WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was receiving hospital care on Thursday after becoming dehydrated at a charity house-building project in Canada, but he is doing “OK,” Habitat for Humanity said. Carter, 92, became unsteady at the construction site and slumped away from his work area to a chair, according to eyewitnesses, who said he was working for more than an hour on steps of the home, using a drill. Several workers helped him to sit, and he was later taken away by ambulance. His medical issue resulted from dehydration, the Carter Center said in a statement. He had been working on a building project with Habitat for Humanity, a charitable organization promoting affordable home ownership. Carter was taken to St. Boniface General Hospital for treatment, according to the Carter Center, which is based in Atlanta. “President Carter told us he is OK and is being taken offsite for observation,” Habitat said in a statement, noting he had been working in the hot sun. “He encourages everyone to stay hydrated and keep building.” Carter, a Democrat who served in the White House from January 1977 to January 1981, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his humanitarian work.     Carter, whose family had a history of cancer, disclosed in August 2015 that he had been diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer, that had spread to his brain and elsewhere and had been spotted during liver surgery. But by December of that year Carter told his church that his latest brain scan showed no sign of the disease. The peanut farmer from Georgia has lived longer after his term in office than any other president in U.S. history. Through his work on global issues, he became widely regarded as a better former president than he was a president, having left office profoundly unpopular. In Canada, Carter had been volunteering with a project to build 150 homes with Habitat for Humanity in honor of the country’s 150th birthday. The organization noted that Carter had requested that others involved with the effort continue their work for the day. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, have traveled around the world working with Habitat since 1984, according to the organization. She was with him at the hospital, the Carter Foundation said.

Summary: पूर्व राष्ट्रपति कार्टर कनाडा में निर्जलीकरण के कारण अस्पताल में भर्ती


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s departing chief trade negotiator warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that it risked abdicating U.S. leadership in Asia by scrapping Obama’s 12-country Pacific Rim free trade deal. Michael Froman, in excerpts of his final speech as U.S. Trade Representative, said he agreed with Trump’s plan to take a tough stance on trade with China, adding that the Obama administration has filed 15 challenges to that country’s practices at the World Trade Organization over eight years. But he said withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would create a vacuum that China would fill as it draws countries into its own free trade deal. “There simply is no way to reconcile a get-tough-on-China policy with withdrawing from TPP,” Froman in remarks to the Washington International Trade Association. “That would be the biggest gift any U.S. president could give China, one with broad and deep consequences, economic and strategic.” The U.S. Congress has not approved the TPP, which the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and eight other countries agreed upon in October 2015. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to issue a formal notice of withdrawal from TPP on Jan. 20, his first day in office. He frequently criticized the trade deal during his campaign, calling it a “rape of our country.”    Froman said withdrawing would “abdicate” U.S. leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and effectively push traditional U.S. allies in the region “into China’s arms.”  China is negotiating a 16-country trade bloc that he said would set lower standards for labor, the environment, intellectual property rights, internet freedom and other key areas.    “It would be a strategic miscalculation of enormous proportions,” said Froman, who spent all eight years of the Obama administration, both as a White House deputy national security adviser and as USTR, working to promote and negotiate the TPP deal. “Why would we cede our role as a Pacific power?” he said.  “Does anyone really think U.S. interests are better served if China, rather than the U.S., writes the rules of the road?” Without the TPP, he said, new export opportunities would be lost and current export market share would be eroded. Froman’s successor will be Robert Lighthizer, a veteran Washington trade lawyer who has taken a more protectionist route, working through the Commerce Department to erect tariffs to benefit the U.S. steel industry and other manufacturers.  Lighthizer was deputy USTR in the Reagan administration at a time when the United States took a tougher stance against a flood of imports from Japan.

Summary: अमेरिकी व्यापार प्रमुख ने टी. पी. पी. से हटने के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is nearing completion of new “Buy American” rules to make it easier to sell U.S.-made military drones overseas and compete against fast-growing Chinese and Israeli rivals, senior U.S. officials said.  While President Donald Trump’s aides work on relaxing domestic regulations on drone sales to select allies, Washington will also seek to renegotiate a 1987 missile-control pact with the aim of loosening international restrictions on U.S. exports of unmanned aircraft, according to government and industry sources.  At home, the U.S. administration is pressing ahead with its revamp of drone export policy under heavy pressure from American manufacturers and in defiance of human rights advocates who warn of the risk of fueling instability in hot spots including the Middle East and South Asia.  The changes, part of a broader effort to overhaul U.S. arms export protocols, could be rolled out by the end of the year under a presidential policy decree, the administration officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.  The aim is to help U.S. drone makers, pioneers in remote-controlled aircraft that have become a centerpiece of counterterrorism strategy, reassert themselves in the overseas market where China, Israel and others often sell under less-cumbersome restrictions.  Simplified export rules could easily generate thousands of jobs, but it’s too early to be more specific, said Remy Nathan, a lobbyist with the Aerospace Industry Association. The main beneficiaries would be top U.S. drone makers General Atomics, Boeing (BA.N), Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), Textron (TXT.N) and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N).  “This will allow us to get in the game in a way that we’ve never been before,” said one senior U.S. official.  Regulations are expected to be loosened especially on the sale of unarmed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones, the most sophisticated of which carry high-resolution cameras and laser-guided targeting systems to aid missiles fired from warplanes, naval vessels or ground launchers.  Deliberations have been more complicated, however, on how to alter export rules for missile-equipped drones like the Predator and Reaper. Hunter-killer drones, which have essentially changed the face of modern warfare, are increasingly in demand and U.S. models considered the most advanced.  The push is not only part of Trump’s ”Buy American” agenda to boost U.S. business abroad but also reflects a more export-friendly approach to weapons sales that the administration sees as a way to wield influence with foreign partners, the senior official said.  Under a draft of the new rules, a classified list of countries numbering in double digits would be given more of a fast-track treatment for military drone purchases, a second senior official said. The favored group would include some of Washington’s closest NATO allies and partners in the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance: Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to the industry source.  Rachel Stohl, director of the conventional defense program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said if U.S. drone export rules become too lenient, they could give more governments with poor human rights records the means to “target their own civilians.”  Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, revised the policy for military drone exports in 2015. But U.S. manufacturers complained it was still too restrictive compared with main competitors China and Israel.  U.S. drone makers are vying for a larger share of the global military drone market. Even before the coming changes, the Teal Group, a market research firm, has forecast sales will rise from $2.8 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion in 2025.  Linden Blue, CEO of privately held General Atomics, the U.S. leader in military drones, visited the White House recently to lobby for his industry, a person familiar with the discussions said.  Among the U.S. changes will be a formal reinterpretation of the “presumption of denial”, a longstanding obstacle to most military drones sales, that would make it easier and faster to secure approval, the officials said.  Britain, and only recently Italy, are the only countries that had been allowed to buy armed U.S. drones.  A long-delayed $2 billion sale to India of General Atomics’ Guardian surveillance drones finally secured U.S. approval in June. But New Delhi’s request for armed drones has stalled.  A major hurdle to expanded sales of the most powerful U.S. drones is the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, a 1987 accord signed by the United States and 34 other countries, which set rules for the sale and purchase of missiles.  It categorizes drones with a range greater than of 185 miles (300 km) and a payload above 1,100 pounds (500 kg) as cruise missiles, requiring extremely tight import/export controls. To gain an international stamp of approval for the relaxed U.S. export rules, U.S. officials want the MTCR renegotiated.  State Department officials attending an annual meeting of the missile-control group in Dublin next week will present a “discussion paper” proposing that sales of drones – which did not exist when the agreement was created – be treated more leniently than the missile technology that the MTCR was designed to regulate, according to a U.S. official and industry sources.  There is no guarantee of a consensus. Russia, which has NATO members along its borders, could resist such changes, the U.S. official said.  China, which is not an MTCR signatory, has pushed ahead with drone sales to some countries with close ties to Washington, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, but which have failed to pass U.S. regulatory muster.  Chinese models such as the CH-3 and  CH-4 have been compared to the Reaper but are much cheaper. U.S. officials said Beijing sells them with few strings attached.  The Chinese foreign ministry insists it takes a “cautious and responsible attitude” to military drone exports.  Israel, which is outside the MTCR but has pledged to abide by it, competes with U.S. manufacturers on the basis of high-tech standards. But it will not sell to neighbors in the volatile Middle East. Israel sold $525 million worth of drones overseas in 2016, according defense ministry data.  U.S. drone makers and their supporters within the administration contend that other countries are going to proliferate drones, so they should not be left behind.

Summary: विशेष-ड्रोन का खेलः अमेरिका मानव रहित विमानों के निर्यात को बढ़ावा देने के लिए तैयार है


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia accused the United States of denying entry to a senior military official to conduct a joint Russian and Chinese briefing at the United Nations on Thursday that criticized U.S. missile defense systems as a global threat. U.S. Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood and Jeffrey Eberhardt, of the State Department Office of Multilateral and Nuclear Affairs, walked out of the briefing within minutes of it starting in a conference room at U.N. headquarters in New York. Alexander Emelianov, from the Russian Defense Ministry international cooperation committee, said Moscow had wanted to send a delegation led by Lieutenant General Tretyak Andrey, Russian Armed Forces chief of the General Staff Advisers Group.  The entry visa was not given to them,  Emelianov told the few dozen diplomats attending the half-hour briefing.  The U.S. mission to the United Nations declined to comment on individual visa cases or the Russian and Chinese briefing.  Russia and China have long been critical of U.S. missile defense systems, particularly the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea amid heightened tensions with North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear tests.   The Russian Federation is confident that the unlimited deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense is a serious threat to the global security and can further unleash the arms race and threaten the entire humanity,  Emelianov told the briefing.  Major General Zhou Shangping, deputy director-general of the Operations Bureau, the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, also briefed.   The deployment of the THAAD system does little to upgrade the surveillance capability against the DPRK (North Korea), but significantly enhances the capability to monitor China s strategic depth and Russia s Far East,  Zhou said.  China and Russia have repeatedly demanded the United States halt the deployment of THAAD in South Korea.

Summary: रूस ने अमेरिका पर वरिष्ठ सैन्य अधिकारी को प्रवेश देने से इनकार करने का आरोप लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long-delayed legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia hit another snag on Monday when the influential Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the announcement of a deal to move the bill forward was premature. “We still have a little work to do,” Senator Bob Corker told reporters at the U.S. Senate. He said he expected differences could be resolved quickly but declined to give a specific timeframe. Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate Democrats had announced on Saturday that they had reached an agreement that would allow a vote on the sanctions bill in the House on Tuesday. House aides said the bill is expected to pass overwhelmingly. But Corker said the announcement of a deal “seemed somewhat premature.” “It’s not quite done, but it feels like it’s moving to a good place,” Corker said. He said issues included North Korea sanctions that were added to a bill including sanctions on Iran and Russia that passed the Senate overwhelmingly in June. He said Senate and House staff members were still discussing the measure. “It’s very, very close,” he said. An earlier version of the bill, including sanctions on Russia and Iran, passed the Senate 98-2 on June 15. But it never came up for a vote in the House, after President Donald Trump’s administration objected to provisions including a requirement that he obtain Congress’ approval before easing any sanctions on Moscow. Trump’s relationship with Russia has been a focus of the first six months of his presidency after he called for warmer relations with Moscow while campaigning and amid an investigation of whether his associates colluded with Russian hackers to influence the election on his behalf. The new sanctions bill is the latest in a series of efforts by members of Congress to prevent Trump from easing sanctions on Moscow. The new version of the measure announced on Saturday added sanctions on North Korea but left intact most provisions of the bill passed by the Senate, including the congressional review provision. Corker said he had been in touch with the administration since Saturday but declined to elaborate beyond saying he thought officials had come to a “fuller understanding” of the measure. On Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump would examine whether the bill was offering the “best deal” for the American people and then decide whether he would support it.

Summary: सीनेटर कॉर्कर ने कहा कि रूस प्रतिबंध विधेयक पर अभी तक कोई समझौता नहीं हुआ है


ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - The mosque was packed with hundreds of worshippers for Friday prayers in Egypt s North Sinai when gunmen in military-style uniforms and masks appeared in a doorway and at windows. The ease with which they mounted an attack - killing more than 300 people in the worst bloodshed of its kind in Egypt s modern history - highlighted the threat militant groups pose in the most populous Arab country.  After four years of battling Islamic State in the Sinai,     where the group has killed hundreds of soldiers and police,  authorities still face an enemy with growing ambitions in Egypt, despite its defeats in Iraq, Syria and Libya.     Carrying the black flag of Islamic State, the assailants arrived in off-road vehicles before opening fire on the cream-colored Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, leaving its carpets stained with blood, officials and witnesses said.  People scrambled to escape as gunmen opened fire at worshippers, including dozens of children. By the time the shooting stopped, many of the village s men were lifeless. No group has claimed responsibility. Egyptians were stunned because the attack was directed at a mosque - a rarity in the country s history of Islamist insurgencies.  The possibility that ultra-hardline Islamists are shifting tactics and picking new targets is worrying for Egypt, where  governments have struggled to contain groups far less brazen than Islamic State. Egyptian leaders have adopted a zero-tolerance policy, with air strikes, raids on militant hideouts and long prison sentences.  President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has once again threatened to crush the militants.  The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force in the coming period,  he said after Friday s carnage. Sisi has called for a comprehensive campaign to counter what he describes as the existential threat of radical jihadism, deploying moderate clerics to promote moderate Islam, for instance. He is expected to run for a second term early next year. Even with a convincing win, he will face pressure to deliver on promises of stability, especially if attacks like that on Al Rawdah persist. For Islamic State, the village was a target because of its ties to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that hardline Islamist groups consider heretical. Some villagers recalled how these threats were made about a year ago in an Islamic State internet publication. In a December 2016 issue of al-Nabaa, one of the group s religious leaders left little doubt that Sufis would be targeted. It mentioned Al Rawdah directly.  Our primary focus lies in the war against polytheism and apostasy, and of those, Sufism, sorcery and divination,  he said. More threats were made in early 2017. In March, Islamic State s branch in the Sinai posted a video of its religious police forcing a group of Sufis to renounce their beliefs under threat of death.  It showed what it said were militants beheading two elderly Sufi men in the desert after they were found guilty of witchcraft and sorcery. Egypt has about 15 million Sufis, and their shrines and saints appear in villages across the country.  Ultra-conservative Salafists abhor Sufi practices and some have in the past threatened to smash their symbols with hammers and iron bars.  Five police and army sources said there was no recent specific threat against Sufis in Al Rawdah. Friday s attack began in the early afternoon.  The mosque s imam said he had just stepped onto the podium for his sermon when gunfire erupted and worshippers struggled to escape.  I found people piled on top of each other and they kept firing at anyone,  imam Mohamed Abdel Fattah told Reuters from his hospital bed in Sharqiya city.  They fired at anyone who breathed.  Ramadan Salama, 26, said all he remembers before ending up in hospital was gunmen entering the mosque during the sermon and spraying worshippers with gunfire. As Egyptian security forces try to reassure an anxious public, they face yet another dangerous enemy.   A new group with military training is already posing a more complex threat. In October it mounted a sophisticated attack, not far from Cairo. The little-known Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack on police in the Western desert, far from northern Sinai. Security sources said dozens of police officers and conscripts were killed. The government said 16 police and conscripts died.   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. For now, security and intelligence officials will continue to hunt Ashmawy, described as the country s most wanted man.     Egypt s prosecutor s office, citing its investigation and interviews with wounded survivors, says gunmen carried an Islamic State flag as they stormed the Al Rawdah mosque. Authorities say 305 people, including 27 children, died as gunmen even attacked ambulances arriving on the scene. Another 128 were wounded.  They entered the mosque from outside, almost 10 to 20 people with weapons, and they destroyed everything,  said resident Magdy Rezk from hospital.  It was a huge toll for a tiny village. Tribal leader Ibrahim el-Menaie, told Reuters via social media that it has a population of only 800.  The whole village is black with mourning,  said resident Haj Ahmed Swailam.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने मिस्र की मस्जिद पर हमले का मुद्दा उठाया


(Reuters) - With golf long regarded as a stern measure of character and a natural setting for deal-making, U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weekend outing in Florida could be viewed as more than a leisurely bonding exercise between two world leaders. U.S. President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe will form a twosome for their round of golf on Saturday, presumably at the Trump International Golf Club near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Details are still under wraps.  Trump told a local sports radio station last weekend golf was a better way to get to know someone than lunch and saw his match-up with Abe as a “fun” meeting between partners rather than adversaries.  Abe might feel the occasion carries more weight. His prime minister grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower played near Washington in 1957, a round newspapers described as a “triumph of diplomacy” between former World War Two enemies. Abe teed off the latest round of golf diplomacy in November, giving Trump an expensive, gold-colored driver during their meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he sought assurances about the future strength of the decades-old alliance between the two nations. With anxiety over Trump’s tough talk on currency, security and trade with Japan, some in Tokyo have expressed concern Abe might be too generous in any haggling on the fairways when pitted against the real estate mogul and author of “The Art of the Deal”. In purely a golfing sense, Abe is likely to find Trump a formidable opponent. “He is pretty remarkable for a 70-year-old guy,” Jaime Diaz, editor-in-chief of Golf World and a senior writer for Golf Digest, told Reuters. “As I understand it, his handicap is 2.8. That seems a little low but I think he is very capable of playing to a five or six handicap. “He is a legitimate good player. It’s not a ‘trumped-up’ claim that he is somebody who shoots in the 70s.” Trump says he has won 18 club trophies and said such a winning pedigree made him the ideal man to run the country during the election race. “See how beautiful my hands are, look at those hands. Those are powerful hands,” Trump said at a Detroit rally last year during the Republican primaries. “(They can) hit a golf ball 285 yards.” Retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya questioned Trump’s trustworthiness on the golf course while speaking to reporters in Las Vegas in May 2016 during the build-up to the WBC middleweight title clash between Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan, according to the AP. Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson did the same in an interview he did with United Airlines’ Rhapsody magazine in January 2016. Reuters could not independently confirm these accounts. After the Jackson interview, Trump issued a tweet that said in part: “I don’t cheat at golf.” The White House did not return a request for comment on the cheating allegations.  Diaz who has twice played with Trump, at Trump National Golf Club Charlotte in North Carolina in 2013 and more recently at the Doral resort in Florida, described the President as someone who would not need to resort to cheating to beat most players. “I know he has won all these club championships at golf courses that he owns and a lot of people are suspect about that. But he would be a tough guy to beat with a five handicap,” the golf writer said. “He addresses the ball with good body language ... confident and flowing and fluid. He just looks like he is going to hit a good shot.” It is far harder to find allegations of cheating or boastfulness directed at the more circumspect Abe, who is a member of the ultra-exclusive Three Hundred Club in Kanagawa Prefecture, south-west of Tokyo. The club, confined to only 300 members, charges some 70-80 million yen ($625,000-$715,000) for membership fees and 50,000 yen for green fees. The 62-year-old Abe takes the game very seriously and local media have reported that rounds with his wife can get tense if he is playing poorly. “When he is playing golf, he concentrates. So everyone else becomes intense as well,” a company president who plays Abe once or twice a year, told Reuters on condition of anonymity. He was unsure of Abe’s handicap but confirmed reports that the Prime Minister usually shoots between 90 and 100 over 18 holes, which would place him squarely in the field of average weekend hackers. A straight driver with a “stable” game all round, Abe is generally smartly turned out, sometimes in short pants and knee socks and always with a baseball cap on his head. “I was impressed that Abe holds the flag on the green, while other players are putting,” the source said. “People in a high position like him do not have to do that for others. He is very polite.” The conservative politician is not so reserved as to shun refreshments at the ‘19th hole’ back at the clubhouse, however, where he might indulge in a couple of glasses of beer or red wine after a bath to freshen up, added the source. For graphic on the Trump/Abe scorecard, click tmsnrt.rs/2ltvfm7

Summary: आबे को उम्मीद है कि ट्रम्प के साथ गोल्फ आउटिंग में खराब स्थिति में उतरने से बचेंगे


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence on Wednesday that he and newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump can work together to bring U.S.-Israeli relations to “new heights”. In a statement congratulating the Republican candidate, Netanyahu said: “President-elect Trump is a true friend of the State of Israel, and I look forward to working with him to advance security, stability and peace in our region.” “I am confident that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between our two countries and bring it to ever greater heights,” said the right-wing leader, who has had a rocky relationship with outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama.

Summary: नेतन्याहू ने ट्रम्प की जीत के बाद U.S.-Israel संबंधों को 'नई ऊंचाइयों पर पहुँचते' देखा


BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it has urged Thailand to  quickly bring to justice  20 ethnic Uighur Muslims from China who broke out of a Thai detention center through a hole in the wall, using blankets to climb to the ground. Twenty-five Uighurs dug through their cell wall with broken tiles to make their dramatic escape from the center in Thailand s southern Songkhla province, near the border with Malaysia, early on Monday.  As of Tuesday, 10 had been caught, leaving 15 whose whereabouts were still unknown, according to Thai police, who said checkpoints had been set up along the border. The escapees were part of the last remaining group of more than 200 Uighurs detained in Thailand in 2014.  Members of the group identified themselves as Turkish citizens and asked to be sent to Turkey but more than 100 were forcibly returned to China in July 2015, a move that sparked international condemnation, including from rights groups who feared they could face torture in China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China would continue to strengthen cooperation with Thailand on the detainees  escape and closely follow the situation.   China has already urged the relevant Thai department to quickly bring the relevant people to justice,  he said at a regular news briefing. Over the years, hundreds, possibly thousands, of Turkic-language speaking Uighurs have escaped unrest in China s western region of Xinjiang by traveling clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey. The Chinese government has blamed violence in Xinjiang between majority Han Chinese and Uighurs on separatist Islamist militants, though rights groups and exiles say that anger over strict Chinese controls on the religion and culture of Uighurs is to blame. Exiled ethnic Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer called on Thailand and any country that may find the Uighurs to treat them according to international law and not hand them over to China.  The Uyghurs took the risk of capture and perhaps harsh repercussions to try to save themselves from indefinite detention in Thailand and from deportation to China,  Kadeer said in an email released by the World Uyghur Congress, which she heads.  [Whether they] are indeed Turkish nationals as they claim or Chinese nationals as China claims, the fact that they are ethnic Uyghur is enough for them to face persecution and harsh punishment,  she said. Kadeer is a former political prisoner in China accused of leaking state secrets in 1999. She was later allowed to leave on medical grounds and lives in the United States. Amnesty International has said that Chinese authorities in recent months have detained up to 30 of Kadeer s relatives. China routinely denies accusations of rights abuses in Xinjiang, though it has admitted a problem with torture of detainees and has pledged to stop mistreatment of prisoners. On the borders of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the region is one of China s most sensitive domestic issues, and the government has dramatically ramped up police operations there and set up what critics characterize as  re-education  camps and oppressive surveillance.

Summary: नाटकीय रूप से सेल टूटने के बाद चीन ने थाईलैंड से मुस्लिम उइगरों को जल्द से जल्द खोजने का आग्रह किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior European Union official said on Tuesday he had seen no  sign that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration planned to lift sanctions on Russia over its activities in Ukraine, and warned that unilateral American sanctions on Russia could destabilize some European energy markets. “We have had no such indication,” David O’Sullivan, the head of the EU mission to the United States, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on how the United States and EU could work together to push back against Russian aggression. “I think there is still remarkable unity of purpose between the United States and the European Union with regard to those issues,” O’Sullivan said. Allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian actors were behind the hacking of senior Democratic Party operatives and spreading disinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election have lingered over Trump’s tenure. Democrats charge the Russians wanted to tilt the election toward the Republican, who worried lawmakers from both parties during his campaign by calling for warmer relations with Russia. Trump has dismissed that claim, and Russia denies the allegations. During the hearing, Corker questioned the wisdom of legislation to impose more sanctions on Russia over its aggressive actions in Ukraine and Syria. Senator Ben Cardin, the foreign relations committee’s top Democrat, drafted such a bill earlier this year. It is sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans. Corker asked O’Sullivan whether it would be preferable for the United States to act unilaterally or work with the European Union on such sanctions. O’Sullivan said “close coordination” would be preferable. “We have moved in lockstep throughout this process and I think that has not only ensured of the right political response, but also the effectiveness of the sanctions,” O’Sullivan said. Some of the ideas that have been discussed could have a serious impact on the European energy sector, he said. “Many of our member states are heavily dependent upon imports from Russia and it would be very important not to destabilize that situation,” O’Sullivan said.  Cardin said some sanctions Europe has imposed on Russia are stronger those by the United States. “There may be some interest for us to try to pattern some of our sanctions on what Europe has already imposed on Russia,” he said.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के अधिकारी का कहना है कि रूस के प्रतिबंधों में ढील देने की ट्रम्प की योजना के कोई संकेत नहीं हैं


TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya s European-backed coast guard on Saturday turned back more than 150 migrants trying to reach Italy by boat amid its heightened efforts to block such crossings of the Mediterranean. The migrants, packed into a single rubber boat, were intercepted off the coast between the towns of Al Khoms and Garabulli, east of Tripoli, after traveling through the night. The boat was close to an Italian coast guard ship patrolling in international waters when they were cut off and taken aboard a Libyan vessel, dashing their hopes of reaching Europe. The rubber boat was being rocked by heavy waves and the motor had cut out.  We were shouting,  they are blocking us, they are blocking us . We were crying, pleading for help,  said Patrice Emani, a 27-year-old from Mali. He said he was making his second attempted crossing from Libya. He was detained in the western Libyan city of Zawiya earlier in the year, but his family paid for him to be released. The captain of the Libyan ship that returned the migrants to Tripoli port, Colonel Abdelhamid Adengouz, said they had been rescued from drowning in rough conditions, with cooperation from Italy.  The migrants were saved from death,  he said.  There was an Italian ship present that helped us.  A large majority of migrants traveling to Europe by sea depart from western Libya, where people smuggling has flourished amid lawlessness and a collapsing economy. But there has been a sharp drop in departures since July due to armed factions preventing boats from leaving parts of the coast and increased activity from Libyan coast guard units which have received training and technical support from Italy and the European Union. Human rights groups have criticized European policy, saying no migrants should be returned to a country where they face widespread abuse. After migrants are brought back to Libya, they are registered by international agencies before being taken to overcrowded detention centers. Some are offered the chance to return home, while others languish in detention or seek a way out. Most of those intercepted on Saturday were from West African countries, including Mali, Guinea, and Nigeria, and some were from Bangladesh. All but one were male. They said they had paid between 1,500 and 3,000 Libyan dinars ($176-$353 at unofficial market rates) to make the crossing.  I suffered a lot - kidnappings, demands for ransom,  said Christopher Daniel, a 20-year-old Nigerian.  They blindfolded me and forced me to give them money,  he said of a period he spent in captivity in the southern city of Sabha last year.  I don t know what to say or do. All the money I have wasted - what will I tell my parents?

Summary: लीबिया के तटरक्षक बल ने भरी हुई प्रवासी नौका को रोका


(Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said he had “no reason to be concerned” he would be charged in connection with the Flint drinking water crisis that exposed city residents to high levels of lead, the Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday.   Snyder made the comments to the newspaper on Wednesday, the day after two Flint emergency managers appointed by the governor were indicted on felony charges of conspiring to violate safety rules. “I have no reason to be concerned,” Snyder was quoted as saying, while acknowledging he could not speak on behalf of state Attorney General Bill Schuette. Both Snyder and Schuette are Republicans. Snyder told the paper much of the $3.5 million in taxes he is using for his criminal defense was being spent to find and prepare records requested by Schuette and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is also investigating the water scandal. Schuette has filed 43 criminal charges against 13 current and former state and local officials, including the emergency managers this week. Snyder’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the interview. Flint has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the poor, predominantly black city of about 100,000 residents. Critics have called for charges to be brought against the governor, who has been in office since 2011, as well as other high-ranking state officials. Snyder has said he believes he did nothing criminally wrong. Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether the investigation would lead to charges against senior state officials, Schuette said no one was excluded from the probe.  Flint’s water contamination was linked to a switch of its source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014, a change made in an attempt to cut costs, while the city was under state-run emergency management.

Summary: फ्लिंट संकट पर मिशिगन के गवर्नर को कोई आरोप नहीं लगने की उम्मीदः अखबार


RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities said on Saturday they had dismantled a cell linked to Islamic State that was active in eight towns and cities and was planning terrorist operations. Eleven people were arrested.   Security forces detained the alleged mastermind of the cell in a safe house in Fez, where they found guns and a large quantity of bullets, materials for making suicide belts, nails and electric wires, according to a statement from the interior ministry. Police also found chemical products that could be used for making explosives, and a  suspicious car , the statement said. It said one of the suspects was an explosives expert. Those arrested were  planning to carry out dangerous terrorist operations targeting sensitive sites, at the instigation of Daesh (Islamic State) coordinators , it said.  Moroccan authorities say they have dismantled dozens of jihadist cells since 2002, including about 50 with alleged links to Islamic State.

Summary: मोरक्को की पुलिस ने इस्लामिक स्टेट प्रकोष्ठ पर हमलों की योजना बनाईः मंत्रालय


KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused American politicians of whipping up hysteria about a mythical Russian threat as a ploy to distract voters from their own failings in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. Putin, addressing an audience of foreign policy experts gathered in southern Russia, repeatedly lashed out at the Obama administration, saying it did not keep its word on Syria, did not honour deals, and had falsely accused Moscow of all manner of sins.     The U.S. government has formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has accused Republican rival Donald Trump of being a Putin “puppet”. Putin said he found it hard to believe that anyone seriously thought Moscow was capable of influencing the Nov. 8 election. “Hysteria has been whipped up,” said Putin.  He said that was a ruse to cover up for the fact that the U.S. political elite had nothing to say about serious issues such as the country’s national debt or gun control. “It’s much simpler to distract people with so-called Russian hackers, spies, and agents of influence. Does anyone really think that Russia could influence the American people’s choice in any way? Is America a banana republic or what? America is a great power.” In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Putin’s remarks as predictable and said the United States stood by its hacking allegations.  “There’s nothing that President Putin had to say today that I find particularly surprising or that in any way undermines the president’s confidence in the analysis that’s been released by the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community,” said Earnest. Russian state TV and some of his past comments have suggested the Russian leader favours Trump, but Putin said he did not back any candidate in the U.S. election and was ready to work with any new U.S. president and to discuss any issue.  Asked about Trump, whom he once described as “very talented,” Putin said the Republican candidate was deliberately adopting a showy style because he wanted to get his message across and that he represented ordinary voters fed up with the U.S. political elite. “He has chosen a method to get through to voters’ hearts,” said Putin. “He behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there’s a reason for this.” Putin dismissed suggestions by some politicians in the West that Russia is poised to attack another country or intervene elsewhere in the Middle East apart from Syria.    Such talk was designed to exaggerate the threat that Russia posed, he said, in order for certain countries to secure higher military spending and talk up their own importance. He said Russia was not planning to attack anyone. But he made clear Russia was in Syria for the long haul and intended to clear the city of Aleppo of what he called “a nest of terrorists”, while trying to minimise civilian casualties.

Summary: पुतिन ने कहा कि रूस पर अमेरिकी 'उन्माद' चुनावी चाल है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s failure to fill dozens of senior-level positions at the Pentagon is making it difficult for defense contractors to forecast business.  Defense company officials, speaking on conference calls after their just-reported quarterly earnings, did not blame Trump directly, but said the lack of appointments to key positions at the Pentagon had slowed contract awards and created uncertainty. “The still-high number of unfilled leadership appointments and the approaching government physical year-end continue to serve as headwinds,” said Roger Krone, chief executive of Leidos Holdings Inc (LDOS.N), on an Aug. 3 call with analysts. Krone, whose company is one of the largest providers of services to U.S. armed forces, said those open posts have slowed the awarding of government contracts. The Department of Defense said it has 42 unfilled top-level posts that require Senate confirmation, including general counsel, inspector general and other important roles like secretary of the Army and undersecretary of the Navy. The Pentagon referred a request for comment on its unfilled posts to the White House. A White House official said: “Democrat obstruction has played a key role in jamming up the president’s agenda.”  Of the 42 open positions that require Senate confirmation, 29 have no nominee identified, while 13 have nominees awaiting confirmation. For two of the largest U.S. defense companies, General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) and L3 Technologies Inc (LLL.N), thin staffing at their largest customer was a talking point with investors. The Defense Department is “working on filling several positions in the Pentagon and that has definitely resulted in a slowdown,” said Ralph D’Ambrosio, chief financial officer of L3, a prime contractor for surveillance, security and detection systems. Because of the slowdown, the quarter just ended was the lowest second-quarter spending level on record at $62.5 billion, according to a report by data analysis firm Govini, seen by Reuters. The report said “federal procurement resources are stretched thinner than they ever have been.”  Leidos’ Krone pointed to the expected one-year delay of the Navy’s $3.5 billion NMCI NextGen program to update the intranet used by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as an example of a big contract delay. Defense spending for the 2018 fiscal year and beyond was unclear, said Byron Callan, a defense analyst at Capital Alpha Partners, noting that few companies have changed their long-term profit expectations, suggesting that uncertainty has made forecasting more difficult.  “The fact that we didn’t have an enacted (fiscal year) 2017 budget until the early part of May, which was seven months into the fiscal year, has definitely slowed down the contracting activity and the obligation activity within the Department of Defense,” said D’Ambrosio. Some of the positions have been difficult to fill. Two of Trump’s nominees for Army secretary, its top professional civilian position, withdrew their names from consideration. The White House then nominated Raytheon Co (RTN.N) lobbyist Mark Esper, and he is awaiting a vote on his confirmation. General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic said during her company’s conference call that “without these appointments, it is difficult to process contracts” and to make progress on defense-related projects.  Novakovic’s information systems and technology business unit has thousands of shorter sales-cycle service contracts which can reflect delays quickly.

Summary: पेंटागन के खाली पद रक्षा ठेकेदारों के लिए अनिश्चितता का कारण बनते हैं


MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - A deal can be done by the end of October to restore Northern Ireland s power-sharing government, Sinn Fein s leader in the region said on Tuesday, raising a possible compromise with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).  Unless the two sides clinch an agreement, the British government will be forced to bypass the regional assembly and move toward direct rule from London, potentially destabilizing the delicate political balance in the British province.  Northern Ireland s two largest parties have failed to reach agreement on reforming the devolved administration since its collapse in January and Britain s minister for Northern Ireland has told them they are rapidly running out of time to do so.  Throughout the Irish peace process we have been through very difficult times and we have been able to find a way forward,  Michelle O Neill told Reuters on the sidelines of the Conservative Party Conference in the English city of Manchester.  We are in intensive negotiations and we will continue to work our way through it. I believe it can be done but obviously we are into a crucial period in the next couple of weeks,  she said when asked if a deal could be done by the end of the month. Irish nationalists Sinn Fein s demand that improved rights for Irish language speakers must be introduced via a standalone piece of legislation remains the biggest impediment to reaching an agreement with the pro-British DUP. However O Neill said on Tuesday that legislation to promote the culture and language of Ulster Scots - a DUP demand - could be implemented side by side with an Irish Language Act, raising the prospect of the rival parties finding common ground.  Let s respect everybody s identity: Let s bring forward legislation for Ulster Scots alongside legislation for Irish language. They can be two pieces of legislation. Let s look,  said O Neill, who took over from Martin McGuinness shortly before his death this year. DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose party also props up the Conservative government in the British parliament, told the same event that  solid progress  was being made in the talks. While the restoration of the devolved government would give Northern Ireland a greater say in Brexit negotiations, the two parties that would lead it remain polarized on the issue.  O Neill reiterated the need for Northern Ireland to be given special status in the EU to ensure the border to the south with EU-member Ireland remains open while Foster insisted that there could not be any barriers between the province and the rest of the United Kingdom.  We should leave the customs union and we should leave the single market. You can t be any clearer than that,  Foster said.

Summary: सिन फेन की नजर अक्टूबर के अंत तक उत्तरी आयरलैंड में सत्ता-साझाकरण समझौते पर


BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s disarmed FARC rebel group is preserving its famous acronym as it becomes a civilian political party, part of its demobilization under a peace deal with the government to end more than 50 years of war. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels, whose first political conference will close on Friday with a concert and speeches in Bogota s central square, will now go by Revolutionary Alternative Common Force, preserving the Spanish initials. Under the 2016 peace deal to end its part in a war that has killed more than 220,000 people, most of the group s fighters  were granted amnesty and allowed to participate in politics. Whether the rebels will get backing from Colombians, many of whom revile them, remains to be seen. The group had originally floated several other names, including others which kept the initials, but the new name won against New Colombia in voting at the conference on Thursday, FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, said on Twitter. FARC leadership and social media accounts also posted a graphic of the party s policy priorities and its new logo, a red rose with a red star in the middle. Policies will included the fight against corruption and promoting arts and culture.  No more traditional political parties and their corrupt policies. Transparency and truth will guide the actions of the new party,  the graphic reads.  Youth, women, indigenous people, rural farmers, Afro-Colombians, artists, the LGBTI population, housewives, students, workers and the unemployed - everyone s opinion matters.  The FARC s often old-fashioned Marxist rhetoric strikes many as a throwback to their 1964 founding, but proposals for reforms to complicated property laws could get traction with rural voters who struggle as subsistence farmers. Under the peace accord, FARC s party will have 10 automatic seats in Congress through 2026 and may campaign for others.  Both legislative and presidential elections are set for 2018.

Summary: कोलंबिया के एफ. ए. आर. सी. विद्रोहियों ने नए राजनीतिक दल के लिए प्रसिद्ध संक्षिप्त नाम रखा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The surprise victory by Democrats in Tuesday’s Alabama election for a U.S. senator is prompting fund managers to prepare for more losses by the Republican party in the 2018 mid-term Congressional elections.  Fund managers from Federated Investors, Wells Fargo, James Funds and LPL Financial are among those that are moving into the shares of retailers, banks, industrials and technology firms that may benefit from strong global economic growth abroad and tax cuts for high income wage earners at home, even if the Democratic party makes gains in next year’s elections.  With a strong economy, continuing deregulation by the administration of President Trump, and the benefits of corporate tax cuts expected to be passed by the Republican-led Congress in coming days, cyclical companies ranging from Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) to Allstate Corp (ALL.N) will outperform as long as Washington stays out of the way, according to fund managers.  “Tax reform was the big thing from an economic perspective, and if I’ve got it then I’ve got it. If this (next year’s election) makes it harder for Republicans to pass an immigration bill or trade restrictions then that’s even better” because it reduces threats to global economic growth, said Steven Chiavarone, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors in New York, which has $363 billion in assets under management.  As a result, Chiavarone is holding on to large-capitalization technology stocks like Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Amazon, despite each company’s stock gaining more than 45 percent for the year to date, because he expects them to be the largest beneficiaries of the global economic expansion.  “You are going to have more money in the pockets of both consumers and of corporations, and these companies are most exposed to where that money will be spent,” he said. Historically, the U.S. stock market has done well during periods when opposing political parties have control of the presidency and at least one house of Congress. This time, however, the more influential factor looks to be the strength of the global economy.  In the U.S, the economy grew at its fastest pace in three years during the third quarter this year, while the economy of the eurozone is on pace for its largest expansion in a decade. In October, the International Monetary Fund raised its outlook for global economic growth to a rate of 3.7 percent in 2018, helping to push emerging market stocks up to six-year highs.  “We haven’t had anything like this on a global growth scale since 2010,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial, which has $560 billion in assets under management. “Against that backdrop, more gridlock in Washington is not a bad thing, because you won’t have any extreme moves one way or another.” Detrick expects cyclical value stocks, especially financials and industrials, to outpace the market in the year ahead as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates and corporations start to increase their capital expenditures.  Financial stocks slightly outperformed the broad market on Wednesday following the victory in the Alabama election by Democrat Doug Jones, with the Financial Select SPDR Fund (XLF.P), a measure of financial companies in the benchmark S&P 500 stock index, gaining 0.3 percentage points while the index as a whole was little changed.  The move to invest in stocks that might benefit from gridlock in Washington D.C., if the Democrats regain at least one house in Congress next year, is a reversal from a year ago, when fund managers piled into infrastructure, defense and small-capitalization stocks in anticipation of Republican legislative victories in the 2016 elections.   Dubbed the ‘Trump Trade’ last year, the move helped push the U.S. dollar up to multi-year highs and sent the broad S&P 500 index up more than 10 percent between November and March this year. Now, however, fund managers are looking at companies that can benefit even if Republicans are not able to legislate in Congress.  Barry James, portfolio manager of the $3 billion James Balanced Golden Rainbow fund, is also moving into financial stocks such as Allstate and Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) because he expects the Trump administration to continue to reduce regulations in the industry, a policy that it can continue if Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress.  At the same time, he is increasing his position in retail companies such as Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) and Target Corp (TGT.N) that get the majority of their revenues in the U.S. and are well-positioned to benefit from the Republican-led corporate tax cut likely to be passed soon.  He expects that Democrats will win at least at least one house of Congress in 2018, limiting the impact of Washington on the stock market until the presidential election in 2020.  “It’s looking more and more like the tax plan will be the one legislative victory that Republicans will have, and there won’t be anything else out of Washington unless it is truly bi-partisan,” he said.

Summary: कोष प्रबंधक 2018 के अमेरिकी चुनावों में लोकतांत्रिक लाभ से लाभान्वित होने वाले शेयरों की तलाश करते हैं


TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday the United States was eager to strengthen its trade relations with Japan, after meeting his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo. Asked about a possible free trade agreement, Ross told reporters: “It’s a little bit early to say just what forms things will take, but we are certainly eager to increase our trade relationships with Japan and to do so in the form of an agreement.” He added: “We made good progress in terms of establishing the overall issues and frame of reference for continuing dialogue.” Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko, also speaking after their meeting, told reporters he had a “detailed, frank and practical” discussion with Ross. Separately, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will meet with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday, kicking off talks in Tokyo that the White House hopes will open doors in Japan for U.S. products and attract Japanese investment in U.S. infrastructure projects.

Summary: अमेरिकी वाणिज्य सचिवः जापान के साथ व्यापार संबंधों को बढ़ावा देने के लिए उत्सुक


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia would do all it could to defend the rights of Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov who has been accused of tax evasion in France.

Summary: क्रेमलिन ने केरीमोव के अधिकारों की रक्षा करने के लिए कहा, फ्रांस द्वारा कर आरोपों के आरोपी व्यवसायी


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi ite paramilitary groups who took part in the war against Islamic State militants should be incorporated into state security bodies, the nation s top Shi ite cleric said. In a message delivered at the Friday sermon in the holy city of Kerbala through one of his representatives, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said all weapons used in fighting the insurgents should be brought under the control of the Iraqi government. Sistani s position is in line with that of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who wants to prevent commanders of the militias known as Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) from using power and clout they acquired during the war in elections due on May 12.     Sistani was the author of a landmark fatwa, or religious decree, which urged Iraqis to volunteer for the war on Islamic State after the government s armed forces collapsed in 2014 and the militants swept towards the gates of Baghdad.  The victory over Daesh doesn t mean the end of the battle with terrorism,  Sistani s representative Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai said, mentioning the existence of  sleeper cells .  The security apparatus should be supported by the fighters who took part in the war on Daesh,  he added in the sermon broadcast on state TV, using an Arab acronym for Islamic State.  It is necessary to absorb the fighters in the official and constitutional structures,  Sistani said in the sermon, adding that  the fatwa should not be used to achieve political aims . Abadi quickly reacted to Sistani s sermon in a statement from his office  welcoming his call against using volunteers and fighters in political campaigning . Iraq s Sunni and Kurdish politicians have called on Abadi, who declared victory over Islamic State last week, to disarm the PMF. They say the militias are responsible for widespread abuses including extra-judicial killings, kidnappings and displacing non-Shi ite populations, and in effect report to Tehran, not the government in Baghdad. The PMF says any abuses were isolated incidents and not systematic and that those who committed them have been punished. Two of the most important Iranian-backed paramilitary leaders, Hadi al-Amiri and Qais al-Khazali, announced this week they were putting their militias under Abadi s orders. Their decision to formally separate their armed and political wings could pave the way for them to contest the elections, possibly as part of a broader alliance close to Iran. Iran provided training and supplied weapons to the most powerful PMF groups including Amiri s Badr Organisation and Khazali s Asaib Ahl al-Haq. The Iraqi parliament last year voted to establish the PMF as a separate military corps that reports to Abadi in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Summary: शीर्ष इराकी शिया मौलवी का कहना है कि अर्धसैनिक बलों को राज्य सुरक्षा निकायों का हिस्सा होना चाहिए


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri said the Islamic Republic would not accept Israeli violations of Syria, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).  It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate Syria anytime it wants,  Baqeri said during a visit to Damascus, according to IRNA.

Summary: ईरान के सैन्य प्रमुख ने कहा कि इजरायल के लिए सीरिया का उल्लंघन स्वीकार्य नहीं है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to name Indiana health policy consultant Seema Verma as his pick for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a transition official told Reuters on Monday. Trump is expected to officially announce his selection of Verma and Republican U.S. Representative Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon who he will nominate to be secretary of health and human services, casting them as his “dream team” whose job will be to transform the U.S. healthcare system, the official said.

Summary: सेंटर फॉर मेडिकेयर एंड मेडिकेड सर्विसेज के लिए सीमा वर्मा को चुनेंगे ट्रंपः ट्रांजिशन अधिकारी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats urged the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday to review President Donald Trump’s tax returns, as part of a campaign in Congress that has begun to show signs of attracting Republican support. Defying decades of precedent, Trump has refused to release his tax returns while his tax affairs are under federal audit. Democrats and other critics contend that the documents could show whether his global business empire poses any conflicts of interest as the president moves his agenda forward on issues ranging from tax reform to foreign relations. In a letter dated Wednesday, seven Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee urged the panel’s Republican chairman, Orrin Hatch, to request the documents from the U.S. Treasury so that lawmakers can review them in a closed session and determine whether the returns can be released to the public. Democrats in the House of Representatives said they planned to pose a similar request on Thursday to Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady in a bipartisan letter signed by 140 lawmakers, including House Republicans Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Walter Jones of North Carolina. The Democratic efforts face long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress. Three attempts in the House have met with defeat this year. Hatch and Brady responded to the Senate request in a joint letter saying Democrats were suggesting “an abuse of the tax-writing committees’ statutory authority” that would set “a dangerous precedent”.  Democrats say they hope to create a bipartisan juggernaut to require the disclosure of Trump’s and future presidents’ tax returns by pushing forward on multiple fronts.  On Monday, the House voted down a Democratic effort seeking the Republican president’s returns, with Sanford and Jones voting “present” rather than opposing the measure.  Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told an interviewer last month she could be open to a subpoena of Trump’s taxes as part of a Senate Intelligence Committee probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. On Wednesday, Politico quoted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina as saying he wanted presidential candidates to be required by law to release their tax returns beginning in 2020. “The tax return is the lowest ethical bar that you can have for a presidential nominee or a president,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, top Senate Finance Democrat who introduced legislation in January requiring nominees and sitting presidents to disclose their returns.

Summary: सीनेट डेमोक्रेट्स ने ट्रम्प टैक्स रिटर्न की मांग की


DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is not yet ready to begin direct talks with Doha to resolve the nearly five-month diplomatic and trade cutoff affecting Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.  There is not a strong indication that the parties are ready to talk yet,  Tillerson said of discussions he had earlier in the day in Riyadh with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aimed at overcoming the row.

Summary: खाड़ी संकट पर कतर के साथ बातचीत के लिए सऊदी अरब तैयार नहीं हैः टिलरसन


CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has appointed Housing Minister Mustafa Madbuly to serve as interim prime minister while Prime Minister Sherif Ismail receives medical treatment abroad, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Thursday. The cabinet said on Wednesday that Ismail would travel to Germany on Thursday for surgery and is expected to remain there for three weeks, though it did not specify the condition he would be treated for.

Summary: मिस्र के आवास मंत्री सरकार का नेतृत्व करेंगे जबकि प्रधानमंत्री विदेश में इलाज करा रहे हैंः अहराम


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress has backed a proposal for $7.5 billion of new military funding for U.S. forces and their allies in the Asia-Pacific region, where tensions have risen over China’s territorial ambitions and military buildup. Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives and eight senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties wrote to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to support the Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative (ASPI) proposed in January by John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Service Committee. Copies of the letters were seen by Reuters. Their signatories include members of the armed services committees in both houses of Congress. McCain’s proposal calls for $1.5 billion annually for five years to 2022 to boost U.S. munitions stocks in the region, build new military infrastructure, such as runways, and help allies and partners increase their capabilities. The House letter urged Mattis to incorporate McCain’s proposal in the fiscal 2018-22 defense budgets. “The Asia-Pacific region holds many interests for U.S. foreign policy that will require our government to continue to prioritize our time, energy and resources there,” it said. The letter called former President Barack Obama’s policy of giving precedence to the Asia-Pacific “sound” and it was “critical” that this be continued under President Donald Trump. It expressed concern about “the eroding military and economic balance that is the result of the People’s Republic of China’s two-decade military modernization, combined with the effect of years of sequestration on the U.S. military and our foreign policy apparatus.” The Senate letter also expressed concern about increasing Russian activity in the region and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. “ASPI will show both allies and adversaries that the U.S. remains committed to ensuring peace and security in a region that contains the world’s three largest economies, four most populous countries, six of the world’s largest armies, and five of the seven U.S. mutual defense agreements,” it said. Trump has vowed to take a tougher line with China and to build up the U.S. military, although it is unclear whether he will succeed in lifting caps on defense spending that have been part of “sequestration” legislation. China is due to announce its defense budget for this year this weekend, and its navy is likely to secure significant new funding as Beijing seeks to check U.S. dominance of the high seas and step up its projection of global power.

Summary: सदन, सीनेट ने एशिया सैन्य वित्त पोषण प्रस्ताव को वापस लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reply in writing to Senate Democrats’ questions about his meetings with Russia’s ambassador last year, the Justice Department said on Friday after a top Republican denied Democrats’ request for a public hearing. Nine Democratic senators sent a letter earlier Friday asking Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to call Sessions before his panel to explain his failure until this week to disclose his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential campaign.  The letter came a day after Sessions, the country’s top justice official and a key ally of Republican President Donald Trump, removed himself from any investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the election. Grassley replied that he had no plans for a hearing. Instead, Sessions on Monday will submit written answers to questions posed in the Democratic lawmakers’ letter, such as why he did not come forward sooner to detail his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said. On Thursday, Sessions said he met Kislyak in his Senate office two months before the election as well as at an event with other ambassadors at the Republican National Convention. During the Senate confirmation process to become attorney general, Sessions denied having any contact with Russian officials during the campaign.  Sessions told reporters he had done nothing wrong by failing to disclose the contact with Kislyak. The Washington Post first disclosed the meetings on Wednesday. Many Democrats, who are pushing for a broad probe of ties between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives, called for Sessions to resign.  Trump, however, has backed his attorney general and accused Democrats of blowing the issue out of proportion for political purposes.     On Friday, he accused Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, of double standards for having met Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.         “We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!” Trump said in a tweet that included what appeared to be an old picture of Schumer and Putin smiling as they ate donuts. Schumer, who has called for Sessions’ resignation, responded in a tweet that he was willing to swear under oath that his contact with Putin and the Russian leader’s associates occurred in 2003 and in public with the media present.   Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity on Thursday, said Sessions was one of many subjects of a government investigation of any contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. While there is nothing legally wrong with such meetings, the reported contacts raise questions about the White House’s statements that it knew of no further communications with Russian officials beyond those by ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired last month.  The Russia controversy has dogged the early days of the Trump administration and threatens to obscure its push to cut taxes, repeal the Obamacare healthcare law and deal with other top domestic priorities. Democratic senators including Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blumenthal said in their letter that Sessions’ decision to step back from campaign-related investigations was welcome. But they said his previous answers to questions about Russia were “incomplete and misleading.” “Given the seriousness of this matter, we do not believe that a written submission to correct the record is sufficient,” they said in the letter. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the controversy looked like “a witch hunt,” the RIA news agency reported. Trump called frequently during his campaign for improved relations with Russia, which have been deeply strained in recent years over Moscow’s military interference in Ukraine, its support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Putin’s intolerance of political dissent. With his administration on the defensive over Russia, Trump’s enthusiasm seems to have cooled, and his top foreign policy advisers have begun talking tougher about Moscow.

Summary: रूस के संपर्कों पर सवालों का लिखित में जवाब देंगे सत्रः न्याय विभाग


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 200 employees of technology companies including Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Salesforce pledged on Tuesday to not help U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration build a data registry to track people based on their religion or assist in mass deportations.     Drawing comparisons to the Holocaust and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the employees signed an open letter at neveragain.tech rebuking ideas floated by Trump during the campaign trail. The protest, which began with about 60 signatures but had more than tripled within hours of publication, comes a day before several technology company executives are due to meet with the real-estate developer in New York City. “We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies,” reads the letter, signed by a mix of engineers, designers and business executives.  It continues: “We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable.” The letter vows to not participate in creating databases of identifying information for the U.S. government on the basis of race, religion or national origin, to minimize the collection or retention of data that could facilitate such targeting and to oppose any misuse of data at their respective organizations considered illegal or unethical. Trump clashed with Silicon Valley on several issues during the campaign, including immigration, government surveillance and encryption, and his victory last month alarmed many companies who feared he might follow through on his pledges. [nL1N1DA3VL] Those concerns have not been assuaged in recent weeks, as Trump has said he intends to nominate individuals to senior posts in his administration who favor expanding surveillance programs. Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook, Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) CEO Jeff Bezos and Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) CEO Safra Catz are among those expected to attend the summit with Trump’s transition team, according to two technology industry sources. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment regarding the open letter.

Summary: तकनीकी कर्मचारियों ने मुसलमानों की निगरानी करने और अप्रवासियों को निर्वासित करने में ट्रम्प की मदद नहीं करने का संकल्प लिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small group of Republican lawmakers will join President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Cuba on Sunday, underlining growing divisions in the party over the future of the United States’ trade embargo against the island nation. At least five Republicans, all known for favoring normal trade relations with Cuba, will make the trip, congressional sources and lawmakers told Reuters.  Republican congressional leaders have made opposition to President Barack Obama’s easing of the Cuban trade embargo a hallmark of their foreign policy. But an increasing number of party members, drawn by the economic benefits of scrapping the cold war-era embargo, are lining up to back the White House. “This is the right policy. He’s done the right thing,” said Republican Senator Jeff Flake, an outspoken proponent of closer ties with Cuba who is going to Havana. Besides Flake, Republicans making the trip include House of Representatives members Mark Sanford, Tom Emmer and Reid Ribble, as well as Senator Dean Heller, congressional sources and lawmakers said. All of the representatives confirmed their participation, except for Heller, whose office declined requests for comment. But other lawmakers confirmed his travel. Republicans backing Obama’s policy cut against the grain of the party’s establishment thinking that seeks to avoid giving Obama any kind of policy win, either domestically or internationally. Normalizing relations with Cuba would be a significant foreign policy legacy for Obama. Many Republicans see the embargo as contrary to their party’s pro-business tenets and believe the government should not tell citizens where they can travel. “It’s about Americans’ freedom and embracing engagement rather than isolation as a way of changing other governments,” Sanford said in a Facebook post explaining his decision to make the trip. At least 15 of the 54 Republicans in the Senate, mostly members from states like Kansas where agriculture is a significant industry, have publicly backed increased Cuban trade or fewer restrictions on travel. Supporters of Obama’s policy say the total number of Republican supporters in the House and Senate reaches several dozen. Some members say they want to see how the election plays out before speaking publicly. The U.S. embargo on Cuba, first imposed in 1960, can be lifted only via a majority vote in Congress, which is now controlled by Republicans. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world in December 2014 by abruptly announcing the Cold War adversaries would move to normalize relations after more than a half-century’s estrangement. The news drew immediate condemnation in Congress, where a bloc of mostly Republican Cuban-American lawmakers has worked to keep tight restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba for years. Although polls show 72 percent of Americans want to abandon the embargo, the Republican party line has firmly supported the restrictions. Critics of Obama’s policy say Cuba’s government is still too repressive for the United States to ease restrictions.  But this week businessman Donald Trump, who has questioned the embargo, easily won the Republican primary in Florida, defeating leading embargo advocate Senator Marco Rubio. Trump’s victory countered the long-standing assumption that the state’s Cuban exiles would defeat any anti-embargo candidate. A young generation of Cuban-Americans has warmed to Obama’s engagement policy, with many excited about the chance to open businesses in their homeland. Ribble, a founder of the House Cuba Working Group who is going on the trip, represents Wisconsin, one of several states where farmers want the chance to sell to an island just 90 miles from the U.S. coast. “American producers are missing out on a market that imports the vast majority of its agricultural products, and Cubans are missing out on exposure to the freedom and democracy that lies just 90 miles from their shore,” Ribble said in a statement. (This story corrects name to Dean Heller not Mark in paragraph 5.)

Summary: ओबामा की क्यूबा यात्रा में शामिल होंगे रिपब्लिकन सांसद


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Police in Singapore have arrested a man suspected of planning to join Islamic State-linked fighters in the Philippines and a woman who was in contact with foreign militants, the government said on Thursday. Singapore, regarded as the most stable country in Southeast Asia, has become increasingly concerned about the risks of radicalization among its Muslim minority. At least 14 radicalized Singaporeans have been put under restriction or detention orders under a tough internal security law since 2015, up sharply from 11 cases between 2007 and 2014, the government said in June. The man arrested was identified as Imran Kassim, 34. The Ministry of Home Affairs said he had tried to make his way to Syria to join Islamic State fighters at least twice, and had been prepared to attack members of the Singaporean armed forces. More recently, he had intended to join militants who seized control of Marawi City in Philippines this year, the ministry said in a press release. Imran s arrest came as a result of information given to police by  people close to him . Authorities have mounted a campaign to encourage family members, friends and neighbors to report on anyone they fear was in danger of becoming radicalized. The woman who was arrested was identified as Shakirah Begam binte Abdul Wahab, a 23-year old administrative assistant. The ministry said she had been in contact with several foreign fighters since 2013.   Shakirah has demonstrated a propensity to engage in risky behavior which renders her vulnerable to adverse influence and recruitment by terrorists who belong to a group that poses a security threat to Singapore , the ministry said. She was put under a restriction order, which means suspects are monitored and their movements are restricted. A child care worker arrested in June is the only Singaporean woman to have been placed in custody under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial. An auxiliary policeman who was suspected of becoming radicalized was also arrested in June.

Summary: सिंगापुर के पुरुष और महिला को 'आतंकवाद से संबंधित' गतिविधि के लिए गिरफ्तार किया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal trial judge in Washington, is being considered to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the National Law Journal reported on Friday, citing a lawyer who was contacted as part of the vetting process. The unidentified lawyer was contacted this week and was asked about Jackson’s tenure on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the context of her being a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, the Journal said. The lawyer described the conversation, which lasted less than 30 minutes, as a “preliminary inquiry,” the Journal reported. The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the Journal story. President Barack Obama is expected to announce a nominee in the next several weeks to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. Scalia’s death left the court with four liberals and four conservatives, and Republican leaders in the Senate have vowed to block anyone Obama nominates. The Senate must confirm the nominee. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican, took himself out of consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court this week after his name surfaced as a possible nominee. If nominated and confirmed Jackson, 45, would be the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. She was confirmed to the federal district court in Washington in March 2013. During her confirmation hearing, she received support from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who is related to her by marriage, the Journal reported. Jackson’s husband, Patrick Jackson, is the twin brother of Ryan’s brother-in-law William Jackson. Jackson served as a federal public defender in Washington and then at a law firm. In 2010, she was appointed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Summary: अमेरिकी सुप्रीम कोर्ट के नामांकन के लिए संघीय न्यायाधीश पर विचार किया जा रहा हैः लॉ जर्नल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged Republican senators in a tweet on Friday to repeal Obamacare immediately if they cannot agree on a new plan to replace it, muddying the waters as congressional leaders struggle for consensus on healthcare legislation. Senate Republican leaders had set Friday as the target for rewriting legislation for a simultaneous repeal and replacement of extensive parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the law dubbed Obamacare that expanded health insurance coverage to 20 million people. The deadline seemed unlikely to be met given that most senators had left Washington ahead of next week’s recess, without agreement on a clear direction for the healthcare bill, and Trump’s tweet did not appear to gain political traction. Financial markets showed little reaction to Trump’s suggestion, with the benchmark S&P 500 index edging about 0.15 percent higher on the day. Shares of most health insurers gained fractionally while hospital stocks were little changed. Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning, “If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!”  The White House said later that Trump was still “fully committed” to pushing the Republican draft healthcare bill through the Senate, although it was looking at every option for repealing and replacing Obamacare. “The president hasn’t changed his thinking at all,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. The current Senate legislation would repeal parts of Obamacare, roll back its expansion of the Medicaid government healthcare program for the poor, eliminate most of Obamacare’s taxes and replace Obamacare insurance subsidies with a system of tax credits to help individuals buy private health insurance. Conservative and moderate Republicans have spent recent days pushing and pulling the bill in opposite directions as Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell sought common ground. Moderates want more equity for low-income Americans, while conservatives are fighting to loosen insurance regulations. Shortly before his January inauguration, Trump urged lawmakers to repeal and replace Obamacare at the same time.  Congressional Republicans had considered earlier this year first repealing, then replacing Obamacare, but backed away after some lawmakers protested that that approach could create a gap in insurance coverage for millions. On Friday, Republican Senator Ben Sasse who had suggested that Congress first repeal Obamacare and then replace it, tweeted: “Glad you agree, Mr. Pres.” Conservative Senator Rand Paul also backed the idea. But others on Capitol Hill sounded annoyed. A senior Senate Republican aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if lawmakers had been able to get the votes for repealing Obamacare first, then replacing it, “senators would have done that in January. It doesn’t have the votes, and it’s a waste of valuable time to discuss it.” Annie Clark, a spokeswoman for moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, said the lawmaker would not support the strategy. McConnell’s spokesman declined to comment on Trump’s tweet.    A senior House of Representatives Republican, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, said in an interview for CSPAN’s “Newsmakers” program that lawmakers’ goal should continue to be “not simply repealing but to start to put into place the elements that can make healthcare affordable.”

Summary: सीनेट रिपब्लिकन से ट्रम्पः ओबामाकेयर को अब मार डालो, बाद में बदलें


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis will say on Thursday that the United States must confront Russian behavior when it is contrary to the interests of the United States. Mattis, in a written response to the Senate Armed Services Committee considering his nomination, however added that he supported Trump’s “desire to engage with Russia.”

Summary: मैटिस ने कहा कि अमेरिका को रूसी व्यवहार का सामना करना चाहिए, लेकिन बातचीत के लिए तैयार रहना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team have refused to make public information that would put to rest questions about his and his family’s possible financial entanglements in Russia. “There’s ample evidence that they could marshal, to make public to refute those claims, those accusations that they say are baseless. But they refuse to do so,” spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. “That kind of secrecy only serves to sow public doubt.”

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने रूस के साथ वित्तीय सौदों पर ट्रंप की 'गोपनीयता' की आलोचना की


ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday presented a $145.3 billion budget that keeps operating funds growth at 1.7 percent for a sixth year, while promising an infrastructure development plan that he said will be the largest in the state’s history. Cuomo, a Democrat, outlined his budget in his sixth annual state of the state address in New York’s capital, Albany. It was a wide-ranging speech designed to portray Cuomo as a governor of big ideas, touching on topics including the minimum wage, prison reform, counter terrorism and paid maternity leave. Cuomo has consistently presented himself as a responsible steward of the state’s finances, capping spending growth at 2 percent or under. When he took office in 2011 he inherited a budget deficit of $10 billion and a state known for fiscal dysfunction. He has tied his governorship to big infrastructure projects and has spent the new year touring the state, promising a program to equip New York for the next 100 years. Wednesday’s speech was no exception. Cuomo, who has been cited as a possible presidential candidate beyond 2016, presented himself as an alternative to the gridlock in Washington D.C. “This nation has real problems that we haven’t seen before and with the gridlock in Washington I am not going to rely on them to solve them,” Cuomo told a packed convention center in the address that lasted for over an hour and half. Cuomo’s infrastructure plans include rebuilding New York City’s Pennsylvania Station for $3 billion, expanding rail services to Long Island by adding a third track for $1 billion and a $1 billion extension to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. He has also promised $22 billion for upstate transport over the next five years. The funds, which will primarily go to repairing roads and bridges, are aimed at creating parity between upstate and downstate spending on transport, Cuomo said. Cuomo also tried to draw a line under a difficult year for Albany after speakers of the Assembly and Senate were convicted on corruption charges. He proposed measure to close a loop hole allowing some companies to skirt limits on political donations. A cloud of suspicion was removed from Cuomo this week after the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said there was “insufficient” evidence to prove any crimes occurred when the governor prematurely disbanded an anti-corruption panel.

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क के कुओमो ने $145.3 बिलियन का बजट प्रस्तावित किया, खर्च की सीमा निर्धारित की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Teamsters union on Friday praised House lawmakers for keeping self-driving commercial trucks out of a proposed bill aimed at speeding deployment of the advanced technology for cars.  The U.S. House Energy and Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would hasten the use of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles. The measure only applies to vehicles under 10,000 pounds and not large commercial trucks. The 1.4-million-member union, hoping to protect the jobs of truck drivers, has been lobbying at the federal and state levels to slow legislation to make it easier for companies to roll out self-driving trucks. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has said she is “very concerned” about the impact of self-driving cars on U.S. jobs, a big part of President Donald Trump’s campaign message. “It is vital that Congress ensure that any new technology is used to make transportation safer and more effective, not used to put workers at risk on the job or destroy livelihoods,” Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said in a statement, adding the union wants more changes in the House measure. Teamsters officials have been involved in talks with Senate aides, seeking to exclude commercial trucks from a similar bill setting federal regulations for autonomous vehicles, lobbyists said. The Senate proposal has not been made public yet. The House bill would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year, a cap that would rise to 100,000 vehicles annually over three years. Auto industry leaders have said 3 million commercial truck jobs could eventually be at risk if self-driving vehicles replaced human drivers. Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car unit Waymo is working on developing self-driving trucks, the company said last month. Other companies have also been working on self-driving trucks. Ride services company Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] is working on autonomous trucking through its Otto unit, which it acquired last year. Tesla Inc, which is working on self-driving technologies, plans to unveil a commercial truck called the Tesla Semi in September. The Teamsters have opposed efforts by states to approve plans by logistics companies to use platooning technology that could reduce driver jobs by allowing a pack of trucks to be digitally connected and driven in formation. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens approved a revised platooning measure this year that requires a driver in the cab of each truck. His predecessor Jay Nixon vetoed platoon testing last year.

Summary: अमेरिकी स्व-ड्राइविंग कानून से बाहर रखे गए ट्रकों के रूप में संघ की जयकार


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lebanon s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said in Moscow that he hopes Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as prime minister on Nov. 4, would return to Beirut after he completes his visit to France, Russia s RIA news agency reported. He said that the main aim now is that Hariri can return to Lebanon without any conditions or restrictions on his freedom and, once back in Lebanon, that he can decide whether to step down as the prime minister, the news agency reported. He said, according to the agency, that Hariri should still be considered as Lebanon s serving prime minister. Hariri s visit to France was aimed solely at securing his return to Lebanon, the agency reported. Bassil said earlier on Friday that some forces are trying to oust the Lebanese leader.

Summary: लेबनान के विदेश मंत्री ने कहा कि उन्हें उम्मीद है कि हरीरी बेरूत लौटेंगेः आर. आई. ए.


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Nearly half the 19 people injured when a driver with no known extremist links plowed into pedestrians in the southern city of Melbourne were foreign nationals, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday. Police allege that the 32-year-old Australian man, a refugee from Afghanistan, had a history of mental illness and drove a car into Christmas shoppers on one of the busiest roads in Australia s second-largest city on Thursday. The incident was a chilling reminder of attacks using vehicles in cities around the world. Four people were killed in a similar incident in Melbourne in January. Turnbull and police said the driver had no known ties to extremist organizations, although they also said he had spoken of the perceived mistreatment of Muslims after his arrest. Police have yet to interview, charge or identify the man. Turnbull said nine of the victims were foreign nationals. He did not specify their nationalities but Australian media reported they included people from China, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea and Venezuela.  This is a shocking incident to occur just on the eve of Christmas but we will not be cowed by it,  Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. Four people were killed and more than 20 injured in January when a man deliberately drove into pedestrians just a few hundred meters away from Thursday s attack. That was also not designated as a terror attack. Police had cordoned off the area immediately after the incident but roads in central Melbourne were open and trams were operating as usual on Friday morning. Reuters witnesses reported a heavy police presence around exits from nearby Flinders Street train station, with trauma support and Red Cross workers in the area. Department store staff said foot traffic was down from the day before.  It s definitely quieter,  said a saleswoman at a beauty counter in the David Jones department store, who declined to give her name.  More people are coming in from the back entrance. I think they re trying to avoid Flinders Street Station,  she said. Workers at Walker s Doughnuts, which overlooks the site of the incident, said business was normal.  We thought it would be less, but we re very busy,  said store worker Bindu Kaki. Police vehicles lined the streets and volunteers for the Victorian Council of Churches in Australia stood in high- visibility shirts with labels reading  personal support . Community group the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Victoria issued a statement denouncing the incident and offering to donate blood to victims.  As Australian Muslims it is not just a moral but also a religious duty to condemn in the strongest possible terms (the) horrific and senseless act of violence,  it said. Police said a second man arrested at the scene was released and was expected to be charged with possession of cannabis and a controlled weapon, although those offences were not linked to the car incident.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलियाई प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि ड्राइवर द्वारा भीड़ में घुसने से घायल होने वालों में नौ विदेशी शामिल हैं


ZURICH (Reuters) - The nuclear proliferation watchdog CTBTO said unusual seismic activity detected in North Korea on Saturday took place around 50 km (31 miles) from previous tests.  Korean Peninsula unusual #seismic activity: LAT=41.36 LON=129.76 mb=3.5 About 50 km from prior tests. #CTBT Analysts investigating,  CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo said in a Twitter post.

Summary: कोरियाई भूकंपीय गतिविधि पूर्व परीक्षणों से 50 किमी दूर हुईः सीटीबीटीओ