MOSCOW (Reuters) - A colleague of Katerina Tikhonova from the world of acrobatic rock n roll confirmed that she is the younger daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then later withdrew his comments, saying he had misheard the question. It is the second time in two years that Reuters has disclosed Tikhonova s relationship to the president, citing a named source, and then been publicly challenged post publication. World Rock n Roll Confederation (WRRC) Vice President for Legal Affairs Manfred Mohab told Reuters in an interview on Sunday during a dance event that he knew Tikhonova through their work together on the confederation s presidium. When asked whether he knew Tikhonova was Putin s daughter, he said:  Yes. I know her, yes of course.  Asked a second time, he nodded and said:  Yes.  The Kremlin and Tikhonova did not respond to requests for comment. After the Reuters article was published on Tuesday, Mohab telephoned Reuters and said:  I can t confirm that I know the daughter of Mr. Putin. I have nothing to do with them.  Asked why he had earlier said Tikhonova was Putin s daughter, Mohab said:  Believe me, it was so loud in the hall that a lot of the things I can t understand and other things I felt that I didn t understand right. So it s not sure that I gave you the right answers.  Mohab said he had problems with his hearing.  I m sure we had some misunderstandings.  In 2015, Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of the board of directors at Russian lender Gazprombank, told Reuters that Tikhonova was Putin's daughter but later denied the statement. Reuters also confirmed her identity through two other sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. [reut.rs/2ztup0f]  After the report, Gazprombank said Akimov was "surprised and bewildered" by the quotes attributed to him by Reuters and that he had made no such remarks. [reut.rs/2zHzVAJ] Akimov and a representative for Gazprombank did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Putin, a former KGB intelligence officer, is famously guarded about his private life and has fought to keep his two daughters, Maria and Katerina, away from the public eye. While Katerina s identity has been widely assumed, it has never been confirmed by Tikhonova herself, her representatives or the Kremlin, which says it does not comment on the private lives of Putin s close relatives. Mohab, in his comments to Reuters on Sunday, became the first official to publicly identify her relationship to the Russian president since Akimov in 2015. Tikhonova, who uses a surname inherited from her grandmother, runs publicly-funded projects at Moscow State University and serves as the WRRC s vice president for expansion and marketing. Aged 31, she is a major player in acrobatic rock n roll, a niche dance discipline she has competed in and helps manage through senior positions at the WRRC and the Russian national federation. She is also married to Kirill Shamalov, the son of one of Putin's closest friends, who has since made a fortune of at least $1 billion through dealings in Russia's largest petrochemical company. [reut.rs/2BfT74A] Mohab spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the World Cup Rock n Roll European Championship in Moscow. Asked if Tikhonova s personal connection to the president had been a boon for acrobatic rock n roll, he said:  Yes, of course.  The sport is developing thanks to Russia, he said.  We have an expansion project which is working on all continents and in a lot of countries. And this is all going out from Russia.  With just over 200 adult pairs in the WRRC world rankings, acrobatic rock n roll remains a relatively obscure discipline in competitive dancing that is most popular in eastern Europe. Around 9,000 people actively participate in acrobatic rock n roll in Russia and organizers aim to add another 3,000 people by 2020, according to the national federation. Reuters reported in December last year that Moscow was building a publicly-funded $30 million complex for the sport on the outskirts of the city, an investment which dwarfs that spent in other countries and on some bigger sports in Russia.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः सहकर्मी ने पुतिन की बेटी का नाम लिया, फिर टिप्पणी वापस ली


(Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign manager said on Friday he was relieved a battery case against him was over but disputed a reporter’s claim that he never tried to get in touch after she accused him of bruising her arm. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said on Thursday that Lewandowski, 42, would not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge involving Michelle Fields, previously a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart. Police charged him on March 29 with intentionally grabbing and bruising Fields’ arm at a campaign event.      Lewandowski told CNN he called Fields on the night of the March 8 incident in Florida after seeing her boyfriend’s Twitter account that something had occurred. He said he never heard back. “I didn’t know what happened, honestly,” he said. “It was a brief interaction, and it wasn’t memorable to me, and I’m sorry about that.” Lewandowski told CNN his phone records proved that he did in fact try to contact Fields.  Fields disputed that. “No. I never heard from Corey,” she said on Twitter on Friday following Lewandowski’s interview.

Summary: ट्रम्प अभियान प्रबंधक का कहना है कि उन्होंने भाग जाने के बाद रिपोर्टर को फोन कियाः सीएनएन


GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights panel said on Wednesday it had credible allegations that North Korean authorities had tortured or mistreated children forced to return from abroad or held in detention. It also called on Pyongyang to halt child labor in farming, mining and construction, as well as discrimination against youth for the  crimes  of their parents. The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, which reviewed Pyongyang s record last month, voiced deep concern at what it called the  ideological indoctrination  in its education system and malnutrition among North Korean children.  We do have reports which are credible that children are at least to a certain extent tortured or exposed to violent treatment by the authorities in various circumstances,  panel member Kirsten Sandberg told a news briefing.   This might be when they return to the country after having tried to stay abroad and then are being forcibly returned. It happens on the border, we ve heard reports about violent treatment,  she said. This involved mainly North Korean children returning from China, Sandberg said, adding:  We also have reports of pregnant mothers coming back or being forcibly returned who are not to allowed to keep their babies.   We also have reports of violence against children in detention,  she said. Tensions in the region and beyond, especially with the United States, have risen considerably in recent months as North Korea conducted a series of tests of its medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, some of which flew over Japan, as well as its sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3.  The U.N. panel, in a session on Sept. 21, asked the North Korean delegation how  songbun , a system ranking citizens based on family loyalty to the ruling dynasty, affected children s access to education, health and food. The North Korean delegation replied that this was an  imaginary concept  invented by hostile forces. In its findings, the U.N. panel said it had  reports of discrimination against students based on their social status and political views of their parents .  North Korea has a  serious nutrition problem , Sandberg said.  There is still an over 40 percent rate of under-nourishment. This also a serious underlying cause for child mortality, also mortality of their mothers.  And children under five years continue to suffer from high rates of stunting and wasting,  she said. Children are told to  volunteer extensive periods of their day to work on farms and mines, collect wood in the forests, repair railroads, clean statues and participate in forestation initiatives and construction projects,  the U.N. panel said, noting these were referred to as  economic assignments . The watchdog, composed of 18 independent experts, also called on North Korea to allow children freedom of expression, including access to the Internet. North Korea told the U.N. panel last month that international sanctions imposed on it over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs would endanger the survival of North Korean children. There was no immediate reaction from Pyongyang to the findings, but a North Korean diplomat in Geneva told Reuters just before they were released:  We are committed to dialogue .

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र समिति ने उत्तर कोरिया से यातना, बाल श्रम को समाप्त करने का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider reviving litigation seeking to hold Arab Bank Plc financially liable for militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories that accused the Jordan-based bank of being the “paymaster” to militant groups. The justices agreed to hear an appeal by roughly 6,000 plaintiffs, who included relatives of non-U.S. citizens killed in such attacks and survivors of the incidents, of a lower court ruling throwing out the litigation. The plaintiffs accused Arab Bank under a U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute of deliberately financing terrorism, including suicide bombings and other attacks. They are hoping to overturn a 2015 New York federal appeals court ruling that the bank could not be sued under the statute because it is a corporation. The Alien Tort Statute, a law dating back to 1789, lets non-U.S. citizens seek damages in U.S. courts for human rights violations abroad. The lead plaintiff in the case is Joseph Jesner, whose British citizen son was killed at age 19 in a 2002 suicide bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv. The plaintiffs filed several lawsuits under the law in Brooklyn federal court, claiming Arab Bank used its New York branch to transfer money and “serve as a ‘paymaster’ for international terrorists.”  The transfers helped Hamas and other groups fund attacks and reward families of the perpetrators between 1995 and 2005, the suits alleged.  The bank said in court papers that the U.S. government has called it a constructive partner in the fight against terrorism financing. The bank said only four transactions out of 500,000 involved “designated terrorists” by the U.S. government, and they were the result of machine or human error.  The bank also cited a separate 2010 case, Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum, in which the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corporations cannot be sued under the Alien Tort Statute.  After reviewing that case, the Supreme Court in 2013 narrowed the law’s reach, saying claims must sufficiently “touch and concern” the United States to overcome the presumption that the Alien Tort Statute does not cover foreign conduct.  But the high court declined to explicitly decide whether the 2nd Circuit ruling on corporate liability was correct.  Based on the Kiobel ruling, the 2nd Circuit threw out the litigation against Arab Bank.  The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, urging it to decide once and for all whether or not corporations are shielded over foreign conduct.

Summary: अमेरिकी शीर्ष अदालत आतंकवादी हमलों के लिए जॉर्डन स्थित बैंक के दायित्व पर विचार करेगी


BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss a lawsuit by an Indonesian illegal immigrant challenging his detention in a Massachusetts county jail, finding that she had authority to challenge the conditions of his confinement. Terry Rombot was part of a wave of Indonesian Christians who fled their country following deadly riots in 1998. About 70 members of that exodus have been allowed to remain, illegally, in New Hampshire since 2010 under a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. However, in August, President Donald Trump instructed ICE in a directive that all immigrants in the United States illegally were subject to deportation. Rombot learned of the policy change when he arrived for an Aug. 1 check-in at ICE s Manchester, New Hampshire, office and was arrested. He was initially held in Massachusetts at the Plymouth County house of corrections, which had filed a bid to dismiss the lawsuit, and since has been moved to Bristol County. Federal courts do not have direct authority over immigration matters, which are handled by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, but Chief Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court in Boston wrote in a court filing on Wednesday that she has a say over the terms of his confinement.  The district court holds jurisdiction to review habeas (corpus) challenges to unlawful immigration detention,  Saris wrote. Writs of habeas corpus challenge illegal detention. At a Friday hearing, Saris expressed concern that ICE had broken its word with Rombot after telling him in 2015 that he would  be given an opportunity to prepare for an orderly departure  before being deported. She also expressed concern he was being held alongside potentially violent criminals. Rombot is one of 47 Indonesian nationals living illegally in New Hampshire involved in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration s move to deport them. ICE officials said the arrangement had always been a temporary one and that the agency always had discretion to deport the people covered by the arrangement. Members of the group and advocates say they fear they could face discrimination or violence if forced to return to the world s largest Muslim-majority country. The Indonesians are part of an ethnic community of about 2,000 people clustered around the city of Dover in New Hampshire s seacoast region. Their cause has drawn the support of the state s all-Democratic congressional delegation, including U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Governor Chris Sununu.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने इंडोनेशियाई अप्रवासी के मुकदमे को खारिज करने की बोली को खारिज कर दिया


(This Sept 15 story corrects “asked” in first paragraph to “raised with” California lawmakers) By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has proposed liberalizing his country’s drug laws, privately raised with California lawmakers visiting Mexico a state measure to legalize recreational marijuana, a state legislator said on Thursday. A delegation of California Democratic lawmakers visiting Mexico talked for an hour on Wednesday with Pena Nieto about trade and the state’s border with Mexico. During the meeting, Pena Nieto brought up the November ballot measure without getting into details, California state Senator Ben Allen said in an interview. “But they’re clearly paying close attention,” he added. If California votes to create a legal cannabis market, it would place great pressure on Mexico, which is mired in combating its vast drug-trafficking networks, to follow suit.  There was no mention of the California marijuana initiative in the presidency’s report on the meeting, and Pena Nieto’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment. Pena Nieto has said the United States and Mexico should not pursue diverging policies on marijuana legislation and in April proposed a bill to allow Mexicans to carry up to an ounce of marijuana has stalled in Congress. California’s proposal would allow people over 21 years to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for private use and establish a system to license, regulate and tax sales of cannabis.  Recent polls show a majority of Californians favor legalizing marijuana. Four U.S. states plus the District of Columbia already allow recreational use for adults. Voters in several more states, including the southern border state of Arizona, will consider similar legislation in November. Long regarded as a conservative on drug policy, Pena Nieto has modified his stance since he took office in 2012, reflecting growing Latin American disenchantment with the war on drugs. A bill to legalize medical marijuana remains in Congress.  Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said he eventually expects Mexico to be swayed by the fiscal opportunities of regulated cannabis, which he believes could earn California around $1 billion a year in tax revenue.

Summary: कैलिफोर्निया मारिजुआना वोट के बाद मेक्सिको के राष्ट्रपतिः राज्य के सांसद


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump s Middle East peace negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, is returning to Israel to  continue the peace track  after the president met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week in New York, a White House official said on Sunday.  While President Trump had productive meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas at the United Nations, we always said that the UN would not focus on peace conversations and that those conversations would be happening on a separate track,  the official said in a statement.  (Greenblatt) will have follow-up meetings in advance of a private trip in the region with his family for Sukkot. The meetings are part of the Administration s quiet, steady discussions toward peace,  he said. Sukkot is a Jewish holiday.

Summary: शांति वार्ता के लिए इजरायल लौट रहे हैं ट्रंप के सहयोगी ग्रीनब्लैटः अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The next round of aid to help rebuild Puerto Rico and U.S. states after destructive hurricanes and wildfires is unlikely to be considered by Congress until it takes up a catch-all spending bill that faces a Dec. 8 deadline for passage, the No. 2 Senate Republican said on Wednesday. John Cornyn said a crush of other matters would take up time, so “we probably won’t get to that” (disaster aid) until consideration of a massive bill to fund federal agencies through next Sept. 30. The Trump administration has said it will submit to Congress a third round of disaster aid in mid-November that could total tens of billions of dollars. Congress already has provided over $51 billion Currently, the Republican-controlled Congress is mainly focused on passing a major tax reform bill by year’s end. The disaster aid would help recovery efforts in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in August and September. Six weeks after Maria tore through Puerto Rico, the island is struggling to pick up the pieces, and about two-thirds of its residents remain without power. The U.S. territory declared bankruptcy earlier this year and the storm has plunged its economy into deeper uncertainty. The government-wide spending bill could also become a magnet for measures that Democrats, who are in the minority in Congress, want to attach. Those could include a bipartisan plan to temporarily bolster the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare.” Democrats also are hinting that the end-of-year measure could be an opportunity to force passage of legislation protecting from deportation young “Dreamers,” people brought illegally to the United States as children.

Summary: दिसंबर में अगली अमेरिकी आपदा सहायता मंजूरी की संभावनाः सीनेटर कॉर्निन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will not address a dispute over encryption between the U.S. Justice Department and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) during a trip to Texas on Friday, Kristie Canegallo, his deputy chief of staff, told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

Summary: टेक्सास में एप्पल विवाद को संबोधित नहीं करेंगे ओबामाः अधिकारी


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia s main medical association called on Saturday for the government to allow independent doctors and other health experts to help more than 400 asylum seekers languishing inside a recently closed detention center in Papua New Guinea. The asylum seekers have shut themselves inside the Australian-run Manus Island Centre for the past 18 days, defying attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to close it in a standoff the United Nations describes as a  looming humanitarian crisis . Australia has shut access to the center, and staff, including doctors, have left, leaving the men without sufficient food, clean water, power or medical care. Members of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) voted unanimously on Saturday to call on the government to grant access to the center so doctors could assess the men s health, wellbeing and living conditions.  The AMA has made many representations on this matter, both publicly and in private but, with a worsening and more dangerous situation emerging on Manus, the federal council strongly believes that urgent action and answers are needed,  AMA President Michael Gannon said.  It is our responsibility as a nation with a strong human rights record to ensure that we look after the health and wellbeing of these men, and provide them with safe and hygienic living conditions.  Government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. Australia s  sovereign borders  immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. The 421 asylum seekers on Manus island say they fear violent reprisals from the community if they move to transit centers, pending possible resettlement to the United States. Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz said via text message on Saturday that PNG officials had started to dismantle the center s perimeter fences and food was running low.  We are waiting drinking from the rainwater ... it s tense feeling, we don t have any idea what PNG will do to us. Their attitude toward us they are really aggressive,  Aziz said. PNG s Supreme Court ruled last year that the center breached its laws and fundamental human rights, leading to the decision to close it. New Zealand has offered to accept 150 of the men, but Australia has declined the offer saying the priority was an existing refugee swap deal negotiated with former U.S. President Barack Obama last year.   Under that deal, up to 1,250 asylum seekers could be sent to the United States and Australia will in turn accept refugees from Central America.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलियाई चिकित्सा समूह मनुस द्वीप के शरण चाहने वालों तक पहुंच चाहता है


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Spending cuts and a failure by Mexico s president to upgrade an earthquake alert system hurt life-saving prevention programs and amplified recovery costs after two major temblors this month, current and former government officials said. Although President Enrique Pena Nieto is eager to show a prompt and competent response to the earthquakes, which killed more than 430 people, the budget of recovery agencies is threadbare due to cost-cutting by his administration.  Pena Nieto, an unpopular centrist struggling to get a successor from his party or an ally elected president next July, on Wednesday acknowledged the problem, urging lawmakers to boost funding in the 2018 budget.   The reconstruction needs more resources,  he said. The government has slashed disaster budgets by as much as 50 percent in recent years, part of a broader cost-cutting effort to make up for shortfalls caused by a drop in oil revenues, which finance about 20 percent of Mexico s federal budget. The 2017 budget alone reduced funding for Mexico s various disaster and civil protection efforts by 25 percent, from about 8.6 billion pesos ($475 million) in 2016 to 6.4 billion pesos.  In a statement, Pena Nieto s office defended its performance and said cutbacks could not be attributed solely to the presidency. While the executive branch proposes the budget, the spending plan is ultimately approved by Congress.  Despite the budget restrictions, the civil protection system has strengthened in recent years,  the president s office said in a statement. The cuts last year prompted lawmakers to warn in a report that  the state is relinquishing its responsibilities to its population, given inevitable and unknowable disaster risks.  Now, after the two big quakes, and damage from hurricanes before that, Mexico is hard-pressed to find ways to rebuild.  The reconstruction fund has zero pesos,  Luis Felipe Puente, the government s emergency services chief, said in an interview. The president s office said funding had not hindered the start of reconstruction, saying insurance and a disaster bond augmented federal coffers.  For those who work in readiness efforts, however, the current problem is a clear example of what happens when governments skimp on prevention measures, from risk assessments to early warning systems for quakes, volcanic activity and other disasters.     According to the United Nations, every dollar spent on preparedness saves about seven dollars in response. In 2014, Mexico s federal auditor chastised the government for spending more on reconstruction than on preparing for disasters.  We should be investing more in prevention,  said Enrique Guevara, a former head of Mexico s National Center for Disaster Prevention, or CENAPRED.  Firstly because you save lives, and secondly you save money.  At CENAPRED, founded in the wake of a massive 1985 quake that killed thousands, expenditure fell by 20 percent between 2012 and 2016, hurting the upkeep of a national risk atlas and lowering morale at the institution, according to a senior official there who requested anonymity to speak frankly.  The government also slashed 2017 budgets for two government funds that finance disaster efforts, official data shows.  This year s budget for FOPREDEN, a fund for the prevention of natural disasters, was cut by 50 percent. FONDEN, a larger fund for disaster relief, lost a quarter of its budget, according to the government spending plan. In addition to reducing funds for the federal government s own efforts, the president has turned down or ignored financing requests at another program officials said could help lower disaster tolls. Unlike the previous administration of former President Felipe Calderon, Pena Nieto has not invested in a widely praised earthquake alert system credited with saving lives since it was implemented in Mexico City in 1989.  The system, the Center for Seismic Instrumentation and Registry, detects many quakes across the country, sounding a warning that gives the 20 million residents of greater Mexico City crucial time to evacuate buildings before some tremors arrive. Funded mostly by the city government, and currently operating on less than 30 million pesos per year, the system needs more monitors to detect even more temblors, like the 7.1 quake on Sept. 19. Better detection, the system s director said, could have given Mexico City residents up to 5 seconds more warning that day. As it happened, many locals said they heard the alarm only once the ground began shaking.  But repeated requests to Pena Nieto and various federal agencies for additional funding in recent years were met with  Olympic silence,  said Juan Manuel Espinosa, the director. In its statement, the president s office said the federal government had no obligation to fund the alarm system. It noted a shortfall in past financing for the system by the state of Oaxaca, which is a contractual partner with the Mexico City government in its financing.  For Pena Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, the cutbacks could create problems at the ballot box, especially among a Mexican electorate that is increasingly ready for change after years of corruption and drug violence. Although Pena Nieto cannot stand for reelection, the PRI ranks third in current projections for the July vote. Meanwhile, rivals like leftist frontrunner and former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are poised to take advantage of any missteps.   Whoever gets this wrong will feel the effects in the election,  said Gustavo Mohar, a former Mexican intelligence official who now runs a strategic risk consultancy.  For the recovery to succeed, the government must find additional sources of financing. Estimates of the cost range from about $2 billion, according to the government, to as much as $4 billion, a calculation by investment bank Nomura. Puente, the emergency services chief, said the finance ministry may receive funding from catastrophe bonds, issued by the World Bank in August, that could provide Mexico with up to $360 million in protection from certain quakes and storms. But aside from housing the homeless and rebuilding, the government must also ensure it spends disaster funds wisely and transparently - a notoriously tricky task, particularly for an administration that many Mexicans consider corrupt. In the hard-hit capital, where at least 206 people died, volunteers helping with recovery work this week said they distrust the government s ability to provide effective relief.  There is no money for anything,  said Beatriz Navarrete, a 21-year-old medical student manning a donations tent.  If the government was really spending money, we wouldn t be here, begging for medicine.

Summary: कटौती ने मेक्सिको में भूकंप की प्रतिक्रिया को प्रभावित किया, 2018 के मतदान से पहले परिदृश्य


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Sunday that the international community must step up its response to North Korea after Pyongyang announced it had tested a hydrogen bomb. Abe said he had agreed separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on North Korea. “President Trump and I shared the view that we cannot overlook North Korea’s reckless act and that the international community must show its resolve by applying stronger pressure than had so far been used”, Abe told reporters after the call. “We again confirmed that Japan and the United States are 100 percent together.” It was their second phone call of the day and their fourth since North Korea fired a missile over Japan on Tuesday. Abe said he and Putin agreed that “North Korea’s reckless act is a serious threat” and that they would maintain close contact on the issue.  He noted that he and the Russian leader are scheduled to meet this week on the sidelines of a gathering in Vladivostok.

Summary: जापान के आबेः उत्तर कोरिया पर सहयोग पर ट्रम्प, पुतिन से सहमत


MUNICH (Reuters) - France said on Saturday that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence would need to clarify his administration’s stance toward the European Union when he meets officials in Brussels next week, given President Donald Trump’s previous support for Britain’s exit.  Pence is due in the Belgian capital on Monday. “I don’t want to prejudge Vice President Pence’s intentions ... I hope that we will have a clear response, because Donald Trump has said he was overjoyed by Brexit and that there would be others. So we are waiting clarifications.”

Summary: फ्रांस का कहना है कि वह चाहता है कि पेंस यूरोपीय संघ पर ट्रम्प के रुख को स्पष्ट करें


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump defended his regular use of social media, especially Twitter, and said he may not have won the White House without it. In an interview airing on Sunday on “Fox Business Network,” Trump says he can bypass what he labels unfair media coverage by speaking directly. “Tweeting is like a typewriter — when I put it out, you put it immediately on your show,” he said, according to a transcript released by the network. “I doubt I would be here if weren’t for social media, to be honest with you.” Trump called his social media accounts on Facebook Inc (FB.O), Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Instagram “a tremendous platform.” “When somebody, says something about me, I am able to go bing, bing, bing and I take care of it. The other way, I would never be get the word out,” he said, according to the transcript. Republican leaders have regularly urged Trump to avoid or cut back on tweets and Trump acknowledged some friends suggest he not use social media. Trump regularly mounts attacks on Twitter, especially at news media and political opponents, often sending out missives in the early morning or late evening hours. At times, Trump’s tweets have contained factual inaccuracies and personal attacks. In March for example, Trump asserted without evidence President Barack Obama had ordered Trump Tower in New York wiretapped - something Obama denied. In September, the FBI and the Justice Department said in a court filing “they have no records related to wiretaps as described” by tweets from Trump. He recently excoriated NFL players for taking a knee during the National Anthem. He also criticized Senator Bob Corker in a series of tweets prompting Corker to respond: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” White House chief of staff John Kelly said last week some have criticized him for failing to control Trump’s tweeting. “I was not brought to this job to control anything but the flow of information to our president,” Kelly said. In July, Trump was sued in federal court by seven individuals whom he has blocked on Twitter. The Justice Department said the suit should be dismissed, arguing it “rests on the unsupported and erroneous premise that the president’s Twitter account is a public forum for First Amendment purposes.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने व्हाइट हाउस की जीत की कुंजी के रूप में ट्वीट्स का बचाव किया


MANDRA, Greece (Reuters) - Greeks voiced despair and disbelief on Thursday after a flash flood killed at least 15 people and left hundreds homeless, with many blaming a system that allowed houses to be built on dried up river beds. In the towns of Nea Peramos and Mandra west of the capital Athens, crumpled cars and mangled furniture lay on roads coated in the thick mud left behind by a raging torrent that smashed through homes on Wednesday morning.  We are ruined. My tavern and my house are gone,  said Paraskevas Stamou, a restaurant owner in Mandra.  Everything is gone, the road is gone, the water is still flowing and we were flooded again last night and this morning.  We are expecting another downpour tonight. It s like God hates us,  he told Reuters. To escape the lethal floodwaters, residents took desperate measures.  We had nowhere to sleep. We slept on the roof, we found carpets to cover ourselves,  said a man in Mandra whose house was gutted by the flood but remained standing. Between sobs, his mother added:  Everything went. We don t have anyone to help us. I don t have help from anyone.     Elderly people wandered the streets in muddied clothing, looking bewildered.  What I am concerned about is the indifference - there was no one there by our side to say,  take courage . I didn t want anything else, nothing,  said Mandra resident Maria Kriada.  Did anyone ask me if I had any water to drink? If I had any food to eat? If I had somewhere to sleep? No one came to say this.  Bad weather continued on Thursday. Officials said they were waiting for conditions to improve before giving a clearer picture of the damage. Five people were still missing.  Flags flew at half-mast from state buildings and the Acropolis on Thursday as the government declared three days of national mourning. Newspapers expressed anger.  A Crime,  was the headline in Ta Nea daily, superimposed on a picture of a woman being comforted next to an overturned car.  The Deeds of Man,  wrote the leftist Avgi, referring to unlicensed constructions. Experts blamed haphazard construction which the natural path for water runoff obstructed, and soil erosion on a mountain range hit by fires. Both towns were built along an old motorway linking Athens to the Peloponnese city of Corinth. As building crept closer to the road, streams that would have drained runoff from the nearby Pateras mountains were blocked.  Of course the state wasn t prepared ... we cannot compete with nature,  said Christos Zeferos, head of the research center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology Academy of Athens, adding that climate change meant people should expect more weather-related disasters.  We should be prepared for more frequent, and different phenomena,  he told Reuters. Many of the victims were elderly. The youngest was a 36-year old truck driver who called his mother as the floodwaters rose around his lorry. The line went dead soon afterwards.

Summary: बाढ़ में कम से कम 15 लोगों की मौत के बाद शोक और अविश्वास में यूनानी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian hackers targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race and a small number were breached but  there was no evidence any votes were manipulated, a Homeland Security Department official told Congress on Wednesday. Jeanette Manfra, the department’s acting deputy undersecretary of cyber security, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orchestrated a wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House in November. The Russia issue has cast a shadow over Trump’s first five months in office. The extent of interference by Russian hackers, and whether they or others could interfere in future elections, has been the source of speculation and media reports for months. Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for any cyber attacks during the election. Trump has variously said Russia may or may not have been responsible for hacking but has dismissed allegations his associates colluded with Moscow as “fake news.” Manfra and other officials testifying on Wednesday said U.S. elections are resilient to hacking in part because they are decentralized and largely operated on the state and local level. Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, voiced skepticism, saying only a small number of votes in key battleground states would need to be altered to tip the scales in an election. “A sophisticated actor could hack an election simply by focusing on certain counties,” King said. “I don’t think it works just to say it’s a big system and diversity will protect us.” Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, expressed frustration at Manfra’s refusal to identify which states had been targeted. Arizona and Illinois last year confirmed that hackers had targeted their voter registration systems. Samuel Liles, another senior DHS cyber official, likened states targeted or scanned to a thief walking by homes to scout for weaknesses, and breaches to breaking through a front door. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, met on Wednesday with senior Senate Judiciary Committee members to ensure there was no conflict between his investigation of potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and the panel’s probe of what led to Trump firing Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. Trump acknowledged on Friday he was under investigation in the probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 race and possible collusion by his campaign, and seemed to assail the Justice Department official overseeing the inquiry. Mueller was examining whether Trump or others sought to obstruct the probe, a person familiar with the inquiry told Reuters. Jeh Johnson, who led the Homeland Security Department until the end of the Obama administration, told the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee his department had issued warnings about hacking into voter registration databases. Asked why the Obama administration did not do more to warn the public, Johnson said: “We were very concerned that we would not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign.” He told the House committee, which is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the election, that the notices did not get the attention he would have liked, blaming the emergence of a 2005 videotape - in which Trump brags about sexual conquests - for distracting the American public.

Summary: रूसियों ने 21 चुनाव प्रणालियों को निशाना बनाया, अमेरिकी अधिकारी ने कहा


ASTANA (Reuters) - Syria s U.N. ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, said on Friday that U.S. and Turkish troops should leave Syria immediately. He made the demand during Syrian peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Summary: सीरियाई सरकार के राजदूतः अमेरिकी और तुर्की सैनिकों को सीरिया छोड़ना चाहिए


MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan secessionists on Friday registered a motion with the regional parliament to proclaim independence from Spain and a Catalan republic though it was unclear whether the text would be put to a vote, newspaper La Vanguardia said. The motion was presented by lawmakers from Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) and CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) which together hold a majority in the assembly.

Summary: कैटलन अलगाववादियों ने स्पेन से अलग होने के लिए संसदीय प्रस्ताव दर्ज कियाः मीडिया


ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign team is to meet officials from the Republican National Committee on Friday in what both groups described as a routine session to discuss joint operations in Florida. Trump, who is lagging Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in opinion polls, was not expected to attend the Orlando gathering after staging a rally near there on Thursday. He is to hold separate events on Friday in Erie and Altoona, Pennsylvania. The New York businessman is struggling to get past a rough several days, when he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her. In recent weeks, a steady stream of moderate Republicans, such as U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine,  have vowed not to support Trump, while 50 Republican national security experts signed a letter opposing him. Many Republicans not only worry about failing to win the White House, but also are alarmed that their majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives could be at risk. Trump has blamed the U.S. news media for taking many of his comments out of context, and on Thursday night, some of his supporters heckled and cursed reporters who covered the rally in a large arena in Kissimmee. On Friday, Trump passed off as sarcasm the assertion he made repeatedly this week that President Barack Obama and Clinton were “co-founders” of Islamic State and its Most Valuable Players. “Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) ‘the founder’ of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” Trump said in a tweet. It was the second time in recent weeks that Trump has explained a controversial statement as sarcastic. In late July, he invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time as U.S. secretary of state, which raised concerns among intelligence experts that he was urging a foreign government to spy on Americans. He said later he was being sarcastic.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा में रिपब्लिकन पार्टी और ट्रम्प के प्रचार अभियान की बैठक होगी


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) it test-fired on Wednesday was launched from a newly developed vehicle and that the its warhead could withstand the pressure of re-entering the earth s atmosphere.    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the missile test and said the new launcher was  impeccable , state media said. He described the new vehicle as a  breakthrough . Observers and analysts have cast doubt on North Korea s ability to master the technology needed to design a warhead capable of withstanding the enormous pressure of re-entry into the earth s atmosphere and suggested the isolated country may still be years away from developing a credible delivery vehicle for a nuclear weapon. But Wednesday s launch re-confirmed  the safety of a warhead in the atmospheric re-entry environment,  state media said, without elaborating.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया का कहना है कि आई. सी. बी. एम. परीक्षण में नए प्रक्षेपण वाहन का उपयोग किया गया, सफलतापूर्वक वारहेड पुनः प्रवेश दिखाया गया


SEOUL/PYONGYANG (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea on Monday that recent American military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed President Donald Trump’s resolve should not be questioned, but Pyongyang vowed to continue missile and nuclear tests. After a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang and a failed North Korean missile test during the weekend, U.S. officials praised China for stepping up efforts to rein in North Korea, Beijing’s neighbor and ally. But Pence and South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, said they would proceed with the early deployment to South Korea of the U.S. THAAD missile-defense system, in spite of Chinese objections. At a White House Easter celebration on Monday, Trump was asked if he had a message for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and replied: “Gotta behave.” But senior North Korean officials remained defiant. North Korea’s deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, accused Washington of creating “a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time” and said Pyongyang’s next nuclear test would take place “at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary.” (Graphic - Carl Vinson strike group: tmsnrt.rs/2pqOMWA) (Graphic - North Korea's nuclear program: tmsnrt.rs/2n0gd92) North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC that missiles would continue to be tested on “a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.”  Kim Song Gyong, director general of the European Department of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters in Pyongyang that if Washington made “the slightest movement” to make a nuclear strike on North Korea, Pyongyang would strike first and “destroy the aggressors without any mercy.” He went on to clarify that the approach of a U.S. naval strike force led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to Korean waters would not be considered enough to constitute “the slightest movement”. Korean tensions have escalated following repeated North Korean missile tests and concerns that Pyongyang may soon conduct a sixth nuclear bomb test in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Washington is increasingly worried about North Korean efforts to develop a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. Speaking alongside Hwang, Pence said the world had witnessed Trump’s resolve in the past two weeks, which saw a U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airfield and the dropping of a powerful non-nuclear bomb on Islamic State in Afghanistan. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region,” Pence said on what was his first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to show that Trump is not turning his back on the increasingly volatile part of the world. Pence, whose father served in the 1950-53 Korean War, visited the North-South border on Monday and said Washington would stand by its “ironclad alliance” with South Korea. “All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country,” he told reporters as tinny propaganda music floated across from the North Korean side of the so-called demilitarized zone (DMZ). The Trump administration has said that military action remains an option for dealing with North Korea. But mindful that this would likely trigger massive retaliation and casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops there, U.S. officials say the Trump administration’s main focus is on tougher economic sanctions to try to get Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs.    Trump himself, when asked on Monday if he was considering military action, told Fox News Channel he didn’t want to “telegraph” his plans like the previous administration. “We’ll see what happens. I hope things work out well,” he said but added that the United States had tried to engage the North Koreans in talks for a long time.  On Sunday, Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said that the United States, its allies and China were working on a range of responses to North Korea’s latest missile test, citing what he called an international consensus to act. He indicated Trump was not considering military action for now, despite the dispatch the carrier group. U.S. officials say tougher sanctions could include an oil embargo, a global ban on North Korea’s airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang. They say greater Chinese cooperation is vital.  White House spokesman Sean Spicer said China had taken some “very helpful” steps, although it remained to be seen how effective these would be. Asked if Trump had a “red line” on North Korea, Spicer said the president did not believe these worked.  Susan Thornton, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, agreed in a phone call on Sunday on the need for strict enforcement of U.N. resolutions and for international action to press Pyongyang “to cease provocative actions and recommit to peaceful denuclearization.” Thornton said any new North Korean nuclear test “would draw a pretty significant international response.” “We’re definitely not seeking conflict or regime change,” she said. “But we are committed to defending our people and our allies should it be necessary.” Pence is expected to discuss Korean tensions with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday when he travels to Tokyo for economic talks with Finance Minister Taro Aso. He will also visit Jakarta and Sydney. His economic discussions will be closely watched to see how hard a line Washington is prepared to take on trade. Trump campaigned on an “America First” platform, and has vowed to narrow big trade deficits with nations like China and Japan. But Trump has also shown willingness to link trade to other issues, saying he would cut a better trade deal with China if it exerts influence on North Korea. China has appeared increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang, speaking out against its weapons tests and supporting United Nations sanctions, while repeatedly calling for talks. China banned imports of North Korean coal, the country’s most important export, in February, and Chinese media have raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to the North. However, Beijing says the crisis is one between the United States and North Korea.  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the situation was “highly sensitive, complicated and high risk” and all sides should “avoid taking provocative actions “

Summary: पेंस ने उत्तर कोरिया को सीरिया, अफगान हमलों में दिखाए गए अमेरिकी संकल्प की चेतावनी दी


(Reuters) - Senator Ben Sasse was in a fairly lonely place when he wrote on his Facebook page back in February that he could not support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. That is changing. Since Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, staked out his position, the ranks of Republican Trump critics in the U.S. Congress have grown, with the New York real estate mogul stirring almost constant turmoil within his party. The following are Republicans in Congress who have said they will not vote for Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election, followed by those who have said they are keeping their options open. Senator Ben Sasse. Wrote in February he could not support Trump or his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Sasse wrote: “Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation.” Senator Lindsey Graham. A strong Trump critic, Graham sought the Republican presidential nomination, but drew little support. He has told reporters he may write in someone for president. Senator Mark Kirk. The Illinois lawmakers faces a tough battle for re-election and withdrew his endorsement of Trump in June, citing Trump’s attacks on “Hispanics, women and the disabled like me.” Kirk had a stroke in 2012 and uses a wheelchair. He told CNN on Aug. 10 that he will write in former Secretary of State Colin Powell for president. Senator Susan Collins. The Maine moderate said in a Washington Post opinion article on Aug. 8 that she will not vote for Trump or Clinton. She has said she may write in another candidate. Representative Carlos Curbelo. A Cuban-American from Florida, Curbelo was an early Trump critic. “If the nominee is a fraud, and someone who’s offensive, and incapable of being an effective president like Donald Trump, I won’t support him,” Curbelo told Reuters in February. Representative Justin Amash. A libertarian-leaning Michigan congressman, Amash says Trump’s policies go in the wrong direction. “I’m not voting for him,” he told Reuters in March. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. A Cuban-American whose south Florida district is next door to Curbelo’s, Ros-Lehtinen said in May that she will not support Trump or Clinton. Representative Bob Dold. A longtime Trump critic from Illinois who plans to write someone in. Representative Adam Kinzinger. Another Illinoisan, Kinzinger told CNN on Aug. 3 he did not see how he could support Trump. Representative Charlie Dent. The Pennsylvanian said earlier this month he was not planning to vote for Trump or Clinton. Representative Richard Hanna. On Aug. 2, Hanna, of New York state, became the first House Republican to say he will vote for Clinton. He is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. Representative Scott Rigell. A Virginian who is also retiring from Congress, Rigell said on Aug. 7 that he would vote for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson. Representative Reid Ribble. The Wisconsinite already was blasting Trump last September, saying Trump was doing “serious damage” to the Republican brand and that he could not support him. Ribble is retiring from Congress. Some prominent lawmakers have not endorsed Trump, but will not say whether they will vote for him, leaving their options open. Senator Jeff Flake. The Arizona lawmaker on Aug. 9 said there was “slim hope” he could vote for Trump, and added Trump could not win the presidency unless he changes. Senator Pat Toomey. A Pennsylvanian in a tight re-election race, Toomey has not endorsed Trump and says he has not made a decision on what he will do. Senator Ted Cruz. A conservative Texan and former Trump rival for the Republican nomination, Cruz was booed at the Republican convention after he pointedly did not endorse Trump and urged delegates to “vote your conscience.” Senator Mike Lee. A Cruz ally, the Utah senator says he has concerns about whether Trump is conservative enough. “He has not endorsed and he has no plans to do so,” a Lee spokesman said. Representative Mike Coffman. The Colorado lawmaker has not ruled out voting for Trump, but put out a television ad saying “I don’t care for him much.” Representative Fred Upton. From Michigan, he says he is not endorsing anyone and has not said for whom he will vote.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः अमेरिकी रिपब्लिकन सांसद जो कहते हैं कि वे ट्रम्प को वोट नहीं देंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 policy platform calls for reviews of trade deals, wider health coverage through public programs such as Medicare, and federal investigations of fossil fuel companies accused of misleading shareholders on climate change, according to a draft version released on Friday. The committee drafting the platform last weekend approved the document, which spells out the party’s policy priorities. It still must be formally adopted at the Democratic National Convention, to be held in Philadelphia in July.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स के मसौदा मंच ने व्यापार सौदों की समीक्षा का आह्वान किया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Wednesday Turkey will do whatever is necessary if its banking sector is affected by the U.S. trial of a Turkish bank executive in a case regarding a conspiracy to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. Speaking at a conference in Istanbul, Simsek said Turkey s banking sector has a great capacity to deal with shocks.

Summary: अमेरिकी परीक्षण से बैंकिंग क्षेत्र प्रभावित होने पर तुर्की जो भी आवश्यक होगा करेगाः सिमसेक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis met with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday and they discussed U.S.-Saudi military cooperation in the fight against Islamic State, the Pentagon said in a statement. Mattis and Prince Mohammed, who is the kingdom’s defense minister, also discussed “confronting Iran’s destabilizing regional activities,” the statement said.

Summary: पेंटागन प्रमुख और सऊदी के उप क्राउन प्रिंस ने इस्लामिक स्टेट के खिलाफ लड़ाई पर चर्चा की


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Hindu man in India tried to raise money for a campaign against minority Muslims by issuing an appeal for donations with a video he took and posted online showing him killing a Muslim, police said on Thursday. The killing last week is the latest to roil India s minority Muslims who have faced attacks from mobs who accuse them of killing cows, which Hindus consider sacred. Hindu fringe groups also campaign against Muslim men marrying Hindus. The Hindu man, Shambu Lal Regar, has been arrested on suspicion of hacking and burning a Muslim laborer in the western state of Rajasthan, police said. Regar had posted a video of the attack along with his bank details for donations to finance his anti-Muslim campaign, police officer Anand Shrivastava said. More than 700 people from across India deposited 300,000  rupees ($4,665) into the account.  The accused wanted to become a Hindu hero after killing a Muslim man, his main aim was to collect money after committing the hate crime,  said Shrivastava. Regar s video went viral on social media before authorities took it down. Police investigators had frozen the bank account and were tracking down donors, Shrivastava said. Shrivastava said the video had showed Regar claiming to be a proud Hindu trying to stop  love jihad  - a term used by Hindu hardliners who accuse Muslim men of entrapping Hindu women and girls on the pretext of love in order to convert them to Islam. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who leads the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, has been criticized for failing to do enough to stop attacks on Muslims. The government rejects that. Modi has condemned violence in the name of protecting cows. Muslims account for 172 million of India s 1.32 billion citizens and Modi s critics say Hindu groups linked with his ruling party are trying to marginalize them. The BJP denies any bias against Muslims

Summary: भारतीय हिंदू ने मुस्लिम की हत्या के वीडियो के साथ धन जुटाने की कोशिश कीः पुलिस


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says paying no income tax would make him “smart.” While nearly half of Americans agree with him, more people think it is “selfish,” and “unpatriotic,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.  Some 67 percent of Americans said it is “selfish” for a presidential candidate to pay no taxes, while 61 percent said it is “unpatriotic,” according to the poll, which allowed respondents to pick more than one adjective to describe paying no taxes. At the same time, the results showed some respect for a candidate who can figure out how to reduce their tax bill. Some 46 percent of Americans, including 35 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Republicans, thought a presidential candidate who pays no taxes is “smart.” Trump’s taxes have become a big campaign issue after the New York Times released a portion of his 1995 tax returns last week and estimated that Trump likely paid no taxes for a number of years. The celebrity real estate developer, who is the first presidential candidate in decades to refuse to release his full tax returns, didn’t deny the report. He later said that he had “brilliantly used” U.S. tax rules to his advantage.  During the first presidential debate with his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton last month, Trump responded to Clinton’s allegation that he paid no federal taxes by saying that would make him “smart.”  “What is he trying to say: that those of us who pay taxes aren’t intelligent?” said poll respondent Yonna McNerney, 41, of Denver. “I started working at the age of 16, and I’ve always paid taxes,” she said. “Not paying taxes, I don’t think that’s acceptable.” McNerney, a mother of three who works at a telecommunications company, remains uncommitted in the race and said Trump’s comments about taxes haven’t changed her mind one way or the other. April St. Aoro, 46, who works for a manufacturing firm near St. Cloud, Minnesota, was more understanding of Trump’s point of view, though she also remains undecided in the race. “I think all of us are trying to pay as little taxes as possible,” St. Aoro said. Respondents were slightly less critical when asked to describe a private citizen paying no taxes. Some 64 percent agreed it was “selfish,” while just over half agreed it was “unpatriotic.” Some 50 percent, including 37 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans, agreed that it was “smart.” The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. Respondents were asked what they thought of “a private citizen who has found a way to pay no income taxes,” and given the choice to agree or disagree to the words “smart,” “selfish,” and “unpatriotic.”  They were then asked the same set of questions about a presidential candidate. The Sept. 28-Oct. 3 poll was part of a larger national tracking poll that tracks public opinion every day. It included 1,948 American adults, including 893 Democrats and 635 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample, 4 percentage points for Democrats only and 5 percentage points for Republicans.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने कर से बचने को 'स्मार्ट' कहा, अधिकांश अमेरिकी इसे 'देशद्रोही' कहते हैंः सर्वेक्षण


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has no evidence that Saad al-Hariri is being held against his will by Saudi Arabia and believes that the Lebanese prime minister who resigned last week enjoys freedom of movement, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.  We have no evidence that Hariri is being detained in Riyadh and we assume that he chooses where he goes,  the spokeswoman said during a regular government news conference. A government spokesman said Germany shared Saudi Arabia s concerns about Iran s interference in Yemen and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Summary: सऊदी अरब द्वारा हरीरी को हिरासत में लिए जाने का कोई सबूत नहीं हैः जर्मनी


(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced two additional nominees for his Cabinet on Wednesday, and his transition team said he is holding meetings as he prepares to make high-level appointments. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles as the Trump works to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20, according to Reuters sources and media reports. See the end of list for posts already filled. * Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor  * Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City * David Petraeus, retired U.S. general and former CIA director who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information he gave to his mistress * Bob Corker, Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee * James Mattis, retired Marine Corps general * David Petraeus, retired U.S. general and former CIA director who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information he gave to his mistress * Tom Cotton, Republican U.S. senator from Arkansas       * Jon Kyl, former Republican U.S. senator from Arizona * Duncan Hunter, Republican U.S. representative from California and early Trump supporter, member of the House Armed Services Committee * Jim Talent, former Republican U.S. senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee  * Rick Perry, former Republican Texas governor * Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush * Michael McCaul, Republican U.S. representative from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee * General John Kelly, retired Marine Corps general and former commander of U.S. Southern Command * David Clarke, Milwaukee County sheriff and vocal Trump supporter * Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump * Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state * Frances Townsend, homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Republican former President George W. Bush * Jeff Holmstead, energy lawyer, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Leslie Rutledge, Republican Arkansas attorney general * Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management * Scott Pruitt, Republican Oklahoma attorney general * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Kevin Cramer, Republican U.S. representative from North Dakota * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors  * Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp * James Connaughton, chief executive of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush * Rick Perry, former Republican Texas governor * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee * Jan Brewer, Republican former Arizona governor * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors * Mary Fallin, Republican Oklahoma governor * Ray Washburne, chief executive of investment company Charter Holdings * Cathy McMorris Rodgers, U.S. representative from Washington state and House Republican Conference chair * U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency * Ronald Burgess, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief  * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, Republican former U.S. representative from Michigan * Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City  * Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp * Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants * Victoria Lipnic, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member and former Labor Department official during the George W. Bush administration * Dr. Ben Carson, former 2016 Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon * Goldman Sachs Group Inc President Gary Cohn * Sarah Palin, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor The Trump transition team confirmed he would choose from a list of 21 names he drew up during his campaign, including Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah and William Pryor, a federal judge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  * Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus * Steve Bannon, former head of the conservative website Breitbart News * Jeff Sessions, Republican U.S. senator from Alabama and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (subject to Senate confirmation) * Republican U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo from Kansas (subject to Senate confirmation) * Michael Flynn, retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency * Nikki Haley, Republican South Carolina governor (subject to Senate confirmation) * Betsy DeVos, Republican donor and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party  * Tom Price, Republican U.S. representative from Georgia,  orthopedic surgeon * Elaine Chao, former labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary under Republican Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, respectively. Chao is married to  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman * Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, chairman of Invesco Ltd subsidiary WL Ross & Co

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः दावेदार, ट्रम्प प्रशासन में प्रमुख पदों के लिए चयन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans cheered after the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday thwarted President Barack Obama’s plan to offer millions of undocumented immigrants relief from deportation, but any sense of triumph might last only until the November presidential election.  If recent history is a guide, the stalled cause of immigration reform could energize Hispanic voters in support of likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, hurting Republican Donald Trump’s chances of reaching the White House.  Four years ago, Obama, seeking reelection to a second term, made Republican opposition to reform a central theme of his campaign. He ended up swamping his opponent, Mitt Romney, by almost a 3 to 1 margin among Latino voters, who now make up around 12 percent of the U.S. electorate. Republican hopes for securing a larger share of that vote this election already seemed grim given Trump’s vow to deport the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally and to build a wall along the southern U.S. border.  Democrats were quick to assail the ruling and voice concern about the fate of the 4 million or so immigrants who were to be shielded from deportation by Obama’s executive action. But it was also clear that they believe the high court has handed them a potent weapon to spur Latinos — the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate — to vote in greater numbers. The Latino voting bloc is expected to swell to 27.3 million in 2016, up 4 million from 4 years ago.  The prospect of Clinton filling the current vacancy on the top court with a liberal-leading justice who could, potentially, protect immigration-reform programs, may galvanize those voters as well. Republicans in Congress have refused to accept Obama’s pick for the top court to fill the vacancy left by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February.  The justices’ ruling on Thursday sent the question of the legality of Obama’s program back to a Texas federal court for trial, leaving open the possibility that the matter could return to the high court on appeal at a later date.  The court’s decision “just adds fuel to the fire that’s already raging,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. “Each of these events raises the intensity and the Latino turnout even more.” In the wake of the ruling, immigration activists vowed payback in November’s election and staged protests on Thursday. A recent survey by Latino Decisions, a polling firm, showed that about half of the U.S. Hispanic electorate showed greater enthusiasm to vote in 2016 as compared to 2012, with support for Obama’s pro-immigrant executive orders running high.  “We should expect similar dynamics this fall, perhaps even more so given the election is likely to determine the ideological direction of the Supreme Court,” said David Damore, an analyst for the firm. Given Trump’s unpopularity with Latino voters, the question for many Democrats both in and outside the Clinton campaign has been less about attracting the bloc’s support and more about making sure it votes in large enough numbers to help offset Trump’s expected advantage among white voters.  The court’s decision may also help make traditionally Republican states with increasing Hispanic populations such as Arizona more competitive this election, strategists in both parties said.  Reed Galen, a Republican strategist in California, said the ruling could boost Democratic hopes in Latino-heavy battleground states such as Nevada, Colorado, and Florida.  “The issue isn’t getting [Latino voters] fired up,” Galen said. “It’s getting them to show up.” Galen believes there is little his party can do now to mitigate the damage he believes Trump has done to its appeal among Hispanics. A Republican National Committee “autopsy” report after Romney’s defeat said it was essential for the party to broaden its appeal to Hispanic voters by embracing immigration reform.  “Trump has pushed the envelope on immigration so far for Republicans, I don’t know this [decision] is going to be any more damaging,” he said. “The barn’s already been blown up.” But Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a conservative advocacy group, disagreed. He said Republicans in Congress could still enact reform this year, which would ward off Trump’s deportation threat while building stronger ties with Latino voters.  “This is the quintessential green light for Republicans to put their money where their mouth is,” Rodriguez said.  Many Republicans were careful on Thursday to applaud the court’s ruling on the grounds that it curtailed what they viewed as an abuse of executive authority by Obama, without delving into the underlying immigration issues.  “The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws — only Congress is,” said Paul Ryan, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Ryan supports comprehensive immigration reform. Trump, however, went further, praising the ruling and saying the election now held the key to blocking further illegal immigration.  “The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country,” he said in a statement. He has vowed to reverse Obama’s executive actions on immigration as president.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन के लिए आप्रवासन जीत अंत में क्लिंटन की मदद कर सकती है


(Reuters) - Hurricane Maria is forecast to become a tropical storm Tuesday night or Wednesday, with large swells affecting much of the U.S. east coast from Florida through southern New England, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday. Maria, a category 1 hurricane, is about 280 miles (450 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kph), the Miami-based weather forecaster said.  The center of Maria will pass east of the coast of North Carolina during the next couple of days,  NHC said.

Summary: मारिया के मंगलवार रात या बुधवार को उष्णकटिबंधीय तूफान बनने की संभावनाः एन. एच. सी.


(Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Beijing next month for a summit with China s Xi Jinping as the two countries seek to mend ties frayed by a year-long spat over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, Seoul s foreign ministry said on Thursday.  The agreement was made during a meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, the ministry said.  The two leaders met on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, early this month, during which they agreed to another round of talks in the near future.

Summary: संबंधों को सुधारने के लिए अगले महीने शिखर सम्मेलन करेंगे दक्षिण कोरिया और चीन


BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it had lodged a protest with the “relevant side” in the United States after President-elect Donald Trump spoke by telephone with the president of self-ruled Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen. The “one China” principle is the political basis of the China-U.S. relationship, the ministry added, urging the “relevant side” to uphold this policy and carefully handle the Taiwan issue to avoid unnecessary disturbances in ties.

Summary: चीन ने ताइवान के राष्ट्रपति के साथ ट्रम्प की बातचीत पर विरोध दर्ज कराया


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi pro-government paramilitaries launched an offensive against Kurdish troops on Tuesday near the Turkish frontier, pushing towards a strategic border crossing and oil export pipeline hub that Baghdad says must come under its control. The Iraqi government has transformed the balance of power in the north of the country since launching a campaign last week to seize back territory from the Kurds, who govern an autonomous region of three northern provinces and had also seized a swathe of other territory in northern Iraq. The Kurds held a referendum on independence last month that Baghdad called illegal. Baghdad responded by seizing back the city of Kirkuk, the oil-producing areas around it, and other territory that the Kurds had captured from Islamic State. Prime Minister Haidar Abadi has ordered his army to recapture all disputed territory, and has also demanded central control of Iraq s border crossings with Turkey, all of which are inside the Kurdish autonomous region itself. A Kurdish official said Kurdish security forces known as Peshmerga had successfully beaten back an advance by Iranian-backed pro-government paramilitaries in the region of Rabi a, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Fish-Khabur border area. Fish-Khabur is strategically vital because oil from both Kurdish and government-held parts of northern Iraq cross at a pipeline there into Turkey, the main route out of the area for international export, crucial for any Kurdish independence bid. Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad he will discuss the issue of the border crossing with his Turkish counterpart Benali Yildirim on Wednesday in Ankara. The fighting so far has taken place outside the Kurdish autonomous region, but Fish-Khabur is located within it, so any assault on the border crossing would mark a major escalation, bringing government troops into undisputed Kurdish territory.  Crude oil flowing through the Iraqi Kurdistan pipeline to Turkey s port of Ceyhan were up slightly at 300,000 barrels per day on Tuesday, about half the level before the Iraqi takeover of Kirkuk, a shipping source in London said. The pumping rate has risen by about 50,000 bpd since Monday. An Iraqi military spokesman denied there had been any clashes in the area. But an Iraqi security source in Baghdad and a rights activist in northwest Iraq said the confrontation had started at dawn and was still going on by midday.  Peshmerga repelled the attack and pushed Popular Mobilisation back in to Rabi a,  tweeted KRG President Masoud Barzani s media advisor, Hemin Hawrami.  A military spokesman in Baghdad said in response:  There are no clashes.  The fighting between the central government and the Kurds is particularly tricky for the United States which is close allies of both sides, arming and training both the Kurds and the central government s army to fight against Islamic State.  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Baghdad this week, but Abadi rebuffed his call for Iraq to reject the role of Iran-backed Shi ite paramilitaries that fight alongside government troops and have taken a hard line on the Kurds. An Iraqi government security advisor said on Monday Baghdad aimed to bring the three-way border crossing with Turkey and Syria at Fish-Khabur under its control, but he declined to say if a military move was being prepared. The Iraqi government s advance over the past week has been achieved with comparatively little violence, with Kurds mostly withdrawing without a fight. Nevertheless, Amnesty International reported that at least 11 civilians were killed and tens of thousands displaced from Kurdish areas of Tuz Khurmato, a town south of Kirkuk. It said images, videos, photos and dozens of testimonies indicated that hundreds of properties had been looted in a rampage targeting Kurdish parts of the ethnically mixed town. Elections for the presidency and parliament of Iraq s Kurdistan region set for Nov. 1 have been delayed by eight months, the regional parliament announced on Tuesday. The electoral commission said on Monday that parties had failed to present candidates amid turmoil in the region following the Sept. 25 independence referendum.

Summary: इराक के अर्धसैनिक बल तुर्की सीमा तेल केंद्र की ओर बढ़ते हुए कुर्दों से लड़ रहे हैं


TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of Japan s largest business lobby on Thursday backed the prime minister s plan for companies to raise wages by 3 percent next year, boosting the chance that household spending will drive up consumer prices. Wages at big companies have been rising slightly more than 2 percent each year since 2014, government data shows, and an increase of 3 percent or more next year would help the Bank of Japan to reach its inflation target.  The business community realizes that society demands higher wages, so we want to take more aggressive steps to raise wages,  a government official quoted Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Keidanren business lobby, as telling a meeting of the government s top advisory panel. At the meeting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid out a plan to encourage companies to raise wages and spend more money on capital expenditure with tax breaks. The push for higher wages is an important part of Abe s economic agenda, which has strong public support following his ruling coalition s comfortable victory in parliamentary elections on Oct. 22.

Summary: जापान की व्यापारिक लॉबी ने प्रधानमंत्री आबे की वेतन वृद्धि योजना को महत्व दिया


LONDON (Reuters) - No one can be complacent about the potential threat posed by the missiles being developed by North Korea, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. In an interview with the BBC on Monday, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol said Pyongyang would continue to test missiles on a “weekly, monthly and yearly basis”. “The regime is now developing intercontinental ballistic missiles which would be capable of delivering a nuclear strike on the mainland United States. These weapons have not yet been fully tested but no one can be complacent about the potential threat they pose,” Johnson told parliament. Johnson also said he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart on Monday and urged him to use Beijing’s influence to restrain North Korea.

Summary: उत्तर कोरियाई मिसाइलों के संभावित खतरे के बारे में आत्मसंतुष्ट नहीं हो सकताः ब्रिटेन के मंत्री


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress reached a deal this week on a final version of their debt-financed legislation to cut taxes for businesses and wealthy Americans, with House and Senate votes expected early next week. Republicans control both chambers but have only a 52-to-48 Senate majority, meaning they can lose no more than two votes and still pass their tax bill, which Democrats oppose.  The following are the Republican lawmakers to watch: The Florida senator and former presidential contender said on Thursday he will vote against the tax plan if its proposed refundable amount for the child tax credit is not increased. Rubio told reporters that tax negotiators have made many changes to the legislation, including lowering the top rate paid by wealthy individuals.  “My concern is that if you found the money to lower the top rate ... you can’t find a little bit to at least somewhat increase the refundable portion of it?” Rubio asked.  The Utah senator also is unhappy with the legislation’s child tax credit approach and “undecided” on whether he will vote for the measure if there are no changes, his spokesman has told Reuters. Lee and Rubio are in negotiations aimed at making more of the tax credit refundable so more low-income families can benefit from it, his office said on Thursday. The Maine moderate has said she cannot say whether she will be supportive “until I see the bill.” Republican leaders persuaded Collins’ to support the Senate’s version of the bill earlier this month by promising to take up two healthcare provisions before the end of the year that would help mitigate her concerns about repealing Obamacare’s “individual mandate.” Republican tax writers also included amendments offered by Collins to woo her support. One preserves the deductibility of property-tax payments at a cap of $10,000. The final bill goes further by preserving the same deduction for state and local income-tax payments. Corker, a deficit hawk from Tennessee, stalled momentum on the Senate tax bill earlier this month, then ended up voting against it due to its expansion of the federal deficit. Nonpartisan government estimates have shown the Republican tax bill will expand the deficit by about $1.5 trillion in a decade, or $1 trillion after accounting for economic growth. Corker has said this week of the compromise bill: “My deficit concerns have not been alleviated.” The Arizona conservative voted for the Senate tax bill earlier this month after announcing he had succeeded in eliminating an $85 billion expensing “budget gimmick.” Flake also got a commitment from Senate leaders and the Trump administration to work on permanent protections for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Flake has not yet said whether he will support the compromise bill and was not specific about his hesitation in brief hallway remarks to reporters this week.     The Arizona senator, war hero and former presidential nominee voted for the Senate bill but his office said this week he is undergoing treatment for side effects of cancer therapy at a military hospital outside Washington. McCain, 81, missed non-tax votes this week. His office said he “looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible.”  The Mississippi senator, who also voted for the Senate bill, was absent from Capitol Hill for nearly a month earlier this year and has missed votes in recent weeks. Cochran’s office said the 80-year-old senator is in Washington and expects to vote for tax legislation next week. Vice President Mike Pence has delayed a planned trip to the Middle East in case his vote is needed to break a tie on the final tax bill. Pence has played the role of dealmaker during Senate negotiations, assuring both Collins and Flake their concerns about the legislation would be addressed. Johnson endorsed the Senate bill after getting a 23 percent tax deduction for pass-through business income. The Wisconsin senator has said he is encouraged by the compromise bill, which has a 20 percent tax deduction for pass-through business income, and a lower top individual rate of 37 percent.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः सीनेट में कर विधेयक पर मतदान के करीब पहुंचने पर रिपब्लिकन नजर रखेंगे


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk will make a statement on Brexit early on Friday, his office said on Thursday, prompting speculation on the fate of British Prime Minister Theresa May s plans for a deal with Brussels. She was in Brussels about to agree outline divorce terms on Britain s withdrawal on Monday, Dec. 4, when she was interrupted by objections from her Northern Irish allies to a planned wording on the Irish border. Talks have been continuing since then to try to resolve the dispute so that EU leaders will agree at a summit next Friday, Dec. 15, to open talks on future trade. No details were available of Tusk s plans for the morning, when he will brief reporters at 7:50 a.m. (0650 GMT). An EU official noted, however, that he would be departing for a scheduled visit to Hungary at 8:15 a.m.  Earlier, a spokesman for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said May had an effective deadline of Sunday night if she wants to return to Brussels to seal a deal and hope to have agreement on trade talks next Friday. Tusk s role in the delicate choreography of reaching an accord had been to wait until May strikes a deal on making  sufficient progress  on divorce terms with Juncker s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Tusk would then confirm that he is asking the other 27 EU national leaders to consider draft guidelines on trade negotiations for approval at the summit he will chair. However, Tusk has also warned that time is running out for him to secure the agreement of the other leaders to opening the trade talks on such a tight schedule after May and Barnier reach agreement. Failure, officials say, would push any deal back into the new year, unnerving already worried investors in Britain. Tusk said in October that if London failed to settle divorce terms by the end of this year, the EU would have to reconsider its approach to negotiations intended to limit disruption when Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019. Senior officials have said this week that a more immediate consequence of failing to strike a deal this month could be new pressure on May at home to step down   which in itself could greatly disrupt the negotiating process.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के टस्क शुक्रवार की शुरुआत में ब्रेक्सिट बयान देंगे


(Reuters) - Major governments, including the United States, the European Union and Canada, and top United Nations  officials, are among those demanding the release of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from detention in Myanmar.  The reporters were arrested on Dec. 12 after being invited to meet police officials on the outskirts of Yangon. They had worked on stories about a military crackdown in Rakhine state, from where about 665,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since August and sought refuge in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations. The two journalists were sent to Yangon s Insein prison on Wednesday after a brief court appearance where they were allowed to meet their families and a lawyer for the first time since their arrest. Myanmar s Ministry of Information has said the reporters  illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media,  and released a photo of them in handcuffs. It said the reporters and two policemen faced charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, though officials said they have not been charged.  Reuters President and Editor-In-Chief Stephen J. Adler  has called for their immediate release.      Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are journalists who perform a crucial role in shedding light on news of global interest, and they are innocent of any wrongdoing,  he said in a statement. Here are comments on their detention from governments, politicians, human rights groups, journalists and press freedom advocates around the world:   - A group of 50 Pulitzer Prize winners called their arrest  an outrageous attack on media freedom  and demanded their immediate release.  Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are brave, principled and professional journalists who were working in the public interest and were jailed simply for doing their jobs,  they said in a statement on Wednesday. - Two U.N. human rights experts called on Myanmar last week to release the two reporters, saying it was putting Myanmar on a dangerous path by using the Official Secrets Act to criminalize journalism.  Journalism is not a crime. These detentions are another way for the Government to censor information about the military s role in Rakhine State and the humanitarian catastrophe taking place,  said Yanghee Lee and David Kaye, who are the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar and on freedom of expression respectively. - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the United States was  demanding their immediate release or information as to the circumstances around their disappearance.  Last week,  the State Department reiterated the U.S. demand for the reporters  immediate release. - Senator Ben Cardin, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the arrests  outrageous .  It just brings back the memory of the horrible practices with the repressive military rule,  he said. - Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Chris Coons, leaders of the U.S. Senate Human Rights Caucus, said they were  gravely concerned  about the reporters  arrests and that press freedom was critical to ensuring accountability for violence against the Rohingya.  - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kano said last week,  Freedom of the press is extremely important, including in order to protect fundamental human rights. The Japanese government would like to watch (this matter) closely.  Tokyo-based Human Rights Now has called on Japan to take a stronger stance.  - The European Union has urged Myanmar to release the reporters  as quickly as possible.  A spokeswoman for EU  foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said,  Freedom of the press and media is the foundation and a cornerstone of any democracy.  - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said countries should do everything possible to secure the journalists  release and press freedom in Myanmar.  - Britain, Holland, Canada, Norway and Sweden have demanded the release of the Reuters reporters. Australia has expressed concern and Bangladesh has denounced the arrests.  - Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was  disturbing  to hear of the detention of the two Reuters journalists.  Press freedom is very important,  she said in a tweet on Christmas Day. - Vijay Nambiar, former special adviser on Myanmar to the U.N. Secretary-General, said in a statement to Reuters that the detentions had caused  widespread disappointment within and outside the country that is likely to further damage the international reputation and image of Myanmar.  - President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani called on Myanmar to protect media freedoms and release the reporters. - The New York Times said in an editorial on Saturday that releasing the two journalists immediately  would help restore at least some lost faith  in Aung San Suu Kyi s government. - Human Rights Watch said the detentions appeared to be  aimed at stopping independent reporting of the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya.   - The Committee to Protect Journalists said the arrests were  having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance . - Reporters Without Borders said there was no justification for the arrests and the charges being considered against the journalists were  completely spurious . - Advocacy group Fortify Rights demanded Myanmar  immediately and unconditionally release the Reuters journalists.  - Myanmar s Irrawaddy online news site called on Dec. 14 for the journalists  release in an editorial headlined  The Crackdown on the Media Must Stop.  It said  it is an outrage to see the Ministry of Information release a police record photo of reporters handcuffed   as police normally do to criminals   on its website soon after the detention. It is chilling to see that MOI has suddenly brought us back to the olden days of a repressive regime.  - The Southeast Asian Press Alliance said the journalists were  only doing their jobs in trying to fill the void of information on the Rohingya conflict.   - The Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists, local reporters who have demonstrated against prosecutions of journalists, decried the  unfair arrests that affect media freedom .  - The Foreign Correspondents  Club of Myanmar said it was  appalled  by the arrests and  gravely concerned  about press freedom in Myanmar.  - The Foreign Correspondents  Club in Thailand, Foreign Correspondents  Association of the Philippines, Jakarta Foreign Correspondents  Club and Foreign Correspondents  Club of Hong Kong have issued statements supporting the journalists.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः म्यांमार में रॉयटर्स के संवाददाताओं की गिरफ्तारी पर अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रतिक्रिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shot back at President Barack Obama’s criticism of him as unfit for office, saying Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has embraced policies that have hurt national security and America’s workers. “Hillary Clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office,” Trump said in a statement shortly after Obama issued a scathing attack and challenged Republican leaders to withdraw support for their “woefully unprepared” nominee.

Summary: ओबामा पर पलटवार करते हुए ट्रंप ने कहा कि क्लिंटन सरकार के लिए अयोग्य हैं।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has invited Judge Merrick Garland to breakfast, but absent from the menu will be any promise of hearings on President Barack Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. A spokeswoman for Grassley said that the Republican senator spoke with Garland late on Monday and extended the invitation “where they could discuss the nomination and why the Senate will not consider a nominee until the next president takes office.” The Senate Judiciary Committee is in charge of holding hearings on Supreme Court nominees chosen by the president and deciding whether to recommend full Senate confirmation. Most of the Senate’s 54 Republicans have indicated opposition to confirming any high-court nominee of Obama’s, saying the choice should be made by the next president, who would be elected on Nov. 8 and sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. Despite the wall of Republican opposition to Garland, who is considered a moderate federal appeals court judge, Obama and his fellow Democrats continue to push for Senate confirmation this year. Garland already has made several “courtesy calls” to senators, mostly Democrats, and will continue his visits to Capitol Hill this week. If he were to be confirmed, Garland - nominated to fill the vacancy created by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia - would tilt the Supreme Court to the left for the first time in decades. The race for a replacement for Obama, who is completing his second and final term as president, is in full swing now with billionaire businessman Donald Trump leading two other Republican candidates and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. But it could be weeks or months before the two political parties settle on their respective candidates. A date for the breakfast meeting has not yet been set, Grassley’s spokeswoman said.

Summary: सीनेटर ग्रासली उम्मीदवार के विरोध के बावजूद गारलैंड से मिलेंगे