NEWTOWN, Pa./NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gained on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton among American voters this week, cutting her lead nearly in half, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling released on Friday. The polling data showed Trump’s argument that the Nov. 8 election is “rigged” against him has resonated with members of his party. “Remember folks, it’s a rigged system,” Trump told a Pennsylvania rally on Friday. “That’s why you’ve got to get out and vote, you’ve got to watch. Because this system is totally rigged.” Clinton led Trump 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the Oct. 14-20 Reuters/Ipsos poll, a 4-point lead. That compared with 44 percent for Clinton and 37 percent for Trump in the Oct. 7-13 poll released last week. An average of national opinion polls by RealClearPolitics shows Clinton 6.2 percentage points ahead at 48.1 percent support to Trump’s 41.9 percent. Trump is slated to give a speech Saturday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, best known as the site of a decisive Civil War battle and cemetery, and the place where Republican President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address. Aides told reporters on Friday night that Trump would make his closing argument to voters in his speech, and preview what he would do in his first 100 days in the White House. “I think this site is fitting in terms of understanding a positive vision for the Republican party,” an aide said. Trump’s campaign was thrown into crisis after a 2005 video released this month showed him bragging about groping and kissing women. He has since faced accusations - which he has said are “absolutely false” - that he made improper sexual advances to women over decades. The Reuters/Ipsos survey found 63 percent of Americans, including a third of Republicans, believe the New York real estate mogul has committed sexual assault in the past. Reuters contacted a few of the poll respondents who said they felt that Trump had likely “committed sexual assault” but were still supporting his candidacy. Their answers were generally the same: Whatever Trump did with women in the past is less important to them than what he may do as president. At a Trump rally in Fletcher, North Carolina, Harold Garren, 75, said he was skeptical of complaints from women about Trump’s behavior. “I don’t believe all of this 30 years later, no,” Garren said. Garren also shrugged off Trump’s lewd bragging about women, caught on the 2005 tape. “I’ve used that barnyard language myself,” Garren said, clarifying that it was when he was younger and before he knew better. Both candidates spent Friday in battleground states, where the vote could swing either way. Clinton, 68, campaigned in Ohio, while Trump, 70, was in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Trump, his voice lacking some of its usual energy in his third rally in one day, told voters in Newtown, Pennsylvania they had to vote or else he would have wasted a lot of “time, energy and money.” Trump has been coy about whether he will accept the results of the election should Clinton beat him. The Reuters/Ipsos data showed only half of Republicans would accept Clinton as their president, and nearly 70 percent of them said a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging. Trump’s crowd chanted “Lock her up!” at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania after he declared Clinton a “corrupt globalist,” a reference to campaign documents released by WikiLeaks in which Clinton was quoted advocating free trade and open borders. After the chant went around the room for several seconds, Trump responded, “Don’t worry, that whole thing will be looked into.” The New York businessman’s assertion that the election is being rigged and his refusal to commit to accepting the outcome of the election if he loses has challenged a cornerstone of American democracy and outraged Democrats and many Republicans. Asked if he would commit to a peaceful transition of power during Wednesday’s debate, Trump replied: “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?” In Ohio on Friday, Clinton called his refusal unprecedented. “Now make no mistake: by doing that, he is threatening our democracy,” she told a rally in Cleveland. “But we know in our country the difference between leadership and dictatorship, right? And the peaceful transition of power is one of the things that sets us apart,” Clinton said. Trump has offered no widely accepted evidence to back up his claims of vote-rigging. Numerous studies have shown that the U.S. election system, which is run by the states, is sound. Trump told an earlier rally in Fletcher, North Carolina, that he wanted to have no regrets about whether he worked hard enough to win the election, and urged followers to get out to vote. “Win, lose or draw - and I’m almost sure if the people come out, we’re going to win - I will be happy with myself,” he said. “We have to work, we have to get everybody out there.”

Summary: क्लिंटन पर ट्रम्प की जीत, सर्वेक्षण से पता चलता है कि 'धांधली' का संदेश प्रतिध्वनित होता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee voted on Monday to strike down a Washington, D.C. law that would allow physician-assisted suicide there. City leaders passed legislation in December that allows terminally ill patients to end their lives with a doctor’s help, but the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to overturn laws in the 68-square-mile (177-square-km) district. “I worry that assisted suicide will create a marketplace for death,” said Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who heads the Oversight Committee. “I think it’s fundamentally wrong.” After hearing arguments from more than a dozen lawmakers, the committee voted 22 to 14 against the law. Overturning a D.C. law requires passage by both the House and Senate and signature by the president. It has happened only a handful of times since the city gained self-governance.    Chaffetz said the current law has “serious flaws” and voiced concerns over doctors inaccurately diagnosing patients with terminal illnesses. Other Republican committee members said they opposed physician-assisted suicide for religious reasons.    Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who voted in support of the district’s so-called Death with Dignity Act, told opponents: “Do the right thing and mind your own business.” Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s congressional representative, told lawmakers they need not agree with the legislation to vote in favor.  “We are asking you to agree with American doctrine that local laws are for local residents,” Norton said. The city council has passed a range of laws in recent years on issues important to many liberal Democrats nationally. Among them are a $15-an-hour minimum wage, legalized recreational marijuana and one of the country’s most generous family leave laws.  Washington leaders have typically relied on the Senate, which has long had less appetite to interfere with district laws than the House, to block legislation affecting it. If the law is upheld, Washington will join six states that allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

Summary: अमेरिकी प्रतिनिधियों ने डी. सी. सहायता प्राप्त आत्महत्या कानून के खिलाफ मतदान किया


ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria s Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and key ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, said on Sunday he had joined the country s opposition party after quitting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last month.  Abubakar is the first political heavyweight to signal a potential bid for the presidency, which could pit him against the 74-year-old Buhari. Buhari took power in 2015, but illness has kept him absent for much of this year. Abubakar is prepared to run for president in 2019, a spokesman said last month when he left the APC. He  did not indicate on Sunday whether he would try to become the opposition People s Democratic Party s (PDP s) presidential candidate. Abubakar rejoined the PDP after four years because it has resolved its issues, he said, according to a statement on Sunday. He had left the PDP because he  believed it was no longer aligned to the principles of equity, democracy and social justice,  he said. In Sunday s statement, Abubakar criticized the APC for letting down the Nigerian people by failing to create a strong economy and jobs, especially for the young, with one quarter of 18-25 year olds unemployed.

Summary: नाइजीरिया के बुहारी के पूर्व प्रमुख सहयोगी विपक्षी दल में शामिल हुए


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s interior minister said on Thursday that Uber driver suspected of murdering a British embassy worker last week had served time in prison, and he accused the company of not checking criminal records of its drivers. The body of Rebecca Dykes was found strangled on Saturday next to a highway outside Beirut. Police detained a suspect on Monday and said the crime was not politically motivated.  Minister Nohad Machnouk said the driver had three priors on his judicial record involving drugs and had been imprisoned on that basis.  This company, when it hires drivers, and lets them work within its organisation, does not check their priors , he said at a news conference.   An Uber spokesperson said all drivers the company uses in Lebanon are fully licensed by the government and must have a clear judicial record.  The spokesperson said a copy of the driver s judicial record published by local media, showing no judgments against the driver, was accurate. Uber confirmed in an email that he was a licensed taxi driver with a clean background check.

Summary: लेबनान के आंतरिक मंत्री ने उबर पर रिकॉर्ड की जांच नहीं करने का आरोप लगाया


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has issued new regulations aimed at curbing money laundering and terror-related financing across a broader range of financial service providers, including money changers, credit card issuers and electronic money providers.   The move is part of efforts by Indonesia to bring rules up to international standards and join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body fighting money laundering.  Indonesia was taken off an FATF blacklist two years ago. The new regulations, issued by Bank Indonesia (BI), cover transactions handled by non-bank financial institutions and were made public on its website on Wednesday.  BI said the new rules balanced a need to contain the risks of money laundering and terrorism-related financial crimes and promoting economic growth. Eny V. Panggabean, BI s executive director of payment system regulation, said the rules also addressed  developments in the industry, digital economy and innovations in payments that include a more complex money changer business . The new BI regulations cover credit card issuers, electronic money providers, remittance and money transfer companies as well as fintech startups. Service providers now have to have an up-to-date list on alleged militants, radical organizations and individuals linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in order to cross check with customers.  They must also assess customer risks depending on the country origin of an incoming transfer or the destination of outgoing transfers, and must not engage with so-called shell banks, which don t have a physical presence in a country where they are incorporated. Companies should report anything suspicious to the financial transactions watchdog. A financial service provider that fails to follow the rules could have its license revoked and directors, commissioners or shareholders banned from the financial services business for five years. A similar regulation was introduced a few months ago by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) for financial conglomerates, banks, insurance companies and other bigger players in the industry. The OJK rules also elaborated on procedures to handle suspicious transactions. Indonesia was put on an FATF list of jurisdictions with weak measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in 2012. In 2015, the FATF declared Indonesia off the blacklist  due to progress in improving regulations.

Summary: इंडोनेशिया ने मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग, आतंकी वित्तपोषण पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए नियमों को कड़ा किया


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman said on Tuesday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would have a “terrifying” effect on domestic and foreign policy if elected. The comments came one day after Hoffman published an article on Medium.com pledging support to a CrowdPac crowdfunding campaign that promises to donate to veterans causes if Trump releases his tax returns.  Hoffman said in his article that he will match five times the crowdfunded amount to donate up to $5 million. The campaign has raised more than $90,000. Hoffman told a crowd at TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 in San Francisco that he was “in denial” about the possibility of a Trump presidency but encouraged by efforts to hold the candidate accountable.  Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Trump is facing criticism for not releasing tax returns, a political practice that is not required by law but has been done by every White House nominee since 1973. His campaign last week released 10 years of returns for vice presidential nominee Mike Pence and repeated a pledge that Trump would release his own returns once the government completes an audit. “When I saw the campaign … I said that’s exactly the right way to make this message, a message in support of folks who have given great service to our country. If Donald Trump is as concerned with making America great as he says he is he should care about veterans,” Hoffman said.

Summary: लिंक्डइन के हॉफमैनः ट्रम्प का राष्ट्रपति पद नीति के लिए 'भयावह' होगा


DUBLIN (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May told her Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar that she would propose suggestions to Brexit negotiators over the next 24 hours to try to break an impasse on the issue of the Irish border, Varadkar said on Wednesday. A tentative deal on the border, which is required if Brexit talks are to move to the next phase, was agreed with Dublin s blessing on Monday after negotiators guaranteed  regulatory alignment  on both sides of the border that Ireland has with the British province of Northern Ireland. But the Northern Irish party that props up May s minority government rejected the agreement, saying it could not allow any divergence in regulations between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK, putting up a fresh obstacle a week before EU leaders meet to decide whether to open trade talks.  We discussed the idea certainly but we didn t discuss any particular words or combination of words or language but I certainly indicated a willingness to consider any proposals that the UK side have,  Varadkar told a news conference after speaking to May by telephone earlier on Wednesday.  Having consulted with people in London, she wants to come back to us with some text tonight or tomorrow. I expressed my willingness to consider that because I want us to move to phase two if that is possible next week.  Varadkar said he had a  very good call  with May but that he reiterated the firm Irish position on issue of the border and that any new language proposed by London must be consistent with the text May had originally agreed to on Monday. The leader of Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party Arlene Foster also spoke to May earlier on Wednesday and a spokesman for the party said  there was still work to be done  on any border deal. Brussels says Britain must present its offer this week or it will be too late for a decision.  Varadkar was speaking at a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte who assured Dublin that a satisfactory deal on the Irish border was essential if EU leaders are to declare that sufficient progress has been made in phase one of the talks when they meet on Dec. 15. Rutte also agreed with Varadkar that if an agreement cannot be reached next week, then they will have to move into January  It is the desire and ambition and wish of this government that we should move onto the phase two talks but if it isn t possible to move to phase two next week because of the problems that have arisen, well then we can pick it up in the new year,  Varadkar earlier told parliament.

Summary: आयरलैंड की सीमा पर नई भाषा का प्रस्ताव करेगा ब्रिटेनः आयरलैंड के प्रधानमंत्री


BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will fail to get foreign support for its cause, the Chinese government said on Wednesday after a Chinese diplomat threatened the self-ruled island with attack, while Taiwan said it was committed to peace. China considers Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is its main source of arms. Beijing regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States. In September, the U.S. Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2018 fiscal year, which authorizes mutual visits by navy vessels between Taiwan and the United States. That prompted a senior U.S.-based Chinese diplomat to say last week that China would attack Taiwan the instant any U.S. navy vessel visited the island. Asked about the remarks at a regular news briefing in Beijing, An Fengshan, spokesman for China s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan was an internal matter and China opposed any form of military contacts between Taipei and Washington.  What I want to stress and point out is that any relying on foreigners to build oneself up or plots to harm national sovereignty and territorial integrity will be opposed by the entire Chinese nation, and cannot succeed,  An said. China suspects Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who leads the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, wants to declare the island s formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s security. The Chinese air force has this year carried out a series of drills near Taiwan, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets to shadow the mainland aircraft. Speaking at a security forum in Taipei, Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-jen said China had been sending more naval vessels and aircraft through the East China Sea, in addition to its  provocative behaviors  in the South China Sea, where Taiwan is also party to a festering territorial dispute.  Nevertheless, we remain committed to maintaining the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but this requires cooperation from both sides,  Chen said.   We are looking for positive dialogue between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and hope it will happen soon. That would benefit the people on both sides, our region and our world.  Since Tsai took office, China has suspended a regular dialogue mechanism with Taiwan and has been slowly siphoning off its remaining diplomatic allies.

Summary: हमले की धमकी के बाद चीन ने ताइवान को विदेशियों पर निर्भर नहीं रहने की चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday the U.S. relationship with Russia was at an all-time low and the  administration was aiming to bring stability to ties. Asked at a congressional hearing about a Russia sanctions bill under consideration this week by the Senate, Tillerson said: “We have a large placemat of difficult issues with the Russians ... our relationship’s at an all-time low, and it’s been deteriorating further. Our objective is to stabilize that. “We are working in a couple of areas in particular to see if we can establish that there’s a basis for re-establishing some type of working relationship with the Russian government that is in our interest. There are efforts underway in Syria specifically,” he said.

Summary: टिलरसन ने कहा, रूस के संबंधों में स्थिरता लाने के लिए काम किया जा रहा है


BERLIN (Reuters) - In his eight years as German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble earned a reputation in the euro zone as a feisty disciplinarian, insisting on painful austerity measures for debt-ridden countries like Greece. Now poised to become president of Germany s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, Schaeuble, 75, will instead try to impose discipline on fractious lawmakers, including a far-right, eurosceptic party, following Sunday s federal election. As custodian of Germany s public finances, Schaeuble has proven a trusted, if awkward, ally for Chancellor Angela Merkel, securing for her the support of skeptical lawmakers on the right of their conservative bloc for three Greek bailouts - a feat he achieved by ensuring the aid came with hairshirt austerity. By agreeing to move to the Bundestag, Schaeuble has opened the way for the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) to take over his coveted ministry, helping to unblock talks on a new three-way coalition likely also to include the Greens. To the alarm of Merkel s conservatives, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now the third largest party in the Bundestag - and the highly experienced, resilient Schaeuble is viewed as the best qualified to tame recalcitrant lawmakers. Leading AfD candidate Alexander Gauland has vowed his party would  hunt  the new government, whatever its make-up. Already Germany s longest serving lawmaker, Schaeuble brings to his new job a fierce intellect, constitutional expertise and a sharp tongue he is not afraid to use, even against Merkel.  Do you know what you are doing?  he recalled asking her when she sounded him out about becoming finance minister in 2009.  I m loyal ... but uncomfortable.  So it has proved. Once Merkel s boss before their roles were reversed, Schaeuble dominated Germany s policy response to the euro zone crisis and intervened when he felt the chancellor was on the wrong track - and not only in the field of finance. In November 2015, soon after Merkel opened Germany s borders to migrants pouring in from the Middle East, he said the country risked facing  an avalanche  of refugees triggered by  careless  actions. He subsequently defended Merkel s open-door migrant policy, however, accusing the AfD of fuelling fears.  So far, there is no one in Germany who has received one euro less for his family or his children because refugees have come here,  he said last September. Calling out the AfD in that way will now be a full-time job for Schaeuble, a man who has devoted his career to reunifying Germany and securing its place in a European project he has long championed and tried to strengthen, however controversially in the eyes of many Greeks and others. His laser-like focus on budgetary rigor has seen Germany run a budget surplus for the last three years, though critics say his insistence on austerity policies deepened the euro zone crisis and hampered its economic recovery. Although he is relinquishing the powerful finance ministry, as Bundestag president Schaeuble will technically outrank Merkel. The position ranks second in the state hierarchy after the president of the republic and ahead of the chancellor. He has outranked her before: As head of their Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1998 following then-chancellor Helmut Kohl s election loss, Schaeuble named Merkel as his deputy. It was a pairing that would last less than a year and a half. Caught up in a party funding scandal surrounding Kohl, he was forced to resign as party leader in 2000, with Merkel taking over. But Schaeuble is a survivor. Wheelchair-bound since a deranged man shot him at an election campaign event a few days after German reunification in 1990, he lives for the job and signaled before the election his readiness to stay in politics. This drive has won the respect of fellow conservatives and lawmakers from other parties, who want him to bring his unparalleled weight to the role of Bundestag president, normally a low-profile position.  A brilliant speaker with natural authority, he also possesses the tactical wit to rein in AfD MPs if they were to stage calculated affronts against established political culture,  said Carsten Nickel of Teneo Intelligence. Despite his conservative views on financial matters, Schaeuble has been a leading voice calling for better integration of Muslims into German society. As German interior minister in 2006, Schaeuble founded the German Islam Conference. At a 10th anniversary celebration last year, he said there was no question that  Islam belongs to Germany,  but he also underscored the importance of cracking down on criminals and terrorists among the migrants who entered the country. Economic policymakers in southern Europe longing to see the back of him may come to regret his departure as the FDP - now likely to take the finance ministry - is even more hawkish than Schaeuble. The pro-business FDP wants euro zone countries to be able to leave the currency bloc rather than stay under an  interminable rescue policy , and it favors winding down the lending capacity of the euro zone s ESM rescue fund.  Schaeuble is one of the most pro-European politicians that I know, so from a common eurozone perspective it couldn t go better with someone else, let alone an FDP minister,  said one euro zone official.

Summary: यूरो क्षेत्र के बाद, जर्मनी के शेयबल को दूर-दराज़ में नई चुनौती का सामना करना पड़ता है


LONDON (Reuters) - At least four people died when several vehicles including a truck crashed on one of Britain s main motorways on Saturday, police said. The collision took place around 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) in south Gloucestershire, prompting the motorway to be shut in both directions.  Sadly, at least four people have died,  Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement.  Major crashes involving multiple fatalities are relatively uncommon in Britain but eight people died in August when two trucks and a minibus collided at the start of a busy bank holiday weekend.

Summary: ब्रिटिश मोटरवे दुर्घटना में कम से कम चार लोगों की मौतः पुलिस


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico and Central American countries they will lobby U.S. lawmakers to protect young illegal immigrants who saw their lives thrown into limbo on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would end a program that shields them from deportation.  Trump announced plans to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has protected from deportation nearly 800,000 young men and women who entered the United States illegally as children. Mexico s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Sada, said Trump s decision created  anxiety, anguish and fear  for the roughly 625,000 Mexican nationals protected under the program.  They are exceptional. ... This is as emotional for the United States as for Mexico,  Sada said at a news conference immediately following the announcement to end the program.  He said his government would press U.S. lawmakers for a quick solution to the uncertainty that  Dreamers,  as they are commonly called, now face in their adopted home. Immigrants who opt to return to Mexico will be welcomed with  open arms,  Sada said, offering them assistance with work, finances and education. The announcement to end DACA, created by former President Barack Obama in a 2012 executive order, came during the final day of talks in the Mexican capital to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement, adding pressure to already tense conversations between Mexico and the United States. El Salvador s foreign relations minister, Hugo Martinez, said he would meet with U.S. Congress members to find a solution within the next six months, before DACA s provisions are set to end, aiming to protect the 30,000 to 60,000 Salvadorans who could be affected.  It s a worrisome situation. ... We will be lobbying to have legislation as soon as possible that opens a way out,  Martinez said. Guatemala s foreign relations ministry said in a statement that it is counting on the  humanitarian sensibilities  of U.S. lawmakers to ensure thousands of Guatemalans are not forced to leave the country where many grew up. Honduras said in a statement that it would push U.S. Congress to reconsider Trump s move, and offer consular support for more than 18,500 Hondurans protected by DACA. The director of a Honduras migrant aid center, the Center for Attention for Honduran Migrants, called the U.S. decision  very sad,  and said young Hondurans forced to return home could face violence from gangs and drug traffickers.  Their lives will be much more difficult and put at enormous risk,  said Valdette Willeman, the center s director. (For graphic on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, click tmsnrt.rs/2wC83sF)

Summary: मेक्सिको, अल सल्वाडोर, ग्वाटेमाला ने अमेरिका के 'सपने देखने वालों' के लिए सुरक्षा का आग्रह किया


FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Expatriate Britons gathered in Florence on Friday to voice their frustration at how Brexit will impact them, awaiting the British prime minister s arrival in the Italian city to set out her vision for future ties with the European Union.  May will try to rescue the stalled talks over terms for Britain s exit from the EU in a speech that will be scrutinized to see if she can offer enough to EU negotiators to persuade them to move forward. Outside an imposing 14th century church in the center of the Tuscan city, protesters waved EU flags and posters showing May holding a burning passport. They called for the rights of British citizens living in other EU countries to be protected.  Rachel Pugh, a 48-year-old from north Wales who has lived in Florence since 1991, said she was worried about losing her rights to a pension in the future and had been left uninformed by the British government.  Who do we ask? The tooth fairy? Father Christmas? The Easter Bunny? Who can we trust? None of them,  she said, sporting EU and Welsh flags on her lapel.  We couldn t vote. We re invisible, in limbo.  Negotiations, which began three months ago, have effectively reached an impasse over the divorce, including the issue of how much Britain will have to pay to unspool more than 40 years of economic and political integration in the EU. Immigration was a key issue ahead of the June 2016 EU referendum in Britain, and millions who have moved smoothly between Britain and the rest of Europe are waiting nervously to see how their lives may change. Civil rights campaigner and former British member of parliament Roger Casale said he had come to Florence to show solidarity with all those who would be affected.  We think the EU should be setting an example and should give unilateral guarantees now to all Brits in Europe,  he said.  Citing media reports that British trade minister Liam Fox had described EU citizens living in Britain as possible  bargaining chips , Casale said May had  a hostile environment strategy vis a vis immigration, leaving people in a state of uncertainty . Britain is keen to start negotiating the terms of its new relationship with the bloc, and discontent over the slow progress and lack of clarity is also surfacing among voters. Visiting Florence on holiday, Malcolm Burley, a 70-year-old retired plumber from Leicestershire in central England, said he had voted to leave the EU and wanted a deal to be reached quickly.  (May) needs to go and get it sorted as soon as possible. Time is running out,  Burley said.  We need to get it sorted and make sure we get the correct deal for England.

Summary: गुस्से में और "अदृश्य", प्रवासी ब्रिटिश फ्लोरेंस में पीएम मे का इंतजार कर रहे हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It’s not unusual for a newly minted White House to present what’s known as a “skinny budget,” a wish list of spending requests for Congress and some basic economic projections. However, President Donald Trump’s first crack at the budget, released on Thursday, took “skinny” to a new, anemic level as he laid out his plans for boosting military spending, and cutting foreign aid and an array of domestic programs. Spreadsheets are out. Bullet points are in. Weighing in at a mere 53 pages, and containing just four slender tables, Trump’s budget had little meat on its bones for experts hungry to dive into the details of the new administration’s fiscal policy. That may make it the skinniest skinny budget, by far, compared with the 40 years of presidential budgets in transition years tracked by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). When President Jimmy Carter took office, his first budget document was 101 pages, the CRS said. President George H.W. Bush’s first take was 193 pages, and President George W. Bush’s was around the same length, at 207 pages. President Bill Clinton’s first budget document was 145 pages, while President Barack Obama’s initial take was a leaner 134 pages. The difference is in focus. Trump’s budget looks only at “discretionary” programs for the year ahead, accounting for only about a third of the overall budget. It makes no assumptions about “mandatory” spending on programs like Social Security or Medicare, says nothing about spending beyond fiscal 2018, and gives no projections about how promised tax cuts and infrastructure spending might affect the nation’s bottom line. “This is a budget blueprint, not a complete budget,” said Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney, ahead of its release, promising a full buffet of data, forecasts, and details in the full budget in mid-May. To be sure, budget experts were not expecting a hefty document. The Trump administration had hinted it would be on the thin side of skinny. “It could be emaciated,” Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan budget reform advocacy group, said in an interview on Tuesday. “At some point, you’ve got to put your cards on the table, and show some numbers,” Bixby said. Maya MacGuineas, head of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said there were too few details to fully understand the larger choices ahead: “It is impossible to see the big picture when you only have a few pieces of the puzzle.” Kenneth Baer, a former associate director in Obama’s Office of Management and Budget, said an overly skinny budget would make it hard to interpret how the Trump administration would spend taxpayers’ money.  “It’s sort of like building a house, but only putting up the front door,” Baer said. (Click here for a graphic on 'Winners and losers in Trump's budget')

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अपने 'दुबले बजट' में दुबलेपन को शामिल किया


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium’s anti-Muslim and separatist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party congratulated future U.S. president Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying his unexpected election victory could be repeated in Europe.  “U.S. election shows again how far politicians are from the people,” said party chairman Tom Van Grieken in a tweet, with reference to Trump’s victory and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. “The march of Trump is not an isolated phenomenon. In Europe too more and more voters want real change,” he said in a separate tweet. Vlaams Belang is in opposition at all levels of government in Belgium, though has risen to some 12 percent of support in the Dutch-speaking Flanders region in northern Belgium.

Summary: ट्रम्प की जीत अलग-थलग घटना नहीं हैः बेल्जियम का धुर दक्षिणपंथी


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Tuesday blocked hundreds of millions of new state dollars from going to cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools (CPS) by rewriting parts of a state school-funding overhaul bill, potentially imperiling the entire legislation and the flow of state money to all school districts. The Republican governor said he used his amendatory veto on the bill, which creates a new model for education funding, to remove “an unfair diversion” of money to help fund CPS teacher pensions. “Senate Bill 1, in its current form, took a significant increase in school funding I advocated for and diverted hundreds of millions of dollars from classrooms around the state to Chicago, unfairly hurting children across the state and unfairly advantaging one school district, a school district that has mismanaged its pension systems for decades,” Rauner told reporters in the state capitol. His action marks a return to the political gridlock that left Illinois without a complete budget for an unprecedented two-straight fiscal years. The Democratic-controlled legislature gave CPS, which is struggling with escalating pension contributions, a funding boost for pensions and state aid in the bill passed in late May. The governor’s office was not immediately able to say exactly how much money for CPS was cut by the veto action. The $36 billion fiscal 2018 state budget the legislature enacted in July over Rauner’s veto prohibits the flow of $6.7 billion in state money to schools in the absence of a funding overhaul like lawmakers approved.  Rauner called for quick action by the General Assembly to accept his changes to the bill or to pass separate legislation reflecting what he wants so school operations will not be threatened. A failure by the House and Senate to muster a required three-fifths majority vote to override or accept the nine changes to the bill Rauner made would kill the measure. The governor has accused Democrats of jeopardizing the ability of schools to open later this month by not sending him the bill until Monday, two months after it was passed. The Illinois State Board of Education said it had not received any requests as of Tuesday from districts, which expect to receive their initial fiscal 2018 state funding by Aug. 10, to delay the start of their school year.  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the nation’s third-largest public school system, said Rauner was “ignoring the needs of Illinois’ school children” and school superintendents who supported the bill.

Summary: इलिनोइस के गवर्नर ने स्कूल वित्तपोषण कानून को खारिज कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan pair of lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee are planning to introduce a bill that aims to entice private corporations to give their employees larger equity stakes in their companies and promote longer-term investing. The draft bill, titled the “Encouraging Employee Ownership Act,” is being rolled out by Virginia Democrat Mark Warner and Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey and will be made public as soon as Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for Warner’s office. The measure comes at the same time that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to shift its regulatory gears to focus more intently on ways to boost capital formation more broadly. Critics have said the SEC has in the past neglected this mission, as the number of initial public offerings have fallen while the number of regulatory requirements placed on companies has increased. Wall Street deal-making attorney Jay Clayton, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as chairman of the SEC, is expected to make capital formation a centerpiece of his tenure. He is still awaiting his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, and a date has not yet been announced. The bill that Warner and Toomey plan to unveil, which has been endorsed by the private supermarket chain Wegmans, would amend an SEC rule that governs how private companies give stock options and other equity awards to their employees.   The rule exempts private companies from being required to register their securities with the SEC - a lengthy and expensive undertaking. However, in order to qualify for the exemption, companies must meet certain conditions. Under the rule, if a company collectively grants more than $5 million in stock awards to its employees during a one-year period, then certain disclosure requirements are triggered - including the need to produce financial statements that are prepared in accordance with U.S. accounting rules. The $5 million trigger was set in 1988, and has not been updated or pegged to inflation, Warner’s spokeswoman said. Under the proposed legislation, the threshold would be increased to $10 million before triggering disclosure obligations.  Additionally, the amount would be automatically indexed to inflation every five years.          The bill comes at a time when Congress is expected to take up legislation to loosen rules believed to stifle economic growth. This committee is expected to play a crucial role in helping craft such legislation.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटरों ने कर्मचारी निजी स्टॉक स्वामित्व को बढ़ावा देने के लिए विधेयक का मसौदा तैयार किया


ANKARA (Reuters) - At least 530 people were killed in Iran s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday, adding that more than 8,000 others were injured.  Iran said on Tuesday that rescue operations had ended in the western province of Kermanshah that was hit on Sunday by the  7.3-magnitude quake.

Summary: ईरान में भूकंप से मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर 530 हुई, 8,000 से अधिक घायलः आईआरएनए


BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China has condemned a Taiwan government probe into a tiny but passionately pro-China opposition party, the latest flashpoint between Beijing and a self-ruled island it considers its own. Taiwanese investigators searched the homes of four officials from the New Party, which currently has no members of parliament, on Tuesday on suspicion they had violated the National Security Act.  A New Party delegation, including at least one of those whose homes was raided, party spokesman Wang Ping-chung, visited China last week as part of a scheduled trip to meet China s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office. The New Party has denounced the raids as politically motivated and retribution for their opposition to Taiwan independence and support for union with China.  Taiwanese prosecutors and the government have not given details of what the party members are suspected of. Unlike in China, where the legal system is controlled by the ruling Communist Party, democratic Taiwan has an independent judiciary.  Taiwan media has reported that the case could be linked to that of Chinese citizen Zhou Hongxu, jailed by a Taiwan court in September for breaching national security laws. Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung said he knew Zhou, and that Zhou had attended party events held in the past.   In 2014, when I successfully became a representative of the party, he came to an event to offer his support. Later he participated in our organization events so we of course know him.    In a short statement released late on Tuesday, China s Taiwan Affairs Office praised the New Party for its stance in opposing Taiwan independence and upholding the  one China  principle, which states that Taiwan is part of China.   Recently, the Taiwan authorities have shielded and connived with Taiwan independent splittists, and taken various moves to wantonly crack down on and persecute forces and people who uphold peaceful reunification,  it said.  We strongly condemn this and are paying close attention to developments,  the office said. The New Party broke off from the Nationalists, who once ruled all of China, in 1993. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists. Relations between China and Taiwan have soured since Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won presidential elections last year. China suspects she wants to push for Taiwan s formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s security. The Chinese military has stepped up air force patrols around Taiwan in recent weeks. China has never renounced the use of force to bring what it considers a wayward province under Chinese control.

Summary: बीजिंग ने चीन समर्थक छोटे विपक्षी दल की ताइवान जांच की निंदा की


BERLIN (Reuters) - Talks to form a three-way German ruling coalition will continue into Saturday, if needed, Peter Tauber, secretary general of Germany s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said early on Friday.  We still believe that it s worth it to work at it with our full energy,  Tabuer told reporters after a marathon session of talks among the three political blocs broke up.  On the other hand, it s evident that it s difficult.

Summary: जर्मन गठबंधन वार्ता शनिवार तक बढ़ सकती हैः रूढ़िवादी नेता


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police on Friday charged an American citizen with a new offence of plotting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government, her lawyer said. Martha O Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which describes itself as Zimbabwe s leading producer of political satire, had earlier been charged over a tweet that appeared to insult President Robert Mugabe. In a statement to police, O Donovan denied the allegations against her as  baseless and malicious .

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे ने अमेरिकी नागरिक पर सरकार गिराने की कोशिश करने का आरोप लगायाः वकील


BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor who was found dead days after accusing former President Cristina Fernandez of covering up Iran s role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, was murdered, a federal judge said on Tuesday. In a 656-page ruling, judge Julian Ercolini said there was sufficient proof to conclude that the shot to the head that killed Nisman in January 2015 was not self-inflicted. That marked the first time any judge has said the case was a murder. Fernandez and others had suggested the death was a suicide, but a prosecutor investigating the case last year recommended it be pursued as a murder probe.  Nisman s death could not have been a suicide,  Ercolini wrote in Tuesday s ruling, which also charged Diego Lagomarsino, a former employee of Nisman s, with accessory to murder. Lagomarsino has acknowledged lending Nisman the gun that killed him the day before he was to appear before Congress to detail his allegation against Fernandez. But he has said Nisman asked him for the gun to protect himself and his family. Fernandez, now a senator, was indicted for treason earlier this month over Nisman s allegations that she worked behind the scenes to clear Iran of blame for the attack on the AMIA Jewish center, which killed 85 people, in an effort to normalize relations and clinch a 2013 grains-for-oil deal with Tehran. Human rights groups and the former head of Interpol have criticized that indictment. Tehran has denied links to the attack.

Summary: अर्जेंटीना के न्यायाधीश ने कहा कि अभियोजक निसमान की मौत हत्या थी


BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - For President Donald Trump, this was the week when the real world began to intrude upon his presidency.  The violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white nationalists and counter-protesters confronted Trump with perhaps the first true domestic crisis of his young administration. And to some, even within his own Republican Party, he came up short.  It followed days of blustery threats toward North Korea that rattled some Americans and unnerved allies. Both are the kinds of white-knuckle challenges that define presidents - and which Trump largely has avoided during the first months of his tenure.  As images of rising tensions and a deadly car rampage in Charlottesville filled TV screens nationwide, the president was criticized first for waiting too long to address the violence and then, when he did so, failing to explicitly condemn the white-supremacist marchers who ignited the melee. [nL2N1KY033] Marco Rubio, a Republican senator who was Trump’s rival for the presidential nomination, quickly suggested Trump’s initial response was inadequate. On Twitter, Rubio wrote that it was, “Very important for the nation to hear [Trump] describe events in Charlottesville for what they are: a terror attack by #whitesupremacists.” While Trump has had to deal with the pressures of the federal probe into Russian meddling in last year’s election, disarray in his White House, and conflicts with Congress over his stalled agenda, there are have been few external crises that have tested his presidential mettle.  By contrast, his predecessor, Barack Obama, inherited a severe economic downturn during his first year in office, and would go on to face, among other tests, a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Middle East upheaval, terror attacks in Boston, Orlando, and elsewhere, and civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland.  Trump has spent this week at his tony golf club in New Jersey, attempting to show the American public that he is indeed working and not vacationing. He held one event after the other, while answering media questions with an approachability he hasn’t shown for months. Yet, when news of the situation in Charlottesville first started filtering out on Friday, Trump was silent. He first addressed the matter — through a tweet — on Saturday afternoon, after a planned white-supremacist rally had been dispersed, fights had broken out, and a state of emergency declared.  By the time Trump finally appeared before reporters at a staged bill-signing event at his club, footage of a car speeding up and slamming into a crowd of protesters had swamped social media and cable networks, raising the specter of domestic terrorism. At least one woman in the car’s path died and several people suffered critical injuries. At a podium, Trump read a statement rebuking the violence, but without specifically mentioning or faulting the role of white nationalists.   “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides - on many sides,” Trump said.  He also took the occasion to boast about declining unemployment and new corporate investment in the United States. Afterwards, he ignored shouted questions from reporters as to whether he would denounce white supremacism and whether the car incident constituted terrorism.  Beyond Rubio, Trump’s response apparently also was not enough for Senator Cory Gardner, who chairs the Republican Party’s Senate-election effort. “Mr. President, we must call evil by its name,” he tweeted. “These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.” Republican Orrin Hatch, who has served as a senator for 40 years, referenced his brother, who was killed in World War II. “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home,” he said on Twitter.  Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said that Trump had not demonstrated moral leadership. “There are NOT many sides to this,” he wrote.  Trump tweeted several more times after the press event, offering support to the city of Charlottesville and the police but still declining to critique the violence in more explicit terms. Both as a candidate and as president, Trump has met with charges that he has courted the support of white supremacists and nationalists, the so-called “alt-right,” as a key part of his passionate voter base. He was forced at one point last year to publicly denounce the Ku Klux Klan and one of its leaders, David Duke. After Trump was elected, he installed Steve Bannon, a trusted figure in nationalist circles and former chairman of the hard-right outlet Breitbart News, as a top adviser in the White House.

Summary: शार्लोट्सविले हिंसा ने ट्रम्प के राष्ट्रपति पद के साहस की परीक्षा ली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday proposed raising taxes on inherited property to 65 percent for the largest estates as she bolstered plans for tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. Known by conservative opponents as the “death tax,” the estate tax, levied on property such as cash, real estate, stock or other assets transferred from deceased persons to heirs, currently is imposed only on inherited assets worth $5.45 million or more for an individual. Clinton’s plan, posted on her campaign’s website, would raise the estate tax from the current 40 percent to 45 percent, the rate that existed in 2009. But the biggest estates would face rates of up to 65 percent for property valued at more than  $500 million for a single person or $1 billion per couple, under her proposal, an update of an earlier plan. Clinton’s proposed top rate of 65 percent would be the highest estate tax since the 1980s, and is in line with a proposal made during the Democratic primaries by her former rival for the party’s presidential nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.  Her campaign said the boosted estate tax and a change in the rules to tax capital gains associated with inherited assets would help pay for other proposals to benefit middle-class people, such as expanding a tax credit for working parents. Clinton’s campaign said the plan would hit only the wealthiest people.  “Hillary Clinton has made a commitment throughout this campaign to make sure there is a plan to pay for the progressive policies we have laid out,” said Mike Shapiro, an economic adviser to Clinton.  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group focused on budget issues, said Clinton’s new tax proposals including the estate tax changes, taxes on capital gains of inherited assets and other provisions would together raise $260 billion in revenue over a decade. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a wealthy real estate developer, wants to eliminate the estate tax. Clinton’s proposal prompted criticism from conservatives ahead of her first debate with Trump on Monday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, issued a statement decrying Clinton’s “dramatic hike in the death tax.” Republicans want to eliminate estate taxes altogether because they believe the system penalizes families who want to pass down businesses, said U.S. Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. Brady said in a statement that Clinton’s plan was “dead on arrival.” The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said this month that only the estates of the wealthiest 0.2 percent of Americans, about two out of every 1,000 people who die, currently owe any estate tax because the first $5.45 million per person is exempt. Clinton would lower that exemption to $3.5 million.

Summary: क्लिंटन ने अमेरिकी अरबपतियों की संपत्ति पर 65 प्रतिशत कर लगाने का प्रस्ताव रखा


BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Senior figures from across Libya s political divides protested on Thursday against remarks by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson about clearing dead bodies from the city of Sirte. Johnson told members of his Conservative Party on Tuesday that British investors had a  brilliant vision  to turn Sirte, a former stronghold of Islamic State, into the next Dubai if bodies could be cleared away.     Lawmakers from Libya s House of Representatives (HOR), who represent political and military factions based in the east of the country, called the comments unacceptable. The HOR s foreign affairs committee issued a statement demanding  a clarification from the British prime minister and an apology to the Libyan people . The head of Libya s U.N.- and Western-backed government, which is based in Tripoli and has been spurned by the HOR, also asked for clarification during a meeting with the British ambassador in the capital.   Some of what was said in (Johnson s) statement is unacceptable,  said a statement from Fayez Seraj, head of the U.N.-backed government. Johnson s comments led to calls for his resignation from British political opponents. He accused them of playing politics, saying on Twitter that he had been referring to the clearing of booby-trapped bodies of Islamic State militants.  Local Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes fought for more than six months last year to oust militants from Sirte, which Islamic State had turned into its most important base outside the Middle East. The coastal city of about 80,000 was badly damaged during the campaign and is struggling to rebuild.  The HOR has been based in eastern Libya since 2014 when a conflict in Tripoli led to the setting up of rival parliaments and governments in the capital and the east. Its cooperation is considered crucial for the progress of a new U.N. plan to stabilize Libya and the ending of turmoil that began after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Summary: लीबिया के पक्षों ने बोरिस जॉनसन के शरीर की टिप्पणी को 'अस्वीकार्य' बताया


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China said on Saturday it will ban exports of some petroleum products to North Korea, as well as imports of textiles from the isolated North, to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution. The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website that China would limit exports of refined petroleum products from Oct. 1, and ban exports of condensates and liquefied natural gas immediately. Imports of textiles from North Korea would also be banned immediately, the statement said. (Corrects headline to make clear some petroleum exports banned)

Summary: चीन ने उत्तर कोरिया को कुछ पेट्रोलियम निर्यात पर प्रतिबंध लगाने की बात कही


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gun safety advocates are pouring tens of millions of dollars into Maine and Nevada to support ballot initiatives that would mandate background checks for gun sales in an effort to clinch state-level victories after years of failed drives in Congress. The avalanche of money spent on supporting such initiatives ahead of the Nov. 8 vote could hand gun control organizations their biggest win since they failed to secure the passage of federal legislation after the massacre of 26 children and educators at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school in December 2012. Voters in California and Washington state will also cast ballots on gun control initiatives, and opinion polls show the measures are likely to pass in all four states.      Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group founded by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been leading the charge, throwing its financial weight behind three of the four measures. The organization plans to spend $25 million nationwide on the issue, almost as much as the powerful National Rifle Association has spent on television advertising for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The right to own firearms is protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and any efforts to restrict that guarantee are fought vehemently by gun rights advocates, who are highly influential within the Republican Party. Victories by gun control groups in Maine and Nevada would mean that half of the U.S. population would live in states with expanded background checks, including private sales not involving a licensed dealer. Gun control supporters say that would be a symbolic and strategically important threshold. Opponents of the measures say the laws are poorly written, would do little to combat crime and would punish law-abiding gun owners. A University of New Hampshire poll in late October found 52 percent of Maine residents support the measure and 43 percent oppose it. In Nevada, two polls in late October found a 16-percentage-point margin and a 25-point margin in favor of the initiative, respectively. The measures come in a year that voters around the United States will weigh in on 71 citizen-submitted ballot initiatives on topics ranging from marijuana legalization to raising the minimum wage, the largest number in a decade, according to Ballotpedia.org, a website that tracks voting data. Everytown described its strategy as part of an effort to copy the state-by-state tactic that helped legalize gay marriage across the United States, with Congress unwilling to pass universal background check legislation. “One of the great advantages of going directly to the electorate is that you can go around the legislative bodies and make law,” said Zach Silk, a consultant who has worked with Everytown in Nevada and previously helped oversee Washington state’s 2014 successful background-check ballot initiative. Nevada in particular has become an expensive battleground. Bloomberg has personally donated nearly $10 million to the effort there, and Nevadans for Background Checks had collected $14.3 million as of Oct. 18. That is nearly triple the $4.8 million that the leading opposition group, NRA Nevadans for Freedom, had received, all from the NRA. In Maine, supporters of background checks have outspent opponents by more than 5-to-1, with the Everytown-backed Mainers for Responsible Gun Ownership Fund reporting $5.3 million in contributions as of last week. The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on its campaign spending decisions. Critics have accused Bloomberg of trying to buy victory.  “This law is convoluted and way overregulatory,” said David Trahan, the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and a former state legislator. “It reflects the person funding this initiative, Michael Bloomberg. His solutions are overkill, and they border on social engineering.” But Everytown’s executive director, John Feinblatt, said it was the gun lobby that has tried to take power away from the citizenry. “While the NRA can control legislators and the government, they can’t control the people,” he said.

Summary: बंदूक नियंत्रण समूह राज्य की मतपत्र पहल पर लाखों खर्च करते हैं


MONTPELIER, Vt. (Reuters) - Still sifting through the wreckage of the Nov. 8 election, Democratic leaders nationwide are struggling to find a new message to claw back support and avoid years in the political wilderness.      Not only do Republicans control the White House and both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, they now hold 33 governor’s offices.  New England, long considered reliably Democratic, is a prime example of the party’s demise. Republican Phil Scott won in Vermont over Democrat Sue Minter who was criticized, like presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for failing to develop an economic message that resonated with voters worried about good-paying jobs.     Considered a liberal bastion, Vermont has a tradition of sometimes choosing a Republican governor to keep one party from having too much control. Elsewhere, Republican Chris Sununu will replace a Democratic governor in New Hampshire while Maine and Massachusetts already have Republican governors. “We lost the governorship of freaking Vermont,” lamented Washington-based Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis. “We didn’t just lose an election. This was a national rebuke. This was biblical.”    Republicans also command 32 state legislatures and have full control — meaning they hold the governor’s office and both legislative chambers — in 24 states, including swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. When President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, they controlled just nine. “There are more Republicans at the state legislative level than there have ever been,” said Tim Storey, an analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.      Republicans scored a major coup when they seized the Senate in traditionally liberal Minnesota, giving it full control of the legislature, and they gained full control of next-door Iowa. “The party’s message, structure and apparatus are broken,” said Kofinis, who was chief of staff to moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “We haven’t acknowledged it for years because we had the White House.” Obama’s two terms masked a crumbling party infrastructure. During Obama’s tenure, Democrats lost over 800 state legislative seats, at least 13 governorships and both houses of Congress.  Party insiders are reluctant to blame the popular Obama but cite plenty of reasons for the decline. These include a muddled economic message; an overemphasis on emerging demographic groups such as minorities and millennial at the expense of white voters; a perception the party is elitist and aligned with Wall Street; a reluctance to embrace the progressive populism of Senator Bernie Sanders, the former presidential hopeful; and failure to field strong candidates in key states. There is an emerging consensus, they add, that the party has been too focused on winning national races and has not invested enough in local campaigns, along with a grudging admission that Republicans have done a better job of competing on the ground. As a result, a poor performance by the Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections gave Republicans control of statehouses across the country, allowing them to redraw legislative maps to fashion districts that would help ensure their long-term electoral success. “I think the foundation was built back in 2010,” Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told Reuters. “There was a big wave and then for many of us that were elected in ‘10, we got reelected in ’14 in battleground states - Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Michigan. You look at the states that were key to the presidential win, were states where Republicans did well in ‘10 and then sustained it.” “UNDER-RESOURCED” Democrats are working to recover and looking ahead to governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia next year to make up lost ground. Governor’s offices have become crucial for another reason: Republican governors signed voter suppression measures in states such as North Carolina that Democrats believe damaged turnout. Sununu has said that as one of his first acts as governor in New Hampshire, he would like to end the state’s practice of allowing same-day voter registration. As with redistricting, it is another lever of power that Republicans can wield to make sure they remain in the majority for a long time. Obama has said he will actively support a new party initiative, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, that seeks to restore state-level Democratic power.  Mark Schauer, a former Michigan congressman who is a senior adviser to the effort, said the goal is to have a central organization direct resources into critical local races. Schauer, who lost his congressional seat after Republican legislators excised his home county from his district, said deep-pocketed Democratic donors have not always appreciated the need to support state races.  “A state senate race isn’t as sexy as a presidential or big U.S. Senate race,” Schauer said.  Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party arm charged with overseeing state races, agreed. “We have felt under-resourced.” When Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and presidential candidate, ran the Democratic National Committee, he adopted a “50-state strategy,” investing funds in every state, even ones perceived to be hostile to Democrats, in an effort to identify viable candidates for local office.  While Dean’s plan was not the sole reason, Democrats had election successes in 2006 and 2008. When Dean left the DNC, his strategy faded and the party’s fortunes at the state level began to decline.  Dean is a candidate to run the DNC again and has said he will revive the strategy if elected to the post.  “What is happening is a result of decades of smart organizing by conservatives who have very simply poured resources, talent and energy into creating an infrastructure at the state, local, and now national level,” said Bill Lofy, a long-time Democratic strategist in Vermont.  He said Governor-elect Scott “was very effective at making this, in a generic sense, about kitchen-table economic issues in a way that paralleled with the presidential race.” And like Trump, he said, Scott “spent very little time talking about how is going to implement the policies he was proposing. It was more about Scott telling voters: ‘Trust me. I’m on your side.’”

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स रिपब्लिकन ज्वार को रोकने के लिए जवाब ढूंढ रहे हैं


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At first, Mexico’s government did its best to ignore Donald Trump. Then it likened him to Adolf Hitler. Now it has appointed a new ambassador to come up with a better plan. Fed up with the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination labeling Mexico as a cradle of drug-runners, job poachers and rapists, the government is sending in respected diplomat Carlos Sada to lead a fightback. Mexico’s new ambassador in Washington, Sada acknowledges his country has neglected its image across the border and aims to fix that with PR and media campaigns, and by lobbying prominent U.S. companies, lawmakers and civic leaders. “We need to do a more thorough job so that people understand what (Mexico) contributes,” he said after he was sworn in at Mexico’s Senate on Thursday. Sada’s strategy includes underscoring Mexico’s importance to the U.S. economy, although it centers on defending the rights of Mexican citizens in the United States and promoting Mexican culture. That focus has fed doubts over whether the government is trying hard enough to win over its most important audience: American voters. “It’s vital to improve Mexico’s image and protect our people, but that’s not enough to change the hateful trend that Trump and other xenophobes before him have stirred up,” said Gabriela Cuevas, an opposition lawmaker who chairs the Senate’s foreign relations committee. “They don’t understand the extent of the damage Trump has done,” she said, urging the government to be more aggressive in mobilizing powerful U.S. interests against Trump’s attacks. Claiming Mexico is “killing” the United States on trade, Trump has threatened to disrupt bilateral commerce worth some $500 billion a year, and promises to deport millions of undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America. To finance a border wall to keep migrants out, he has controversially proposed blocking billions of dollars in remittances sent home by Mexicans in the United States. The measures would pose a serious threat to Mexico’s economy, but for months Mexico’s government disregarded Trump, hoping his candidacy would fizzle out. “It’s the ostrich policy: head in the sand,” said Agustin Barrios Gomez, the head of Fundacion Imagen Mexico, a group dedicated to promoting Mexico’s image abroad. Mexican officials say U.S. politicians and officials urged it to keep a low profile to avoid aggravating tensions, and played down the real estate magnate’s chances. “The Republicans told us, ‘We’ll deal with Trump’,” one senior Mexican government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. When Mexico eventually did respond, President Enrique Pena Nieto compared the brash billionaire’ s campaign to the rise of Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Mexican officials wince with embarrassment when reminded of the comment, arguing it was tactless and went too far. As Trump railed against Mexico, the government should have made a concerted effort to remind key players in the United States that the two nations’ economic interests are closely intertwined, diplomats and business leaders say. But over a dozen serving and former senior Mexican officials and lawmakers consulted by Reuters said it did not. “They haven’t so far, but I do see the intention to do it again,” said Jaime Serra, a former trade minister who headed Mexico’s negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada in the early 1990s.  Trump has not been the only one to criticize Mexico. His Republican rival Ted Cruz also supports a border wall, and backs mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders has, like Trump, taken a protectionist line on jobs and says NAFTA was a mistake.  Mexico’s cause was not helped by Pena Nieto leaving his diplomatic mission in Washington without an ambassador for six months just as Trump was warming up. And his eventual choice surprised many: Miguel Basanez, an old friend who had never worked in the diplomatic service. “It was a bad decision from the start,” said a senior lawmaker inside Pena Nieto’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. “They didn’t grasp the size of the problem.” Basanez was cast aside this month, just seven months into the job.  For Basanez and now Sada, the task of promoting Mexico in the United States is complicated by problems at home. Mexico’s reputation has been hurt by relentless drugs violence, conflict-of-interest scandals in government and the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers by a drug cartel working with local police. “To change the image, you have to change the reality,” said Andres Rozental, a former deputy foreign minister responsible for North America. “Unfortunately, Mexico’s internal reality at this point in time has a lot of negatives.”

Summary: ट्रम्प द्वारा दीवार को ऊपर उठाते हुए, मेक्सिको यू. एस. में छवि को फिर से बनाने की कोशिश कर रहा है।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois on Tuesday accused many of his fellow Senate Republicans of being “closed-minded” by refusing to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Kirk, facing a tough re-election battle in his Democratic-leaning state, became the first Republican senator to meet with Garland since Obama nominated the centrist appellate judge and former prosecutor on March 16 to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. There is a need for “open-minded, rational, responsible people” to ensure the confirmation process works, Kirk told reporters before his private meeting with Garland, who already has met with some Senate Democrats. Most of the 100-member Senate’s 54 Republicans have backed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s hard-line stance against confirming any Obama nominee or even meeting with Garland. “I think when you just say, ‘I’m not going to meet with him at all’ - that’s too closed-minded,” added Kirk, a first-term senator who may be one of the most endangered Senate Republicans in the Nov. 8 elections. Maine’s Susan Collins also took her fellow Senate Republicans to task for blocking Garland’s confirmation process.  Collins told WGAN radio, “Whether Republicans like him (Obama) or not, he is our president until inauguration day next January.” Collins said there seemed to be “no basis” for senators to refuse even to consider Garland. McConnell has said the Senate should leave it to Obama’s successor, who will take office next January after November’s elections, to fill the vacancy. More than a dozen Senate Republicans have indicated a willingness to at least meet with Garland. Last week, Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran, also running for re-election, was assailed by conservative groups after urging that the confirmation process proceed, even though he made clear he would not vote for Garland. Meetings with senators are a standard part of the confirmation process, allowing lawmakers to get acquainted with nominees for a lifetime position on the Supreme Court. Republicans fear Garland could move the court to the left for the first time in decades. The White House said the court’s split 4-4 ruling in an important labor case on Tuesday underscored the need to confirm Scalia’s replacement. “With a Supreme Court that is not fully staffed, it makes it more likely that situations can arise across the country where there are different rulings in different circuit courts that are not resolved by the Supreme Court,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to Atlanta.

Summary: सीनेटर किर्क ने गारलैंड के बहिष्कार पर साथी रिपब्लिकन की आलोचना की


DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be  imminent . The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.  Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak,  the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement after raising the alert from three to its highest level of four.   The potential for a larger eruption is imminent,  it said, referring to a visible glow of magma at Mount Agung s peak overnight, and warning residents to evacuate a danger zone at a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles). Sutopo, a BNPB spokesman, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.  Video footage shared by the agency showed volcanic mud flows (lahar) on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path. Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesia s eastern archipelago. But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agung s volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered in October when seismic activity calmed. I m really worried. Maybe I ll go somewhere south that I think will be safe to avoid being trapped by the ashfall,  said Maria Becker, a German tourist staying in Amed, around 15 km (9 miles) from the volcano. Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Northeastern Bali is relatively undeveloped compared to the more heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.     Indonesia s Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago. In 1963, an eruption of Agung killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash, lava and lahar. Recordings now show the northeast area of Agung s peak has swollen in recent weeks  indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface , PVMBG said. It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8 km (5 miles) from the summit and volcanic gas to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes. Some analysis, however, suggests the threat should not be as great this time because  energy at Mount Agung s magma chamber is not as big  and the ash column only around a quarter as high so far as the 20 km (12 miles) reached in 1963, Sutopo said.  CHECK-INS CLOSED  Bali airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, its operator said. Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighboring provinces.       Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said it was cancelling flights on Tuesday, while Jetstar was offering to exchange Bali bound tickets for other destinations. Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.  We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been canceled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins, have been closed indefinitely,  said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles. Cover-More, Australia s biggest travel insurer, said on its website customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issued on Sept. 18.  Indonesia s hotel and restaurant association said stranded tourists at member hotels would get one night s free stay.  The main airport on Lombok, next to Bali, was closed after being open for much of the day, a spokesman said. Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can damage engines and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper visibility. (For interactive package on Agung eruptions, click tmsnrt.rs/2AayRVh)(For graphic on Pacific ring of fire, click tmsnrt.rs/2AzR9jv)

Summary: इंडोनेशिया ने बाली ज्वालामुखी के लिए उच्चतम चेतावनी जारी करते हुए तत्काल निकासी का आदेश दिया


GWADAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - China is lavishing vast amounts of aid on a small Pakistani fishing town to win over locals and build a commercial deep-water port that the United States and India suspect may also one day serve the Chinese navy. Beijing has built a school, sent doctors and pledged about $500 million in grants for an airport, hospital, college and badly-needed water infrastructure for Gwadar, a dusty town whose harbor juts out into the Arabian Sea, overlooking some of the world s busiest oil and gas shipping lanes. The grants include $230 million for a new international airport, one of the largest such disbursements China has made abroad, according to researchers and Pakistani officials. The handouts for the Gwadar project is a departure from Beijing s usual approach in other countries. China has traditionally derided Western-style aid in favor of infrastructure projects for which it normally provides loans through Chinese state-owned commercial and development banks.  The concentration of grants is quite striking,  said Andrew Small, an author of a book on China-Pakistan relations and a Washington-based researcher at the German Marshall Fund think tank.  China largely doesn t do aid or grants, and when it has done them, they have tended to be modest.  Pakistan has welcomed the aid with open hands. However, Beijing s unusual largesse has also fueled suspicions in the United States and India that Gwadar is part of China s future geostrategic plans to challenge U.S. naval dominance.  It all suggests that Gwadar, for a lot of people in China, is not just a commercial proposition over the longer term,  Small said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Beijing and Islamabad see Gwadar as the future jewel in the crown of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship of Beijing s Belt and Road initiative to build a new  Silk Road  of land and maritime trade routes across more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. The plan is to turn Gwadar into a trans-shipment hub and megaport to be built alongside special economic zones from which export-focused industries will ship goods worldwide. A web of energy pipelines, roads and rail links will connect Gwadar to China s western regions. Port trade is expected to grow from 1.2 million tonnes in 2018 to about 13 million tonnes by 2022, Pakistani officials say. At the harbor, three new cranes have been installed and dredging will next year deepen the port depth to 20 meters at five berths. But the challenges are stark. Gwadar has no access to drinking water, power blackouts are common and separatist insurgents threaten attacks against Chinese projects in Gwadar and the rest of Baluchistan, a mineral-rich province that is still Pakistan s poorest region. Security is tight, with Chinese and other foreign visitors driven around in convoys of soldiers and armed police. Beijing is also trying to overcome the distrust of outsiders evident in Baluchistan, where indigenous Baloch fear an influx of other ethnic groups and foreigners. Many residents say the pace of change is too slow.  Local people are not completely satisfied,  said Essar Nori, a lawmaker for Gwadar, adding that the separatists were tapping into that dissatisfaction. Pakistani officials are urging Gwadar residents to be patient, vowing to urgently build desalination plants and power stations. China s Gwadar project contrasts with similar efforts in Sri Lanka, where the village of Hambantota was transformed into a port complex - but was saddled with Chinese debt. Last week, Sri Lanka formally handed over operations to China on a 99-year lease in exchange for lighter debt repayments, a move that sparked street protests over what many Sri Lankans view as an erosion of sovereignty. The Hambantota port, like Gwadar, is part of a network of harbors Beijing is developing in Asia and Africa that have spooked India, which fears being encircled by China s growing naval power. But Pakistani officials say comparisons to Hambantota are unfair because the Gwadar project has much less debt. On top of the airport, Chinese handouts in Gwadar include $100 million to expand a hospital by 250 beds, $130 million towards upgrading water infrastructure, and $10 million for a technical and vocational college, according to Pakistani government documents and officials.  We welcome this assistance as it s changing the quality of life of the people of Gwadar for the better,  said Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the parliamentary committee that oversees CPEC, including Gwadar. China and Pakistan jointly choose which projects will be developed under the CPEC mechanism, Sayed added. When China suggested a 7,000 meter runway for the new airport, Pakistan pushed for a 12,000 meter one that could accommodate planes as large as the Airbus 380 and be used for military purposes, according to Sajjad Baloch, a director of the Gwadar Development Authority. The scale of Chinese grants is extraordinary, according to Brad Parks, executive director of AidData, a research lab at the U.S.-based William and Mary university that collected data on Chinese aid across 140 countries from 2000-2014. Since 2014, Beijing has pledged over $800 million in grants and concessional loans for Gwadar, which has less than 100,000 people. In the 15 years before that, China gave about $2.4 billion in concessional loans and grants during this period across the whole of Pakistan, a nation of 207 million people.  Gwadar is exceptional even by the standards of China s past activities in Pakistan itself,  Parks said. There are early signs China s efforts to win hearts and minds are beginning to bear fruit in Gwadar.  Baluchistan is backward and underdeveloped, but we are seeing development after China s arrival,  said Salam Dashti, 45, a grocer whose two children attend the new Chinese-built primary school. But there are major pitfalls ahead. Tens of thousands of people living by the port will have to be relocated. For now, they live in cramped single-story concrete houses corroded by sea water on a narrow peninsula, where barefoot fishermen offload their catch on newly-paved roads strewn with rubbish. Many of the fishermen say they fear they ll lose their livelihoods once the port starts operating. Indigenous residents  fear of becoming a minority is inevitable with Gwadar s population expected to jump more than 15-fold in coming decades. On the edge of town, mansions erected by land speculators are popping up alongside the sand dunes. Analysts say China is aware that previous efforts to develop Gwadar port failed partly due to the security threat posed by Baloch separatists, so Beijing is trying to counter the insurgents  narrative that China wants to exploit Baluchistan.  That weighs heavily on the minds of the Chinese,  Parks added.  It s almost certainly true that they are trying to safeguard their investments by getting more local buy-in.  Chinese officials, meanwhile, are promoting the infrastructure development they are funding.  Every day you can see new changes. It shows the sincerity of Chinese for development of Gwadar,  Lijian Zhao, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, tweeted last month. For its investment in Gwadar, China will receive 91 percent of revenues until the port is returned to Pakistan in four decades  time. The operator, China Overseas Ports Holding Company, will also be exempt from major taxes for more than 20 years. Pakistan s maritime affairs minister, Hasil Bizenjo, said the arrival of the Chinese in the region contrasted with the experience of the past two centuries, when Russia and Britain, and later the United States and the Soviet Union, vied for control of the warm water ports of the Persian Gulf.  The Chinese have come very smoothly, they have reached the warm waters,  Bizenjo told Reuters.  What they are investing is less than a peanut for access to warm waters.  When a U.S. Pentagon report in June suggested Gwadar could become a military base for China, a concern that India has also expressed, Beijing dismissed the idea.  Talk that China is building a military base in Pakistan is pure guesswork,  said a Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman, Wu Qian.  Bizenjo and other Pakistani officials say Beijing has not asked to use Gwadar for naval purposes.  This port, they will use it mostly for their commercial interests, but it depends on the next 20 years where the world goes,  Bizenjo said. (This story  has been refiled to correct typos in spellings of names of Chinese officials in paragraphs 40, 46)

Summary: समुद्री पहुंच बढ़ाने की उम्मीद में चीन ने पाकिस्तान के शहर में मदद की पेशकश की


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Some, but not all, foreign Islamic State fighters have left Syria s Raqqa city on Sunday as part of a withdrawal deal with U.S.-backed militias, a local official told Reuters on Sunday.  Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, would not say how many militants remain in the city, where the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have hemmed them into a small enclave.  An SDF spokesman said earlier that a group of Syrian Islamic State fighters without foreign militants had evacuated Raqqa overnight, taking civilians with them as human shields.

Summary: रक्का से निकासी में कुछ विदेशी लड़ाके शामिल थेः स्थानीय अधिकारी


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani defended the nuclear deal with Western powers Saturday and said that U.S. President Donald Trump could not undermine it. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions. However, Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the deal, a senior administration official has said, in a step that potentially could cause the accord to unravel. “In the nuclear negotiations and agreement we reached issues and benefits that are not reversible. No one can turn that back, not Mr. Trump or anyone else,” Rouhani said at a ceremony at Tehran University marking the start of the university academic year, according to state media.  “Even if 10 other Trumps are created in the world, these are not reversible.” Trump, who has called the pact an “embarrassment” and “the worst deal ever negotiated”, has been weighing whether the deal serves U.S. security interests as he faces the Oct. 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with its terms.     The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with another nuclear crisis, North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development. If Trump does not certify that Iran is in compliance, the U.S. Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal. U.N. inspectors have verified Iranian compliance with the terms. Rouhani said Saturday that if the United States violated the deal then it would hurt its own reputation in the international community. “If America carries out any violations today, the whole world will condemn America. They will not condemn Iran,” Rouhani said, according to state media. “Then they will say why did you trust America and sign an agreement with them?” Separately, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has been forbidden from attending “public political, cultural and promotional ceremonies”, for a period of three months, two of his lawyers told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Saturday. Khatami has long been a lightning rod of criticism for hardliners who accuse him of fomenting unrest in the protests that followed the disputed election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Local media are forbidden from quoting Khatami in articles or publishing his image. The new restrictions were issued by Iranian security forces, Khatami’s lawyers told ILNA, and there does not appear to be any judicial mechanism to dispute the restrictions. In the lead-up to the presidential election last May, Khatami posted a message online encouraging his supporters to vote for Rouhani. Rouhani made a reference to the new restrictions placed on Khatami during his speech Saturday but did not name him. “If anybody repeats that people should come to the ballot box, they should be punished?” he said, according to ILNA. Khatami’s lawyers told ILNA that the restrictions began on the first day of the Iranian month of Mehr, which is Sept. 23.

Summary: ईरानी राष्ट्रपति ने परमाणु समझौते का बचाव किया, कहा कि ट्रम्प इसे कमजोर नहीं कर सकते


LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) - Syrian migrant Bashar Wakaa and his heavily pregnant wife are days away from the birth of their third child, stranded on the Greek island of Lesbos in a muddy, garbage-strewn olive grove with no running water or toilets. Nearby, three Syrian men share a flimsy tent designed for two. Like the expectant couple, they arrived by rubber dinghy from Turkey only to find the island s migrant camp in a disused military base was severely overcrowded.  This is not a life for humans,  said 23-year-old Anas Bakour, one of the men who shares the rain-sodden tent.  The animals have a better life.  The hundreds sleeping in the woods are among more than 8,500 asylum-seekers stuck on Lesbos, where facilities for migrants were only designed to accommodate about 3,000. Thousands more are on four other Greek islands close to Turkey. A deal between the European Union and Turkey struck in 2016 stemmed the uncontrolled exodus of nearly a million people across the Aegean Sea the year before. Under the agreement, anyone crossing to Greece from Turkey who does not qualify for asylum must be deported. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed cooperation on migration with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in Athens on Thursday for the first visit to the country by a Turkish head of state since 1952. Though arrivals collapsed in 2016 following the deal, they have recently ticked up. In the four months to November, 15,800 asylum-seekers arrived on Greek islands, up 27 percent from last year, according to data from the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). The data does not give monthly arrivals by country of origin but a UNHCR spokesman in Greece said most were Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, as has been the case throughout the crisis. Aid groups and experts on Europe s migration crisis say the main problem is a lack of political will to improve conditions on the Greek islands, in the hope of dissuading more migrants from risking the sea crossing. "No one will admit it but it's a discouraging factor, a discouraging message for anyone who may want to come," said Konstantinos Filis, research director at Greece's Institute for International Relations. (For a graphic, click tmsnrt.rs/2AABfSV) Aid workers say there is now an acute shortage of medical care, the conditions are horrendous and more and more depressed asylum-seekers are cutting themselves or attempting suicide. Camp residents say gangs, some armed with knives, roam at night, drugs and alcohol circulate freely and women cower in their shelters for fear of attack.  Any girl in this camp expects at any moment that she will be attacked,  said Shahed Naji, 22, an Iraqi woman. The EU-Turkey deal does not explicitly forbid asylum-seekers from leaving the islands until claims are assessed but the process takes months and stranded asylum-seekers grow desperate and frustrated, said charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).  People need to get off the island as soon as possible,  said Aria Danika, MSF s field coordinator in Lesbos. Turkish officials said the increase in crossings to the Greek islands in recent months did not reflect any slippage on their part in implementing its agreement with the EU. Some camp residents on Lesbos said they were not aware of the deal blocking their journey onwards to northern Europe. Others said they left Turkey because they could not find work and found life unbearable.  No one puts his life in danger to come by small boat if Turkey is good and he can live there,  said Amal Adwan, a Palestinian born in Syria now on Lesbos. Adwan, who made seven attempted sea crossings before reaching Lesbos, said she might have had second thoughts if she had know what the conditions were like.  If I knew before, maybe I wouldn t have come,  she said. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told Reuters there was  a certain general resistance to moving people from the islands, not to create a pull factor . Greece s migration ministry, which manages the Lesbos camp, has said it is trying to ease overcrowding but could not remove people in large numbers because of the EU-Turkey pact. It declined to give an immediate comment on conditions on Lesbos and other islands. Ahead of Erdogan s visit, Prime Minister Tsipras told a Turkish news agency on Wednesday that the EU-Turkey deal was  difficult but necessary . The European Commission, which has offered Greece millions in emergency aid, said on Thursday it was working on a daily basis with the Greek authorities to try to improve the conditions on the islands but more needed to be done.  I have earlier, also in Athens, expressed my frustration over the fact that although we have put so much money at the disposal of all the authorities, that still the situation on some of the islands is unacceptable,  the Commission s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans told reporters. On Lesbos, the once-welcoming community is fed up. On Saturday, residents used cars to try to block a ferry from unloading containers intended to house more refugees.   The island s mayor, Spyros Galinos, said EU policies had turned the island into  an open prison  and called for protests and strikes against the deal.   Sitting in his office overlooking the port, he compared Lesbos to a weightlifter being asked to lift heavier and heavier barbells:  Today, we re buckling. When we get crushed the situation will be completely unmanageable and explosive.    Back in the olive grove, Wakaa and his pregnant wife are despondent.  If they can t accommodate these people then why are they accepting them in the first place?  Wakaa asked.  Let them drown in the sea. At least they will die and rest.  (For photo essay from Lesbos: reut.rs/2AYs5Ci)

Summary: 'यह जीवन नहीं है': ग्रीक द्वीप पर फंसे प्रवासी