(Reuters) - Power outages from Hurricane Irma dropped to about 6.1 million in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama by Tuesday afternoon, down from a peak over 7.4 million late Monday, according to local utilities. Most remaining outages were in Florida Power & Light s service area in the southern and eastern parts of the state. FPL, a unit of NextEra Energy Inc and the state s biggest power company, said its outages dipped below 2.8 million by Tuesday afternoon from a peak of over 3.6 million Monday morning. FPL said it expects to restore essentially all of its customers in the eastern portion of Florida by the weekend and the harder-hit western portion of the state by Sept. 22. The company, however, warned it would take longer to restore customers with tornado damage or severe flooding. Florida outages for Duke Energy Corp, which serves the northern and central parts of the state, fell to around 1 million by Tuesday afternoon, down from a peak of about 1.2 million on Monday, according to the company s website. Irma hit southwestern Florida on Sunday morning as a dangerous Category 4 storm, the second-highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. It gradually weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression on Monday. In Georgia, utilities reported over 1.1 million customers without power Tuesday, down from a peak of around 1.3 million on Monday night. Other big power utilities in Florida are units of Emera Inc and Southern Co, which also operates the biggest electric companies in Georgia and Alabama. The following lists major outages according to the utilities  websites:            Power Company                      State       Out Now         Served                       NextEra - FPL                       FL        2,751,000      4,904,000                       Duke - Florida                      FL        1,000,000      1,800,000                       Southern - Georgia Power            GA         684,400       2,482,000                       Georgia EMCs                        GA         428,000                                  Emera - Tampa Electric              FL         263,600        425,000                       Lee County Electric                 FL         160,900        200,000                       JEA                                 FL         149,000        455,000                       Duke - South Carolina             NC, SC       122,500        740,000                       Clay Electric                       FL         106,100        173,000                       SECO                                FL         84,200         200,600                       Orlando Utilities Commission        FL         79,200         234,700                       Withlacoochee River Electric        FL         68,200         217,000                       Scana                               SC         35,700         720,300                       Keys Energy Services                FL         29,000         29,000                       South Carolina EMCs                 SC         28,500                                   Florida Keys Electric               FL         21,600         33,000                       Alabama Power                       AL         20,000        1,400,000                       Suwanee Valley Electric             FL         19,800         25,600                       Central Florida Electric            FL         17,100         35,600                       Peace River Electric                FL         15,800         40,000                       Glades Electric                     FL         15,800         16,000                       Tri-County Electric                 FL         13,300         18,000                       Talquin Electric                    FL         12,700         51,000                       Gainesville Regional Utilities      FL         12,500         93,000                       Kissimmee Utility Authority         FL          7,000         72,000                       City of Chattanooga EPB             TN          1,500         170,000                       Dominion                          VA, NC         300         2,582,800                       Memphis Gas, Light & Water          TN           100          421,000                                                        Total Out    6,147,800

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः इरमा के बाद अमेरिका के दक्षिण-पूर्व में लगभग 61 लाख बिजली के बिनाः उपयोगिताएँ


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s government has been badly shaken by a conflict-of-interest controversy about his finance minister, but the Liberal government s upcoming fiscal update offers an opportunity to reset the public focus on Canada s strong economy, political observers say. The government has been plagued all week about questions about the finance minister, Bill Morneau, the multimillionaire former chief executive officer of human resources management firm Morneau Shepell. Some have questioned whether Morneau would be forced to resign. The focus has been a rare stumble for Trudeau s government, which marked two years in office this month and has mostly maneuvered its way out of political trouble partly because of Trudeau s personal popularity and the youthful momentum of the Liberals after 10 years of Conservative rule.  They re politically very astute in a whole bunch of areas but in issues management and parliamentary management they seem to be ham-fisted,  said Andrew Graham, professor at the school of policy studies at Queen s University. With Trudeau s strong defense of Morneau, and the finance minister likely to unveil a smaller budget deficit in Tuesday s fall fiscal update, Liberals have a temporary chance to refocus on good news.  Economic conditions are a bedrock of whether people feel good or bad about how politicians are performing, and the economy is doing very well for most people,  said Abacus Data pollster Bruce Anderson.  Morneau said on Thursday he will put his assets in a blind trust and divest stock in a publicly traded family business. That comes after weeks of backlash over tax reform that has become a major obstacle for Trudeau s government. Opposition parties from both the political left and right have seized on the ethics scandal, trying to tie Trudeau s team to what they say is an entitled Liberal Party that has previously faced corruption charges.   The opposition has changed the focus from substance to ethics, and they won t let that go that easily,  said Genevieve Tellier, a political professor at the University of Ottawa. But Tellier said Trudeau s decision to fill his cabinet with political rookies - including Morneau - rather than turning to the old Liberal guard, could limit the ability of the opposition to land many ethical punches. Moreover, Morneau is respected by markets.  I think the prime minister would be very cautious about changing his finance minister. ... (Morneau) presents a reassuring image, he doesn t scare the markets,  Tellier said. Ipsos Public Affairs pollster Darrell Bricker put it more bluntly:  They really don t have a choice but to tough it out and hope some event will transpire to distract the hyenas.  The expected budget improvement in Tuesday s fall fiscal update could also give Morneau the leeway to woo voters with more spending or debt reduction.  The way the numbers are playing out, they are in a fairly favorable fiscal position,  said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada. Morneau spokesman Dan Lauzon said the finance minister has no plans to change his strategy, and would keep focus on fiscal stimulus matters:  He is in this for the long run, and he won t let distractions get in the way.

Summary: कनाडा के उदारवादी अतीत के नैतिकता घोटाले का मार्गदर्शन करने के लिए अर्थव्यवस्था की ओर देखते हैं


TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A serious snowmobile accident involving Sarah Palin’s husband forced the former vice presidential nominee to curtail a Florida campaign trip on Monday for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.  Todd Palin was in intensive care at an Alaska hospital after the accident on Sunday, an aide to the former Alaska governor said, adding she had been on the phone with doctors and family members all morning.  Palin, who has endorsed Trump, had been scheduled to campaign for him later on Monday in The Villages, Florida. Florida is one of five states holding nominating contests on Tuesday for the Nov. 8 election. Trump campaign officials said Palin was returning to Alaska to be with her husband. They said they looked forward to her being back on the campaign trail soon and that Trump’s thoughts and prayers were with the Palin family.  Before being able to catch a flight to Alaska, Palin stopped at a town hall-style event for Trump in Tampa, telling the crowd: “Thank you guys for your prayers for my husband who is recovering right now in ICU after a little wreck on a snow machine.”  Trump, taking the stage after Palin, said: “Her husband is a tough cookie but when you’re too tough, you break ribs every once in a while.” Palin, Republican Senator John McCain’s running-mate in the 2008 presidential election won by Democrat Barack Obama, held a separate campaign rally for Trump in Florida on Sunday. Todd Palin, 51, is a veteran participant in Alaska’s 2,000-mile (3,200-km) Iron Dog race involving snowmobiles that takes place each February, according to the race’s website. The contest features about 40 two-man teams. Palin has been on a winning tandem three times, most recently in 2007, race organizers said.  While competing in 2008, Palin was injured when his vehicle struck a snow-hidden barrel and he was thrown some 70 feet (20 meters), the Alaska Dispatch News reported, adding he was not seriously injured.

Summary: पति की दुर्घटना के बाद पॉलिन ने फ्लोरिडा में ट्रम्प की रैली के लिए उपस्थिति कम की


ROME/MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - One of Italy s most wanted mob bosses has been arrested in Uruguay after 23 years on the run from convictions for mafia association, drug trafficking and other serious crimes, the interior ministries of both countries said on Monday. Rocco Morabito was considered the most wanted fugitive member of the Calabrian  Ndrangheta, Italy s most powerful organized crime group and one of Europe s biggest importers of South American cocaine. The 50-year-old was arrested in Montevideo after Uruguayan police and Italian authorities worked together to determine his real identity, the Italian ministry said in a statement. Dubbed the  cocaine king of Milan,  Morabito had been wanted since 1994 after he was caught paying 13 billion lire ($8 million) to import almost a ton of the drug, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.  Morabito entered Uruguay in 2001, and took up residence with his wife in the coastal resort city of Punta del Este, the Uruguayan interior ministry said in a statement. He was living there under the false identity of Francisco Antonio Capeletto Souza, of Rio de Janeiro, it added. Morabito was jailed in Uruguay for using false documents while Italy s request for extradition is processed, the statement said, adding that $50,000 in cash was found at his home along with 13 cell phones.     An international arrest warrant was issued in 1995 with the aim of tracking down Morabito and extraditing him to Italy, where he has been sentenced to 30 years in jail. The arrest ticks one member off the Italian interior ministry s five-strong list of the country s most-wanted organized criminals, on which Morabito had rubbed shoulders with feared Sicilian boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

Summary: उरुग्वे में भगोड़ा इतालवी 'कोकीन किंग' गिरफ्तार


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey on Thursday welcomed an Iraqi parliament move to reject a referendum on Kurdish independence. The parliament in Baghdad authorized the prime minister to  take all measures  to preserve Iraq s unity in response to the move to hold an independence referendum in Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Sept. 25. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed to press ahead with the vote, calling it  a natural right .  Barzani s referendum decision is a historic mistake. Turkey will follow policies that take Iraq s territorial integrity as a basis,  Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.  The northern Iraq referendum must be canceled, if not it will have a cost and retribution,  he said, adding the move would erode the region s peace and bring security risks. Turkey has the region s largest Kurdish population and fears a  Yes  vote could fuel separatism in its southeast where Kurdish militants have waged an insurgency for three decades in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Ankara has built solid ties with Barzani s administration,  founded on strong economic and energy links as well as Ankara and Erbil s shared suspicions of other Kurdish groups and Iraq s central government. Iran and Syria also oppose the vote, fearing it could fan separatism among their own Kurdish populations. Western powers worry the plebiscite - which would include the oil-producing city of Kirkuk - could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants. Turkey s Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Thursday, said:  We find the (Iraqi Kurdish) leadership s insistent stance regarding the referendum and its increasingly emotional statements worrying.  It should be noted that this insistence will definitely have a cost,  it added.  We call on them to act with good sense and abandon this erroneous approach immediately.

Summary: इराकी कुर्द जनमत संग्रह 'ऐतिहासिक गलती': तुर्की


NAIROBI (Reuters) - An outbreak of plague has killed 20 people in the space of a month in Madagascar, with a further 84 infected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday. Plague is mainly spread by flea-carrying rats. Humans bitten by an infected flea usually develop a bubonic form of plague, which swells lymph nodes and can be treated with antibiotics.  But the more dangerous pneumonic form invades the lungs and can kill a person within 24 hours if not treated. About half of the 104 known cases are pneumonic, the WHO said. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva that areas affected included the capital Antananarivo and the port cities of Mahajenga and Toamasina. The U.N. health agency said it feared that the outbreak could worsen because the season for plague, which is endemic in Madagascar, had only just begun, and runs until April. On average, 400 cases are reported each year.  The overall risk of further spread at the national level is high,  WHO said in a statement.

Summary: मेडागास्कर में प्लेग के प्रकोप से 20 लोगों की मौतः डब्ल्यूएचओ


MADRID (Reuters) - Secessionist leaders in Catalonia may call a snap election in an attempt to break the deadlock with Madrid over independence, a senior local politician said on Tuesday, but Spanish authorities made clear that would not be enough. Spain says it will impose direct rule on Catalonia from Friday to prevent an illegal push for independence, invoking unprecedented powers to dismiss the regional government. Madrid said an election would not change those plans. The Catalan parliament meets on Thursday to agree on a response to Madrid, and many analysts believe the economically powerful region could formally declare independence.  Secessionists in Catalonia say their independence referendum on Oct. 1 - which attracted a 43 percent turnout and was mostly boycotted by those Catalans who want to remain in Spain - has given them a mandate for statehood. Catalonia said on Monday it was confident that its officials, including the police, would defy attempts by Madrid to enforce direct rule. Spanish political and business leaders, along with most Catalonian newspapers, have urged Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to call a regional election before he is stripped of his authority. They say direct rule from Madrid would be a humiliation for Catalonia and pose a serious risk of unrest. Puigdemont has so far remained silent on the matter of an election but an ally of his pro-independence government said he was actively considering this option.  We have evidence this is currently on the table,  Carles Riera, a Catalan lawmaker for the anti-capitalist CUP party, told a news conference. Calling an election would be a face-saving move for Puigdemont as it could either strengthen his mandate if pro-independence parties won or allow him a graceful exit if they did not. The Spanish government said a snap election would be a first step but Puigdemont would also have to withdraw an ambiguous declaration of independence he made earlier this month. The government had moved to cancel Catalonia s autonomous status because it believed there had been a  serious failure  by Puigdemont to meet his obligations, Justice Minister Rafael Catala said in a radio interview.  Everything is not fixed just by calling an election.  Catala said that if Puigdemont appeared before the Spanish Senate, it would help to resolve the crisis. A top official in the Senate said that if Puigdemont decided to appear before the house, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would likely come to the chamber as well so that a proper debate could be organised between the two. The Senate said on Tuesday it had invited Puigdemont to appear before the chamber on Thursday at 5 p.m (1500 GMT) or Friday at 10 a.m (0800 GMT). The Madrid government has so far refused to meet the Catalan leader until he drops his call for independence and Catala said any appearance by Puigdemont had to be within a legal and constitutional framework.   If his appearance is within the constitution and the law we ll be delighted ... But if it s just to ratify his position on Catalonia s independence, sadly we will not be able to do anything else than continuing with the measures already set by the government,  Catala said. The political uncertainty has taken its toll on Spain s wealthiest region, with hundreds of companies moving their headquarters out of Catalonia. Volkswagen s Spanish unit SEAT, one of the biggest employers in the region, said it would move its registered office if it felt there was no longer legal security in Catalonia, although it had so far not made a decision.  Relocating the registered office would respond to the need to seek legal protection, and would make sense the moment we felt it was no longer afforded in the territory where we are located,  SEAT Executive Committee Chairman Luca de Meo said in a letter to the company s more than 14,000 employees in the region.

Summary: कैटलोनिया के अलगाववादियों ने चुनाव स्थगित करने पर विचार किया, मैड्रिड को कड़ी सजा


LONDON (Reuters) - A few hours before Theresa May lost her second cabinet member in a week, the British prime minister found time amidst the crisis to meet one of the world s most powerful bankers. With May renowned for keeping finance chiefs at arm s length, some commercial rivals suspected special treatment in her willingness to sit down with Jamie Dimon, chief executive of U.S. investment bank JPMorgan.  Others, however, sense a subtle but significant change in the political climate with May listening more to the worries of an industry struggling to fathom out Britain s departure from the European Union. Her talks with Dimon on Nov. 8 raised eyebrows - and some hackles - around the City of London financial center.   It s a bit outrageous,  said a senior executive at one of Britain s top banks.  What other bank CEO is getting as much one-on-one face time with the prime minister? We certainly aren t.   From Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s to David Cameron last year, British prime ministers have traditionally held the door open for leaders of a finance industry that pays more than 70 billion pounds ($92 billion) in UK tax every year and employs more than a million Britons.  Not so May, who has appeared reluctant to meet bank executives. Still, Dimon secured the face-to-face talks between the abrupt departures of her defense and international development ministers which rocked the minority government. Shortly before last year s Brexit referendum, Dimon warned that 4,000 out of JPMorgan s 16,000 British jobs might have to move abroad to ensure the bank could continue selling services across the remaining nations of the EU. Dimon has since softened his tone, but the British bank executive asked whether the original estimate had won JPMorgan the access.  I don t know if it s because they ve threatened to move the most jobs - maybe we should say we re moving 4,000 too,  he said.  But something is afoot. Reuters has spoken to more than a dozen executives at large banks and government officials, with many saying May is showing greater willingness to press the City s cause in Brexit negotiations.  In return, the bankers are scaling back their plans to move jobs to rival financial centers such as Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin, at least during any transitional period after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.  Britain and the EU have yet to begin discussing financial services at the Brexit talks, worrying bankers who fear the government has left it too late to negotiate a transition period or secure a good deal.   Our view is that the government frankly is in chaos,  said another senior executive at a U.S. bank.  We are really nervous.   However, May outlined to Dimon her vision for a transition period after Brexit day - March 29, 2019 - and a future trade deal with the EU, easing concerns that Britain may crash out of the world s biggest trading bloc without any agreement.  A JPMorgan spokeswoman expressed cautious optimism after the Downing Street talks.   While some uncertainty remains, we feel that the government understands the concerns of international firms such as ours, and the economy more broadly,  she said.  We were grateful for better clarity on the government s objectives in the Brexit negotiations.   A spokesman for the prime minister did not respond to requests for comment.  However, sources with knowledge of the meeting noted that she can make promises on her intentions for the Brexit talks but not on their outcome.  We got clarity on what they re looking for, not on how it will unfold,  said the source.  The bankers pressed their case for a period of adjustment to the post-Brexit financial services regime, rather than an abrupt change as soon as Britain leaves.   We re all looking for transition and a good future deal,  said the source.  In return, the JPMorgan team indicated there would be no major staff upheaval, at least on Brexit day.   They told her we will try to move as few people as possible on Day One. It will be a few hundred people and we will keep as many people as possible in the UK,  said another source.  For the banks, moving top London employees to the continent is expensive and unpopular with staff reluctant to uproot their families. But longer term, a significant number of jobs may still shift if a final deal is not to their liking.  As in a number of countries, banks have been deeply unpopular in Britain since the global financial crisis. But their leaders felt particularly unloved after May came to power last year and cooled what critics regarded as an overly cozy relationship between the government and big business.  May confined her contacts with bankers largely to round table gatherings such as at Davos in January, a meeting Dimon also attended. Some Wall Street bosses were left expressing frustration with a lack of detail on the Brexit process, and questioning May s commitment to protecting the finance industry The relationship remains measured. May was scheduled to make only a five minute courtesy appearance at the talks with Dimon, hosted by finance minister Philip Hammond. In the event she stayed a quarter of an hour.  Still, those who connect government and business have noticed a change.  Iain Anderson, executive chairman of public affairs company  Cicero, said a thaw began after the May lost her parliamentary majority in a June election and the government started asking companies for more input on the Brexit talks.      The mood has improved from last year when I don t think I have ever seen businesses as emotional and angry,  said Anderson, whose firm represents many FTSE 100 companies.  Government officials confirmed May s change of tack.  She is far more skeptical about engaging with business than her predecessors,  said one official, who declined to be named.  This created bitterness because people are getting less face time,  said the official, but added:  The situation has improved since the election.    Brexit minister David Davis, whose talks with chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier appear deadlocked, has led his own charm offensive in the past week or so.  Davis said on Tuesday the financial industry would be exempt from any curbs on immigration from the remaining EU countries. That is likely to contrast with tough new rules planned for arrivals of lower-skilled workers. In another speech, he emphasized the importance of an industry which accounts for about 12 percent of Britain s economic output.   When I sit round the negotiating table with Michel Barnier, or round the cabinet table with my colleagues, it s always with the importance of the City very much in my mind,  Davis said.    Only a year ago, he was accusing bankers of leading a  blame Brexit festival  and lying about the number of UK employees they would have to fire.     Davis had surprised executives in his initial meetings by telling them they would not get any special favors in the negotiations, according to people who attended.  The head of one of Britain s largest finance companies, who has met Davis several times in the last year, said the minister has accepted the damage to the wider economy if firms go overseas.   Davis has got the message,  the executive said. According to government officials, the atmosphere has improved since the banks scaled back their estimates of how many jobs will move to more realistic levels.   There has been an effort on both sides to improve the relationship,  he said.

Summary: मई के साथ फेस टाइमः ब्रिटेन ने बैंकरों की ब्रेक्सिट चिंताओं को सुना


WARSAW (Reuters) - Lithuania said a growing rift between some eastern and western European Union states over issues such as migration posed a threat to the bloc at a time of increased Russian military assertiveness. Frictions between ex-communist states in Europe s East and the wealthier West have increased since the 2015 migration crisis and Britain s decision to leave the bloc, as leaders try to quell popular disenchantment with the EU. Nationalist politicians in Poland and Hungary have called for sweeping reform to bring more power back to member states at the expense of Brussels bureaucracy and refused to take part in efforts to relocate migrants from the Middle East.   I believe it s a worry,  Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Reuters on the sidelines of a security conference in Warsaw, when asked about Polish and Hungarian assertiveness within the EU.  We would like to see more cohesion,  he said.  I know who is gaining. Those who are not happy with our cohesion,  Linkevicius said, adding that he was referring to Russia.  We are taking it very seriously not to help those who would like to divide East and West.  Lithuania, alongside Poland, has been particularly worried about Russia since Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.  NATO has sought to reassure allies in the region by sending troops to the Baltics, Poland and the Black Sea, setting up a network of NATO outposts, holding more exercises and preparing a rapid response force. Some western officials have expressed concern that parts of the Baltic states, which have large ethnic Russian minorities, could be seized by Moscow, much as Russia took control of Crimea. Linkevicius said good relations with EU powerhouses Germany and France within the EU were crucial because of their ability to help militarily.  Poland, in particular, has seen ties with Paris and Berlin deteriorate since 2015, when the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party took power, over issues such as military procurement, wartime reparations and the EU s single market rules.

Summary: लिथुआनिया का कहना है कि यूरोपीय संघ के भीतर पूर्व-पश्चिम विभाजन से रूस को लाभ होता है


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard at Jerusalem s main bus station on Sunday, police said, and violence flared near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut over U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Four days of street protests in the Palestinian territories over Trump s announcement on Wednesday have largely died down, but his overturning of long-standing U.S. policy on Jerusalem   a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians   drew more Arab warnings of potential damage to prospects for Middle East peace.  Our hope is that everything is calming down and that we are returning to a path of normal life without riots and without violence,  Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Army Radio. But in Jerusalem, a security guard was in critical condition after a 24-year-old Palestinian man from the occupied West Bank stabbed him after approaching a metal detector at an entrance to the city s central bus station, police said. The alleged assailant was taken into custody after a passer-by tackled him. In public remarks on Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a frequent critic of Israel, called it an  invader state  and a  terror state . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who spoke at a news conference in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron after the two leaders met, fired back:  I m not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villages in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, helps Iran go around international sanctions and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, kill innocent people,  Netanyahu said. Macron told Netanyahu that he needed to make gestures to the Palestinians to break the impasse between the two sides.  I asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to make some courageous gestures towards the Palestinians to get out of the current impasse,  Macron said, suggesting that a freeze of construction in settlements could be a first step.   Most countries consider East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in a 1967 war, to be occupied territory and say the status of the city should be decided at future Israeli-Palestinian talks. Israel says that all of Jerusalem is its capital, while Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state. The Trump administration has said it is still committed to reviving Palestinian-Israeli talks that collapsed in 2014, but jettisoning old policies is necessary to break the deadlock. Washington says it has not taken a position on Jerusalem s final status or borders, but it is sensible to recognize that any future peace deal will have Israel s capital in the city. The United States was  as committed to the peace process as we ve ever been , U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday. Trump  didn t talk about boundaries, he didn t talk about borders... Because the final status of Jerusalem is between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It s not for the Americans to decide.  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to the region, Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said on Saturday. The White House said on Sunday that decision was unfortunate and Pence looked forward to seeing Netanyahu and Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.  It s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region,  said Jarrod Agen, a spokesman for Pence. Netanyahu reacted to critics in a statement before talks with Macron, to be followed by a meeting with European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.  I hear (from Europe) voices of condemnation over President Trump s historic announcement, but I have not heard any condemnation for the rocket firing against Israel that has come (after the announcement) and the awful incitement against us,  Netanyahu said. In Beirut, Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, some of them waving Palestinian flags, near the U.S. Embassy. Demonstrators set fires in the street, torched U.S. and Israeli flags and threw projectiles towards security forces that had barricaded the main road to the complex. In the Moroccan capital, Rabat, tens of thousands of protesters marched down the city s main thoroughfare chanting slogans including,  The people want to liberate Palestine  and  Death to Israel, enemy of the people and provoker of wars.   Waving Palestinian flags and holding up pictures of Jerusalem, they expressed anger at the  betrayal  by Arab governments perceived to have backed Trump s move. In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, thousands protested outside the U.S. embassy, many waving banners saying  Palestine is in our hearts . Maliki has said the Palestinians will be looking for a new peace talks broker instead of the United States and would seek a United Nations Security Council resolution over Trump s decision. Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo on Saturday urged the United States to abandon its decision on Jerusalem and said the move would spur violence throughout the region. Echoing that view, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, said the U.S. move  could throw a lifebuoy to terrorist and armed groups, which have begun to lose ground  in the Middle East. Along Israel s tense frontier with the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military on Sunday destroyed what it described as a  significant  cross-border attack tunnel dug by the enclave s dominant Islamist group, Hamas. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the demolition, which came as Palestinian factions tried to meet Sunday s deadline for an Egyptian-mediated handover of Gaza by Hamas to Western-backed President Abbas after a decade s schism. Pre-dawn Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed two Palestinian gunmen after militants fired rockets from the area into Israel on Friday.

Summary: फिलिस्तीनियों ने येरुशलम में इजरायल को चाकू मारा; बेरूत में ट्रम्प विरोधी प्रदर्शन भड़क उठे


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney made an impassioned statement in support of President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to try to erase doubts about him among Trump’s supporters and remain in contention for U.S. secretary of state. Romney, a fierce critic of Trump during the Republican presidential primary battle, stopped short of an outright apology but his intention to wipe the slate clean was clear. The former Massachusetts governor, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and lost, praised Trump for a “message of inclusion and bringing people together” since his Nov. 8 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Noting the appointments Trump has made to fill key cabinet positions for his administration and his desire for greater unity among Americans, Romney said that “all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us” to a better future. Romney made his remarks after a lengthy meal with Trump and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at a French restaurant at a Trump hotel in Manhattan. They dined on garlic soup with frog legs, scallops, steak and lamb chop. Since Trump began to seriously consider Romney as a potential secretary of state, some on Trump’s team have voiced doubts about bringing in a former critic and rallied around their preferred candidate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a long-time Trump friend and loyalist. Leading this effort in an unusually public way has been senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who told a round of television interviews on Sunday that Trump supporters would feel “betrayed” if Romney was picked. Trump, however, has kept Romney in contention for the secretary of state position, and a Republican source close to the transition effort said Priebus has been pushing for Romney  behind the scenes. “I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump,” Romney said in remarks to reporters after the dinner. “We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I’ve had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging. I’ve enjoyed them very, very much.” A senior Trump aide described Romney’s remarks as “solid.” Trump is to meet on Friday for the second time with retired Marine Corps General John Kelly as part of his secretary of state search, the aide said. Trump is also considering U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker met Trump at Trump Tower earlier on Tuesday and told reporters afterward that Trump “needs to choose someone that he’s very comfortable with and he knows there’s going be no daylight between him and them.” “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president and again, that’s a decision he’s going to have to make,” Corker said.

Summary: संभावित अमेरिकी विदेश मंत्री रोमनी ने रात के खाने के बाद ट्रम्प की सराहना की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday called on the Senate to take immediate action this week to address Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt crisis before the critical July 1 deadline for the island territory’s next debt payments. “The Senate should take up the matter immediately,” Lew said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Delay will only jeopardize the ability of Congress to conclude its work before July 1, a critical deadline Puerto Rico’s leadership has publicly highlighted for months.” If no action is taken, the crisis there will only ratchet higher, he said in the letter. Puerto Rico faces a deadline on Friday to pay off $2 billion of its debts. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said later in a floor speech that the vote would take place on Wednesday. “I really do think that we can go ahead and support the bill,” he said.  A senior Republican aide could not confirm that a vote would take place on Wednesday.    The financially ailing island is staring down $70 billion worth of debt that it says it cannot repay in full, adding to its 45 percent poverty rate and rising emigration to the U.S. mainland that is also cutting into its economic growth. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives already passed legislation to address Puerto Rico’s debt before leaving Washington for the July 4 holiday break. The Senate is expected to recess at the end of this week. The House bill, a rare piece of bipartisan legislation,  would establish a federal oversight board to negotiate various debt restructurings while seeking to institute balanced budgets on the island, a U.S. territory with 3.5 million residents. Lew called on senators to also pass the House measure - the “Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act,” or PROMESA - this week to get it to President Barack Obama to sign into law before Friday’s payment deadline. The Senate, also controlled by Republicans, is expected to debate the measure this week, but Democrats have said they want changes - a move that could complicate its passage. A vote is expected this week.

Summary: जैक ल्यू ने सीनेट से प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण पर कार्रवाई करने का आग्रह किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - David McCormick has declined an offer to be U.S. deputy secretary of defense in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. It had been unclear how seriously McCormick - an Army veteran and former federal official who is now president of the world’s largest hedge fund manager, Bridgewater Associates LP - had been considered for the post. McCormick, who had previously been under consideration to be Treasury Secretary, declined partly because he is happy with his job at Bridgewater and the government role was not the right fit, said the person, who requested anonymity because the information is private.  Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater declined to comment. McCormick did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The news of his withdrawal was first reported by Bloomberg. The Washington Post said the Trump team was considering keeping the current deputy defense secretary, Robert Work, on for at least several months. Retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis has been nominated to be Trump’s defense secretary, succeeding current Pentagon chief Ash Carter. Before joining Bridgewater, McCormick, a West Point graduate, was both a White House adviser and U.S. Treasury under secretary for international affairs under Republican President George W. Bush.

Summary: ब्रिजवाटर के कार्यकारी मैककॉर्मिक ने रक्षा विभाग की भूमिका से इनकार किया


STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union should investigate Malta s anti-money laundering system, EU lawmakers said on Tuesday in response to the murder of a Maltese journalist who reported widely on financial and political corruption. Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was blown up by a car bomb last week, had published leaked documents on alleged money laundering cases involving top Maltese officials. EU parliamentarians said Malta now needed to show it was clean.  The Maltese government has failed to take serious action against high level cases of money laundering in its country , Green Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Eva Joly and Sven Giegold said in a joint statement.  We want a serious investigation by the European Commission on Malta s respect of the European rules against money laundering.   EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in a letter to Green MEPs dated Oct. 23 that  based on the information available so far, there appear to be no grounds to suspect a systematic breach of Union law pertaining to the prevention of money laundering  in Malta. But she added that the Commission had requested more information from Malta on cases of alleged money laundering involving Keith Allen Schembri, the chief of staff of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Schembri has denied the allegations. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Reuters in an interview last week that the island s  financial services sector is as transparent, solid and compliant as any other European jurisdiction.  Ahead of a debate on the  protection of journalists and the defense of media freedom in Malta , the European Parliament held a minute s silence, at a session in Strasbourg attended by Caruana Galizia s widower and children.  Parliament President Antonio Tajani said the parliament s press room would be named after the murdered reporter. He added that Europol, the EU law enforcement agency, should help investigate Caruana Galizia s murder  as part of an international investigation where all police forces can contribute to find the culprits . The Maltese government has sought assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and from Dutch experts to help resolve the case.  The head of the Italian parliament s anti-mafia committee urged Malta to toughen laws to combat organized crime. Italian investigators have traced criminal proceeds to companies set up in Malta to launder money by the southern Italian mafia groups. Anti-mafia committee head Rosy Bindi said during a visit to the island that Malta had to close legal loopholes.  Those who order assassinations are often the ones who fear that loopholes will be closed,  she said.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के सांसदों ने पत्रकार की हत्या के बाद माल्टा में धन शोधन की जांच का आग्रह किया


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May s top ministers are all frustrated by the slow pace of Brexit negotiations, but her team owes her its loyalty as she negotiates Britain s departure from the European Union, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Monday. At the Conservative Party s conference in Manchester, northern England, Hammond played down the importance of four new red lines set down by foreign minister Boris Johnson in a British newspaper that underlined the rifts in cabinet.  We re all frustrated by the slow progress that we ve made over the last few months with the European Union negotiations, that s why the prime minister went to Florence 10 days ago and made a key speech which was designed specifically to unstick the logjam in the negotiations and move them forward,  he told ITV television.   Boris  position on these issues are well known. I back the prime minister in what is a very complex and delicate negotiation with our European Union partners to deliver Britain s exit in the way the British people have mandated us to do.

Summary: ब्रेक्सिट वार्ता की धीमी गति से ब्रिटेन निराश हैः वित्त मंत्री


LONDON (Reuters) - Allegations from the United States that British spy agency GCHQ snooped on Donald Trump during his election campaign are “arrant nonsense”, the deputy head of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) said in an interview on Saturday. President Trump has stood by unproven claims that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 White House race. On Thursday his spokesman cited a media report that Britain’s GCHQ was behind the surveillance. Richard Ledgett, deputy director of the NSA, told BBC News the idea that Britain had a hand in spying on Trump was “just crazy”. “It belies a complete lack of understanding of how the relationship works between the intel community agencies, it completely ignores the political reality of ‘would the UK government agree to do that?’”, Ledgett said. There would be no advantage for Britain’s government in spying on Trump, given the potential cost, he said. “It would be epically stupid,” said Ledgett, who is due to retire shortly. Current and former NSA officials have described an acrimonious relationship between intelligence agencies and the Trump administration. Trump, who became president in January, tweeted earlier this month that his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama had wiretapped him during the late stages of the 2016 campaign. The Republican president offered no evidence for the allegation, which an Obama spokesman said was “simply false”. Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano on Tuesday accused the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) - the British equivalent of the NSA - of having helped Obama to spy on Trump. White House spokesman Sean Spicer quoted Napolitano’s comments on Thursday. GCHQ said the claims it spied on Trump were “utterly ridiculous” and should be ignored, in a rare public statement. On Friday, Trump said questions on this should be asked of Fox News, not him.

Summary: एनएसए के शीर्ष अधिकारी ने ब्रिटेन पर ट्रंप की जासूसी करने के आरोप का मजाक उड़ाया


PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany agree that Iran must reverse its ballistic missile program and end its  hegemonic temptations  across the Middle east, the French foreign minister said on Monday.   We also have the same view on the necessity for Iran to go back on its ballistic missile program and its hegemonic temptations,  Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a news conference alongside his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.

Summary: फ्रांस, जर्मनी चाहते हैं कि ईरान बैलिस्टिक मिसाइल कार्यक्रम को उलट दे


CRAIOVA, Romania (Reuters) - NATO launched a new multinational force in Romania on Monday to counter Russia along its eastern flank and to check a growing Russian presence in the Black Sea following the Kremlin s 2014 seizure of Crimea. The force will initially be built around a Romanian brigade of up to 4,000 soldiers, supported by troops from nine other NATO countries, and complementing a separate deployment of 900 U.S. troops who are already in place. The plans are to include additional air and sea assets to give the force greater capabilities.  Our purpose is peace, not war,  Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly of alliance lawmakers, which is meeting this year in Bucharest.  We are not a threat for Russia. But we need dialogue from a strong position of defense and discouragement,  he said, before flying to the Craiova military base in south-eastern Romania.   At the base, as military bands played, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stood alongside Iohannis, addressed some of the troops in green face paint and inspected vehicles and weapons.   We are sending a very clear message: NATO is here, NATO is strong and NATO is united,  Stoltenberg told assembled Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese soldiers. Russia accuses NATO of trying to encircle it and threatening stability in Eastern Europe, which NATO denies. Around the Black Sea, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are NATO members while Georgia and Ukraine aspire to join. The NATO force aims to develop its presence in the Black Sea region, rich in oil and gas, without escalating tensions as it seeks to counter Russia s own plans to create what military analysts say is a  buffer zone . The 2008 Russian operation to put troops in Georgia s South Ossetia region, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and its annexation of Crimea have raised the stakes, with all sides warning of a new, Cold-War style scenario.       Apart from Romania, Poland is the biggest troop contributor. Bulgaria, Italy and Portugal will train regularly with the force in Craiova, and Germany is also expected to contribute.  In additional to existing NATO Black Sea naval patrols, a maritime presence will include more allied visits to Romanian and Bulgarian ports, training and exercises. Britain is deploying fighter planes to Romania. Canada is already helping to patrol Romanian air space, and Italian planes are helping patrol over Bulgaria. Some Eastern Europeans want NATO s new ballistic missile defense shield, which includes a site in Romania, to be part of NATO s eastern posture vis-a-vis Russia.   The Aegis Ashore system would add another level of deterrence,  said Maciej Kowalski, an analyst at the Polish Casimir Pulaski Foundation, referring to the U.S.-built system. NATO says the system is to intercept any Iranian rockets. As in the Baltics and Poland, where the U.S.-led alliance has some 4,000 troops, NATO says the relatively light multinational model recalls allied support for West Berlin in the 1950s, when the presence of British, French and U.S. forces ensured the Soviet Union could not control all of Berlin. Under NATO s founding treaty, an attack on one ally is an attack on all, meaning all 28 NATO nations would be required to respond in the case of any potential Russian aggression. While months in planning, the establishment of the force  comes as Russia winds down its biggest war games since 2013. The Zapad, or West, games showed off Moscow s latest weaponry and its ability to quickly mass forces on NATO s borders.  The enhanced NATO presence in Romania and Bulgaria marks a diplomatic success for Bucharest, which gained greater persuasive power because it is set to reach a NATO goal of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense this year, a priority for U.S. President Donald Trump. Romania pushed for bigger NATO naval presence on the Black Sea for more than a year, but found its neighbor Bulgaria wary of provoking Russia. Turkey supports only limited NATO reinforcements, concerned about breaking international rules limiting the scale of patrols in the Black Sea. Turkey has played down the extent of Russia s militarization of Crimea, which NATO says involves deploying surface-to-air missiles and communications jamming equipment.

Summary: नाटो ने रूस के खिलाफ नवीनतम जवाबी कार्रवाई के रूप में काला सागर बल की शुरुआत की


WARSAW (Reuters) - A deeply moving exhibition of archives documenting the life and annihilation of Jews by Nazi Germany in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two goes on public display in Poland on Thursday. The  What We Could Not Shout Out To The World  exhibition will for the first time display original documents prepared and hidden by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and a few dozen helpers who risked their lives in the Ghetto to save whatever was possible for posterity. Nazi occupiers in 1940 corralled some 400,000 Jews into a small section of Warsaw most of whom were then sent to camps to be killed or died from the conditions in the Ghetto itself. The Ghetto was destroyed in 1943 when the Nazis, attempting more deportations, were met with fierce opposition and a month long uprising. The exhibition marks the completion of many years of work to organize and translate the archives, and often decipher the documents that were partly damaged. Ringelblum and all but three of his aides perished in the Holocaust. But deep under the rubble of the burnt-down Ghetto they left a one-of-a-kind, meticulous chronicle of extermination.  We want to help shout out all that they said, find a language that will make this archive well-known and accessible,  said Pawel Spiewak, head of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw where the exhibition is held. The Ringelblum archive, consisting of more than 35,000 pages, survived the war and destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in 10 metal cases and two metal milk bottles that were recovered in 1946 and 1950, respectively. In 1999, the Ringelblum archives were assigned  Memory of the World  status by UNESCO, along with such Polish documents as the original manuscripts of composer Frederic Chopin and the treatises of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.  We want to show that this archive deserves this title,  Spiewak said.  It has to be shown and that people have to see it.      The archives include documents in Polish, German and Yiddish, Nazi proclamations and Jewish appeals, ghetto ration cards, tram tickets, private letters and photographs depicting life in the ghetto.

Summary: दूध की बोतलों में यादेंः पोलैंड की प्रदर्शनी ने वारसॉ घेट्टो के विनाश की कहानी को 'चिल्लाया'


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton’s memoir about her failed attempt to win last year’s U.S. presidential election will be called “What Happened,” a declaration rather than a question, her publisher said in the run-up to its September 12 release.  Among the things the Democratic nominee will say happened are sexism against the first woman to be the presidential candidate for a major U.S. party and “an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary,” according to  publicity material from the publisher, Simon and Schuster.  Staff in Clinton’s campaign and at Democratic party headquarters saw thousands of their internal emails stolen and published online last year. U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russian intelligence agencies stole the emails as part of an effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to foil Clinton’s chances of becoming president.  Putin has denied the charges, and U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed doubt about the conclusion of intelligence agencies he oversees. In a tweet on Thursday, Clinton said, “Writing ‘What Happened’ was hard, so is what we see every day. As we move forward & fight back, I hope this helps.”  Clinton has at times faced intense scrutiny by the media and political opponents for more than 25 years since her husband, Bill Clinton, successfully sought the U.S. presidency in 1992. “In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net,” Clinton wrote in the book’s introduction. “Now I’m letting my guard down.”  Despite polls showing the former secretary of state was expected to triumph in the election last November, Clinton won only 227 electoral college votes to Trump’s 304. She won the popular vote by about 2.9 million votes. Since then, she has made a handful of speeches and public appearances while working on the book. In April, she told the Women in the World Summit in New York City that she had no intention of running for another public office and that she was writing a book that, in part, delves into what derailed her attempt to become America’s first woman president. “For people who are interested in this, the nearly 66 million people who voted for me, I want to give as clear and as credible an explanation as I can,” she said. Clinton has also faulted the manner in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under director James Comey, investigated how she managed her email, some of which involved classified information, when she was secretary of state.  Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, told the Washington Post last week, “When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia— you blame yourself.”  Clinton and Trump were the most unpopular U.S. presidential candidates in modern polling history.

Summary: 'क्या हुआ': क्लिंटन का संस्मरण 2016 के चुनाव, रूस, लिंगवाद को देखता है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has opened a new front in its regional proxy war with Iran, threatening Tehran s powerful ally Hezbollah and its home country Lebanon to try to regain the upper hand. With Iranian power winning out in Iraq and Syria, and Riyadh bogged down in a war with Iran-allied groups in Yemen, the new Saudi approach could bring lasting political and economic turmoil to a country where Tehran had appeared ascendant. The resignation on Saturday of the Saudi-allied Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri, announced from Riyadh and blamed on Iran and Hezbollah, is seen by many as the first step in an unprecedented Saudi intervention in Lebanese politics.  The Saudis appear to have decided that the best way to confront Iran is to start in Lebanon,  a European diplomat said. Riyadh is blaming Hezbollah for the resignation of Lebanon s preeminent Sunni politician, accusing it of  hijacking  Lebanese politics. But Saudi Arabia is also widening blame to Lebanon as a whole, saying it too has declared war on the Kingdom. A Saudi minister has made the near impossible demand that Lebanese act against a group that is a major part of Lebanon s political fabric and far more powerful than the weak state, with a guerrilla army that out guns the national military.  Coinciding with a major anti-corruption purge of top Saudis, Hariri s shock announcement has given rise to suggestions from Hezbollah and others that his Saudi business interests had embroiled him in the probe and he was forced to resigning. Saudi Arabia and Hariri s allies deny that, and assertions that Hariri is under house arrest. They say his hand was forced by Hezbollah interventions in Arab countries in service of Iran.  Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said Hezbollah had been  calling the shots  in the Hariri government, which included two Hezbollah ministers and was formed last year in a political deal that made Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, head of state. Hezbollah and its allies will struggle to form a government without Hariri or his blessing, leaving Lebanon in a protracted crisis that could eventually stir Sunni-Shi ite tensions, though there is no sign of this yet as all sides urge calm.  Announcing his resignation, Hariri cited an assassination plot against him and slammed Iran and Hezbollah for sowing strife and trying to  kidnap  Lebanon away from the Arab world. The declaration came as a surprise even to Hariri s aides. It is not clear what comes next: Saudi-backed efforts to weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon failed badly a decade ago, ending with a bout of Sunni-Shi ite fighting on the streets of Beirut that only underlined Hezbollah s military dominance. The regional struggle moved elsewhere in recent years, notably neighboring Syria where years of Saudi investment in rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad failed to withstand direct military intervention by Iran and Hezbollah.  In Iraq, Tehran-backed militias and Iranian commanders have often seemed as powerful as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military, most recently in an operation to retake Kirkuk from Kurdish forces. So emboldened was Iran that top Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati trumpeted his regional alliance s success from Beirut last Friday, declaring victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. His statement to the media after a meeting with Hariri was seen as a major provocation to regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Hariri left for Saudi Arabia immediately afterwards, cancelling previously scheduled engagements and catching even his closest advisors off guard the next day with a declaration first broadcast by Saudi-owned media. The regional standoff flared in the Gulf hours later, with Iran-allied groups firing a ballistic missile at Riyadh from Yemen. Saudi Arabia says it was launched by Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not responded to the accusation. Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government responded on Tuesday to the Saudi accusation, voiced by Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan, a top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that both Lebanon and Hezbollah had declared war.  The Lebanese government will be dealt with as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia, and all Lebanese must realize these dangers and work to resolve the issues before we reach the point of no return,  he said in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV.     Crown Prince Mohammed told Reuters last month the war in Yemen would continue to prevent the Iran-allied Houthi movement from becoming another Hezbollah at Saudi s border.  Hezbollah was established by Iran s Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to fight Israeli troops in Lebanon. Its last major war with Israel was in 2006, since when Hezbollah has grown stronger. While Sabhan vowed that Hezbollah would be forced back into  its caves  in southern Lebanon, any Saudi military action in Lebanon - such as air strikes - would come as a major surprise. Political paralysis and tension is however a big threat to an already stagnant economy, and could derail next year s parliamentary elections - Lebanon s first since 2009. Policymakers have scrambled to calm concern over the financial stability of the heavily indebted state. They say the Lebanese pound - pegged against the dollar at the same rate for 20 years - is stable.     Hariri was spearheading efforts to garner international aid to help Lebanon deal with the strain of hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees, or a quarter of the population. Leaders on all sides say there should be no further escalation. Both Hezbollah and Hariri s Future Movement have worked to contain Sunni-Shi ite tensions during the war in neighboring Syria. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called for calm and patience in the face of Hariri s resignation. Okab Sakr, a member of Hariri s Future Movement, noted that protests in solidarity with Hariri had been canceled to avoid trouble.     Sabhan, the Saudi minister, has called for  real sanctions  and alliances  to find a fundamental solution to this cancerous disease , saying Hezbollah should be disarmed and kept out of government. Hariri, who was thrust into politics by the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik al-Hariri, led years of political struggle with Hezbollah in Lebanon. But his Saudi-backed  March 14  coalition failed to make any progress toward Hezbollah s disarmament as demanded by U.N. resolutions.     Echoing the Saudi position, the United States has also taken new measures targeting Hezbollah in recent weeks, as President Donald Trump takes a tougher stance toward Iran.  It has offered a bounty for two Hezbollah officials, and the House of Representatives has backed new sanctions targeting entities found to support it.

Summary: सऊदी अरब ने ईरान के साथ संघर्ष में लेबनान मोर्चे को फिर से खोला


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called his Japanese counterpart on Saturday to express regrets after an American working at a U.S. military base in Japan was arrested on suspicion of dumping the body of a Japanese woman. The case in Okinawa has sparked a protest from Tokyo and could add to resentment of the large U.S. military presence on the island, where Japanese have long been upset by crimes committed by Americans. It also is likely to stir anti-U.S. sentiment as President Barack Obama visits Japan next week. In his call to Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, Carter “extended his sincere apologies to the victim’s family and friends,” Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement. “He also expressed his sympathies to the people of Japan,” the statement said.  A 32-year-old American working at the base on Okinawa admitted to abandoning the corpse of a 20-year-old Japanese woman but did not comment about whether he had killed her, an Okinawa police spokesman said earlier this week. The Pentagon has said the man was a contractor but did not name him. The Pentagon statement said the Defense Department would cooperate with the Japanese government in the investigation and work to prevent similar incidents. Obama is going to Japan for a Group of Seven summit and also will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, a city destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb 71 years ago in World War Two. Okinawa, the site of a bloody World War Two battle, hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces based in Japan since the war     with U.S. installations taking up about 18 percent of the island. Earlier this year, a U.S. serviceman stationed in Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman. In the most infamous post-war case involving Americans on Okinawa, three American servicemen raped a 12-year-old girl in 1995.

Summary: अमेरिकी रक्षा सचिव ने जापानी महिला की मौत के आरोप में अमेरिकी से माफी मांगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump intends to nominate Michael Griffin, a former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, the White House said on Monday. The White House had said in October that Trump intended to tap Griffin for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics. Monday’s announcement did not give a reason for the change. Griffin most recently served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Schafer Corporation, a provider of scientific, engineering, and technical services and products in the national security sector, the White House said. He held the top NASA job from 2005 to 2009.

Summary: नासा के पूर्व प्रमुख ग्रिफिन को रक्षा उप-सचिव के लिए नामित करेंगे ट्रंप


Aden (Reuters) - An air raid by the Saudi-led military coalition put Yemeni airport in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa out of service on Tuesday, jeopardizing relief shipments to a country on the brink of famine, the state news agency SABA reported. The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen s Houthi movement said last week it had closed all air, land and seaports in Yemen to stem what it said was the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. Air raids destroyed radio navigation station for aircraft, civil aviation authorities told SABA, which is controlled by the Houthis. Air traffic in Sanaa s airport is currently restricted to flights carrying humanitarian aid sent by the United Nations and other international organizations. The Houthis control most of the north, including Sanaa and its international airport, while the Saudi-led coalition dominates the airspace. Any reopening would need an agreement between the two sides, which blame each other for Yemen s humanitarian disaster. The top U.N. aid official in Yemen called on the Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday to open all Yemen s sea ports urgently, saying it risked damaging the fight against cholera and hunger, with 7 million already in  famine-like conditions . Millions of lives were at risk because of the blockade, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said to reporters in Geneva by telephone from Amman. he said. The Saudi-led coalition was not immediately available for comment.

Summary: सऊदी के नेतृत्व वाले गठबंधन के हवाई हमले ने यमन के सना हवाई अड्डे को सेवा से बाहर कर दियाः एजेंसी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The son of a Russian lawmaker accused of stealing credit card data and other personal information has pleaded guilty in two criminal cases stemming from a probe into a $50 million online identity theft scheme, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. Roman Seleznev, 33, the son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering scheme, and another count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The charges were filed in federal courts in Nevada and Georgia, and the plea deal for both cases was finalized on Thursday. In April, Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a federal court in Washington for his role in a cyber assault involving hacking into point of sale computers to steal credit card numbers. He was arrested in the Maldives and brought to the United States to face charges. The Russian government has previously criticized the arrest, calling it an unlawful kidnapping. Seleznev s attorney, Igor Litvak, said his client accepts responsibility for his role in the two cyber cases settled on Thursday, but that he intends to appeal his conviction stemming from the third separate Washington case.  We still feel the way he was brought to the U.S. was illegal,  Litvak told Reuters.  He was basically kidnapped.  The Nevada and Georgia cases involved a credit card fraud ring known as  Carder.su,  an Internet-based network used by criminals who trafficked stolen credit card data. In pleading guilty, Seleznev admitted he got involved with the ring in January 2009 and sold compromised credit card data to others on the network. He also admitted to serving as a  casher  by working with other hackers to defraud an Atlanta company that helped process credit and debit card transactions. That scheme ultimately let the hackers steal 45.5 million debit card numbers and withdraw $9.4 million from ATMs in 280 cities.

Summary: रूसी सांसद के बेटे ने साइबर अपराध के मामलों में अपराध स्वीकार किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said on Monday he believes he could help Afghan forces drive back the Taliban enough to control at least 80 percent of the country within two years, compared with about two-thirds today.  General John Nicholson, citing counter-insurgency doctrine, said gaining 80 percent control of the country would represent a turning point in the 16-year-old conflict, which has become the  longest U.S war.  This we believe is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance, meaning they re living in these remote outlying areas, or they reconcile, or they die,  Nicholson told a Pentagon news briefing via video conference from Afghanistan. His remarks carried echoes of a U.S.-led strategy that began in 2009 and was accompanied by a massive surge in U.S. forces, which peaked in 2011 at more than 100,000 troops.  Many areas that were regained during U.S.-led operations eventually reverted to Taliban control when Western forces turned them over to the Afghans.   The U.S. military presence is just a fraction of its peak levels today. President Donald Trump sent an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan in recent weeks, bringing the total number of U.S. troops to about 14,000.  The Pentagon is also directing more and more intelligence assets and firepower to the country as gains against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria free up resources for Afghanistan. That has allowed for a major increase in U.S. air strikes, which Nicholson said reached their highest level this year since 2012. Still, Taliban control of the country remains roughly steady against last year, Nicholson acknowledged. As of August, 13 percent of the 407 districts in Afghanistan were under Taliban control or influence, compared with 11 percent in February, according to a report released last month by the U.S. government watchdog, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Many analysts, as well as current and former U.S. officials, believe that Afghanistan s war cannot be won militarily, particularly when the Taliban benefit from safe-havens in Pakistan. Trump has articulated a harder policy toward Pakistan in recent months, but U.S. officials say they have not yet seen a meaningful shift by Islamabad against insurgents using Pakistan as a hub for attacks in Afghanistan. The Afghan army also suffers from deep structural problems, including high casualty rates, rampant illiteracy, corruption and a frequent lack of tribal ties to areas where they are sent to fight.  Still, in Nicholson s view, getting Afghan forces to hold 80 percent of the country s population would leave the Taliban with less than 10 percent control.  Maybe the rest is contested,  he said. One way that Nicholson hopes to increase pressure on the Taliban is to curb their financing, and he showed videos to Pentagon reporters of U.S. strikes in recent days against Taliban opium factories. He cited estimates of between 400 and 500 opium factories in Afghanistan. Afghan opium production reached record highs this year, up 87 percent from last year, the United Nations said last week. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said output of opium made from poppies in Afghanistan, the world s main source of heroin, stands at around 9,000 metric tons this year.

Summary: अमेरिकी जनरल ने अफगान तालिबान को वापस खदेड़ने के लिए दो साल का लक्ष्य रखा


COLUMBUS, Ohio/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rob Portman is largely ignoring Donald Trump, which is hard to do in U.S. politics today, but the strategy seems to be working for the Republican senator in his re-election bid in Ohio. As congressional Republicans across the country grapple with the Trump effect on their home-state campaigns, the mild-mannered Portman, 60, may be pointing the way forward in his race, the nation’s most expensive Senate contest so far this year. Last week in Columbus, the state capital, Portman made no mention of Trump in a campaign appearance, though the New York businessman is the Republican presidential nominee and Portman has endorsed him. On Portman’s web site, Trump is absent. Portman has hit the campaign trail in Ohio with a Republican who had White House ambitions, but it’s the state’s Governor John Kasich, not Trump. Kasich lost his bid for the party’s nomination to Trump. Since then, Kasich pointedly has not endorsed Trump, a property developer and television personality who has never held elected office and whose smash-mouth politics worries many Republicans who fear he may lose them votes in Senate and House of Representatives races. Those concerns have been compounded by Trump falling behind his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in opinion polls. Portman campaign manager Corey Bliss said his boss has never wavered in his support of Trump and there has been no conscious effort to de-couple Portman from the presidential nominee.  But a story on the Cleveland.com web site last week reported that Portman, a veteran Washington insider, has yet to appear at a single Trump campaign event, or even in the same photo, with  him. While effectively disconnecting himself from his party’s nominee, Portman has led Democratic rival Ted Strickland by five to nine points in various polls since late July. Strickland is a 75-year-old ex-governor of the Midwestern swing state. A Monmouth University Poll on Monday gave Portman a lead of 48 percent to 40 percent over Strickland, while Clinton had 43 percent of likely Ohio voters and Trump had 39 percent. Portman does not view either presidential nominee as crucial to the Ohio election, Bliss said. “We are focused on our race and running for U.S. Senate,” he said.  With the Nov. 8 elections nearing rapidly, the Ohio race is the costliest U.S. Senate show-down in 2016. Candidates, parties and outside groups have spent $45 million, said the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog group. Portman worked briefly for former President George H.W. Bush, then was elected to the House. He resigned to be U.S. trade representative in 2005-2006, then director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for President George W. Bush.  Strickland, a former Ohio governor, previously represented southeastern Ohio in Congress for 12 years. That region of the state could play a role in the Portman-Strickland fight, but Trump himself is a major factor. Paul Beck, a political science professor emeritus at Ohio State University, said despite distancing himself from Trump, Portman could still be hurt if Republicans are so turned off by the presidential nominee that they decide not to vote at all. “These are real worries, and it’s a challenge to Republican candidates all over the country, but particularly to Rob Portman,” Beck said.

Summary: ओहायो के सीनेटर ने फिर से चुनाव लड़ने के लिए ट्रम्प से सुरक्षित दूरी बनाए रखी


BERLIN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would support any move by President-elect Donald Trump to improve healthcare for Amercicans. “Trump says that he can improve the health system. I believe that if he is able to insure the same number of people - better than I am - I would support this,” Obama told German television station ARD, according to a translation into German. During the U.S. presidential campaign, Trump called for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to be repealed and replaced and labeled the 2010 law “a disaster.” He has since said he is considering retaining parts of Obama’s healthcare law.

Summary: ओबामा ने कहा कि वह अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य सेवा में सुधार के लिए ट्रम्प के कदमों का समर्थन करेंगे


BEIJING (Reuters) - China is facing heightened threats from foreign infiltration via religion and from the spread of extremism, a top official for religious affairs said on Tuesday, after strict new rules were passed to manage religious practice in the country. President Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to guard against foreign infiltration through religion and to prevent the spread of  extremist  ideology, while also being tolerant of traditional faiths that he sees as a salve to social ills. China s cabinet last week passed updated rules to regulate religion so as to bolster national security, fight extremism and restrict faith practiced outside state approved organizations. The new rules take effect in February. Wang Zuoan, the head of China s religious affairs bureau, said the revision was urgently needed because  the foreign use of religion to infiltrate (China) intensifies by the day and religious extremist thought is spreading in some areas.    Issues with religion on the internet are starting to break out ... and illegal religious gatherings in some places continue despite bans,  he added, writing in the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, the People s Daily. Wang said that freedom of religious faith is protected by the new rules.  At the same time, freedom of religious faith is not equal to religious activities taking place without legal restrictions,  he added. Religion within China needed to be  sinicized , a term officials use to describe the adjusting of religion to fit Chinese culture as interpreted by the Party.  These rules will help maintain the sinicization of religion in our country ... and keep to the correct path of adapting religion to a socialist society,  he said. China s five officially sanctioned religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Christianity - vowed to fight  desinicization  at a forum on the topic held in Beijing last week, according state media. China has seen a revival of religious practice in recent decades after faith was effectively banned during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.  Official estimates put the number of believers at around 100 million, but scholars argue that the real number could be many times higher, due to many believers being unregistered with authorities. China requires places of worship to be registered with authorities, but many believers shun official settings in preference for private gatherings often known as  underground  churches. (Story corrects to reflect that rules were passed by China s cabinet, not parliament, in third paragraph.)

Summary: चीन धार्मिक घुसपैठ और चरमपंथ के बढ़ते खतरे का सामना कर रहा हैः अधिकारी


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The government of Somali will do all it can to pay salaries and buy equipment for its soldiers as it begins to lose international support, the country s president said on Monday. The statement came several days after Reuters reported that the United States was suspending food and fuel aid for most of Somalia s armed forces over corruption concerns. That announcement was a blow to the military, who will begin losing the support of African peacekeepers when they start to withdraw this month. Islamist insurgents are striking with ever-larger and more deadly attacks in the capital and major towns.  I hereby certify that if a thing is halted, as a government we shall put effort five hundred percent so that the suspension does not affect anyone, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said in an address to military officials at the defense ministry that was broadcast on local radio.  Whether it is salary or equipment, the government will bring what it can, he said.  I am telling you that we should depend on ourselves. We thank the foreigners who were supporting us. If they mentioned criticism, we are required to rectify.  The president did not mention a specific donor s support, but added:  If you have someone who is ready to lend you a hand, you have to avoid things that can bring suspicion.  Reuters reported that the U.S. has grown frustrated that successive governments have failed to build a capable national army. Documents seen by Reuters paint a stark picture of a military hollowed out by corruption, unable to feed, pay or arm its soldiers, despite hundreds of millions of dollars of support.

Summary: सोमाली राष्ट्रपति ने अमेरिका द्वारा सेना को सहायता निलंबित करने के बाद अतिरिक्त प्रयासों की कसम खाई


NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan s government has sought to disarm the bodyguards of detained former army chief Paul Malong on fears he might escape and launch a rebellion, his wife said on Saturday, highlighting tensions within the leadership. Malong - the man who has led President Salva Kiir s campaign against rebels - has been under house arrest since May after Kiir sacked him following a string of military resignations by senior generals alleging abuses and ethnic bias. Malong had initially fled the capital Juba with a convoy of vehicles for his home state of Aweil following his dismissal - raising fears he might join opposition forces, before returning to the capital. On Saturday, his wife Lucy Ayak told Reuters security officials arrived at their home late on Friday with  specific orders  from Kiir.  They came carrying the order from the president and told General Malong that they had been ordered to disarm his bodyguards,  she said, adding that they also tried to take his phone and said his family members would not be allowed to visit.   The government is thinking that General Malong might take the country back to war. The tension is still high ... we do not know if they might come back and arrest him by force if he resists.  Residents in Juba told Reuters heavily-armed soldiers have blocked the main road leading to his house.  Media outlets from Juba also reported that a senior commander in the army who is allied with Malong has also defected with the aim of launching a rebellion. President Kiir s press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny declined to comment, saying the  issue was purely an army matter . South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in 2013 after Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar. The conflict, largely fought along ethnic lines, has pitched parts of the oil-producing country into severe hunger, paralyzed public services and forced a quarter of the population - three million people - to flee their homes.

Summary: हिरासत में लिए गए पूर्व सेना प्रमुख को निरस्त्र करने के प्रयास के बाद दक्षिण सूडान की राजधानी में तनाव


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House expressed confidence on Monday that Saudi Arabia would not follow through on a reported threat to sell U.S. assets if Congress passed a bill that could hold the kingdom responsible for any role in al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The New York Times reported on Friday that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told U.S. lawmakers that the country would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other U.S. assets in response to the bill if it passed. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama did not support the legislation and would not sign it. The bill would allow the Saudi government to be sued in a U.S. court for any role in the Sept. 11 attacks.  “I’m confident that the Saudis recognize, just as much as we do, our shared interest in preserving the stability of the global financial system,” Earnest told reporters. Obama, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia later this week, said he opposes the bill because it could expose the United States to lawsuits from citizens of other countries.  “If we open up the possibility that individuals in the United States can routinely start suing other governments, then we are also opening up the United States to being continually sued by individuals in other countries,” Obama said in an interview broadcast on CBS News on Monday. Most of the 19 attackers on Sept. 11, 2001 were Saudi nationals who hijacked four planes and flew them into New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon near Washington and into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers revolted. The attack was mounted by the al Qaeda militant group, then based in Afghanistan. No U.S. investigation to date has reported finding evidence of Saudi government support for the attacks. The debate over the congressional legislation has gained traction on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has broken with the Democratic administration and said she supported the bill. Her rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said he shared the Obama administration’s concern that the legislation could open up the United States to liability from other countries but said it was important to look into any potential Saudi role in the attacks. “I think it’s important to have a full investigation and an understanding of the role, the possible role, of the Saudi government in 9/11,” he said on NBC’s “Today” program. Clinton and Sanders’ remarks on the issue on Monday came on the day before New York state’s Democratic primary, a crucial race for both candidates. Businessman Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the race for the White House, dismissed concerns about a Saudi sell-off of U.S. assets. “That’s OK,” Trump told New York radio show host Joe Piscopo in a phone interview on Monday morning. “Let’em sell ‘em. And we’ll all buy them, Joe, that’s OK. ... It’s called a fire sale, nothing better than a fire sale.” The bill, which has 22 co-sponsors, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, but it has not come up for a vote in the Republican-dominated Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office said on Monday that no vote has been scheduled. Family members of victims who were killed in the September 2001 attacks urged Obama to support the legislation and to bring up the issue on his trip. “It is not acceptable ... to succumb to the demands of a foreign government that we abandon principles of American justice while we pursue our diplomatic goals,” they wrote in a letter to Obama that was released to the media. In September, a U.S. judge dismissed claims against Saudi Arabia by families of victims of the attacks, saying the kingdom had sovereign immunity from damage claims.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउसः 9/11 विधेयक पर वैश्विक अर्थव्यवस्था को अस्थिर करना सऊदी के हित में नहीं है


CAIRO (Reuters) - A deadly attack on the police in Egypt s Western Desert claimed by a new militant group risks opening up another front for security forces far beyond the remote northern Sinai, where they have battled a stubborn Islamic State insurgency since 2014. A little-known group called Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the Oct. 21 attack. Analysts and security sources said the heavy weapons and tactics employed indicated ties to Islamic State or more likely an al Qaeda brigade led by Hesham al-Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer turned jihadist. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has already suggested fighters from Islamic State will move into Egypt and neighboring Libya now that the group in on the retreat in Iraq and Syria after a string of losses. Security is key for Sisi, a former military commander who presents himself as a bulwark against Islamist militants, as he looks set to seek re-election next year. Claims of a new front with possible ties to Ashmawy and al Qaeda would increase risks the security forces face in the Western Desert, where militants can already take advantage of the terrain and the porous Libyan border, security sources, analysts and residents say. Two security sources and a medical source said evidence showed one militant killed in a follow-up raid was a former military officer and second-in-command to Ashmawy, whose allegiance switched from Islamic State in the Sinai to al Qaeda, and who has been based in Libya since 2014.  If he has been involved with what appears to have been a heavily armed and wholly unexpected operation on the Egyptian side of the Egypt-Libya border, that s of great concern,  said H.A. Hellyer, an Egypt expert and senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. An interior ministry official said he could neither confirm nor deny the validity of the Ansar al-Islam claim as it was being investigated. Prosecutors are also investigating the attack.  Two Homeland Security officers said militants in the Western Desert appeared more professional than in Sinai. The officers, who work on gathering intelligence, said militants tied to Ashmawy could draw on experience of members who once were in the Thunderbolt elite army unit, or former police.  Ashmawy and four other former officers have experience in fighting, surveillance, and planning so the group they have with them is dangerous,  one officer said, referring to Ashmawy s brigade commanders.  It remains unclear exactly what happened when an Egyptian police convoy ran into an apparently well-planned ambush by a heavily armed militant group in a remote, desert area 135 km (85 miles) southwest of Cairo. Three security sources told Reuters at the time that dozens of police officers and conscripts were killed. But the interior ministry refuted that figure the next day and said 16 police and conscripts died, including some high-ranking officers. One part of the operation was hit by rockets and heavy weapons, officials and sources said. The lead and rear vehicles were hit first, immobilizing the convoy, security sources said. On Oct. 28, the interior ministry replaced several senior security officials in charge of the area where the attack happened, including a homeland security chief and a Giza province security chief, though no reason was given. On Oct. 31, the army launched air strikes against the militants it said were responsible, killing dozens and rescuing a kidnapped and wounded policeman. The new group gave no evidence of its Oct. 21 claim, and it said the oasis attack was the start of a campaign against Sisi s government. It gave a list of grievances but no evidence on the size of its operations or its abilities. Ansar al-Islam s statement was carried by another group with al Qaeda links, Guardians of Sharia, whose social media feeds also carry statements from al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri. Three security sources in the Giza area said they believe the attack may have been the work of Ashmawy s militants. Egyptian authorities believe he fled to Libya in 2014. He has strong ties in the Libyan city of Derna, where he operates an al Qaeda cell with other former Egyptian officers.  He has been blamed for high-profile attacks such as the killing in June 2015 of Egypt s top public prosecutor in a car bomb. But moving into Egypt would also raise questions about whether he had shifted his area of operations. Both Islamic State and al Qaeda have brigades operating in North Africa, where they have competed for space in Libya, especially in Derna, and sometimes operated alongside each other in small brigades in countries like Tunisia and Algeria. Oded Berkowitz, an intelligence analyst for risk consulting group MAX Security, said assessing the new group s capabilities or loyalties was difficult, but there could be an effort by al Qaeda to benefit from Islamic State s decline to bolster its presence and recruits locally.  There is a strong al Qaeda presence in Libya that can support such an endeavor in Egypt. Usually, a militant group in decline (IS) and an increase in competition between two groups translates into a more aggressive stance, and attempts at larger and more quality attacks,  he said.   Egypt s security forces are battling several militant groups, but have been focused on an Islamic State affiliate that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers in the northern Sinai and has now begun staging attacks outside the peninsula. But the Western Desert, a vast region making up more than half of Egypt s territory, has always been a security headache with arms flowing across the frontier from Libya. Militant groups have found shelter across the border in the chaos that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Residents, businessmen and security sources around the area of the ambush say they have seen a heightened militant presence over the last two years, with militants sometimes openly driving along highways at night, and carrying out hit-and-run attacks.  It s closer for them to bring the weapons from Libya and it s closer for them to carry out their operations, then flee to Libya or hide out in the desert,  said one Egyptian military intelligence officer working in Farafra Oasis area near the Oct. 21 attack.   Egypt s continuing struggle against Islamist insurgencies at home contrasts with Islamic State s big losses in Iraq and Syria. In Libya s southern Sahara, Islamic State shows signs of a revival after losing Sirte city a year ago. U.S. forces carried out air strikes in Libya in September - the first for almost a year - to destroy an Islamic State camp. When Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in September urged followers to stand fast after defeats in Iraq and Syria, he mentioned Sinai and Sirte as places where they should fight. Islamic State, which some experts had suspected was involved, included details of the Oct. 21 attack in its Al-Nabaa news bulletin, but without any claim of responsibility. The Western Desert attack came as Egypt hopes a peace agreement between Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas on the Gaza Strip across its Sinai border can help stabilize that area and curb supplies to militants on the peninsula.  Militants are able to move in the Western Desert easier than they do in Sinai, due to the open geographic nature,  one police officer working in the area said.  It s not like Sinai,  which you can cordon off.  Attacks in Egypt: tmsnrt.rs/2hO9VIQ

Summary: मिस्र के पश्चिमी रेगिस्तान में हुए हमले ने सिनाई के बाहर के मोर्चे को उजागर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he discussed a permanent repeal of the debt ceiling at a meeting with congressional leaders this week and is open to the concept. “For many years, people have been talking about getting rid of debt ceiling altogether, and there are a lot of good reasons to do that,” Trump told reporters at a meeting with the Kuwaiti emir in the White House Cabinet Room. “So certainly, that’s something that will be discussed. We even discussed it at the meeting we had yesterday. It complicates things; it’s really not necessary,” Trump said.

Summary: ऋण सीमा को निरस्त करने के लिए तैयारः 'यह चीजों को जटिल बनाता है': ट्रम्प


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. congressmen introduced a bill on Thursday that would ban Americans from traveling to North Korea as tourists and require them to obtain special permission for other types of visits. Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Joe Wilson said their proposed North Korea Travel Control Act followed the detention of at least 17 Americans in North Korea in the past decade. North Korea has a record of using detained Americans to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations. “With increased tensions in North Korea, the danger that Americans will be detained for political reasons is greater than ever,” the congressmen said in a statement. Given North Korea’s “demonstrated willingness to use American visitors as bargaining chips to extract high level meetings or concessions, it is appropriate for the United States to take steps to control travel to a nation that poses a real and present danger to American interests,” they said. Four Americans are being held in North Korea as diplomatic tensions with Washington have heightened. Two of them, detained in the past month, are affiliated with a private university in the North Korean capital. A congressional source said the bill would ban tourist travel by Americans outright, while any other visits would require a special license from the Treasury Department, which is enforcing a wide range of sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.      North Korea this month asserted its sovereign right to “ruthlessly punish” U.S. citizens it has detained for crimes against the government. It said calling such arrests bargaining ploys was “pure ignorance.” North Korea said on May 7 it had detained Kim Hake Song, who worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology,  on suspicion of “hostile acts.” Another American, Kim Sang Dok, who was associated with the same school, was detained in late April on the same charge. The other two Americans are Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student detained in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for attempting to steal a propaganda banner, and Kim Dong Chul, a 62-year-old Korean-American missionary. Kim was sentenced to 10 years hard labor for subversion last year.

Summary: अमेरिकी विधेयक उत्तर कोरिया में अमेरिकी पर्यटकों की यात्रा पर प्रतिबंध लगाएगा