MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he expected U.S. -Russia relations to return to normal and was ready to visit the United States if President-elect Donald Trump invited him.  “If Trump invites me to travel to the United States, I will of course go,” Putin was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying.  “(I expect) a change in our relations and a return to normal inter-governmental interaction in order to resolve the  problems that face our country and the world, in the first instance in the areas of security and economic development,” Putin said, according to RIA.

Summary: पुतिन ने कहा कि अगर ट्रम्प ने उन्हें आमंत्रित किया तो वे अमेरिका जाने के लिए तैयार हैंः आर. आई. ए.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The deputy director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late on Sunday filed a lawsuit seeking to halt President Donald Trump from naming an official to run the watchdog agency on an interim basis. Leandra English, who was named acting director by outgoing agency chief Richard Cordray on Friday, is seeking a temporary restraining order barring Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget, from taking control of the agency as Trump had sought. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, argues that Trump overstepped his legal authority in attempting to place Mulvaney in the post, maintaining Cordray had legal grounds to name his successor until a full-time director is named by Trump and confirmed by the Senate.

Summary: अमेरिकी उपभोक्ता वित्त एजेंसी के अधिकारी ने ट्रम्प की नियुक्ति को रोकने के लिए मुकदमा दायर किया


GABORONE (Reuters) - A transgender woman has won a legal battle against Botswana s government to be recognized as female in a landmark victory for the rights of the lesbian, gay and transgender community. A conservative southern African nation of 2 million people, Botswana has been reluctant to fully acknowledge the rights of the LGBT community. Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, the executive director of South African-based Gender Dynamix, an organization that advocates for the human rights of transgender and gender-variant people, had sued Botswana for refusing to change the gender on her identity document from male to female. On Tuesday, Justice Leatile Dambe ordered that Kgositau s gender be changed to female in the national registry within seven days.  The director of the National Registration is ordered to issue the applicant with a new Identity Card identifying her as a female within 21 days of this court order,  Dambe ordered. In court papers, Kgositau argued that she had since an early age identified as a woman and that the different gender on her identity document was causing her emotional distress and increased her vulnerability to abuse and violence. The application included supporting evidence from her mother, siblings and relatives, as well as psychological and medical evidence to the effect that her  innate gender identity is, and has since an early age, always been female and that her family has embraced her and loved her as a woman . In 2014, a judge overturned a government ban on a gay rights lobbying group, ruling that Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana be allowed to register and campaign for changes to legislation. However, it reiterated that it was still illegal to engage in homosexual acts.

Summary: बोत्सवाना की अदालत ने सरकार को ट्रांसजेंडर महिला को महिला के रूप में मान्यता देने का आदेश दिया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany deported eight Afghans with criminal records after their applications for asylum were rejected, said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. It was the first collective deportation to Afghanistan since an attack in Kabul on May 31 that killed and injured hundreds and damaged German embassy buildings. At that time the German government canceled a flight that was due to return a group of failed Afghan asylum seekers after criticism from rights activists that Berlin was sending people to a dangerous country.  Germany had begun mass deportations of Afghans in December in an effort to show it was tackling high migrant numbers by cracking down on those who failed to qualify as refugees. Chancellor Angela Merkel has made clear that Germany deports to Afghanistan only criminals and people it considers a threat. The eight male asylum seekers who landed in Kabul on Wednesday morning and were received by Afghan authorities had all committed serious offences, said de Maiziere. Some 3,300 Afghans returned home of their own volition last year. Germany deported 67 people to Afghanistan last year and more than 100 have been sent back so far this year.

Summary: जर्मनी ने असफल अफगान शरण चाहने वालों को निर्वासित किया


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in comforted mourners in the small scenic city of Jecheon on Friday amid growing public anger at how fire ripped through an eight-storey building, killing at least 29 people, most of them taking a sauna.  All but one of the victims had been identified by Friday morning, including 20 women who were overcome by toxic fumes in the second-floor sauna, Jecheon fire chief Lee Sang-min said.   Our crew on the scene said the lockers inside the facility were installed like a labyrinth and it s a glass building with few windows, which apparently made way for the smoke from the first floor to quickly fill up the second floor,  Lee told reporters. Consoling family members, President Moon Jae-in said he was devastated and promised a full investigation.  The government as a whole will thoroughly probe this accident s cause and process of response, and although after the fact, the investigation and measures will be such that, at least, there will not be lingering deep sorrow.  Moon s predecessor, ousted former president Park Geun-hye, was widely criticized for her slow and ineffective response to the Sewol ferry tragedy in 2014 in which more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, drowned. Anger mounted on Friday at reports of shoddy construction, broken doors and other problems that may have contributed to the deaths.  One man shouted at officials visiting survivors in hospital, complaining that firefighters failed to break through to the trapped women in time. Media reported that a glass door leading to the sauna had not been working properly for more than a month, and that emergency stairs were often used for storage.   Nothing has changed even after the Sewol tragedy,  parliament member Ahn Cheol-soo said.  I just cannot understand why the same type of accidents happen over and over again,  he said, according to the Yonhap news agency. Jecheon s mayor told reporters the city was considering a mass funeral and planned to cover most of the costs. Investigators were still trying to find out the cause of the conflagration, but were focusing on a first-floor parking lot, Lee said.  There were cars parked on the first floor, and as they were burning, a large amount of toxic gases were released.   Tragic stories began to emerge as victims were identified. One man told Yonhap that he lost his mother, wife, and daughter. Another said he received a phone call from his trapped wife as she coughed in the gathering smoke, but was later unable to reach her again. Heavy smoke charred glass facade of the building as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze, climbing up and down a ladder in a desperate search for survivors. Organizers called off a leg of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games torch relay in Jecheon on what should have been a day of celebration ahead of the games.  We thought that having a torch relay at a place where so many people died in a fire accident is just not right, and therefore canceled today s event in Jecheon,  Ryu Hoyon, the torch relay manager for the Pyeongchang organizing committee, told Reuters.  We are planning to adjust further schedules with those who want to continue the relay.  Jecheon is southeast of the capital Seoul and is popular with visitors to its mountains and lakes. (tmsnrt.rs/2BvndG6) The Games begin in February.

Summary: घातक सौना आग पर गुस्सा बढ़ने पर दक्षिण कोरिया के चंद्रमा ने गहन जांच का वादा किया


GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo and Uganda are planning a joint military operation against a Congo-based Ugandan rebel group blamed for an attack that killed 15 United Nations peacekeepers, army officials from the two countries said on Wednesday. Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces are suspected of being behind the Dec. 8 assault on a base manned by Tanzanian U.N. troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo s troubled eastern borderlands.  The attack, which also killed five Congolese soldiers and wounded another 53 peacekeepers, and came amid a rising wave of violence in the mineral-rich area.  The commanders of the ADF are Ugandan citizens. A mechanism will be outlined so the two armies can share intelligence and carry out a coordinated operation,  said General Marcel Mbangu Mashita, a senior Congolese army commander in the east. Representatives from the two armies met in the Congolese border town of Kasindi last week. Under the plan, Ugandan troops will not cross over into Congolese territory but instead be concentrated along the border.  (The Ugandan army) is reinforcing security on the common border with Congo in order to dissuade any attempt by the ADF to cross over and attack targets of interest in Uganda,  Ugandan army spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire said. Congo s U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, has pledged to track down those responsible for the attack on its base. But it was not involved in the bilateral talks between the Congolese and Ugandan officials. Rival militia groups control parts of eastern Congo, long after the official end of a 1998-2003 war in which millions of people died, mostly from hunger and disease.  Congo and Uganda were enemies during that conflict and, in the years since, relations between the two countries have at times been strained. Increased militia violence this year in the center and east comes as Congo faces a political crisis linked to President Joseph Kabila s refusal to step down when his mandate expired last December. The ADF is an Islamist group that has long been active along the border and has been blamed for a wave of massacres there over the past two years. Since its leader Jamil Mukulu was arrested in 2015, it has been headed by Musa Baluku.  General Mashita said previous Congolese operations had succeeded in eliminating around a third of the ADF s top commanders, but added that its ranks had been bolstered by escaped prisoners after a major prison break in June.

Summary: कांगो और युगांडा विद्रोही ए. डी. एफ. के खिलाफ संयुक्त अभियान शुरू करेंगे


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and the first lady will visit the lake-side Patagonian tourist city of Bariloche later this month during an official trip to Argentina, a U.S. diplomat told local radio on Friday. The trip will follow the couple’s visit to Cuba on March 21 and 22, another major step toward ending decades of animosity between former Cold War foes. They will meet with newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri on March 23 and fly to Bariloche the following day, Kevin Sullivan, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires, told Radio Mitre. The stopover in ski-destination Bariloche, known for its crystal clear lakes and panoramic mountain vistas, appeared to be first lady Michelle Obama’s idea, Sullivan said. “I believe she heard what Bariloche is like ... and it seemed to her it would be a good place to share a little family time,” Sullivan said. Relations have improved between Argentina and the United States since Macri took office in December. Macri has moved to open Latin America’s No. 3 economy to foreign investment by ditching trade and currency controls enacted by his predecessor. “It seems to us to be a good moment for President Obama to get to know Argentina and have a dialogue with President Macri,” Sullivan said. The agenda will include international cooperation, terrorism, human rights and energy investment. Argentina has some of the world’s largest untapped shale oil and natural gas formations. China is a major investor in Argentina’s energy and grains sectors.  March 24 will be the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup that installed a military dictatorship, which the United States initially supported. Argentina returned to democracy in 1983. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who won the Nobel peace prize for his human rights work during the dictatorship, wrote an open letter to Obama this week saying that if the U.S. president stayed in Buenos Aires on the 24th, many Argentines would see that as “a provocation.” Marches and demonstrations in honor of the victims of the military junta are planned for that date in the Argentine capital.

Summary: ओबामा अर्जेंटीना की यात्रा पर पेटागोनिया के पर्यटन शहर बारिलोचे जाएंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Jeff Sessions will become the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse party front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday evening, Drudge Report said, marking another in a string of high-profile endorsements for the billionaire businessman. Sessions’ support will top the list of politicians who have thrown their backing to Trump in the last week, including Republican U.S. Representatives Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California, as well as former rival for the nomination New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who endorsed on Friday.  (Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: सीनेटर जेफ सेशंस व्हाइट हाउस में ट्रंप की दावेदारी का समर्थन करेंगेः ड्रज रिपोर्ट


BEIJING (Reuters) - China denounced on Thursday a U.S. congressional commission that accused its state media of involvement in spying and propaganda and called for their staff in the United States to be registered as foreign agents. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its latest annual report that while China had tightened restrictions on domestic and foreign media, its state media had rapidly expanded overseas. The commission, created by Congress in 2000 to monitor national security implications of U.S.-China trade relations, said China s state media expansion was part of a broader effort to exert greater control over how it is depicted globally, as well as to gather information. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang they had seen the report.  This commission that released the report has always been full of prejudice on China-related issues,  Geng told a daily news briefing.  Much of the content in the relevant report is sheer fiction, and many of its views reflect their bias against China,  he said. China urged the commission to put an end to its  wrong words and actions  and really play a constructive role in promoting the development of Sino-U.S. ties, Geng said, without elaborating.

Summary: चीन ने चीनी पत्रकारों को एजेंट के रूप में पंजीकृत करने के अमेरिकी आह्वान की निंदा की


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday promised zero tolerance in his government s push to punish corruption that stifled political freedom and economic growth under Robert Mugabe s 37-year rule. Mnangagwa, giving his first state of the nation address since he assumed power last month following a de facto coup that ousted his 93-year-old predecessor, has sought to draw a line under years of endemic corruption and impunity.  Under pressure to deliver results, especially on an economy crippled by severe currency shortages, Mnangagwa said reforms of a bloated state sector would be launched in early 2018.  With opposition parties calling for widespread political reforms before an election next year, he repeated a promise that his government would do everything in its power to ensure a credible, free and fair ballot.  Corruption remains the major source of some of the problems we face as a country and its retarding impact on national development cannot be overemphasized,  Mnangagwa told a joint sitting of the country s two houses of parliament.  On individual cases of corruption, every case must be investigated and punished in accordance with the dictates of our laws. There should be no sacred cows. My government will have zero tolerance towards corruption and this has already begun.  The latter was an apparent reference to comments last week he would name and shame those who failed to return stolen public funds after a three-month amnesty ends in February.  His government is also pursuing corruption charges dating back over two decades against former finance minister Ignatius Chombo, a close ally of Mugabe and his wife, Grace. Chombo, whose lawyer has said he will deny the charges, faces trial early next year. In the latter half of Mugabe s rule the economy fell apart amid the violent and chaotic seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms. Billions of dollars of domestic debt issued to pay for a bloated civil service triggered a collapse in the value of Zimbabwe s de facto currency and hyperinflation.     Mnangagwa said the government would in the first quarter of next year announce a program to reform, commercialize or shut down some state-owned firms he said had been  for a long time an albatross around the government s neck . Zimbabwe s efforts to re-engage international lenders and lure investors will rest on the credibility of next year s election, and the president again pledged a commitment to a free and fair vote. To level a playing field they say is skewed in favor of Mnangagwa s ZANU-PF party, opposition parties have however challenged his army-backed government to first enact a long list of electoral reforms. They include a new voters  roll, opposition access to public media, allowing an estimated three million Zimbabweans living abroad to vote and international observers including the United Nations.  We would like to see genuine, credible electoral reforms that will lead to free and fair elections and they must be underwritten and guaranteed by the international community,  Tendai Biti, leader of the opposition MDC Alliance, told reporters ahead of Mnangagwa s address. Biti and other members of the alliance also criticized what they called the  militarization  of the government following the appointment of two former senior military officials to the new cabinet.  Mnangagwa gave his clearest signal yet on Tuesday that he would appoint as vice president Constantino Chiwenga, the military leader who led the coup that ousted Mugabe. Chris Mutsvangwa, adviser to the president and the influential leader of the war veterans  association, has rejected the criticism of the appointments, saying they were not unique to Zimbabwe.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के मनांगाग्वा ने भ्रष्टाचार की लड़ाई में शून्य सहिष्णुता का वादा किया


NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The new, more narrowly tailored temporary travel ban President Donald Trump signed on Monday will be more difficult to challenge successfully in court, legal experts said. They said that since his order no longer covers legal residents or existing visa holders, and makes waivers possible for some business, diplomatic and other travelers, challengers are likely to have a harder time finding people in the United States who can legally claim they have been harmed, and thus have so-called “standing” to sue.  Trump’s first executive order signed on Jan. 27 banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - for 90 days and halted refugee admission for four months, barring Syrian refugees indefinitely. Its hasty implementation caused chaos and protests at airports. The order was hit with more than two dozen lawsuits, many that claimed it discriminated against Muslims. The new ban, which goes into effect on March 16, removes Iraq and adds categories of people who would be exempt from the order. The Trump administration said the executive order is necessary for national security reasons. It also lists groups of people that could be eligible for waivers, including travelers who have previously been admitted to the United States for work or school, those seeking to visit or live with a close relative and who would face hardship if denied entry; infants, young children and adoptees or people in need of medical care, employees of the U.S. government and international organizations among others.      All the exceptions make the new order “a lot harder to attack,” said Andrew Greenfield, an immigration attorney with Fragomen law firm in Washington D.C.  Trump had promised to make the new directive harder to fight in court and many of the changes were expected. “They dotted their ‘i’s’ and crossed their ‘t’s’ in trying to anticipate what litigation might result,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a Cornell Law School professor who specializes in immigration. He said opponents might still be able to find plaintiffs - a U.S. citizen could potentially sue if the government denies a waiver to their foreign spouse for an arbitrary reason, for example. In a legal challenge to the original order, the state of Washington was successful in preventing it from being carried out. A federal judge in Seattle and then an appeals court in San Francisco ruled that Washington could claim standing, in part because the order adversely affected legal permanent residents, known as green card holders, in the state. More than 100 businesses, including many of the best-known tech companies, filed briefs in court that argued their employees were harmed. Bob Ferguson, the Attorney General for Washington State said on Monday that he will likely decide on the next litigation steps this week after consulting with state universities and businesses about potential harms. “We need to do our homework and be thoughtful about this,” Ferguson said. The U.S. Department of Justice, in a filing in Seattle federal court on Monday, said the new order applies “only to those who are overseas and without a visa.”  Foreign nationals outside the country who do not have a U.S. visa do not have the same protections under the U.S. Constitution as people already here, legal experts said.  Rosemary Jenks, the director of Government Relations at NumbersUSA, a conservative group that favors less immigration overall, said that the new order would leave the state of Washington having to argue on behalf of unidentified foreign nationals who have not been screened, vetted or processed yet by U.S. authorities. “That would be a pretty big stretch,” Jenks said. And unlike the old order, the new one lays out with more detail why the specific countries were selected, she said.   Attorneys challenging the ban, including the American Civil Liberties Union said there were still questions about whether or not the ban is justified by national security reasons and the revisions do not address concerns that the order discriminates based on religion.  Adam Lauridsen, a Keker & Van Nest attorney in San Francisco representing students challenging Trump’s first order, noted the revised directive still targets Muslim-majority countries.  Stephen Legomsky, chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the previous Obama administration,     pointed to statements by Trump about wanting a Muslim ban. “That evidence is baked in, you can’t change the past,” said Legomsky. He said, however, that does not mean the inevitable legal challenges will ultimately be successful in the likelihood that they reach the U.S. Supreme Court. “It’s not a slam dunk.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के नए यात्रा प्रतिबंध ने कानूनी चुनौतियों के लिए बार उठाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC), which helps low-income taxpayers, to give a bigger boost to childless people. Some Republicans as well as Democrats in Congress back increasing the tax credit. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, favors expanding the credit as an incentive for pulling people into work. In his budget blueprint for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, Obama proposed doubling the tax credit for workers who are not raising children, bringing the credit to a maximum of about $1,022 a year for them. He said it should be expanded to cover workers with earnings up to 150 percent of the poverty line, so about $18,180 for a single person. Under current law the cutoff comes at about $15,040. Obama also favors expanding eligibility to single workers between ages 21-24 to help draw them into the workforce; currently they must be 25 to qualify. The Earned Income Tax Credit, created in 1975, is intended to promote work as well as help low-income people. Because it is a refundable credit, it produces a refund if the taxpayer does not owe any taxes. Currently it gives more generous benefits to families with children. Obama has proposed expanding it for the past two years; Ryan agrees it should be increased for childless workers. But they disagree on how it should be funded. Obama has talked about closing tax loopholes, while Ryan has talked about cutting spending. Obama’s budget proposed making the credit available to workers aged 65 and 66, and to workers in the struggling territory of Puerto Rico. The White House said its proposal would help 13.2 million low-income people. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) said recently that in 2013, a total of $68.1 billion was claimed by 28.8 million tax filers under the program.  But it said the rules were too complex and up to a quarter of payments were issued “improperly”. Obama’s budget also proposed $12 billion over 10 years to supplement food stamps for poor families when school meal programs are closed in the summer.  It asked for $2 billion in emergency aid for families in crisis, a $1.2 billion increase in rental assistance to poor families, $328 million in education and housing grants to poor neighborhoods, and a $15 million pilot program to help poor families move to better neighborhoods.

Summary: ओबामा ने कम आय वाले निःसंतान श्रमिकों के लिए कर क्रेडिट को दोगुना करने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to China took a tough line on Tuesday on China’s development of “artificial islands” in the South China Sea. “China cannot be allowed to use its artificial islands to coerce its neighbors or limit freedom of navigation or overflight,” Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.

Summary: चीन के राजदूत के लिए ट्रम्प के उम्मीदवार ने दक्षिण चीन सागर पर कड़ा रुख अपनाया


BELFAST/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The British government is to impose a budget on Northern Ireland for the first time in a decade, a major step toward imposing direct rule after attempts to form a power-sharing government in Belfast collapsed.  Many in the province fear direct rule would further destabilize a political balance between pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists that has already been upset by Britain s vote to leave the European Union.  The move also creates a headache for British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose minority government is dependent on Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to pass legislation.  Irish Nationalists Sinn Fein and the pro-British DUP have shared power in Northern Ireland for a decade under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, which ended three decades of violence that killed 3,600 people.  But Sinn Fein pulled out in January, complaining it was not being treated as an equal partner. The latest round of talks on re-establishing the devolved executive collapsed on Wednesday.  Sinn Fein is disappointed that the last few weeks of negotiations have ended in failure,  the party s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O Neill, told journalists.  But as you all know endless talks without conclusion are not sustainable.  Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the party was open to further dialogue, but only if it was  meaningful .  DUP member of parliament Gregory Campbell accused Sinn Fein of holding back government in Northern Ireland with  a narrow political agenda , including a push for greater recognition for the Irish language.  In a sign that a resolution is unlikely in the coming weeks, Campbell appeared to dismiss a DUP compromise on language rights, saying his party  cannot and will not  elevate the Irish language  above all others . But party leader Arlene Foster was more positive, telling Ireland s RTE television that London setting a budget  doesn t stop us continuing to engage with Sinn Fein and trying to find a solution to the problems that we have .  Britain s minister for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said as there was no immediate prospect of a new executive being formed he had no choice but to start the process of setting a budget from London to ensure funding for essential services.   This can t simply continue forever and a day ... There are decisions that have been stored up that have to be taken,  he told journalists.  The budget process could be handed back if agreement is reached between the two parties, he added. May and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar agreed in a telephone call that the gap between the two sides was narrow and that it was still possible to form an executive in Northern Ireland, Varadkar s office said in a statement on Thursday.  But Varakdar also said there could be no return to direct rule  as it existed prior to the Good Friday Agreement , a reference to the Irish government position that it should have a role in the governance of Northern Ireland if power-sharing is not restored. May replied that she also did not want direct rule, the statement said.  When Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney made the point in September that  there can be no British-only direct rule,  a British government spokesman responded by saying Britain would  never countenance  joint authority. Sinn Fein on Wednesday encouraged Dublin to play a role, saying the British and Irish governments should together  act urgently to deliver equality  in Northern Ireland.  On Wednesday, Coveney warned that the disagreement could complicate relations with London in the middle of delicate Brexit negotiations.   The prospect of direct rule in Northern Ireland and the Irish government s insistence on having a role in that - an appropriate role consistent with the Good Friday Agreement - is not where we want to be,  he told RTE radio.  Sinn Fein s Adams said that, in addition to Brexit, the agreement by the DUP to support May s government in London had helped to destabilize the province.   Don t underestimate the impact of the DUP-Tory pact in all of this,  he said.

Summary: लंदन उत्तरी आयरलैंड का बजट तय करेगा क्योंकि प्रत्यक्ष नियम बने हुए हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic senator delivered a 15-1/2-hour, all-night speech denouncing President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee on Wednesday, joining an effort to block Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch in a heated political showdown with Republicans. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon began his speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening and wrapped up mid-morning on Wednesday. The Senate was expected to vote on Thursday at 11 a.m. to try to end a Democratic procedural effort called a filibuster aimed at blocking Gorsuch’s confirmation to a lifetime post on the court. Republicans were expected to fall short of being able to halt the filibuster, but said they had the votes needed to then immediately change the Senate rules to prohibit filibusters against Supreme Court nominees. Republicans said Gorsuch would  be confirmed on Friday one way or the other. Senate confirmation of Gorsuch, 49, would reinstate the court’s conservative majority, allow Trump to leave an indelible mark on America’s highest judicial body and fulfill a top campaign promise by the Republican president. Toward the end of his marathon speech, Merkley looked weary, his suit jacket unbuttoned and his yellow tie billowing out. He stood beside an easel holding graphics that an aide would periodically adjust. “For the first time in U.S. history, a seat has been stolen from one president and delivered to another in a court-packing scheme. If that were to succeed, it would set a precedent that will haunt the court for decades to come,” Merkley said. He noted that the Republicans who control the Senate refused last year to consider former Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016, the same seat Gorsuch now has been named to fill. Later on the Senate floor, Republican Senator Cory Gardner countered that such an argument amounted to advocating that “two wrongs must make a right.” Merkley criticized Gorsuch’s legal opinions and said Gorsuch would become a conservative legal activist on the court. At one point, Merkley read a 1998 speech by one of the past giants of the Senate, Democrat Robert Byrd, decrying partisanship in Congress.  “I believe that the American people are more than tired of partisan warfare. I believe they wish for less of it from Congress, especially in the Senate, where more statesmanship and a longer view are expected,” Merkley said, quoting Byrd. The Senate has a lengthy history of long speeches, including notable ones in recent years by Senators Ted Cruz, Chris Murphy and Rand Paul. The Senate Historical Office listed Merkley’s speech at 15 hours and 26 minutes, the eighth longest in Senate history. The longest came in 1957 when segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against legislation, later enacted, protecting black voting rights. On the second day of formal Senate debate on Gorsuch’s  nomination, various Republicans called the conservative Colorado-based federal appeals court judge “incredibly qualified,” an “intellectual heavyweight” and “always true to the law.” “Democrats are bowing to hard-left special interests that can’t get over the results of the election and thus are demanding complete Democratic opposition to everything this president touches,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Democrats accuse Gorsuch of being so conservative as to be outside the judicial mainstream, favoring corporate interests over ordinary Americans in legal opinions, and displaying insufficient independence from Trump. Republicans control the Senate 52-48. The rule change, which requires a simple majority, has been dubbed the “nuclear option,” and Trump has urged McConnell to “go nuclear.” A filibuster requires a super-majority of 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate in order to proceed to a simple majority vote on a Supreme Court nominee or legislation. The 60-vote super-majority threshold empowers the minority party to hold up the majority party and has forced the Senate over the decades to try to achieve bipartisanship on legislation and presidential appointments. Republican Senator John McCain, known as a defender of Senate traditions, offered reluctant support for the rule change, but said it likely would lead to judicial nominees “from the extremes of both left and right.” “What we are about to do at the end of this week will have tremendous consequences, and I fear that some day we will regret what we’re about to do. In fact, I’m confident we will,” McCain said on the Senate floor. The White House denied on Wednesday that Gorsuch had engaged in plagiarism after media reports accused him of copying some language and failing to cite relevant sources in his 2006 book about assisted suicide and euthanasia. “There is only one explanation for this baseless, last-second smear of Judge Gorsuch: those desperate to justify the unprecedented filibuster of a well-qualified and mainstream nominee to the Supreme Court,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Summary: सीनेटरों ने पूरी रात बातचीत की क्योंकि डेमोक्रेट ने ट्रम्प अदालत के उम्मीदवार से लड़ाई की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Forty House Democrats, led by the party’s top member of the House of Representatives Financial Services committee Maxine Waters, voiced opposition on Friday to a U.S. Labor Department proposal to delay the start of a controversial retirement regulation. In a letter sent on the final day of the proposal’s roughly two-week-long comment period, the group said that a 60-day delay of the DOL’s fiduciary rule would deprive workers and families from unbiased financial advice. Set to take effect on April 10, the fiduciary rule requires retirement advisers to put the interests of clients ahead of their own.  Some of Wall Street’s largest brokerages have already leveled the commissions charged on certain investment tools, in an effort to eliminate any unintended incentive for advisers to select one fund over another. Other brokerages have begun to phase out commissions-paying retirement accounts altogether. Despite that preparation, which began in earnest last year, President Donald Trump asked the Labor Department in February to re-examine the cost of implementing the rule. The Labor Department proposed the delay to give themselves time to conduct such an economic and legal analysis. “It is unacceptable that now—roughly a month before implementation of the final rule is scheduled to begin—the DOL is carelessly proposing to delay it,” the Democrats wrote in their letter, noting the regulation was the product of six years of research and negotiation. “Workers and retirement savers deserve better and have waited long enough,” the group wrote.

Summary: 40 यू. एस. हाउस डेमोक्रेट्स के समूह ने श्रम विभाग के सेवानिवृत्ति नियम में देरी का विरोध किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is expected to brief U.S. congressional investigators soon on whether Russia used its advertising platform to promote divisive social and political messages during the 2016 election, Senator Mark Warner said on Thursday.  The news came a day after Facebook (FB.O) said an operation likely based in Russia had placed thousands of U.S. ads with polarizing views on topics such as immigration, race and gay rights on the social media site during a two-year-period through May 2017. Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the suspected Russian placement of such ads may have gone far beyond what Facebook disclosed, and that Twitter and other technology companies should also examine the issue.    “It was my belief that the Russians were using those sites to interfere in our elections, and the first reaction from Facebook was, ‘No. You’re crazy.’” Warner said at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance conference in Washington. “I think what we saw yesterday in terms of their brief was the tip of the iceberg,” Warner said. He also told reporters he expected Twitter to soon brief the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the panels investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether members of President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow. A Warner spokeswoman later confirmed that was expected to occur.  Twitter declined to comment.  Facebook briefed U.S. lawmakers on the issue on Wednesday and also turned over information about the ads to Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is leading his own investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. That information included copies of the ads and data about the buyers, the source said. Warner said he wanted to have Facebook brief lawmakers again and that he wanted Twitter and other companies to do the same. “As you see for example in the case of Facebook, they denied that they were being used in any way. They didn’t do anything,” Warner said. “But by the time of the French elections, Facebook was working with the French” and they shut down 50,000 accounts. Warner said legislation may be required to change how social media platforms can be used for political advertising to bring federal disclosure rules in line with those governing television advertising.

Summary: रूस समर्थित संभावित विज्ञापनों के बारे में कांग्रेस को जानकारी देगा ट्विटरः अमेरिकी सीनेटर


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday it was  extremely troubling  that U.S. President Donald Trump was raising questions that had been settled when an international deal on Iran s nuclear program was signed, RIA news agency reported. Ryabkov was quoted as saying that Russia sees its main task now as preventing the Iran nuclear deal from collapsing. He called on all sides to stay committed to the deal, the news agency reported.

Summary: रूस ने कहा, ईरान समझौते पर ट्रंप का रुख 'बेहद परेशान करने वाला' हैः आर. आई. ए.


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May is working towards unlocking Brexit talks at an EU summit later this month and, despite there being more work to be done, has made good progress, her spokesman said on Wednesday. Asked whether there was any truth in reports that there would be no deal with Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party over the border with EU member Ireland this week, the spokesman said:  As the PM said earlier this week, good progress has been made but there is work still to do.   We continue to work towards making further progress at the EU Council later this month.

Summary: प्रधानमंत्री यूरोपीय संघ शिखर सम्मेलन की दिशा में काम कर सकते हैं, वार्ता में प्रगति हुई-प्रवक्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday it made him “mildly nauseous” to think his announcement of the reopening of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails affected the 2016 presidential election, but he had no regrets and would make the same decision again. In four hours of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey delivered his most impassioned defense yet of a decision that many Democrats believe cost them the White House: telling Congress 11 days before the Nov. 8 election that the FBI had uncovered a new trove of Clinton-related emails. Comey said he felt he had to speak out at that time because he had repeatedly told lawmakers the Clinton email probe was over. “To not speak about it would require an act of concealment in my view,” Comey said. “Concealing, in my view, would be catastrophic.” He told the panel one reason for the FBI’s renewed interest in Clinton’s case was that investigators had found emails, some of them classified, forwarded by Clinton’s assistant Huma Abedin to her husband, who was not authorized to see such information. “It makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election, but honestly, it wouldn’t change the decision,” Comey said. The FBI, which is supposed to remain politically neutral, said a few days later that the new emails did not change its  decision not to recommend criminal charges against Clinton, but many Democrats believe the political damage was done. Clinton said on Tuesday her election bid was derailed in part by Comey’s announcement about the renewed probe of her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. She said her effort also was damaged by the WikiLeaks release of her campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, allegedly stolen by Russian hackers.         Senator Dianne Feinstein, ranking member on the committee, led the Democrats in hammering Comey with questions about why he went public with the Clinton probe but kept silent on an  investigation related to the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. “It’s still very unclear - and I hope director that you will clear this up - why the FBI’s treatment of these two investigations was so dramatically different,” she asked.  U.S. intelligence agencies in December accused Russia of hacking of Democratic emails in an effort to tilt the election to Trump. Comey confirmed in March the FBI was investigating possible collusion between Trump surrogates and Russia. Comey said on Wednesday the probe into whether Russian hacking activities and American citizens was a classified investigation in its early stages – far different from the almost completed email probe.   Comey declined to comment on whether Trump, or anyone else, had been ruled out as a possible subject. Moscow has denied the hacking allegations. The FBI director acknowledged recent months have been difficult. “But I think I’ve done the right thing at each turn. I’m not on anybody’s side. It’s so hard for people to see that,” Comey said, adding later, “I don’t have any regrets.”

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. के कोमी ने क्लिंटन की ईमेल जांच की घोषणा का बचाव किया, लेकिन महसूस किया 'असहज'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Executives from Facebook, Alphabet Inc s Google and Twitter have been asked to testify to the U.S. Congress in coming weeks as lawmakers probe Russia s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election, committee sources said on Wednesday. A Senate aide said executives from the three firms had been asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to appear at a public hearing on Nov. 1. The leaders of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said the panel would hold an open hearing next month with representatives from unnamed technology companies in an effort to  better understand how Russia used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election.  Representatives for Facebook and Google confirmed they had received invitations from the Senate committee but did not say whether the companies would attend. Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The House panel did not immediately identify any companies, but a committee source said lawmakers expected to hear from the same three firms the Senate had asked to testify. The requests are the latest move by congressional investigators to gain information from internet companies as they probe the extent of Moscow s alleged efforts to disrupt last year s U.S. election. Lawmakers in both parties have grown increasingly concerned that social networks may have played a key role in Russia s influence operation. Facebook revealed this month that suspected Russian trolls purchased more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on its platform during the 2016 election cycle, a revelation that has prompted calls from some Democrats for new disclosure rules for online political ads. On Wednesday, Trump attacked Facebook in a tweet and suggested the world s largest social network had colluded with other media outlets that opposed him. The president has been skeptical of the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election and has denied his campaign colluded with Moscow. The salvo prompted a lengthy rebuke from Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who said both Trump and liberals were upset about ideas and content on Facebook during the campaign.  That s what running a platform for all ideas looks like,  Zuckerberg wrote on his personal Facebook page. Other internet firms besides Facebook are also facing rising scrutiny over how Russia may have leveraged their platforms. Twitter is expected to privately brief the Senate panel on Thursday. Republican Senator James Lankford, who has received classified information about Russia s interference as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Wednesday that the country s attempts to sow discord in U.S. domestic affairs had not abated. Russian internet trolls over the weekend fueled the debate ignited by Trump over whether NFL players should have the right to kneel during the national anthem,  Lankford said. Also on Wednesday, the Daily Beast, citing unnamed sources, reported that a Facebook group named  United Muslims of America  was a fake account linked to the Russian government and that it was used to push false claims about U.S. politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  The group bought Facebook ads to reach targeted audiences, promoting political rallies aimed at Muslims, the website reported. The Senate and House intelligence committees are two of the main congressional panels probing allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the U.S. election to boost Trump s chances at winning the White House, and possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.

Summary: फेसबुक, गूगल, ट्विटर से रूसी हस्तक्षेप पर गवाही देने को कहा गया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Turkey on March 30, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, in what is likely to be the most high-level meeting with Ankara since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. Ties between the United States and Turkey - which has the second largest army in the NATO alliance and is key to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq - deteriorated sharply in the last year of the Barack Obama administration.  “Rex Tillerson has said that he would like to come to Turkey on March 30,” Cavusoglu said in an interview with broadcaster Haberturk. “I have told him that we will be in Ankara and available and would happily host him,” Cavusoglu said. Tillerson was likely to also meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, he said. Erdogan and the Turkish government want the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric who Ankara blames for orchestrating last year’s failed coup. Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt. Ankara has also been angered by U.S. support for the Kurdish YPG militia fighting Islamic State in Syria. It is adamant that Washington should switch support for the planned Raqqa offensive from the YPG militia to Syrian rebels that Turkey has trained.  For the U.S. administration, nervous about whether the Turkish-backed force is large enough and sufficiently trained, the decision sets Trump’s wish for quick battlefield victories against the need to maintain its strategic alliance with Turkey. Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insurgency in Turkey’s southeast since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by both the United States and European Union. Erdogan believes ties will improve under Trump. A phone call between the two earlier last month was positive, sources in Erdogan’s office have said.

Summary: तुर्की के मंत्री ने कहा, अमेरिकी विदेश मंत्री 30 मार्च को करेंगे तुर्की का दौरा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will conduct a classified briefing on Thursday, May 18 for the full U.S. Senate on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday. The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said in a statement he hoped senators would use the briefing at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) to seek the “full truth” about Comey’s dismissal, press Rosenstein “to make way” for a special prosecutor and ensure the administration preserves and makes public any audio recordings of his conversations with Comey. Critics have assailed Trump for abruptly firing Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Russia denies it sought to interfere in the election. Trump has dismissed such talk as little more than sour grapes by Democrats who cannot accept his upset victory on Nov. 8. Democrats have been calling for a special prosecutor or select committee to investigate, saying getting to the bottom of foreign interference in the U.S. election is too important to leave to potentially partisan committees in Congress. Comey’s firing last week added to the worries, and even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have expressed concern about the timing of his dismissal. The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said she has asked Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to request a similar briefing for the House. There was no immediate word from Ryan’s office. However, administration officials typically do not conduct such briefings for only one of the two chambers.

Summary: डिप्टी अटॉर्नी जनरल कोमी की बर्खास्तगी पर सीनेट को पूरी जानकारी देंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Washington on Wednesday ordered that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have to testify in a lawsuit related to the private email server she used while secretary of state.  U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the parties in the case, the State Department and conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, also struck an agreement about the scope of the testimonies that some of Clinton’s former top aides will give in the case. Those testimonies, known as discovery, will take place over the next eight weeks and may yield information that would require Clinton herself to be deposed, Sullivan said in an order.  Clinton has come under fire for using a private email account and server at her home in New York state for official emails when she was America’s top diplomat between 2009 and 2013.  Critics, including likely Republican presidential election rival Donald Trump, say she endangered government secrets and evaded transparency laws but the former first lady denies any wrongdoing. Judicial Watch brought a lawsuit against the State Department to gain access to records related to a Clinton aide’s employment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also probing her email arrangement. “This is a very great victory for transparency and, despite the best efforts of the Obama administration and the Clinton camp, it looks like we might finally get some answers under oath about the Clintons’ illicit email system,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.        Sullivan gave Judicial Watch permission to take testimony from close Clinton aide Huma Abedin and others. They may be asked about the creation and operation of the private server but nothing unrelated to “whether State conducted an adequate search” in response to Judicial Watch’s request for the emails, according to the court order.  It is not typical for a judge to grant discovery to a plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act case, but Sullivan said in the order that the question remained whether the State Department provided all relevant documents to Judicial Watch.

Summary: न्यायाधीश का कहना है कि क्लिंटन को ईमेल मुकदमे में गवाही देनी पड़ सकती है


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Iran nuclear deal should be changed to eliminate provisions removing restrictions on Tehran s atomic program over time or it should be canceled, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.  Change it, or cancel it. Fix it, or nix it,  Netanyahu said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering of world leaders. He also said Israel  will act to prevent Iran from establishing permanent military bases in Syria for its air, sea and ground forces.

Summary: ईरान परमाणु समझौते के बारे में नेतन्याहू ने कहा, 'इसे ठीक करें या खत्म करें'


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi military delegation is preparing to take control of the Kurdistan region border with Syria, an Iraqi military statement said on Tuesday. The delegation headed by the Iraqi army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanmi, is visiting the Fish-Khabur triangle formed by the Iraqi Turkish Syrian border, in northwestern Iraq, a statement from the Iraqi joint operation command in Baghdad said. The visit aims to  control the international border  it said, mentioning Iraq s two crossings with Turkey and Syria, respectively Ibrahim al-Khalil and Fish-Khabur.  Iraqi officials told Reuters earlier on Tuesday Iraqi customs officials took control of the Ibrahim al-Khalil main land crossing with Turkey.

Summary: इराकी कुर्दिस्तान क्षेत्र और सीरिया के बीच सीमा पार करने की तैयारी कर रहा है


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would name retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross has helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which entered into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. Chao is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives’ Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY Haley, a 44-year-old Republican, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools.  Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.  Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्रंप ने अपने प्रशासन के लिए शीर्ष पदों को भरा


BERLIN (Reuters) - If Angela Merkel becomes German chancellor again, nearly half of voters would want her to quit her term early, according to a poll offering a rare sign that domestic support for Europe s most influential leader may be waning. Merkel s conservatives won a national election in September, setting her up for a fourth stint in office. But they bled support to the far right, and talks on a three-way coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats collapsed in November. Merkel is now pinning her hopes on cutting a deal with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who finished second in the election but have so far given a lukewarm response to the idea of renewing the  grand coalition  that governed Germany between 2013 and 2017. The YouGov survey, commissioned by Germany s DPA agency and published in Wednesday s Die Welt newspaper, showed 47 percent of respondents wanted Merkel to step aside before 2021, when her fourth term would end - up from 36 percent in a poll taken at the beginning of October. By contrast, 36 percent want her to serve a full four years, compared to 44 percent three months ago. The SPD, which lost ground among voters after the coalition with Merkel, has been reluctant to commit to a re-run as it looks to keep a skeptical rank and file on board.   SPD Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a former leader of the party, adopted a tough tone on Wednesday in top-selling daily Bild.  If the chancellery continues to reject all the proposals for EU reform, there will be no coalition with the SPD,  he told the paper. The SPD s current leader, Martin Schulz, has championed deeper euro zone reform, calling for a United States of Europe by 2025. Gabriel also said the conservatives needed to reform the health system to close the gap between private and state care. An INSA poll in Bild put Merkel s conservatives up 2 points at 33 percent and the SPD down 0.5 percent at 20.5 percent. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which,  capitalizing on voters  fears about growing inequality and the impact on Germany of Europe s migrant crisis, entered parliament for the first time in September, was down 1 point at 13 percent. Many commentators have suggested the AfD would make gains if new elections were held due to a failure on Merkel s part to form a government. Merkel s conservatives and the SPD have said they will start exploratory coalition talks on Jan. 7.

Summary: मर्केल के पूर्ण कार्यकाल के लिए समर्थन में गिरावट, गठबंधन वार्ताओं का संकेत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign, widely criticized for refusing to release the candidate’s tax returns, released 10 years of returns on Friday for vice presidential nominee Mike Pence. The Trump campaign also repeated a pledge that Trump would release his own returns once the government completes an audit. Pence’s returns for 2006 to 2015 showed the Indiana governor and former U.S. congressman paid an effective tax rate that ranged from 10 percent to 16.5 percent. “These returns are being released with the full support of Mr. Trump who plans to release his tax returns upon completion of a routine audit,” the campaign said. Disclosure of tax returns is a standard procedure for all modern presidential candidates. Trump’s critics, including the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have suggested he may be hiding something. Some have speculated that Trump may pay little or no tax or that his net worth may be much less than the $10 billion he has claimed.  Pence and his wife, Karen, reported adjusted gross income over the 10 years ranging from about $113,000 last year to over $187,000 in 2009, while the effective state and federal tax rate ranged from a low of just over 10 percent in 2013 to a high of 16.5 percent in 2014, the figures show.  Charitable donations amounted to 10 percent of the family’s take-home pay, equivalent to an average 7.2 percent of adjusted gross income, a statement released by the Trump campaign said. Hillary Clinton released her 2015 tax returns last month. They showed she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had $10.75 million in income that year and paid an effective federal tax rate of 34.2 percent. Most of the income came from Bill Clinton’s speaking fees and a book deal by Hillary. Clinton’s running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with his wife, Anne Holton, released 10 years of tax returns at the same time in August. They paid a federal effective tax rate of 20.3 percent on income of about $313,000 in 2015.

Summary: ट्रम्प अभियान ने रिपब्लिकन उपराष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार पेंस के लिए कर विवरणी जारी की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans passed a measure on Thursday that would permanently repeal Obamacare’s so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost employer-provided insurance without a single Democratic vote amid a broader debate to repeal the healthcare law.  The measure passed along party lines by a 52-48 vote. To become law, it will need to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Summary: सीनेट ने 'कैडिलैक' कर को स्थायी रूप से निरस्त करने वाले उपाय को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke plans to review Obama-era measures that limited energy development on some federal land and undertake a “bold” reorganization of his 70,000-employee agency, he said on Friday.     The former U.S. congressman addressed employees at the Department of Interior’s headquarters on his second full day on the job, assuring them he would not sell off federal lands, as some had feared, but also promising change.     “You can hear it from my lips: We will not sell or transfer public lands,” he said.     The department manages about a fifth of the country’s surface, including national parks, forests and tribal territories, from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico.     Zinke said he wanted to change the structure of the department, which includes the National Parks Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to give more authority to rangers and land managers outside the District of Columbia.     “The last time the Department of Interior has been reorganized was about 100 years ago, so the reorganization is going to be bold,” he said.     Zinke, who arrived on horseback for his first day at the department, did not provide specifics but said he would rely on input from Interior’s sub-agencies and bureaus.     The ex-Navy SEAL said employee surveys showed the farther staffers were from Washington, the unhappier they were because “they felt they don’t have authority.”     Zinke, whose home state of Montana is one-third federal land, addressed career employees who face an uncertain future under Republican President Donald Trump. Some worry that Trump’s platform would open the door to selling off public land and more mining and drilling. Others fear deep cuts to the agency’s budget. Zinke told staff he was “unhappy” about preliminary budget figures and would “fight” to secure more money.       Zinke has advocated for mining and drilling on federal land. He told reporters after his speech that he would review some executive actions from the waning days of the administration of former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, that had placed more federal land off-limits to development.     Those orders include limits to drilling in sensitive offshore areas like the Atlantic coast and Arctic, as well as a ban on new federal coal mining leases.      “I think I am going to review everything that didn’t go through Congress,” Zinke said.      However, he said the department would continue Obama’s effort to study whether coal leases had been properly valued to ensure taxpayers receive their fair value.     “I think we all benefit from that rather than buying a junk bond,” he said.

Summary: नए आंतरिक प्रमुख ने ओबामा काल के नियमों की समीक्षा, 'साहसिक' पुनर्गठन का संकल्प लिया


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California lawmaker next week will introduce a bill requiring 15 percent of all vehicles sold in the state to be emissions-free by 2025, her spokeswoman said on Friday. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke says the legislation is needed to ensure that California’s current zero emissions vehicle target is met with actual vehicles and not just clean car credits, which environmentalists claim have flooded the market.  “Governor (Jerry) Brown has set an ambitious goal of 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2025, but unless we take action, the state won’t come close to meeting this goal,” said Burke, who represents the city of Inglewood in car-centric Los Angeles county.  “That’s why we need to reform the rules to require that 15 percent of all cars sold in California have zero emissions by 2025. This is about clean cars, not credits,” she said in a statement to Reuters. The bill will require the California Air Resources Board to adopt a regulation by the end of next year to reach the 15 percent goal.  CARB has for years operated a zero emission vehicles program, which has helped the state achieve its current level of about 200,000 ZEVs on the road. But a complex system of clean car credits, designed to give automakers flexibility in meeting the sales target, has led to a glut of credits, according to experts.  Environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors told CARB at a recent meeting that auto companies may be able to reach the state’s target by simply submitting credits, and said changes to the program’s credit system are required. About 4 percent of vehicles sold in California are zero emissions vehicles, which include full battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and plug-in hybrids. The NRDC estimates that under the current rules and credit system, California would  have only 6 percent of all vehicles emission-free by 2025.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के सांसद शून्य उत्सर्जन वाहन बिल लाएंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional panel next month will hold a hearing on violent extremism, including threats from domestic militants, following a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly. The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, Republican Michael McCaul, announced the Sept. 12 hearing in a letter to the panel’s top Democrat, Bennie Thompson. The committee holds a hearing once a year, around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to discuss worldwide threats. A committee aide said the Charlottesville protests had  prompted the decision to broaden the hearing to include threats from domestic militants. But Thompson said the move was “not adequate or appropriate” to address his request for a hearing on threats from white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups. “The September 12 hearing to cover worldwide threats is an annual hearing that was already scheduled prior to the domestic attacks this weekend,” Thompson said. “It will not allow us to go into the depth necessary to address the far-ranging and multifaceted aspects of the threat posed by domestic terrorist threats from white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.” The Homeland Security Committee will invite leaders of the Homeland Security Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Counterterrorism Center, McCaul said. “We must stand together and reject racism, bigotry, and prejudice, including the hateful ideologies promoted by neo-Nazis, the KKK, and all other white supremacy groups,” McCaul wrote in his response to Democrats’ request for a hearing. A 32-year-old woman was killed on Saturday in Charlottesville when a car plowed into a rival protest to white supremacist demonstrators. A 20-year-old Ohio man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies has been charged with murder.  President Donald Trump on Tuesday said both sides were to blame for the violence, drawing condemnation from both fellow Republicans and Democrats for failing to single out the white nationalists.

Summary: हिंसा ने अमेरिकी कांग्रेस को आतंकवादी खतरों पर चर्चा करने के लिए प्रेरित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan’s ambassador to the United States weighed in on the U.S. presidential election debate on Friday by arguing against the “America first” stance of Republican candidate Donald Trump and stressing the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance. Without mentioning Trump by name, the envoy, Kenichiro Sasae, told a Washington forum Japan had come up unexpectedly in the election debate, showing that nothing could be taken for granted in terms of the long-standing alliance. “In the presidential elections, there are arguments whether the United States is going for the isolationist stance,” Sasae said. “I don’t want to see that kind of United States. “I want to see the United States to be strong and come with a strong robust position, not really thinking of the United States only,” he said. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, has portrayed Japan, a long-time treaty ally of the United States, as a free-rider on security. He has suggested Tokyo might need nuclear weapons to ease U.S. financial commitment to its defense, anathema to the only country ever attacked by atomic bombs. Japan’s Minister for Regional Revitalization, Shigeru Ishiba, said comments by one candidate, who he said he would not name, were causing “a lot of concern in Japan.” Ishiba told the forum that if Japan or South Korea chose to develop nuclear weapons regional stability would suffer, and added: “I don’t think it will add to the U.S. interest.” “No matter who becomes the president, understanding the essence of the alliance, accurately grasping the international environment we have been placed in would lead, I am sure, to proper policies being implemented,” he added. Sasae said he understood there was a debate about how to make America strong, but added “the question is whether you could be strong without a proper role around the world.”  “It is important not to undermine ... one, the value of the U.S.-Japan alliance; two, the geopolitical implications of emerging or resurgent powers in the world; three, the capability  and strength of the United States.” Trump outlined a clear “America First” policy in a speech late last month, vowing that if he were elected president, U.S. allies in Europe and Asia would have to fend for themselves if they did not pay more for the U.S. defense umbrella. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday Japan’s U.S. alliance was the foundation of Asian peace and prosperity and Tokyo hoped to be able to work with whoever becomes U.S. president.

Summary: जापान के राजदूत ने ट्रम्प के 'अमेरिका फर्स्ट' रुख पर परोक्ष रूप से कटाक्ष किया


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany would support the European Commission if it opens proceedings against Poland over legal reforms there, a spokesman for the German government said on Wednesday.  If it comes to the decision we will support it,  Steffen Seibert said. Western European Union peers, the bloc s executive Commission, opposition in Poland and democracy advocates say reforms undermine court independence by putting them under more direct government control.

Summary: अगर जर्मनी पोलैंड के खिलाफ कार्यवाही शुरू करता है तो वह ब्रसेल्स का समर्थन करेगा।


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Donald Trump must be shown appropriate respect for holding the office of the U.S. president, even if she may differ with him on policy issues. Merkel, campaigning for a fourth term in office after a Sept. 24 national election, has refused to bend to pressure from her Social Democrat (SPD) rivals to resist demands by Trump for NATO members to increase their defense spending. As a committed Atlanticist, she has stressed the strength of German relations with the United States even when flagging differences in opinion on policy.  If you take the president of the United States, whatever differences of opinion there may be, I know he prevailed in a tough election. It wasn t reserved for him on a silver platter,  she told business daily Handelsblatt in an interview.   In the end, he won the election under American electoral law and that means he is democratically elected and that this person should be shown the appropriate respect, regardless of how I assess his views,  she added. Her SPD challenger, Martin Schulz, has been far more critical of Trump, referring to the U.S. president as  this irresponsible man in the White House . Merkel, who enjoyed holidaying in the United States before becoming chancellor in 2005, said she missed the opportunity to vacation there now.  I can t go on holiday in San Diego now as chancellor because the time difference is too much, and that is something I miss a bit, but the work itself is so marvelous that I can afford to miss it.

Summary: अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति के रूप में ट्रम्प का सम्मान किया जाना चाहिएः जर्मनी की मर्केल


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she wanted to see more talks next week between Northern Ireland s main parties, adding she believed an agreement to restore the devolved power-sharing government in the province could be reached.  I believe that the differences between the parties, the issues that are dividing them, are very small ... issues around culture, identity, legacy, the future stability of the devolved institutions,  she said.  I believe a way forward can be found so agreement can be reached.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के प्रधानमंत्री मे का मानना है कि उत्तरी आयरलैंड समझौता संभव है; वे और बातचीत चाहते हैं


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland s foreign minister will raise Dublin s concerns over the impact a trade dispute between the United States and Canada s Bombardier could have on Northern Ireland s peace process when he meets Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week. The U.S. government last week slapped a preliminary 220 percent tariff on the planemaker s CSeries jets, which are partly made in Northern Ireland, potentially risking 4,200 jobs in the British province.  Bombardier is Northern Ireland s largest manufacturing employer and its political leaders have warned Washington that the security of the economy in Britain s poorest region plays a crucial role in efforts to maintain peace. Three decades of bloodshed between Catholic Irish nationalists, who want the province to unite with Ireland, and Protestant unionists, who want to remain part of the United Kingdom, left 3,600 dead before peace was reached 20 years ago. Washington played a key role in helping to strike the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, and the Irish foreign minister s intervention will add to pressure from Belfast and London, where Prime Minister Theresa May s minority government relies on the support of Northern Ireland s largest unionist party to govern.   I will be outlining to him (Ross) the Irish government s concern as to the potentially serious implications of a negative ruling for the Bombardier workforce in Belfast and for wider economic stability in Northern Ireland which is an essential support to the peace process,  Simon Coveney said in a statement ahead of his two-day trip to Washington.

Summary: बॉम्बार्डियर विवाद से उत्तरी आयरलैंड की शांति को खतरा, आयरलैंड ने अमेरिका को बताया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will take the resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its declaration of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital to the United Nations General Assembly, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. The resolution was introduced to the U.N. Security Council on Monday by Egypt, a non-permanent member, but was vetoed by the United States, despite the 14 other votes in favor.  Now, God willing, we will carry the resolution to the U.N. General Assembly,  Erdogan a joint news conference with the Djibouti s President Ismail Omar Guelleh.  A two-thirds support in the General Assembly would actually mean the rejection of the decision made by the Security Council,  he added.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन का कहना है कि वे जेरूसलम प्रस्ताव को संयुक्त राष्ट्र महासभा में ले जाएंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall to start within months and that planning is already underway, according to excerpts of an interview with ABC News released on Wednesday.  Trump told the television network that while U.S. taxpayers would have to initially fund the wall, Mexico would ultimately pay for it, adding that negotiations for the reimbursement would start “relatively soon.”

Summary: ट्रम्प कहते हैं कि U.S.-Mexico सीमा दीवार जल्द ही आएगीः ए. बी. सी. साक्षात्कार


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Nearly nine out of 10 Indians hold a favorable opinion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more than two-thirds are satisfied with the direction he is taking the country, a Pew survey has found, two years before he heads into a general election. Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition won the biggest parliamentary majority in three decades in a 2014 election and the poll by the U.S.-based research center showed that his personal ratings remain high. Critics have accused hardline Hindu groups linked to the ruling coalition of promoting a partisan agenda, including targeting minority Muslims, since he came to power.  They have also blamed Modi for slowing economic growth and for failing to generate the hundreds of thousands of jobs needed for young people joining the workforce each month.  But the Pew poll found that 88 percent of Indians held a favorable view of Modi, a shade higher than the 87 percent who gave him a thumbs-up in 2015, a year after he swept to power promising to transform India into a high-growth economy. Such high ratings are unusual for political leaders three years into office in south Asia, where governments are more often voted out than retained as people become frustrated with broken campaign promises. Modi s favorable rating is 31 percentage points higher than that of Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress party, and is 30 points more than that for her son, Rahul Gandhi, who is expected to take over the party leadership.  Three years into Modi s five-year tenure, the honeymoon period for his administration may be over but the public s love affair with current conditions in India is even more intense,  Pew said in comments on its findings. The survey was conducted in February and March, a few months after Modi withdrew most high-value bank notes in a shock move aimed at illegal wealth, but which put millions of people in difficulty as cash was sucked out of the economy. Modi defended the measure as an attack on the rich hiding their wealth from the taxman and said gains would come to the poor. Economic growth eased to a three-year low in the June quarter and experts said part of the reason was that the withdrawal of most of the currency had hurt consumer demand in a largely cash-driven economy. A poorly implemented goods-and-services tax that went into effect in July has further unsettled small businesses, many of which are part of the bedrock of the BJP s political base. But the poll found that more than 80 percent of those surveyed said economic conditions were good, up 19 percentage points since just before the 2014 election.  Overall, seven-in-ten Indians are now satisfied with the way things are going in the country. This positive assessment of India s direction has nearly doubled since 2014,  Pew said. The next general election is due in 2019.  But several states are voting for new assemblies over the next few months including Modi s home state of Gujarat.

Summary: प्यू पोल का कहना है कि भारत का मोदी अभी भी काफी लोकप्रिय है


(Reuters) - Former California Democratic state Senator Leland Yee received a five-year prison sentence on Wednesday for conspiracy in a corruption case that involved bribery, weapons trafficking and money laundering, federal prosecutors said. Lee, 67, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge after his arrest in 2014 in a sweep that included suspected leaders of organized crime in San Francisco, the city he represented in the state legislature. Prosecutors had sought an eight-year sentence for Yee, whose guilty plea in federal court in San Francisco last July marked the end of a long political career that included two terms on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, as well as election to the California Assembly and Senate. Yee was the third California state senator charged in 2014 in separate criminal cases. All three eventually left office, costing the Democrats a key two-thirds legislative majority.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया के पूर्व सांसद यी को पांच साल की जेल की सजा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama welcomed the Denver Broncos to the White House on Monday to congratulate the Super Bowl champions for their victory over the Carolina Panthers and send off retiring quarterback Peyton Manning with words of praise.  “I have to say I’m so pleased to be able to host Peyton here at the White House before I left. Anybody who has been a football fan has watched what is one of the greatest Hall of Fame careers ever,” Obama said, with the team standing behind him in the White House Rose Garden. “We were all obviously a little disappointed to see him hang it up this spring. But as somebody who is just a little bit older than he is, I was sympathetic to the idea that running around with these guys, it takes its toll,” Obama, 54, said of Manning, 40. Obama leaves office in January. As he often does, Obama noted he remained a fan of his hometown team, the Chicago Bears, but he conceded that the Broncos had a good year. “I will continue to root for the Bears,” he said to laughter. “But I’ve got to give this organization credit for having done an extraordinary job. And this is a well-deserved celebration of an extraordinary season.” The Broncos won their third National Football League championship with a 24-10 win over Carolina in the Super Bowl in February. The following month, Manning retired after an 18-year career with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver that established him as one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks.

Summary: ओबामा ने सुपर बाउल जीतने के लिए डेनवर ब्रोंकोस और पेटन मैनिंग की सराहना की


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has proposed that the United Nations Security Council blacklist 10 ships for transporting banned items from North Korea, according to documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The vessels are accused of  conducting illegal ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or illegally transporting North Korean coal to other countries for exports,  the United States said in its proposal. If none of the 15 members of the Security Council s North Korea sanctions committee object to the ships being designated by Thursday afternoon, the U.S. proposal will be approved.  Countries are required to ban blacklisted ships from entering their ports. Four ships were designated for carrying coal from North Korea by the council s North Korea sanctions committee in October. North Korea is under a U.N. arms embargo and the Security Council has banned trade in exports such as coal, textiles, seafood, iron and other minerals to choke funding for Pyongyang s missile and nuclear programs.  In September, the council put a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products exports to North Korea. The ships proposed to be blacklisted are: Xin Sheng Hai (flag unknown); Hong-Kong-flagged Lighthouse Winmore; Togo-flagged Yu Yuan; Panama-flagged Glory Hope 1 (also known as Orient Shenyu), Kai Xiang, and Billions No. 18; and North Korean-flagged Ul Ji Bong 6, Rung Ra 2, Rye Song Gang 1, and Sam Jong 2. Reclusive North Korea has boasted of developing a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the mainland United States in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and international condemnation. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday urged North Korea to carry out a  sustained cessation  of weapons testing to allow the two countries to hold talks. He did not specify how long the lull should last. North Korea conducted missile tests at a steady pace since April, then paused in September after firing a rocket that passed over Japan s Hokkaido island. But it renewed tests in November when it fired a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew higher and further than previous tests.

Summary: अमेरिका ने संयुक्त राष्ट्र से उत्तर कोरिया के प्रतिबंधित मालवाहक जहाजों पर 10 जहाजों को काली सूची में डालने को कहा


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired teargas and shots in the air on Monday as hundreds of demonstrators marched through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul an election. Reuters television footage showed a sport utility vehicle ploughing into some of the protesters, severely injuring three, but it was not immediately clear who was responsible and the police made no immediate comment on the incident.  Kenya is due on Oct. 26 to repeat a presidential election after the Supreme Court nullified an Aug. 8 vote due to procedural irregularities. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the August election, will face opposition leader Raila Odinga. Uncertainty over the coming election has created turmoil in the East African nation, which is a regional trade hub and staunch Western ally.  As the demonstrators marched toward the election board in Nairobi, a Reuters journalist saw men in plain clothes near security forces fire shots in the air. Police on horseback set up blockades to prevent protesters from accessing some roads.  Police also used teargas in the western city of Kisumu, Odinga s stronghold, to disperse protesters, though another demonstration in the coastal city of Mombasa passed peacefully. Odinga s opposition alliance is threatening to boycott the October vote unless the electoral board changes some personnel - a stance he declined on Monday to clarify, in comments that suggested he was keeping his options open for now.  This is a democratic society we live in. If I choose not to participate in the pre-rigged election process, it is my democratic right. No court can order me to do so,  Odinga said in comments broadcast on Kenyan TV stations, without elaborating further. The protesters want to warn ruling party lawmakers not to pass an amendment to the election law that would limit the circumstances in which the Supreme Court could void an election on procedural grounds, opposition lawmaker James Orengo said.   If parliament passes the law tomorrow, it will be like declaring war on the Kenyan people,  he said.  Justin Muturi, speaker of the National Assembly, said the amendment could be debated when parliament reconvenes on Tuesday if lawmakers were keen to push it forward.  He said the key part of the proposed law stipulates that if a candidate boycotts an election whose date has already been set, the remaining candidate would win the contest without formal polls being held. The government is keen to avoid a constitutional crisis if Odinga pulls out at the last minute, frustrating the court s order to hold elections within 60 days, Muturi said.   We are trying to prevent a crisis should there be no elections,  he told Reuters by phone.  The government-backed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said on Monday in a report that at least 37 people had been killed in a police crackdown on protests that immediately followed the August vote - the highest death toll given so far. The report attributed some deaths to  police using live bullets and a few from police bludgeoning using clubs . It named a 6-month-old baby girl, a 7-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old girl as being among the victims.

Summary: केन्या पुलिस ने विपक्ष के मार्च के दौरान आँसू गैस का इस्तेमाल किया, हवा में गोली चलाई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump s call for Congress to toughen the Iran nuclear deal faced opposition on Friday from among the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as from Democrats, narrowing the chances any legislation could pass. As Trump announced that he had chosen not to certify Tehran is complying with the deal but would not immediately withdraw from it, Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton offered an outline of legislation they said would  address flaws  in the accord. If passed, the measure would set stricter restrictions on Iran and immediately revive U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran s nuclear program if Tehran is deemed able to produce a nuclear weapon within a year.  We have provided a route to overcome deficiencies (in the agreement) and to keep the administration in the deal, and actually make it the kind of deal that it should have been in the first place,  Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on a call with journalists. Republicans control Congress, but their four-seat edge in the Senate means any measure would need Democratic support to pass, even if every member of Trump s party supports it. That is not a given. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he had  serious doubts  about the Corker-Cotton plan. He said he would reserve judgment until the final measure, but preferred that Trump abandon the deal.  Ultimately, leaving the nuclear deal, reimposing suspended sanctions, and having the president impose additional sanctions would serve our national interest better than a decertified deal that leaves sanctions suspended or a new law that leaves major flaws in that agreement in place,  Rubio said in a statement. Most Democrats were strongly opposed. Senator Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said he would only support a measure backed by European allies who had signed the nuclear pact, formally known as the JCPOA.  Anything we do must be consistent with the JCPOA, cannot lead us on a path to violate the JCPOA and must have the support of our European allies,  he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Cardin said he wanted a full-Senate briefing on the plan from administration officials, and then committee hearings. Corker acknowledged the tough fight ahead, but said he hoped to win over Democrats. He pledged to seek the support of European allies Britain, France and Germany, who had signed the agreement and urged Trump not to decertify.

Summary: ईरान परमाणु समझौते को 'ठीक' करने के लिए अमेरिकी कांग्रेस में चढ़ाई का सामना करना पड़ रहा है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump nominated former Republican lawmaker Scott Garrett as president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States on Friday, completing an about-face over an institution he had denounced as “featherbedding” for big business. A White House statement also named Spencer Bachus, another Republican former congressman, to be a member of the board of directors of the bank. Both were named for four-year terms. Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday he would fill the two vacancies on the bank’s five-member board that have prevented it from having a quorum and being able to act on loans over $10 million. His picks must gain approval from the Senate, which blocked nominees by former President Barack Obama. The Export-Import Bank, an independent government agency, provides loans to foreign entities that enable them to purchase American-made goods. For example, it has been used by foreign airlines to purchase planes from Boeing Co (BA.N) and farmers in developing nations to acquire equipment. The bank has become a popular target for conservatives, who worked in Congress to kill the institution, arguing that it perpetuates cronyism and does little to create American jobs. Trump’s backing of the bank represents a victory for  manufacturers like Boeing and General Electric Co (GE.N), which have overseas customers that use the agency’s government-backed loans to purchase their products. Trump told the Journal the bank benefits small businesses and creates jobs, a reversal of his earlier criticism of the bank as being “featherbedding” for wealthy corporations. Trump’s about-face followed a meeting on Tuesday with former Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney, who left the company last year but oversaw the corporation’s aggressive lobbying effort in support of the bank in 2015. Large American corporations that do significant amounts of exports say other countries have similar agencies and the export bank levels the playing field. A 2015 fight to shutter the bank led by conservatives in Congress allowed the bank’s charter to expire for five months. After overwhelming bipartisan support emerged to renew the bank’s charter, which is needed for it to operate, conservatives blocked nominees to the board, preventing it from financing large exports like aircraft and power turbines.

Summary: लगभग आमने-सामने, ट्रम्प ने निर्यात बैंक के नए प्रमुख को नामित किया