MUNCIE, Indiana (Reuters) - One night a month, retired auto workers shuffle into a former elementary school classroom here to discuss their legal fight against the company that cancelled their health care benefits seven years ago.  But the conversation often turns quickly to presidential politics.  “It can get pretty heated,” says Gerald Poor, the group’s 77-year-old president, of their political discussions. “I call it to order if it gets out of hand.”  Their anger is understandable. The group is a remnant of a once-powerful United Auto Workers union local, which at its peak in the 1960s represented over 5,000 workers who made transmissions in Muncie for BorgWarner Inc, the global auto parts maker. An American flag drapes the wall at one end of the room, portraits of former labor bosses line the other, salvaged from a union hall that had its own baseball field.  For this group of mostly white, working-class men, the last two decades have brought much loss. In this election – with the victory of the populist Donald Trump as the Republican Party nominee and the strong run by the populist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party crown – many say they feel they’re finally being heard again.  Working-class white men were once a force to be reckoned with in American politics. Many here speak wistfully of how John F. Kennedy stopped at BorgWarner to talk to workers when he campaigned in 1960. For these men, this year’s election is a rare taste of the clout they once took for granted.  In the primary, Trump received the most votes of any candidate in either party in Delaware County, which encompasses Muncie. Just over 52 percent of Republican voters went for Trump. Democrats picked Sanders over Hillary Clinton by an even wider margin.  “Candidates in the past made a lot of promises to the working class in this country and failed to follow through with it,” says 66-year-old Bruce Reynolds, who followed his father and grandfather into a career at BorgWarner.  Gazing through the rusted chain link fence that encircles the sprawling, abandoned factory, where he notes with precision that he worked for “32 and a half years,” he says he’s still skeptical of both side’s promises.  Neither Trump nor Clinton was his first choice. Reynolds and his wife voted for Sanders in the primary, he says. Among other things, they couldn’t support Clinton: She’s the wife of former President Bill Clinton, who signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which many here blame for Muncie’s economic decline. They were uneasy with the often fiery rhetoric of Trump, the other side’s top candidate.  Yet both plan to vote for Trump in November, and Reynolds says they’ve grown comfortable with the choice.  “I know, it sounds like we’re confused,” he says. But they’re not.  Like many Trump supporters, he glides over the unappealing aspects of the candidate’s message to lock onto those that he likes. For Reynolds, it’s the hope of bringing back jobs for his children, some of whom still struggle to find decent work.  Trump’s gloomy world view is often dismissed as hyperbole, such as when he described crime and collapsed economies in America’s cities at the Republican National Convention. But for someone in Muncie, that’s not far off reality.  An analysis by Reuters found Delaware County is an extreme example of the declining fortunes of America’s white working-class men.  In 2000, white men with less than a college degree accounted for about three-quarters of all white men living in the county. By 2014, their proportion had dropped by about 5 percentage points, according to the US Census Bureau. But while this group’s share of the population held relatively steady, the earnings of white men with full-time jobs had fallen dramatically.  In 2000, 47 percent of white men working full time were in the bottom third of earners, with incomes of $50,000 or less, based on 2015 dollars. By 2014, 60 percent of them were in the bottom third.  Meanwhile, the percentage of white men in full-time jobs making between $50,000 and $100,000 dropped from 43 percent to 32 percent. And the percentage in the ranks of earners above $100,000 slipped from 11 percent to 8 percent.  In essence, white men in Muncie have slid down from every rung of the economic ladder. They have clustered at the bottom, poorer and more isolated than ever before, even as the overall U.S. economy has grown and globalized.  The same trend is visible in faded industrial pockets from New Jersey and upstate New York to Alabama and Kentucky.  According to the data, in about 1,800 counties across the United States—nearly 60 percent of those where data is available—the share of white men in the lowest group of earners has grown over this period. The trend is particularly pronounced in the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.  Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, studies how people adopt their political beliefs. “Trump is the first candidate to speak to—and speak for—working-class white men in a long time,” Haidt says. That separates him from the last two Republican nominees. Mitt Romney, who lost in 2012, didn’t do that, “and John McCain didn’t particularly reach out to that constituency” in 2008.  As for Trump’s extreme positions and outright falsehoods, Haidt notes, “If your hero says things that are untrue, you’ll cut him slack.”  Muncie was once the epitome of America’s muscular manufacturing economy. After natural gas was discovered here late in the 19th century, the city attracted dozens of energy-intensive glass manufacturers, most notably Ball Corp, which built sprawling factories that churned out millions of mason jars.  The auto industry followed, and Muncie became a hub for transmission making. The term “Muncie transmission” is still used by hot rod enthusiasts when talking about gearboxes produced here by General Motors Corp in the 1960s. One particularly powerful version is the “rock crusher,” used in Corvettes and other muscle cars.  BorgWarner, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, has even deeper roots in Muncie than GM. Warner Gear was founded here in 1901 and merged with other businesses to create what became BorgWarner in the late 1920s. Many former workers here still call it Warner Gear.  In the 1920s, a husband-and-wife team of sociologists picked the city to study the values in a typical American community. They called it “Middletown,” to conceal the identity of a place they felt was emblematic of the country as a whole. Muncie residents soon figured out it was all about them.  The Center for Middletown Studies—at Ball State University—has continued the work, compiling oral histories and, in recent years, focused on the devastation of deindustrialization. James Connolly, a history professor who runs the center, says that more than anything else, Muncie’s working-class white men feel a loss of power. When the big factories were humming, the unions were an unstoppable force—not just for getting good paychecks and lush benefits, but a voice in almost everything else.  To illustrate this power, he cites a locally famous episode from the 1960s, when waitresses at a big downtown hotel went on strike for higher wages.  “A group of police got rough and tried to break up the pickets,” says Connolly. A local union leader—who had nothing to do with the waitresses, other than knowing about them through community connections—called the then-mayor, who was visiting Washington, and “ordered him home” to intervene. The mayor returned and the police backed off.  “The strikers weren’t union members—but there was a system of connections that gave them a sense of control,” says Connolly. With the decline of the unions, working-class people “feel like they’ve been robbed of that voice.”  And yet unions, which were unable to prevent the factory closures that ravaged the city, are often viewed just as suspiciously here as most national politicians are. That tension is visible at the old school where the BorgWarner retirees meet.  The Muncie Delaware County Senior Center was created to give retirees from the big factories—particularly men—a place to go for companionship and activities. One recent day, the room the BorgWarner retirees use was filled with seniors learning line dancing.  “Some people don’t like the photos” of the union leaders, says Jim Shields, a janitor, motioning toward the 10 portraits that adorn the front of the room. They feel the images carry an implicitly political, pro-union message. So, there was a fuss the last time the building was used as a polling station, he said. “We had complaints.” Now, when the BorgWarner retiree group isn’t meeting, Shields carefully drapes a long bolt of fabric over the pictures to conceal them.  Michael Hicks, a Ball State economist who studies manufacturing, says a mix of exasperation with unions and the political elite created the perfect opening for Trump. “It’s always easier to blame a larger force for your problems, whether that’s Mexicans or greedy factory owners,” he says. “But these people aren’t stupid. They know the jobs aren’t coming back.” The bigger concern for many of them, he says, is what will happen to their children.  The Reynolds family is a good example. Bruce Reynolds’s oldest son, Bruce Jr, is a Baptist pastor and is supporting Trump, albeit reluctantly. “I don’t think any of them can fix it,” Bruce Jr says of the fallout he sees from economic hardship in his congregation, from growing drug addiction to broken families.  Reynolds’s second son, Robert, followed his father into BorgWarner after high school. That job didn’t last. After just four years, he was laid off in 1994 during a wave of downsizing. He and his father say it was a trauma from which he never fully recovered.  “I make $8 an hour less now than I made 21 years ago,” says Robert, who enthusiastically backs Trump. After a series of low-paying jobs, including a stint at Wal-Mart and as a manager of a video store, he now works overnight shifts at a warehouse for $18 an hour. He likes the job, he says, although the company recently cut three paid holidays, including the Fourth of July.  Robert concedes that he finds the Republican candidate’s approach to foreign policy worrisome. “You wonder if something will upset him and he’ll declare war,” he says. “That would be awful.” He also doesn’t like how race and immigration has become a theme in the campaign. “This country was built on bring us your tired, your poor—I think we should honor what our forefathers built,” he says.  But he also doesn’t believe Trump’s message is racist. “I think he’s looking at all the illegal activity going on in the U.S. and how it affects the job market,” he says. “He’s just not very tactful” in how he expresses this. Meanwhile, Trump’s promise to restore the economy is the draw.  To be sure, Muncie has retained some of its smaller factories, and other jobs have come in, including a call center that tracks down delinquent student loans and a Caterpillar Inc locomotive factory that moved into an old plant. But none of these are unionized, and the wages and benefits aren’t as high as the old places offered.  One frustration for locals is that the statistical measures of the economy don’t seem to reflect what they see around them. Muncie’s jobless rate is 5.7 percent, less than one percentage point higher than the national rate of 4.9 percent or Indiana’s 4.6 percent.  But the impact of deindustrialization—including the exodus of over 10,000 factory jobs since 1970 in a city of only 70,000 people—is visible almost everywhere.  Most of the departing companies tore down their factories, leaving lots strewn with weeds and rubble. BorgWarner left a handful of structures—including a 1.2 million-square-foot sprawl of red brick and steel near the edge of town.  The city, especially the once-thriving white working-class neighborhoods on the south side, is now dotted with over 2,000 abandoned houses. Some can’t be occupied because they were contaminated by chemicals left behind by meth labs.  Meanwhile, the FBI recently opened a probe of the city government, which appears to be focused on possible corruption in its blight clearing program and the sanitation district. The FBI wouldn’t comment on the investigation, and Mayor Dennis Tyler said he can’t talk about it. There have been no indictments in the case, and it’s possible no charges will result.  Mayor Tyler, a Democrat, notes the jobless rate stood just under 10 percent four years ago, when he took office, so there’s been improvement. But he understands working-class frustration.  “They feel they’ve intentionally been left behind by trade agreements this country imposed on them over the last 25 years,” says Tyler.  Trump’s appeal here isn’t restricted to working-class white men. Another local supporter is Todd Murray, president and CEO of family-owned Mursix Corp, which makes auto parts including tiny switches that go inside door locks and interior lights. His company has grown rapidly in recent years and now employs over 300 people.  Murray says he knows some of Trump’s trade proposals—such as putting hefty tariffs on goods from Mexico and China—could hit his own business. He exports 60 percent of his output, mostly to Mexico, and operates his own small plant in China. But he insists he’s “not smart enough to know how that would all shake out.” He still strongly favors the Republican standard bearer, who he sees as more pro-business.  But the economy alone doesn’t explain Trump’s appeal. Another family with deep roots at BorgWarner is the Lephart clan. At one point in the 1950s and 1960s, the patriarch and nine of his sons worked there, a fact immortalized in the company magazine by a photo of the group posed on a tall step ladder, each holding a lunch bucket, except for the brother at the top, who holds the family dog.  David Lephart, whose father is one of the nine brothers, avoided the decline entirely through shrewd job-hopping and retraining—but he’s still a Trump supporter. He commutes to a UAW job as a pipefitter at a GM plant in Marion, Indiana. He earns about $100,000 a year, with overtime, he says, and has put both of his children through college.  The 58-year-old says one thing that influenced his transition from Democrat to Republican was talking to his children, whom he describes as part of the “business world.” His son is now a stockbroker in Indianapolis.  “For the first half of my life, I thought Democrat was the only way to be,” Lephart says. “There’s this belief that you can’t be Republican and union—but I don’t believe that any more.”

Summary: विशेष रिपोर्टः क्यों एक प्रतीकात्मक अमेरिकी शहर ने ट्रम्प की ओर रुख किया है


(In 13th paragraph of Dec. 18 item, corrects to indicate that a separate attack was launched in June that affected FedEx computers) By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has publicly blamed North Korea for unleashing the so-called WannaCry cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies across the globe earlier this year.  The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible,  Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, wrote in a piece published on Monday night in the Wall Street Journal.  North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious,  Bossert wrote.  WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless.  The White House was expected to follow up on Tuesday with a more formal statement blaming Pyongyang, according to a senior administration official. The U.S. government has assessed with a  very high level of confidence  that a hacking entity known as Lazarus Group, which works on behalf of the North Korean government, carried out the WannaCry attack, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the government s investigation. Lazarus Group is widely believed by security researchers and U.S. officials to have been responsible for the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment that destroyed files, leaked corporate communications online and led to the departure of several top studio executives. North Korean government representatives could not be immediately reached for comment. The country has repeatedly denied responsibility for WannaCry and called other allegations about cyber attacks a smear campaign.     Washington s public condemnation does not include any indictments or name specific individuals, the administration official said, adding the shaming was designed to hold Pyongyang accountable for its actions and  erode and undercut their ability to launch attacks.  The accusation comes as worries mount about North Korea s hacking capabilities and its nuclear weapons program. Many security researchers, including the cyber firm Symantec , as well as the British government, have already concluded that North Korea was likely behind the WannaCry attack, which quickly unfurled across the globe in May to infect more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries. Considered unprecedented in scale at the time, WannaCry  knocked British hospitals offline, forcing thousands of patients to reschedule appointments and disrupted infrastructure and businesses around the world.  The attack originally looked like a ransomware campaign, where hackers encrypt a targeted computer and demand payment to recover files. Some experts later concluded the ransom threat may have been a distraction intended to disguise a more destructive intent. A separate but similar attack in June, known as NotPetya, hit Ukraine and other nations and caused an estimated $300 million in damages to international shipper FedEx. Some researchers have said they believed WannaCry was deployed accidentally by North Korea as hackers were developing the code. The senior administration official declined to comment about whether U.S. intelligence was able to discern if the attack was deliberate.      What we see is a continued pattern of North Korea misbehaving, whether destructive cyber attacks, hacking for financial gain, or targeting infrastructure around the globe,  the official said. WannaCry was made possible by a flaw in Microsoft s Windows software, which was discovered by the U.S. National Security Agency and then used by the NSA to build a hacking tool for its own use.  In a devastating NSA security breach, that hacking tool and others were published online by the Shadow Brokers, a mysterious group that regularly posts cryptic taunts toward the U.S. government. The fact that WannaCry was made possible by the NSA led to sharp criticism from Microsoft President Brad Smith and others who believe the NSA should disclose vulnerabilities it finds so that they can be fixed, rather then hoarding that knowledge to carry out attacks.  Smith said WannaCry provided  yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem.  U.S. officials have pushed back on those assertions, saying the administration discloses most computer flaws that government agencies detect. Last month, the White House published its rules for deciding whether to disclose cyber security flaws or keep them secret as part of an effort to be more transparent about the inter-agency process involved in weighing disclosure.

Summary: अमेरिका ने 'वानाक्राई' साइबर हमले के लिए उत्तर कोरिया को दोषी ठहराया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have taken a hard-line stance on yet another issue: the August recess. The House Freedom Caucus, known for bucking Republican leadership on legislation including healthcare, has taken an official position on the traditional five-week break Congress takes from Washington: They don’t want it. The Freedom Caucus supports “the House staying in session through the August recess to continue working to accomplish the priorities of the American people,” according to a brief statement the group issued late Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, AshLee Strong, dismissed the idea of skipping the summer break. She said Republicans intend to stick to their agenda. Republicans control both the House and Senate, but Congress has failed to pass major legislation yet this year. Republican President Donald Trump urged legislative leaders on Tuesday to finish an overhaul of the healthcare system this summer. The White House also wants faster action on another Trump priority: tax cuts. But there are just seven weeks left until the August break - and one of them, the first week of July, Congress will be out to mark the July 4 Independence Day holiday. An attempt to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act passed the House in May but has not advanced in the Senate. Freedom Caucus leaders played a key role in first blocking the House healthcare legislation, then enabling it to pass after amendments were added allowing states to apply for waivers from insurance provisions that cover consumers with pre-existing conditions.

Summary: गर्मियों में कड़ा रुख अपनानाः अमेरिकी सदन में रूढ़िवादी


The following bullet points are from the U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Reuters has not edited the tweets.     -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (19 जनवरी)-रेव. ग्राहम, वाशिंगटन डी. सी., उद्घाटन


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Clinton Foundation has confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state without informing the State Department, even though she had promised to let the agency review new or significantly increased support from foreign governments. Qatari officials pledged the money in 2011 to mark the 65th birthday of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s husband, and sought to meet the former U.S. president in person the following year to present him the check, according to an email from a foundation official to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta. The email, among thousands hacked from Podesta’s account, was published last month by WikiLeaks. Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family’s globe-straddling foundation in order to become secretary of state in 2009. The agreement was designed to increase transparency to avoid appearances that U.S. foreign policy could be swayed by wealthy donors. If a new foreign government wished to donate or if an existing foreign-government donor, such as Qatar, wanted to “increase materially” its support of ongoing programs, Clinton promised that the State Department’s ethics official would be notified and given a chance to raise any concerns. Clinton Foundation officials last month declined to confirm the Qatar donation. In response to additional questions, a foundation spokesman, Brian Cookstra, this week said that it accepted the $1 million gift from Qatar, but this did not amount to a “material increase” in the Gulf country’s support for the charity. Cookstra declined to say whether Qatari officials received their requested meeting with Bill Clinton.  Officials at Qatar’s embassy in Washington and in its Council of Ministers in the capital, Doha, declined to discuss the donation. The State Department has said it has no record of the foundation submitting the Qatar gift for review, and that it was incumbent on the foundation to notify the department about donations that needed attention. A department spokeswoman did not respond to additional questions about the donation. According to the foundation’s website, which lists donors in broad categories by cumulative amounts donated, Qatar’s government has directly given a total of between $1 million and $5 million over the years.  The Clinton Foundation has said it would no longer accept money from foreign governments if Clinton is elected president and would spin off those programs that are dependent on foreign governments.    Foundation officials told Reuters last year that they did not always comply with central provisions of the agreement with President Barack Obama's administration, blaming oversights in some cases.(reut.rs/2fkHPCh) At least eight other countries besides Qatar gave new or increased funding to the foundation, in most cases to fund its health project, without the State Department being informed, according to foundation and agency records. They include Algeria, which gave for the first time in 2010, and the United Kingdom, which nearly tripled its support for the foundation’s health project to $11.2 million between 2009 and 2012. Foundation officials have said some of those donations, including Algeria, were oversights and should have been flagged, while others, such as the UK increase, did not qualify as material increases. The foundation has declined to describe what sort of increase in funding by a foreign government would have triggered notification of the State Department for review. Cookstra said the agreement was designed to “allow foreign funding for critical Clinton Foundation programs” to continue without disruption.  The State Department said it has no record of being asked by the foundation to review any increases in support by a foreign government. Asked whether Qatar was funding a specific program at the foundation, Cookstra said the country supported the organization’s “overall humanitarian work.”  “Qatar continued supporting Clinton Foundation at equal or lower levels” compared with the country’s pre-2009 support, he said. He declined to say if Qatar gave any money during the first three years of Clinton’s four-year term at the State Department, or what its support before 2009 amounted to.   In another email released by WikiLeaks, a former Clinton Foundation fundraiser said he raised more than $21 million in connection with Bill Clinton’s 65th birthday in 2011.  Spokesmen for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Bill Clinton did not respond to emailed questions about the donation.      Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that major donors to the Clinton Foundation may have obtained favored access to Clinton’s State Department, but has provided little evidence to that effect. Clinton and her staff have dismissed this accusation as a political smear. Last month, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop fundraising in the state, saying it had not registered to solicit donations.

Summary: क्लिंटन के दान ने कतर के 10 लाख डॉलर के उपहार की पुष्टि की जब वह राज्य विभाग में थीं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering closing its embassy in Havana in response to an alleged sonic attack on U.S. personnel in Cuba, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.  We have it under evaluation,  Tillerson said on CBS   Face the Nation  program.  It s a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered.  Five Republican senators on Friday called for the Trump administration to retaliate against the Cuban government by expelling Cuban diplomats and possibly shuttering the U.S. embassy there over attacks that began in late 2016. The State Department said in August that Americans linked to the U.S. embassy in Havana had experienced physical symptoms from  incidents  involving sound waves. Five Canadians were also affected. Symptoms included nausea, dizziness and temporary loss of hearing or memory. Cuba, the United States and Canada have investigated the attacks, but the probe has not yielded any answers about how they were carried out or who was responsible for them. Cuba has denied involvement. The U.S. State Department has not blamed Havana for the attacks but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington in May.

Summary: टिलरसन ने कहा, क्यूबा में दूतावास बंद करने पर विचार कर रहा है अमेरिका


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - On a rooftop overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, around 200 American-Israeli fans of Donald Trump gathered to proclaim their support for the Republican candidate, convinced he will be Israel’s best friend if elected. Wearing “Make America Great Again” baseball caps, the small crowd, ranging from Holocaust survivors in their 80s to grinning teenagers in Trump t-shirts, said they didn’t care about the sexual assault allegations against the candidate or the online anti-Semitism of some of his supporters. “Trump will let Israel be itself and make its own decisions, that’s what I like,” David Weissman, a 35-year-old from Queens, New York, who moved to Israel three years ago, said at the event late on Wednesday. “He’s not a saint, but look at his achievements. He’s not afraid to identify the enemy as radical Islam, and he’s not going to support the two-state solution,” he said, referring to long-standing efforts to forge peace with the Palestinians. Trump has said that the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct fabricated their stories to damage his campaign. Others at the rally said they liked the fact that Trump was promising to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and would not berate Israel for building Jewish settlements in occupied territory. “It’s very important that he becomes president,” said Connie Gordner, 82, who moved to Israel from Jacksonville, Florida, 21 years ago. “If Hillary Clinton becomes president, we’re dead.” The rally was organized by Republicans Overseas Israel, which estimates that there are 300,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel or in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians seek for their own state. Even if only a third of those cast absentee ballots, organizers believe it could have an impact in some swing states, come Nov. 8. Marc Zell, co-chairman of the non-profit group, believes around three-quarters of American-Israelis support the Republican party and its candidate. In an impassioned speech to the small crowd, David Friedman, Trump’s adviser on Israel, heaped criticism on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for her decisions as secretary of state and said Trump was Israel’s greatest hope. “Under Trump, the United States will never pressure Israel into accepting a two-state solution or any other solution that is against the wishes of the Israeli people,” he said, to whoops, cheers and a few shouts of “Crooked Hillary”. While the motley crowd was unabashed in its Trumpian fervor, polls indicate that most Jewish Israelis favor Clinton over Trump, by 40 percent to 31 percent. The critical element is American-Israelis who retain the right to vote in U.S. elections. Some estimates suggest more than a quarter of them live in settlements, which tend to have a more conservative, national-religious outlook. Trump’s messages have been designed to appeal to their sentiments. On Wednesday, he delivered a minute-long video to the rally, playing up his connections to Judaism through his daughter’s marriage, saying it enhanced his respect for the faith. “My administration will stand side-by-side with the Jewish people and Israel’s leaders to continue strengthening the bridges that connect not only Jewish Americans and Israelis but also all Americans and Israelis,” he said. “Together we will make America and Israel safe again.”

Summary: जेरूसलम के पुराने शहर में टोपी और टी-शर्ट पहने ट्रम्प के प्रशंसकों ने रैली की


DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian and regional authorities heightened flight warnings around Bali s Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano s eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 metres into the skies above the popular holiday island. Ash covered roads, cars and buildings near the volcano in the northeast of the island, while scores of flights were cancelled and overnight a red glow of what appeared to be magma could be seen in photographs by Antara, the state news agency.  The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase. It is still spewing ash at the moment but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption,  said Gede Suantika, an official at the volcanology and geological disaster mitigation agency. Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung s volcanic tremors began to increase. Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 metres. When it last erupted in 1963 it killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages. Australia s Bureau of Meteorology s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VACC) in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok, away from  Bali s capital, Denpasar, where the main international airport is located. Indonesia also upgraded its Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) to red, its highest warning, and said the ash-cloud top could reach 19,654 feet (6,142 metres) or higher.  However, officials said the airport would remain open for now as the ash could be avoided.  The volcanic ash has only been detected in a certain area,  the airport and other officials said in a joint statement. All domestic flights and the airport itself were operating as  normal  and tests for ash had been negative, it said. Yunus Suprayogi, general manager of Bali airport operator Angkasa Pura I, said food and entertainment would be provided as well as extra bus services if conditions changed and passenger numbers increased.  The airport would also  make it easier  for passengers to seek refunds and make other arrangements, he said, while noting that airlines had their own rules. After resuming flights on Sunday morning, Virgin Australia again cancelled flights on Sunday afternoon following a change in the aviation colour code from orange to red.   Due to the significant volcanic ash and current weather conditions, we have made the decision to cancel the rest of today s flights to and from Bali as a precautionary measure,  Virgin said in a statement on its website. AirAsia also cancelled its remaining flights to Bali and Lombok. Qantas and Jetstar flights were continuing as of Sunday afternoon but Jetstar warned on its website that flights could be subject to change at short notice for safety reasons. Indonesia s flag carrier Garuda said it was cancelling all flights to and from Lombok.  Lombok airport was closed late on Sunday afternoon and authorities would assess the situation in the morning, a transport ministry spokesman said.  Indonesia s disaster agency has said Bali is  still safe  for tourists except for a 7.5-kilometre (4.7-mile) zone around Mount Agung.  Despite the string of eruptions, there has not been an increase in volcanic activity,  it said in a statement, noting that the emergency status for Agung remains at level 3, one below the highest. China s Consulate in Denpasar warned citizens on Sunday to  be prepared for the possibility of being stranded  in Bali.

Summary: बाली में ज्वालामुखी फटने से हवाई यात्रा की चेतावनी


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Lawyers for former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, convicted last year of a financial crime in a hush-money case, urged a federal judge on Wednesday to spare him prison time for health reasons and because he is “deeply sorry.” Hastert, 74, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced later this month for his guilty plea in October to a federal charge of “structuring” - evading bank reporting rules by withdrawing large amounts of cash in small increments. The former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives has admitted to paying $1.7 million in cash to someone he had known for decades to buy that person’s silence and compensate for past misconduct toward that individual.    Neither Hastert’s lawyers nor prosecutors have revealed the misconduct at issue. But unnamed law enforcement officials have told media it was sexual in nature and involved someone Hastert knew when he was a high school teacher and coach in his hometown of Yorkville, Illinois, in the 1960s and 1970s. “First and foremost, Mr. Hastert is deeply sorry and apologizes for his misconduct that occurred decades ago and the resulting harm he caused to others,” his lawyers said in a memorandum seeking leniency. “He regrets that he resorted to structuring the withdrawal of his money from banks in an effort to prevent the disclosure of that misconduct.” Prosecutors have recommended a prison term of no more than six months in exchange for Hastert’s guilty plea. The defense asked that he be sentenced to probation only, citing his deteriorating medical condition. According to Wednesday’s filing, Hastert suffers from diabetes, which led to foot ulceration, and medical staff discovered an infection after he was hospitalized following a fall. Hastert has also had surgery for a spinal infection, was treated for a severe blood infection and suffered a stroke, nearly dying, his lawyers have said. He has been confined to a wheelchair, can walk only a short distance with help, and needs around-the-clock care, court documents said.  Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Summary: सदन के पूर्व अध्यक्ष हेस्टर्ट के वकीलों ने न्यायाधीश से परिवीक्षा की मांग की


VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday his new coalition would focus on fighting anti-Semitism, after Israel made it clear it would not work directly with any ministers from the far-right party now back in government. Kurz, a 31-year-old conservative, was sworn in with the rest of his government on Monday after reaching a coalition deal that handed control of much of Austria s security apparatus to the anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPO). The FPO came third in October s parliamentary election with 26 percent of the vote. Israel reacted to the inauguration by saying it would do business only with the  operational echelons  of government departments headed by an FPO minister. The FPO now controls the foreign, interior and defence ministries, though Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl is not officially a member of the party.  Anti-Semitism has no place in Austria or Europe. We will fight all forms of anti-Semitism with full determination, both those that still exist and those that have been newly imported,  said in a speech outlining the government s goals to parliament.  That will be one of our government s significant tasks.  The FPO, which was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, says it has left its anti-Semitic past behind it, though it has still had to expel members each year for anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi comments.  It now openly courts Jewish voters, with limited success. Its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, has also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.  Israel wishes to underline its total commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and commemorating the Holocaust,  the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a short statement on Monday in response to the Austrian government s swearing in. The European Jewish Congress has called on the new government to take concrete steps against anti-Semitism while taking a generally more inclusive approach.   The Freedom Party cannot use the Jewish community as a fig leaf and must show tolerance and acceptance towards all communities and minorities,  it said on Monday. Austria, where Adolf Hitler was born, was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938. Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of that takeover as well as the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, which led to the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Kurz said the events of 1938 were  shameful and sad . His People s Party (OVP) and the FPO published a 180-page coalition manifesto over the weekend, which includes plans to cut public spending, taxes and benefits for refugees. The OVP won October s election with a hard line on immigration that often overlapped with the FPO s. The issue dominated the campaign after Austria took in large numbers of asylum seekers during Europe s migration crisis, many of them from Muslim countries. Austria s Jewish community of just over 10,000 is tiny relative to the more than half a million Muslims who live in the nation of almost 9 million, many of whom are Turkish or of Turkish origin. Both Kurz and Strache have warned of Muslim  parallel societies  they say are emerging in Austria, despite there being few obvious signs of sectarian tension. Kurz flew to Brussels on Tuesday to dispel concerns that his alliance with the far right will undermine the European Union.  In their speeches to parliament, both he and Strache said they opposed Turkey joining the European Union   a position that polls show a majority of Austrians support.  Turkey is moving in the wrong direction, which means Turkey will certainly have no future in the European Union,  said Kurz, who has criticised Ankara s clampdown on dissent since a failed coup last year. On Tuesday night during his first foreign visit as chancellor, to Brussels, Kurz told broadcaster ORF he would  soon  meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  I hope we will succeed in dispelling the concerns that exist regarding the FPO government members,  Kurz said.  It would be in the interest of both our countries.

Summary: इजरायल की चिंता के बाद ऑस्ट्रिया के कुर्ज़ ने कहा कि वे यहूदी-विरोधी भावना से लड़ेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers from both parties said on Sunday they had seen no proof to support the claim by Republican President Donald Trump that his predecessor Barack Obama had wiretapped him last year, adding pressure on Trump to explain or back off his repeated assertion. Several Republicans last week urged Trump to apologize for the allegations he made in a series of tweets on March 4. The maelstrom also caused tension with key U.S. allies and threatens to distract Republicans from campaign promises on health care and taxes. “I don’t know the basis for President Trump’s assertion,” U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I do believe he owes us that explanation.” Collins said she supported Trump as president, but she wouldn’t side with him if he “misstated what the facts are.”     FBI Director James Comey is expected to be asked about Trump’s claims when he testifies at a rare public hearing on Monday about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Russia has denied the assertion it was involved in hacked emails and other attempts to influence the race. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee holding the hearing, called Trump’s claims “patently false” and said he expected Comey to say as much on Monday. The Justice Department on Friday delivered documents to congressional committees to help clear up whether the Obama administration spied on Trump. Republican Representative Devin Nunes, who leads the House intelligence panel, said after receiving the material, he saw no evidence of wiretapping. But Nunes, who served on Trump’s transition team, joined the White House in seeking to shift attention away from the controversies by calling for investigations of leaks to the news media.  Nunes said on “Fox News Sunday” that leaks to reporters about former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn were criminal and that his panel was probing whether other names were leaked. Trump has been dogged by allegations that his associates had ties to Russian officials. He fired Flynn last month after reports he had discussed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office, without telling other White House officials. “The one crime we know that’s been committed is that one: the leaking of someone’s name,” Nunes said. “Were there any other names that were ... leaked out?” Nunes also said ahead of Monday’s hearing he had seen “no evidence” of collusion between Russia and Trump’s team. But Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, said there was enough “circumstantial evidence” that he still had questions. Meanwhile, the White House has not backed down on Trump’s surveillance claims.  The administration was forced to reassure key ally Britain after White House press secretary Sean Spicer repeated a Fox News analyst’s claim that a British intelligence agency helped Obama wiretap Trump. The British government strongly denied it. The issue led to an awkward moment on Friday at a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel when Trump was asked about the wiretap claims by a German reporter. Trump said he and Merkel had “something in common,” apparently referring to reports during the Obama administration that Merkel’s phone was bugged. The quip left the German leader looking bewildered. Senior Republican Representative Tom Cole told reporters on Friday that Trump owed Obama an apology. Representatives Charlie Dent and Will Hurd, also Republicans, made similar comments. “I see no indication that that’s true,” Cole said of the wiretapping charge.  Unless Trump produces convincing proof, Cole added, “President Obama is owed an apology.”

Summary: वायरटैप के आरोपों से पीछे हटने के लिए ट्रम्प पर दबाव बढ़ता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will seek to rebuild the U.S. relationship with Egypt at a Monday meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi focused on security issues and military aid, a senior White House official said on Friday. “He wants to use President Sisi’s visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September,” the official said, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity. Egypt has long been one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid annually. The country is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting insurgents. The bilateral relationship was strained when former President Barack Obama criticized Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest Islamist group. Sisi does not make a distinction between the Brotherhood, which says it is peaceful, and Islamic State militants. Egypt considers the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.  Obama froze aid to the country for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013  after mass protests against Mursi’s rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year. Human rights groups have estimated that at least 40,000 political prisoners have been detained by Sisi’s government. Trump’s relationship with Sisi got off to a good start when they met last September in New York while Trump was running for president, the White House said.  Trump supports Sisi’s approach to counterterrorism, which includes both military and political efforts, his efforts to reform Egypt’s economy, and Sisi’s calls for “reform and moderation of Islamic discourse,” the official said. Asked whether the United States would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, as Egypt has, the official said Trump was interested in hearing Sisi’s views during the meeting. “We, along with a number of countries, have some concerns about various activities that the Muslim Brotherhood has conducted in the region,” the official said. Sisi’s visit comes as the Trump administration has proposed massive cuts to U.S. foreign aid, the details of which are still to be determined. The White House anticipates aid to Egypt will continue but provided no details on Friday. “We’re in the budget process right now and those discussions are ongoing as to how it will be broken out,” the official told reporters. Some U.S. lawmakers have opposed loosening restrictions on aid to Egypt because of concerns about human rights in the country. The Trump administration intends to address human rights issues behind closed doors, the White House official said. “Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discreet way. We believe it’s the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome,” the official said. The official would not say whether Trump would discuss with Sisi the case of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American who works with street children and was arrested in May 2014 on human trafficking charges. Rights groups have called for her release. Hijazi has been held in custody for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law, which states that the maximum period for pretrial detention is 24 months. A verdict was set to be read in a March 23 court session, but was postponed with no reason stated by the judge until April 16. The maximum possible jail sentence in her case is 25 years. The White House is aware of Hijazi’s case “at the most senior levels,” the official told reporters. “We are going to address this with Egypt in a way that we think maximizes the chances her case will be resolved in a satisfactory way,” the official said.

Summary: ट्रम्प सोमवार की वार्ता में मिस्र के साथ अमेरिकी संबंधों को 'रिबूट' करना चाहते हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While President Donald Trump opened the door on Monday to beefing up U.S. forces in Afghanistan, he provided few details on how sending more troops will hasten a conclusion to America’s longest war. “There is no quick fix to this problem,” said Bill Roggio, an insurgency expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based policy institute, speaking before Trump’s speech. “Things will continue looking bleak for some time.” In his approximately 30-minute nationally televised address, Trump said he would “expand authority” for U.S. commanders to target militant networks that “sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan.”   That paves the way to an increase in the 8,400 U.S. troop level in Afghanistan and broader rules of engagement as part of his plan to end a military conflict that began in 2001, U.S. officials said. But he declined to say how many more U.S. soldiers will be deployed or how long the U.S. force will be there. “Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables” would guide the duration of U.S. military involvement, he said. His effective embrace of an open-ended U.S. deployment contrasts with the expectations of his political base that he would extract the United States from a war estimated to have cost more than $700 billion and claimed the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members. But Trump, who has railed against the war for years, finds himself boxed in. Taliban advances are raising the specter of a repeat of 1996, when Islamist militants seized power and provided al Qaeda with a sanctuary in which to plot the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks in New York and Washington. Moreover, the Afghan government is plagued by ethnic and political rifts and corruption and controls less than 60 percent of the country, similar circumstances that paved the way for the  Taliban’s 1996 takeover. “The choice is between losing and not losing. Winning really isn’t an option,” said James Dobbins, who served as the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan during the presidency of Barack Obama and is now a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation. “He (Trump) can lose quickly by withdrawing, he can lose slowly by standing pat” Dobbins said, adding that Trump “could not lose” by marginally increasing the U.S. force.  The ostensible goal of Trump’s strategy is to help Afghan security forces reverse Taliban advances and create a military stalemate that eventually would compel rebel leaders to agree to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict. Yet Trump indicated that diplomacy would take a back seat to military operations, saying that, “Some day, after an effective military effort, perhaps it will be possible to have a political settlement that includes elements of the Taliban.” Sending more U.S. troops could “buy time for the Afghan government to increase its legitimacy and gain support for the Afghans, which will help them negotiate an end of the conflict,” said Scott Worden, an expert with the U.S. Institute for Peace. But Worden, also speaking before Trump’s speech, said more U.S. troops “alone are not going to outright defeat the Taliban. The military components of the strategy have to be coupled with an equal - if not greater - emphasis on managing the politics of Afghanistan and the politics of the region.” Obama tried and failed with what basically was the same approach. He presided over a far larger effort that at one point involved some 100,000 U.S. troops, considerable airpower, scores of CIA drone strikes on extremist sanctuaries in Pakistan, and billions of dollars for reconstruction and democratization programs. Obama also dedicated enormous diplomatic energy to ending the war, appointing a special envoy to coordinate negotiations. Not only has Trump eliminated that post, but the administration has proposed slashing the State Department budget by about 30 percent and has left scores of senior posts vacant. Obama freed five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay and allowed the rebels to open an office in Doha. The Taliban freed captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, but they refused to be drawn into talks. Trump signaled a tougher U.S. approach to Pakistan, warning that while it had “much to gain” by cooperating on Afghanistan, it would have to immediately stop “harboring” Islamist militants “who target” U.S. troops and officials. But again, he provided no details of how he planned to convince Pakistan to do so. U.S. officials have long accused Pakistan of failing to pursue top leaders of the Taliban and the allied Haqqani network and to end sanctuaries and support for the extremists from elements of the powerful military and army-run intelligence agency, an allegation Islamabad denies.

Summary: अमेरिकी सैनिकों की अपेक्षित वृद्धि के बावजूद, अफगान युद्ध का कोई अंत नहीं दिख रहा है


SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier is expected to survive critical wounds he received when his old comrades fired a hail of bullets at him as he made a defection dash to South Korea, the South s government and military said on Tuesday. The soldier had on Monday sped toward the border in a  peace village  in the heavily guarded demilitarized zone, in a four-wheel drive vehicle. But when a wheel came loose, he fled on foot as four North Korean soldiers fired about 40 rounds at him, said Suh Wook, chief director of operations at South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefing lawmakers.  Until this morning, we heard he had no consciousness and was unable to breathe on his own but his life can be saved,  Suh said. Surgeons had removed five bullets from the soldier s body, leaving two inside, Suh added, to murmurs from lawmakers who said the soldier s escape was  right out of a movie . The soldier took cover behind a South Korean structure in a Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. South Korean and U.S. soldiers, fearing more North Korean fire, later crawled to him to rescue him, the United Nations Command said in a separate statement. North Korea has not said anything about the soldier. Its military had not given any indication of unusual movements on Tuesday, the South s military said. While on average more than 1,000 North Koreans defect to the South every year, most travel via China and it is unusual for a North Korean to cross the land border dividing the two Koreas, which have been in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.  The U.N. Command, in place since the end of the war, said an investigation into the incident was being conducted. South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo said it was the first time North Korean soldiers had fired toward the South s side of the JSA, prompting complaints from some lawmakers that the South s military should have returned fire. Moon Sang-gyun, the South s defense ministry spokesman, said military operations at the JSA were usually conducted under the orders of the U.N. Command, which is in turn under orders from the U.S. military. The soldier, who was not armed, was flown in a U.N. Command helicopter to an operating theater where doctors began working to save him even before he was out of a uniform that indicated he held a lower rank, Suh said. South Korean officials have yet to identify where the soldier came from or what his intentions were. Lee Cook-jong, the surgeon in charge of the soldier s care at the Ajou University Hospital, told reporters he was suffering from critical intestinal damage. Hospital officials where under strict security agency orders not to talk to media and all updates on the soldier had to be through the military, workers there told Reuters. Dr Lee had been  given a talking-to  after a brief exchange with the media, the hospital workers said. The U.N. military armistice commission said it had informed the North Korean military that the soldier, who was found about 50 meters (150 feet) south of a Military Demarcation Line, was undergoing surgery for his wounds. Suh said the South had also informed the North on Monday of the soldier and his treatment, via loudspeakers on the border. North Korea has in the past complained that North Korean defectors had been abducted by South Korea, and it has demanded their release.  This month, the North demanded that South Korea return 12 waitresses it said had been kidnapped while working in China in 2016. South Korea said the 12 women, and one man, had chosen to defect to the South. Monday was the first time since 2007 a North Korean soldier had defected across the JSA.

Summary: गोलियों की बौछार से बचने के बाद उत्तर कोरियाई सैनिक की हालत गंभीर


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish authorities said on Friday they had sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront  threats  of Iraqi military attack, but also slightly pulled back defense lines around the disputed oil-producing area to ease tensions. The Baghdad central government has taken a series of steps to isolate the autonomous Kurdish region since its overwhelming vote for independence in a Sept. 25 referendum, including banning international flights from going there. Baghdad s tough line, ruling out talks sought by the Kurds unless they renounce the breakaway move, is backed by neighbors Turkey and Iran - both with their own sizable Kurdish minorities, and in Turkey s case, a long-running Kurdish insurgency. Tens of thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers have been stationed in and around Kirkuk for some time and another 6,000 have arrived since Thursday, Kosrat Rasul, vice president in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said. In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday the situation had the full attention of the United States, which was working to ensure it does not escalate.  We can t turn on each other right now. We don t want this to go to a shooting situation,  Mattis said.  These are issues that are longstanding in some cases ... We re going to have to recalibrate and move these back to a way (in which) we solve them politically and work them out with compromised solutions.   The KRG s Security Council expressed alarm late on Thursday at what it called a significant Iraqi military buildup south of Kirkuk,  including tanks, artillery, Humvees and mortars. These forces are approximately 3 km (1.9 miles) from Peshmerga forces. Intelligence shows intentions to take over nearby oilfields, airport and military base,  it said in a statement.  Kurdish security sources later said that the Peshmerga had shifted their defense lines by 3 km (1.9 miles) to 10 km south of Kirkuk to reduce the risk of clashes with Iraqi forces, which then moved into some of the vacated positions without incident.  The area from which the Peshmerga withdrew is populated mainly by Shi ite Muslim Turkmen, many of whom are loyal to the Shi ite led-government in Baghdad and affiliated with Iranian-backed political parties and paramilitary groups. An Iraqi military spokesman said military movements near Kirkuk aimed only to  inspect and secure  the nearby region of Hawija recaptured from Islamic State militants a week ago. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly denied any plans to go further and actually attack the territory. Kirkuk, a city of more than one million people, lies just outside KRG territory but Peshmerga forces deployed there in 2014 when Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. The Peshmerga deployment prevented Kirkuk s oilfields from falling into jihadist hands. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani urged the United States, the European Union and the U.N. Security Council  to rapidly intervene to prevent a new war.  Germany, which traditionally has good relations with both Baghdad and the KRG, called for measures to defuse tensions.  We would like to ask them to meet those responsibilities and not to escalate the conflict,  German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin. President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said on Thursday Ankara would gradually close border crossings with northern Iraq in coordination with the central Iraqi government and Iran. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is expected in Baghdad on Sunday for talks with Abadi.

Summary: इराक के कुर्दों ने तेल समृद्ध किर्कुक के आसपास रक्षा लाइन को वापस ले लिया


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia s independence movement could suffer a serious setback in elections this month, according to a poll published on Sunday, which suggests separatist parties will narrowly fail to secure a majority in the regional parliament. The three parties which supported Catalonia s frustrated push to split from Spain in October are seen as returning a total of 66 or 67 seats in the Dec. 21 election, just shy of the 68 seats they would need to control the regional parliament, according to the poll in Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. Unionist parties combined are also seen as falling short of an absolute majority, the poll finds, opening the door to a possible hung parliament with CatComu-Podem, the Catalan arm of the anti-austerity Podemos party, as a potential kingmaker. Market friendly unionist party Ciudadanos and two pro-independence parties, ERC and Junts per Catalunya, the party of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, are in a dead heat to be the largest parliamentary force, according to the poll based on interviews between Dec. 4 and Dec. 7. Turnout for the election, which was forced by the central government in an effort to break the political crisis that seized the region in recent months, is predicted to reach a record 82 percent.

Summary: कठिन चुनाव में कैटलन के अलगाववादी बहुमत खो देंगेः सर्वेक्षण


ROME (Reuters) - The leader of Italy s far-right Northern League said on Thursday he was suspending contacts with his main political ally, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, because of a disagreement over how tough courts should be on murderers and rapists. The public fight over law and order delighted the rightists  opponents just as campaigning picked up ahead of a national election that look certain to be held in early March.  I always said the (right) as a coalition didn t exist,  said Luigi Di Maio, the prime ministerial candidate of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.  We are getting ever closer to government.  The right bloc, which includes Berlusconi s Forza Italia! (Go Italy), is ahead in the polls, with 5-Star in second place. Pollsters predict no-one will win an outright majority, raising the specter of political instability in the euro zone s third-largest economy. Northern League leader Matteo Salvini has regularly sparred with Berlusconi, but his anger bubbled over this week after Forza Italia lawmakers voted against efforts to prevent courts from offering sentence reductions for murder and rape.  We are receiving hundreds of calls and emails from men and women angry and disappointed by Forza Italia s astonishing decision to protect rapists and murderers,  Salvini was quoted as saying by AGI news agency.  As far as we are concerned ... we are suspending all our contacts and discussions with Forza Italia and Berlusconi until there is an official clarification,  he added. Berlusconi promised to talk to Salvini shortly, saying he was unsure why his parliamentarians had spurned the reform. Support for the right bloc has risen steadily in recent months with Berlusconi returning to frontline politics after years of sex and finance scandals. However he has failed to paper over divisions between himself and Salvini who has pushed the Northern League to the far-right of European politics, aligning himself with Marine Le Pen s National Front in France. Whereas the right is committed to running together in the forthcoming election, the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has split from its traditional leftist allies, who have refused to form any electoral alliance.  (The right) will argue before, during and, above all, after the election, but on the day itself they will pretend to be united to scrape together a few more seats,  PD leader Matteo Renzi wrote on Facebook on Thursday.   This is pure hypocrisy because everyone knows the truth but pretends not to see.

Summary: चुनाव प्रचार शुरू होते ही इटली के दक्षिणपंथी विरोधी आपस में भिड़े


(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered a crackdown on corruption, the latest in a wave of frenetic changes in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years. Prince Mohammed says he is determined to remodel his conservative country into a modern state no longer dependent on oil. As his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has handed the 32-year-old Prince Mohammed more and more power over the past three years, the ambitious young leader has taken on everything from economic reforms to waging war in neighboring Yemen. Here is what you need to know. Prince Mohammed capped his rapid rise to power in June this year by replacing his elder cousin Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, widely known as MbN, as crown prince. A source close to King Salman said MbN s dismissal was  in the higher interests of the state  because he was incapacitated by morphine and cocaine addiction, a legacy of an assassination attempt that left shrapnel in his body. Reuters could not independently confirm MbN s addiction issues. ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN Prince Mohammed tightened his grip on power with the start of the anti-corruption campaign at the weekend, purging the kingdom s political and business elite. Among those arrested were 11 princes.  Many Saudis welcomed the moves as an assault on the endemic theft of public funds by the powerful. U.S. President Donald Trump said those arrested had been  milking  their country for years  but some Western officials expressed unease about the possible reaction in Riyadh s opaque tribal and royal politics. Prince Mohammed launched a military campaign in neighboring Yemen in March 2015. A Saudi-led coalition, acting on an invitation from the internationally-recognized government, has targeted the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in a war which has killed more than 10,000 people. The war is closely identified with the prince in his role as defense minister. His image once adorned war propaganda but is rarely associated with the war now, although he has said it must continue in order to quash Iranian influence. Even before the conflict, Yemen was the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula and now millions of people there are facing famine and a cholera epidemic. The coalition denies it blocks commercial shipments of food, medicine and fuel. Prince Mohammed has helped lead a diplomatic campaign to isolate Qatar, saying Riyadh s erstwhile ally backs terrorism and cozies up to Iran. Qatar rejects the accusations and says it is being punished for straying from its neighbors  backing for authoritarian rulers. The campaign has divided Gulf Arab countries, who Washington regards as essential to its influence in the region. Qatar had incensed Riyadh by cheering Arab Spring uprisings against some autocratic Arab rulers.  Saudi Arabia s rivalry with Iran, its competitor for influence in the Middle East, has deepened as King Salman and Prince Mohammed worked to build a Sunni coalition against Tehran and its allies in the Arab world.  In May, as deputy crown prince, Prince Mohammed used unusually provocative language to rule out dialogue with revolutionary Shi ite Muslim theocracy Iran, which he said was trying to interfere in Arab lands and dominate the Muslim world. On Tuesday, state media quoted him as describing Iran s supply of rockets to militias in Yemen as  direct military aggression  that could be an act of war.  Prince Mohammed has also opened a new front in the proxy war with Iran by threatening Tehran s ally Hezbollah and its home country Lebanon. The resignation on Saturday of the Saudi-allied Lebanese prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, announced from Riyadh, was widely seen as the first act on this new front. The crown prince has also sought the help of Shi ite leaders in Iraq to try to reverse Iran s dominant role there and shore up security on the kingdom s northern border, and has tried to improve ties with the United States under Trump, who shares his and King Salman s antipathy to Iran s government. The planned sale of about 5 percent of national oil company Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] next year is a centerpiece of Vision 2030, Prince Mohammed s blueprint to move the economy away from what he called its  addiction to oil  toward the private sector. The IPO is expected to raise as much as $100 billion but investors wonder whether Aramco can be valued anywhere close to the $2 trillion figure announced by the crown prince and there has been market speculation that the IPO could be delayed beyond 2018 or shelved. He recently stated it would happen next year. Many Saudis have misgivings about the sale, with some fearing Riyadh is selling cheaply at a time of low oil prices. Vision 2030 has begun to reduce a big state budget deficit with austerity measures but has not yet created major new sources of non-oil growth or jobs. The phased removal of subsidies on fuel, water and electricity has started but some austerity moves have been unpopular. Already, some have been reversed or delayed as the economy has slowed because of low oil prices.  The plan includes private investment and privatizations and building the world s largest sovereign wealth fund. The aim is to create jobs and raise the participation of women in the workforce from 22 percent now to 30 percent by 2030.  Saudi Arabia adheres to an austere Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam, which bans gender mixing, concerts and cinemas.  Prince Mohammed s ascent represents a social and cultural sea change, with power set to be passed to a much younger generation seemingly more in tune with young Saudis. In moves that reinforce that perception, women will be permitted to drive from next year and allowed to attend sports events.  The crown prince has also said the country will move to a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam, and reforms have begun in areas once the exclusive domain of the clergy such as education, courts and the law. Saudi authorities have promoted elements of national identity that have no religious component or pre-date Islam. Last month Prince Mohammed announced a $500-billion plan to create a business and industrial zone extending across its borders into Jordan and Egypt, part of his efforts to reduce dependence on oil. The 26,500 square-km (10,230 square-mile) zone, known as NEOM, will focus on industries including energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and entertainment, and will power itself solely with wind power and solar energy. The crown prince says the government, Public Investment Fund and local and international investors are expected to sink billions into the zone in coming years. The crown prince told Reuters NEOM would be floated on financial markets alongside Aramco.

Summary: रेत का स्थानांतरणः सऊदी अरब में क्या बदल रहा है?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday it would be easier to ensure public trust if Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from investigations into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “I just think for any investigation going forward you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation,” McCarthy told MSNBC. Asked if that meant Sessions should recuse himself from the investigation, McCarthy said: “I think it would be easier from that standpoint, yes.”

Summary: सदन के रिपब्लिकन नेता ने कहा कि अगर सेशंस ने खुद को अलग कर लिया तो 'आसान' होगा


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has hit the brakes on subway projects in at least three cities and Beijing is asking others to slow down their plans, local governments and media have reported, indicating concerns over high debt from city-level infrastructure spending. China has been in the grips of a metro-building binge with more than 50 cities working on over 1 trillion yuan ($150.8 billion) worth of projects, after population restrictions were loosened last year to allow more cities to have metro systems. Such infrastructure spending has helped to shore up economic growth but is now being scrutinized more closely after the government pledged to clamp down on financial risks. Policymakers have warned about the risk of asset bubbles due to high levels of corporate and household debt in the economy. China s overall debt has jumped to more than 250 percent of GDP from 150 percent at the end of 2006. Financial magazine Caixin, citing unnamed sources close to the matter, reported that authorities in Inner Mongolia s Hohhot and Baotou cities have scrapped approved projects worth billions of dollars in recent months due to concerns over finances.  Xianyang city which wants to build six lines to link up to central Shaanxi province s capital of Xi an, said in a statement this month some of its plans had not yet been approved by the state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.   The NDRC has become more cautious about approving metro construction plans and it will be difficult to achieve approval within the year,  it said, adding that one of the factors was debt concerns over the Baotou metro. The Economic Observer newspaper said it was told by the Wuhan city planner that the NDRC was re-evaluating the country s subway construction situation.  The Baotou city planner declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday. The NDRC and authorities in Hohhot and Wuhan did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Guotai Junan analyst Gary Wong said such a crackdown on metro projects was appropriate given that many remote and financially weak cities had undertaken metro projects. He said  he did not anticipate a large impact on locomotive suppliers such as CRRC Corp who have shifted focus to metros to offset the slowing high-speed rail market.  They are already full with orders, even if they don t get new orders at the moment they will still be busy for the next 2-3 years,  he said.  China would overtake Europe and the Americas if all 50 cities went ahead with their metro plans, data from the International Association of Public Transport showed. Europe has 46 cities with metro systems, and America has 33 cities.  The China Association of Metros said in July that 30 cities currently have metros.

Summary: कर्ज की चिंताओं को लेकर बीजिंग ने मेट्रो में तेजी पर ब्रेक लगाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met on Friday with his national security team to discuss the fight against Islamic State and the war in Syria, the White House said. Reuters had reported that in the meeting Obama and his advisers would consider military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel the city of Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he might not make any decisions at the National Security Council meeting. A readout of the meeting released by the White House noted that the United States had broken off bilateral talks with Russia on reaching a ceasefire in Syria. It said Obama directed his team to continue multilateral talks with “key nations” to seek a diplomatic resolution to the civil war. The brief summary made no mention of other U.S. options in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will return to Syria talks on Saturday, three weeks after the failure of their painstakingly drafted ceasefire. Kerry has pointedly avoided new bilateral negotiations with Lavrov, and his invitation to the Turkish, Saudi, Qatari and Iranian foreign ministers to join them for talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, will broaden the discussion to include the most powerful backers of Syria’s government and rebels. Pressure is rising for a halt to a ferocious, three-week-old Syrian government offensive to capture the rebel-held eastern zone of Aleppo, where the United Nations says 275,000 civilians still live and 8,000 rebels are holding out against Syrian, Russian and Iranian-backed forces.

Summary: ओबामा ने सीरिया, इस्लामिक स्टेट पर राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा दल से मुलाकात की


(Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Monday vetoed a bill that would have required President Donald Trump to release his tax returns in order to run for re-election in the state, calling it “politics at its worst.” The Democrat-controlled state legislature had passed the bill in March in response to Trump’s refusal to make public his tax returns when he ran for president as a Republican last year. Under the law, any candidate for president or vice president could not appear on the ballot without releasing at least five years of returns. Before Trump, every major presidential candidate had done so voluntarily since the 1970s. Christie, who became one of Trump’s earliest high-profile backers after his own White House run fizzled and served on Trump’s transition team, said the legislation was an unconstitutional “form of therapy” for Democrats unwilling to accept Trump’s win over Democrat Hillary Clinton. “The hypocrisy and false outrage underlying this bill is stunning - even by Trenton standards,” he said in a statement accompanying the veto. New Jersey was the first of at least 20 states considering similar legislation to send a bill to its governor’s desk for consideration. The chairman of the state assembly’s judiciary committee, Democrat John McKeon, called Christie’s comments “grandstanding and childish rhetoric.” “This much is clear – Governor Christie is obsessed with protecting and showing allegiance to President Trump,” McKeon added in a statement. “Sad!” The state Senate majority leader, Democrat Loretta Weinberg, said voters “deserve to know what financial ties and interests candidates for the presidency and vice presidency have, including with other countries.” Trump’s critics have said his tax returns represent the only way to assess any potential conflicts of interest related to his sprawling business empire. Democrats have also suggested the returns could reveal politically damaging information, such as Trump’s possible use of loopholes to avoid paying income taxes. During the campaign, Trump said he would not release the returns because he was being audited, and the White House has made it clear he has no intention of doing so after winning the election.

Summary: न्यू जर्सी के क्रिस्टी ने ट्रम्प के कर रिटर्न की मांग करने वाले विधेयक को वीटो कर दिया


MADRID (Reuters) - An election in Catalonia will fail to conclusively resolve a political crisis over an independence drive in the region, the final surveys before the Dec. 21 vote showed on Friday. The ballot will result in a hung parliament, a Metroscopia poll showed, with parties favoring unity with Spain tipped to gain a maximum of 62 seats and pro-secession factions 63, both short of a majority in the region s 135-seat legislature.  Spain s worst political crisis since its transition to democracy four decades ago erupted in October, when Madrid cracked down on an independence referendum it had declared illegal and took control of the wealthy northeastern region. The standoff has bitterly divided society, led to a business exodus and tarnished Spain s rosy economic prospects, with the central bank on Friday blaming events in Catalonia for a cut in its growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019.  Both the Metroscopia poll, published in El Pais, and a second survey in another newspaper, La Razon, predicted a record turnout for a Catalan election.  But the vote looks likely to trigger weeks of haggling between different parties to try to form a government. Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is campaigning from Brussels, where he moved shortly after he was fired by Madrid following a unilateral declaration of independence by the region.  With Friday the last day polls were permitted before the ballot, the El Pais survey - which questioned 3,300 people in Catalonia between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13 - showed his party winning 22 seats. Pro-unity party Ciudadanos, which has backed the minority central government of Mariano Rajoy s People s Party (PP) in parliamentary votes, will win most seats, closely followed by pro-independence ERC. But at a maximum of 36 for Ciudadanos and 33 for ERC, both fall far short of the 68 seats needed for a majority.  The survey s inconclusive split between pro-unity and pro-independence parties would leave the regional offshoot of left-wing party Podemos, which supports unity but wants a referendum on independence, as potential kingmaker. Further muddying the waters, its leader Xavier Domenech favors a left-wing alliance across parties that both back and reject independence.  The La Razon poll, which surveyed 1,000 Catalans also between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13, showed parties in favor of independence winning 66 seats and unity supporters 60, leaving the Catalan Podemos arm with nine.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया चुनावः त्रिशंकु संसद की वापसी के लिए मतदान


MUMBAI (Reuters) - India s central bank on Saturday dismissed media reports that it was not necessary to link national identity card numbers, known as Aadhar numbers, to bank accounts. It said in a statement the requirement remained in force under anti-money laundering rules.  The Reserve Bank clarifies that, in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017,  it said in a statement. The RBI also said that anti-money laundering rules announced in June 2017 have  statutory force  and banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions. The Aadhar program, which is the world s largest biometric identity card program, has triggered some claims that it is an infringement of privacy of citizens. India s top court in August had said that privacy is a fundamental right and the verdict was expected to complicate efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi s government to make linking of the ID card numbers with bank accounts, telephone numbers, etc.

Summary: भारतीय सेनबैंक ने कहा कि राष्ट्रीय पहचान संख्या को बैंक खातों से जोड़ना अनिवार्य है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expressed  grave concern  on Thursday about the Cambodian government s decision to dissolve the main opposition party and said Washington will take  concrete steps  in response, according to a White House statement. As a first step, the White House said, the United States will end its support for the Cambodian National Election Committee and its administration of the 2018 national election.

Summary: अमेरिका का कहना है कि कंबोडिया के विपक्षी दल को भंग करने के बाद वह कदम उठाएगा


DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it would stop U.S. citizens entering the country in retaliation to Washington’s visa ban against Tehran and six other majority-Muslim countries announced by new U.S. President Donald Trump. “While respecting the American people and distinguishing between them and the hostile policies of the U.S. government, Iran will implement the principle of reciprocity until the offensive U.S. limitations against Iranian nationals are lifted,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. “The restrictions against travel by Muslims to America... are an open affront against the Muslim world and the Iranian nation in particular and will be known as a great gift to extremists,” said the statement, carried by state media. The U.S. ban will make it virtually impossible for relatives and friends of an estimated one million Iranian-Americans to visit the United States Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said it was no time to build walls between nations and criticised steps towards cancelling world trade agreements, without naming Trump. Trump on Wednesday ordered the construction of a U.S.-Mexican border wall, a major promise during his election campaign, as part of a package of measures to curb illegal immigration. “Today is not the time to erect walls between nations. They have forgotten that the Berlin wall fell years ago,” Rouhani said in a speech carried live on Iranian state television. “To annul world trade accords does not help their economy and does not serve the development and blooming of the world economy,” Rouhani told a tourism conference in Tehran. “This is the day for the world to get closer through trade.”  The protectionist-minded Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact. Rouhani, a pragmatist elected in 2013, thawed Iran’s relations with world powers after years of confrontation and engineered its 2015 deal with them under which it curbed its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from sanctions.

Summary: ईरान ने ट्रम्प के कदम के प्रतिशोध में अमेरिकी आगंतुकों पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के लिए कहा


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of Democratic senators took their plans to tackle rising drug costs to President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday, asking him to work with them and Republicans on the issue. In a letter dated Tuesday, the 19 senators named five areas for cooperation: allowing the Medicare program to negotiate prescription prices, increasing transparency, stopping abusive pricing, passing reform on incentives for innovation and supporting generic competition for branded drugs. Trump’s focus during the presidential election campaign was not on drug prices but on his promise to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s signature health reform law passed by Democrats in 2010.  But he did talk about allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which is currently prohibited by law, and importing cheaper drugs from other countries. Since elected, Trump promised in an interview with Time magazine that “I’m going to bring down drug prices” but did not say how. In the letter led by Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Al Franken of Minnesota and co-signed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren among others, the group suggested that there would be opportunities in Congress for Trump to steer bipartisan reform. It suggested that the Prescription Drug, Generic Drug, and Biosimilars User Fee Agreement reauthorization, due to be passed in the spring, and “other health-related legislative priorities” would be good opportunities.  Republicans have a majority in Congress and is working on a two-part plan to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, according to Republican senators. The repeal would take place through the budget reconciliation process, which can pass with 51 votes. For replacement legislation, some Republican senators have said they may seek Democratic support in order to have bipartisan legislation with 60 votes.

Summary: डेमोक्रेट्स ने दवा मूल्य सुधार पर ट्रम्प का सहयोग मांगा


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - An agreement to keep Northern Ireland in  regulatory alignment  with the European Union after Brexit could be replicated in other parts of the UK, Nicola Sturgeon, the head of Scotland s devolved pro-independence government, said on Monday. Earlier, Irish government sources said the British government had agreed to maintain such alignment for Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK but shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state.     If one part of the United Kingdom can retain regulatory alignment with the European Union and effectively stay in the single market (which is the right solution for Northern Ireland) there is surely no good practical reason why others can t , Sturgeon said on Twitter. In the 2016 referendum in which the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU, a large majority of Scots voted to remain in the bloc. The British government has so far ruled out any special Brexit deal for Scotland that would reflect that.  The devolved Scottish government has been campaigning for the UK to stay within the European single market and customs union, and had originally argued that Scotland could stay in the single market even if the rest of the UK left the trading area.

Summary: स्कॉटलैंड के स्टर्जन को N.Ireland जैसा विशेष ब्रेक्सिट सौदा नहीं मिलने का कोई कारण नहीं दिखता है।


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn have not yet indicated whether Flynn plans to comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena for documents, the panel’s chairman said in a statement on Thursday. “General Flynn’s attorneys have not yet indicated their intentions regarding the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena,” Republican Senator Richard Burr said in a statement. Burr told reporters earlier on Thursday that Flynn’s lawyers had said he would not honor the subpoena issued in connection with the committee’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Congressional aides told Reuters the committee was still negotiating in the hopes of obtaining the requested documents. “Consistent with the committee’s position since the beginning of (our) investigation, I welcome their willingness to cooperate,” Burr said in his two-sentence statement.

Summary: ट्रम्प के पूर्व सलाहकार फ्लिन ने अभी तक यह संकेत नहीं दिया है कि क्या वह सम्मन का सम्मान करेंगेः सीनेटर


TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez held a lead over his main opposition rival after a partial recount of a disputed Nov. 26 presidential vote that has sparked a political crisis, the website of the electoral tribunal showed Monday. Hernandez had 42.98 percent of the vote, while TV star Salvador Nasralla had 41.39 percent, with 99.96 percent of votes tallied, according to the tribunal s website. The head of the tribunal, David Matamoros, has yet to declare an outright winner, telling reporters that parties could still file legal challenges and that the tribunal could still consider a wider recount. He said there would be more announcements later on Monday. Early last week, Nasralla, a former sportscaster and game show host, appeared set for an upset victory over Hernandez, gaining a five point lead with over half of the vote tallied. After the count suddenly halted for more than a day, the sporadic vote count started leaning in favor of the incumbent.

Summary: होंडुरास की चुनावी वेबसाइट राष्ट्रपति को 1.59 प्रतिशत अंक आगे दिखाती है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has directed the Pentagon to seek an increase in overall spending to address shortfalls and “new requirements” needed to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, according to a memo released on Wednesday. In addition to the proposed 2017 fiscal year budget amendment request, Mattis also asked for a broader budget and strategy review looking ahead to future years but did not offer estimates in his guidance to the Department of Defense, the Pentagon memo said.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट के खिलाफ लड़ाई को बढ़ावा देने के लिए बजट में बदलाव की मांग करेगा पेंटागन


(Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump is seeking $10 million in damages from a fired former employee, shedding light on a campaign that has at times seen high-profile exits and internal fights spill over into public view. Trump in May started arbitration proceedings against Sam Nunberg, a former adviser who was fired in 2015, accusing him of violating a confidentiality agreement, according to a court filing obtained by Reuters.     “He has a confidentiality agreement which he has repeatedly breached, and we’ve taken action to enforce it,” said Alan Garten, general counsel with the Trump Organization who is representing the campaign in the arbitration.  Nunberg did not respond to a request for comment. The flare-up comes after a period in which campaign in-fighting led Trump to fire some top aides, including national political director Rick Wiley and campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Other staffers have separately resigned from Trump’s campaign. Trump’s legal conflicts, which also include a lawsuit over his Trump University real-estate seminars, have at times distracted public attention from his campaign. Nunberg in court documents dated Tuesday accused Trump of starting arbitration proceedings to retaliate against him for switching his support to rival presidential hopeful Ted Cruz during the Republican primaries. Cruz dropped out of the race in early May. Garten said the suit was unrelated. Nunberg also said Trump tried to use the arbitration to “cover up media coverage of an apparent affair” between two members of his presidential campaign staff. “The Trump campaign is attempting to bring a frivolous and retaliatory arbitration proceeding against me essentially to punish me and shut me up,” Nunberg said in an affidavit accompanying his petition to halt the arbitration proceedings.  The petition was filed on Tuesday in New York state court in Manhattan. The Trump campaign fired Nunberg in August 2015 after the discovery of Facebook posts that critics deemed racist. Nunberg at the time denied he wrote the posts. He said in the court filings that Trump accused him of being the source for a New York Post story in May that recounted a public argument between Lewandowski, who was then with the campaign, and Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman. In the affidavit, Nunberg said the argument was part of an “sordid and apparently illicit affair” between the two. He denied being the source for the New York Post story, saying the argument occurred in public and others saw it. Garten called the allegation “categorically untrue” and said Nunberg had recently asked for his job back. “This is an individual who time and time again has demonstrated that he will say anything that is outrageous, regardless of whether it’s factually accurate, to get his name out there and create trouble,” Garten said. Hicks and Lewandowski did not respond to requests for comment.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने चुनाव अभियान के कानूनी विवाद में पूर्व सलाहकार से 10 मिलियन डॉलर की मांग की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A hard-line Republican effort to impeach the top U.S. tax collector came under fire on Tuesday from Democrats who called it an unsubstantiated partisan attack that could undermine the credibility of Congress. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen faces  allegations before the House Judiciary Committee of ignoring congressional subpoenas and misleading lawmakers. The accusations stem from a 2013 scandal in which the IRS was criticized for targeting conservative Tea Party groups’ applications for tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny. Some Republicans want the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to vote on impeaching Koskinen before Congress leaves for its midyear break in July. Democrats oppose the effort.  “This resolution fails by every measure. It arises from the worst partisan instincts. It is not based in the facts,” Representative John Conyers said at the outset of the first of two Judiciary Committee hearings to examine charges against Koskinen. “When a vote for impeachment is divided on party lines ... we undermine our credibility,” added Conyers, the panel’s top Democrat. Koskinen angered critics by declining to testify, but submitted a statement saying the charges are without merit and fail to meet the constitutional impeachment standard of “treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.” In his absence, the committee heard from Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which investigated the Tea Party scandal and concluded that Koskinen failed to preserve evidence that was later destroyed. “This is really a simple case in my mind. When Congress asks you a question, you’re expected to give a truthful answer. When Congress issues a subpoena, compliance is not optional,” House oversight panel Chairman Jason Chaffetz testified. Chaffetz described impeachment as the remedy Congress has for officials guilty of breaching the public trust. But Democrats noted that IRS and Federal Bureau of Investigation probes produced no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or deliberate efforts to mislead Congress. They said the case against Koskinen showed little more than agency mismanagement and misstatements. Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte offered no direct criticism of the impeachment push, but avoided using the term other than to name impeachment as one of several options that include “the power to write the laws, the power of the purse ... and the power to censure.”

Summary: अमेरिकी आई. आर. एस. प्रमुख पर महाभियोग चलाने के लिए रिपब्लिकन दबाव डेमोक्रेट द्वारा मारा गया