ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday distanced himself from President Donald Trump’s assessment of the media as “the enemy of the American people,” saying during his first trip to the Middle East that he had no problems with the press. Mattis, a retired Marine general seen as one of the most influential voices in Trump’s cabinet, did not mention his boss by name. But asked about Trump’s Tweet on Friday that branded the media as America’s enemy, Mattis took a different position entirely. “I’ve had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I’m concerned, are a constituency that we deal with,” he told reporters traveling with him in the United Arab Emirates. “And I don’t have any issues with the press, myself,” Mattis added. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has fiercely criticized various news outlets that have reported unflattering revelations of dysfunction or other problems in the White House.  He has described them as “lying”, “corrupt” and “failing,” and late on Friday he said the news media was “the enemy of the American people.”  Asked about the latest salvo, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program, “I think you should take (Trump’s Twitter statement) seriously.” “Certainly we would never condone violence. But I do think that we condone critical thought,” Priebus said, adding the media, in some cases, needed to “get its act together.” Mattis spoke after talks with European leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany, where U.S. Senator John McCain warned that suppressing the free press was “how dictators get started.” “If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday. On Friday McCain told the Munich forum that the resignation of Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over his contacts with Russia reflected “disarray” in Washington. But Mattis played down any concerns about the reshuffling within the administration. “Welcome to democracy. It’s at times wildly contentious, it’s at times quite sporting. But the bottom line is this is the best form of government that we can come up with,” he said. Mattis added that the military was very ready to “hold the line” as the political process played out. “We don’t have any disarray inside the military and that’s where my responsibility lies,” he said.

Summary: ट्रम्प के रक्षा प्रमुख का कहना है कि उन्हें मीडिया से कोई समस्या नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will open the doors next week to a new agency, with stronger data protections, meant to shorten by many weeks the time it takes to vet government workers seeking “secret” and “top secret” security clearances. The National Background Investigations Bureau will be headed by Charles Phalen, who has worked as a security executive at the CIA, the FBI and defense contractor Northrop Grumman, officials said on Thursday on a conference call with reporters. The bureau will replace an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) clearance system that was hit by hackers who stole potentially sensitive personal data on as many as 22 million people, including government employees and job applicants. Phalen and OPM Director Beth Cobert said a top priority for the bureau will be shortening delays in the clearance process, which can hold up the hiring of government employees for months. Cobert said that OPM figures show on average the time required to complete an investigation for a “secret” level security clearance is now 120 days; for a “top secret clearance, it is 170 days on average. “These timelines are well too long,” Phelan acknowledged. Cobert said the new agency’s goal would be to reduce the time for completing a “secret” clearance to 40 days and to cut the time for a “top secret” investigation to 80 days. Officials said that individual government agencies, rather than the new central investigations bureau, would be responsible for social media checks of security clearance applicants.  Officials said that the new bureau would still depend on outside contractors, especially for hiring field investigators. The new agency will employ 2,500 government workers and 6,000 contract employees, officials said.

Summary: अमेरिका 'गुप्त' सुरक्षा मंजूरी के लिए नई जाँच एजेंसी खोलेगा


(Reuters) - A U.S. district judge in Detroit has issued an order temporarily restraining the Trump administration from carrying out immigration restrictions in a presidential executive order, according to a court document. Judge Victoria Roberts issued the order on Thursday in response to a motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking a permanent injunction “that prohibits the denial of entry into the United States of legal permanent residents and those with valid immigrant visas” under President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 order.

Summary: न्यायाधीश ने ट्रंप के आव्रजन प्रतिबंधों पर अस्थायी प्रतिबंध लगाने का आदेश दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan views U.S. President Donald Trump’s call with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a good and positive step, a spokesman for Japan said on Friday, following the U.S-China call Thursday night. [nL4N1FV21K] “It’s good and positive in terms of peace and security of the region and the international community,” Norio Maruyama told reporters during a news conference.  “We consider that it is constructive and frank discussions on the terms relating to the peace and security in the regions. This is the right way forward.”

Summary: जापान का कहना है कि ट्रम्प-शी की बातचीत क्षेत्र के लिए सकारात्मक है-प्रवक्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet are set to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday to assess the U.S. territory’s rebuilding in the three months since Hurricane Maria devastated homes, businesses and the power grid. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will travel to Puerto Rico, where about a third of the island’s 3.4 million residents are still without power, hundreds remain in shelters, and thousands have fled to the U.S. mainland. The visit comes as Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday were planning to unveil a disaster aid package totaling $81 billion, according to a senior congressional aide. Some of that aid would go to Puerto Rico, but also to states like Texas and Florida that were hit by other hurricanes and to California, which is grappling with wild fires. Even before Maria savaged Puerto Rico, the island was contending with $72 billion in debt. Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello has asked the federal government for a total of $94.4 billion in aid, including $31.1 billion for housing and $17.8 billion to rebuild its ruined power grid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has so far approved more than $660 million in aid for individuals in Puerto Rico as well as more than $450 million in public assistance. Nielsen and Carson will receive detailed briefings on rebuilding efforts and see how federal aid is helping residents to recover, a DHS official said. Nielsen, who oversees FEMA, and Rossello are slated to hold a news conference. The visit comes as Congress prepares to vote on a tax overhaul bill that Puerto Rican officials have said they fear will hurt the commonwealth’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector - the cornerstone of the island’s economy - at a time when Puerto Rico can least afford to lose jobs and tax revenue. Puerto Rico’s government has said 64 people died because of the hurricane, but after multiple media estimates of dramatically higher figures, Rossello on Monday ordered an official review of the death toll.

Summary: सुधार का आकलन करने के लिए ट्रम्प मंत्रिमंडल के अधिकारी प्यूर्टो रिको का दौरा करेंगे


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin stayed away from events marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution on Tuesday, an event that changed the world but has awkward associations for the former KGB operative who was trained to keep a lid on dissent, not celebrate it. In the Soviet era, missile launchers rumbled across Red Square on Nov. 7, Soviet leaders watched from atop the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin   father of the Bolshevik Revolution   and the anniversary of the uprising was a public holiday. Red Square did host a military parade on Tuesday, but it was mainly a stylized historical re-enactment of a Soviet 1941 Second World War event and gave only a brief nod to the famous uprising. It was not shown live on state TV, and featured merely a brief segment on the 1917 revolution with Red Army soldiers. The centenary, Putin s spokesman said, was a routine working day for the president who had several Kremlin meetings. Accused by the opposition of having metamorphosed into a cross between a Soviet-style autocrat and a Tsar and eyeing possible re-election next year, the 65-year-old Russian leader has spent years preaching stability while denouncing uprisings in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. Riot police have cracked down on a string of anti-government protests this year, carrying out mass detentions, and opposition leader and fierce Putin critic Alexei Navalny has been jailed three times for breaking public protest rules.      Putin, in his quest to weld a proud national identity, has cherry-picked parts of Russia s Soviet past, like its World War Two victory and its success in space. But while he does not stress Communism s role in those feats, he has sometimes struck an ambivalent tone, once calling the 1991 Soviet collapse the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.    In rare comments on the subject ahead of the centenary, Putin made clear he thought it would have been better if the 1917 Revolution had never happened, and that he believed there was nothing to celebrate.  ... We see how ambiguous its results were, how closely the negative and, we must acknowledge, the positive consequences of those events are intertwined,  Putin told a gathering of academics last month.   Was it not possible to follow an evolutionary path rather than go through a revolution? Could we not have evolved by way of gradual and consistent forward movement rather than at the cost of destroying our statehood and the ruthless fracturing of millions of human lives?  Putin chose his words carefully. The centenary may leave him with mixed feelings, but it remains a hallowed anniversary for the Russian Communist party and for many older Russians. Although it is the second largest party in the lower house of parliament after the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, the Russian Communist Party wields little real influence today and votes with the Kremlin on most major issues. But its supporters, who held a week-long series of celebratory events to mark the revolution s centenary and were due to rally in Moscow later on Tuesday, believe their time will come again.  Capitalism is stumbling from one crisis to another,  veteran Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov wrote in a centenary congratulatory note to his supporters.   We are convinced that the sun of socialism will once again rise over Russia and the whole world.

Summary: राजनीतिक उथल-पुथल से सावधान पुतिन ने रूसी क्रांति की शताब्दी से दूरी बनाई


SACRAMENTO, Calif./NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to cut funding to the University of California at Berkeley after protesters smashed windows and set fires at the school, forcing the cancellation of an appearance by a far-right Breitbart News editor. Trump’s threat in a tweet provoked a response from California lawmakers, who in discussions on the floor of the state senate called it distasteful and an abuse of power, marking the latest clash between the Republican president and officials in the Democratic-majority state. “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Trump wrote on Twitter at 6:13 a.m. EST (1113 GMT).  It was not immediately clear what action Trump could take without authorization from Congress, or without risking legal action.  In California, a mostly Democratic state where lawmakers have already begun preparing legislation to combat Trump’s policies on immigration and climate change, the response was swift. “To have the man at the helm of the most powerful nation of the world tweeting and threatening the University of California and talking about withholding funds, that’s unique and I find that very distasteful,” said Senate leader Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat. Lawmakers said they would look into whether President Trump could actually take funds from the university which receives $400 to $450 million in funding for research annually. In 2016, the university also received $216 million in federal student aid, a legislative official said. “All we have to go on now is another angry tweet,” said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat from the Los Angeles suburb of Paramount. He said lawmakers would continue to seek ways to protect the state, a Democratic stronghold where voters went two-to-one for Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton in the November, 2016 election.      “We have been having ongoing discussions on how to protect California from potential harm from the Trump Administration – those discussions will continue,” Rendon said. Trump’s tweet came in response to violence that broke out on the University’s flagship campus amid demonstrations against the appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart News, the right-wing website formerly headed by presidential adviser Steve Bannon. On Thursday, Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks condemned the violence. “Last night the Berkeley campus was invaded by more than 100 armed individuals clad in all black who utilized paramilitary tactics to engage in violent, destructive behavior,” Dirks said. He said the 38,000-student campus, home to the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, respected Yiannopoulos’ right to speak. U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat whose district includes Berkeley, vowed to fight any attempt to slash funding. “Simply put, President Trump’s empty threat to cut funding from UC Berkeley is an abuse of power,” Lee said. According to a Reuters review, the research money received by the university includes $121 million from the National Science Foundation for scientific research and $125 million from the Health and Human Services department for health and medical research. It may be difficult for Trump to cut off this money, as much of it is awarded through a competitive process that evaluates projects based on scientific merit. Yiannopoulos has been a provocative figure on the internet  for years, and has been widely criticized for comments he has made about Muslims, Black Lives Matter activists and feminists. “Obviously it’s a liberal campus so they hate any libertarians or conservatives who dare to express an opinion on their campuses,” he told Fox News. “They particularly don’t like me.”  (This version of the story has been refiled to add dropped word “million” in paragraph seven)

Summary: ट्रम्प ने यू. सी. बर्कले को विरोध प्रदर्शनों के बाद दूर-दराज़ भाषण रोकने की धमकी दी


BELFAST (Reuters) - Sinn Fein on Monday dismissed as unacceptable a bill proposed by a British Conservative Party lawmaker to set a 10-year limit on prosecuting soldiers, saying it breached a 2014 deal intended to rescue the province s power-sharing arrangements. If the bill wins the backing of the British government, it could seriously complicate efforts to resolve a political crisis in Northern Ireland, which is facing a return to direct rule from London for the first time in a decade. The bill was sponsored by a member of Sinn Fein s main rival the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which did a deal this year to support Prime Minister Theresa May s government.  Sinn Fein, the largest Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland, has repeatedly warned that the deal would undermine power-sharing in Northern Ireland. Conservative Party member of parliament Richard Benyon on Wednesday proposed the bill, which would set a 10 year-statute of limitations  beyond which it would be impossible to bring a case against any individual about whom an allegation was made regarding actions he or she took while serving.  While presenting the bill, sponsored by DUP lawmaker Emma Little Pengelly, Benyon cited the case of a 78-year-old former British soldier facing prosecution for the shooting of an unarmed 27-year-old Catholic in 1974.  Sinn Fein says the commitment to prosecute crimes committed by British soldiers during the three decade conflict in Northern Ireland is a key foundation of the peace process in the British region.  About 3,600 people died before a 1998 peace deal, approximately half of them killed by Sinn Fein s former armed wing, the Irish Republican Army. Under the terms of the 1998 peace agreement, Sinn Fein and the DUP have shared power in Northern Ireland for a decade. The proposed bill is  simply unacceptable,  said Linda Dillon, a Sinn Fein member of the Northern Ireland assembly, who accused British forces of being directly involved in state sponsored killings.  The decision of the DUP to support it is in direct contravention of the (2014) Stormont House Agreement which ruled out any amnesties and instead provided a range of mechanisms to deal with the past,  she said. The bill, whose second reading is not due until June next year, was brought to parliament within hours of the collapse of talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein to re-establish a Northern Ireland devolved executive following its collapse in January.  Failure to reach agreement is expected to force the British government to impose direct rule of Northern Ireland, in effect  cutting Irish nationalist parties out of the governance of the region during a key stage of Britain s negotiations to leave the European Union.

Summary: सिन फेन का कहना है कि सैनिक अभियोजन पर ब्रिटेन की प्रस्तावित समय सीमा 'अस्वीकार्य' है


COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Twelve-year-old Nur Hafes would rather be in school or playing football with friends at home in Myanmar. Instead, he waits by the road in Palong Khali refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, looking for visitors who might give him money for his family.  Sole breadwinner for seven younger siblings and his mother since they arrived at the camp in Cox s Bazar two months ago, Nur spends his days watching for Muslim clerics who distribute money collected at mosques for the refugees.  Opening a brown umbrella, Nur offers to shade the visitors from the blazing sun, which can bring in a little extra cash for food and supplies. (Click reut.rs/2AtT2uy for photo essay on Nur Hafes and his family.)    Sometimes I get 50 or 100 taka and some days I come back empty-handed,  Nur said, holding up a 50-taka ($0.60) note he received from a donor.  Nur and his family are among the more than 600,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh since August to escape a counter-insurgency operation by the Myanmar military after attacks on security posts by Rohingya militants.  United Nations officials have described the military s actions in Myanmar s northern Rakhine state as  ethnic cleansing , an accusation the Southeast Asian nation denies.  The family left their home in Tharay Kone Yoe Dan village in Rakhine s Maungdaw township when the violence started.   The Myanmar army burnt the houses with the people inside,  said Nur s mother, Rabia Khatun.   I saw many people with gunshot wounds and heard the crackle of houses burning.   She gathered a few belongings - a blanket to protect her children from rain, identity papers and a couple of old photos - and the family fled to her parents  village, Zaw Mat Tat, south of Maungdaw.   The next day, the army showed up there, too. Her husband became upset and suddenly left. Rabia has not seen him since.  Left with eight children, six of them younger than 10, she kept going. That evening, the family took a three-hour boat journey to Shah Porir Dwip, on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River.  Now the family relies on Nur for support. He was a huge help in Myanmar, reselling produce in their village market that his father had bought wholesale.  Nur and his mother said they hope he can eventually do something similar in Bangladesh, although Nur also still talks about school and football. With Nur s family huddled under a tarpaulin tent and his mother needing help to feed his siblings, the youngest two of whom suffer malnourishment, a normal child s life is not in his immediate future.  I know he is young, but he understands his responsibilities. He doesn t behave like a child anymore,  Nur s mother said.

Summary: छाया के लिए एक छतरीः रोहिंग्या शरणार्थी लड़का परिवार का भरण-पोषण करने के लिए काम करता है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The House Republican health insurance plan suggests health insurance after Obamacare will be less affordable, investors, insurers and industry sources said on Tuesday, raising questions about future enrollment and insurance company participation. The draft legislation, released on Monday night, rolls back some of the key tenets of former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare, including the individual mandate and the expansion of Medicaid. In addition to eliminating the requirement that most Americans obtain medical insurance, it creates a system of new tax credits to coax people to purchase private insurance on the open market. The bill has the support of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to repeal and replace the 2010 law. But some Republican lawmakers whose support is needed for the final legislation - and Democrats - said they wanted details on how it would affect U.S. consumers.  Under the draft legislation, Obamacare’s income-based and location-based tax credits are replaced by credits with fixed amounts up to a maximum income level.  Because the bill has just been proposed and aims mostly to repeal the existing law rather than introduce new policies, it is unclear exactly how future changes could make the plan affordable and draw insurers into the market.  But some initial reaction, particularly from hospitals, was critical. The American Hospital Association said in a letter to Congress that it could not support the draft legislation in its current form. The BlueCross BlueShield Association, which represents BCBS insurers across the country that cover the vast majority of the about 10 million people enrolled in 2017 Obamacare plans, said the insurers were glad to see the extension of many Obamacare aspects into 2019. But it emphasized the need for the replacement to be affordable.      “It is important that the tax credit for 2020 creates a marketplace that enables people to get the coverage they need at a price they can afford,” BCBSA Senior Vice President Alissa Fox said in statement. The Association for Community Affiliated Plans, which represents health plans serving Medicaid for the poor and other public health programs, said it was concerned the structure would raise costs for people currently in the marketplace. Because insurance costs, healthcare costs and incomes vary so dramatically around the country, the new tax credit would affect some people more than others. “I think there’s a reasonable concern that people in high-cost states who are lower income will have a hard time finding affordable care,” said Paul Howard, director of health policy at the conservative Manhattan Institute. But the draft legislation also sets up a $100 billion fund over 10 years that states could use to structure subsidies for their members and offset some of that, he noted. Insurers have also asked to be able to offer plans with fewer benefits that could be sold at lower prices, Howard said. Since the draft removes the mandate requiring people to have insurance, the impact on enrollment from that measure is not clear. Standard & Poor’s estimated that the draft plan would reduce individual enrollment, now at around 10 million, by 2 to 4 million people. Steve Brozak, managing partner at WBB Securities, said he believed that under the Republican package, “people will be forgoing insurance.”  He also said that, as it is currently designed, insurers will have difficulty attracting people who do not have an immediate need for healthcare, like younger, healthy people who are less expensive to insure. Still, Brozak expects that this draft is only a first step and likely to change. It is expected to be voted on this month in the House before moving to the U.S. Senate.  The draft plan, along with Republicans’ proposed restructuring of the Medicaid program for the poor and the loud opposition from some Republican lawmakers, created uncertainty that drove down shares of hospitals and insurers. Republicans will need the buy-in from BlueCross BlueShield insurers like Anthem Inc, particularly after UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N), Aetna Inc (AET.N) and Humana Inc (HUM.N) exited most of the states where they sold individual insurance plans under Obamacare.      Shares of hospital operators sold off, with Community Health Systems (CYH.N) down more than 8 percent and Tenet Healthcare (THC.N) off 7 percent.    Reaction in health insurer stocks was more subdued. Molina Healthcare (MOH.N) fell 1.3 percent and Cigna (CI.N) dropped 1 percent, while Humana (HUM.N) gained more than 2 percent and Anthem (ANTM.N) was little changed. The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, which represents doctors, declined to comment on the draft legislation. Support for government-run health insurance has risen over the past five years, according to the Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll.  Between February and March, 47 percent of Americans said the government should have at least a “major role” in providing health insurance. That was up from 39 percent who answered the same way when the poll first asked the question in January 2012. The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The latest poll ran from Feb. 25 to March 6 and included responses from more than 2,700 American adults. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points.  polling.reuters.com/#poll/PV4/dates/20170225-20170306/type/overall

Summary: उद्योग ने रिपब्लिकन योजना के तहत उच्च बीमा लागत पर सवाल उठाए


BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa s Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a High Court ruling to reinstate nearly 800 corruption charges filed against Jacob Zuma before he became president. Zuma, who has faced and denied numerous other corruption allegations since taking office, said he was disappointed by the court s decision and asked the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to  consider representations  before deciding whether to proceed against him. It was unclear when the NPA would make a decision on the charges, which relate to a 30 billion rand ($2 billion) government arms deal arranged in the late 1990s. The ruling is likely to amplify calls for Zuma, 75, to step down before his term as president ends in 2019 and diminish his influence over who succeeds him when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) chooses a new leader in December.  It is going to make it a lot more difficult for his camp to get their presidential candidate elected,  said Gary van Staden, political analyst with NKC African Economics.     Friday s unanimous Supreme Court ruling upheld a High Court decision in April 2016 that the charges against Zuma should be reinstated. They had been set aside in April 2009 by the then-head of the prosecuting authority, paving the way for Zuma to run for president later that year.  Rejecting an appeal brought by Zuma and the NPA, Judge Lorimer Leach said it was  irrational  for the NPA to have set the charges aside   the same word used by the High Court.  It is difficult to understand why the present regime at the NPA considered that the decision to terminate the prosecution could be defended,  the Supreme Court s Leach said. NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said prosecutors would need to consider the judgment but would  at all times do the right thing within the confines of the rule of law and in the interest of proper administration of justice . In a separate statement, the NPA said Zuma s lawyers had asked the state prosecutor  not to serve an indictment on his client nor to re-enrol the matter prior to the representations having been considered . The prospect that Zuma s removal may be inching closer lifted the rand against the dollar. Zuma is unpopular with many investors after sacking respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, a move that hit South African financial assets and helped tip the country s credit ratings into  junk  territory.             Zuma has faced persistent corruption allegations, most recently over leaked emails that suggest his friends the Gupta family may have used their influence to secure lucrative state contracts for their companies. Reuters has not independently verified the emails, and Zuma and the Guptas have consistently denied any wrongdoing. Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said he would write to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, to demand he indict Zuma.  The charges have been formulated and the evidence is ready. We now await a trial date,  Maimane told reporters. Asked by reporters whether Zuma should resign, the African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the party would allow that process to take its course.  The first thing is whether the NPA will decide to charge the president,  he said.  You re putting the cart before the horse.  National prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe s decision in 2009 to drop the 783 charges against Zuma in what has become known as the Spy Tapes case was based on phone intercepts presented by Zuma s legal team. They suggested the timing of the charges in late 2007 may have been part of a political plot to stop Zuma, then deputy president, running for the top job. Zuma was linked to the 1990s arms deal through his former financial adviser, who was jailed for corruption.  Analysts said the credibility of Zuma and the NPA were in question after the ruling. One lawyer, Ulrich Roux, who speaks to media as a legal analyst, said  a private prosecution could be instituted  if charges are not brought.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने जुमा के खिलाफ भ्रष्टाचार के 783 आरोपों को बहाल किया


DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said the closure of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport could last longer than 24 hours amid an eruption of Mount Agung.   We don t know how long it will be closed for,  Pastika told reporters, referring to the Bali airport.  Sure, it s been closed for 24 hours until tomorrow, but that doesn t rule out the possibility the (closure) could be extended,  he said.  At least 5,000 foreign and 15,000-20,000 domestic tourists pass through the airport each day, according to Pastika.  Ngurah Rai is Bali s main international gateway and a hub for tourists traveling to Indonesian islands further east.

Summary: आगुंग विस्फोट के कारण बाली हवाई अड्डा 24 घंटे से अधिक समय तक बंद रह सकता हैः राज्यपाल


BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts county sheriff has proposed sending prison inmates from around the United States to build the proposed wall along the Mexican border that is one of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s most prominent campaign promises. “I can think of no other project that would have such a positive impact on our inmates and our country than building this wall,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said at his swearing-in ceremony for a fourth term in office late Wednesday.  “Aside from learning and perfecting construction skills, the symbolism of these inmates building a wall to prevent crime in communities around the country, and to preserve jobs and work opportunities for them and other Americans upon release, can be very powerful,” he said. Hodgson, who like Trump is a Republican, said inmates from around the country could build the proposed wall, described by Trump as a powerful deterrent to illegal immigration. Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, insisted during his campaign that he would convince the Mexican government to pay for the wall, though Mexican officials have repeatedly said they would not do so. Officials in the Trump transition office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States has a long history of prison labor, with advocates of the idea saying that putting inmates to work can help them learn skills that prepare them for their return to society after completing their sentences. Opponents contend that inmates are not fairly compensated. The federal prisons system operates some 53 factories around the United States that produced about $500 million worth of clothing, electronics, furniture and other goods in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, according to its financial statements. Still, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts said Hodgson’s proposal could violate prisoners’ rights. “The proposal is perverse, it’s inhumane and very likely unconstitutional,” ACLU staff counsel Laura Rotolo said in a phone interview. “It certainly has nothing to do with helping prisoners in Massachusetts or their families. It’s about politics.” In response to a request by the Trump transition office, the Department of Homeland Security last month identified more than 400 miles (644 km) along the U.S.-Mexico border where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters.  The document contained an estimate that building that section of fence would cost more than $11 billion.

Summary: मैसाचुसेट्स के शेरिफ ने जेल के कैदियों को ट्रम्प की दीवार बनाने की पेशकश की


DAKAR (Reuters) - A long-awaited multi-national military force in Africa s Sahel region has begun operations to counter escalating Islamist insurgencies, participants in the joint effort said on Thursday.     The G5 Sahel force, backed by France and the United States, launched its campaign on Oct. 28 amid growing unrest in the desert reaches of the Sahel, where jihadists such as al Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups roam undetected, often across long, porous borders.  Last month, Islamist militants killed four U.S. soldiers and at least four Nigeriens in an ambush that highlighted the risks of operating in the remote region. G5 Sahel is made up of troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania that will police the region in collaboration with 4,000 French troops deployed there since intervening in 2013 to beat back an insurgency in northern Mali.  The first mission, called  HAW BI , comprises several hundred soldiers from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, whose shared borderlands have been the epicenter of a surge in militant attacks, G5 Sahel said in a statement.   The operation...aims to achieve an area of control in this region of three borders to fight against armed groups and trafficking, in order to allow the return of a level of security favorable to the tranquility of the populations,  the statement said. The force will eventually swell to 5,000 men from 7 battalions and will also engage in humanitarian and development work, it said.  G5 Sahel, whose command base is in Sevare in central Mali, will also coordinate with MINUSMA, Mali s U.N. peacekeeping mission. MINUSMA has faced frequent attacks in the north where Islamists have regained ground since 2013.  The new force faces a number of challenges, not least in funding. The United States this week promised up to $60 million in support, but that fell short of hopes by France and others that Washington would back direct funding from the United Nations.

Summary: जी5 साहेल ने अफ्रीकी झाड़ियों में सैन्य अभियान शुरू किया


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia presents Iran as an enemy because it wants to cover up its defeats in the region.   Saudi Arabia was unsuccessful in Qatar, was unsuccessful in Iraq, in Syria and recently in Lebanon. In all of these areas, they were unsuccessful,  Rouhani said in the interview live on state television.  So they want to cover up their defeats.  The Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran back rival sides in the wars and political crises throughout the region.  Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince called the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,  the new Hitler of the Middle East  in an interview with the New York Times published last week, escalating the war of words between the arch-rivals. Tensions soared this month when Lebanon s Saudi-allied Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in a television broadcast from Riyadh, citing the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and risks to his life. Hezbollah called the move an act of war engineered by Saudi authorities, an accusation they denied.  Hariri returned to Lebanon last week and suspended his resignation but has continued his criticism of Hezbollah. Iran, Iraq, Syria and Russia form a line of resistance in the region that has worked toward stability and achieved  big accomplishments , Rouhani said in the interview, which was reviewing his first 100 days in office in his second term. Separately, Rouhani defended his government s response to an earthquake in western Iran two weeks ago, a major challenges for his administration. The magnitude 7.3 quake, Iran s worst in more than a decade, killed at least 530 people and injured thousands. The government s response has become a lightning rod for Rouhani s hard-line rivals, who have said the government did not respond adequately or quickly to the disaster. Supreme Leader Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, has also criticized the government response. Hard-line media outlets have highlighted the role played by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the most powerful military body in Iran and an economic powerhouse worth billions of dollars, in helping victims of the earthquake. Government ministries have provided health care for victims and temporary housing has been sent to the earthquake zone, but problems still exist, Rouhani said in the interview.

Summary: रूहानी ने कहा, क्षेत्र में हार छिपाने के लिए सऊदी अरब ईरान को दुश्मन कहता है


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s foreign ministry on Friday strongly condemned North Korea s missile launch earlier in the day, calling it a serious act of defiance that threatens international peace and security. The ministry said in a statement that South Korea is fully prepared to respond against any North Korean threat and that it would boost its response ability against Pyongyang s provocations. It did not provide further details.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया ने उत्तर कोरिया के मिसाइल प्रक्षेपण की निंदा की, कहा कि इससे प्रतिक्रिया क्षमता बढ़ेगी


KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait s elderly ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah, was admitted to hospital on Wednesday for medical checks after suffering from a cold, the state news agency KUNA reported. It cited the Emiri Court Affairs Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as saying that the 88-year-old Sheikh Sabah would undergo  a normal medical checkup after going through a cold.  The agency gave no further details. A veteran diplomat, Sheikh Sabah has been recently led mediation efforts to heal a bitter rift between some Arab countries, including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and Qatar over allegations that Doha supported terrorism, a charge Qatar denies. Born in Kuwait on June 16, 1929, Sheikh Sabah is known as the  dean of Arab diplomacy  for his work as foreign minister to restore relations with Arab states which backed Baghdad during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, when Kuwait was occupied by Iraqi forces. He was nominated ruler of the key U.S. regional ally and OPEC oil exporter in 2006, after Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah died and his successor, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, was appointed only to be unanimously voted out of office by parliament due to illness.

Summary: कुवैत के अमीर सर्दी के बाद चिकित्सा जांच के लिए अस्पताल में भर्तीः एजेंसी


ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Police in Nigeria s southern Delta state said they killed one suspect and arrested two others accused of involvement in the kidnapping last month of four Britons.  Three of the British hostages, who were taken by gunmen on Oct. 13, were released earlier this week after negotiations, but a fourth, Ian Squire was killed.  Delta state police spokesman Andrew Aniamaka said officers arrested two suspects and killed a third after he opened fire, wounding two officers.  Aniamaka said two other suspects who were arrested previously led police to the three men. Kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria, including the Delta region that produces the bulk of the country s crude oil, but is mired in poverty and plagued by criminal and militant activity.

Summary: नाइजीरियाई पुलिस ने ब्रिटिश अपहरण में एक की हत्या की, दो संदिग्धों को गिरफ्तार किया


BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - Three military helicopters hovered over Anne Choi’s backyard, engaged in what appeared to be a drill ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit three weeks ago to this tranquil town of farmland and horse barns in rural New Jersey. “My sheep were terrified,” Choi, 44, said on Thursday inside her two-story barn a mile east of Trump National Golf Club, as half a dozen Shetland sheep grazed outside. “It’s awful. We don’t have the infrastructure here. We can’t support the weight of his presence.” As Bedminster prepared this week for the president’s latest trip to the 600-acre (240-hectare) private club, a 17-day stay that is his first extended vacation in office, some of the town’s 8,000 residents expressed frustration at the security protocols, road closures and daily disruption that will begin with his arrival on Friday. On Wednesday, the U.S. Secret Service said safety measures would also include a “tethered drone,” equipped with optical and infrared cameras and powered by a wire attached to a ground controller, that could impede on the privacy of nearby residences. “It’s super creepy,” said Julie Henderson, an artist who lives down the road from Trump National, as two military helicopters roared overhead before circling and heading back toward the golf club. The Secret Service said the drone would focus primarily on the outer perimeter and would not “physically intrude upon or disturb the use of private property outside the Trump National Golf Course.” Trump’s movements can also lead to the closure of local roads and highways. Julie Henderson’s husband, Paul Henderson, said he has twice been stuck on an Interstate on his way to work while Trump’s motorcade used the highway. Not everyone in this town about 40 miles (60 km) west of New York City agrees Trump’s visit will be a nuisance. Steve Desiderio, who owns a restaurant and catering business in Bedminster’s modest downtown, said the influx of federal agents and journalists would be a welcome boost to his business. Desiderio, a 48-year-old Trump supporter, added that complaints about the disruption were overblown and media-driven. “It’s just fake news,” he said, echoing one of the president’s favorite phrases. “They try to spin it like it’s gridlock. So there are five more cars at the stoplight?” Bedminster’s Republican mayor, Steven Parker, also brushed off the criticism. “It’s really been a big non-event,” he said. Some residents said Trump has been a generous neighbor in past years, allowing local events to be hosted at his club. As in previous years, the township committee held its annual reorganization meeting in 2017 at Trump National, where Parker was selected to continue as mayor. While Trump’s visit may help the town’s eateries, it will shut down the local airport, where 110 private planes and 60 flight school students will be grounded from Aug. 4 to Aug. 20. “Our summertime is our busiest time,” said Somerset Airport President Chris Walker, as a Coast Guard helicopter landed on the runway in preparation for the weekend. “We’re just rolling with the punches.” About half of the planes were being moved to other airports outside the 10-mile (16-km) no-fly zone, Stewart said. Some workers will be sent home until Trump returns to Washington. Trump has also drawn local protesters, both for and against him. Anti-Trump activists have been staging a weekly “People’s Motorcade,” driving slowly down the road past Trump National and honking their horns. The town’s administrator, Judith Sullivan, said they were more of a distraction for her 16-member police department than the president, though they have largely been well behaved. She hopes to recoup the $30,000 in overtime for officers working during Trump’s visit from the U.S. government. Choi, who moved to Bedminster from Maryland two years ago, said she likely would not have chosen her house had she known the “summer White House” would be only a mile away. “Even if you agree with his politics, I think we can all agree that this is not what we bargained for,” she said.

Summary: ट्रम्प की गर्मियों की यात्रा के लिए सुरक्षा ने न्यू जर्सी शहर को शांत कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas seeking business records from people who worked with former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn when he was a private citizen, CNN reported on Tuesday. Citing people familiar with the matter, CNN said the subpoenas were issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia. They targeted people who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was pushed out of his job as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, it reported. Flynn later joined the Trump campaign but was fired as the White House national security adviser by President Donald Trump in February after he failed to tell the truth about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn’s attorney, Robert Kelner, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department does not comment on the existence of ongoing investigations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Trump, as well as possible links to the Trump campaign. Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, saying he had lost confidence in Comey over his handling of an election-year email scandal involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Flynn, a retired general, has emerged as a central figure in the Russian probes.  Investigators have been looking into whether Flynn properly disclosed payments from clients with links to foreign governments, including Russia and Turkey, CNN said.

Summary: रूस की जांच में फ्लिन के सहयोगियों को सम्मनः सीएनएन


RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. firms attracted by Saudi Arabia s plans to build nuclear reactors are pushing Washington to restart talks with Riyadh on an agreement to help the kingdom develop atomic energy, three industry sources said.  Saudi Arabia has welcomed the lobbying, they said, though it is likely to worry regional rival Iran at a time when tensions are already high in the Middle East.  One of the sources also said Riyadh had told Washington it does not want to forfeit the possibility of one day enriching uranium - a process that can have military uses - though this is a standard condition of U.S. civil nuclear cooperation pacts.  They want to secure enrichment if down the line they want to do it,  the source, who is in contact with Saudi and U.S. officials, said before U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry holds talks in Riyadh early next week.  Another of the industry sources said Saudi Arabia and the United States had already held initial talks about a nuclear cooperation pact.  U.S. officials and Saudi officials responsible for nuclear energy issues declined to comment for this article. The sources did not identify the U.S. firms involved in the lobbying.  Under Article 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, a peaceful cooperation agreement is required for the transfer of nuclear materials, technology and equipment.  In previous talks, Saudi Arabia has refused to sign up to any agreement with the United States that would deprive the kingdom of the possibility of one day enriching uranium.       Saudi Arabia, the world s top oil producer, says it wants nuclear power solely for peaceful uses - to produce electricity at home so that it can export more crude. It has not yet acquired nuclear power or enrichment technology. Riyadh sent a request for information to nuclear reactor suppliers in October in a first step towards opening a multi-billion-dollar tender for two nuclear power reactors, and plans to award the first construction contract in 2018.  Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other U.S.-based companies to form a consortium for the bid. A downturn in the U.S. nuclear industry makes business abroad increasingly valuable for American firms. Reactors need uranium enriched to around 5 percent purity but the same technology in this process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to a higher, weapons-grade level. This has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns over the nuclear work of Iran, which enriches uranium domestically. Riyadh s main reason to leave the door open to enrichment in the future may be political - to ensure the Sunni Muslim kingdom has the same possibility of enriching uranium as Shi ite Muslim Iran, industry sources and analysts say. Saudi Arabia s position poses a potential problem for the United States, which has strengthened ties with the kingdom under President Donald Trump. Washington usually requires a country to sign a nuclear cooperation pact - known as a 123 agreement - that forfeits steps in fuel production with potential bomb-making uses.  Doing less than this would undermine U.S. credibility and risk the increased spread of nuclear weapons capabilities to Saudi Arabia and the region,  said David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). It is not clear whether Riyadh will raise the issue during Perry s visit, which one of the industry sources said could include discussion of nuclear export controls. Under a nuclear deal Iran signed in 2015 with world powers - but which Trump has said he might pull the United States out of - Tehran can enrich uranium to around the level needed for commercial power-generation.  It would be  a huge change of policy  for Washington to allow Saudi Arabia the right to enrich uranium, said Mark Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Americas office at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.  Applying the  golden standard  of not allowing enrichment or preprocessing (of spent fuel) has held up a 123 agreement with Jordan for many years, and has been a key issue in U.S. nuclear cooperation with South Korea,  said Fitzpatrick, a nuclear policy expert. The United States is likely to aim for restrictions, non-proliferation analysts say. These could be based on those included in the 123 agreement Washington signed in 2009 with the United Arab Emirates, which is set to start up its first South Korean-built reactor in 2018 and has ruled out enrichment and reprocessing.  Perhaps Saudi Arabia is testing the Trump administration and seeing if the administration would be amenable to fewer restrictions in a 123 agreement,  ISIS s Albright said. Saudi Arabia s nuclear plans have gained momentum as part of a reform plan led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reduce the economy s dependence on oil. Riyadh wants eventually to install up to 17.6 gigawatts (GW) of atomic capacity by 2032 - or up to 17 reactors. This is a promising prospect for the struggling global nuclear industry and the United States is expected to face competition from South Korea, Russia, France and China for the initial tender. Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with the nuclear plans, has said the kingdom wants to tap its own uranium resources for  self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel  and that this is economically viable. As a nuclear conference in October, Saudi officials declined to comment when asked to expand on the topic. In 2015, before the Iran deal was signed, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a senior Saudi royal and former intelligence chief, said Riyadh would want the option to enrich uranium if Tehran had it. In October, Maher al-Odan, the chief atomic energy officer of KACARE, said Saudi Arabia had around 60,000 tonnes of uranium based on initial studies and that the kingdom wanted to start extracting it to boost the economy. Asked what would happen to the uranium after that, he replied:  This is a government decision.

Summary: अमेरिकी कंपनियों ने वाशिंगटन को रियाद के साथ परमाणु समझौते की वार्ता फिर से शुरू करने के लिए प्रेरित कियाः सूत्र


WASHINGTON(Reuters) - In his first major speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump assured U.S. allies that he is committed to NATO, but some of his fellow Republicans have been blocking a Senate vote to expand the alliance for months. The delay of the Senate’s consideration of Montenegro’s accession to the alliance has fueled questions about whether Trump’s administration and his party will stand up to Russia despite the president’s desire for better relations. Moscow opposes any further expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Montenegro, a former Yugoslav republic with a population of 650,000, hopes to win the approval of all 28 NATO allies in time to become a full member at a summit in May. By late February, it had been approved by 24. Members see Montenegro’s accession as a way to counter Russia’s efforts to expand its influence in the Balkans. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has twice voted in favor of Montenegro, first in December and again in January. But objections by Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee have blocked a vote in the full Senate. At a September hearing, Paul questioned the wisdom of angering Russia by allowing a tiny country that could not play a significant role in defending the United States to join the trans-Atlantic alliance. “I think we need to think this through, and we need to have a little bit more of a debate,” he said then. On Wednesday, Paul said he still objected. “I’m not so sure what they add to our defense. So I’m not so sure it’s a great idea that somehow Montenegro’s going to defend the United States,” Paul told Reuters. A spokesman for Lee said the senator objected only to the Senate considering the matter with a quick voice vote, saying he wanted a roll call so every member’s position would be recorded. Lee has not made his opinion on Montenegro’s accession public, the spokesman said. Asked if a roll call vote would be scheduled, a spokesman for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had no updates to provide. If there is a Senate vote, Montenegro’s accession is expected to receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass. Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic told Reuters last month that he had been assured that the Senate would ratify his country’s accession by May.     Trump has called for closer ties to Moscow and criticized NATO as obsolete. In his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, he reaffirmed support for the alliance, but said he expects U.S. allies to pay more of the cost of their own security needs. Montenegrin officials blame Moscow for an extended campaign intended to prevent the country from joining NATO. Last month, they said they had evidence Russia was involved in a plot to overthrow its government during an election last October, an accusation Moscow dismissed. The charges echoed assertions by U.S. intelligence that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump could still keep Montenegro from joining by refusing to formally deposit the country’s Protocol of Accession. Doing so would signal a significant rift with his own party in Congress.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने नाटो के लिए समर्थन का दावा किया, लेकिन सीनेट में विस्तार सुस्त


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department, which was criticized for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, said on Wednesday it failed to meet an end-of-2016 deadline to manage all its email records electronically. The department, and other U.S. government agencies, had more than four years to meet the deadline under an Aug. 24, 2012, directive that aimed to eliminate the use of paper records as much as possible in favor of electronic record-keeping. That directive was part of an Obama administration effort to update government record-keeping for the digital age and promote accountability for official decisions by ensuring they are properly documented and preserved for future generations. In a report posted by the National Archives on Wednesday, the State Department checked the “No” box in response to a question on whether it had met the goal of managing all its email records in an electronic format by Dec. 31, 2016. In the report, the State Department said it had met the goal on its main, centralized email systems accounting for the “overwhelming majority” of its emails. “However, the Department does have additional email systems that require further evaluation before we will certify that all email records are managed in an electronic format,” it said, saying it was working hard to “fully meet” the goal. The State Department had no immediate comment on the matter. The department’s record-keeping and email archiving practices attracted scrutiny during the 2016 presidential campaign when the New York Times reported that Clinton had used a private email server as secretary of state. The Democrat’s use of the server to conduct official business throughout her 2009-2013 State Department tenure was criticized by Republican Donald Trump, who defeated her for the presidency in last November’s election. An internal government watchdog issued a report last year that found Clinton broke government rules by using the private email server for her work as America’s top diplomat without approval. The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General said it found no evidence Clinton sought permission to use a server at her Chappaqua, New York, home to handle her work emails and it quoted officials as saying they would have rejected her doing so if they had been asked. The report also found problems in department record-keeping practices before Clinton’s tenure, and it documented how slowly the department had moved to bring record-keeping into the age of electronic communications.

Summary: विदेश विभाग इलेक्ट्रॉनिक रूप से ईमेल रिकॉर्ड का प्रबंधन करने की समय सीमा से चूक गया


DUBAI (Reuters) - Islamic State on Sunday condemned as an “apostate” a U.S. Muslim soldier killed in Iraq whose story has re-ignited debate in the 2016 presidential election on the role of Muslims in American life. Dabiq, the militant group’s online magazine, showed a picture of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan’s tombstone in Arlington National Cemetery with a caption, “Beware of Dying as an apostate.” An accompanying article, penned by an unnamed “American convert in the Islamic State,” urged Muslims to resist Western influences and to either migrate to Islamic State-controlled lands or carry out lone attacks. “Reject these calls to disunity and come together. Live the life of Islam, for which you have already left the path of falsehood,” the militant wrote. “You are behind enemy lines, able to strike them where it hurts them most,” the article added. Khan’s death in a bomb attack in Iraq in 2004 re-emerged as an election issue when his father gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday in which he paid homage to his son. Khizr Khan, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim,  also criticized Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and asked if the candidate had read the U.S. Constitution. Trump rejected the criticism and questioned whether the soldier’s mother was allowed to speak during the couple’s appearance at the podium. Ghazala Khan later said the outspoken billionaire was ignorant of Islam and of sacrifice.  Trump has stoked outrage during his unorthodox campaign by supporting racial profiling for Muslim Americans in the wake of a deadly shooting by a U.S.-born Muslim man killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has said the comments and other pointed remarks about American minorities show Trump is unfit to be president.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने मारे गए मुस्लिम अमेरिकी सैनिक को 'धर्मत्यागी' कहा


VIC/CERDANYOLA DEL VALLES, Spain (Reuters) - Catalonia votes on Thursday for a new administration in an election many hope will resolve Spain s worst crisis in decades after the region declared independence leading Madrid to sack local leaders. Polls suggest neither the pro-independence nor the pro-unity camp will win a majority. The likely outcome is a hung parliament and many weeks of wrangling to form a new regional government. In the separatist heartland of rural Catalonia, fireman Josep Sales says he hopes the results will endorse the result of an Oct. 1 illegal referendum on independence from Spain and lead to the creation of a republic.  If we get a majority, something will have to be done. And if the politicians don t do it, the people will unite,  he said, speaking from the town fire station where many of the red fire engines bear the slogan  Hello Democracy .  If we have to bring the country to a standstill, so be it,  said the 45-year-old, who plans to vote for Carles Puigdemont, the sacked Catalan head who is campaigning for election from self-imposed exile in Belgium.  The uncertainty generated by the independence drive has hurt hotel occupancy rates in the region, dented consumer sales and caused more than 3,000 businesses to move their registered headquarters from Catalonia. It has also bitterly divided Catalan society between those who support independence and those who favor unity with Spain.  Everyone is eager for the election and to see how it turns out, because nothing is clear at the moment,  said 34-year-old flamenco teacher Maria Gonzalez, who lives in Cerdanyola del Valles, an industrial suburb of Barcelona.  The feeling on the streets is not comfortable,  says Gonzalez, the daughter of migrants from other parts of Spain who moved to Catalonia decades ago and who plans to vote for pro-unity party Ciudadanos ( Citizens ).  There s a hidden tension.

Summary: विभाजित कैटेलन निकट चुनाव में मतदान करने की तैयारी कर रहे हैं


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria s foreign minister said on Saturday that victory was within reach in the country and that Damascus hoped de-escalation zones will help reach a cessation of hostilities.  The liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra, the lifting of the siege of Deir Ezzor and the eradication of terrorism from many parts of Syria prove that victory is now within reach,  Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. Russia, Turkey and Iran have been negotiating separately for months in the Kazakh capital Astana to try to reduce violence on the ground by creating de-escalation zones across the country, although those talks do not cover a long-term political solution to the six-year civil war. Moualem, who praised as constructive the role of Russia and Iran, which back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said Syria was encouraged by the de-escalation zones and hoped they would lead to  an actual cessation of hostilities. Nevertheless, he said:  Syria reserves the right to respond to any violation by the other party. Syria also stresses that these zones are a temporary arrangement that must not violate the territorial unity of Syria.   Earlier this month Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to deploy observers on the edge of a  de-escalation  zone in Syria s Idlib province, which is largely under the control of Islamist insurgents. The move falls under a broader deal in which they would set up four such zones across Syria.  The de-escalation plan has eased fighting in parts of western Syria between rebel factions and government forces loyal to Assad. Assad has gained the military upper hand against an array of rebel groups, including some that have received backing from the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies. Critics have described the de-escalation plan as de facto partitioning of Syria after years of multi-sided conflict. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara deny this and say the zones will be temporary, although they could extend beyond the initial six-month term.

Summary: सीरिया के मौलेम का कहना है कि पहुंच के भीतर जीत, डी-एस्केलेशन ज़ोन अस्थायी हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States does not tarnish the U.S. commitment to religious freedom in the eyes of foreigners, a State Department official said on Wednesday. On Dec. 7, the week after a Muslim couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, the Republican called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Speaking as he presented the State Department annual report on religious freedom, David Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador at large for that issue, was asked whether the comments made his job of promoting religious tolerance in foreign nations harder. “Countries across the globe ... they see clearly the basic constitutional, institutional constraints against violations of religious freedom in the United States, and I think see clearly and believe deeply in America’s promise to be a model about treating all people equally without regard to religion,” Saperstein said. “That is clear and that is not tarnished by the statements here,” he added. “No matter who is elected, the institutions and the United States’ constitutional constraints will ensure that we continue along the line we have for the last 200 years.” At the time, Trump’s comments were condemned by the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and some of the candidates then vying with Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. More recently, the parents of a Muslim American Army captain killed in Iraq took Trump to task at the Democratic National Convention over his rhetoric on Muslims, prompting a spat that triggered renewed criticism of the Republican candidate. Democratic presidential nominee Clinton’s lead over Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election increased to more than 7 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday, from less than 3 points on Thursday.

Summary: ट्रम्प की मुस्लिम टिप्पणियाँ विदेशों में अमेरिकी स्वतंत्रता के दृष्टिकोण को धूमिल नहीं करती हैंः राजदूत


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, with the United States voting against it after abstaining last year for the first time in 25 years. The 193-member General Assembly passed the resolution with 191 votes in favor. Israel, as it has done in the past, voted  in line with its top ally. The non-binding resolution urges the United States to repeal the embargo on Cuba as soon as possible. The U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo, put in place more than 50 years ago. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the plenary meeting on this subject  political theater.   The Cuban regime is sending the warped message to the world that the sad state of its economy, the oppression of its people, and the export of its destructive ideology is not its fault,  Haley told the General Assembly.  The U.S. position had been announced on Tuesday at the State Department. Cuba s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Haley and the United States lack  the slightest moral authority to criticize Cuba,  calling her remarks  disrespectful  against Cuba and its government. Tensions have flared recently between Washington and Havana, which forged a closer relationship under former U.S. President Barack Obama and reopened embassies in both countries in 2015. Haley said the diplomatic status between both countries is not changing. U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month he believed Havana was responsible for a series of alleged incidents that Washington says harmed 24 of its diplomats, while Cuban officials said last week talk of acoustic strikes was  science fiction.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने क्यूबा पर अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध को समाप्त करने के लिए फिर से आह्वान किया


(Reuters) - The Democratic National Committee on Friday said it settled part of a federal lawsuit over the actions of Arizona poll officials during the presidential primary that caused voters long waits and critics said disenfranchised some, especially minorities.   The suit, filed in April in U.S. District Court in Arizona, targeted the decision to sharply cut polling locations in Maricopa County, causing waits of up to five hours for those casting ballots during the March 22 primary. “This is a great victory for Arizonans, and for our democracy,” Donna Brazile, interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “We know that long lines depress turnout.” Representatives for the Maricopa County Board of Directors, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Secretary of State did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The election had been mired in controversy from the outset, with polling sites cut to 60, down from 200 in 2012, in a move that officials said was designed to cut costs. County officials were quick to take blame for the cuts, saying they misjudged voter turnout, based on recent history and increasing mail-in votes.  Maricopa County miscalculated voter turnout and underestimated the number of vote centers needed for the March presidential primaries, the Democratic National Committee said in the statement. As part of the settlement, Maricopa County election officials agreed to consider the Democrats’ recommendations on polling place queuing and the use of electronic management systems, a copy of the agreement showed.  The Democratic nominating contest for the Nov. 8 presidential election was won by Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Both their campaigns joined the lawsuit. The settlement has no bearing on other elements of the lawsuit, such as a challenge to a law banning organizers from collecting mail-in ballots from a voter’s home for delivery to polling locations.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट ने प्राथमिक मतदान की समस्याओं को लेकर एरिजोना के अधिकारियों के साथ समझौता किया


JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani diplomatic official was shot by unknown gunmen near his residence in the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said. Pakistan Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal issued a statement saying the Afghan charge d affaires in Islamabad had been summoned to protest the incident which consular officials said occurred in front of a staff guesthouse. He condemned the killing and demanded increased security for Pakistani diplomatic staff from Afghan authorities. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been going through a stormy period with tensions over the latest U.S. strategic plan for the region and disputes over the Torkham border crossing, which Pakistan has closed periodically. Afghanistan s ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal condemned the killing in a message on Twitter and said he had conveyed his government s sympathies to the ministry of foreign affairs in Islamabad. The incident comes around a week after the deputy governor of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan was kidnapped near the Pakistani city of Peshawar although there was no immediate indication of any connection between the two incidents.

Summary: अफगानिस्तान में पाकिस्तानी राजनयिक की गोली मारकर हत्या


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s foreign ministry said it was disappointed with U.S. President Donald Trump’s revised executive order banning citizens from six Muslim-majority nations from traveling to the United States. “The foreign ministry expresses its regret and disappointment over the executive order issued by the U.S. president on March. 6 that renewed the ban on immigration of citizens from six countries including Sudan to the United States for 90 days,” it said in a statement.

Summary: अमेरिकी यात्रा प्रतिबंध के नवीनीकरण से सूडान निराश हैः विदेश मंत्रालय


COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday raised concern for the safety of Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers in Sri Lanka after Buddhist monks and hardline nationalists forced them to flee a U.N. shelter in the capital Colombo.  The refugees, who were detained in April along with two suspected Indian human traffickers in a boat off Sri Lanka s coast, are now in a camp in southern Sri Lanka to ensure their security after the incident in the capital. In Tuesday s incident, the Sri Lankan monks and nationalists stoned the shelter, prompting its 31 Rohingya occupants - mainly women and children - to flee for their own safety, witnesses said. No injuries were reported. In a statement, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said  the incident was alarming, saying the refugees had been victims of violence and persecution in Myanmar, from which some 422,000 Rohingya have fled to nearby Bangladesh over the past month.  UNHCR emphasizes that (the) refugees ... need international protection and assistance. UNHCR urges the public and all those concerned with refugees to continue extending protection and to show empathy for civilians fleeing persecution and violence.   It said the Rohingya had been staying in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka with the Colombo government s approval and UNHCR was providing assistance  until longer-term solutions can be found . President Maithripala Sirisena s government condemned the attack on the refugees as  shameful  and urged police to hunt down the perpetrators.  Witnesses said the monks stormed into the safe house chanting,  Rohingyas are terrorists  and accusing them of having killed Buddhist monks in Myanmar. The Rohingya group fled Myanmar in 2012 and lived in India as refugees for nearly five years before trying to migrate illegally to Sri Lanka, a lawyer representing them told Reuters.  Tension between Myanmar s majority Buddhists and the Rohingya, most of whom are denied citizenship, has exploded several times over the past few years as old enmities, and Buddhist nationalism, surfaced with the end of decades of harsh military rule. There has been an exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar s Rakhine state since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants triggered a military crackdown that the United Nations has branded  ethnic cleansing . The authorities in Myanmar and Bangladesh each see the stateless Muslim minority as the other nation s problem.

Summary: यू. एन. एच. सी. आर. ने श्रीलंका में रोहिंग्याओं के खिलाफ हिंसा पर चिंता जताई


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernie Sanders may have lost his bid to become the Democratic nominee for the White House, but party members don’t want the U.S. senator from Vermont to step off the stage. More than three-quarters of Democrats say Sanders should have a “major role” in shaping the party’s positions, while nearly two thirds say Hillary Clinton - who beat him for the nomination - should pick him as her vice-presidential running mate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. In a sign that Democrats hope their party can unite after a fierce primary season, two-thirds also said that Sanders should endorse Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator who appears bound for a showdown with Republican Donald Trump in November’s presidential election. Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, managed to turn his long-shot run into a mass movement with hard-line proposals to combat wealth inequality, increase access to health care and education, and defend the environment. His challenge to Clinton, one of the best-known figures in American politics, lasted far longer than expected, as he racked up strong results in a number of state nominating contests and stayed in the race even when the delegate count seemed to spell his doom, and yielded record numbers of small donations to his campaign. Sanders so far has not conceded defeat, even though Clinton recently clinched the nomination and won endorsements from President Barack Obama and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts - a favorite of the same left-leaning voters who supported him. Sanders has said he will continue to push for a liberal agenda heading into the Democratic National Convention in July - when Clinton’s nomination is expected to become official - though he has hinted he does not want his presence to hurt the Democrats’ chances of keeping the White House.  “We will not let Donald Trump become president,” Sanders told supporters last week. The poll, conducted June 7-10 - right after Clinton sewed up the delegate majority to become the presumptive Democratic nominee - showed that while most Democrats want Sanders to line up behind Clinton, about 44 percent would like him to make an independent run for the White House. Some 47 percent said he should not. The poll included 455 respondents and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 5.3 percentage points.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स सैंडर्स के लिए 'प्रमुख भूमिका' चाहते हैंः रॉयटर्स/इप्सोस पोल


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s intelligence minister said U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech against the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran on Friday was “very significant” and could lead to war given threats that preceded it from Tehran. Israel’s Channel 2 TV asked Intelligence Minister Israel Katz whether he saw a risk of war after Trump’s speech. “Absolutely, yes. I think that the speech was very significant,” Katz responded. “Iran is the new North Korea. We see where things are goings.”

Summary: इजरायल के मंत्री का कहना है कि ट्रम्प के भाषण से ईरान के साथ युद्ध शुरू हो सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday he welcomed the release of a long-classified section of the official report on the Sept. 11 attacks that discussed potential links between some of the hijackers and Saudi Arabia. “The matter is now finished,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Washington. Asked whether the report exonerated the kingdom, he said: “Absolutely.” The 28 pages of the report on the 2002 investigation focus on potential Saudi links to the 2001 aircraft attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3,000 people died. They were issued by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Friday after years of wrangling in Washington between Congress and different administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and urging by families of those killed.

Summary: सऊदी विदेश मंत्री ने 9-11 रिपोर्ट के पृष्ठों को जारी करने का स्वागत किया


ALTOONA, Pa. (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump on Friday backed away from comments calling President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton the founders of the militant group Islamic State, while the Republican Party sought to project unity behind their candidate.      A new poll showed Trump, whose unfiltered speaking style has repeatedly landed him in hot water, losing ground in three crucial states ahead of the Nov. 8 general election against Clinton. In a surprise appearance, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who in private expressed fury over some of Trump’s actions earlier this month, introduced the candidate at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the two hugged onstage. “We’re so honored to be working with Donald Trump and the campaign,” Priebus told thousands of Trump supporters. “And don’t believe the garbage you read. Let me tell you something. Donald Trump, the Republican Party, all of you, we’re going to put him in the White House and save this country together.” Republican sources earlier this month said Priebus was furious over Trump’s failure to endorse House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and his feud with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq. Trump did endorse Ryan a few days later. Trump brought Priebus on stage later at another rally, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to thank him for the work he has done as he insisted there is great unity in the party. “I have to say we have great unification,” Trump said. Trump on Friday told the rallies in Altoona and Erie that his remarks earlier this week calling Obama and Clinton the founders of ISIS, as Islamic State is also known, had been sarcastic. “I have been saying because it’s true, but somewhat sarcastically, that he’s the founder of ISIS and she’s a close second,” Trump said in Altoona. Trump first made the unfounded claim on Wednesday and repeated it through the week. Trump claimed sarcasm in July as well after he was heavily criticized for inviting Russia to dig up tens of thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time as U.S. secretary of state. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released on Friday suggested support for Trump is eroding among voters in three battleground states. Such states are hotly contested because their populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and thus play a decisive role in presidential elections, which are ultimately decided by the state-by-state tally of the Electoral College. The poll found Clinton widening her lead in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, while holding her advantage in Florida.  Clinton released her tax returns on Friday, painting the move as a sign of transparency that her campaign says Trump lacks. U.S. presidential candidates are not required to release their tax returns, but it has become a common custom. Trump has cited an audit by the Internal Revenue Service in refusing to release his returns. Trump also has said his taxes are no one’s business and that they reveal little. Trump scheduled a speech in Warren, Ohio, on Monday that will focus on how he would handle the threat posed by Islamic State. Trump has said he would “knock the hell out of ISIS,” without offering details. Trump has been mired in repeated controversies in recent days. He drew heavy criticism after he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her. Nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans now want Trump to drop out of the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Republicans frequently trace the birth of Islamic State to the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw the last U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011. But many analysts argue its roots lie in the decision of George W. Bush’s Republican administration to invade Iraq in 2003 without a plan to fill the vacuum created by Saddam Hussein’s ouster. It was Bush’s administration that negotiated the 2009 agreement that called for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. At his Erie event, Trump seemed to acknowledge he is facing a formidable opponent in Clinton as well as a difficult electoral path. “The Republicans have a tougher path – not my fault,” he said. He said Clinton’s campaign is smart to keep her out of the spotlight. “She doesn’t talk to reporters very often. ... She doesn’t expose what’s going on up here, which isn’t good,” he said, meaning her brain. “She’s doesn’t expose her mind to questions. What they want to do is try to fake it through.” Trump also said in Altoona that the only way he could lose Pennsylvania to Clinton is if “cheating goes on.” He said he wants authorities to monitor the voting closely. “I know what’s happening here, folks. She can’t beat what’s happening here.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने आईएसआईएस की टिप्पणियों का समर्थन किया; पार्टी प्रमुख एकता के प्रदर्शन में रैलियों में दिखाई दिए


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and Japan on Tuesday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump s move to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying it will ramp up pressure on the reclusive regime to get rid of its nuclear weapons. The designation, announced on Monday, allows the United States to impose more sanctions on North Korea, which is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions. (Graphic: Nuclear North Korea - tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF)  I welcome and support (the designation) as it raises the pressure on North Korea,  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. South Korea said it expected the listing to contribute to peaceful denuclearisation, the foreign ministry said in a text message. North Korea has vowed never to give up its nuclear weapons program, which it defends as a necessary defense against U.S. plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war, denies any such plans. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had noted the reports on the U.S. decision.  Currently, the situation on the Korean peninsula is complicated and sensitive,  Lu told a daily news briefing.  We still hope all relevant parties can do more to alleviate the situation and do more that is conducive to all relevant parties returning to the correct path of negotiation, dialogue and consultation to resolve the peninsula nuclear issue.  The move will further weigh on the  precarious situation  on the peninsula, China s official Xinhua news agency said in an English-language editorial.  The prospect of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula has been pushed farther away by one after another irresponsible action or blaring rhetoric,  it said. This year s rapid escalation of tension was largely down to a  game of chicken  between Washington and Pyongyang, it added.  Trump s re-listing of North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism comes a week after he returned from a 12-day trip to Asia in which containing North Korea s nuclear ambitions was a centerpiece of his discussions.  In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil,  Trump told reporters at the White House.  This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime.  Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also backed Trump s decision.  Kim Jong Un runs a global criminal operation from North Korea peddling arms, peddling drugs, engaged in cyber-crime and of course threatening the stability of region with his nuclear weapons,  Turnbull told reporters in Sydney, referring to the North Korean leader. Trump, who has often criticized his predecessors  policies toward North Korea as being too soft, said the designation should have been made  a long time ago . North Korea was put on the U.S. terrorism sponsor list for the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed all 115 people aboard. But the administration of former President George W. Bush, a Republican, removed it in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearisation talks. Experts say the designation will be largely symbolic as North Korea is already heavily sanctioned by the United States. On Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in s special security adviser, Moon Chung-in, told reporters any such designation would be  more symbolic than substance . The United States has designated only three other countries - Iran, Sudan and Syria - as state sponsors of terrorism. North Korea has said it plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan and on Sept. 3 conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया, जापान ने उत्तर कोरिया को आतंकवाद के प्रायोजक के रूप में स्वीकार करने वाले अमेरिका का स्वागत किया


RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will not rush through a Supreme Court choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia this week but will wait to nominate a candidate until the U.S. Senate is back in session, the White House said on Sunday. “Given that the Senate is currently in recess, we don’t expect the president to rush this through this week, but instead will do so in due time once the Senate returns from their recess,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. “At that point, we expect the Senate to consider that nominee, consistent with their responsibilities laid out in the United States Constitution,” he said. Obama is traveling in California and returns to Washington on Tuesday. The Senate returns from recess on Feb. 22. Making a recess appointment would have been extremely controversial.  The White House declined to give a more specific timeline for Obama to announce his nominee.  For his previous two Supreme Court picks, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the president took about 30 days each to announce his selection after their predecessors, Justice John Paul Stevens and Justice David Souter, respectively, said they planned to step down. In remarks honoring Scalia on Saturday, Obama made clear he would not succumb to pressure from Republicans to leave the selection of a new justice to his successor.  The president, who leaves office in January 2017, said he would make his choice in due time. “These are responsibilities that I take seriously, as should everyone. They’re bigger than any one party. They are about our democracy,” he said. “They’re about the institution to which Justice Scalia dedicated his professional life, and making sure it continues to function as the beacon of justice that our founders envisioned.” Scalia’s death and the upcoming fight over his replacement gives the White House an unexpected shot at shifting the balance of power on the Supreme Court in what would be a legacy-defining  act during his last year in office. It also keeps the president from slipping quickly into “lame duck” status during an election year. White House officials are unlikely to drag out the process of announcing Obama’s choice. “They should move with dispatch,” said David Axelrod, Obama’s former senior adviser. To rebut Republican arguments, the White House points to a host of previous Supreme Court nominees who have received speedy hearings and votes regardless of which party had control in Congress.

Summary: सीनेट के लौटने पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्यायाधीश को नामित करेंगे ओबामाः व्हाइट हाउस


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Israel must halt new building plans for settler homes in the West Bank, the European Union s foreign service said in a statement on Wednesday, warning that such settlements threatened any future peace deal with the Palestinians.  The European Union has requested clarifications from Israeli authorities and conveyed the expectation that they reconsider these decisions, which are detrimental to on-going efforts towards meaningful peace talks,  the statement said.  All settlement activity is illegal under international law, and it undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for a lasting peace.  The EU maintains that the lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war - including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights - are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ ने इजरायल से वेस्ट बैंक की नई बस्तियों की योजना को रोकने का आह्वान किया


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - From an argument over dog poo to an alleged anti-Semitic caricature he posted on Facebook, Yair Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister s 26-year-old son, is courting controversy with his social media activity. The criticism of Netanyahu in Israel is turning into a sideshow to more weighty events: criminal investigations into corruption allegations against his father and mother. They both deny any wrongdoing. The young Netanyahu is widely seen in Israel as being groomed by his parents as a future political leader and the Facebook posts have attracted particular public interest. On Saturday, he posted a cartoon using what the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors anti-Semitism worldwide, described as anti-Semitic imagery in a Facebook post mocking some of his father s critics. It included a depiction of U.S. billionaire George Soros at the top of a food chain, dangling the world in front of both a reptile and former prime minister Ehud Barak, a frequent critic of Netanyahu. Jewish financiers controlling the world is a well-known anti-Semitic theme. Soros supports left-wing and human rights organizations that have been highly critical of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. The Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League denounced the cartoon on Twitter, writing:  The caricature posted by Yair Netanyahu includes explicit anti-Semitic elements. One cannot belittle the danger inherent in an anti-Semitic discourse.  In further Facebook posts following criticism for posting  the cartoon, Yair Netanyahu, who is a university student, condemned the Israeli left for being two-faced in trying to silence him. A family spokesman said Yair Netanyahu would not be making any other comment. The prime minister refused to ask questions from reporters about the post on Sunday morning at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. Last month, the son made another headline-grabbing post after a protester was killed during a white nationalist rally in the U.S. state of Virginia.  It appeared to suggest that hard-left organizations now pose more of a danger than neo-Nazi groups, which he wrote are a dying breed. In July, Netanyahu junior found himself in a bizarre social media row over dog poo. A neighbor of the family said on Facebook that Yair, who lives with his parents, responded with an obscene gesture and walked away after she had asked him to clean up the mess left by the dog he was walking in a park. The post went viral. A family spokesman said at the time that the woman had behaved aggressively and  Yair does not know if Kaiya (the dog) did defecate as (she) alleges . Some critics in Israel suggested Netanyahu s online activities were meant to deflect attention from his parent s legal troubles.      On Friday, Israel s attorney-general said he was considering indicting Sara Netanyahu on suspicion of using state funds for personal dining and catering services amounting to some $100,000. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister for 11 years, spread over four terms, is being investigated by police in two corruption cases.

Summary: फेसबुक पर 'यहूदी-विरोधी' छवि को लेकर नेतन्याहू के बेटे की आलोचना


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Cairo on Monday to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, a presidential statement said on Sunday. The statement said Sisi wanted to discuss  ways to deal with the crisis in a manner that preserves the rights of the Palestinian people and their national sanctities and their legitimate right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital .

Summary: मिस्र के सिसी ने ट्रम्प के येरुशलम कदम पर चर्चा करने के लिए फिलिस्तीनी राष्ट्रपति को काहिरा आमंत्रित किया