  If you want a seat on the Security Council, not being active at the U.N. isn t helpful,  said one of the sources, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the situation. The United Nations has deployed some 10,000 peacekeepers to Mali to help deal with Islamist militants. Officials say sending Canadian troops to Mali would inevitably result in casualties, which could prove politically unpopular. Canada lost 158 troops in a 10-year stint in Afghanistan - more per capita than any other nation.  Being a serious player at the United Nations means not always choosing the safe option,  said a second diplomatic source. Trudeau came to power in 2015 and declared  Canada is back,  stressing the need for a more progressive foreign policy. As part of the effort to rebuild ties at the United Nations, Canada said it would commit up to 600 soldiers for possible U.N. deployment, and pressed for one of the Security Council s 10 non-permanent seats. Trudeau said on Wednesday that several hundred Canadian troops were taking part in international operations in Latvia, Iraq and Ukraine.   We are serious about re-engaging with United Nations peace operations but ... we need to make sure we re doing it right,  he told reporters. Trudeau, who spoke on the margins of a Cabinet retreat in St. John s, Newfoundland, is due to go to the United Nations next week and address the General Assembly.  Canada is there to help, as always, and that is the message I will be bringing,  he said when asked whether the Security Council bid would suffer.

Summary: कनाडा ने माली मिशन पर रोक लगाई, सुरक्षा परिषद की बोली पर पड़ सकता है असर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies obtained what they considered to be conclusive evidence after the November election that Russia provided hacked material from the Democratic National Committee to WikiLeaks through a third party, three U.S. officials said on Wednesday.  U.S. officials had concluded months earlier that Russian intelligence agencies had directed the hacking, but had been less certain that they could prove Russia also had controlled the release of information damaging to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  REUTERS RECOMMENDS:   Amazon, Forever 21 kick the tires at American Apparel Child monks in the Indian Himalayas  The timing of the additional intelligence is important because U.S. President Barack Obama has faced criticism from his own party over why it took his administration months to respond to the cyber attack. U.S. Senate and House leaders, including prominent Republicans, have also called for an inquiry.  At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump has questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia tried to help his candidacy and hurt Clinton’s. Russia has denied the hacking allegations.  A U.S. intelligence report on the hacking was scheduled to be presented to Obama on Thursday and to Trump on Friday, though its contents were still under discussion on Wednesday, officials said.    They said the post-election intelligence gave the Obama administration greater certainty about the full role of the Russian government in the hacking and leaks of documents than it had on Oct. 7, when the U.S. intelligence agencies had said they were “confident” Russia orchestrated the hacking.  The additional intelligence also informed U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to retaliate on Dec. 29 by expelling 35 suspected Russian spies and sanctioning two Russian spy agencies, four intelligence officers and three companies, a decision that capped four months of debate at the White House about how to respond, the officials said.  The officials declined to describe the intelligence obtained about the involvement of a third-party in passing on leaked material to WikiLeaks, saying they did not want to reveal how the U.S. government had obtained the information.  In an interview with Fox News, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he did not receive emails stolen from the DNC and top Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta from “a state party.” Assange did not rule out the possibility that he got the material from a third party.     Trump on Wednesday sided with Assange and again questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia tried to help his candidacy and hurt Clinton’s.  Concern by U.S. officials over the hacking first spiked in August, when intelligence agencies concluded that Russian intelligence, with the direction of President Vladimir Putin, had been trying to disrupt and discredit the presidential and congressional elections.  Obama in August rejected recommendations from some of his advisors to disclose the Russian link and take some limited covert action as “a shot across Putin’s bow to knock it off,” one official with knowledge of the matter said.  Instead, Obama warned Putin privately, arguing that a similar private message to Chinese President Xi Jinping had reduced Chinese hacking into U.S. agencies and companies.  In October, Obama again declined to take action, arguing such a move could be seen as an effort to help Clinton and discredit Republican Trump, one that could stain a Clinton presidency, one official said.  Obama took public action on the issue only after Trump was elected and began disparaging the intelligence community’s reporting on the Russian hacking, another official said.

Summary: अमेरिका ने चुनाव के बाद सबूत प्राप्त किए कि रूस ने ईमेल लीक किएः अधिकारी


SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Relief agencies struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims displaced by strife in northwestern Myanmar are facing rising hostility from ethnic Rakhine Buddhists who accuse the United Nations and foreign aid groups of only helping Muslims. So far, the Myanmar government has only granted Red Cross organizations access to the area. The United Nations suspended its activities and evacuated non-critical staff after the government suggested it had supported Rohingya insurgents. Already battling against bad weather, tough terrain and obstructive bureaucracy, the Red Cross also ran into an angry mob, who believe the foreign aid agencies have ignored the suffering of Rakhine Buddhists in Myanmar s poorest state. On Wednesday a mob in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, tried to block a boat carrying International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid to the north, where attacks by Rohingya militants on Aug. 25 prompted Myanmar s generals to order a sweeping counter-insurgency offensive. The mob was armed with sticks, knives and petrol bombs, and only dispersed after police fired rubber bullets. Four days earlier a Myanmar Red Cross truck was stopped and searched by Rakhine residents in Sittwe.  With heightened tensions in Rakhine State, humanitarian staff and private contractors are facing serious challenges in implementing life-saving activities,  said Pierre Peron, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar. In the past month, 420,000 Rohingya have fled into neighboring Bangladesh to avoid what the U.N. human rights chief has called ethnic cleansing.  Foreign aid groups are now scaling up to help Bangladesh cope with a humanitarian disaster of biblical proportions.  Back in Myanmar, a separate crisis is unfolding on multiple fronts, many of them much harder to reach.  Many ongoing humanitarian activities that existed before August 25th have still not resumed,  said Peron.  For the sake of vulnerable people in all communities in Rakhine State, urgent measures must be taken to allow vital humanitarian activities to resume.  In northern Rakhine, tens of thousands of people, most of them Rohingya, are displaced but haven t crossed into Bangladesh. Closer to Sittwe, 140,000 Rohingya displaced by previous religious unrest are confined to squalid camps. They depend on foreign aid that has been severely restricted since Aug. 25. About 6,000 Buddhists have also fled to Sittwe, where they are cared for at monasteries by the government and Rakhine volunteers. Ethnic Rakhine have long complained that foreign aid agencies have given generously to Muslims while ignoring other equally needy people.  All people in Rakhine are suffering, but only Muslims get help,  said Htun Aung Kyaw, chief of the Arakan National Party (ANP). Rakhine residents of Sittwe interviewed by Reuters said they believed that U.N. estimates of refugee numbers were exaggerated, and that Rohingya camps near the city faced no shortages.   They have more than enough,  said Kyaw Sein of Rakhine Alin Dagar, a Rakhine advocacy group in Sittwe.  Kyaw Sein said she hadn t visited the camps, but said in the past she had seen Muslims selling oil, rice and other aid in local markets.  She said relations between the foreign aid groups and the Rakhine people had been poisoned by years of neglect and favoritism.  It s difficult to say what they can do to win back our trust,  she said. Further eroding that trust are rumors that aid deliveries could be used to smuggle weapons to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the militant group behind the attacks on security forces last month and in October 2016.  The Rakhine have no weapons to protect themselves with,  said the ANP s Htun Aung Kyaw.  That s why they re so terrified.  Such fears have been stoked by social media and by the discovery of World Food Program-branded biscuits at a suspected militant camp on July 30.  They have also prompted the authorities to restrict humanitarian access to some Rohingya villages on security grounds, say aid workers.  Htun Aung Kyaw predicted  bigger and bigger attacks , especially if ARSA drew support from groups such as Islamic State. Those concerns were echoed on Thursday by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy, who warned of  a more significant terrorism problem  if the Rakhine crisis was not properly addressed. Murphy also criticized the Myanmar security forces for  a response that is disproportionate and failed to protect all local populations.  The United Nations rights body has called it  a textbook example of ethnic cleansing , with reports of hundreds of Muslim villages razed and abuses by soldiers, police and Rakhine vigilantes. Even so, many people in Myanmar - not just Rakhine - appear to believe the military s explanation: the Rohingya set their own houses alight before fleeing.  Rakhine interviewed by Reuters said the Rohingya did this to win sympathy from aid groups, galvanize opposition in the Muslim world and ensure that nearby Rakhine houses burned down too. Some aid workers privately scoffed at such views, but they also admitted that their early failure to engage and understand the Rakhine has made their current work more difficult. Graziella Leite Piccoli, the ICRC s regional spokesperson, said aid workers  should never be targeted , and her colleagues were working to convince local communities that they are there to help everyone.

Summary: विदेशी सहायता कर्मचारियों के प्रति बौद्ध अविश्वास म्यांमार के रोहिंग्याओं के लिए राहत में बाधा डालता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress was wrestling with healthcare again on Tuesday, as lawmakers from both parties considered some approaches beyond simply repealing and replacing Obamacare. The widened healthcare discussion appeared unlikely to yield dramatic changes soon, but marked a shift from the long-running, Republican effort to gut 2010’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as Obamacare is formally known. Republicans’ last attempt in July to overturn former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law fell one short in the Senate in a humiliating defeat for President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In one Senate committee, a bipartisan effort was under way on Tuesday to repair Obamacare without repealing it, led by the Republican health committee chairman, Lamar Alexander, and the panel’s top Democrat, Patty Murray. They want to stabilize the Obamacare individual insurance market by protecting its “cost-sharing subsidies.” Those payments go to insurers to help reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans enrolled in Obamacare. Trump, who made repealing and replacing Obamacare a major campaign promise, has repeatedly threatened to stop the payments, which insurers say would force a 20 percent premium price increase. Alexander, who also wants states to have more flexibility to design health insurance plans under Obamacare, said on Tuesday the goal was a “small bipartisan step” that could break the years-long partisan stalemate over the law. The Tennessee lawmaker said he hoped to have a bipartisan consensus proposal by sometime next week, although it was unclear if McConnell would bring such a measure to the floor. He was noncommittal when asked about it on Tuesday. Some Republicans were supportive. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson said if the government did not keep funding the cost-sharing subsidies, insurance premiums would likely rise and the government would have to spend more money on tax credits that help consumers afford the premiums. “The insurance companies get their money either way,” Johnson told Reuters. Maine Republican Susan Collins, who voted against repealing and replacing Obamacare in July, said she hoped to support the bipartisan Obamacare repair effort. “Based on the hearings so far, (I) would expect to,” she said. The effort was being watched closely by companies such as Anthem Inc (ANTM.N), which has trimmed the number of states and counties in which it will sell Obamacare plans in 2018. The company said on Tuesday it was still working with some state regulators on its market participation for next year [L2N1LT17A]. Anthem and other insurers have a deadline of Sept. 27 to finalize their 2018 Obamacare roles. Separately, independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, was pushing a plan to widen the Medicare health insurance program for seniors, to include everyone. Most Republicans looked askance at the idea, which Sanders has long championed, while some leading Democrats like House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said their priority was improving Obamacare. The Republican anti-Obamacare campaign was not entirely over. Two Republicans were planning to announce a new repeal-and-replace proposal on Wednesday that has White House support. Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy will offer legislation to give states money in the form of block grants instead of the federal funding states get under Obamacare. Critics said the approach would effectively cut billions of dollars in funding for Obamacare subsidies and for the Medicaid program for the poor that many states expanded under Obamacare. The Cassidy-Graham bill must pass by the end of September to comply with Senate procedural rules allowing it to advance with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes needed for most bills. “It would take an extraordinary lift to get that done before the deadline,” said Senator John Thune, a member of the Republican leadership.

Summary: कांग्रेस ने ओबामाकेयर पर फिर से विचार किया, इस बार एक द्विदलीय मोड़ के साथ


WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will defend the U.S. central bank’s first rate hike in a decade and likely insist that further rises this year remain on track, albeit at a slower pace, when she addresses Congress on Wednesday. Yellen, who is certain to be grilled by lawmakers on whether the economy really is ready for higher rates, will point to continued strong jobs growth even as financial markets have all but priced out any rate hikes this year and as signs of stress in the global financial system have re-emerged amid volatile markets. The Fed Chair also is likely to find herself in heated exchanges with lawmakers over the bank’s perceived secrecy, with presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle now taking regular shots at the Fed on the campaign trail. “I think that markets probably have over-reacted to the sense that the Fed won’t raise rates any time soon,” said Vincent Reinhart, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former head of the Fed’s monetary affairs division.  The House Financial Services Committee hearing is set for 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) on Wednesday, followed on Thursday at 10 a.m. EST by a Senate Banking Committee hearing. U.S. growth slowed to 0.7 percent rate in the fourth quarter as weak global demand weighed on the economy. But the housing sector strengthened, unemployment fell to 4.9 percent last month and, in a relief for the Fed, wages jumped in January by the most in a year. Vice Chair Stanley Fischer and other Fed officials have recently backed off predictions of about four rate hikes this year, noting that plunging oil prices mean U.S. inflation could take longer to rise to a 2 percent goal. But policymakers have stressed that it is too soon to scrap forecasts for continued U.S. strength in 2016. Some have noted that a similarly severe market selloff in August and September did not derail the economy as much as initially feared. “September is ... a case where there were tighter financial conditions, and they didn’t last that long and then we moved off (zero rates),” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, a voter on Fed policy this year, said last week. The Fed overcame deep market skepticism that it would initiate a hiking cycle when it pulled off its first rate rise in almost a decade in December last year. At a twice-yearly appearances before Congress, the Fed chair is often peppered with barbed questions about the central bank’s effectiveness, regulatory chops and commitment to congressionally set goals, both from Republicans like House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling as well as Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee. Some of the top presidential candidates, including Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, are calling for major reforms to the Fed.  All of that could complicate things for Yellen as she tries to keep alive the prospect of further rate rises even as she acknowledges the threat posed by a slowing global economy. “We must not forget, after all, that despite the financial market rout and the pain in the mining and manufacturing sector, the Fed has gotten closer to meeting both of its mandates,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at Unicredit, after data on Tuesday showed job openings surged in December.

Summary: येलेन को कांग्रेस में फेड दरों में बढ़ोतरी के कारण भारी बिकवाली का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald J. Trump is planning to increase U.S. defense spending by $54 billion next year. But a series of recent reports by the Defense Department Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office say that Pentagon accounting systems will struggle to track how the money is spent.  The reports found that the Pentagon remains unable to accurately track its $591 billion annual budget and experiences billions of dollars in accounting gaps and errors each year despite two decades of reform efforts. Taken together, the reports show that many of the endemic accounting problems exposed in a 2013 Reuters investigative series remain in place.  “These deficiencies not only affect (the Department of Defense’s) ability to have auditable financial statements,” a Feb. 9 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found, “they also affect its ability to make sound decisions on missions and operations.”  A spokesman for the White House’s Office of Management Budget (OMB) said he was confident that Defense Secretary James Mattis would properly spend the additional funds.  “The need to replenish our military and bolster American security is unquestioned and an important priority of this president,” OMB Communications Director John Czwartacki said in a statement. “We believe Secretary Mattis will deploy all of his resources in the most effective and efficient way possible.”  Critics of wasteful Pentagon spending say increasing the Defense Department budget is unwise when the department is unable to account for what it already has.  “It’s ludicrous,” said Mandy Smithberger, director of the Straus Military Reform Project in Washington. “Reform isn’t going to happen as long as the spigot is turned on.”  The Pentagon’s continued accounting problems are drawing particular scrutiny now because the Defense Department faces a congressionally mandated legal deadline of Sept. 30, 2017, to become ready for its first audit ever. Unlike every other U.S. government department, the Pentagon has never undergone an audit because its financial records are in such disarray.  A spokesman for the Defense Department comptroller’s office said he is confident it will meet the deadline.  “The Department is committed and on track to be ready to undergo a full financial statement audit in (fiscal year) 2018,” Lieutenant Colonel Eric D. Badger said in an email.  At the same time Trump proposes to boost defense spending, he has called for deep cuts to other areas, a White House summary of his proposed 2018 budget shows. Whether Congress will accept or reject Trump’s proposals is unclear.  Trump calls for cutting the State Department’s budget by $10.1 billion, or 28%. Among other things, U.S. payments to support the United Nations would be cut.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would take a particularly big hit. Trump would cut $2.6 billion, or 31%, of its budget. The White House document says the budget would eliminate more than 50 EPA programs, and cut EPA’s research and development budget by $233 million, or 52%. The budget for grants to states for lead clean-up would be cut by 30% to $9.8 million.  The recent watchdog reports on the Defense Department found that it lacks a unified, functioning accounting system. As Reuters reported in its 2013 series, the Pentagon has hundreds of independent systems, built ad hoc and some dating from the 1970s, that are riddled with errors and incapable of sharing accurate data.  Billions of dollars disappear from accounting records. The military has spent large sums building new systems meant to solve the problem, but so far they have not.  A March 16 Defense Department Inspector General report said the Navy could not find any records to back up how it had spent $866 million in the first quarter of 2016 in U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. The report said that as a result, there was no way to know what the money actually was used for.  A Navy spokeswoman, Lieutenant Kara YingLing, referred Reuters to the Navy’s official response to the report, which said the Navy agreed with the Inspector General’s conclusions but said its accounting problems will not be fixed until it begins using a new computer system in 2019. YingLing said the Navy is “on track” to help the Pentagon meet its Sept. 30 audit deadline.  The Feb. 9 GAO report said the Pentagon’s continued bookkeeping errors affect the federal government as a whole. Defense spending makes up such a large part of the federal budget that the department’s unreliable data skews accounting for the entire U.S. government, the GAO said.  The report noted that the Defense Department has been on the GAO’s list of “High Risk” entities that represent threats to the federal government’s financial well-being since 1995. The report said the Pentagon has remained on the list because of “long-standing deficiencies with its financial management systems.”  The GAO report noted that the Pentagon had hired large independent accounting firms for each of the military services to try to help them meet the Sept. 30 audit deadline. But the report said the firms have found so many problems that the ability of the Pentagon to meet the deadline remains in doubt.  A separate Defense Department Inspector General report issued on March 23, 2017, found that the Army continues to be unable to balance its checkbook. The report concluded that the problem for the Army grew worse in 2016.  The report said that for October 2015, the Army had 177,921 discrepancies. The monthly numbers rose steadily to 790,551 for June 2016. The report did not give dollar amounts for those months.  Army spokesman Wayne Hall said the number of discrepancies continued to increase in 2017 because planned fixes to computer systems have not yet been made. He said the Army is working on building more reliable systems.  The report said that because rules require that the Army’s numbers exactly match in monthly reports to the Treasury, the Army and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service must find a way to make them match. Their solution was to enter made-up numbers to make it appear falsely that the Army’s numbers do match.  The report said that for March 2016, there were $1.9 billion in such “forced balance entries.” Hall said the Army must make the numbers match under federal rules.  In separate reports, the Inspector General found that other military services have also had problems balancing their financial numbers with the Treasury’s. Accountants interviewed by Reuters said that such large discrepancies would be considered accounting fraud in the corporate world.  Badger, the spokesman for the Defense Department comptroller’s office, said any errors by the military services were unintentional.  “We strongly oppose any accusation of intentionally misrepresenting our books,” Badger said in an email. “Many manual accounting adjustments are often caused by the ineffective design of legacy business or financial systems.”  Trump has said the $54 billion in increased defense spending will send a “message to the world in these dangerous times of American strength, security and resolve.” Trump has also vowed to negotiate cheaper contracts with defense contractors, a problem also cited in recent watchdog reports.  In a March 2016 report, the Inspector General found that the Air Force had spent “billions” on a contract to maintain one type of jet engine, without first getting any idea of a fair price.  The open-ended contract, with a guaranteed profit margin regardless of cost, was awarded in 2011. The report said that before signing the contract the Air Force obtained no data on the actual cost of the repairs and how the costs compared to private-sector rates.  The exact amount of the contract was redacted from the report. The Inspector General has not ruled on a March 2016 Freedom of Information Act request filed by Reuters that asked for the redacted information to be made public.

Summary: जब ट्रम्प रक्षा-खर्च को बढ़ावा देना चाहते हैं, तो निगरानीकर्ताओं ने पेंटागन के दोषपूर्ण लेखांकन का हवाला दिया


HAVANA (Reuters) - Cruise company Carnival Corporation believes Cuba will soon modify rules that bar Cuban-Americans from traveling on its planned cruises to the island, the company said on Friday, after pressure mounted for the trip to be postponed.  Carnival is due to become the first U.S. cruise company to sail directly to Cuba in more than half a century on May 1, but the exclusion of Cuban-Americans has prompted a lawsuit against the company and protests in Miami. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that Carnival “needs to not discriminate” and called on Cuba to change the policy.  A State Department official later said Kerry “in no way meant to convey that Carnival is supporting policies that are discriminating against Cuban American travelers.” Asked whether Carnival was considering cancelling the trip, spokesman Roger Frizzell said the company was confident Cuba would change its rules before the sailing date.     “We continue to believe that Cuba will modify its regulation before we sail on May 1 based on our ongoing discussions with Cuban officials,” Frizzell said, citing rules that allow Cuban-Americans to visit Cuba by air as an example.  Cuban-born Americans cannot visit the island by sea, due to a Cuban law that dates to the Cold War era, and therefore are barred from joining in Carnival’s sailing to the island.

Summary: कार्निवल को उम्मीद है कि क्यूबा क्यूबा-अमेरिकियों को उद्घाटन क्रूज पर जाने की अनुमति देगा


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State on Saturday after Iraqi forces drove its last remnants from the country, three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq s territory. The announcement comes two days after the Russian military announced the defeat of the militants in neighboring Syria, where Moscow is backing Syrian government forces.  Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria, the military said.  Honorable Iraqis: your land has been completely liberated. The dream of liberation is now a reality,  Abadi said in a televised address. He was speaking with five Iraqi flags and dozens of servicemen from different branches behind him.  We have accomplished a very difficult mission. Our heroes have reached the final strongholds of Daesh and purified it. The Iraqi flag flies high today over all Iraqi lands.  Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Several squadrons of Iraqi helicopters flew over Baghdad carrying Iraqi flags at noon, in an apparent rehearsal for a victory parade that Iraq is planning to hold in coming days. The government said the declaration meant Iraqi forces had secured the western desert and the entire Iraq-Syria border, and marked the end of the war against Islamic State.  Abadi declared Dec. 10 a national holiday to be celebrated every year. State television aired celebratory songs praising government forces and militias, and showed scenes of celebration on the streets of Baghdad and other provinces. The U.S.-led coalition that has been supporting the Iraqi forces against Islamic State welcomed the news, as did Brett McGurk, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy to the coalition.  We congratulate the Prime Minister and all the Iraqi people on this significant achievement, which many thought impossible,  he said in a series of tweets.   We honor the sacrifices of the Iraqi people, its security forces, and the Kurdish Peshmerga, and admire the unity in their ranks that had made this day possible.  The U.S. State Department also issued a statement of congratulation. Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, fell in July after a grueling nine-month campaign backed by a U.S.-led coalition that saw much of the northern Iraqi city destroyed.  Islamic State s Syrian capital Raqqa also fell to a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition in September. The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare, a tactic the militants have already shown themselves capable of. Abadi said Iraq had entered  the post-victory over Daesh phase  and must be prepared for future threats.  Daesh s dream is over and we must erase all its effect and not allow terrorism to return. Despite announcing final victory, we must remain vigilant and prepared against any terrorist attempt on our country, for terrorism is an eternal enemy.  The war has had a devastating impact on the areas previously controlled by the militants. About 3.2 million people remain displaced, a U.N. statement said on Saturday. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in 2014 declared in Mosul the founding of a new Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria, released an audio recording on Sept. 28 indicating he was alive following several reports of his death. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite setbacks. Baghdadi is believed to be hiding in the stretch of desert in the border area. His followers imposed a reign of terror on the populations they controlled, alienating even many of those Sunni Muslims who had supported the group as allies against the heavy-handed rule of the Shi ite majority-led government of the time.  The militants took thousands of women from the Yazidi minority, which lives in a mountain west of Mosul, as sex slaves and killed the men. Driven from Mosul and Raqqa, Islamic State was progressively squeezed this year into an ever-shrinking pocket of desert, straddling the frontier between the two countries, by enemies that include regional states and global powers. In Iraq, the group faced mainly U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and Iranian-trained Shi ite paramilitaries known as Popular Mobilisation. Abadi praised the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and Iraq s top Shi ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose fatwa calling volunteers to fight Islamic State led to PMF s creation. Still, the prime minister said the state should have a monopoly on the use of arms. Disarming the PMF is seen as Abadi s most difficult test after Islamic State s defeat.  Weapons should only be in the state s hands. The rule of law and respect for it are the way to build the state and achieve justice, equality, and stability,  he said. Abadi called for unity, which he said was the main reason for the victory, a reference to the contribution of different communities, including Sunni tribal fighters. However, Iraq faces a fresh internal conflict after it  retaliated economically and militarily against the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government for holding a referendum on independence despite Baghdad s opposition.  The joy of victory is complete with Iraq s unity after it was on the verge of division. The unity of Iraq and its people is the most important and greatest accomplishment,  he said.

Summary: इराक ने इस्लामिक स्टेट पर अंतिम जीत की घोषणा की


SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the European Union should leave the past behind and solve their mutual problems first, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Friday. The EU won t do it for them, he said. Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are official candidates for EU membership while Bosnia and Kosovo are seeking the same status. But past rivalries are still hurting relations between some of the countries which were embroiled in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Borissov said that Bulgaria, Austria and Romania, the three countries which will chair the EU presidency over the next two years, were ready to support the accession of these countries into the wealthy bloc but a key for the progress was compromise by their political elites.  Nobody can help unless we realize that the past needs to remain in the past and that we need to move forward,  Borissov said at a news conference during an official visit to Sarajevo.  Unresolved matters must be resolved today along with all political sacrifices that need to be made.   This cannot be solved by Europe, which has its problems and fears,  Borissov said.  The pace of Serbia s integration into the 27-member bloc was made conditional on the progress of a dialogue with its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.  In Bosnia, inter-ethnic tensions have risen after Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats had revived aspirations for greater territorial autonomies within the country they share with Muslim Bosniaks, relying on their wartime allies Serbia and Croatia. Borissov said that  radical Islam is a problem  but that his Bosnian counterpart Denis Zvizic has assured him that Bosnia was not under the threat of radicalized Muslims.  Islam in Bosnia is certainly one of most tolerant forms of Islam practised in the world and any kind of radicalization has not and will not be allowed,  Zvizdic said at the same news conference. In September, the EU confirmed its pledge for a credible enlargement perspective for the region, which it sees as important for issues from controlling immigration to countering security threats ranging from alleged interference of Russia to radical Islam. [ID: L5N1LU2GX]

Summary: बल्गेरियाई प्रधानमंत्री ने बाल्कन नेताओं से कहा, अतीत को पीछे छोड़ दें


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Work to avert the problems caused by climate change should not be a partisan issue, outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry told students at an elite U.S. engineering school on Monday, in one of his final speeches as the nation’s top diplomat. Kerry noted U.S. officials from military and intelligence leaders to the mayors of coastal cities agree the problem of rising sea levels and erratic rainfall is one that they want to take action on, and he urged the incoming administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump to tackle head on. Trump, a New York real estate developer who has never held elected office, has described climate change as a hoax and vowed to pull the United States out of the deal negotiated in Paris in 2015 to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. But in an interview with the New York Times in November, Trump said he was keeping an open mind on whether to pull out of the accord. “I’m not going to speculate about the policies that our President-elect and his Secretary of State will choose to pursue, but I will tell you this ... some issues look a lot different when you’re actually in office compared to when you’re on the campaign trail,” Kerry said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.  “The truth is that climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s an issue that all of us should care about, regardless of political affiliation.” The U.S. Senate this week is due to begin the process of confirming Trump’s political appointments, including proposed Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, who has repeatedly challenged the agency’s authority in the courts. Many Republicans in Congress argue environmental regulations slow business growth and job creation, both expected to be top priorities for the Trump administration. Kerry referenced a U.S. intelligence report published on Monday that listed climate change among the factors that could raise the risk of conflict between nations. Obama on Monday echoed the message in an article published in Science magazine.  Kerry called on researchers and students at MIT to keep up their work on improving energy efficiency and inventing new energy sources, regardless of government policies. “It’s going to be innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders ... who will continue to create the technological advances that forever revolutionize the way we power our world,” Kerry said. “Every person in this room – indeed, every person on the planet – has an interest in making sure that transition happens as quickly as possible.”

Summary: जलवायु परिवर्तन 'पक्षपातपूर्ण मुद्दा' नहीं होना चाहिएः केरी


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has blocked access into the country from northern Iraq at the Habur border gate in its southeast, but it was still possible to enter Iraq through the crossing, broadcaster NTV said on Monday. The move came as voting started in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

Summary: तुर्की ने हाबुर सीमा द्वार पर उत्तरी इराक से प्रवेश को अवरुद्ध कियाः एन. टी. वी.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday defended a one-page analysis by the Treasury Department that asserted a tax plan pushed by the Republican-led Congress would pay for itself in 10 years. “I think that estimate makes a lot of sense. ... I do believe the Treasury when they say that this is going to unleash a lot of economic growth, which will accrue more revenues,” Ryan told reporters. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, called the estimate “fake math” on Monday.

Summary: सदन के अध्यक्ष रयान का कहना है कि उनका मानना है कि राजकोषीय कर अध्ययन उत्साहजनक है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted an image of rival Hillary Clinton alongside hundred-dollar bills and a Jewish star bearing the words “most corrupt candidate ever!”, prompting outrage and bafflement on social media.   Two hours after his initial tweet, Trump tweeted a similar image in which the six-pointed Star of David - which appears on Israel’s flag and which Jews were forced to wear on their clothing by the Nazis during the Holocaust - was replaced by a circle. The original tweet was deleted. Critics said the image featuring the star harkened back to centuries-old anti-Semitic stereotypes, such as the belief that Jews are greedy. “Just saw #DonaldTrump’s Star of David tweet. I’m impressed by his ability to find a way to insult literally every kind of human being,” screenwriter Cole Haddon wrote on Twitter. “A Star of David, a pile of cash, and suggestions of corruption. Donald Trump again plays to the white supremacists,” wrote Erick Erickson, a conservative radio host who has been critical of Trump. The tweets originated from Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, and no other users were mentioned in them. It was not clear whether someone inside Trump’s campaign made the image or whether he found it somewhere else. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, did not respond to a request for comment. The presumptive Republican nominee has been trying to assuage fears within his own party that he is alienating potential voters with offensive statements about Muslims, Latinos and women. Last month, Trump fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and began delivering speeches using a teleprompter, an abrupt change in style that was seen as an attempt to appear more presidential ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Saturday’s tweet was a reminder of the unrestrained side of Trump. The candidate has mocked a disabled newspaper reporter, referred to undocumented immigrants from Mexico as “rapists” and recently pointed to a black man in the crowd at one of his rallies and called him “my African-American.”

Summary: क्लिंटन पर हमला करने वाले ट्रम्प के ट्वीट में यहूदी स्टार की छवि का इस्तेमाल किया गया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday amid reports the United States is planning to formally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a source familiar with the call told Reuters. A senior administration official said last week that Trump would likely make the announcement on Wednesday, a decision that would break with decades of U.S. policy and could fuel violence in the Middle East. Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said the president had not yet made a final decision.

Summary: ट्रंप ने फिलिस्तीनी नेता अब्बास से की बात-सूत्र


ISLAMKOT, Pakistan (Reuters) - As Pakistan bets on cheap coal in the Thar desert to resolve its energy crisis, a select group of women is eyeing a road out of poverty by snapping up truck-driving jobs that once only went to men. Such work is seen as life-changing in this dusty southern region bordering India, where sand dunes cover estimated coal reserves of 175 billion tonnes and yellow dumper trucks swarm like bees around Pakistan s largest open-pit mine. The imposing 60-tonne trucks initially daunted Gulaban, 25, a housewife and mother of three from Thar s Hindu community inside the staunchly conservative and mainly-Muslim nation of 208 million people.  At the beginning I was a bit nervous but now it s normal to drive this dumper,  said Gulaban, clad in a pink saree, a traditional cloth worn by Hindu women across South Asia. Gulaban - who hopes such jobs can help empower other women facing grim employment prospects - is among 30 women being trained to be truck drivers by Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), a Pakistani firm digging up low-grade coal under the rolling Thar sand dunes. Gulaban has stolen the march on her fellow trainees because she was the only woman who knew how to drive a car before training to be a truck driver. She is an inspiration to her fellow students.  If Gulaban can drive a dump truck then why not we? All we need to do is learn and drive quickly like her,  said Ramu, 29, a mother of six, standing beside the 40-tonne truck.  Until recently, energy experts were uncertain that Pakistan s abundant but poor-quality coal could be used to fire up power plants. That view began to change with new technology and Chinese investment as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key branch of Beijing s Belt and Road initiative to connect Asia with Europe and Africa. Now coal, along with hydro and liquefied natural gas, is at the heart of Pakistan s energy plans. SECMC, which has about 125 dump trucks ferrying earth out of the pit mine, estimates it will need 300-400 trucks once they burrow deep enough to reach the coal. Drivers can earn up to 40,000 rupees ($380) a month.  Women aspiring to these jobs are overcoming cultural barriers in a society where women are restricted to mainly working the fields and cooking and cleaning for the family. Only this week in Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Pakistan, women were granted permission to drive for the first time ever, ending a ban that was supported by conservative clerics but seen by rights activists as an emblem of suppression. Gulaban s husband, Harjilal, recalled how people in Thar would taunt him when his  illiterate  wife drove their small car.  When I sit in the passenger seat with my wife driving, people used to laugh at me,  said Harjilal, who like most of the people in the community only has one name. But Gulaban, seeking to throw stereotypes out of the window, is only focused on the opportunities ahead.   As I can see our other female trainees getting paid and their life is changing,  Gulaban added.  I hope...for a better future.

Summary: पाकिस्तान की कोयले की भीड़ में, कुछ महिला चालकों ने सांस्कृतिक बाधाओं को तोड़ दिया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Ukraine on Thursday welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin s declared openness to deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, but said Russian troops must not join such an operation. Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday that UN peacekeepers might be deployed not only on the Donbass contact line separating the sides of the conflict but in other parts where inspectors of the international OSCE monitoring group operate. Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, foreign policy adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, said Putin s comments were a good sign but  the devil is in the detail.  In my view, as soon as we deploy UN peacekeeping we can speak about a real positive breakthrough in the field of the political settlement of the situation in Donbass,  he said.  Russia, which is a party to the conflict, must not take part in the future UN peacekeeping operation,  he said.  We believe this UN peacekeeping operation must be deployed along the whole occupied territory of Donbass including the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border.  The conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it erupted in 2014. Russia denies Western accusations it fomented the conflict and provided arms and fighters. Germany and France have tried to persuade both sides to implement a peace deal agreed in Minsk in 2015 but with little success. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday European sanctions imposed on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis should be phased out gradually if an internationally agreed ceasefire deal was implemented. But Yeliseyev said sanctions should stay in place until the Minsk peace deal is implemented in full.  That is why we want all German politicians to be vigilant and not to speculate, not to make any kind of irresponsible statements which don t stop the aggression but, on the contrary, will stimulate and motivate the aggressor country,  he said. Turning to Russian war games starting on Thursday in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Yeliseyev said Ukraine was concerned the exercises could destabilize the region and that Moscow might keep troops and weaponry near Ukraine  for possible future offensive operations .

Summary: यूक्रेन ने पुतिन के शांति सैनिकों के प्रस्ताव का सावधानीपूर्वक स्वागत किया


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch caretaker Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis said on Tuesday she was resigning after a report highlighted serious failures by her department during a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. The Safety Board last week issued its findings about an incident on June 6, 2016, when a mortar killed two soldiers and gravely injured a third. It concluded that the ministry had let safety and medical standards slip in favor of pursuing strategic goals. Hennis announced her resignation during a parliamentary debate just days before the caretaker government is due to be replaced by a new coalition under Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Hennis said General Tom Middendorp, head of the armed forces of the Netherlands, would also resign in response to the Saftey Board s harsh finding. The Dutch, who initially provided Apache helicopter squadrons to the Mali peacekeeping mission, are winding down their contribution, with troop numbers expected to drop to roughly 300 this year.

Summary: माली में शांति सैनिकों की मौत पर डच रक्षा मंत्री ने दिया इस्तीफा


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Homeland Security and law enforcement are on alert & closely watching for any sign of trouble. Our borders are far tougher than ever before! [0831 EDT] - The Obstructionist Democrats make Security for our country very difficult. They use the courts and associated delay at all times. Must stop! [0855 EDT] - Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary! The courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough! [0906 EDT] - Heading to Camp David for major meeting on National Security, the Border and the Military (which we are rapidly building to strongest ever). [1009 EDT] - I have directed that U.S. Cyber Command be elevated to the status of a Unified Combatant Command focused on....cont: [bit.ly/2vPIlR8][1128 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (अगस्त 18)-कैम्प डेविड, होमलैंड सिक्योरिटी, डेमोक्रेट्स


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration believes it will be able to process many more Syrian refugees in the last half of fiscal 2016 than in the first six months, allowing it to meet its goal of admitting at least 10,000 by Sept. 30. In a letter to Democratic Senator Richard Durbin seen by Reuters on Thursday, the White House said it has allocated additional staff and added more processing locations in the Middle East to expedite the screening process without compromising U.S. security. “Therefore, we expect to admit more Syrians in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2016 than we did in the first and second quarters to meet our goal of admitting at least 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year,” the letter said. The administration’s move is in sharp contrast to recent anti-refugee rhetoric by many Republicans, especially since the killings in Orlando on Sunday raised fears of attacks. Donald Trump, the presumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee, has called for the refugee resettlement program to be suspended, saying “We don’t know who they are. They have no documentation, and we don’t know what they’re planning.” Backers of the administration’s plan dispute such statements, citing the extensive screening process the Syrian refugees undergo. So far, the United States has offered refuge to far fewer of the millions fleeing the war in Syria than many of its closest allies. Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands and Canada admitted nearly 30,000 between November 2015 and May 1, 2016. The letter said the administration had set up a temporary processing center in Jordan and expanded operations in Turkey. It also has restarted interviews in neighboring Lebanon, and begun limited processing in Erbil, Iraq. Durbin was a lead author of a letter to President Barack Obama in May, which was signed by more than half the Democrats in the Senate and urged the president to move more quickly to admit Syrians. By mid-May, only 1,736 Syrians had been allowed into the country, a pace that would have fallen far short of the 10,000 goal for the full year. The letter seen on Thursday was the administration’s response to the one sent in May. Obama’s plan to admit 10,000 Syrians was met with a firestorm of criticism in the United States, mostly from Republicans who say that violent militants could enter the country by posing as refugees. More than 30 governors, most of them Republicans, have tried to keep refugees out of their states.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस में इस साल सीरियाई शरणार्थियों के प्रवेश में वृद्धि देखी गई


GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights launched a thinly veiled attack on U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and other presidential hopefuls on Friday, in a speech entitled “The road to violence.” “Bigotry is not proof of strong leadership. It is evidence of the lowest and most craven lack of faith in the principles that uphold a ‘land of the free’,” Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said in a speech at a university in Cleveland, Ohio.  “Less than 150 miles away from where I speak, a front-running candidate to be President of this country declared, just a few months ago, his enthusiastic support for torture,... inflicting intolerable pain on people, in order to force them to deliver or invent information that they may not have.  “We have heard hateful slander of foreigners, and multiple candidates declaring their support for extensive and intrusive surveillance of people based on their religious beliefs – vast and discriminatory systems to single out and discriminate against Muslims.” Zeid’s speech, the Klatsky Lecture at Case Western Reserve University, also recalled the Nazi holocaust and the genocide of Bosnian Muslims for which former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was jailed last month.  He said the eyes of the world would be on Cleveland when it hosts the Republican National Convention in July, and it was his “deepest hope” that Americans would use it to demonstrate their profound understanding of human dignity and human rights. “And yet, in what may be a crucial election for leadership of this country later this year, we have seen a full-frontal attack – disguised as courageous taboo-busting – on some fundamental, hard-won tenets of decency and social cohesion that have come to be accepted by American society.” He said the price for the “dangerously divisive” rhetoric would be paid by innocent people falling victim to violent acts, not by politicians. “We have heard these calls to hatred – calls stigmatizing and demonizing minorities, beginning the validation of violence,” he said. “Real courage would mean standing up for the great and enduring values of this society.”

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार प्रमुख ने अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ में 'कट्टरता' की निंदा की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has canceled a campaign trip to California because of her diagnosis of pneumonia, a campaign official said on Sunday. Clinton was scheduled to leave for California on Monday morning for a two-day swing that included fundraisers and a speech on the economy. No other details about her travel were available.

Summary: निमोनिया के बाद क्लिंटन ने रद्द की कैलिफोर्निया यात्राः सहायक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed Republicans’ massive $1.5 trillion tax overhaul into law on Friday, cementing the biggest legislative victory of his first year in office, and also approved a short-term spending bill that averts a possible government shutdown. Trump said he wanted to sign the tax bill before leaving Washington on Friday for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, rather than stage a more formal ceremony in January, so he could keep his promise to finish work before Christmas. “I didn’t want you folks to say I wasn’t keeping my promise. I’m keeping my promise,” he told reporters in the White House. The two pieces of legislation represent Trump’s most significant accomplishment with Congress since taking office in January, as well as a sign of what awaits when he returns from Florida after the Christmas holiday. The tax package, the largest such overhaul since the 1980s, slashes the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and temporarily reduces the tax burden for most individuals as well. Trump praised several companies that have announced employee bonuses in the wake of the bill’s passage, naming AT&T, Boeing, Wells Fargo, Comcast  and Sinclair Broadcast Group. “Corporations are literally going wild over this,” he said.      Democrats had opposed the bill as a giveaway to the wealthy that would add $1.5 trillion to the $20 trillion national debt during the next decade. The spending bill extends federal funding through Jan. 19, largely at current levels. It does nothing to resolve broader disputes over immigration, healthcare and military spending. Republicans also are divided over whether to follow up their sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code with a dramatic restructuring of federal benefit programs. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he would like to revamp welfare and health programs but Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told National Public Radio on Monday that he was not interested in cutting those programs without Democratic support. Trump’s year also closes with significant turnover of many top staffers who had been in the White House since early in his term. On Friday, the White House confirmed Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn and Jeremy Katz, who worked under White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, were leaving.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कर, सरकारी खर्च बिलों को कानून में बदलने पर हस्ताक्षर किए


BEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party will meet next month to discuss amending the constitution and to talk about the ongoing fight against graft, state media said on Wednesday, ahead of March s expected passing of a new anti-corruption law. Fighting deeply ingrained graft has been a key policy plank for President Xi Jinping in his first term in office, and that battle will take on a new hue with the setting up of the National Supervision Commission as he begins his second term. Trial work has already begun for that commission, which is likely to be formally codified in law in March at the meeting of China s largely rubber stamp parliament. The new body will take over from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and merge multiple anti-graft units into a single body. It will also expand the graft campaign s purview to include employees at state-backed institutions rather than just party members. In a short report, Xinhua news agency said the party s politburo, one of its elite ruling bodies, had met and decided to hold two important meetings next month - one on amending the state constitution and the other specifically on fighting corruption. Xinhua gave no details of what the constitutional amendment might entail, but Chinese legal scholars have said the country needs to amend its constitution before it can set up the new supervision commission to ensure there is a proper constitutional basis for its powers. The constitution clearly defines China s top political institutions, such as the judiciary and the prosecutor, in order to grant them state power and changes need to be made to these definitions to make room for a similarly powerful supervision system, scholars argue. The party will discuss the amendment, or amendments, at a plenum next month, Xinhua said without giving an exact date or saying whether it was one amendment or more. The constitution, which is different from the party constitution, was last amended in 2004 to include guarantees to protect private property and human rights. The other meeting, a full session of the anti-corruption watchdog the CCDI, will be held from Jan. 11-13, the report added, again without giving details. Xi has vowed that his war against graft will not ease until officials at all levels dare not, cannot and do not want to be corrupt. Xi told top party leaders in October revision of the anti-graft architecture would include the scrapping of a controversial  shuanggui  system of secret interrogations, and the introduction of a new detention system. The latest draft of the new Supervision Law, unveiled last week, adds protections for graft suspects as part of efforts to revise the interrogation system.

Summary: चीन की कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी संविधान में संशोधन, भ्रष्टाचार की लड़ाई पर चर्चा करेगी


BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and several others injured when an under-construction flyover bridge collapsed on Sunday in eastern India, officials said. A portion of the bridge collapsed in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha state where over a dozen workers were working.   We have suspended two engineers who were supervising the work,  engineer-in-chief and secretary of Odisha s works department Nalini Kanta Pradhan told Reuters. An inquiry has been ordered into the bridge collapse and appropriate action would be taken, said Naveen Patnaik, the chief minister of the state.

Summary: पूर्वी भारत में पुल गिरने से एक की मौत, कई घायल