BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces on Tuesday reached troops besieged for years by Islamic State in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the militants  last major stronghold in Syria, the army said. Tanks and troops pressed quickly toward a government-held enclave in the city, where Islamic State has trapped thousands of civilians and Syrian soldiers since 2014. The advance has opened a land route linking that territory to the outside. The advance into strategic prize Deir al-Zor, a city on the Euphrates river and once the center of Syria s oil industry, is a significant victory for President Bashar al-Assad against Islamic State and another stinging blow to the group. The group is being fought in Syria by government forces, backed by allies Iran and Russia, and separately by a U.S.-led alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters. In Iraq, the jihadists were driven out of their Mosul stronghold earlier this year. Islamic State still holds half of Deir al-Zor city and much of the province, however, as well as parts of its former stronghold Raqqa to the northwest, where the U.S.-backed offensive is being fought.  Our armed forces and allies, with support from Syrian and Russian warplanes, achieved the second phase of their operations in the Syrian desert,  Syria s military said.  They have managed to break the siege.  State media and a war monitoring group said advancing forces had linked up with the besieged troops at a garrison on the western edge of the city. Footage on Syrian state TV showed soldiers cheering near the garrison. State media said residents in government-held parts of the city were celebrating the advance. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a nearby military air base and three districts remained under siege by IS. Battles still raged around the city, the British-based war monitor said. Deir al-Zor governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra told Reuters that government troops were also pushing toward the air base.  The forces have begun to lift the siege,  he said.  Our residents have been waiting for this moment ... forces are (trying to) break the siege on the military airport as well.       The coming days will see the clearing of Deir al-Zor city (of militants)  and advances on nearby countryside under Islamic State control, Samra added. Assad congratulated the troops in a statement from his office. The army and its allies made rapid advances in recent days pushing through Islamic State lines with the help of heavy artillery and Russian air strikes. A Russian warship in the Mediterranean sea fired cruise missiles at Islamic State positions near Deir al-Zor to boost the offensive, Russia s defense ministry said. The city has been cut off from government-held Syria since 2013, after rebel groups rose up against Assad during the first flush of Syria s six-year war. Islamic State then overran rebel positions and encircled the army enclave and nearby air base in 2014. The United Nations said in August it estimated 93,000 civilians were living there in  extremely difficult  conditions. During the siege, high-altitude air drops have supplied them. Deir al-Zor lies southeast of Islamic State s former base in Raqqa. Hemmed in on all sides, Islamic State fighters have fallen back on footholds downstream of Deir al-Zor in towns near the Iraq border. The Deir al-Zor gains  form an important launching pad for expanding military operations in the area,  the army said. For Damascus, the latest advance caps months of steady progress as the army and its allies turned from victories over rebels in western Syria to push east against Islamic State.  The eastwards march has on occasion brought them into conflict with U.S.-backed forces. Still, the rival campaigns have mostly stayed out of each other s way, and the U.S.-led coalition has stressed it is not seeking war with Assad. In a statement on Sunday an alliance of Iran-backed Shi ite militias allied to Damascus, including Lebanon s Hezbollah, accused Washington of trying to hinder the advance to Deir al-Zor. An official in the pro-Assad alliance said senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani was closely monitoring fighting, a sign of Iran s close military involvement.

Summary: सीरियाई सेना और सहयोगियों ने पूर्वी शहर में इस्लामिक स्टेट की घेराबंदी तोड़ दी


QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - (This October 9 story has been refiled to correct paragraphs 1, 5 after police revise toll to three Hazaras killed, not five.) Gunmen killed five men, including three Shia Muslims from the ethnic Hazara minority, in southwest Pakistan on Monday, a police official said, giving details of the second shooting targeting Hazaras in a month. The attack took place in Quetta, where nearly half a million Hazaras have settled since fleeing Afghanistan to escape the violence in their homeland during the past four decades.     The attackers opened fire from a motorcycle killing the five men who were traveling in the back of a pick-up truck, on their way to sell vegetables at a market, the official said.   It was a sectarian target killing,  senior police officer Malik Nisar told Reuters, adding that the attackers escaped after opening fire.   It was unclear initially, but now we know that it was three Hazaras among the five people killed,  he said.  No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.  Hazaras are frequently targeted by Taliban and Islamic State militants, and other Sunni Muslim militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. More than 20 Hazaras have been killed in similar shootings in Baluchistan in the past two years, police say. In 2013, three separate bombings killed over 200 people in Hazara neighborhoods, raising international awareness of the plight of the community. The ongoing violence in Pakistan s Baluchistan province has fueled concern about security for projects in the $57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a transport and energy link planned to run from western China to Pakistan s southern deep-water port of Gwadar. A suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in the Baluch town of Jhal Magsi on Thursday killed 22 people and wounded more than 30 others.  The bombing was claimed by Islamic State and is the latest sectarian attack in the restive province.  Taliban and other Sunni Islamist militants are active in the province, while ethnic Baluch separatists have run a low level insurgency for decades, mounting attacks on security forces and other targets linked to the central government.  Elsewhere in Pakistan on Monday, an official said gunmen killed three soldiers and wounded eight in an attack on their vehicle in the semi-autonomous tribal region of North Waziristan. North Waziristan was a Taliban stronghold until 2014, when Pakistan s military launched a major offensive against the group and pushed many of its fighters across the border into Afghanistan. Following Monday s attack, security forces closed off roads in Razmak district, and surrounding villages.

Summary: पाकिस्तान में सांप्रदायिक हमले में पांच लोगों की मौत


MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia s regional president told a meeting of his party he would formally declare independence if Spain starts the process of suspending the region s autonomy on Thursday, a Catalan government source said on Wednesday.  Madrid has given Thursday as a deadline for the regional government to back down from a symbolic independence declaration made last week, or face direct rule from the capital. If Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy moves to apply direct rule on Thursday, it will take between three and five days for regional autonomy to be effectively suspended.

Summary: अगर स्पेन क्षेत्रीय स्वायत्तता को निलंबित कर देता है तो कैटेलोनिया औपचारिक रूप से स्वतंत्रता की घोषणा करेगाः सूत्र


(This March 22 story was corrected to remove reference to Inhofe being chairman in paragraph four) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee easily passed a bill on Wednesday to enable the nuclear regulator to license advanced nuclear reactors that backers say are safer than conventional plants and can help deal with a growing waste problem. The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop a regulatory framework to enable the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors that could come into development in 10 or 15 years.   The bill passed 18-3 in the Environment and Public Works Committee.  Republican Senator James Inhofe, said the bill is “critical for the revitalization and improvement of our nation’s nuclear energy industry.”  The bill has brought together some Republicans eager to prevent the United States from falling behind China and Russia in nuclear innovation and Democrats who want to foster technologies that do not emit gases blamed for climate change. But the legislation faces a cloudy future.  The nuclear industry faces competition from cheap natural gas prices and the growing wind and solar power industries. It was uncertain whether the full Senate would debate the bill or if the measure would be absorbed into broader energy legislation. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the bill would help the United States keep its lead in innovation while finding possible solutions to the waste now kept in pools and in casks at conventional nuclear plant sites.    “If we can get there, we will have done this country and the world a vital public service,” Whitehouse said of the potential for the advanced reactors to reduce the waste problem.  A fellow Democrat, Senator Kamala Harris of California - one of several lawmakers who want to see the country find comprehensive, permanent solutions to existing nuclear waste from conventional nuclear plants before moving ahead with new reactors - voted against the bill.  “Safely disposing of any radioactive material is a key priority of mine to ensure that we leave our environment pristine and unharmed for future generations,” Harris said, adding that she is willing to help improve the legislation.

Summary: सीनेट पैनल ने उन्नत परमाणु संयंत्रों को लाइसेंस देने के लिए विधेयक पारित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday proposed a 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, as the White House seeks to eliminate climate change programs and trim initiatives to protect air and water quality.  The EPA would sustain the biggest cut of any federal agency in the White House 2018 budget, as Trump seeks to clear away regulations he claims are hobbling U.S. oil drillers, coal miners and farmers. The proposed cuts are a starting point, and Congress could temper them in its budget deliberations. The proposal would slash funding for enforcing regulations, fighting water pollution, cleaning up sites contaminated by toxic waste and promoting energy-efficient appliances. It would eliminate 3,200 EPA employees, or 19 percent of the agency’s workforce. It would effectively erase former President Barack Obama’s initiatives to combat climate change by cutting funding for the agency’s signature Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. “Consistent with the President’s America First Energy Plan, the budget reorients the EPA’s air program to protect the air we breathe without unduly burdening the American economy,” a summary of the proposed EPA budget said. Some lawmakers from Trump’s Republican party praised the proposed cuts, but some expressed concern about cuts to programs affecting their region of the country. Environmentalists blasted the plan, saying it would return America back to 1977 when smoggy skies and polluted rivers pushed lawmakers to strengthen federal clean air and clean water laws. Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, disputes the scientific consensus that human actions are the lead cause of climate change. In his former position as attorney general of oil-producing Oklahoma, he sued the EPA more than a dozen times. Pruitt believes Congress should determine whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant that needs regulation. With both chambers currently led by Republicans, and influential committees headed by lawmakers from oil-producing states, that is unlikely anytime soon.      The budget would also eliminate some $100 million in spending on research and international programs on combating climate change. Trump also doubts the science of climate change and has said the country can reduce green regulations drastically without compromising air and water quality.  Asked about climate change programs, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, told reporters “we consider that to be a waste of your money.”  “I think the president is fairly straightforward. We’re not spending money on that,” he said.    The EPA had already faced sharp cuts under Obama. Janet McCabe, a former EPA air official, said Trump’s proposed budget would harm the EPA’s ability to respond to emergencies and also hurt day-to-day efforts on keeping air and water clean to protect human health.  The proposed cuts would cut $427 million aimed at regional pollution cleanup programs, including in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Funding for the Superfund program to clean up the nation’s most contaminated sites would drop by $330 million to $762 million. The summary said the budget seeks to give local and state governments responsibility for such clean-up efforts. Many states and municipalities also face severe budget constraints in the current fiscal environment.  Trump’s proposal includes a 31 percent budget cut for the enforcement division, which fines companies for pollution. It would ax dozens of other programs including the popular Energy Star appliance efficiency program aimed at reducing U.S. energy consumption.  “Turning back the clock to 1977 will not ‘Make America Great Again’. It will ‘Make America Gag Again,’” said Conrad Schneider, the advocacy director at Clean Air Task Force.  One area that would see a small boost is for State Revolving Funds, low-interest loans for investments in water and sanitation infrastructure. The plan would add $4 million to the funds, bringing its budget up to $100 million. While employees at EPA headquarters in Washington worried about their jobs, some hoped opportunities might open up at the other side of the country.  Representatives of California, where state energy commissions and a clean air agency are hiring, handed recruitment fliers to EPA employees on their way to work. The fliers said: “Fight Climate Change, Work for California.”

Summary: ई. पी. ए. को सबसे अधिक नुकसान हुआ क्योंकि ट्रम्प बजट ने नियमों को लक्षित किया


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday Robert Mugabe s resignation gave Zimbabwe the chance to forge a new path, free from oppression.  The resignation of Robert Mugabe provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterized his rule,  May said.   In recent days, we have seen the desire of the Zimbabwean people for free and fair elections and the opportunity to rebuild the country s economy under a legitimate government.  May added in a statement that Britain, as  Zimbabwe s oldest friend , would do all it could to support the country.

Summary: ब्रिटिश पीएम मे ने कहा कि मुगाबे के इस्तीफे से जिम्बाब्वे को मुक्त होने का मौका मिला है


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said on Tuesday he will tell his U.S. counterpart that the New York trial of a Turkish banker, charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, is not legal and should be ended. Gul told Turkish broadcaster 24 TV in an interview that it would be impossible to accept a verdict contrary to Turkey s interests in the case, which has strained ties between the NATO allies.

Summary: तुर्की के बैंकर पर अमेरिकी मुकदमा कानूनी नहीं, समाप्त किया जाना चाहिएः तुर्की के मंत्री


(Reuters) - A report from Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings on Monday suggested that the latest proposed healthcare bill to overhaul Obamacare could hurt the U.S. economy, states and health insurers. The Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ) bill, if implemented, could led to $240 billion in lost economic activity by 2027 and impact 580,000 jobs, the report indicated. (bit.ly/2fmRR6Y) The bill would take federal money spent on the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, as well as subsidies to help individuals buy private insurance, and deliver it to the states in block grants. The ratings agency also added that the GCHJ bill could cause greater disparity among states in terms of rules for the insurance markets and uninsured levels. The GCHJ bill, which is awaiting a Senate vote on Monday, could lead to 21 million fewer Americans having health insurance.

Summary: प्रस्तावित स्वास्थ्य सेवा विधेयक अमेरिकी अर्थव्यवस्था को नुकसान पहुंचा सकता हैः एस एंड पी


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - There is  no possibility  that Britain and the European Union can conclude a free trade agreement by the time Britain leaves in March 2019, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barner said on Tuesday. Asked about suggestions in London that a trade deal could be ready for signature shortly after Britain is no longer an EU member, Barnier reiterated the EU s official line that only a  political declaration  outlining future trading relations would be ready at the time of Britain s withdrawal. He told reporters after he had briefed EU ministers ahead of a leaders  summit on Friday that negotiating a free trade pact would take longer.  He also stressed that there must be  no backtracking  by Britain on an outline divorce package agreed last week if it wants to negotiate the future relationship. He said that after the summit he hoped he would be able to present draft language early in the new year on the withdrawal treaty, elements of which were agreed last Friday.

Summary: यूरोपीय संघ के बार्नियर ने ब्रेक्सिट के लिए समय पर पूर्ण यूरोपीय संघ-ब्रिटेन व्यापार समझौते को खारिज कर दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday it welcomed efforts by both political parties to address the use of “bump stock” gun accessories, which enable rifles to be turned into rapid-fire weapons, following the Las Vegas mass shooting. “We know that members of both parties and multiple organizations are planning to take a look at bump stocks and related devices,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. “We certainly welcome that and would like to be part of that conversation,” Sanders said.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने बंदूक 'बम्प स्टॉक' उपकरणों का अध्ययन करने के प्रयासों का स्वागत किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump raised about $90 million in August in his campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, his campaign said on Wednesday.  The fundraising totals, first reported by Fox News, did not include a breakdown of how much of the total the New York real estate mogul contributed to his own campaign. Trump said at a rally on Tuesday that he himself contributed a lot of the money to his campaign in August.  Republican ex-defense secretary Cohen backs Hillary Clinton Live Blog: Mexico's Pena Nieto replaces finance minister after Trump visit Trump campaign reverses ban on credentials for some media outlets Clinton, who raised $143 million in the same time period, has consistently outraised Trump, allowing her to spend more widely on expensive television advertisements.  Clinton has also built a vastly larger campaign payroll, spending millions more than Trump to hire staff around the country that will be the backbone of her efforts to get people to turn out and vote.  In July, Trump took in $80 million.  Trump, a former reality TV star who has never held elected office, has already defied precedent in campaign spending. During the primary, he was outspent by many of his Republican rivals but was able to leverage free media coverage to secure the party’s presidential nomination.  But Republican supporters have warned that he may not be able to replicate the winning formula in the general election, when turning out less-engaged voters is a key piece of victory.  Trump did not begin fundraising with intensity until June.  Clinton began August with $58 million, compared to Trump who started the month with $38 million.

Summary: अगस्त में ट्रम्प ने लगभग 90 मिलियन डॉलर जुटाए


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Former Mexico finance minister Jose Antonio Meade, who resigned to seek the presidential nomination of the ruling party, is lagging far behind in public support ahead of next year s election, according to a newspaper poll published on Wednesday.  Meade, who is widely expected to receive the nomination of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), came in third in two scenarios polled by Mexican newspaper El Universal, while leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador maintained a strong lead in both instances. The survey found that 31 percent of respondents would vote for Lopez Obrador, who leads the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party, followed by the conservative National Action Party s (PAN) Ricardo Anaya, leading a coalition of parties, with 23 percent. Meade came in third with 16 percent. When Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera was entered into the mix for the coalition, Obrador had 32 percent support, followed by Mancera with 22 percent and Meade with 15 percent.  The poll was conducted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 4, after Meade resigned to seek the presidency. Meade, who has served in both PRI and PAN administrations, has a reputation for honesty that PRI officials hope will help the party recover from a spate of corruption scandals. But he remains unknown to much of the Mexican public.  A victory for the combative and nationalist-leaning Lopez Obrador, who promises to revive economic growth by battling graft, could stoke tensions with the Trump administration just as the United States, Mexico and Canada seek to seal a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Support for MORENA and the PAN slipped 1 percentage point from the previous poll in November, while support for the PRI held steady at 16 percent, according to El Universal. The survey by pollster Buendia & Laredo included 744 face-to-face interviews and has a +/- 4.1 percent margin of error.

Summary: मेक्सिको की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी के राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार वामपंथियों से पीछेः सर्वेक्षण


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia called on Thursday on the United States to build a strong presence in Asia and bolster ties with  like-minded  partners while warning against China s rising influence. A more insular United States would be detrimental to the liberal nature of the world s  rules-based order , the government said in a 115-page foreign policy white paper.  Australia believes that international challenges can only be tackled effectively when the world s wealthiest, most innovative and most powerful country is engaged in solving them,  the government said. The white paper is a guide for Australian diplomacy and provides a roadmap for advancing its interests. The election of President Donald Trump represented a step towards a more isolationist world, which could be negative for Australia s export-dependent economy, commentators have said. Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement in January, shortly after he took office.  Strong and sustained U.S. engagement in the international system remains fundamental to international stability and prosperity,  the government said in the paper.  Without such engagement, the effectiveness and liberal character of the international order would erode.  Australia is one of the staunchest U.S. allies and troops from the two countries have fought alongside each other in all major conflicts for generations. But the economic growth and power that the United States has enjoyed since the end of the World War Two is now being challenged by China, Australia said. Australia and China have close economic ties but China is suspicious of Australia s close military relationship with the United States. Australia warned in the paper of risks it faces, particularly in the  Indo-Pacific region  due to a shift in the balance of power. It highlighted the South China Sea as a  major fault line in the regional order , and said it was  particularly concerned by the unprecedented pace and scale  of China s land reclamation and construction activities in the disputed waters.      China s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing that the paper was on whole a positive assessment of China s development, which he said adhered to the global rules-based order, and of relations between China and Australia. But Lu said the paper did make  irresponsible remarks  on the South China Sea for which China expressed its concerns.  While the government recognized the economic benefits from China s rise, it was also trying to  wish China away , said Jane Golley, deputy director at the Australian Center on China in the World, Australian National University.   To actually drop the word  Asia  from  Asia-Pacific  undoes three decades of diplomatic effort,  Golley said, referring to the use of the phrase  Indo-Pacific  which came up 120 times in the paper.  Asia-Pacific  was not used once. The United States and some of its allies have recently been talking up their vision of the  Indo-Pacific , instead of the  Asia-Pacific , in a play on words aimed at undermining the influence of China.  There is a small reference to China s geo-economic strategy in the paper but the emphasis is on the tensions that could create, rather than the economic benefits,  Golley said.   We ll have to see how China reacts to this but they re not going to like this policy.  Relations between Australia and China sank to a low point this year after Australia rejected high-profile Chinese investments, citing  national interest . Australia has also shown little enthusiasm for China s  ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which aims to connect China to Europe and beyond with infrastructure projects. The initiative was mentioned just once in the paper.   We are not embracing the future,  Golley said.  We are holding on to the past and reaching on to the life jacket rather than thinking of building a whole new ship.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया ने एशिया में मजबूत, निरंतर अमेरिकी जुड़ाव का आग्रह किया, चीन को चेतावनी दी


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb in Afghanistan s southern province of Kandahar killed at least six civilians traveling in a car that hit the device, officials said on Monday.  It was a bomb which had recently been planted by the Taliban to target Afghan forces but a civilian car went through it,  said Fazel Bari Baryalai, a spokesman for the provincial governor, adding:  All the people killed in the car were young people from the area.  The incident highlights the threat from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) such as roadside bombs, one of the deadliest threats to civilians in Afghanistan. In the first half of the year, according to United Nations figures, 252 civilians were killed and 295 injured by pressure plate devices that typically explode when hit by a vehicle.

Summary: अफगानिस्तान में सड़क किनारे हुए बम विस्फोट में छह नागरिकों की मौत


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he called “the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible” process. “Sometimes it takes many, many years and we don’t want that to happen. If it’s a ‘no,’ we’ll get a quick ‘no.’ If it’s a ‘yes,’ it’s like, let’s start building,” he said. Among a total of five actions signed by Trump in an Oval Office ceremony, he also signed orders to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects, to accelerate the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects and to decree that any pipelines intended for the United States should be built in the country. He said: “We will build our own pipeline. We will build our own pipes, as we used to in the old days.”

Summary: ट्रम्प ने विनिर्माण, बुनियादी ढांचे पर कार्यकारी आदेशों पर हस्ताक्षर किए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus, short-changing President Barack Obama’s $1.9 billion funding request and angering Democrats by making other cuts to pay for it. The House approved a funding deal that had been agreed to on Wednesday by Republicans from both the House and Senate. But the bill’s future was uncertain in the Senate, where the Democratic minority has more power to stop legislation, and Democratic leader Harry Reid has declared his opposition. “It is a responsible plan that assures the administration will continue to have the needed resources to protect the public,” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said. Republicans said the deal included funding for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.  But the White House said the allocation fell short.  “This plan from congressional Republicans is four months late and nearly a billion dollars short of what our public health experts have said is necessary to do everything possible to fight the Zika virus, and steals funding from other health priorities,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement before the House voted. Earnest said the Republican plan would limit needed birth control services for women seeking to prevent Zika, which can be spread through unprotected sex — “a clear indication they don’t take seriously the threat from the Zika virus.”  Democrats have been urging Republicans for months to agree to more Zika funding, and the Obama administration has already reprogrammed nearly $600 million that had been set aside to fight Ebola. House Democrats said they could not go along with the deal because of $750 million in budget cuts elsewhere that the Republicans want to use to pay for the Zika spending.  Senate Democrats also voiced displeasure, clouding the outlook for it passing. “A narrowly partisan proposal that cuts off women’s access to birth control, shortchanges veterans and rescinds Obamacare funds to cover the cost is not a serious response to the threat from the Zika virus,” Reid said.  Still, Ryan urged the Senate to move on the bill.  According to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, $543 million of the $1.1 billion would come from unspent funds set aside for implementing Obamacare in U.S. territories, while $107 million would come from unused funds to fight another virus, Ebola. Another $100 million would come from unused administrative funds at the Department of Health and Human Services, he said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन सांसदों ने नए जीका फंड में 1.1 अरब डॉलर की मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he expected the Senate judiciary committee to hold a hearing for his eventual Supreme Court nominee and said it would be difficult for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to block the process for political reasons. Obama, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said if Republicans defy their constitutional duties, it would deter the ability of any president to make judicial appointments and would diminish the credibility of the Supreme Court.

Summary: सुप्रीम कोर्ट की विश्वसनीयता कम होने का खतराः ओबामा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday it was not aware of any other country that planned to follow President Donald Trump s lead and recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital.  I m not aware of any countries that we anticipate that happening at any point soon,  White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.  I m not saying that they aren t, but I m not aware of them.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस को इस बात की जानकारी नहीं है कि अन्य देश येरुशलम को इजरायल की राजधानी के रूप में मान्यता देने की योजना बना रहे हैं


(Reuters) - Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday vetoed a Republican-backed bill aimed at blocking state funding for Planned Parenthood, which performs abortions and provides other health services. McAuliffe, a Democrat, said the bill passed by the Republican-dominated legislature would harm thousands of state residents who relied on Planned Parenthood for health care. “The fact is that Virginians, and particularly low-income Virginians, need more access to health care, not less,” he said in a statement. Several states have sought to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood following the release of videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.  Activists have said the videos showed that Planned Parenthood officials in some states had discussed the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has denied the accusations. President Barack Obama in January vetoed a effort by Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.

Summary: वर्जीनिया के गवर्नर ने नियोजित पितृत्व निधि में कटौती करने वाले विधेयक पर वीटो लगा दिया


(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a ruling that prevented Arkansas from cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood following the release of controversial videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed a ruling forbidding Arkansas from carrying through with Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson’s directive to suspend Medicaid reimbursements to a Planned Parenthood affiliate. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock had ruled in favor of three women who claimed Arkansas violated their rights under the federal Medicaid law to choose any qualified provider offering services they were seeking. But by a 2-1 vote, a 8th Circuit said the provision of the Medicaid law the women relied on does not unambiguously create a federal right for individual patients that they could enforce in court. U.S. Circuit Judge Steven Colloton wrote that the lack of such a right does not mean state officials have unlimited authority to terminate Medicaid providers. “We conclude only that Congress did not unambiguously confer the particular right asserted by the patients in this case,” he wrote. U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Melloy dissented, saying four other appeals courts have reached the opposite conclusion and found a private right of enforcement existed. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement said the fight “is not over.” “We will do everything in our power to protect our patients’ access to birth control cancer screenings, and other lifesaving care,” McDonald-Mosley said. Arkansas cut off funds for Planned Parenthood after the anti-abortion activist group Center for Medical Progress released videos in 2015 it claimed showed the group’s officials negotiating the sale of fetal body parts for profit.  Planned Parenthood has denied the allegation and says 13 states that investigated those claims have cleared it of wrongdoing. Hutchinson, who was among Republican governors nationally who targeted the organization following those videos, welcomed Wednesday’s ruling. “This is a substantial legal victory for the right of the state to determine whether Medicaid providers are acting in accordance with best practices and affirms the prerogative of the state to make reasoned judgments on the Medicaid program,” he said in a statement. Planned Parenthood does not perform surgical abortions in Arkansas, which forbids public funding of abortions except in cases of rape or incest. But it provides other gynecological services as well as birth control and breast examinations.

Summary: अमेरिकी अदालत ने फैसला सुनाया कि अर्कांसस नियोजित पितृत्व निधि को अवरुद्ध कर सकता है


CHARLESTON, S.C./SUMTER, S.C. (Reuters) - The Republican race for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination erupted into a four-candidate crossfire on Wednesday over who has the proper experience and is the most conservative, days before South Carolina voters put their stamp on the campaign. In TV interviews and campaign events, front-runner Donald Trump threatened to sue Senator Ted Cruz of Texas over a negative TV ad, while Senator Marco Rubio of Florida accused Cruz of lying about his record, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush questioned Rubio’s experience to serve as president. Amid the squabbling, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Rubio as the Republicans’ best hope for winning the White House, a boost to Rubio and a blow to Bush, who had lobbied hard for her to pick him. The endorsement gave Rubio, 44, a valuable ally to try to sway voters ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary, the third contest after Iowa and New Hampshire to pick a party nominee for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Bush had a tough day, learning of Haley’s endorsement right before a town hall meeting in Summerville, South Carolina, where four members of the audience second-guessed his campaign strategy and offered tips on how to have a greater impact in the state. Much of the debate took place over the television airwaves, as Trump, 69, a billionaire businessman and former reality TV star, lobbed charges at his rivals at an MSNBC town hall, and Rubio and Cruz battled in back-to-back appearances at a CNN town hall in Greenville, South Carolina. Trump fumed about a TV ad put out by the Cruz campaign that brought up Trump’s past position in support of a woman’s right to an abortion. Trump says he has evolved into a conservative and is now against abortion. “You look at a guy like Ted Cruz, he’s a nasty guy,” Trump said. “He doesn’t have one Republican endorsement from the Senate and he works with the Senate. Think of it. Hard to believe.” Cruz dared Trump to sue him over the campaign ad, which featured a 1999 video clip of Trump saying he was “very pro-choice” on abortion. Cruz said Trump sent his campaign a “cease and desist letter” demanding it drop the ad. At the CNN town hall, he said he laughed out loud when he got the letter threatening what he called a “frivolous lawsuit.” “In any defamation case, truth is a complete defense,” Cruz said. Questioners at the town hall pressed Cruz, 45, on charges leveled against him by Trump that he may not be eligible to be president because he was born in Canada, and that none of his U.S. Senate colleagues liked him. Cruz said he met the constitutional requirement that a president must be a “natural born citizen” because his mother was an American. As for his Senate colleagues, Cruz said some may not like him because he serves the interests of his constituents, not fellow senators. The latest national Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump taking a more than 20-point lead over Cruz in the Republican race. Trump had 40 percent support in the poll conducted from Saturday to Wednesday, compared with 17 percent for Cruz, 11 percent for Rubio, 10 percent for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and 8 percent for Bush. The results contrasted with those of an NBC News/Wall Street Journal national poll that put Cruz ahead of Trump among Republicans by 28 percent to 26 percent. Rubio, hoping to overtake Cruz for second place in South Carolina, where Trump leads in the polls, accused Cruz of spreading falsehoods with an ad attacking Rubio over his position on immigration. Rubio backed a 2013 Senate immigration reform effort that collapsed. Cruz says Rubio would have supported “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, which his rival denies. “If you say something that isn’t true and you say it over and over and you know it’s not true, it must be a lie,” Rubio said. Bush, running fourth in South Carolina and behind Rubio, questioned Rubio’s level of experience after Rubio said Bush did not have foreign policy experience. Rubio counts his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as valuable experience. “It’s hard for me to be lectured to by a gifted young guy who thinks going to committee hearings means you know something about the world,” Bush said in Summerville. At the event, Bush, 63, the son and brother of former presidents, sounded a note of frustration at frequent criticism of his campaign by TV pundits. “The pundits have made it all – it’s all decided. We don’t have to go vote, I guess. It’s all finished. I should stop campaigning, maybe, huh? It’s all done,” he said. “No,” shouted people in the crowd.  (Additional reporting by Chris Kahn in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन पार्टी की राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ चार तरफा लड़ाई में बदल गई


(Reuters) - Senate Republicans mounted a concerted defense of one of President Donald Trump’s nominees to a federal appeals court on Wednesday, suggesting a nonpartisan lawyers’ group rating of Leonard Steven Grasz as “not qualified” for the bench was biased. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Grasz’s nomination, the Republicans universally praised the Nebraska lawyer, whom Trump wants to fill a vacancy on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.  Negative assessments by the American Bar Association, which has been evaluating federal court picks for decades, are rare. It last gave an appeals court nominee a rating of “not qualified” in 2006. That nominee was withdrawn.  The ABA’s 15-member standing committee on the federal judiciary voted unanimously on the poor rating for Grasz, with one member abstaining. The report focused largely on Grasz’s advocacy on conservative social issues, including his opposition to abortion rights. “Many questioned whether Mr. Grasz would be able to detach himself from his deeply held social agenda,” Pamela Bresnahan, chair of the group’s judicial nominee vetting committee, said in a statement. On Wednesday, Republican senators questioned the credibility of the process. “They do a terrific job ordinarily, but sometimes they’re just ridiculous, and in your case I think they’re not only ridiculous, they’ve been political,” Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said, adding he would support Grasz’s appointment.  The dustup over Grasz comes as the full Senate continues to confirm Trump’s judicial choices amid Republican complaints that Democrats are obstructing the process. Ten have been confirmed so far, including Joan Larsen, who was approved on Wednesday to sit on the federal appeals bench in Cincinnati.  The ABA, the largest lawyers group in the United States, says its judicial evaluations are non-partisan, taking into account experience, knowledge of the law and other factors, but not political or ideological views.  As Nebraska’s former chief deputy attorney general, Grasz defended the state’s “partial-birth” abortion ban, among other laws.  Grasz told the senators he would be bound to follow the Supreme Court’s abortion precedents. He said that during the second interview by the ABA, “I was asked repeatedly for my personal opinions on social issues including abortion.” Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer, a Republican, called the ABA rating a “baseless political character assassination.” She claimed the two main evaluators both had ties with Democrats.  Bresnahan declined comment on Wednesday. She will testify before the Judiciary Committee on Nov. 15.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन ने ट्रम्प अदालत के चयन का बचाव किया जिसे 'अयोग्य' माना गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The powerful U.S. gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, said on Sunday it would oppose an outright ban on bump-stock devices that the killer in the Las Vegas massacre of 58 people used to turn rifles into automatic weapons and strafe a crowd with bursts of sustained gunfire. The NRA, which has seldom embraced new firearms-control measures, stunned gun control advocates last week when it issued a statement voicing willingness to support a restriction on bump stocks. On Sunday, the organization said it was open to regulation but opposed any legislation banning the devices. “We don’t believe that bans have ever worked on anything. What we have said has been very clear - that if something transfers a semiautomatic to function like a fully automatic, then it ought to be regulated differently,” Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said on “Fox News Sunday.” Police said the gunman, Stephen Paddock, 64, fitted 12 of his weapons with  bump-stock devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to operate as if they were fully automatic machine guns, which are otherwise outlawed in the United States. Cox and Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s chief executive, accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under Democratic former President Barack Obama of paving the way for the use of bump stocks and creating legal confusion about their usage.  Republican President Donald Trump, whose party controls both chambers of the U.S. Congress, was an outspoken advocate of gun rights during his 2016 campaign for the White House. The NRA spent more than $30 million in support of his candidacy. Several Republican lawmakers suggested last week that they were receptive to legislation to curb the use of bump stocks, including Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, who said such controls were an area where Congress may be able to act. But House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican who himself was nearly killed by a gunman earlier this year while at a baseball practice, was cautious on Sunday about potential new legislation. “I do think it’s a little bit early for people to say they know what to do to fix this problem,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  “A week ago most people didn’t know what a bump stock was so to think that we’re now all experts and know how to write some panacea law, it’s fallacy,” Scalise added. LaPierre lashed out at U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who has pushed for gun-control legislation on Capitol Hill. “I think you want to tell ATF to do its job. It’s an interpretive issue and they need to get the job done. But not let Dianne Feinstein, which is what she wants to do - turn this all of this into some Christmas tree on the Hill where she brings all of her anti-gun circus she has been trying to do for years into this,” LaPierre said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Feinstein said she has garnered some Republican interest, but no support, for the measure. “I have nobody lined up,” she told the CBS program. Some gun-control advocates praised the NRA for showing some flexibility. “This is the first time that the gun lobby has shown willingness to come to the table and I think that’s in part because Americans just simply do not accept mass shooting after mass shooting happening and Congress doing absolutely nothing,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”  But Sunday’s comments from the NRA representatives suggested nothing may have changed as they castigated calls for gun-control measures in the emotional aftermath of a mass shooting.  “There used to be a common decency in this country where people paused talking about policy. Unfortunately with Dianne Feinstein and Michael Bloomberg, they want to exploit a tragedy from Day One. It’s shameful, but apparently that’s the new normal.” Cox said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. Bloomberg, a billionaire and former mayor of New York, has been an outspoken critic of the National Rifle Association through the group Everytown for Gun Safety. Investigators remain largely in the dark about what drove Paddock, a retired real estate investor and high-stakes gambler, on Oct. 1 to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Summary: एन. आर. ए. ने लास वेगास के हत्यारे द्वारा उपयोग किए जाने वाले बंदूक उपकरणों पर पूर्ण अमेरिकी प्रतिबंध का विरोध किया


KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Turkmen and Arab shoppers stroll through an open-air food market in an ethnically mixed area of Kirkuk, haggling over the price of tomatoes and gossiping about their neighbors.  Ostensibly, it s a normal day in the city of 1 million in northern Iraq. But nearby stand Iraqi Army soldiers, sent by the central government in Baghdad this week to wrest control of the city from Kurds after their vote for independence on Sept. 25. The army s recapture of oil-producing Kirkuk province and other territory across northern Iraq has dismayed the city s Kurds but brought comfort to residents from other ethnic groups.  Of course things are better now that the Iraqis have taken back the city,  said Mohammad, a Turkmen butcher grinning over a large pile of ground meat.  We re all brothers, but at the end of the day, Kirkuk is not for the Kurds. It s for Iraq.   An Arab couple who have seen Kirkuk change hands several times before said they now feel safer and more comfortable.  This is our city after all,  said the elderly Hajji Ahmed. Across the street in a Kurdish-owned restaurant, the mood is different.  None of my Kurdish regulars want to come to eat here anymore, they don t feel safe,  said the owner, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.  We re all afraid because our fate in the city is unknown.  Thousands of people fled Kirkuk after rumors of looting and violence against Kurds spread on social media, though residents said many later returned. No one Reuters spoke to had witnessed or suffered any aggression.  The scenes now are a far cry from the Kurds  jubilation on the day of the independence referendum, when they danced and sang in the streets.  Though the referendum was opposed by international allies, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani was confident its outcome would give his government leverage to negotiate secession. Kirkuk is seen by many Kurds as the future capital of an independent Kurdish state. Including it in the referendum was widely seen as a unilateral move to consolidate Kurdish control. Peshmerga fighters seized Kirkuk in 2014 after Iraqi security forces fled, leaving the region s oilfields vulnerable to Islamic State militants who had swept across northern Iraq.  But any notion of consolidated Kurdish power was quashed on Monday when Kurdish forces quietly withdrew, allowing the Iraqis to retake the city and other disputed territories claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurds.  Kurdish flags used to hang from street lamps and buildings across the whole city but are now seen only in Kurdish areas. Roadside vendors now sell the flags of the Iraqi army and Shi ite paramilitary forces.  Kirkuk has been lost forever,  said a Kurdish resident of the Shorja district. Kurds in Kirkuk feel betrayed by their political leaders and humiliated by Baghdad, which forcibly displaced them from the city under late dictator Saddam Hussein. Some civilians are now deployed along the highway to the regional capital, Erbil, with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.  We brought our guns to defend against the Iraqi invaders,  said one, a retired Peshmerga fighter.  We were betrayed, even by our own political leaders. So we had to come with our weapons to fight.  The men have built berms and road blocks to slow traffic into the small town of Altun Kupri, or Perde in Kurdish.  Now we only have orders to defend. But if they try and come to Erbil, we will attack them ferociously. We have to protect our people,  Bakr Razgai, a local commander, said before clashes in the area on Friday morning.  Such bravado was hard to find in Kirkuk. In the Kurdish neighborhood of Shorja, a poster hanging in front of the main market and showing late Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani s face next to a Kurdish flag has been scribbled over.  I ve been up every night since Monday, afraid for my life,  said Abdullah, a Kurdish clothes salesman. A friend said this was because of propaganda on social media and asked him if he had seen anything bad happen. Abdullah had not.  But I m still afraid,  he said.

Summary: किर्कुक में, इराकी सेना के अधिग्रहण के बाद कुर्दों की खुशी डर में बदल जाती है


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will not hand over to Montenegro the person wanted by the Balkan nation as a suspect in a coup attempt, the RIA news agency cited the Russian prosecutor general s office as saying on Wednesday. Montenegro says a group of Serb and Russian nationalists had a plan to attack state institutions on the day of an election last year and kill then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who held the post for a total of 21 years. The Kremlin has dismissed the accusation as absurd. The Russian prosecutor-general s office said it had refused to hand over to Montenegro the person, who it identified as Ananie Nikic, because he had earlier been given refugee status by Moscow.

Summary: रूस मोंटेनेग्रो में तख्तापलट के प्रयास के संदिग्ध को नहीं सौंपेगाः आर. आई. ए.


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia dismissed on Wednesday as groundless a U.S. media report that said members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had contacts with Russian intelligence officials.  The report, from the New York Times, has boosted concerns about Russia’s role in influencing the outcome of the United States’ election. U.S. intelligence agencies have already accused Russia of being behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails in order to help Trump, a Republican, to win. U.S-Russia relations are under particular scrutiny following the inauguration of Trump, who pledged in his campaign to improve ties with the Kremlin after they deteriorated to their worst level since the Cold War under the Obama administration. The New York Times, citing four current and former U.S. officials, reported on Tuesday that phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Trump’s campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. “Let’s not believe anonymous information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters, noting that the newspaper’s sources were unnamed. “It’s a newspaper report which is not based on any facts.” In a rare comment to media, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service told the TASS news agency the report consisted of “unsubstantiated media allegations”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied there had been any inappropriate contact between Trump representatives and Russian state agencies during the campaign. She told a daily news briefing the latest allegations looked like part of a domestic U.S. political tussle that Russian officials have suggested is designed to damage the chances for better U.S.-Russia ties.  “We’re not surprised by anything anymore. This information once again proves that a very deep political game is playing out within the United States,” said Zakharova.  The prospect of a swift rapprochement between Russia and the United has lessened since Trump’s inauguration due to scandals including the resignation on Monday of national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was seen in Moscow as a leading advocate of softer U.S. policy towards Russia.

Summary: क्रेमलिन ने रूसी जासूसों के साथ ट्रम्प अभियान के संपर्क की रिपोर्ट को खारिज किया


OSLO/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Norwegian rescuers believe they may have located the sunken wreckage of a Russian helicopter that went missing on Thursday with eight people aboard off the coast of the Arctic Svalbard archipelago.  We ve found oil spills and air bubbles rising to the surface, and a vessel in the area has observed what appears to be a submerged object. It may be the helicopter,  Tore Hongset, the leader of Norway s rescue coordination center, told Reuters. A remotely operated mini submarine was being flown to the site and would likely be deployed in the early hours of Friday to help verify whether a discovery had been made, he added. A search for survivors would continue, the rescue center said, noting that the helicopter was equipped with life rafts. Russia s Emergency Ministry said the five crew and three passengers were Russians. The Russian-made Mil Mi-8 aircraft had been reported missing around 1335 GMT. The three passengers were working for Russia s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement. The helicopter was on its way from the abandoned Pyramiden settlement to the coal mining port of Barentsburg, but was later confirmed to have gone down in the ocean a few kilometers from its destination. Several vessels were in the area, according to shipping data from Marinetraffic.com. The ship of the governor of Svalbard, the Polarsyssel, was coordinating the search. The Russian coal company Arktikugol runs the coal mine at Barentsburg, which employs Russian and Ukrainian miners. An official at the Russian company Convers Avia Air told Reuters it owned the helicopter and had lost communication with it. Earlier, Hongset told Norwegian broadcaster TV2:  For every minute that goes by, the risk of hypothermia and death rises.  Located around 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of the European mainland, Svalbard is governed under a treaty that grants NATO-member Norway sovereignty while allowing other signatories to do business and exploit natural resources.  More than 40 countries are parties to the treaty. Moscow has maintained a presence on the islands for decades as a strategic foothold in the high north.

Summary: नॉर्वे का कहना है कि डूबे हुए रूसी हेलीकॉप्टर का मलबा मिल गया होगा


CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll in a militant attack on mosque in Egypt s north Sinai region has risen to 184 killed, Egyptian state television and MENA state news agency said.

Summary: मिस्र के उत्तरी सिनाई में मस्जिद पर हमले में मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर 184 हुईः सरकारी टेलीविजन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday wrote to Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, asking whether in his talks with foreign officials he had ever discussed financing for a deeply indebted Kushner Companies property in Manhattan. The property at 666 Fifth Avenue has a $1.15 billion mortgage due in less than two years, and has raised concerns among lawmakers that it could pose a conflict of interest for Kushner.  Kushner headed Kushner Companies until he sold his interest to a family trust earlier this year. He is a senior adviser to the president and has been involved in Middle East policymaking. The 13 Democratic lawmakers, in their two-page letter to Kushner and seen by Reuters, said: “We are concerned that you may be leveraging your White House position to seek financial assistance for 666 Fifth Avenue, which according to various reports has at least $1.2 billion in debt, of which more than half is owned” by Kushner Companies. A White House spokesman declined comment on the letter and referred the matter to Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell. Lowell could not immediately be reached for comment. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has questioned Kushner. It is not known whether Mueller’s team is looking into issues involving 666 Fifth Avenue. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow officials. The letter from the lawmakers, led by Rep. Ted Lieu of California, asked whether, since Trump’s election on Nov. 8, 2016, Kushner has discussed the property “with any foreign nationals or entities” in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, China, Israel, France or other countries. If so, they asked, “did you discuss anything related to helping finance, purchase, or assist with the debt on 666 Fifth Avenue?” The lawmakers asked Kushner to respond by Dec. 12.

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक सांसदों ने न्यूयॉर्क की संपत्ति पर कुशनर से सवाल कियाः पत्र


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, after nearly a month in power, has yet to unveil major legislation or publicly endorse bills from others, getting Republicans off to a slow start on the sweeping reforms they promised on the campaign trail.  As Trump and Republicans ricochet from crisis to crisis, lawmakers have lowered expectations for legislative action in 2017 on tax reform, health care, financial regulation, jobs and infrastructure, with some urging more White House guidance. Trump has spelled out few specifics on such issues in his more than two dozen executive orders, proclamations and memoranda. A temporary ban on U.S. entry by refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries was blocked in court. Ambitious campaign promises by Trump helped the Republicans make a clean sweep of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives in November’s national elections.  Movement on legislation could come soon now that the Senate has confirmed nine of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and is poised to approve others soon, despite delays by Democrats.  But concern is mounting among some Republicans and moderate Democrats who had hoped for more at this stage. On taxes, for instance, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Reuters, “What I’d like to see the administration do is lead on this issue.” The White House needs to “either come out with their own tax cut plan or weigh in pretty quickly,” he said, “I’m getting unnerved that there’s lack of coordination.” Last week, Trump promised a “phenomenal” tax plan within weeks but offered no details. Nor has he firmly endorsed or opposed tax reform proposals being debated in Congress.  At a party retreat last month, lawmakers warmed to remarks by Trump that seemed to show support for a House Republican “border adjustment” tax to encourage exports and discourage imports. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan issued a statement saying Congress and Trump were “on the same page.” But the enthusiasm was short-lived. The White House later said border adjustment was only one option. After a week, Ryan said tax reform legislation would not appear until mid-2017. Democratic Representative Jim Himes, who has talked about working with Republicans, said in an interview that promises of “day one” action have rung hollow. “Instead, we are torn apart by poorly drafted executive orders, tweets, Russian ties to the White House,” he said.  At a press conference on Thursday, Trump said he would submit an “initial plan” on health care in March and tackle tax reform after that. He said, “Tax reform’s going to happen fairly quickly. We’re doing Obamacare. We’re in the final stages.” Trump’s legislative record lags some, but not all, recent presidents. Democrat Barack Obama laid out an economic stimulus plan days after his January 2009 swearing in and signed it into law less than a month later. Republican George W. Bush sent a tax cut proposal to Congress less than three weeks after taking office in January 2001. It was enacted four months later. Democrat Bill Clinton fulfilled a central campaign promise in his first weeks in office when he enacted a family-leave bill on Feb. 5, 1993. Republican George H.W. Bush accomplished little of note in his first 100 days, while his predecessor Republican Ronald Reagan sent dozens of detailed budget cut plans to Congress less than a month after his 1981 swearing in.  In an Oct. 22 campaign speech, Trump vowed to work with Congress to introduce “broader legislative measures” in the first 100 days of his administration to reform the tax code, repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, boost job creation, curb job offshoring, spend $1 trillion on infrastructure and build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  In his first 27 days, Trump has not yet offered any legislation to advance these goals. Investors have not been deterred. The Dow Jones industrial average has surged roughly 12 percent since he was elected. “Right now there is a lot of hope in the market, but so far I haven’t seen Trump show that he knows how to manage policy or have much of a plan,” said Thyra Zerhusen, co-chief investment officer of Fairpointe Capital in Chicago. ‘PROCEEDING WELL’ - HENSARLING Trump signed a bill into law on Tuesday repealing an Obama administration anti-corruption rule that required oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign officials. Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling, who attended the signing ceremony, said, “Things are proceeding well.” Legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and replace parts of it will be unveiled after a 10-day House recess that begins on Friday, Ryan said on Thursday. Republicans have been struggling to come up with a detailed plan for replacing Obama’s signature domestic policy that they have vowed to repeal. At the outset of Trump’s term, Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and tax experts were planning to repeal Obamacare in February, then begin revamping the tax code in March. Now, House Republicans say they may pass a tax-reform bill by August. That would force the Senate to take up the issue at the start of the 2018 midterm election season, a bad time for lawmakers to be making hard decisions. From the start of the new administration, some Republicans had jitters about Trump’s moves, such as his battle with the media over the size of the crowd at his swearing-in ceremony. “He should be talking about how we’re going to be reforming healthcare,” Republican Representative Charlie Dent told reporters on Jan. 24. “I hope he gets more focused on policy.”

Summary: ट्रम्प के विधायी शून्य में, रिपब्लिकन बड़े मुद्दों से निपटने में धीमी गति से काम करते हैं


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When more than a dozen North Korean economic officials visited California and New York in 2011, U.S. organizers hoped the tour would give the delegation ideas for market reforms and business innovations.  The North Koreans quickly made clear that was not why they had come: They wanted to secure U.S. investment, particularly from restaurant giant Yum! Brands Inc (YUM.N), said Susan Shirk, a University of California at San Diego professor who helped organize the visit.  They really wanted to get KFC to North Korea,  Shirk said, referring to the fried chicken chain. She added that Yum did not reciprocate their interest.  In recent years, a handful of visits from official delegations and athletes have provided rare opportunities for ordinary Americans and North Koreans to come together. Those exchanges are now in jeopardy after President Donald Trump included North Korea in a group of nations that will face travel restrictions to the United States because they do not share enough information about visa applicants. The new policy comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, as well as escalating verbal threats from the country s leader Kim Jong Un. While the travel restrictions are unlikely to have a broad impact - the number of non-diplomatic travelers from North Korea per year rarely tops 50, according to U.S. State Department data - human rights activists worry it has severed one of the few human bonds between the isolated country and the West.   The main point in inviting these people here is to give them exposure to the U.S., and see if one can open the door a bit,  said Roberta Cohen, co-chair emeritus for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. A State Department official said the restrictions were necessary because  North Korea does not cooperate with the United States government in any respect and fails to satisfy all information-sharing requirements  on visa applicants. North Koreans wishing to visit the United States must first obtain permission from their own government, then apply for a visa in person at a U.S. embassy, typically in Beijing, said Robert King, former U.S. special envoy for North Korea human rights issues. When North Koreans arrive in the United States they never go anywhere alone, King said, and are chaperoned by North Korean government minders. In 2015, 15 North Korean weightlifters along with coaches, reserves and officials traveled to Houston for the International Weightlifting Federation world championships, said Phil Andrews, chief executive officer of USA Weightlifting. North Korea was planning earlier this year to take part in the 2017 world championships in Anaheim, California, in November, Andrews said. However, he does not know whether they will be allowed to come.  The new travel restrictions do not affect people who already have visas, and they include waivers for people with certain ties to the United States. The State Department declined to comment on individual visa applications. C. Jerry Nelson, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri, said some visits serve humanitarian purposes. In 2011, four North Korean scientists traveled to Missouri to collaborate with their U.S. counterparts on soil quality testing methods, he said, in order to boost food production. Referring to the economic officials  trip in 2011, Shirk said they seemed reluctant to express opinions but enjoyed their snapshot of American life, which included visits to a mushroom farm, department store and New York s Carnegie Deli.   We arranged for people to go to families for dinner in San Diego,  she said.  They really liked that a lot.

Summary: अमेरिकी यात्रा प्रतिबंध उत्तर कोरियाई लोगों के साथ दुर्लभ आदान-प्रदान को खतरे में डालते हैं


PARIS (Reuters) - France accused the Syrian government on Wednesday of obstructing U.N.-led peace talks with its refusal to return to Geneva and called on Russia not to shirk its responsibilities to get Damascus to the negotiating table. Talks on ending the war in Syria resumed on Wednesday, but with no sign of President Bashar al-Assad s negotiators returning to the table in Geneva. The process began last week. But after a few days with little apparent progress, the U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said the Syrian government delegation led by Bashar al-Ja afari was returning to Damascus to  consult and refresh .  France condemns the absence of the delegation of the regime and its refusal to engage in good faith in the negotiations to achieve a political solution,  French foreign ministry deputy spokesman Alexandre Georgini told reporters.  This refusal highlights the obstruction strategy of the political process carried out by the Damascus regime, which is responsible for the absence of progress in the negotiations,  he added. He said Russia, as one of President Bashar al-Assad s main backers, needed to assume its responsibilities so that the Syrian government finally entered the negotiations. De Mistura had said he expected talks to resume  around Tuesday  Dec. 5, but Ja afari said before leaving that he might not come back because the opposition had stated that Assad could not play a role in a future interim government. During last week s sessions, de Mistura shuttled between the representatives of the two warring sides, who did not meet face-to-face. He had planned to continue the round until Dec. 15.

Summary: फ्रांस का कहना है कि सीरियाई सरकार शांति वार्ता में बाधा डाल रही है


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A staff writer for the Trump Organization took responsibility on Wednesday for the “chaos” caused by a speech given by the wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that drew accusations of plagiarism and cast a shadow over the party’s convention this week. The writer, Meredith McIver, apologized and offered an explanation that threw into sharp relief two days of efforts by the Trump campaign to deny there had been a problem with Melania Trump’s speech on Monday night. The Republican convention in Cleveland, which formally anointed Trump on Tuesday as the party nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, was meant to be an occasion for the party to rally around its unorthodox White House candidate after a bitterly divisive primary campaign. But the accusations of plagiarism, and the Trump campaign’s responses to them, have been a major talking point just as the party tries to showcase a candidate who it believes can appeal to voters and a campaign operation capable of beating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. In a statement, McIver said she had inserted passages into the Melania Trump speech that resembled parts of a 2008 speech by first lady Michelle Obama to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, when Barack Obama was in his first campaign for the presidency. McIver said she had offered to resign over the speech controversy, but Trump and his family had rejected the offer.  The Trump Organization is owned by Donald Trump. Trump defended McIver in an ABC News interview on Wednesday, saying: “She made a mistake. People make mistakes. You’ve made mistakes. We all make mistakes.” He said McIver had been with him for a long time and was a “good person.” Trump added: “I thought it was terrific the way she came forward and just said, ‘Look, it was a mistake that I made.’ She thought it was very unfair to Melania.” In her speech on Monday, Melania Trump spoke of passing on to the next generation the value of hard work that she inherited from her parents and said that “the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.” “My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect,” Melania Trump told the Cleveland convention. In Denver eight years ago, Michelle Obama said she and her husband, Barack, “were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect.”     McIver said Melania Trump had read passages from Michelle Obama’s speech over the phone to her as examples. McIver then wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in a draft that became Melania Trump’s speech. McIver said in her statement that Michelle Obama is a person Melania Trump “has always liked.”  “I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” McIver said. Nowhere in the statement by McIver and comments by Trump campaign officials on the speech has there been any sense of irony that the wife of the Republican nominee was inspired by the words of Michelle Obama at the same time that speaker after speaker at the Republican convention, echoing Trump, assailed her husband’s policies. Democrats have seized on the similarities in the speech and the Trump campaign’s various explanations over the ensuing 48 hours as showing that his team is not ready for prime time. The charge was all the more embarrassing because Trump has repeatedly slammed Clinton as untrustworthy. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday the similarities showed the country’s values were largely shared, even if political leaders had differences. “That certainly buttresses an argument that the president has been making quite frequently of late, about the country not being as divided as it might seem,” Earnest told reporters.  Questions have lingered over why the Trump campaign had not run simple plagiarism software that is commonly used to ensure that speakers do not inadvertently lift other people’s words, and why the campaign sought to deny and brush away the problem. Republican strategist Ted Newton, president of Gravity Strategic Communications and a staffer in Republican Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign, said the Trump campaign should have come clean much sooner. “It sort of reflects the old adage: It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up,” Newton said. “To have it bungled so badly is really a shame and sad for her.” If the campaign had admitted what happened sooner, Newton said, “It would have been a bump in the road.” Hours before giving the speech, Melania Trump, a Slovenian-born jewelry designer and former model, told NBC’s “Today” that she had written it with as little help as possible. But her husband’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, told CBS’ “This Morning” on Tuesday that it was a collaboration with speech writers. As late as Wednesday, just hours before McIver’s statement, Manafort was pressed again on the issue on CNN. He did not say words had been lifted from the Michelle Obama speech and sought to stress the overall effectiveness of the speech. “The controversy that you’re talking about is not meaningful at all,” he said.  McIver is listed as a writer on some of Trump’s most popular books, including “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.” Her author’s biography in “How to Get Rich” says she was a Ford Foundation scholar who graduated from the University of Utah, as well as a member of the Trump Organization.

Summary: मेलानिया के भाषण 'अराजकता' के लिए ट्रम्प कर्मचारी ने मांगी माफी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dozens of American academic groups have taken a stance against a Trump administration proposal to toughen scrutiny of some U.S. visa applicants, saying it will have a chilling effect on international students studying in the United States. The U.S. State Department has proposed requiring about 65,000 visa applicants per year who consular officers believe warrant enhanced screening to provide all prior passport numbers, five years’ worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information. More than 50 academic and educational groups across a range of social and physical sciences and representing college admission counselors and advisers said in a letter to State Department officials on Thursday that the changes would cause “uncertainties and confusion,” lead to “unacceptably long delays in processing” and applies to a “vague and ill-defined” class of visa applicants.  “We are very concerned that if the proposed changes are implemented, international undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and scientific collaborators may be discouraged from coming to the United States,” the letter said. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The proposal came earlier this month, as part of a push toward the “extreme vetting” sought by President Donald Trump. The State Department has to obtain approval for the new procedures from the Office of Management and Budget due to federal regulations and allow members of the public to comment. (bit.ly/2qydWWY) Of the approximately 200 comments as of Thursday, the vast majority were opposed, with about a dozen in favor. The deadline to comment is midnight on Thursday. The prospect of requiring tens of thousands of applicants to hand over their social media information stirred particular concern among commenters, who said incoming students would be put off by having their social media presence scrutinized.  The State Department said in its proposal that the extra information would allow it to “more rigorously evaluate applicants for terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.” Neil Weissman, interim president of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, said in a comment on the proposal that the additional criteria will harm the “cross-border exchange of ideas.” About 10 percent of Dickinson’s 2,400 students are international, according to its website. Andrea Pietrzyk advises international students at Lewis-Clark State College, a public college in Idaho, and said her school has seen an approximately 50 percent drop in international applicants for the fall semester compared with last year. “If people have the perception that it’s going to be too difficult to get a visa, they’re not going to want to come,” Pietrzyk said. “Students from the Middle East do have concerns about whether or not they’ll have to show or give up their Facebook passwords.” The school had 112 international students in fall 2014, of an overall student body of over 4,300, according to its website. A few people commented in favor of aspects of the proposal, saying they thought it could help protect the United States from terrorism. “It seems reasonable to request records of public social media activity as part of an already rigorous vetting process, especially given the role of social media in recent acts of terror,” wrote one anonymous commenter. “Definitely do this!” wrote another commentator, who gave his name as Butch Walton. “In this age of terrorism, we need to know as much as possible about who is coming here.”

Summary: अमेरिकी शैक्षणिक समूहों ने ट्रम्प की वीजा-जाँच योजनाओं का विरोध किया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s talks with the United States over an on-going visa crisis are headed in a  good direction , President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said on Wednesday. Visa operations were mutually suspended by the two countries on Oct. 8, in a widening diplomatic row over Ankara s arrest of Turkish national employed by the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. A delegation from the United States arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to discuss the resolution of the crisis. Erdogan s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, made the comment in an interview broadcast by state channel TRT Haber.

Summary: वीजा संकट पर अमेरिका के साथ तुर्की की बातचीत 'अच्छी दिशा' में जा रही हैः एर्दोगन प्रवक्ता


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump kicked off a fierce general election battle, with Democrats accusing Trump of erratic behavior and the Republican threatening to bring up old Clinton scandals.            Clinton, the former secretary of state, made history when she became the first woman to lead a major political party in its quest to capture the U.S. presidency. Big primary election wins on Tuesday in California and elsewhere catapulted her to victory over Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders. If elected on Nov. 8, the 68-year-old former U.S. senator from New York would return the Clinton family to the White House 16 years after her husband, Bill Clinton, completed two terms as president. All signs point toward a negative campaign as Clinton accused Trump of being temperamentally unfit to serve and the New York businessman charged that Clinton had a dark past and a weak record as President Barack Obama’s first-term secretary of state. Clinton told NBC on Wednesday she would not run a “campaign of insults,” but she sought to portray the 69-year-old Trump as not fit for the Oval Office after the real estate developer repeatedly accused a Mexican-American judge of showing bias against him because of his ethnic heritage. The Clinton campaign has pointed to criticism from leaders in Trump’s Republican Party to make this case. “I’m going to talk about why he’s unqualified to be president based on his own words and his deeds. And I’m going to continue to make the case he is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief,” she said in the interview. Trump gave a carefully crafted primary race victory speech on Tuesday laying out his own plan of attack. To keep from straying off message, he used a Teleprompter and avoided his typical stream-of-consciousness delivery. Trump said money given to the Clinton Foundation charity from foreign donors had earned the Clintons millions of dollars and had a corrupting influence when Clinton was secretary of state. “Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund - the Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese - all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It’s a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence in our own country than our great citizens,” Trump said.     He said he would give a speech next week “discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.”  A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Clinton leading Trump by 10 percentage points nationally, little changed from a week earlier. [nL1N18Y1Z2] Both Clinton and Trump must unite their parties but the Democrat appeared to face the easier path with Sanders, a leftist U.S. senator from Vermont, nearly out of options to challenge her.  Trump has an uphill battle. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan described Trump’s remarks about the judge as a “textbook definition of a racist comment,” but said he would still support him. Trump said on Wednesday he was “disappointed and surprised” by charges of racism from Republicans.  “I had just won more votes than anyone in the history of the party,” he told Time. “But you know, they have to say what they have to say. I’m a big boy. They have to say what they have to say.”     Ryan met behind closed doors on Wednesday with House Republicans. An aide said Ryan “discussed with his members the thinking behind his endorsement (of Trump) and how to move forward” and reiterated he had confidence Trump would support the House Republican agenda.     “I’d say the general attitude is, ‘Good. Now let’s just move on,’” said U.S. Representative Chris Collins of New York, a Trump supporter. “The irony here and the frustration was that he’s not racist.” Others said Trump needed to stop engaging in petty battles with former rivals and build a fundraising organization. Trump will meet on Thursday in New York with top fundraisers of the Republican National Committee, a party official said. Hopes flickered among some anti-Trump Republicans that there would be a revolt against him when delegates convene to nominate him formally in Cleveland from July 18 to 21.  Representative Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, said that was unlikely but that Trump needed to improve as a candidate. “Don’t step into the cow pie,” Griffith said. “He can’t afford to be stepping into any more controversies like that.” Clinton edged Sanders out in a rough-and-tumble battle that stretched over four months and 50 states. She won support, especially among older voters, with a more pragmatic campaign focused on building on the policies of fellow Democrat Obama. Clinton said she had spoken to Sanders on Tuesday to congratulate him on his campaign. “I am looking forward to working with him to unify the Democratic Party against the threat that Donald Trump poses to our country,” she told PBS on Wednesday. “So we are talking. We will be having an opportunity to discuss in greater detail in the days ahead how we can best work together.”     Democratic Party elites are lined up squarely behind Clinton, including most likely Obama, who may endorse her as early as this week. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that Obama would not endorse until after he meets with Sanders on Thursday. Obama and Sanders have spoken three times in the past month, Earnest said. The president’s eventual endorsement would put pressure on Sanders to exit graciously and throw his support to Clinton. Sanders is also due to meet with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Summary: हिलेरी, ट्रम्प ने चुनाव प्रचार में बदतमीजी के लिए लड़ाई की रेखा खींची


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Personnel from the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division will be deployed to polling sites in 28 states to monitor Tuesday’s election, five more than it monitored in the 2012 election, the department said on Monday. Most of those states will receive Justice Department staff who have no statutory authority to access polling sites as a result of a 2013 Supreme Court decision that struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act, curtailing the department’s ability to deploy election observers with unfettered access to the polls. More than 500 Justice Department personnel will be deployed on Tuesday, compared to more than 780 personnel the department dispatched during the 2012 general election. A Justice Department spokesman declined to say how many of Tuesday’s personnel will be full-access observers.       Tuesday’s hotly contested election, including the presidential race pitting Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton, will be the first in decades in which the Justice Department can only send full-access observers to states where a federal court ruling has authorized it. On the campaign trail, Trump has warned the election may be rigged and has called on supporters to keep an eye on voting activity for possible signs of fraud in large cities. Numerous studies have found that U.S. voter fraud is exceedingly rare.  “As always, our personnel will perform these duties impartially, with one goal in mind: to see to it that every eligible voter can participate in our elections to the full extent that federal law provides,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement.     Courts have granted the Justice Department permission to deploy full-access observers in five states: Alaska, California, Louisiana, New York, and Alabama. But the court order for Alabama only pertains to municipal elections and it is not on the list of states where the Justice Department is deploying poll watchers this year.  The Justice Department staff who are deployed to the other 24 states on Tuesday will be election “monitors”, who must rely on local and state authorities to grant them access to polling locations. “In most cases, voters on the ground will see very little practical difference between monitors and observers,” said Vanita Gupta, the head of the department’s civil rights division, in a statement.

Summary: न्याय विभाग 28 राज्यों में मंगलवार के चुनाव की निगरानी करेगा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump gained on Hillary Clinton among American voters this week, cutting her lead nearly in half despite a string of women accusing him of unwanted sexual advances and the furor over his disputed claims that the election process is rigged, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday. The survey also showed that 63 percent of Americans, including a third of Republicans, believe the New York real estate mogul has committed sexual assault in the past, though the Republican presidential candidate has denied the recent accusations. Clinton, the Democratic former secretary of state, led Trump 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the Oct. 14-20 poll, a 4-point lead, with the Nov. 8 election fast approaching. That compared with 44 percent for Clinton and 37 percent for Trump in the Oct. 7-13 poll released last week. Clinton’s lead also shrank in a separate four-way poll that included alternative party candidates: 43 percent supported her, while 39 percent supported Trump, 6 percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and 2 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party. Support for Clinton had been mostly rising in the seven-day tracking poll since the last week of August, when the candidates were about tied. The latest reading showed that Trump’s deficit narrowed to what it was before a video surfaced on Oct. 7 featuring him bragging about groping and kissing women. Several women have since accused him of making unwanted sexual advances in separate incidents from the early 1980s to 2007. Trump has denied the allegations, calling them “totally and absolutely false.” The latest poll included a separate series of questions that asked people what they thought of Trump’s conduct around women. It found 63 percent of American adults, including 34 percent of likely Republican voters, agreed with the statement “I believe Donald Trump has committed sexual assault in the past.”  Reuters contacted a few of the poll respondents who said they felt that Trump had “committed sexual assault” but were still supporting his candidacy. Their answers were generally the same: Whatever Trump did with women in the past is less important to them than what he may do as president. “I’m embarrassed that our country can’t come up with better candidates, to be honest with you,” said Evelyn Brendemuhl, 83, of Hope, North Dakota. But “he’ll appoint more conservative judges, and she’s (Clinton) pro-abortion, and I’m not for that.” Gary Taylor, 59, a Republican from Colorado said his support stemmed mostly from a desire to see “something different than the last eight years” in the White House. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,640 people who were considered likely voters, given their voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points, meaning results could vary by that much either way. The poll questions on Trump’s unwanted sexual advances scandal were asked of 1,915 American adults, including 546 likely Republican voters. It had a credibility interval of 3 percentage points for all adults and 5 points for Republican voters.

Summary: महिलाओं, चुनावी टिप्पणियों पर गुस्से के बावजूद क्लिंटन पर ट्रम्प को बढ़त


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson expressed views on Wednesday at odds with President-elect Donald Trump’s positions on key foreign policy issues like nuclear proliferation, trade deals, climate change and relations with Mexico. In a nine-hour Senate confirmation hearing, the former chief executive of oil company Exxon Mobil said he favored maintaining U.S. sanctions against Russia for now and that NATO allies were right to be alarmed by Moscow’s growing aggression. Russia dominated much of the hearing because of concerns by Democrats and Republicans over Moscow’s interference in the U.S. presidential election and its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and involvement in the Syrian civil war. Questions soon moved to the threat posed by Islamic State, China’s behavior in the South China Sea, human rights and Tillerson’s ability to make a clean break from a career at Exxon Mobil to become America’s top diplomat. Tillerson said his differences with Trump on some major  issues would not necessarily put him at loggerheads with the White House.  He said everyone in Trump’s Cabinet would have the chance to discuss issues “and the president will decide.” He described himself as open and transparent. In a stark departure from Trump, Tillerson said it would not be acceptable for some U.S. allies to acquire nuclear weapons. He also did not see the need for a Muslim registry, saying he did not support targeting any particular group. Asked by Democratic Senator Edward Markey about Trump’s comments in interviews he would not oppose U.S. allies including Japan obtaining nuclear weapons, Tillerson replied: “I do not agree.” Tillerson said he did not oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Trump has criticized, but acknowledged the negotiated deal may not serve all U.S. interests. Tillerson, however, left room for broad reversals or changes to Obama administration policies, in line with Trump’s positions, including trade with Cuba and the Iran nuclear deal, which he said ought to undergo a full review. The hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was interrupted sporadically by protesters. Tillerson, 64, is expected to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. Senators have expressed concern about Tillerson’s ties to Russia while at Exxon Mobil and Trump’s desire to improve relations with Moscow. Tillerson refused to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal and kept the door open to a possible change in U.S. sanctions policy against Russia, saying he had not seen classified information on Russian meddling. “I would leave things in the status quo so we are able to convey this can go either way,” Tillerson said, suggesting “open and frank” dialogue with Moscow to better understand its intentions. He blamed Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine since 2014 on an “absence of American leadership” and said the United States should have taken stronger actions to deter Russia. “I’m advocating for responses that will deter and prevent further expansion of a bad actor’s behavior,” he said. Tillerson said it was a “fair assumption” Putin was aware of Russian efforts to interfere in the U.S. election. He said he had not discussed Russia policy with Trump, which Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said was “pretty amazing.” In a tense exchange, Republican Senator Marco Rubio pushed Tillerson on whether he believed Putin was a war criminal, in reference to Russia’s military actions in support of Syria’s government. “I would not use that term,” Tillerson said, adding: “Those are very, very serious charges to make and I would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion.” Rubio, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, shot back: “There’s so much information out there. It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin’s military has conducted war crimes in Aleppo,” referring to the Syrian city recently retaken by government forces backed by Russia.  He added: “I find it discouraging, your inability to cite that which I think is globally accepted.” Tillerson sidestepped questions on human rights, declining to condemn countries like Saudi Arabia and the Philippines for rights abuses, saying he wanted to see the facts first. Rubio told reporters later that he was unsure he could vote for Tillerson. As one of 11 Republicans on the 21-member panel, his support is key to Tillerson winning the committee’s backing.  Tillerson said he would recommend a “full review” of the nuclear deal with Iran reached with the United States and world powers. He did not call for an outright rejection of the 2015 accord in which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Trump has made contradictory statements about the deal and has threatened to dismantle it. Tillerson said China should be denied access to islands it had built in the contested South China Sea. He added his approach to dealing with North Korea, which recently said it was close to carrying out its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, would be “a long-term plan” based on sanctions and their proper implementation. Asked if he could make unbiased decisions after his time at Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, he said he would act in America’s interests. Tillerson dodged a direct question on whether he believed climate change was caused by human activity. “The risk of climate change does exist and the consequences of it could be serious enough that action should be taken,” he said, adding the ability to predict the effect of greenhouse gas was “very limited.”  Trump has called global warming a hoax perpetrated by China and has threatened to quit the Paris climate accord, a global agreement to curb emissions. Tillerson called Mexico “a long-standing neighbor and friend of this country.” Trump has said he will build a wall on the Mexican border, and in his 2015 presidential announcement speech described Mexican migrants to the United States as drug-runners and rapists. Tillerson’s responses were calm and measured, without any obvious reliance on notes.  He opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine because he said he thought they would be ineffective. On Wednesday, he said he never personally lobbied against sanctions and emphasized that he was not aware of Exxon Mobil directly doing so. Tillerson later acknowledged he spoke to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew regarding gaps between American and European sanctions on Russia. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy vigorously challenged Tillerson on the issue, saying he called a U.S. senator to express concerns over the measures, which “likely constitutes lobbying.” Exxon lobbied Congress regarding sanctions against Russia following the annexation of Crimea. The lobbying directly related to energy matters, according to regulatory filings.

Summary: विदेश मंत्री पद के लिए नामित टिलरसन प्रमुख मुद्दों पर ट्रंप से अलग