HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe put on trial on Monday an activist pastor accused of attempting to subvert the government, a charge that carries up to 20 years in prison on conviction, following protests last year against President Robert Mugabe s handling of the economy. Evan Mawarire, through his #ThisFlag movement, led a stay-at-home demonstration in 2016, the biggest protest in a decade, via a social media campaign that urged citizens to speak out against economic problems and government failure to pay workers. Mawarire was arrested again for subversion on Sunday as he stepped down from his pulpit after police accused him of circulating social media posts that accused the government of wrecking the economy. Appearing in maroon slacks at the High Court, the clergyman pleaded not guilty to two charges of subverting the government and two charges of inciting public violence. The latter carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail. State prosecutor Chris Mtungadura said social media posts by Mawarire last year were meant to incite the population to overthrow the government. The state has lined up eight witnesses.  He was exercising his constitutional rights of challenging the policies of government. This ... was done in a lawful manner,  defense lawyer Harrison Nkomo told the court. Over the last few days, shortages of basic goods and fuel have emerged, resulting in panic buying by consumers. Shortages of cash, which started last year, have worsened, with some banks unable to provide money at all to customers. Prices of imported goods, including cooking oil and dairy products, have also risen, and businesses say they are being forced to buy foreign currency on the black market at a premium, raising fears of a return to hyperinflation. In 2009, the government adopted the U.S. dollar as its official currency, alongside the British sterling and South African rand, which helped to stabilize prices.  But the U.S. dollar has disappeared from banks and on Monday, buying $100 on the streets through a bank transfer cost $150, up from $133 a week ago, in a sign that dollar bank balances are fast losing value. The domestic quasi-currency  bond note  introduced last year to try to ease the shortages is also in short supply as it has been sucked out of the banking system but can be found on the street. Although bond notes have a 1:1 face value with the U.S. dollar, one needs $1.20 in bond notes to buy $1. Mugabe, 93, has held power since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980 and critics accuse him of using the security forces to crack down on dissent.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के पादरी पर तोड़फोड़ का मुकदमा, 20 साल की जेल की सजा का सामना करना पड़ा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama sets out this week to meet world leaders in China and Laos during his final presidential trip to Asia, he will make an unusual stop along the way. With time running out for more action on climate change during his time in office, Obama will drop in to Midway Atoll, a far-flung and largely uninhabited coral reef that is a refuge for sharks, albatrosses and endangered turtles and seals. The photo-rich stop is aimed at both raising awareness about the threat posed by climate change, and showcasing Obama’s decision to protect a larger part of the ocean around Hawaii. But the trip to the middle of the Pacific Ocean will also highlight the high stakes of climate change just before Obama meets world leaders in China. “I think it’s going to be an amazing sequence, and one that really matters,” said Doug McCauley, a conservation biologist from University of California, Santa Barbara. “Suddenly, you’re sitting in a room with the leaders who will decide what the fate of that place is going to be,” McCauley said. The rare trip is both a signal of the importance Obama gives to climate change - and a sign of his focus in bliateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders have clashed on economic and security issues, but forged common ground on climate, which helped secure a global deal to cut carbon emissions at a Paris conference last year. “We have to recognize that climate change and clean energy cooperation has really helped to create better overall stability in the U.S.-China relationship, writ large,” said Andrew Light, a former senior climate official in Obama’s State Department. Light, now with the World Resources Institute think tank, said he expects Xi and Obama will try to push other G20 leaders to agree to timelines for implementing the Paris agreement and work on cutting other greenhouse gases like methane and hydrofluorocarbons. Any progress on climate issues could be a rare bright spot in a trip otherwise dominated by concerns about the international economy, anti-globalization sentiments and global security problems. With less than five months left in the White House, Obama is racing to cement his record through actions he can take without help from the gridlocked U.S. Congress. For example, at Obama’s final meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts, the leaders set new goals for clean energy production. Republicans in Congress have thwarted Obama’s legislative efforts on climate, and mocked him for his focus on an issue they see as less pressing than the economy and defense. Obama also has faced criticism from environmental groups for not doing more to limit U.S. oil and gas production. “If we’re going address the climate crisis or meet our climate commitments, the vast, vast majority of fossil fuels need to remain in the ground,” said Brendan Cummings, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity. But former Environmental Protection Agency director Carol Browner said Obama has done what he could on climate both through leadership on the international stage, and by using existing laws to kick-start the clean energy sector and cut emissions from vehicles and power plants. “Nobody should ever be disappointed with this president on climate change,” said Browner, who led the White House climate push in Obama’s first term.

Summary: ओबामा की एशिया की अंतिम यात्रा में जलवायु परिवर्तन का बड़ा प्रभाव


SANTIAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday he was confident a renegotiation of the NAFTA trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada will be a “win win win.”  Speaking to business leaders in Santiago, Pence added it was important for Chile to comply with the intellectual property rights section of its free trade agreement with the United States and that he had urged President Michelle Bachelet to make TV piracy a criminal offense.

Summary: नाफ्टा पर फिर से बातचीत 'जीत की जीत' होगीः पेंस


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region on Monday to resolve their conflict over Kurdish self-determination and disputed territories through dialogue. Tillerson laid out his position at the start of a meeting in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who in turn defended the role of an Iraqi paramilitary force backed by Iran against criticism the secretary of state made on Sunday.  We are concerned and a bit sad,  Tillerson said in his opening remarks.  We have friends in Baghdad and friends in Erbil and we encourage all parties to enter into discussion ... and all differences can be addressed,  he said, referring to the Iraqi and Kurdistan region capitals. The U.S. administration sided with Abadi in rejecting the validity of the referendum held last month in the Kurdish region, which produced an overwhelming yes for Kurdish independence. The administration also called on the two sides to avoid further escalation, after Abadi retaliated against the vote by isolating the Kurdistan region and ordering his troops to seize the oil city of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters.  We don t want to enter into any battle against any Iraqi component,  Abadi said.  When we entered Kirkuk we sent a clear message that the citizens of Kirkuk are important to us.       It was Tillerson s second meeting with Abadi in as many days. After Sunday s meeting, alongside Saudi Arabia s King Salman, Tillerson said it was time for Iranian-backed militias that had helped Baghdad defeat Islamic State to  go home .  Abadi told Tillerson the paramilitary force called Popular Mobilisation  is part of the Iraqi institutions,  rejecting accusations that it is acting as Iran s proxies.  Popular Mobilisation fighters should be encouraged because they will be the hope of country and the region,  he said. A few hours earlier, Abadi s office published a statement rejecting Tillerson s comments.  No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters,  it said [nL8N1MY1UJ]. Washington, which also backed Baghdad against Islamic State, is concerned Iran will use its increased presence in Iraq, and in Syria where it supports President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its influence in the region. Shi ite Muslim Iran s influence in Iraq, where the population is also predominantly Shi ite, has grown since the U.S. invasion of 2003 that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni.  Iraq s Sunni Muslim neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, share Washington s concern about rising Iranian influence. Tehran has trained and armed the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation forces that have fought, often alongside Iraqi government units, against Islamic State, which was effectively defeated in July when a U.S.-backed offensive captured its stronghold, Mosul. The United States has over 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq and provided critical air and ground support in the offensive on Islamic State. It is also the main backer of the Kurdish-led Syrian coalition that captured the IS stronghold of Raqqa earlier this month. Of the closest groups to Iran within Popular Mobilisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, reacted to Tillerson s comment by saying it would be the Americans who will be forced to leave Iraq.  Your forces should get ready to get out of our country once the excuse of Daesh s presence is over,  said Asaib s leader, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali, according to the group s TV channel, al-Aahd.

Summary: टिलरसन ने इराक और कुर्दों से संघर्ष को बातचीत के माध्यम से हल करने का आग्रह किया


(Corrects in 6th paragraph to clarify rules) By Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats sliced holes in billionaire Betsy DeVos’ credentials to be the next U.S. Education Secretary at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday, raising doubts whether President-elect Donald Trump’s pick will win approval in the full Senate. The nomination of DeVos to head an agency that sets policy for younger children and universities and also administers a college financial aid program of $1 trillion has outraged Democrats who believe the Michigan Republican wants to dismantle public education.  Teachers unions, a major constituency for the party, roundly oppose DeVos, a philanthropist and investor. “Do you think if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family had not made hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to the Republican party, that you would be sitting here today?” asked Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who recently ran to be the Democrats’ presidential nominee.  Democratic Senators have made their opposition clear in recent days in letters, speeches and most notably at the hearing.  Next Tuesday, the Education Committee will likely approve sending her name to the full chamber when it votes in an executive session next Tuesday. Then, Democrats could attempt to block the nomination on the Senate floor. Because nominations other than those for the Supreme Court only require a simple majority vote, they will not be able to use a filibuster and would have to convince Republicans to join them in voting against the nomination. Former Senator Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ candidate for vice president in 2000, gave DeVos a laudatory introduction at the hearing, but other party members were wide-ranging in their  criticism. Minnesota’s Al Franken expressed surprise DeVos was unfamiliar with a hot education debate over measuring student achievement by proficiency or by growth. Connecticut’s Chris Murphy was dismayed when DeVos did not condemn guns in schools.  Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, an advocate of tough financial regulation, asked whether DeVos or her children had attended public schools, borrowed student loans or received federal financial help known as Pell grants. “You have no experience with financial aid,” Warren summed up when DeVos answered “no.” Many were dismayed DeVos would not pledge to carry out rules on sexual assault, for-profit colleges and fair access for students with disabilities, only saying she would review the policies.  Generally, Democrats pressed on how DeVos will manage her investments and companies in the education sector, including an on-line charter school, while serving as the most powerful public figure in the area.  They also asked repeatedly if she intended to divert money to charter schools that operate independently of school districts and are frequently run by corporations and if she would undermine public schools. “I have major concerns with how you have spent your career and fortune fighting to privatize public education and gut investments in public schools,” said Washington’s Patty Murray, the committee’s senior Democrat. DeVos scrambled to reassure them she supports taxpayer-backed education. She also said she will work to give parents choices in the schools their children attend, treat all students equally and respect states’ decisions on education. The hearing, which was delayed from last week over missing financial disclosures, began at 5 p.m. (EST). Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander only allotted each member five minutes for questions. Democrats called foul, saying that because DeVos has not finished requisite ethics paperwork they are in the dark on issues and need more time. Alexander said the Office of Government Ethics will produce by Friday a letter outlining resolutions for her potential conflicts of interest. Committee Republicans universally backed DeVos, applauding her support of vouchers that families may use to pay for private education and of charter schools.  They praised her history with The Potter’s House, which provides “Christ-centered” education, and spoke of her dedication to literacy.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स ने शिक्षा सचिव के लिए ट्रम्प के चयन की निंदा की


BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah has declared victory in the Syrian war while Russia said government forces had driven militants from much of the country where President Bashar al-Assad s rule seemed in danger two years ago. The comments from two Syrian government allies mark the most confident assessments yet of Assad s position in the war, though significant parts of the country remain outside the government s control. Russia s assertion that the army had won back 85 percent of Syria was dismissed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said the government held 48 percent of Syria. On Tuesday, Russia s defense minister met with Assad in Damascus to discuss joint military efforts and the fight against Islamic State. The government s most recent advances have recovered swathes of territory in eastern Syria from Islamic State, which is being targeted in the same region by U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab militias. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group has sent thousands of fighters to Syria, dismissed the fighting left to be done in Syria as  scattered battles .  We have won in the war (in Syria),  he said in comments reported by the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar. Referring to Assad s opponents, Nasrallah said  the path of the other project has failed and wants to negotiate for some gains . The comments, made at a religious gathering, were confirmed to Reuters by a source familiar with the speech. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, which has fractured Syria into a patchwork of areas and generated a refugee crisis of historic proportions, forcing millions of people into neighboring states and Europe. Military backing from Iran and Russia has proven critical to Assad in the war with insurgents including rebels who have been backed by Gulf Arab states, Turkey and the United States, which has decided to end a program of covert support to rebels. Rebel groups were making steady advances against Assad as recently as 2015, when the deployment of the Russian air force to Syria turned the tide in his favor.  Over the past year, Assad has crushed numerous pockets of rebel-held territory in the cities of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus, brokering local deals by which thousands of his opponents have been moved to remaining rebel-held enclaves of the country. Ceasefire deals brokered by Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United States in remaining rebel-held areas of western Syria have freed up manpower on the government side, helping its advance east into the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zor. Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu visited Assad on Tuesday on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, the ministry said. The meeting focused on plans to recapture Deir al-Zor city and to  strengthen efforts to combat terrorism in all Syrian territory until its utter annihilation,  Assad s office said. Shoigu and Assad discussed the de-escalation deals in parts of Syria that have  sped up the victories of the Syrian army and its allies in fighting terrorism in other areas , it said. Government forces last week reached Deir al-Zor city, the provincial capital on the Euphrates River, breaking an Islamic State siege of a government-held pocket and a nearby air base.  To date, 85 percent of Syria s territory has been cleared of the militants of illegal armed groups,  the RIA news agency cited Alexander Lapin, chief of staff of the Russian military contingent in Syria, as saying. Lapin made no reference to a swathe of territory held in northern Syria by an alliance of U.S.-backed militias - the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is led by the Kurdish YPG and is not at war with Assad. The Observatory said SDF-held territory amounts to 23 percent of Syria.  Lapin said Islamic State fighters are still in control of around 27,000 square km of Syria s territory.  The liberation of (Deir al-Zor) city is proceeding,  Lapin said.  Syrian troops are finalizing the defeat of the ISIL group blocking the northern and southern districts of Deir al-Zor,  he said. He said the assault was being led by General Suheil al-Hassan, a Syrian officer who has risen to prominence in the war.           Referring to the Russian figure of 85 percent, a Western diplomat said:  Other numbers tell a darker story: over 400,000 killed; half the population displaced; millions of refugees.   The harder question for Russia to answer is whether any of its vaunted 85 percent is stable. The Assad state is a thin veneer stretched over a patchwork of fiefdoms.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes likely to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed 69 people since Sunday near the Euphrates River in Deir al-Zor. The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Tuesday s report by the Britain-based monitoring group. The Observatory, which identified the victims as civilians, said the air strikes had hit encampments on the western bank of the river and vessels crossing to the eastern side. Syrian state television separately reported the army was conducting artillery and machine gun attacks on rafts carrying Islamic State militants to the eastern side of the river from their last positions in Deir al-Zor city.  Their only escape route out of the city is through rafts on the river, and god willing, we will target them in the water before they get away,  a commander said in a televised interview. Aside from the territory held by the SDF and Islamic State, rebels still control a corner of the northwest, a corner of the southwest, an area near Damascus, and an area north of the city of Homs. Syrian government attacks in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus suggest Assad may yet try to recapture the remaining rebel-held areas of the west, including enclaves at the borders with Turkey, Jordan and Israel. A major general in the Syrian Republican Guard interviewed by a state-run TV station from Deir al-Zor on Monday warned Syrians who had  run away or escaped from Syria to any other country  not to return. Major General Issam Zahreddine, head of the 104 Brigade which was under IS-siege for three years in Deir al-Zor, later issued a clarification on his Facebook page, saying his warning had been directed only at people who had taken up arms.

Summary: हिज़्बुल्लाह ने सीरिया की जीत की घोषणा की, रूस ने कहा कि देश का अधिकांश हिस्सा वापस जीत गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Wednesday he expects that he will be releasing the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 federal budget plans on March 15. Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told MSNBC: “I think we’ll actually release the budget a week from today.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस के बजट प्रमुख को अगले बुधवार को बजट जारी करने की उम्मीद है।


BEIJING (Reuters) - Whether President-elect Donald Trump goes through with a deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea will be a key indicator to how political ties unfold with China, sources with ties to the leadership in Beijing said. Beijing will also be keeping a close eye on Trump’s meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, its key regional rival, for clues on how the President-elect, who has never held public office, is likely to conduct foreign policy, they said. South Korea and the United States have agreed to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system  to counter missile threats from North Korea. It is expected to be in place within eight to 10 months, the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said earlier this month. China has argued the planned deployment undermines strategic stability in Northeast Asia, and worries that THAAD’s powerful radar provides coverage of China’s missile installations. “Whether deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense is delayed is a political weather vane,” one source said. A security adviser to Trump said last week his meeting in New York with Abe on Thursday may mark the start of talks to garner Tokyo’s support for a push-back against China’s growing influence in Asia. “We have heard what he said. We will now watch what he does,” said the source, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media. “We will play it by ear,” the source said, invoking an idiom that translates to blocking a punch or a kick as it comes. Trump has created doubts over his commitment to security alliances with Japan and South Korea, suggesting they need to pay more for a U.S. military presence and even hinting they should develop their own nuclear weapons capability. Japan going nuclear would be China’s worst nightmare and is likely to provoke strong reaction, diplomats and analysts have said. China’s relations with Japan have long been poisoned by what Beijing sees as Tokyo’s failure to fully atone for its invasion and occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two as well as competing claims over a group of East China Sea islets. “Northeast Asia would be a powder keg,” a second source said, referring to a nuclearized sub-region including China, Japan, North and South Korea. The State Council Information Office, or cabinet spokesman’s office, had no immediate comment. China is generally opposed to military alliances, seeing them as Cold War relics.  China’s stability-obsessed leaders do not know what to make of the 70-year-old Trump, whose win over Hillary Clinton was unexpected, and has backpedaled on some of his more controversial campaign statements. For example, Trump pledged his commitment to defending South Korea under an existing security alliance during a phone call last week with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Trump had said during the election campaign he would be willing to withdraw the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea unless Seoul paid a greater share of the cost of the U.S. deployment. Trump told Reuters in an interview in May he was willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program - a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation - but has also called for China to do more to rein in Pyongyang. Sino-U.S. relations after Trump takes office on Jan. 20 are expected to be fluid, although Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump during a telephone call on Monday cooperation was the “only correct choice” for the two giants. A statement from Trump’s presidential transition office said the two men “established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another” and he believes the two countries will have one of the strongest relationships moving forward. Trump’s election does offer some good news for China: it signals the demise of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China; it raises the possibility of belated U.S. backing for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and possibly marks an end to President Obama’s strategic “pivot” to Asia. The bad news is that Trump has often made provocative remarks about China during his campaign, including threats to slap 45 percent tariffs on imports from China and label the world’s second-biggest economy a currency manipulator. Wei Jianguo, a retired vice commerce minister, was optimistic a trade war could be avoided. “Protectionism is on the rise, but a trade war between China and the United States is unlikely,” Wei, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government-backed think-tank, told Reuters. “That was just election rhetoric,” he said.

Summary: चीन ने थाड की तैनाती को ट्रंप के शासन में 'मौसम के प्रतिकूल प्रभाव' के रूप में देखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thirteen U.S. industry groups representing technology companies  Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Uber Technologies Inc, Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and others are pushing for the next U.S. president to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and to make it easier to hire high-tech workers from abroad, according to a joint letter seen by Reuters. Ahead of the Republican and Democratic conventions in July, the tech industry plans to issue on Wednesday an open letter charting a dozen policy recommendations for the candidates running in the Nov. 8 presidential election. The groups are not aligning themselves with either of the two major political parties. Backing for the TPP runs counter to positions taken by presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Trump has made criticism of international trade agreements and a call for tougher immigration policies central themes of his campaign.  In a Republican debate in March the billionaire real estate developer shied away from arguing against more H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, saying he was “softening the position because we need to have talented people in this country.” Clinton has not said if she would try to renegotiate TPP, which was signed in February but has not yet got congressional approval. She has said she supports expanding the number of visas for high-skilled workers. Silicon Valley has struggled to notch policy wins in recent years on its legislative priorities, including immigration and patent reform, though the tech industry has succeeded in strengthening net neutrality protections and curtailing some government surveillance programs. The coalition letter, signed by groups including the Internet Association, Telecommunications Industry Association and Information Technology Industry Council, is the first time a wide range of technology trade organizations have staked out a common platform during a presidential campaign, according to a person familiar with its writing. The platform also calls for “narrowly targeted government access to user data” and recognition of encryption as a “critical security tool.” Trump has urged the restoration of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk collection of U.S. phone records, saying that U.S. authorities should err on the side of protecting national security over privacy concerns. Trump also urged a boycott of Apple during the company’s high-profile clash earlier this year with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation over unlocking an encrypted iPhone linked to a San Bernardino, California gunman. Clinton has supported some reforms to the NSA and has said a balance needs to be found between privacy and security in the encryption debate. The letter also calls for preventing censorship online by limiting unreasonable third-party liability for speech, support for the sharing economy, and an updated and simplified tax code, among other issues. Signatories also include Allied for Startups, BSA The Software Alliance, Computing Technology Industry Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Consumer Technology Association, Semiconductor Industry Association, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Software & Information Industry Association, Technology CEO Council and TechNet.

Summary: अमेरिकी तकनीकी कंपनियों ने राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवारों से व्यापार, उच्च तकनीक वीजा अपनाने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Branding Donald Trump a “dangerous demagogue,” USA Today on Thursday urged its readers not to vote for the Republican presidential candidate, but added that it was not endorsing his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton either. The national newspaper said in an editorial that it had never taken sides in U.S. presidential elections in its 34-year history, but was abandoning the practice because the New York real estate developer was unfit for the presidency. It went on to list and expand on eight reasons for its stance, including: “He is ill-equipped to be commander in chief,” “He traffics in prejudice,” and “He’s a serial liar.” “Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements typically range from uninformed to incoherent,” the editorial said. In an opinion piece on the USA Today website, Trump’s running mate Mike Pence wrote that the New York businessman was “thoughtful, compassionate and steady... I know he is ready to lead the United States as our next president and commander in chief.” Trump and Clinton are locked in a close race for the Nov. 8 election. A majority of Americans say Clinton won their first presidential debate on Monday, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll. USA Today, published by Gannett Co Inc, said its editorial board was divided on Clinton, and some of the reservations about the former secretary of state centered on her “sense of entitlement, her lack of candor and her extreme carelessness in handling classified information.”  Urging voters to stay true to their convictions, USA Today said: “Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.”

Summary: यूएसए टुडे ने अपने पाठकों से कहा, 'जनवादी' ट्रम्प को वोट न दें


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Mexico City on February 24-25 to lead a delegation for the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue, the White House said on Friday.

Summary: उपराष्ट्रपति बाइडन बातचीत के लिए फरवरी में मेक्सिको सिटी जाएंगेः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Existing sanctions against Russia are already effective, the White House said on Thursday, after the U.S. Senate voted nearly unanimously for legislation to impose new sanctions on Moscow.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस का कहना है कि रूस के खिलाफ मौजूदा प्रतिबंध प्रभावी हैं


NAIROBI (Reuters) - In the run-up to Kenya s August presidential election, the ruling party used divisive social media campaigns created by a U.S. company whose previous clients include President Donald Trump, a Britain-based privacy advocacy group said on Thursday. Two websites - one detailing the accomplishments of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the other attacking opposition leader Raila Odinga - share an IP address with Texas-based Harris Media LLC, according to Privacy International s report. Privacy International said the company used data analytics to target audiences using information gleaned from social media accounts in Kenya, where 1,200 people were killed in inter-ethnic violence after a disputed election a decade ago. Kenyans vote largely along ethnic lines, and candidates appeal to voters on that basis.  This raises serious concerns about the role and responsibility of companies working for political campaigns in Kenya, in which tribal affiliation and region of origin are particularly politically sensitive data, and volatile  coded language  was widely deployed,  Privacy International said. Social media in the East African nation were flooded with ads linking to the  Real Raila  and  Uhuru for Us  sites in the weeks before the Aug. 26 vote. An official for Kenyatta s Jubilee Party denied the report, saying it handled all its campaigns locally. The company, U.S.-based Harris Media LLC, did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the report. But the allegations by Privacy International recalled how, for the first time in Kenya s history, social media including fake news, hashtags and trolls dominated the public discussion and stoked tensions in the run-up to the hotly contested presidential election on Aug. 26. Kenyans went to the polls amid concerns over the credibility of the vote and bitter online hate campaigns stoking ethnic tensions, leading to fears of a return to the bloodshed that followed the disputed 2007 vote. The August vote was eventually nullified by the Supreme Court over irregularities. Kenyatta won an October re-run that Odinga boycotted. But violence marred the extended election season, and more than 70 people were killed, mainly by police. Raphael Tuju, Jubilee Party secretary general, denied the party had hired or used Harris Media.  We have heard a lot of those kinds of accusations. We were running a campaign from the Jubilee Headquarters, and we employed local communications experts, led by our own team, and that is it for us,  he told Reuters by phone. Days before the August vote, Facebook released a tool enabling Kenyan users to evaluate content displayed prominently when they log on. The tool contained tips on how to spot fake news, including checking web addresses and looking for other reports on the topic.

Summary: केन्या के राष्ट्रपति के चुनाव अभियान ने ट्रम्प द्वारा नियुक्त फर्म का इस्तेमाल कियाः गोपनीयता समूह


RIYADH (Reuters) - The failed North Korean missile test over the weekend was an attempt by the reclusive country to “provoke something,” U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, pledging that the  United States will work with China to reduce tensions.  U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programmes seen by Washington and others as a direct threat. On Saturday North Korea carried out a missile launch which the Pentagon said failed, blowing up almost immediately . Speaking with reporters on his way to the Middle East, Mattis said the most recent test was not an intercontinental ballistic missile but still a reckless move. “It shows why we are working so closely right now with the Chinese... to try to get this under control and aim for the denuclearized Korean peninsula,” Mattis said. Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the softer line he had taken on China’s management of its currency was linked to its help on North Korea. The United States, its allies and China are working on a range of responses to North Korea’s missile test, U.S. officials have said. China itself has spoken out against the North’s weapons tests and has supported U.N. sanctions.  It banned imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off its most important export and Chinese media has raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to North Korea if it unleashed more provocations. On Monday U.S. Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice, warning that recent U.S. strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed that the Trump administration’s resolve should not be tested. The Trump administration is focusing its strategy on tougher economic sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, a global ban on its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang. The North has warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. It has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturizing a nuclear warhead.

Summary: मैटिस का कहना है कि उत्तर कोरिया का मिसाइल परीक्षण उकसाने के लिए था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For seven years, the United States has fought to keep the euro zone intact, urging European officials toward action and supporting international bailout programs to keep the 17-nation currency union from cracking apart.  That appears to have changed less than two weeks into Donald Trump’s new administration.  A sharp shift in tone toward Germany, casting the euro as fuel for that country’s massive trade surplus, has raised concerns that the U.S. president’s trade-centric world view may see the euro not as a geopolitical plus, but as another needless bit of multilateralism. While Trump has refrained from commenting directly on the euro, he praised Britain’s decision to exit the European Union as a “great thing” and predicted that others would leave the bloc as the result of an influx of refugees. In comments published in the European press on Tuesday, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said the “grossly undervalued” euro served as a currency for Germany alone, allowing the country to “exploit” the United States and others. On Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin softened the traditional U.S. “strong dollar” mantra, suggesting that the dollar’s current strength may be working against what has become perhaps the administration’s central economic priority: reviving U.S. manufacturing and exports. Framed narrowly, that could put the United States on a clear a collision course with Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy and home to companies that rival top U.S. industrial giants, as it is with Mexico or China.  “There seems to be this desire to go back to a divide and conquer style strategy where the U.S. negotiates against individual countries,” said Douglas Rediker, executive chair of International Capital Strategies and a former U.S. executive board member at the International Monetary Fund.  “To single (Germany) out when they don’t have authority to manipulate their currency, requires you to make a leap - which is to say that ‘We don’t care that there actually is a common currency. We are going to take you to account.’” Monetary policy in the euro zone is set by the European Central Bank, and it is the ECB’s money creation policies that have contributed to the euro’s recent decline in value.  Like the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing, those efforts have been regarded internationally as a reasonable response to the region’s dangerous economic weakness - not as an effort to cheapen the currency to gain a trade advantage.  “The question is how far will the new administration go with this?” said Jeromin Zettelmeyer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former German economic official. Trump could, for example, try to tax German goods to offset any perceived advantage gained from a cheap euro, Zettelmeyer said. An import duty has already been suggested as a way to redress alleged currency manipulation by China. “Trump seems to think that having a trade deficit with another country means that the other country is somehow stealing or at least getting the better deal,” said Zettelmeyer. The first days of Trump’s administration have touched off a wave of anxiety in Europe. European Council President Donald Tusk went so far as to list the new government in Washington among the chief “external” threats faced by Europe. Criticism of Germany’s trade surplus, however, is not unique to Trump.  The Treasury Department under President Obama added Germany to a “watch list” because of its large trade imbalances. The U.S. trade deficit with Germany stood at $77 billion as of 2015, three times that of other European Union countries combined, and $20 billion more than the deficit with Mexico, one of Trump’s other economic nemeses.   But for Obama officials, the aim was to get Germany to spend more and boost its imports of goods from the rest of Europe and the rest of the world. It was not to target the euro’s value and, by extension, the steps taken by the ECB to revive European growth more broadly. Partly under American influence, the Group of 20 nations, including China, has in recent years agreed to consensus language that countries would “refrain from competitive devaluations.”  They have also generally avoided criticizing each other’s central banks. That diplomacy is credited at least in part for China’s recent shift toward a more flexible currency regime that organizations like the International Monetary Fund feel have brought the renminbi currency close to fair market value. In their last report on the euro zone, IMF staff said they did think the euro was undervalued. But they said the range could be anywhere from 0 to 10 percent, though likely larger for Germany. “The consequences (of a protectionist United States) affect us Germans as a leading export and import nation particularly hard,” Federation of German Industries chief Dieter Kempf said in a speech in Berlin after the Navarro comments.

Summary: जर्मनी पर एक बार्ब ने ट्रम्प प्रशासन को यूरोपीय संघ के साथ टकराव के रास्ते पर ला खड़ा किया


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Saturday for more international peace-making and crisis-management efforts on the Korean peninsula during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, state news agency Xinhua said. Xi and Trump, meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg, also agreed to keep in close touch on the North Korean nuclear issue, the report added.

Summary: चीन के शी ने उत्तर कोरिया पर और शांति स्थापित करने के प्रयासों का आह्वान कियाः सिन्हुआ


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats said on Thursday they were launching an investigation into why prices for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treatments have nearly quintupled since 2004, and they sent letters requesting information from seven drugmakers.  U.S. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Peter Welch sent the letters to Bayer AG, Biogen Inc, Merck KGaA’s EMD Serono unit, Novartis AG, Roche Holding AG, Sanofi SA, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. The lawmakers on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said in the letters that they were looking to determine whether drug companies were raising prices for MS drugs in lockstep with their competitors. The average annual cost of MS therapy rose to $78,000 in 2016 from $16,000 in 2004, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Drugmakers have faced a global pushback from regulators and lawmakers about high prices.  President Donald Trump has said the companies are “getting away with murder” and has pledged to lower the cost of prescription drugs. He met with Representative Cummings to discuss the issue in March. Previous congressional investigations and hearings into drug pricing practices have had far-reaching effects. Mylan NV sharply reduced the cost of EpiPen after the Oversight Committee began looking into the increases that drove the list price of the life saving allergy treatment to around $600 a pair.  Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Turing Pharmaceuticals have also faced congressional pressure over high prices. Roche said it plans to work with the lawmakers to address their questions, and said the industry needs to reverse the trend of sharp increases in MS drug prices. It said its treatment Ocrevus is priced around 20 percent below the current average cost of treatment and does not plan to aggressively raise its price. A Bayer spokeswoman said the company had received the letter and planned to reply directly to the congress members. Novartis said it was reviewing the letter to determine how to address the request. Sanofi did not immediately have a comment on the probe. Biogen, EMD Serono, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc could not immediately be reached for comment.

Summary: यूएस हाउस डेमोक्रेट्स ने एमएस दवा मूल्य निर्धारण की जांच शुरू की


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Kurdish-led Syrian groups plan to attend Russia s proposed Syria peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Kurdish officials have said. The Syria peace congress was originally scheduled for Nov. 18 but was postponed and the Kremlin said on Thursday that no new date had been set. If the invitation is renewed,  we will attend Sochi and every other meeting that concerns the Syrian crisis as representatives of the people s will  Sihanouk Depo, an official of Syria s main Kurdish party, PYD, told an affiliated website on Wednesday.  We are still invited,  Badran Jia Kurd, a senior Kurdish official, told Reuters on Thursday. If the framework for the congress still stands,  we will attend , said Jia Kurd, an adviser to the administration that governs Kurdish-led autonomous regions of Syria. It would mark the first time Syria s main Kurdish groups are brought into peace talks. Although they now run at least a quarter of Syria, they have so far been left out of international talks in line with Turkish wishes. Before the Sochi talks were postponed, the PYD said in November it had been invited and favored attending. Since the conflict erupted in 2011, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north. The YPG spearheads the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting Islamic State militants with Washington s backing.  Their territorial grip has expanded since joining forces with the United States, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans.  Turkey views the PYD and the YPG as offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey. Last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said Russia had told Ankara that the PYD would not be invited to the peace talks.    The Kurdish groups share enmities with both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government and with neighboring Turkey. This week, Assad described the U.S.-backed militias as  traitors . On Wednesday, in an interview with Iran s Arabic language Al-Alam television, Syria s deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad equated the Kurdish-led forces with Islamic State.  There is another Daesh called SDF,  he said, using the Arabic acronym for the militant group that until recently controlled swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. In his interview on Wednesday, Depo said:  Any attack from the regime will be a failed venture.

Summary: कुर्द नेतृत्व वाले सीरियाई समूह सोची वार्ता में भाग लेने की योजना बना रहे हैंः अधिकारी


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - About 20,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against government corruption and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is under criminal investigation over allegations of abuse of office. The demonstration was by far the largest of weekly anti-corruption protests sparked by corruption allegations against Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing.  The four-term leader is suspected of involvement in two cases. The first involves receiving gifts from wealthy businessmen and the second involves negotiating a deal with a newspaper owner for better coverage in return for curbs on a rival daily. Saturday s protest was prompted by a draft law expected to be ratified by parliament next week, which would bar police from publishing its findings in two investigations of Netanyahu. A Reuters cameraman and Israeli media put the number of demonstrators at about 20,000. Police would not provide an official estimate.  Critics say the draft law is a blatant attempt to protect Netanyahu and keep the public in the dark about his investigation. Supporters of the legislation say it is meant to protect suspects  rights. Netanyahu has said he has no interest in promoting personal legislation but he has not ordered its two sponsors, close confidants in his Likud party, to withdraw the bill. Netanyahu has described himself as a victim of a political witch hunt and said of the cases against him:  There will be nothing because there is nothing.   If charged, he would come under heavy pressure to resign or could call an election to test whether he still had a mandate.

Summary: नेतन्याहू, भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ हजारों इजरायलियों का विरोध प्रदर्शन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved President Donald Trump’s nominees to head the Interior and Energy Departments. The panel approved Ryan Zinke for the Interior Department by a vote of 16 to 6 and Rick Perry, a former governor or oil producing Texas, for the Energy Department by a vote of 16 to 7. Next, the full Senate will consider both nominees.

Summary: सीनेट समिति ने ऊर्जा, आंतरिक मामलों के लिए ट्रम्प की पसंद को मंजूरी दी


NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nomination for the White House shot to a record high at online betting sites around the world on Wednesday after his latest victory in voting in Nevada. Betting venues in Britain, Ireland and New Zealand show the online wagering community coalescing around Trump, once considered a rank outsider attracting long-shot odds of 200/1. Following his double-digit margin win in Nevada’s Republican caucuses on Tuesday, his third victory in the first four early nominating contests, odds have tightened all the way to 1/2 in some cases. “Mr Trump has triumphed yet again, despite political analysts almost unanimously writing him off as a serious presidential contender,” said Graham Sharpe from William Hill, adding one customer stood to collect at least $100,000 if Trump was elected to the White House on Nov. 8.  William Hill and Betway make Trump 1/2 favorite to get the Republican nod, while Ladbrokes cut his odds to 4/9, the same as those shown on Ireland’s PaddyPower. His nearest rival, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, featured odds of 6/1 on Ladbrokes. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who has been battling with Rubio for the No. 2 spot in the early voting states, has sunk to a deep longshot. Paddy Power gives Cruz odds of 33/1, its site shows. Bettors also markedly cut the odds on Trump becoming president, although he still trails Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who won Nevada’s Democratic caucuses on Saturday. Jessica Bridge from Ladbrokes said Trump was on a roll heading into Super Tuesday on March 1, when several U.S. states hold nominating contests. On PredictIt, a site operated by Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nod were the highest since it started tracking the race in October 2015.  A Trump bet there, on a scale of $0.00 to $1, stood at 72 cents, up 4 cents, while Rubio tumbled 7 cents to 24 cents and Cruz sank a penny to 4 cents, matching a record low.  (Reporting by Michael Holden in London and Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Howard Goller) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: ऑनलाइन सट्टेबाज डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प को रिपब्लिकन उम्मीदवार के रूप में देखते हैं


BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has broken the ice with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter that said he looked forward to working with him to develop relations, although the pair haven’t spoken directly since Trump took office. The letter thanked Xi for his congratulatory note on Trump’s inauguration and wished the Chinese people a prosperous Lunar New Year of the Rooster, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. “President Trump stated that he looks forward to working with President Xi to develop a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China,” it said. China said on Thursday it attached great importance to China-U.S. ties.  “We highly appreciate President Trump’s holiday greetings to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing.  Asked whether it was a snub that Trump had held calls with many other world leaders as president, but not Xi, Lu said: “This kind of remark is meaningless.” He reiterated that China and the U.S. had maintained “close communication” since Trump took office and that cooperation was the “only correct choice”. “China is willing to work with the United States in adhering to the principles of non-confrontation, mutual respect and mutual benefit to promote cooperation, control disputes, and on a healthy and stable foundation, promote greater development in China-U.S. ties,” Lu said.  Trump and Xi have yet to speak directly since Trump took office on Jan. 20, although they did talk soon after Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November. Diplomatic sources in Beijing say China has been nervous about Xi being left humiliated in the event a call with Trump goes wrong and the details are leaked to the U.S. media. Last week, U.S. ties with staunch ally Australia became strained after the Washington Post published details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. [nL4N1FN0JR] “That is the last thing China wants,” a source familiar with China’s thinking on relations with the United States told Reuters. “It would be incredibly embarrassing for President Xi and for Chinese people, who value the concept of face.” A senior non-U.S. Western diplomat said China was unlikely to be in a rush to set up such a call. “These things need to happen in a very controlled environment for China, and China can’t guarantee that with the unpredictable Trump,” the diplomat said. “Trump also seems too distracted with other issues at the moment to give too much attention to China.” There are a number of contentious areas where China fears Trump could go off script, the diplomat said, pointing in particular to the issue of self-ruled Taiwan, as well as trade. Trump upset China in December by taking a phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. China considers Taiwan a wayward province with no right to formal diplomatic relations with any other country. Trump has also threatened to slap tariffs on Chinese imports, accusing Beijing of devaluing its yuan currency and stealing U.S. jobs. In his Senate confirmation hearing, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the disputed South China Sea. The White House also vowed to defend “international territories” in the strategic waterway. China has repeatedly said it has smooth contacts with the Trump team. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said last week the two countries were remaining “in close touch”. That contact has been led by China’s top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister. Yang told Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor, last week that China hopes it can work with the United States to manage and control disputes and sensitive problems. [nL4N1FO364] The source familiar with China’s thinking said Trump’s administration was “very clear” about China’s position on Taiwan. Trump has yet to mention Taiwan since he took office. Chinese state media has wondered whether Trump has a China policy at all. On Thursday, the widely read Global Times tabloid, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, noted that Trump had not immediately confronted China as had been expected because he had realized upsetting Beijing would backfire badly. “He has probably realized that real tough action against China would result in a complex chain reaction, even beyond his control,” the paper said in an editorial. Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s elite Renmin University, said the letter suggested the new U.S. administration wanted to signal the importance it attached to the U.S.-China relationship without risking being confronted on specific issues. “Trump has sent many messages that makes the world confused, like on the South China Sea and ‘One China’ policy, so if he makes a phone call President Xi will ask ‘what do you mean?’,” Wang said. “He wants to avoid this so he just sends a letter for the first step.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने चीन के शी के साथ 'रचनात्मक' संबंधों की मांग करते हुए पत्र लिखा


WASHINGTON/SAN JUAN (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional draft bill to steer Puerto Rico through its economic crisis was released on Tuesday with elements of U.S. bankruptcy law opposed by creditors who want to keep the island’s debt talks out of court. The draft, circulated by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, includes sections of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that allow bankrupt entities under certain circumstances to force creditors to take reduced payouts. An official draft of the bill is expected to be released on April 11 after a public comment period. Puerto Rico has $70 billion in debt, with major bond payments due in coming months. It also has an unfunded state pension liability of nearly $44 billion. The bill “provides Puerto Rico with tools to impose discipline over its finances, meet its obligations and restore confidence in its institutions,” Utah Republican Rob Bishop, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement. “We appreciate the constructive efforts by Chairman Bishop and the House Natural Resources Committee to begin drafting legislation to address Puerto Rico’s fiscal and economic crisis. But the current draft needs improvements,” said a statement from a Treasury spokesperson. “Final legislation must provide Puerto Rico with tools to achieve a lasting, workable solution to this crisis and create a path to recovery for the people of Puerto Rico.” The Republican-led panel’s bill would create a federal board to oversee the island’s finances, monitor its accounting and help curb spending. It would also require Puerto Rico to make efforts to restructure debt consensually with creditors.  If those talks failed, the island or its public entities could file for a court-supervised debt restructuring process based on key statutes within U.S. bankruptcy law. That would allow Puerto Rico to force such deals on holdout creditors. The bill’s elements were unexpected because creditors and House Republicans had largely opposed bankruptcy for Puerto Rico. The Natural Resources Committee had said that “retroactively adding territories” like Puerto Rico to the federal bankruptcy code “is ill-conceived and would undermine the rule of law.” A congressional aide stressed that the draft legislation was not a bankruptcy law, and does not directly add Puerto Rico to U.S. bankruptcy code, though it follows similar language. The Obama Administration has advocated to allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debt in a court-sanctioned process. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized the “sweeping powers of the oversight board proposed” in the bill. The bill in its final form may include language that protects an existing consensual restructuring deal between creditors and the power utility, PREPA, the congressional aide said. PREPA earlier this year reached the deal with creditors holding roughly 70 percent of its $8.3 billion in debt. “The bill in its current form is fiscally irresponsible,” financial adviser Stephen Spencer of Houlihan Lokey said in an emailed statement. The company’s clients include major Puerto Rico creditors such as OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisers. “As we showed with the PREPA deal, fair solutions can be reached between Puerto Rico and its creditors that benefit all stakeholders. However, the Discussion Draft Bill is worse for creditors than Chapter 9,” Spencer said. How the oversight board treats the island’s General Obligation bonds, which is typically regarded as the most senior debt, versus pension payments is also a source of concern for creditors. The oversight board will look at each bond issued and make a determination on how it relates to other creditors under the existing law, the congressional aide said. If the GO bonds are constitutionally protected and within their limits then the board would take that into consideration, the aide said.

Summary: प्यूर्टो रिको ने अमेरिकी दिवालियापन नियमों द्वारा निर्देशित बचाव विधेयक का मसौदा तैयार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump called the controversy over Russian hacking during the 2016 presidential campaign a “political witchhunt” on Friday in an interview hours before he was to receive a U.S. intelligence briefing on the topic. “China, relatively recently, hacked 20 million government names,” Trump told the New York Times, referring to the Office of Personnel Management breach in 2014 and 2015. “How come nobody even talks about that? This is a political witch hunt.” He said hackers have infiltrated the White House and Congress. “We’re like the hacking capital of the world,” said Trump.

Summary: रूस की हैकिंग पर ट्रम्प ने तूफान को 'राजनीतिक विचहंट' कहाः न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Toxic fumes from kitchen drains forced the European Union on Wednesday to switch the venue of its summit in Brussels less than 24 hours before leaders were due to begin the two-day meeting. The Europa Building, also known as  The Egg  and opened only in January amid controversy over its cost, was evacuated for the second time in a week on Wednesday after catering staff were taken ill due to fumes suspected to be leaking from the drains. As a  precautionary measure , the summit will now take place next door in the Justus Lipsius Building, an anonymous 1990s glass and stone-clad structure, which housed Europe s councils until the opening of the 321-million-euro ($378 million) Europa. The new building incorporates an exterior of jumbled salvaged window frames, a summit chamber painted a psychedelic patchwork, and an illuminated  lantern  containing several stories of offices that is visible from the street and known to locals as  Van Rompuy s Egg  after the Belgian former summit chair. About 20 kitchen staff were treated in hospital on Friday and an EU official said the Council and Belgian safety bodies were working on the assumption that Wednesday s incident was due to the same source. It was unclear how many staff were made ill on Wednesday.  Highlights of the summit are likely include an address by British Prime Minister Theresa May to the other 27 on her Brexit plans over dinner on Thursday and a statement to be agreed by the 27 on Friday that will demand London offer tens of billions of euros more on its withdrawal in 2019 if it wants to start negotiating a future relationship based on a free trade pact.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ शिखर सम्मेलन स्थल को हानिकारक धुएं के कारण बंद कर दिया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort to remain under home arrest and wear an electronic monitoring device for now as he awaits a tentative trial date on money-laundering and other charges. Manafort, who ran Trump’s presidential campaign for several months last year, and his associate Richard Gates pleaded not guilty on Monday to a 12-count indictment. The charges include conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. They are part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian efforts to tilt the 2016 election in Trump’s favor and into potential collusion by Trump’s associates.     The investigation has cast a shadow over the first nine months of the Republican’s presidency. Another top Trump former campaign advisor, Sam Clovis, withdrew his candidacy for an administration job, apparently as a result of Mueller’s probe. For Manafort and Gates, a conviction on conspiracy to launder money alone could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.  Both men appeared in court in Washington on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said initial bail terms for the pair would remain in place for now, and set a bail hearing for Monday to consider changes.  Manafort and Gates are under house arrest, under unsecured bonds of $10 million and $5 million respectively, which means they do not have to post the bail unless they fail to show up for court or violate other conditions. Prosecutors have argued there is a risk the men would flee. They are also subject to electronic monitoring.     Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, argued that while his client is willing to comply with a daily curfew, he would like to have the GPS monitoring lifted.  Jackson expressed reservations about the idea, saying she would “need to see some good reasons” and that he must articulate those in writing. “I am concerned - very concerned ... that an unsecured appearance bond in and of itself is not sufficient” without some sort of monitoring, she said. “If they leave and don’t come back, we need to know where they went.”       In a filing with the court, Downing said the government’s case against his client is flimsy and that the bail conditions should be softened because Manafort does not pose a flight risk. Gates’ attorneys made a similar request. Manafort and Gates remained quiet throughout the proceeding.         Jackson set a bail hearing for Monday morning, and said she would aim to set a tentative trial date next week.         She sharply warned lawyers for the duo about speaking about their case outside of court. “This is a criminal trial and not a public relations campaign,” Jackson said during a hearing. “I expect counsel to do their talking in the courtroom and in their pleadings, and not on the courthouse steps.” Mueller’s team is probing allegations that Russia interfered in the election to undercut Americans’ faith in their democracy,    damage Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and help Trump.  The inquiry also is meant to determine whether there was any coordination between Russians and associates of the Trump campaign. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied meddling. Trump has denied collusion between his associates and Russia, calling the investigations a witch hunt. Trump had nominated Clovis, his campaign’s national co-chairman, to a post as chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture. In a letter to Trump describing his decision to withdraw from consideration, Clovis made no mention of the Russia controversy, but cited “the political climate inside Washington.” “The relentless assaults on you and your team seem to be a blood sport that only increases in intensity each day,” Clovis wrote in the letter. “As I am focused on your success and the success of this Administration, I do not want to be a distraction or negative influence.” A source familiar with Mueller’s investigation identified Clovis as the unnamed campaign supervisor in a court filing who had discussions with Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos about efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations and setting up meetings between senior Trump campaign and Russian officials. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about his dealings with Russians. Clovis has not been charged with wrongdoing. “Mr. Clovis’ nomination was only withdrawn because that would certainly have been a topic during his upcoming testimony, under oath, before the Senate Agriculture Committee,” Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, a member of the committee, said. “I know because I was going ask him all about it to get more facts on the record and before the American people.”

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने ट्रम्प के पूर्व सहयोगियों को घर में नजरबंद रखने का आदेश दिया


MADRID (Reuters) - If Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont wants talks or mediation with the central government over the region s future, he first needs to respect the law, the Prime Minister s office said in a statement on Wednesday.  If Mr Puigdemont wants to talk or negotiate, or wants to send mediators, he know perfectly what he first needs to do: go back to the law,  the statement said.

Summary: स्पेन का कहना है कि अगर कैटलन नेता बातचीत चाहते हैं तो उन्हें पहले कानून का सम्मान करना होगा


BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that had been planned for Monday, her office said, after German coalition talks collapsed overnight. The chancellery gave no reason for the cancellation of the news conference, which had been scheduled for 1 p.m. (1200 GMT).  Merkel said earlier on Monday her efforts to form a three-way coalition government had failed, thrusting Germany into a political crisis.

Summary: मर्केल ने डच प्रधानमंत्री के साथ संवाददाता सम्मेलन रद्द किया क्योंकि गठबंधन वार्ता विफल रही


KARACHI (Reuters) - For an estimated 300,000 Rohingya Muslims living in squalor in Pakistan s largest city, the news from Myanmar in the past two weeks is reviving  painful memories of the violence that drove many of them here half a century ago.  Some say they have got word of relatives being killed in Myanmar s Rakhine state or are not being able to contact family members.  Karachi s Rohingya community comprises migrants from an earlier era of displacement dating back to the 1960s and  70s. Despite decades in a foreign land, they have stayed in touch with family back home, especially in recent years through mobile phones and social media.  In the past two weeks, nearly 300,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh after the Myanmar military launched an offensive in response to a series of attacks by Rohingya insurgents on police posts and an army base. Hundreds of homes in Rohingya villages have been burned and about 400 people have been killed.  The older members of Karachi s Rohingya community fled from a repressive military regime that took power in 1962, escaping on foot or by boat to Bangladesh, which was then East Pakistan. Eventually, they made their way to Karachi. Most of the people living in the slum called Arakanabad were born in Pakistan, or fled violence in their homeland decades ago. It s named for Arakan, which was what Rakhine used to be called. Raheela Sadiq, a more recent migrant who came to Pakistan 15 years ago, said she has been unable to contact relatives in Rakhine via mobile phone for nearly two weeks.   I have seen what is happening to people over there on the internet,  she said as tears filled her eyes. Videos and pictures depicting violence in Rakhine and shared on social media are passed around quickly in Arakanabad, adding to fears and anxiety about relatives back home.  Fisherman Noor Mohammed, 50, said three members of his  family in Rakhine were killed a few days ago.   My brother, brother-in-law, and nephew were there (in Rakhine). They are all dead now. The army over there killed them,  he said, adding that he heard the news from another nephew who is still alive.   Hoor Bahar, 60, said she left Rakhine with her husband over 30 years ago when her mother and sister were killed.   I have one sister left who went to Bangladesh seven to 10 days ago,  she added. However, she said, her sister is being held on a beach by boatmen who brought her from Rakhine and are demanding $350 as payment. Arakanabad smells of fish. The Rohingya who live here largely work on fishing boats, or clean the catch brought by fishermen who set sail from the nearby Korangi Creek.  Most of them say they are not able to obtain Pakistani identity cards, essential for opening bank accounts, enrolling children in schools, using public hospitals, and even getting a job.  Fishing boats, where identity cards are not asked for, are one of the few employment options left although fishermen can sometimes be asked for identification by coast guards.   There is no policy in Pakistan for the Rohingya,  said Noor Hussain, the Pakistan head of the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, pointing out that the without state-issued identity cards the community cannot progress. Thousands of Rohingya families are crammed into the one-room cement brick houses that line the narrow streets of Arakanabad.  Children play amidst knee-high garbage, and crowd around to share slices of jello topped with sugar, or other sweetmeats sold by hawkers.   The community is living in extremely difficult circumstances, and our youth is being destroyed because they cannot get an education,  said Hussain. Despite the poverty, the community raised around 1.5 million rupees ($15,000) over the Eid al-Adha holidays earlier this month to help refugees fleeing Rakhine.   Our community is not a burden on Pakistan,  Hussain said.   The government of Pakistan is making millions of dollars by exporting the fish our people catch,  he said, adding that  giving citizenship rights to the Rohingya would only benefit the country.

Summary: पाकिस्तान में रोहिंग्या शरणार्थियों को म्यांमार में रिश्तेदारों से डर लगता है


PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron s bold vision for European renewal will be harder to translate into real policy change if France does not have a  strong partner  in Germany, France s new government spokesman said on Monday. Benjamin Griveaux s comments were the most explicit yet by the French government that the faltering coalition talks in Germany posed a risk to Macron s ideas for reform of the euro zone, as well as defense, immigration and energy policy.  We are naturally paying close attention to everything that might help stabilize the political situation (in Germany) because without a strong partner it will obviously be more difficult to carry out the president s ambitious European project,  Griveaux told a weekly news briefing. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have spoken frequently in past months about their desire for France and Germany, the European Union s two largest economies and often its engines of change, to take the lead on closer cooperation. But Merkel s fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed. Now momentum is building for another  grand coalition  with the Social Democrats (SPD). Even so, those negotiations may not be quick. The EU faces a narrow window to forge agreement on Macron s sweeping proposals because, as European elections in 2019 approach, the bloc is likely to be distracted by Brexit negotiations and wrangling over a new long-term budget.   Moreover, doubts are rising over whether the SPD would make European reform a priority in looming coalition negotiations. On euro zone reform, Macron has called for the creation of a budget, finance minister and separate parliament for the currency bloc.

Summary: 'मजबूत' जर्मनी के बिना मैक्रों का यूरोपीय सपना और भी कठिन


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An air strike hit a village south of Somalia s capital Mogadishu on Wednesday and a local official said the attack targeted Islamist al Shabaab militants fighting to topple the country s central government. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the air strike but the United States frequently conducts such attacks  to bolster Somalia s army in its fight against al Shabaab.  A local government official told Reuters the strike occurred in Ilimey village, about 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Mogadishu. The area is mostly controlled by al Shabaab. The target, he said, was a car used by the militants to transport supplies to a squad preparing bombs.   The strike hit the car ... but we do not know details of casualties,  Ali Nur, deputy governor of Somalia s lower Shabelle region told Reuters. But Mohamed Abu Usama, al Shabaab s governor for the same region, denied that al Shabaab personnel had been attacked and instead said the strike had killed civilians.   The strike hit a makeshift tea shop and thus killed 7 civilians and injured three others,  he said. Somalia has been trapped in chaos and lawlessness since 1991 when dictator Siad Barre was toppled. Al Shabaab wants to topple the Western-backed central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam s sharia law.   An African Union peace keeping force AMISOM pushed the group from Mogadishu and other former strongholds.  But the Islamists remain a formidable force, carrying out frequent bombings and other assaults on AMISOM, Somali army and civilian targets.  In October over 500 people died in one of Somalia s deadliest bombings when a truck bomb exploded outside a busy hotel at Mogadishu s K5 intersection lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks. A second blast struck Medina district two hours later.

Summary: सोमालिया की राजधानी के पास हवाई हमले की सूचना, अधिकारी का कहना है कि शबाब को निशाना बनाया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on 13  serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors  including Myanmar general Maung Maung Soe, who oversaw this year s brutal crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority. The U.S. government, applying penalties for the first time under a law passed last year, also targeted 39 other individuals and entities with sanctions that block their assets under U.S. jurisdiction, bar most Americans from dealing with them and largely cut them off from the global financial system. The Treasury Department said those sanctioned included  Benjamin Bol Mel, who has served as an adviser to South Sudan President Salva Kiir and is suspected of getting preferential treatment in government contracts. The list also included former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, accused of human rights abuses and corruption, and Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, accused of using his friendship with Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to secure sweetheart mining deals. Myanmar s government spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the U.S. sanctions. Reuters has been unable to reach Jammeh for comment since he went to exile. He has previously denied ordering the torture or death of political opponents. His lawyer until exile, Edward Gomez, said earlier this year that he was unaware of any misspending of public or charity funds by Jammeh.  Gertler has denied all allegations of impropriety and has said his investments in Congo have created thousands of jobs. A spokesman for his Amsterdam-based company the Fleurette Group was not immediately available for comment. Myanmar s military cracked down on Muslim Rohingya from Rakhine state following Aug. 25 Rohingya militant attacks on an army base and police posts. Maung Maung Soe was in charge of the operation that drove more than 650,000 Rohingya to flee mostly Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh. The United States on Nov. 22 called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya population  ethnic cleansing  and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible. The United States  examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soe s activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages,  the Treasury Department said on Thursday. Myanmar s army last month released a report denying all allegations of rape and killings by security forces, having days earlier replaced Maung Maung Soe. No reason was given for his transfer from the post.  We must lead by example, and today s announcement of sanctions demonstrates the United States will continue to pursue tangible and significant consequences for those who commit serious human rights abuse and engage in corruption,  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement. The sanctions against the 13 people described by the Treasury Department as  serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors  and the 39  affiliated individuals and entities  were the first imposed under a U.S. law called the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Jammeh, who ruled Gambia for 22 years before being forced into exile after refusing to accept an election defeat, created a terror and assassination squad reporting to him called the Junglers that threatened, terrorized, interrogated and killed people he saw as a threat to his rule, the Treasury Department said. The sanctions targeted Gertler, considered by diplomats to be a member of Kabila s innermost circle, 19 of his businesses and his Congo-based associate Pieter Deboutte. The United States imposed sanctions this year and last against top Democratic Republic of Congo security officials over alleged human rights abuses and the failure to organize an election on time to choose Kabila s successor. For details on the U.S. action, see the Treasury Department statement (here) and for a full list see the department's website (here)

Summary: अमेरिका ने दुर्व्यवहार, भ्रष्टाचार के लिए म्यांमार के जनरल और अन्य पर प्रतिबंध लगाए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats should sidestep questions from foreign governments on what it would take for the Trump administration to re-engage in the global Paris climate agreement, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters. The cable, sent by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to embassies on Friday, also said diplomats should make clear the United States wants to help other countries use fossil fuels. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement in June that the United States would withdraw from the accord, the cable tells diplomats to expect foreign government representatives to ask questions like: “Does the United States have a climate change policy?” and “Is the administration advocating the use of fossil fuels over renewable energy?” If asked, for example, “What is the process for consideration of re-engagement in the Paris Agreement?”, the answer should be vague: “We are considering a number of factors. I do not have any information to share on the nature or timing of the process,” the cable advises.  A U.S. State Department official declined to comment on the cable. (Click here for a link to the cable: here ) Trump, a Republican, had campaigned on a promise to “cancel” the Paris deal, saying he believed it would cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars while leaving developing nations such as China unfettered. In a sharp difference with the previous administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, Trump has several times called climate change a hoax. In June, Trump left the door open to re-engagement if terms improved. The United States will “start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair,” he said. The State Department guidance clarifies that right now, “there are no plans to seek to re-negotiate or amend the text of the Paris Agreement.” But it adds: “The President is sincere in his commitment to look for a path to re-engage that takes into account his concerns for U.S. economic growth and energy security.”    The Paris accord, agreed by nearly 200 countries in 2015, seeks to limit planetary warming by curbing global emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists believe drive global warming. The United States, under the Obama administration, had promised to cut emissions as much as 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.  Separate from the diplomatic cable, the Trump administration is reviewing a draft report written by scientists across 13 federal government agencies that shows the effects of climate change pose dire, near-term threats to the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency declined to comment on the draft, which The New York Times published on Monday. The report puts the White House in the awkward position of either clearing the report’s findings or editing them.  The diplomatic guidance makes clear that the United States intends to attend global climate summits during the prolonged process of withdrawing from the Paris deal to protect U.S. interests. The next summit is in November.  A U.S. official said a major priority in these talks would be to beat back attempts to have separate standards in the guidance on emissions cuts for rich and poor nations - long a sticking point in negotiations. “There’s certainly nothing in the policies of this administration that would make us think that we should be acting differently,” the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal memo.  The cable also anticipates questions over why the United States has changed its policy to make it easier for global development banks such as the World Bank to finance coal-fired power projects. In 2013 the Obama administration said the United States would oppose most coal projects, guidance since altered by the Trump administration.  “The new principles will allow the (United States) the flexibility to approve, as appropriate, a broad range of power projects, including the generation of power using clean and efficient fossil fuels and renewable energy,” the cable said.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः अमेरिकी राजदूतों को पेरिस जलवायु समझौते में फिर से शामिल होने के लिए कहा गया-केबल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House intelligence committee Democrat said on Thursday there was a “grave question” about the objectivity of the panel’s Republican chairman after remarks he made about the incidental surveillance of members of President Donald Trump’s transition team. “He knows, full well, that there is grave question about his objectivity and I think over the next few days we are going to assess whether or not we feel confident that he can continue in that role,” Representative Jackie Speier told reporters, speaking of remarks committee Chairman Devin Nunes had made on Wednesday.

Summary: सदन के खुफिया अध्यक्ष की निष्पक्षता पर पैनल डेमोक्रेट ने कहा, 'बड़ा सवाल'


RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s future king has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal who is one of the kingdom s most prominent businessmen. Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding, invests in firms such as Citigroup and Twitter. He was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained, three senior officials told Reuters on Sunday. The purge against the kingdom s political and business  elite also targeted the head of the National Guard, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was detained and replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf. The allegations against Prince Alwaleed include money laundering, bribery and extorting officials, one official told Reuters, while Prince Miteb is accused of embezzlement, hiring ghost employees and awarding contracts to his own companies including a $10 billion deal for walkie talkies and bulletproof military gear worth billions of Saudi riyals.  The allegations could not be independently verified and members of the families of those detained could not be reached. News of the purge came soon after King Salman decreed late on Saturday the creation of an anti-corruption committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his 32-year-old favorite son who has amassed power since rising from obscurity three years ago. The new body was given broad powers to investigate cases, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions, and seize assets.  The homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted and the corrupt are held accountable,  the royal decree said. Analysts said the arrests were another pre-emptive measure by the crown prince to remove powerful figures as he exerts control over the world s leading oil exporter. The roundup recalls the palace coup in June through which he ousted his elder cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the throne and interior minister. MbS, as he is known, was expected to follow at least by removing Prince Miteb from leadership of the National Guard, a pivotal power base rooted in the kingdom s tribes. Over the past year, MbS has become the ultimate decision-maker for the kingdom s military, foreign, economic and social policies, causing resentment among parts of the Al Saud dynasty frustrated by his meteoric rise. Saudi Arabia s stock index was dragged down briefly but recovered to close higher as some investors bet the crackdown could bolster reforms in the long run. The royal decree said the arrests were in response to  exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their own interests above the public interest, in order to, illicitly, accrue money.  The line between public funds and royal money is not always clear in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy ruled by an Islamic system in which most law is not systematically codified and no elected parliament exists. WikiLeaks cables have detailed the huge monthly stipends that every Saudi royal receives as well as various money-making schemes some have used to finance lavish lifestyles. Analysts said the purge aimed to go beyond corruption and aimed to remove potential opposition to Prince Mohammed s ambitious reform agenda, which is widely popular with Saudi Arabia s burgeoning youth population but faces resistance from some of the old guard more comfortable with the kingdom s traditions of incremental change and rule by consensus. In September, the king announced that a ban on women driving would be lifted, while Prince Mohammed is trying to break decades of conservative tradition by promoting public entertainment and visits by foreign tourists. The crown prince has also slashed state spending in some areas and plans a big sale of state assets, including floating part of state oil giant Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] on international markets. Prince Mohammed has also led Saudi Arabia into a two-year-old war in Yemen, where the government says it is fighting Iran-aligned militants, and a row with neighboring Qatar, which it accuses of backing terrorists, a charge Doha denies. Detractors of the crown prince say both moves are dangerous adventurism. The most recent crackdown breaks with the tradition of consensus within the ruling family, wrote James Dorsey, a senior fellow at Singapore s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.  Prince Mohammed, rather than forging alliances, is extending his iron grip to the ruling family, the military, and the National Guard to counter what appears to be more widespread opposition within the family as well as the military to his reforms and the Yemen war,  he said. Scholar Joseph Kechichian said the interests of the Al Saud dynasty, however, would remain protected.  Both King Salman and heir apparent Mohammed bin Salman are fully committed to them. What they wish to instill, and seem determined to execute, is to modernize the ruling establishment, not just for the 2030 horizon but beyond it too,  he said. Many ordinary Saudis praised the crackdown as long-awaited. A Saudi official said former Riyadh Governor Prince Turki bin Abdullah was detained on accusations of corruption in the Riyadh Metro project and taking advantage of his influence to award contracts to his own companies. Former Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, a board member of national oil giant Saudi Aramco, was also detained, accused of embezzlement related to the expansion of Mecca s Grand Mosque and taking advantage of his position and inside information to purchase lands, the official added. Other detainees include ousted Economy Minister Adel Fakieh, who once played a major role in drafting MbS  reforms, and Khalid al-Tuwaijiri, who headed the Royal Court under the late King Abdullah. People on Twitter applauded the arrests of certain ministers, with some comparing them to  the night of the long knives , a violent purge of political leaders in Nazi Germany in 1934. Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the big Saudi Binladin construction group, and Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of the MBC television network, were also detained. At least some of the detainees were held at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh, said sources in contact with the government and guests whose plans had been disrupted. The hotel s exterior gate was shuttered on Sunday morning and guards turned away a Reuters reporter, saying it had been closed for security reasons, although private cars and ambulances were seen entering through a rear entrance. The hotel and an adjacent facility were the site of an international conference promoting Saudi Arabia as an investment destination just 10 days ago attended by at least one of those now being held for questioning. The detentions follow a crackdown in September on political opponents of Saudi Arabia s rulers that saw some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists detained. Prince Alwaleed, a flamboyant character, has sometimes used his prominence as an investor to aim barbs at the kingdom s rulers.  In December 2015, he called then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump a  disgrace to all America  and demanded on Twitter that he withdraw from the election. Trump responded by tweeting:  Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy s money. Can t do it when I get elected.  His father, Prince Talal, is considered one of the most vocal supporters of reform in the Al Saud family, having pressed for a constitutional monarchy decades ago.

Summary: भावी सऊदी राजा ने राजकुमार अलवलीद सहित गिरफ्तारी के साथ सत्ता पर अपनी पकड़ मजबूत की


(Reuters) - Yemen is “dismayed” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision  to temporarily ban its citizens from traveling to the United States, saying that the country was a victim of attacks itself, an official said on Saturday. “We are dismayed by the decision to unilaterally ban, even for only a month, travel to the United States for people holding Yemeni passports,” said the official, speaking on condition of  anonymity. Yemen is one of seven Muslim-majority countries affected by a Trump’s 90-day curb on travelers while his administration studies new ways to prevent potential militants from trying to enter the United States.

Summary: ट्रंप के आव्रजन आदेश से यमन 'निराश' हैः अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump supports the Republican bill to replace Obamacare. “The president and the administration support this step in what we believe is in the right direction,” Price told reporters at a White House briefing. Asked whether the administration supported everything in the bill, he said: “This is a work in progress and we’ll work with the House and Senate in this process.”

Summary: स्वास्थ्य सचिव ने कहा कि स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक पर काम चल रहा है


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may conduct additional missile tests this year to polish up its long-range missile technology and ramp up the threat against the United States, South Korea s spy agency said on Monday, adding that it was monitoring developments closely.  North Korea is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan. The reclusive state appears to have carried out a recent missile engine test while brisk movements of vehicles were spotted near known missile facilities, Yi Wan-young, a member of South Korea s parliamentary intelligence committee which was briefed by Seoul s National Intelligence Service, said.  No sign of an imminent nuclear test had been detected, Yi noted. The third tunnel at the Punggye-ri complex remained ready for another detonation  at any time , while construction had recently resumed at a fourth tunnel, making it out of use for the time being.   The agency is closely following the developments because there is a possibility that North Korea could fire an array of ballistic missiles this year under the name of a satellite launch and peaceful development of space, but in fact to ratchet up its threats against the United States,  the lawmakers told reporters after a closed-door briefing by the spy agency. North Korea defends its weapons programs as a necessary defense against U.S. plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war, denies any such intention. Pyongyang is also carrying out a sweeping ideological scrutiny of the political unit of the military for the first time in 20 years, according to Kim Byung-kee, another lawmaker in the committee.  The probe was led by the ruling Workers  Party s Organisation and Guidance Department and orchestrated by Choe Ryong Hae, who once headed the General Political Bureau of the Korean People s Army himself until he was replaced by Hwang Pyong So in May 2014.  As a result, Hwang and Kim Won Hong, who Seoul s unification ministry said was removed from office in mid-January as minister of the Stasi-like secret police called  bowibu , had been punished, the lawmaker said. He did not elaborate.  Choe, who was subjected to political  reeducation  himself in the past, appears to be gaining more influence since he was promoted in October to the party s powerful Central Military Commission.  The National Intelligence Service indicated that Choe now heads the Organisation and Guidance Department, a secretive body that oversees appointments within North Korea s leadership.   Under Choe s command, the Organisation and Guidance Department is undertaking an inspection of the military politburo for the first time in 20 years, taking issue with their impure attitude toward the party leadership,  the lawmaker, Kim, said.  Separately on Monday, South Korea approved a request by a South Korean to attend an event in the North marking the anniversary of the death of his mother who formerly led the Chondoist Chongu Party, a minor North Korean political party. The son, identified only by his surname Choi, will be the first South Korean to visit the North since liberal President Moon Jae-in took office in May.  He is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang via China on Wednesday and return on Saturday, according to Seoul s unification ministry. A senior Chinese official wrapped up a four-day visit to North Korea on Monday, apparently without meeting the country s leader, Kim Jong Un. Song Tao, head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, met senior officials from the Workers Party of Korea and  exchanged views on the Korean peninsula issue , China s official Xinhua news agency said.  The ruling parties of China and the Democratic People s Republic of Korea on Monday pledged to strengthen inter-party exchanges and coordination, and push forward relations,  it added, using North Korea s official name. Song had been in Pyongyang to discuss the outcome of the recently concluded Chinese Communist Party Congress in Beijing.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरिया को इस साल अमेरिका के लिए खतरे में उत्तर कोरिया द्वारा और अधिक मिसाइलों के आगे बढ़ने की आशंका है।